more on Christmas and Kindness

So - just a few ramblings. We had an odd Christmas at the Joneses to say the least - all but Catherine were quite ill and so we cancelled all parties and instead watched movies, had toast and honey and actually (other than violent trips to the bathroom, at some points there was a que!) we had a really nice time together. Odd that sickness slowed us down to realise how much we enjoy each other. Especially now our kids are getting older it is really cool to hang out with them! I'll post the picture we sent out this year with our Christmas card.

By accident - one of our charming and budding computer wizards deleted about 4 months of digital pictures including our trip to Washington! So...enjoy the pictures on the blog because those are the only ones we have....thank heaven the one of the Washington memorial is still around!

Kindness - I was thinking again about kindness. One of the things that we have been struck by in 24-7 is the need to go underground so to speak, be incognito. I think this is important because otherwise kindness often is used as bribery in a way. It is quite cool and fashionable these days for church communities to give stuff away or have events for free...but if the authentic heart is lacking it is merely a form of lost leader inviting the consumer in on false pretenses merely so they can get hooked on something else. I witnessed this in a Zellers while shopping for Catherine's present. Some odd tall man with a balding top plate and really long ponytail (this happens often in Hamilton...and Phil no offense my friend - it was much longer hair than yours was!) shoved this pair of tickets into my hand for a draw for 'free jewelry.' Now I am no big fan of jewelry but I am also not an idiot and Catherine has been making the odd comment about getting her a diamond, so intrigued as to what sort of jewelry Zellers could be dishing out - I sidled over to the counter as he was announcing the draw....soon enough I realised...the draw was only to take place after we had witnessed a presentation on some other items that we could purchase at a great discount of course. I figured, being the scam artist that i am...that I would just walk around the perimeter and not bore myself with his fervent sales pitch marked with bad puns and then return for the draw. No dice - the draw was to work like this - listen to the deal, drop half of your ticket in after the deal was pitched, and then, and only then would the draw for free jewelry commence. Aha - it was as I had suspected, an empty gesture of luck at an especially materialistic time of year. I hope our kindness doesn't do that... It strikes me that if we desire to not find ourselves pitching to people we must be willing to be incognito, needing no accolades...or results! Aha now we strike close to the church planters heart...our kindness must flow from an uncompromising trust in the kindness of God. That He is kind to others and loves other more than we. We must throw ourselves at the feet of this awe inspiring God and trust in His strength to reach people, love people and heal people, not our ability to coerce them into our buildings or homes, gain their phone numbers or email. In short we must believe that what God said He will do He will do. Which of course if not to say we should be illusive or untouchable, on the contrary it frees us to be authentically kind.

That was more than I was thinking of posting...well I'll pop it up anyway.

God's kindness

My friend Brian in Ibiza has been blogging on God's kindness. Well a few months ago I think now, you'll have to check his blog history. Interesting though I have just been floored by the kindness of God, his compassion. The Lord is so compassionate, why aren't we? I rarely have compassion for people. I was reading again Brennan Manning's Ruthless Trust. This book is one of a handful of books that I would say has changed my life in some way. At any rate he quotes a French writer who comments 'to know all is to forgive all.' When we are compassionate and kind we care about the 'others' story before we comment on it. We also begin to relise that all the postmodernist out there are actually right, that we can not hope to 'know the other' it is an impossibility and so we have two options, disdan or kindness and compassion. Interesting too that the one who actually does know all (who IS the absolute truth....different postmodern post on that perhaps later..but interesting) is the one who forgives all. Amazing.

short update

So....been a while.
Short of work right now, and by short I mean....none.
Upsetting because I still find myself busy or procarastinating. I think when I am less busy I get almost nothing done and when I am busy I am much more efficient.

I am trying to renew a bit of my mind which still has a hang up about what failure or percieved failure in this life means. I used to think (and still do in the deep recesses of my mind...when i am not beating them down) that if things were'nt working well, if work or family wasn't all going tickety boo it was because I was out of God's will and that if I just did a few things to get back in his will - a little prayer time, bit of a fast and maybe some tithing - that everything would sort itself out. Do you think that is true? I wonder. I don't like it and don't believe it - but it seems to be what a lot of people believe the bible to be saying. remember that oft quoted saying which I certainly can't find in the bible ' the Lord helps those who help themselves.' I kind of think that is a crock of crap - the Lord helps those who can't help themselves. Isn' t that the wonder of the gospel?

Right - well in more mundane news - I found a great new pub - or new to me www.corktownpub.ca (website seems to be down right now....) went for lunch and darts with Caleb today - It was great.