Church

Today we were two hours away.  In Saskatoon. 

The reason?  To get test done. 

For me this was a followup on some other tests, just seeking to determine how my stomach had been affected by Ibuprofen I had taken.  Up until now the tests show that I’m in fairly good shape — I’m trusting this one will confirm this.  Results will take a few days.

My wife had her heart pacemaker battery checked out.  We’ve known the battery would wear down, and she is now on an early replacement listing.  How soon that will happen we do not know, but the expectation is that a replacement should be made, at the latest, within six months.

Interestingly enough, this afternoon we bought a battery for our car.  The changeover was rather smooth — I trust Jill’s battery change will go as smoothly!

Wish I had my camera!

Here we were in church Sunday morning, and the preacher was throwing eggs at the wall.  One or two heads jerked back (we did OK this with the janitor before it happened!!).  And the point was very well made.

We may think we have everything under our own control.  But when we hit the wall, we smash like an egg and drip all over.  Even if we harden ourselves, we still break — maybe we don’t look quite as bad but we still break. 

Then a kinder egg was thrown.  The Kinder Egg has an outside shell that, when broken, reveals a new creation inside.  That’s what we are looking for.  Godliness — the new creation that is fashioned after God — and that new creation doesn’t splatter and spew all over the wall.  The pressure of circumstance just begins to reveal and shine the light on the new creation!

Well, that’s my quick summary — there was much more.  Thanks to John Enns-Wind for a great sermon!!

Every once in a while . . . you stumble on a thought provoker!

Our Sunday morrning adult Sunday School class was about to be cancelled.  The teacher was stuck 3 1/2 hours away, needed to drive home an ailing van.  As it happened, there were no mishaps, but he did not arrive back until after the class was over.

We could cancel, or I could stick in a DVD and see what discussion ensued.  Early in the week the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada had sent a DVD to the church — an exploration of young adults and the church called Misplaced.

I asked a few young adults to show up in the class.  The discussion was fruitful.  At first, young and old showed appreciation for the comments made — most pointed out the difficulty young adults have associating with the institutional church.  Then some questioned if the speakers were Christian.  They were not involved in churches.  Others pointed out that they were willing to be, but they were not connected with churches, or had not been welcomed into churches.  Afterwards one person pointed out that this attitude can be the killer — when we don’t accept others on their journeys just because they don’t measure up.

I’m still processing some of the thoughts myself.  Check out the streaming video — see what you think.  Are we ready to rebuild the institutional church in order to welcome in some of these young adults?  Are we already able to embrace them in our churches — and they just need to be invited in?  Are we fooling ourselves as they leave our churches, thinking we aren’t the problem?

Actually, before the sun!  As we headed to the airport the sun was still behind the horizon.  Snow had fallen and the car was dusted with enough white flakes to require cleaning. 

Why so early (5:15 am!)?  Our son was headed back to a cruise ship where he works as a theatre production manager.  The flight to San Juan, via Minneapolis and other ports of travel, departed at 6:40.

The people most likely to be on the early morning flight?  Believe it or not — hunters.  More than one gun case was carried on as personal luggage.  I still find that a bit incongruous — rifles in the airplane cabin.  Now, I know there are all sorts of precautions, but the visual in my mind of rifle cases stored in luggage compartments makes me a bit leary!

Well, we expect Tim will be hanging out in a San Juan hotel tonight, and then headed on board the Royal Caribbean Adventure tomorrow.  Have a good rest and may you enjoy the coming year as you work on board the cruise ship!