At long last!

Monday morning we leave Ponoka for vacation! It can't come soon enough. I'm really pooped, for a number of reasons. I've been busier than I like with Rimbey pastoral concerns. Four Sunday services and sermons, and two funerals in a month. For an old guy like me, that seems like a lot of work.

Pre-packing - something I always do, given my poor memory - has demanded time and energy over the last week. Fussing about the financial statement for the Provincial government has literally had me panicking. It may be finished tomorrow, or when I come home. Either way, it still eats up a lot of nervous energy, given my incompetence with simple math.

I finally got my "Scottish Thistle" tattoo yesterday, along with a line of text that says, "COURAGE…to accept the things I cannot change." Not exactly the serenity prayer, but an appropriate prayer for an 80 year old man with some hard times ahead between now and death. So, I remind myself to "Man up, and get ready."

I'm a bit excited about my David and Goliath presentation for tomorrow. I hope it's as fun as it has been preparing. I even have smooth stones to show if there any children there!

I plan to write while I am traveling, but have no idea of a schedule for that yet. I'll be doing it on the iPad, so that will be a challenge for me.

I started James Carroll's book "Jesus, actually…", a theological critique of the outdated Christology of the orthodox denominations, conservative and otherwise. Carroll is a theologian and novelist who writes like a novelist: easy to read and cogent all the way. Enjoying it already. I have silly novel to read also, about a little old lady who pulls heists! I just have to survive packing the car and closing up the house before we go. It's very annoying, these pointless anxiety times, when nothing is really out of the ordinary. Hopefully, my vacation posts will have more substance and less fretting in them. Hopefully.

Ho Hum…sort of.

Well, it has taken me some time to get back here after charging my keyboard. The state of my mind as it is means that I got on with other things and haven't event looked at the possibility f writing on the iPad again since. I'll have to overcome my frustration and have another run at it.

Meanwhile, life has flowed on. Not much of note has happened to me, but that seems quite usual, since I live a life of routines. Preparing for Sunday worship, conducting a funeral or two have been major activities for me. A much more emotionally laden activity has been the replacement of my "new" dentures with yet another set of new dentures, this time from a denturist who appeared to be more competent and an artists to boot.

The whole denture saga has been one of high emotional stress and financial dis-tress. I had the new ones for four months, and in the end, still had mouth sores that made it difficult to eat, Four months, and $4800 !! I finally quit the denturist and went down the street to a newer one. She is competent, and funny, and cost me 1/2 the price! In just three weeks I have a set of teeth that fit, are not so bulky and unsightly, and that produce no sores. I have since begun to hear stories of my incompetent first choice. There is nothing I can do about it apart from warning people that he is an over charger, big time, and incompetent to booth! I think that adds up to shyster, but I will write that no other place but here.

Last week seemed to be a succession of medical visits of one kind or another, plus beginning to fuss about completing the financial report due the Provincial government after the recent election. Help with preparing that begins this after noon.

Evening now, and first steps on Provincial report done.I need a meeting with our candidate and a consolidation of our information to finalize the report. Another death to follow up on. An elderly man, with adult children all over central Alberta. Great fun trying to coordinate a meeting with them on the weekend.

The sky is grey tonight, and the air is still. There is a storm brewing somewhere in the region, promising 15-20 miml of rain before morning, plus lightening. It was be a restless night for many, as this sort of storm on the flat prairie often means hail. Large hail can devastate crops, just coming into full flower. It's an uneasy time in the atmosphere. We wait, and the farm folk scan the sky for signs of disaster or reprieve. 

One More Time…

So, here I go again, attempting to write a short post on the iPad, this time spell checking periodically. The smaller keys give me grief, so I must be vigilant.

Last time I tried this, I was attempting to introduce you to a fascinating book I was reading about Near Death Experiences, and Out of Body Experiences (NDE and OBE from now on.) The author is the grand daughter of a distinguished past Prime Minister of Canada, Lester B. Pearson. Her book is definitely NOT a religious book, although the title Opening Heaven's Door"is misleading in that direction. She began her research after her sister had an experience of  a visit from her father at the exact time that he was dying in another city.

The book catalogue's a huge list of similar experiences from all over the globe, and gathered in a few dozen research projects. She found that once people knew she was doing this research, they began to tell her stories that they had kept secret for up to 20 years, for fear of people assuming they were insane. Many people reported having visits from long dead relatives, being accompanied on hazardous journies by "third persons" who seemed to be guiding them, and others, who, at death's door, experienced tremendous light and love which encouraged them to regard death as something not to be feared. What is remarkable about all of these stories is the detail with which they are remembered, and how mind-boggling they are. Hard science people refuse to accept her research, because they insist that all consciousness is produced by the brain, and that any supposed consciousness outside the brain is impossible. Ms Pearson points out that this assertion itself is not scientifically  pro, butt  exists in the  ccategory of a commonly aaccepted myth.  ((ddouble letters ttht appear in this text are being logged by the iPad and not me.. IIt is printing slower than I am typing, so I suspect charging is needded.. I'll  stop and post,, and come back after  I recharge.

Sorry…

Well, that was a disastrous experiment, trying to put together working on a new machine, with too-small print, while commenting on a book that is becoming so important to me. Put that together with too-short a time span o write - therefore no careful proof reading - and you have everyone wondering just where you left your mind!

I was practicing on the iPad with an attached keyboard, in a new writing program, and the on-screen print was so small I had trouble reading it. I didn't think to spread the print on-screen with my fingers, as you can do with an iPad, until I had almost finished. I had to rush away before I proof read, so…you can see the multiple mistakes and confusion that ensued. A longer period of time to reflect on what I had written would have allowed me to explain the significance of Opening Heaven's Door to me. Oh well, I'll try again on the iPad, and this time I'll warn you, and I'll slow down. This is all I'll write for the moment, for again, I have to leave for another appointment. "When do I get time to be bored and lonely?" as my father said so many decades ago in his very busy retirement. Echoing Arnold Shwartznegger in The Terminator movies, "I'll be back…"

Of pure light and overwhelming lovre #1

I have been reading a most intriguiging boog recently, It is entitled, Opening Heaven's Door. The title suggrsts rather sappy religion to me,but thid id noy s religioud book. It's s book of science, exploring thr world of thode eho hsvr profounf spiritusl rxprtrirncrd as they approach desth, snf do in fsct die, but comr bsck vis resusitstion eith s fee minutes.. Their profound experienbce of light snd love id overwhelming, and their reluctance to return to the worlkd of their bodies is quiter strong, Many of their livs are chsnged permsnently by thid experience.

Reading this material has catapulted me back into my own anguished times of fering deth as the end of all I know snd all I am. It has been a recuraring fear since childhood, in spite og fsith, snd has caused great guilt in mydelf.Whst I sm learnibng from th znear dead, snd the once-was-desd, id thst desth is nothinbg to nfesr. theree is s prfound beyond, an experience of light snd ptofound love thst chsngerd  the remsins of earthly lifre totslly.

all this has been deeply satisfying for mr, snd hrlpd mr o intrgrste old mrmories snd fesrs into my current faith journey.Death is not to br fesred, but welcomed. zindeed, msny returnees find it daubting to return to the life they hsve known. They long fir the light, warmth snd lovr tyhry rncountrtrd, snd thst msrks thr remsining of thri dsys. aorganizational spiritual organizations becomne of little interest to tghem,even old relationships fade, The world of their future,where they are alive in a new way, continuedbto beckon for thr rest of their dsyd.

People feel a sense of çoming home'to thst reslm, and long to return to it, it is so much more real that this place, I am intrigued by thgid, drawn by it, snd deeply comforted by the possibiilities of lfr thstv id more beyond thid one thsn i can imsgine. some of my childhood dreams of fslling from s plsne seem t connect with these realitirs. Whst I sm learning mskrs me ponder even ther "trite"saying, everthing  has a reason."Thast reason may emenate from fsr beyond our present sbilities to see snd experience. I am becomig deeply excited bout this, especially as itnall relates to hints in scripture, and in my own internsl past! I will be writingmorre tthis summer sbout tghiss,, and what it means to me..  Wait for it!