Elizabeth & Robert Cottrill – 50th Anniversary!
Congratulations!
Family
The First Week in Canada
We were stopping by my nephew Jevon’s school to see a (very cool) project that he had been working on. We were walking through the halls when another student asked Jevon if we were all his family. Hearing an affirmative, she swore in amazement.
Seriously, girl? In Mexico, we bring more family members just to go grocery shopping.
Well, we’re obviously not in Mexico anymore.
So just a week in, we’re still adjusting to life here. The way our schedule here works, the very beginning and very end of the trip are probably the busiest, so we’ve hit the ground running. Or, I should say, sprinting.
We very much enjoyed our time at First Evangelical Free Church, and then at Prairie Tabernacle, meeting a few new friends and reconnecting with old friends. We’ve also had business to take care of, sometimes expected and sometimes unexpected.
We had a tour of Hannah’s new school and dorm this week, which was pretty cool.
We’re gearing up now for the Where did the Bible Come From? seminar on Friday and Saturday. By the way, there is still time to register (until 7pm tonight) if you’re in the area! We really want to fill it up, and there’s still space left. Just click the link above. Invite your friends!
On Sunday we’ll be at the South Calgary Chinese Evangelical Free Church, before ending our first very quick visit to Calgary. We’ll be back later in the summer.
Well, gotta run!
Another Birthday!
Yes, birthday season continued this week with a cowboy themed party and a cake that looked like it was covered in a bandana…
A good time was had by all, eating and playing Flick ‘Em up!
And so ended another “birthday season”. Although a late party or two may present itself when we’re visiting Canada. ðŸ¤
Birthday Season is Here!
It’s May – often the busiest time of year for a variety of reasons, and this year is no exception. Preparing for travel and ministry in Canada, finishing up the school year, regular and “irregular” ministry, and – of course – two birthdays!
Hannah’s birthday comes first, and so we had a party for her on Sunday. And two highlights were – friends, and cake!
So here’s a glimpse. The blessing of friends, and the fun of Shari’s creative cake.
Retro: Art and Cars Birthdays!
Is there a rule that you can only post one picture in a retro post? I guess not, since I’m the one making the rules!
However, I can’t post this on the day it happened, because it was two days. Ah well. This is about half-way between. 🙂
So, it’s birthday month! Ten years ago this month we had an “art party” for Hannah, which was a lot of fun. Here’s Hannah with her cake and cupcakes.
Shari was the cake-maker, of course, but I think Hannah drew the rainbow that you see in the cupcakes. 🙂
And Nathanael had a “Hotwheels party” that year! I thought the piñata turned out pretty well…
And to finish off, here’s Nathanael actually ready to take a whack at the piñata on party day. Now you can see the bottom of the piñata – Hotwheels, of course…
Commissioned (the board game)
I don’t very often post about anything so “frivolous” as a board game – but here I am!
Now that we’re in a house with teenagers, it’s been fun to spend some time playing board games as a family. We’ve discovered some really fun and unique games, actually.
But last night we played one which I think deserves a mention. It’s a “Christian-themed” game that – *gasp* – I like.
Ok, I guess I should say, before you think I’m being harsh, that I have seen a good Bible trivia game or two (in fact, we have one).
But I admit it, when I heard about this game, I was prepared to dislike it.
The game? Commissioned. From the game’s website:
Commissioned is a historically-based, cooperative style board game for 2-6 players that takes 1 hour. Acting as the Apostles of the early Christian Church, players must work together to strengthen their individual decks of faith cards, grow the church, collect the books of the New Testament, and overcome persecution. You do not need to know anything about Christianity or history to play.
[source]
That’s right, in this game you’re an apostle (I started as Andrew), and you’re doing game actions like “pray” and “endure trials”.
This has to be corny – or silly – or theologically questionable – right?
But then I heard from a friend about his experiences, and read a review or two*… and decided to give it a try.
So we played twice through one of the scenarios last night. Once, just to figure it out, and once to really try to win – which we almost did. “Winning” in this scenario is writing the New Testament books and planting a church in every city on the board.
Somehow, this game manages to capture some of the history of the early church, connect to clues in the New Testament about how it all happened, and still be a good game.
Very briefly – your “faith” cards allow you to make progress in the game (through church growth, miracles like the ones you’ve read about in Acts, and so on). You face trials (again, generally based on history and the biblical account) which can set you back – or, surprisingly – help you. Praying gives you options, and then you make decisions (when it’s your turn to do so).
Strangely enough, playing the game showed a bit of God’s providence and wisdom in the days of the early church, and even reflected some of our personal experiences in church planting. Weird, I know.
I know it sounds strange, but there you go – it really is, in my opinion, a good game!
I admit we were all pretty tired by the time we finished last night, so I look forward to trying it a little earlier in the day, or an evening when we’re not quite as tired. But of course we did play twice, which we won’t have to do again now that we have the hang of it.
Oh, one more thing I should mention, for the Christian audience. The game comes with an appendix, explaining some of the game dynamics. Many of the explanations are actually passages of Scripture from the New Testament. Again – you’re still skeptical – it doesn’t treat them lightly – you actually are made to think about what the Bible is actually saying about the early church. Very cool.
You can check out Commissioned right here. If you try it, let me know what you think!
* Currently, this game has a 7.5/10 on Board Game Geek – a very good review – and 4.6/5 on Amazon.