Author: Ron Baker

This author has written 2756 articles

He's dead but he's not!

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Today I received word that someone had died. 

The rumour continued unabated for a short time. 

Others heard via the grapevine!  Some were already rearranging their calendars for the funeral! 

Its amazing how your mind goes into high gear,  your calendar gets cleared and you are soon wondering how you would describe that person if you were asked to do a eulogy.

The rumours of the death, though, were greatly exaggerated! 

I almost felt robbed when I heard they had not died!

In those few short moments — from the beginning of the rumour to the quashing thereof — my coming week had been freed up.  Placing the importance of celebrating another’s life ahead of my own often frantic activities was refreshing.  I’m thinking scaling back my activities and reflecting on the lives of those around me wasn’t such a bad thing.

We've already voted!

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The election in Canada is less than a week away.

We will be away from our constituency on Monday, at meetings in Manitoba.  So last Friday we were at the advanced polling station at noon and placed our ballots in the box by 12:30.

Now, the excitement of the final week of electioneering is lost on me! 

All the hype, jabs, and momentum mean nothing.  My vote is unchangeable!

In a lot of life I have been ahead of the wave.  I took information science back in the days when we were just beginning to realize that the information age was about to dawn.  I was a part of the beginning of the worship transitions in late 20th century Protestant churches.  I’m feeling like I’ve heard it all when I hear the term “emerging church” – even though that is the current wave pounding on the church!  And now, I’m listening to the electioneering, knowing that I’ve “been there, done that – got the vote cast”!!

Maybe I should just turn the TV off!

Frost beats wire

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Remember the good old “Rock, scissors, paper game”?

Here’s a new one – “Frost beats wire”!

I hadn’t thought much about our warm weather and humidity.  Enjoying hoarfrost each day as it sparkles in the morning light is a delight!

But the power lines are a little less than welcoming.  As I look out the window, the branches on our trees are getting covered.  Jill tried to flick a frosted branch in my face, but the white stuff sticks to the bark better than superglue to . . . (fill in the blank!).

Meanwhile the power lines are weighed down, the lines snap or become useless, and our power is in and out constantly.  On Sunday at least eight times.  On Monday at least four times.

There is a good side to this!  Now we know which of our clocks have functioning back up batteries.

Cream and Sugar Please!

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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.