SUPER NATURAL BRITISH COLUMBIA

Now that I’ve run the Sun Run I’m officially a Vancouverite.  And although I still don’t like Poutine, and I can’t say “eh” without smirking a little, I’d like to share the 5 things that I love about Canada. 

1.  Kindness – Canadians are genuinely nice people.  When I’m driving, they always let me into their lane.  People smile and chat with each other everywhere and anywhere.  Except for at the  border, Canadians everywhere have been so friendly and open with me.  I don’t think it’s just me, they are nice to everyone.  Canada has never been a melting pot – they are comfortable letting each cultural group retain what makes them unique.  Sure, that causes occasional misunderstandings, but it makes living in Vancouver a true international experience. 

2.    Cheese – You’ve probably already seen on Facebook that I complain regularly about the price of dairy products in Canada. I’m not going to go into my rant about Canadian cheese, because I have noticed, when I buy and eat cheese here in Canada, it tastes better than American cheese.   I tried to find out what the difference between America and Canadian dairy was…and this is what Google gave me:   

Well then.  In any case, I’ve decided to please my wallet and my taste buds by eating lower quantities of cheese, but higher quality. 

  

 3.  Crime – Since we've moved here, Canadians love to tell us how safe they are here.  The kids at Deer Lake School think the US is full of  gun-wielding crazies in malls and public schools     everywhere.  I’m not thrilled with the violent crime that seems to permeate the American subconscious and I know different groups of Americans have very different views on whether the ability to own firearms = more crime. But I just saw in the paper that Vancouver just had its 4^th murder of 2014 (pop - 600,000 people).  (YES – that’s FOURTH,  I didn’t miss any digits.)  By my American standards, that seems crazy low for a densely populated international city.  When I looked at the stats for the whole province of British Columbia (pop 4.4 million), there were just 71 murders (1.5 per 100,000). The state of Maryland, population 5.8 had 372 homicides (6.4 per 100,000) in 2012.   Maybe it’s the wide-open spaces, maybe it’s the cold weather, maybe just maybe it’s because guns are hard to get around here. … but when you look at the numbers, we’re quite safe here.

            All stats taken from the following websites: 

                     http://www.goccp.maryland.gov/msac/crime-statistics.php

                     http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/legal12a-eng.htm

 

4.  Active and Healthy Lifestyle –After all those statistics, I don’t want to look at any

more numbers.  So I’m going to stick to a purely subjective view of the how healthy and 

active Vancouverites are.  Since we’ve been here, we’ve tried to be like the natives and 

enjoyed running,hiking, and skiing.  There are bike paths everywhere, and kayaking and 

stand up paddle boarding are popular even in the English Bay and False Creek, with 

views of the skyscrapers in the City.   Although I love visiting the harbors of Baltimore 

and Washington D.C., I wouldn’t dare dip even a finger in any of those waters, for fear of

catching some horrible disease from the pollution. Some of my best childhood memories

at the harbor also included a dead fish floating nearby. Good times.   

There are also scores of vegan restaurants and health food is sold everywhere.  You can

probably find flax seed at 7-11; it’s so popular.  This is going to be a surprise to my 

Maryland friends, but  I’m finally giving into a healthy lifestyle by blending my own 

spinach smoothies and vegan cashew "cheese". 

  

4. The Scenery – This is my view while dropping my kids off at school every morning.  It’s pretty spectacular.  The East coast of the US has its own special beauty, but the Pacific Northwest is quite gorgeous when it’s not raining.  While the sun shines, we enjoy snow-capped mountains, hiking in the forest and unspoiled beaches a short drive away. Sabbath afternoons at the park now include mountain and ocean views that this green east coaster can’t stop exclaiming over. 

                                               Super Natural British Columbia.  

5+.     Yes – I’m basically adding a number 6.  There are so many wonderful things 

about B.C.that I can’t stop with just 5.   The first thing I noticed when visiting camp

meeting here 2 years ago, was that it has a family feeling. Because the population here

is so small, and the people are super polite, everyone knows each other.  It’s a feeling of 

community within a metropolitan city. When I ran the Sun Run this whole community 

surrounded me with smoothies and hot sauce (a Sun Run staple, in my opinion), swag 

bags, a shared commute on the Sky train, and general hilarity that made exercise super

fun!

Although I still consider myself an American, I'm going to try to be a little bit Canadian, and not complain so much on Facebook and my blog about ex-pat living up north. Life in Canada is not soo bad, now that I'm living like a Vancouverite! 

Psalm 23

At the writers conference that I attended last week, I learned that to become a writer, I need to write.  Duh! I know.  But the instructor of that seminar recommended writing a million words.  A MILLION WORDS?! !!!  Then I'll  be a writer?  Yikes!  But what should I write about?   One of the suggestions was writing translations - putting your own voice and words to a favorite passage.  The one we used in our seminar was Psalm 23.  Here's my verson:

PSALM 23

CRV (Canadian Rej Version)

 

God, you are my keeper.  Because of your goodness, I have everything. 

You give me rest and peace, a quiet nap on a sunny couch in the middle of a busy day.

You are my GPS in life.  You lead me through customs, through borders, into strange lands. And I’m not scared.

Because you are with me.

You are my best friend. You hold my passport and my Starbucks.  They give me strength and energy.

You take me into the tasting room of a restaurant that I never thought I’d be able to afford.

My palate is tingling.  My pants are unbuttoned.

Your generosity and love are with me, everywhere and always.
And I will rest in your arms forever. 

Heaven is for Real - Movie Review

I’m not a big fan of Christian movies.  After seeing Kirk Cameron in one of the Left Behind movies, I didn’t want to waste another cent or another hour watching these poorly made, judgmental or ooey gooey syrupy sweet tales.  But today was a rainy Easter Sunday and my kids were sad that our church picnic/egg hunt was cancelled, so I took them to see Heaven is for Real. 

I wasn’t expecting much but my kids are at an age when they are constantly asking questions about the Bible and our faith.  So, I thought it would have some interesting talking points to encourage dialogue in our home. 

I was surprised that I liked it. It's not a fun Disney flick or an Oscar contender.  It’s a tearjerker, if anyone you’ve ever loved has died.  The surprise was that the movie was just as much about the idea of doubt as it was about the existence of heaven.  Greg Kinnear (whom I’ve loved ever since his performance in As Good as It Gets) gives a stellar performance of an affable family man, who also happens to be a pastor.  I loved his sensitive and tender performance.  He’s a busy dad, who loves his family, but is also struggling financially, emotional, and physically.  When his son needs an emergency surgery for a burst appendix, he gets angry with God, and there begins his journey with doubt. 

If you know a pastor, you know a pastor who has wrestled with doubt. Let me tell you, as a pastor's wife, this movie shows many real life moments from the life of a pastor’s family.   It’s a real life moment when their kids sing, “We will rock you” right after they sang “This little light of mine” in the car.  It’s an uncomfortably real moment when Pastor Burpo has nothing to say from the pulpit on Sunday morning. It’s frustratingly real that this pastor is holding three part-time jobs and he’s still struggling financially.  And it’s an intimidating real life moment, when his church considers firing him, because he speaks honestly about his doubt. 

The one thing that wasn’t very real in this movie was the portrayal of Todd Burpo’s wife.  I don’t know her real life story, but in the movie, she was a stay at home mom, who always stood by her man. She had a terrible singing voice, yet led the choir/praise team. If this is true, it’s just sad.  I think they were trying to make her endearing, because I just wanted to put my hands over my ears. She didn't have any other other talents to share?  She had little to say about their finances, her son’s talk about heaven or her husband’s doubt.  I don’t know many women who would be that uninterested or unwilling to speak their thoughts about life and death in their own homes.  Maybe that’s because I’ve always been an urban pastor’s wife, or a pastor’s wife with a big mouth?  But I have to wonder: It is already hard for Christians to deal with the fact that their leaders wrestle with doubt…  Can Christians deal with a real portrayal of a pastor’s wife?

I think it’s fairly obvious if you read the papers that pastors have a high burnout rate.  Roy Oswald of the Alban Institute, in Washington D.C., says stress and burnout among clergy wives is as high as for pastors. In fact, pastor’s wives are often more stressed, because their husbands struggle with work/life balance.  And guess who is left to pick up the pieces. 

A study from the FASICLD (Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development) in 1998 reported that 77% of the pastors we surveyed felt they did not have a good marriage. Lack of communication and finances are two of the top reasons couples get divorced.  So it would be fair to say, if one spouse is struggling with financial pressure and religious doubt (while also being super busy dealing with the problems of others), there is going to be some marital strife. 

Yet in the movie, after Ms. Burpo tells her husband that they are $40,000 in debt, he barely responds.  She smiles and says they’ll be ok.  No crying and screaming?  Come on.  After Todd Burpo goes to a stressful church meeting where the board tells him that they are going to look for a new pastor, he doesn’t tell her about the meeting at all – until she asks later the next morning.  Really?  Is that a healthy marriage based on good communication? 

However, in the movie, the Burgos are seen displaying a lot of physical affection (snuggling and kissing enough to make my kids squirm).  I assume this is because as everyone knows in the movies, even Christian movies, sex solves everything.  I was a little disturbed.  Towards the end of the movie, it is apparent that Ms. Burpo doesn’t share in any the questioning or reasoning that helps Todd decide what to do with his doubt.  Instead, he is shown working out his ideas on an old typewriter downstairs.  And all by himself, not through prayer or reading the Bible, he decides that he believes his son’s story.  Thanks to the existence of heaven he says, “We don’t ever have to be afraid.” Sweet.  
Well - well maybe we do have to be afraid of mischaracterizing pastor's wives as stepford wives.    

 

Anyway, besides my feminist rant, the movie did meet my standards for Christian movies (which is a lower artistic standard - sad but true).  If your kids are asking lots of questions about death and heaven, I would still encourage you to see it as a family.  My 9 year old had lots to say afterwards: “I believe it’s true, mom.  In the Bible, God speaks to lots of people.”  I like hearing things like that out of the mouths of my kids.  Even though my own beliefs about life after death do not match the views presented in the movie, I believe that I could be wrong.  And that’s ok.  God works in mysterious ways, and I like a good mystery. 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8 NLT