michael p fast

2011-02-06T16:34:00.000-06:00

I like analogies. I think Donald Miller does too because his book “Searching for God Knows What” is full of them. Miller compares our lives to being stuck in a lifeboat with a bunch of people vying for survival. He also ponders what an alien would think of humanity if it visited earth. Most of his analogies are hilarious and witty but also well thought out and insightful glimpses into life and faith. Analogies however can only go so far and sometimes it seems Miller gives his analogies too much authority. Either way the analogies still make you look at life from a fresh and often funny perspective.

I also liked “Searching for God Knows What” because Miller is honest. He relives events from his youth and college days with transparency and openness. I got the sense that Miller wasn’t trying to hide anything while writing or make himself out to be a hero. Miller often makes a point at the expense of his reputation by telling a story that pokes fun at himself. Miller brings you along his life journey with his honesty and reflects on the lessons he learned along the way. For people who have been hurt by or burned out from the organized religion of “Christianity”, Miller’s book offers a new perspective. It could almost be compared to finally sitting in the front seats of a roller coaster after several rides sitting behind the smelly big person who is holding their hands in the air the entire ride. Like I said analogies can only go so far. And trust me Miller’s analogies are much better than mine. Thank you to Thomas Nelson for sending me a complementary copy of “Searching for God Knows What” for my review.

2010-05-02T15:33:00.000-05:00

Will the world end in 2012? It’s a question many people are asking these days. I wanted to know if it was true and what had convinced so many people that the world would end so soon. So when I found a book titled “Will the World End in 2012? A Christian Guide to the Question Everyone’s Asking” I eagerly picked it up hoping it would provide some insight and clarity into all the hyped up myths. Raymond C. Hundley, the author of the aptly titled “Will the World End in 2012?” does exactly that.
Writing in everyday language, Hundley discusses ten of the doomsday predictions and the probability of each of them happening, one prediction per chapter. It appears Hundley has done his research and documented his findings scrupulously. Hundley presents facts and dates well and still makes the book readable and captivating. The author states his own opinion at the end of each chapter often in a skeptical yet unbiased approach. Some “end of the world” theories Hundley discredits entirely while other doomsday predictions seem much more probable. Even though Hundley is writing from a Christian perspective his observations throughout most of the book come across as unbiased. The final chapter in the book focuses on preparing for the end of the world should it come. Hundley provides the reader with reason for hope even if the world comes to a destructive demise in 2012.
Thank you to Thomas Nelson for sending me a complementary copy of "Will the World End in 2012? A Christian Guide to the Question Everyone's Asking" for my review.

2010-03-28T13:27:00.001-05:00

Just seeing if this thing still works

2007-03-27T17:06:00.000-05:00

surfs up in b-town

2007-03-14T09:04:00.000-05:00

So I apologize to anyone who ever checks this, I havn't posted in a while. It's been pretty busy this last little while, with school, coaching and playing hockey working and coaching football has started too. I have also been trying to take a break from using my computer all the time to only when I need it. So if I don't post again in a long time well, thats were I'm at. I am still alive and loving life and the end of school is in sight. But I am trying not to look to the end but live in the here and now. Although I can't help but take a little peak here and there.

I found this penny the other day. Not that anyone cares but me being a bit of a history guy I thought it was kind of neat. I mean think about it, this penny was around during the depression, when a penny could buy you a motorbike... well maybe not but at least a stick of chewing gum. Speaking of motorbikes, I saw the first one out yesterday and I would be out too if i didn't have so much homework and it wasn't minus 10 today.

2007-02-01T18:36:00.000-06:00

a frozen lake, broken doors, and a beautiful day

Well it's been pretty busy lately with hockey and homework but it's good. Last weekend my uncle and his family, my dad, my brother and I went to the cabin to check things out and do some kite boarding. We flew down in my uncle's otter, a big bush plane that, can almost take off in the same distance as a helicopter. Well not quite, but I was definately surprised at how soon after he pushed the throttle the wheels lifted off, definately not more than 4 or 5 seconds.

Once we got out there we quickly realized that the boathouse and cabin had been broken into. But after a quick inspection, it seemed that the thieves didn't really take anything except some fish hooks. We don't keep a lot of valubles in either place, but there definatley were some things that were worth more than fish hooks. And it didn't bother me so much that they took stuff, but just that somebody would go to somebody's cabin and smash the doors in. I guess nobody is invisible even if your in the middle of nowhere.

My uncle forgot the pump for the kites, so we couldn't do that. We had lunch/supper and fixed the doors, and by the time we were done that it was starting to get dark so we packed up the plane. Funny thing when we tried to leave the skis had frozen to the snow and my uncle gave it full power but we didn't budge. After a few trys I was ready to jump out the door and try to pry them free with a 2x4 or pour a cup of hot water on them (bad idea). Just as I started to open the door the skis broke free and we were off. The take off was just as quick as on the way in and pretty soon we were airborn over the barren blanket of endless trees and ice, flying towards an orange horizon and home. Wow God's creation is amazing!

2007-01-27T21:39:00.000-06:00

amsterfaction

Well I had to take this video off the bottom of the blog because apparently it was screwing things up. I wanted to keep it on here so here it is. I think I made it about four years ago so hopefully that explains that first part there.... yeah. And apparently this blog is still screwing up, so I will have to try something else.

2007-01-23T17:36:00.000-06:00

capes reunion...

So I should have posted this sooner but we had a mini-manitoba Capernwray reunion a while back. Ty, Karalee, and Chris were able to make it down to my place. We fried up some burgers and sat in the hot tub, reminiscing about the good times we had at capes and the things that we learned and how and what we were doing now. It definately was a good time and we will have have to do it again soon. I totally forgot to take pictures, I guess I was so engrossed in our game of dutch blitz trying to work my way out of the negatives all game.

Adrian, Andrew, my uncle Dylan, my dad and I did some kite boarding. We had one good day of winds and one day of pretty poor wind. But Adrian and Andrew are in Cuba right now enjoying the sun and warmth and doing some kiteboarding on the ocean. Lucky bums.

Anyways not much else to report here except that January is almost over and you know what that means... that's right February is almost here. Whats so exciting about February I don't know but I'm sure there will be some wicked awesome classes at the University of Manitoba, and some intruiging textbooks to read. woot woot.

2007-01-11T16:49:00.000-06:00

We took unofficial family pictures this Christmas after my mom had bugged us enough. It's not that I don't like taking family pictures, it's just that we don't have somebody to take them for us so suddenly we have five people trying to line up the subjcts and get the angle and lighting right, when none of us really knows how it should be done. And it doesn't help that our tripod is from World War II. So this is us, all in our places with smiles on our faces and at least everybody's eyes are open. I'm making it sound really bad but it was actually kind of fun seeing what kinds of fun pictures we could come up with. I think this was Adrian's idea for a shot and I'd say it was the best one.

2007-01-05T14:36:00.000-06:00

To the Island and Back Again

Last week was an amazing time with new and old friends on Vancouver island. Joel and I left on Christmas day, cheap flights to blame for that, and we were supposed to arrive in Comox that evening. Our flight got delayed from Calgary to Vancouver and we missed our connecting flight from Vancouver to Comox. But we got a free hotel room and between the two of us we got sixty-eight dollars to spend on food. But because it was Christmas day, unfortunately most restauraunts outside the airports were closed so we only got to have supper in Calgary. And it was good, except for the blue cheese burger that Joel ordered. The next day we got a flight that left Vancouver at 8:30 for Comox so all in all it wasn't too bad. The first few nights we stayed at the Bowers' place and had an amazing time. We did some fun stuff with fun people like tubing, constellation creating and trying to figure out the dynamics of the shadow on the moon. And Lindsay learned how to spell her name "Linds" not "Linbs".

Joel and I got to go snowboarding up to Mt. Washington and got two days of terribley good weather. It was fun to board with the Bowers and have them show us around the mountain.

The next few nights we stayed at the Jacobson's and had some good relaxing time hanging out and we got to go to the Langdales for some good times and pie. Jen, Joel and I also had the privaledge of taking Kaylee(?) for a walk/multiple bathroom breaks. Our trip definately was a fun one and we got to meet old freinds and make new ones and enjoy what the island has to offer.

The day we left we got to go to Resonate church with the Jacobsons. It is always encouraging and being there and this Sunday they wrapped up their series on Ephesians by reading the entire book. A couple passages really stuck out to me but Chapter three verse twenty really hit me were it says God can do abundantly beyond all we ask or think. That is incredible. I havn't even thought of all the good things God can do. Even when I think I know what would be best, God knows whats even better than my best.

Then on Wednesday Niki left for Capernwray in Texas so we got to hang out one last time on Tuesday doing some Christmas returns and exchanges. I was determined to try to get a pair of jeans (trying on clothes is not my strength) but after making the critical mistake of only taking one pair into the changeroom, I realized I was screwed so I gave up after that one and settled for some board shorts.

Then on Wednesday Joel, Josiah, Trevor, Simon, Darrick and I went snowboarding to Frosty. Things started off well with a grouchy boarder crosser agent women. I could tell one smart answer from us and we would be in the "garage" watching the van get ripped apart so we were very polite. Boarding was fun till things starting melting and sucking. Mainly the snow did the melting and I did the sucking. Josiah nailed a gap to front board and Joel landed a nice grabbed three.

And then University started Thursday... Agh. It's over.

2006-12-19T00:17:00.000-06:00

Tonight I had my last exam which was probably the simpelist exam I have ever taken in my entire accademic life. Here's a quick sampling of the questions see how you do:

1. Draw a shape that has 5 symmetries.

2. Draw a coffee mug changing into a mask in three steps.

3. Write the first ten numbers of the Fibonacci sequence. (ie. 1,1,2,3,5,8,13... just pick a number and add the one before it to get the next one)

4. How are math and art related?

If you answered these questions correctly you passed the exam because it was only out of seven questions. So after that i hurried home for our college and careers Mexican Christmas party. Somehow I was dumb enough to forget my camera but i snagged a couple pictures when I got home. So tell me I'm not dressed up like a Mexican, oh well, the spanish stache is the clincher. And the shades are thanks to Gully, all the way out on the island. Adrian dressed up like Nachoooooooooooooooooooooooo! I wish I would have got a picture of him he looked pretty impressive.

Less then a week and Joel and I head out to BC to visit freinds and hopefully get some snowboarding and surfing in. Apparently the mountain is getting dumped on a fair bit, so, ya I'm getting giddy.

2006-12-13T21:17:00.000-06:00

Today right before my exam instead of craming till the last minute, my brother and I went kiteboarding. I hope it will pay off. Adrian has a couple kites and today he pulled out the biggest one and let me fly it. I was a little scared that I would suffer the same fate as piglet in that winnie the pooh cartoon where he blows away or something. Fortunately that didn't happen and we had a pretty fun time. It was a good warm-up for the boarding season but I can't wait for the snow to seriously fall and we can start hitting the "mountains"/hills/floodway banks/lumps, around here.

2006-12-07T23:26:00.000-06:00

Joel you are a hero for finding this video. whoa man. I don't usually endorse crap like this, but this one is too funny.

2006-11-01T16:07:00.000-06:00

So after playing hide and seek with us a few weeks the snow has been found and by the looks of things is here to stay. The ground is covered, the temperatures are below zero and the roads are icy. That means that in only a little while there will be ice on the outdoor rink. The rink is a place that brings up so many memories of fun, and frozen toes and fingers. One time when I was younger, we stayed on the ice for a couple hours when it was probably around minus twenty. It wasn't that it was rediculously cold but I guess by being out there so long, somehow both my big toes froze solid. And the bad thing about freezing toes is that you don't notice it at all. It's like a silent killer. Only after you take your skates off and start to walk home you realize that you can't feel your toes and then when you get home the pain sets in. My toes swelled up and blistered so bad. I couldn't put my skates on anymore and I was determined to go to hockey practice the next day so I used my brothers skates because there was a little more room in the front for my swollen toes. Bad move. I shouldn't have gone to hockey that day, it hurt so bad. But my toes don't freeze as easy anymore, I guess it was like conditioning and a step in becoming a real Canadian prairie boy. Whenever winter roles around and I think about the outdoor rink, I think about that book that we always read at school, "The Hockey Sweater" by Roch Carrier. I know it's about the Canadians, but the little boy and I have some things in common, hockey is like our escape from school, and we both dislike the Maple Leafs.

But not much has been going on around here lately. The Franklin Graham festival has come and gone and it was pretty neat to go and here the truth about Christ from a pretty famous guy and hear some bands that proclaimed the same message. And to hear stories from people that accepted the life that Christ has to offer, for the first time, was pretty encouraging. University has been going well, it's a lot of work to stay on top of things but for the most part I enjoy it. It's fun to meet new people and make new friends. Coming into University I thought it would be just like a mall and nobody really cares about anybody, and it is to some degree, but I guess everyone is in the same boat so it's fun to step out and talk to people and get to know them and see how they react. Some people put on that look like "hey loser, why are you bothering me?" but most people are open to talk and thats been fun. And I found this crazy big fish, turtle and dinosaur at school! I thought it was worth a picture. It has nothing to do with anything really I guess. I know I havn't posted in a while so sorry to you who actually check this thing the odd time. Have a nice day.

2006-10-10T16:41:00.000-05:00

Today it's snowing. Yes it's snowing and somebody said we're supposed to get 12 centimeteres! I kinda doubt it but you never know I guess. Yesterday, my brother and I built a drop in off our shed to hit a rail on snowboard. We got the snow from the arena and hauled it in with Adrians truck the night before. It was a little sketchy at first and it felt like I was going to hit the swings the first few times. But it got better and we dialed a couple tricks till Adrian biffed it a few times hard and the snow started to melt so we called it a day. We took it all down after and then what luck, it snows the very next day! Oh well, there will be many jumps built and hit this winter anyways. And the forcasters are calling for a long cold winter... whoa man.

On Sunday the football team I coach had their last game. It was a fun one, we took an early lead 1-0 and then promptly went on to loose twenty something to one. But the guys had fun so thats good. But the good old Chiefs beat Arizona on Sunday so that made me happy. And Thanksgiving was good although now that I think about it I never had turkey once. But there is still a lot to be thankful for even though I never had turkey.
Then there's the whole North Korea situation that could get ugly... but it's a good reminder that God is in control of everything.

2006-10-01T22:34:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a definately a good one. Friday I got to play some hockey which is always exciting. On Saterday the football team I coach had a game. How did we do? Well, at least we scored one touchdown. I won't say how many the other team scored. On Sunday after church, Ty and I got together and Juliana and Betsy were reunited after 5 long months apart. They played on the highway together and had a lot of fun running around and making happy motorbike noises. Ty and I had some good burgers at the Half-moon restuarnt in Lock-port while the "girls" rested outside for a while.

Monday was back to school, but after we had college and careers at our place. We went over the message that was given in church on Romans 8. It made me remember hearing the same chapter at Capes and how it was there that it hit me in such a new way. And it hit me again on Monday, how abiding in Christ and living by the Spirit will produce the fruits of love in our life (John 15).

2006-09-28T15:33:00.000-05:00

Today it all kind of hit me, how I am at university now, and I could be for the next five years. Or more I guess, if I suck at it. But that wasn't the only thing that hit me. I also realized how much information there is to know. Some of it useful, and some of it completely pointless and just trivial. I also went through my Capernwray notes that I took a year ago and I thought about the notes I was taking now. I compared how the notes I took then were based on a book that I believed to be true, not just some textbook of something that happened or got proved or disproved or discovered by another Dr. Bob John at the University Institution of Graduate Studies. The Bible contains the truth that I base my life on, it shapes how and more importantly, who I am in Christ.

As I was going through my Capernwray notes, I realized that I drew a lot of dumb pictures and wrote down a lot of quotes. Here Jerry was talking to us about people looking at events in Israel and trying to predict when Jesus would return. I don't know why but this was one of my favorite quotes. Maybe it was just the way Jerry tucked his chin in and giggled after telling us one more time that he learned to count in seminary.

"...even a broken clock is right twice a day."

2006-09-26T13:00:00.000-05:00

adrian throwin' down

betsy III and juliana on the way fromedmonton to tilly.

ty didn't want to stop for this shot but i'm glad we did

once upon a time arron and i went prawn fishing...

just another sunny day in mexico...

2006-09-14T13:43:00.000-05:00

So here goes my feeble atempts at making a blog. If this is my last entry, well at least I tried it and if this is not then I'll be...
But I'm at university in U1 taking some general courses and maybe someday getting into education down the road. Other than that there isn't much going on right now. So it's mike, signing out, hopefully not for good.