Vancouver travel blogs | Beauty overload

Beauty Overload

Glacier grand
Standing tall
Set apart
Magnificent majestic
Suns rays bounce
off your snowy whites
Creating a crown of dazzling light
That makes my heart pound and ponder
On the majesty  of the one who crafted you

Mountains dressed
In thick jade and emerald
So elegant


The sea, and straights below
Reflecting the sun
Now set aglow
Like liquid gold
Gilts the  topaz waters

From sea to sky
Wonder upon wonder
With each mile we cover
Comes crashing into view
Leaving me breathless
And asking for more

We start our ascend
Into heights
Leaving the glens
Below to look like
Lego bits in a play pen

A breathtaking view is all around
My face turned towards the clouds
My heart thinking
Is this a dream
Has it comes true?

Breathing in crisp mountain air
In these moments
Forgetting all cares
I can only look down
From these lofty heights
And feel my heart
Burst into songs of praise
As I stand in awe

I thought I had seen
All the beauty there was to see
In this amazing city
Till I came up here.
And for a fleeting moment
My heart got swept away.

Then I remind myself

I am but a  traveller
I have not come to stay
Enjoy the beauty
Store it in your soul
To be returned to
In mind and heart
When the toils of day
Take its toll

As we begin the descent
I leave completely content
Satisfied.

Navaz DCruz

Vancouver travel blogs | A day to be out

A DAY TO BE OUT

People people everywhere
Young and old
Basking in the warmth
Soaking in the sun
It's a day to be out

The beaches are alive and buzzing
The greens filled with laughter
As children giggle and caper
Parents in relaxed dapper laze about

The old  too take a stroll 

Its a day to be out

The more athletic
On cycles and skateboards go
Down winding lanes 

Cradled by the creek on one side,
Filled with sail boats
Bobbing in the shimmering water 

And newly burgeoning yuppy residences

Stand tall  on the other

It's a day to be out

Street side cafes bursting at it seems
People sitting  leaning over their drinks
In keen conversations, connecting or just being

Young lovers lying in the grass
In tight embraces
Lost to everything
The homeless  too wander about
Lost to everything
The  sunrays seems to spin
A warm web  around everyone: this is life

And a day to be out

As dusk drawers near
People start to leave the piers
The sun and sand behind them
The day is done
 For frolic and fun

It was a good day in the sun

The night begins
A new light it casts
Not that of sun nor moon
But of dim lit dens

Where people come in

To meet friends and hang around

Music fills the air

For night is another day 

Soft chatter around dinner tables
In homes where there are young ones

A content glow on sunburnt faces

As parents tuck them into bed
Porch lights on
The day is gone
The chill breeze blows through the air

Navaz D Cruz

Vancouver travel blogs | Deja vu

Deja vu

Today I saw this city in contrast
To all the beauty I beheld
We drove to parts that
Did not make me proud
But ashamed as déjà vu kicked in

Sights and sounds of
Home far away
Where din and dirt are common play
Did I ever expect experience that today?
Here in Vancouver?

Disturbed and disoriented
I looked around
Am I back home? Where is this town ?
Why are the streets unkept , not swept?
And shop windows tacky?

Did I hear a car honk?
Am I going crazy?
Litter and shops spilling onto the size walk
Make my head go dizzy
These are things I'm used to back home
What's it doing here? I ask

This is where your people trade

 I'm told
Do business and live.
Their homes look weather beaten
Bear and barren
No foliage no flora to trim their dull fences
They seemed not to care!
For any of this at all .

Ah! it now fell into place
This is just déjà vu
Of things back home
Where this is common place

Navaz DCruz

Vancouver travel blogs | City Lights

CITY LIGHTS

Like strings of pearls the city lights
Bedeck the street  at night
The hustle and bustle of the day
To a quiet hush gives way
As people make their way
Back home


Downtown morphs into this pretty princess
All dressed for an evening ball
The Cinderella like charm
will last but a few hours
As sunrise heralds the curtain call


She looks beautiful as though
Adorning jewels of every kind
The bay like shimmering satin
Embellished with rubies, sapphires and the like


She is  truly a sight to behold
By the light of the moon
And I take it all in savoring it slowly
In quiet contemplation.

Navaz DCruz

Vancouver travel blogs | O Canada

O Canada

Going down maple avenues
With pretty homes
And prettier gardens still
There is beauty to constantly behold
On every street and hill

Streets running at right angles
Each allowing its neighbor a view
Of the beautiful creek and island
There is courtesy in all that they do

Downtown the cityscape changes
From  cottage roofs to glass façades
Of structures tall and elegant
That speak of wealth and opulence?

The business center ironically
Juxtaposed between wealth and poverty
The drug culture smack
In the middle of this
Makes one wonder
Could not beauty and wealth
Have eradicated this?

O Canada the land of the strong and free
What ails these people so?
That city fathers cannot fix
Young lives adrift
Lost,
Wandering the streets
with vacant eyes
But not vacant hearts.

Who knows their story?
Who can tell?
What made these souls like living corpses,

 living in hell?
O Canada
For these , my heart bleeds for you.

Navaz D Cruz

Vancouver Travel blogs | First impressions

Its been a week that we have been here in the beautiful city of vancouver. This place is breath takingly beautiful. The sun is perfect

Corners of color
In verdant canopies
Soaking in rays of
Northern light.

Clematis creeping on wooden fences
Lavender gracing the stone walk
While hedges trimmed to geometrical perfection
Complement the ceraliun  skies .

Pines mapels and firs line the landscape
Like layers of a fluted skirt
Lofty snow capped mountains
Stand as sentinels in the background
Protecting them from the icy blasts of wind.

Vancouver has become to many a sorjouner
A new homeland
A melting pot of people from every tongue and tribe
Where they can build a future
Of hope.
where dreams come true.

Navaz D Cruz

The Vantage Point

I recently watched a video clip called “The invisible woman” byNicole Johnson. 
It was brilliantly presented; capturing what I feel is the essence of Christian life, though she was addressing women in particular: a mom's daily routines, daily real life heroes with faces and names unknown. 

It made me think of several things that I have been mulling over the last few weeks. This clip served as a catalyst to my reflections. Here are some of my thoughts

 
 What's true for those women described in the video clip is true for a lot of us maybe though in different ways. Most of our lives are unseen,and is  unnoticed by people around us. Even those with a public life, live vast amounts of time in a place where no one is watching,no audience, no one to applaud. It's just you.

When in that private place, is there a real me pops out from the jack in the box? Do I live life like in a jack in the box? Or is what you see is what you get i.e. who I really am? 
So what's it I do in the unseen places of my life? Who I am when I am alone, my thoughts, action, how I live my day is the real me. What motivates me? What makes me get out of bed each day? How far ahead am I looking or not looking?

 Where do I get my equilibrium from? Is it dependent on some position or title accorded to me? Am I authentic in who I am because I am not afraid or ashamed to be me- because my identity and security come from a relationship of  being totally loved and accepted. Full stop! I need to say it just in case you missed that punctuation mark! 
These are questions I ask myself as I ponder on several things.

What is my vantage point : the past, the present, my experiences, my failures or successes, the future? Do these things colour or dictate my perspective?
What is my life's vision? What is my vantage point from where I am looking at the next 20 years? And if I can’t see it in the present can I live with it in view?

I believe my vantage point will determine whether I have tenacity and strength of character to stay in for the long haul. Can I give myself to something that will outlive me? Can I give myself to something where the finished product is one that I will never see in this life?Can I give myself to another's vision? Can I hold onto God given dreams and work at them steadily, quietly while allowing the process to mould and shape me?

I have often used the story of two builder s when motivating people to have a right perspective to what they are doing. The story is of two masons doing the same job however one described himself as a brick layer and the other as a Cathedral builder!

This has always motivated me, especially when the daily drudgery of thankless tasks tempts me to slacken off or give up. I have often paused in my tracks to ask myself this question- What I am doing? Where is all this going or leading up to? 
If I can't answer the question satisfactorily then either I have lost perspective or am seeing things from a wrong vantage point or even worse actually  got engaged in pursuits of little value.

What really struck me a fresh from that video clip was that a Cathedral was almost never finished in one man's lifetime! It must have taken more than a 100 years to complete. Therefore the project outlived the original designer, artisans, supplies, funders. These scores of nameless people have contributed to the glory of a grand structure they would never live to see but they worked with dedication and precision.

This brings me to the generation that  get to carry on another man's work or vision. It takes vision and humility for someone to carry on the dream design of another man and bring it to completion. Sure he may add his mark to the structure but in essence it works retain all the features of the original design - a piece magnificent!

In one sense we all are living out SOMEONE else's magnificent vision; to see that City come down from heaven, to see that bride being made ready.

One thing stands out as different from the builders of the Cathedrals of our time on earth. It’s this truth: we will not be unknown that day!!! We will be welcomed by NAME because the grand designer, architect and builder has been recording it in His big Book! 

Nothing we do will go unnoticed by our Jesus!! Nothing, no sacrifice, no toil, no pain will be in vain or uncelebrated by our King! I am  encouraged to carry on for there is our King who looks on “With admiration for what you (I am) are building when no one sees!” (quote from the video clip).

So  I labour with each brick,starting within the four wall of my home and then extending it to others starting with the first "Hello, are you new to Pune?".  I will lay brick upon brick as I serve up scores of meals and coffees, challenging, encouraging people in their walk of faith, journeying with them through all the rough patches of life, standing with them in joy, pain, confusion, doubt, love and laughter. 
In doing so, a grand cathedral to the glory of God is being built. I've had a part to play in it and one day I shall see and glory in the complete and finished work.  

So for now I will take joy in being an unseen Cathedral builder because my vantage point is Eternity!

Navaz D'Cruz