Sorry to Shannon for stealing her line....
Today, as I was walking around Kamloops, beginning to readjust to my new/old abode, I came across something which I had believed impossible for Kamloopians: a tea store!! They were closed today, but I was almost speechless from the excitement for a brief moment.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Death and Dying....
"Uhhh.... Like when people die?"
"Why? Isn't that stuff really depressing?"
"That's interesting...."
These are responses I've gotten when I mention I would like to do grief counseling (and the all-too common polite turning and walking away).
You know why I like grief counseling? Because it starts at the end of someone's life, when they have seen everything they have done and are prepared to take responsibility for actions, hurts, whatever they might have done which requires resolution. We live in worlds where pain and suffering are every day occurrences; statistics tell us so, our own senses tell us so if we can stop to listen for a moment. As we go about life, we can't do everything perfectly. We leave bumps in the road, loose threads in the tapestry, whichever analogy you prefer. These are often what can come to define us if we allow them to, but so much more so they end up being the times we look back on when near the end of our roads, which we only wish something could be done to ameliorate the brokenness caused by our past. Perhaps that's why I love Christ so much, because our brokenness highlights how amazing He was to die for it.
"Why? Isn't that stuff really depressing?"
"That's interesting...."
These are responses I've gotten when I mention I would like to do grief counseling (and the all-too common polite turning and walking away).
You know why I like grief counseling? Because it starts at the end of someone's life, when they have seen everything they have done and are prepared to take responsibility for actions, hurts, whatever they might have done which requires resolution. We live in worlds where pain and suffering are every day occurrences; statistics tell us so, our own senses tell us so if we can stop to listen for a moment. As we go about life, we can't do everything perfectly. We leave bumps in the road, loose threads in the tapestry, whichever analogy you prefer. These are often what can come to define us if we allow them to, but so much more so they end up being the times we look back on when near the end of our roads, which we only wish something could be done to ameliorate the brokenness caused by our past. Perhaps that's why I love Christ so much, because our brokenness highlights how amazing He was to die for it.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Good and Faithful Servant
Today I got a call. Not a call one enjoys receiving, but one I've foreseen for some time.
It was my father, saying that my grandma had another in a recent series of heart attacks, and that she was now breathing through a respirator and not conscious. My first reaction was no reaction; what can one think when a person who you've seen so full of God's joy and peace suddenly becomes closer to His kingdom? I thought about all the things I have to get done in the next little while... Yes, I admit that the first things I told myself were that I had no time to visit her back in Kamloops, I have two exams to study for, a run to sign up for, and a sermon to write.
And here I am writing from a computer in Kamloops, just recently returned from the hospital where I visited her for what may be the last time. I got a serendipitous ride from my brother and sister-in-law, and will be heading back in the morning to resume my crazy-life activities, feeling calous, confused, and without the right words to express how much she means to me still.
Who was Peggy Smith, you may ask. Before I was a Christian, she was there loving me like Christ would if He had corporeal form again, and I have loved Grandma longer than I have consciously loved Jesus, although I'm sure she would rather it be the other way around. My life has been immensely blessed by her... She brought up five children in conditions which we might ascribe to poor persons, but from the accounts I have heard of her, she was never of poor spirit. So often I've felt alone in the world, and remembering her made it feel better because there was no way I could deny how much she loved me. Not only this, but it is her wisdom that got me through some of the worst parts of my life; she and my grandpa gave me my first Bible, and wrote Joshua 1:9 as the commemoration verse. When I look at the lives of anyone in chuch, so often I realize that Peggy was more than just a person, she was a saint everywhere she went, spreading the will and purpose of God into everyone she met. Now, while I hope it is not her last moments which I see, she may soon be with the God she has strived to serve all her life with a faith that strengthens me day to day. I can think of no one more deserving of hearing the phrase...
'Well done, good and faithful servant!', indeed.
She passed away at about 9:00am on April 13, 2007.
It was my father, saying that my grandma had another in a recent series of heart attacks, and that she was now breathing through a respirator and not conscious. My first reaction was no reaction; what can one think when a person who you've seen so full of God's joy and peace suddenly becomes closer to His kingdom? I thought about all the things I have to get done in the next little while... Yes, I admit that the first things I told myself were that I had no time to visit her back in Kamloops, I have two exams to study for, a run to sign up for, and a sermon to write.
And here I am writing from a computer in Kamloops, just recently returned from the hospital where I visited her for what may be the last time. I got a serendipitous ride from my brother and sister-in-law, and will be heading back in the morning to resume my crazy-life activities, feeling calous, confused, and without the right words to express how much she means to me still.
Who was Peggy Smith, you may ask. Before I was a Christian, she was there loving me like Christ would if He had corporeal form again, and I have loved Grandma longer than I have consciously loved Jesus, although I'm sure she would rather it be the other way around. My life has been immensely blessed by her... She brought up five children in conditions which we might ascribe to poor persons, but from the accounts I have heard of her, she was never of poor spirit. So often I've felt alone in the world, and remembering her made it feel better because there was no way I could deny how much she loved me. Not only this, but it is her wisdom that got me through some of the worst parts of my life; she and my grandpa gave me my first Bible, and wrote Joshua 1:9 as the commemoration verse. When I look at the lives of anyone in chuch, so often I realize that Peggy was more than just a person, she was a saint everywhere she went, spreading the will and purpose of God into everyone she met. Now, while I hope it is not her last moments which I see, she may soon be with the God she has strived to serve all her life with a faith that strengthens me day to day. I can think of no one more deserving of hearing the phrase...
'Well done, good and faithful servant!', indeed.
She passed away at about 9:00am on April 13, 2007.
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