So maybe it's because we're in the Lenten season which is a time of lament, or possibly it's because I truly am struggling with my own health these days, but I feel a bit of a rant coming on.

When we left Skid Row, he drove us over to a neighbourhood called Watts. That's where, back in the 90's, the Rodney King riots took place.

I slipped and fell in the shower. Nothing dramatic. No bangs of heads of joints. I just slowly slipped until I was seated in the tub just like you’re supposed to sit in a tub. Except for me, if I find myself in that position, I cannot get out on my own strength.

I have to confess, shrove Tuesday, a.k.a. pancake day, is my favorite part of the whole Lenten season (besides Easter Sunday of course). I know it's probably because I just really love lots of food. And yes, I am a massive fan of good pancakes. But I do think there's something more to it than that.

According to the Internet, more than 250,000 people experience homelessness at some point each year in Los Angeles County. 82,000 men, women, and children are homeless in Los Angeles each and every night. That’s just not right!

So as I was scoping out the campus, I see a cross overlooking the ocean. It has two benches by it so that people can sit there and reflect, pray, be silent, and just get away from the madness of their training for a while. It's really quite beautiful. When I scooted over there to sit beside it, I noticed that it wasn't accessible.

Last year I wrote that I’d be continuing my foray into my life as a snow-birder. But as people are more and more prone to reading things quickly, I got more than a few perplexed responses from people asking how on earth I can snowboard when I can barely walk…

Taking the focus squarely away from foreskins and such, I've also been very much consumed with the thought of Jesus being visited by magicians.

One of our best friends got ordained as an Anglican priest a few years ago. So we drove out there to the ceremony. It was held in the big beautiful Anglican Cathedral in London Ontario. While it was a service designed with much tradition and symbolism in a very ornate building, and even though he is one of my best friends in the world, I found myself completely distracted.

We're so close now. I'm hoping, Trusting, Believing, that everything is going to be alright, that peace, Shalom, will rule the day, that LOVE ultimately wins.

"The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes" Said the asinine tweet from the incoming president elect.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

There's so much darkness in the world. Sometimes I wonder what's the point in trying to make it better. It just keeps getting worse.

Imagine a world where we automatically assumed that all politicians, leaders, preachers, teachers, cops, judges, social workers, and lawyers were doing their jobs with 100% integrity.

There is so much to long for during this Advent season. We are still waiting. Still longing. Still hoping.

In this last week of Advent, I long for love to dominate everything. I want to love and be loved. I want to be a friend to someone who is lonely. I want to be an instrument of God's love. God's friendship.

Meek: 'Having or showing a quiet and gentle nature; not wanting to fight or argue with other people.'

Still waiting, hoping, trying, longing, praying for everything to be made right.