Yesterday I posted this. And then today I read this which reminded me that the most important investment for my life is right before my eyes.
Archive for category Home Turf
are you missing it?
Jun 12
My Daily Workflow
Feb 17
What do you do on a typical work weekday? My typical work week fluctuates but here’s what I do on a day that I don’t have to travel or have any meetings:
- When I first wake up my morning routine consists of waking up the kids, a shower, teeth brush, hair setting, getting dressed, having a big glass of orange juice, and sometimes a bagel. While I’m enjoying my breakfast and the kids are getting ready for school and my wife is packing their lunch I will try to get through my Bible Reading for the day on my YouVersion Blackberry app (I’m currently doing the M’Cheyne One Year Reading plan)
- Once the kids get ready (hopefully with no fights) I’ll say good by to my wife and will load everybody into the car (actually a minivan) and drop them off to school on my way to work. On the 10-12 minute drive to work (depending on traffic) my usual practice (not always, but usually) is to just spend time talking to God and thinking about the day ahead.
[image from flickr]
..and new decade – wow! What was I doing 10 years ago? Hmmm…I think I was doing an all-nighter with some youth in the church I was pastoring in Hanover. Honestly, I can’t remember… which is probably not a good thing. I actually caught myself saying to my 6 year old son tonight that in 40 years I will probably be dead. Note to self: don’t tell your young child at his bedtime that you are going to die someday. It leads to a very long conversation. Just saying.
I’m really looking forward to 2010 and this next decade. From a tech point-of-view, the changes that I’ve experienced in the past 10 years are simply astounding! Of course there have been a lot of changes in my personal life as well. I really can’t imagine what the next 10 years are going to bring!
As far as new years resolutions go, I’ve never really been one to make them – I guess I always think, why should I only resolve things only once a year? It’s funny, but for me, my year tends to start in September, not January – must be something to do with having kids in school and pastoring a church…
[image from krisdecurtis]
In what is a most time-honored tradition around these sorts, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This past year has been a very interesting year in my life and I’m looking forward to an even more interesting year. I wish, like others I could have a nice cute picture of my family up here but in my household we define “Christmas busy” and usually don’t get around to getting our pictures done until late Christmas day. Maybe I’ll get something up then (probably not).
Enjoy your holidays, don’t freeze, eat carefully, laugh with family, and check out what Christmas is really all about. Thanks for sticking around unfoldingneurons.com!
Credit to Chris Lancaster
Well today is Canada Day and even though I think I’m a pseudo-American (my birthday is on July 4th) I was born here and am really grateful for my roots in this country. Here’s some reasons why I’m glad I’m a Canadian.
- Freedom. Even though there are some trends that are a bit unsettling I still have the freedom to write what I want on this blog and publicly profess my faith.
- Security. Relatively speaking – I feel pretty safe here.
- Free Health Care. It has its faults of course and still needs some work (it’s also kind of not free because our taxes pay for it) but I can go to the hospital or my doctor and not worry about how much it’s going to cost me. That’s nice.
- Hockey. Our hockey teams/players rule. ’nough said.
- Travel Perks. It’s kind of cool that wherever I go in the world people are really receptive to the fact I’m a Canadian. Just being a resident of Canada gives you a sort of “special recognition” (probaby due to the friendly role Canada plays on the foreign relations scene).
I love my wife and I really do believe that God brought us together! As I got thinking about mother’s day this year I thought of all the things that Kerryanne does, not only as a mother, but also as a mother who happens to be a pastor’s wife. Here’s some things:
- Prays for me (this is a big deal for me!)
- Helps me pick out what to wear (I am absolutely NO good at matching clothes and dressing appropriately – if you ever see me wearing something bad it’s probably because Ker wasn’t around to help me…)
- Endures the stares of people when our children are being kids at a time when some think it’s inappropriate (and maintains her cool!)
- Gets all four of our children fed, dressed, and ready for church on Sunday’s while I have left early to accomplish what I’m responsible for there (if you think it’s easy for her, I DARE you to say that to her…
) - Arrives at church and ensures that all our children get safely to their Sunday School classes.
This is the first entry in the series I am writing about my trip to Ukraine – I didn’t have daily internet access while there so I recorded each day for later publishing. And later is now. I’m hoping to publish each days notes over the next week (one a day) but we’ll see what happens…
Waiting at the Toronto Airport for our flight to Germany
Well today was the day I left for the country of Ukraine on a missions trip with my church. I’ve been looking forward to the trip but also a bit pensive about it. Not knowing what to expect AND knowing I’ll miss my family I’m somewhat pensive about the days ahead.
Here’s the route we took today…Toronto (jet) – Frankfurt (jet) – Borispol(near Kyiv)(train) – Krivoy Rog (bus to apartments)
The flights were fairly uneventful. We had about a 1 hour layover at Frankfurt which meant we basically went to the boarding gate after landing from Toronto and waited to get on the next leg of our journey.
Merry Christmas 2008!
Dec 26
It’s that time of year again where I get woken early by my kids and mumble, “just 5 more minutes” while they are bouncing up and down on their Daddy’s tortured body. It’s that time of year again when I finally roll out of bed and half fall down to the stairs with a big smile on my face as I look forward to seeing my children gleefully shred wrapping paper with wonder in their eyes at the gifts they’ve received. It’s that time of year again when my wife and I look at each other with that understanding and gratitude for the blessing of sharing this moment with our children and just the wonder of being together. It’s that time of year again when I’m reminded that if it weren’t for the incarnation, the most extravagant gift of God in Jesus Christ – that none of this would be possible.
Hope you had a great day today folks with family and friends!
A New Adventure
Apr 20
Well it’s official (and I can announce now). I’m going to be starting a new ministry as the Assistant Pastor of Waterloo Pentecostal Church. I’m really looking forward to this new position and working with the leadership team there. It’s absolutely incredible (and I confess a bit of a whirlwind too!) the journey God has been bringing my family and I through this past two months. I’ve posted more information and thoughts about this change on my family blog. You can read more there.
Something else to Remember…
Jun 30
Hi folks, Well we’ve been back for a couple of days and have had a chance to begin showing some pictures and sharing about our experiences with our families. It’s nice that it hasn’t been too hot – it’s given us a chance to adapt back to the Canadian Summer after being in the Zimbabwe Winter .
One more thing you all can keep in prayer if possible. Scott’s camera went missing while on the trip and there were quite a few picture on it that he would have liked to be able to share with his family. If you can pray that it’ll turn up at the village that’d be much appreciated!
My name is Darren Ethier. I'm the Assistant Pastor of Waterloo Pentecostal Assembly in Waterloo, Ontario. I'm the father of four children and husband of the most beautiful woman in the world. My passion is technology and it's strategic use in ministry. I'm also the developer of the popular WordPress plugin Organize Series 
My re... 
