Poor Me

What a bummer of a day it was.  First, when I was at Tim Hortons to finish things up for my Sunday message, I discovered I had lost my USB key that my nearly completed message was stored on.  Then, as I made my way in the torrential rain, I pushed the wrong button on my key fob and instead of unlocking the doors, it opened the roof, so I had to go home to get changed and dry my car out.

The Community Remembrance Day service that I had helped plan had to relocate to the community centre and the size of the crowd was just too large for the facility we had.  Bummer.

So let me recap. While I was enjoying a coffee that cost a day’s wage for many people of the world, I realized that I wasn’t able to put my message that I had prepared on my netbook, onto my laptop.  Then, I inadvertently put down the roof on my convertible in the rain and had to return home to put on dry clothes from my closet- full of clothes.   Then to top it off, we had way too many people show up for our Remembrance Day service.  No wonder I was bummed out.
  
Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

2012 is almost here!

I got my first look at a 2012 calendar the other day and, to my surprise, it went right up to December 31st!  I checked every day in December and nowhere did I see a notation that indicated the “End of the World”.  Then I realized that I was looking at “my” calendar and not a “Mayan calendar.”  My bad.

In case you missed the subtle attempt at humour, according to some, December 21st, 2012, marks the end of the 5,125-year cycle of the Mayan calendar.  So, what does that mean to us a year away?  Well, depends on where you stand. For some it is indicative of a variety of doomsday scenarios, while others feel the cycle will just begin all over.  I think they just didn’t get to the drugstore to pick up their new calendar.  

And while we can make light of it, there will be many who take it very serious and want to make plans for the finale.  While the Bible does tell us that this old world does have a “best before date” it also tells us that “today is the day of salvation.”  And if you take care of that today you won’t have to worry about what’s in store for December 21st 2012.
  
Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

That's a Bad Idea

That’s one of the dumbest ideas I’ve heard.  In response to a number of deaths in the Valley, related to people mixing alcohol while abusing prescription drugs, the provincial government has responded with . . . an ad campaign. 

The province wide campaign will include print and television spots warning people about mixing alcohol with their prescriptions.  A typical knee jerk reaction. We have a problem so let’s throw money at it. 

If people don’t know that it’s a bad idea to mix alcohol with prescription drugs  or for that matter mixing alcohol with driving, marriages or child rearing, do we seriously think advertising  will make a difference?  “Wait, I saw a television ad and this could be a bad idea.”

Of course it’s a bad idea and they already know that.  But I’m not sure that advertising the fact will make a difference.  It goes back to people making bad choices and that’s not always a rational process.    Before people will change what they do, they will have to change who they are.  I am not convinced that will be the result of an advertisment they see,  it has a lot more to do with a God they need to meet.  And that is more the church’s responsibility than the governments. 
  
Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Fall has Fell

Angela and I were marvelling at the autumn colours last week as we drove along the highway. The woods were a kaleidoscope of colours, no two the same. It wasn’t hard to imagine Jack Frost painting each leaf individually. One of the many things we missed during our time in Australia was fall colours. As beautiful and gorgeous and wonderful (have I used enough adjectives yet?) as the weather was in Australia, and it was beautiful and gorgeous and wonderful, their trees didn’t change in the fall. To be truthful, I don’t think I ever truly appreciated the various hues that paint our forests until they weren’t there to see. That’s a sad reality of life as well—you don’t realize the good you have until you don’t have it anymore.
As much as I enjoy the fall scenery I don’t appreciate what it takes to make the leaves change—chilly fall mornings leave me cold, so to speak.
That’s human nature though isn’t it? We never seem to want to pay the price, no matter how small. The great thing about the beauty of heaven is that the price has already been paid, and all we have to do is claim it.
  
Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Arab Spring? Not so much.

What’s with all the protests?  And I guess if I have to ask, then I’m probably part of the problem.  The occupy Wall Street and now the Occupy Canada movements have been all over the news and I have heard at least one commentator compare these protests to the, “Arab Spring”.  The Arab Spring involved protests in Tunisia and Egypt; a civil war in Libya and civil uprisings in Bahrain, Syria and a host of others.
And again, maybe it will identify me as a part of the problem but those involved in the Arab Spring were demanding things like the opportunity for free elections and enough food to eat and in response their blood flowed in the streets.  Not sure if that’s a fair comparison with what is happening on Wall Street and the Grand Parade in Halifax.
But the protestors are angry for a reason, and with Wall Street executives taking bailout money and bonus money in the same year, they make an easy target for that anger.
Personally, I think if everyone who laid claim to the name of Christ actually lived like Christ wanted us to, you know the entire, “Love God and Love others” thing, there would be less to protest and fewer protesters. 
Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

A Life to Live

56 years ago, a life was saved and a world was changed.  When 23 year old Joanne Schielbe discovered she was pregnant, she was a student at the University of Wisconsin and she knew two things. She knew she wasn’t in the position to raise her unborn child but she wanted the very best for that child.  Paul and Clara couldn’t have children of their own but they promised Joanne that if she would allow them to adopt her son, that they would do their very best to raise him right and by all accounts they did.
I wonder what the world would look like today if Joanne had of chosen to abort her child instead of allowing him to be adopted?  If she had of decided that his life wasn’t worth her inconvenience and the heartbreak of giving him up? 

We’ll never know because  the decision Joanne made would have a profound impact on how the world looks today.  And that decision was reinforced by the love that Paul and Clara would show the child they had been entrusted with.

So we can only wonder: what would the world  look like today if Steve Jobs had of been aborted instead of adopted?

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