daily life as life goes on . . .

Yesterday, heading into Walmart, a friend and his son greeted me.

We conversed about the happenings in our lives.  I mentioned that I was writing a novel.

“What about?”

“A funeral director.”

“I’d read that,” my friend affirmed.

The teenage son then chimed in, with some enthusiasm, that he would also read the novel.

Now, in all my years, I’ve never read a novel with the funeral director as the main character.  Friends indicate the same.

And now a teenager wants to read a novel about a funeral director?

This could be a huge best seller!!

Teaching ladies to put themselves first was a theme of a recent event held just outside Kindersley.  In an article in our local regional paper (XRoads), Sarah McMillan interviewed the organizer – Sara Wilkie.

Wilkie said the general idea behind this year’s event were the words “I am.”

“And how they are the most important words because whatever follows those words is what (a person) will be,” she said.

Something strange hit me on that first read.

I AM is the name for the God found in the Old Testament. 

When God was pushed by Moses to talk about his name, the reply was very simple.

“I AM THAT I AM.”

Whatever follows the words “I AM” is what a person will be.

God is making a big statement. 

• God doesn’t have to qualify who he is. 
• God doesn’t have to divide himself into priority characteristics. 
• God doesn’t have to restrict himself to only certain virtues.

God is all there, all the time!

I’m surrounded by life.

Each day, at an early hour, the remote control starter for the car next door works!  The neighbours have arisen to life. 

Our mail is delivered to a Post Box.  Not one of those abandoned ones that sit in lonely suburbs.  Rather, to a bustling rural post office, situated in the middle of town. 

There I exchange greetings, read the latest funeral postings and pay exorbitant prices for stamps.  The gracious cashier knows the whole town, and might even be able to tell you who inhabits which post box.

Internet interaction indicates that hundreds of people are doing thousands of things (we call that multitasking). 

My brother, in the far reaches of Canada’s west, is renovating a house.  My brother in the central region of Canada is teaching Koine Greek.  My sister in the south of the province is being an artist, another sister is training for nursing, and another sister is doing her calligraphy thing.

And another brother is dead.  Cancer stricken at 50 years of age a decade ago.  We mourn the loss.  We live the loss.

Life has a way of squeezing its way into our pores and capturing our breath.  We may forget our last breath taken.  Merely a step to the next breath.  And the next.  And the next.

I had nothing to do with making that breath.  So, I’m going to be thankful to the God who did give me breath today.

Rejoice, be glad, and take that next breath..

In the last week or so, I have posted links almost daily links to this blog on Facebook. 

I wanted to increase the audience, even though that may not increase the readership (a blog for another day).

This morning I checked with my wife.  She had not seen any of the posts. 

I rushed to my computer and took a look.  All the posts were there.

I proceeded back to my wife and asked her to check again.  The status updates were not there. 

I rushed back to my computer (I’m starting to get winded by now!).  I looked all over the screen.

How could this be?

Of course, it was just one small button.  In the right hand corner.  Set to a default from a number of posts ago.  The people who could view my status were on a “custom list”.  A small “custom list”.  Without my wife’s name.

I pushed the button to make the status public, and low and behold my wife yelled out to me, “It’s there”. 

I guess life is all about one button at a time!