One Wild and Precious
It's my mom's birthday this week, but sadly, she's not with us to celebrate. When I think about the age she was when she passed away from cancer, I'm reminded that I'm not that far away from her in terms of my age. If I were to live as long as my mom did, I would have about four years to live.
Road Rules
Sometime early next week, I'll sit in an airport terminal waiting for a flight that will take me across an ocean to a new destination. I know that I'll feel anxious but in a good way. It's the unknown, after all, but I've adapted well to it. I do well in places where I don't speak the language.
Values and Stolen Bikes
Being robbed is an aspect of urban life. It doesn't define life in the city, but it is a reality. When something like this happens, I'm angry and frustrated because we work as a family to make things better in the world, and it feels like our efforts are futile. In times like these, I feel like the world is laughing at our values, and it's humiliating.
Dark, My Old Friend
As a species, we've evolved to have survival instincts around living in the dark and prefer to live in the light. While counterintuitive, we need to grow our appreciation for what the dark brings to our lives here on Earth.
Your Calling
If you could do anything else with your life, would you be doing it? It’s possible you could have selected another company to work for or pursued a different role and title, but you would still be you.
Waiting to Fly
Life doesn't always give us defined waiting times. Life includes illness, job instability, tragedy, loss, and grief. Some phases of life can feel like an extended stay in a lonely airport.
Our Way In The Cold
There's a great deal of sadness, anger, and grief with the challenges around our more vulnerable neighbors here in the city. I feel sad, even just writing out the word neighbors. The word neighbor implies a relationship of acceptance and coexistence. The forced evacuation of these sites has proven that we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can say Edmonton is a neighborly city.
You Should Read More
I've done my best to commit to lifelong learning. My quest to become wise has involved setting a reading goal for myself at the beginning of the year. The act of reading doesn't instantly impart wisdom, but the exercise of reading has made my brain ready to catch and retain wisdom when it presents itself.
Time in a Bottle
If you had an expiry date printed on your forehead and you were aware of the time of your death, what would you want to get done? I believe there's value in taking stock of how much time we could have left on this earth.
Shepherds and Short Ribs
I wonder if the fear the shepherds experienced in the Christmas story was not just because they were seeing a supernatural event in the sky but because it was an army. Powerful armies have always been used to push aside and kill their nomadic people.
It’s ok. Make New Friends.
I transitioned away from full-time ministry 18 years ago this month and forged a new career in hospitality. After moving back home to Edmonton, I started my first job in a hotel. That first week was so awkward and scary for me. I
Keep Going, Keep Giving
Showing genuine hospitality is a constant test of character. It's a test because offering kindness, generosity, and care to someone doesn't always yield the desired results. You can walk into any human interaction with pure motives and still be attacked and misunderstood.
My TV Show Pitch
Dear television executive
I would like to pitch an idea for a new 45-a-50-minute reality-based show called "The Great Canadian Campfire."
Journey to Jupiter
I'm bothered that people are struggling to pay their grocery bills and have every reason to worry about whether they can keep a roof over their heads. Many of these people are the ones keeping the lights on in our communities across our country. I sense the fragility of peace in our present moment.
Risk Contagion
One day, I'd like to take a big risk on a dream. Throw myself into it and give it a go. Seize an opportunity to forge a project together that fuzes my passion with my career. My dream is inspiring and hopeful and would make the world a better place. But my dream is a tough one to pull off. It's big enough that I know it could quickly fail.
The Creative Grace
There are a lot of reasons to be afraid these days. We know this because our news feeds don't offer us a variety of stories to consume. The menu of the day seems to be a buffet of war, destruction, violence, and despair.
Scotch Reminder
The sky was cloudy that afternoon in the Scottish Highlands when I visited a scotch distillery about an hour's drive from Glasgow many years ago.
Tables and Walls
With terror and horrific stories coming out of Israel and Gaza these last weeks, I feel the deafening roar of both sides of the conflict in my ears. I find myself feeling angry and sad all at once with no clear direction on what I should believe.
Only Human
I'm not upset because I got sick. I've always known it was bound to happen at some point. I'm upset because I had to take time off work. I've always been proud that I'm rarely ill…And yet, a small rapid antigen test has reminded me of the following: