Monthly Archives: October 2003

Wrote this a few days ago.  I find writing, especially poetry, to be a stress reliever, maybe because I can hope for what I wish to be.  So I share with you my

Scribbled Words

Lord,

Like an open book

Read my heart.

Remove the stains

Of lies spilled,

Of self will smudged

On the clean pages

Once given.

Take

The broken sentences,

Make them flow.

Correct the misspelled

Words.  Erase

The question marks

Where none should be.

Remove redundancies in me.

Create

From scribbled words

A poem, a song.

Let my living

Become a volume,

Bound in your grace,

Embossed with your name

As author.

Last night Grace was injured in her soccer game.  Nothing serious – just pulled her Quads.  But that still makes for a sore leg.  She needs a few days to recuperate, but she is off to Calgary for a dance workshop which she has been anticipating for a long time. (and which we have already paid for!) She is very upset.  The trip is planned, she meets her cousin down in Moose Jaw for the ride to Calgary, and Leo has taken a half day off work to drive her down and then go visit his brother who lives down that way.

So she is going.  She has ice on her leg, lots of ice packs with her and a big tensor bandage, and a bottle of ibuprofen. 

Now she starts looking for her dance sneakers – no where to be found.  To me this is the most frustrating because it will bother me until they are found.  And we think she may have left them at dance on Wednesday.  They are not at our house whereever they are.  So I can see my day being a hectic search for the shoes in between my work seeing kids at the school dental program.

These are times when a mother needs extra patience and the wisdom of God to track down the missing shoes!

Update:  I arrived at the school and was informed that my morning would be shorter than anticipated – some special event going on.  So I had extra time to go over to the dance studio which does not open till 2 pm normally.  I had phoned and left a message earlier with no returned call.  However, I was hoping someone would be there.  I got there and a meeting was in progress and the dance instructor opened up the studio for me.  There were the shoes! 

Thank you God for small prayers answered.  Now for the bigger concerns… A good reminder that he is with me.  If he cares enough about the little stuff I can be sure he has the bigger stuff under his control.  This knowledge helps me get through the really tough days.

I just finished one run from the soccer pitch at Prime Minister’s park to the Warehouse where Grace dances.  Poor Grace – she had to sit on the bench since she missed too many soccer practices.  She needed to be at dance by 5:00 and since Sara was still playing, I had to return to the field after dropping Grace off.  Then I ended up missing Sara who forgot that I was driving a borrowed vehicle and didn’t see me waiting. Then when I went to look for her, she and I missed each other. 

One of my first priorities tonight is to package up the grad photos and the recording of Patricks performance in June.  There is other stuff too that we are sending out with Greg as he heads off to the Congo tomorrow.

Greg was over at my office for a few minutes this afternoon with his mother who works for me.  We were giving him last minute advice about what to expect for meals when he gets there and reminding him to pack enough immodium.  I think he is a bit nervous and I know his mom is. 

Greg is going to get the full immersion version of intercultural experience.  He is going to live with the father of the boys who live with us.  Going into a culture that is going to be completely strange, and he is not going to have a bunch of back-up missionary staff support.  Just us at home praying for him and a good reliable and trustworthy contact person in Dr. Kongawi.  But the language is going to be a major barrier and I warned him that he is going to feel like a complete idiot reverting to not being able to communicate except through another person (Dr. Kongawi).  It is a humbling experience to be without language.

And then we have the little problem of the border with the Central African Republic and the Congo being closed to crossings at Zongo/Bangui.  Could use some prayer as he goes since he can fly in to the city of Gemena but it will cost and he has no surplus of funds to pay for a charter flight even from MAF(Missionary Aviation Fellowship).

I told Greg that if he experiences nothing else, he will experience God’s provision and he will learn to rely on God for that.

There was a terrible accident yesterday on Hwy 55 just east of town.  A school bus stopped to let some kids off and a pulp haul truck failed to stop for the line up of four vehicles stopped behind the bus.  The semi pretty much went over the last car in the line-up and so died a woman, a friend of ours since we began working at the Co-operative Health Centre. 

She was just beginning her retirement after being active in launching many good community projects.  She worked with me as we set up the School Based Dental Pilot Project then went on to help start Child/Mothers Futures Project and other such programs as the Community Against Family Violence, etc.  She leaves behind a legacy of working to improve the social programs in our community.  She lived life well.

Today was one of those just pretty ordinary get up go to work kind of days.  Except that it was very busy and it was just the kind of day when it would be nice to get a break to step outside for a bit to enjoy the sun and beautiful weather.

Last week I made the mistake of requesting something from God.  You see our finances have been pretty well stretched what with having three kids we are helping to put through university, and our other kids with their own particular needs that seem to suck our wallets dry.  And our kids needs are not the only ones we have staking a claim on the funds at our disposal.  There are all the usual bills and obligations. 

So we had pretty much drained the well.  Now it would be nice to win the lottery and all but not very realistic.  God seems to like to work in more mundane ways – like having us work for our daily wage.  So I brought the fact that we were kind of getting to the bottom of our resources to Gods attention.  Actually I think he already knew but wanted me to tell him.  So I did.  More specifically, I asked him not for a lottery win but just for our production at the office to meet our needs.

So I really can’t complain when now I am too busy to get out of the office at noon.  I asked for it! 

Maybe next time I should try asking for the lottery thing and take a holiday!  🙂

This morning was just too beautiful.  What a gift at this time of the year.  26 degrees yesterday and today just as nice.  Before heading off to practice for worship, I went for a long walk on the riverbank.  It seemed a better place to talk to God than from the shelter of my home. 
 
Maybe with a look out from my front yard, you can see why.  The colours were gorgeous, the air was warm enough not to need mittens, and the sun was just coming up.  I love mornings like this and I guess when one knows what kind of weather is coming – all too soon – one savours days like this.

The world around me is doing an excellent job of “declaring God’s glory”.

Thank you God  for this gift.