When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! (John 11:33-36).I have at times wondered … Continue reading Friendship
Dreams and happiness
Let me ask you a question — if you achieve the thing you are dreaming of, will you be happy?Tom Sukanen was one of the pioneers of this part of Saskatchewan. He came from Finland as a young man with immense strength and talent — and a dream of one day going back to Finland as a … Continue reading Dreams and happiness
Somewhere a forest is burning
Somewhere a forest is burning A blue smoky haze blurs the horizon. Acrid fumes affect our breathing Causing eyes to sting, tears begin to run. Somewhere a forest is burning A forest of churches now redundant; Made weak and sickly from learning To accommodate half-true new doctrine. New interpretations of truth Weakened those who once … Continue reading Somewhere a forest is burning
Ebola
That fearsome disease, The deaths do not cease. Who can help when such fear Clutches all who are near?Disease is a curse, Fear just makes it worse. We flee those who would help. Trust things that cannot help.Thousands are dying, Thousands are trying To arrest the bleeding, And stop it from spreading.Has a cure been … Continue reading Ebola
Self Help or Helping Others?
In my younger years, before I was a Christian, I read most of the well-known self-help books on the market. I was disappointed with the whole lot of them.In The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale took a verse from the Bible and told me to recite it over and over, much like a … Continue reading Self Help or Helping Others?
Women and men
“A man once asked me ... how I managed in my books to write such natural conversation between men when they were by themselves. Was I, by any chance, a member of a large, mixed family with a lot of male friends? I replied that, on the contrary, I was an only child and had … Continue reading Women and men
Fanatics
A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case.-Finley Peter DunneA fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.-Winston ChurchillFanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.-George SantayanaFanatic is often the name given … Continue reading Fanatics
The self-important self
The dictionary pictured above lists 80 hyphenated words beginning with self; the Canadian Oxford Dictionary lists 200. What a bunch of self-centred, self-satisfied, self-important bores we have become!We think that good self-esteem is essential for happiness. We study self-help books to help us attain self-fulfillment, self-actualization and self-realization. There is a little problem though — … Continue reading The self-important self
Broken paradigms
Sixty years ago, when I was twelve years old, I did not know any child my age who had not had the same father and a mother from the time they were born. One neighbour boy was being raised by his grandmother; there was a highly publicized fund raisng effort every year for the orphange in … Continue reading Broken paradigms
Paradigms – effective and defective
Paradigm (pronounced pair-a-dime) means model, pattern, example. The word was first popluarized by Thomas S Kuhn to describe a framework for scientific research. He wrote: "Men whose research is based on shared paradigms are committed to the same rules and standards for scientific practice." ¹ Paradigm then escaped from this narrowly scientific application to become … Continue reading Paradigms – effective and defective
Flatlander Faith 