thoughts about courage

This article about Jimmy Carter was rolling around in my thoughts for a few days last week. It refers to Jimmy's public decision to separate himself from the denomination he was associated with in order to support a position that he has decided is 'bigger' than this affiliation. It quotes from a letter he wrote explaining his decision.

I read the article, and was surprised by what stayed with me. (you should too if this post is going to make any sense to you, and while you're at it, you could get more details about the Elders and a variety of interesting (mostly female) perspectives here.)

.... What stayed with me wasn't the emphasis on women's issues, although that is an important topic. I was interested in the idea that our treatment of women in the North American church is at all tied to how women are treated in other contexts all over the globe. This is a valid connection that I want to think and learn more about.

.... Nor was it the fact that I completely identified with Jimmy's position about the questionable conclusions in scripture about female roles:

"The carefully selected verses found in the Holy Scriptures to justify

the superiority of men owe more to time and place -

and the determination of male leaders to hold onto their influence -

than eternal truths. Similar biblical excerpts could be found to

support the approval of slavery and the timid acquiescence

to oppressive rulers."

I hear shades of many conversations I've had in that excerpt! I also hear shades the oft-quoted Rich Mullins:

"You guys are all into that born again thing,

which is great. We do need to be born again,

since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus.

But if you tell me I have to be born again to

enter the kingdom of God, I can tell you that you just have to sell

everything you have and give it to the poor,

because Jesus said that to one guy too…

[And he paused in the awkward silence.]

But I guess that’s why God invented highlighters,

so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest."

... It also wasn't because I learned about the Elders, which seems like a grand idea. What a concept.. using one's influence to ... INFLUENCE!

No, what ended up staying with me was appreciation for Jimmy's courage. Dare I say that he had bal... okay, I won't finish that statement, it might be crude. (and I'm NEVER crude.)

At the end of the day, he had the courage to stand up for something that he believed was important.
He had the courage to separate himself - generously, graciously, kindly, but also assertively and with authenticity - from something that he believed was more harmful than helpful. He didn't slink away quietly and retreat until everything blew over. He didn't gloss over the truth of why he was reconsidering his alignment. He was just plain courageous. He was just plain honest.

Maybe we should be asking why that is so very inspiring and refreshing.....

Better World Books

In my search for cheap textbooks, I've come upon Better World Books. They have a lot of the books I need for upcoming classes, and they are committed to some great things in addition to profit. For now, they'll be my first stop. (another site, www. abebooks.com is great for used text books in particular.)

I've added their blog to my blog list on the left; check them out! There is currently a twitter contest where you sign up to follow them and tweet about their contest and are entered for FREE BOOKS!! Who doesn't want free books!?

safely arrived!

Well, we are officially residents of Winnipeg again! We had an adventure filled day to start off our year of adventure :)

As I type this I am sitting in Nance and Sean's place in Westwood. They offered us their house while they were travelling in AB and SK for a couple of weeks. We had a good visit with them before we left Hepburn, and I was reminded of how special it is to have friends you've known FOREVER... as in since grade seven!! (I'm not exactly sure, but maybe dirt hadn't even been invented then?) We had good visiting while seeing a couple of Saskatoon sights, over peanut-buttery smores and grown up creamsicles, and while sitting in our very sparse living room. They got to meet a few of our friends in Hepburn and we loved every minute. Their little guy Ethan is a charmer .. I hope we can hang out more often with him this year! Their house is so welcoming and homey, we especially like their kingsize bed. I'm looking forward to going up there soon so that I can spread out all my journalling stuff and Brendan won't roll over and smush it :)

Our adventure-filled journey included a camper tire blowing and damaging the whole wheel casing and the floor of the camper. We ended up going to UHaul in Moose Jaw to rent a trailer and emptying our camper into that. This kind of hampers our plans to live at Birds Hill campground for the next two weeks, but we'll see what happens with insurance. Pics to come..

Today, we delivered our belongings to Flatlanders in preparation for our official move in on Aug. 15th. It was awesome to be there, can't wait to meet everyone and get settled.

This is a really fun and exciting time in the life of our family. There are so many questions in my head right now, and I can't wait to see what shape things take over the next weeks and months. It is so good to have experiences that build faith and to actually live out waiting on God's direction and guidance. Sometimes I feel like we don't have authentic experiences like that often enough. Each time our family has had times like this, we emerge a bit weathered, but with experiences that help us to know God better and understand life more deeply. It seems so ironic to feel so complete and secure at this time in spite of the big question marks in every direction.

As I sit here, I am incredibly thankful. Thankful for friends who blessed us so much in our last days in Hepburn, thankful for kids who had amazingly good attitudes as unexpected circumstances made a hard day even harder, thankful for loving and supportive family. Most of all, thankful for a relationship with God that somehow sharpens and clarifies all of these wonderful things.

full, full, FULL!

the last two nights I've gone to bed feeling very FULL .. not in the sense of eating too much, more in the sense of being overwhelmed by the generosity and wonderful-ness of our community and friends in Hepburn.

On Friday night, a bunch of people got together and we had a potluck bbq at Wayne and Ruth's. It was such a nice night for visiting and enjoying friends. They gave us wonderful coffee themed gifts. (they know us well!) We intend to make good use of those gifts and are sure that our new friends at Flatlanders will also be thankful when they're sipping tasty cappuccinos!

Tonight, we had an awesome bunch of helpers loading exercise equipment into the truck, moving boxes into the camper, and even cleaning bathrooms and ovens! wow. wow.
We are blessed. Thank you, dear friends.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights"

culinary experiments ... a post for Erica

Cleaning out your freezer and trying to use up everything in your pantry without buying new groceries is an interesting experience. Today, I did some culinary experimenting. I thought I'd post about it in honor of Erica, a friend who always inspired me with her insights and energy and who I won't likely get to visit with before leaving...She is going to cooking school this fall.



For lunch, I had two soups on hand, but neither was enough on their own... so I decided to put them together! Michelle and I had Coconut-Curry-Chicken-Wonton Soup! It was actually incredibly good! Other than the unappealing pasty color of the soup, we were thoroughly impressed. We thought some basil or parsley flakes might have been the perfect solution!

After lunch, the experimenting continued as we tried to come up with interesting drinks. We settled on cranberry-apple-cinnnamon-raspberry lattes. Not as good of an adventure as the soup, but still fun! (and no, the latte art above was not what ours looked like!)

Have any of you come up with good tea-based lattes other than the London Fog? I've experimented with green and ginger teas, but still haven't found something as tasty as Earl Grey.. ideas welcome in the comments.

Thankful! .... and photos

Our house is a disaster zone! Pretty weird opening sentence for a post about thankfulness, hey? But we are just coming up to our last week in Hepburn, and we have been sorting, packing, filing, and storing like crazy! The mess is necessary and even.. good! We moved to Hepburn in a mad rush, so this opportunity to be methodical and strategic is VERY welcome.
This is our bedroom.. how do you like my new cardboard dresser?!

Note to those in Hepburn: our shed is full of stuff we'd like to sell or give away.. feel free to stop on over anytime and check it out! There is still a porch swing, some shelves, some cookbooks.. all sorts. We're not kidding!

Here are a few summery pictures...

Syd and Abby at Martin's Lake. Ab as usual pretending the camera doesn't exist.


Owen, Trev and Braden with Eryka.


The sweet guy I've been married to for FIFTEEN years. :)


My very handsome nephew, Bradley!

The boys spent two days spreading gravel on our driveway. Our tenants will be happy not to contend with the puddles and mud after a rain!

Haily sharing (shoving?!) her food with Syd.

Eryka in my 'weed bed'.

This past week, my sister Karen and her husband Bryan helped us out. I am so grateful for their effort.. they drove all the way to Hepburn from Winnipeg because they are just that amazing. I am deficient when it comes to organizing. Once I have an idea I can run with it, but two of my sisters (karen and Lorrie) are MASTERS at figuring things like this out. I know we'd have done okay without them, and I know we have awesome friends in Hepburn who were very willing to help. But somehow, this was just the right thing. I am really, really appreciative! Thanks for the time, the drive, the fun memories, the heavy lifting, the sorting, and the great day at the BEACH. (Karen and I also had a fun night at Prairie Ink Saskatoon, where she bought their last copy of the 43 things book!) Both kids were super glad Karen helped them with their rooms, because I tend to just get annoyed with the mess. So does she, but somehow they're more okay with that.

And finally.. Owen and Joey at the speedway last weekend. An 'epic' shot, according to O!

15!

Its rather late and I really need to get to sleep.. but I had to sneak in a little post about Bren. It's our 15 year anniversary today. FIFTEEN YEARS since we said "I do".
This is a big milestone and we have a lot to celebrate.
We are both very much 'the same' as we were the day we were married - Bren is as laid back, easy going, and kind hearted as he's always been. And he never stops being so much fun!

At the same time, we're both very different people from who we were on our wedding day.. kids'll do that to you! Actually, its a lot more than having a family that has changed us.. but that is perhaps another post.

For now, a few photos of my wonderful husband:


(with a very ugly fish likely caught in the Red River.. with his beautiful daughter at Auntie Lisa's wedding... and with Linda Pauls and Monty Hall at a Variety event) (quite a random assortment, I know.. as I said.. its LATE!)

Who, being loved, is poor?
-- Oscar Wilde

As I think about these 15 years, the reminder to LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE, AND LEARN comes to mind. Doesn't that sum up the journey? We have lived through many wonderful seasons, we laugh til we cry often, love really HAS held it all together, and the learning never stops.

an awesome day

I spent the day in Saskatoon with my wonderful friend Gloria. Before I tell you about the day, let me tell you about Gloria. I am blessed to know many caring and thoughtful people, but Gloria is among the caring-est and thoughtful-est. She has been my friend since the first day I moved to Hepburn, and I've thanked God for her more times than I can count. She seems to be there whenever you need a kind word, a good friend, or someone to pray with in safe silence.

We wanted to check out the 2nd Ave Sidewalk Sale and the Rouge Gallery. We happily did both as well as lunching at an awesome English Pub and visiting a most excellent 2nd hand store!

We spent a good hour or so in the gallery, and both picked out some favorite works from the many on display there. Gloria is drawn to tree filled, nature-y pieces, while I am drawn to more abstract ones. I think trees remind her of growing up in Northern Saskatchewan - a beautiful part of the country.

(If you have time to browse the gallery site, check out Celebration by Sandor Monos, Manipulate by Rick Pilling, and Interpretation by Chris Bowman - these three spoke to me. I could have spent the day there! I would have posted the images, but its not allowed.)

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."- Anais Nin

so we're more typical than we thought... ?!?!?

Have you checked out 'stuff white people like'? Its a funny look at North American society. I am ashamed of how close to home it comes sometimes, but no matter what its usually hilarious! (There's a book available in addition to the blog!)

#120 is about how white people like to take a year off periodically in life. Sometimes they serve or volunteer in order to pad their resume during this 'year off'.... :) hhaaahhhaaa.

Thanks Paul for posting the link.

Engaging

Both in online and in person conversation lately, the subjects of the emerging church, tradition, social justice, and unity/disunity have come up quite often. Surprisingly so and in interesting combinations. Here are a few links to check out if you're interested in this discussion.

Lisa posted this link on Facebook today. The post talks about how we can veer too far in the direction of either engagement with or devotion to Jesus, at the exclusion of the other. Interesting thoughts.

Jamie's blog featured this post about the new 'Jesus manifesto' (Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola)a couple of weeks ago.. he also linked to an interesting response to Sweet and Viola's manifesto.

I'm interested in this dialogue. I'm learning as I read scripture, talk to friends, read others' thoughts, and just ponder it all.

One of my 'responses' came from some extended time spent journalling while on holidays last week. I really enjoyed leafing through some old magazines, collecting images that 'spoke'. The result was a prayer collage of pictures, quotes, and stories that remind me of some important things, like:
-the world is so much bigger than what I can know or see
-eternity is unfathomable
-one size doesn't fit all (nor does one expression of love)
-the church is always engaged in mild, moderate, or extensive reformation
-beauty always exists, hope does prevail (even though broken community and injustice are so painfully real... and excruciatingly necessary)

For tonight, I'm encouraged about the 'engaging' I've noticed..
I'm encouraged about the passion I've heard.
I'm encouraged about how much emphasis there is on love.
I'm encouraged by genuine devotion to Jesus.

"May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else..." From 1 Thessalonians 3

(wow.. this is two posts in one day... don't miss our holiday pictures below!)

holiday pics

Couldn't resist putting some photos of our holiday on ... I only have one of our cameras, though, since one stayed with Syd who promptly used up all the room available at the Jonas Brothers Concert in Winnipeg on Sunday night! She had seats that were PRIME (thanks Uncle Jon) and had a great time going with Auntie Karen.


Cousins sharing guitar knowledge. Brad can now play 'the Final Countdown'.
The general craziness of a shared meal!


I AM Canadian.

Naw, I don't look like Daddy at all.

Lisa is always the Gourmet Breakfast Cook. This year's offering: French Toast with Brie and White Chocolate.

Four amazing husbands!

A little sniper action from the roof. Getting down was somewhat of a problem, though... :)

Our little girl on her last day of elementary school. Honestly, how is this possible?!?!?

Just one more non-vacation shot; Fathers Day lunch at Venice House. We laughed and acted a little silly this day, good times! On Mother's Day, we make charts, plan for the future, and evaluate our family priorities. On Father's Day we have food fights in public. That sums up our family dynamics!!

April Raintree

We just got back from our yearly family vacation in Whiteshell Park. We had a great time!! This year was a bit different, we added a new cabin to the mix and couldn't really plan in advance for the ways it changed the dynamic of our time there. As always, we were all sad when Sunday morning arrived and packing up started.

On the long drive to Manitoba, I read April Raintree aloud to the family (well, mostly Brendan, the kids think my reading is dumb now that they are so old! - but Owen did listen to the last third or so of the story...)

Have you read this Canadian classic? If not, or if its been a while, you should pick it up again this summer. Beatrice Mosionier is the author. It is a fictional (but entirely plausible) account of two biological sisters and their journey as women of Aboriginal ancestry, as they reconcile personal and cultural realities. It is an easy but profound read.

Here is an excerpt from book, written by one of the sisters:

White Man, to you my voice is like the unheard call in the wilderness. It is there, although you do not hear.
But, this once, take the time to listen to what I have to say.
Your history is highlighted by wars. Why is it alright for nations to conquer one another in an attempt at dominion?
When you sailed to our lands, you came with your advanced weapons. You claimed you were a progressive, civilized people....
White Man, when you came, most of our tribes began with peace and trust in dealing with you. We showed you how to survive in our homelands. We were willing to share with you our vast wealth. Instead of repaying us with gratitude, White Man, you turned on us....
When we, the Indian People, realized your intentions, we rose to do battle, to defend our nations, our homes, our food, our lives. And for our efforts, we are labelled savages. Our battles are called massacres.
When our primitive weapons could not match those that you had perfected through centuries of war, we realized that peace could not be won, unless our mass destruction took place. And so we turned to treaties.. and ran into your cunning trickery. We lost our lands, our freedom, and were confined to reservations. And WE are held in contempt.
White Man, there is much deep, simple wisdom from our forefathers. We were here for centuries. We kept the land, the waters, the air, clean and pure, for our children and for our children's children.
Now that you are here, White Man, the rivers bleed with contamination. The winds moan with the heavy weight of pollution. The land vomits up the poisons that have been fed into it. Our Mother Earth is no longer clean and healthy; she is dying.
White Man, in your greedy rush for money and power, you are destroying. Why must you have power over everything? Why can't you live in peace and harmony? Why can't you share the beauty and the wealth given to us by Mother Earth?...
White Man, you say that we are a people without dignity. But when we are sick, weak, hungry, poor, when there is nothing for us but death, what are we to do? We cannot accept the life that has been imposed upon us.
You say that we are drunkards, that we live for drinking. But drinking is a way of dying. Dying without enjoying life. You have given us many diseases... the worst disease, for which there is not immunity, is alcoholism. And you condemn us for being its easy victims. And if you don't condemn us, you weep for us and pity us.
We, the Indian People, are dying. The land we lost, it is dying too.
Weep not for us; weep for yourselves.
Weep for your children.
Because you are taking everything today.
And tomorrow, nothing will be left for them.


I found so many parallels to scripture in this little essay. Can you hear Mark's admonition to have eyes that see? Can you envision one of the prophets delivering a stern, profound message like this? Can you see Jesus reaching toward, offering dignity that had been unjustly robbed?

Might is NOT right. I pray that someday, we, the powerful will get that.