Easter Long Weekend

I had a fairly busy easter weekend. Amidst trying to accomplish some research for a bunch of papers I have due at the end of term... I actually ended up falling privy to a few other activities. Friday evening the students and many others from the university community gathered for a good Friday service. In this we followed the easter lectionary used by the Celtic community in Northumbria. We walked through various rooms of the school and stopped to read different reflections on the accounts of Jesus as he carried the cross to Golgotha. It was a good way to come together as a group of people and meditate on the event that defines our faith as Christians and as people. After that I went and hung out at a youth cafe that happens every Friday night at the church I go to, playing some games and hanging out with some of the youth from the church.
Saturday evening we had a Space party in recognition of our friend Sam's day of birth! The only stipulation for coming to the party was that one had to wear something space related. My buddy Dave and I dressed as Robots, as you can see. I'm the happy robot on the left and Dave the less happy one on the left. (yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to place the body and head of my smiley happy robot in one of the stalls of the girls bathroom... I haven't heard of any reaction yet, but I at least thought it would be funny to inadvertently walk into an unusually happy robot occupying a toilet seat)
Sunday afternoon the school came together again and had the annual easter egg hunt, which included the annual hunt for the great easter bunny (this year my friend Dave was the easter bunny and had to hide in some deep dark corner of our 100 year-old residence).
Also on Sunday the Masters of Ministry students arrived home from their two week trip to Greece and Turkey, which from looking at the pictures is completely amazing! I can't wait for my trip to Europe!

George MacDonald

I just wanted to put in a good quote from George MacDonald (1824-1905), a writer that I'm researching for one of my classes. The quote is from one of his writings on the theme of Dryness.

"That man is perfect in faith who can come to God in the utter dearth of his feelings and desires, without a glow or an aspiration, with the weight of low thoughts, failures, neglets, and wandering forgetfulness, and say to Him, 'Thou are my refuge.'"

In addition to the new look of my blog, I put a little question you can vote on, on the side bar. Be sure to put in your vote! It's just for mine and your amusement, and those are all some of places that I have been or would like to go.

Acadia National Park

Other than relax at the farm last week, a few of us also took the time to go to a sliver of Acadia National Park on the Schoodic Peninsula. It's funny how we all went to the cabin to escape the school, and then I needed an escape from the cabin and went to the ocean. The time was well worth it. I don't want to explain the experience with words normally used because I'm afraid of giving an explanation or at least an impression not worthy of the experience. I was fronted with the rawness and beauty of the ocean and the landscape where the water meets solid ground. Driving through the trees, coming to an escarpment of rocks leading into the water. The tide was coming in and the waves were coming in harder. There was no one around for miles, just the three of us that decided to go. We followed the road farther along the coastline of the park and, coming around a bend, found the road opening us up to a small rock beach. The beach was flanked on either side by a corridor of solid, but not terribly high, rock that made up the bulk of the peninsula. It was an area that could have served as a small harbour if the rocks weren't so jagged and the water so violent. The waves were forcing their way in, some of them at least two meters high. Given that I'm a prairie boy and haven't lived by the ocean most of my life, and even with my experience in New Zealand and its fantastic ocean-scape, I don't think I have ever experienced waves that were so tall. The three of us just stood and watched the waves come in. I was trying to take pictures and videos, trying to capture the biggest waves or snap a shot just as one was breaking. Here I took this picture of Katie, with her standing on the rocks, watching the waves come in.

Reading Week in Maine

Alright, so its been almost three months since the last post. I think the best thing to do is jump right in. So far I've survived the East Coast winter with no resentment, yet I'm looking forward to warm weather and more of the sun again. This last week was my spring/reading break. A group of my friends and I decided to spend the week at a cottage close by and found a great little place situated on an organic farm just off the coast of Maine. The farm is home to a collection of animals, pigs, chickens, goats and sheep, the most notable animals being the horses, which are Norwegian Fjords. These are used as the working power in many ways around the farm whether it is plowing the fields or pulling carts and wagons to collect timber or the sap collected from the Maple trees. To be honest, I didn't get too much reading or studying done, but it was definitely a break away from studies and the routine of life at a small university.