tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62139773814587363432024-03-14T05:44:23.807-04:00The Word Guild Looking for a place to feel inspired and challenged? Like to share a smile or a laugh? Interested in becoming more familiar with Canadian writers who have a Christian worldview?
We are writers who live in different parts of Canada, see life from a variety of perspectives, and write in a number of genres.
We share the goal of wanting to entertain and inspire you to be all you can be with God's help.Glynishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621548333351709607noreply@blogger.comBlogger2431125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-88339984854546446372024-03-09T10:44:00.002-05:002024-03-09T10:44:29.753-05:00Adam Smith, Father of Compassion<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">ate
Economics<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">-an article published in the <a href="https://lightmagazine.ca/?s=Rev+Dr.+Ed+Hird">March 2024 Light Magazine</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgs7vikuVK_-n1tT6tkaWJrZBpHddNQgzppV7dFKLi_kpAqi07cDRVrnmuBsK3qx4Fo2nsp25Uc3qxw0SP2e5hm7Poh8ifypbnzv6YtnFoQqHUaNrrc72Xk3ocRQwT7jq_WT_RmJ7j41py3U70WljzWciSgBPdM1X9CEJrlTu8sfS_w4f1NRO18uV2QD3w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="768" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgs7vikuVK_-n1tT6tkaWJrZBpHddNQgzppV7dFKLi_kpAqi07cDRVrnmuBsK3qx4Fo2nsp25Uc3qxw0SP2e5hm7Poh8ifypbnzv6YtnFoQqHUaNrrc72Xk3ocRQwT7jq_WT_RmJ7j41py3U70WljzWciSgBPdM1X9CEJrlTu8sfS_w4f1NRO18uV2QD3w" width="184" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Many people nowadays have little idea how Adam Smith’s
economic ideas have shaped their lives for good. Can a rediscovery of the real
Adam Smith rescue our muddled Canadian economy?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 1776, Smith’s second book <i>The Wealth of the Nations</i>
was so popular that he became known as the Father of Economics and the Father
of Capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some people today,
Capitalism has become a negative word associated with Scrooge-like greed and
cutthroat business practices. Karl Marx blamed capitalism for all the world’s
ills. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can capitalism instead embrace the
compassionate vision in Charles Dickens’ book <i>A Christmas Carol</i>? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Because Smith was a devout Christian economist, God was
mentioned a total of 403 times between his two books, including his
lesser-known book <i>The Theory of Moral Sentiments</i>. Biblical economics is
based on our being faithful stewards, realizing that all things come from God,
and of his own have we given him (1 Chronicles 29:14).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stewardship in the Greek is the same word as
economics (oikonomos, manager of the oikos, the house). Smith wanted everyone
to earn a decent living, saying ‘No society can surely be flourishing and happy
of which the far greater of the members are poor and miserable.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lamented how the poverty and poor health
care in the Scottish Highlands resulted in many a mother having only two of her
children survive after giving birth to twenty babies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With Canada’s standard of living suffering
from governmental and economic mismanagement, perhaps it may be time to revisit
the economic wisdom of Adam Smith. Might a rediscovery of the Protestant work
ethic of diligence, thrift and efficiency help Canada get back on track? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What might happen in Canada if we once again rewarded hard
work rather than punishing it with excessive taxation and regulations? Smith
wrote about the <i>Man of system</i> who bureaucratically treated people as if
they are chess pieces. In contrast, Smith held that economic freedom with free
markets and free trade brings economic progress. Smith observed how God
transforms private interest into public good by his invisible sovereign hand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Born in 1723 in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, Adam Smith never knew
his father who had died five months before his birth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Smith regularly attended the local church
with his devout mother Margaret. His strong Christian faith is often ignored or
minimized by modern economists. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He never
married, living with his mother until her death in 1784. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then died himself six years later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You cannot really understand Adam Smith
without appreciating his 1759 book <i>The Theory of Moral Sentiments</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As to love our neighbour as we love ourselves is the great
law of Christianity, so it is the great precept of nature to love ourselves
only as we love our neighbour, or what comes to the same thing, as our
neighbour is capable of loving us.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As Christians, our financial choices need to be shaped by the
love of neighbour as ourselves rather than the love of money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The golden rule is God’s golden way
economically. When people matter more than profits, everyone wins. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Adam Smith was not just a philosopher and economist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was also an early psychologist and
sociologist who served at Glasgow University as Professor of Moral Philosophy. He
was such an academic rock star in Glasgow that the university bookstore even
sold a bust of his head during his lifetime. Smith was fascinated about what
made people tick, especially how emotions/sentiments affected our life choices
and ethical decisions. Influenced by his lifelong friend David Hume, Smith held
that our emotions and imagination shape us far more than our apparent
rationality. Like Hume, Smith pioneered the modern scientific method where
technology, business, and society are advanced through careful experimental
observation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Unlike Hume, Smith retained a strong Christian worldview as
he embraced science. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With most of his
students training to become ordained clergy, he taught them extensively about natural
theology, how God our creator impacted our natural world:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…every part of nature, when attentively surveyed, equally
demonstrates the providential care of its Author, and we may admire the wisdom
and goodness of God, even in the weakness and folly of man.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Smith was struck by the miraculous order of God’s good universe.
He called the universe God’s machine, designed to produce at all times the
greatest quantity of happiness in us. Romans 8:28 reminds us how all things
work together for the good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i>The
Theory of Moral Sentiments</i>, Smith commented that: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">all the inhabitants of the universe, the meanest as well as
the greatest, are under the immediate care and protection of that great and
all-wise being who directs all the movements of nature, and who is determined
by his own unalterable perfections to maintain in it at all times the greatest
possible quantity of happiness. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since he was fatherless, Smith deeply appreciated that God
was indeed our heavenly Father. He commented that ‘the very suspicion of a
fatherless world must be the most melancholy of all reflections’, leaving us
with nothing but endless misery and wretchedness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All the economic prosperity in the world, said Smith, can
never remove the dreadful gloominess of a world without God our Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Smith taught that with this conviction of a
benevolent heavenly Father, all the sorrow of an afflicting adversity can never
dry up our joy. Smith, who sometimes suffered from depression, knew that
because he was not cosmically alone, he had reason to keep going. While there is
weeping in the night, there is indeed joy in the morning. (Psalm 30:5) After
experiencing academic burnout, he left Glasgow University, serving as a
European tutor for Henry Scott, the future Duke of Buccleuch. While in Paris,
he became friends to Voltaire and the French physiocrat economists, led by Dr.
Francois Q<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>uesnay, the Royal
Physician to King Louis XV. After the tragic death of Henry Scott’s younger
brother, Smith returned home, never to again visit Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Smith held that we need to submit our will to the will of the
great director of the universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
Smith as an Oxford-trained academic was very private about his emotions, he
clearly taught that God deserved our unlimited trust, and ardent & zealous
affection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">No conductor of an army can deserve more unlimited trust,
more ardent and zealous affection, than the great conductor of the universe. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Both economics and theology for Smith needed to be practical.
He said that while contemplating God’s benevolent and wise attributes is
sublime, we must not neglect the practical call to care for our family, friends
and country. As God’s financial stewards, earning money enables us to more
effectively care for our family, our neighbour, and our country.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Smith liberated us from medieval mercantilism, which was a
zero-sum game of winners and losers where there was no mutual economic growth
and value-adding, except in farming. Mercantilism had countries grow wealthier
through invading other countries to steal their grain and gold. The
mercantilists could not imagine that everyone could win through peaceful
international trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Smith’s economics
involved the division of labour, resulting in specialization and free trade
between countries and regions. He blamed the profit-driven mercantilism for the
dreaded slave trade. Smith realized that free people are better workers,
producing better profits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mercantilism
was also so tied down with local guilds that workers were often unable to work
in neighbouring towns. Smith envisioned ordinary workers being able to move
freely around the country to offer their services. Thanks to Smith’s economic
revolution, ordinary people, rather than just the very rich or the government
officials, could save up enough money to own their own property. In contrast to
mercantilism, Smith held that:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A nation is not wealthy by the childish accumulation of shiny
metals, but it is enriched by the economic prosperity of its people.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How might our world be better in 2024 if we embraced Adam
Smith’s compassionate, Christian-based economics?<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-62333462359305408312024-01-23T11:57:00.004-05:002024-01-23T12:10:51.309-05:00Searching for God- Carolyn R. Wilker<p><br /> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Malachi
writes in chapter 3:1 of his Old Testament book: “Look, I’m sending my
messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of the blue, the
Leader you’ve been looking for will enter his Temple…” (The Message)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Malachi
may as well have been shouting from a rooftop with one of those megaphones we
hear more than see at an outdoor baseball game. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Malachi+3&version=NIV">Further
in the chapter</a> we read that even though the descendants of Jacob have not
listened well to God, he hasn’t destroyed them. He’s got something big coming
that he believes will help them understand.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the <a href="https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/downloads/Year%20B%202023-2024.pdf">revised
common lectionary</a>, Malachi’s text shows up in The Presentation of the Lord
alongside the reference for Jesus’s baptism in Luke 2. A fitting pair. John the
Baptist prepares the way for Jesus. God had a plan. We learn that it’s not just
for the descendants of Jacob, but all people. Put that thought on hold for a
moment. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">If
you’ve been in the big bookstore, you know where to find most things based on
the signs above the rows of shelves. There’s fiction, books for children, texts
on spirituality, music, art, religion, and poetry. Then all those gift items. If
you’re looking for self-help, there’s a big section. Find just about anything
there — how to manage your finances, how to sew, how to plant your garden.
Seeking something deeper? It’s there too. If the store doesn’t have what you’re
looking for, it can be ordered.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Back
to looking for God, if you’re having trouble finding him. Where do you search?
Do you find him in the mail-order catalog? On the bookstore shelves? A Little Library
shelf? Just because you can order or pick up a print copy, or recording, of the
Bible and sacred texts, doesn’t mean you automatically understand it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Read
it, learn about it, and keep on learning. Sermons you’ve been hearing in
worship services, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqanMboKnfERGj0hqDpPiJg">online</a>, can help to understand context. You can also do a study of
scripture, such as <i>lectio divina</i>. Is there someone you can study with?<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The good
news is that God can be found in the stories and teachings. You may feel him
near you on a bad day. It could be that a person, acting as God’s hands or feet, may
just help you get back up when you’ve fallen. Keep looking. You’ll find him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54pIXg6nkA0RQWb_hTzpum4spwI3xyd4LTOMWor8bT3MG9J7_8fPmvxBkX3kiYXGsHQfC9DD4sfvnTP2bWyLmBXk1Ba1RZuH27Ah_6Cp9_F-ESS9qWeg5sovMDYYLUue4OG9EIXL93TJ147UWMd4sMiAdwKs8DrDJGjHsnzEgjyWhsg61ZejPqhg0B0I/s2048/Carolyn%20Wilker_114.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1464" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54pIXg6nkA0RQWb_hTzpum4spwI3xyd4LTOMWor8bT3MG9J7_8fPmvxBkX3kiYXGsHQfC9DD4sfvnTP2bWyLmBXk1Ba1RZuH27Ah_6Cp9_F-ESS9qWeg5sovMDYYLUue4OG9EIXL93TJ147UWMd4sMiAdwKs8DrDJGjHsnzEgjyWhsg61ZejPqhg0B0I/w150-h209/Carolyn%20Wilker_114.jpg" width="150" /></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.carolynwilker.ca/"> www.carolynwilker.ca</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-71853869166191869892024-01-04T22:18:00.003-05:002024-01-04T22:18:36.513-05:00The Gift of Poetry by Eleanor Shepherd<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfKSXN9Y6S7i4DWLoQCtxqBimW1Er2YSeVL2yUIdRqnqWGY9Vn4PW7vLWrr8TWMssk1oQ6gK9E-yhwlpWiLANVBMIwOkOHmncJVUfm6_CLSaPTGPuAjAJl4_4p2GOcovbCXvsrfoFxTbkByDKMLO2xyMJdJp0c65_ol4M0K6kqJU7kDP2zPKscBDzgVBZw/s320/Tree%205.jpg" width="320" /></div> <span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Recently,
as an experienced writer, I was asked to participate in the evaluation of poetry.
I felt ill equipped for the job but promised to at least read over the poems
and offer my reflections on them.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In my
personal writing history, I have never made a serious attempt to create poetry,
although I have been aware at times that when I am engrossed in writing about
something about which I feel passionate, I can begin to sound poetic in the choice
of metaphors and descriptors that I use to try to adequately relate the
concepts that are so dear to me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
have always had an appreciate for the poetry written by others. My father
encouraged this in me, as he often quoted poetry that he learned in school and
wrote books of poetry. I remember one book of his that sold out quickly was a
book of poetry that chronicled the life of the Apostle Peter, called <i>Memoirs
of Peter</i>. He wrote another one that told the story of the life of the
Apostle Paul in poetry. It was his influence that inspired me to take courses
on Shakespeare at University and I loved the lectures and learning about the writing
of one of the best loved poets in the English language. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4E7xORceOINdT8JyJ9Ma1vT83NQyJYtkabmcNda03dFlHKh-2886E2Ujl12GZAsGR3zKbpkMvoc4RDUFFg26tZT3Aiu_lJf728v1IKGvhFbq2W48otSDVceLJO28kL3kONqlxy0x7u9C1R5-oYddcGlsH8TEWKmQxkU1GZRXhdT1FauhJQXJ8F-EhDHo/s592/Memoirs%20of%20Peter.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="396" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4E7xORceOINdT8JyJ9Ma1vT83NQyJYtkabmcNda03dFlHKh-2886E2Ujl12GZAsGR3zKbpkMvoc4RDUFFg26tZT3Aiu_lJf728v1IKGvhFbq2W48otSDVceLJO28kL3kONqlxy0x7u9C1R5-oYddcGlsH8TEWKmQxkU1GZRXhdT1FauhJQXJ8F-EhDHo/s320/Memoirs%20of%20Peter.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My older
brother also developed a love for poetry, and he wrote some of his own poems,
but one of my significant childhood memories is him reading to me one of the
poems of Robert Frost, <i>Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” </i>If I
remember correctly, he had to memorize the poem, so I listening to it
frequently and knew it quite well before I got to his grade. I thought it was
beautiful. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
of the poems that I was obliged to memorize in school was <i>Trees</i> by Joyce
Kilmer. The lines I loved the most were his first and last stanzas: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span><span class="long-line"><span style="background: white; color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I think
that I shall never see</span></span><span style="color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="long-line"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A poem lovely as a tree.” …<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"><span class="long-line"><span style="background: white; color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Poems are made
by fools like me,</span></span><span style="color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="long-line"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">But only God can make a tree.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="long-line"><span style="background: white; color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
totally agreed with his sentiment that trees were far more beautiful than
poetry, but they did furnish subjects about which a poet could expound. I also
loved the humility of his final stanza, recognizing that even our most
beautiful creative expressions cannot compare with the gifts that God offers
us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="long-line"><span style="background: white; color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
is all about the words. Words are wonderful and I love them. It seems to me
that there are two kinds of people. There are the people who love numbers and
the people who love words. At least that is the way that it is in our house. My
husband loves numbers. He amazes me with the way that he can handle them. I can
ask him any question, however complicated about numbers and in a few seconds of
mental gymnastics he can offer me an answer. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span class="long-line"><span style="background: white; color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For me, I can’t
even remember the simplest telephone number unless I write it down. However,
words stick in my mind. I enjoy rolling them off my tongue or putting them
together in new ways, just for the joy of hearing or reading them. To me they
are magical. However, I usually create an order for them according to some logical
progression that I envision. That is why I continue to read fiction, to feed my
creative imagination. Otherwise, my writing would risk becoming too rigid and not
allow enough room for the fluid movement and ambiguity that encourages readers
to reflect as they read. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="long-line"><span style="background: white; color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
own efforts at poetry have been at best some rhyming lines created to be linked
with simple melodies to try to express some of my feelings in worship. These I
have kept to myself, as I know the quality would not make them useful for
others, thus distracting rather than enhancing their worship. I leave the
writing of song lyrics to my professional jazz musician daughter. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="long-line"><span style="background: white; color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6Okd62Jl1f8BQBsIe2_rtbNWxa4tpVfPJmVAfmdLkgOomlHTdZcc5J1-BndE_IbUngEEQCsj09icNnpue6uVDABflVoDJNuhlPpcXdtjiynoaE0y7p73ss96vgou_x_5K3XtNwwvrp9Yx24eAN9IEDb6zB4t3G8MyFxl_7Ar-yAGtRcwdKFq-X56Z_DJi" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="732" data-original-width="474" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6Okd62Jl1f8BQBsIe2_rtbNWxa4tpVfPJmVAfmdLkgOomlHTdZcc5J1-BndE_IbUngEEQCsj09icNnpue6uVDABflVoDJNuhlPpcXdtjiynoaE0y7p73ss96vgou_x_5K3XtNwwvrp9Yx24eAN9IEDb6zB4t3G8MyFxl_7Ar-yAGtRcwdKFq-X56Z_DJi" width="155" /></a></div><br /> What
thrills me is the way that people like the Anglican priest poet Malcolm Guite
can take words and make them magical by weaving them together in poetry that
touches something deep inside us and connects us with eternity. Ironically,
both my husband, the number lover and I the word lover find his poetry
inspirational. It is poetry that comes close to measuring up to those beautiful
natural wonders that God has made. I am so thankful for those who have received
and honed this gift and offer it to us more mundane writers to encourage us to
appreciate our words and use them creatively in our own endeavors. The God who
makes the trees also bestows the gift of words. <span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="long-line"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMNBKHK81sGt52Uxzl4Ocq8QxPyOOTbiyKG1YdGlmxhw0lwpZp3099iCcnIvmF4ndqaX9RFFz1WVneBbAg5tU4bxdNNd_uXalcQKncN9ZHEH0rg-i_ZdJGx6UQLoPrai6dSfVS0A4-JhUPezhL3oXrfnEqsLes7wSGgS4aIjot7Vpb6FB4eLEKucwA2Ynf/s600/Shepherd.MoreQuestions.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMNBKHK81sGt52Uxzl4Ocq8QxPyOOTbiyKG1YdGlmxhw0lwpZp3099iCcnIvmF4ndqaX9RFFz1WVneBbAg5tU4bxdNNd_uXalcQKncN9ZHEH0rg-i_ZdJGx6UQLoPrai6dSfVS0A4-JhUPezhL3oXrfnEqsLes7wSGgS4aIjot7Vpb6FB4eLEKucwA2Ynf/w133-h200/Shepherd.MoreQuestions.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnGw13C1BV9_vO8rdVAZObDp2DkvvRtENT2N-w6_izelz8tzQmZ4SYC6-k0vOuvURU8ha6RF7KRxiHVwpXxU8WmV_bD8ileWIYkancT7N_jVvfUX6UCwuRfxz7fSjSkB05GP1KCxVIpOOGQzFGA7VGDlNtIGN_quoXZ4qSR00LD6e7a0FrBfyt5bvzh9e/s231/hac-final-web-small-150x231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="150" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnGw13C1BV9_vO8rdVAZObDp2DkvvRtENT2N-w6_izelz8tzQmZ4SYC6-k0vOuvURU8ha6RF7KRxiHVwpXxU8WmV_bD8ileWIYkancT7N_jVvfUX6UCwuRfxz7fSjSkB05GP1KCxVIpOOGQzFGA7VGDlNtIGN_quoXZ4qSR00LD6e7a0FrBfyt5bvzh9e/w130-h200/hac-final-web-small-150x231.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu-DmQh6M3mUwJyIzJdIVRmtA2afC2kF7uyzGjabdWuTQBs7rlL1KOtqdLA_qg4s1MIT6MAOhGf531gX25UxUUWN_Aak9nm8l2X5OLGl-v5KBeIJK7ReH7-9iELCHEHpHmHWrVu0YM-ehW2LC0mBq74EPuMJDAxKYtbDtvpEf7PJJc-wZppL6V1z5v7lxr/s600/CHAC-Feature-Book.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu-DmQh6M3mUwJyIzJdIVRmtA2afC2kF7uyzGjabdWuTQBs7rlL1KOtqdLA_qg4s1MIT6MAOhGf531gX25UxUUWN_Aak9nm8l2X5OLGl-v5KBeIJK7ReH7-9iELCHEHpHmHWrVu0YM-ehW2LC0mBq74EPuMJDAxKYtbDtvpEf7PJJc-wZppL6V1z5v7lxr/w133-h200/CHAC-Feature-Book.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><br /></div><br /><span style="background: white; color: #343434; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span><p></p>Eleanor Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03817601012607775874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-29587493133571515932023-11-21T11:54:00.000-05:002023-11-21T11:54:01.783-05:00On Telling a Story <p><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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</p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Robert Béla Wilhelm, founder of the School of Sacred Storytelling, writes in <i>The
Tell Tale Handbook</i>, about techniques of sacred storytelling. He addresses the
way a storyteller opens the story and how that teller gathers the listeners in
and keeps them engaged. A single storyline is the key.</span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">There
have been times I wondered more about what took place in a scene, for example,
the blind man who called out to Jesus. The “fixed point” is that the man wants
to be healed and Jesus does that for him. In storytelling, we call this “the
most important thing.” We don’t know what he wears or how he looks, but the
storyteller gets the point across.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">A
hero, or heroine, once on a journey, will encounter obstacles to reaching their
goal, and we follow them to that point. We can follow an oral story as long as
there are not too many diversions. In a book we can go back and reread
something we miss, but in oral storytelling, the storyteller needs to tell in a
way that helps everyone listening to keep track of the characters and main
happenings. A clear narrative line is the key.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Consider
the story of the birth of Jesus. The fixed point of that story is that the star
draws people to the stable to pay homage to the new baby, who is the new king
of Israel (whether Herod likes it or not. We don’t hear about Herod in this
part of the narrative). Think of the gospel story being read to an audience, or
a storyteller delivering a story orally.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">All
eyes are drawn to Bethlehem where the birth takes place. Nothing else matters
to that story, not how many angels were in the sky to announce the birth, not
how many shepherds trekked to the stable or how long it took to get there, or
even what animals were in the stable. All those things are left for the
listener to imagine as the story unfolds. Only the fact that those people were part of the story.<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">An
artist, poet, or screen writer, can decide what and how to illustrate characters
and scenes, but in oral storytelling, the storyteller (and the gospel writer),
strive to relay “the most important thing.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Back
to the story of Jesus’ birth, each listener will take in the story with their
senses, by listening, seeing, and maybe even hearing their own version of the
angel’s song, but the main point is “watch for the baby Jesus.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Reread
the story in </span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2&version=RSV"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Luke</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">
and imagine your own details as you follow the fixed point of the story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoia5jFFmhFU3xoqI-B0aoxSa4mgS7iT68JrNvAdbPDWDUuaR_ylz_goATica7cxie0klGvRjN3OwqtjavQRpEc7MGm551lXXFpAAmb3rUK87ElcaUYO2bhZ3ygl7hlvzw9J-hbpADfAZ6mJ-N38Antfa8tCkV5IqmamgLpis2fDXnDezI7FcuEakAfM/s2048/Carolyn%20Wilker_114.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1464" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoia5jFFmhFU3xoqI-B0aoxSa4mgS7iT68JrNvAdbPDWDUuaR_ylz_goATica7cxie0klGvRjN3OwqtjavQRpEc7MGm551lXXFpAAmb3rUK87ElcaUYO2bhZ3ygl7hlvzw9J-hbpADfAZ6mJ-N38Antfa8tCkV5IqmamgLpis2fDXnDezI7FcuEakAfM/s320/Carolyn%20Wilker_114.jpg" width="229" /> </a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Carolyn R. Wilker is an author, editor, and storyteller from southwestern Ontario <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">https://www.carolynwilker.ca/<br /></span></p>
<p> </p>Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-37820871298621053422023-10-10T00:08:00.002-04:002023-10-10T00:09:40.426-04:00Dr. Steve Brown: The ethics of leadership<p> <span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700;">By Drs. Ed Hird and Gordon Dirks</span></p><p><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700;">-originally published in the <a href="https://lightmagazine.ca/dr-steve-brown-the-ethics-of-leadership/">Light Magazine</a></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU481zlOEPAEcqIRb6PnlI6dqwE7aOrEr3AiPMyDGHE79ydoOWD44EdFZruRu3cBvsDTWRecVCTwttFAbgUTthm8nmz7L72O_gFpnmSItOpDB5GUlkuXLvc9G38koxeGyPBhLz1owbx3Nf0wraS1BEWnlIRXObh-RIGAECNOLh5H9T6P4GEOBf7DUhBWs/s224/Steve%20Brown.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="224" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU481zlOEPAEcqIRb6PnlI6dqwE7aOrEr3AiPMyDGHE79ydoOWD44EdFZruRu3cBvsDTWRecVCTwttFAbgUTthm8nmz7L72O_gFpnmSItOpDB5GUlkuXLvc9G38koxeGyPBhLz1owbx3Nf0wraS1BEWnlIRXObh-RIGAECNOLh5H9T6P4GEOBf7DUhBWs/s1600/Steve%20Brown.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><br /><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px;">Over the last two decades serving with Arrow Leadership, Steve Brown has walked alongside, equipped and encouraged thousands of leaders across Canada, USA and the world. A gifted story-teller, Brown ‘s heartbeat is developing Jesus-centered leaders. This means being led more by Jesus, leading more like Jesus, and leading more to Jesus. </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px;">After twelve years as President of Arrow Leadership, Brown ‘s new role as Arrow Ambassador focuses his time speaking, writing, coaching and creating resources to support leaders in North America and beyond. He helps leaders find clarity and courage on their “what’s next” life questions. </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px;">Founded by Leighton Ford, the Arrow name comes from Isaiah 49:2 <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">“He polished me like an arrow and concealed me in his quiver.”</em> With over 1,200 Arrow graduates, its impact has been felt in church, non-profit, and marketplace.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px;">Brown is the author of<em style="box-sizing: inherit;"> Jesus Centered – Focusing on Jesus in a Distracted World, Leading Me: Eight Key Principles for a Christian Leader’s Most Important Assignment, Great Questions for Leading Well</em> and free e-resources at www.sharpeningleaders.com.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px;">With experience in local church, denominational, parachurch and marketplace roles, Brown has earned three degrees: Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Wilfrid Laurier University), Master of Divinity (Tyndale Seminary) and Doctor of Ministry (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary). </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px;">Brown is based in Abbotsford, has been married for twenty-five years to Lea and he’s a grateful dad of three young adults. Like his mentor Josh McDowell, serving his family is his first priority.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">You will not want to miss hearing Brown speak at the 38th White Rock/South Surrey Leadership Prayer Breakfast. It will be held on Oct 27, 2023 Friday, 7 to 9am at Peace Portal Alliance Church. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px;">Brown commented: I am honoured to be invited to be part of the gathering of community leaders. Community leaders have had a very difficult last few years, trying to navigate increasing complexity in leadership issues, and trying to lead well in the midst of chaotic change and crisis. One of my heartfelt passions is simply to thank leaders in the community who have been seeking the best for the community and may not hear the word ‘thank you’ enough. </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px;">Psalm 78:72 inspires Brown to lead with integrity and skilfulness of heart. He will help you navigate through the difficult challenges of making tough decisions with integrity. </p>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-84317647368094561532023-09-09T11:24:00.003-04:002023-09-09T11:24:53.693-04:00Dr Max Lange, ChildCare International Founder<p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">By Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Born in Emden, Germany in 1931, Max Lange was indoctrinated in the Hitler Youth as a young boy. When his Lutheran pastor in April 1945 denounced Hitler and the Nazis from the pulpit for the crimes against the Jews, Max didn’t believe it. He used to warn his mother against the crime of secretly listening to the BBC. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">At age 22, Max went to work in Liberia where he met the world-renounced Christian philanthropist and inventor R.G. Letourneau. After going to work for the Letourneau Foundation, Max heard the gospel and met Jesus personally in April 1961. Letourneau’s missionaries had something that he wanted for himself. Before that time, faith had been a matter of the head, that never reached his heart. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"> Max then became involved in Christian East Mission and Underground Evangelism which helped the underground church in Eastern Europe receive bibles and Christian literature. In April 1981, Max and his wife Marlies began Siloam Christian Ministries in India which helped poor blind people receive sight through cataract operations. Many Indians received both physical and spiritual sight through this mission. They also helped in the healing of lepers. Max discovered that children were the ones who were hurting the most. This led Max from eyecare to childcare. After this ministry spread to Africa, South America, and many other Asian countries, they changed the name to ChildCare International. At age 87, after thirty-seven years, he stepped down from leading ChildCare International.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Tens of thousands of impoverished children have been sponsored through ChildCare International. The core of ChildCare International’s impact is their Life Centers in ten countries, located in the center of communities and hosted by a local church. Life Centers provide children with an opportunity to hear the Gospel, learn about Christ’s redemptive love, and trust Him as their Savior. They also receive nutritious food, clean drinking water, medicine, and school supplies. These children are enabled to grow spiritually and physically into thriving young adults. The cycle of poverty is being broken one child at a time through Christ-centered education.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">For more information, check out ChildCare International (Canada) at <a href="https://childcareinternational.ca/purpose/"><span class="s2">https://childcareinternational.ca/purpose/</span></a> and ChildCare Worldwide (USA) at <a href="https://childcareworldwide.org/"><span class="s2">https://childcareworldwide.org/</span></a></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"> </span></p>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-25624235529491927332023-08-17T11:24:00.004-04:002023-11-21T11:42:55.097-05:00Layered with Grief and Understanding<p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Layered with Grief and Understanding</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Recently fellow storytellers and I learned of the traumatic brain injury of the
youngest son of one of our guild members. Mom, Dad and family waited by the hospital
bedside of their son and brother who was hooked up to life support. Would his
condition get better or worsen? The medical staff offered little hope.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Naturally
each person of our guild responded with different words. All kind and thoughtful,
and many offered to pray.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
son’s condition, and that of his family, weighed on my spirit all week. I
wanted to do more, but prayer was bigger than anything any of us could do. Barb,
fellow storyteller, was feeling that way too and was willing to engage in a
prayer session via Zoom.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">We
learned of the plan for organ donation, according to their son’s wishes. A
member of our congregation assured me that the Trillium Foundation—that
oversees donations and connections to the family—would be with them along the
way. I shared that message with my friend, the mom in this family.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">On
Monday life-giving organs—liver and kidneys—were transplanted into matching
recipients. After the organs were secured, the family could make funeral arrangements.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">What
do you say to people going through this kind of trauma? How do you support them
best?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">When I
worked as one of six authors on the manuscript for <i><a href="https://www.carolynwilker.ca/books/good-grief-people/">Good Grief People</a></i>,
we included a list of positive actions for readers to take into consideration with
friends or family they want to support. Since then I’ve learned more—not to ask
a grieving family to make decisions. Offer assistance, but don’t ask what they
need.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“I
don’t know your grief, but I’m here to listen.” As gently as possible and at
the right time. The family may wish to engage in grief counselling or may
prefer to talk with someone who’s gone through a similar situation. On their own time. Grief ought not to be rushed through.<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I sent
two private messages to my friend during this time about people praying. My
friend thanked me. Having a faith in God, she understands about prayer. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">At
this time, showing up for the visitation or funeral will be a way of caring. It
may be that my presence is all she needs right now. And perhaps a pot of soup
in the next week as well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKc0mrOfHxt7TQne6QYqFwuU5Mia47vfY-mGZTBBooSmIC_70F7SHOvRIc5DGWjCJ7OM1lAw7AYDvF3Uljgia2UD5QxM4GIt8JMahNBBnLAvWmsnX8nLZTPg8cxXsbX7xnKoV51Xifk4-35-52P-KM_5GPpyrBI37D0_hE51FSSvpwxHgIlmEgD7wlYA/s4608/IMG_3789%20CROPPED%201.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKc0mrOfHxt7TQne6QYqFwuU5Mia47vfY-mGZTBBooSmIC_70F7SHOvRIc5DGWjCJ7OM1lAw7AYDvF3Uljgia2UD5QxM4GIt8JMahNBBnLAvWmsnX8nLZTPg8cxXsbX7xnKoV51Xifk4-35-52P-KM_5GPpyrBI37D0_hE51FSSvpwxHgIlmEgD7wlYA/s320/IMG_3789%20CROPPED%201.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> Carolyn Wilker is an author, editor and storyteller in southwestern Ontario.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> <a href="https://www.carolynwilker.ca/">https://www.carolynwilker.ca/ </a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p>
Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-28591636587032752532023-06-09T13:24:00.002-04:002023-06-09T13:24:43.193-04:00<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>Abraham
Lincoln’s Freeing Encounter with Christ</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">By Rev. Dr.
Ed & Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">-previously published in the <a href="https://lightmagazine.ca/">June 2023 Light Magazine</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixGl9uifl9EDleR-VtNI8bbr74jtaLmWX--4NavUwofE_tdL59Mzg4PQH2ObfEyIUzTKYAN0M98n3G_Fmi9ly4DhZ22PyY9yDW-zm2mX3qxmngKGijZNC1GAz_fBnGBQ4sMWJeM2K3h5jF4AGxQ-Jn3IPjDAGLIglPO7W9pqjZ_koRwmchGT4kblNU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixGl9uifl9EDleR-VtNI8bbr74jtaLmWX--4NavUwofE_tdL59Mzg4PQH2ObfEyIUzTKYAN0M98n3G_Fmi9ly4DhZ22PyY9yDW-zm2mX3qxmngKGijZNC1GAz_fBnGBQ4sMWJeM2K3h5jF4AGxQ-Jn3IPjDAGLIglPO7W9pqjZ_koRwmchGT4kblNU" width="188" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At Mount
Rushmore, Abraham Lincoln’s face is chiseled into the rockface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leo Tolstoy called him “a Christ in
miniature, a saint of humanity.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Historian David S. Reynolds remarked there
was only one historical figure, Jesus Christ, with more books written about him
than Lincoln. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Why
have more than 14,000 books been written about Abraham Lincoln since his death
in 1865? </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As a young man,
Lincoln was soundly defeated politically when first campaigning for the
Illinois Legislature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After his General
Store business failed, Honest Abe spent seventeen years paying off the debts of
his shady business partner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
becoming engaged to Ann Rutledge, she tragically died of typhoid. He later
married Mary Todd who encouraged his political future. While running for the
United States Senate in 1858, he was badly defeated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because he was so deeply honest, however, his
very failures advanced him, preparing him for his greatest appointment: –freeing
the slaves and saving the Union. Abraham Lincoln is one of the world’s most
successful failures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. E. Stanley
Jones said that we can look to Lincoln as an example that our failures in
Christ can lay the foundation for ultimate success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At six feet
four inches, Lincoln towered above most men, who in the 1860s averaged five
feet seven inches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a rural Westerner,
he was initially mocked for his lack of urban sophistication, but ultimately
became loved just like Benjamin Franklin, as a man of the common people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lincoln is the only American President who received
a patent (1849) for his invention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
allowed steamships to cross through shallow waters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He was a self-deprecating
humorous story teller who, when President, wrote his own speeches. Loving music,
poetry, and drama, he was able to recite long stanzas and passages from memory.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Raised in a <i>hard-shell</i>
Calvinist Baptist home in Kentucky, Lincoln was drawn by his mother’s gentle
faith and repelled by his father’s angry religiosity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His illiterate dad who worshipped hard work
did not understand why his son wasted so much time thinking and reading. If his
father caught him reading books aloud to other farm workers, he would sometimes
rip up his books and even whip him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Abraham’s mother,
Nancy, died in 1818 from poisoned milk when he was only nine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His father Thomas abandoned his children for
seven months in their floorless Kentucky cabin without a door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lincoln described this area as ‘a wild
region’ where ‘the panther’s scream filled the night with fear and bears preyed
on the swine.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Abraham’s new
stepmother, Sarah, arrived with his father, she discovered the children living
like animals – ‘wild –ragged and dirty.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The father-wound in Lincoln was very deep, affecting him spiritually and
emotionally. It is no wonder that Lincoln sometimes struggled with sadness, depression
and suicidal thoughts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Amazingly, Lincoln, who only had one year of school,
became a self-taught lawyer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Influenced
by reading deist Thomas Paine’s book <i>The Age of Reason</i>, he became more
skeptical. When questioned however, he said: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never
spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any
denomination of Christians in particular.</span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Through great
suffering and the loss of his son Willie from typhoid, Lincoln later softened
towards the gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He once said to
Rebecca Pomroy, Willie’s nurse: “I wish I had that child-like faith you speak
of, and I trust He will give it to me.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>E. Stanley Jones recounts how Rev. James F. Jacques, Colonel of the
Illinois 73<sup>rd</sup> ‘Preachers’ Regiment, and Lincoln first met in 1846
while circuit riding in Illinois. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jacques was a circuit preacher, and Lincoln was
a circuit lawyer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lincoln admired Jacques’
level-headedness and integrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jacques
was later entrusted by Lincoln with a confidential mission to meet the
Confederate President Jefferson Davis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After hearing Jacques preach one Sunday on the new birth, Lincoln visited
him a few days later, spending hours talking and praying together. Jacques
said: “I have seen hundreds brought to Christ, and if ever a person was
converted, Abraham Lincoln was converted that night in my house.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Because
Lincoln’s wife was Presbyterian, he began attending a Presbyterian church in
1850. During his Presidency (1860 to 1865), he and his family regularly
attended New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. Dr Phineas
Gurley, their pastor, who ministered to the Lincoln family in their many
griefs, was given Lincoln’s tall hat as an expression of gratitude. Dr. Gurley
served as Lincoln’s personal advisor in the appointment of trustworthy military
chaplains.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A man arrived
fifteen minutes early for an five a.m. appointment to meet Abraham Lincoln.
Hearing a voice in the next room, the man asked the attendant: “Who is in the
next room? Someone with the President?” “No, he is reading the Bible and
praying.” “Is that his habit so early in the morning?” “Yes, sir, he spends
each morning from four to five in reading the Scriptures and praying.” Dr. E.
Stanley Jones commented: “No wonder we cannot forget Lincoln. He is perennially
fresh with God.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There may be
no other American President who quoted the Bible as often as Abraham Lincoln. Who
can forget his citing Mark 3:25 “A house divided against itself cannot stand”,
after which he said: “I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half
slave and half free.” In his surviving letters, he mentions God more than 420
times, most often quoting passages from the Old Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is no wonder that many rabbis saw Lincoln
as a new Moses.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the
Gettysburg Address of only 700 words, Lincoln referred to God or the Almighty
eight times and liberally quoted and paraphrased the Bible. His Gettysburg Address
prayer was that “this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lincoln’s personal Bible is notably dog-eared
and heavily underlined. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In his four-year
wartime presidency, Lincoln again and again faced impossible, heart-wrenching
dilemmas. Over 750,000 people were killed in the Civil War, 2 ½ percent of the
population and 25% of the soldiers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lincoln
said, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction
that I had nowhere to go; my own conviction and that of those around me seemed
insufficient for the day.” Lincoln twice called for a day of humiliation,
fasting and prayer in 1861 and 1863.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
publicly wondered if the prolonged Civil War was God’s judgement on the USA for
exploiting the slaves. Then he called for “malice towards none, and charity to
all.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Many see
Lincoln as an American William Wilberforce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He had faith that right makes might. He insightfully realized that “in
giving freedom to the slaves, we assure freedom to the free.” Lincoln, the
Great Emancipator, went through many conversions in his life, including
prioritizing the freeing of the four million slaves. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1858, Lincoln tried to prevent slavery’s
spread to the western territories, saying, “I have always hated slavery I think
as much as any Abolitionist.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Six years
later, he said “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember
when I did not so think and feel.” Lincoln, upon meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe,
author of <i>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</i>, said, “So you’re the little woman who wrote
the book that made this great war.” By the end of the civil war, almost 200,000
freed slaves had joined the Union Army.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While Canada
was officially neutral in the American Civil War, 50,000 Canadians fought
mostly for the Union, with 7,000 giving their lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Calixa Lavallée, who wrote the music for “O
Canada,” was wounded at Antietam as a Union Army musician. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On the last
day of his life, Lincoln told his wife that after the civil war, he wanted to visit
Jerusalem, to walk in the Saviour’s footsteps. John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln
on Good Friday 1865.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Booth was furious
over Lincoln’s plans to extend the vote to literate blacks and all black military
veterans. Frederick Douglass, the most prominent black leader, initially
chastised Lincoln as a pro-slavery wolf in anti-slavery sheep’s clothing. Later
in 1865, he described Lincoln as “emphatically the black man’s president, the
first to show any respect for their rights as men.” Seventy years later, Martin
Luther King Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington,
proclaiming his dream that one day the nation would live out the freedom and
equality, envisioned by Douglass and Lincoln.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let the freedom that Lincoln experienced and believed in, reign in 2023.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird, co-authors, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Gods-Firestarters-Preparing-Families-Revivals/dp/0978202279">God's Firestarters</a></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7I_2G4wPoIxlMr9C37JMabB2dlHOI0f9tz4h7fIe-WYt5A2aQd3Mu3xGTAAfn17EKKtVC8auXozbeA8fDvJy6CMzqFWDCaFaXvbKRPft96FhfSv-_ieGGTUHxD6Bm-UORWGhkHrOjRdvfoKr5h9yASOl1pGEOQOoYsGdbdVyjT1EbkU7TtjYaXJ3/s3800/Six%20books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1332" data-original-width="3800" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7I_2G4wPoIxlMr9C37JMabB2dlHOI0f9tz4h7fIe-WYt5A2aQd3Mu3xGTAAfn17EKKtVC8auXozbeA8fDvJy6CMzqFWDCaFaXvbKRPft96FhfSv-_ieGGTUHxD6Bm-UORWGhkHrOjRdvfoKr5h9yASOl1pGEOQOoYsGdbdVyjT1EbkU7TtjYaXJ3/s320/Six%20books.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span><p></p>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-52110944261125527642023-05-18T11:09:00.003-04:002023-05-18T12:08:10.328-04:00How We Pray<p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
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Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
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</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">When I was a
child, my parents taught me to give thanks to God. For meal time, it meant
saying thank you for the food on our table, and our bedtime prayers, for
protection while we sleep and blessing others.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyAXoNURgmkWgbMPqvdzu77D8AnUeHZpBStX3zW74t9FsnTdKcynuaBlxiYJYw9Op-LCnSQWzrxPJtqk3LBO9PHOeUDeBeKfXYnbBq4Gt2nULGvMDFsq3aOqKVX-db3vyTinjsCG4HzE6jrwmfysuOrfjknEPZldtpSaZ-Wz4AFTOguZ92fOmeHRe/s1824/creation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1824" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyAXoNURgmkWgbMPqvdzu77D8AnUeHZpBStX3zW74t9FsnTdKcynuaBlxiYJYw9Op-LCnSQWzrxPJtqk3LBO9PHOeUDeBeKfXYnbBq4Gt2nULGvMDFsq3aOqKVX-db3vyTinjsCG4HzE6jrwmfysuOrfjknEPZldtpSaZ-Wz4AFTOguZ92fOmeHRe/s320/creation.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">In Sunday School,
at age 5 and 6, we sang those early songs of praise for creation. I remember a small
friendly woman with white hair teaching us songs, with pictures on a chart to
help us learn the words. Those songs were like prayers to a tune. Only we didn’t
know it then.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx_dE9mrYSKELsKoTUfsKscpE_MF7qE-CK7pIhiRmKh3gt2niVbneyd-MbE4eUEE_8UMyVDFM6lh9lWuRqtwMA3oWWh-0_3S2nI8dAZvrR8ScK9ZJGAdJH6mkAfdMU1exMcRDAkY5wpKm8hQ-nobJ06g32nyvLiL-vbA98HSG6i_Kws0l2MMdcsJs/s3648/IMG_20230518_105519.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1680" data-original-width="3648" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx_dE9mrYSKELsKoTUfsKscpE_MF7qE-CK7pIhiRmKh3gt2niVbneyd-MbE4eUEE_8UMyVDFM6lh9lWuRqtwMA3oWWh-0_3S2nI8dAZvrR8ScK9ZJGAdJH6mkAfdMU1exMcRDAkY5wpKm8hQ-nobJ06g32nyvLiL-vbA98HSG6i_Kws0l2MMdcsJs/s320/IMG_20230518_105519.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Not all of the hymns
we sang were about praising God though. Many were requests for help in times of
trouble. And now that I think of it, I wonder if Noah asked God for protection while all that rain came down? Maybe that
they’d have enough food on board for his family and all those animals, and that
their ark would be kept from sinking or something worse. Noah knew God was with
him in the helm, but being human, he might have been anxious sometimes
as well.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">The shepherd David
prayed, and not all of them were thank you prayers. Many of them were about
longing, asking for protection against enemies (Psalm 59), begging for wisdom for
kings (Ps 72) and for an answer for himself in difficult times (Ps 13, 61). </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Perhaps we don’t pray
like David did, unless we sing his songs, but we do pray for protection, for
wisdom in difficult times. We may also pray that others come to know God (Ps
20). Then also there are times that we show our love for God (Ps 18, 23). We do pray for
others. Let’s keep saying thank you to God for answers to
our prayers, and when things go well and we have something to celebrate.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">We pray the corporate prayers in our services,
when someone else leads and we respond. We can pray by ourselves too, as we go
about our days, as we kneel in our garden, with work worn hands, or on a walk in the neighbourhood. Not all prayers need to be
alone in our bedroom at night, or as we say grace before meals. Those are important
too. <br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span> </span>Let’s not be shy about prayer. It’s not so
hard, after all. We just need to remember to reach out and know that Jesus goes
to the Father on our behalf. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiub3qMcaNX9-xO8_QWMGTUsLIwI0U5fIdrSiz1P68kT7vqFzYuyZa7XVtjLjOTIfq1dt5IXQ1E3OsTAEL0VGyL5vXAVQy3GekiTGhxaEo08IACyyY0_iMFiM6dugw5sgFTn_S03Odtl-VfXwMT8kcdc-1K6QgzQTxtBJVod5DucM2KQFZyHVqEGd9t/s2380/IMG_3841%20Cropped%209%20resized.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2380" data-original-width="1762" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiub3qMcaNX9-xO8_QWMGTUsLIwI0U5fIdrSiz1P68kT7vqFzYuyZa7XVtjLjOTIfq1dt5IXQ1E3OsTAEL0VGyL5vXAVQy3GekiTGhxaEo08IACyyY0_iMFiM6dugw5sgFTn_S03Odtl-VfXwMT8kcdc-1K6QgzQTxtBJVod5DucM2KQFZyHVqEGd9t/w148-h200/IMG_3841%20Cropped%209%20resized.jpg" width="148" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.carolynwilker.ca/">https://www.carolynwilker.ca/</a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"> <br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Photo permission from Julianna McKenzie for portrait photo. Other photos are my own © C. Wilker<br /></span></p>
<p></p>Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-58842054976714069482023-05-09T15:30:00.001-04:002023-05-09T15:30:24.954-04:00David Kitz’s messages at the Faith Inspiring Creativity Conference<p> </p><br />David Kitz, Chair of the Word Guild, spoke at the Faith Inspiring Creativity, sponsored by the Surrey Christian Writers Group and Inscribe Christian Fellowship <a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://thewordguild.com/">https://thewordguild.com/</a> <a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://surreywritersnorthof60.wordpress.com/">https://surreywritersnorthof60.wordpress.com/</a> <a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://inscribe.org/">https://inscribe.org/</a><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiw1l-MT-i0rwaV-hGuQM1ifuovLKAJmVxEbqIg6Erwepd0Rfoo1zMRRi2BX_dukra7gjwD8HmNc4okMAhwHhOoE0mD0i60mNunufFEi27qngdf0jBP-JPznLfC-QPpw0dlp_o1oK8W79tZY6DWoenMBuqvIGtkNQVpHaIgOlbKpSeW3GPVVQWJu2Hx" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="330" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiw1l-MT-i0rwaV-hGuQM1ifuovLKAJmVxEbqIg6Erwepd0Rfoo1zMRRi2BX_dukra7gjwD8HmNc4okMAhwHhOoE0mD0i60mNunufFEi27qngdf0jBP-JPznLfC-QPpw0dlp_o1oK8W79tZY6DWoenMBuqvIGtkNQVpHaIgOlbKpSeW3GPVVQWJu2Hx" width="159" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>1) Greetings by David Kitz at The Word Guild Conference<br /><a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebJ4syF2uUo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebJ4syF2uUo</a> <br />2)David Kitz: Developing Your Platform as a writer/ blogger (pt 1)<br /><a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-bhuPiGk1M">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-bhuPiGk1M</a> <br />3)David Kitz: Developing Your Platform as a writer/ blogger (pt 2)<br /><a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://youtu.be/XA5Epw22qzA">https://youtu.be/XA5Epw22qzA</a> <br />4) David Kitz on Drama & Writing (pt 1)<br /><a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://youtu.be/NfKqyN1W1cg">https://youtu.be/NfKqyN1W1cg</a> <br />5) David Kitz Dramatizing the Psalms 19, 121, and 130 (pt 2)<br /><a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://youtu.be/1v0n7OPUprw">https://youtu.be/1v0n7OPUprw</a><br />6) David Kitz speaking about The Word Guild<br /><a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://youtu.be/w50rpnSp-CU">https://youtu.be/w50rpnSp-CU</a> <br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHQKf-JFDCFqxZa0_jJk95EHpSFa5-iaZUDcCGet5w6j46xP9OJqfl2S5TSbia81Ukje35AecmraA5SZmifO660A2aLbjkw9ZpKrJCeb2PWM5SQVjuzfgzIil4BNpHBo9JM24-fNcYxlxvnickORGTjc8jsbA2bNv0dUxHpx8TjqL1z1NJOvx7Qu85" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHQKf-JFDCFqxZa0_jJk95EHpSFa5-iaZUDcCGet5w6j46xP9OJqfl2S5TSbia81Ukje35AecmraA5SZmifO660A2aLbjkw9ZpKrJCeb2PWM5SQVjuzfgzIil4BNpHBo9JM24-fNcYxlxvnickORGTjc8jsbA2bNv0dUxHpx8TjqL1z1NJOvx7Qu85" width="160" /></a></div><br /><br /></div>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-29198763112031855322023-04-26T10:45:00.001-04:002023-04-26T10:45:29.198-04:00Catching Fish, Catching Men<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the days after
Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his disciples at various times. But
the time that strikes me most is when he appears at the lake.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The disciples been
out all night fishing (John 21), because they didn’t know what else to do. What
was going through their minds? Had Jesus really risen? Who broke the bread at
their meal days afterward and then disappeared? It seemed unbelievable. They’d
just go back to doing what they knew.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">They had seen Jesus
heal others. They had known him to feed thousands with just a small boy’s
lunch, had made the lunch go so far and hadn’t really understood how it
happened. And now there was this man on the beach building a fire. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When they
came out of the water onto the beach, tired and frustrated,
this man had offered them food. He knew they’d be hungry. Then he told them to
go out in their boats and throw the nets out one more time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Now the fishermen
might grumble because they’d been out all night and hadn’t caught a thing. They
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side of the boat as they are told.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And you know what
happened. They caught so many fish they couldn’t haul in the nets.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It seems their
eyes were opened suddenly and they recognized this man as Jesus, their friend.
The one who had called them “fishers of men” those years ago when they left
their nets to follow him. So much had happened since then. What were they to
make of all this?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Peter jumped in
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himself and what Jesus’ call meant. And he still had questions.<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What does that
mean for us?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Carolyn Wilker</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://www.carolynwilker.ca/">https://www.carolynwilker.ca/</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxqY07_2HAkFKtyElhyDEUKyOXJHZ0W-uW3vbFURtJrchruwatZc9OEZqEUzSBhZTphwGl2pcpZ8Mdxk_5F1TkXyz-eOjT6Z6--nrZrWzPFpEyobyAYs0VTI_uKKhfS6FL9ZhFxlDe5P6dvXQgzDC6rVg6DmumEX2O51vDXLib_gVjP1jSY4QM347/s2380/IMG_3841%20Cropped%209%20resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2380" data-original-width="1762" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxqY07_2HAkFKtyElhyDEUKyOXJHZ0W-uW3vbFURtJrchruwatZc9OEZqEUzSBhZTphwGl2pcpZ8Mdxk_5F1TkXyz-eOjT6Z6--nrZrWzPFpEyobyAYs0VTI_uKKhfS6FL9ZhFxlDe5P6dvXQgzDC6rVg6DmumEX2O51vDXLib_gVjP1jSY4QM347/w203-h275/IMG_3841%20Cropped%209%20resized.jpg" width="203" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <br /></span></p>
<p></p>Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-79961220887351841292023-04-09T08:31:00.003-04:002023-04-09T08:31:38.369-04:00Happy Easter: More than just Chocolate<p> </p><h3 class="has-text-align-left wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.2em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 26px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By the Rev. Dr. Ed Hird<a href="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chocolate.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #009bc2; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18.24px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-6292" data-attachment-id="6292" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="Chocolate" data-large-file="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chocolate.jpg?w=220" data-medium-file="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chocolate.jpg?w=220" data-orig-file="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chocolate.jpg" data-orig-size="220,211" data-permalink="https://edhird.com/2012/03/10/more-than-just-chocolate/chocolate/" height="211" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px" src="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chocolate.jpg" srcset="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chocolate.jpg 220w, https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chocolate.jpg?w=150&h=144 150w" style="border: 0px; float: right; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18.24px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 10px 0px 0px 20px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Chocolate" width="220" /></a></h3><h2 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.3em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 26px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></h2><h4 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.1em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 22px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Once every year, billions of people around the world pause to remember the mystery of Easter. Most people love Easter: bunnies, chocolate, eggs, bonnets, lilies, flower crosses, and joyful singing. In the air, you can sense victory and resurrection and new life. No wonder that churches have many visitors on Easter Sunday.</h4><h4 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.1em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 22px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I have always enjoyed Easter, especially for the chocolate. Just like Christmas, Easter has its food connection and its spiritual connection. Most people love to eat. Easter family gatherings invariably involve lots of delicious food, especially those wonderful hot cross buns.</h4><h4 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.1em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 22px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Good Friday is a traditional fast day where many choose not to eat in order to remember Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. Easter Sunday is a traditional feast day where families celebrate with delicious feasts. Without Good Friday, Easter Sunday makes no sense. Without Easter Sunday, Good Friday is just a terrible tragedy. Good Friday shows that God can turn everything that is against us to our advantage. God transformed Good Friday (the most evil day in history) into Easter Sunday (the most beautiful day in history).</h4><h4 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.1em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 22px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many of us steer clear of Good Friday because it reminds us of death, of pain, and of our own personal mortality. Sometimes we may question: what on earth is Good about Good Friday? What’s so good about someone going through the worst suffering and most excruciating death ever imagined? Good Friday seems too morbid, too deadly, too bloody.</h4><h2 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.3em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 26px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/easter-chocolate.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #009bc2; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 19.76px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignleft wp-image-6293" data-attachment-id="6293" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="Easter-Chocolate" data-large-file="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/easter-chocolate.jpg?w=400" data-medium-file="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/easter-chocolate.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/easter-chocolate.jpg" data-orig-size="400,300" data-permalink="https://edhird.com/2012/03/10/more-than-just-chocolate/easter-chocolate/" height="180" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" src="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/easter-chocolate.jpg?w=300" srcset="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/easter-chocolate.jpg?w=300 300w, https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/easter-chocolate.jpg?w=240 240w, https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/easter-chocolate.jpg?w=150 150w, https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/easter-chocolate.jpg 400w" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 19.76px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 10px 20px 0px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Easter-Chocolate" width="240" /></a></h2><h4 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.1em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 22px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Modern medical science is wonderful in the way that it can prolong life that would often otherwise be over. But medicine can only postpone the inevitable facing all of us. We are mortals here on earth. In my mid-teen period, I lost sight of the power of Easter, and concluded that there was no life after death. Death was final, and that was the end of it. Nothing was waiting for me but the grave. What was it all about, I wondered? Was life really worth the effort? I began to fear the power of death and the meaninglessness and emptiness of life. I even secretly wondered if life itself was worth living.</h4><h4 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.1em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 22px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the midst of my teenage self-doubt, I still loved Easter, but I didn’t get it. The <a href="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/old_rugged_cross1.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #009bc2; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.72px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright wp-image-6296" data-attachment-id="6296" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="Old_Rugged_Cross" data-large-file="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/old_rugged_cross1.jpg?w=350" data-medium-file="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/old_rugged_cross1.jpg?w=184" data-orig-file="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/old_rugged_cross1.jpg" data-orig-size="350,570" data-permalink="https://edhird.com/2012/03/10/more-than-just-chocolate/old_rugged_cross-3/" height="240" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 147px) 100vw, 147px" src="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/old_rugged_cross1.jpg?w=184" srcset="https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/old_rugged_cross1.jpg?w=184 184w, https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/old_rugged_cross1.jpg?w=147 147w, https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/old_rugged_cross1.jpg?w=294 294w, https://edhird.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/old_rugged_cross1.jpg?w=92 92w" style="border: 0px; float: right; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.72px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 10px 0px 0px 20px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Old_Rugged_Cross" width="147" /></a>flowers, the food, the fun and even Easter worship were enjoyable, but somehow I missed the message. It is funny how you can celebrate something that you grow up with, and yet the real meaning can be missed. When the penny finally dropped, when the light came on, it was like waking up from the dead. I finally understood that Jesus solved the unsolvable death problem, and that by faith in him, the future is bright and unstoppable.</h4><h4 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.1em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 22px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My prayer for those of you who love the Easter season is that you may realize that at the end of the day, love is stronger than death, and love has the final word.</h4><h3 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.2em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 26px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, BSW, MDiv, DMin</h3><h4 class="wp-block-heading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: "Droid Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 1.1em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 1.4; margin: 22px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">-an article published in the Deep Cove Crier/North Shore News</h4><div>www.edhird.com </div>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-7785118136055389682023-03-14T10:30:00.001-04:002023-03-14T10:34:35.221-04:00 Empty Tomb <p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Imagine yourself at the tomb in early dawn just as the
sun peeks over the horizon. There’s a coolness in the air and you’ve come with
spices, as tradition demands, to cover the smell of death and honour the dead
at the same time. But you stop, seeing that the enormous rock has been rolled
away from the mouth of the tomb. This is not what you expected to see while you’re
numb with grief.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Graveclothes are folded neatly inside. There are two
men standing nearby in dazzling clothes who ask, “Why do you look for the
living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen!” (Luke 24:5)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And then do you remember what Jesus had said earlier?
That he would rise again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Your first instinct might be to run back and tell your
friends. What do you say?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This pivotal moment marks a new beginning. Jesus is
freed from the grave and bears the marks of his crucifixion. Jesus appears to his
disciples at various times and to the women who have carried spices to his
grave. He says more than once, “Peace be with you.” And he tells them “As the
Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20: 21)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>Empty Tomb</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the gray dawn </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">I say goodbye to
one</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">whose hands
brought life from death </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">whose words
confounded kings and priests</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The cave is
shadowed and dark</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">a boulder rests
unneeded, but not unheeded</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">rising light
exposes </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">folded cloth in an
empty cave</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">confounding</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">compounding yesterday’s
drama</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">footsteps</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">i turn <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">in a voice as soft
as morning</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">He calls my name</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Carolyn Wilker<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>--Published 2007 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Esprit</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://www.carolynwilker.ca/"> https://www.carolynwilker.ca/</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTnpmrK6YONvMZXxbsGNOj4l6dqEcPG1hazgAVT3NMBayb7BrYh2O9XoSseODSWOz_KKNZmZHA0C1nbnyUkiajA59VBNaHqVxGy2dSBgjRUThilY6G42XgHb2pfVCUksxKrpWbx_NgtTAkhPy3Q0hTCJI6yjp1DTEUpUkSUJhjsykmlItuqp4w_X9/s4668/IMG_3841%20Cropped%209(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4668" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTnpmrK6YONvMZXxbsGNOj4l6dqEcPG1hazgAVT3NMBayb7BrYh2O9XoSseODSWOz_KKNZmZHA0C1nbnyUkiajA59VBNaHqVxGy2dSBgjRUThilY6G42XgHb2pfVCUksxKrpWbx_NgtTAkhPy3Q0hTCJI6yjp1DTEUpUkSUJhjsykmlItuqp4w_X9/s320/IMG_3841%20Cropped%209(1).jpg" width="237" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p></p>Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-342141898545036702023-03-09T09:51:00.002-05:002023-03-09T09:51:10.394-05:00Robert Louis Stevenson’s Global Kingdom Impact<p> </p><br />
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">By Rev Dr Ed &
Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">-an article for the
<a href="thelightmagazine.ca ">Light Magazine</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjomBKIy0yPiutkcTfWLSnR1dOCGp18abYYQhuKWJXWjmH-7S8s0atNC53-w8l7cWplGSkftiz3QTZub_KtR56RaqT4HRXf3fQ24aKjC-FV-epDC-GT1c_lNJ0bR4gHepDlNDKwohSedtIr6j0yl5Z-Vsm_nV8iAas-oVlwidewq1eyuf0IzS_Ag9f3/s474/Robert%20Louis%20Stevenson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="474" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjomBKIy0yPiutkcTfWLSnR1dOCGp18abYYQhuKWJXWjmH-7S8s0atNC53-w8l7cWplGSkftiz3QTZub_KtR56RaqT4HRXf3fQ24aKjC-FV-epDC-GT1c_lNJ0bR4gHepDlNDKwohSedtIr6j0yl5Z-Vsm_nV8iAas-oVlwidewq1eyuf0IzS_Ag9f3/s320/Robert%20Louis%20Stevenson.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Many of us as children read
Robert Louis Stevenson’s best-selling books like <i>Treasure Island, Kidnapped,</i>
and <i>a Children’s Garden of Verses</i>. He was a popular celebrity in his own
time. Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame, wrote to Stevenson speaking
of “all the pleasure you have given me during my lifetime–more than any other
living man has done.” Rudyard Kipling called him ‘his idol’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>GK Chesterton said that Stevenson "seemed
to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing pick-up-sticks."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently, Stevenson was ranked, just after
Charles Dickens, as the twenty-sixth most-widely-translated author in the
world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Few have realized the deep
Christian message that he wove into his many novels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are hundreds of biblical references in
his over thirty books. In <i>Treasure Island</i>, a pirate brings a curse on
himself by using a ripped-out page of the Bible to give Long John Silver a
‘black spot’ of death. The bible verse was Revelation 22:15: “Without are dogs
and murderers.” Greed for false treasure leads to nothing but violence and death.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The true treasure brings peace and life.
Treasure Island is a spiritual application of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13 44<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">: </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt;"><i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden
in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and
sold all he had and bought that field.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In <i>Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde</i>,
Stevenson gives one of the most profound analyses of Romans Chapter 7 in its struggle
between good and evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i>Kidnapped</i>,
the hero David Balfour is urged to be constant in his prayers and reading of
the Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The missionary Henderland <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">inquired (of David Balfour’s) state
of mind towards God…he had not spoken long before he brought the tears into my
eyes. There are two things that men should never weary of, goodness and
humility; we get none too much of them in this rough world among cold, proud
people;...he soon had me on my knees beside a simple, poor old man, and both
proud and glad to be there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the days before film, TV, and
the internet, Stevenson had a remarkable ability to take you on a journey,
giving you eyes to see a part of the world that most people had never
visited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In bringing you by imagination
to foreign lands, he also took you on a safari for your own soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Born in 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland,
Stevenson battled bronchial health issues for most of his short life, but never
let it stop his writing. A key spiritual influence on his life was his nurse
Alison Cunningham (known as Cummy).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
read him stories from John Bunyan and told him stories of the Covenanters revivalists
who brought spiritual renewal to Scotland. Robert’s favorite game as a child was
to make-believe that he was a clergyman and to preach from an improvised
pulpit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a child, Robert commented, “I
would lie awake to weep for Jesus, but I would fear to trust myself to slumber
lest I was not accepted and should slip, ere I awoke, into eternal ruin.”
Self-condemnation and fear of hell crippled his young spiritual life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">During his Edinburgh University
years, Stevenson got involved in drunkenness and visiting prostitutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rebelling against his father’s strict
religiosity, he briefly identified himself as a ‘red-hot socialist’ and an atheist.
He formed a club with the motto “ignore everything that our parents taught us.”
When his father learned of this motto, he said to his son, “You have rendered
my whole life a failure.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a letter to
a friend, Robert mocked his father’s prayers as nothing better than praying to
the chandelier.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">By age 26, he regretted his
foolishness. Stevenson wrote to his father, stating that:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Christianity is among other
things, a very wise, noble and strange doctrine of life ... You see, I speak of
it as a doctrine of life, and as a wisdom for this world ... I have a good
heart, and believe in myself and my fellow-men and the God who made us all ...
There is a fine text in the Bible, I don't know where, to the effect that all
things work together for good for those who love the Lord. Strange as it may
seem to you, everything has been, in one way or the other, bringing me nearer
to what I think you would like me to be. 'Tis a strange world, indeed, but
there is a manifest God for those who care to look for him.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When he married his wife Fanny in
1880 at age 29, he described himself as “a mere complication of cough and bones,
much fitter for an emblem of mortality than a bridegroom.” Being addicted to cocaine
and opium did not help his frail health.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In 1890, he and his wife Fanny settled
with their children in Samoa in the South Sea islands where he taught Sunday
School. The Samoans called him Tusitala (the Storyteller), building a ‘loving
heart’ road right up to his house. Many missionaries in Samoa deeply impressed
him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those who have a taste for hearing
missions, Protestant or Catholic, decried, must seek their pleasure somewhere
else than in my pages. Whether Catholic or Protestant...with all their
deficiency...the missionaries are the best and the most useful whites in the
Pacific.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Robert described the missionary
James Chalmers as “a man that took me fairly by storm for the most attractive,
simple, brave and interesting man in the whole Pacific.” He also deeply admired
the missionary Rev. W.E. Clarke who later took his funeral: “…a man I esteem
and like to the soles of his boots; I prefer him to any one in Samoa, and to
most people in the world.” S.J. Whitmee, Stevenson’s missionary interpreter,
had many conversations with him, saying that ““He was nearly all the time I
knew him, reading the Old Testament prophetic Scriptures.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Robert Louis Stevenson died tragically
of a stroke in his island home in 1894 at age 44. Ten years after his death,
his wife printed <i>Vailima Prayers</i>, a small book of Robert’s prayers: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Lord, Give us courage and gaiety
and the quiet mind.<br />
Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies.<br />
Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavours.<br />
If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we
be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all
changes of fortune, and, down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to
another.<br />
As the clay to the potter,<br />
as the windmill to the wind,<br />
as children of their sire,<br />
we beseech of Thee this help and mercy<br />
for Christ’s sake. Amen<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">May Robert Louis Stevenson’s
example inspire many Christian writers to be Christ-centered authors of God’s
Kingdom.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Co-authors, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Rev.-Dr.-Ed-Hird/e/B00NFTJLUS%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share">God’s Firestarters</a></i></span><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzdc08qrsdeFUlG_Kuq-fZJYVSj1p4jWvRcUIeKJdYvhg7zYvrCDrSlCKJiaFaQGQ0YTQqMmZAvS9UFgLIMUrya-0PhL861M-bjAK6ezo_YGxuq3dzW4rbHk3r8QK5kwEqr5yTbfhsPPsEYMKJIoxduoyRV4hIL6JQBqLAjSP-K3zR-AXcpf4KQFy/s3800/Six%20books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1332" data-original-width="3800" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzdc08qrsdeFUlG_Kuq-fZJYVSj1p4jWvRcUIeKJdYvhg7zYvrCDrSlCKJiaFaQGQ0YTQqMmZAvS9UFgLIMUrya-0PhL861M-bjAK6ezo_YGxuq3dzW4rbHk3r8QK5kwEqr5yTbfhsPPsEYMKJIoxduoyRV4hIL6JQBqLAjSP-K3zR-AXcpf4KQFy/s320/Six%20books.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><br /></p>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-76888578609225917152023-02-09T09:32:00.001-05:002023-02-09T09:32:09.045-05:00Facing Our Growing Canadian Gambling Addiction<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">By Rev. Dr.
Ed & Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">-an article
for the </span><a href="https://engage.lightmagazine.ca/2023/02/08/facing-our-growing-canadian-gambling-addiction/"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Light
Magazine</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrDPY6trq4Fzy0gDGe0JSmuq4JCXwJiqB-xXEYnWk_2rpbO8NVcxRM27UHRkoS6sMwYDTSg4R3pzFpGVHPtu3wrO9Dj9VbyO_i-SWu_gTZeIOn9AM6HZfGuO8ivJJqyvP-omUZYAJysMGlvE-A_6qGquD4dllsMCxjRoT_FWM_ydqpbB5Z3oubJoNe" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="682" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrDPY6trq4Fzy0gDGe0JSmuq4JCXwJiqB-xXEYnWk_2rpbO8NVcxRM27UHRkoS6sMwYDTSg4R3pzFpGVHPtu3wrO9Dj9VbyO_i-SWu_gTZeIOn9AM6HZfGuO8ivJJqyvP-omUZYAJysMGlvE-A_6qGquD4dllsMCxjRoT_FWM_ydqpbB5Z3oubJoNe" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">You can bet
that the increase in gambling is harming many Canadian families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have personally seen many marriages break
up. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wives are not happy to lose their houses
to their husband’s gambling addiction. The Bible in 1 Tim 6:9 warns against </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">falling into the trap of temptation, and
into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and
destruction.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Since the
COVID restrictions were implemented in 2020, </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">those gambling four or more times a week has increased
from 23% to 32%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Online gambling has
gone from 62% to 78% for gamblers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ruin
& destruction for many has been multiplied through these online gambling apps.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Many gambling addictions begin in the teenage period when the
brain is not fully developed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Young
adults aged 18–24 are more likely to take part in risky gambling
behaviour. College students have a much higher gambling rate than the general
population.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine the debt load that
many college students incur on their student loans from online gambling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most popular form of Canadian gambling is
lottery tickets, seen by many as relatively harmless. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since Pierre Trudeau legalized gambling in 1969, the provincial
governments have been annually making billions from gambling. No wonder that it
has been called another tax grab on the poor and most vulnerable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Female gamblers average $15,000 of debt. The average debt
generated by men addicted to gambling ranges from $55,000 to $90,000. With so
many young men indebted to shady loan sharks, it is no wonder that property
theft is on the rise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We have been numbed in our country to the evils of gambling
addiction. As it says in 1 Timothy 6:10, the love of money is the root of evil.
We have personally seen gambling cause people to wander from the faith and
pierce themselves with many griefs. Many in the Christian program Celebrate
Recovery often credit the power of the Holy Spirit as vital to getting free
from their uncontrollable obsession with gambling. As well, Gamblers Anonymous
has helped many get free from this intense craving.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the most important books for helping people understand
the gambling addiction is Dostoevsky’s <i>The Gambler</i>. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ironically,
he wrote it because he needed to pay his gambling debts, and avoid losing
control over publishing future books through a crooked publisher. His Christian
faith helped him eventually break an all-consuming roulette habit that was bankrupting
his family. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roulette has been a huge
problem in Russia, particularly in the military. Could Putin’s invasion of the
Ukraine be seen as his playing Russian roulette with the West?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Alexei, the
protagonist in <i>The Gambler</i>, was on a roll at the Roulettenberg Casino.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He commented: “My brows were damp with sweat,
and my hands were shaking.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gambling
gives a buzz similar to cutting oneself, disconnecting oneself temporarily from
one’s intense psychological pain. As Alexei also said: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There arose
in me a strange sensation as of a challenge to Fate— as of a wish to deal her a
blow on the cheek, and to put out my tongue at her. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The character
Alexei saw this addiction as a madness that seemed to come upon him. Perhaps
that is why Step 2 in Gamblers Anonymous talks about </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a Power greater than ourselves restoring
us to a normal way of thinking and living.<b> </b>Compulsive gambling is
stinking thinking.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To Alexei, this strange gambling sensation was a fearful
pleasure, leaving him obsessed with a desire to take risks. The two hundred
thousand francs ($6.6 million dollars in today’s money) that he won quickly sprouted
wings, and flew off to the sky like an eagle. (Proverbs 23:5) Quicker than the
prodigal son, Alexei squandered his wealth in Paris with wine, women, and song.
Get-rich-schemes never end well. His initial gaming success </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">did
not make him happy:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My life had
broken in two, and yesterday had infected me with a habit of staking my all
upon a card.</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Serving two
masters is a double-minded hell. (Matthew 6:24) Gambling was a living death for
Dostoevsky and his character Alexei. Dostoevsky tried for many years before he finally
broke his gambling desire. His character in the novel also longed to be free:
“When that hour comes, you will see me arise from the dead.” Alexei longed to set
things right, and be born again!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Our prayer is
that many Canadians will come into a new freedom in Christ from the devastation
of chronic gambling.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Rev. Dr. Ed
& Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">-co-authors
of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Gods-Firestarters-Preparing-Families-Revivals/dp/0978202279">God’s
Firestarters</a></i> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPW6lmeYxd9KC8u966zsAdu3uwjBFQAvuGrXHhLMlbRtalzlcyCY_9NETw88ggTpiEuoFV39ibSTcgROkwl8hCDve-eqQbBmqoqz8CeXHvAuCEGI1XHk-WUKYrJDO8ggY3WRuMulqJjKcJnPOzMDr0acy0Q5YKNArqDVdDVh7QqYmsgLgrFx0vAu4-/s499/God's%20Firestarters%20jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPW6lmeYxd9KC8u966zsAdu3uwjBFQAvuGrXHhLMlbRtalzlcyCY_9NETw88ggTpiEuoFV39ibSTcgROkwl8hCDve-eqQbBmqoqz8CeXHvAuCEGI1XHk-WUKYrJDO8ggY3WRuMulqJjKcJnPOzMDr0acy0Q5YKNArqDVdDVh7QqYmsgLgrFx0vAu4-/s320/God's%20Firestarters%20jpeg.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span><p></p>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-82184793979855691702023-01-21T08:18:00.002-05:002023-01-21T08:20:15.848-05:00Jesus' Early Years and What We Know<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Between
Christmas and Epiphany of the church year, we’ve jumped over so much of Jesus’ life, from his
birth to his baptism, and the beginning of his ministry. But what of those in-between
years?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We know
that King Herod raged over a new king. What? Take his place? And then the wise
men going off home in a different direction and Mary and Joseph fleeing to
Egypt for a time. Jesus went from being the star to being the hunted. I’d
rather not dwell on what happened next when Herod realized he had been tricked.
But I think of the earthly parents, and God, protecting this new little life. Jesus had
a big purpose in his future and God was not about to let him be killed as an
infant. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How did Mary
and Joseph raise Jesus through his baby years, his childhood, and beyond? We
know they trusted God and accepted his guidance. We won’t ever know much about
those years except that eventually they returned to their home country and
Jesus grew and became strong (v. 39-40).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We know
that Jesus would go to school, as boys did, and learn to read and write, and
understand what was in the scrolls. We also know that when they went to the
temple, Jesus, at the age of 12, stayed behind. His parents and their company
of relatives had already begun the journey home. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Imagine for
a moment, the boy Jesus in the temple, asking questions of the priests. How did
he get this knowledge? Were his parents helping him to understand who he was? Were
the rabbis in his village school confounded by brilliant questions they hadn’t
thought of themselves? Then what of the priests in Jerusalem? Were they also
amazed?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mary and
Joseph turned back to Jerusalem to look for their son. As parents, you might
imagine their mixture of fear and anxiety about where he was, and when they found
Jesus, their relief and frustration. They didn’t understand Jesus’ answer when
they asked him why he treated them this way. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jesus had
an answer. “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know I must be in my
Father’s house?” (v 49) He was already showing his wisdom. <br /></span></p>
<p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luke is the only place we read this story. Then
we read that Jesus went home with them to Nazareth and obeyed</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">his parents (Luke
2:51). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus we learn about his his love
for his parents and a growing in understanding of his </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">purpose in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-871367423078003732023-01-09T22:13:00.001-05:002023-01-09T22:14:21.033-05:00Pigs in the Ocean: The Socialism of Dostoevsky’s Possessed<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">By Rev. Dr.
Ed & Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">-an article for the Light Magazine</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8DUArPkiY6YDIpkcHQadPLmXEB_Sa0SIOGNPAAjuZeq2v_nGYV95wlGSle3UhmV8_WxJvTRozTTtj_5lnpj_ilwE1_niGKKUK_yPUTPKfTUUWSlLNtKP34hpKFGdYYUwe0xRghiMnsX3yN1RH0oJUy1054hcO3rUNYRtLKK0xFeDC9fF45htUug7/s3264/1%2F13%2F15%20-%205" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8DUArPkiY6YDIpkcHQadPLmXEB_Sa0SIOGNPAAjuZeq2v_nGYV95wlGSle3UhmV8_WxJvTRozTTtj_5lnpj_ilwE1_niGKKUK_yPUTPKfTUUWSlLNtKP34hpKFGdYYUwe0xRghiMnsX3yN1RH0oJUy1054hcO3rUNYRtLKK0xFeDC9fF45htUug7/s320/1%2F13%2F15%20-%205" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One of Dostoevsky’s
most brilliant, darkest and least known novels is <i>The Possessed</i>, also
called <i>Demons</i> or <i>The Devils</i>. Dostoevsky, as a devout Christian,
often grounded his novels in particular biblical stories. The opening scripture
in this novel is about the pigs being cast into the ocean (Luke 8:32-37).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Have you ever
wondered what possessed Putin to invade Ukraine, and why he won’t just go back
home to Russia? The Russian people still deeply remember the attacking of Moscow
by Napoleon and Hitler, as if it happened yesterday. They are possessed by the
idea that they are merely defending their fatherland against Western aggression.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ideologies
(fixed systematic big ideas) can easily become idolatrous and possess a nation.
That is why Dr. Jordan Peterson wrote a chapter in his latest book <i>Beyond
Order</i> entitled “Say No to Ideology”. Ideologies like Marxism, Nazism, and Fascism
have caused over a hundred million people to go over the cliff and die like the
Gadarene pigs. Tragically, some of these far-left and far-right ideologies are
again romantically possessing many young people around the world. The far-left
and far-right, being both totalitarian and haters of democratic freedoms, have
much more in common than most would imagine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Possessed</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
is the most political of all of his Christ-centered novels. In the very year of
1870 that Dostoevsky was writing <i>Possessed</i>, Vladimir Lenin was
born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lenin sadly refused to read <i>Possessed</i>
as he considered it reactionary garbage. Might <i>the Possessed</i> possess and
transform Putin, who is reportedly a Dostoevsky fan?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Dostoevsky,
like a John the Baptist or a weeping Jeremiah, cried out in this novel to a
younger generation about to go over the edge into socialist chaos and
destruction. He was a former revolutionary socialist sent in 1849 to Siberia
for ten years. Dostoevsky prophetically warned in this book about the destructive
whirlwind of communism that would swallow Russia fifty years later. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
protagonist in this book is </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky, a so-called champagne socialist of the
1840s generation who liked to flirt in secretive artist groups with trendy new
ideas coming from the West. Significantly, he spoke French like a Parisian, giving
him great influence among the nobility. None of Stepan’s obscure writing
projects were ever completed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">He was a caricature of
Alexander Herzen, the father of Russian socialism, who had been in exile in
London with his friend Karl Marx.</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the novel, Stepan, a former University instructor, was
exiled for his socialist ideas by the Tsar to the fictitious back-water town of
Skvoreshniki. There, being funded by the bitter and controlling heiress
Varvara, Stepan spends twenty years training up the 1860s generation of younger
revolutionary socialists. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stepan is shocked when these younger people, including his own
son, Pyotr and Varvara’s son Stavrogin, are swallowed by the ideologies of nihilism,
hedonism, and suicide. Pyotr and Stavrogin are both deeply alienated from their
parents, having being sent away to residential schools in Petersburg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Education trumped family. All the 1840s fathers
were either dead or entirely absent from their sons’ lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stepan had only met his son twice in his
entire life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The younger radicals
dismiss Stepan and Varvara as outdated fools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pyotr said to Stepan:</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">“I curse you henceforth!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As hard-core atheists, the young men rejected morality,
church, and family as forms of patriarchal oppression. Stepan had taught the
younger generation that: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">marriage is
the moral death of every proud soul, of all independence. Married life will
corrupt me, it will sap my energy, my courage in the service of the (socialist)
cause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The 1840s champagne socialists were mortified by the violence:
“</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">we first sowed the seed, nurtured it, prepared the way.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stepan is so appalled by the destructive
fruits of his intellectual labour that he flees on foot from the town. There,
among the peasants, he meets Sofya, a Gospel woman who sells him a bible. In
the midst of the chaotic suffering of his life, Stepan reads the bible for the
first time in over thirty years. He learns from the Sermon on the Mount that “we
must forgive, forgive, and forgive.” He encounters God and turns from his ideological
possession: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I’ve been
telling lies all my life…The worst of it is that I believe myself when I am
lying. The hardest thing in life is to live without telling lies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">receives communion, and decides to also
become a travelling bible salesman. Dostoevsky noted: “</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Even fools
are by genuine sorrow turned into wise men.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In this age of MAID and full-term abortion, it is chilling to
see young people in the novel imagine that death is the solution to life’s
problems: “</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I am killing myself to prove my independence and my
new terrible freedom.” </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All
the key young men in this novel foolishly end up dead, either from murder or
suicide. Dostoevsky is fascinated by the biblical themes of wisdom and
foolishness: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only the women are left to pick up the pieces,
as the town is thrown into chaos by revolutionary arsonists.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After Stepan dies three days later, Sofya is ‘adopted’ by Varvara
who also wants to spread the gospel. Varvara and Sofya remind us of the women who
first saw the resurrected Jesus, becoming the original evangelists. What if
women became the key evangelists in the next coming revival? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dostoevsky passionately wanted everyone, especially his
Russian people, to experience the love of Jesus Christ: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If anyone
could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did
exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Thank God
that we don’t have to choose between Christ and the truth. Are you willing to
let go of your ideologies and share the Truth with a younger lost generation?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Co-authors, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Gods-Firestarters-Preparing-Families-Revivals/dp/0978202279">God’s Firestarters</a></i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-4041577041166873502022-12-10T01:31:00.005-05:002022-12-10T01:31:35.154-05:00Jimmy Stewart’s Wonderful Life<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">-previously published in the <a href="https://lightmagazine.ca/2022/11/29/jimmy-stewarts-wonderful-life/">Light Magazine</a></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLRG-ZCaRO6dvzi2TrNUc2MjtOQiumbSHuToESqSCJSjW1MOiMMJyW4mMVx_InrURPh--QwAsX4_pG-ftgVuiXLFIgPLJePmkl3yWQNUZEjbk6YnM2eO2a0hntRTgQxv7UoE_rYNqyZUcLBCJtOPznXmH8EVnBHt_q-qdSX07R19n2FdEl1Q0OhBrC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1280" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLRG-ZCaRO6dvzi2TrNUc2MjtOQiumbSHuToESqSCJSjW1MOiMMJyW4mMVx_InrURPh--QwAsX4_pG-ftgVuiXLFIgPLJePmkl3yWQNUZEjbk6YnM2eO2a0hntRTgQxv7UoE_rYNqyZUcLBCJtOPznXmH8EVnBHt_q-qdSX07R19n2FdEl1Q0OhBrC" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of our
favorite Christmas movies is <i>It’s a Wonderful Life</i> where Jimmy Stewart
plays the part of a generous but discouraged businessman who discovers that he
really was making a positive impact. You will remember how the Christmas angel
Clarence had to earn his wings by helping out Jimmy Stewart (aka George Bailey).
George was so distraught at Christmas that he was about to jump off a
bridge. Clarence, the delightful angel shows George what an amazing
impact his generosity is making, and how much poorer his town would be without
him.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The movie
was based on a short story and booklet <i>The Greatest Gift</i>, written by
Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943. Stern wrote a Charles Dickens ‘Christmas Carol’
spinoff for the North American audience. In 1946, Frank Capra wrote the movie
version.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was initially seen as a
box-office flop, falling three million dollars short of breaking even, and not
even winning one Academy Award Oscar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
1947, the FBI and Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC) secretly investigated <i>It's a Wonderful Life</i>,
fearing it was "communist propaganda”, stirring up class warfare, because
it portrayed the villain as being a "scrooge-type" banker.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since <i>It’s
a Wonderful Life</i> was seen as a failure, the producers didn’t even bother to
renew the copyright license in the late 1970s. This meant that television
studios could show the movie for free at Christmas. After a few years <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>It’s
a Wonderful Life</i> became a cult classic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It later went on to become the number one
inspirational North American movie ever made. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Who can
forget the conflict around the Christmas tree as George Bailey was close to
committing suicide? We loved his honest prayer: “Dear Father in Heaven, I’m not
a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way. I’m
at the end of my rope. Show me the way, God.” His unscripted tears were
genuine. Stewart commented in a 1987 interview, “As I said those words, I felt
the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes
filled with tears. I broke down sobbing.” Actress Carol Burnett called this one
of the finest pieces of acting ever seen. Because Jimmy Stewart was suffering
from post-World War II PTSD, he was able to connect with George Bailey’s trauma
with unusual depth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On his twentieth
combat mission flying over the city of Gotha, the floor of Stewart’s plane was
hit, blowing a hole right below his feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was one mission too many for Stewart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was grounded because of his paralyzing fear of making a mistake and
causing someone to die. Friends observed that he had aged ten to twenty years.
He began suffering from shakes, sweats, a short temper, mood swings, and
nightmares. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He couldn’t keep food down,
and had to live on just ice cream and peanut butter. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Christmas
1946 was surprisingly healing for both George Bailey and Jimmy Stewart himself.
Who can fail to recall the final scene around the Christmas tree when all his
friends come together and unite in support? Who can forget the joyful Christmas
carols sung by Jimmy Stewart, friends and family as they thanked the baby Jesus
for the true meaning of Christmas? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This
Christmas, let not forget to unwrap the true gift of Christmas, the Christ
Child come to earth to save us.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rev. Dr.
Ed & Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Co-authors
of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Gods-Firestarters-Preparing-Families-Revivals-ebook/dp/B09H3KR3DQ">God’s Firestarters</a></i><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-59886991217246186952022-11-01T07:27:00.000-04:002022-11-01T07:27:09.944-04:00Reflection on November 1 – All Saints’ Day by Eleanor Shepherd<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO7_5uHEYuW_1JSLBme1IOaUApLz7xEA1nQV93qw9bCq-2xGx10vn6oy1o2Gtl-xKSbuvEy33bgwgYrvU-dz2Kv05GjY-L71E-wrzEYKxJQaKODfYtNm0Z0zHdNpDxUwOJrRTDDR8YnftpGMUrpiG3pPLnLkqyhGhlJiMYkTyyyBaGCTWwHfKtri_Z7g/s1224/p05p01%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1194" data-original-width="1224" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO7_5uHEYuW_1JSLBme1IOaUApLz7xEA1nQV93qw9bCq-2xGx10vn6oy1o2Gtl-xKSbuvEy33bgwgYrvU-dz2Kv05GjY-L71E-wrzEYKxJQaKODfYtNm0Z0zHdNpDxUwOJrRTDDR8YnftpGMUrpiG3pPLnLkqyhGhlJiMYkTyyyBaGCTWwHfKtri_Z7g/s320/p05p01%20copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> On Sunday morning as I was getting ready to go to church, I was listening to the radio. All the discussion was about Hallowe’en, that seems to have become an event that stirs the imagination of everyone. Yet I find that much of the focus is on death, darkness, fear and what I consider a negative world view. It seems a travesty of what I have understood Hallowe’en to be originally. <p></p><p><br /></p><p> It is the Eve of All Hallows’ Day, a time when evil is recognized as reaching its limitation. You see All Hallows’ Day is a celebration of the unity that exists among all those who have sought to follow God in the centuries before they existed and all those who are currently trusting in God and all those who in the future will respond to the call to follow Him as well. This celebrates valuing of one another as we travel the same journey following the path of faith.</p><p> </p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As I further reflected, I saw a unique parallel between Hallowe’en and All Saints Day and Good Friday and Easter. Hallowe’en is a time when the focus is on darkness and evil and shadows and masks, even cruelty and death. Good Friday focuses on a time when evil seemed to dominate as One who showed love and kindness was made to suffer and die, a victim of the darkness that held sway at the time. </p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsn7KsUT0OxmTEZAlKPm3PDcdqGx6HJwBF4flj7Wkjf5trsHCO8CsQmaxADY9tSgdWw2EKXa2L-izh9QJ9dYNtthCjw9ByNCHxmz4H8eegezZQzZIOeEhRuj3VeVVeZsTEd2r9AiGxqAH1A5aZ44SA1H2TvHN6FZ5wXtnJaOVapkwG8toS6HyHWd7Hg/s960/Hallowe'en.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsn7KsUT0OxmTEZAlKPm3PDcdqGx6HJwBF4flj7Wkjf5trsHCO8CsQmaxADY9tSgdWw2EKXa2L-izh9QJ9dYNtthCjw9ByNCHxmz4H8eegezZQzZIOeEhRuj3VeVVeZsTEd2r9AiGxqAH1A5aZ44SA1H2TvHN6FZ5wXtnJaOVapkwG8toS6HyHWd7Hg/s320/Hallowe'en.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> Then All Saints Day follows Hallowe’en and the focus shifts completely to those who have realized that their lives have been or are being or will be transformed by a love that conquered evil on Good Friday. <p></p><p><br /></p><p> Love that creates this unique union of those who are accompanied by the great cloud of witnesses, who are believers. We read about them in the letter written to Hebrew followers of the way. It includes people like Abraham who trusted God, Moses who obediently led God’s people to trust Him, King David described as a man after God’s own heart, and many others. Then the disciples of Jesus found their lives transformed by this love and felt compelled to go, strengthened by God to share the news of this transforming love to those who followed through the ensuing centuries, until it came to those of us who are alive and experiencing that same love today. The legacy we leave is the possibility for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to know the transforming power of that love in their lives as well, as they offer their lives to God who is love. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7huISja-7I4WHx5cPbQvVBCdOm51A4MWZA6sN9mPLn2EOMl2sBaEfzCn9BoT-_BMTjxvUr1DfnJBogF2m8ScXhgHXmAPUzjWep92ky-FKdMHsBoJsFyPw6swWPnheTViISLbXnDri1JsfFD1Ocr5F3c54srVJNBEYYcBG01mP7xLKZntdYwjmfXSvRw/s270/Cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="270" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7huISja-7I4WHx5cPbQvVBCdOm51A4MWZA6sN9mPLn2EOMl2sBaEfzCn9BoT-_BMTjxvUr1DfnJBogF2m8ScXhgHXmAPUzjWep92ky-FKdMHsBoJsFyPw6swWPnheTViISLbXnDri1JsfFD1Ocr5F3c54srVJNBEYYcBG01mP7xLKZntdYwjmfXSvRw/s1600/Cross.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><p> It is love that finally triumphs over evil, by a reversal of values. Evil depends on the strength of force and might. Love is a surrender of these that opts for kindness and caring and life-building for others, giving of oneself for their sake. It is the message of the One who lay down His life for all of us. That is the message of Easter and it is the message of All Saints’ Day. </p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiuWHMe1yAA76v-7zELQwMPmPap7SBp3tP-g0Sji79ZFlwLuca6cHlvnp8yWtuoYP4yGcdcoCGGg_9tbITUosOXe7l_yWxFWadlx2uevvhwGf_0cCSkBbPA5RjD8Rnim3IxH7qD0JMtIVQWBLmxbu_Q1HXP3N3N06Bc8PqWy88VVYb2_tDxJksVAz4sQ/s600/Shepherd.MoreQuestions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiuWHMe1yAA76v-7zELQwMPmPap7SBp3tP-g0Sji79ZFlwLuca6cHlvnp8yWtuoYP4yGcdcoCGGg_9tbITUosOXe7l_yWxFWadlx2uevvhwGf_0cCSkBbPA5RjD8Rnim3IxH7qD0JMtIVQWBLmxbu_Q1HXP3N3N06Bc8PqWy88VVYb2_tDxJksVAz4sQ/w133-h200/Shepherd.MoreQuestions.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwdCQ98_nrujunuMCyKNuzjVvE6gtEMQJyKxNVdu5dzJnhd3HGusBM6hlAoqESjt2FPe1KLd0jwH-gd2HkoBFPXRokLS4fl44fCaZ8c4mB6u3-vycC1BK5-XXZg0V2MsNMa0DbfT5a-owK1V9IiRFFtwL4Z2VSN3NHXdHYJW8czOYv_w5fdD4GR8z5Cw/s600/CHAC-Feature-Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwdCQ98_nrujunuMCyKNuzjVvE6gtEMQJyKxNVdu5dzJnhd3HGusBM6hlAoqESjt2FPe1KLd0jwH-gd2HkoBFPXRokLS4fl44fCaZ8c4mB6u3-vycC1BK5-XXZg0V2MsNMa0DbfT5a-owK1V9IiRFFtwL4Z2VSN3NHXdHYJW8czOYv_w5fdD4GR8z5Cw/w133-h200/CHAC-Feature-Book.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9NaL9tauW6S3FMvFw8kJnPIUwzAlTeQjTUs3SlVaoXVS6-jPW2syp6rUQCCB-ChxW75UD7Oj34oK15Zay25FmXMCzPDoEAPVS2Aidr3TAh2nhrCpz3D4Gvc8jJlER_38nwU76L7_LFh_fJ9tBKBBLBxkkb1g-Zv-iSvIDDP-v1PQZSVlzWa9f1uk9Pw/s231/hac-final-web-small-150x231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="150" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9NaL9tauW6S3FMvFw8kJnPIUwzAlTeQjTUs3SlVaoXVS6-jPW2syp6rUQCCB-ChxW75UD7Oj34oK15Zay25FmXMCzPDoEAPVS2Aidr3TAh2nhrCpz3D4Gvc8jJlER_38nwU76L7_LFh_fJ9tBKBBLBxkkb1g-Zv-iSvIDDP-v1PQZSVlzWa9f1uk9Pw/w130-h200/hac-final-web-small-150x231.jpg" width="130" /></a><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div><br /></div>Eleanor Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03817601012607775874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-17733288042169055482022-09-08T21:35:00.001-04:002022-11-01T07:28:25.154-04:00What Are You Doing? by Eleanor Shepherd<p> For a few years now, I have spent twenty minutes in the morning trying to listen to what God has to say to me. Yet He often remains silent. </p><p>One Monday morning not long ago, I said to Him, “If I can’t hear You, could you at least show me what You are doing?” Then, reaching for my phone to set the timer I noticed a text from our son, in Toronto. Texts from him early in the morning are unusual. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCfON8uH-FiOcpDwtwNKxgDx_Pyge0uDaI4c3D0rNIJdLpOXI4Jx1dNWV8Sux5v_yTRU9-L6fnaHEbhMjqi65fvOHJ4vGVummt6OqqWNSPYUUMelvQUBAvXXjjUPw93V1ln9VmAoxTnthAmVNOAvlNjmDQQv2eFjrCDO318DnBcUQ7ZGu2_Icjztu0g/s640/68344108394__D45A73DC-341C-4E99-9757-09AC94037541.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCfON8uH-FiOcpDwtwNKxgDx_Pyge0uDaI4c3D0rNIJdLpOXI4Jx1dNWV8Sux5v_yTRU9-L6fnaHEbhMjqi65fvOHJ4vGVummt6OqqWNSPYUUMelvQUBAvXXjjUPw93V1ln9VmAoxTnthAmVNOAvlNjmDQQv2eFjrCDO318DnBcUQ7ZGu2_Icjztu0g/s320/68344108394__D45A73DC-341C-4E99-9757-09AC94037541.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br />It included a photo. The text read, “I need help urgently. My wheelchair is broken in two places and it will take at least several days to get parts. In the meantime, I’m bed-bound. Also, my desk fell over.” The photo showed the chaos of his room. <p></p><p>I ran to the bedroom and showed Glen, my husband. His solution was John’s old manual wheelchair in our storage cupboard in the basement. We ferreted it out and threw it in the car. Texting John to let him know we were coming; the next hurdle was to arrange the repairs our car needed before it was safe to travel.</p><p>A week earlier, Glen made an appointment to bring the car in that day for the repairs, as it was a particularly busy time. Learning of our plight, the garage owner rescheduled the repairs and put our car first on the list. While it was being repaired, Glen went to the office in a courtesy car to fetch files he needed for an important meeting online the next day. </p><p>By mid-morning we were on the highway and were in Toronto by 4:30 Monday afternoon. Pulling the old wheelchair out of the car, we discovered the pin that holds the right wheel on to the chair was missing. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1FMuPpiDle8Z-1Cn6IBch7r934ow9brz21iI5VWmVg6gdMb-ReynrQiX3mG4274pl9d-IQgOFFM7LgR6rYtWVkVQ1oSENGpK454HPMVNonXZ_t1WliMHMPXOmVdiMmld4JdbGln6zdGkMNX8i3FbFTmc3tvDRVN_Uo3lGHyqSnVMEhzhdPJvb_t04Cg/s4032/IMG_0705.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1FMuPpiDle8Z-1Cn6IBch7r934ow9brz21iI5VWmVg6gdMb-ReynrQiX3mG4274pl9d-IQgOFFM7LgR6rYtWVkVQ1oSENGpK454HPMVNonXZ_t1WliMHMPXOmVdiMmld4JdbGln6zdGkMNX8i3FbFTmc3tvDRVN_Uo3lGHyqSnVMEhzhdPJvb_t04Cg/s320/IMG_0705.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />Only one place in Toronto provides wheelchair repairs and many of our experiences with them over the past twenty years, since John’s accident have been negative. The company has changed hands several times but never seems to be able to deal with all of the demands. Without other options we had to call them. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDMzJ5VYAci4AMS78sd0PmnjR3Ta9Y_DJoK6rxUuZo_R3qXKEPMY-EN8mVSFNaYbvd873cMhsHuSvL2U95WwntjUBBSvHDJl6LYvZ3eK4DkRh2ZnyQCvYNvJ9k5cOOBbX4eqyEXf3SAVZTBrNZJRCzDKinuymVhWW0RQnbVUwErMLCAHvFHUk_oEPaLg/s4032/IMG_7558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDMzJ5VYAci4AMS78sd0PmnjR3Ta9Y_DJoK6rxUuZo_R3qXKEPMY-EN8mVSFNaYbvd873cMhsHuSvL2U95WwntjUBBSvHDJl6LYvZ3eK4DkRh2ZnyQCvYNvJ9k5cOOBbX4eqyEXf3SAVZTBrNZJRCzDKinuymVhWW0RQnbVUwErMLCAHvFHUk_oEPaLg/w199-h266/IMG_7558.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>Checking their number on line, we found out the service department was closing in five minutes. John risked spending another day in bed, increasing the possibility of bedsores that take months to heal.<p></p><p>However, when John pressed the key to check their hours, a voice asked what help he needed. He explained about the pin and the person on the line said she would check their warehouse to see if they had one. A short while later, she called to report she had not found the pin, but was going to check with her manager. He might know if they had one. Soon she called back again to say they found the pin. We could bring the chair at noon on Tuesday to make sure it would fit. <br /></p><p>When we went to the shop Tuesday, we also brought the chair that had broken. John had made an appointment for them to come and pick it up from his place on Thursday, since he obviously could not bring it in. If we brought it Tuesday, it could be repaired sooner. </p><p>The pin fit perfectly and although the tires were bald and the rims needed replacing, the old chair was quickly made functional. If they could find another set of wheels in the warehouse, they would bring them with the repaired chair to John’s place Thursday. </p><p>However, while we were waiting for all the paperwork to be done for the old chair, the supervisor came into the room and said to us. “Well, we have a miracle here. We were able to repair this chair as well. There was the broken chair, fixed and ready to go.” We were overjoyed, and loading the two functioning chairs in the car we headed back to John’s place.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFkIqjWLgPkuZlhdbxnHx_AqHgJv6gqMsf87WzZuLNVERJEdLN1vlbE1hC-OMiIsLjsa1gPvshT1QvqkO4w0w06RrJXBZWodxNM5-_2_FRnpjAvVrJIiecQAIZgk5hFkifTgLljAYL76zSjT2ZAdsuekWpIHc7GsXkJBou24OqxtyCqSPG9pJCJphCEw/s4032/IMG_2996.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFkIqjWLgPkuZlhdbxnHx_AqHgJv6gqMsf87WzZuLNVERJEdLN1vlbE1hC-OMiIsLjsa1gPvshT1QvqkO4w0w06RrJXBZWodxNM5-_2_FRnpjAvVrJIiecQAIZgk5hFkifTgLljAYL76zSjT2ZAdsuekWpIHc7GsXkJBou24OqxtyCqSPG9pJCJphCEw/s320/IMG_2996.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>As we drove back, I marveled with Glen about all that we had seen. To me it was evidence of how God is caring for our son and thereby showing us His love. He knows the concerns of our hearts and responds to them. I heard His love. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjizrJ-uzD9mqFxwA3Dbc0wBZ7y_WT3RFH_QJfZKh4Rp-5BbaOg6PPFbTM_4LEcJuVJBBm-02uh1Ci403-tRGNV0V3EHfvJsKuZrom4Wheckf2_8LOd5PqI5tmiw8e2kGk50c0nqLqux2ExbRxBznw4IbDDMcziGYsu8mRqdmizr0B-CBrPAXmt0k3VcA/s600/Shepherd.MoreQuestions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjizrJ-uzD9mqFxwA3Dbc0wBZ7y_WT3RFH_QJfZKh4Rp-5BbaOg6PPFbTM_4LEcJuVJBBm-02uh1Ci403-tRGNV0V3EHfvJsKuZrom4Wheckf2_8LOd5PqI5tmiw8e2kGk50c0nqLqux2ExbRxBznw4IbDDMcziGYsu8mRqdmizr0B-CBrPAXmt0k3VcA/w133-h200/Shepherd.MoreQuestions.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzo0iaTjTgW0vYdg9B6pTdYjJoz-9Q_ZjkBQToVYFLbrC2eCGb4oLLCWzHE5SJ7LVRkih2-ze9nR0fT8xSmA0aDZFz2nHAybq9LQUk0LfIccqtDgxKaAXum7MiPGYBbfGvYioxF1d54QNfyoF3hvM8pBVr60qZNngRP7Ojhk2NT1sgkxNEE8eckKXuiA/s231/hac-final-web-small-150x231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="150" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzo0iaTjTgW0vYdg9B6pTdYjJoz-9Q_ZjkBQToVYFLbrC2eCGb4oLLCWzHE5SJ7LVRkih2-ze9nR0fT8xSmA0aDZFz2nHAybq9LQUk0LfIccqtDgxKaAXum7MiPGYBbfGvYioxF1d54QNfyoF3hvM8pBVr60qZNngRP7Ojhk2NT1sgkxNEE8eckKXuiA/w130-h200/hac-final-web-small-150x231.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAesmo5R6XYKXyZJ6E0zuEI57mPgijE3w8_cYUpZOEN3hn9luYlCjqyPUCBcAJZ9Nfg8ptOWV4xTwUCBmt_GiDxjtRXtqLaWsl4bGGBkREdCttc6UuLzJ67dznUmBbHQjSJluUrR9_JDD5qGC8KYlOiPoGc4TrAfcPKlBpzbgQ6kbCW3HEhiPF-bA4qg/s600/CHAC-Feature-Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAesmo5R6XYKXyZJ6E0zuEI57mPgijE3w8_cYUpZOEN3hn9luYlCjqyPUCBcAJZ9Nfg8ptOWV4xTwUCBmt_GiDxjtRXtqLaWsl4bGGBkREdCttc6UuLzJ67dznUmBbHQjSJluUrR9_JDD5qGC8KYlOiPoGc4TrAfcPKlBpzbgQ6kbCW3HEhiPF-bA4qg/w133-h200/CHAC-Feature-Book.jpg" width="133" /></a><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><br />Eleanor Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03817601012607775874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-59313426517710706692022-08-21T21:07:00.002-04:002022-08-29T12:12:10.707-04:00Are We Almost There?<p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Are We Almost There? — Carolyn Wilker</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">How
long will this last? We asked that question two years ago when the first COVID
lockdown occurred. At first, with no appointments or meetings, it provided a
break from steady routines. But then it stretched out into weeks and months and
before we knew it a year had passed. I longed for hugs from my grandkids.
Visits with my friends. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">When
our daughter Laura brought groceries, my two oldest granddaughters came along.
They stood outside on the front porch wistfully looking in and I looked outside,
feeling the same. We were doing what we ought; it was so hard.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> Ana
said, “I wish we could hug.” Great sadness filled her eyes. We started the air
hug right then. “When we can hug again, I want a 72-hour hug!” she said. I
agreed. We did the hugs with arms crossed and each hand touching the opposite
shoulder. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Much later we managed outdoor visits, porch to sidewalk, and then
summer 2021, our first hug. The longest wait ever! Before that though we got
creative with stories over Facetime, music jam sessions that way too.
Whatever would we have done without technology? It was the way we stayed
connected.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-80wSoBcybYjHvsWy7laZ0RBMDZvp_TqL-6YuANJ_26-eMMs_DVkW4ZZ2OQ8RJE21Zk5a35cnicP44OmbN74XdVHElXAkzURBjS-1IdiVFtn5Z4iHGabVSkXWaChTX68pakpOXq_te0PjjIIdVNXOO8ajdeUEOI2QLzthf21mUMMxYSO9KhNYkGdR/s4896/IMG_20200412_1201256.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_is-Qt1CEo-1SI3njeYv2y37PZsnsuUghQByy5cMMV2hk0NKMaGq_f9dbE0CiD_d94JvpovcQydzDp3qDwf6Aa-Zv8X5FDLx7kOU4TY94bemHYCXkaO93X_5T3TfMlVWljv-cv6dTdIgPr9zmf9Fj00EQ4tG4gknXqNIlsDX2D8VkoxCXWGDtduS5/s3409/IMG_20200403_1559211%20(2).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2556" data-original-width="3409" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_is-Qt1CEo-1SI3njeYv2y37PZsnsuUghQByy5cMMV2hk0NKMaGq_f9dbE0CiD_d94JvpovcQydzDp3qDwf6Aa-Zv8X5FDLx7kOU4TY94bemHYCXkaO93X_5T3TfMlVWljv-cv6dTdIgPr9zmf9Fj00EQ4tG4gknXqNIlsDX2D8VkoxCXWGDtduS5/w223-h167/IMG_20200403_1559211%20(2).jpg" width="223" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-80wSoBcybYjHvsWy7laZ0RBMDZvp_TqL-6YuANJ_26-eMMs_DVkW4ZZ2OQ8RJE21Zk5a35cnicP44OmbN74XdVHElXAkzURBjS-1IdiVFtn5Z4iHGabVSkXWaChTX68pakpOXq_te0PjjIIdVNXOO8ajdeUEOI2QLzthf21mUMMxYSO9KhNYkGdR/s4896/IMG_20200412_1201256.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-80wSoBcybYjHvsWy7laZ0RBMDZvp_TqL-6YuANJ_26-eMMs_DVkW4ZZ2OQ8RJE21Zk5a35cnicP44OmbN74XdVHElXAkzURBjS-1IdiVFtn5Z4iHGabVSkXWaChTX68pakpOXq_te0PjjIIdVNXOO8ajdeUEOI2QLzthf21mUMMxYSO9KhNYkGdR/s4896/IMG_20200412_1201256.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;">driveway dance party</span></a><u><br /></u></div></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IMnewo3kF2uOChN3_fWK68SbAQm6VbXr4fJ9tTJSm1jmDspb1sHrNrdK9Ks6w2p4Hs6fJNjrM0mpo63wDJ6DgS0K05j-_54NCJXQ53kNQVoR5a-COsHcrReEAeUyUq3EQXQUShQw3RI22uQOZHnVtN9Z_8kX9TPhUQNQVbjwm66m8-o-Z3D2LcVl/s2309/garden%20beds%20May%202020.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1732" data-original-width="2309" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IMnewo3kF2uOChN3_fWK68SbAQm6VbXr4fJ9tTJSm1jmDspb1sHrNrdK9Ks6w2p4Hs6fJNjrM0mpo63wDJ6DgS0K05j-_54NCJXQ53kNQVoR5a-COsHcrReEAeUyUq3EQXQUShQw3RI22uQOZHnVtN9Z_8kX9TPhUQNQVbjwm66m8-o-Z3D2LcVl/w226-h170/garden%20beds%20May%202020.jpg" width="226" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> planting a garden <br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> We baked too</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> <br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEsl1SxzNadhVZmzqa1iMMU55eTbtCan9l2I1MuloIKxKGpyzns8ANdcA0MGfdbiQHU_TgWYIf5l4U5ByTJLxHG7loI_NtKqw0CpDysSv-ZZL-bI_TnLACRS_KZVATFSjc9GkFIpw3Dd6T3V7EhI8HK17T5er16kuAfox1QycCkaPlt_vpyepFrSLV/s4896/IMG_20200410_1744502.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3672" data-original-width="4896" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEsl1SxzNadhVZmzqa1iMMU55eTbtCan9l2I1MuloIKxKGpyzns8ANdcA0MGfdbiQHU_TgWYIf5l4U5ByTJLxHG7loI_NtKqw0CpDysSv-ZZL-bI_TnLACRS_KZVATFSjc9GkFIpw3Dd6T3V7EhI8HK17T5er16kuAfox1QycCkaPlt_vpyepFrSLV/w240-h180/IMG_20200410_1744502.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> <br /></span></div></span></div></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Things we did to occupy ourselves in those early COVID days and forward</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Reminds
me of a devotional I wrote not so long ago. I wanted to say so much more, but I
had to stay within a certain number of words for the publication. So I whittled and whittled words. The text was
about Abraham and Sarah in Ur, near their family, being told by God (Genesis
12:1) that they must leave their homeland and go to a place that God would give
them. Talk about uncertainty! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
second: “I will make of you a great nation,” (v.2) and their descendants would
be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Pretty hard to believe if you’re 72
like Abraham with a wife equally as old.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">You
and I would have planned our trip, with maps, Google searches, and GPS to know
where we’re going. But Abraham had none of those. In fact he had no idea where
they were going. They would have folded their tent, packed their gear, and set
off, only God knew where. They had to develop patience if they didn't have it before.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"></span>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">They were
told only, “A land I will give you.” Perhaps they lost track of time, but God
was their guide and on they went. It must have felt like forever. After
troubles along the way, they reached Canaan. Abraham was told this is their ‘forever’
home. Finally!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I’m
guessing we probably would have gotten off that ride earlier, if we could. Like
children on a long car ride. <i>Are we almost there?</i> Which reminds me of where we
are today. I hope we get to the end of this ride soon, even if life is a little different than before. And God is there as our guide even as God was to Abraham.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Carolyn Wilker is an author, editor and storyteller from southwestern Ontario.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><a href="https://www.carolynwilker.ca/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">https://www.carolynwilker.ca/</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtl3rb5ScuULi3FC6dBAvttiyCtCFTQVgVlr4Ce6JzqR6dwbwJW3D9zz9IHftoIgu2B6wddulV3GAqjYUK0lPK8zNEn4gnoacg58dvrjuQmh6iG23HpzqkP5Znsth511Q-mBCjeEnWtSuq_ByYYtgivWhy95SglrtyYOUmVuADECV3JsF-tqnqf2fM/s2100/Carolyn%20Wilker_114.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1501" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtl3rb5ScuULi3FC6dBAvttiyCtCFTQVgVlr4Ce6JzqR6dwbwJW3D9zz9IHftoIgu2B6wddulV3GAqjYUK0lPK8zNEn4gnoacg58dvrjuQmh6iG23HpzqkP5Znsth511Q-mBCjeEnWtSuq_ByYYtgivWhy95SglrtyYOUmVuADECV3JsF-tqnqf2fM/s320/Carolyn%20Wilker_114.jpg" width="229" /></a></div> Photo by David McCammon<br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p>
<p></p><br /><br />Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-31845825064004819842022-08-09T12:22:00.000-04:002022-08-09T12:22:38.225-04:00William Morgan, Missionary Inventor of Volley Ball<p> </p><br />
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">By Rev. Dr. Ed &
Janice Hird<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">-an article in the
<a href="https://engage.lightmagazine.ca/">Engage Light Magazine</a><o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1bZxaXWWijyO36a93k7ikzhAKTeyf6FwULaj95VpHuWzrN_tytj0P9-1NDNypRU7N-bG20j0HooeV2OxGx4quI96q081ik3qmKl_wp11JKsCupKSJTkK6B_gLVbve6bIr5u3HCIYMg9r496g7BSOId3lXDJATqMCWAtWlc-0IXQXurm_PSZyo1rx3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="867" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1bZxaXWWijyO36a93k7ikzhAKTeyf6FwULaj95VpHuWzrN_tytj0P9-1NDNypRU7N-bG20j0HooeV2OxGx4quI96q081ik3qmKl_wp11JKsCupKSJTkK6B_gLVbve6bIr5u3HCIYMg9r496g7BSOId3lXDJATqMCWAtWlc-0IXQXurm_PSZyo1rx3" width="170" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">Being made in our Creator’s
image, is it any surprise that Christians keep creatively inventing? Few people
know that two of the most popular sports, basketball and volleyball, were both
invented by Christian missionaries in the 1890s as evangelistic sports?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of us first learned to play volleyball
during our school gym class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who might
have imagined that 127 years later, over 46 million North Americans and 800
million people globally would now participate in volleyball? Some estimate that
volleyball has become the most popular team sport in the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">Born in 1870 at Lockport, New
York, William G. Morgan loved working at his father's boat yard on the banks of
the Old Erie Canal. Like many young men, he wanted to be just like his
dad. So at age 14, he initially ran away from home to work on a canal
boat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At age 15, William actually dropped
out of school because he felt awkward about being larger than most of his
classmates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His godly mother, seeing his
academic gifting, had him apply to the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody’s Mount
Hermon School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A local pastor, R.
Norton, supported Will’s application, stating, “He is very thoughtful and
interested in spiritual things. He is very reliable and has much symmetry of
character.” Willam’s Sunday School teacher wrote this endorsement of the Morgan
family:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">His mother is a remarkable woman.
A devout Christian, a “main stay” in her Church; calm, quiet, dignified in her
bearing, she purchases ably and shows great executive ability earnestly and
most devoutly does she work and pray for the good of young people of East
Lockport. Respectfully, L. F. Helmer (Mrs. J. S.) <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">William’s initial application
sadly was not accepted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, his
persistent Sunday School teacher sent a second endorsement letter, saying,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: 2.25pt;">I simply write
to ask attention to it, as his call is critical. If Will is not accepted now,
for term beginning in Feb., there is great reason to fear he will never go to
school again. Not from his wish, but from circumstances….A thoroughly
established Christian, inheriting from his mother superior qualities of mind
and heart, he is well worth polishing for his Master’s use. I beg your
attention to his application. Respectfully, Mrs. J. S. Helmer.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">Within a week, Will was accepted
into Mount Hermon, where he had a steady diet of bible, academics, music, and
sports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While singing on evangelistic
tours, he fell into love with the pianist, Mary King Caldwell, his future
wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Football became his passion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the Mount Hermon football team held its
own against the superstar YMCA Springfield team, William was recruited four
days later by the Springfield Coach Dr. James Naismith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Springfield College was part of the muscular
Christianity movement, creating such a strong football team that they defeated
the best of the University teams, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">After Dr. Naismith received a
nasty concussion, he invented a kinder, more Christian sport, basketball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>William Morgan, who was mentored by Dr.
Naismith, became the YMCA physical education director in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
There, he noticed that basketball was too rigorous for middle-aged business
people. So in 1895, he invented volleyball, as a gentler spinoff from
basketball. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a non-contact sport,
there were far fewer bloody noses. It was a clear example of iron sharpening
iron. In creating volleyball, William adapted ideas from handball, baseball, tennis,
and badminton. His desire was to invent a new game which everyone could play, regardless
of their age or physical ability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Initially he called it Mintonette. Fortunately, he wisely listened to Professor
Alfred Halstead’s advice to rename it as Volleyball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needing a lighter ball than a basketball, he
asked A.G. Spalding to create one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Writing the original rules for volleyball, William printed them in
the first edition of the <i>Official Handbook of the Athletic League of
the Young Men’s Christian Associations of North America</i> (1897). William
Morgan left his job at the YMCA in 1897 to work for General Electric and
Westinghouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though no longer a
YMCA missionary, William said that he was "content in the knowledge that
the (volleyball) game brought a richer life to millions of people throughout
the world." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">in 1900 Canada became the first
country outside of the USA to adopt the game. YMCA missionaries quickly
introduced Volleyball to missionary schools in Asia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It became so popular that it was played in
the Oriental Games as early as 1913.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once
again, it was YMCA missionaries who ministered to the body, mind and spirit
through volleyball: Hyozo Omori and Franklin Brown in Japan (1908), Elwood S.
Brown in the Philippines (1910), J. Howard Crocker in China, and Dr. J.H. Gray
in Burma, China & India. Volleyball, like basketball, was truly a
missionary sport with global impact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the early YMCA, founded by the evangelist Sir George Williams, they didn’t just
play sports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before each game, they
would have a time of Christ-centered bible study and prayer with the sports
team.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">Volleyball caught on in Russia through
the YMCA. When the YMCA were kicked out in 1927 of Russia for being capitalist
and religious, volleyball however was allowed to remain. Russia eventually
became the dominant team globally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>During WWI, the USA troops brought volleyball to Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Volleyball was first demonstrated in the 1924
Parish Olympics, but not added as an official Olympic sport until 1964. Beach
volleyball did not get accepted in the Olympics until 1996.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">We thank God for William Morgan,
an amazingly creative missionary, who left us with a healthy, non-violent sport
that has impacted the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird,
co-author of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Gods-Firestarters-Preparing-Families-Revivals-ebook/dp/B09H3KR3DQ">God’s Firestarters</a></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Ed Hird+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10227773203796805311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-504412798060359462022-08-03T12:14:00.000-04:002022-08-03T12:14:27.206-04:00ANOTHER WAY by Eleanor Shepherd<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{171}" paraid="738692707" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCK8ofi1vhdC7fGthcdVC0zJghNCsbXVTnbR6NSnYtlMfWGmYC6-skWJ_PuDehGXnsNseREs3qyT363CF-_aHeqsVl4fk7fl9W0R-7-2kHNy2y2rRW15uKhrlaE2KjezmS_zEOFVjNL52fQO9eCmXEtQGcnSiWdcxIlww0D9FOOhDa1xtipVe5TdjiQ/s640/Covid%20Tests.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="87" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCK8ofi1vhdC7fGthcdVC0zJghNCsbXVTnbR6NSnYtlMfWGmYC6-skWJ_PuDehGXnsNseREs3qyT363CF-_aHeqsVl4fk7fl9W0R-7-2kHNy2y2rRW15uKhrlaE2KjezmS_zEOFVjNL52fQO9eCmXEtQGcnSiWdcxIlww0D9FOOhDa1xtipVe5TdjiQ/w116-h87/Covid%20Tests.jpg" width="116" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"> Emerging<span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> from the global pandemic, I am appalled at the level of aggression I </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">observe</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> in public discourse. I must admit though, it has not taken me by surprize.</span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-indent: 0px; user-select: text;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" color="windowtext" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"></span><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" color="windowtext" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap;" xml:lang="EN-US"> Glen, and I went to a movie a few years ago. During the previews, before the movie started, I was disturbed to note the number of new movies coming out that were characterized by violence. </span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" color="windowtext" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{193}" paraid="1814731079" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{193}" paraid="1814731079" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">That evening, perplexed by the previews, I thought, “I wonder where is all this violence is coming from and where is it taking us.” </span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{199}" paraid="1413511327" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{199}" paraid="1413511327" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Perhaps I</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> am now finding out. We are </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">emerging</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> from the isolation and frustration of the global pandemic and </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">don’t</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> know what to do with the emotions being stirred up in us; emotions generated by the experiences created during a violent interruption to normal routines. </span></span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{199}" paraid="1413511327" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{199}" paraid="1413511327" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Already unbalanced by this, we are being thrust headlong into an uncertain future where all the goalposts have shifted. </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Serious questions</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> come at us about topics that include all sorts of unheard-of questions about our sexuality, about racial injustice in so many parts of the world and about historic decisions made by, or creating consequences for, us and our ancestors. These pressing questions linked with current economic and social anxieties create strong emotional responses. </span></span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{209}" paraid="4999371" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{209}" paraid="4999371" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">In the confusion, we grasp desperately for some answers or resolutions to our unsolvable problems. Panic leaves us looking for scapegoats. We search desperately for an easy fix to ease our emotional pain. </span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> <br /></span></span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><h2 style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZGno50SGV8qZ_SGcFIToqSKTQ2Np7XcYF_UizTdhXGlq-i3dgIlEJ9RxBchgn8uwrmq0Gk9lCWLWDVt22lGXajURIJHzsYIN44mPkYq7L5o3_W___PZOi93jlpTny3WZTKentQ3fmeTNKptW2az67pgkHdiurTceq6dlZfgiG6PzwAkuC96pH5C_uQ/s640/thumbnail_IMG_0962.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: arial; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="481" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZGno50SGV8qZ_SGcFIToqSKTQ2Np7XcYF_UizTdhXGlq-i3dgIlEJ9RxBchgn8uwrmq0Gk9lCWLWDVt22lGXajURIJHzsYIN44mPkYq7L5o3_W___PZOi93jlpTny3WZTKentQ3fmeTNKptW2az67pgkHdiurTceq6dlZfgiG6PzwAkuC96pH5C_uQ/w179-h237/thumbnail_IMG_0962.jpg" width="179" /></span></span></a></div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></h2><h2 style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Political leaders, scientists, pollsters, government officials, religious leaders, as well as interest groups on both the left and the right politically, offer opinions and sometimes quick solutions. They </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">state</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> their views aggressively with the certainty that they are right and all others are in error. The result manufactures greater tension without resolution. </span></span></span></span></h2><h2 style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW231922947 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></h2><h2 style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW231922947 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">In the contradictory rhetoric, we hear the offer of simple, </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW231922947 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">certain</span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW231922947 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and cost-free solutions popping up. Then, we realize few people have taken the time and effort to seriously consider all the aspects of these problems. Has anyone focused attention on figuring out any reasonable ways we might find a compromise or attempted to consider the merits of another point of view.</span> </span><span class="EOP SCXW231922947 BCX8" color="windowtext" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></span></h2></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{237}" paraid="1355841697" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" color="windowtext" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{abe92cae-d215-485c-afb4-301ebe91c0bc}{237}" paraid="1355841697" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" color="windowtext" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Media giants place their bets on what appears as a popular viewpoint and amass all the evidence available to support that position. It is out of the question to consider positives as well as negatives of a contrary view. The dominating fear is having to live with ambiguity, and admit we do not have all the answers. </span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" color="windowtext" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{86cd4d7b-17d0-4103-b65c-d7cbefcb47f2}{10}" paraid="2045142376" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{86cd4d7b-17d0-4103-b65c-d7cbefcb47f2}{10}" paraid="2045142376" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">I wonder if this reflects what the polls tell us. Many have jettisoned long held faith. Did they think all the questions would be answered by the technology we were developing? </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Ironically</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> questions push much scientific research. Many life-giving solutions continue to be discovered, on the way by, as scientists seek answers</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">to logical questions. Have we given up too easily on the serious issues that challenge our faith?</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{86cd4d7b-17d0-4103-b65c-d7cbefcb47f2}{20}" paraid="1994800276" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{86cd4d7b-17d0-4103-b65c-d7cbefcb47f2}{20}" paraid="1994800276" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">What we, as people of faith, sometimes </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">fail to</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> realize is questions can nurture our growth and lead us into deeper spiritual knowledge and understanding. We need not resort to easy answers. Why do we assume that what always was is the way things must always be?</span></span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{86cd4d7b-17d0-4103-b65c-d7cbefcb47f2}{20}" paraid="1994800276" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{86cd4d7b-17d0-4103-b65c-d7cbefcb47f2}{30}" paraid="1133388315" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5XwztxcA3FH4Bshvhk3AWtySmPW2eUm68opunQdeoWRtO82XlmGEGdWV6xK6iKdbk5q281dXzWd4Kuqcy1EjRgH9tPe0vW8C3hvshzEx7n6nnsSY0KcWFqJrklhCDhlN46DmI54BIrfzfz1Kzh8iRKHpEbabz9eTguHcWjO39h6uEBl2Lj_k1etvBMw/s640/Chez%20Fivaz.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5XwztxcA3FH4Bshvhk3AWtySmPW2eUm68opunQdeoWRtO82XlmGEGdWV6xK6iKdbk5q281dXzWd4Kuqcy1EjRgH9tPe0vW8C3hvshzEx7n6nnsSY0KcWFqJrklhCDhlN46DmI54BIrfzfz1Kzh8iRKHpEbabz9eTguHcWjO39h6uEBl2Lj_k1etvBMw/s320/Chez%20Fivaz.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /> As we ask ourselves and each other tough questions about how we are to live today, we grapple with the hard issues<span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">. </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Together we seek real answers and create a solid base on which we rebuild our lives. That security can afford us patience to work through unanswered questions. With the accompanying courage we learn to accept and live with ambiguity. Only One knows everything. That is God, whom we </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">ultimately trust</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">. </span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></span><p></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{86cd4d7b-17d0-4103-b65c-d7cbefcb47f2}{40}" paraid="544913264" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="TextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">His presence, with us and in us, is enough. Trusting Him, we have no need to resort to name calling or to see those who think differently as demonic opponents. Jesus </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">demonstrated</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW155915584 BCX8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> that God alone can give us the ability to offer sufficient love in our interactions with others to open doors for dialogue. </span></span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{"134233117":false,"134233118":false,"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559685":0,"335559731":720,"335559737":0,"335559738":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW155915584 BCX8" paraeid="{86cd4d7b-17d0-4103-b65c-d7cbefcb47f2}{40}" paraid="544913264" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; 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text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLfv3rHJpKlYty2AkV_ySWx0vxJBBmcYVnSUMVdvJYPv5Nce505t2Dq4Ii-GUmejq9qQd_Dt78Gnv2j9J2otjmTMulkgmqtJeCXbDYvgzCBlcv0SY8UMTD988OY1LoIw9dtfIyyPBIiqGk-DhLJkBn-quyvoCZoiIOuojllrm3-S4VCXpSloKjqiDuWg/s600/Shepherd.MoreQuestions.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLfv3rHJpKlYty2AkV_ySWx0vxJBBmcYVnSUMVdvJYPv5Nce505t2Dq4Ii-GUmejq9qQd_Dt78Gnv2j9J2otjmTMulkgmqtJeCXbDYvgzCBlcv0SY8UMTD988OY1LoIw9dtfIyyPBIiqGk-DhLJkBn-quyvoCZoiIOuojllrm3-S4VCXpSloKjqiDuWg/w133-h200/Shepherd.MoreQuestions.jpg" width="133" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2w90r7z0OO1gE0uhiossOjFJtWS-ZNbnWhL3XHMTYdN_RcCgP2mmsIXyMC4Ntq4O4JLHZ9mjR6HD6RVMN3CDbWvD5i4pZJltYwjUNyIn6ZkyoBbYYfEkT8oXkrZ08tggTwGsopAwkCvJMU2x6eiX_OmuMiVxMhbkpEKnDG3_ZQtxfCtX0iLDcPSaaYQ/s231/hac-final-web-small-150x231.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="150" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2w90r7z0OO1gE0uhiossOjFJtWS-ZNbnWhL3XHMTYdN_RcCgP2mmsIXyMC4Ntq4O4JLHZ9mjR6HD6RVMN3CDbWvD5i4pZJltYwjUNyIn6ZkyoBbYYfEkT8oXkrZ08tggTwGsopAwkCvJMU2x6eiX_OmuMiVxMhbkpEKnDG3_ZQtxfCtX0iLDcPSaaYQ/w130-h200/hac-final-web-small-150x231.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE9mBcJOsZyLuypi-RuwR4LtwgEAIgaYvvrYql3Ey5Dl-DMattjZaP8lmeRlJBTgaPonJcsStNMOj13JYw9kaCLJndtyQBctOeP46UyU7ED5q-J1Ow9Y3H_LAip-TauoMWuKeFR5bZvCuxV7aRI7tO4KojecbaTARmBWt8X5ZxPYjoc_tT7tnISmruvw/s600/CHAC-Feature-Book.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; clear: right; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE9mBcJOsZyLuypi-RuwR4LtwgEAIgaYvvrYql3Ey5Dl-DMattjZaP8lmeRlJBTgaPonJcsStNMOj13JYw9kaCLJndtyQBctOeP46UyU7ED5q-J1Ow9Y3H_LAip-TauoMWuKeFR5bZvCuxV7aRI7tO4KojecbaTARmBWt8X5ZxPYjoc_tT7tnISmruvw/w133-h200/CHAC-Feature-Book.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2w90r7z0OO1gE0uhiossOjFJtWS-ZNbnWhL3XHMTYdN_RcCgP2mmsIXyMC4Ntq4O4JLHZ9mjR6HD6RVMN3CDbWvD5i4pZJltYwjUNyIn6ZkyoBbYYfEkT8oXkrZ08tggTwGsopAwkCvJMU2x6eiX_OmuMiVxMhbkpEKnDG3_ZQtxfCtX0iLDcPSaaYQ/s231/hac-final-web-small-150x231.jpg" style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a><span face="Segoe UI, Segoe UI Web, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /></span><span class="EOP SCXW155915584 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{"134233117":false,"134233118":false,"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559685":0,"335559731":720,"335559737":0,"335559738":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}" face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><p></p></div>Eleanor Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03817601012607775874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-10488554307133542002022-07-11T12:56:00.000-04:002022-07-11T12:56:48.826-04:00 Genesis 18 meditation<p> </p><p></p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Please let a little water be brought and wash your
feet, and rest yourselves under the tree</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. - Genesis 18:4 NRSV</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On a hot summer day, we loved nothing more than to
play under the canopy of our walnut trees on the lawn. We strung twine from one
tree to another, draped blankets over the sturdy line and likely secured them
using our mother’s clothespins. There was a place we could play, imagine and
relax.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We also planned to camp out there
overnight. We tried to, but darkness, strange night sounds, and I suppose some
fear of who might visit us in there had us scurrying back into the house. Mom
and Dad knew us better than we knew ourselves. After all they were our
protectors.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I don’t suppose that as five-, six-,
or even eight-year-olds that we understood the complexity of a tree or its many
forms of usefulness, but Dad must have taken it as a goal to teach us all he
could. A place for shade on a hot summer day, which he also appreciated, and a
place to hang our first swing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We climbed trees, picked fruit from
the orchard, and gathered at least a thousand walnuts that dropped on the lawn
from the mature walnut trees. Our little Christmas trees came from our bush lot
at the back of the farm. I don’t know how Dad did it, but he cut the top of a
pine or spruce and dragged it home Christmas Eve to be decorated. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a special
effort to honour those memories, our family provided white pine seedlings to
people who attended our father’s memorial service in May 2016. I brought one
seedling home; it was so tiny it sat in my hand. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa9XIJEDYlYlWQq7MjZ_g0HwJASSpmyuidOT-dLs_O6ibZZShOm1T6Y69LWg07AHvfWLtG7tSrzvJVMt29O3i-1cNm7EcL_qKCuaU7-Gk5pTAURkiUtxaMmJZMv1HLWCYEnfdtkAifFo58Iq5K6uO5T4jD-9vMGGK-g1Pcy8-m0QfJZQE7n_RjsVX/s640/13254508_10156950599670436_3886160185566086026_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa9XIJEDYlYlWQq7MjZ_g0HwJASSpmyuidOT-dLs_O6ibZZShOm1T6Y69LWg07AHvfWLtG7tSrzvJVMt29O3i-1cNm7EcL_qKCuaU7-Gk5pTAURkiUtxaMmJZMv1HLWCYEnfdtkAifFo58Iq5K6uO5T4jD-9vMGGK-g1Pcy8-m0QfJZQE7n_RjsVX/s320/13254508_10156950599670436_3886160185566086026_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I had never grown a tree before, so
this was a new experience. After planting the tiny seedling in a pot, I left it
on the picnic table overnight. A squirrel, or some other critter, upended it,
but all was not lost. The seedling needed more protection, and so we set it in
the ground, and my husband made a wire cage to set around it as protection. We
made sure the seedling got plenty of water in those first days. And it grew
slowly and steadily over the next five years.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyYUarAgv44fu3sF-6K6WL72gkELcJXiU2G8kZZt-m0BFsK5AOL0wGywSWw3Ej1L3nA0yPFqY8nkYA1J8MjfLFhJ_Dgymoz68jInHjYIGjGZi7TzQaD1oigJlIAD5QKRXYd8jVsMTPiuyweXRHk7bXPHu4AHZ63YNOS8joSinJjVhiC_E36n65y_Iq/s2592/DSCF1010.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="1944" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyYUarAgv44fu3sF-6K6WL72gkELcJXiU2G8kZZt-m0BFsK5AOL0wGywSWw3Ej1L3nA0yPFqY8nkYA1J8MjfLFhJ_Dgymoz68jInHjYIGjGZi7TzQaD1oigJlIAD5QKRXYd8jVsMTPiuyweXRHk7bXPHu4AHZ63YNOS8joSinJjVhiC_E36n65y_Iq/s320/DSCF1010.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo1nCl1ihrbdl0qL7uCqsz_jX9DMPMPwRX78SUioIzrNxbfhwzUGqzYpe4V3jh2N6ATDSP7tvlU2w3iTfbdw2D9Vhcxab5tKm7UiTkeBAtEAHef2kblM8vYcA9DJefKLaXLdgj6NEKAtXzjoH9Al_wos-lhHTAPxJp3a4RcuN0DF15VQFqPlzVhUZR/s3648/IMG_20220322_163919.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="1680" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo1nCl1ihrbdl0qL7uCqsz_jX9DMPMPwRX78SUioIzrNxbfhwzUGqzYpe4V3jh2N6ATDSP7tvlU2w3iTfbdw2D9Vhcxab5tKm7UiTkeBAtEAHef2kblM8vYcA9DJefKLaXLdgj6NEKAtXzjoH9Al_wos-lhHTAPxJp3a4RcuN0DF15VQFqPlzVhUZR/s320/IMG_20220322_163919.jpg" width="147" /></a></div><p><br /> </p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A year ago, I inquired within our family who
would like Harry’s tree — or Dad’s tree — for their property. It had grown to
three feet and needed more room to grow. No one had just the right space for it to grow and thrive.<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Earlier this year, my friend Doris
wondered if my first home church cemetery would be a good place—where Mom’s and
Dad’s ashes, and now my brother’s too, are buried.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis0e4b7X9fiGbpThZB4jDGxKU57oMzCVYqqOfLm6eH8OOidRWcTZv17GPjAUXsZqT2HCcyffGQb0Nl8OdnMRZ7jIRBuxTIPEiwQnx1K3Y_qpsJIEzEvGN19OJ5aM3TeKwCMWEtQDJZxKMq1BmatzoxvErsLmdoVfg64Q49YsFi0z8Avx3C-UD7gN35/s3648/IMG_20220518_093716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="1680" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis0e4b7X9fiGbpThZB4jDGxKU57oMzCVYqqOfLm6eH8OOidRWcTZv17GPjAUXsZqT2HCcyffGQb0Nl8OdnMRZ7jIRBuxTIPEiwQnx1K3Y_qpsJIEzEvGN19OJ5aM3TeKwCMWEtQDJZxKMq1BmatzoxvErsLmdoVfg64Q49YsFi0z8Avx3C-UD7gN35/s320/IMG_20220518_093716.jpg" width="147" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSuyl7ubiW2kwOOwvxE6fA5Y0IrPjCX0gki34rcBoCo6qdJUWgARSsIW9ka3zllqftOi1jvlPCfSfZD8VCBBCU2gZetvCw7_QCPsLHmOSefNNzkLb2llYdDkP5mysv0eyGTVSrIOlohxpM4Vy-MVvodI07BDENqKmCYJqvfrh9T5PmXh_WoVR62Xs/s2540/Adam%20with%20Harry's%20Tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1429" data-original-width="2540" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSuyl7ubiW2kwOOwvxE6fA5Y0IrPjCX0gki34rcBoCo6qdJUWgARSsIW9ka3zllqftOi1jvlPCfSfZD8VCBBCU2gZetvCw7_QCPsLHmOSefNNzkLb2llYdDkP5mysv0eyGTVSrIOlohxpM4Vy-MVvodI07BDENqKmCYJqvfrh9T5PmXh_WoVR62Xs/s320/Adam%20with%20Harry's%20Tree.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The council members accepted the gift
and prepared a place for it to be planted. While our little spruce is not a
shade tree, it is now settled along the perimeter of that cemetery to beautify
that sacred space. Dad would be pleased. I think the Creator might be as well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDFh8KwSvJbOJM5SQ1t-UeDzqYPot0hZNArsX1phUTuMH8i7zyaXEyRHwPi6dA_dCrip6TeZN9lTsZic-nAUfZfMpAqR3ir4uzwbg6q5U7_-iR4kSPFpS91qYwjjAFSa_2GN7x5hYEyOdVdN2yTLKwNfUXMG57n2iimv6_ZCB27X_3nwo2oYye86Z/s3840/IMG_20220518_105145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDFh8KwSvJbOJM5SQ1t-UeDzqYPot0hZNArsX1phUTuMH8i7zyaXEyRHwPi6dA_dCrip6TeZN9lTsZic-nAUfZfMpAqR3ir4uzwbg6q5U7_-iR4kSPFpS91qYwjjAFSa_2GN7x5hYEyOdVdN2yTLKwNfUXMG57n2iimv6_ZCB27X_3nwo2oYye86Z/s320/IMG_20220518_105145.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When you wonder at creation and how it was so
perfectly made, does it build in you the desire to protect and care for it? It
does for me.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Carolyn Wilker, author and editor from southwestern Ontario. <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">www.carolynwilker.ca</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p> <br /><p></p>Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6213977381458736343.post-55140129388677419652022-05-11T10:58:00.002-04:002022-05-11T11:02:43.991-04:00Comfort Around Us<p><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This past month has served as a reminder where our comforts
lay and who our supporters are. When we received news of a death in our family,
we were in shock, as many would be at an unexpected passing of a younger
sibling.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For myself, it was hard to believe that my brother had
died. It was head knowledge only, at first. I could say the words to someone
else, but the news had not yet reached my heart and thereby my emotions. For
those first weeks — and there were weeks until the interment of his
ashes — just because of distance and practical matters.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> I kept expecting he’d come
on Messenger and write, “Hi, sis, how are you doing?” Because apart from his visits home,
that’s how we communicated. For him, it was less expensive; and for me,
practical because of work, family and time commitments. We could communicate as
we were able. And he’d share the news there when he was coming to Ontario to
visit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Initially all I could do was share a few small stories
about our adopted brother who came at 5 ½ years old, insecure, energetic and
eager for a Mom and Dad to call his own. In the deal, he got five big sisters. He
grew through childhood, expending much energy both in school and on the farm
where he was growing up. Through teenage years, that growth continued with some
of the typical teenage issues, though multiplied. At one point, he met his
birth mom and several siblings from that family. Then as an adult, grew to 6
foot something. He’d lean on my shoulder and tease that I was now his little
sister. We had a good relationship.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On sharing the fact of his death, friends, extended family, and members
of my church family shared their condolences, and on the day of my brother’s
celebration of life, we were surrounded physically by cousins on both sides of
our family. Also in attendance were neighbours from the farm and town, as well
as friends. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We were blessed with sunshine and fair weather, so we could
gather outdoors a little longer after the graveside ceremony, and those who
felt comfortable to go indoors for a lunch joined us there as well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDeRmt6P9C2UxzpW5BzfWNjuEouyTkcbehkdArOUtDBNxm1m6GmN36I16x6KEuFHzHMgfEyGiZCQY2s5B2MrZ1l6kPU6JezM4m-0rvoltNNWuTvpkWaKwEqJAQP7s8LFrCK-24xGRzs8S5LWc0YNgWPY5MRlbP63IahjfyCgk2qa03Pm5Dy1h3E_Qu/s2605/Wayne's%20flowers%20for%20blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1199" data-original-width="2605" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDeRmt6P9C2UxzpW5BzfWNjuEouyTkcbehkdArOUtDBNxm1m6GmN36I16x6KEuFHzHMgfEyGiZCQY2s5B2MrZ1l6kPU6JezM4m-0rvoltNNWuTvpkWaKwEqJAQP7s8LFrCK-24xGRzs8S5LWc0YNgWPY5MRlbP63IahjfyCgk2qa03Pm5Dy1h3E_Qu/s320/Wayne's%20flowers%20for%20blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The comfort came not only in gifts of flowers, plants,
and sympathy cards, but also the prayers of people around us. The minister who
officiated shared words from the 23<sup>rd</sup> Psalm — read by one of my nieces — often used on such
occasions. “Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, ... for you
are with me.”<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We often have to hold onto those promises when we are
in that place. God loved my brother
as he loves us all. My reading from 1 Corinthians 13, about love in action,
reminded me of him too. He may not have often said, “I love you,” but he acted
instead, most notably by calling Mom and Dad whenever he could on their birthdays,
anniversary and Christmas when he could not be home. And he was home for their celebrations of life too.<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I hope that your comfort lay there, and that you too
will be surrounded by the company of friends and family who care about you and how you’re
doing in tough times. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:4 reads: that God “… consoles us in all our affliction,
so that we may be able to console those who are in affliction with the
consolation we ourselves are consoled by God.” </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">May you share that consolation with others.<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Carolyn R. Wilker</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1vlEPYKs2D_Vx480lcVdSowycpwotiYqQhd-BBSwROa2Ese8wHmh6aoQYGp5MtgUt9x0taA2ED1_0F5Iolriyod7jWC9g3PXz1ibmDi2gFjqZfxiVlp7UC_e-o5lJW17pyaawoAdMEMOkLBlmSb3zNz7IcDlRWJVG-OTNyd_Z0Bd5qv68dDffWOi/s2048/Carolyn_Wilker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1463" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1vlEPYKs2D_Vx480lcVdSowycpwotiYqQhd-BBSwROa2Ese8wHmh6aoQYGp5MtgUt9x0taA2ED1_0F5Iolriyod7jWC9g3PXz1ibmDi2gFjqZfxiVlp7UC_e-o5lJW17pyaawoAdMEMOkLBlmSb3zNz7IcDlRWJVG-OTNyd_Z0Bd5qv68dDffWOi/w143-h200/Carolyn_Wilker.jpg" width="143" /></a></div><a href="https://www.carolynwilker.ca/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.carolynwilker.ca/</a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p>
Carolyn R. Wilkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424541949101135087noreply@blogger.com1