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That was the story of the day.  Our local ice hockey arena went to the ground.  This meant one rink and parts of a second were devastated, as well as damage to the curling rink.   Interestingly, the Scotties provincial curling tournament was on at the same time.  They’ve moved to a town 3/4 of an hour down the road.

This is quite the study in small town grapevines as well as the internet.  A picture of the burning rink came onto the local radio station website and soon the page with the pictures was down (probably too many hits??).  Meanwhile people were phoning, and talking, and seeing each other, and sitting gabbing at hair salons, and drinking coffee and chatting.  Now, as the sun goes down, the word is that this was an accidental fire started by repair people, that funding for rebuilding may come from the NHL players association, that a new complex will arise from the ashes, that the 100th celebration of the town will now be a time to gather round and build something new!! 

We are a town of eternal optimists.  We’ve claimed to be a city for 3 or 4 decades, and the census never verifies our optimism.  But does that stop us?  NO WAY!  We press on to greater glory – Kindersley, the town that could!

From the early morning, a phone call confirmed a work schedule for the day.  Since early evening last night two or three things fell into place and the new day dawned, cold and chilly, but open for business!

As I sat working on a sermon, my wife took over the church kitchen and baked quiche for a Sunday Breakfast we have planned.  Later in the day the Christmas tree was dismantled and a church directory completed.

And now, this evening, a meeting has been postponed and I’m home with my wife enjoying an evening off.  Another friend is also out with his wife on a rare evening together. 

In some ways I feel very much given grace.  Undeserved favor to be able to have time that my scheduler had already “penned in”.  Often the best paths are graded, leveled and prepared in unexpected ways.

Thanks to God for we set our feet to walk, he prepares the path!

This is a quote that someone had quoted in a book I’d love to quote but can’t remember the name!

Dutch Sheets wrote:  We don’t wait well.  We’re into microwaving.  God on the other hand, is usually into marinating.

I guess you could ask yourself a few other questions first: Was the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” imperfect? Apparently the fruit did a perfectly good job of pointing our good and evil! A second question relates to the matter of choice. Can God make the choice to make creatures of choice? As I read through Scripture there seems to be a lot of places where God gives choice instead of turning people or even angels into robots. Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit of the tree – God probably knew they didn’t need to go to the “dark side” to be able to live a perfectly good life. So the desire on His part for them not to eat the fruit of the tree. Satan (serpent) also made a choice to not follow God, which certainly landed him in rather hot water!

The creation was created (very) good. Our response, Adam and Eve’s response and even Satan’s response to the creation are a sign of a good God who creates us with choice and not just being robots.