Jordon Cooper to the rescue...
There is always help on Jordon's blogpage. The bottom of this blog shows what I found this morning.

Yes, there is a story behind each of these lines... and who knows when they might show up?

#4 had to do with an ugly porch that was attached to the back of a little church where I was a pastor in the early days of my ministry. When the trustees were a little slow on action, I took the matter into my own hands and hitched a cable to my car and pulled the thing over. It turned out to be more complicated that I first thought, but we got it cleaned up and I survived! Actually more than that, we went on to relocate and build a beautiful new building and see the church come into a good period of growth and ministry.

For some of Jordon's suggestions -- like #8 and #10 and unfortunately #3-- the list is too long to insert here.

Thanks, Jordon. You definitely fit into #6 though I would state it this way -- " GREAT bloggers I have worked with."
Ideas to Blog to...

I was talking to Dennis Camplin today and as he was talking to me about what to blog about, I had to run. I decided to post a list of topics Dennis can write about on his blog.
1) How Jordon's preaching changed my life (or that have had to been rebuked)
2) Funeral wreaths I have tied to Gloria Reimer's car.
3) Inappropriate comments that made Gloria angry.
4) Church porches I have tied to my car to and then torn down.
5) Several ways to avoid making food for myself when my wife is away.
6) Bloggers I have worked with.
7) Ways Johnny Maxwell has changed my life.
8) Coffee Shops I have loved
9) V.E.T. meetings I have enjoyed
10) Cars I have bought and sold before Wilda even knew I had them.

  ¶ 8:59 AM 0 comments

  Excuses, excuses…

The big gap that you notice on my blog page is mainly because I have been on the road a fair bit since my last entries.

Wilda and I were in Regina and Moose Jaw a week ago. I am going to start a part-time Interim Pastoral journey with First Free Methodist Church and House of ROC by the middle of February. This will be a big challenge as I will continue here at Calgary Free Methodist part-time as well (until the end of April.)

On the weekend we were guests of the Claresholm Church of the Nazarene. They put on a great meal in an all-church banquet on Saturday evening.

Yesterday Pastor Rob and I met with our Parent Church Network in Banff. It was great to meet with Ron Bonar and the other pastors in that Network.
  ¶ 7:55 PM 0 comments

  Bush's God vs. the media's god
It has been pointed out to Weblog that while the official White House transcript of last night's State of the Union address capitalizes "God," several versions elsewhere online, such as at The Washington Post and CNN, have it lowercased. But don't get too upset: they probably got it from somewhere else. Just like Bush got his line "there's power, wonder-working power" from somewhere else.

  ¶ 7:30 PM 0 comments

  Congratulations to Cole and Brett who completed 24 km in the Prince Albert Classic Loppet (cross-country skiing) in well under 4 hours.
Cole is my 11 year-old grandson!  ¶ 11:23 PM 0 comments

  January 19: PA Classic Loppet at Little Red River Park. One-day cross-country ski tour for recreational and competitive skiers. Course ranges from 8km to 30 km.

I would love to be joining my grandson Cole and his dad, Brett Enns in this great event. Little Red River is a great place for cross-country skiing. Brett, Cole and I along with granddaughter Jayne were able to complete a trail there on Boxing Day in spite of very poor conditions at that time.

I do, however plan to ski at Kananaskis tomorrow.   ¶ 7:21 PM 0 comments

 
Teaching the Dead Bird to Sing: Living the Hermit Life Without and Within
by W. Paul Jones

Far from Busyness
Teaching the Dead Bird to Sing wrestles with overwork, discouragement, and doubt.
Reviewed by Cindy Crosby | posted 01/16/2003

W. Paul Jones began his journey as a Protestant in the poverty of Appalachia, then earned degrees from Yale, taught at Princeton, became a Methodist minister, served as a chaplain for the Black Panthers, and was recently ordained as a Catholic priest.

"It has been a long pilgrimage," Jones writes, "strange and wild." Jones admits he came to the unhappy realization along the way that he was a "functional atheist." The hope of resolving his spiritual identity led him to a nine-month visit to an Ozarks monastery in the mid-1980s, which is the basis of this book.

Determined to have it out with God, he shares his deepest longing: "I desperately want to believe …. that God is the rightful name for the cause of my having been burned with a brand-shaped WHY." A self-confessed addict to "doing" and an extrovert who didn't fit the model of spiritual solitude, Jones tells how he learned to make contemplation the most urgent work he does.

Thomas Merton's influence is felt in his style: a mix of personal vulnerability, nature imagery, and the desire for authenticity. Any believer who has wrestled with busyness, discouragement, and doubt will find solace and inspiration in his honest musings.





  ¶ 9:59 PM 0 comments

  Scots pave way for Protestant 'superchurch'
By Paul Kelbie
11 January 2003


Scotland's four main Protestant churches could be merged under plans for a unified Christian church north of the border.

At a time when congregations are suffering a decline in attendance, a single Protestant church operating under one governing body has been suggested as the best option for the future. But the idea is likely to come under fierce attack from traditionalists

  ¶ 9:03 PM 0 comments

  There are numerous ways to lose weight. However effective they may be, some are just not safe. A meat-based, low fiber diet like Atkins advocates with no fruit, or starchy vegetables, will almost double your risk of certain cancers, especially of meat-sensitive cancers, such as colon cancer. Atkins' plan works to cause weight loss much in the same manner as an insulin dependent diabetic.
Dangers of the Atkins Diet
by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Robert Atkins' books, as well as other authors, advocating high-protein weight loss plans, recommend diets for health and weight loss with significantly more animal protein than is usually consumed by the average American. Americans already eat almost 50% of calories from animal products, and as a result of such nutritional extravagance we have seen a tragic skyrocketing in cancer rates and heart disease rates in the last 50 years.

In spite of the hokum and hoopla, as a result of hundreds of scientific studies, the link between animal protein and various cancers is as solid now as the link between smoking and lung cancer.   ¶ 8:46 PM 0 comments

 
Paper's ban on Scripture irks readers, writers
The Daily Journal of International Falls, Minnesota, like many other smalltown papers, has a column written by local clergy. "For almost nine years area clergy have submitted articles without creating any major controversy," Evangelical Covenant Church pastor Larry Connors writes this week. "But change is in the air." The paper has issued new guidelines, including one banning the quotation of Scripture.


  ¶ 2:21 PM 0 comments

  Weblog: Stone Tablet Confirms Solomon's Temple, Biblical Narrative

This headline from Christianity Today made it to an almost full page coverage in the Calgary Herald as well. There the headline read: Tablet renews temple debate with the subtitle being “Artifact may confirm Bible narrative.”

As soon as I read the headline, I reflected back on what I have been reading in The Younger Evangelicals. There Webber writes: “Postfoundationalism asserts that Christianity can stand on its own; it needs no rational defense. For example, the new thinkers of Radical Orthodoxy argue that reason has been made the interrupter of the Christian faith. Therefore, modernity looked to the social sciences to come to the aid of Christianity, to prove it or to add arguments that made Christianity plausible. Radical Orthodoxy begins with the assumption that Christianity is truth. Because it is true, -- everything in the world, the world itself, its history, its religions, its social sciences, its ethics, and its behaviours – should be interrupted and understood through the Christian faith.”

While the newly found tablet (though its origin is unclear) may be interesting, it is not needed to prove the Biblical narrative!
  ¶ 1:45 PM 0 comments

  Last evening Wilda and I spent about three hours visiting with Kelly and Brooke who were on their way back to their jobs in the Dominican Republic. Kelly grew up in Prince Albert, Sask. and I was his pastor until he was in University. Later he and I were on staff together at Lakeview Church.

Their idea of having a year of adventure and new experiences is very healthy and the Lord is certainly leading them and, I believe. preparing them for something big in the future.  ¶ 1:09 PM 0 comments

  Old Bloggers Never Die...

....they just have to think up the next topic!

Unless you're old like Jordon meaning that you have been blogging for a long time, or
Unless you're like Jeb whose life is full of exciting things, or
Unless you're like Kelly who has a real excuse in that he cannot type with a knife and fork in his hands, or while trvelling! or unless you are
Even old like Gloria who is just starting and still has a thought or two left.

Anyway, when I get a new thought, I'll blog again.  ¶ 3:52 PM 0 comments

  While driving from Regina yesterday we were listening to the radio and one program was sponsored by a financial planner who was encouraging investors to move out of the stock market and instead invest in precious medals. In his remarks he quoted Wayne Gretzsky as saying that he did not chase the puck but rather, went to where it was going. The sales pitch was that precious medals was the “road less taken” by investors but it would be the winning way of the future.

This morning I read a report that Toyota Motor Sales has introduced two new models in its Scion series at the LA Auto Show. The headlines read: “Toyota unveils the Scion, its car for the young.” This is what caught my attention in the article:
…Both are targeted for Generation Y which Toyota defines as those aged 10 to their early 20s. Besides today’s buyers Toyota wants to attract those still years away from a driver’s license… We’re thinking a more urban buyer rather than a rural. It won’t appeal to a buyer who wants a muscle car but maybe a young stylish driver, the kind who is a trend-setter that influences others…

At the same auto show other American companies were showing prototypes of bulkier rear-wheel-drive models. These cars are aimed at drivers who grew up in the 1960s and early 1970s. The bottom line is that these cars are targeted at aging baby-boomers who are attracted to the greater comfort of a larger vehicle and are less inhibited by the cost to buy or operate – and are more likely to spend considerable time in the south where the problem of slippery roads are not a factor!

There is surely a lesson here for the church. What are we doing for our ten-year-olds in anticipation of the kind of church that they will grow into? At the same time, will we continue to value the needs and contributions that older but healthy boomers bring and give to the great body of Christ – which is the church?
  ¶ 8:30 AM 0 comments

  Happy New Year on this first Sunday of 2003!
As you can see I have taken a holiday from blogging over the Christmas break. We have just gotten back from 11 wonderful days of being with family -- children and grandchildren and driving over 3000 km around the Prairies. While it is always good to get home -- there is nothing like the enjoyment of being with family.
We will be off to church here in Calgary in a few hours. It is amazing how qucikly a group of people becomes "family" and it will be good to be back home for that reason as well.
Last Sunday I attended a little Anglican Church in Regina.The service was long and included the singing of seven carols, seven lessons with choral anthems and a baptism. The delivery system was very traditional but the content contained a lot of scripture and was packaged in such a way that we got into the big story of the season. Throughout the week I was amazed at how often I was drawn back to that worship experience and the spiritual benefits of it.
  ¶ 7:06 AM 0 comments