Gems - part 6

Here are five more divine gems that have blessed my life.

Max Feener – my connection with Max was only year. He was the CO at North York who attracted Evie and I to Downsview rather than us taking positions at the Harbor Light. Max's passion to see the Kingdom build through evangelism and social ministry was clearly evident and emulated. His joy on the platform is the same joy that you see in the office and as he drives a car. He tries to make every decision by consciously asking himself, where is Christ in this process or how does this advance the Kingdom of God?

One of the most last impacts, and a gem of an impact at that, was when we lost two brothers in a drowning in a local creek. It took days for the bodies to be found and it caught the media attention. I was asked to do the funeral. The evening before the funeral I went through an outline of the service with the family. When I noted that I would give a nine to twelve minute message (which in seminary I was taught should be the norm) that Jamaican parents insisted that I needed to preach at least an hour. I was bothered about having to go four to five times the norm and that onlookers would be aghast by a sermon of that length. Max quietly noted, that I was there to serve the family first, to help them through the grieving and healing process, that if an hour’s sermon is demanded by the family’s cultural expectations then do it and not worry about the cultural norms of others from the community. Those wise words have been lives out in an array of situations and communities in which I have found myself over the years….bring the gospel to the community within their cultural context. What is relevant or will work in one context will be relevant and fail in another.


Clarence Bradbury – I have meet Clarence in several capacities over the years, when he led a brigade of Cadets at the Downsview Corps (now Yorkwoods), our Section Leaders at CFOT, while COs of the Oshawa Corps and as Principle of CFOT St. Johns. He is one of the few individuals who not only has a Christ-like pastoral heart, who is pastoral by inner nature and is not just a profession. No matter what his appointment, his pastoral nature dominates. He is a true servant who accepts the painful arrows with grace and forgiveness. Yet at the same time possesses a sharp mind along with a gift for expository preaching. When you speak with him you find that he is focused upon you and your thoughts. In many ways he reminds me of Denise Kinlaw. Clarence’s is a divine gem for being that thoughtful pastor by inner nature and thereby challenging me to move as much as possible in the same direction.

Al and Karen Hoeft – this couple were Session Mates of Evie and I. Nearly every Friday evening they traveled downtown to assist the Toronto Temple Corps with their Street Patrol. Sacrificial passion for evangelism and service flowed liberally from them. They are always upbeat and encouraging of others. They will go anywhere and do anything to help others and to build the Kingdom of Christ which they clearly demonstrated by joyously having a very extended appointment in Yellowknife. When few Officers would be willing to remain in the artic for more than three or four years, they were there for over ten. Though we have not seen Al and Karen in many a long year, they are an example of what happens when a married couple share almost identical gifts. They are true gems and I have been blessed for having them pass through my life.

Dr. Paul Egan – is a Jesuit priest and professor of Patristic Studies at the Toronto School of Theology. I only had Dr. Egan for one year long class, but it was a powerful one indeed. The demanding class brought to life the richness of the writing of the Early Church Fathers that are ripe with profound theological and philosophical thoughts. The challenge of summarizing the prior week’s three hours of lectures into 50 words or less was daunting indeed.

Besides the exposure of the early scholars of the Church, one of the most significant moments was a forty-five minute conversation I had with Dr Egan following a thirty-minute oral exam (no written exams, only orals upon anything he chose at that moment to ask for an explanation and substantiated opinion). Knowing that I was a Salvationist he talked about the importance TSA plays within the body of Christ, the value it brings by helping to raise the social conscience of the Church regarding the local poor, and how we carry a towel in one hand while the Bible rests in the other. He also went on to note that TSA is can face an identify crisis if we loose track of how Wesley rightly blended evangelism and social ministry as part of one work. Though he never elaborated further on Wesley, later readings in Wesley helped me to understand exactly what he was talking about (a blog for another time). When I left his office I had renewed appreciation for our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, and that in many ways they are more akin to the Army in spirit than are our many of our more fundamentalist brothers and sisters.

ACE Adventures

This is the fourth and last of my posting about our trip to West Virginia.

Following are some pictures from the ACE camp out of which we white watered on Monday. ACE (American Canadian Expeditions) has 1400 acres in their Beckley WV property. Though rafting is the focal point, they have a range of other activities from horseback riding to mountain biking, from caving to rock climbing. The facility has a numerous accommodation options, from kitchen equipped cabins with hot tubs to bunk houses to primitive camping ( http://www.aceraft.com/ ).

These pictures were taken Sunday afternoon just before we headed to the stables to take our horse ride. I love trying to catch action shots, and these along with a dozen others achieved my goal. Having a camera that can capture a dozen shots in as many seconds helps greatly to secure two or three action pregnant pictures out of one sequence.

These first four pictures show individuals using a zip line that ran from a four story tower. Other two pictures of are of people shooting off a plastic shout into the water. In the background of some shots is a water obstacle course.

We were impressed with the facility and the staff. The greatest difficulty was getting to this remote camp in our RV. As there is a bridge with a 10 ft clearance we had to take a back lane into the camp, a lane not much wider than our RV that was about 4 miles. Yes we will be going back, maybe for a longer stay...anyone want to join us?

Sunset Horseback Ride

The evening before we took our whitewater marathon Evie and I had a lovely sunset horseback trip, a trip which she noted in her blog. We could not have asked for better weather….warm but not hot, clear with just a few high thin clouds high above and a few puffy clouds to give the setting sun something upon which to paint with an orange glow. Taking pictures along the trail was next to impossible….taking pictures in a heavy forest would be difficult and demand a slow shutter speed even during the day. Adding the dying light pushes the camera further. Then adding to that troubling mix the shake caused by the gait of a horse and you have blurring pictures at the end. That said, I did get three clear shots from the horse, two of which are here. I was on the second horse and Evie was toward the end of the line (you can just make her out at the end of the line). The other was a quick shot of the New River Gorge from the Concho Overlook. The Gauley Gorge which we rafted is as deep but much more narrow and with high cliffs along most of its course.

The last picture is one I took of Evie just before she dismounted.

Going With the Flow part 2

If you have not looked at the blog posted earlier today, do so and then return to this one.



As promised, the other two dramatic pictures are below.

We are coming out of “Pillow Rock Rapids” and our line was a little off. The ramification of being off line can be dramatic. We nosed into a rock cut. I am in the front above the ACE sign and Evie is behind me. From the second you will see that gravity and momentum persuaded me to take my first swim of the day. The boat passed over me and picked me up about 45 seconds after my swim.

In the afternoon, four of us ended up in the river again, all three guys and Evie exited the raft as “Fuzzy Box of Kittens”. That exit was caught on video…yes we have the video of it.

Going With the Flow

Yesterday the expression “going with the flow” took on new meaning during our 24 mile trip down the Gauley River in West Virginia. This trip is ranked as the 7th most demanding trip in the world, only surpassed in North America by the 21 day trip down the Colorado (one full day is enough thank you, count me out for the 21 day trip). The Gauley is a class IV-VI river, with many Vs becoming VIs during the spring run off and during September when the draw down of the lake and hurricane rains increases the river flow three fold over summer levels and almost twice that of the spring levels. Today’s flow was nearly 2,800 gallons per second.

The trip was demanding, to say the least. We ran 100 rapids, of which 23 were class V or above. The trip included shooting a 14ft waterfall that then tumbles you into two hydraulics. There were several series where you crest over a swell only to plunge into a series of 5 to 9 ft troughs. There were 16 class IVs, 49 class IIIs, 7 class IIs and 2 class Is.

During the middle part of the trip, the river becomes gentle, which affords rafters to get out of the boat and swim in the cool water. At one part of this trip our raft pulled off to the side where four of us, Evie and I included, climbed up a 25ft cliff from which to jump into the river.

Along with the guide, our fellow rafters included extreme enthusiasts from Texas and an equally adventuresome couple (she is a therapist and he is retired from the airborne) from Michigan.

Below are some photos from the day. I will posting two more pic when I get a better connection in a few days.

The first photo is from the morning where we shot a class IV rapid that preceded the Pillow Rapids where I exited (pics to be posted in next blog).

In the afternoon, Evie traded places with a lady in the back who wanted to change positions. The last two are of us bracing for the first of shooting a cascade and the last of me bracing as we hit the first of three troughs. At this point I am trying to secure a leg into a hold as the nose of the boat and my feet go under the trough only to bounce back up again a moment later. We did not lose anyone here as other boats did.

It was a great day that started with breakfast at 5:45 and a 6:30 check-in. Evie and I have some sore muscles and, needless to say, when the lights went off we slept soundly.