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.

Holy Day or Holiday?

I have often thought the concept of Easter Monday was kind of strange.  You just know it had to be a blatant quest for a four-day weekend. That someone, somewhere, had a eureka moment and decided that the Monday following Easter Sunday was obviously Easter Monday and as such deserved to be a holiday.  And it had to be a bureaucrat as they seem to be the only ones who get that day off.

That’s fair; people ought to be thankful for Easter, if only for the extra-long weekend. Yesterday I heard some stores advertising that they were open on “Holiday Monday” and my first thought was, “I wonder what holiday that is?”

After all, it was too early for Victoria Day and too late for New Year’s Day.

It would seem that the world would like to borrow the church’s holidays, but would prefer not to acknowledge them.

So I had an idea. Everyone should be able to observe whatever religious holidays they prefer, i.e. Christmas and Easter or Passover or Eid ul-Adha, but in order for it to be a paid holiday, you would have to get a note from your Pastor, Priest, Rabbi or Imam, saying that you actually took the time to observe the religious holiday.   Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Good Bye to the Rim

As difficult as it might seem to believe, I was having a coffee at Tim Horton’s the other day and I heard a staff member comment on how pleased the staff was that the roll up the rim contest was finished for yet another year.

Curious, I asked why that was?  She replied, explaining that some customers would get upset when they didn’t win. Interesting.  They were upset because they were leaving not having what they didn’t have when they went arrived.

Roll up the rim is a life lesson dear reader. For all the scraping and conniving, all the work and toil that we expend during our brief time on spaceship earth, each us will leave not having what we didn’t have when we arrived. Or as Job said, “naked I came into this world and naked I will depart.”  

We all know that we can’t take it with us, so why are we so willing to sacrifice what we will have forever to gain what we’ll only have for a while?  The Apostle Paul tells us that the prize is an eternity with Christ and every cup is a winner if we are only willing to roll it up and claim the prize. 

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

May the Choice be with you

It was good to see old friends again, if only for a couple of hours.  This week Angela and I finally got around to seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  And we enjoyed the familiar faces, although through the years the characters kept getting mixed up. Sometimes I thought I saw Indiana Jones instead of Hans Solo and Jesus instead of Lor San Tekka, but that’s just me. 

A few things did jump out to me about the movie.  I wondered how much Mark Hamill got paid for his role? I think I could have done it.  After all I had the same bathrobe when I was in high school.  I wondered if George Lucas has father issues?  I thought Chewie aged remarkably well and Angela wondered if he coloured his fur.  And I realized that in the end, the entire story has very little to do with the power of the force and a great deal to do with the power of personal choice and decisions that are made.

Characters made good choices and bad choices, not because they had to but because they decided to.  And that is where Star Wars is like life. Ultimately each of us will decide for ourselves if we will embrace the dark side or the light side   Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.