Monthly Archives: January 2007

This last week has been one of church planning, visiting and deciding.

In the midst of all this, I’ve had little time to surf the web.  I missed it!

A few decades ago I would never have made that statement! 

In 1986 I was serving as a Teacher’s Assistant while completing my Master of Library Science.  The computer was just becoming a home appliance.  In my earlier high school days I had done some computer programming and enjoyed it thoroughly.  When the professor who taught Computer introduction found this out, she asked if I would sit in the computer lab.  All I had to do was help students turn on the computers and not break anything when the computers failed to do what they were told.  And for the timid soul, I taught them to “push the button — it won’t blow up.”

While in the computer lab I also to helped students sign on to various library databases.  To find information on the web required reference books and perseverance.  Search engines were pretty well non-existant (the term “googled” was a non-term, waiting to be born!!). 

When it came to surfing the web, most students were just beginners looking for water — they couldn’t even fathom there were waves big enough to ride!

At the time, I took the view that this “net” thing was fun, but not a necessity.  20 years later I have a very different POV (point of view)!

Now, I use the net to prepare sermons, find phone numbers, check on travel and accommodation, find appliance manuals, read/hear the news, find jokes and illustrations!  The other day I asked my wife for the translation of a latin phrase.  Having studied Latin in high school she easily translated most  of the phrase.  But when part of the phrase seemed to be a mystery, she headed right to Google instead of to a Latin dictionary.

So, tonight after more meetings, I’ll head home.  Check on some blogs.  See about some news.  And maybe just pick a word out of the air and see what Google turns up!

Re: Sabbath

Jill and I have been working through the idea of Sabbath.  We have set aside this Saturday to serve as our Sabbath.

So, how do you feast on Saturday if the rest of the week has been lots of food?  We have been trying to watch our portions this week so that on Saturday we can feast.  I’m not sure that will mean overeating.  But perhaps it will be a little larger portions and a little different food.  Or maybe a few extra snacks.  Not sure yet, but we’ll see.

Always a pleasure to work on a new challenge!

Blizzard conditions bring refreshment to my soul.

Not because you get to take time off . . . Not because nothing is going on . . . Not because . . .

Blizzards are just inspiring.  They remind me of life without predetermined boundaries.  Most days you wander through a picturesque landscape.  You have to dodge trees, skirt mud puddles and evade insects.

In a blizzard there are no indications of barriers.  You just plow ahead slowly — not so fast you will hurt yourself if you hit somethin — not so slow that you freeze.

I can imagine what is out there.  I can picture a beautiful plain or a high mountain.  My imagination can fun wild.

So, you’ve got to love those blizzards. 

Now, if I just didn’t have to clean up after all that snow!

Glancing through CBC.CA!

There is a section on their homepage called “diversions”.  When you just need to sit back and see the world from a new (and often wierd) perspective, this is the place to go.  Check out the following:

ANAHEIM, California (AP) – Pluto is finally getting some respect – from wordsmiths.

“Plutoed” was chosen 2006 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society at its annual meeting on Friday.

To “pluto” is “to demote or devalue someone or something” much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto did not meet its definition of a planet.

“Our members believe the great emotional reaction of the public to the demotion of Pluto shows the importance of Pluto as a name,” said society President Cleveland Evans. “We may no longer believe in the Roman god Pluto, but we still have a sense of personal connection with the former planet.”

The rest of the article goes on about words like “murse” and “flog”.  The one most interesting to those of you with philisophical and theological minds is “truthiness” defined by television satirist Stephen Colbert as “truth that comes from the gut, not books.”  A few decades back we had “true truth” from Francis Schaeffer which would be the almost opposite — truth that is given by God and not just how we feel after having jalapeno peppers and beans!