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From Clairvaux (headquarters of Bernard) to Barking (headquarters of William the Conqueror), the carved abbey stones cry out from the ashes, “By the grace of God we are what we are.”

As I attempt to teach in Clairvaux Manifesto, we have to remember rightly in a right way. We can remember rightly in a wrong way; typical of the human condition. But, we can never remember wrongly in a right way; typical of demonic intent. To make the wrong seem and appear to be right… The host of hell would not only erase all memory of the Good, they would superimpose their own twisted longings over everything Good, poisoning every deep well of truth. Sorry, not on my watch!!!

This was my office desk back in May, 2007. I smile looking at the first presentation I ever put together on our due diligence process at Woodthorpe Petroleum Ltd., a world bank report, an oil and gas prospectus, and a schematic revealing the infrastructure of one particular nation we were researching (water tables and tectonics I think).

Now, (after writing and publishing Clairvaux Manifesto in 2009) I’m back at it, planning for the future success of an oil company, fighting along side my friends. For example, earlier today we put in two bids equaling nearly 10 million dollars of potential work.

Sitting at Gatwick airport, 8 minutes and 19 seconds left on internet station. My iPhone has been giving me the whitescreen of death for two days… gotta get it fixed or replaced; nearly threw it in the Thames River yesterday… but at least it didn’t cause me to miss any meetings, had it all written down (luckily).

I covered a lot of miles in the City of London… so many stories. But, just glad to be getting home to Dar, Luke, Bree and Nate; I miss them terribly… especially sitting here staring at a thousand strangers and seeing so many kids I wish were mine.

I don’t know how else to put it; breadcrumbs.

Yesterday at this time, I was on a private tour of the Presidential Palace in Malta. Today, I find myself walking among Maltese Crosses in London’s St. John’s Square.

I didn’t plan it this way.  This morning’s meeting was set up to meet at a coffee shop called St. John; I didn’t set up the location. The meeting ended up postponed till tomorrow, no worries… So I started walking and praying, and voilà… I’m surrounded by the iconic images of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

Malta is great… meeting great people like David Jones of www.stewardship.org.uk.  Felix and Miriam are supreme hosts.

Well, I have a radio interview in 20 minutes at http://www.faithfm.org/listen.shtml and Darlene is 7 time zones away with http://www.raisetheroofforhaiti.webs.com

Tonight’s gonna be a good night; and we’re just getting started!

Here’s Luke and Nate in January ‘08, surfing the waves of Gozo Island, part of Malta. The look on their faces captures our three weeks there; huge adventures.

Well, today I fly to Malta. I start the day in business meetings with Terry Woodthorpe, looking to raise funds with a group of investors. Then I fly into the London, Gatwick to meet up with Joe and Nancy who will  treat me to lunch and drive me to Luton. From there I fly to Malta, to be met at the airport by Miriam, Enya, and Leon – as Felix is in some meetings until the evening.

Dar just drew this Google Earth line between Canmore, Alberta and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Tomorrow, at our kids school assembly, Dar is sharing a power point presentation about Haiti, set to the music of a beautiful song called Lift Your Voice by our friend Crystal (on iTunes)

Compassion and World Vision take note; this song deserves a Dove Award!

The lyrics as I hear them:

The road’s been long, more than anyone should bear; you’ve soldiered on, to fight injustice and despair; and though the pain was overwhelming, you found a way to stand again

Yesterday afternoon at the office, Terry and I rediscovered this picture as we were in between handing each other phone conversations, rewriting legal contracts with potential team members, and prepping for investor presentations for two parties highly interested in the current needs and future direction of our company.

This picture is all about documentation; someone in our company is snapping a picture of me while I’m snapping a picture inside a generator building; contingency and redundancy.

I am sitting by the fireplace. Over the past two days, friends and I have been in the back country cutting, stacking, hauling, and carving tall trees down into firewood.

As the chainsaw thundered trees to earth, I imagined workers cutting through cement and steel searching for survivors. As I hoisted eight foot logs onto my shoulders, I imagined carrying the living and the dead.

Jesus is on the island of Haiti. His hands are burying the dead, caring for the sick and wounded, holding the children, distributing water and provisions, clearing the rubble, and restoring every broken wall and devastated thing.

In Sept. ‘07, before purchasing natural gas wells, a water disposal well, and various facilities, Terry Woodthorpe knew his team needed to get on the ground and check things out. From the sky, then on the ground, I snapped hundreds of pictures, every serial number and vessel, no detail missed.

In this picture, Terry is standing in the orange coveralls (during a helicopter safety briefing) moments before we flew deep into the marshes of the Chinchauga River (I’ve crossed that river numerous times with him in a small boat, trekking the pipelined miles between wells, heavy equipment slung over our shoulders).