fighter

i just got back from sunnybrook health sciences centre visiting my friend cindy. she was in a horrific car accident when she collided with a school bus. after undergoing numerous surgeries, she is now out of intensive care and slowly recuperating.

she seems to be in really good spirits, and deeply concerned about the welfare of others - including her children and close friends. can you believe that she actually mustered up the energy to grill me about how the voodoo lounge initiative is progressing??!

anyway, she tells me that she plans to be out of the hospital and at home in a week.

don't laugh - she's a fighter. if anyone can do it, she can.

fighter

let's get physical

some of you know that I've gotten involved in my first community theatre production ... and having a blast with it. it's called "Boeing Boeing", and it's being presented by the South Simcoe Theatre in Cookstown, ON. we're driving towards opening night this thursday, and tonight is our first dress rehearsal with an audience ... yikes!

it's been a real steep learning curve for me. from memorizing plenty of dialogue to memorizing stage blocking to ensuring that cues come quickly and accurately, i've definitely found myself stretched and, on numerous occasions, quite underequipped.

another real challenge for me with this play has been the fact that my character ("Robert") is required to kiss two of the other female characters. that's awkward enough when you consider that i've only ever kissed two other girls other than my wife (all of them before I was married, I might add!), but add to that that both of the actors that I kiss are younger (one much younger) than I am ... well!

but here's the real revelation for me: it's astonishing to me that I can kiss these women, both of whom are incredibly beautiful and talented, and feel nothing. no romantic feelings, no animal magnetism, no improper thoughts. nothing.

i wondered at first if there was something wrong with me ... and then i started to feel sad. not for me or for them (well, maybe sad for them because they have to endure kissing me), but honestly sad for any and everyone who engages in relationships and physical intimacy where there is no emotion or commitment. i imagine that that must be the tragedy of sex without love, of desire without devotion. it may seem appealing from a distance, but there's an emptiness that resides within.

i'm grateful for the talents of my co-actors (thanks Kristen and Ashley!) who make our kissing encounters work in the context of the performance. i just hope that there aren't that many people who are trying to play those scenes out on the stage of life.

let's get physical

greetings from holiday limbo

just a quick hello and belated merry christmas / early happy new year to everyone! i hope that you've been able to pause in the middle of the mania that is the christmas holidays to reflect on the wonder of the incarnation. let it seep into your mind and soul ... that the infinite entered the frailty of infancy, and that the uniquely sacred became the commonly mundane. and all for the sake of hopeless humanity.

it's enough to make you cry ... or sing.

catch you all in '08.

greetings from holiday limbo

the voodoo world tour

well, this is as big as it could get folks ... 3 venues, 3 different weeks. i'm not sure exactly why, but every now and again I get asked when and where I'll be speaking next. so for the dangerously curious, the gluttons for punishment and those who won't be persuaded otherwise, here's where you can find me over the upcoming weeks:

Dec 24 @ 7 pm - Trinity Community Church (Oro)
Dec 30 @ 10:30 am - Tweedsmuir Presbyterian Church (Orangeville)
Jan 6 @ 10:30 am - Living Faith Community Presbyterian Church (Baxter)

as far as the new ministry launch plans go, i'm going to try to schedule a coffee gathering for any and everyone who's interested in tracking with the voodoo lounge (it's funky, it wasn't my idea, and i don't have a better name for it yet) once the Christmas rush is over. if you'd like to be part of the underground, please leave me a note with your email address.

as my friend alex would say ... heroes wanted. safe return doubtful.

the voodoo world tour

rick's cafe americain

i just watched casablanca again last night. classic actors, classic lines, classic tunes. i was captivated by it this time not because of the love story-line, but by the notion that a nightclub could set the stage for a movement of resistance. an underground swell of truth-speakers and freedom-fighters. from my seat it wasn't just the front for these rebel heroes, it was the conduit. a place where ideas are born and ideals are supported.

i'd like to help give birth to something like that here. i may not be rick or sam or even victor, but it'd be a privilege just to be in the company of would-be heroes.

rick's cafe americain