Communion Dec 9 07

‘Tis the season, once again.
And once again for a brief period of time the thoughts of many turn to celebrations. For some the only occasion to celebrate is the season itself, for some it is the ring of the cash register rescuing their business from the red. We might even suppose that for all it is an opportunity to remember that Jesus was born.

The threat that some might happen to be drawn into thinking about Christ seems to coincide with movies this time of year that would convince us that Christmas has nothing at all to do with God. Yet it would seem to reason, that at this time of year the chances are pretty good that your neighbor or someone that you meet along the way is thinking about the real reason for the season.

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately and one of the books I read was about business. One of the chapters was about managing risk vs. achieving your goals. The author said that it’s a fine thing to study your objective. To talk about it and to think about it, to find out as much as you can about it, but he says, until you actually reach the point that you do something about it, with out a “critical success event”; all your efforts amount to very little.

The author was referring to buying a house, meaning that if you never submit an offer, all the information you’ve gained about the market, location and so on is completely wasted.

You may be wondering what all this has to do with communion. At communion we gather around this table to remember a critical success event in the life of Christ. If Christ had not gone to the cross we would not be celebrating our salvation as we do every time we meet here. Christmas time represents the beginning of the life of Jesus and his example to us as the ultimate “Doer of the Word.”

I hope that the time that you spend this Christmas moves you. That as your friends and neighbors or complete strangers to you are thinking about the beginning of the life of Christ, you would be more than a Hearer, Reader, Scholar, Thinker or Discusser of the Word, but that you would take the opportunity to be a Doer of the Word this holiday season.

Give a gift worthy of the occasion. Share the message of the Birth, Life, Death and Resurrection with others during this holiday season.

more nano

“Ma’am, you can’t go in there!” a man shouted.
“What do you mean ‘I can’t go in there’? My son is in there. I’m not afraid of you; now get out of my way.” There was a period of silence and then the door opened and in walked the one person that Dave did not expect to see: Meredith. She covered her mouth and tried to stifle a scream when she saw him, she rushed to his bedside, the tears already beginning to fill her beautiful blue eyes.
“Dave? What did they do to you?” She reached out to touch him but when she saw the wrappings on his body she only hovered over him with her hands. She found his fingers and gave them a light squeeze. “Son, say something.”
“You look good, mom.” He croaked from his dry throat.
“Forget about me. What’s going on, Dave? Why are they guarding your room? What happened to you?”
“It’s a long story. You wouldn’t believe. I’m not sure I believe me.” She looked at him as if to say that she wasn’t going anywhere so he better start talking. Dave began to tell her everything that had happened from the time that he got on the airplane. He would pause when she would gasp or sigh, but she would always prod him to continue. Soon Dave was tired of talking and Meredith had used up all the tissues in a large box at the bedside. There was a long period of silence and then a thought crossed Dave’s mind.
“Mom, where am I?”
“This is a hospital… in Key Largo.”
“Key Largo?” Dave was shocked. His flight was supposed to leave Bogatá and arrive in Miami.
“How did I get here?”
“The police brought you here. You didn’t have any ID so they put you here as a John Doe.”
“How did you find me?”
“We’ve been trying to get information from the government about why they had stopped looking for you. They stopped returning my calls so I started to call around. Ryan’s mother gave me the number of his production company. I talked to real nice girl on the phone. She said she would call me if she heard anything. I got a call three days ago. She said that you had been booked on a flight to Miami, so I came to meet you, maybe bring you home…” She trailed off.
“But I never came.”
“No I waited for an hour but you never appeared so I asked the airline. The lady at the desk said that you were on the plane. When I asked why you hadn’t gotten off the plane she called her manager. She came back and told me that she was mistaken, that you had never gotten on the plane. I knew something was wrong because she seemed upset, like somebody had frightened her. I called your uncle Al and he made some calls. I went to the hotel and waited; he called me and said that a buddy of his in a K-9 unit in Key Largo had forwarded him a video of a crazy person getting tackled by a police dog. He recognized your face and he called me…” She stopped when she saw the look on his face.
“What’s the matter?”
“Do you think I’m crazy?”
“Oh no, son, that’s just the video.”

What I have been doing instead of blogging

He heard the dripping of water and felt the humid breeze against his face. It rained in the jungle, at times Dave was sure the jungle was rain mixed with the odd sunny break when the water that had fallen would steam up into the canopy. He heard voices and he looked around to see where they were coming from but he couldn’t see anyone.

Then he found himself standing across from Ryan; he barely recognized his friend. The Guerilla soldiers had not gotten the answers that they wanted and his showed. It was Dave’s fault, although Ryan would never say that, but Dave knew that if he had never mentioned this stupid idea to his friend, then at least the good chance existed that only Dave would have been in this predicament. Ryan’s face was badly bruised and his left eye was swollen shut… but that was not the worst. The worst had just begun.

A flock of birds launched from the trees and began to swirl above his head and dove closer and closer. The air was filled with sound of beating wings. The sky grew dark and the ground began to shake with small tremors. Dave looked and could see Ryan, but he could no longer see his face, only a blank space where it had once been. He called out but his voice fell only inches from his mouth. Ryan’s body was limp in the grasp of his torturers. The sky grew darker and the noise grew denser and pressed in against him. The birds flew so close to him that he could feel their wing tip brush against his skin, gently at first and then a large black bird with a silver beak and blood red eyes slashed his arm; its wingtip was razor sharp and fountain of blood gushed from the gash in Dave’s arm. The blood flowed freely like it would never run out and Dave looked down to see where he had been wounded but he felt no pain. Instead he heard a scream pierce through the swirling of the cyclone of feathered wings glinting with there silver tips. He turned his head toward the scream and suddenly he realized that the scream came from the only feature he could recognize on his friend’s face. He strained to move closer but his feet felt like lead. He looked down and his legs now looked like the tree trunks of the jungle around him, the razor wings began to hack away him like a million axes chopping at a tree. He could see his body being pared down and he could do nothing about it and yet he felt no pain. Dave could still see Ryan and he could hear his screams but he couldn’t understand what he was saying, but it seemed that he was directing his rage at Dave.

Dave strained to move but couldn’t, he tried to reach for Ryan he found that his arms where now bloody stumps; he screamed but the sound that heard was not his own voice but the screech of a great bird and then the sky exploded…

Dave woke with a start. The peal of thunder shook the aircraft and Dave looked around and realized where he was. He could see that all was not right, the passengers where tense and the flight attendants where huddling near the intercom hoping that no one would look to them for help.

The storm that the pilots had originally tried to avoid had backtracked and now they found that they could not avoid it and now they found themselves flying into the belly of the beast. The pilot came on the intercom and tried calm the passengers.

Huzzah! I'm a big kid now...

Here is a day in the life of me. I got to work at 7am and cut the greens, then we cleaned up a dead elm tree and cut some rough and herded leaves into piles for the wind to blow around. and then....

... its finally here. The day that I actually get a story in print. I sent of the same article that I wrote in my blog and they printed it. All 600 words on page 16 but still... there it is.

Wanderlust

It’s very likely that few people in Dauphin are aware that we have been recently visited by a well-traveled couple from Hannover, Germany. Dauphin was a chance stop on a journey for, Ingrid and Herbert Klages, that began in the Port of Hamburg, Germany when they loaded their Fiat RV onto a freighter bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina. The journey has continued to include a tour of Brazil and Argentina, as well as, a trip to the southern tip of South America, known in German as Feuerland (Fire Land). As if that were not enough the trip turned north to include the Western route from Chile north through South America to Central America, Mexico and Baja California. Their travels also included time spent in California, before continuing on up to Vancouver Island and the beautiful city of Victoria. Nowhere near finished, they left the awe inspiring real estate behind for the wilds of the British Columbia interior and Alaska, finishing their trek north at the Arctic Circle, before turning around and heading south. Their return leg brought them to Dauphin, on Thursday night, Sept 20^th, as they prepared to return home via Halifax where they will load their RV for passage to Hamburg.

Highlights of their tour have included the wonders of South America, the natural majesty of Patagonia and the frontier country of inlets and waterways of southern Chile. The great altitude changes from the Gaucho plains of Argentina to Lake Titicaca in the Andes Mountains. They were challenged by the humidity of Mexico and the oppressive heat of 55ºC in Death Valley, California, when their air conditioner gave out, but they persevered retrofitting their camper with fans to cool their living space. Quite impressive is the fact that since they left the ship in Buenos Aires they have depended on this small living space, at times completely. Their trip began on July 22, 2006 and nearly 18 months will have passed by the time they return home by boat from Halifax.

They have not traveled alone, as for most of the journey they have been accompanied by up to 5 other couples from Germany, each couple in their own RV. Included in their group has also been a German doctor vacationing with them. At times members of the group have put their trust in a portable defibrillator, as members of their group have suffered from heart troubles. All of the members of the group are retirees or of that age and have realized a lifelong dream by participating in this trip. However, this is not their first great journey; other trips have included travels from Moscow to China on the Trans-Siberian Railway and RV journeys in Northern Africa.

When asked what impressed them in their travels, they responded that they were shocked by the grandiose creations in Las Vegas and the “only-in-America” use of water in the desert. Also, the number adopt-a-highway projects struck them as odd, since in Germany it’s generally thought, that in return for high taxes the government should maintain the roadways. The sight of abandoned farms caused them to speculate about the lives of hopeful immigrants who came to Canada and all that is left are the weathered wooden buildings. In addition, they found that Canadian driver’s often drive aggressively even when compared to our American neighbors, perhaps contributed to by what seemed to them to be a conspicuous lack of “Mountie” presence on Canadian highways, also missing have been the wildlife that they hoped to see, particularly moose. It was hoped that a trip through Riding Mountain might solve that, if not a side trip to Lake Audy to see the buffalo might be a good substitute.

For all of their preconceived notions, they have had their share of disappointments but they have also found many wonderful surprises along the way and the return home from their journey-of-a-lifetime with many wonderful memories and souvenirs for their 6 children, 12 grandchildren and many friends tracking their travels from home via the Internet.

Information and pictures from their can be found at www.panamericana06.de (in German)

I feel like I just shot Old Yeller...

So here it is... I have been way from the blog but its not like I have been taking a mental break. I just had to have some me time. I needed to make some decisions that were pressing on my mind and to day I made a big one. At least I think I did...
As you know if you check out this blog even semi-regularily I have been debating what to do with my life and looking at a few options like getting a job with a company and devoting my life to the status quo or rolling the dice on starting my own business. I have also tempted myself with the idea of going back to school. The main difference from when I went to school the first time and this time is experience... a.k.a. the stuff you learn by screwing up a lot.
The experience of the first go-round taught one big lesson: Debt Sucks!

If you can avoid debt I would highly recommend it. I dreamt yesterday of the day that I will be out of debt. I might just take up travelling on a shoestring, like a hobo. Why? Because I could, the bank would no longer look for its pound of flesh once a month. I would be free... not unlike an ex-con breathing free air for the first time in years. Really, what difference is there? in one: you make a stupid mistake for reasons that seem acceptable at the time, they assign you the terms of your penalty and then they give you a number... in the other its all that and a free stress ball for signing up. What kind of sick sense of humor is that, why don't they just shake your hand and say "Welcome to Hell!!".

So we come to Old Yeller:
I just effectively ended my application to go to Journalism Arts at SAIT in Calgary. The reason for this decision is that it is looking highly unlikely that I will get a grant to study. That would mean that I would need to take out a student loan, meaning that I would be digging the debt hole all the deeper. I just spend the last 8 years filling in that cavity. Plus I found out that my application for Housing hit a snag, it turns out that because of the never-ending housing boom, coupled with the never-satisfied labour shortage, my apartment will not be finished and I will have no where to live. Not a good thing in Calgary, especially as a student.
So despite being accepted for Journalism school, I will have to do like the they do at the Oscars and say that its nice just to be nominated and bow out this time.

Thats not to say that I am done with writing, the good thing about Old Yellow dogs is that if you have to shoot one, you can always get another one. (I think I just lost the sentimental folks) I am already planning my novel attempt for November.