Yearly Archives: 2006

Those days?

I’ve often wondered what that means.  I presume that it has something to do with bad outcomes on what should be good days. 

Today was one of those days that could be labelled, “not what I expected.”  I was off to the office by 8:30 to write a sermon.  It is now the end of the afternoon and I’ve yet to do any research or writing.

Phone calls included prayer requests, plans to look at a van for church use, two pastors from the region inquiring about wooden pews, my children’s current situations, and mutual work approaches.  Then another regional pastor dropped in for coffee — a church board member came by for coffee.  I talked to a local businessman about his health and a vehicle he has for sale.  Wandered over to a local church to see if they had platform pieces for a concert we are holding Thanksgiving Monday.  Smelled simmering roast as program personnel prepared a supper before their evening activity.  Phoned a ministry to try to reschedule a date for a drama.

All of these things have been part of a busy day.  All are helpful.

As I write this I am surprised at the calm that God gives.  Perhaps his plans are not our plans!  A tough thing but well worth recognizing!

We held a prayer meeting yesterday afternoon.

The decision had been made not to come with a list!  Instead we prayed for each other and for our concerns.  The idea was to pray for those that we could follow up on — so that the prayers didn’t get lost for months without some type of feedback. 

Interestingly, the prayers centered on the elderly and young adults.  The list was extensive!  And, there was much more that I’m sure was on our minds and in our hearts, but time ran out! 

Our desire is to pray for the impossible, in this the “year of the impossible”.  I’m not sure what God is going to do, but I’m looking forward with anticipation.

So, here we were!  Three weeks ago we had planned a “do nothing” weekend — some golf, church services and not much else.

Surprise!  We had phone calls saying that our kids would be here.  Tim was flying in from Galveston, and would make his way by train to Saskatoon.  Alli, Christopher and Scott would be down from Meadow Lake.  And our basement would be full of the family!!

This has been a great time — even with all kinds of activities sandwiched in!  How do the kids look?  Take a look!

Scott, Alli’s fiance, and Christopher our grandson accompanied Alli here this weekend. 

I was able to convince (arm behind the back?) Scott to join me for a golf tournament put on by some local churches.  This was his first time playing golf. He’s just started into his twenties — could be the start of something . . . Scott is regularly using a heavy weighted hammer on rail line maintenance.  The clubs felt awfully light to him.  When he connected well you could see the ball take off!!

Later in the afternoon we saw some motocross racing.  The sight was 10 km out of town.  The bikes were noisy like buzzing bees.  The jumps were high, the moguls (sorry, that’s the skiing term — they have another one which I can’t remember) almost unseated some riders, and the straight sections few.  If I was twenty and knew what I now know . . . I still wouldn’t race.

But the most fun was probably the visit to a local farm.  Jill and I had noticed some old tractors and cars.  Scott is intrigued by old machinery.  There is a simplicity to mechanical action — and you can fix it.  He was particularly taken by some John Deere D tractors.  We toured the Wiggins farm — also ran across a threshing machine, a well driller (that is probably a century or so old), and some family who are building a wooden basement.

Not many wooden basements are built.  See the creativity and desire for simplicity and originality, I wasn’t surprised with the wooden basement.  In fact, I would have felt cheated if Kindersley Concrete was pouring the basement!

Tonight I’m off to Saskatoon to pick up my son, Tim, at the train station.  He arrives shortly after midnight  and it “only” a two hour ride home.  I can hardly wait to hear my sermon in the morning!