Ron Baker

Every once in a while, while reading very serious material, something tickles my funny bone.  The Times of London put together an article on the recent Anglican Lambeth conference.  Anglican representatives from around the globe meet every decade to discuss the state of the Anglican communion. 

This one promised to be a bit stormy!  A number of Bishops did not attend because they felt things were getting too liberal in the church.  Some were not invited.  Things seemed a bit precarious.  A compromise was reached but who knows where that will lead — a moratorium on gay consecrations and same-sex blessings as well as a moratorium on consecrating cross-boundary bishops to minister to evangelical congregations in liberal dioceses.

Heavy stuff!  Now, here is the Times Trivia that struck my funny bone:

The Lord gaveth

500 pairs of holy socks bought by bishops during the conference

120 litres of Communion wine drunk during 25 hours of worship

3,610 pints of lager consumed

10 years between conferences

1,320 minutes spent in 16 “indaba” groups

50 copies of In the Eye of the Storm signed by Gene Robinson, the gay Bishop of New Hampshire, sold

2 copies of The Truce of God: Peacemaking in Troubled Times by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, sold

That’s all that it takes!  We have cancelled a ballgame scheduled for tomorrow night. Now, I have to admit a little water is actually around 2 inches in the last few days. I believe we have had rain every day for the last few weeks. For the dry prairies this is more than enough water.

And for those who play ball in prairie gumbo — any more than a covering of water can create problems. Last year we played ball and our shoes were weighted with gumbo. I could hardly life my feet, and you had to scrape the mud from the bottom of your shoes.

So, better part of wisdom. Cancel the game and put together a pickup game sometime in the summer!!

XYZ, our extra youthful zesty seniors, wrapped up before the summer season arrived. The original plan was outdoors BBQ, but rain appeared. Hotdogs were eaten, salad consumed and music sung. Then we exited, ready for the fall to arrive!

There is an XYZ group that meets every year for a final BBQ. This meal is the end of the year celebration. Since we arrived three year ago the plan has been to go to an outdoor location.

First year it rained.

Last year it rained.

Could it rain again this year?

We always check the forecast. Now, since my dad was a weather forecaster, I know that at least 80% of the time the forecast is right.

I’m hoping for that last 20%!

For the last few days I’ve spent time learning a WordPress. Not only for this blog, but also for a church website that I’ve been working on.

So, today, I invite you to visit the Kindersley Alliance church website found at www.kindersleyalliance.com. This is just a skeleton (a start). Be sure to give comments so the site can be improved.

Any time you put something new out there, you risk your neck. Well, I know you won’t chop it off! But if you want to get close with a sharp blade, I won’t complain. We want to have a site that is attractive, and gives some basic information.

Thanks!!

Today, I turned down eating two full meals.  Both were great food, well presented, and paid for by someone else.

But as the meals progressed, I couldn’t eat full helpings.  And that’s not a bad thing.  My weight could be slightly less (although I have settled on an acceptable weight — less weight means less stress on my new knees).  My stomach was also saying it didn’t need to pile up a lot of food at any one time today.

So, here I am.  Eating a few almonds as I finish the day.  I’ll have a drink (probably of tea).  Then it’s off to bed.  I’v been reading a novel, and have skipped to the final chapter — which I’ve now finished.  So, as my head hits the pillow, I’m planning for immediate sleep.  With the early rising of the sun, I expect I’ll be up around 6:00 tomorrow — and I should be well refreshed, looking forward to tomorrow.

Because 5 minutes equals an hour!

Tonight an easy computer task took over an hour.  Should have been five minutes.  Merely hooking up another computer to our wireless network. 

But, of course, the security code is complicated and was probably typed wrong the first time around.  Then the system wouldn’t recognize the wireless network automatically.  Finally, the wireless system kicked out when the computer was unplugged.

All easy to solve — after you’ve done figured it out.  But the tale is in the figuring it out.  And that always takes longer than you figure.  Like he first time I tried to change wiper blades on my car.  An hour later I found the latches that needed released.  Recently I changed some wiper blades and was done in seconds.

So, would I want to work on computers all day?  Of course, if 5 minutes equals an hour — I’d still be working on the computer six days later!  It would work, but no one would want to pay me what I’m worth!!

Saskatoon hosted a seminar for church leadership today.  Four of us went.  Others from local area Alliance churches also attended.

Morris Dirks was one of the speakers.  He was in my youth group when I was 16.  Now, almost 40  years later we have covered much the same course.

In our teens our youth group came alive.  We were all seeking Jesus.  Bible studies and prayer time, talking to others about Jesus, hanging out together.  Many of us felt a distant call to go into church ministry.  Many of us did.

Time intervened.  We began to look for ways to increase church attendance, provide the best programs or even start new ministries.  Somewhere in between we lost the pure motive of following Jesus — or perhaps it was just diluted.  We were distracted even though, in some short seasons of life, we were brought back to passionate experiences with Jesus.

At some point, a crash resulted.  And that story seems to be repeating itself among many of us of that same age and time.  What we are seeing is that our activities have become our way of pleasing people or getting approval or even just looking good, instead of experiencing Jesus more and more.

A shame.

And now we are trying to regain ground.  Which is to release control back to God.  Or as as been said by another "We must die to live."

Exciting!!  Passion can return in later days.  And may that passion rise even more!

OK, so it was just one window!

I had to climb a ladder and have my wife spot me.  No pictures were taken — it was not a pretty sight.

First time I’ve been suspended off the ground like that since knee surgery.  The feeling is extreme (a new twist on the idea of extreme sports!!).  May I move towards greater and greater extremes — like standing for a full hour without pain, or walking around a golf course, or even kick a soccer ball (which may not be the best idea, but would be fun).

The small things in life!

Sometimes a name just appears.  You are reading a book.  Or driving down the street.  Or checking out a music website.

Lo, and behold, (one of my favourite phrases), the name Doug Smith arises.  And he is a guitarist.  A good one at that.  So, here is his site for all you people who live in the shadow of someone "famous".

By the way, I couldn’t get the website www.ronbaker.com because a car salesman already had it.  Talk about being overshadowed by fame!!