Friday, February 6, 2009

Saturday February 7, 2009

Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labour. Proverbs 12:24.

We are all leaders in some way, and how far our influence spreads depends on whether we take our leadership seriously or not. To abdicate that leadership, especially in our families, is likely to make us—and what is worse, our children also—followers of destructive and manipulating influences from elsewhere. Yet how we extend our influence still remains something of a mystery to me.

Our three daughters live in eastern and western Canada and New Zealand, major distances apart. But having just spent eight days together with them, for us the most rewarding part was watching their interaction and obvious love for each other and their lavish appreciation for Ann and I. Seeing the breakup, anger and upset that so many other families endure, I wonder why ours should be so close knit.

It is all too easy to commend ourselves, the ideal upbringing we accomplished, and above all our commitment to our Christian faith as the reason. But any diligence we may have practiced cannot be the final answer. For one thing, there are many parents that have a greater commitment to these ideals than we and have still suffered broken relationships. Also, there is always the regret that we failed in so many areas in our children’s growth. I’m sure that most parents feel this and their children will enlighten them if they don’t!

Mystified as I am with this process, it simply reflects that finally God is a mystery. In fact, that mystery is the source of all vitality and meaning in this life. The one thing I do know is that to raise children to be happy and productive adults is beyond our ability, they will make their own decisions despite our care for them. We can only aim to be good parents and then pray and trust God to oversee our children whatever the outcome.
Friday February 6, 2009

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6.

Well, the week of our family reunion in England is over, and we have several hundred pictures to help us old folk remember it! What do I remember most? Most recent in my memory are the trips to Heathrow airport to ferry them back to their planes. Long traffic delays on one day that threatened to miss a flight, and a fast run the next in rain and fog! Alex’s flight to Montreal delayed a day because of weather. Sufficient frustration to make the text above meaningful. Bad weather is threatening again so I’m glad all the girls and their escorts are back safely.

But those aren’t the significant memories that will linger for a lifetime. Here are some: the generous use of a nine seat van that would take us all to visit the places of our childhood and early married life; eating together in a restaurant overlooking the beaches where we “courted”; watching the girls interact during and after meals (they all live great distances apart); and above all the warmth we felt in our renewed but short-lived family circle.

We spent time with our nearest relatives and also had a wider family “open house” where we contacted many family members unseen for many years, and with whom we plan to keep in touch. We were reminded again of the goodness of God in providing us with the growing family that we enjoy so deeply.

It was a busy time, Ann for the last few days throwing up occasionally and feeling weak. Some days we were busy from 5.00 am until late in the evening to maintain our responsibilities at the guest house and participate in family activities. We now have a break for a few days before it gets busy again. Time to recuperate, for Ann to catch up on her university work and for me to respond to some publishing needs—and perhaps be more regular in my blogs!

But the effort expended is less likely to be recalled in the light of the marvellous time we had—thanks to the willingness of our daughters and latest grandson and our granddaughter and husband, who all made the considerable effort and cost to join us. We love you all dearly.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Monday February 2, 2009

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24.

Christmas comes but once a year, but real snow comes to Britain only every twenty years. Then place a little snow on the ground and everything comes to a standstill. For the last 24 hours, London was without buses, many roads were closed, rail service sharply disrupted and airports shut down. Reminds me a bit of Vancouver. They have the same mentality—a denial that winter really goes there! To be fair, the snow is the wet slippery kind that keeps the wheels spinning by day and handily freezes overnight. We trust that everything will be back to normal on Wednesday when the girls fly home.

It certainly disrupted plans for our girls who had booked for a trip to France via the channel tunnel. Instead we opted for a together time close to home, a chance to catch up on some reading and photo swapping. If the last several days have been a race to run, we have certainly felt the energy expended, but also the exhilaration of achievement. Today, was a breather, we felt more like the tortoise than the hare. For us, to complete the race is more important than winning.

There is always something each day to keep the back burner alight in relation to my prostate cancer—another race that needs to be completed. Today I had confirmation of surgery at the Lethbridge regional hospital for March 30, 2009. We arrive home on March 11, so a few days to prepare. We both feel that this will probably be our last trip of this type to England—we are getting too old for this game! Mind you, we’ve said similar things before, but adventure still calls.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Saturday January 31, 2009

May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, Ps 69:6

Well, it’s been a week since I last put pen to paper—er—fingers to keys. It’s been a hectic but delightful time, most days from 5 am to 10 pm or later to ensure a time together with our family from various parts of the world, and at the same time keep the guest house running that we are responsible for.

It started when we left home at 5 am on Tuesday to pick up Alex and her two year old from Heathrow airport, and then met our daughters Heather and Karen in the evening that my sister had later picked up from the same airport. That evening was supper at Christine’s, a friend who has kindly hosted our family in her 300 year old Smithy Cottage.

Wednesday was a slow day allowing for jetlag, and our granddaughter and husband joined us in Brighton that evening for supper at my sister’s house. Thursday we toured many of the places that Ann and I haunted during our “courting” and early married days. Supper that night was at with our niece Becky, her husband Andy and their two boys. It was Andy’s birthday.

Friday was a day for the boys—Alex’s Luciano and Becky’s two, Louis 5 years and James 3. And Matt, our granddaughter Jenny’s husband was clearly one of the boys too. That evening we finished up at Christine’s again. This time it was a birthday supper for her!

Saturday, was a reunion for all our local relatives, about thirty or so joining us in the afternoon for an open house. For me, the morning was another run to Heathrow to drop off Matt and Jenny. It will be church tomorrow morning, and another couple of days after before our next run to the airport to return our daughters to their respective homelands and husbands.

If this has you confused, we are not much less so, but excited that all has gone more or less according to plan and we have accomplished much of what we all felt was important. But in all this, we stop for a moment to ask ourselves the question implicit in today’s text: Have we been a good witness for our Lord?