Sleep much?

Well it looks like I fell off the posting wagon, I’ve just been too busy lately experiencing life to take the time to write it all down.

The list of things I've been experiencing  includes: Kids Zone - which is going well, I started helping out with Awana at my church and I’m loving all the time I get to spend hanging out with the kids and helping with the trouble makers, I got an iphone and I’m loving that, I went to a Darrel Mansfield concert and wow can he play the harmonica, and tomorrow morning I’m heading to Ontario for 3 days.

But here’s the topic for the day: Sleep.

Now, I’m not going to go out there and say this is scientific or anything, but here’s what's been going of for me.  Over the past few months, I’d been getting a “healthy” amount of sleep. You know, 8 or more hours a night pretty consistently.  Yet, waking up was getting harder, or at the very least, not easier.  This went on for a while, and I kept thinking it was just my body “catching up” or something like that.  But after a while with no improved  results, I decided to try a different approach. Rather than getting lots of sleep, I decided to start sleeping less. Staying up later working on stuff, even getting up earlier.  And guess what?  It’s been better. I now wake up before my alarm most days (don’t always get up but whatever) and over all I am more “awake” feeling all day.

So, I’m not sure what I’m suggesting with all this, maybe nothing, but it’s been working for me. 

Selfish vs. Selfless

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about is the whole idea of selfishness vs. selflessness.  I've been pondering how it is we are truly called to live.  Wondering how much “stuff” is too much and how much is the right amount.  Wondering how it is we’re able to truly love those around us.   How do we justify what we have and what we continue to buy when there are others not too far away who are dying with nothing. What’s the level of comfort that’s fair for us to exist in, and what would be a good point to start our giving at?

I don’t really have the words to express my thoughts yet…all I know is that it’s a big topic.  I have no easy answer…just the thought that we all need to thinking about it more. And then doing something about it.

Food for Thought:

At Kids Zone this month we’re running a contest and have challenged the kids to help raise money to buy gifts for families around the world with Children’s Camps International.  Last week on of the leaders was talking to a little boy who had brought some coins.  It turns out he had earned his money by making paper air planes at school and selling them.  

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

More thoughts to come later… when it all makes more sense…

Wii Fit plus

Today I became more healthy.  That’s because today, I discovered a love for the wii fit. 

Now, I remember scoffing at the idea that a video game with a little white pad to stand on could be capable of helping me exercise, and there was no chance it could be fun too, but I was wrong. 

After being tested by the cute little white pad, I picked my trainer (I call him Ian) and got to work.  To work on my balance that is.  With so many options of games to play, I barely even noticed as my legs started to burn ever so slightly.  Then, to make it feel like I was actually working, I did a few of the strength and yogo exercises too. 

It might not be for everyone, but with the cold feeling of a long Manitoban winter setting in, the wii fit is looking like a fantastic replacement to trying to get myself to run in the cold.  

Laughter

Laughing… who thinks about it?  It happens or it doesn’t right?  A few weeks ago I heard a statistic that said “Children laugh about 400 times a day. Adults laugh an average of 15 times a day.”  From that point on I desired to laugh more. I don’t want to be an average laugher… I want to be a child.  So, I have been trying to see the humor in situations and sometimes, create humor out of situations. 

Like on Monday, I was texting someone I didn’t know very well, and I was not paying much attention to the screen.  As I was about to hit the send button I glanced at my phone and saw that instead of typing “That's fantastic” I had typed “That’s Erotic”.  Cue my laughter.  Good catch Steve, good catch.

I recently read the following “Laughter is so contagious, it can even reach epidemic proportions. In 1962 in the African country now known as Tanzania, a few schoolgirls began laughing uncontrollably. Their laughter soon spread to people in neighboring communities. Schools were closed to keep others from catching the laugh bug. The epidemic subsided after six months.”  How ero- I mean fantastic is that!

So to sum it all up, here’s a video that’s good for you. Enjoy!

Today it begins

Today is the dawn of a new day. The turning of a fresh leaf. The…well, you get the picture.  Put simply, today is the day that I begin writing about the things that happen in my life.  I believe God has challenged me to express in some way the lessons he is teaching me, and the experiences I am living through.  As a very private person by nature, this feels like a daunting task, but who am I to argue with God?  I hope and pray that you will be blessed by the posts on this blog.