Immanuel, still?

As I came to my blog and decided that I should write something tonight, I had a look at my last post.

Immanuel.  God with us.

Now that Christmas has come and gone and my crazy month of January is almost over, do I carry the reality of Immanuel in the forefront of my mind and heart?  Or have I lost the plot?

All too often I lose the plot.  I get distracted.  And there have been many distractions this month.  My roommate moved out, I gave notice that I will be moving out for February 15, I have had some very difficult situations at the rink...

Have I been feeling that thrill of hope?  Has my soul been feeling its worth?  I would like to say yes, but not so much.  It's been sporadic at best.

But He's still Immanuel.  And He still died for me.  Wow, did I ever need that reminder. 

A thrill of hope...

Wow.  So my last post was in August, eh?  Oops.

The fall came and blended into winter and that means I've been living at the rink.  For the most part anyway.  I am playing for a women's team, coaching a girls' team, and was also participating in all the on-ice sessions for YWAM Hockey's third DTS.  This summed up to about 6-8 ice sessions per week.  So if you were wondering where I've been, that's where.  It's been a blast!

There have been many blog-worthy moments since my last post.  I could write about my wonderful visit to Michigan in August to see my energetic godson Xander and his lovely mom Johanna.  I could go on and on about the birth of my nephew Emmit and how adorable he is.  I could tell stories about the two Canucks games for which I had been given free tickets and also about the time I was upgraded to the second row for the first BC Lions game in the newly improved BC Place.  There were some epic celebrations surrounding my 27th birthday this fall.  And there's also the weekend I was able to meet the likes of Pat Quinn and Hayley Wickenheiser, a personal hero of mine in female hockey.

Those are the good things.  There have also been struggles.  Some more personal and some very much outside of my control.  Challenges at the rink, hard times surrounding those I play with and those I coach, unexpected changes, and also working some things out within myself.

But mostly I want to write about the fact that it's Christmas.

Immanuel.  It means "God with us."  What a promise.  He made himself a man.  He "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!"  (Philippians 2:6-8)

That is what Immanuel means to me.  God with us.  God among us.  God right next to us holding our hand, seeing what we see, feeling what we feel, understanding it all.  And giving everything up for us.  Funny how Easter and Christmas tend to come to the same point....

I've loved the Christmas hymn "O Holy Night" for quite some time but I've been paying close attention to some of the words this year:

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees
Hear the angel voices
O night divine
O night when Christ was born

The soul feels its worth.  A thrill of hope.  A new and glorious morn.  Fall on your knees.  O night divine - Christ was born.

3 days later...

I bought this 2004 Volkswagen Golf GLS on July 12th.  Ha!  It's funny, as I wrote that last post, I was in frequent email conversation with the owner of this little car.  He had posted it on Craigslist on Friday, July 8th and I had emailed him that night.  More emails on Saturday, went to test drive it Sunday, took it to the mechanic for an inspection on Monday, finalized the sale on Tuesday.

There are a lot of great things about this car.  The trunk space, the basically brand new tires, the reliability behind the Volkswagen name, the price I paid for it, the way it drives, the fact that the owner was the original owner with all service records available for me, and that he hardly drove it.  Seriously, probably the best thing about it: only 47, 000 kms.  And it's a 2004.  Yup.

I truly believe it was an answer to prayer.  Pretty much everything was exactly what I was looking for and a little extra thrown in.  Plus, the guy I bought it from was really quite sincere - a bit quirky - but had a genuine heart.  My friend Silke came with me to look at the car and when he found out we were Christians, we ended up having a 20 or 30 min discussion with him about spirituality and religion and the Christian faith.  He shared quite a bit about his personal life and I appreciated that about him.

So thanks for praying. :)

Oh, and I named him today after much thought. Friedrich Günther DasGolf.

Wheels

I've been meaning to write a car-related post for a loooong time and am finally sitting down to do it.

Back in February and March, I was at a point where as much as I was attached to my Babs, I was getting a bit tired of some of the finicky problems she was having (Babs being my 1992 Chevy Cavalier which used to be my grandmother's).  I had made this known in one of my regular email updates, and in response, I was offered a free car by some very generous friends of mine.  I couldn't believe that they would be willing to do this and after much thought and prayer, I decided to accept the offer of the 2003 Kia Rio named Eli.  I sold Babs for $500 to my landlord's friend in April and drove Eli from Alberta to BC in May.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out with Eli.  I knew that he would have to pass an inspection to be registered in BC from Alberta and my friends had made sure to have him checked out Alberta-side, but alas, it turned out to be not enough.  The total in repairs that the regulations required for him to be given a passing grade and registered here were a bit outrageous.  After much more thought and deliberation, two inspections, and a few minimal repairs, we agreed that my friends would take the car back as it can still be registered and driven in Alberta.  I drove it back to Alberta at the end of June.

Yes, it was disappointing for my friends and me.  We didn't expect it to go this way, especially when we felt that God was providing for my need through my friends.  And after four months of conversation and prayer, this was not the outcome we would've expected!

However, it happened, we learned from it and yes, we are still friends.  :)  I'm not totally sure I know what God was saying through this yet but maybe it will come. 

I am currently shopping for a car here in Vancouver as I have some money from personal savings that I can spend, but it's proving to take a bit more time than I would've hoped to find something that I really want.  After all, if I'm going to invest money into something like this, I want to make sure it will serve me well for a considerable amount of time.  I need a reliable car with sufficient space for all the hockey activities I'm involved in on a regular basis.

So if you're the praying type, that's what you can pray for right now.  I've been pretty busy with summer hockey and people visiting from out of town lately that finding time to research cars, browse internet postings, and test drive cars has been very limited.  I need something by the end of August but would love to find something sooner rather than later.

I'll leave you with a little video my dear friend Hannah and I made on the last day I had Babs.  I intended to post this back in April when we made it.  She was pretty good to me over the 3 years I drove her, even traveling to Quebec City and back.  There are a lot of good memories attached to her and sometimes when I see other little blue Cavaliers like her, I exclaim, "Babsy!"  I'm looking forward to having a car again so I guess this is a little tribute....  :)

Is a Picture Really Worth a Thousand Words?

We all know it.  The old cliche that "A picture is worth a thousand words."  But is it really?

No, I'm not intending to write a thousand words here.  But looking at these pictures, what do they really say?  How many words are they worth to you?

Vancouver Angels Midget Team, after our final game of a recreational year-end tournament.

Killarney Knights, after clinching the BC title for the 4th year in a row.

Yes, there are captions.  So I've already added to what the pictures say...

But do they tell you about the...

miles of driving around the lower mainland?

road trips to Vancouver Island and the BC interior?

injuries sustained, mild or major?

emails written and phone calls made in organizing team events and rosters?

trips to and from the house carrying pucks, sticks, whiteboard, and equipment bags?

first goals scored by first-year players?
pre- and post-game banter in the dressing rooms?

disciplinary or congratulatory conversations on and off the bench?
disappointments and thrills?

victories and defeats?

Maybe not...

That's what I see when I look at these pictures.  And of course - I see faces that Jesus longs to see turn to Him.

I hope God used me this season to be a light.
Please keep praying for me and the faces in the pictures.

Esso Fun Day

About a month ago, I helped with something called Esso Fun Day, hosted by the Vancouver Angels girls hockey association.  The day was entirely sponsored by Esso in order to give young girls the chance to try hockey for free.  All the gear was borrowed from young girls already in the association and there were over 70 girls in attendance ranging from age 4-15.  I helped with the on-ice sessions for the day, focusing on the newest skaters.  It was quite the event with it's fair share of "organized chaos" but overall a great success.   Here are some pictures I borrowed from the website.

Getting ready to go on the ice.

The Chariot.

These two didn't want to do anything with the group, so I paired them up for The Chariot and that's all they did for the next 10-15 min.

Jay and I working with the newest skaters.

So cute!

The Vancouver Angels cheer at the end.

Gotta love her smile.

Some of them needed a little encouragement to leave the safety of the bench.

Discussing ice management with other coaches.

I chuckled to myself when I saw this girl's skates.

The Mission you are on makes you a Missionary

This is right on. Imagine how God's kingdom would advance if we looked at missions this way.  It is for EVERY BELIEVER.

Grab a Cup of Coffee...

As promised, here's a collection of videos and pictures from my trip to Eastern Europe.  (If you know nothing of this trip, read more on this blog.)  It's 15 minutes long and I'm definitely not a professional filmmaker/editor, but it's a fairly accurate glimpse of our time there.  Enjoy.