Your Life Can Change in an Instant – by David Kitz

We all know that life has it's ups and downs, but for the most part I can say my life is quite predictable. But...

But every once in a while the unexpected happens and your life is suddenly changed in a moment. Two recent events brought this truth crashing home. 

Cathedral Grove, Vancouver Island

On the morning of May 6th I was on a leisurely morning stroll with my sister on a quiet residential street in Churchbrige, SK. I was on the tail end of a spectacular family vacation that had taken us to Victoria, Nanaimo and now Saskatchewan. Life was good. For the first time in about forty years I was home for Mothers Day weekend. It was great to be on this morning str...

Boom! I was struck from behind and sent flying. My knees hit the pavement as searing pain shot through my body. But the minivan that hit me kept coming. I rolled out of the way as my sister banged on the van and yelled for the driver to stop.

In that instant my life took on a different complexion. Who knows when I'll be out on a stroll again? Six weeks later I'm still in an air cast using crutches. The pain has subsided but is still present. 

Sometimes life will bring us to difficult or even impossible situations. That's where I found myself. We can see no way forward and it's impossible to turn back. That's the situation the people of Israel found themselves in as they set out to escape from Egypt. The sea blocked the way before them and the Egyptian army was pursuing them from behind. They had nowhere to turn but to the LORD.

What did the LORD do? He didn't take Israel around the problem or over it. He took them through it. We read these words: Your path led through the sea… (Psalm 77:19).

Inner Harbour, Victoria, BC

During the dark days of World War II, Winston Churchill gave his nation this advice, “If you are going through hell, keep going.”

Don't stop. Don't give up and hang your head in despair. You don't know the moment when the LORD will intervene on your behalf. You don't know when the sea will part. You don't know when you will be called to follow the LORD's invisible footprints onto the floor of the sea. That requires faith—steps of faith. And don't dillydally along the way. If you are going through hell, keep going. If you are going through the Red Sea, keep going. You don't want to be caught in the middle. That's what happened to Egypt's army. Have faith the LORD will bring you through and by all means keep going.

That brings me to the second sudden event. Last Thursday I got an e-mail message from someone I didn't know informing me that my novel had been approved for publication by a large US publishing house. In a moment everything changed. After fifteen years of frustration a positive answer came. 

Wherever you are remember this: Life can change in an instant. 

David Kitz lives and limps in Ottawa. Visit http://www.davidkitz.ca/

Expectation by Tracy Krauss

I am approaching a milestone that some of you may not be able to relate to. This summer marks the eighth year since moving to our current home in northern BC. If I don’t up and move between now and then, it will be the longest I have lived anywhere since I left the nest way back in 1980. I won’t lie. I’m feeling a wee bit antsy. Restless even, like I need to find a reason to move – QUICK!

In thirty-three and a half years of marriage my husband and I have moved between 15 and 20 times depending on how you slice and dice it.  (We moved back to a couple of communities more than once.) We’ve lived in five provinces and territories including BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the NWT and the Yukon. We’ve watched the northern lights, basked in the midnight sun, survived stampeding bison, and experienced more than one close encounter with polar bears. Add to that another ten plus moves before I ever got married and you might be able to understand where I’m coming from.  

Don’t get me wrong. Tumbler Ridge, our current hat hook, has been good to us. I have a stable job teaching all the things I love like Art, Drama and English. I signed my first publishing contract after moving to TR and I’ve had a pretty good run since. All four of my children (not to mention the two grandbabies) live within a two-hour radius. Compared to some of the other remote locations where I’ve lived, that’s pretty good. To top it off, this is a really beautiful part of the country. Waterfalls, mountains, hiking trails, relatively mild winters… I really can’t complain. In fact I’m not.

Yet…

bag already packed?

Somewhere deep in my gut I feel a stirring.  The call of a new adventure won’t be silenced. Is it the fact that so many other people have made an exit after the economic downturn in the region? It seems like everyone else is moving so maybe I’m just feeling left behind. My husband is one of those who lost his job more than a year ago. We had already started pastoring our church on an interim basis because the church could no longer afford to pay the pastor. Once my husband got laid off he was able to focus even more time and energy on the church. That was twenty-one months ago and it is now coming to an end as a new, full time pastor is scheduled to arrive June 1. The question is, now what? He’s been looking for work the entire time, but God obviously needed us to be focused on this transitional period in the church. We now wonder what doors He will open once we are released from that responsibility.

I honestly don’t know what the future holds but there is a sense of expectation. Perhaps this post will have an addendum in the coming months.

***********

Tracy Krauss writes stage plays, novels and other fluff while trying to adjust to the notion of putting down roots - not an easy task for a compulsive wanderer. Visit her website for more: "Fiction on the edge without crossing the line"

  

When things take us by surprise—Carolyn R. Wilker

This week has been one of surprises and evidence of change in our lives—some of which does not come entirely by surprise. You see those little signs of those changes, if you look for them, but others, such as a death, can completely turn your world upside down and change the landscape around you.

Earlier on Friday, Heather came for a visit, one that we’d planned weeks ago. We talked about our work and other activities we’re engaged in and how those events shape our lives and contribute to both health and happiness or stress and distress. And since we both enjoy word games, I brought out my Scrabble board and letter tiles and we played a game.

 Before the visit was over, I received a phone call from someone who asked me to sit down before she relayed her news. Surprises, and yet in some ways we might have seen this coming. But still I was not ready to hear it. I had to deal with that at the moment and then, because I had a guest in my home and an event to host that evening, I had to set that news aside or at least try to.

On our way to storytelling, my friend Judy and I talked about events and circumstances that could take over the rest of our lives. She called it compartmentalize, which means to set something into its own space, then deal with it at a separate time.

We had a good evening of storytelling at The Button Factory, with engaged listeners and a great variety of stories, including two of the musical variety. It was my first time to host, and it had gone well. I had been able to focus, to tell my stories and lead the evening, with only a hint to a fellow storyteller that other things had absorbed my attention and, therefore, I hadn’t much time to feel nervous. But my stories were ready and I was ready to tell them.

Home again, and nearly ready to settle in for the night, I quickly checked email on my Playbook, for it was 11:00 p.m. by that time. While sipping on a last cup of tea, I checked if anything of an urgent nature had come up. One email caught my eye and seemed more prominent than the rest. Had I read it correctly? I scanned the email again and tried to shut out everything else from the day. Denise’s husband had died. I didn’t know Dennis, but I know his wife Denise. Through The Word Guild, through Write! Canada and events I’ve attended where she’s been there also.

Compartmentalize again. I decided to send a card to Denise since I couldn’t get to the funeral. I want her to know she’s in my thoughts and prayers, especially now.

In my dreams all those pieces of news swirled around and around, my weary brain trying to sort everything out and put it into order.

 As I process all this news and think of the implications, I remember again that God is with us wherever we are. He knows our thoughts, our worries, our concerns and our delight.

 I must admit that I have a hard time putting my worries in his lap and leaving them there, but I try again. Nothing will bring Dennis back, but we have the certainty of knowing he is with God now. That much will be a relief to his family in this sad time.

While other matters seem to be unsettled, we will eventually deal with those too. Perhaps compartmentalize is the best word after all, that and accepting the grace available to us, through no actions of our own. God with us.

Carolyn R. Wilker, editor, writer, storyteller

www.carolynwilker.ca

Spring – Reviving and Renewing (Peter Black)

No doubt about it – winter’s past and spring has sprung. We waited long and hard. . . endured – put up with it, because we had no option. After an interminably long and cold hard winter nature’s busy hailing the message that springtime is alive and well.

See it all around us in field and forest, wayside ditches and urban gardens. Hear it from the birds in their singing and courting calls, and observe their industrious nest-building.

Who hasn’t longed to flee the land of ice and snow for a breakaway to a tropical paradise? What an attractive prospect in winter – the thought of sipping cool drinks, munching tropical fruits and reclining under the shade of stately palm trees on white sandy beaches by blue lagoons! But, the marvels of changing seasons and the respite they bring are climatic events I’m sure I would miss, if I lived in those equatorial climes that have perennial summertime.

It’s amazing how quickly some of us who find the cold and dark of winter a harrowing experience can get over it. I sensed that process happening once spring decidedly asserted itself and demonstrated its power to renew the natural world around us and revive the spirit within us.

This, I declare, is a benefit of the northern hemisphere. Whereas a season may bring its own discomforts for some of us the anticipation and eventual realization of moving into the next season can be truly refreshing. For example, when transitioning from a bitterly cold winter to spring, or from a stifling hot summer to fall.

 The saying, a change is as good as a rest, while not fitting every situation, still quite often holds relevance.

Recently my collegial friend Kim reflected in her blog post about a trip to Israel she made last year. She tells of her tour group’s visit to the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, which some believe may be the true site of Jesus’ burial and resurrection.

Numerous groups from various countries sang and prayed in their own languages, and yet all were there for the same purpose – to commemorate our Saviour’s death and burial and to celebrate His resurrection. The experience moved her deeply, and she felt it gave her a foretaste of what heaven must be like. Her experience stirred my memories of also being at the Garden Tomb, quite some years ago.  

May and I left Ontario’s late January ice and snow and, after catching the tour flight in New York, landed at Tel Aviv, Israel, in spring-like weather. The change had begun, although the tour was extremely busy, with 6AM rises and constant travelling, walking and sightseeing from morning until night. So much for the change, but what about the rest? That came more in an emotional and spiritual way, than in the physical.

The tour took us to places we’d read about – historical places and archaeological digs. Our basic knowledge of Bible characters and events was enhanced by our visiting those sites that attested to their historical veracity. The pages of Scripture came alive to us in a fresh way. It was exhilarating and faith affirming.

Reminds me of the old hymn: My faith has found a resting place / Not in device nor creed  / I trust the Ever-living One / His wounds for me shall plead. // I need no other argument / I need no other plea / It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.*

*L.H. Edmonds; Public Domain.

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Peter A. Black is a freelance writer in Southwestern Ontario, and is author of “Parables from the Pond” – a children's / family book (mildly educational, inspirational in orientation, character reinforcing). Finalist – Word Alive Press. ISBN: 1897373-21-X. The book has found a place in various settings with a readership ranging from kids to senior adults.

His inspirational column, P-Pep! appears weekly in The Guide-Advocate (of Southwestern Ontario). His articles have appeared in 50 Plus Contact and testimony, and several newspapers in Ontario. Peter’s current book project comprises a collection of 52 column articles, interspersed at points with brief inspirational statements of encouragement.

The original edition of the above post was written for and published May 1, 2014, in The Guide.

Blog: raiseyourgaze
Contributor: Family and Faith Matters
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Transformed - Rose McCormick Brandon

At 14, I was a disgruntled church-goer. I went because it was one of Mom's compulsories. As young as 5, I couldn't wait for Sunday School to end. By the time I was a teenager my dislike for church was in full throttle. I sat with ears closed impatient for the benediction.

Two months before my fifteenth birthday, a young couple came to pastor our shabby little church. (The people weren't shabby, only the building.) My cousin, who loved church almost as much as I hated it, asked me to go to a Sunday evening service, something I'd never done. Since we were joined at the hip, I went. The sermon went in one ear and out the other. Afterwards, the pastor invited the congregation to join him in the prayer room. Everyone filed out of the pews and downstairs to a squat little room with wooden benches. I went because not going would've drawn attention to myself.
On my knees at a bench, the pastor's wife, a 22 year-old newly-wed, came and knelt beside me. Her name was Bev Friesen. She whispered, "Would you like to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior?"
I said, "Yes" because I knew it was the right answer. I repeated after her a simple prayer. The meeting soon ended and I went home. When I opened my eyes the next morning, something stirred in my chest. I felt new inside, as if I was breathing different air than I had the day before. On the way to school, everything around me seemed re-born - sky, grass, sounds. Over the next few days, people I hadn't much cared for became loveable. I'd stepped into a fresh world.

My attitude toward church changed. I, who had no use for Sunday School, became a diligent teacher of a young class. By praying a simple prayer to receive Jesus as my Savior, I experienced a spiritual birth.
One night a rabbi, Nicodemus, came secretly to Jesus to ask what he thought were deep questions. Jesus answered him, "You must be born again." A simple answer for a scholar who didn't want his colleagues to see him conversing with Jesus.
Nicodemus remembered Jesus' words. After the crucifixion, he became a daylight disciple. Along with Joseph of Arimathea, another night follower, he went to Pilate and requested Jesus' body. They lovingly wrapped it and laid it in a new tomb. Like me, Nicodemus was born again.
As I ponder my youthful transformation, I still feel awed by Jesus, still see the world through His eyes. Two thousand years after his death and resurection, Jesus is still birthing people into His kingdom.
The young pastor's wife led me in a prayer that went something like this: 
 Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Savior of the whole world and that no one can experience spiritual birth except through you. I invite you into my life today.

Rose McCormick Brandon writes faith articles, devotionals, personal experience, biographies and fiction. She has two blogs: The Promise of Home (stories of British Home Children) and Listening to My Hair Grow.

My BE Day by Ruth Smith Meyer

After a busy three weeks, I woke on our first of July holiday morning with nothing urgent that needed attention. My head knew that, but my inner self was still on fast forward. I felt as though my head was at least a foot ahead of my feet and that I would fall flat on my face if I slowed down.

When my husband asked if I wanted to accompany him on an hour's drive to his daughter's where he wanted to work on the truck he's been restoring, my mind went into a whirl. I have writing I need to do. I have calls to make. I need to play catch-up from the busy schedule of the past few weeks.

My hubby, my Wise One, often tells me "You're retired you know!"

Often I jokingly reply, "If I am re-tired, that must mean I've been equipped with new tires and ready to keep travelling."

I was about to say that very thing when I heard the echo of my first husband's frequent observation. (He was another Wise One.) "You have trouble being content to just be, don't you? You seem to feel that every moment you have to do."

Abruptly, I hushed those voices that bid me Do,do, do! I decided this holiday Monday would become my Be Day!

With determination, I let go of my to-do list and turned my face the other way. I happily busied myself making a lunch for the two of us, gathered up my camera and a book to read then joined my husband.

As we drove, the glare of the computer screen I had anticipated staring at was gently replaced by the clouds and the sun in seeming competition to see who would win. The interaction produced beautiful light and shadow patterns on the fresh spring growth. The smell of the rain-washed earth replaced the odour the burning-rubber of my active mind. The rolling countryside stretched out inviting my tightly focused mind to enlarge the borders of my vista and to relax to see a bigger picture.

When we arrived, I vacuumed the inside of the truck on which My Wise One was working and not only found pleasure working near him, but also satisfaction in changing the appearance of the carpet. That work reminded me of the neglected corners of my life where little bits of litter gather when I am too focused on one thing. I prayed that God would help me take the time to clean out those corners too.

The book I had picked up happened to be Pressing into the Thin Places, Encouraging the Heart toward God by Margaret Harrell Wills. That's exactly what it did for me this morning. After reading awhile, I needed to let my discoveries settle in, so I picked up my camera and strolled around the beaurtiful grounds and flowerbeds around our daughter's home, capturing bits of the beauty. There's something about looking through a camera lens that forces one to see through diffferent eyes. Some shots were of the larger scene, but many focused on a bird house nestled among the shrubs or a single flower or close up of a few blooms. Each opened a different vista in my increasingly thankful and peaceful heart.

Back on my chair, I was pleasantly interrupted to visit first with a daughter,then with a granddaughter, both of whom have brough much joy to my life in the past few years. It was a pleasant addition to my Be Day.

The afternoon finished with my husband and I working together to build two birdhouses to add to the ones already on the property.

On our drive back home, we drove through a driving rain that seemed to finish the cleansing of my cluttered mind. At one point in the midst of the driving rain, we could see the clear blue sky to the right with the sun peeking through the clouds.

Ah-hh--that is life. Sunshine and shadow, a time for intense focus, a time for stepping back to see the broader picture, a time for a through washing away of the cob-webs of our brains, the sun always ready to shine through the clouds--a satisfying Be Day!

www.ruthsmithmeyer.com

Contributing author to Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider

Facing fear in Change - MANN

Rosemary Cash said, “The key to change is to let go of fear.” I see this in my life, in the church, family situations and community life. It is my thinking that most people find change difficult to some degree, and fear can be an important factor in whether change
can be achieved.

To change, one must be determined to risk. It’s having the ability to believe in self, while at the same time, being able to look beyond the obvious to possibilities.

Or being able to sigh, admit when change hasn’t worked and revert to the initial plan.

A decision to change might enhance a particular position or ricochet to a whole new situation. Somehow the first option is the easiest. Who doesn’t want to build on a life already experiencing acceptance? Yet, the concept of finding oneself in a brand new situation created through change tests one’s faith and gives opportunity to draw on God’s guidance in new ways. Certainly, the latter allows the possibility of something we might miss if we hadn’t risk.

Winston Churchill said, “There’s nothing wrong with change if it’s in the right direction.” So how do we know if our choices will take us in the right direction or create chaos? And why does it have to be an either/or situation? Why can’t we have what we’ve got as well as enjoy what we’ve had the grace to change? This last option sounds much less stressful and offers some diversity.

This was my experience over the past three months when my friend Sharon suggested that my Grammie Books, as well as the collection of stories that I’d written and edited with grandkids over the last ten plus years, should go further than the Story-chair and the Christmas stocking. When I also considered additional resources of my newspaper grief articles and rural church support work, I was soon led in the direction of exploring how to create audio books/stories and marketing them on the internet.

This has been a tremendous challenge to me and I admit that fear showed its ugly face on more than one occasion. However, I feel so blessed that I’ve been able to make the necessary changes in personal schedules and mental aptitude to see this project through. There is an excitement in the Internet audio world that I find very invigorating, yet I cherish the times when I hold a book in my hand and see the words flow from one sentence to another.

Although designing a web site was not new to me, I found building a StoreFront was. But, this too has become a discovery that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss. A win-win situation is good in any change, and I think my benefit was inviting the child in me to come out to play during this early season of retirement. I invite you to come and visit http://stores.livingwordsmann.com/. And don’t forget to visit The Playground before you leave the site.

Donna Mann

Take Time to Make Memories (1996)
WinterGrief (2003)
Aggie’s Storms(2007)
MeadowLane Audio Stories for Children(2009)

Change Management - Eleanor Shepherd

When do the changes stop? I thought that when we took early retirement and settled into our condominium on the lakeshore, working for a non-profit within ten minutes drive, I could just settle down and enjoy a peaceful existence, without having to worry much any more about changes. Now here I am a year and a half later, having been laid off and rehired by another non-profit, in a completely different set of circumstances. At least I am still living in the same condominium, with the same man, with whom I celebrated forty years of marriage this month.

I was secretly rather thrilled when my friend told me she heard my daughter talking about me on a radio interview that she was doing on the CBC morning show in Toronto. Elizabeth, a twice Juno nominated, jazz musician introduced one of her songs, dedicating it to me in honour of the fact that at my age I was willing to go out and look for another job. Changes that make our children proud of us, I can handle.

Working at home is a new experience for me. There are many advantages. My commuting time has been cut from twenty minutes a day to zero. After I clean up from breakfast and brush my teeth, I can be in my office, before my husband has the car out of the underground garage to drive to work. Proximity to my office is convenient, but sometimes makes it difficult to draw clear lines between home life and work life. Discipline keeps me at the desk during working hours, but at times it is difficult to push back the chair and leave the office to attend to the more mundane household tasks at the end of the day, particularly if I am into a project that I want to complete.

I expect other writers understand the conflict that arises when you work where you live. Being able to do more writing was an unexpected benefit of my job layoff. I had prayed, asking for time to write, if it was important that I finish this book project that has been part of my life now for ten years. The summer was mine to write. My job finished in June and although I was offered my current part time job shortly after, it was not scheduled to start until September. Every day, all summer I was able to immerse myself in the book project, writing all day long. It was a writer’s dream.

As well as providing time for writing and rewriting, this summer of change gave me the opportunity to learn about Employment Insurance and the devastation that one feels when your contribution to a company is no longer required. When I felt that I was useless and redundant, the gentle voice I know so well assured me this was not the case. He had a plan for my summer, to write and once again experience the thrill of grappling with ideas that energize and excite me. To provide the extra push I needed to get me going, He provided an Award of Merit at The Word Guild Awards gala.

For the moment, I have settled again into a routine. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays I am working from my home office for a non-profit that I am passionate about, because it helps women in the developing world provide for their families. On Mondays and Fridays, I can write, giving voice to other things I am passionate about like sharing our faith through listening. Right now, I am in a pleasant place and enjoying it. However, I know that this will not last. The trick is to have my running shoes on and be ready to sprint when the next change comes. Now only do I want to adapt to it, but I want to run out and greet it, knowing that the One who holds my hand never changes, is always there and will accompany me to new places, I have not yet dreamed of.

September Start-up

There is something about September that gears us up to start new things. There is a feeling of change in the autumn air; a time of harvest and gathering-in for the winter to come; a time of doing things in groups—church groups, writers’ groups, book groups, school groups—the list is limitless.

This group of authors who are professional members of The Word Guild is starting its fall blogging with renewed vigor. We are getting back into the familiar routine of sharing thoughts and happenings with one another and our followers from across Canada and, indeed, around the world.

I, personally, will look forward to writing a post in my turn over the coming months and know I will be blessed by the diverse and varied contributions written by others of our group.

© Judith Lawrence

www.judithlawrence.ca
http://welshcakesshortstories.blogspot.com

Forced Change? - Black

You never really know what you’ve got till it’s gone, we say. This echoes Joni Mitchell’s cute an’ sassy song classic. Bemoaning commercial and financial change at the expense of nature, she sings, "They paved paradise and put up a parkin’ lot ..."

It’s also true that we don’t know how blessed we are until we see someone worse off than ourselves. Such sentiments may be cliché, but are also true. Dark-bodied, malnourished children with bloated stomachs, as featured on sponsorship programs, scoop a drink from larvae-infested mudholes, and we think that it’s such a pity they don’t have running water. And it is. Then click, we switch the channel.

At the old manse we were without hot running water for five days, then, for a day and a half, the main water supply was shut off. A mild inconvenience. We were not in any dire emergency, and had water available to us. It just took a little thought and effort. Neither did we have to rub sticks together or strike a match to heat up water or cook. Saucepans on the electric stove did the trick. We learned to conserve water, though, and managed to do all that was necessary using a fraction of the normal water volume.

Change is sometimes forced on us unexpectedly by circumstance, yet some changes can be made in advance, if we see the need. Jesus said (in Matthew 18:3): "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

This is a call to humility, dependence, and trust in the Lord God. A change of focus leading to a change of disposition, of lifestyle – and destiny.

~~~
© Peter A. Black. This piece was first published in the The Watford Guide-Advocate, a Southwestern community newspaper, July 30, 2009.
Peter's children's / family book, "Parables from the Pond" ("written for children, read and enjoyed by all ages") is published by Word Alive Press. He can be contacted at raisegaze@execulink.com and www.freewebs.com/authorpeterablack

God Chose a Way to Change the World - Mann

I’ve been trying, across this Advent/Christmas season, to get a hook into a plot for a Christmas play that everybody can enjoy. Christian friends tell me “this effort might end up falling short of satisfying Christ-followers or be too religious for others.”

Yet, I believe that one of the central messages of Christmas is to give the invitation to reconcile. We often see this reconciliation as visible ways of reaching out to others. The Salvation Army leads the way in the malls, while other churches and community groups fall in step with community foodbank committees, Mitten Trees and free Christmas dinners. People in general, passionately extend an extra visit, card, Poinsettias or chocolates. I see men, women and children working shoulder-to-shoulder and walking side-by-side, without checking out faith credentials, changing their little corner of the world.

I read this caption on Internet a while back, “There are tons of ways you can change the world. Just pick one!” and I asked myself if I had. Surely, at this time of year, we are so aware of the particular way that God chose to change the world. We can continue with the work of Jesus and learn how he changed the world with tons of ways. Christmas is a powerful season and it touches people and initiates enough compassion to change the world even for a short time through actions and attitudes on the street, at the desk or at the local arena. And that short time might save someone’s life, give another hope or plant a seed of confidence. Family members who resist sitting beside someone who’s hurt them in the past now find an excuse to fill the empty chair. Friends, who haven’t connected since last year’s Christmas card pick up the phone and call. People with a hate-on find ways to put a love-on. Forgiveness filters through a hardened heart. Reconciliation reigns. Anger dissolves. And peace pierces depression, pain and grief.

“The Christmas Truce” comes to my mind every Christmas season. We know that four months after WWI had begun, English Christmas carols and “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” were sung from opposing trenches in Flanders as the troops witnessed the power of reconciliation on Christmas Eve. In essence, the war had ceased for a short time as men met between the lines to exchange greetings, cigarettes and cookies. They buried their dead and recited “The 23rd Psalm.”

Christ came to earth to reconcile people to God and one another. God certainly picked a significant way to change the world on that Christmas Eve in 1914 if only in people’s hearts for that short time. For God so loved the word that he gave . . . .

Well, maybe that plot for the Christmas play has begun. Thanks be to God!

Take Time to Make Memories (1996)
WinterGrief (2003)
Aggie’s Storms (2007)
Numerous plays, columns and articles
www.homestead.com/the_meadows/mann.html

Unseen Process of Change - Black

"Amazing!" "Marvellous!" "Wonderful weather ... We’ll take as much of it as we can get." Such greetings were exchanged down at the mail pick-up vestibule. The unseasonably balmy weather persisted well into fall this year, with frequent sunny days, blue skies, and gorgeous autumn hues. Fairways were well-served with shorts-and-tee-shirted golfers, and despite the chill of economic downturn, a general sense of cheerfulness floated in the air. But how soon we were walloped with a wintry onslaught, in falling temperatures and rapid accumulations of snow! Change can come so quickly, even when we're expecting it.

One expects a good level of maturity to develop in a youth, especially one from a stable home environment, but it can still be a lengthy process. Imagine: A teenage son goes to bed one night thinking that his dad’s stupid, and knows nothing. Each father-son conflict convinces the boy all the more that his dad lacks smarts. His father can’t say anything right.

They butt heads for about five years. Then the boy’s motor cycle breaks down, and he just can’t solve it. His buddies come round, yet between the whole bunch, they fail to find the solution. Eventually, he storms off with them, thoroughly ticked off with the bike. His dad arrives home and his wife tells him about the bike trouble. She hands him the ignition key. He cranks the engine, applies his ear, eyes, brain, and considerable experience to the matter, quickly zeroing in on the problem, then fixing it.

Their son arrives home to find a note taped to his bike, suggesting he try starting it again and taking it for a test ride. It is signed, "Love, Dad." The lad is incredulous when his machine roars into life at the first try, and in seconds it smoothly cruises along. Puzzled, he muses, I don’t get it. How can someone go to bed so stupid–not having a single clue–one night, then get up the next morning, and be so smart!

The relationship between father and son begins to improve. The boy’s attitude has changed so quickly, but it wasn’t just because of the fixing of the bike. Change was already in the works, as little by little, the father’s wisdom, and his consistent and generally firm, but caring ways, built up–layer upon layer–in his son’s subconscious mind, removing any sense of threat and conflict. Somehow, the process of the fellow’s maturation came to the point where he awoke to the realization that his father was much smarter than he’d given him credit for–and that he cared.

Leaves turning to the glorious shades of autumn then falling from the branch to the ground, were only the visible manifestation of a process that began when days shortened and nights turned cooler. Sap and nutrients were being drawn down from the branches through the trunk and into the root system in preparation for winter sleep and a fresh awakening in spring. Often change is in process of happening before we can visibly see its effects.

Do you hope some wholesome and good change will occur in your life or in someone you love, yet there’s little or no sign that it’s happening? Watch for little signs, keep praying, and show kindness and gratitude. You may be surprised at how quick the desired change becomes apparent.

Perhaps you’ll wake up, wonder how it all happened, and say, "Thank You, Lord!"

(First published in The Watford Guide-Advocate Nov. 27, 2008)