THE SNOW IS HERE, AFTER A 20 DEGREE WEEK!

A WEEK OFF AND HELLO TO CFA...
One of the beauties of shift rotation is that, sometimes, you get lots of time off. I just finished a whole week off, costing me not a single day of personal leave or vacation - sweet! It was good timing as I finalized some details before my move next week. It also gave me a chance to see how I would react to an extended period of non-structured schedule. So, it's an exercise of mental discipline to be productive on these days off. I can picture myself snowboarding endlessly in the nearby mountains, but I know that eventually it would be too costly. I've always been a firm believer of life long learning, whether it is formal or informal. I've decided to start studying for the CFA part I exam in June. The material is relevant to my finance-centred work environment. And because it is self-study in nature, it is very ideal for my oft unpredictable work schedule. So, the text books arrived this week, just in time for me to get into the routine of becoming familiar with the local library.

THE PURSUIT OF PURPOSE...
We often convince ourselves that realizing "God's Plan" is when we find ourselves in a state of happiness, which can measured in different ways: a certain degree of financial security, relational or familial stability, academic or vocational achievements, etc. It's like being able to cross off items on a checklist, and those that are thin in the blessings inventory have yet to discover the Plan, as if it was some proven retirement formula. But is it a guarantee that, if you commit to pursuing this Plan, you will eventually reach it? A prescription of scheduled prayer, a dose of Our Daily Bread and consistent tithing to be followed religiously? If you die before reaching 'it', have you failed by not trying hard enough, been an unknowing victim of a blessings embargo or, worse yet, been going down the wrong path? Listening to another 2 great sermons by Bruxy served as a good reminder that God's hope, all along, was to be in intimate contact with us. But because of how we've abused the freedom that comes with free choice, we have rejected Him; creatures made perfect that are now blemished by selfishness and judgmental tendencies. As a result, death, pain, loneliness and suffering now exist, which we then try to pin the blame on God and which has resulted in volumes of philosophical and theological commentary. Thus, the system needs to be rebooted, in a Matrix kind of way. Or more like it has to be redeemed/revitalized. But instead of focusing on the redemption voucher which is already available, we torture ourselves with discovering "God's will". In spite of the many signs pointing to the Father's desire (and our partnership) to heal the world, we find ourselves hoping that we will receive affirmation for a life of comfort, material luxury, false securities in relationships that are, by nature, broken, which then is all coined as blessings. Worse yet, in the pursuit of this will, other things get trampled: the environment (His creation that we were created to steward), other people (His creation that we were created to be in community with). Bruxy's last message of the "A Questioning God" series sums it best: in solving any problem (which God could do effortlessly without our incompetent assistance), He will always desire to do so in partnership with us. We just have to take the first step in laying down the "staff" that we are holding, where staff may represent financial means, status, and security, as it did for Moses. Take a listen: series = A Questioning God, title = What is that in your hands? So, what I think is needed is a recalibration of what it is that is being pursued; I really like Bruxy's story about his hampster, Snowball.

JENNY AND JOANNA AT THE SUMO LOUNGE...
I met up with another friend who was visiting Calgary. Joanna's a dentist living in San Francisco who's here visiting Jenny, another native Calgarian who has been helping me settle here. Both are people that I met during our frosh year at Queen's. We were nostalgic about how Queen's was so long ago, but it's amazing how so many of us 97's have remained close. We went for sushi at the Sumo Lounge. The fact that I've been craving sushi made this lunch meal that much more delicious! Sumo has an all-you-can-eat option where you sit around a circular bar where pieces are delivered on metal boats that are drawn conveyor belt style in a make shift moat. Kinda cool, though the 3 of us opted for the a la carte lunch instead.