June 2025: "The best laid plans of mice and men..."

(As you read my post for this month, you'll hear me talk about how my plans did not work out like I thought they would. I don't want to compare my minor scheduling problems and changes with the very upsetting and disorienting experiences of so many of our northern friends as they have had to deal with the huge number of forest fires this season. I've stayed at hotels where many of the northern Manitoba evacuees were staying...so glad that these families could be in a safe place. It also helped put my very minor problems in perspective!)

If June 2025 had a basic theme for me, it was that my best plans do not always work out. This doesn't mean that the month turned out badly...it just means that sometimes life goes in different directions than I had hoped and it is important to stay nimble.

I began the month with an academic conference in Toronto. I presented a paper at the annual meeting for the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion (CSSR) in Toronto at George Brown College. It was fun to be in Toronto for a few days to both present and to also take in a number of other presentations. Very good!! So far, my plans were going well.

I flew back to Edmonton and had been planning to be an exhibitor for LAMP at a conference for young adults in central Alberta. The planner for the event reached out to me and said that the event needed to be cancelled. I switched my plans and decided to load up our last load of goods for our move to our new home on the coast. I rented a truck and loaded it up to the top...and still had more stuff to pack. So I rented a trailer to pull with the truck and finished up my packing. This delayed me for a day but I managed to get everything loaded. I drove down to the coast, arriving quite late at night. The next day, Lynne and I hired a couple of helpers to help us with the last load-in. It's good to have everything all done with that part of the move...now we just need to unpack all our boxes in our new home. Here's a few pictures of the new place...including some nice greenery on our upper deck.

I flew back to Edmonton and then to Winnipeg after this for ten days of visits in northern Manitoba and northern Saskatchewan. Keeping with the theme of the month, my plans were interrupted again...this time it was wildfires all over. I managed to drive into three of the eleven communities I hoped to visit. I had wonderful visits with community contact Cameron in Easterville and Pastor Steve M in Grand Rapids. The other communities were either evacuated due to fires or had no access roads open due to fires. I did manage to make it to Thompson, Manitoba for another change of plans...our LAMP pilot Andrew and our field missionary Pastor Randy were hoping to do some flying into some communities when our red LAMP plane developed a problem with a fuel pump. They were grounded in Thompson with no plane to fly so I drove there and picked them up for a ride back to Winnipeg....Andrew referred to it as "Mike's Taxi and Limo Service". It was fun to see those two but this also meant that I could not fly to some of my communities with Andrew. Here's a picture of the three amigos grabbing some lunch at Pelican Narrows in Grand Rapids. 

As it worked out, LAMP's Executive Director Steve S flew into Winnipeg that Sunday night so we were able to have an impromptu gathering later on Sunday night. Not the plan...but good nonetheless!

Both Andrew and I did manage to make it over to Gord's Bistro for dinner during our time in Winnipeg before Andrew had to fly home. Gord is a former LAMP staff person who served many of the communities that I currently serve...it was wonderful to have a home cooked gourmet meal with Gord and his wife. 

After my trip to Winnipeg, I headed back home to BC to spend some time with my wife Lynne and work on some projects before my summer schedule picks up steam. One project we worked on was some storage shelves designed by Lynne's dad and built by the three of us. Another project was shopping for and purchasing a new car. Lynne and I share a car and we only buy a car once every 18 years or so. Our old faithful 2008 Honda Civic which have served us so long and well is ready to retire so we decided to buy a new car. We've decided to give KIA a try...here's a pic of old faithful and the new car on the block. We're so thankful for a new(er) home and a new vehicle. We hope they will both serve us long and well.

During my time at home I was also follow up on an earlier change of plans. I had been booked to speak about LAMP at Trinity Lutheran Church in Abbotsford in April and had to cancel my plans due to a sudden illness. I was able to rebook and do my presentation at Trinity on June 22...I also got to sing a song for the people there. Here's a picture of me playing my song. I love the wood carving that decorates the front of the church and the pulpit at Trinity so much!!

My month ended with a return to my plans as I hopped on a plane to Winnipeg to begin my summer schedule. My first community visit is in the community of Easterville, Manitoba. There's a LAMP team here from Wisconsin and they finished up their first day of VBS today. They hosted a BBQ for the kids and their families tonight. Here's some pictures of the team hard at work in their planning and also hosting the BBQ. They are a great group and I'm so happy to spend a few days here with them as they serve.

As I've learned once again this June, my plans might change but good things still get done. Here's hoping that whatever happens this summer with my schedule will be part of the good things LAMP is hoping to accomplish in this busy summer ministry season.

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A quick note about the fires...some of our LAMP communities have already been impacted in various ways by the forest fires this last several weeks in northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. We've had a couple of communities that needed to cancel / postpone their visit from LAMP because of this. We continue to pray for these communities and hope that our teams can return soon to those places where ministry is going to be such a challenge due to the fires this year.