Author: Ron Baker

I wonder how life on the PInta would have been.  No, I’m not referring to the good, old PInto car of the 1970’s.  I’m going back further to the 1490’s.

I’ve been handpicked to sail a boat.  I’ve struggled for weeks to stay afloat both physically and emotionally.  This is not a familiar voyage.  We are just headed “that way” every day.  And every day begins to look the same.  Oh, there are weather changes.  But no green meadows or rolling hills, no new friends while the old companions on the voyage wear thin.

The day land is sighted, I silently cry in excitement and curse in confusion.  The habit of awakening to the same horizon confuses me when new pieces are added.  And yet, at the same time, I’m excited because boredom saps life from living souls.  Small routines, done just to do them, become huge lifesavers.

And in the irony of a conquest achieved,when I see land, I immediately wonder how the return voyage will go.  Will we see familiar faces when we return?  Will we return or will we be tossed aside by an uncharted sea? 

A sailor’s life is complicated and yet simple — stay afloat and get where you are going.  Simple directions with a multitude of reasons you will never see home again!

Well, that’s my story!  I wonder how the centuries will see me??

Three conversations with men.  One around their job, one around their family and one around their church.

None of  them  would profess to be spiritual
stereotypes.  They have no Bible College background.  They
have been small town boys.  They live life as life comes.

I was refreshed.  A breath of air steals into a room when you
least expect it.  You don’t know where the wind is coming
from.  Nor do you quite understand how it escapes.

But standing in the room, you know.  You know life has replaced
staleness.  You know movement that replaces rigidity.  You
know the clarity of the unseen replacing the haziness of the seen.

Thanks for the opportunity to hear of life and decisions, directions
and deviations, the down and dirty of life — conversations that are
more than talk about the weather.  I listened, I prayed, I
advised, I blessed — and I was blessed.

May your tribe increase!

Next week we have four seasonal meals (pig-out sessions is more like it!!). 

I’m already practicing to see how much I can eat (or is it the how little I can eat?).

Stay tuned for menus (yea, right, like that’s going to happen — this is a guy writing this), activities (lots of food, a little fun and some talks to fill out the programs), and fellowship (a great word for sitting and chatting and getting to know each other).

Each year the ministers in town write short Christmas messages.  Nothing too long.  Maybe 200 words or so.

Today was the deadline (doesn’t help that we only found out about this late Friday!). 

I reflected on the optimism of our town.  This is a year where tidings of joy abound.  And yet there is something more to this Christmas season than just good feelings, toys and fun.

MaryAnne, this was a labour of love.  I loved it!  Yes, I probably should be writing.  Keep up the encouragement — check me out in a month or two and see what I’m writing.  I’ll keep you all informed!