Blogger Block!

Hey, how are you all doin? Me I'm good, very busy but good! Have you ever had this happen to you? You have so many things going on and you want to share it with everyone but when you want to let it out, nothing comes out!!!! I seem to be suffering from Blogger Block! For the last 3 to 5 days I have been logging on and looking at this blank box not knowing what to write. I tried several times but nothing seems to be coming! I seem to have lost my blogging self. Maybe I'm just too busy, maybe I've lost my focus or maybe It's just plain laziness, whatever it is as of today I am shaking it off committing and refocusing myself.

Does this ever happen to you? You focus on too many small things that the important ones seem to be left aside? I struggle with this regularly and would like some suggestions, comments or advice to help me.

Talk at you later

Marty

I'm still here

Hey everyone yes I'm still here and still alive! Actually probably more alive than ever, WOW this has been a busy week! I ran around all weekend getting stuff, buying stuff, delivering stuff I had stuff to do coming out of the ying yang!
We are adding a garage to our house and the framing started this weekend, we put up some walls, started the roof and started to get everything ready to get the concrete floor installed. We worked from 8am until about 4pm, then I had to go inside shower change and wait for Rob and Heather to come over because we had dinner plans. Last week the members from Bikers Church gave us a gift card for Baton Rouge and got us some hockey tickets to go see the Sens game at ScotiaBank Place. What an awesome night, excellent food, great company and excellent tickets! I feel so incredibly blessed to be working for such a great bunch of people. You could never ask for anyone better! I am so proud to call these people my family but this will be for another post! So we get to the game and go to our seats and we start walking down, and down and down 5 ROWS FROM ICE!!! I was so close to the ice I was expecting someone to come and tell me to move because I didn't belong there. What great tickets Thanks everyone! We finally got home went to bed. The next day was church, more construction, yard work, birthday party for my daughters' friend, birthday dinner with out friends and finally home in bed by 8:30.

I'm really looking forward to just sitting in my garage and enjoying it but until then we still have a roof to finish, doors to install, paving the driveway, cement floor, siding on the walls etc... I guess I'll be resting sometime in January 2011.

I'll keep you posted on the garage as things happen!

Talk at you later

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Another year another birthday

Good morning everyone, today is October 15th and it's my birthday! Now before you start saying how conceided or self-absorbed I am or that I'm only looking for people to wish me a happy birthday, let me explain to you why I love to celebrate my birthday.

You see 5 years ago my wife gave me the best birthday present ever, 5 years ago I became the happiest and most blessed man on earth, 5 years ago my whole world was turned upside down (most days for the better, some days well not so much), 5 years my twin daughters were born. For those of you who can't do the Math my twin girls were born on my birthday! This event is usually a very special event in anybody's life, having a kid born on your birthday but what makes it even more special for me was the fact that we, my wife and I, were not supposed to be able to have kids. After trying for 7 years we were told that we had a 1 in 50 million chance to have a kid if everything fell into place perfectly. So to have my twin daughters born happy and healthy on my birthday was the best gift EVER!!!!

So even though today is my birthday, the focus on the day has been and will always be on my daughters. They grow up so fast, it seems like only yesterday I was at home feeding every 2 hours, changing over 20 diapers a day a preparing 14 bottles of formula every day. Now at 5 they are my little ladies my little princesses, we can talk to each other, we can reason with each other (well most days), we can play together and most of all we can just hang out together and have fun. I love them to death and I am very fortunate to be able to share their day with them.

Happy Birthday Jessica and Tracey-Anne I hope you have the best day ever today. 5 years ago today was the best day of my life and it has only gotten better since then!

Love Papa

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. I'll be honest with you this holiday never really meant that much to me in the past. It was just a long weekend right before my birthday and I used that as an excuse to go out partying and drinking. However now Thanksgiving has a deep significance for me. It really is a time to reflect and be thankful for everything we have, both as individuals and as Canadians.
This year and every year I'm very grateful for the people at Bikers Church. They have and continue to encourage me, support me and sometimes challenge me to be a better person. I am accountable to each and every one of them and I am very proud to be part of such an awesome family. I am thankful for my parents who have been married for over 40 years and have been a terrific example of how to do the "couple thing". But most of all I am thankful to God for my family. My wife and kids mean are my inspiration, my strength, my "raison d'etre". I am who I am today because of God and my family. He has given me the strength and the desire and they make sure that I follow the right path.

So to them and to all that read this blog I thank you and wish the happiest Thanksgiving ever and to my American friends I wish you a happy Columbus day.

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Technology

So I was eating breakfast and an older couple beside me started talking to each other about what's in the paper. I overheard their conversation, OK I listened in on their conversation and they were commenting on technology today. He was complaining about all the stuff available out there and that all he wanted was a colour TV. Nothing fancy, no HD, no stereo and nothing flat! Just a plain TV with a tube like the kind he had for over 25 years. I couldn't help it anymore I started talking to them about all the stuff he was complaining about and he said things were moving way too fast now. He said he had to change his stereo system last month and now he has nothing to play his vinyl records in all three speeds, 33, 45 and 78. And now he has to replace his 25 year old TV. He has never owned a Beta or VHS and will never own a DVD player, he still has a rotary wall phone that works very well thank you, without call display, call waiting, call forwarding and best of all without voice mail instead he has an answering machine!!!! I just tought to myself that I would love to visit this couple's house. Then he said "don't get me wrong, I'm not against technology just the speed of coming out with new stuff that sometimes isn't as good as the old stuff. I buy a new car every 5 years cash, I have a brand new high efficiency furnace and a brand new energy smart central A/C unit. All my appliances are space and energy saver appliances. It's the luxury items that I have trouble with. $3000.00 TVs that come with only a 1 year waranty, stereo systems that are replaced because they can't be fixed, cell phones that are out of date the minute you leave the store and don't get me started on computers!!!"

He's right you know we don't fix things anymore we dispose and replace. We recycle plastic bottles, plastic bags, cans, paper etc... but we throw out computers and monitors every 2 to 3 years, we buy mp3 and iPods every year and get rid of the "old" stuff because the new software doesn't match anymore. We buy stuff at 20x times the price and it last 1/8th of the time that the older unit lasted. Don't get me wrong I'm a gadget junky and would love to own everything that comes out but I can't afford it so I buy used stuff from people that have buy the new stuff. I figure I'm about 2 years behind the norm. Technology does have it's good points though. I had surgery this summer and was out of the hospital in 3 hours and back to work in 1 week. I have a some friends battling cancer that would probably not be around today if it wasn't for technology, we can do more, touch more lives around the world in 5 minutes than we could in 3 weeks.

So I ask you are we addicted/consumed by technology or are we just not satisfied with the stuff we already have.

Talk at you later

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Higher Standards

OK so here is something I've been battling with for a little while! This is the main reason why I have a lot of trouble when people call me Pastor Marty. There are other reasons why I have trouble with titles like: we don't usually use them at Bikers Church, people tend to see you as the position and not the person, there seems to be a change of attitude when you're around, when you use a title MY attitude can change when it SHOULDN'T, I don't feel like I'm ready and sometimes I don't feel like I deserve the title but most of all, and this is the kicker, I sometimes wonder if I'm being judged with a higher standard! Can I as a person make the same mistakes and be forgiven more easily than I as an assistant pastor. Since I am still an assistant pastor do people forgive me more easily than someone who is a Pastor like Rob, Jason or Barry? In other words if I made a mistake would I be judged more or less harshly if I were an assistant pastor and would I be judged more or less harshly if were a Senior or Lead Pastor.

Let me give you an example, if I make a promise to someone as Marty and I don't follow up for whatever reason (forgot, got caught up in something else etc...) would people judge me more or less than if I made the same promise as assistant pastor or Pastor Marty. Take the same example and use Rob, Pastor Jason or Pastor B. would they be judged more harshly by their members than if they made the same mistake in a non-christian setting? Now please get this straight I'm not talking leading people astray from biblical teachings because the Bible is very clear when it comes to Pastors or elders leading people astray, I'm just talking day to day "people, regular Joe" stuff. Stuff like disciplining my kids, bumping my toes on the corner of the bed and yelling out certain words in anger or pain, cutting someone off on Highway 417 or even worst getting cut off on the 417 and the non-christian thoughts that could come out of my mouth! How harshly would I be judged if someone from BC heard me, compared to someone from work. Is it better to be human or does a title prevent you from doing that?

So I ask you, what standards do you set for your Pastor, assistant pastor or leadership team? Do you set the same standards for yourself? Are we all truly created equal or are some judged by a higher standard than others because of position and title?

Just wondering

Talk at you later

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What an awesome weekend

What an awesome weekend, the weather, the riding, meeting friends and family and doing new things! If you haven't been out for a fall ride in the country yet I strongly encourage you to do it! The leaves are at the peak of perfection, the weather is crisp but not cold (OK so -1 was a little cold on the bike this morning!) and although I hate to admit it the days are getting shorter and shorter. So get out there and go for a ride!

This weekend was the annual Bikers Church Fall Colour Run and we had another amazing day of riding and of course eating. But we also did something special this year we raised some money for a local biker that went down this summer and lost part of his leg. He is a great guy that used to come out to BC and when we found out that he got hurt we all rallied together and decided to help him out. We had over 60 bikes come out and participate in the over 300km ride. And when we were done we went back to BC where a BBQ and warm coffee was waiting for us as we pulled in.

I just wanted to thank the organizers, the road captains, the cooks, the coffee people and everyone that volunteered to make this day such a great success. Without any of you this wouldn't have been possible.

Talk at you later

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One of those days

Today has been one of those days! You know those days you wake up and know something, heck everything is going to go wrong! It started with my daughters waking up in a miserable mood yes both of them! Question do women start PMS at the age of 4? I digress, than getting ready for work I put on my full gear to jump on the bike. As I slip on my brand new back pack the strap breaks! So I jimmy something so that it can hold together. I get to work and realize I forget my access pass my lunch and my cell phone! At least I made it to work. I start my day by heading to Starbucks and realize I forgot my Starbucks card in the car, did I mention I'm on the bike. So I'm forced to make a decision either put a $2.00 cup of coffee on interac or get more stuff to at least cover the service charge. So I pick up a $7. 00 breakfast sandwich to go with my coffee. At lunch I decide that I have to go home to get my forgotten stuff. As I pull into the driveway the bike slips on loose gravel, clay and mud and I end up dropping the bike. I pick it up quickly to assess the damage, cracked fairing, bent break pedal, bent handle bars, busted turn signal, road rash on the elbow and twisted ankle! Did I forget to mention that I was on a borrowed bike! That's it I'm staying home for the rest of the day!

I'm going to give up on Friday and look forward to Saturday! I'm going to bed where it's safe.

Talk at you later!

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Another day another month

October 1st today! Wow where has the summer gone? Seems like only yesterday I was getting the bike ready for the summer. With all the rain we had this year it feels like we only had 1 day of summer. But looking back on the summer that never was, or so it seems, I accomplished a lot this year. Even with all the rain I still managed to put over 15,000 kms on 3 bikes (3 because mine was out of commission several times this year thanks Rox and Scott for the loaners). So as I sit back and think about all the things accomplished I find myself smiling and thinking maybe this was the summer that was after all.

Some of the things that I wanted to accomplish this year were:

1. More mileage than last year. 10,000 last year over 15,000 this year and still some time to go, not bad.
2. Start a French Bikers Church. We managed to temporarily secure a location and started with 4 monthly services on Wednesdays working on updating the website and made connections with other French Pastors.
4. Go out and connecting with new people to promote both French and English Bikers Church. At one point I was out almost every night either on the market at the show and shine or the Tim's in Rockland.
5. Get Roxanne to ride more this year. After a slow start to her season and the fact that I had her bike for almost 3 weeks at the beginning of the summer August and September have been really great riding months for her.
6. Read more books. I read more books this year than I have since and including High School.
7. Spend more quality time with family and friends. Nothing says quality time and closeness like two rainy weeks in a tent trailer when on holidays.

And last but definitely not least!

8. Get more hands on experience doing ministry. What an awesome summer for me this year when it comes to ministry, I preached in 5 different churches, prepared and preached over 6 times and every time a different message, got to know some new people, volunteered at 3 different churches and helped at our own events! As much as I am proud of these things what I'm most proud of is the fact that we had excellent BC representation at EVERY one of those events. I got a feel of what it's like to be part of a real team, no wait that's not strong enough, a real family of people who want to give and serve.

So looking at this list I now realize that sometimes we can be blinded by negativity when it comes to weather, finances or lack of time but if you actually sit down and think positively and change your outlook you can come up with a list of great things you did. Don't focus on the rainy days focus on the fun you had with your kids going to Cosmic Adventure, don't focus on the electrical storms and power outages this year, focus on the stories read by flashlight or the candle light evenings with your spouse. Change your thinking and your outlook and I'm sure you will find a lot of great things from last summer.

Oh and by the way riding season isn't over we still have another 2 months of riding left.

Talk at you later

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