Top 3 of 2009

Throughout my life I have had some fairly definitive moments and it seems as every year goes by life become even more special than the last. This year in particular has been one of my most favorites.

Numero Tres.
Surfing is something that I always thought was the coolest thing you could do. I love the ocean. It is so powerful and mysterious. It scares the crap out of me and gives me great peace. Though I had been surfing at Tofino I knew I wasn't really experiencing the stoke that surfers talk about. I had never been able to ride the clean part of a wave. I always caught the white wash. Now there is nothing wrong with riding white wash expect that it's dirty and loud and really not very cool. So in order to achieve the stoke I headed to Costa Rica for two weeks.

Perhaps one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The beaches, waves, and people are extremely beautiful. Although everyone on the trip wasn't there to surf, I was. I woke at sunrise put on my SPF 60 and hit the beach. For the 10 days of actual surfing I figure I averaged over 8 hours a day in the water. Learning to surf was extremely frustrating. The constant battering of the waves. Your mouth and throat raw from the salt water. Constant gagging making you wish for just a single drop of fresh water. Finally making past the break I would just sit there probably for hours trying to recoup and line up for a set. Always in the wrong spot at the wrong time, I would miss wave after wave. Finally catching one I would eat ocean sooner than a jelly fish. This struggle went one for about 8 days. Each day I got better but also more and more frustrated.

With only one or two days of surfing left I began to feel as though I would never catch a wave. Through what was surely a miracle I saw myself in what seemed like the perfect spot for an oncoming set. I quickly turned my board and began paddling. The large lump of water was soon right behind me and it felt like I was about to fall down a ten story building. I pushed myself up and stood on the board. It felt like I was going 100mph the wind rushing past and everything going by in a blur. All of a sudden everything went quite, all things in my mind became focused and it felt like perhaps I just died. I don't know how else to describe that feeling. I don't know how exactly a piece of foam and energy can deliver such a feeling but i'm sure when God created this world He knew very well what hidden secrets the waves would give to His people.

Been a while

It's been a while since my last post eh? I have tried to "blog" but just haven't been in the mood. I haven't been in the mood for a lot of things. My job has consumed so much of me, that i don't know what I am apart from it. I don't choose to be a workaholic but the current situation allows me to work out of town 10 out of 14 days. Working out of town provides a substantial increase in income but it takes a toll on my spiritual and social life. I really miss my friends, even just seeing them.
This summer is a mixed bag of happenings. I have several wedding to attend, one of them being my mothers. A 10 day road trip on my new motorcycle. I saw an article on some of the roads in Washington and decided that I should experience them for myself. I hope to hit up the island and play some disc golf on Thetis and then make a dream come true by riding my bike to Tofino. Of course there will be a lot a hanging out with my west coast amigos.
Basically things are alright for me, i wish that i was of the loftier sort right now, but i'm not and i know it. If you would like to pray that i get some direction in this area, it would be much appreciated.
Till next time my friends,

Darren

My Man Weekend

This past weekend I had the chance to do some very manly things. First off, I went "wheeling" with my friend Mark. Mark is a member of the Edmonton Jeep Club and they organized this rally to go up to Ruby Falls. We left at 5 in the morning and spent the whole day driving up awesome trails and having a whole lot of fun. Mark's jeep did impressively well. Several other jeeps got really stuck and had break downs but it was anything the hard core wheelers couldn't handle.




Then to add to the testosterone, we went skeet shooting on Sunday. This is something that I imagined as being stupendously fun because, A: it involves guns, B: you shoot at things flying through the air, and C: what's better then shooting things with shotguns. My friend Dan and I split a box of 100 rounds and by the end of that my shoulder was pretty sore. Skeet shooting is ridiculously fun and I think i'm gonna have to get myself a shotgun. Haha.

Daily Bread

Today I ate seven slices of bread, two for my morning peanut butter and jam sandwich, two for my crunchy peanut butter on toast at coffee break, one slice of toast to go with my lunch, and two more crunchy peanut butters for my afternoon coffee. According to my loaf, that is half. I find that you can't go wrong with toast. As I have previously stated, I really like toast. But surprisingly with all this bread consumption I haven't been consuming much Jesus. I get these little urges to pray or read or to do anything but sit on the computer or watch tv, but it doesn't take much for them to go away. Then I wonder why I can't feel Him, or why it doesn't seem like anything is happening. I make up ideas that I'm in a low point of my spiritual walk and soon I'll be climbing back up that mountain really experiencing truth and peace. But really, I'm lying to myself and I'm lying to those around me. Sure I believe at one point I might have been a bit low, but I choose to become comfortable with that low, and made excuses so that I could stay at that low. I really don't feel like putting the effort in to get out of this low. I find it hard to believe that after all the blessing and amazing things the Lord has done for me, that this is the attitude that I now have. I feel like if I just had one good revelation, or one sudden shock of truth, that it would jolt me back on course. But that is all to easy, and I know it. I can always wait for it, but I might be waiting forever. So this realization that I am now writing about is really a message from God from myself saying "Hello Dayron, I'm here but I'm waiting for you. You need to make the choice. This is not how I want you to be. Seek Me and know Me." Perhaps you could pray that I choose Him instead of me, I don't know what that choice will mean and I'm a little scared. And even though there are hard and confusing times, I'm sure glad there's more to life than toast.

Super Quiz

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 100% Catwoman 100% Supergirl 100% Wonder Woman 100% Spider-Man 100% Hulk 100% The Flash 100% Green Lantern 100% Iron Man 100% Robin 80% Batman 80%

You are a samurai. You are the best, most awesome and have uber hacking skills.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Homemade Deliciousness

Here are a couple of movies I helped make at school last year. I'll try and get the other Youth Retreat ones up in a bit.

CHBC Youth Retreat 06 - Movie 1


Fisherman's Friend

Wow

I don't know how exactly I stumbled across Regina Spektor, but am I ever glad I did. I think I was watching music videos on Bravo TV, which has some really good selections if you get that channel. So I was watching this interesting videos, probably meant to be watched on crack or something, when this one came on that particularly caught my attention. Her voice was that of an angel and the video added a mysterious delight to her lyrical chorus. Her song was simple yet complex. Light yet dark. Amazing yet even more amazing. I didn't even realize what I was in for till I made it to her website. I then found the music video to Fidelity, instantly I was in love. I don't know if this has ever happened to me before. I mean Kelly is good but Regina is just, wow. Her music has connected to my inner core and that's the way I like my music. Stop by her site and perhaps you'll like what you hear.