Another week

Well it’s a dreary Saturday outside here in the “Great White North” (well it’s not white yet but we will see more white than green over the next 6 months!!)

Chris & Tammye got back from their cruise on Saturday (11th) after dinner and we had a nice evening visiting and looking at their pictures. In the picture , Linda is with Hunter & Camdyn. Camdyn is wearing an oversized top that her mom brought her from Jamacia. Either it will need adjustments or it will have to wait for her to grow into it. If she keeps sprouting like she has been that won't be long.

Camdyn came down with a sore throat and cough that had kept her out of school Thursday & Friday. Her mother took her to the doctor on Monday and found she had sinus/ear infection and she is now on antibiotics. Aside from that we had a great time with the kids sharing in their stories – I suffered my usual “whupping” at the video games administered by my 8 year old grandson – How on earth can you figure out which of those 10 buttons to push at the right time to keep from getting blown up or falling in a hole??

Sunday we decided to head out mid-afternoon and drove as far as Oconto, WI before stopping for the night. Monday,we drove through rain, sleet and some snow before the precipitation stopped about 30 minutes from home.

The rest of the week whizzed by as I was catching up on my projects, class work and the occasional foray to find what was going on out in “blogland”. Linda was busy getting the house back into order to her satisfaction – although I will say she was pleased that I had managed to keep it from looking like a disaster.

We spent a few hour cleaning out the garage and packing summer stuff away into the shed so we can get the car in before the snow flies and that's pretty much it for this week.

A few things happened while we were away that I hadn’t mentioned.

On the way to Aurora I stopped for lunch in Merrellville Indiana to meet Glenn Ziegler – a “blogging buddy” that I met on the Berean Spirit list. He is a “tad” taller than I am. He is 2 metres (6’ 7”) -- "towering" 28 cm (11 inches higher than I -- and out weighs me by a few kilos (lbs) as well. We had a short visit over lunch. Good to put a face and a “real” person to add to the “virtual” conversations that we have had.

I received an email from my sister Goldie that Morris was finally scheduled for hip replacement surgery on December 4th, earlier than expected. He has been in a lot of pain and we pray that the surgery will allow him to get around without having to endure that.

On the 7th I got an email from my sister Ruby announcing that my Dad now has 71 direct descendents with the 35th great-grandchild (Art & Ruby’s their 3rd grandchild ) being born to James & January Ford. To learn more about Kiera Lynn Ford click HERE

I also got an email from my youngest sister Diamond (that’s all of the family “jewels” heard from!!) reporting on her ongoing medical issues with loss of balance and inability to concentrate which means that for now she is unable to drive. That is a challenge for her and we pray that the Drs. will figure out something to resolve it.

There was a lot of chatter on the NET about the US elections this past week. Monday was the day for municipal elections here in Ontario. Our Mayor John Roswell was re-elected for a 3rd term. Some people may be puzzled by that because he has had a global view and a lot of “wild-eyed” schemes to improve our economy by various international trade initiatives which required him to make several trips to other continents. He was sometimes referred to in the press as “jet setting” Johnny. His opponents mostly ran campaigns of “not doing what he was doing” rather than outlining a positive agenda that would provide benefits to the community and I suspect that people voted for “trying to do something” rather than “complaining about how that something was being done” . I’m basically “apolitical” and, while I exercise my right to vote, I usually give it to those who I feel will be most focused on working for the good of the community rather than pursuing selfish agendas – although sorting that out can make your head hurt.

For the rest of this post I want to point you to some interesting blog traffic that I browsed through this week .

My friend Dee Andrews sent this note “I'm very happy to announce that Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles is starting a new mini-contest today. Rules are simple. There aren't any except that you only have two weeks to enter your submissions. The contest is to officially name the new Finding Direction Fan Club. Read about it here: Finding Direction Fan Club Name Contest

Bobby Cohoon from North Carolina wrote a somewhat tongue-in-cheek article on allergies pondering on how to see this affliction as one of the blessings of God’s creation. Click HERE

Mike Cope talks about a book by Barry Schwarz on our consumer society and why “More is less”
John Dobbs tries to relieve his angst about living with a doctor ordered diet by offering a little light hearted chatter about a ”plethora” of things. Click Here

Larry James challenges Christians to think about the justice behind oppressing the poor and alien workers in the US – but I think there are issues here at home that fit in this category Click HERE

Finally, Bobby Valentine gives us something to laugh at in his listing of which Hymn is suitable for various occupations and driving habits Click HERE

I did come across a new blog site on denominations referred to by “Wren” who visited and left a comment here last week. I haven’t had time to explore it yet so I don’t have any comment on what might be found there.

Well that’s my week – Hope you all had a good one – What will next week bring? God knows and God is good. (even though I may not always see the good I know it is there to be found)

God Bless
Charlie

Mary Seabrook

I had mentioned Mary Seabrook in several of my posts over the past few weeks. Mary was a long-time friend of my parents and had attended at Pine Hill where her daughter Leona attends for many years. She has been unable to get out for the past several years due to her age and ongoing health problems. She fell with a broken hip in early October and was unable to recuperate from that. She left this world for a better home on Thursday November 9 2006.

Our prayers are with her family as they say goodbye.


Obituary for Mrs. Mary Alice (nee Shedden) Seabrook

SEABROOK, Mrs. Mary Alice (nee Shedden) - Peacefully passed away at the F.J. Davey Home with loved ones by her side on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 in her 96th year. Beloved wife of Gordon for 40 years (predeceased in 1971). Daughter of the late John and Louisa Shedden (Ingram). Sister of the late Fred Shedden (Dorothy), Aliza Lewis (Stuart), Annie Mortimore (Bill), Louisa Shedden and John Shedden (Frances). Cherished mother of Donald (Diane), Leona Devin (Lionel) and the late Glen. Grandmother of Vonnie Eveleigh (Arch) of Angus, Kathy Stevenson (Terry) of Burlington, Judy Lang (Andrew) of Oakville and Andrea Dawson (Jarrette) of Sault Ste. Marie. Great grandmother of Tyler and Devin Eveleigh, Dexter and Lindsay Stevenson, Christopher and Alicia Lang. Special “great-gramma“ of Jacob Causley- Wilkins and Elijah Dawson. Resting at the BEGGS FUNERAL HOME Thessalon where friends may call on Monday, November 13, 2006 from 10 a.m. until time of service at 11:30 a.m. Interment in Maple Ridge Cemetery. Donations to the F.J. Davey Home or the charity of your choice gratefully accepted.

C'est la vie

I'm at my Son's place in Aurora helping? Linda look after Hunter & Camdyn while Chris & Tammye are on a cruise celebrating their 15th anniversary.

I arrived here on Wednesday -- very happy to see Linda after almost a month apart due to her grandmothering "excursions" - first to B.C. to watch Will and then here to watch the other 2.

Yesterday I took Sonny (the dog) for a walk and saw a vanity plate that said "Say la vi"
It took a moment but I quicly recognized the French saying "C'est la vie" that is used to express the saying "that's life" or that's the way it is.

As I thought about this saying I wondered about the meaning -- How do we use this expression -- is it a good philosophy to live by or is it a more cynical "what's the use" type of attitude.

I thought about Wednesday evening when Linda had been thinking we would take time for dessert and tea after the kids were in bed -- so we could catch up on each others thoughts -- and not knowing she had this in mind I had my desert before she came down causing her significant distress. C'est la vie but ... Is that life -- to accept disappointment or is it life to accept your "insensitivity" and move on.

Of course, we all handle our failures (intentional or otherwise) in different ways. -- often in sequence.

We can deny -- we can say its not my fault -- you should have told me what you were thinking.

We can try to remove the problem -- we can say I didn't mean it and you shouldn't be upset -- effectively shifting the "reason" for the hurt to other people --

We can dwell on going over it again and explaing how it happened or why it happened trying to see where we went wrong. But explaining why doesn't help and often it shifts the failure to someone else -- Why weren't they more clear? Why didn't they ...

We can get into "begging" saying "I'm sorry -- forgive me" and then get upset because that doesn't make the problem go away -- it isn't just a matter of "I'm sorry" and all the hurt disappears. Again we start shifting it to the other person -- I'm sorry -- so you should get over it ..

Or we can say "C'est la vie" -- "it is what it is" -- I failed, the consequnces are there, I didn't want this to happen but it did and I'm cupable -- it was me who made this what it is -- I can't change that -- I can't re-wind the clock and take away the consequences but I can accept my failure and turn to helping do whatever I can to help the healing -- I can sit down and listen to how you feel and how this has hurt you and I can do so without being defensive or accusing you of failing to forgive -- "it is what it is" and we move on with that reality --

You know we sometimes are so harsh in our judgement of other people's visible failures - I'm thinking of the Ted Haggard situation -- the consequences of his behavior have a tremendous impact. They make it easy for people to say "that's why I don't want to be a Christian because they are all hypocrites" -- and certainly that is why Chritian leaders need to be above reproach.

I am very sad for this hurting and harmful action -- I am angry at the ammunition that Satan has given the world to doubt the power of our Lord because he devoured this man and drew him (by his own choices and through his own lack of faith) into this wickedness.

But it is easy to be suspicious of his sincerity and the genuineness of his penitence -- it is easy to be angry at him and think that's a horrible sin because it is devastating to so many people when a public person breaks faith with their trust.

However, in terms of how he deals with this failing his options are the same as mine and yours -- when we fail in my relationships -- and in the first instance it is between him and God and his wife and his close family & friends. Others who are at more of a distance aren't really part of this healing process (or in assessing that he is not seeking healing) -- It isn't about us and we can't judge what is going on. Time will tell and God knows -- that is enough for me.--

But as described above "it is what it is" -- "C'est la vie" --

The real question is will he do what it takes in surrendering himself -- taking himself out of the issue and move to healing those relationships or will he see it as about "Ted" and focus on "rationalizing" and "suppressing" -- only God and he know his heart and I pray his heart is being "cut" until his focus is not on "fixing" himsel but rather on seeking healing for others -- for I believe healing of self only comes by surrender of self to the altar of "others first"- in particular surrender to Jesus.

So "Say la vi" -- Say there is life -- there is hope for those who surrender self and look to healing and restoration through surrender to God.

I pray for myself, for others I hurt in my day and I pray for Ted Haggard as to-day's "visible" sinner.

Avoid pointing at him - rather think about healing your own broken relationships -- those without sin should cast the first stones.

God Bless
Charlie

Fighting the Blahs

One of the things I like about blogging is the connections you make with other people. Since starting this blog in March and through my connection with John Dobbs (see links on the sidebar) I have made acquaintances with a number of bloggers (most of whom I’ve never met outside cyberspace butI have come to regard them as friends)

Some I visit regularly and some less frequently – but the great thing is that they will so often say something in their blog that may seem incidental to them but for some reason is just what I needed to hear at that time. I choose to think that God has a hand in that but in any case it happens. This gives me hope that some of my meanderings and musings may be helpful to others. – and once in while I get a comment from someone that suggests this is true.

I say all that because my friend Dee writes in her November 1st posting

“Any of you ever get the blahs?
If so, what do you do about them? What do you advise? I need help.
I've got the blahs. Big time.
….
Actually, I do have the blahs and nothing seems quite right. I'm not my usual perky self. It started on the weekend, which wasn't up to it's usual two days of riotous laughs, and has now settled in in earnest. Everyone at church noticed it Sunday. They all kept asking me what was wrong and how was I feeling.
I'm feeling okay, I'm just out of sorts a bit and bored. BLAH!! “

Well Dee doesn’t know this (yet) but her honest admission that she was experiencing the BLAHS was sufficient to keep me from falling into that black hole of discouragement this weekend.

If you had the patience to go back through my postings you would find a frequent theme is the battle I have with “slumps’ (see for example my post for Friday May 26 ) most often brought on because I have become overcommitted and have made the matter worse by frittering away my time on things other than the stuff I’ve promised to do.

This past week (see yesterday’s post) was one were I just couldn’t seem to get the things on my list done. Towards the end of the week – it started to snow signaling a long winter ahead and every where I looked there was a bunch of “unfinished clutter” – all this was was starting to depress me. And then I read about Dee’s BLAHS and somehow the candor (and humor) – the humanity -- that showed in that post gave me a jolt – and instead of “slumping” I just buckled down and got to work.

Things aren’t perfect –I have a ”back breaking” list of things to complete Monday & Tuesday so I can leave Wednesday to go to Aurora (Chicago) but the feeling of “what’s the use – I might as well just let it all go because I’ll never get it done” has gone. So- weird as it may seem and with my apologies to Dee for profiting from her “misery” – Thank you Dee for having the BLAHS and sharing it –I hope that writing it and the comments you got helped you because you have helped me.

Linda arrived at Chris & Tammye’s yesterday p.m. She is pretty wiped out from the traveling and the time change. When I talked to her this p.m. she was really looking forward to tomorrow (Monday) when the kids would be in school and she could crash for a day. Only 2 more days and our month-long separation will be over. I think I’ve mentioned this before but I can’t help but thinking how blessed we have been – this is the longest separation we have experienced in 40 years of marriage.

Ted Miller from Thessalon spoke for us at Pinehill this morning. Our friendship with Ted & Laura goes back to high school. (I did a recent post talking about celebrating our 40th anniversaries this year (Click HERE to find out more about them and our longstanding friendship).

Ted’s lesson was on the need to put priority on the Great Commandment (Love God) and the “Golden rule” (love others) and to have our actions as Christians flow from love as opposed to what he called a ”check list system” –we have a list of do’s and don’t’s and we think we are doing OK if we can check these things off the list. This “system” or ”performance” based Christianity is “dead” (useless) in the absence of love and faith in God’s promises.

Normally, we have small group studies Sunday afternoon in place of an evening service. However, the first Sunday of the month we all meet for a common study time followed by a period of social fellowship to celebrate any birthday’s or anniversaries that are coming up.

It was my turn to provide the lesson for that session this week. I borrowed some material from Bobby’s Valentine's study of Deuteronomy showing that God’s covenant with the Israelites was a covenant of ”Love & Grace” –that the commands were given to the Israelites as way for them to show an obedient love response to God’s love and that there were 7 “unchanging” principles in those commands that applied to God’s people today as much as they applied to the Israelites.

Well – time for bed – To-morrow will be a full day. I’ll be traveling Wednesday and we won’t get home until the 13th—so I may not be posting again until after we are back.

God Bless
Charlie

Tempus fugit

Here it is Saturday again- It hardly seems like yesterday when I was posting and expressing the hope that I might manage to get back to doing more than one postper week. Where has the week gone?

Ephesians 5:15-16 says “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity (KJV says ‘Redeeming the time’ ), because the days are evil.

As I sat yesterday pondering this question of "Where had the week gone" – I wondered if I had been wise in the use of my time so I started reviewing the week.

Starting with the positive – time flew by because I was busy and getting a number of things done that needed to be done and that’s good(I think). It was also good that time is flying by because it brought me one week closer to seeing my wonderful wife who has been off “grandma-ing” since October 9.

However, there was the long list of things that hadn’t got done including the housework – wonder why that got left behind?

So what did I do?

Sunday – Morning services and afternoon group followed by a pleasant lunch at the Herzog's plus some reading and relaxation doing the puzzles in the last week’s paper took care of Sunday.

Monday – The big job was getting the “beast” serviced and then put into storage for the winter. Took all morning and some of the afternoon. Some email and time on the blog/list circuit and that day was gone.

It was a nostalgic time and sad as well when I walked away after parking the BBB in the storage warehouse. Nostaligic as I bade farewell to our travels for 2006. Lots of good memories –from Pascagoula and Texas –lots of new friends -- inspiration to be a better servant but sadness also because as far as we know we won’t be going south this year.

Tuesday- Pumpkins & ghosts. In the morning I had a meeting with Lloyd to go over a few things related to congregational plans and activities. I had to get a mid-term test ready for one class and prepare for another. I had a meeting at the university to review some planned program changes that affected courses I often teach and then give the exam and conduct a class. Another day gone.

We don’t get many trick or treaters but I was concerned that I wasn’t going to be here so I made up a poster and a basket of candy that I was going to leave on the porch. Turned out I didn’t have to because Alyssa was here to handle it. Anyhow I decided I wanted a picture to put on the poster and I found this one. Coincidentally my blogging friend Dee had it posted on her blog as well (although I see it is gone now) -

Tuesday was also the big day for Kevin. He is working on hisPh.D. in Neuropsychology at SFU . The reason Linda is there doing her grandma thing is that he needed to put a big push on his dissertation proposal and she was there look after Will while Sarah worked so he could spend his time getting this done. Tuesday he successfully defended the proposal – Way to go Kevin!!!

Unfortunately – it was sort of a good news bad news success. They told him that if he was going to meet his goal of having the research done by September so he could start his internship he would need to be dedicating 60 hours a week to get it done. That above trying to watch Will and work part-time is a big hurdle. As always I pray that they will look to God for help in this situation and that He will show a way that is best for them.

The other thing I came across related to Halloween was a song-video posted by John Dobbs called “The Nightmare before Christmas” – a haunting song with a poignant message for those who try to walk alone in this world. (Click HERE and scroll down – first the words and then the video from YOUTUBE) (BTW - I was honored to see that John mentioned my "Why do I blog" post in one of his postings last week.)

Wednesday – I had a Red Cross run – volunteer driver to take a lady to the Group Health centre for an appointment. Spent sometime reading while waiting. Rest of day was marking the exams and other miscellaneous stuff with some short stints on the list. I let myself get drawn into a non-productive debate about some doctrinal issues – which isn’t really important here—but I try to avoid discussions that just go around in circles with nothing new being said – but it took a couple of days to dig myself out of that “rabbit chasing” exercise.

Thursday - It started snowing . I had a dental checkup in morning and had to have a tire on the car repaired in the p.m. plus class and going to the “Full flame” session after that.

Friday – It was still snowing – I rushed out to put up the “rode-houses” (covers for Linda’s Rhodies – which should have been done earlier but October was a very wet & cold month and I kept thinking there’ll be a better day – (You can see them (the "houses") in the picture I took out the living room window this morning).

Then I had to clean out driveway – broke my rule about “no snow shoveling until after Christmas. Did some housecleaning . Rest of day was spent email and other computer stuff – I found an interesting article on the shift in attitudes towards moral issues in the so-called Buster generation and exchanged a couple of emails with my bro-in-law Art on his thoughts about that.

Went out for supper with my Dad and went in to visit Mary Seabrook. She is resting comfortably medication to deal with the pain. Leona is spending long days sitting with her mother. We visited for a while, prayed together and then Dad and I came home.

And so the week went. I did get to visit a number of blog sites that I haven’t been to for a while.

I had an email conversation with a blogging friend Dee Andrews which led me Mike Cope’s site where I discovered a link to well presented talk (by ScotMcKnight) on the topic of postmodernism and the church. I don’t quite get post-modern thought - I guess I'm too "modern" (or rational) in my thinking but it was good to have it explained in terms I could understand.

My listing activity was “normal” with 37 entries. I did a quite a bit of email catch up and sent out over40 emails (not counting “school” related on the university system). I learned about bananas by visiting my nephew Craig’s blog (Click Here)

Well - time flew - but it is kind of boring to tell about it I guess – Hopefully next time I’ll have something more interesting to think about

God Bless
Charlie

My "house" of Faith - Summary of Beliefs

I have been posting the contents of a series of lessons that I had started to call "Foundations of Faith but have now changed "metaphors" to call it the "House of Faith" --

The following is the "foundation" and "superstructure" of faith. In subsequent lessons I will deal with each item in more detail to add (changing metaphors again) more "meat" to these "bones"

Purpose: To provide a summary of the things that I believe are sufficient to allow me, through faith*, to come into a kingdom relationship with God through Jesus and to remain in that relationship until He calls us home (to heaven).

In other words, accepting and acting on these beliefs will gives me an assurance of a saving relationship with God through Jesus, provide me with a basis for fellowship with other Christians and generates a Spirit-filled life – experiencing the fruits of joy, peace, love and so on, while doing those works of service I am created in Christ Jesus to do

*Faith means being convicted of the truth of God’s promises and acting on those convictions.

Note: Any summary, by definition, is NOT the complete picture. Agreement on these principles can provide a starting place in our walk with God. The Bible contains much more detailed explanations of these truths. Deeper study and understanding of the details is needed to move us towards a closer walk of love and fuller obedience to God’s commands for citizens of the kingdom.

Guiding Principle: These summary statements are unchanging truths that apply to all people at all times. If, in the details of our studies, we see something that seems to be in conflict with any of these truths, we need to seek an understanding that isn’t in conflict and, until we do, we need to say, “I don’t understand”.

Belief Statements: (Foundations)

1. I believe in the God of the Bible.

2. I believe that the Bible is the authoritative source of all that I need to know to please God.

I need to be diligent in searching the scriptures to discover His will (using and applying “common sense” methods in understanding the nature and purpose of the Bible, what message it was intending to convey, and how it applies to us today)

These first 2 beliefs are the “foundations” – they are based on evidence but accepted by faith.

If I don’t believe in God then it doesn’t matter what the Bible says He wants – and if I don’t believe the Bible is the authority, I should look elsewhere for instruction.

I believe the rest of the things listed below are unchanging Biblical truths, which provide the essential elements of understanding the good news of God’s grace and how we need to respond in love & faith in order to live in hope. They represent the "superstructure" of this house of faith that God provides to keep me "safe" from "all harm".

I believe that

1. God created the universe that includes this world and he created humans in his image as thinking beings with an eternal soul and with the ability to make choices.

2. The humans created by God (Adam & Eve) and all humans born of Adam’s seed are incapable of making choices about how they live and behave that will satisfy God’s standard of righteous. – and that includes me (all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God) – as a result I will become separated from God and be in jeopardy of his justice. – Left on my own, I am lost and without hope.

3. God in his love and mercy has worked, since the time of Adam, to restore that broken relationship – through Abraham, through Moses, through the prophets and finally, once for all, He sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross to take away our sins – past present & future – in a single complete loving act of redemption.

4. As a result of God’s work on the cross, we are saved if we have faith in Jesus. We are saved by faith and not by any work of ours. (There are, however responses that faith demands including repentance, confession and our surrender to him by being immersed (baptized). These responses allow God’s work of redemption to take effect in our lives – allow us to arise “to walk in a new life”)

5. God also gives Christians his Holy Spirit to help carry out the ongoing transformation into the likeness of Christ. – in a real and yet mysterious way I will be transformed and sanctified as I live in Christ – over time and limited only by my willingness to make that daily surrender of self -- to be a living sacrifice.

6. All of our actions and deeds must be governed by the 2 great commandments – to love God and to love others. -The primary message of the Gospel is about relationship – obedience must flow from love and the joy of the free gift rather than the fear of punishment. Fear is the reason for seeking God’s love – love is the motivator for obedience.

7. Even in my saved condition, I will fail in many ways to meet the standard of perfection (sanctification) that God ‘s spirit is working to produce in our lives. I can’t use this to justify (accept) my sin but I can use God's grace to remove the feelings of fear and guilt that can so easily overtake me.

8. When my failures cause offense to someone else or when I am offended by someone else’s failure, I need to follow Biblical process to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

9. Because God has added me to his church (those that are being saved) I will seek community with fellow believers – community of praise & worship, community of service and community of friendship, eating, playing, working together to the glory of God. Unity in the community comes through our common bond with Christ - not through our own efforts or compliance to a standard set of “rules”. Each “family” grouping of believers is directly accountable to God in the areas of specific beliefs and practices. They cannot be imposed by other groups of Christians.

10. The community collectively, and Christians individually have, as their primary mission to live as “citizens of the kingdom in a strange and alien land” – to live as “salt, leaven and light” - to fulfill the “great commission of making disciples as we go.” Wherever we are and in whatever we do this mission is “Job 1”. (referring to the Ford slogan - not a reference to the Biblical book)

I offer this as my understanding of God'smessage to the world and his desire for how I should live in response to his love. I offer this with full knowledge that I have difficulty living consistently and completely in accordance with these beliefs.

This "gap" between "what I belief is right and what I do" points me to the fact that of all this the most important thing is God's loving gracious desire for relationship -- He loved enough that he paid the price to allow me to experience his loving presence despite my imperfections. Should I reject such a wonderful offer?

God Bless
Charlie

Why do you blog?

Having devoted the last couple to posts giving “excuses” for why I haven’t been blogging it occurs to me that my faithful readers might be asking “Why do you bother?”

(Faithful readers???? OK, OK—stop laughing -- there must be at least 2 people I could consider to be faithful readers –and if there aren’t – don’t tell me --I’d rather live with my illusions)

Anyhow, I thought I might try to remind myself why I do this.

When I first started “Whitfield’s journey” (See Trip to Mississippi) on March 3 2006, it was to keep family and friends informed of our adventures as we traveled to Mississippi with the “BBB” to help with “hurricane relief” work. I continued the entries for that purpose during our follow-on trip through Texas until we arrived home at the end of April.

At that point I was going to quit but as noted in my May 1 entry – “Changing gears” I decided to keep it up. Here’s what I wrote then (with some minor editing to correct some typos)

“ I have had some support for continuing this [blog] – but it will now be for a different purpose. When I started the main purpose was to keep friends and family informed of our whereabouts and activities [while traveling].

While I will continue to record “what’s happening in our lives” –I have found this to be a useful thing for myself – putting my thinking in writing and maybe once in a while getting some push back or affirmation from someone else. If you are reading God bless you and thank you for staying with it.

One other thing – Charlie who is the “I” in this blog. My life partner and wife Linda makes up the “we”. I usually know when I can express something as “we” and when it should be ”I” but occasionally Linda may disagree so to be safe if it is something “weird” that “we” think – it is probably me you should blame for the “weirdness.”.

As I look back – I have had several of my family and friends tell me that they use the blog to keep track of us.

I have also had a several good (mostly email) conversations that started through the blog. I have made friends with several other bloggers that I have met. Mostly due to JD –who is the blogging king as far as I’m concerned.

One other reason is that the time I spend writing helps keep me focussed on what’s important and (despite the fact that it seems I spend too much time thinking (writing) about stuff this focus actually does translate into actions. And so I think writing does keep me on track of doing the things I need to be doing.

I have learned from others and I hope that in some small way sometimes what I’ve written has helped others. So I do it for me – selfishly – but with the hope that my selfishness will flow good to someone else.

Speaking of blogs and blogging

I was humbled (but flattered) to find myself quoted by Bobby Cohoon (http://littlesorrel.blogspot.com/) in his October 22nd post.

My friend JD had carpal tunnel surgery and “The Hand” has become his trademark for this week. John has also taken to posting music clips from http://www.youtube.com/ He devoted a big chunk of one of his recent posts to his favorite singer Chris Tomlin. You can find out more about Chris by clicking HERE.

JD also asks an interesting question about Church Architecture in his October 28th post and gives a partial response the following day. The question was

“If our “church buildings” reflected the heart and mission of Christ, what would they look like? (And we know that the term ‘church building’ is an oxymoron.)”

-- Coincidentally? I came across another blog (via Bobby Valentine) by Wade Tannehill that dealt with a similar idea in “A church without walls”

Bobby been posting (click HERE for his blog) a series of articles starting on September 22nd that deal with our views about the meaning of the Old Testament. He presents a view that it is a consistent story of a loving gracious God who looks to his people to build relationship and who expects his people to love other’s – God is the great Redeemer – who provides the great command – to Love and expects his people to form a great society (relationship) of compassion, respect and love.

I limited my “Berean list” to 33 entries this week and with one “minor” exception on Sunday I kept within my self-imposed guidelines of how long I should spend on it (Sunday I used up more than my quota of time for the whole week by spending several hours composing a too lengthy response to a single question) . AH well.. I do talk too much at times.

It was a busy week. I got caught up on all my course work, gave a midterm and marked those tests. I (more or less) kept up with the housework and feeding Alyssa and I. I got some work done raking leaves in between the rain showers and did a number of other small jobs. (I did this self-portrait by putting the camera on a box and setting the timer. It doesn't do justice to showing the amount of leaves we get in our yard).

Anyhow, now my list of things I’m committed to for next week is at least manageable.

Yesterday I met my friend Russ for a coffee at Tim Horton’s – he is a great guy with a heart for service. We talked about a number of things including how different people see God and how that influenced their lives. Russ will be leading singing on Sunday – first time – and he is a little nervous about that. Thursday p.m. and again this morning (today my Dad went with me) I visited with Mary Seabrook. She is 95 and confined to her bed – heavily medicated – due to a hip problem. They had done surgery a couple of weeks ago but it didn’t seem to work out and there’s nothing more tobe done other than managing the pain. Mary is a lifelong friend of my parents and her daughter is a longtime friend who attends Pinehill. We continue to pray for Mary and her family during this difficult time.

This afternoon, I had a web-cam conversation with Kevin, Will and then Linda & I talked for quite a while. We have talked on the phone but it was great to see her smile. Another 10 days and I’m off to Aurora (Chicago) to meet up with Linda and help her finish out her week there looking after Hunter & Camdyn.

Well that’s it for now.

Maybe I’ll get back to more frequent shorter posts – or maybe I won’t – there are no rules about this.

God Bless
Charlie

Foundations

A while back I said I would post my weekly Sunday school lesson as a means of sharing with you some of my thoughts on our relationship with God. I haven't done so for a while because I was away and then -- well look at the last 2 posts -- if you don't know my excuses for being delinquent with this.

In my September 28 posting titled “Heritage” (click HERE and scroll down a little bit ) I included the "Introduction" to a series of lessons I’m (currently) calling “Foundations of Faith".

In that class (held September 23) I asked “What questions would you want to ask someone to establish where they were in their relationship with God?” .

To-day I present the answers given by this group of long-time Christians --

1. Who is Jesus? And what do you think about him? (we digressed to remind ourselves that, based on what Jesus said & did in the gospels we must conclude he is either who he says he was (Lord) or he was out of touch with reality (a lunatic) or he was simply trying to deceive (a liar). No other logically consistent possibility exists)
2. Do you believe in God?
3. Do you believe in the Bible?
4. Have you read the Bible and when?
5. Do you believe in an afterlife? (Is this all there is - we die and that’s the end or ??
6. Do you believe in good & evil?
7. Is the Bible important to how you live?
8. Do you believe in prayer?
9. If the answer to 2, 3, 5, 6 or 8 is no – Why don’t you believe?
10. What do you think will be the consequences of the way you live and what you believe? (or are there any consequences?)
11. Do you understand the covenants? (some thought this was too advanced for an initial conversation)

Note: There is no "ordering" of which questions to ask 1st, 2nd, 3rd and so on and I'm not sure that any such order exists? - Beliefs are a complex set of interelated thoughts -- not a "recipe" that has "steps 1 through n"

These are good questions -- and I think if we got through a session where we just listened to the answers and understood what was being said -- we would have a good idea of where we would want to start in terms of the “gaps” between their beliefs and yours (or maybe more precisely) what you understand the Bible to be saying about these things.

Next lesson, I will ask a different question --

“What are the things you would say to someone that covers -- as briefly as possible --what you believe is sufficient for you to have confidence that you have and maintain a “saving” relationship with God?


God Bless
Charlie

Why I haven’t been blogging – Part 2

Another week (and a bit) has flown by since my last posting.

While I gave up long ago keeping up with my prolific blogging Christian brother JD (click HERE) I have intended to do 2 or 3 entries a week. But lately if I’ve managed once a week I’ve been doing well. How come?

Last week I said the number 1 reason was my “addiction” to a discussion list that had siphoned me off and kept me from blogging. I certainly seem to have hit a chord with several other of my blogging friends since I had several empathetic responses and encouraging responses.

Interestingly, I heard on CBC radio this week that this is a real probem especially among children. So I did a search on this topic (using the INTERNET of course). There is a lot out there – my search with the words ‘INTERNET addiction’ had almost a half a million hits. One example is a New York Times article in December 2005.

There are sites dedicated to INTERNET addiction recovery – for example the Centre for Internet Addiction Recovery is devoted to this issue. I also found a test that you can take to check whether you are an addict. (Click HERE) if you want to take it.

While Linda might score me differently my results were well within the category of “normal usage”. It was a little reassuring to know that I wasn’t “clinically” addicted. However, I do think it is something I need to keep an eye on. With God’s help, I can keep from going over the edge on this.

If anyone has a serious concern about their level of INTERNET use I’d encourage them to do an honest assessment and if there is any possibility that this is “spinning out of control” seek help. God put us here to have an abundant life and I don’t think allowing anything other than Jesus to control our lives will give us that “richness”

So what kept me from blogging this week? (I’ll only do the top 5 this week)

Number 5. I swore off the INTERNET for the week to be sure I wasn’t addicted. Well, maybe that would be a good thing – but not true. I actually spent a lot of time working to catch up in my backlog of email (both personal and related to my teaching at Algoma U.) – and made a dent in it but there is still a lot to be done in that area.

My goal is to deal with all email as it arrives – either read and respond, delete as irrelevant or place in the “C-file” to be addressed whenever I have any spare time. I managed to do that with everything new that came in this week. I also made the rounds of several of my favorite bloggers and got caught up with the happening in their lives – JD & Dee in particular had several inspirational and challenging posts . I dropped by a few others using links from the Berean list and other blogs. I haven’t been to my friend Bobby Valentine’s blog for a while – maybe next week. I always enjoy reading his posts. He is very thoughtful and provides a lot of in depth challenging lessons based on his Bible study and research and they make me think and challenge me to grow.

I also “lurked” on the Berean list and made a few comments (39 for week) but mostly “one-liners” . I closed out my participation in a number of ongoing debates that just seemed to be going in circles. One of the principles I try to follow (but often fail in doing) is that in any discussion I seek to understand what the other person is saying before I begin “arguing” and trying to convince them I’m right & they are wrong. When I recognize that I’m just arguing and not listening – or if listening-- I see that we “understand each other” but just don’t agree – I will close off the discussion until such time as there is something new to be heard or said that hasn’t already been heard or said. At the end, however, I think my INTERNET “fixes” were in control and kept in balance – so yes I didn’t blog because I ran out of INTERNET time doing other things.

In the course of executing my email , list “lurking” and” blog browsing” I did come across several ”neat” things and some of those I shared with others.

One example was Chris Bliss juggling
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4776181634656145640&q=%22chris+bliss%22&hl=en

Another was a video for kids making the case for intelligent design in the universe
http://www.kids4truth.com/watchmaker/watch.html

I also listened to a couple of sermons by JD (click HERE) and Roger (click HERE)

I also got to download some pictures that my brother-in-law Art tookat the family gathering. I haven't gotten to mine yet. I'm including one of Dad with all his "kids" (I'm the good looking one of the guys - back row centre) and one of the group as we gathered to watch the Powerpoint Saturday evening. Dad has 70 direct descendents and 50 of them made an appearance at somepoint in the weekend.

Number 4. It’s Roger’s fault for leaving – Well not really but I just wanted to take a “pot shot” at him. I do have a number of service- ministry commitments.

I dedicated most of last Friday & Saturday to preparing a sermon and Sunday school lesson. I will get back to posting of those lessons - maybe this week.

I visited Mary Seabrook & Marion’s brother Dan in the hospital on Tuesday. Mary has now returned to the Davey Home. Wednesday was weekly Bible study and Thursday night I attended the kickoff of a film series organized by the Seelers called “Full Flame”.

Friday, I made a Red Cross runs to take a lady to the Y and then picked her up to take her home a couple of hours later (with side visits to Pharamacy and Credit union) There are a number of other people I need to be in touch with and visit if possible – but for a variety of reasons that has happened. – at least this neglect hasn’t been caused by too much blogging.

Number 3. I’m still alone – poor me!! I’ve had too many things to do around the house and I just haven’t had much to talk about on the blog. Well actually—Alyssa is here. We have had several good conversations about her school work and other things happening in her life. I haven’t done much extra household stuff other than the normal daily stuff that I would (or at least should) be doing even when Linda was here.

The highlight of my day has been Linda’s calls every evening. Sharing our days over the distance is a poor substitute for being together but it is significantly better than 40 plus years ago when we were separated for months due to school and the communication was by old fashioned letter. That time delay would be unbearable in today’s world. I’m counting the days until I leave to meet her at Chris’ in early November.

Tuesday was Chris’ birthday – and I forgot to call him until Wednesday – I had thought of it but without the “double” memory it didn’t happen.

The good news last night was that Kevin has gotten his proposal submitted and hopes to do the “defense” on October 31. If that is successful the purpose for Linda being there will have been fulfilled and for that we will thank God. It has been a difficult time for Kevin & Sarah – this big push on thesis work is putting a strain on their relationship. Hopefully, Linda being there can help them in that area as well.

Number 2. I had a whole bunch of yard work and other jobs to do. The leaves are falling, the motor home has to be cleaned out in preparation for storage. My friend Russ needs help with his brother’s place on St.Joseph island. All true – but it rained most of the week and I had a conflict on Thursday when Russ wanted me to go so I didn’t do anyof those things – so it hardly explains why I haven’t been blogging.

So the number 1 – UNO – TOP – PREMIER REASON that I haven’t been blogging is SCHOOL – What? School – Yes – I’m teaching one course and providing 2 reading courses at Algoma University and I had gotten seriously behind first with the family related items (trip to Beamsville for Partnership dinner honoring Art & Ruby) and then preps for family weekend on (Canadian) Thanksgiving to honor my Dad), further exacerbated by my week of “Bereanese” (see previous post)

So this week has been devoted to “catching up” on the class stuff. Marking assignments and preparing tests (for mid-terms next week and the week after).
So we’ll see what next week brings – My commitments are to the AUC classes, to “fall jobs” (yardwork, storing the BBB and helpingRuss) and “household routine”(I haven’t done the housecleaning yet but I did rememberto water the plants!!).

So maybe I’ll see you on the lists and blogs or maybe I won’t – It depends on how well I do in meeting those important commitments (and it goes without saying that service and ministry are always at the top – or at least I want them to be)

God Bless
Charlie

Why I haven’t been blogging?

I looked at the stats for my blog today and was amazed that there had been 40 visits –I know this time none of them were me going back to look at something or to get a reference for a new post so either 1 determined soul came back 40 times (which I doubt) or 40 people came one time (which I equally doubt) so it is likely somewhere in between.

In any case I thought I’d give you my top ten excus …. OOPS I mean reasons for not having been on the blogs this week.

10. Last weekend was the family reunion for the early celebration of my Dad’s 90th Birthday (but that only lasted until Sunday so that’s not really it)

9. Linda is away in Vancouver visiting Kevin & Sarah and helping watch Will while they work (True but anyone who knows even the slightest thing about us would expect that to mean more blogging not less)

8. Monday was my birthday so I decided to take the week off and just “veg out” doing only the bare minimum needed to get my teaching and household commitments. (Oh how I wish that was true!!)

7. I needed to get the “BBB” winterized and that took so much time I didn’t have anytime left for other things. It is true that I spent several hours Tuesday afternoon removing anything that might freeze and blowing out/putting antifreeze in the water lines – but thanks to my friend Russ Ward that really only took about 2 hours. I did spent another hour or so visiting with him and talking about some “church” questions that he had.

6. I had too many people to visit and talk to about things that needed to be addressed in my “elder” role at the church. Well I did spend an hour visiting Mary Seabrook in hospital. She had fallen with a broken hip last week and had surgery. At age 94, she is struggling in the recovery – and needs our prayers. But that’s hardly a reason for not having time on the blog.

5. Our preacher left and I have a whole bunch of things that I need to do because of that (Rog – if you see this – you will be happy to know that everything that goes wrong is still your fault). Well I do have a sermon and a class to prepare for but they are still waiting to be done so hardly can be used as an excuse for not doing something else.

4. Linda is away and I have had to take care of many household things that she normally does. Well –there’s several problems with this excuse – one there’s only me (and Alyssa) so there’s not that much to do. Two, Linda left lots of precooked meals so cooking isn’t an issue, three, I (at least sometimes) do the cleanup part anyhow, and four, it doesn’t take much time to stuff some bedding and towels into the machine and then go back later to move them to the dryer --Oh yeah –I’m supposed to fold them and put them away –maybe I’ll get to that later.

3. I got behind in my class stuff last week when working on PPT for Dad’s party and I have assignments to grade as well as class preps to do. Oh – but Tuesday class was suspended (Founder’s day) and I only had a small amount of prep for Thursday. And the assignments are still waiting …

2. I have some work to do to respond to a request to help develop a ”statistical process control” course for engineers that requires a fair bit of time. But wait – I didn’t do anything on it either.

So the number one top reason (and probably the only valid one) is that I got “addicted” to the Berean Spirit list. I had not been on it for almost a week and a half and I felt compelled to “catch up” – and not only that I kept putting in my “2 cents” on too many topics.

I know I can’t keep it up because there are too many other things that I need to be doing. Isn’t it interesting that the very things that help us be “successful” in life can also be our biggest enemies. In my case it is a combination of when I do something I want to dive in whole heartedly and participate to the max and (as I have mentioned before) my buffet style approach to just heaping it on because I always think I can handle more than is really possible.

This can be good or it can be bad – It really depends on which things I decide to leave on the plate (or discard) or whether I try to handle it all to the point it makes me “ill”.

May God give me the strength and wisdom to say No and keep my plate filled on to the point that I need for nourishment rather than this unhealthy striving to always do more – which often ends up with many things (important things left undone or done poorly)

My friend John Dobbs who is also on the list told me I should “pick my battles” -- and that is good advice. I will heed it … tomorrow!!!

To give you a hint of how badly I lost the battle here are some excerpts from some of my 38 entries to that list between October 10 and noon on October 13.

Friday 1:39 p.m. “I don't have a lot time to pursue this now so I'll try this "small" clarification/question”

Friday 12:16 a.m. “And I've got no spare time -- I guess I'll have to take a sabbatical from the list for a few days - Do you think it will survive without me? :) :)”

Thursday 10:31 p.m. “Well I'm back into this again.”

Thursday 11:22 a.m. “Aaaagh! I know I know I promised -- maybe this time I'll mean it and keep it.”

Thursday 11:14 a.m. “My OCD has me needing to go through the entire list after a week away” ..
Thursday 10:47 a.m “ Now back to my promise not to discuss this anymore unless I see something new that I haven't seen before”

Thursday 10:29 a.m. “I'm ranting -- but I can't help it”

Thursday 10:02 a.m “I'm sorry -I can't help myself -- I think I need some addiction counselling!!!”

Thursday 9:41 a.m “Enough said about … (at least for me)

Thursday 9:02 a.m. “p.p.s This is my absolute last word on this -- I promise (he said with his fingers crossed!!)

Thursday 8:34 a.m. “because I've devoted a lot of time in the past couple of days …reading what you good folk have been discussing on this list --I need to get off this list and move on (the other things in my life)”

Wednesday 9:33 p.m. “I'm a little late with this response -- I've been gradually tracking this thread back to where I last left it and I have been hesitant to comment before I got to the end but …”


To my family & friends - I hope to have "recovered" sufficiently to do a post about the "big party" last weekend sometime next week. Art has already sent me a bunch of pictures.

To Wilma_ I know I still owe you an answer about accessing the list.

To JD, Bobby, Dee and any of my other blogging friend who may have dropped by my biggest failure is not so much that I wasn’t putting anything on my blog but I also wasn’t coming by to “get nourished” by yours.

I think I need to find a chapter of BLA (bloggers and listers anonymous) and beat this thing before it starts to ruin my life. Well I don’t think I’m really that bad –after all I can quit this any time I want to … I just don’t want to yet – :0 :)

All kidding aside I think there is some truth to the possibility of becoming addicted to this form of communication and discussion and while I’m not there – and I don’t think I ever will get there – the “close encounters of the worst kind” have given me at least a sense of the battle faced by those who are addicted to much more damaging and hurtful things.

You’ll know I’ve really lost it when I start my blog with “Hello my name is Charlie and I’m a blogaholic” ….

God Bless
Charlie

Pictures, Pictures & more pictures

Well I’ve finished the big Powerpoint project. 170 slides ranging over a century from pictures of my Dad’s parents around 1900 to a picture of Elijah my Dad’s 3rd great-great grandchild born in August of this year.
Starting from Mom & Dad as the 1st generation, they had 8 kids (2nd generation) from which there have come 25 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren (with 1 more due in November) and 3 great-great (5th generation).

I managed to get at least one picture of each of the ”direct descendents” and most of the spouses or partners which is a total that is near 100 (without counting my niece Megan’s 3 step-children). I haven’t counted but many (most) of the slides have 2 or 3 pictures – some have 4 or 5) so I suspect there are well in excess of 300 different pictures. A lot from my sisters and brothers, a lot I scanned from my parents photo albums and quite a few from my own archives.

Sometimes I fell asleep ”swimming” in pictures. Near the end it was like looking for a needle in a haystack because I had gone though with a list of the names and I knew who I was missing – the challenge was to find someone who could get the required pictures to me. But a few panic emails to my niece Karen, my brother John and my sister Diamond took care of it. There are still a few pictures I would like -- my brother Elwood atmy parents store at age 15 wearing his "store" uniform (white coat & "boat shaped" hat) for one -- but I don't have time to go looking for it and it hasn't popped up.

I don’t even want to think about the hours that went into this but even at 6 minutes/slide it would be 17 hours – I know some took a lot longer than that between searching through albums, scanning pictures and then figuring out where to put them (and replacing poorer framed shots with better ones that came with another batch. I suspect I spent closer to 40 hours than 20 -- and that doesn't include the time my siblings spent collectingpictures and sending them to me

I worked on it almost non-stop while at my sister’s place last weekend. I joked that some people knit or do needlepoint while visiting – the Powerpoint was my version of “needlepoint”. It was helpful to be doing it when others were around. Ruby & Diamond (my younger sisters) were especially helpful in commenting on composition and I was able to tap into Art & Ruby’s large reservoir of family pictures to fill in some gaps and I kept Art busy scanning and emailing me pictures all weekend (kind of funny to have the 2 of us sitting less than 10 feet apart with our laptops(wireless) sending messages back & forth. I would like to say that in all of this I kept my balance and didn’t get overly focused but I have to confess that I missed some of the visiting that went on around me and it certainly placed some stress on my relationship with Linda because she has a million things on the go getting ready for the weekend and getting packed for her month as the “international” touring grandmother.

But its done- well maybe I’ll do a little fine tuning but only if there’s nothing else to do - yea right :) :)

The partnership dinner honoring Art & Ruby for their many years of service to the school was a great event. (Picture shows the members of both their families who were present including 2 of their sons, Art's Dad, his 2 sister's , Ruby's Dad, 2 sisters and 2 brothers along with spouses and Sarah - Trevor's finance).

There is a humorous story involving Art's sister Donna, herhusband Mike and their shoes -- which my Dad took by accident from the house prior tothe dinner but I don't have time to tell it right now.

Art has been president over the past 10 years. Ruby is a super organizer and was often in charge of the food prep and service setup for these types of large dinners. They have been “house parents” for a large number of young people who attended the school including many of their nieces, nephews and “grand”-nieces & nephews. We had a good opportunity to meet with and renew acquaintances with a number of Christians that we have met over the years.

One of the best things about the family “birthday” weekend is that Melissa & Alexander are here. Chris Tammye & the kids will be here later today. It will be a short visit but it is the greatest thing to have them close and to be able to share in their lives. We are headed back out to Camp Wakonda this morning so Melissa & Alexander can check it out as the location for the “wedding celebration ”next” year.

Melissa & Alexander arrived yesterday afternoon and have to leave tomorrow so he can get back for work on Sunday. They will miss most of the family thing but hopefully can be there for first hour to at least get to say hello and introduce her new husband to her aunts & uncles & cousins and their offspring. Poor Alexander. He comes from a small family – one you can count on your fingers (with maybe a couple of toes thrown in) and this is just the Whitfield side – Linda is the oldest of 10 and there are almost as many on that side as on my side. We spent a couple of hours last night going over pictures of Melissa growing up and Alexander was overwhelmed with the number of relatives that showed up in those pictures and the number has probably doubled in the last 10-15 years.

Yesterday was Alyssa’s birthday so Linda made her a cake. Her & her twin Michael were born 18 years ago. It has been a nice thing to get to know her better as she stays here while attending university during the week. It is neat to see Linda extend her “nuturin, mothering” talents to listen to Alyssa chat on about what’s happening in her life.

Anyhow – I have to run – I expect to have more time in October to get caught up on “blogging” and get back to the discussion list – I know it will be lonely around here without Linda but maybe having to look after all the household things that Linda does it will turn out that I have less time for this than I think. We’ll see.

God Bless
Charlie (& Linda -she may do the writing but she is very much a part of what is written)

Heritage (September 28)

Just a short post to let anyone who comes by know I’m still here.

The family Powerpoint and other things have kept me very busy this week. At the urging of Roseann Ekman I joined a Bible discussion list called the Berean Spirit and it is easy to spend a lot of time discussing those questions that I’m mulling over in my head.

We also had a second visit from the McMillans (Dave & Heather) on their way back west after having been in Mexico for 3 months. Dave made a presentation and gave a short Bible lesson at our Wednesday services. Some very challenging thoughts on how Jesus related to people from the healing at the pool in John 5. Always enjoy visiting with Dave – Our conversations are open, challenging and I pray leave me on a closer walk with God. (see my July 4 post for more info on the McMillans)

One of the things that I’ve become more aware of as I scanned pictures and worked on the Powerpoint was the extent to which my family heritage has shaped my thinking. – and that is good. However, there are some dangers if we fail to examine that heritage and make our own path towards a richer and better heritage for our own children & grandchildren. Maybe I’ll explore this topic at a later date.

I’m including my lesson from Sunday – and I’ll sign off – We are traveling this weekend to Beamsville to a dinner at the school to honor my brother-in-law Art and my sister Ruby for their years of work at the school. (click HERE for more about Art & Ruby)

The following weekend is the family “do” so my posts may be erratic over the next couple of weeks. Check by when you can to see if I’ve gotten back to it.

Sunday's lesson

Foundations of Faith - Overview

This lesson is an introduction to “Part 2”of “Back to the Basics”


Review – The basic concept of this series is that people often experience “plateaus” or “slumps” in various endeavors of life. I use sports to illustrate what I mean. Individuals and teams often hit plateaus or get into slumps. One approach to dealing with this is to “go back to the basics” and see what may be missing in those things that is an obstacle to “breaking through” and achieving “new heights”.

For the first part of the series (over the summer), we looked at the following

1. How we “understand” or” interpret” the Bible (a topic called “hermeneutics”)

We asked
-- “Why doesn’t everyone understand the Bible in the same way
-- Why are there so many different views about the “beliefs and practices” that define Christian “churches”.

2. What we understand the Bible to say about “What is the church?” and the “gaps” between this teaching and the actual way it is used today. We also discussed why it would help our growth to eliminate those “gaps” and provided some practical suggestions on how we could do that.

For the rest of the fall we will "shift gears" and look at what I would call “foundational elements” of being a Christian in today’s world.

You know someone who has had no interest in talking about Christianity. You have become friends and they have agreed to talk about “Why you are a Christian”? You want to start with a “diagnostic” (to find where they are in their thinking) – They have agreed to let you ask them 10 questions. What questions would you want to ask?

In this first lesson we listed the questions that the clas smembers threw out and then we reviewed those question by asking the following questions.

Will they understand this question— (Do we all understand this question in the same way?)
might you misunderstand the answer because you are “assuming” they believe things that they don’t believe. (if you ask about believing in Jesus and the answer is NO – is it because they don’t even believe in God or the Bible and they don’t know who Jesus is)
Does the answer really tell you anything about “what’s missing” that would cause them to want to study more – i.e. how can you use the answer to “open a door” that has been holding this person back. )

I’ll provide the list of questions I got in class next time – For now “What questions would you want to ask?”


God Bless Charlie

That’s the Breaks

Doesn’t seem like a lot a lot happening this week but at the same time I seemed to be too busy to prepare a post.

Linda was sick all week with a cold and that threw our “routine” out of kilter. I have a number of projects on the go and I’m finding it difficult to keeping them all on track. But so far I’ve been meeting my commitments.
It also rained a quite a bit this week. In any case I spent almost the whole week “glued to” the computer – which is bad for my posture, left me with an aching back and disturbed Linda because, as I’ve mentioned before, I get too focused on what I’m doing and our communications get strained.

The main project for the week was scanning pictures from our albums -- for 2 reasons -- both related to the upcoming family reunion on October 7-9 (Canadian Thanksgiving). The first part was helping Linda get the pictures she needed for scrapbook pages – our family gift to my Dad is a scrapbook of family memories. I’m also planning a Powerpoint presentation to show at the reunion Monday evening my sister Goldie came by with a couple of boxes of album sand went through them so I could scan a few pictures to use in the Powerpoint. Linda finished the scrapbooking part Friday and I have a lot of stuff – but haven’t gotten to actually putting it together. Need to do that next week.

I have the regular demands of delivering my courses at AUC. On Monday at the department meeting I volunteered to supervise a student for a ”reading” course in Math -- something I haven’t done much of for along time. I think it will be fun – but also will require me to brush up on the material. I have to make the adjustment to realize that these commitments will require about 15 hours a week between preparations, lectures and marking.

Tuesday evening was the quarterly information session to review the various ministry efforts at Pinehill. Lloyd & I had committed to making a report from the elders as part of this communication and coordination process. Monday and Tuesday I drafted reports to cover the main activities we were involved with. Friday morning Lloyd & I met to cover over the reports and to discuss various ministry issues. Yesterday I finalized the reports and updated my notes on the things that Lloyd & I are working on. I also had to prepare my lesson for this morning. My monthly bulletin article is due Monday.

Wednesday was Linda’s birthday (and also our daughter(-in-law) Sarah’s). Since Linda wasn’t feeling well I didn’t plan anything that day. Her niece Alyssa who is boarding here this fall went out and got her a Birthday cake. She had a number of calls from family & friends including a call from Hunter & Camdyn that evening to sing Happy Birthday to her. Friday night we did “dinner & a movie” to celebrate. Well – it was a take-out dinner- whitefish from Sandro’s and DVD movie but we enjoyed our ”date” and spending the evening relaxing together.

We watched the “Great While” with Robin Williams. – a bit of a “dark” comedy - nothing great but had a few laughs. Then we watched “The unfinished life” with Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez and Morgan Freeman - a family drama about rebuilding broken relationships – I suspect that one could find many lessons about the “unfinished” parts of many of our lives—threads of hurt and disappointment that are dragging us down – and how we can - through restoring (or strengthening) our relationship with God we can also resolve those ”unfinished” things in our human relationships. I say “could find” because I tend to just enjoy and absorb movies – rather than spend a lot of time analyzing & discussing “what they mean”. I do find that some scenes & events in a movie "stick with me" and come to mind later as an illustration of a spiritual principle.

There was an ADnet Board meeting on Wednesday p.m. which required a little bit of prep work. At least I didn’t end up with any new commitments as a result of the meeting. After the Board meeting, I needed to go to Staples to pick up some printer cartridges and paper. On the way thereI realized that the brake pedal wasn’t holding. I managed to get home driving slowly and using parking brake (regular brakes still worked on 2 wheels because front & back are separate systems) ”

Thursday we had it towed to Art Taylor and got that fixed. We were thankful it happened here at home – not while we were on the road. But at the same time it was an expense that piled on top of other recent unexpected expenses. Tough on the budget but I’m trying to accept that I need to be content “with food & clothing (and I add shelter) (Matt. 6:19-34, I Tim. 6:8) (see also John Mark Hicks recent post on “possessions” - click HERE)

Anyhow – that’s my week and that's the breaks (or brakes as the case may be)

God Bless
Charlie

p.s. Pray for our friends the Stones. Their daughter is teaching in Thailand and they are concerned because of the military takeover. Pray for her safety and the well being of those people—of course there are many other problem spots .There were 2 Canadian soldiers from an area about 150 miles east of here who were killed in Afghanistan this week.

200 Years of Wedded Bliss

So here’s a math question.

How many couples (all married the same number of years) does it take to have 200 years of marriage?

The answer: Well it isn’t 1 – I don’t know of anyone to-day who lives that long.

It likely isn’t 2 because I’m not aware of any couples that live that far past 100.

3 doesn’t work – unless we are going to count part years.

4 is OK – we can likely find 4couples who have celebrated Golden Anniversaries this year (I know at least 2)

But the real answer is 5 because that’s what we had at the Miller’s house last night.

I think this may be rare – although others may have similar stories. In the summer of 1966, 4 couples who were attending the North Livingstone Church of Christ were married.

Ted & Laura (Smith) Miller led off in June,

Les & Georgina (Weir) Smith were married in July,

Eric & Donelda (Weir) White were married in August

and then we -- Charlie & Linda (Goodmurphy) Whitfield --were married in September.










Laura, Les, Donelda and I were “3rd” generation “members” (our grandparents having been “founding members” of the congregation). As I recall Georgina started attending services at the church when her older sister married a member10 years earlier(1956). Ted, Eric and Linda were drawn into our church family by their interest in their respective partners.

So in 2006 those 4 couples -- from the same small congregation and all married within a 4 month period --- all celebrated their 40th anniversaries. Wait a minute – that’s only160 years of marriage! So for the rest of the story.

Ted was a school teacher. Early in his teaching career he became friends with 2other teachers who it turned out where married in the same year. So the Langdon’s and the Rowe’s also celebrated their 40th anniversaries this year. The alert mathematicians will now be saying – now you’ve gone over – this is 6 times 40 or 240 years.

Paul & Dawn Rowe

Guess its time to go back to Saturday night and start this story over – actually back to a couple of weeks ago just after we returned from our little anniversary trip (See my posts for September 3 & September 7). We had been discussing the fact that it was also the year of Ted & Laura’s 40th – because we had stood up for them and they for us. We were “kicking ourselves” because we had overlooked this fact in June – due to all the other things happening in our lives at that point. Anyhow, we received a very nice invitation to attend a dinner party at the Miller’s for a “Group of 40’s friends”.

So Saturday night the Smith’s, White’, Rowe’s and Whitfield’s gathered at the Miller home for dinner and a fun time talking about old times and what was going on in our lives. The Langdon’s had to send their regrets due to a conflict with a prior commitment – hence the 5 couples totalling 200 years of marriage.

Interestingly, 3 of the 4 “church” couples, are still attending the “North Livingstone”(now Thessalon) congregation. Linda & I are the “oddballs” although we have landed only 60 miles away. Ted & Laura were our closest friends in High school and we do see each other “off & on” – we also would see Les & Georgina and Eric & Donelda at various church events, weddings & funerals but it seems like we seldom had a chance to visit and share “life experiences” ”—we didn’t know the Rowes but they are a fascinating couple. Paul grew up on Manitoulin Island and knew some of the people I know there as a result of my mother’s roots in that community.

I said 200 years of wedded bliss—that is likely a misstatement—there were 200 years of marriage – but at least speaking for Linda I know it wasn’t all blissful because she had to put up with me and all of my foolish ways.

A few months ago Roger quoted some statistics on marriage breakdowns within our fellowship – and if I recall correctly) it was 1 in 3 -- So 4 of 4 lasting 40 years seems to beat the odds. It may in part have to do with the high regard for marriage that was modeled by our parents & grandparents. Maybe there was something in the water. I’m not sure but I do know for both Linda & I we went into it with the belief that the vows ”until death do us part” really meant something and it never occurred to us that there was any other option but to stick it out and work through the valleys – I thank God that we had so many ”mountaintop” times that we always had those to hold onto when things got tough. We pray that we have given that same sense of commitment, loyalty and determination to our children in their marriages.

Onanother note, we had a guest speaker at our services this morning. Norm Morrell from Ice Lake. He had a very interesting journey having come to start learning about the Bible and coming to know Jesus 2 years ago when he was 59 years old. He is ”on fire” to share his experience with others and it is good to see someone who is studying the word wanting to share those lessons. We can anticipate that as he continues to learn and grow his lessons will serve to "spur Christians on to love & good works". But for now hearing the things that convicted him of the need for a relationship with God through Jesus and hearingabout the process of being ”born again” serves as a good reminder ofwherewe havecomefrom and can help when we have opportunity to share that with others who are seeking Jesus.

We also had the pleasure of a visit by Bill & Alma Bunting at services this a.m. Alma is my cousin and we had visited them when we were in Texas in April. They had been in the area visiting with Alma’s immediate family. They have a 5th wheel trailer but their employer had insisted that they travel in his 36’motorhome. Linda & I enjoyed a quick tour of the “rig” before they left for Michigan.

This was sort of in the category of ”it never rains it pours” – we didn’t find out that Bill was going to be here until after we had made the arrangements for Norm to speak. Bill is an excellent speaker and we would have liked to have had him provide a lesson – but that wasn’t possible due to the prior arrangements.

The big news this evening was that our daughter Melissa has set the date for the “wedding” (blessing ceremony) – for September 15 2007 – just a tad over a year after their marriage last week. Working on plans and taking care of the details will likely keep Linda & her busy for much of the next 12 months.

God Bless
Charlie & Linda

Recovering from the ride

I compared last week to a ”roller coaster” ride – as our emotions climbed into joy in anticipation of our daughter’s marriage and then plunged into sorrow at the SIDS death of our niece’s 4 month old daughter. We closed out that particular “ride” on Monday as we attended the funeral.

It was a difficult experience but it seemed that being surrounded by friends and family helped Jessica & Mickey at least begin the process of grieving and coming to accept that life goes on . Linda spoke at the funeral at Jessica’s request. She was reluctant to do it because she was afraid that she would break down and not be able to finish what she had prepared. However, she wanted to “be there” for Jessica so she went ahead. She said she prayed and she knew others were praying for her. From that she experienced a peace and calm and did very well. – (see Philippians 4:6-8)

She shared her experience with observing Jessica pouring out a mother’s love on her child, spoke as a grandmother to empathize with the pain of grandparents who loved this child so much and shared her conviction - from Matt.19:14 - that Magdalena was with Jesus now. It was a heart felt and comforting and I admired her for her strength and demonstration of her faith in God.

When we get off a roller coaster ride we often feel “conflicted”. On the one hand, the adrenalin is pumping and we may want to do it again, On the other hand we may feel a little “dizzy” and just want to take it easy. We also know there are other rides and other things to do. In this case,I wanted to “catch my breath” and move on to some other things that had piled up during the previous week.

I had 3 main goals—one was to get started on scanning pictures and preparing a Powerpoint for a family event honoring my Dad’s upcoming 90th birthday. The birthday is in January 2007 but the family is getting together over (Canadian) Thanksgiving (October 7-8). Various members of the family are supplying pictures but I wanted to go through ours and scan ones that showed him with our family.

The second goal was to get caught up and- even get ahead on my preparations for the classes I’m teaching at Algoma University this term.

The third goal was to get caught up on a backlog of email and do some ”blog browsing” to catch upon what some of my blogging friends were up to.

At the end of the week I felt a little discouraged because I had “chipped away” at all of these things but hadn’t really accomplished anything like what I wanted to—Some of this was due falling back into to my “buffet table ”approach” to setting goals (I take more than I can handle). Some of it was being distracted by other things – some of my own making (like playing computer game sand doing the puzzles in the newspaper -- and some of it was ”Murphy’s law”.

Thursday morning I discovered I couldn’t download my email. I spent an hour or so “rebooting” – reinitializing the network devices, checking routers, checking that I could get at it by webmail, looking at the ISP website to see if they had any “problem alerts”, confirming (erroneously) that the problem was just with my laptop. Finally, I called the ISP and discovered that they had made a change to the mail server” name that I hadn’t heard about.

Friday morning I started having problems with a “flaky” INTERNET connection. Again I went through all of my own re-booting- resetting procedures but nothing worked. So again I called the ISP who after having me re-check a bunch of things internally decided to check with the cable provider. Sure enough they had a problem soI just had to wait for them to fix it.

These 2 problems cost me 4 hours of troubleshooting and got me derailed from working on things I could have done without the INTERNET so all in all I’d say I “wasted” a whole day because of technology – ain’t it great stuff!!! On the other hand, on Tuesday I was able to set up my “All-in-one” printer, FAX, scanner with no problems (once I read the instructions) and spent several (nostalgic) hours going over old photo albums and scanning pictures for the “Powerpoint family album” so it’s great when it works.

I also got some email and “blogging” done. I posted my “Sunday lesson” on Wednesday. I was honored to have positive comments from John Dobbs and Bobby Valentine because I have been blessed by their insights in scripture and inspired by their dedication to “knowing and following Jesus”.

For any interested in pursuing the questions I touched on in my “lesson” I would recommend looking at Bobby’s recent blog entries and the associated comments. (to do so click on the following links)

Discussion of Kingdom Come - Bobby's book with John Mark Hicks

A vision of the church

Unity - Its' importance and our failures

I also exchanged some emails with my cousin Wilma discussing our thoughts about a John Fisher (Purpose Driven Life)devotional Growing through regret that dealt with the concept that character is developed by “having regrets” that come from being aware of our sins and shortcomings.

Finally (last but far from least) I corresponded with Roseanne Ekman about their visit here and she sent several pictures of their family and home in Minnesota. I also exchanged a few notes with John Dobbs who it turns out knows Roseanne— it actually was a bit of “fun” because he knew her primarily from participation on a discussion list and said to me that he hadn’t met her. When I forwarded that comment to Roseann she responded with a picture from Tulsa workshop “chastising” John about his lapse of memory.

In any case it was an example of how God works in ”mysterious ways” because (paraphrasing slightly John Dobbs comment ) we were “delighted to learn that our old acquaintances (the Ekmanns) were acquaintances of our new friend John Dobbs.

God Bless
Charlie & Linda

Back to the Basics-Lesson 2

In my post of August 27 - Are-you-in-slump? I started sharing material from our Adult Bible class at Pinehill. This is will be of most interest to people fromwithin our "fellowship" or someone who is familiar with many of our "traditional" aproaches to teaching about becoming a part of "the body of Christ".

The theme of "back to the Basics" is taken from our experience in other areas of life where sometimes to make progress we have to first go back and deal with some thing we are missing in the basics. I found this carton that illustrates this need for some basic improvements (in this man's golf grip and swing)

The following was covered in classes September 3 & 10th. There is some overlap with the August 27 lesson but this is summary outlining "gaps" between "what we say we believe" and "what we practice" and giving "strategies" or approaches for closing those gaps.

Over past couple of weeks we have looked at our usage of the word “church” and “church of Christ” – how we understand it, how the world understands it and how it is used in the New Testament.

Our discussion has confirmed to me several things that I believe can “limit our growth”.

1. My first observation is that the word “church” as it is commonly used in the world and by many in the churches of Christ conveys something different than what most of us understand as the Biblical meaning

What do we say we believe? Most (if not all) of us here understand that the Biblical meaning of “church” is the “called out ones” (in other words it describes the status of our relationship with God. We also understand that that God does the adding (Acts 2:47) We believe that “being in the church” is of utmost importance.

What do we actually practice? We talk about”going to church” rather than “being the church”. We talk about the church as a building. We talk about “our church” or “the church” based on a the “label” (sign over the door) which we understand to convey a “standard” set of beliefs & practices There seems to be a “gap” between “what we say we believe” and “what we actually practice.

What is the consequence? This practice (however well intended) can limit our effectiveness in communicating that we want simply “to be a part of the church that Jesus died for” . It can also distract us from our main task of being “salt, leaven & light” to so that other people come to want the same thing. ?

How can we improve? (What can be done to “close the gap”?)

One way is to “go back to the basics” and change the way we talk about “church” -

a) talk about being Christians (no more – no less)

b) talk about being part of the family (of God)

c) talk about having confidence or assurance that God has added us to Christ’s body

d) talk about assembling with the church or about attending church services or going to do something with those in our church family. Talk about how we get together to honor and celebrate the relationship we have with God and with each other through Jesus

e) Above all, we need to avoid words and actions that make “attendance” equivalent to “relationship” and those that confuse “place” with” people”

2. My second observation is that we frequently use the term “Church of Christ” as a way to identify a specific set of beliefs & practices - This identifies us by "what we believe" not "who we are".

What do we say we believe? We describe ourselves as “non-denominational”. We say that we want to be ”Christians” only. We say that we want to use the teachings in the New Testament as the sole source of determining our beliefs and practices. (speaking where the Bible speaks and being silent where the Bible is silent)

What do we actually practice? We are very eager and ready to describe our understanding of what the New Testament pattern is for becoming a Christian and for worship. We have pamphlets, books and Bible study guides that describe these “core” beliefs backed up with lots of scripture “quotes” and explanations of why those scriptures mean what we say they mean. We have persuasive arguments to counter the views of others who see the topic in a different way.

What is the consequence? There are two possible consequences of our common practices

1. we become denominational in our thinking and practice. A denomination is a religious group that adheres to a specific set of beliefs and practices. When we talk about what the churches of Christ believe and reduce those things to a (relatively)small list of things that need to be believed and practiced to be accepted in our fellowship, this seems to make us a denomination.

2. In our passion and conviction that we need to be Christians as outlined in the New Testament writings, we start talking about “the church” or “the Lord’s church” – as if we are the “only ones” who understand what God intended about these things. We convey to others that we are the “only Christians” .

In general, I don’t think very many of us really believe we are the “onlyChristians” . (although I’m sure that some in our “fellowship” do). Certainly those who initiated the restoration movement called for people to be “Christians only” – (but so far as I know they never taught that this would made us the “only Christians”.).

Another consequence of the way we teach and talk about the “Church of Christ” is that (it seems to me) we are often “confused” and inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst when we talk to and interact with others who say they are Christians.

How do you respond to someone that says “I’m a Christian”, I believe in Jesus”? Do you have reservations unless you find out they attend a “church of Christ”

On the other hand, I wonder about passages like (Rom.14:4, I John 4:2 and Phil 1:18) – are we dishonoring Jesus when we reject those who are proclaiming him as Lord?

At the end we can be “torn” – we are “reluctant” to be seen accepting other Christians whose beliefs and practices are different from ours but we are also “uncomfortable” with thinking that we alone have got it right.

I think many of us who “grew up” in a church of Christ or who left a “denomination” to become a part of a Church of Christ have a “discomfort” in this area. We understand so clearly and are strongly convicted about those things that webelieve the NT teaches about “becoming a Christian” and about the “New Testament pattern for the church” that we find it difficult to accept (extend recognition as a fellow Christian) to anyone who believes and practices differently than we do. (Ironically this passion for "doing things right" also ends up creating a "Heinz 57 varieties" of "churches of Christ" as we fuss over over almost anything imaginable.)

There are two extreme responses to resolving this “conflict”

1. We compromise, “waterdown” or “sidestep” talking about our beliefs to avoid seeming “dogmatic” and “divisive”.

2. On the other hand, we can become very “rigid” and tell others bluntly that ”we are right (and by implication saved) and they are wrong” (and by implication lost).

Neither of these extremes is “sound doctrine” The first one fails the test of “whatever is not of faith is sin” (Roms14:23). The second fails the test of love (among other tests).

It seems to me that we so often, in our passion for truth, have missed the point of Jesus’ prayer (John 17:20-21)

“that they (those who believe in Jesus) may be one as Jesus and the Father are one so that the world may believe that (God) have sent (Jesus) .

Ephesians 4 reiterates the importance of

“keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” – of proclaiming “one body, one Spirit, one hope one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God”.

Yet we focus more on the things that divide us (within and without), we argue and fail to

“to live a life worthy of the calling (we) have received.

We fail to be completely humble and gentle; patient, and bearing with one another in love.”

How can we improve?

One way is to “go back to the basics” and change the way we talk about the “church of Christ ” -

I suggest that we

a) talk about being a group of Christians who have come together as a family (or community) in response to our common faith in Jesus.

b) talk about how those beliefs provide us assurance of God’s grace and the transforming power of his Spirit.
c) talk about how –regardless of what we experience – good or bad – in our daily lives we are experiencing “life to the full” (John 10:10) as God grows his fruit within us (Gal 5:22-23 )

d) talk about how we are diligent in searching the scriptures to come to know Jesus better each day and how we would welcome any one to join with us we continue to do that.

e) talk about how we are on a ”journey of faith and discovery” -- a journey we have found leads to a (growing) belief in Jesus and desire to know him better and serve him better. A journey, which gives us an increasing assurance of his saving grace & spirit being at work in our lives.

f) talk about the fact that we have developed deep convictions about what the Bible teaches about how we become Christians, how we live as spirit directed servants, and how we worship to honor God, and while we respect those who have come to a different understanding from the Bible, we must – to preserve a clear conscience before God -- teach and practice those things until we come to a different understanding.

g) talk about the “name” church of Christ as a (Biblical –Rom. 16:16) label of convenience that we use to describe congregations that have similar beliefs and practices – congregations where we can expect to feel “at home” if we need to visit elsewhere or move to a new community.

Well -that's it for now--I pray that as we think on these things and "reason together" we can come more fully into that "walk in the light" that God has called us to.

God Bless
Charlie