How big's your back seat?

No no no no no no no, I am NOT asking about the size of your butt. This is a legitimate question relating to priorities (again). Things that take less priority get "put in the back seat", "on the back burner", "hidden in the back of the closet", etc... though a couple of those phrases could also refer to inappropriate teenage hijinks! Ha.

Anyhow, it seems to me like I'm driving a mini-bus these days (i.e. - lots of back seats) and I just keep chucking everything back there and now there's a pile of stuff all over the seats. Mind you, I've completed some important things and been working steadily....I'm being picky but in a healthy, evaluative way I hope!

One month into 2008 and I'm cleaning out the back seat (which is far too full).

So what about the size of your butt?? ;P

Yeeeee hah, family for the first time!

Well, I am about to meet my wife's sister for the first time. Being a Polander (is that right?), she has never made it across the pond to visit, nor have we made it there. Alex was in Poland the year before we got married, so that's the last time she's even seen her!!

For ten days, we'll be family in our home! AND, to top it all off, because Becca has finally come over to N.America, Alex's mom and other sister will be coming for the weekend too! That makes it Brent (1) and Morataya Delgado girls (4). Ouch :P

It's going to be great to have this group together for the first time EVER!!!

Missing in Action

My wife has left me. She has her reasons...good ones even:

Needs to travel.

Wants to help others.

I didn't clean the toilet in time (no, I still haven't cleaned it thanks).

Ok, so she didn't leave because of the dirty toilet, nor any other negative reason; she is away on a missions trip to the Philippines! She left on Sunday night (Monday morning) at 2am and I haven't seen her face since 1:15am. That's just over 40 hours. Not so long, and not our longest time apart, but the kicker is that there are 264+ more hours to come on top of that! I miss her terribly and hate being without her.

The thing I realized last night is that everything really does change when you get married. I was 30 on the day of my wedding and had experienced a whole bunch of singleness in the years prior to that blessed day. But in all my days of being single, while I may have had lonely moments, nothing matches the loneliness I felt last night. It is the proven reality that you can only really miss something when it's gone (i.e.- you had it before and now you don't)...

When I was lonely as a single person, it hurt. It was sad. It was depressing. But I didn't know what I was missing. I was never really aware of any void.

Now, there is a VOID. It's big, it's bad, it's ugly. Something dramatic and significant (all-encompassing) has gone missing and left a hole where it once sat. Crazy kind of lonely.

I don't bring this up to drum up sympathy or tell a sad tale. I bring this up because today, for the first time in my 32 years of life, I can at least begin to understand what it might be like to lose someone. I will see Alex in 264+ hours (God willing) and the void will go away for me. But there are many without that great fortune. So today, think about someone in your life who may be staring at that void and pray for God to love them like He's loved no other, that they may be touched by the richness of HIS mercy and the comfort of His peace.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

What did I miss?

November 17th.

Becoming less of a last-minute guy has real consequences. There was a time in my life when I could do anything anytime...a real free spirit! Not only that, but I could improvise at the drop of a hat. Last-minute, no problem!

The first problems with 'last-minuteness' came up within personality conflicts with people at work. "What?!? You want me to plan HOW far ahead? You're insane! Why would you do such a thing?" Well, needless to say, some give and take resulted from these mature conversations and I learned to plan further ahead while others learned to 'go with it' a little more... ahhh the beauty of balance.

Now, it makes sense to me to plan some things months in advance. Set dates, do legwork, prepare for changes, etc. It works. This past Saturday, however, I paid the price...

Lance in concert at House of James. Out.
Pre-release Mutations and Monsters Heroclix Tournament in Richmond (exclusive to only 30 people...I was signed up 3rd and had to cancel once I realized the date!!). Out.
UFC 78: Bisping vs. Evans. Out.

All because at a youth pastors' lunch in Cloverdale in September, we decided to plan a suburb-city event for our youth. Cloverdale Younite. We set a relatively random date of Saturday, November 17th and rolled out of the meeting. Sounded great at the time.

In fact, it wasn't until Sunday evening, November 11, that I realized all of these events were converging upon each other....a huge mess of social impossibility. And all because of a random date set months before at a lunch. Oh, to have Last-Minute Man back again... sigh.

Of course, that would've put me into awkward territory, having to decide between Lance and Heroclix (remember, my first ever exclusive pre-release). Glad I didn't have to choose :)
The Younite went well also, so I'd say it was a win all around. Though Last-Minute Man would've had some greater flexibility, PLAN-IT-AHEADER (a lame super hero name to be sure) made some early choices that saved later turmoil (having to choose between Lance and HC). Go dude!

In other news, my LT Panthers were knocked out of the playoffs last Thursday, getting thoroughly beaten by the unbeaten John Barsby Jr. Dawgs (from Nanaimo). Quarter-finals of the provincials. Not bad, but this team could have done more had they worked together better. Always next year ;)

Games

Day 2 of the Basketball Renewal Sessions begins in less than an hour. Awesome.

Football playoffs begin for my team tomorrow as we travel 3 hours to face our #2 seeded opponent. Should be fun. Nothing quite like a bus trip with a bunch of stinky 14/15 year olds ;P

I almost purchased Settlers of Catan (plus Seafarers and Cities & Knights) yesterday but I didn't pull the trigger. I love that game and my wife and I are hosting games with a friendly couple on Sunday (haven't seen them for awhile) so it made sense to play that then. But I didn't get it. I still think I'm saving up for the next Heroclix set instead...we'll see.

Games are very enjoyable for me. I am competitive like crazy, so sports are good, board games are good, group games are good, pretty much anything. Sudoku and Solitaire are even fun for me! The only games I don't like are emotional games, like between people who are deceiving each other. Those games suck. Yup.

That is a weird note to end on, but there it is. Game-playing: good all the time unless you're hurting someone! HAHAHAHAHA!

O how I missed thee

Sweet sport. I've been playing floor hockey for near two years now. I'm not a lifelong ballhockeyer... I grew up on other sports like soccer and football, and later, basketball. These were my staples and I threw in some volleyball and wrestling. No hockey of any kind. Weird for a Canadian, prairie-raised, outdoor rink having boy. But true.

When Zion's Mens' Ministry decided to start a "Mens' Night" floor hockey became the game. It started out with a mixture: volleyball, followed by floor hockey, with table games and xbox outside the gym for those not playing sports. It was a nice enough mix. But hockey began to dominate as others dropped out... leaving only hockey players. So mens' night was now floor hockey night. It's been that way for close to two years now...

As mentioned above, I was a floor hockey novice. I had much to learn and I worked hard to do so! I did learn the game and I'm at least average now I'd say. Yeah, average. And that's not so bad. Lately though, I've been having lower back trouble and floor hockey is a tough game with a bad back or so I've found. I've thus been sidelined and even when able to play, had some other commitments these last weeks. Obviously, ball hockey has been on the back burner.

Well, some chiropractic and massage therapy have helped out my back, but I figured out that what would really help as well would be stretching combined with good activity. Basketball. Ever since I began working at Zion, I've wanted a bball night. I've played on the church softball team, been a regular at floor hockey, coach football every fall and spring, but I've been missing bball. My true love. It can't be beat as a playing sport for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm competitive enough that I enjoy any sport, hence two years hacking away at floor hockey, becoming average. But I'm actually good at football and basketball, and we all know what playing football does to guys as they get older (can we say unrecuperatable injury folks?)... so bball has been my thing.

I haven't played a solid game of adult ball for years. I used to play twice a week until both places got shut down cause the leaders with keys couldn't make it anymore. That happens. So I've been missing out. I tried community centres (in Vancouver, it's called small ball-so many asian people and I'm too big and tall - it's really not that fun). I tried outdoor courts (dirty ball, dirty shoes, dirty players). I looked into mens' league (not many out there really, but I have too many evening commitments to make that fly). Every once and awhile, I'd remember that I work at a church with a great gym and I should start my own night each week. Why has it taken so long?

Tonight we played for the first time. Ten guys (with more to come next week), full court, competitive basketball. Heaven in my backyard. I'm happy about having my game back :)

Nerdiness

What is your source of nerdiness? I believe firmly that each one of us, no matter how cool we might be, has an underlying nerdiness (geekiness, whatever)... so what is yours?

I've always loved GI Joe. And because of my love for GI Joe, I expanded from the toys to the comic book world, which led to other comic books too... so, officially, I'm a comic book geek. That's the truth and I'm sticking to it.

The weird thing is when you embrace your nerdiness and begin to allow it to intertwine with other areas of your life. For example, I've always been hyper-competitive. That showed itself in sports, games, school, sibling rivalry...pretty much everywhere. Well, that competitive nature has driven me to love complex games requiring strategy, the more complex generally, the better. Lately, my geeky love for comic books has been influencing my competitive streak through the game Heroclix.

Imagine that this game's rulebook, including various errata (for mistakes/clarifications) and information is over 125 pages. They have more than three dedicated websites running forums where the rules/gameplay is discussed ad nauseum and not only is it complex, it's enhanced by a love for the comic characters you're using to play! Awesome!

So I'm a geek. I've accepted that. Good thing I'm also a ninja (another geek thing to deal with later). What's your geek love?

You're a youth what?

Youth L-E-A-D-E-R. I take punks and lead them. It's what I do.

Tonight, I was even so bold as to say that I am a good youth leader. I said it to them, and I meant it. Arrogance? Perhaps. Pride? Maybe. Yet I know I said it because if it is true, I know why I would be a good youth leader: love. It's not goofiness (see ->), intelligence, knowledge, or anything else. Just love.

God told me long ago that I was to love people. If I did nothing else on this earth each day besides loving others, He would be pleased with that. Of course He didn't tell me this in person, like a father/son conversation, but I know He told me. I picked up on that early. Now, I've wasted some of my days trying to be angry, trying to be correct, trying to be funny, trying to be popular, trying to be authoritative, etc... and unfortunately, I still do. I'd like to say I love all the time, but I don't. I want to (most of the time) but I still don't.

If I am a good youth leader, it's because of love. My Father has groomed me and equipped me to love, even in difficult situations. He gave me that gift and He keeps bringing more of it up and out everyday. Some days I'm simply not a great vessel, but He continues to fill me up more and pour it out. It's a great thing, love. I like it.

Change of scenery

A very popular question asked (possibly throughout all time):
What is your favorite season?

For me, it's tough. Winter has Christmas and snowshoeing...much fun, you should try it! Spring has my birthday, my anniversary, and the greening of the countryside after the "death" of fall/winter. Summer has heat, which I like, and great weather to do things outside. Autumn has the coolest spelling by far, the multicolored panorama of beauty caused by leaf-changing, and football. Hmmmmm....

Anyhow, this post really has nothing to do with that, except for one thing about the seasons that is painfully obvious to all: they mean change. Most people hate change. Loathe it. Despise it! It breaks routine and forces thought; shatters the ease of pattern for stuttered baby steps; removes continuity and momentum, bringing about the need for additional effort. Change sucks.

I generally like change. I enjoy thinking on the spot and being forced to derive solutions quickly but effectively. I like the quickening of the pulse it brings to organizations as attention perks up when people realize something is different..."What is it?" In my life, change has almost always been a catalyst to improvement and "the next step." Change rocks.

So what's changed, Brent? What inspired you to write about this today?

I altered my office. New desk. New chaise-lounge chair (well, it's really old, but new to my office-thanks youth room!). New shelving. And overall, an improvement. More modern, more effective use of space, more me. I've finally moved in (that's what Karl said). I like it.

As I write this, I'm looking at things differently than I have for a long while. Sure, some of that is simply because my computer screen is facing a different wall, but some of it is a breath of fresh air. A welcome change.

Absent minded

Wow, I hadn't read any of my posts in context at all (one after the other)... I suppose that reading them thusly could give the impression that it has been a very difficult time for me lately. I have been going through a lot, but I would say that I'm flying in a very positive sky these days (and no, I'm not high on anything).

The therapy I mentioned last post was/is massage therapy and before you think less of me for getting a massage and complaining about it, you should try a massage therapist. I have back/hip/shoulder issues and I've waited far too long to deal with them. Screwed up muscles get very angry with you and they scream A LOT. So massage therapy hurts. BAD. Take my word for it. I literally lost my breath a couple times last session and truly believe I was as close to crying from physical pain as I've ever been in my adult life. Ouch!

Times of realization are pretty cool and seeing as we just blasted through Canadian Thanksgiving, I would like to give thanks to God for His grace to me these last months and His blessing me with a loving wife, great friends/family, and a meaningful vocation in which to invest my days. Be blessed!