The Blame Game

Selfies are nothing new and certainly nothing out of the ordinary.  But what about a selfie taken at 182 Kilometers per hour?  Last summer, Christal McGee of Georgia was involved in an accident while taking a selfie using the Snapchat speed filter, which posts your speed in your selfie.  While trying to drive and take the picture, McGee failed to notice the car that pulled onto the highway in front of her.  And while nobody was killed, the driver of the other vehicle suffered serious brain injuries.  

According to a recent lawsuit filed by the other driver, the culprit wasn’t the young lady driving at a reckless speed while trying to take a picture of herself on her phone, nor was it the driver himself who pulled onto the highway in front of her.   No, the villain who needs to pay is Snapchat, because they produced an app that promotes and rewards bad behavior.  Perhaps it is because Snapchat has deeper pockets than the others but more likely it goes back to that age old philosophy, “it’s not my fault, somebody else must be to blame.”

 Of course even with all of her injuries Christal made sure to post a selfie of herself from the ambulance captioned “Lucky to be alive”  

Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Who are you?

They want to know who we are and they aren’t content to simply asking Google or Facebook they are asking, or telling, us to give them the details. 

Did you take the time to fill out your census form this past week?  Ours was relatively short, thus why it was called the short form & it didn’t take long at all.   But I understand that some had to go into more detail on the long from. And I know why the census is important. Without knowing who lives in a community and their ages, it’s hard to have a grasp on what will be needed such as elementary Schools or Nursing Homes.

And while I didn’t have to fill out the long form, curiosity lead me to look at the form online, and there were a lot more question asking about work, health and housing.  But there were no questions about faith or religion, that’s interesting. Was it intentional? Do they not want to know or do they simply consider a person’s faith irrelevant?

We may have to fill out the census in order for Statistics Canada to know who we are, but God already knows who we are.  He knows our names and when we were born and He knows because He loves us. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Kinfolk

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I love the history of the Wesleyan church.  Born out of the abolitionist movement of the early 1800’s, our founders saw a distinct connection between holiness and social justice.  That desire for equality and justice carried over into the suffragette and women’s rights movement and continues today as Wesleyans around fight the battle against human trafficking and hunger and for education and clean water.  But as much as I love our history, the history of our denomination is relatively short, less than two hundred years.

I spent two days this week in the company of two young believers from the Coptic Church. They were passionate about their faith and their church. The Coptic church traces its history back 2000 years to when John Mark, the same Mark who wrote the Gospel, brought the good news of Christ to the land of the Pyramids. 

And I was reminded again of the diversity and beauty of Christ’s bride, the church. I don’t have much in common with my Coptic brothers and sisters, when it comes to liturgy or how we do church, but during our time together I learned that what I share with them is a love of Christ and the assurance of His grace and His salvation and that’s what makes us family.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Paid in Full

“Canada does not and will not pay ransom to terrorist, directly or indirectly.”  Those were the words of Prime Minister Trudeau after Canadian John Ridsdel was murdered in the Philippines this week.  Ridsdel was kidnapped in September and the Islamic terrorist group Abu Sayyaf demanded a ransom for his safe release, a ransom the Canadian Government refused to pay.  And while I sympathize with John Ridsdel’s family I agree with the stand of our PM.  If we start paying ransoms, then Canadians around the world will be placed in danger as Canada becomes seen as an ATM for cash strapped terror organizations.

The Bible tells us that every one of us has had a ransom paid for us.  Because of our sinful behaviour a price had to be paid and that price, a ransom so to speak, was paid by God himself.

Peter tells us in his first letter that it was not a ransom paid with gold or silver but paid with the blood of Jesus. And while I agree with the stand of our Government, I am thankful that God loved us so much that He made the ultimate sacrifice for us, even when we didn’t deserve it, and all we have to do is accept it.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Legacy of Death

This month we’ve been talking about Legacy, what we leave behind, in memories and money.  Vladimir Lenin has left behind a legacy that he probably wasn’t intending to; an ongoing bill.

Ever since his death in 1924, Lenin’s body has been on display in Moscow.  It was recently revealed that the annual cost to keep Lenin’s embalmed body on display now exceeds a quarter of a million dollars.  The report also indicated that along with replacing the embalming fluid they’ve also had to replace “parts” with plastic and other material.  Parts?  So it’s not even all Lenin they have on display.
Thousands of people a day stand in line to see the tomb and body of the founder of their movement.

If you want you can visit the tombs of others who have founded movements.  Muhamad’s body is located in the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia, the tooth of Buddha can be found in Dalada Maligawa in Sri Lanka and the grave of Confucius, founder of Confucianism, is in his home town of Qufu, Shandong Province, China.

But our faith and hope is based on the fact that there is no tomb or embalmed body of Christ for Christians to visit, because as the angels said “He is not here, He is risen.” Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Creating a Legacy

Last month we laid to rest one of Canada’s best loved and most respected politicians, or at least that is how it would appear.  

It was a little confusing.  If you had been asleep for the past 18 months, or perhaps a visitor from Mars, then the outpouring of praise at Rob Ford’s funeral might not have seemed strange as he was obviously a man who was loved and respected by all.  But if you had been awake for the past year and a half and living anywhere in Canada, then you probably didn’t recognize the man who was being described in the media last week. 

 In a rare display of honesty, Rosemary Westwood, wrote in the Metro, “One day you’re a national embarrassment and the next day you’re eulogized by a former premier as Canada’s mayor.”  Bizarre, but I guess it goes back to not speaking ill of the dead, but the media had no problem trashing him when he was alive.

So, will history remember Rob Ford as a drug addled buffoon or as a great politician and man of the people?  Hopefully they will remember him as both because they are both part of his legacy, a legacy he created by choices he made.  The important question though is: What choices are you making?  

Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Just Stop It!

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Litter bugs me!  I just can’t get my head around it.  What possesses people to just throw their trash on the ground?  This time of year seems to be the worst and Tim’s cups seem to be the greatest offenders. But that might just be my perception, after all, their spring cups are red and easier to spot.  Or maybe people get upset with having the opportunity to play again and out of frustration they just throw the offending cup out their car window.

I understand that in some countries they cane people who litter.  I wonder if that would take provincial or federal legislation to make that a law in Canada?

I don’t litter, but I assume that those that do think, “Well, it’s just one cup, or one can or one bag, what will it hurt?”  And if it was just one cup or can or bag, it probably wouldn’t hurt.  But if you do it once, you will do it again and the point isn’t that it’s not much, the point is that it’s wrong and irresponsible.

And, I suppose it’s the same with whatever small sins litter our Christian lives and the answer is simple in both cases: just stop doing it.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.