Monthly Archives: February 2010

February 24, 2010 · 9:35 am

That was hard work

Another grandchild that I had to sedate and do some work for – Ronin this time.  Thank God it was just a small filling.  I was able to do it without local anaesthetic so it was done in just a few minutes of holding him down to get it done.  A sedated child is not necessarily a cooperative child – just one that will not remember that his grandmother did such a horrible thing to him. 

Actually Ronin was quite a happy tipsy little guy.  He would rather have played.

But that is done and I am VERY glad.  I do not really like having to do this for my grandchildren.  But the alternatives are more than my kids can afford right now.

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Filed under Dental, grandchildren

February 21, 2010 · 2:17 pm

Listening as I work

To Joan Baez’s Album Day After Tomorrow 

This may not be orthodox theologically but I love the song. 

God is God – lyrics by Steve Earle

I believe in prophecy.
Some folks see things not everybody can see.
And once in a while they pass the secret along to you and me.
And I believe in miracles.
Something sacred burning in every bush and tree.
We can all learn to sing the songs the angels sing.

Chorus:
Yeah, I believe in God, and God ain’t me.

I’ve traveled around the world,
Stood on mighty mountains and gazed across the wilderness.
Never seen a line in the sand or a diamond in the dust.
And as our fate unfurls
Every day that passes I’m sure about a little bit less.
Even my money keeps telling me it’s God I need to trust.

Chorus:
And I believe in God, but God ain’t us.

God in my little understanding, don’t care what name I call.
Whether or not I believe doesn’t matter at all.
I receive the blessings.

That every day on Earth’s another chance to get it right.
Let this little light of mine shine and rage against the night.
Just another lesson
Maybe someone’s watching and wondering what I got.

Maybe this is why I’m here on Earth, and maybe not.

Chorus:
But I believe in God, and God is God.

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Filed under Songs and Music

February 19, 2010 · 10:04 pm

My head feels fuzzy but I keep plugging away at all this course work.

Maybe the long title is an indication that I can’t think well enough to come up with a catchy title.

But…

Tonight I faxed off my final quiz in Greek.  Yeah!  That feels good.  Of course I still have a few pages of a review section in my workbook to complete and then all those pages need to be packaged up and sent off for marking. 

It feels as if the end is in sight.  In that class at least.

Meanwhile, I am getting geared up for the term paper; reading like crazy. 

The Old Testament class is heavy on reading too and there are constant assignments it seems.  We need to interact on-line at least twice a week and have a Skype connection with a smaller group once a week.  I’m not sure it takes any less time than attending a class full time – just that all the other stuff of life is also going on – and that is where things get complicated.

Of course it would not be bad if I wasn’t working about 45 hours a week on top of studying.

My head feels a bit fuzzy tonight.  I think I’ll go have a glass of wine to clear it.  Then to bed.  Tomorrow promises to be a repeat as far as studying goes.

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Filed under Day to Day, Studying

February 15, 2010 · 8:32 pm

A couple of quotes

From Roxburgh and Romanuk (The Missional Leader) on the changes a congregation must undertake to move from church as we know it to becoming a church sent into the world:

God enters among people who don’t get it, who are often compromised beyond hope, and there God calls forth new imagination. Christian imagination is about announcing that God does a new thing by entering into the very real places where we are formed, to transform them. p31 

And this one:

Culture change happens in a congregation when God’s people shift their attention to elements such as listening to Scripture; dialoguing with one another; learning to listen; and becoming aware of and understanding what is happening in their neighbourhood, community, and the places of their everyday lives. Instead of seeing these places and relationships as potential for church growth, they come to be seen as the places where God’s Spirit is present and calling us to enter with listening love. This shift sees God at work in one’s context and seeks to name what God might be up to. It is about seeing the church in, with, and among the people and places where we live, rather than in a specific building with a certain kind of people. p 63,64

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Filed under church, Quotes, Studying

February 13, 2010 · 10:34 pm

Another week is just about done

Today has been quite a day.  I’ve done pretty much nothing but studying. 

It seems as if this is what my weekends are going to be like for awhile.  But I got two of my readings done for my Old Testament class, pretty much completed my next to last chapter of Greek and finished one of the books that was required reading for the Missional class. 

Good thing it was rather cold outside because I didn’t miss much by not going out. 

And since I am covering call for R who is off to a romantic getaway I am also glad it has bee a quiet day as for emergencies.  Not a one to disturb my working brain.

Just thinking that this is really a pretty lame excuse for a post.  But I am still here.  Just not too much of interest to share with anyone.

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Filed under Day to Day, Studying

February 7, 2010 · 10:43 pm

My Saturday Blessing

As a congregation we go to make and serve soup about every 6 weeks or so at the Salvation Army Outpost down on Central Avenue. Yesterday this was our responsibility again. MJ was there early making the soup. I got there at about 10 am. There are things to do ahead of time – buns to cut, butter and prepare. Tables to set up, coffee and juice to make. There were about nine of us – all ages pretty much – getting ready.

We served 150 or so bowls of soup. It was great soup too. I had a bowl myself sometime in the course of the day.

At some point in the process of serving bowls of soup, I sat down to chat with an older woman who had brought her own package of what looked like chicken strips and fries. Maybe she was just there for the coffee, who knows. But she was there and not a real part of the usual street people crowd. I made some small comments about the weather asking how she was doing, etc. Just small talk to say how are you.

She began to chat, telling me about her husband who was now up in a nursing home. Perhaps her own memory not so sharp any more since she couldn’t remember the name of it, just that it was by the hospital. She had children who “followed the Lord” going on some mission trip to someplace that she couldn’t remember either. She sort of rambled on for awhile and I found myself having to make a deliberate effort to give her my attention.

I wondered a bit if I should take my leave from her and get back to my business of serving soup but she seemed lonely and needing to talk. So I figured that talking to some lonely woman was at least as important at that moment as serving someone food. So we talked and as I finally got up to go back to work, she thanked me for the visit saying, “I don’t get to talk to someone very often. I’m just an old woman and most people don’t bother to be nice.”

That was my blessing for the day.

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Filed under church, Day to Day, Reflections

February 2, 2010 · 5:39 pm

A lost boy or just a loser?

Thank God that my children are not total idiots like the young guy I saw today. He was squeezed into my full schedule as an emergency. Got in a fight Saturday in Edmonton. Says proudly that, yeah, he threw the first punch and the taxi driver is charging him. But he won – so he says.

Except he has a front tooth pushed back a few millimetres so that now he can’t really close his teeth together. And that tooth is (surprise, surprise) dead and needs a root canal and braces to realign it – or it will need to come out. Oh, yeah and a black eye.

His idea of winning is totally lost on me.

Sounds to me as if he is one big loser – or at least horribly lost.

Can’t help reflecting that this guy is so far from the kind of human being that I believe God intended any person to be. Evil comes in different forms but causing such human waste is part of how I see evil at work.

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Filed under Day to Day, Dental, Reflections