Teetering On The Edge

I never thought my love for hockey would put me in mortal danger. I recognized the potential harm that comes whenever body checking, blades, sticks, and adrenaline are combined. However, I never counted on one particular hazard. It was the perfect winter oasis. Nestled on the side of a giant hill sat a pond that would bring hours of joy to an otherwise dreary winter. As the temperature dropped the water hardened, forming the perfect spot for private hockey games. The hidden location was both a blessing and a curse. We had to navigate down a narrow path to reach the bottom of the hill, and one side dropped into an abrupt cliff that required the utmost caution.

On one particular day, the drive down proved uneventful, but a problem occurred while climbing back up. I sat in the front seat as my father drove up the steep embankment. All of the sudden the tires hit a patch of ice and began to slip, sliding us right to edge of the cliff. Unable to reverse for fear of falling and unable to get traction to move...

Replacements

I like to think of myself as a domestically competent person. I have lived on my own long enough to keep myself from starving. I assumed that a dishwasher would be a fairly straightforward test. I was wrong.

My apartment did not have a dishwasher, which forced me to wash my dishes by hand. This was not a task I enjoyed, so the aftermath of my meals tended to settle in my sink for extended periods of time. To avoid this unpleasant task, I would often visit my parents and use their dishwasher. The freedom to simply place a dirty plate in a machine and push a button to clean it was almost too good to be true! However, I soon faced an unforeseen problem; I ran out of detergent.

I began to search frantically for an alternative. Several different cleaners of various sorts crowded the cupboard beneath the sink, yet none of them were adequate. Finally, I came across a bottle of dish soap and breathed a sigh of relief. The soap was in liquid form, while the previous detergent had been a powder, but surely that...

Stuck Together

I love road trips. There is something about jumping into a car with your friends and driving into the unknown that pumps adventure through my veins. However, road trips always seem more fun in the beginning. By the ninth hour on the road, things are slightly different. When our church band received an invitation to play music for a weekend, we eagerly agreed. None of us had been to that small northern town, but we had several good friends from the area, and our anticipation increased as our trip drew closer.

Due to our collective lack of finances, we decided to cram the five of us into a Jeep and take only one vehicle. We were so excited for the quest ahead that we failed to ponder what ten and a half hours together might be like. The first couple of hours were filled with laughter and singing, but the longer we drove the more irritable we became. Things that didn’t bother us in hour #2 sparked tempers in hour #7. Eventually, we discovered that the best way to gain any form of artificial privacy was to close...

May I Have Your Attention Please!

Had I known how boring my computer class would be, I would certainly have made another choice. By the end of the semester, I remained computer illiterate, but there was one class in particular I will never forget.

I blame it all on peer pressure. Several of my friends talked me into taking “Introduction to Computers,” although the thought of using an elective on a science class made me feel ill. My suspicions proved correct, and we passed the hours in miserable boredom. My friend Ashley occasionally skipped altogether.

In an attempt to win our loyalty, the professor decided to add each of us to MSN Instant Messenger, so that she might connect with us outside of class. She remained signed in at all times, even while class was in session. I remember being amused while she lectured as my eyes wandered to the bottom right corner of the PowerPoint screen and noticed her active Messenger icon. I wondered to myself what she might do if someone messaged her during class. I soon had my answer.

We were all startled...

Egg Hunt

One of my favorite memories growing up is hunting for Easter eggs. Those days are behind me now, but there is something about egg hunts that still brings out the child in me.

This year I was able to help volunteer at an Easter Egg Hunt. I signed up to help hide the eggs, and I assumed it would be an easy task, until I learned one minor detail—there were 14, 000 of them! Surely the CEOs of Cadbury and whoever manufactures plastic eggs now owe our church some sort of thank-you fruit basket.

The hunt was divided into age groups, each searching for about ten minutes. In between, the volunteers would replenish the supply of eggs. However, there was a slight twist. Although several thousand eggs lay in the field, there was one for each group worth more than the rest: The Golden Egg. This egg contained a slip of paper to be cashed in for a giant basket of merchandise worth far more than the cheap treats found in the others. As one group was preparing to launch, a determined father declared, “My brother-in-law...

Clogged

No one ever told me not to pour grease down the kitchen sink. Well, truthfully, I specifically remember the e-mail campus housing sent regarding the proper disposal of grease. I simply did not listen, and our mistakes have a way of catching up with us.

As I poured the grease down the sink, I had a sinking (pun intended) feeling that it would come back to haunt me. That sense increased as the running water began to rise from the drain. I frantically checked for a blockage, but found nothing; the problem was in the pipes. My roommate and I began bailing out the water with a mopping bucket like we were in a sinking lifeboat! However, even after pouring Draino down the hole, the clog remained. Our only remaining option was to call campus maintenance. But then I would need to come clean about ignoring the Grease Rule.

Although I argued we could live without our kitchen sink, my roommate called maintenance the next day and then left me alone to confess. As the man tried to figure out the problem, I managed...

Reptilian Statues

In a recent trip to Arkansas, I was reminded of my Northern roots. In Canada, there are things one might see that would surprise a visitor but not a local. Snow, a Tim Hortons (a popular Canadian chain of coffee and doughnut shops), or a moose would not catch a Canuck off guard! However, as I peered out the car window, I was now the tourist. And when I spotted a sign reading: “Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo,” I knew we had to check it out. As my friends and I entered the building, we found ourselves surrounded by alligator paraphernalia. After paying admission, we spent the next hour experiencing this unique Arkansas attraction. We fed slices of bread to goats and emus (confirming that beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder), stood in awe of the lions and chuckled at the turkeys. But the highlight of the experience was definitely the alligators themselves. Guided by a fearless man who must have been the late Steve Irwin’s long-lost cousin (with a different accent and less teeth), we...

Weather Predictions

When I moved from western Canada to the southeastern United States, there were several things I bid farewell to. I exchanged tearful goodbyes with Hockey Night in Canada, ketchup chips, the Rocky Mountains, and snow. I did not know when I would see any of these favorites of mine again, but life is full of surprises.

I recently spent the weekend in Atlanta, attending and preaching at a conference held at my uncle’s church. From the moment I stepped off the plane, the heavens were opened and every rain drop in our atmosphere fell on that city. Sucking up my pride, I sheltered myself from the downpour under my sister’s pink umbrella during the moments I was forced to walk outside.

My last day there was a Sunday, and I spent my morning in church. When I walked into the building, it was raining as hard as it had been the previous days. However, at the end of the service, we were given a shocking announcement: The rain had turned to snow! The stampede of people spilling into the lobby could only be rivaled by...

Drive-by

For several weeks a growing sense of frustration had been gnawing at my heart. I was spending most of my time either at school or at church, yet my life lacked any outward action of faith. In my aggravation, my resentment turned toward those around me. Why weren’t we reaching out to a hurting world? Was our faith simply moral head-knowledge?

Each day that I drove to school I passed by a construction crew working. During one of these trips I felt it: The unmistakable voice of God. “Do something for the construction crew.” I tried to ignore the encounter, but it would not be the last.

The following days brought restlessness to my life. As my dissatisfaction with others grew, so did the sense that these workers needed my appreciation. But what could I do? I had no money, I had no time, and I was fairly low on creativity as well. Yet God would not let the issue drop.

Then one afternoon it all became clear. I was waiting for everyone else to get the message so that I could follow them. However, God had...

Leap of Faith

I stood there, frozen in place, as the water rushed over my feet, and fear began to take hold of me. My heart beat faster as my turn arrived. Taking a deep breath, I sprinted forward, surging through the water, and leaped into a stomach-wrenching freefall…

The vacation my family took to Hawaii is one of my fondest memories. One day, we joined with several others to leave the busy tourist spots behind and set off down the river in canoes. After boating for a couple of hours, we reached a bank and continued on foot.

Our hike eventually brought us to our destination: A giant waterfall. This waterfall can be seen in the opening minutes of the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and we were thrilled to see it in person! Suddenly, our adventure guide Elvis (seriously) asked a daunting question: “Who wants to jump off the waterfall with me?” All eyes turned to me, my brother, and my sister (apparently being the youngest in a group automatically makes you the most fearless!). Feeling the pressure, we agreed, and...