June 20, 2007 · 9:58 am

Troubles again

We received news of trouble in Gemena, DRC  from a good friend there. 

A few years ago when I was there for a visit, soldiers had taken over the airport.  Now that could sound a bit ominous, and in terms of being an indicator of stability for the region, it was an indicator that peace was a precarious commodity.  The soldiers were, however, at that moment only living there.  Of course that meant that the airport was pretty well trashed.  Soldiers are not know for looking after the yards or properties of temporary dwellings.

While I was there these same soldiers moved from the airport to one of the schools that was by then closed for the year.  Not a good thing – it is unlikely they left the school in good condition if they left it at all. 

Now these soldiers are causing havoc in the city of Gemena.  They shot one of the churche’s drivers on his way back from a visit as he was driving a church leader to a nearby village.  They stopped him at the usual place where they set up a roadblock and just shot him.  I have no idea of the cause.  Armed teenagers do not always need a reasonable cause.

The people of the city and of the church are pretty upset.  So they have been gathering in large numbers in protest.  And on the way back from one of the funeral events, the crowd came upon two soldiers guarding a stalled truck blocking the road.  The soldiers apparently panicked and shot into the crowd killing a boy of 12, the son of one of the church deacons.

These people have suffered so much.  How they react could make a huge difference in the fate of this city.  Pray that God will have mercy on all of them.  Pray that they will have mercy with each other.

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June 18, 2007 · 6:53 am

Welcome to Canada!

One of the coolest things I did this weekend was to attend Patrick’s citizenship ceremony.  Finally he is a Canadian! 

Most of us will never fully understand the difference that makes for him.  He now has all those rights and freedoms we take for granted.  Freedom of travel – well we used to be more free before needing passports to travel to the states, but at least still do not need a visa.  Imagine if you had to travel to the nearest US embassy each time you wanted to travel to the US, never knowing if the request would be granted. 

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June 17, 2007 · 4:39 pm

Bling

This morning I was reading the morning office and the words from Psalm 12 caught my attention.
 1 Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!
      The faithful have vanished from the earth!
 2 Neighbors lie to each other,
      speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.
 3 May the Lord cut off their flattering lips
      and silence their boastful tongues.
 4 They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.
      Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
 5 The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless,
      and I have heard the groans of the poor.
   Now I will rise up to rescue them,
      as they have longed for me to do.”
 6 The Lord’s promises are pure,
      like silver refined in a furnace,
      purified seven times over.
 7 Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed,
      preserving them forever from this lying generation,
 8 even though the wicked strut about,
      and evil is praised throughout the land.
This is one of the Psalms that I really love.  David really gets what God’s intentions are for the human community and regrettably what we all too often experience in this distorted world.  
 
There is part of this psalm that along with another passage from Zechariah 13:9 that talks about God’s promises and about his people in terms of precious metal.
      This third I will bring into the fire;
       I will refine them like silver
       and test them like gold.
       They will call on my name
       and I will answer them;
       I will say, ‘They are my people,’
       and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’ "
And all the talk of precious metal makes me think of the attraction to shiny things that my daughters have.  
 
God’s promises should be dangling off us like precious jewelry.  And I guess they should be attractive. 
 
The passage from Zechariah then goes on to describe that we ourselves will be as gold and pure silver. And we too are called on to become precious and pure as we allow God to refine our lives.
 
It makes me think of the word “Bling”.  How different the sense of that word is from what God intends us to be.  We are not to just be showy and ostentatious. Our attractiveness comes from the way we wear the promises of God – how we respond to them and live them out.  So lives of integrity, not sham; lives that show God’s pure love for the oppressed and needy, not just empty glitter.  
 
I am not one for wearing a lot of jewelry but I think I would like very much to be wearing the promises of God to the needy in ways that show.  I would like to be refined by God till I am solid and pure and precious – an ornament of attraction – drawing the eye of an onlooker to God as well as a delight to God who fashioned me.
 
 

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June 14, 2007 · 1:59 pm

So you see – we are getting there

And the pictures on Flikr have been updated.  But as of Saturday – no cabinet doors!  Monday they promise.  I wonder ???

 

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June 13, 2007 · 11:06 pm

Plans

Today the countertops went on my cupboards. 

Tomorrow the doors and drawers.  (I hope)

It is funny how I make all these plans, go and pick out colours, plan out what I think is the time line it will all occur on and then things just happen on some other schedule, someone else’s plans.  but it is all good in the end.

The countertop colour is not what I planned.  Well, actually, it is what we had originally planned.  In fact it is the very colour that attracted me to the idea of concrete in the first place.  Then we went to Saskatoon and with the floor wood colour in hand, decided on a dark ebony colour for the countertop. 

The best laid plans…

I am not about to change the colour now.  I will call them and let them know that this is not what we picked out when we were down to see them.  But, considering that  I really like the result, I am keeping them!

Pictures will be added to my Flikr set but I have just run out of time.  I should be in bed already but am not.

Most of my evening was spent with Sara and her boyfriend’s mom planning the grad day supper for both our kids.  It was what Sara lovingly calls "a meet the future in-laws event."  If that is what it is, I am OK with that so far.  Both her boyfriend and his family are wonderful people.

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June 12, 2007 · 6:47 am

Today is the day

Today is the day the cupboards are really supposed to be installed.  Tomorrow the countertop people come up from Saskatoon with the countertops.

Those cupboards had better go in today!  I don’t know how many more false cupboard installs I can take.  I know it was not anyone’s fault – just the delays caused by a busy construction season.  But two months is a long time to be without a kitchen.

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June 10, 2007 · 3:16 pm

Composing

Just trying my hand at something that might work as a song.  I have a tune in my head.  Maybe I will try some composing too.
 
 
O, Lord
You’ll always be
A mystery to me.
A God of power and might
Protecting me,
And with your Mother’s arms
You carry me.
When I am lost
I will be found in you.
 
O, Jesus
Teacher, friend            
My life’s example be
Your passion for our love
Amazes me.
That you would come to us
In human flesh
And die to buy
Our freedom with your life.
 
Oh Spirit
Come and be
Christ’s living breath in me.
Wisdom of Heav’n, your pow’r
Bestow on me.
Give me a heart of love
Nurture in me
The kind of care
That draws the world to you.
 
Let us return to you
Let us worship you
Transform our lives
Fill us with love
And send us out as light into the world.
 

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June 9, 2007 · 11:10 pm

Sitting around the fire

Tonight was about sending off a good staff person to a whole new life – becoming a student again.  She will do well.  There is no doubt of that in my mind even if it is tough and a bit scary to go back to school.  So we had a staff barbeque in her honor.  We ate and drank well. 

Then we sat around the firepit and talked. Stories and jokes and talk.  Good times.  Really good times together.  There is something special about sitting around a fire on a cool evening.

And we got to know our newest staff member and her man.  I think it will be good having her as part of the group.

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June 7, 2007 · 10:15 pm

All in a day

I am sitting here going over the days events.  Lots of stuff happened.  Some fairly significant things, size wise, grad present sort of things. 

Sara has her car.  She took Leo shopping and from there it all sort of happened fast.  She is getting to the point of needing a car, if need is the right word, to get from school to work to soccer,etc.  Now she will need to work to pay for the car, at least the upkeep and the gas and licence.  I think she will find out that cars make you a slave to work.  So, one sort of golden Cavalier is out there somewhere and will come home tonight to sleep here.

I get my vehicle back.  A vehicle for myself that I can use any time I want – or need.  But I think I will keep riding to work at least three days a week.  I can use the exercise and it is only a few minutes away.  I will supplement my riding to work exercise by other regular rides, hopefully another three times a week.  So, tonight I rode up to the church again to practice.

When I got home, Rachelle was here.  She and a friend are taking off to some lake north of here for a couple days of camping.  She is looking fairly pregnant but well.  She says she gets tired so fast.  I think that is to be expected.

Earlier tonight I had a meeting with one of my business partners.  We own property and needed to discuss plans for the future.  So for the second time in one week I had supper at Amy’s.  The Tilapia was superbe but I still did not get my cheesecake.  I think maybe I need to just go for the cheesecake – no other food to kill my appetite beforehand.  The cheesecake needs its own place – it is so good that to tack it onto the end of an already filling meal is just not right.

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June 6, 2007 · 10:30 pm

Sleep heals

I think that getting the extra sleep last night really paid off.  I felt a lot better today.  So here it is 10:30 pm already and I was going to get lots of sleep tonight too – but time has flown and so there go my good plans to be in bed by 9:30. 

Tonight I did manage to get in a bike ride.  Rode up the bit of hill to the church where I spent about an hour practicing my bass – still stored there till our house renovation is finished. 

And good news on our kitchen – the cupboards should be in on Friday and the countertops then can be installed early next week.  David is up this weekend to work some more on the baseboards and stuff.  So i am thinking that by next weekend I may be moving back in.  I am so ready for things to get back to normal around here. 

And I am heading off to bed trying to get some more of that healing sleep.

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