Nigel Paul | Schedule

"Nigel: please put this on your blog! - Ted"

We have written a total of 28 lines, the number of years you've lived; seven lines each. We each wrote our lines independently, but as you can see there are a lot of similarities.

Happy 28th!

And now, in order from oldest sibling to youngest ...

By John:

At the Ontario Royal Winter Fair, when only a few years weaned,
Nigel learned that lost little boys could gain free ice-creams.
And so began a lifetime of enterprise with much energy expended
From hawking gravel in Murree—hand-picked no less!—and golf-balls in Ajax,
To mustering volunteers to analyze Survivor in depth (albeit with sibling credit over-extended),
Even though financial returns at the beginning were sometimes in doubt,
Of effort and vision there was no lack.

By Shirley-Anne:

He was tied by a leash at two to a tree
In an effort to subdue his adventuring energy
But since, unleashed, his energy's earth-quaking
Catapulting him to discoveries ... ground breaking:
Nigel B. Golf Balls Inc. ... Survivor Fire
The Dealbag Room, Bookling—he never tires
Of living a life of History-in-the-Making

By Ted:

Nigel at first impression:
Entrepreneur; highly talented; clown; performer; emcee; visionary; catalyst—
All very true. But Nigel over the years:
Wise.
Completely there for you at every step; giving, giving, giving—
Brotherhood was just his take-off point.
An entrepreneur for God investing in people.

By Chrissie:

Sock tag, school in the storage room, posture winks,
But more than a brother;
A concerned mentor
Freely offering invaluable instruction,
From shaved legs to living life as a book's preface,
Modelling boldness and efficiency,
Through rabbits, tomatoes, Jewish costumes, and lost loves.

A poem for my brother Ted, on the occasion of his 31st birthday: March 24, 2009

2009-03-24T11:14:00.002-05:00

The student
I thought he would study all his life and never begin 'life'
But then I realized that this was life for him
And that it's just as much life as the other kinds
More in his case

Learned
Is he on language #8 yet?
I think so.
Latin, Greek, German, French, Hebrew, Bemba, English
I think I'm forgetting one or two
Too many interests
Tries to study all of them
And does
So it takes time
But he's becoming a scholar
Scholar Ted
Edward
The hare's competitor
Who keeps going
And always finds a way

Loyal
If he had $1,000 that I needed
He'd give it to me
And eat Marmite for lunch
Expecting God to provide
Because he always does with Ted

The friend
Always including everyone
A one-on-one meeting turns to a party
Where half of them are strangers
He met along the way
Compassionate
Not one to hold grudges
Not one to stay angry
Not one to allow gossip
Slow to speak an ill word
Looking out for the un-looked-out-for
A friend to the friendless
And then
Without trying
Watching them make ten new friends
With the others he brought along

A dreamer
Always trying to do more than is possible
Totally unrealistic
And so he shoots for the sun
And gets far further than he would have
Always moving forward
Slowly
But always advancing
And touching lives along the way

A hybrid
Between an introvert
And an extrovert
Loves studying--
Can only do this alone--
(Learns languages by watching Sesame Street
On youtube
In that language)
Studies alone
But loves people
Can't get enough
So it's people, people, people
Can't turn them down.
Is energized by them
And them by him
Up all night
Chatting
Friending
In a way that matters

Persistent
Doggedly so
Annoyingly so
But it's taken him where's been
And where he is
And God has always worked with it
And blessed
Like a handful of grain
Planted in too much shade
Finds a thick ray of light
And thrives in it
Bearing fruit
Somehow more
Than the grain in the field

So here's to Ted
To the LIFE he lives
To his love of discovery
To his last-man-standing there-ness
To his love of the unloved
To his shooting for the sun... and the moon... and the stars
To his love-one-another exuberance
To his always going somewhere
And God's always going with him
To bless whoever's there

Lifestyle litmus tests

2009-03-17T12:44:00.005-05:00

(1) Live at a lifestyle you'd expect a full-time Christian worker living/working among the very people you're among (workplace, neighbourhood, etc) to live at.
(2) Live at a lifestyle where you'd consider it a good investment to give to yourself if you were a full-time Christian worker
(3) Ask yourself--in the context of it all being God's--if there's a difference between income earned and funds given.

May we all live as if we've been sent, because we have been.

John Piper on the Recession

2009-03-16T17:38:00.002-05:00

"What is the Recession for?" Audio | Video

"Jesus is alive"

2009-02-26T15:43:00.001-05:00

Totally love this hip hop song. Thanks for the heads up, Kristian.

Pray for Maldives

2009-02-26T14:53:00.001-05:00

Reform excludes freedom of religion or belief

May God be the only one who knows

2009-02-23T15:31:00.002-05:00

An excerpt from an article I wrote this morning:

"It's amazing that God wants to use us, isn't it? As I take a moment to look back, I can't help but thank him. ... Go ahead, dive into that God-filled mix. Start the rest of your life. Whatever it is, pray a lot, and then go for it. And--one last fun challenge--may you have no idea where you'll be in five years. May it be unpredictable. May God be the only one who knows."

Urbana '09

2009-02-04T18:38:00.005-05:00

In 2006 God enabled me to offer partial scholarships to students (or young people between 18 and 25) thinking of going to the awesome (!) Urbana missions conference. I am praying about doing the same this year. (The conference is only once every three years.) If you'd be interested in joining me in this effort, please contact me; I would appreciate help.

It's Dec 27 to 31 in St. Louis, Missouri.

I am praying about going to Urbana again myself this year.

All young people between 18 and 28 should seriously consider going to this.

Check it out: www.urbana09.org

Learn about global inequalities at www.gapminder.org

2009-01-26T16:00:00.001-05:00

www.gapminder.org

"A child in the sand"

2009-01-23T16:36:00.004-05:00

As unborn-child-impacting laws are loosened in America, consider this story - written by and received from a friend in southern Africa today.

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A child in the sand

At the start of the New Year Lyndall and I were asked to babysit a baby of someone who was down to South Africa from Mozambique. We went to meet this lady and she told us the story of little Billy who had just came off an incubator 3 days before we babysat him. A girl in the village they live in got pregnant from a man in a different tribe out of wedlock and she didn’t want Billy so she tied a scarf around her waist to push Billy out prematurely. Billy was born two months early. Then this lady put Billy in a bag and buried him in the sand on the beach. Someone then found him and brought him to the chief of the village who didn’t know what to do with him and asked Jill if she could take him to the hospital. That is why she came to South Africa for better care. Lyndall and I took care of Billy on a Saturday afternoon and evening. He is such a fighter. Jill is now in the process of adopting him and wants to start doing something up there, in the village for the orphans. Lyndall and I hope to head up to Mozambique in February if we have the funds and see what we can do. We are looking forward to see what is up there and what can be started.

This blog in transition

2009-01-20T16:19:00.002-05:00

Dear readers: as I think about what God wants me to do moving forward, I may not be able to post the "1+ times per week" I've been posting for the last almost-three years. I'll keep you updated. God bless - Nigel

Port Colborne!

2009-01-12T17:18:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Joel and I found ourselves in Port Colborne with three hours to kill (no, make that three hours to redeem). :) We knew that OM was looking for home staff, and because they are headquartered in Port Colborne, that meant also selling the town!

So we decided to make a video. Three hours later, we were done. It had taken an hour to shoot and two hours to edit and process into a complete video.

Here's the end result. Enjoy!

Welcome to Port Colborne from Joel V. on Vimeo.

The plan to read the Bible in a year in 2009

2009-01-02T12:57:00.005-05:00

Just posted this on Facebook:

A recent status update I posted triggered a series of comments about reading the Bible in a year in 2009. It indicated to me that many of my Facebook friends are planning to do it too (or did it last year). Here's the conversation.

After some thought, I've decided to go with the Bible reading plan my friend Peter Mead just set up at www.thedailyreader.net.

Here's why I'm going with this plan:

(1) It includes both the Old and New Testament every day
(2) The reading order is fresh. Eg, Old Testament to be read in the "Hebrew" order (different from the order in our English Bibles) - the order Jesus would have used
(3) Peter Mead will be offering some guidance and insights throughout the year (at www.thedailyreader.net). I respect Peter's thoughts b/c his Bible knowledge is deep (although relatively young, he happens to hold a doctorate in theology/Bible) and he is not just a 'hearer' but a 'doer' (James 1:22); he lives his life for God and also happens to be a full time OMer (www.OM.org). Peter also runs www.biblicalpreaching.net.
(4) There is a welcome degree of togetherness in doing the same plan others are doing at the same time.

Here goes!

Lecrae...

2008-12-30T17:09:00.005-05:00

...is a powerful, God-centered artist who raps with penetrating biblical lyrics. E.g.:

An unlikely article

2008-12-30T13:31:00.001-05:00

"As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God" by Matthew Parris

Youtube artist James Dupre

2008-12-26T14:53:00.002-05:00

Happy Boxing Day! Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

My friend Russ recently introduced me to youtube artist James Dupre. Dupre specializes in country, :) has a great voice, and records some of his songs in the kitchen... Only on youtube!

Enjoy!

Just discovered 4K World Map

2008-12-18T17:52:00.000-05:00

Here.

Something fun: my cousin's Christmas giveaway

2008-12-18T17:12:00.004-05:00

My cousin Mike Bell, the founder of and chief writer at Eclectic Christian, is giving away more than $100-worth of prizes - all from the little book business (Bookling) I run. Check it out!

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TIME's 2008 Year in Review: some of the more meaningful

2008-12-17T16:56:00.007-05:00

From TIME.com:

SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE:

Robert Mugabe: "It's hard to remember now, but Robert Mugabe was once a heroic figure in Africa. Because of his work to end colonial rule, he spent more than a decade in prison in the 1960s and '70s. But now he presides over a vicious kleptocracy in which the wives of political opponents are gang-raped, eight in 10 citizens can't find work, and much of the country is on the brink of starvation or cholera infection — even as Mugabe's wife declares that her narrow feet can fit into nothing but Ferragamos. Because of Mugabe's policies, this once-fertile land produces almost no food, and even in the capital, Harare, the water system doesn't function. Still, Africa and the West dither, Mugabe stays in power, and Zimbabwe spirals into chaos." —John Cloud

Somaly Mam: "Underneath the hubbub of election and market fever in 2008, another change was taking place: Americans were becoming increasingly aware of the global problem of sexual slavery. Mam is the most compelling face of that issue. As a girl, she was sold into prostitution in Cambodia. She doesn't know her age, her given name or any family members. But she knows how to fight human-trafficking, which in the past 12 months has claimed as many as 4 million girls and women." —Lev Grossman

Craig Venter: What do you do when you're done sequencing the human genome? If you're Craig Venter, you write a new genome from scratch. This year the maverick geneticist pried even further into the secrets of life by painstakingly assembling 582,970 base pairs into the genome of an entirely new organism, a fully synthetic bacterium named Mycoplasma genitalium. The future could bring micro-organisms custom-designed to produce biofuels. —Lev Grossman

VIDEO: Rape as a weapon of war in Congo.

PHOTOS:

Victim: "A Georgian man cries as he holds the body of his relative after a bombardment in Gori, near South Ossetia, Georgia. Five people were killed in the attack."

Front Lines: "Congolese government forces stand guard along a road in the eastern Congo during renewed fighting in November."

On Fire: "A tire burns atop a truck used as a makeshift roadblock in Kisumu, Kenya, after the town had been cleared of ethnic Kikuyus by armed mobs in January."

Pancaked: "Emergency workers carry a wounded man out of a collapsed building in Mianyang, China, after it was destroyed by an earthquake in May."

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Choose your mess

2008-12-15T10:30:00.008-05:00

So:

-I have issues
-You have issues
-Those we work with have issues
-Those we interact with have issues

Add it all up and you get one big mess.

But a mess is what Jesus chose to be born into when he arrived on this planet. 12 messes were what he chose for 12 disciples. The Kingdom of God emerging from the mess was what he preached. Eventually he died for the mess.

Today, he is merciful enough to save messes like me; gracious enough to work in messes like me; generous enough to work through messes like me; and patient enough to stick with messes like me (despite frequent royal screw-ups).

Whatever you choose to do in the Kingdom of God, expect a mess. Remember that you are part of the mess. Be gracious with the messes (people) around you. While you're at it, have fun. Don't take yourself too seriously. Be a pleasure to be around. Avoid the 'spiritual gift' of speck-spotting (Matthew 7:3). Work hard. Do stuff when you don't feel like it. Smile.

The alternatives to not being in a mess are: (1) another mess, (2) pulling out altogether. Since the latter is not an option biblically...

Choose your mess.

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[This post is dedicated to George Verwer, who coined the term "messiology" (ie, mess + missiology).]

Pictures of the Congo War

2008-12-12T13:31:00.003-05:00

Here, at Boston Globe's "The Big Picture." (Click this picture for full size.)

Sacrificial Authority vs. Power

2008-12-06T11:08:00.011-05:00

Last night at 7pm a friend texted me to say that Tony Campolo was speaking in 30 minutes at a conference he was at downtown. I was Christmas-tree shopping with two of my roommates, and although we were already weighted down with Christmas lights we had just bought and some other stuff we didn't have time to take home--and despite not being registered with the conference, and not being sure we could get in--we speed-walked to the bus stop and began our journey.

A bus, two subway-trains, and a short taxi ride later, we arrived at the conference only to almost immediately cross paths with a leader I knew who was part of the conference and on his way to the Campolo meeting. We tagged along, and soon we were in!

Turned out there was no hurry. Lots of stuff before Campolo spoke. Nothing too life-changing, though I learned a few things from an on-stage interview with the founder of the top-selling (secular) teen magazine in Canada, Faze, who communicated the four things she believed teens (and everyone else) need most: (1) certainty, (2) uncertainty, (3) connectedness, (4) significance. A lot of truth here, I think.

Finally Campolo was on. Wow, what a message. Super, super convicting. Campolo's first point was that we as Christians are not to seek power but authority to see the world transformed and the fulfillment of that Lord's-prayer line: "Your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven." One of Tony's (controversial) examples of trying to change things using power is pouring energy into banning gay marriage. While not in favour of gay marriage and (like me) unaffirming of this lifestyle, Tony challenged, "But do you think a law like that is going to stop two guys from jumping into bed together tonight?" In the audience, we all knew the answer. The message was clear: heavy-handed power is not the solution on this one. The only thing it will surely do is anger people, and bring homosexual people to (oftentimes rightly, sadly) think that Christians disdain them. What an unbiblical result. We are to be known for our love (John 13:34-35), not our hatred.

Campolo's most compelling example of authority was Mother Teresa. I won't tell the same story Campolo did, but the point was that whenever Mother Teresa talked, people listened. As the below video shows, when Mother Teresa rebuked the students at Harvard University for their sexual immorality, they listened. Not even the Pope could do that, he argued: he'd be booed off the stage. But Mother Teresa could get away with stuff like that. Because she had tremendous authority. And the only way to get authority is to earn it.

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. - Matthew 7:28-29

"For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." - John 12:49-50

Campolo went on to challenge how we and he have been seduced by the message of greed cloaked in endearing terms like 'the American dream.' He pointed out that North America represents 6% of the global population and yet consumes 43% of the world's resources. He stated that there is a price attached to this kind of consumption. Of course, the toll on the environment was a major part of it.

While no tree-hugger myself (though perhaps I should become more of one), I wonder, how can it possibly be cool that thousands of people die every year from exhaust fumes in India alone? Or, how can it possibly be cool that my stinking, rotting garbage--I've lived all over the world--has, in all likelihood, been slept in, or at least gunked-up the desperate, dirty, livelihood-seeking hands of a kid I'll never meet? (One billion people live in slums; millions live in actual dumps.)

So, I for one was challenged. I was convicted of my own way-too-high standards, my own just-right, warm-at-night desires for comfort. May God bring me to continue to massively challenge my defaults, my opinions, my idea of 'balance', my justifications; and may I keep changing such that my life is more in line with the 'reckless abandonment' I see in the New Testament, the living-by-faith commands, the association with (not self-righteous serving of) the poor (Mark 2:17) that is so stressed throughout the whole Bible.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.." - Luke 4:18-20; Isaiah 61:1-2

"Slumdog Millionaire" contends for the best film I have ever seen

2008-12-04T11:19:00.008-05:00

Watched it last night.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzbwV7on6Q

Official blurb: Jamal Malik is an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"

My ratings:
Plot: 9/10
Character dev't: 9/10
Art: 10/10
Filming/lighting: 10/10
Acting: 9/10
Romance factor: 10/10
Action factor: 9/10
Unpredictability: 9/10
Humour: 9/10
Sound/Music: 10/10
Exposure: 10/10
Long-term value: 9/10
Thought-provocation factor: 10/10

Nigel Paul | Schedule

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"Happy Birthday Nigel from us your four siblings!"