daily life as life goes on . . .

Here are two quotes which I wrote down but do not have the source.  A little opportunity to exercise your thinking and observation power.

• “Church attendance in Canada is not decreasing but is decentralizing.”
• “What we do in circles during the week is better than sitting in rows on Sunday.”

My hesitation is based in some of my own observations.

I am finding it increasingly difficult to define church attendance.  If we include a virtual gathering (church, as a term, was originally about assembling) then we are moving past the physical facility.  Is that decentralizing?  And let’s not forget that church and Christian have become separated in our society.  Do we really believe in the communion of the saints, or is church just a social gathering (in whatever form)?

Circles during the week is a way of saying that we interact.  We don’t just attend. 

And yet . . . my Sundays were never about just sitting around for a performance.  The entrance way, the parking lot, even the washroom were places of discussion and encouragement.  After the “rows” came “dinner” and “fellowship”.  The church assembled on Sunday in so many other ways than just sitting.

On Monday snow blew through our yard.  And the yards of most of Saskatchewan.

I was scheduled to officiate a funeral.  From 6:30 in the morning the discussion was ongoing.

The funeral home braved whiteout conditions to check on the gravesite.  RCMP were closing roads.  I made it to the church but the wind was biting and the snow was pelting.

As good farm families will do, we wait for blizzards to actually become full blown.  Up  until then its merely a snow squall.

This was no snow squall – so by 10:00 all had been informed of the postponement of the funeral.

The funeral ran on Tuesday.  We were all in agreement this was a much better arrangement.

At least power failures weren’t present and I wasn’t blown into the grave by the wind.

I’m happy and so was the family.

I can see more of the dirt than I can of snow.

A sure sign spring is on the way.

Gotta love dirt!!

In May 2012 my first wife died.  The experience was traumatic, and to be followed by much more.

The freedom felt like restrictions – I was now single and yet without a normal I had come to depend upon.

Within a year and a half I was able to remarry again – to return to some type of normal.

But there was no normal as in the past.  I had to relearn and reconfigure and reprogram and re . . .

A lot of “re” (looking back to what was, considering what is and moving ahead).

Jeremiah 6:16 – “Stop right now.  Take a look.  Ask questions.  Are you on a sustainable journey?  Is this the best supported path – past, present and future?  If so, walk in it!  And you will find rest for your soul.”