As I mentioned last week, we got a duplex to rent in Dauphin. This last week, I phoned to get the electricity and gas hooked up and was in for a pleasant surprize. We know what our mailing address will be. The previous renters got their mail delivered to the duplex and with us moving in, our new mailing address is 3 Kirby Ave. East, Dauphin, Manitoba, R7N 0E8. It feels kind of weird having an address for a mailing address. Ever since we have been married, we have lived in small towns that only have post office boxes but now, an address! Ok, so I guess we had an address while we lived in Ukraine, but in some ways that doesn't count as we still had a PO Box number in Canada and it took 1-2 months for mail to arrive. We hope this will be an address will have for a while, but as has been the theme of our lives, God only knows and we are along for the ride wherever He leads.
So, back to last week's post, I mentioned a scary incident with Jolen. This week, we went to the emergency room with him. He usually is a very stable sitter and we have put him on many chairs and he doesn't fall off, well almost never. This week he did and straight on his head. He lost consciousness a couple of times and we were off to the hospital to have him checked out. Definitely not a trip I want to take again.
Going to the hospital and waiting 4 hours or so is not my idea of how I want to spend my time, but how I want to spend my money. We are very blessed in Alberta to have free healthcare. This means I can go to the hospital, see a doctor, have immunizations for free, no dinero. I was reminded of a conversation I had with a few American teachers in Ukraine. We were talking about wait times in Canada and how it takes so long to see a doctor and they would say they would get in quickly and efficiently. Then the conversation would switch to money and the deductible on their insurance would be $2000. This means that every time they go to visit the doctor, it is money (and no little amount) out of their pocket. I think me, growing up not paying for doctors visits would take the waiting to the lightening of the wallet. Jolen, ended up being fine, we had to check on him every 2 hours but a small amount of time to make sure everything is ok.
Reflecting on this last week, one can't help but think of when we have a permanent eternal home with no tears, no pain and no hospital visits. We are so blessed to be granted life on this earth, but we often forget that this is not were we are to stay forever. We have an eternal hope in Jesus and we will truly be home when we embrace our Saviour!
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Sunday, June 22, 2014
A Terrifying Experience
We have made it to our last supporting church up here in Sexsmith, Alberta at Grace Bible Fellowship. We have been fortunate to have "family" up here as the Lovrod family is not blood related, but don't tell our kids that. They have a house that can hold the four of us in a single room, so we have been all together, and will be until the middle of July, when we pack everything and move to Manitoba.
On a side note, they are BlueBombers fans in Manitoba, and my 2nd cousin (Teague Sherman) plays safety for them, so I may (but probably wont) cheer a bit for the home team (Unless they play the Eskimos of course).
Well, back to the story, we are on a farm and me being a carpenter, there are always things to do around the yard like building a deck and a roof over the entranceway, but I can't complain as they are putting up with us for a month and not charging us room and board.
On the farm, there are many things to get into for a small child. These items include a creek nearby and a dugout, both of which contain water that my son could drown in as when he sees the water, he runs full tilt. We were loading up some of the scraps from the deck to take to the dump and Jolen was going to come with us men to do the manly work of smelling like garbage at the landfill.
All of a sudden, he was gone. "Oh no!" I thought, so I bolted for the creek, screaming his name, hoping to hear some sort of sound from his little lungs, but nothing. In a panic, I ran faster only to hear a "Wheeeeee! Wheeeeeeee! Wheeeee!"
I caught a glimpse of him.
On a side note, they are BlueBombers fans in Manitoba, and my 2nd cousin (Teague Sherman) plays safety for them, so I may (but probably wont) cheer a bit for the home team (Unless they play the Eskimos of course).
Well, back to the story, we are on a farm and me being a carpenter, there are always things to do around the yard like building a deck and a roof over the entranceway, but I can't complain as they are putting up with us for a month and not charging us room and board.
On the farm, there are many things to get into for a small child. These items include a creek nearby and a dugout, both of which contain water that my son could drown in as when he sees the water, he runs full tilt. We were loading up some of the scraps from the deck to take to the dump and Jolen was going to come with us men to do the manly work of smelling like garbage at the landfill.
All of a sudden, he was gone. "Oh no!" I thought, so I bolted for the creek, screaming his name, hoping to hear some sort of sound from his little lungs, but nothing. In a panic, I ran faster only to hear a "Wheeeeee! Wheeeeeeee! Wheeeee!"
I caught a glimpse of him.
Without a doubt, that boy is going to grow up to be a farmer.
It did make me think of the parables Jesus told of the lost coin and sheep. The rejoicing that went on when they were found. And how Jesus relates the celebration to that in Heaven when a person who is lost, finds his way to Jesus. A time of terror, turns to one of pure joy!
Thank you again for all of your prayers as I will be making our final presentation on July 6.
We have a place to rent in Dauphin, a 3 bedroom duplex that is a wee bit (as in a lot) less expensive than the house I had shown earlier, we are so excited as we continue on this journey towards heaven that we call life on earth.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
The Common Sense
I was super fortunate this weekend to travel with the Grace Bible Fellowship Youth group to West Edmonton Mall. The difficulty I had was that I have not been involved in youth ministry since March, so one kind of forgets the way teenagers think.
For instance, we stopped off at Whitecout for McDonalds supper on our way. McDonalds was across the street kiddy corner so, this meant we had to cross the street twice to reach our destination. Simple, right? Not with kids who have not developed the common-sense portion of their brain. And me, being the mature responsible one of course, used common sense. So, crossing the street started off quite routinely, we waited for the little white man to appear signaling we were to cross, and we did with no incident. However, when we reached the other side, the group proceeded to begin crossing the street in the next direction walking directly into oncoming traffic that had a green light. A couple of horns later, the group made it across safely, laughed and continued on their way walking on the street instead of the sidewalk.
It brought to mind an incident I remember when I was young. We were waiting to go to an Eskimos game and the crosswalk signal switched from white to a red hand, the light turned yellow and then I decided that it would be a great time to run across the street in the middle of rush-hour Edmonton. The engines revved, the horns honked, you youth leaders yelled and lets just say that I am still alive today despite my "need" to disregard what I knew was the smart choice to make.
Now that the trip is over and my memory is jogged, I am reminded the great desire God has placed in my heart to see youth grow in their faith. I will be the first to admit that I am old and am not as crazy as I used to be, but there is a thankfulness that God still brings my days of yore back to mind. Young Christians, do not have the same growth and maturity us who have grown in the faith, yet it is important we remember the time when our relationship with the Holy One was fresh and new. We were much more "reckless" for Jesus and I think it would be a benefit if we could harness that passion with the maturity that comes with knowing Christ.
I guess the meat of what I am writing about is that we often write off teens and new Christians as naïve and lacking wisdom, but forget passion in our Christian walk. We need each other, the old to lead the young and the inexperienced to remind the experienced that there is more than one way to skin a cat (why one would want to skin one is beyond me). So, next time you are challenged, instead of taking offence, step back and wonder how this can teach you the lesson God has in store for you!
For instance, we stopped off at Whitecout for McDonalds supper on our way. McDonalds was across the street kiddy corner so, this meant we had to cross the street twice to reach our destination. Simple, right? Not with kids who have not developed the common-sense portion of their brain. And me, being the mature responsible one of course, used common sense. So, crossing the street started off quite routinely, we waited for the little white man to appear signaling we were to cross, and we did with no incident. However, when we reached the other side, the group proceeded to begin crossing the street in the next direction walking directly into oncoming traffic that had a green light. A couple of horns later, the group made it across safely, laughed and continued on their way walking on the street instead of the sidewalk.
It brought to mind an incident I remember when I was young. We were waiting to go to an Eskimos game and the crosswalk signal switched from white to a red hand, the light turned yellow and then I decided that it would be a great time to run across the street in the middle of rush-hour Edmonton. The engines revved, the horns honked, you youth leaders yelled and lets just say that I am still alive today despite my "need" to disregard what I knew was the smart choice to make.
Now that the trip is over and my memory is jogged, I am reminded the great desire God has placed in my heart to see youth grow in their faith. I will be the first to admit that I am old and am not as crazy as I used to be, but there is a thankfulness that God still brings my days of yore back to mind. Young Christians, do not have the same growth and maturity us who have grown in the faith, yet it is important we remember the time when our relationship with the Holy One was fresh and new. We were much more "reckless" for Jesus and I think it would be a benefit if we could harness that passion with the maturity that comes with knowing Christ.
I guess the meat of what I am writing about is that we often write off teens and new Christians as naïve and lacking wisdom, but forget passion in our Christian walk. We need each other, the old to lead the young and the inexperienced to remind the experienced that there is more than one way to skin a cat (why one would want to skin one is beyond me). So, next time you are challenged, instead of taking offence, step back and wonder how this can teach you the lesson God has in store for you!
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