This past week we have been camping in the Whitewater region near Renfrew, ON.

It has been relaxing being in the outdoors, even if I haven’t been sleeping the greatest in the tent.

I spent some time down at the lake tonight before supper with my oldest son. It was nice just looking out over the lake and the surrounding trees. We also spent some time talking.

It definately is a change of pace being out here. I like it, it reminds me of the series I taught in Catalyst called “God is Green”.

Tomorrow, I might try and rent a canoe for an hour or a kayak.

The vacation on the Cape is going good. It is the off season, so there are a lot, I mean a lot of business closed for the season.

We took a drive down to the elbow of the Cape to Chatham. We stopped at the Chatham Lighthouse.

Then we went over to the Fisherman’s Wharf. Saw a couple of fisherman prepping their boat. Would have liked to see a boat unload their catch.

In the evening we went out to find some real fish and chips eateries. That was harder then it sounds, due to it being the off season. I am sure we paid a premium for it.

After that we drove over to Cape Cod Bay to watch the sunset. Nice and peaceful. I could see myself having prayer walks in that setting. I had a little talk with God while sitting down with my daughter.

This past weekend I thought we had a session for Catalyst. I sent the invite out in our Facebook group.  However, I didn’t realize that this Sunday was an appreciation for the Sr Pastor.  So, due to the length of the ceremony, there was not enough time remaining for us to be dismissed for Catalyst. So there is not too much of a recap. It was an interesting morning even though we didn’t meet.  After the service was completed, there were a few comments that came my way about Catalyst, that I figured I would share.

A couple of the members of Catalyst said, that there were really hoping that we were going to have our session this week.  They said, that they thought the series has been very interesting, and the use of the CNN film "Planet in Peril" very effective. This was from both someone that attends each week, and someone that has only been once.

A father of one of the young ladies that attends Catalyst came over and said that his daughter has been talking up Catalyst at home.  He said, that she has been telling him she likes the format, and the way I have been presenting.  Always nice to get some good feedback on how it is going.

About four of the guys from Catalyst were telling me about how they spent Earth Hour.  One of the young guys said that he and his parents were sitting in their apartment in candle light, he said they all enjoyed themselves just sitting around talking. They all said that they participated in the event because of what we have been talking about in Catalyst.

This past weekend we continued the CNN show, "Planet In Peril" as part of the God is Green series. We have about 30 minutes left in Part 2.  The major portion that we viewed this weekend was dealing with deforestation of the Amazon Rain Forest, and the disappearing of Lake Chad in Africa.

The story of Sister Dorothy Stang that was murdered in Brazil because she was opposing ranchers and loggers was a very interesting part, and got everyone’s attention.  Also, because this portion of the show talked of the importance of what the rainforest means to our planet that God created.

At the end of this week’s session, there were lots of questions due to what we watched.  Very good questions and small discussions.

Tags: CNN, Planet_In_Peril, God_Is_Green, Lake_Chad, Africa, Amazon_Rainforest, Dorothy_Stand, Brazil, deforestation

From the book, "Everything Must Change" by Brain McLaren.

"The suicidal unsustainability that Monks, Anderson, and Richard describe can be detailed in a thousand ways. For example, one-fifth of our planet’s tropical rainforests have been cleared since 1960, and rainforests are currently receding at 1 percent per year. According to Worldwatch.org, we are currently operating at one hundred to one thousand times the normal extinction rate, which means that today, one in four mammal species, one in ten bird species, one in four amphibian species, one in five reptile species, and half of all primate species are threatened with extinction, with 5 to 20 percent more in each category falling to near threatened status. In our lakes, rivers, and oceans, fisheries are being depleted at twice their replacement rate. And speaking of water, by 2020, one in three people with suffer from fresh water shortages. As I hinted at earlier, many of these shortages will be exacerbated by global warming, the aptly named ‘inconvenient truth’ powerfully communicated by former US vice president Al Gore…..If nations want to avoid war over diminishing resources — whether we’re talking about oil, clean water, or arable soil - Daly says, they ‘must both consume less and become more self-sufficient.’ Yet the priests of theocapitialism give the opposite advice: ‘…we should become less self-sufficient and more globally integrated as part of the overriding quest to consume ever more.’ Daly concludes, ‘That is the worst advice I can think of.’"

Tags: Brian_McLaren, Everything_Must_Change, books, creation, nature, worldwatch.org

This past Sunday morning, the rumors were true….we had another session for Catalyst.  We picked up where we left off with the "God is Green" series.  To be honest, I felt my speaking was a little rusty, being at the end of the holiday season, no sessions for a month, and finishing up my two weeks of vacation from work. 

That being said, I felt the session went really well. It had some flow and interactiveness with those in attendance. The topic was, "The Earth is the Lord’s". I spoke on the fact that there is need for us to connect with creation because we are living in a man-made world and the world is making us sick/ill. The ancient scriptures talk about healing spiritually not about getting HDTV and 500 channels or getting the SUV. We can find God in His creation. Still waters, green pastures.

I challenged everyone to find a place that consists of only God made things and make a point of restoring our connection with God.

Now we have some in Catalyst that pretty much stay within the confines of the concrete jungle of the city. Even though Ottawa has a lot of green space within the city, they do not get to those places.  I challenged them to try to find one spot, even if they have to find a small patch and try to block out all "noise".  It might require shutting off the cell phone, blackberry, ipod etc.  I told the story of the last two nature walks I have taken….you find that when you are there you can feel the stress almost lift off of you.  A peace that you can connect with, when the "noise" is reduced/eliminated. You find something that you need. Behind that creation that you are going through, you find the Creator.

This past Saturday afternoon, my daughter and I went to a new set of nature trails that opened up just South of Rockland. These trails are located in Bourget, called “Lavigne Nature Trails”. It was an very quiet time in the forest, and a few times, we just sat in the snow and listened to the quietness, talking about how God created all of it. It was a great time together, and was very peaceful and uplifting. After a few kilometers of walking, my daughter’s legs got tried, so I had to piggy back here the rest of the way to the car. We will definitely being going back to this set of trails.

We did some photo walking, pasted below are some of the pics we took.