daily life as life goes on . . .

My son, Tim, took off yesterday.  Back to his work in Chicago.  We needed to head down to Calgary to get his visa approved, and then to fly out.

The trip was great – I talked too much – but hopefully I’m handing on my wife’s legacy through stories and illustration. 

800 kilometers later I arrived home to a hot meal.  Not my own cooking, of course.  Not at my own house, but at the Kehrer’s.  The Kehrer’s had prepared the meal and I just sat back and enjoyed. 

Then home, and I’m by myself.  We’ll see how that goes.  I have a friend coming  up next week to stay for a while.  And the church has made an effort to be sure I’m not left alone. 

Thanks!!

I’m a widower.  In a previous generation, when the average age of death was closer to 68, to be a widower at 58 was, perhaps, common.  Now that 80 is the new 60 – not so common.  And particularly a husband outliving a wife.

I’ve also had double knee surgery – not from sports related injuries but from deterioration.  As one x-ray technician described the picture of my knees when I was in my 40’s – “you have the knees of a 60 year old.” 

I had cataract surgery on my eyes in my mid-fifties.  My father had his cataract surgery in his 80’s (to which he proclaimed – “I wish I’d done this decades ago!”). 

I jokingly refer people to the progression of surgeries and say that my brain is next!!

My guess?  This has prepared me to work well with those in their sunset years of life.  In those days many look back at their former days of glory, when the sun was bright and the tan was the thing!  Now . . .

That’s when I can stand beside them – they know what I’ve gone through and I know where they are at.  And I can say – “God is in control – Jesus will walk with you through this – Trust him!”

Often we get disgusted with our lives and begin to swear against God and against our infirmities.  I’m developing a new slogan.

“Forget  four letter words – use five instead.” 

FAITH works, so does TRUST!!

In my day and age – and that dates me – TGIF meant “Thank Goodness It’s Friday.”  This was the day to look forward to a weekend of fun, parties and no work.  You got to connect with others and just hang out.

I keep my feet in this current age – and that keeps me up-to-date.  TGIF is still around – and it’s still about connecting with other people.

But now – TGIF means – Twitter, Google, Internet and Facebook .

You’ll see this slogan starting to circulate more and more as we catch up to the current ways of connecting with other people.  The leisurely weekend is no more – open stores and 24/7 business has killed it!  And for all us busy people out there who know we need to keep touch with our friends – ever try to sync your schedule with your friends? 

What we are left with is TGIF.  Unless there is a seismic shift in our culture (which I would not be adverse to), get used to connecting with other people in this way!!

Can you add any thoughts on other connecting tools / approaches that have come into use in these past few years? 

Oh, and to give credit where credit is due – this thought hit me as I was reading an article in Worship Leader Magazine, May 2012, page 17 – middle column, last sentence!!

My Grade 3-7 Sunday School class is working on the Lord’s Prayer.  The passage these past few weeks has been “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

This morning I found a few blades of grass springing up in my flower beds (OK, there’s no flowers there yet, but maybe soon!).  I tried to grab this intruding evil and pull it straight out.  No go!  The blades broke and the root will inevitably arise again.

Then I looked at the patch of grass that was busily flourishing just a few feet away.  I took the next shoot and pulled towards that patch.  The roots were dislodged and came up quite easily.

Sometimes just knowing where the evil arises from lets us pull out the roots without too much trouble.