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So, here is the writer – my wife.  We watched what I would call a “clean” movie tonight – My Boyfriend’s Girlfriend.  Jill was sitting next to me and seemed to know what the next move would be.  The plot was probably too formulaic, but something about that created a believable side to a fictional story.

The interesting thing is that certain lines in the movie just made you want to believe that they made sense.  Ideas like love and marriage should be forever and that you should be free to tell your loved one everything about yourself.  With the realism of divorce and the heartache of deep secrets included in the narrative of the movie, realism meets idealism and the messiness of life begins to be untangled through forgiveness and love.

While I don’t think the movie fully reaches that height, I see the pinnacle in God’s love through Jesus –  the best example of forgiveness and love!  And the messiness of our lives can be untangled through Jesus’ forgiveness and love!

Imagine heading to a staging area to pick up billets.  The hallways are full, the people are polite (a true Canadian trait) and the faces are myriad! 

That was Kindersley Composite School last night around 9:30.  We were taking in four young ladies – two from Kelliher and two from Quill Lake.  I had to walk from one end of the school to the other to pick up the students.  Then placed all their luggage in a Toyota (which trunk is nowhere near the capacity of older cars).  And finally we arrived home for some birthday cake (yes, yesterday was my 58th birthday!).

Dismissal for the evening came around 10:30 and not a creature was stirring by around 11:00.  Now – tonight will be a different story!  I don’t pick up the billets until around 11:30 and they have to be out of the house the next morning by 8:00.

This I have to see!  I’m sure they will be saying, “No pictures, Please!”

Our local high school, Kindersley Composite School, is hosting a region wide (which includes a good part of the province) gathering of leadership youth.  When the idea was first forwarded in the community many of us had one thought?  Where are you going to put 750 kids.  Of course, the final numbers will be a bit different, but even so . . . that’s a lot of kids.

Our local motels are constantly filled with oil workers – you can’t get a room during the week if you tried.

The final realization?  We as a community have to billet the kids!  I guess our society has gone so much to hotel and motel use that it’s “inconceivable” that local homes would be available.

I would like to say – We did it!!  As part of the hordes of homes, we are having four girls stay at our place.  9:30 tonight I pick them up.  At 8:15 in the morning we are back at the high school.  At 11:30 that evening I pick them up again (after a dance that goes way past my bed time!).  Friday, their final morning with us, they are back at the school at 8:00. 

Should be fun – if I can stay awake!

Over this past weekend, Don Love, international worker from Japan, spoke at our church.  One of the discussion points we had with him after the formal services was regarding house churches.

In Japan affording a”facility” is pretty well out of reach for most people.  A church building to accommodate 20 people can be in the millions (or at least into the million mark).  For that reason, church (the people) have to do without church (the building).  Small groups of people create church that is not related to a building.  The idea of a house church is to break forth into a community with the good news of Jesus, without feeling burdened by debt, worry and depression related to finances.

The problem of transfer of the term “house church” to North America is one of context.  Here a house church is more a “break away” style than a “break forth” style.  People join house churches to form their “own thing.”  They become isolationist – feeling that their way is the only way.  We have one example of a building in the same block as our rather larger church building.  Twice in the past few years our town administration has asked us who owns the building.  All they have is a box number – and they would like to put a face to the inhabitants of the building.

We don’t know!  Other churches in town don’t know.  Some people have been seen there, but we don’t know who they are.  When a house church becomes such that there is no community involvement, I really wonder if they are a church as Jesus intended.  Going into the whole world should mean at least those on the same block know who you are!

I like break forth churches, but not so much break away churches!