Nostalgia.....

My Family....Dale, Mom and Dad

I was listening to a Christmas radio station at work today with all Christmas music. Some songs I really loved, others I wonder how they got to be in the "Christmas" category at all and still others brought back a flood of emotions and memories.

When I hear "O, Holy Night", I remember our friend Shelley Fullerton (Chamberlain) singing this song one Christmas Eve at our candle light service. She has a trained operatic voice and did the number great justice. It was a holy moment and one I will always remember. "......fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices, O night divine, O night when Christ was born......."

Then there was "Now Shine a Thousand Candles Bright"....with Rev. Wendell Anderson directing our church choir as we sang the words softly and crisply and tenderly......"To every dark and anguished heart, send down your ray divine, and may the light of God's own love like Christmas candles shine." I think he must be directing some kind of choir in heaven now, too.....

When I hear "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" sung by Gene Autry, I think of when I was very small and still had the magic and wonder of Christmas in my whole being (ya, even more than I do today!!!). Mom would sing along with me when it came on the radio. ".......and if you ever saw it, you would even say it glowed........"

There was another song too that tugs at my heart. I enjoyed it when I was young too, but it didn't have much meaning until I was much older............ "I'll Be Home for Christmas". I enjoyed it when I was younger because I didn't have to think about someone I love NOT being home for Christmas.

But there was a Sunday in December of 1974 back in the old house on 6th street, with the "record player" playing Glenn Campbell's rendition of "I'll be home for Christmas".......if only in my dreams"..........and my dear mother lying on the living room couch trying to sing along with the record but only sobs came from her throat and a river of tears was washing over her face. She was wanting her son to come home for Christmas but he would never be coming home again....he had died 10 weeks before. I remember the song too, with each year that a member of my family would never be coming home for Christmas......a brother, a mom....a dad.....and now an aunt.

Christmas music. I love it.....but sometimes it's just not that easy to listen to.

A prayer for my friends....

It was 11 years ago this weekend that Pastor Randall showed up in our sanctuary to check things out to see and get a sense if this was where God was calling him to be and to leave Winnipeg. Turns out, it was. He ministered in love to us here for over ten years. It was better than we could possibly have imagined.

God once again called him.....this time to Wetaskiwin.

So, once again we search. There is a process to this searching out and seeking a new pastor for Gateway. It comes with hard work, dedication and a total reliance on God for his direction.

A Committee with people willing to involve themselves in this has been set. I will make it a priority to pray for them daily. Their responsibility is huge but with God leading them, it becomes a matter of having eyes to see and ears to hear.

I will pray for my friends - Dixie, Charlotte, Molly, Phil, Linea, Sharon, Virginia and Eric. May God give them a sense of clarity, and purpose and may the Holy Spirit direct them in all wisdom as they seek out the pastor of God's choosing.

Contentment....

"Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content." ~ I Timothy 6:6-8

Sometimes it's difficult being content. I want. I desire. I think others "owe" me something and when I don't get it, well, I become discontented.

Why is it not enough to enjoy the things that the day provides.

Why do I go searching and yearning for things that don't satisfy......and getting on a crabby face in the process.

May God forgive me for not appreciating the many blessings that come from the hand of God.

Paul was right when he wrote that letter to Timothy.......I come into the world with nothing and I leave the same way...........with nothing............so why not enjoy all I have been given - between birth and death?

If I don't, there's a pretty honkin' big sack full of probability, I'll turn out bitter....and I sure don't want that now, do I!

If we hadn't bought buns...

Ya, if we hadn't decided to have left over pork on buns for supper and gone to the Co-op right after work, I never would have capatured the glow of a November sunset in Prince Albert.

We were headed home the usual way when the conversation began with:

"What should we have for supper?" asked husband.

"I don't know. I'm not very hungry since we had a big lunch at dinner time!", I responded.

"What about left-over pork on some buns?", he inquired.

"Sounds good to me.", says I.

"I'll just stop at Co-op first then and run in.", says the man.

"Well, we're on our way home. What about Safeway? It's close.", I mentioned.

"Co-op is just around the corner. It won't take long.", he says.

"Okay then.", I huffily reply.

Off we go to Co-op. In goes husband to get buns for supper. Out husband comes, buns in hand almost 15 minutes later.

"I would have been here sooner but I stopped to talk to Auntie Olga...and she likes to talk!", husband says.

"I wondered where you had gone! Thought perhaps you were looking for 'specific' buns!", I reproached with an ever-so-slight hint of humour.

Off we drive west towards River Street and home.

As we arrive on river street I yell...."STOP THE CAR!!!"

Husband pulls over and stops the car, as I fumble in my purse. (I think he's beginning to be somewhat prepared for these outbursts lately).

"Well, maybe we should go over the bridge!", I exclaim excitedly. (What I really meant was 'maybe we should go over to the other side of the bridge and you could stop there').

Husband thought I meant to go all the way around and drive over the bridge to the north side of it. He would have none of it. I must have been too excited to explain myself properly.

He pulls out from original spot and goes a bit further all the while exclaiming that he didn't really want to drive over the bridge.....while I was trying to explain that that isn't what I really meant and while explaining that, I yell once more, "STOP THE CAR!!!"

He pulls over and stops the car.

By now I have my camera out and at the ready. I'm jumping out of the car but I'm leaning on the open door and snapping. There in front of us was the most beautiful of sunsets which I attempted to capture above. Click. Click. Click.

And now I'm eating my bun with left-over pork and showing you the outcome of an unexpected trip to the Co-op.

God does stuff like that. He gives us detours sometimes. It's up to us to take adavntage of them.

Moonlight shadows....

as seen from our bathroom window at 2:30 a.m.

There is something beautiful about the full moon casting it's eery shadows across the serenity of freshly fallen snow. There really is nothing quite like it. It brings me a sense of peace like no other...........a calmness into my soul that soothes and quiets.

Don't get me wrong folks. I don't sleep with the camera in bed beside me. Nope. Not me.

It's in my purse. I just happen to pass it by on the way to my middle-of-the-night potty break.

When there are pictures to be taken, you just take advantage of each situation as it presents itself.

I do think God made moonlight just for weird people like me............and wolves, of course.

But wolves don't carry cameras..........

With the first snow...

a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of......................Santa???? Dress suits????? Looking dorky????????

By the looks of this picture, one would certainly think so.

The young men of the P.A. Raiders hockey team made for a very handsome and picturesque back drop of the fresh snow falling beyond the confines of the Forest Centre foyer.

Red hats???.......the things we do for love...........and the making of Christmas cards!!

I was tempted to throw down my "wish list" to whomever would be fortunate enough to catch it, but I thought better of it......;-)

I remember.....

This man, my dad, was willing to give his life when he voluntarily enlisted in the XII Manitoba Dragoons in 1941. He and hundreds of thousands like him, went off to some unknown land, rifle in hand, and fought against tyranny and injustice and evil. We'll just leave it at that.

He left his pregnant wife at home to wait for his return.

Many millions of others did the same.

So today I once again remember this particular sacrifice....the willingness of this one man to give everything up that he loved and cared for so that his children, granddchildren and great grand child could live freely....could go to the school of their choice, could involve themselves in whatever they wished, could read the books that interested them and have freedom to express themselves in any way they wanted.

Son, Matthew & friend, Greg - highschool grad 2001

Brittney and Shannon - both going to school - wherever and whenever they wished.

I thank God today for men and women in the world, who have and will continue to offer their lives for the good of the whole......and not necessarily the Armed Forces. There are people working with humanitarian aid groups, those giving selflessly to help in war-torn countries with food and medical services. I think of the missionaries and volunteers too, working in the Name of Christ, with the homeless, the poor and the marginalized.

So, tonight I shall stay awake for a moment or two and remember the sacrifices that have gone before and those that are happening today.

We are indeed a free people.