Crystal Clear

I’m reading Blue like Jazz by Donald Miller. Three points struck me so far:

1. We are all evil inside. I agree with him wholeheartedly but have a hard time accepting this. Do I have inside me the same evil that would force children to become soliders or would rape women in the Congo? I don’t want to say yes. I fight it, but I am the same as all other humans: that same darkness does live deep inside me.
2. Grace and forgiveness is a gift, and that’s hard to accept. He said some people don’t have a problem accepting this free gift from God, but many of us do. We say we accept it, but then we work hard to live up to it (to be worthy of receiving it) or we feel guilty when do bad things or are ungrateful. Both are indicators that we haven’t fully understood that God just loves and accepts us. Just the way we are. Fully and completely with all our problems. Loves us through and through.
3. God is a mystery. He’s affirming what our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters have always treasured. This speaks to me as I’m not the logical, provable type of person. I feel comforted by the mystery and mystical about God and my faith in him. So, it’s good to hear there are other Western Christians okay with and needing the mystery of God.

Comments(0)

In the course of doing a kitchen renovation we needed to find a countertop. Environmentally friendly options of IceStone or PaperStone or EnviroGlas and the like get pretty pricey! Laminates, while much cheaper, are a big question mark because they have glues and resins which off gas VOCs for many years.

I began to ask around whether there are low VOC laminates. It took me quite some time to even figure out what to ask. Many people didn’t even know why I wanted this ‘feature’ and had never heard of a request like it before.

Eventually, I think I’ve made some progress, and since I’ve taken the time to try to figure this out – I thought I’d share so others won’t have to do the same!

What’s the issue? There’s actually two. (1) The backer board (particle board) is paper or sawdust held together by glue resins. (2) The plastic laminate surface is attached using a glue.

First I found out about the laminate: companies like Formica and others have a High Pressure Laminate (HPL) that is GreenGuard certified to be low VOC and use a low emitting glue to attach it to the backer board.

Next I found out about those who make backer boards: VT Industries makes a backer that is made from recycled paper and uses a water based resin. Their Canadian product from Belanger-Lamintes with the HPL and backer is called the EQ Countertop.

Perfect? Well, it was pretty hard to find a company that sells these countertops. But I did find two companies in Ontario: one is a supplier (The Top Shop) and the other is an installer (Just a Countertop).

Prices? Well, a standard laminate countertop for our kitchen of 24 linear feet was $663 not installed. The cost for the EQ Countertop was $1100, also not installed. So, that seems not too bad. (For reference we also found a solid surface countertop priced at $2500 installed. Granite, etc. is closer to $3500 and up)

So, what did I learn? I learned what to ask: do you carry a counter top that has a GreenGuard certified laminate and used a water based resin backer? I learned they can be bought in my area. I stopped searching after finding VT Industries (they have branches in the US and Canada). If you’re not in Ontario, you can call them to find out their retailers in your area.

I also learned that while you can research a lot using just the internet, things didn’t always complete sense until I actually talked to real people.

Comments(1)

Nothing stays the same, does it? When we want to hold on to something it gets squished, or stale.

And then we might reminisce about how good it was – but that seems like only a shallow comfort. Grasping a shadow of what was.

I’ve found this to be true in friendships, in the church, and you can see it in history.

Maybe that’s because we’re supposed to develop and change. When we do, there are new experiences and new joys. New memories are made.

But we can’t hold on to those either. We have to keep living and writing the story. We can’t stay stationary. But moving means also that you lose some things along the way. Because times change and people change and places change.

I’m sad about the loss of the way things were – 3 years ago, or last year, or even a month ago. But I can’t stay here – I need to forge ahead with the new, with the changes.

The really sweet pieces are the ones you get to keep, the people that change too and continue with you along the way.

Comments(0)

Tim Keller really is a smart thinker. He dissects three movements in the NA Christian Church in a way I’d not seen before:

1. Willow Creek and mega church – focus on leadership, strategic thinking, and wise administration (king)
2. Reformed tradition – focus on preaching, teaching, and doctrine (prophet)
3. Emergent church – focus on community, liturgy and sacraments, service and justice (priest)

His point is we need them all – and that none on its own will magically grow the other parts. So we need to think about how to cultivate all of them. Good stuff!

Comments(0)

This excellent article from the Toronto Star paints this picture:

• No local markets for diversified farm crops
• Farmers grow corn and soybeans
• Soybeans make for cheap burgers (feed for cows) and most added fats to processed foods
• Corn gives us cheap sweeteners for pop and most other products (corn syrup / fructose)
• Big food processors ask for more and cheaper production (yet pay $3.70 per bushel to the farmer and make $440 off the products from it)
• Farmers expand their land removing woodlots, wetlands and buffer strips and stop crop rotation
• Farmers see their land become degraded and the streams and lakes degenerate with loss of fish

What can be done? We could follow recommendations from reports like “The Farm Crisis and Corporate Profits” and nutrition researchers:

“Better food labelling, health claims on fruits and vegetables, healthy food cheaper than junk food, government support for farmers who grow good food in an environmentally sustainable manner.”

Eating local is a beginning, but don’t stop there!

Comments(0)

I was asked to respond to an interview email for an article about intentional living. I don’t think I’m that eloquent, but I still think it’d be nice to share what I did spend some time thinking about:

1. What is an intentional community? What’s the difference between ‘intentional community’, ecovillage, and cohousing or is there a difference at all?

I define an intentional community as a group of people deciding to live in close proximity to each other with a shared goal and purpose. Yes, different from eco village (unsure definition – something like living together to have less impact on the enviornment) or cohousing (living together in the same building with others). I think an intentional community could have some of the outcomes as a eco village or look similar to cohousing, but not necessarily and it can be much more broad and larger reaching.

2. Why live in one? Why do you?

I feel this is one way in our Western culture to live out my faith in a way that speaks to many of the idols of it. I also crave closer connections to people and the increased accountability it can bring.

3. Can you describe your community a bit please?

7 adults and 1 child, 4 households across three houses. Our main purpose is: “Know Christ, Show his Kingdom, Grow his disciples”. We’ve been around for 1 1/2 years, and are still figuring out how to do this. We have two computer programmers, a stay at home mom (trained as a nurse), an architect, a social housing worker, a learning coordinator, and an educator. We have morning prayer weekly on Wednesday and Friday night potlucks. We also have business meetings and make plans and dream together. We also just bump into each a lot since our houses are right next to each other.

4. What does ‘simple living’ me to you?

Not buying the latest things. Not buying things that won’t last. Asking honestly whether I need something before I buy it. Fixing things. Making my own food. Growing my own food. Not doing so many things that I’m too busy to make space for people when they drop in and visit.

5. What do you think about the current trendiness of ‘simple living’?

I think it’s always a good thing to think about how much stuff we have and to make use of more with less. I hope that people return to looking for quality products over quantity and enjoy the stuff they do have – and also enjoy the people and food and environment around them.

6. What does believing in Jesus and the intentional community have to do with one another?

I strongly believe in what Dietrich Bonhoffer says in “Live Together”: that if the community is not Christ’s it will fail. He calls us into community, he gives it life, he makes it possible to live and love and forgive and grow together. A community based on my goals or expectations will cause problems and it will break down. We constantly need to remind each other and ourselves this, and pray that it will be our reality.

7. What does that mean to you personally?

I need to remain in Christ first. That allows me to truly be with people in community. I need to check my motivations and my heart when I feel I have been hurt by others. I need his forgiveness and love first and foremost.

Comments(1)