Black bears in B.C. forests.

ok can you believe this we saw 4 black bears coming back from point roberts washington.Here are some pics.

ok this what also happend to us on the way back from Point Roberts we just driving in the car when bang are back window sheild is broken more, above.

Farries!!!!!!!!

Heres some farrie pics.

pics from on the farrie.

farrie boat lanch.

Point Roberts Washington

Here are some pics of Lily point Point Roberts Washington.

looking at the Vancuver island.

crab!!!!

starfish!!!!

Looking at vancuver island from lily point.

The path to go to lily point and to the ocean.

The smile says it all

The smile says it all

by Davin Gulbranson, abridged and reprinted with permission from Sports Spectrum magazine at http://www.sportsspectrum.com/
Meet Jarome Iginla, superstar forward for the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames. Jarome is one happy guy, and he’s not afraid to show it through his words, actions, and a great big smile. It is virtually impossible for a room not to light up when he walks in grinning from ear to ear after a hard workout or a well-played game. So the question arises, what makes Jarome Iginla so happy?
There are plenty of reasons.
"Every day I realize how blessed I’ve been in my life. From the time I was 7 years old, I wanted to play in the NHL, and to this day it’s awesome, it’s fun, and I realize that it’s not going to last forever. This is my eighth year in the NHL now, and it’s gone by so fast—just like life does—so I enjoy every day of it."
"When I was growing up, my mother was working, and my dad—who lived close by—was going to school. We didn’t have a lot of money and that was a big obstacle, but just as big a challenge was getting to practices and games and so on. I was very blessed to have grandparents who were great—and that helped out immensely. It was definitely a team of people that contributed to me being able to play, and not all kids have that. So I was extremely fortunate."
It was with the Blazers in 1994 that Jarome had his first taste of success on the national level when Kamloops won the Memorial Cup, Junior hockey’s most coveted prize. The next season was another milestone year for Iginla. First, the Blazers repeated as Memorial Cup champions. Then, in June, Iginla was drafted in the first round (eleventh overall) by the Dallas Stars.
Iginla would not stay a Star for long, however. In December 1995, he was traded to the Calgary Flames along with Corey Millen for fan favorite Joe Nieuwendyk.
In 1996, Iginla was the MVP of the World Junior Hockey Championships in Boston, where he led all players in scoring.
The Olympic year 2002 was a special one for Iginla. First, in February, he was a vital part of Team Canada as it captured its first gold medal in 50 years at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Returning to the NHL, Iginla continued a torrid pace that made him the leading scorer in the league. He scored 96 points on 52 goals and 44 assists. He captured both the Art Ross Scoring Trophy and the Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy for most goals.
What else could possibly make Jarome smile?
The fact that he has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior has a lot to do with it. Iginla grew up in a diverse spiritual environment. His mom is a Buddhist; his dad, a Christian. He attended a Catholic school.
"Growing up I always had a faith, but it was an unclear faith. I was playing in Kamloops as a junior when I actually accepted Christ as my Savior."
"I don’t really have that one date or story that I would consider to be my testimony, but I do remember the change. When I was younger, one of my best friends and I were talking and he asked me, ‘What do you think happens when we die? Is it just black? Is it nothing? What do you think?’ I started to think about it and I got this pit of worry in my stomach. I told him, ‘Oh don’t worry, God will take care of us.’
"But deep down it really scared me. I would try to put it out of my mind, but whenever I would think about it, this empty feeling in my stomach would come back."
In times of worry and fear, people, especially kids, turn to someone they trust to help them cope with what’s bothering them. The young Kamloops Blazer star was no different.
"This feeling of fear was there for some time until I went to my dad and asked him for help. He said to me ‘Why don’t you ask Jesus to come into your life, forgive your sins, and take that feeling away? If He doesn’t, then you haven’t lost anything, but if He does, look at what you’ve gained.’ So that’s what I did and to this day, that feeling in my stomach hasn’t come back."
"I don’t think it’s any harder being a Christian in the NHL compared to other leagues," said Iginla. "There are plenty of believers. Almost every team I’ve played on has had a few. I would agree that hockey players aren’t as visible as other Christian athletes, but they are there."
And they are making a difference.
Off the ice, Iginla attempts to use his fame as a hockey player to help others. "There’s a couple of groups I work with. I work with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation here in Calgary. Diabetes runs in my family, and it is close to my heart. It means a lot to me to contribute as much as I can."
"I am also involved with KidSport Calgary, which is a part of KidSport Canada. This is a great group that assists financially challenged families with funding. This allows kids to play sports that they otherwise might not be able to play due to financial limits. When I was a kid these challenges were very real to me. KidSport is not just hockey either. I believe that all sports are great for kids. I played a lot of different sports growing up, and it was a great way for me to vent all my energy. My mom always said I had too much energy," he said with that trademark smile.
Some would say, "Of course he’s smiling. If I was making millions of dollars a year playing a game, I’d be smiling like that too!" If that’s the case, then why aren’t all professional athletes that happy?
The answer is simple really. Jarome Iginla is well aware of how fortunate and blessed he is—on and off the ice. With a winning attitude, the biggest smile in the game, and a heart for God, Iginla is definitely one Calgary Flame that is burning bright.
Davin Gulbranson is a freelance writer who lives in Red Deer, Alberta.

go flames go

"I am the Gate" cont.

With much pondering, and reading I’ve come up with what I think are three main reasons for the rejection of “In Christ Alone”. The primary reason is our understandable desire to see all men saved. Then, the postmodernist influence gives us license to make the scriptures say what we hope it would say. And finally when we meet up with contradictions that can’t be explained we get to ignore them.

Another conversation I had recently was with a loving, gentle, hospitable, Christian whom I admire. She so wanted her Native American friend who did not believe in Christ to be saved that she said things like, “She believes in the same God-she just gives him a different name.” I share her struggle. Oh, why could it not be that we are all saved? It’s not fair that I was chosen and some are not; it’s not fair that Jacob was chosen and not Esau, Israel and not Assyria. It’s so tempting to believe all sincere, “good” people are saved.

But wait, I don’t have to struggle with these difficult truths, for I now can make the bible say what I feel it should say .In postmodernism we have bought into the idea that language- words do not reveal meaning but only construct meaning. Our universities, we all know, for years have embraced deconstructionism. All classic literature, ancient texts, and historical documents are suspect. They see “every text as a political creation designed to function as propaganda for the status quo. Human beings construct models to account for their experiences so these ‘models’ can constantly be revised.”(Gene Edward Veith) When a deconstructionist reads the Bible he does not ask what the author’s intended meaning is, rather he looks at a text and asks what does it do for him, what does he feel it says.
So, for example, it no longer matters to whom Jesus was speaking at the well in John 4; it doesn’t matter what his intended meaning was at that time. What matters is what living water means to me. It used to be that we read the bible as a historical account-something that really happened- and then we would ask what principles we have learned that we can apply to our life. Now, God, water, life can have whatever meaning you want, and as a result, the author is no longer God. The reader is.

When reading fiction this can be a lot of fun and make for some interesting literature, but, come to think of it, I’m not sure I want to be God when it comes to what, in the Bible, is truth. I don’t think I’m big enough to handle it. It’s like I’m holding up the very branch I’m sitting on. The church’s one foundation is no longer Jesus Christ her Lord, but me and you. And if we can do away with the teaching that Christ is the only way, why not the teachings on sin and repentance? Heck. Who’s to say that Christ actually rose from the dead? Come to think of it- is there even a God at all or is he just a construct to make us feel better-an “opium for the masses?”
And, with this knew interpretation of truth contradictions are OK. Don’t try to figure them out. When two religions claim things that are mutually exclusive we say both are true. Muslims say Jesus never rose from the dead; Christians say he did- and they are both right! All other religions say that you have to do something to reach God; Christians say God reaches down to us and it is an affront to God to say we can do anything to earn his favor, and yet neither is wrong!

But, in logic, the Law of Non-contradictions says that two opposite statements cannot be true. “If something is true, then the opposite is false”, says Ravi Zacharias, “if you deny the Law of Non-contradictions you deny reality. There has to be an either/or.” If you cross the road, there either is a car in your path or there isn’t. You will find out soon which is true.

I hope my children-this next generation- will think long and hard before they accept a teaching that can be so attractive at first sight. Let us love the Lord with all our heart and soul and mind, and submit to One who is so much greater than we.

One last thing.When Jesus saw the crowds of people he saw them as sheep without a shepherd and had compassion on them. If we are God’s children we can do no less. Let us not stop at condemnation but reach out to the lost with the truth, in love.

Hey Jude

I thought this was amazing. enjoy.
Levi

"I am the gate"

"I am the gate", said Jesus. "That doesn't mean he's blocking people from coming in another way", says a friend of mine as he jumps out of his chair and takes on a defensive basketball stance, moving laterally, low to the gound, arms splayed. He no longer believes Jesus is the only way to eternal life, so he wants me to picture these sincere, desperate people trying to get to God, and Jesus would be this heartless person catching them and forcing them back out into darkness- kind of like a guard on the Berlin wall making sure no one illegally escapes to freedom.



But my friend doesn't realize that he's taking the gate analogy more literally than Jesus intended. By gate Jesus meant "way"- the only way into the sheep pen, the only access to the Father. Now if we think of what is blocking us from getting to the Father we will better understand why Jesus is the only gate. What is blocking us is not a physical wall or locked door but ourselves. We cannnot enter because there is something wrong with us and Jesus is the physician with the only cure.



So what is wrong with us? Romans 5 says, "just as sin came into the world through one man(Adam), and death through sin, in this way death came to all men because all sinned". So we all now have this sinful nature that results in death and separation from God, and the only way to God is through Jesus Christ. "So through the obedience of the one man, (Jesus), the many will be made righteous". "It is by grace you have been saved through faith."



So to say that Jesus is the gate doesn't mean Jesus is cruelly blocking people who could get in another way. No, he is compassionately calling out to the sick, for he is the great Physician. Would we not also be compassionate to warn people that they are turning to the wrong place, to a false hope, where there is no cure?



Is it arrogant for those of us who know Christ to tell others they are wrong, as if our culture is somehow better? Not at all. We, who were just as sick as they, have found a cure and want others to know that God invites all to be healed. He makes no exception, includes everyone- people from every culture, language, skin color, and gender."We all have fallen short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace, through faith in his blood." If you dropped in on Steve Laug's church in Eastside Vancouver you would see how Christ and no other unites all cultures and peoples. You would see people from up to 50 different nations and languages worshiping the same God.



Did you wonder why Christianity ( I hesitate to use that word; I tend to agree with Donald Miller that it has way too many negative connotations and bad history) , or maybe I should say why the church that Christ instituted has no temple, no holy place like all the other great world religions have? Because God does not want to be identified with a particular place or nation. (I would guess especially not with America even though some would say God has especially blessed that place.) To be identifeid with noone in particular is to be equally available to all. We who put our faith in him are his temple, and wherever 2 or3 are gathered in his name there is his church.

So let us not hesitate to tell others of the good news with gentleness and humility that, "God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will have eternal life, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he does not believe in the name of God's one and only son."

This all begs just one more question-What has happened to how we read God's word when evangelical, bible believing Christians can in all good conscience ignore its central theme which is man's fallen nature and the need for Christ's atonement? My guess is postmodernist thought is influencing the church more than we think. But I've gone on long enough. Maybe another post...

Lunar eclipse

I took these with the help of my spotting scope. The beautiful reds that you could see with the naked eye when the eclipse was full did not appear through the scope. Too bad.

presents!!!

Josh and his underarmor
This is me (levi) opening my nerf machine gun I also got a shotgun.
heres robyn
heres my dad and Josh trying to flex

and heres meagan with her new vest.

mmmmmm food!!!!
family
Christmas tree
Jason......weird

this is Christmas dinner............ just so you know this is all Christmas. josh and robyn are back now.

My Levi

My baby has turned 9 years old this week. I wish I could stop time and enjoy forever this affectionate, fun, incredibly inciteful little boy. But then again, Levi, I can't wait to see the young man you will become, the Lord willing, and all that God will have in store for you. Don't ever get too old to look into my eyes with a love that brims over and then give me that hug that only you can give. God bless you.

Sorry Josh, I couldn't send you a piece of Skorr Bar cake in the mail, and I hate to say this but he is a little bigger than you were at 9. We told him that and he can't wait 'till he is bigger than you and can beat you up.