Taking a trip while staying at home

Well I’m actually going to post again this week.

I have had a bit of a lull (from 500% more than I could do down to maybe 495%) in the demands on my time and I have used it to doing some “virtual road tour” .Laterin the post I give you a "guided" tour and tell you some things I learned while visiting other blog sites.

First a quick update on our “real” journey

Coincident with spring forward, we appear to have turned the corner on winter. It has been relatively mild –hitting 10C (50F) yesterday with some rain. The snow has dropped tremendously and most of the streets and driveways are bare. The downside is that all the grit and grime is showing up and the snow is turning black or brown.

Yesterday we were out and finalized arrangements with Christie Campers to install the tow hitch for our “new” HHR (If you click and follow the link you will see what it looks like. I mentioned last time that the color wasn’t one we would have picked but I’m not disclosing that until I can have a picture of it to post)

Christie’s had to order the tow bar parts and it’ll likely be done week after next. We also did our walk at the Steelback Centre. Both times when we came home Linda stood outside for a long time taking in the smell and sounds of spring approaching and gazing at her “garden” planning what she wants to do there this year.

Speaking of the new car, we were supposed to get it to-day but it has been delayed until Friday due to some administrative problems with getting the ownership (title to the US folks) transferred.

Part of the reason I was able to take some time for a blog tour is that we have 3 young preachers visiting to “tryout” over the next 4 Sundays so my teaching load has dropped. We will have the second couple arriving this Friday and staying for 10 days so that will add some “load” to our time available for other things on our “to do list”.

We are now only a month away from our planned departure -- heading west to visit Kevin & Sarah – we expect to be there for 3 or 4 weeks and returning home by June 15 and a tremendous amount of preparations remain (including getting our taxes filed before we leave).

I have to finish up my AUC course and give the exam April 12—I’m behind in grading assignments and the mid-term.

I’ve also taken on a major role in the “preacher selection” process which is taken a lot of time preparing interview guidelines and evaluation sheets and questionnaires.

One of the reasons I’m doing most of this preparation work for the selection is that Barb Hotchkiss had major surgery a month ago and Lloyd (the other elder) has been tied up at home caring for her.

Barb has had a difficult time with the incision healing properly. Linda has been there a number of times changing the dressings and giving her advise. Yesterday they returned to a surgeon who “lanced” the incision and packed it to allow it to heal from the inside. It may still need to be completely re-opened. At least in part this has come about because the surgery was done in London and there was a miscommunication between London and the Sault about the need for home care nursing when she got home. It was only after a week when there were signs of infection that Linda was instrumental in having their local doctor order homecare – but it seems that was too little too late. Pray for Barb’s recovery.

To-day’s “goals”- do some catch-up on email (Wilma – maybe I’ll get to your question today), get caught up on the household finances, and work on my course backlog. Of course we have services this evening and there are other incidentals like eating & exercise that come up so I’ll likely not get all this done.

Well here’s my blog tour - I hope you find it interesting

March 12 – Danny Dodds talks about the labels Christians apply to other Christians and asks to be labeled

John Dobbs points to a heart grabbing post by Lee Hodges -- I warn you DON’T read this and watch the video if you will be offended by the harsh realities of the life that many young girls experience every day in North America – and DON’T read it if you aren’t prepared to have your conscience torn by the searing contrast between the way many Christians interact with the people of the world and the way Jesus interacted with them.

I had an interesting conversation with Linda (who read the post & watched the video) and my niece (18 year old university student who had heard the song) – about the “impact” on them.

Linda thought there was a “sublimal” message in the repetitious use of the one word in the title – and she wondered if that message might reach girls (such as our grand daughter) if they just got a little unhappy with their parents. My niece just said it was a “poorly done song” and she didn’t like the way they sang it so it was a “terrible song” -- nothing to do with the words or the message – she says that’s all she cares about in music—not the “message”. This reinforces something that I “fought” with my kids about when they were growing up because they said the same thing but I know that if you listen to something over and over again you can’t help but take in the message. Linda said she had experienced a similar thing with a young girl in her Sunday class. The girl’s aunt was concerned about the explicit language in a song that the girl liked. When Linda asked the girl about it her response was ”but I like the music and the rhythm of the song – I don’t listen to the words”

Two questions –
1) Is this “I only care about the music not the message” the predominant reaction of younger people? And if so, is there anything we can do to help them do some critical thinking about the ”validity” of the message.
2) If you listened to the video mentioned above what do you think the message is?

Continuing the tour after that little "detour".

March 13 – Trey Morgan talks about the importance of Dad’s and how to be a better one

Trey also posted an interesting YOUTube video about inviting a co-worker to attend church services (Just click (sometimes it takes 2 clicks) on the “arrow” in the picture at the beginning of his post to watch this – )

John Dobbs tells about the daily prayer Mother Theresa introduced for workers at the Calcutta orphanage. He also mentions a couple of ladies (the M&M’s) who are back cooking for the workers at Central. They were there when we were there last March. Great ladies with hearts of gold.

As the final stop on my “trip” have a look at Dee’s “flighty” post about her interview with Scooby the parrot

God Bless
Charlie