Back on the Wagon

Hello Everyone!

I'm back on the blogging Wagon (ha!) I know I'm bad when it comes to this, but I thought I would give it one last attempt. I do enjoy blogging when I get a chance to do it, I'm just lazy! Anyway, so where to begin?

Well for one thing I got the job of my dreams a few months ago. Still working at the Vancouver Aquarium but got the position of the "Interpretation Specialist - Family Programs and Members Events!" (Trust me, it sounds more important than it is!) Basically I am in charge of educational programming for the general public at the Aquarium that is directly geared towards families - and kids. My programming usually has a high musical/storytelling content. The second half of my job is members events. There is a huge membership base at the Aquarium and we offer after hours events for them. My responsibility there is to be a liaison between the interpretive department and the membership team to try and make those events as engaging and as interactive as possible.

To sum it up, I play with toys half my day, and talk with people the other half. Life is good!

On another front, Shawna and I have pretty much settled at a new community: Tenth Church. Tenth's Blog can be found here. Tenth is a great church that embodies everything I love about Church. It's genuine. It's real. It is love. We have been attending their community at Kitsilano Secondary School on Sunday mornings for almost two years now, but only in the last 6 months or so have we really taken a step and rooted ourselves in the community. I have been very active working with the children's pastor to try and come up with new and innovative ways to get the kids engaged as well as to connect the kids church with the greater community. Shawna is a sunday school teacher, as well as starting up a small book club ministry. The book club was short lived but heped her learn a lot about building something like that and will give her the tools necessary to try something like it in the near future.

I think what attracted us most to Tenth@Kits was the fact that it was (and still is) a very young community. We saw an opportunity to be involved in the shaping of a new community of followers of Christ. We saw a community making mistakes and loving every second of it. It was that genuine desire to do good - and to learn when they stumbled that really made me believe that Tenth@Kits was the community for us. We've been very happy with the church so far and really think this will be our home for many years to come.

I have more to say - as I have a lot of thoughts, but this is just the beginning of my re-entry into the blogosphere.

Talk soon, internetz!!!

DP

Long overdue!

Take about your epic fails! My last post, well over a month ago was about how I was gonna get back on track with blogging. So much for that idea... I am gonna try again. Here's hoping I can commit to it. Blogging is a great outlet, and a fantastic way to share my thoughts with the world.

This post is gonna be about my job.

I really, really love it! Like a lot. There are so many reasons... For one thing, the people I work with are fantastic. They are so easy to get along with and are super understanding about my lack of knowledge (some of these people are ridiculously RIDICULOUSLY intelligent!) I have met some amazing people, chewed their minds and learned a lot about the animals at the aquarium (and am continuing to do so)

But outside of that, I need to talk about the philosophies behind it. Most people know that I've spent the vast majority of my (still young) adult life working in Children's Ministry in Church. If I had my way, I'd spend the rest of my life doing that... So, why all of a sudden am I so into working at the Vancouver Aquarium as an interpreter!?! Because I've suddenly got this incredible feeling of doing God's work OUTSIDE of church. Ok... I know we are supposed to embody Christ "and whatever you do whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the father through him." - Colossians 3:17 (Thank you Randy Hein) So this idea of embodying Christ, and doing God's work in my everyday life ISN'T a new concept to me, per se... But it's been rekindled and - to coin a Christian word - reborn in me! I'm rediscovering what it means to bring Christ with me wherever I go. And It's an amazing feeling!

So how is working at the Vancouver Aquarium helping me bring Christ to the world? Stewardship. Plain and Simple. Black and White. One of my favorite things about church and why I love working and living and breathing in it, is the connection that we have with God and his Creation. God has given us this world to love and care for. He has entrusted us (his greatest creation) with one of his best creations! THE WORLD IS GOOD! He wants us to care for it and love it! And I do, or try to everyday! And my workplace is amazing for that very reason. There is a feeling of stewardship... Of owning up to our actions... Of actively Changing things. Without being a Christian organization, they are doing exactly what (I believe) Jesus would want. From arctic Climate Change programs, to research to save Dolphins from Fish nets, to a carbon neutral footprint by 2011... This place understands what it means to care for the planet and all the life on it!

Everyday that I bike in to work, a smile washes over my face... because I know that God is smiling down on these people. They may not know it, or believe it, or accept it... But I believe in the depths of my heart that God looks to my workplace and screams "This is GOOD!"

Although i am only there on a very casual contract which is very quickly coming to an end... I have learned so much thus far about the science of marine life and more importantly what it means to take care of a gift as precious as our planet. And that's something I'll always carry with me :)

I know that was a very cheesy entry, but I've been meaning to write about it for a while. It's been burning up inside me. There it is :)