...as to why my Friends page isn't updating.  I imagine an update post telling me the problem is there, but of course I can't read it...!

I guess I should put this down in some sort of ordered form so that, at some point in the future, I can look back and shake my head at the last two weeks, hopefully remarking how much better things are.  This is a story of Sir Goobs, who is not a completely innocent party in this war, by any means, but whose part in this is, in my opinion, being wildly exaggerated by someone else.  We'll get to that later.

( Read more... )

...assuming that no one else has:

The truth is forever tainted by the presence of a single lie, while a tissue of lies unravels by the presence of a single truth.

Suffice it to say that our daughter has told us enough lies (may only be one, in the past while) to completely wreck our trust in her ability to tell us the truth when it matters. 

I'm on vacation.  That is to say, I am not having office hours, not writing sermons, not visiting the sick, not... well, you get the idea.  Most years, a vacation requires vacating (hence the word) but we are having a renovation done to our basement this year, and so the funds for vacating are simply not available.


For those of you who haven't heard (all three of you), when the downstairs bathroom that was present when we bought the house was installed, the bright lights who did so put it in front of the power panel, drainage stack and water cutoff, with the added bonus of being over the floor drain.  I'm sure they thought it was the right spot for it - if the bathroom flooded, it'd be right over the drain;  you can put a louvered door over the power panel, you never need to get to the other stuff (except in cases of dire emergency which only happen to other people), so what's the big deal? 


I replaced the floor five years ago with the help of my father in law.  Already, the linoleum at the doorway had ripped, the toilet was starting to shift as one moved on it, and the shower always was the size of a coffin.  We decided that enough was enough, we had room on our lines of credit, let's get it DONE!  It's going to cost us almost five figures, but it's soooooo much nicer than the old one.  It's not quite done as I write this.  We don't have doors installed yet, the baseboards aren't caulked, and the toilet is still in the crate in the living room (although the contractor had to take a few moments today to correct the fact that he'd failed to provide a water source for it).  But we can shower, which is so nice after almost three weeks of nothing but baths. 


The day before I went on vacation, though, a woman from the congregation died.  I had been called by the hospital on behalf of her daughter and, about ten minutes after I arrived, her breathing hitched a couple of times and then faded out for the last time.  A colleague of mine advised me that I shouldn't do the funeral because it would set the precedent that I will come back from vacation to do such things in the future, but since I was present for her death and have been blessed by her presence for the eight years I've been in this congregation, I could see no option.  I'm here, I do it.


The day after that funeral, I did a service at the retirement complex where she lived.  It was a good transition moment, and I appreciated being able to do it.  I was on vacation, yes, but it was okay.


A couple of days ago, though, another call came from the funeral home.  Older fellow, who'd moved away a couple of years ago but who had hoped to come back to town and didn't make it.  This was a couple who had been good to us over our time here together, so again, I'm present, so I do it.


The next day, another call comes.  This time, it's a fellow in his 50's, complicated family situation, but I know the brother;  the brother asked me to perform a burial, so that's what I'm doing.  It's taking the place of a full funeral, so we'll see what it turns into.  It's also NEXT week, well after I'm back 'in the saddle.' 


And then, third day running, the phone rang.  Another funeral.  Another family in the congregation that has been good to us.  I'm... yeah, I'm here, and I'll do it, because this is part of what I do!  Monday?  I'm not technically back in the office until Tuesday?  Oh, well, it's just a calendar.


A friend of mine once told me that he lifted up a prayer for finances one time due to a need in his family.  He'd had to pay out a few thousand dollars for something and needed the means to pay it back.  For the next three to four months, he had two funerals a week, every week.  He was exhausted at the end of it, but he had what he needed to cover what had gone out, AND he had helped many families through a very rough time in their lives.  I lifted up a similar prayer, back when I was helping our contractor smash through our floor - we're feeling that you're saying that we can do this, Lord, so we know that you will provide for it. 



And if I happen to fulfil a bit more of my calling along the way, then thanks for the opportunity to do so!

I am rapidly losing my taste for professional sports. 

I read today that Shea Webber was awarded a contract of $7.5 million/year by an arbitrator, hailed as the largest such award yet given in the NHL.  He made $4.5 last year and wanted $8.5 on his contract;  the team offered $4.75, but the arbitrator said, "Hell, no, that's not even close!"  He's played six seasons with the Predators, a teeny-weeny market team that is perennially close to the folding point, and is now making my annual stipend per game (presuming he plays in 10 preseason games and 28 postseason, in addition to every single game of the season). 

That's nuts. 

The US economy is to the point where they are trying to pay down their debt with a higher percentage of their GDP than we use for health care.  Our economy is still not back to where it should be up here in Canada, and we now have a government facing essentially leaderless opposition in the House.  Gas is $1.30 a litre with no real sign of it going back down.  And these athletes are saying, "Screw it, I want more, more, more, and the fans will pay for it!"

Will we?

Will I?

I've changed my mind about wanting to see a profession sports event of ANY kind live and in-person.  The egos are simply too big, and I can't afford to think that I'm paying for them to be that way.  When Sergei Federov demanded and received a massive new contract several years ago, everything in the Joe Louis Centre jumped in price by 20% - this is why you have a beer costing you $11 when you go to a game now;  the salaries for the players need to be covered somehow!  It's not just my ticket;  it's my munchies and my souvenirs and everything else that comes with going to a game.  Forget it.  I pay for cable TV and I'll watch what I can get there.  I think the real back-breaker was when Randy Moss retired yesterday and TSN showed his reaction to being fined $10,000 for mooning a crowd after one of his touchdowns a few years ago.  He shrugged at a reporter and said that it was an irrelevant amount as far as he was concerned.  The Webber contract just clinched it.

They just aren't worth it, folks.