Guitar

I used play my guitar a lot. When I was in Bible school I was playing for almost 3 hours every day. However sometime after leaving Bible school my arthritis began to act up. I have arthritis in my hands. So for several years my guitar became less and less. I can actually remember crying because I could not play my guitar very much. Usually it would be about 5 minutes (1 or 2 songs) before I could not play any more. I went to the church and had the elders anoint me with oil and pray over me. It did not help at all. Then when I travelled to the Philippines for a year with my family I did not bring my guitar. And actually I hardly missed it. When we got home a few years ago I began to talk off and on about selling my guitar. I even had someone really interested in buying it. But I just could not part with it.
Then a miracle happened. About a month ago I picked it up and decided to play. I played for over 30 minutes with no problems. Well other than being really bad because I have not played in years. But my hands did not hurt! I can only praise Yahweh for that. So over the past month I have been playing my guitar again. It is totally awesome. Now I just have to figure out how to be a decent guitar player.

Government

Today I am a little bit upset with my government. The conservatives have done several things in the past week that have really annoyed me.
First thing that they did was Vic Toews introduced a bill in that would make it easier to make people dangerous criminals. Now I have to admit that I do not know the specifics of this bill. But it seems to indicate the overall response the conservatives have to justice - tougher sentences. There is no conversation about how to help convicts get adjusted so that they reenter society. The conservative answer for everything is tougher sentences. However tougher sentences do not bring justice. Tougher sentences are not a deterrent. Tougher sentences do not help rehabilitate prisoners. In fact our whole justice system seems to be a joke. It appears that our system of justice is not really about justice but is about punishment. Instead of trying to do something good the conservatives introduce stupid bills which may win them some votes but do not bring justice.
Second thing that really bugs me is the new environmental bill they have brought forward. What a joke. Within the bill it states that there would be no strong caps on green house emissions until 2020 or 2025. Now that is a long time away. I am wondering why wait that long. In 2020 will the conservatives still be in power? And we all know how well the bills of an opposing government last. After all the Liberals said we will meet Kyoto. Conservatives get into power and say no. To me it looks like another way for them get a couple votes without really doing anything but talk.
This brings me to the third thing that they did this week that bugs me. They threw Garth Turner out of their party. Now I do not really know who Garth Turner is (I just heard about him this week). But it seems like (according to the news) that his crime was telling people what he thought. And apparently his thoughts did not always line up with the conservative majority. So the conservatives decide to throw him out. Now the problem I have is that I believe that everyone should have the freedom to speak without being punished. But I guess the conservatives disagree. If you disagree with them then they are going to just toss you out.
Now I am actually glad that the conservatives are in power. If nothing else to just get a change from the corruption and bold face lying of the liberals. But over all I am very displeased with many of the things that conservatives are doing. Many people voted for a change. So far there has been no change or in my opinion the change is for the worse. I guess this is why we need to always lift them up in prayer.

Team Hoyt

Amazing! Read about them at Team Hoyt

What kind of world do we live in?

What kind of world do we live in where children try and kill other children. I just read on cbc
about a group of kids locking another kid in a shed and lighting it on fire. This seems so beyond just bulling or calling names or even hurting someone else. They seemed to have a desire to really harm and even kill the kid.
The kid who was locked in the shed has spinal bifida. He was different. This appears to be the only reason that the other children decided to attack.
Now what really gets me is what kind of society raises children to act like this. We can try and blame the kids all we want but the reality is that they are products of our society. We stand around all arrgonant and proud that we have this great society with all its freedoms. We proclaim that this is the best place in the world to live. In fact we feel that the rest of the world should become more civilized like us.
Children killing children is anything but civilized or free. Our society is messed. We need to take responsiblity for the way our society is. We cannot look to the government to fix these things because the government is totally powerless to do anything.
We need to pray. And our prayers have propell us into action otherwise our prayers just become a way in which we blame God for the mess we are in.

Derek Webb - New Law

My friend Gary passed this on to me. Interesting.

Worship

"One reason why we Christians argue so much about which hymn to sing, which liturgy to follow, which way to worship is that the commandments teach us to believe that bad liturgy eventually leads to bad ethics. You begin by singing some sappy, sentimental hymn, then you pray some pointless prayer, and the next thing you know you have murdered your best friend."
(Stanley Hauerwas)

Is my liturgy good or bad? Do I sing sappy, sentimental songs that eventually lead to bad ethics?
I do not want to say that my worship is bad or that the songs that I like to sing are sappy and sentimental. I can more easily point out how other people's worship is bad and how the songs that they sing are sappy and sentimental. But I should really look at my life first.
I think I get into sappy and sentimental when I sing songs that I do not mean or do not understand. I remember singing as a child "Put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness..." What on earth is "spirit of heaviness"? Or I sing "I feel like dancing" when I do not feel like dancing. Or "I raise my hands" when my hands are at my side. Now I am going to quickly defend myself. I think I can do some of this in my heart, without doing it in my body. At least I think I can. I could very well be wrong on this one.
Another way that my worship is bad is when it does not focus at all on Yahweh but just focuses on me or something else. Prayer that just about my needs and requests (no praise, no thanksgiving, no praying for others, no confession).
Through true worship I encounter Yahweh and this changes me to reflect his image I need to very aware of my worship.

Forgiveness

Most likely you heard about the shooting in the Amish school, where a man shoot and killed several young girls. Well the Amish are truly amazing. They have begun to demonstrate such Christ likeness in this situation. One person stated that while he was in the kitchen with the gunman's family "an Amish neighbor came to the house and wrapped his arms around the father of the dead gunman. 'We will forgive you,' the man said." (Lancaster online)
The Amish have not only expressed forgiveness in their words they have also begun to demonstrate it in their actions. They have set up funds for the families whose children died or were wounded and for the gunman's family. (cbc) Instead of being bitter and unforgiving the Amish have chosen the way of Christ.

Grandma

I would like to pay a small tribute to my Grandma. On Monday I attended her funeral. She was 88 when she died and had been married for 59 years.
My Grandma was an amazing woman. Her heart and passion were fixed on Jesus. For many years her and my Grandpa spent many years on the mission field. They made the decision to give up many of the things that we all desire to serve God. And serve God she did. One of the great things that she did was to pray. I discovered at the funeral that she would pray for her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren every day. This means that she prayed for me my whole life. I am sure that her prayers have made a great impression on our lives - greater than we realize. She was also a woman who would surprise you. She a very humble and quiet person but would do things that we very surprising. At the funeral I discovered that she once voted Green. This really surprised me because I was sure she would have been conservative %100 and never green. She also continued to want to learn. When she was in her 80s she was still memorizing portions of scripture. A few weeks before she died she got her first computer. In fact they tell me that some of her last words were "email".
I am privileged to be her grandson. She always inspired me to be a better person.