Every once in a while you receive a gift from the past that makes you smile. I got this from a former colleague about a week ago. I believe the librarian at Fraser Valley Christian High had asked all the teachers to take a photograph of themselves reading as a way of promoting reading in our students. We were raising a few hogs at the time and no doubt had also recently read Charlotte's Web to one of the boys which sparked this idea that the pigs might enjoy the story as well. I think some of the finer points of this lovely story were lost on the pigs. As is the way of things on the farm, the pigs had quite a different ending to things than did Wilbur.
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In a little over a week we will be leaving for two weeks in Egypt to spend time with a team of missionaries from the Christian Reformed Church that are working out of Cairo, Egypt. We have had a few opportunities to travel in Europe and when you come from Canada and travel there, you get a sense that things are old. I remember having a beer in a London pub that dated back to the 12th century. We call houses in Canada that are 100 years old, Heritage Homes. I am imagining that our ideas of old are going to be modified in Egypt. Maybe more importantly than ancient buildings or ruins are the ancient ways of being, particularly the ancient faiths and the ancient church. We will be walking on the pathways where civilizations began, where the church was born. We have a Jeremiah 6:16 verse in a little nook on the wall. “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way lies, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Today marks the beginning of Lent, the weeks leading up to Easter when we enter into a time of meditation on our own brokenness. It starts today with Ash Wednesday where we are marked on our foreheads with the sign of the cross, using the ashes of last year’s dried Palm Sunday palms; the ashes to remind ourselves of our humanity. “Dust you are and to dust you shall return.” The word Lent probably comes from the Old English word for Spring season, a lengthening of the days, or the Old Dutch where that word is still used to mean Spring. One of the practices of Lent is to give something up, like wine or coffee. It might mean taking on a certain practice of prayer and meditation or reading. The website 40 Acts was passed on to Jenny by a colleague yesterday and I found this rather interesting and very challenging. 40acts.org was started in the UK as a challenge to live more generously for the forty days of Lent by practicing generous and somewhat random acts of kindness. I like that. It’s kind of scary and seems like a huge commitment. I signed up on their website and will get the daily reading and challenge. I’ll start small today and see what happens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy07HGATAJM |
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