Yearly Archives: 2006

I’ve watched people over the years. 

Struggling to live a normal life.  Wanting to be like others.  And knowing they aren’t.

The lady whose husband had to take her to the hospital. For her own good and for his welfare.  To end up as a patient in a wing of the facility, needing assessment and rehabilitation.

Or the weekly visits to the mental health assessment office by a man of my age.  His prescriptions strongly regulated to help him maintain a balance in life.

Or the struggling writer whose cab fares helped to pay for his subsistent lifestyle.  Always aware that a bi-polar disorder could wreck havoc on his life.

And I sit around the coffee table, and we look at each other.  We talk about nothing and everything.  We pray. 

Life is normal, for the moment.

I’ve been preparing a sermon on the legacy we leave behind.

So, I googled my full name – “Ronald James Baker”.  There was someone in the states who died at 52 (my age) – his obituary was on-line.  Another one was the first faculty member at Simon Fraser University and ended up a president of a University in the Maritimes.

My personal favourite!  Ronald James Baker, whose high school yearbook proclaimed that he “plans to drive a hot bulldozer.”  Check it out here!

Oh, the things we want to be known for!!

Am I helping them to live or to die?

That is a question I ask as I deal with cancer patients (patience may be a more applicable term). 

Day by day the certainty of cells still fighting the cancer becomes less certain.  Tests reveal progress — sometimes positive, other times negative. 

I have sat with a lady who about ten years ago had a polished head, balder than mine!  She has since had a child, been clear of cancer and now lives an active life.  I have sat with a brother whose cancer engulfed him only three years after biking across Canada.  His death was this past summer.

I pray with people to exhibit joy in suffering, strength in pain and hope for the future.  For some the future is a certainty, soon in another realm.  For others the current body will continue to fight.  Sometimes I sense an urge to continue to pray for current healing.  For others I pray for release to eternal healing.

For all tonight I pray for a greater sense of God’s presence and his pleasure.

Tuesday night our daughter had a baby shower.  In Prince Albert.

This was to be a “money” shower!  The idea was to provide enough to buy a crib.  She got enough to buy more than one crib, plus some gifts were also brought.

The shower saw around 47 ladies attend.  I’m not a “shower goer”, but I understand that is a good showing.

Some came to see Jill, others for the baby’s sake.  We had driven up on Tuesday afternoon and headed back Wednesday morning.  A quick visit (sorry we didn’t get to see all of you in PA!).

Back on Wednesday night, I was invited to attend a Kindersley Junior Klippers hockey game.  They lost 3-1, but just being in the rink was enjoyable.  The crowd was small (Klippers are not on a winning streak).  As someone mentioned – this is when the true fans hang out!