Wednesday, May 27, 2009

How much is enough?

Penn of Denn

In a recent article on "Corporate Greed", Michael Lazaridis, CEO of Research in Motion, was named as Canada's highest paid top executive, with a salary of $51,515,518.00 in 2007. In case you missed that number, I will spell it out for you; fifty-one million, five hundred and fifteen thousand, five hundred and eighteen dollars, a year.

And while that may not quite be a million dollars a week, it's pretty darn close and it works out to almost $25,000.00 an hour for a forty hour week. Which means when Mr. Lazaridis went to work on January 2, 2007, by the time he took his morning coffee break, he had earned more than my annual salary.

If you are wondering where I'm going with this, you're not alone and I'm not sure I have a point to make. I'm just saying: What could you possibly do, to justify a salary of $51,515,518.00? Seriously! Maybe if you came up with a cure for cancer or a way to run our cars on politician's promises.

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart is as well." I guess that applies to a fifty dollar treasure or a fifty million dollar treasure. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

    

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Things to be thankful for.

Penn of Denn

Hopefully you didn't have the opportunity to observe the Church sign this past Monday.  Apparently, during the wee hours of the morning some industrious vandals took the opportunity to change the lettering on our church sign from an announcement about our summer day camps to various profanities. 
I discovered their work when I went into the office on Monday and frantically removed the letters before they could be seen by any more folks travelling up the Hammonds Plains Road.  As I was pulling the letters down, I marvelled at the effort and risk that the miscreants expended to put them up.  It is amazing what we are willing to do and willing to risk in order to do wrong. 

I also paused to be thankful; first, that it was a holiday Monday, so there wasn't as much traffic as there could have been.  And secondly that a couple of members of the community, who I don't know, went out of their way to contact us and let us know about the incident so we could remedy the situation as soon as possible. It is nice to know that there are people out there who still care. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

    
 

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Coming Home

Penn of Denn

You gotta love a happy ending. I'm sure you've all heard how the cat came back. I read an article the other day about a pup who had run away from her Texas home eight years ago who was returned last week.  It appears "Dancer" had been found by a musician wandering in his neighbourhood.  After being taken to the humane society it was discovered via a microchip implant that the stray actually had a home, albeit one that she hadn't been to in a long time. Dancer's owner, Alison Murphy, of Austin, doesn't know where the wayward pup has been, but said obedience school is the next stop for her newly recovered pet.

One of my favourite hymns is "Come thou Fount" and in it, is a line that says:" Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love".  The author of the hymn, Robbie Robertson, did wander away from God for a number of years but like Dancer he eventually found his way home.  If you have wandered away from God there is still a welcome waiting for you, but you have to be ready to come home.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.