World Series Celebration

I can remember the riot's of '94 when the Canucks lost in game 7 vs. the Rangers. I have seen many more since then...but last night one incident stood out above them all.



This HAD TO HURT!

-Ty

Nova Experience

Today I leave with the other 3 staff members from my church for 3 days to attend The Nova Experience in Kelowna. I am excited about the 4 hour drive there and back and for all the conversations that will take place...good and/or bad! And hey...we save the church $20 bucks since there aren't any tolls on the Coquihalla Hwy anymore!

What sucks is that I have to leave my wifey again this weekend! Thankfully I'll be home Saturday night, and that still leaves us Sunday/Monday to spend together.

I'll blog more possibly from the conference depending if they have accessible wi-fi. Otherwise I'll post something when I return.

-Ty

Stories from Squamish

Well it's been a few days since going up to Squamish, and wow...what an incredible weekend. We started off by driving up the notorious Sea-To-Sky Highway in low visibility and pouring rain! Even with their "improvements" the whole highway is freaking retarded still!

Friday night my buddy Matt Davies and his dad Glenn who are planting a church in Squamish welcomed us and shared their vision for why they're planting a church in the city of Squamish. Later on that night Matt shared from God's word and helped us become better listeners to God's voice. This was preparing us for what was coming up on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning we woke up (only getting about 4-5 hrs of sleep), and went out in two groups to pray over the city of Squamish. For three hours the two groups prayed over areas in the city like Quest University, the downtown core, various businesses etc... This was an amazing experience and many of the students shared afterward that this was an incredible opportunity for them to live out their faith.

The rest of the afternoon we spent time sightseeing at Shannon Falls and it was a beautiful sunny day. That night we had a great dinner at McDonalds, went swimming, and then learned that there is a cost in following Jesus. But the hope we have is that whatever the cost is... Jesus gave his life for us...and paid the ultimate cost for our freedom.

Sunday morning we joined Squamish Baptist Church during their morning service and were treated to a potluck lunch after. I don't think they were expecting 14 students to be eating all that food...so we gave them our lunch supplies that we had left to ensure everyone got something.

During that lunch I was introduced to three African girls who moved to Squamish to attend Quest University. What was amazing was on Saturday morning we prayed over that campus and asked God to raise up leaders on that campus to be a light. Getting to tell those 3 girls that we prayed for them just blew them away! I've already gotten an email from them saying how blessed they are to know complete strangers are praying for them!

Truth is this couldn't be a youth group missions trip without something crazy happening. This trip's "crazy" moment was how the Suburban I was driving was nicknamed the "Flaming Turd". I don't know this happened, but we drove around Squamish all weekend with this written in the dust on the back glass of the SUV.

I look forward to the next time we can get back to Squamish to continue partnering with Glenn & Matt and their church. To God be the glory...now and forever!

-Ty

sort of, dunno, nothing

I love this! There is so much truth behind this video about how adults talk "to" students rather than "with" students!

oh...and it's from Australia...so that's why they speak kinda funny!



-Ty

Give Me Your Eyes...

This weekend I am taking a group of our Sr. High students on a missions trip to Squamish, BC to partner with friends of mine in a new church plant currently called "Squamish Now".

I am so excited to see the things that God will do through the hearts of these students as they give up their weekend to serve, to pray, and love the city of Squamish.

I purchased a cd a few weeks ago by an artist by the name of Brandon Heath. Here's the first track off that cd...it speaks so clearly about asking God to give us his eyes to see the lost, the brokenhearted, the poor and to regain focus on what's truly important.


Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.

Pray for our team as were gone this weekend, and I'll make sure to post again when we're back.

-Tyler

Election & Hockey

I heard this on the Team 1040 this morning and I thought I would post it for all of my Canadian friends, who may need a bit of a "primer" on the Elections today!

The guys on Team 1040 were comparing the candidates to recent NHL Hockey teams. Here's howit all went down (this is a paraphrase and written to the best of my recollection):

Stephen Harper (Conservatives): Stephen is likely the closest to the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes. Their surprising Stanley Cup Win was a shock to many, and there hasn't been many significant achievements since that win...but they'll always say "we won the cup"!

Stephane Dion (Liberals): Stephane closely resembles the 2006 Vancouver Canucks. They were a team that had much promise and great things were expected from them. But nothing really materialized from that "promising" franchise...and we've all seen the fall out since.

Jack Layton (NDP): Jack is like the Dallas Starts. No specific year to make mention of...but rather they're a team that is always tough and will always show up for the game...but in the end they're not gonna win anything significant.

Elizabeth May (Green Party): May is like the Washington Capitals of 2008. For many years people forgot that Washington even had a professional hockey team. Then suddenly in late 2008 the Capitals surgged towards the Playoffs! This year Elizabeth made the Debate, and proved that after a change in leadership positive things began to happen!

I never heard anything about Gilles Duceppe, but I figure that you could compare him to the Quebec Nordiques... a team that has a filled with accomplishements, but except for those living in Quebec...most people have forgotten about them.

So I don't know if this helps you in your decision to vote today...but I sure had a laugh hearing this!

GO VOTE!

-Ty

Passion Vancouver

I am so excited tonight to be heading off to the Passion:Vancouver conference at GM Place. Passion:Vancouver will feature Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band & Louie Giglio...and the most amazing thing is IT'S ALL FREE.

The Passion Conference is a world-wide conference that has chosen Vancouver as its ONLY North American stop. It is for University students ages 18-25 & their ministry leaders (eg: Young Adults Pastors).

So for all my readers out there in the rest of Canada and the USA...I'm so sorry that you're going to miss this. I'll hopefully throw some pictures up after tonight (so long as I get close enough to the front!)

-Ty

Busy Weekend

I am very much looking forward to this weekend. Here's the run down on what's going on:

1) Eagle Ridge Elders/Staff Retreat @ Cedar Springs Retreat Center in Sumas, Washington
- this is going to be a great time interacting with the other elders & staff, as well as taking time out from our busy lives to be still and listen to God. I am excited with the direction God is taking this church, and I eagerly anticipate this weekend to be an incredibly refreshing time for everyone. Sadly...Charity is working (someone has to!)...so she won't be able to come.

2) Shopping in the USA
- yup...3 of us on staff here are playing hooky tomorrow and doing some shopping in Bellingham! I have a specific mission to purchase some Starbucks Energy Drinks for one of my students AND for a parent of one of my students in our ministry. If you have never had them before...these are what I'm talking about.

3) Lunch w/ friends on Sunday
- Charity and I are really looking forward to going out for lunch with our friends Phil & Brianne on Sunday. They have the same last name, but had Jerry Springer run extensive DNA tests before they started dating to ensure they weren't related!

4) Canucks vs. Anaheim
- oh baby I am excited for this. We were given free tickets to the Canucks game on Sunday night! Time to break out my Trevor Linden jersey and ensure my voice is ready for loads of screaming. I love the Canucks...and any chance to see a game is amazing! I am extremely grateful for the generosity of one man in this church for hooking me up with these tickets!

So yeah..that's my weekend! Pretty freaking sweet if I might say so!

-Ty

Shorts in October

Yup...I'm wearing shorts and it's October 1st. Thank you Richard Simmons for summing up how I feel about wearing shorts in October...but for the love of all things holy, please wear longer shorts! Mine are at least at my knees!

Sadly...I have a suspicion that I'm going to have to start wearing jeans again very soon.

-Ty