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With the dawning of the computer, one thing seems to be certain.  We cannot live without change.

Not that change hasn’t always been around.  All is flux is a standard statement penned millenia ago.

Of course, I didn’t live millenia ago. 

The thought of stepping into a stream and seeing the water flow by, with a particle of water never passing the same way twice – or of a snowflake being unique – that type of thought is easy to grasp.  Not so easy to grasp is the idea that I am involved deeply in a moment’s change.

I would like to think that I can handle it.  But even as I type this, the shift key to make capital letters is slightly smaller than yesterday’s key.  And so my capital letters are constantly needing corrected.  \here is how a sentence usually starts!!  \i’ve just hit the wrong key to create a capital letter.

What necessitated this change.  A company who has found maintaining older software is difficult.  New programs and progress have made the old obsolete.  I have had to upgrade to a new computer with the new software on it – cheaper than fixing the old computer.

Interestingly, in the midst of much transition in my life, a pattern for dealing with grief and change is starting to emerge.  I’m not happy, but neither am I discouraged.  As the new day and old day touch each other, a new day is forming.  In that hope I am thankful.

There are many terms for weakness.  Brokenness speaks to the whole area of dashed hope.  Grieving speaks of absence of loved ones and erased desires.  Even depression can be a symptom of weakness exposed.

We often think that this is a matter of failure.  If success is found in keeping ourselves “above water,” then most of us will have swallowed a good bit of the blue stuff, and may even be going under.

I awoke yesterday morning with a sense of tiredness.  I could say that I was weak.  As I prayed with my wife, there was a wall that was there.  The wall holds up all sorts of posters of doubt. 

The best prayer is to admit weakness and turn to God for strength. 

That’s the best that I could do. 

To release control and to trust God!

And the best was for the best.  Not a bad way to start the day and to end the day. 

I am blessed with two.  I say that with sincerity and disregard for all the mother-in-law jokes I hear.

Over the past years, some of my great moments of discussion and encouragement have come from my “married into” relations.  I have recipes and great baking.  I have a regard for those who wisdom is held in 85 year old bodies but whose minds are still 16.

I wonder what would happen if we turned our thinking to the wisdom found in those older than ourselves.  As we look at the possibility of getting a new senior pastor here, our seniors have mentioned the need to look for someone who understands seniors.

I’m slowly coming to see the meaning in that statement.  It’s not about having to change who a minister is.  Rather, a minister must be able to both understand progress (which a younger group requires) and finality (which an older group understands).

World War II provided us with a baby boom.  That boom resulted in amazing progress in the decades following.  Now the daily news reveals an increasing desire to understand death.

Both of my mothers-in-law have suffered the death of a loved one.  Deeply!  And both of them, as they approach their final years, are imparting life to me – in friendship, advice and in a desire to continue to live for God. 

I like having two mothers-in-law.

Happy Birthday – mom Cooper!!

Well, I understand that Safeway has been taken over by Sobeys.  And the Club Cards are going to be discontinued. 

Not that this affects us much.  We do have a club card, but we do not have a Safeway in town.  The card gets used infrequently on visits out of town – helpful for getting discounts but not much else.

The thing that struck me is the connection my head makes to Safeway.

In my teen years my church youth sponsor was a manager for a Safeway store in Regina.  Bob Kinnie just lived over a block or two from us.  As an impetuous teen, I had a few run-ins with Bob.  But, as I look back, his love for me and his desire to make sure we all followed hard after Jesus sticks out!

Bob later went on to become the President of Safeway Canada.  He mentored a number of young men who have been influential in Christian ministry.  His legacy is around us.  And is a part of my history.

My thanks to Safeway for hiring, and placing a young father in the same town.  Just for a few years.  But a few years are enough!