Paradox Porch: September 2005

And with that...

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

Oh yeah, baby!!

BREATHE deep

The fall is here, schedules are filling, and we all need space to live.

It’s hard to keep going each week without some margins for peace, fun, and connection, so...

EXHALE— part of the BREATHE experience, is an opportunity to relax, talk, listen, laugh, unwind and be refreshed.

Tuesdays at 7:00pm at the Elephant & Castle pub in Richmond, come and enjoy your choice of beverage, munchies, and some engaging discussion on provocative topics.

It’s a little ‘AAAHhhhhh’ in the week.

Nomenclature

Just in case you were wondering...

Michael Flocker, American author of the US bestselling The Metro-Sexual Guide To Style (Da Capo, 2003), defines the metro-sexual man as a:
“1 – twenty first century male trend-setter
2 – straight, urban man with heightened aesthetic sense
3 – man who spends time and money on appearance and shopping
4 – man willing to embrace his feminine side”

An urban straight male ranging in age from late teens to mid 30's who is: good looking, stylish, fashionable, trendy, cultured, & well groomed. A metro sexual is very conscious about his image and looks in public. A metro sexual is often associated with getting manicures, facials, & massages, as well as using "products" and shopping at nice clothing stores. However, metro sexuals don't necessarily engage in each of these activities.

Straight is good. Stylish is good. But let there be no mistake about it...

MEAT IS GOOD. HOCKEY IS GOOD. RUNNING IS GOOD. Massages are only good if they are SPORTS massages! I'm always willing to embrace my feminine side--my wife! Never had a manicure, never had a facial. Product is good--bait, tackle, running shoes, bike, skates, cd's, etc. By the way did I mention MEAT IS GOOD!!!

Just BREATHE

God has been doing amazing things that He’s privileged us to participate in. That might sound a bit presumptuous, but we really believe there is a lot more going on than what we see. Answers to simple prayers, unusual encounters, challenges and breakthroughs, all have the scent of the eternal. I’ve listed a few of them here so you can be inspired and encouraged, (I hope).

Since our last update in April, we have been granted federal charitable status. This is huge, as you can well imagine, and something that our BREATHE community is very thankful for. We are now able to issue tax receipts for the contributions, tithes, and support we have and will receive. God is good. Please pray for our ability to maintain integrity and honesty in all we do to honour this status, and to use the resources that God supplies, to His glory.

Our website will soon be alive and active thanks to the good people at Motiontide Media. By early October you’ll be able to visit us online at www.breatheonline.org to join in the conversations, ask questions, meet people, and get information and practical help. We want our website to be current, engaging and helpful on the path of faith, so that even if you haven’t become part of the BREATHE community in person, you’ll be able to experience the community online. Hopefully visitors to our site will have the sense that it is...alive and breathing! We would be totally honoured if you would pray for this sweet resource and the tons of people who will plug in.

BREATHE welcomes Scott Cameron as our intern!! Scott and his wife Tami are from New York & North Carolina but truth be told, they are Vancouverites at heart! They have both been part of the BREATHE community for months. Scott, who graduated from Cedarville University with a degree in philosophy, is attending Regent College here in Vancouver. Tami works at the University of British Columbia in the classroom services department. Both are very active with BREATHE and are an incredible joy to know as friends. Scott will be facilitating the discussion at EXHALE occasionally, leading in worship and teaching at INHALE regularly, having triple (or is it quad?) shot espressos anytime with neighbors, and generally caring for the BREATHE community. It would be so cool to have you join us in consistently praying for Scott and Tami: for peace, good health, effective use of their time, holy imagination and a deep love.

As if all of the above wasn’t enough, (I’m not making this stuff up!) God has opened the doors for us to pursue the vision of offering a café, bookstore and gathering place in the Steveston area. The dream is being supported by people from all walks of life, and from every corner of the lower mainland and well beyond! It will be a place to enjoy amazing food, décor and people; a place to linger and to think, to rejuvenate and to explore, to relax and to sweat. And it will become the ministry home of the BREATHE community, the means through which we will, by God’s grace, achieve the mission He has given us:

As people created for community, and through our dependence on the living God, we seek to provide a warm and inviting setting, provocative and innovative resources, and a menu of healthy and creative cuisine, in order to inspire the imagination, refresh the soul and nurture the body; all within the context of deep, inter-dependent relationships.

This is a unique concept; a big undertaking that will be in development for months. We are relying on the prayers of our friends as we seek to honour Him in who we are, what we do, and what we are becoming, and in being truly obedient in bringing this fantastic dream to life.
Thank you for your prayers and interest, we are more than grateful. In the words of
Switchfoot:

We are learning to breathe, learning to soar in these abundant skies.

Totally like whatever, you know?

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

Taylor Mali