THE FRIESEN BLOG

Krista Jefferson’s Pictures of Josiah

A friend of ours, Krista Jefferson is a professional photographer. Her work is absolutely amazing. She took some baby shots of Josiah. They are amazing. Take a look over at her site www.kristajefferson.com

Thanks Krista.

Leading With a Limp

Recently, I read the best book I’ve ever read on leadership.  I started reading books on leadership when I was still a teenager and stopped reading them for years because I felt like everything I read was the same.  In fact, much of my leadership style was in direct contrast to much of what I read about what people considered to be strong leadership.

Well, Leading With a Limp by Dan Allender is an incredible look at what it means to be a leader.  He starts by saying that everyone from a parent to a CEO is a leader.  For a long time I have struggled with understanding the role and nature of leadership.  Part of my postmodern bent provides me with ample speculation directed towards leadership, power, and the expectations of others.  Now as someone in a position of leadership I am left wondering how many people have the same questions about my leadership.

Leading With a Limp explores leadership and life on a level that is more authentic and helpful then most things I have read.

Give it a read.  I am reading it again for a second time - and I don’t do that often.

Here is an interview with Dan Allender and Steven Brown.

Introducing Josiah Dallas Ben Friesen

So this last Wednesday morning I became a father.  Josiah was born at 2:22am on July 18th, 2007.  He was 5 pounds and 10 ounces.  So after 8 and a half months of a very sick pregnancy Leanne finally had the baby and is feeling great.  I’ll keep you posted with more photos over the next little while.

Peace.

Dallas

New Site

I am working on a new site.  I have had some technical difficulties lately with the site but now things have been repaired and the new site will be up soon and updated regularly.

Peace.

dallas

A Lesson from Helping Move

This weekend I had the opportunity to help a family move into a new house. They rented a van and the whole process didn’t take more than a few hours. I was amazed however by my response to the move.

I can’t believe that I am announcing this online for all to read but I actually like helping people move. Okay, actually I like packing moving vans. The bad part about packing the van is that you have to be in a hot small space and you end up carrying every item, even if only for a short time. But the positive aspect of it is that it is like a three dimensional Tetris game.

Now I tend to be pretty laid back in life but for some reason when it comes to helping people move I like to get it done fast. In fact, there have been times when I have helped people move and I just took charge and was the unofficial ‘boss’. Well, I had my usual agenda of helping make this move happen quickly. However, the family that I was helping move are originally from a Caribbean nation where it appeared that they weren’t as concerned with making this move happen as quickly as me. I wanted to make it happen quickly so that we could sit around and talk or enjoy hanging out afterwards. It appeared that many of the others wanted to take it a little more casually, laughing and joking around as they moved.

Different approaches.

Similar outcomes.

A good lesson in self-awareness.

Working again!

I have been unable to post recently.  I am not sure why but it seems to be working when I use a different computer.  So hopefully I will be able to continue posting.
peace.

Sorry Friends - I am having technical difficulties posting these days

Back online

Okay so I am back online.  It’s been a while since I have posted and had a little technical difficulty.  So here are a few highlights of the last 2 plus weeks or so. 

• I am now 30.  On Friday the 13th, I turned 30.  Thanks for all those who came over for our little birthday bash.  I appreciated it.  Seeing Derrick, Fred and Warren from Calgary was pretty cool.

• I joined www.facebook.com.  I am not sure if I will continue with it - I know Scott - email & blogs are out, facebook is the face of internet 2.0. 

• I spent 24hrs last weekend on a blackout with 30 or so teenagers.  We went 24 hrs without electricity to raise awareness and money for those without power.

• Now because the young people raised the amount of money we were hoping for they got to dye my hair any color they picked.  Purple.

• This week Leanne and I spent a few days up in the Muskoka area with a couple of couple friends.  My first Muskoka cottage experience.  (For my non-Ontario friends, Muskoka is the cottage country area of Ontario.)

• This week I am heading for a few days to Manitoba for my grandmother’s 90th Birthday.

Happy 30th Birthday Garret and Nathan

April 12th is my buddy Garret’s 30th Birthday.
 

Garret and I were ”Double Trouble.”  Okay, so as drummer and bass player we never backed up Stevie Ray Vaughan but in our heads we could have.  Two of my favourite memories in life involve Garret and his crazy barns. 

(the first barn)  It was late November close to 15 years ago when I played bass guitar for the first time with a band.  It was upstairs in a stinky old barn.  I remember the “cosmic energy” of the first two measures we played.  Music came alive in that moment for me.  (I am sure we sounded like crap.)  But in that moment we ROCKED!

(the second barn)  Garret and I played together hundreds of times with a few different groups.  Our main band – The Upsidedown Truths were practicing one night until about 11pm (noise by-laws).  We decided that we would head off to the west side of Vancouver Island sleep on the beach and get some sunrise surfing in.  But before we could go, Garret had to go to his barn and feed one of his new lambs.  So I held a baby lamb as he bottle fed it.

Garret, happy 30t birthday buddy.  I haven’t seen you for ages but next time I do I am sure it’ll be like we were just jamming yesterday.

April 12^th is also my buddy Nathan’s 30^th birthday.

Nathan with his oldest daughter Kate.

Nathan and I were best friends from about grade 7 to grade 10.  We went to a small private school and just the way it worked out we along with the other guys in our grade were the oldest guys in grade 8, 9, and 10.  That means we “ruled” our school for a number of years.

Sports was a big part of our lives.  One of my favorite connections in life is the one I had with Nathan.  We played every sport.  We had the ability to know where the other person would be without saying anything.  And we often did quite well as a school despite our size.  The only thing is that during PE or on the playground court/field we always got split up.  Well, one day I was tired of always playing against Nathan.  There were five of us playing basketball so I said, “Okay, Nathan and I against the three of you.”  We played and beat them badly.  The next day there six of us and they didn’t want us on the same team.  So I said, “Okay, Nathan and I against the four of you.”  We played them and beat them badly.  The next day there was seven of us but again they didn’t want us on the same team.  So I said, “Okay, there are five of you, surely you can guard us and we’ll even spot you 10 points.”  We played them and beat them badly. 

(Disclaimer for any of those five guys that might be reading this and remembering how they got beat badly - a couple of the guys from the other team were younger then us and it didn’t take long for them to catch up in their abilities.)

Well its been many years since we played sports together.  And of course our friendship was more then just sports.  Nathan lives in the Silicon Valley with his wife and two girls (the third child is due in a few weeks).  Nathan is one of the kindest, gracious, hardworking people I know.  He works with his hands building high end wood cabinets.  Some of the most beautiful wood pieces I have ever seen came from his efforts.  Although we rarely see each other or even talk that much anymore, I would walk across our continent to help him out if he needed it.  Happy 30^th Birthday my friend.

The reason I remember Nathan and Garret’s birthday so well is that it is one day before mine.  Which means tomorrow I turn 30!

It’s That Day…

It’s That Day…

 a day we do not sing about
a day of burden and depth

it is the connecting day
the day best described as - and…

orthoparadoxy

the weather outside incarnates
grey and bright
flakes of snow randomly float
and yet spring birds cherp
there is wind and yet
not enough to call it windy

i am unsure of what i feel today
heaviness and yet in an hour
i am off to celebrate a first birthday

it’s that day…
a day of ambiguity
a day of unsettledness
a day of uncertainty

interestingly, most days feel like today

(Thanks to Dwight Friesen [my brother] for articulating something that many of us have felt for a long time… orthoparadoxy)