"If a white person marries a black person," my father said to me one day, "their children will be born with one black leg and one white leg, one black arm and one white arm." I was still in my early teens but I didn't think such a thing was possible and I told my … Continue reading Strange ideas about strangers
FIRE!
Over the past few days the people of Fort McMurray, Alberta have had an all too close encounter with a fire like the one above. News reports indicate that all the 80,000+ people who live and work there have been able to make their way to safety, leaving their homes, businesses and most of their … Continue reading FIRE!
We Bleed, All The Way Up
"We live in a disordered, chaotic, fractured, fallen world where the current of sin devours everything." I love that phrase and it pretty much sums up the thoughts that were going through my mind today. I was sitting with my wife as the chemotherapy drugs were dripping into her bloodstream and meditating on the twisted … Continue reading We Bleed, All The Way Up
Finding peace in time of sickness
Most of us, at least in Canada, have heard the sad story of the young couple convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life to their child. The boy was sick for 2½ weeks, a friend told them it was probably meningitis, but they never took him to a doctor until he stopped breathing. … Continue reading Finding peace in time of sickness
God Save the Queen
It was Wednesday morning, February 6, 1952. I was nine years old and in Grade Five. When I got up that morning, the radio was playing solemn, stately, orchestral music. That was all we could get on any radio station. The eight o'clock news told us why – King George VI had died and his … Continue reading God Save the Queen
The loneliness of the pathfinder
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Isaiah 6:16 We have joined a grand throng of pilgrims and strangers, wending our way through a wilderness where we have never … Continue reading The loneliness of the pathfinder
Gossip
Gossip. talk or news about the personal lives of other people that is often not kind or true. The above definition comes from the Harcourt Brace Canadian Dictionary for Students, © 1997. I think this was the best school dictionary ever, but it is unfortunately out of print due to Thompson Corp buying up a … Continue reading Gossip
Monoculture
Monoculture is a term used in agriculture to describe the planting of a single crop in a field. It is also used in a narrower sense to describe the widespread planting of a single cultivar. This is the sense which I will refer to. This kind of monoculture results when a cultivar is developed which … Continue reading Monoculture
Prioritizing doesn’t work for me
My wife had her first round of chemotherapy on Monday and Tuesday. It went as well as one can expect this sort of thing to go – they were long, tiring days but she doesn't appear to feel any worse from it. After another round or two (the treatments will be monthly) her energy level … Continue reading Prioritizing doesn’t work for me
Did King Solomon hate women?
Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account: which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 This sounds like a pretty severe indictment of women, … Continue reading Did King Solomon hate women?
Flatlander Faith 