Pumpkin

This morning I called our orange cat Raggedy Ann Pumpkin by mistake.

That was a bad move.
We had a cat named Pumpkin once, much loved by Leanne.
Pumpkin died a painful death.

We were watching a foster child, just for the weekend. The little boy was angry and resentful and took it out on the cat. Leanne gathered Pumpkin in her arms with tears streaming down her cheeks. We brought him to the vet, but we both knew that he could not be fixed up. So the vet put him down. Social Services paid the bill.

But then what? We know the pain foster children feel when they get shoved around from home to home. But our children have suffered too, from having them around.

As I am reminded of that, I feel anger and sadness. I know that I must forgive the boy, and the powers in Social Services.

I shudder at the fate of a cat, and know that everywhere in the world people are treated like that: beaten up because of frustration and anger.

And God weeps.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Blue Bronna Ride-a-thon

It is dark outside, and warm. So is my memory of this past weekend, so I want to write it down before it becomes cold.

The wind blew warm from the south, and the colours were astonishingly bright, yellow aspen and dark green spruce. What a weekend to go riding! The dust was thick on the gravel road leading to Blue Bronna Wilderness Camp. In among the trees were cows and calves, placidly watching us, and breathing in our dust. Small groups of tents and trailers indicated other people camping in this beautiful Willow Creek wilderness.

Louise and I were eager to meet our friends again. There was Cyril, figuring out the easiest way of collecting the sponsorship booklets and money. And Martha, always busy in the kitchen.

We picked where we wanted to sleep. Louise chose a tent, and I a cot in a cabin. It did not take long to put my feather bed on a lower bunk.

While waiting for supper ( hamburgers) I talked to Dwayne Bradley from Calgary, the pastor and speaker for the weekend. He had quite a story to tell, which he later shared with everybody.

Around 8pm people started to gather around the fire. There were three generation families, and young people, all enthusiastic about God and the camp. John played his guitar, and I my recorder. Soon a violin joined us. And we sang! Hymns and choruses, old and new, almost all the songs in the songbook. Dwayne closed the evening with a talk about sowing. We must always sow the seed (share the gospel), and not worry about where it falls, just sow the seed.

Walking back to the cabin in the dark was another awesome experience. I did not have a flashlight, so looked up instead of down. It was clear, no moon, and the sky sparkled with stars and the milky way. And the Lord of the universe named each star, and not just numbers, either!

"O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds your hands  have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Your power throughout the universe displayed! "

Three ladies joined me at breakfast on Saturday morning. They had seen an ad in Nanton, and decided to come at the last moment. I always enjoy meeting new people and making them feel welcome.

The all-day group left first. We watched them disappear under the yellow canopy of the trees. They would eat their lunch on the trail.

We left after the trail boss prayed for a safe trip. It was a long string of riders, with staff among them. There were gates to be opened and closed, because the cows were on the range. Some mooed at us, others just watched or ignored us. It was a very peaceful scene. Louise on Maggie, a 16 hands + paint, was somewhere far behind me, while I was more up front.

My horse was Pepsi, and very peppy. May be a little more than I had bargained for, but it felt good to be challenged. He had a nice gait, and a very comfortable saddle. He was an impatient fellow though, scraping the ground with his hoofs  till it was time to go.

Pepsi was one of four horses borrowed from the same stable, so they were more than a little cliquish. He was determined to join the others when they decided to navigate a gully to the right instead of to the left. A gully being what it is, was deeper than he had anticipated, so we landed among the willows heads down. I kept the saddle, and knew that it was much harder to climb back on the bank and the horse after I got off, than to hold on. So down and around we went. There was never a thought from the leaders that it would not turn out just right. Their prayer before leaving was like swinging a lasso to the throne of God, and holding on.

We crossed creeks, climbed hills, and wound our way through trees. It was hard to imagine a world with wars and sickness and pain and loneliness. Here was only the beauty of the foothills and the overarching sky. I looked at a bend-over tree on a bald spot high up, visible when we left, and again on the way back.

The neighing of horses told us we were close to the camp again. The horses were taken care of, before the sound of  Jim's shell conch called us for lunch.

At 2 the afternoon ride started, but I stayed behind. I had signed up for dishes, and later visited with new friends, rode on the wagon and had a nap. After that I could have gone riding again, but now it was time for supper.

The next opportunity for riding was Sunday morning, before breakfast. When we got up at 6 am, it was dark. We brushed our assigned horse (this time a large appaloosa) and tacked up. The sun had just peeped over the hill when we were ready to leave. We were going to climb the mountain where the funny shaped little tree grew.

I was thankful for my horse. She was steady and strong. The mountain was steep, but she just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
We stopped for awhile on the top to enjoy the grand vista that lay below us. We could see the enormous barn of Blue Bronna, Willow Creek, and the rolling hills with their fall coloured trees far into the distance.

Going down was more scary than going up, but the horse was surefooted. There were no mishaps, and before we knew it we were back in time for breakfast. Now it was over till next year. The horses were all leaving this week.

What a wonderful weekend! What a gift from our Creator!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Your love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Your glorious rest above!

What if?

What if the guys on the net are right and this comet Elenin really will be a sign of the times?
What if this really is the last September for Christians around the world?

This is their time line:
September 20, 2011
Palestinian state approved: "Peace, but there is no peace." Ez 13:10
September 26,27, 2011
Alignment of sun, Elenin, earth, possibly causing an eclipse and earthquake(s).
Followed by a sun in sack-cloth: "and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood." Rev. 6:12

What if this will happen?
What if the rapture follows soon after?
What will happen to the dog and the cats?
Who will do our jobs?
How will they explain the loss of so many people? Taken up by aliens?

May be in two weeks, when I look at this, nothing will have happened, and it was all a false alarm again.
Yet someday Jesus will come back and take us to be with Him. And we must be ready to join Him in the air. Ready to leave everything behind and follow Him.
We pray: Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.

"When people start coming at you with all the fears of coming comets, asteroids, wars and rumors of wars, don’t get all psyched out. Take a deep breath and realize it doesn’t matter if they are true or not true. God is in control, He already told us these things will happen, we are to rest in Him. Too many people have a problem with whipping up hysteria with their constant predictions and date settings of the rapture. Avoid them. This is a trick of Satan trying to distract you from working the harvest. Rather than working the harvest we spend our time in fear getting nothing done! Yes, the Lord is coming soon, so get out of the bunker mentality and go love somebody!"  (Mark Biltz)
Amen

To God be the glory.

This past week I was asked to participate in one of the cancer research fund raisers. Both Peter and Cohen would walk from 7 pm -7am on the Tae Kwon Do team in the Relay for Life in Chestermere.

I had no plans to walk (someone has to be fit to do the dishes), but as a survivor I was invited to join the victory round.

I don't feel like a survivor. I had my operation, went home, and kept on living. I never doubted that I would live. I didn't do anything.
God did it all.

There was no chemo or radiation needed for me, not even medication.
The only ongoing problem is from the surgery itself: a sore arm, often swollen because of the lack of lymph nodes.

However, I joined in. It was true that others might be encouraged to see that cancer does not always lead to death.

The TKD team had also sold boards for the team to break. Almost 400 boards were sold. The buyer could write the name of a loved one who had died or was still battling cancer, on the board.

I went to the evening of board breaking.
Kids and adults alike were breaking boards with their fists or their feet.
Shelly, the instructor, asked me to break a board, too with my own inscription on it. She would not accept 'no' for an answer!

She announced it so every one could watch. It was special to her, because her mother Loretta, was operated on the same day as I.  We were in the hospital together. Loretta died two years later, but I am still around.

Then I had the opportunity to say something as well.
I shared what I had written on the board: To God be the glory! Amen.

And then I broke the board!
That was neat.
Thanks Shelly, for being insistent.

The Pianist.

I just finished reading Wladyslaw Szpilman's The Pianist.

My father experienced much of what Szpilman describes. He watched the Jews being rounded up, killed at will on the streets. He felt the hopelessness that last Winter, the effects of starvation.
He saw the bombings, heard the constant artillery.
Not much was left standing of the city of Rotterdam after the Germans were finished with it.

The book does not end with the account of Szpilman. It is followed by excerpts from the diary of Wilm Hosenfeld, the German officer who saved Szpilman's life and that of many other jews.
In his diary Hosenfeld speaks of the rumours of the atrocities that went on, unwilling to believe that they were true. He is ashamed to be an officer in the German army. With great insight he writes:

1 September 1942
Why did this war have to happen at all? Because humanity had to be shown where its godlessness was taking it. First of all Bolshevism killed millions, saying it was done to introduce a new world order. But the Bolshevists could act as they did only because they had turned away from God and Christian teaching....This denial of God's commandments leads to all the other immoral manifestations of greed - unjust self-enrichment, hatred, deceit, sexual licence...without [God] we are only animals in conflict, who believe we have to destroy each other....And it is the same today. (From The Pianist.)

Has anything changed?
God and His commandments were taken out of the schools, relative truth was introduced. Are we on our way to another such judgment from God? The news papers today speak of a New World Order. Daily,  people are killed on the basis of race or political party. Threats to annihilate the Jews have not abated.

The players have changed, the uniforms differ, but the war goes on.
Is the peace we experience only an illusion, a temporary lull of the activities in the heavens?

God save us!

"What God has joined together,"....

Satan tries to tear apart!

The complete verse reads:
 "Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."  Matt. 19:6

In this verse Jesus is addressing the question of the Pharisees about divorce (Matt 19:3).

However, marriage is not the only area where Satan tries to separate people.
"Divide and conquer" is his motto and main goal, and he uses our disobedience to get there.

Disobedience creates separation between God and men, and among men.

Adam and Eve were send away from the garden because of their disobedience, separated from God and from their first home.

Cain's disobedience led to the murder of his brother Abel. As a consequence God separated him from his family.

And so it has been ever since: our disobedience separates us from God and each other.

But God had not intended it that way. "From the beginning it was not so." (Matt 19:8)
The Son's obedience is able to undo the separations Satan is causing.

"I and the Father are one." (John 10:30)
When Jesus lives in us, we are one with Him, and like Him, one with the Father.

Jesus said: "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21)

One day we will be joined together with God forever.

Up on the mountain

I parked at the bottom of the trail. Today was the day of our hike. The sky offered promises of both snow and sunshine.

In the parking lot the five of us collected our water bottles, backpacks and trekking poles from the trunk of the car. Then we each ate one more home made square before shouldering our packs.

The trail led underneath the road we had come in on. The fresh snow from yesterday's snowstorm made everything look like a Winter wonderland, again! Tomorrow is May!

Yet we could tell Spring was just hiding. We heard running water, sometimes right underneath our feet. Later, we saw that on the south side the hill was getting green.

We got to the first wooden bridge, and watched the water through a hole in the ice as it hurried on down the mountain. The snow on the bridges was still almost a foot high.
Under the trees the snow was still deep. We were thankful that the trail was already broken by earlier hikers. The snow was knee deep when you stepped off the path.

It was not long before we had to take a break. Climbing made us warm, so we wanted to take off a layer or two. This was also a good opportunity to dig around in our packs for a baggie of gorp, or other snacks.

When we got to the first trail map, there was general dismay (or was it mostly me?): had we only come this far?
One foot in front of the other. The sun disappeared, and an occasional snowflake drifted down. What was that? Thunder!  What a strange combination of weather conditions!

Another trail map. Now it looked a lot better! We were close to half way, and the first view point. There we undid our packs and had lunch. The one burner stove provided us with hot water for a cup of tea: a welcome addition to our cold food.

The snow came down heavier. It looked like kernels of corn, or packing pellets. I put my coat back on, and dug up my  toque and mittens. Then we  resumed our trek back to the parking lot.

This part of the trail faced south, so it was very muddy, but the view over the valley was beautiful. There was the cut line again that we had crossed earlier on the north loop.Slipping and sliding down the path, we stayed away from the steep embankment.

It seemed sudden when we came upon the same map from that morning: We did all that?

The last piece was level. That was good, because I was getting tired. The snow we had walked through that morning had melted. Now it was  more mud. Then more snow, so our boots got clean before we got to the car.

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made!...
Then sings my soul , my Saviour God to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art!!

A beautiful day. Thank you, Jesus.

Finding God

I'm reading the book "Moving through your problems toward Finding God," by Dr. Larry Crabb.
What a challenge! But also, how restful!

He writes: "Whenever we place a higher priority on solving our problems than on pursuing God, we are immoral." (pg.38)

Wow!
And we are such a 'problem solving' society. We have AA meetings for the alcoholics, and AlAnon for the family members. We now have 12 step programs in our churches for anyone who comes from a 'dysfunctional' past.

And groups like that may have their place.
Shoving problems under the carpet is not the best way of dealing with them. James 5:16 says to confess our sins to one another, and to pray for each other. So if we want to do that in the context of a 12 step program, why not?

But, unless we are coming away from these sessions with a greater sense of awe for our God Who sent Jesus to take away these sins and their shame, we are just learning to focus more on our Selves, rather than on God.

We look for a way to make God fix our problems.
God wants to use our problems to make us look for Him.

Jesus promises to give us rest (Matt.11:28).
Being able to find God through all our problems, gives rest for our souls.

Tournament, a one day vacation.

You know the saying that a change is as good as a vacation?
Well, I experienced that again the other day.

It was Cohen's first tournament of the year.
We walked through the March snow, both under our feet as well as coming down from the sky. Very different from last year, when the weather was so warm the little kids could play outside in the playground.

The gym was noisy and crowded with kids and adults in their white Tae Kwon Do uniforms. We recognized the judges by their two piece suits and ties, walking around with lists. They separated the different age groups of contestants. The bleachers and rows of red, uncomfortable chairs were filled with proud and expectant parents and grandparents. Little brothers and sisters sat on the floor, close to the roped off rings, waiting for the action to begin.

It was a long wait, and the ladies selling coffee and donuts from Tim's were doing brisk business. But finally the younger kids and lower belt levels were organized. The judges sat down behind their tables, and the air filled with the sound of 'hut, hut'.

When the bleachers got too hard, I walked around, but always ended up again with the small group of parents from our school. We hang out together a lot, just waiting for our kids to finish their lessons, and often end up at the same tournaments, cheering our kids on, and drinking endless coffee.

We had to wait all day for the nunchucks demo from Cohen. When it was finally his turn, most of the crowd was gone. But the masters of the different schools were still there with their older students. Cohen's hand was sore from sparring, but he ignored it. Once he heard the music he went into his own world, and performed a beautiful routine. The applause and cheering were loud in the partially empty gym, and someone called for an encore.
Soon the Pirate's music filled the air again, and we all watched with satisfaction a repeat performance.

When we finally got outside again in the snow, it was like stepping back into the reality of every day life, just like after a vacation.

God has given you great gifts, my son.
Use them for His honour and glory.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=&q=blackbelt321fight&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_enCA407CA407&ie=UTF-8&aq=0&oq=black

Merry Christmas, in March

This morning I woke up to over an inch of snow, again. All the messy mud from yesterday's thaw was covered with a fresh layer of beautiful white fluff.

But in Japan they woke up to the same cold, dirty, mind numbing circumstances as yesterday. At this point it does not seem possible that anything in the world can cover up the devastating destruction created by the earthquake and the tsunami.

But God is on their side!

Jesus tells us to proclaim to the world the year of the Lord's favour.
Already I hear friends making plans to go to Japan to help clean up the mess. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 brought an overwhelming response of loving aid. Ministry teams are still going to Haiti.
May Japan experience that as well, and see Jesus.

John 13:35

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

And the earth quakes. 11-3-11

Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not fear, though the earth quakes
and the mountains crumble into the sea.
3 Let the oceans roar and foam.
Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!
(NLT)

What a picture of yesterday's earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The quake registered 9.1 on the Richter scale. The devastation is unimaginable. The number of dead and missing is climbing by the hour. And the nuclear reactor burns....

Lord, may this disaster cause many people to look for You.
Amen

10 "Be silent, and know that I am God!
I will be honoured by every nation.
I will be honoured throughout the world."

Made in His image

In Genesis 1:27 we read that God made us in His own image. Unimaginable!
After all, the previous verses tell us about everything God just created. He made plants and animals. And we try hard to follow suit. We propagate, clone, and genetically modify seeds and plants. Now we're into animals, and even humans.

What I`ve also noticed is that we try to make everyone around us to be like us. We expect from others what we expect from ourselves. If we are always on time, we expect the world to be just like that, and we judge and grumble if they`re not.

This carries over in the political and spiritual arenas of our lives.
Are you into recycling? Then everyone else should do it too.
Do you hold to a certain doctrine? Then it is hard to leave others theirs.

We put our views and ideas forward as the only truths, often without considering if what we believe is the Truth.
Where do we find the true truth?
What is worthy of a fight?

The world does not consider truth to be singular. Kids get taught that what's true for you does not have to be true for me. But that does not work. Blue cannot be green, just because I am colour blind.

Jesus is the Truth and the Life. Everything we believe must be held up to the mirror of His views. Everything we do must reflect His love. Everything we say must echo His words.

God made us into His image. As the moon reflects the sun`s light, so we must reflect God. Not try to be Him. Jesus, though God Himself, was the perfect example while here on earth of reflecting God. He repeatedly said that He did not do anything without the Father.

May our lives reflect the Father's as Jesus` life did.

Amen

smells

I got a new body wash for Valentine's Day. It is called Vanilla Noir.

When I close my eyes, and smell it, I see a dark room. The windows are open, and a warm breeze moves the curtains. Candles in an alcove flicker, and show two lovers sharing a meal.

On the other hand, when I use my Banff Hotel conditioner, I see a garden before me. The flowers bloom, gardenia, and the grass is wet. It is early morning, light, but the sun is not above the horizon yet. Birds twitter in the trees, and the Lord is waiting for me.

Other smells bring memories.

Potatoes on the stove take me back home. My mother is in the narrow galley kitchen making supper. It is cold outside, and the windows are steamed up. She sings while she works.

Sun on pine needles remind me of bike trips through pine woods. May be we were hunting for blueberries, or blackberries.

Wash day smelled of hot water on the stove, full with white clothes.

Smells, memories from the past, or visions of the future?

Precious.

How to be blessed

God's Word:

You are blessed if you don't listen to the ungodly,
hang out with sinners,
or side with mockers.

You are blessed if you rejoice in the teachings of the Lord.
You will bring forth fruit in season
And whatever you do will prosper.

For the Lord knows your way.

Paraphrase of Psalm 1

heap of stones

Something new!
                                                Give it a try!

                             Make a memorial, a heap of stones, of thoughts and insights.

To glorify God!

Amen