Author: Ron Baker

OK, so the lilies are still underground.  And not in any rush to emerge.

Which is just the point.  When I awoke this morning the weather suggested a return to the warmth of a duvet.  My wife is fighting a cold so she took up the call of the duvet.  Until 10:00 this morning when the light was bright and all was right in the world.

Except its cold.

Now, a hardy prairie boy shouldn’t complain. 

But I will. 

I sat with another prairie boy this evening.  We had on sweaters and bunny hugs (which designation shows our age!).  The parkas remained on for minutes into our time together. 

All this to say, look out for the deep freeze.  And when you see the lilies come striding over the garden patch, break out the party hats and shed the sweaters — spring is just around the corner.

Yes, I was out.

Out of the house — to join with our club 756.  They are rambunctious kids ranging from Grade 5-7.  They love hard playing, strong singing, and biblical devotions.  One of the fun times of the week.

Tonight we were home by 9:00 and I continued a project of mixdown.  In the audio world that means taking a number of recorded “tracks” and trying to make them sound good.  Last week we “put down” some vocal tracks and today I put them together with instrumentals.  The draft CD still needs a few more instrumentals but its coming.

The time is now 11:13 . . . time to wrap up.  See you tomorrow!

This past week we began to announce our daughter’s wedding.  With vigor.

Our local paper has an announcement section.  So we included a wedding picture, much like I have on the blog here.  Then we added some words just to let people know the parents names.

Now, Jill has made up some nice announcements to send out to friends around the country and globe.  She is carefully addressing them right now.  And soon the mails will carry them across time zones and locations.

So, I’m thinking once again — some of you may want to stop reading now!!

Superficial approaches to life seem to be all the rage.

News reporting a few decades ago was “just the facts, ma’m”.  These small bits of observation were sufficient information.  Our worldviews were surrounded by a Judeo-Christian foundation.  We knew right from wrong – inside the bedroom and outside.  We could categorize the information we heard as good and bad.  Truth could be measured by a universal standard — or this was the hope.

Then, our world moved to “postmodernism”.  Truth as universal was dumped.  Your truth was what you made up, or what was affirmed in a smaller grouping of people.  Each person or group had their own truths, some complementary and some contradictory.  Although we wanted to be tolerant, all truths must now compete with each other — unless you want to be a hermit (a near impossibility in our global world).

So newscasts were extended.  Often this was done to explain the rationale for actions.  Actions which in the past would have been quickly categorized as right or wrong — now were seeking to be recategorized.  The most passionate actions tended to make the six o’clock news.  With no universal standard, experiences of passion and fervor became the standard of right and wrong.  Whatever your experience, as long as you entered fully into it, it was right for you. 

LIfe took on the need to enjoy the experience, to be “fun.”  If you were suffering or happiness was not yours, then you must remedy the situation.  Sue for compensation so that you have enough money to be happy.  Or perhaps change friends constantly if you do not have the gumption for conflict.

I suggest we are superficial.  Once you scatch past the surface of “experience” (existentialism in philosophical terms) you must confront death — four funerals in a weeks’ time makes you wonder.  You can remain consistent and say “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die” — or you can search out what has been labelled as religion — that part of life that sees an existence past our own person and time.

Just another thought here — some people have tried to turn religion into a death creating institution.  Religion wrongly followed — religion that has returned to making ourselves God — is deadly.  Religion that takes us outside ourselves steps in the right direction.  The question is — which religion brings life?