Okay boys and girls, it is that time once again when God SEEMS to have laid something on my heart for prayer, something that seems completely impossible to even imagine, let alone accomplish.
I think I mentioned this briefly in a post some weeks ago, but since then the idea is growing. I have been trying not to even think about it over the past week, but my husband unexpectedly brought it up again last evening at a time when I assumed his thoughts were so consumed with present conditions at work that he would have no time for pipe-dreaming.
We have decided to pray seriously now about the seeming impossibility of flying to Florida next May to attend the confirmation of our young teenaged god-daughter into the Roman Catholic Church. We have never met her. We have never met her parents. We have never met her brothers and sisters. Our only contact with the family over the past nearly 20 years as been through emails and the occasional phone call after being introduced online by a mutual friend. When we found out a few weeks ago about her confirmation my husband had this crazy idea we should fly down there to attend, then make our way back north to NYC to see our son before returning home.
Obviously it is too costly a venture for us to seriously consider right now, even apart from my being too stubborn and chintzy to want to pay for expensive health insurance for myself to travel south of the border. Hotels and car rentals and meals o my..... Another problem is the time frame. Even if all other problems were to be dealt with, we can't see any way my husband could take his holidays in May instead of June, even if all he wanted was a couple of weeks instead of taking the entire month at once. When we look at the possibility of this trip all we see are problems to conquor, mountains too difficult to climb between now and then.
So, we are asking God what he is telling us since the idea continues to recur every so often. Is he telling us anything at all? Are we just looking for a mental escape from work stresses, personal stresses, health stesses and the stress of oncoming winter?
I know one thing and that is the truth behind the trite little saying that "Where God guides, he provides!" It has been proven to me over and over again. So, we will see what happens over the next few months. This trip likely will not happen, but in the meantime we are having fun contemplating the possibility. Stranger things have happened to us, that is for sure, than to be able to take a trip like this. If nothing else, my imagination is fired up as to how to save more money every pay cheque between now and then! That in itself is a great thing!
Lots to pray about......just getting to NYC to see our son at some point in the next couple of years seems impossible enough, let alone making it next spring all ready, plus adding in the trip to Florida, but we can't seem to separate the 2 events when we talk and pray about it.
Hahahahaha......it is really fun to have any sort of plan for such a trip, no matter how loosey goosey it all seems at the moment.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
You Didn't Really Expect the Black Market to End Upon Legalization, Did You?
I am laughing a bit at what I am reading and hearing on some news feeds as the legalization of marijuana here in Canada is being worked out for details on how and to who it will be legally dispensed, how it will be grown, who will be allowed to sell it, etc.
One thing that is difficult to fathom is the argument that legalizing it will destroy the black market. Are you kidding me? hahahahahahahahahahaha How naive are these people...obviously they have never personally indulged in the purchase and smoking of pot. There has always been a black market for liquor sales despite a plethora of legitimate sales venues and there will always be a black market for pot. There just will be.
I read an article in the news this morning that the province of Quebec will not allow the sale of home grown marijuana at its coming retail sites. Well, yes, that is a good idea as far as quality control, health and hygiene issues pertaining to the legally sold product, etc., etc., etc. However, if a home grown product is still going to be less expensive, easier to access and possibly be cut with some additional "fun" additives, just like home made hootch, people are going to buy it rather than go through a retail outlet.
My husband and I were talking about it this morning and wondering why, since there are now legal "You Brew" stores where you can make your own beer and wine, there couldn't also be some "You Grew" stores for pot. Why not, right? They are all drugs that can be overused and create all manner of social issues so, what's the difference?
We seem a bit at loose ends in our national planning for the addition of legal marijuana sales in our country. In theory it seems like an okay idea. In reality it is just one more looming frustration and time of confusion for retail venues, law makers, enforcement officers, the general public and on and on and on it goes.
One thing that is difficult to fathom is the argument that legalizing it will destroy the black market. Are you kidding me? hahahahahahahahahahaha How naive are these people...obviously they have never personally indulged in the purchase and smoking of pot. There has always been a black market for liquor sales despite a plethora of legitimate sales venues and there will always be a black market for pot. There just will be.
I read an article in the news this morning that the province of Quebec will not allow the sale of home grown marijuana at its coming retail sites. Well, yes, that is a good idea as far as quality control, health and hygiene issues pertaining to the legally sold product, etc., etc., etc. However, if a home grown product is still going to be less expensive, easier to access and possibly be cut with some additional "fun" additives, just like home made hootch, people are going to buy it rather than go through a retail outlet.
My husband and I were talking about it this morning and wondering why, since there are now legal "You Brew" stores where you can make your own beer and wine, there couldn't also be some "You Grew" stores for pot. Why not, right? They are all drugs that can be overused and create all manner of social issues so, what's the difference?
We seem a bit at loose ends in our national planning for the addition of legal marijuana sales in our country. In theory it seems like an okay idea. In reality it is just one more looming frustration and time of confusion for retail venues, law makers, enforcement officers, the general public and on and on and on it goes.
Speaking of Things That Ended in a Hurry.....
....did you happen to catch the recent boxing rematch between the renowned Chocolatito and Thai fighter Rungvisai?
What on earth was that all about?
Poor Chocolatito looked like he had just lost his entire family and circle of friends to an accident or deadly disease before he even stepped into the ring. Once he got in there, while he put in a few good flurries of punches here and there, it was like mentally he wasn't even in the ring. In a few rounds he had taken quite a beating and the fight was over, so Rungvisai is definitely a worthy belt holder in their weight class.
It was one crazy, crazy fight....action packed in its way, but....wow...what an unexpected rout by the Thai fighter!
It you missed watching it, no doubt a number of people have likely posted it on YouTube with varying degrees of audio and visual quality.
Now I just wish I was either rich enough or stupid enough to watch Saturday night's bout between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez on Pay Per View! But, I am patient....I can wait for the rebroadcast on HBO that will probably appear sometime in the future as part of their regular programming. Even if I don't get to see it, I will be very interested in the results and the commentary during the fight. I'm not quite addicted enough to the spectacle of boxing to fork out the bucks for Pay Per View....but give me time, hahaha.
What on earth was that all about?
Poor Chocolatito looked like he had just lost his entire family and circle of friends to an accident or deadly disease before he even stepped into the ring. Once he got in there, while he put in a few good flurries of punches here and there, it was like mentally he wasn't even in the ring. In a few rounds he had taken quite a beating and the fight was over, so Rungvisai is definitely a worthy belt holder in their weight class.
It was one crazy, crazy fight....action packed in its way, but....wow...what an unexpected rout by the Thai fighter!
It you missed watching it, no doubt a number of people have likely posted it on YouTube with varying degrees of audio and visual quality.
Now I just wish I was either rich enough or stupid enough to watch Saturday night's bout between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez on Pay Per View! But, I am patient....I can wait for the rebroadcast on HBO that will probably appear sometime in the future as part of their regular programming. Even if I don't get to see it, I will be very interested in the results and the commentary during the fight. I'm not quite addicted enough to the spectacle of boxing to fork out the bucks for Pay Per View....but give me time, hahaha.
Bye-bye Summer, I Miss You All Ready!!!!!!
Ever since I was a little girl I wondered what it would be like to live in a climate where it was sunny and warm almost every day, no rain or other preciptation to worry about....aaaaahhh....what would it be like?
This summer, here in Regina, I came as close to that as I ever have in my life. Although there are no palm trees or ocean beaches, the constant sun, warmth and absence of precipitation were the stuff of my childhood dreams. Absolutely WONDERFUL!!
Then, just like that (insert finger snap here) it is all over.
I woke up this morning to +9C with a forecast high of only +14C and that will be one of the warmer daytime highs forecast for the next 2 weeks. Approximately 4 days of rain are scheduled for next week and the skies are to remain overcast most days...although some days it may be difficult to tell if the overcast conditions are the result of dark clouds or an abundance of forest fire smoke or a combination of both. The overnight temperatures are dropping now to just above freezing.
Yesterday I was thinking I was too far ahead of the autumn wardrobe switchover as I ironed all my winter shirts and tops and hung them up. I packed up my capri pants and all the summer whites, other than a white tee shirt and summer oversweater I put on yesterday and again this morning to take the bottles and cans to recycling. I felt a bit of regret that I was packing up my "dead of summer" clothes items so soon, but I think it was because I couldn't imagine/refused to imagine that the autumn would arrive overnight without the expected downhill slow slide into the season. Although there will likely be some very nice days once the oncoming weather system passes us by in a couple of weeks, it isn't going to be sun dress and capri pants weather any more.
Big, sad, depressed SIGH.......
Just like that.......done, over and gone.......waaaaaaahhhhhh!!!
This summer, here in Regina, I came as close to that as I ever have in my life. Although there are no palm trees or ocean beaches, the constant sun, warmth and absence of precipitation were the stuff of my childhood dreams. Absolutely WONDERFUL!!
Then, just like that (insert finger snap here) it is all over.
I woke up this morning to +9C with a forecast high of only +14C and that will be one of the warmer daytime highs forecast for the next 2 weeks. Approximately 4 days of rain are scheduled for next week and the skies are to remain overcast most days...although some days it may be difficult to tell if the overcast conditions are the result of dark clouds or an abundance of forest fire smoke or a combination of both. The overnight temperatures are dropping now to just above freezing.
Yesterday I was thinking I was too far ahead of the autumn wardrobe switchover as I ironed all my winter shirts and tops and hung them up. I packed up my capri pants and all the summer whites, other than a white tee shirt and summer oversweater I put on yesterday and again this morning to take the bottles and cans to recycling. I felt a bit of regret that I was packing up my "dead of summer" clothes items so soon, but I think it was because I couldn't imagine/refused to imagine that the autumn would arrive overnight without the expected downhill slow slide into the season. Although there will likely be some very nice days once the oncoming weather system passes us by in a couple of weeks, it isn't going to be sun dress and capri pants weather any more.
Big, sad, depressed SIGH.......
Just like that.......done, over and gone.......waaaaaaahhhhhh!!!
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
If You Are A "Follower" with Live Feed etc.
I keep meaning to mention that if you read my blog post and a few minutes later you get notification of another post that turns out to be the one you just read, it is likely because I have edited it again for spelling or grammatical errors.
My aging eyes and brain have not been working in tandem over the past few months and when I proof a post before I publish it I seem to miss some of the errors. Once I look at it again on the actual blog page, the errors seem to jump out at me immediately, so I have to go back, pull the post and re-edit it.
My apologies if you have been duped into reading a post more than once because it appears as something new after simple edits I should have caught when proofing it in the first place.
My aging eyes and brain have not been working in tandem over the past few months and when I proof a post before I publish it I seem to miss some of the errors. Once I look at it again on the actual blog page, the errors seem to jump out at me immediately, so I have to go back, pull the post and re-edit it.
My apologies if you have been duped into reading a post more than once because it appears as something new after simple edits I should have caught when proofing it in the first place.
Some...No....MOST Days Are Like That
My husband put in another one of those 12 hour work days yesterday due to having a dinner/evening meeting after office hours. That will pretty much be the norm until after the Synod in October, so we have finally made the adjustment. In any job there are periods of time when things are frantic and too busy. My husband is handling it all much better since he had his week away in a canoe.
As interruptions, disruptions and unexpected problems needing immediate resolution continue to arise on a daily basis in the office, yesterday was just so typical of the kinds of things that go on. It is all so ludicrous a person never knows whether to laugh or cry.
Yesterday's litany of extras for my husband to solve became really crazy in the course of a few hours. A leak was discovered in the plumbing that shut down all the bathrooms on the second and third floors of the building and meant the immediate tossing out of rolls and rolls of toilet paper, as well as cleaning up mess right away. There was so much else going on there wasn't even time to call the plumber until this morning. Some of the computers crashed and had to be diagnosed and reset. The CFO lost his voice mail service on his phone and required immediate assistance to get it up and running again. Water was discovered leaking into the basement from somewhere up above, hopefully related to the all ready established plumbing leak and not a completely different problem. The number of "I need help and I need it now" phone calls seemed to triple over a regular day. The renovation contractor got called away and my husband had to leave the office for a couple of hours to go to the hardware store to purchase some items immediately required to complete some of the work. As a former contractor himself all those sorts of "SURPRISE!!" shopping trips land in his lap because he is the one who knows what to purchase/how to do the installations etc. He not only had to establish how he was going to attempt to still fulfill his own day's goals for work, but had to spend a fair amount of time coming up with projects to keep the overseas volunteer busy. What a crazy day...BUT it is so typical. At least he was able to get to an out of town meeting in the afternoon that he was actually supposed to attend!
I am so grateful my husband can handle days like that, since most of them ARE like that, and handle them with such grace. The canoe trip really saved him this year and re-energized him. It is going to be a tough slog between now and the end of Synod but we are both grateful to God that my husband has narrowly escaped a chronic fatigue episode and seems to be rallying, seems to be coping better again with the constant stresses. We were both worried for a few weeks, but the crisis seems to have passed now. Hallelujah!!
His office is still one royal mess since moving into it just before he left on his trip, so Sunday evening we are going to slip over to the office together and finish filing, shelving books and cleaning up the rest of the disarray. We are going to hang up his certificates and diplomas and hang his favourite photo of Moraine Lake and the surrounding mountain scenery. Yesterday he admitted he really needs "a bit of the mountains in my work place!"
My day was a direct contrast to his! A friend from church came for morning tea and stayed for 3 hours of chatting. It was wonderful. The time flew by way too fast. She is a super person and I feel honoured that she seems to enjoy spending time together. Her life is incredibly busy, but we hope to get together again for another round of visiting at some point. Thank you Lord...I needed that!
A cheque we have been waiting for arrived yesterday so I was able to get to the bank and deal with that. I got a pile of other paper work taken care of as well. I cooked a fabulous dinner to make up for some lazy meals my husband has faced recently, not knowing he had a dinner meeting at work because it got missed on the calendar, BUT I had a wonderful dinner myself and there is more than enough left for our dinner tonight, saving me one cooking operation this week. YAY!! One less day to have to be creative in the kitchen is a good thing right now!
We enjoyed watching the finale episode of The Amazing Race Canada and a boxing match that was a short bout and an incredibly energetic fight, while we ate snacks and debriefed about our day. I am grateful we had some time to spend together.
I am counting down the days until the lectures on Galatians on Saturday. O how I am looking forward to that! I have not been able to get a ride to Moose Jaw, BUT my husband is on his way to Swift Current for a day of Pre-Synod meetings and can drop me off and pick me up in the course of his own travels. YAY!! So, it is all good!
Housework today I suppose....IF I can get back to sleep for awhile! Awake at 3am, now it is just after 4am. The weather is beginning its march toward autumn as of last evening.....cooling off, getting dark much earlier....it will take my body a good week to catch up with these changes and then I will be able to sleep again. This is the pattern every seasonal change, every year of my life. At least it is familiar.
Yawn....better go give that sleeping thing another shot.........
As interruptions, disruptions and unexpected problems needing immediate resolution continue to arise on a daily basis in the office, yesterday was just so typical of the kinds of things that go on. It is all so ludicrous a person never knows whether to laugh or cry.
Yesterday's litany of extras for my husband to solve became really crazy in the course of a few hours. A leak was discovered in the plumbing that shut down all the bathrooms on the second and third floors of the building and meant the immediate tossing out of rolls and rolls of toilet paper, as well as cleaning up mess right away. There was so much else going on there wasn't even time to call the plumber until this morning. Some of the computers crashed and had to be diagnosed and reset. The CFO lost his voice mail service on his phone and required immediate assistance to get it up and running again. Water was discovered leaking into the basement from somewhere up above, hopefully related to the all ready established plumbing leak and not a completely different problem. The number of "I need help and I need it now" phone calls seemed to triple over a regular day. The renovation contractor got called away and my husband had to leave the office for a couple of hours to go to the hardware store to purchase some items immediately required to complete some of the work. As a former contractor himself all those sorts of "SURPRISE!!" shopping trips land in his lap because he is the one who knows what to purchase/how to do the installations etc. He not only had to establish how he was going to attempt to still fulfill his own day's goals for work, but had to spend a fair amount of time coming up with projects to keep the overseas volunteer busy. What a crazy day...BUT it is so typical. At least he was able to get to an out of town meeting in the afternoon that he was actually supposed to attend!
I am so grateful my husband can handle days like that, since most of them ARE like that, and handle them with such grace. The canoe trip really saved him this year and re-energized him. It is going to be a tough slog between now and the end of Synod but we are both grateful to God that my husband has narrowly escaped a chronic fatigue episode and seems to be rallying, seems to be coping better again with the constant stresses. We were both worried for a few weeks, but the crisis seems to have passed now. Hallelujah!!
His office is still one royal mess since moving into it just before he left on his trip, so Sunday evening we are going to slip over to the office together and finish filing, shelving books and cleaning up the rest of the disarray. We are going to hang up his certificates and diplomas and hang his favourite photo of Moraine Lake and the surrounding mountain scenery. Yesterday he admitted he really needs "a bit of the mountains in my work place!"
My day was a direct contrast to his! A friend from church came for morning tea and stayed for 3 hours of chatting. It was wonderful. The time flew by way too fast. She is a super person and I feel honoured that she seems to enjoy spending time together. Her life is incredibly busy, but we hope to get together again for another round of visiting at some point. Thank you Lord...I needed that!
A cheque we have been waiting for arrived yesterday so I was able to get to the bank and deal with that. I got a pile of other paper work taken care of as well. I cooked a fabulous dinner to make up for some lazy meals my husband has faced recently, not knowing he had a dinner meeting at work because it got missed on the calendar, BUT I had a wonderful dinner myself and there is more than enough left for our dinner tonight, saving me one cooking operation this week. YAY!! One less day to have to be creative in the kitchen is a good thing right now!
We enjoyed watching the finale episode of The Amazing Race Canada and a boxing match that was a short bout and an incredibly energetic fight, while we ate snacks and debriefed about our day. I am grateful we had some time to spend together.
I am counting down the days until the lectures on Galatians on Saturday. O how I am looking forward to that! I have not been able to get a ride to Moose Jaw, BUT my husband is on his way to Swift Current for a day of Pre-Synod meetings and can drop me off and pick me up in the course of his own travels. YAY!! So, it is all good!
Housework today I suppose....IF I can get back to sleep for awhile! Awake at 3am, now it is just after 4am. The weather is beginning its march toward autumn as of last evening.....cooling off, getting dark much earlier....it will take my body a good week to catch up with these changes and then I will be able to sleep again. This is the pattern every seasonal change, every year of my life. At least it is familiar.
Yawn....better go give that sleeping thing another shot.........
Church Group Meetings in Homes
My husband and I spent over 40 consecutive years participating in and leading meetings of small bands of Christian believers in our home. We prayed together, shared our spiritual lives together, studied the Bible together, did community outreach projects together, ate together, talked about our jobs and families, fears and joys together. I am not sure I fully appreciated it until it all came to an end in our lives about 7 years ago when we found ourselves in the midst of religious circles that had no experience and no interest in such groups for one reason and another.
There are so many pluses to participating in home groups/care groups/prayer and share groups, whatever moniker you want to pin on them. Lately I have had reason to start thinking about home groups, so if someone was to ask me about some of the basics in creating such a group, here are some of the things I would tell them. The short version is:
1. Establish a clear reason for having the group. Are you looking for a Bible study (and what do you want to specifically study and why?); a special time of prayer with others (and are you wanting to pray specifically for your own and others personal needs, specifically the needs of your church or denomination, a special interest ministry within the church, or the world wide church?); a chance to get together with others to receive spiritual healing and encouragement from spiritual peers; a group which has purposed to establish a "safe space" for new believers or those simply seeking to understand God and Jesus? When the group first meets establish some reasonable boundaries to contain the discussion and keep the group's focus during meetings.
2. Once the group is formed around a common purpose establish concensus on rules of operation: where and when you are going to meet, confidentiality, allowed topics of discussion, watching for each other's personal giftings and seeing group leadership evolve from those giftings, appointing someone as a general leader who keeps track of time frames, keeps the discussion on track and ensures everyone in the group is given a chance to contribute. Establish means of dealing with conflict that may arise within the group.
3. Stick to the goals of the group and if the goals begin to change discover together why that is and if those goals are heading in a positive direction.
4. As members get to know each other be prepared to hear honest conversation and decide ahead of time not to be easily offended when you find yourself the "target" of that honesty.
5. If the purpose of your group is outreach to others once the core group is established and comfortable together, watch out that you are not reaching the DANGER ZONE: the temptation to exclude new people from the group because you are all so very comfortable together that you lose focus and would rather enjoy that "us 4 and no more" relaxation than to have to go to the work of incorporating others.
6. Remember that a home group is NOT a place for: gossip, slander, defamation of character or other complaints about people outside the group, church leadership, other congregation members. It is NOT a place to compare the condtion of each others' homes, decor, yardwork etc. It is NOT a place to expect the weekly or monthly hosts to provide extensive snacks and beverages and if such things are available it IS the place to express gratitude for receiving them. It IS a place to bring spiritual intimacy, joy, hopeful expectation and a welcoming attitude.
It has been several years since we have had the pleasure of being involved in a home group but that may be about to change and we are excited by the mere possibility of returning to that type of mission and ministry.
There are so many pluses to participating in home groups/care groups/prayer and share groups, whatever moniker you want to pin on them. Lately I have had reason to start thinking about home groups, so if someone was to ask me about some of the basics in creating such a group, here are some of the things I would tell them. The short version is:
1. Establish a clear reason for having the group. Are you looking for a Bible study (and what do you want to specifically study and why?); a special time of prayer with others (and are you wanting to pray specifically for your own and others personal needs, specifically the needs of your church or denomination, a special interest ministry within the church, or the world wide church?); a chance to get together with others to receive spiritual healing and encouragement from spiritual peers; a group which has purposed to establish a "safe space" for new believers or those simply seeking to understand God and Jesus? When the group first meets establish some reasonable boundaries to contain the discussion and keep the group's focus during meetings.
2. Once the group is formed around a common purpose establish concensus on rules of operation: where and when you are going to meet, confidentiality, allowed topics of discussion, watching for each other's personal giftings and seeing group leadership evolve from those giftings, appointing someone as a general leader who keeps track of time frames, keeps the discussion on track and ensures everyone in the group is given a chance to contribute. Establish means of dealing with conflict that may arise within the group.
3. Stick to the goals of the group and if the goals begin to change discover together why that is and if those goals are heading in a positive direction.
4. As members get to know each other be prepared to hear honest conversation and decide ahead of time not to be easily offended when you find yourself the "target" of that honesty.
5. If the purpose of your group is outreach to others once the core group is established and comfortable together, watch out that you are not reaching the DANGER ZONE: the temptation to exclude new people from the group because you are all so very comfortable together that you lose focus and would rather enjoy that "us 4 and no more" relaxation than to have to go to the work of incorporating others.
6. Remember that a home group is NOT a place for: gossip, slander, defamation of character or other complaints about people outside the group, church leadership, other congregation members. It is NOT a place to compare the condtion of each others' homes, decor, yardwork etc. It is NOT a place to expect the weekly or monthly hosts to provide extensive snacks and beverages and if such things are available it IS the place to express gratitude for receiving them. It IS a place to bring spiritual intimacy, joy, hopeful expectation and a welcoming attitude.
It has been several years since we have had the pleasure of being involved in a home group but that may be about to change and we are excited by the mere possibility of returning to that type of mission and ministry.
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