daily life as life goes on . . .

To reconfigure!

You begin with a figure – a picture of what can be. You work with that figure to come out with an idea/strategy/newness. After some time of acting on this vision, you revisit the original figure and consider what might be made new or brought to life.

That is where I am at right now. This blog was a vision to talk about my life and opinions that arose on a daily basis. 20 years later I’m seeing a new vision that relates to my daily life.

Originally the blog was read by family and a few friends. The thoughts stirred others to think. I went on to write and podcast for a local community media outlet, once again envisioning those around me in the town of Kindersley as my audience. Add to this a desire to understand and to portray Christian small churches as a vital piece of the landscape in Canada – thus a regular podcast and a digital resource called the Canadian Small Church Ministry Centre.

And daily life goes on!

A year or two ago, I believed God was stirring my wife and I to move to Calgary.  My wife, as a catalyst of the thought, strongly concurred!  The move was strongly prompted by the desire to be in contact with family. Contact that included being helpers, advisers and present to assist in their daily lives. I set aside writing and podcasting for the moment.

Yesterday I sat amidst a small group formed from local church friends. We discussed our lives and the liveliness of trying to impact those around us while also forming as followers of Jesus. I suggested to the group that I would write regular thoughts on what we were encountering. These could become a basis for a monthly discussion as a group. Just the audience I needed to spur me on to use the “media” once again!

My hope is to generate thought and action – to push people on to love and good deeds. The focus will most certainly highlight Jesus – I’ll unravel that God part of the tapestry as an integral part of the vision. Feedback from the small group (and from readers) will also spur me on to consider the diversity of creativity and codification.

So, here we go!

Fine print does indicate . . . things like perspective and previous incidents lead to bylaws/rules and copyright/inspiration disclosures.  I was struck as we finished watching a 2021 film called “Queenpins” (not a recommendation, by the way) to read the following fine print at the end:

“This film is inspired by actual events, however, characters, names, dialogue, businesses and certain locations and events have been fictionalized or invented for dramatic purposes.”

Now, the film is about fraud, capitalism gone amuck, spouses/relatives who do not listen, bending the rules, and many other themes that make you want to champion the underdog and figure out if there is a real hero – or if this is all about anti-heroes (or more rightly – how do you define a hero).

But what struck me in the fine print?  The use of “fictionalized or invented”. 

The description of the movie indicates that this would be historical fiction – a category used quite often in current literature.  The fun in this type of fiction is to find out what is fact and what is fiction.  In the past half decade this has become more and more the realm of AI (artificial intelligence) – where research is left to a great “mind” to scrape the known universe of knowledge and then spew forth the “truth” gleaned from these sources.  Of course, even AI can be biased in choosing sources – thus the term mis-information could be applied. 

Current world philosophies play on this type of realization, turning all of life into fiction – or at least giving no purpose or meaning to life because truth (or even simple facts) cannot be determined.  So, a certain generation lives in fiction and stories told (movies produced) are merely ways to help them interpret their own lives from their own perspectives.  Truth derives from themselves – a statement that something is fictionalized is taken for granted because fiction can become truth if you want that to happen.

But what about invented?  There appears to be an attempt to distinguish between a writer’s ability to make something up in their head (to fictionalize) and then the film having parts that were tested in some type of reality (to invent). 

We have gone from “actual events” that inspire a narrative, to “fiction” that is created as truth in the head of the narrative’s writer, finally to the writer then seeking out “science” (in the pure use of the term) to test a hypothesis of what might have happened.

In a world where narrative reigns to create a path for a person’s personal life story: fact, fiction and invention become the triumverate of your life’s philosophy.  Is that enough?  Or do we have another starting gate that leads down another path?

Two dates stick in my head this year.

May 16, 2018 – A gorgeous farm house is placed on a foundation in Kindersley, Saskatchewan.  This becomes our fixer upper for the next while and houses us with great results.  Sold last year to friends as we moved to Calgary.

May 17, 2012 – My first wife, Jill, passes away in Saskatoon after a very brief hospital stay.  Her heart failed but her heart still lives on in her friends and family.

Sometimes I listen to myself speak – more than once.  The joy of a digital age where recordings are freely available online.  Sunday I preached at North Point Community Church in Calgary, AB, Canada. 

Upend your conventional thoughts on the Great Commission that Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 28 (for those of you not usually immersed in Christian “speak” – my sermon really talks about the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples as recorded by Matthew, a follower of his, in a book he authored 2000 years ago).  In these few words Jesus gives an idea of what his followers were expected to understand about him, and to do for him. 

Funny thing!  Sometimes what you say has more content than what you originally intended to say.  But you need to hear the words again to push your thoughts to explore the hidden parts.  I’ve listened to the sermon online a few times.  I’m still surprised by what I am learning. 

If you want to watch the sermon on YouTube you can check out this URL – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVV-wwpKqGg&t=4071s.  The talk begins at the 36:11 minute mark and is 30 minutes long.  I begin by talking a bit about myself to let the audience become acquainted with me (which also explains a bit of why this biblical text suits me).  At the 51:34 minute mark I delve into the text.  The last two minutes of the sermon (beginning at 1:05:46) are a quick summary of what I had to say.