+100 Experience Points! You have gained a level!

Haha, sorry for the really nerdy title today. It's a reference to RPG (role-playing games) where characters gain experience points for beating up baddies and performing certain types of actions.

Sometimes I feel like life is actually a little like that- all the experiences that you accumulate help your person grow and mature. Each smell, taste, touch, every new thought or perspective gained, every new relationship made, laugh shared.

I've been doing a lot of that recently, it really hit me when I went to see a Herbie Hancock show on Friday night. It. Was. Amazing. He was accompanied by Vinnie Colulaita on drums and Dave Holland on Bass. Incredible musicians. The kicker is that the opening act was even better. A group called the Lionel Loucke Trio. This dude from east? Africa Benin who lives in New York right now. His act was actually a lot tighter sounding and impressive than Herbie's (sorry Herbie - you're a living legend in jazz, just not that night).

The next day was pretty packed as well. I got a chance to hike up Black mountain - one of the peaks associated with Cypress Mountain (a local skiing hill). The trails were covered with snow so it was pretty hard to make our way up, but it kept you cool at the same time. Summitting just gives you a rush - a sense of accomplishment - "I conquered this place!" It was a good time to get to know the two guys I was hiking with too, Jason and Ian - a couple of friends that I met in the fellowship I go to here. If going up was fun - coming down was even better. The snow packed trail that made things difficult going up make the trip down a 30 minute slide fest. I wish I had ski's!

Later that day I also managed to catch a jazz act called "Empirical" at the steam clock. They're a bunch of younger guys based out of London in the UK. They're pretty classy - and I really enjoyed their live jazz. See their myspace page here.

One of the things I grew from that day didn't come from exerting myself physically, or listening to those extraordinary musicians, it came from attending the missions conference at Fraserlands. A medical missionary by the name of Dr. Ace Cheng spoke to us regarding his work in Africa. It just reminded me of how the Christian and Missionary Alliance is just that - a missions baseg organization whose purpose is to reach the unchurched peoples of our world. Usually when people ask me for support for their missions trips, it just doesn't seem to register with me - it's like - oh, another person on missions, that's cool. But seeing Dr. Cheng and others share about their work makes it all that much more real. When you hear the stories you can't help but be touched. I made a resolution to support my friends in missions, if not financially- definitely by praying for their work and for their well-being.

Level up!