Thursday, January 28

A Change of Plans…

I don’t usually go back on my promises. Generally I don't. But after much note sorting, I’ve decided to go back on my promise to put parts of my Write Canada addresses here on my blog. These were three addresses I gave at the Write Canada conference last June. Several people have asked me to write them down somewhere, and I thought, this blog might be the perfect place. It's not.

They were speeches, and a blog is, well, a blog. Without major tweaking and re-writes (and I don't have the time to do major re-writes.) it's just not going to work. And soI decided - it’s my blog, and I can change my mind if I want to.

So, basically my blog is going to remain that, a place where I spout off on things and write my observations about living on this planet.

I got an email the other day from a reader who wanted to know my story. She thought that it must be ‘incredible’ because I seemed to know SO much about law enforcement, the police, evil in the church, plus psychological trauma and horror. Had I ever been a social worker? Had I been a cop? I must've been a social worker. All of this, well, it couldn't have come just from my imagination, could it?

That was her question.

Well, again, sorry to disappoint, but the answer is yes. It does all come from my imagination. I basically lead a very boring life. If you were to job shadow me one day, I think you would run screaming into the night out of sheer boredom. I sit at my computer and write. Then I get up and make tea. Then I go back to my computer for a little while longer. Then I get up and maybe go for a walk outside. Then I come back home and sit at my computer some more. Then I get up and get more tea. And maybe an apple.

It’s a boring life, and can get a trifle lonely at times. But, for some odd reason, I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.

Thursday, January 20

A cozy evening at home…

As I look out my window this evening it’s snowing sideways. I can barely see the woods across the street, but I can hear the wind. Snow has piled against the back kitchen door nearly halfway up. My husband came home from work early, the university has shut down for the day. The class he’s supposed to teach tonight was cancelled. The malls are closed and everything at church is cancelled for the night, as well as just about every activity in the community.

I love these self-imposed ‘day’s off’ when you eat popcorn and drink hot chocolate and watch videos at home, and you can’t go out, and are cautioned by the police and everyone else to stay at home.

I went for a long walk this morning before the snow came and it was exquisitely beautiful. It was absolutely still, and completely quiet. About an hour later the snow started, slowly at first, and then more fiercely. And now we are in the full rage of it. I love it.

Tuesday, January 18

House plans…

I know. I know. By now I had very much intended to be writing furiously here about Passion Without Integrity or Integrity Without Passion, or Trolls. These were the subjects I talked about at the Write Canada conference last June, and promised that I would begin putting on this blog. But everyone knows where good intentions go. :)

I set aside each morning to furiously work on my next book. And lately in the afternoon I’ve been working on other things; proposals, little snippets of work, things I have to get ready. Plus, I teach writing, so that keeps me busy as well.

And then, just because it’s January, and January seems to be a good time to do house projects; we got our carpets cleaned and put in a new kitchen floor. My husband and I, by ourselves, put in that laminate stuff which looks like hardwood. Very lovely. I say it’s hardwood floor for people who can’t afford hardwood. All my life I’ve liked the looks of hardwood on floors. (I love just standing in my kitchen now and breathing in the atmosphere.)

Plus, I decided that our upstairs bathroom was tired. It’s been black and white for ten years. So, this winter I tore down all the black and white stuff and made new curtains, bought a new area rug and bought a new soap dispenser, soap dish and curtain rod and towels to match in a kind of greeny sea blue. A nice change.

And so, with all of this mad decorating, I haven’t gotten to this blog. I blink my eyes and say, I couldn't have neglected it for more than a week? Yet, I look at the date and realize that I have. Days pass into the next day so quickly. I’m lying in bed for the night thinking, ‘I was just here. Moments ago it was last night. And moments before that it was the night before.'

I wonder if it will be like this in Heaven, with everything moving so quickly and days smashing into the next day before they’ve barely had a chance to be lived through completely. I don't think so, I hope not.

So, soon, soon, I promise, I will get to working on these talks. I have, managed, to at least transfer the blue folder of my speakers notes from the bottom of my filing cabinet to my desk. I’m moving in the right direction.

Friday, January 7

Our Nearly Perfect World…
(my thoughts on the tsunami)

If you are reader of my blog you know that I have spent a lot of time writing about our perfect world - our mathematically perfect world; the angles, the latitude, the longitude, the climate cycles, and the amazing human body that heals itself. While I was running around doing errands in my car this morning I was listening to Canadian worship leader and song writer, Brian Doerkson’s new CD, Today. (I got it for Christmas.) A song that particularly touched me was Creation Calls. (There's a link on his website where you can listen to a bit of it.)

How could I say there is no God
When all around creation calls
A singing bird, a mighty tree
The vast expanse of open sea...

I also think of my friend, Toronto writer Denyse O’Leary's excellent book: Design or By Chance?: The Growing Controversy on the Origins of Life in the Universe

Intelligent design. Yes,there is intelligent design. When God created the universe – by whatever means he did and in whatever time frame he chose – he said it was good. It was perfect. It was good. Was.

But, when we humans chose to sin, God judged all humanity, and even the earth was scourged with imperfection and sin. To keep our gardens clean and growing, we must daily battle the pests of bugs and weeds. Dust settles on everything in our house and we have to constantly clean and work to keep it clean. Ask any housewife or farmer, the back breaking work never ends.

I have a minister friend, Nancy, who says that if Adam were to come back to us in 2005 and if we were to take Adam on a journey to our most pristine forest, he might stand there, looking up, chin in hand and say, ‘You call that a tree?’

We're a long way from the garden.

And underneath our ocean and along various land masses there are fault lines and shifting places where the shell of the earth’s skin doesn't quite meet in a continuous line. The plates may have become unstable when God caused the massive flood of judgment on this planet. The Bible says the deep places of the earth opened up. The torrential flood was like no other.

A lot has been written in the last week questioning a God ‘who would allow this’. All kinds of answers have been offered. I offer yet another. This tragedy is not so different, really, than a severely mentally or physically challenged baby being born to good parents. Why? Why? Because this is the way the world is and it’s not perfect. It’s filled with sin, and we must live as best we can in our nearly perfect world.

The imperfect fault line in the middle of the ocean was ready to shift and finally the day after Christmas 2004, the strain proved too great and the earth gave way. And the waves surged half a mile up on the shore lines.

How should we respond?

A couple of days after the disaster I read Proverbs 11:30:

The godly are like trees that bear life-giving fruit, and those who save lives are wise.

There are individuals, even now, even as I write this, who are working hard to save the lives of the people affected by this disaster. Money has been given. Aid has been sent. Of the life-giving fruit, I think of the many planes from all over the world who are winging their way there with the life-giving 'fruit' of clean water and blankets and food, and loving hugs.

Our world is not perfect. It is nearly perfect. The perfect world is still to come. And while we live in this nearly perfect world, it is a high calling to be fruit-bearers and life-savers.

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