Stuff Christians Like and Resisting the Vampires

Just yesterday I ran across this very funny blog - he’s poking fun at Christians, so watch out.  Here’s a clip from this morning’s post…

I’m even prouder of Christianity for not jumping on the vampire, werewolf, zombie band wagon right now….  We’re thinking about it, I can feel it coming in the air tonight like Phil Collins. Across the country pastors are tempted to do Twilight sermon series. Around the world, Christian authors are thinking about the parallels of the everlasting life of a vampire and the true everlasting life of a Christian. Christian film producers are feeling the siren’s call of Final Cut screenplay software. “Just write a Christian version of Twilight, just write a Christian version of Twilight.”

Hold strong! Unless you’re a youth minister, resist the urge to work teenager romance vampire references into your sermons. Fight the good fight! We can do this. We can resist this trend.

p.s.

If we’ve already lost, if there is already a Christian version of Twilight that I don’t know about because I’m wicked out of touch, please don’t tell me. Let me have this moment please. Let me have this moment.

Hockey Night in Canada Memories

Today after church I had the privilege of standing around with my Dad & Ellie K as they reminisced a bit about their memories of hockey night in Canada.  I wish I had a recorder actually – as I often do as I listen to these type of stories, but here’s a few highlights I remember.  I hope they don’t mind me publishing for the world to see!  If either one of them reads this – I beg their forgiveness for my grammar and writing skills, I’m sure there will be a few places they could make improvements, since they are hockey fans but also long time grammar/spelling/writing critics!

Ellie (and Eloise just happened to be there and toss in a few words which was great) was talking about gathering around the radio with his family when he was young – the radio was run by two “B” batteries and one “A” (I think that was it) – I forget what voltage he said.  It took a while for it to warm up.  The battery would run out every few weeks (again – I think it was weeks not months but not sure) so he and his brother Bordy would carry it into town to get it charged.  For the few weeks when it was getting charged there was no radio and no listening to Hockey!  The batteries would also run out in the spring usually, and new ones were not bought until the fall.  I’m not sure if that coincided with the hockey season, farmwork, or some other factor.

Imperial Oil was the sponsor for Hockey Night in Canada, and sold “3 Star” gasoline. Ellie figures this is where the Three Stars of the game came from (wikipedia says the same thing).  It sounded like the Three Stars were a lot bigger deal in years gone by than they are today.

Another significant fact was that the first period (and for a while the first and second) was broadcast from Toronto.  This was likely similar to the “TV blackouts” of today, or maybe because Imperial Oil only wanted to sponsor one period!

The broadcast was always from Toronto, the Leafs against one of the other five teams.  I did ask Ellie why he (and therefore many of his descendants) chose Toronto to cheer for.  It sounded like it was a bit because they were the default team, and the one they always heard about, and there was also a local connection as a number of Leaf players at the time came from SK.  One neat story from our family that my Grandma told once was that each of the boys, Grandpa and Grandma all picked a favorite team from the Original Six.  Grandma was always a Leafs fan, my Dad cheered for Detroit, Uncle Glen for the Bruins, Uncle John for the Canadiens – and I can’t remember who Grandpa and Uncle Dave chose.

One last thing – the hotstove started with a bunch of guys sitting around a hot stove discussing the league – and I got the impression they were a little more respected than the Hotstove of today.

Great stories – seems like the more history I hear from men or women like this, the more gaps in my story are filled in….  anyone else want to add some pieces to the puzzle?

God Snack

Elijah on the way to church this morning:

“Dad I don’t need snack at church – I’ll have God Snack instead” (Him & I have been sharing communion together lately)

Stop “working on your relationship with God”

“I need to spend more time working on my relationship with God.”

I responded, “Why would you want to do that?”

Startled she says, “What do you mean?”

“Well, why would you want to spend any time at all on working on your relationship with God?”

“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

“Let me answer by asking you a question. Can you think of anyone, right now, to whom you need to apologize? Anyone you’ve wronged?”

She thinks and answers, “Yes.”

“Well, why don’t you give them a call today and ask for their forgiveness. That might be a better use of your time than working on your relationship with God.”

 

Christians don’t wake up every morning thinking about how to become a more decent human being. Instead, they wake up trying to “work on their relationship with God” which very often has nothing to do with treating people better. How could such a confusion have occurred? How did we end up going so wrong? I’m sure there are lots of answers, but at the end of the day we need to face up to our collective failure. I’m not saying we need to do anything dramatic. A baby step would do to start. Waking up trying to be a little more kind, more generous, more interruptible, more forgiving, more humble, more civil, more tolerant. Do these things and prayer and worship will come alongside to support us.

I truly want people to spend time working on their relationship with God. I just want them to do it by taking the time to care about the person standing right in front of them.

Excerpts from an article by Richard Beck - good thoughts I think.

Found the link at Mike Cope’s blog.

O For Grace

“O for grace to trust Him more”

I don’t know how many times I’ve sung ‘Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus, but last Sunday night was the first time I noticed this line.  I like it.

The Mystery

Perhaps years ago I thought of baptism in simple terms… but not anymore.  There is a beautiful, powerful and still confusing mystery about this ritual.  Sunday night at our church we had two baptisms, and we heard the great news that in India this past weekend Autumn took that step as well.  Harmony’s photo captures some of the joy mystery of the moment I think.  We’re proud of you Autumn, who you are and who you are becoming!

In years gone by…

Younger Versions of Tim, Brianne, Cody & Leann

I was going through some old boxes in the garage and found this picture the other day – must have been around 2000 maybe?  We’ve been lucky enough to have these three “kids” visit us her in Saskatoon over the past few weeks, they have grown up to be great people, great friends, and they are great mentors for my kids, I didn’t imagine all that on this night though!

Those Who Labour For The Lord

Some excerpts from a recent post by Patrick Mead regarding the way Preachers/Ministers in the Church of Christ are treated – mostly in regard to $$$.  

Even some larger congregations (over 100, less than 350) were offering salaries that were way below the average of their members. I did some checking on websites that showed the average income of people in different cities, adding in the factor that ministers are usually well educated, checked on the neighborhoods in which the ministers lived and found… in most cases, the new minister would not be able to live in the community where the building was located because he wouldn’t be paid enough.  No wonder many of my friends have left ministry over the last decade. They are selling insurance, teaching school, or running other businesses. They are paid better, have definite periods where they are off work, and have great benefits….

…I’ve talked to many ministers who are slipping into deadly levels of debt because they don’t have enough money to keep their family going. Many (most?) live without adequate health insurance and very, very few have a retirement program. They are on call 24/7 and expected to enjoy living in a fishbowl,…

…it is now much more rooted in the average member’s refusal to give as they have been prospered. I know that that is a HUGE part of this. In my own wonderful congregation, a third of those who attend give between $0-20 a week. I know many of them make salaries over $50k but they rationalize away their lack of giving by saying they don’t always agree with everything the church does, or they have debts, or they are sending a kid to college. Since they don’t put their treasure in the church, their heart isn’t there, either….

…That kind of rationalization has consequences, here and in the hereafter. Jesus told us to honor those who labor among us. His apostles told us the same thing. God told us that it was wrong to keep an ox from eating the corn he was treading! He was working, so he deserved a part of the profits. Church members need to look at their own souls and then step up and honor those humble men and women who are serving them. If not, judgment awaits…

I agree.

Carole Straker

Two days ago Tara & I attended (along with 600+ others) a memorial for Carole Straker.  It was sad but good – good as it could be I guess.  She was an amazing lady, and her family has had a huge impact on my life.  I would write longer but Steve did a great job here- GO READ IT – I completely agree with what he has written and experienced much of the same in my friendship with Carole, although for Tara & I our time was spent more directly with her kids and their families.

I went to Yellowknife in about 1995 and 96 for the summer, and was completely accepted by Bernard & Carole.  I spent many evenings playing horseshoes in their backyard, other games inside or sitting around the living room singing.   A few weekends were spent with them (and many others) at their cabin on River Lake, a place which holds a ton of great memories for me.  When Tara & I moved permanently to YK in 1999 Bernard & Carole were traveling as Sojourners – so the rest of their family took over and drew us into their lives, but we continued to be loved by them as kind of pseudo-grandkids, just like many many others throughout Western Canada were.

Carole is, for me, the best example of a life well lived  – even with its struggles, imperfections and the unfair ending of a life ended too soon by cancer.  If I can live just even a small bit as well as her I will be content.  I along with many others will miss her greatly, but not nearly as much as her family will, who are the most clear sign of just how special a person she was.  We are hurting for them as they begin “normal” life this week – missing an important piece.  Rest in peace Grandma Carole, loving God, loving people – that’s what you did, and you did it well.

Help him out.

Over at Pam’s blog she’s telling the story of Raja – a 10 year old friend of Andrew’s in India who needs surgery on his arm. 

Father’s salary = 1000 rupees/month (23.67$ Canadian)

Surgery = 25000 rupees (591.78$)

So all the guy has to do is pay his whole salary for the next 2 years and he’ll be out of debt…

My mom also sent out an email today, give me a shout if you’d like more info and could help this kid out.