Same...only different.

With ice....
Without ice.....

Before birds....

After birds....

Same pictures. Only different.

Funny how one 'little' event can change the whole picture.

The sun melts the ice and people come and swim....but the same lake is there.

The birds seek food and the perfection of snow is messed up....but the same bird feeder is there.

Like us.

The Son melts our heart and we become different people.....but the same body is there.

God's Spirit seeks to make us better people and we begin to be transformed...but the same soul is there.

It just takes a little melt down and a bit of reshaping.....I think I'm ready.

The big picture...

My friend and I had a pretty in-depth discussion the other morning at prayer time. We were asking God some significant questions.

Why is a good pastor friend of hers very ill? He has so much to offer. He has small children and a wife.

Why does God allow these things to happen.

People, good people, live exemplary lives, love God, love their fellow man....and yet they are afflicted.

Why do we have to endure our children rebelling and wandering away only to find themselves in very difficult circumstances. We raised them with good morals. We treated them well and respected them. Why is this happening to them?

Why is God allowing our church to enter into a season of......not even sure what to call it. There is so much to do here in our city. Why are we complacent. Why is God not bringing a pastor more quickly? Why do we compare our church to other churches? Why do we become jealous and envious? Why are some amongst us divisive?

Why, why, why.

We came to the conclusion that it is good to talk to God about these things. They are important to us and to those involved. They are important to God too. He wants our input and questions and the more we talk to God about the things that concern us......the more he changes us as individuals.....ME.

He may not even change the circumstances or people we asked him about, but in that process of communicating it all to him, I am changed. I see him more clearly. I grow in my faith. I also begin to see the errors of my own finite thinking and self-righteous attitudes and reasonings and I am humbled.

No, it's not about anyone else. Just me. I will continue on asking God, reasoning with Him and talking to Him.

We will continue to meet together to pray, she and I. It's the very least and the very most we can do.

Yes, the Father does know best.

We also remembered that it is God who sees the entirety of any situation. We see only one part..... the part that involves us. But God sees it from the beginning to the end, where any situation needs to go, and who needs to be involved and all the kinds of things that we mere mortals can never see....but God knows how it should be and so he works his purposes out....through us.

We prayed together, she and I. After all, that is the stuff Christians are made of...........

Our school girls...

Brittney and Shannon...shopping....

Regina Campus

Regina Campus

Our daughter and her daughter, both going to school. One to Campbell Collegiate the other to University of Regina.

They make a beautiful pair, don't you think. Their ways are quite similar too.

They both make us proud, in all they do and all they are.

School can be stressful, at the best of times. Raising children AND going to university plus looking after a home is a ton of hard work.

It is good that the man of their house can come to their rescue the two weeks when he's home from the mines.

It's a difficult road they have chosen but I think a wise one.

May God watch over them on their journey through teen years and post-secondary education years and years with husband/dad home only half the time. Be their everything God.....oh, and thanks.

What does that song remind you of??

As the snow drifted softly outside the dimly lit home, inside the "old lovers" sat beside one another on the couch, listening to www.galaxie.ca No fireplace. No cats.

With their fingers intertwined, feet resting on the large foot stool, songs for lovers wafted gently over the hushed tones of the living room......"Mona Lisa" played by Henry Mancini, various themes from old movies, songs by the Carpenters and Natalie Cole (daughter of Nat King Cole).

One of them would say...."what movie does that song "Alfie" remind you of?"

The other would reply...."uhhhhh, not sure...what???.....well, I think the movie 'Arthur'!"

The one would then say, laughing loudly and fairly spoiling the romantic moment, "The song "Alfie" reminds you of the movie "Arthur"???!!! Now THAT'S very funny!!"

The other would ask, "What was the movie "Alfie" about anyway....I forget!"

The one would reply, "Remember with Michael Cain, the English bloke who acts like a real ladies man, gets his girlfriend pregnant, wants her to have an abortion but she keeps the baby. He leaves her and she marries another and takes his child, a son, with her. At the end Alfie realizes what he has missed in life....a girl who loved him and a son."

And on and on it went.

It was a good evening. Quiet. Sweet. Gentle. Life-giving. A date....but not a date.

That's all I will tell you. The rest of the evening well, what do old lovers do anyway?.:-)

On Golden Pond....

(click on pics)

I watched some of that movie after supper tonight. It reminded me again of our family times at the lake, of the moments of quiet and peace, of the hope of catching "the big one", of boat rides and conversations, and times too, of mis/non-communication, where we think one person is thinking one thing, but they're thinking something totally different.

I think I'm a poor communicator. There are times when I want to say something but I find that the words just don't come. I think more than I speak and that can be bad. A course in school for this kind of thing would be really helpful. "How to Say What you Think and not Sound Like a Tool".

On Golden Pond is a story of a family, wanting to love, wanting inwardly to say the things their hearts are feeling but find it difficult. It shows how something as simple as "fishing" can pave the way for meaningful conversation and how one little measure of encouragement can turn the tide of a relationship.

I love that movie. I cry every time I watch it. It's so human and I think not unlike my own family....perhaps even your family at times. We try to be vulnerable and open but there are times when we don't succeed. Our hearts stay closed.

I think when we are faced with our own mortality, we really don't have much to lose. We bumble our way through our "I love you's" or our "I'm sorry's" and even our "Please forgive me's" because at the end of it all, it is important that those thoughts and feelings be expressed...before it's too late.

That movie reminded me of all of that.........relationship. What life is all about.

How to live...

This morning "pastor" Marc, spoke about living life by holding on to the things we 'posess' very lightly............living life not tied to physical things.

No matter how many times I hear that, I have to again get my head around it and remember that all I possess doesn't belong to me anyway. All I have acquired, bought and paid for has come from the Father's generous hand. Everything.

Nothing I possess is of greater value than any relationship I have....with anyone. Things are things. They gather dust. Their value goes up and down. They fall apart, get broken and become worthless..........but people and our relationships with them, go on to eternity. Not sure how that will happen but I know it will. I guess the essence of what he was saying this morning was that life is short and we need to make the best of it while we still have time. The world and everything in it will one day be gone, so it's best not to put all our energy into those 'things' that take us away from relationships with others....including our families.

Here is a portion of the passage Marc preached on this morning from I Corinthians 7:29-31

"Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions. Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away."

Good things to be reminded of as we live life.

Meetings....

On the whole, our church Annual Meeting was very good. Decisions were made. People were thanked and others encouraged. Finances were discussed and voting took place.

The "theme" for lack of a better word, for the upcoming year will be "renewal". That's funny. I've been thinking about that very thing for quite a while now.

We would like individuals to head towards renewal. You know, the kind of thing I was mentioning a few posts back. How I need renewing, being made over into something totally new.

I know there will be some people who won't "get it" and will go on their merry way, talking, acting and thinking like they always have, and not letting God's spirit into theirs for various reasons.

But there will be some people who understand what "renewal" is all about and will seek God out to hear what needs to be said to them and know it is not only for their good but the good of the whole Body.

Those are the people who understood what Marc was talking about today in his devotional - about putting others first, not always getting their own way, speaking out of love for one another and not speaking because they want a place for others to hear them.

Those are the people who will want what is best for everyone, not for themselves only; they will hurt when others hurt and they will know of the lordship of Christ, the head of the church.

Those are the ones who will realize the importance of unity in the Body as well as the importance of trusting in the people they have elected as Church Council.

Yes. It will be a year of learning and a year to renew our fainting spirits.

I pray for this renewal to take place in me. May God let it be so.