This semester I've been co-ordinating a missions course, as some of you well know. There have been some personal great blessings from it, as well as great disappointments as the semester has been progressing. However, one small thing that has not ceased to amaze me is how He has managed to make me not late, ever, for getting there to prep and to pray. This is amazing, in that I have to leave exactly at 1600hrs from the office in order to make it home, maybe get some time to eat something, and then get over to the course. However, when's the last time that a doctor's office ever ends exactly on time?
Now, I am a dictator with the clock, so I rarely go overtime by more than five minutes, however, when a minute here and there accumulate, it doesn't take long before you're 20-30 minutes over time (which is why, people, it's important to get to your doctor's offices on time!). Usually, I can't free myself from patient chatter and paperwork till about 1630hrs on a usual day.
Incredibly, however, week after week this entire semester, I have been done seeing patients, finished my charting, EVERYTHING, and clear to go by 1600hrs at the very latest. This is nothing short than a miracle, week after week.
I keep on walking around, holding my breath, waiting for my "luck" to run out, and it has not yet. I suspect it is no longer luck. Even this afternoon, with the slots booked up to the rafters, and several chronic late-arrivals on the list, I still managed to finish everything by 1553hrs. Amazing. Somehow, every single person this afternoon actually showed up early for their appointments. Amazing.
To me, this is a small miracle, as this does not happen on a regular, consistent basis, at all. Heck, I've even had a bit of time to blog about this before I head out! Now that is something that is praise-worthy...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Lilliputian
So last night was the first night, in a long while, that I was the shortest person in the room, by at least 2-3 inches. That was a nice change from the usual from either being fairly average or fairly tall. I know lots of short people complain that they don't like always being the smallest person in the room, but I kind of liked it. In some ways, it made me feel safer, I guess. Like I was surrounded by a wall of big people.
In contrast, in several hours, I will be the tallest person at dinner. Funny that, why I'm noticing height over all other aspects of dinner...
In contrast, in several hours, I will be the tallest person at dinner. Funny that, why I'm noticing height over all other aspects of dinner...
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Intangible Morpheus
So, sleep has been an elusive and transient journeyman in my life, as some of you may well know, for various reasons. One thing, however, heartened me that I read recently. The Globe and Mail reported that our propensity to have a straight eight hours may not likely have been the normal sleep patterns of earlier peoples. They suggested that even as recently as the 19th century (ie. anything that is pre-industrial Europe), people would have slept only 3-4 hours at a time, waking up for an hour or two in the middle of the night in order to keep fires going, to check on bread rising, to watch for potential enemies, to make love, to care for braying animals, etc, and then would have another slumber into the dawn. They further suggest that people, like myself, may simply be mirroring how most of society has habitually slept through the ages.
The only problem is, however, that globally, our society now does not allow the 10-12 hours that this type of sleep-cycling requires. It requires that one has about 6-7 hours to sleep every day, and if one needs any longer than this, then they are slothful, lazy, or worse.
Sigh. At any rate, it is good to know that I'm not historically aberrant, just societally aberrant. But I knew that already...
The only problem is, however, that globally, our society now does not allow the 10-12 hours that this type of sleep-cycling requires. It requires that one has about 6-7 hours to sleep every day, and if one needs any longer than this, then they are slothful, lazy, or worse.
Sigh. At any rate, it is good to know that I'm not historically aberrant, just societally aberrant. But I knew that already...
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Keeping up with the Joneses
I'm kind of embarrassed: I keep up with quite a few friends' blogs, and, though some have not posted for months, if not weeks, I still do check them regularly. However, one of my friends, who mainly writes about her experiences of food (particularly Chinese food), throwing in a few recipes here and there as well, has had three posts (count 'em! THREE!) over the past weekend.
I'm trying hard by putting this one up too, so at least I can say I had two this weekend, I guess.
I have been up to interesting things here and there, but nothing concrete enough in my head to try to put down on paper (or screen, as it were) yet. I did go over to a friend's church this morning, where he has recently taken over as their pastor. I totally love listening to his preaching, as I always find I learn something significant every time I hear him from the pulpit. Today was no exception to that rule.
However, I've realized it's a challenge to be clergy. I realize that it is an isolating life, which is ironic in a faith that depends on community to have it run properly. However, clergy, being in positions of authority and as the moral compass of the community, need to be able to keep their bearings straight for the sake of the community. Their accountability, their socializing, their ability to really let loose and be themselves, can only really be done in the context and the safety of their friends outside of the church. It is funny, in a way, to see him preach, knowing him as I do, in ways that his congregation does not.
I imagine it is also even more isolating in the context that he is unmarried while serving in this congregation. I think, after a bunch of us went to his ordination service, that I'm his first friend to come to his regular service. After the service was over, I couldn't stay long, but he asked if I wanted to stay a bit for the coffee time. Certainly, I said, but I don't want your congregation thinking that I'm your girlfriend or something. Well, he said, that would actually probably make my life easier. Turns out, several of the older congregants have already suggested hooking him up with daughters and granddaughters, and there are a few single women in the congregation as well. So, I said, sure, I'll be your imaginary girlfriend for now, and then you can dump me when it's convenient for you. We'll see if that has them laying off on him for a while, though I don't think I looked like I was that much competition, to be sure...
I'm trying hard by putting this one up too, so at least I can say I had two this weekend, I guess.
I have been up to interesting things here and there, but nothing concrete enough in my head to try to put down on paper (or screen, as it were) yet. I did go over to a friend's church this morning, where he has recently taken over as their pastor. I totally love listening to his preaching, as I always find I learn something significant every time I hear him from the pulpit. Today was no exception to that rule.
However, I've realized it's a challenge to be clergy. I realize that it is an isolating life, which is ironic in a faith that depends on community to have it run properly. However, clergy, being in positions of authority and as the moral compass of the community, need to be able to keep their bearings straight for the sake of the community. Their accountability, their socializing, their ability to really let loose and be themselves, can only really be done in the context and the safety of their friends outside of the church. It is funny, in a way, to see him preach, knowing him as I do, in ways that his congregation does not.
I imagine it is also even more isolating in the context that he is unmarried while serving in this congregation. I think, after a bunch of us went to his ordination service, that I'm his first friend to come to his regular service. After the service was over, I couldn't stay long, but he asked if I wanted to stay a bit for the coffee time. Certainly, I said, but I don't want your congregation thinking that I'm your girlfriend or something. Well, he said, that would actually probably make my life easier. Turns out, several of the older congregants have already suggested hooking him up with daughters and granddaughters, and there are a few single women in the congregation as well. So, I said, sure, I'll be your imaginary girlfriend for now, and then you can dump me when it's convenient for you. We'll see if that has them laying off on him for a while, though I don't think I looked like I was that much competition, to be sure...
Banana boys and girls
I went to go watch the highly-acclaimed Banana Boys with a Japanese friend of mine yesterday. We laughed, we cried, we were moved by the depiction of five Chinese-Canadian boys just trying to find themselves and make it in the world today.
It made us wonder afterwards if we should've invited a few of our white friends to come with us, to see if it made sense to them, if it resonated as deeply for them as it did for us. We somehow felt, no, likely not; probably they would've laughed at the same sequences as we did, not from a deep personal understanding, but because it was just plain funny.
It is interesting how we can turn those things that are the deepest point of pain into humour. How racial incidents and stereotypes can be laughed at, even as we "take it, taaaake it!". And so, we chuckle to ourselves, bracing ourselves for the inevitable onslaught of reality, as we deal with the un-funny real world...
It made us wonder afterwards if we should've invited a few of our white friends to come with us, to see if it made sense to them, if it resonated as deeply for them as it did for us. We somehow felt, no, likely not; probably they would've laughed at the same sequences as we did, not from a deep personal understanding, but because it was just plain funny.
It is interesting how we can turn those things that are the deepest point of pain into humour. How racial incidents and stereotypes can be laughed at, even as we "take it, taaaake it!". And so, we chuckle to ourselves, bracing ourselves for the inevitable onslaught of reality, as we deal with the un-funny real world...
Monday, November 10, 2008
Oh, unionized civil servants are useless!
There's a bunch of happier things to write about, but I am going to speak at how useless our government service representatives are, in BOTH official languages.
I am trying to access a government website in order to pay my taxes. You would figure the government would be interested in such things, as that helps fund their very useless civil servants. However, while trying to access it, the site tells me that my browser in not supported for this function. So, I try another browser: again, I am prevented from accessing the government website.
Confused, I call Revenue Canada. The guy who answers tells me that only IE and Netscape are browsers capable of supporting this particular tax site. Excuse me??? I say, but you should very well know that NOBODY has used Netscape, since, oh, 1994!!!! Furthermore, I point out, it biased in favour of the PC users as Mac users (like myself) would not use IE for Mac if it was the last browser on earth.
The guy says, well, that's just the way that it is. I ask, Is Revenue Canada planning on catching up with the 21st century and use browsers that most people are using now? He says, no. I ask, well, how do you expect me to pay my taxes online if you don't use browsers that are supported by many people? He says, well, maybe you need to rethink what kind of computer you have.
Suffice it to say, that nobody knows who I need to complain to in order to have them consider upgrading the browser servers. But I suppose that just goes to show that industries like the public sector that have no reason or motivation to actually help people, can do so with impunity...
I am trying to access a government website in order to pay my taxes. You would figure the government would be interested in such things, as that helps fund their very useless civil servants. However, while trying to access it, the site tells me that my browser in not supported for this function. So, I try another browser: again, I am prevented from accessing the government website.
Confused, I call Revenue Canada. The guy who answers tells me that only IE and Netscape are browsers capable of supporting this particular tax site. Excuse me??? I say, but you should very well know that NOBODY has used Netscape, since, oh, 1994!!!! Furthermore, I point out, it biased in favour of the PC users as Mac users (like myself) would not use IE for Mac if it was the last browser on earth.
The guy says, well, that's just the way that it is. I ask, Is Revenue Canada planning on catching up with the 21st century and use browsers that most people are using now? He says, no. I ask, well, how do you expect me to pay my taxes online if you don't use browsers that are supported by many people? He says, well, maybe you need to rethink what kind of computer you have.
Suffice it to say, that nobody knows who I need to complain to in order to have them consider upgrading the browser servers. But I suppose that just goes to show that industries like the public sector that have no reason or motivation to actually help people, can do so with impunity...
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Yes, we can
In light of the whole earth, waiting with baited breath, to see who would be the next leader of the "free world", I write on the day after. I think I've found the whole American election process entertaining to watch, extremely long to the point of exhausting, and thankfully finally over. I am glad with the choice that was made, even though it actually will likely be a bit more difficult for Canada, diplomatically-wise, with this administration-elect.
That being said. if I was Obama's mother, I would be really upset. She spent her whole life raising this child, after his African father left the family when he was quite small, raising him, essentially as a white child, and all the attention has gone to his colour and his father's racial background. I am noting that there have been many stories about his father's hometown in Kenya, and how Kenyans have been celebrating, however, I do question that just because he has some Kenyan DNA in him, whether that, in and of itself, makes him "black" or "African-American". However, it seems that his mother's predominant role and culture in his life has taken a massive back seat in the persona that has been created for him. As such, as his mother, I'd be upset that my culture was basically negated in the formation of my child into the man that he became. This would be particularly poignant if the father of my child had basically no role in child-rearing.
At any rate, I suspect, besides many other factors, that one of the main reasons why he won is the illusion of hope that he represents. How he will fulfill that, I am not sure. However, it bemuses me that the whole world is waiting on Obama to be the fulfillment of hope. Our whole planet is hoping that this one man will change the world. I wonder how we have descended into such folly to believe that one mortal man will be able to change the heart of mankind. I myself do not find hope in man, even if he is Barack Obama. A friend of mine put it best when he said that hope is not found in a political campaign, but in an empty tomb. Amen, amen, amen to that.
That being said. if I was Obama's mother, I would be really upset. She spent her whole life raising this child, after his African father left the family when he was quite small, raising him, essentially as a white child, and all the attention has gone to his colour and his father's racial background. I am noting that there have been many stories about his father's hometown in Kenya, and how Kenyans have been celebrating, however, I do question that just because he has some Kenyan DNA in him, whether that, in and of itself, makes him "black" or "African-American". However, it seems that his mother's predominant role and culture in his life has taken a massive back seat in the persona that has been created for him. As such, as his mother, I'd be upset that my culture was basically negated in the formation of my child into the man that he became. This would be particularly poignant if the father of my child had basically no role in child-rearing.
At any rate, I suspect, besides many other factors, that one of the main reasons why he won is the illusion of hope that he represents. How he will fulfill that, I am not sure. However, it bemuses me that the whole world is waiting on Obama to be the fulfillment of hope. Our whole planet is hoping that this one man will change the world. I wonder how we have descended into such folly to believe that one mortal man will be able to change the heart of mankind. I myself do not find hope in man, even if he is Barack Obama. A friend of mine put it best when he said that hope is not found in a political campaign, but in an empty tomb. Amen, amen, amen to that.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
What's the obsession about flaming pieces of charcoal?
I do have a counter on my website, though it's invisible. What's fascinating to me are the routes by which people end up on my website. Besides the regular readers (some of which I know, most of which I don't), I somehow end up on quite a few google searches. Do you know what the most common one is? I apparently come up quite a bit when you google 'heap burning coals on head' (try it!). What makes me wonder, however, is why so many people, all over the planet, are googling that particular phrase...
Monday, October 27, 2008
A normal blog post
This weekend has been particularly punishing, though I loved every bit of it. Today, having to accompany a parent to a doctor's appointment, I arrived early, and promptly took a two hour nap, which caused my parents to wonder if I was sick or not.
However, it's been a jam-packed session: Not only did I take in a few short-term mission reports, I then had to awake early to prep for my nephew's birthday party, hung around for that, made dinner for four and hosted a board games and dinner night, participated in worship for our baptism service, went to a luncheon reception for one of the newly dunked, hosted another small group meeting at my house, had barely shooed them out the door when a missionary serving in East Asia came over (on short notice; their agency needed a place for them to stay) for the night, for which we went for dinner and regaled each other with stories 'from the field'. Breakfast and tidying up this morning while my guest slept, followed by getting them safely to their next destination, resulted in me going to my parents' house to sleep. The end. No wonder I think my life outside of work is much more interesting than work itself! I suppose this also explains why I've been a bit sluggish in posting regularly!
However, it's been a jam-packed session: Not only did I take in a few short-term mission reports, I then had to awake early to prep for my nephew's birthday party, hung around for that, made dinner for four and hosted a board games and dinner night, participated in worship for our baptism service, went to a luncheon reception for one of the newly dunked, hosted another small group meeting at my house, had barely shooed them out the door when a missionary serving in East Asia came over (on short notice; their agency needed a place for them to stay) for the night, for which we went for dinner and regaled each other with stories 'from the field'. Breakfast and tidying up this morning while my guest slept, followed by getting them safely to their next destination, resulted in me going to my parents' house to sleep. The end. No wonder I think my life outside of work is much more interesting than work itself! I suppose this also explains why I've been a bit sluggish in posting regularly!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Inspiring men
What is funny is who inspires me. This past weekend, I had gone to dinner with people who are all committed to the cause of eradicating child prostitution and trafficking in Cambodia. Sure, we had some good food, and some great desserts, but what thrilled me was the presence of men. Admittedly, I've known these men in this group for a while, but it encourages me in that they are two in number, in a sea of women committed to the cause.
Listening to them speak eloquently of what it means to them, as men, while confronting the causes of human trafficking, of dealing with their own notions of masculine sexuality, makes me admire and respect them all the more. The fact that they speak so boldly to other men, challenging their notion of what it means to "be a man", and encouraging them to face up to their own sexual desires and fears, such that they would also be free to fight on behalf of little girls is quite something to behold.
This ties into a dear friend of mine, who works with college aged students, mainly men, who lamented as to why men think it's cool to be apathetic and not to care. He has been trying to figure out that question in order to inspire his guys to seek the Kingdom, to be passionate, to really live.
I am not sure of the answer to that; I know it's multifactorial, and I certainly have some ideas as to why this is, but watching L and A talk, and seeing their passion for the liberation of thousands of little girls reminds me that though they are rare, men of nobility do indeed still walk amongst us.
Listening to them speak eloquently of what it means to them, as men, while confronting the causes of human trafficking, of dealing with their own notions of masculine sexuality, makes me admire and respect them all the more. The fact that they speak so boldly to other men, challenging their notion of what it means to "be a man", and encouraging them to face up to their own sexual desires and fears, such that they would also be free to fight on behalf of little girls is quite something to behold.
This ties into a dear friend of mine, who works with college aged students, mainly men, who lamented as to why men think it's cool to be apathetic and not to care. He has been trying to figure out that question in order to inspire his guys to seek the Kingdom, to be passionate, to really live.
I am not sure of the answer to that; I know it's multifactorial, and I certainly have some ideas as to why this is, but watching L and A talk, and seeing their passion for the liberation of thousands of little girls reminds me that though they are rare, men of nobility do indeed still walk amongst us.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Slow Food at it's best
So, I've been spending the last few free days that I've had at home, making preserves and sauces for the winter. So far, I've made apple crisp filling, apple butter and crushed tomatoes. I still have several jars more to make of apple butter, and then I'd like to think that I'm done for the autumn - we shall see how that goes.
I think there is a lot of tranquility and beauty in preparing and stirring produce, making sauces and jams, and thinking of the people who provided me with the fruits and vegetables that I'm preserving. It is nice to think that all of the apples and tomatoes I will be eating this winter are fresh, organic and made with lots of love by people who care for me! The careful stirring, the addition of spices and salts, the aromas that rise from my little kitchen, the bubbling of the canning pot - all of these things bring a simple joy and quiet, and harkens me back to a time when this was the only way to prepare for the winter's cold. Seeing the long lines of jars, with their bejeweled reds and golds, bring about a sense of accomplishment and beauty to my pantry shelves!
If we still lived in a society where we were wholly dependent on the abundance of our land, and the mercy of God, to feed us, then this would be the way we would be fed when the howling winter winds blow. However, we have largely abandoned that; I know I can easily find a banana, or a tomato, on Toronto streets in the dead of winter if I so choose. It sometimes seems to me that we have lost the acknowledgement of God's great and generous hand in providing for our very nourishment by His seasons, as we have taken control over the food supply, allowing us to have all the food we want, whenever we want it. This is particularly poignant today, as it is Thanksgiving. Our abundance of food consumed this weekend is often sadly separated from the original celebration; the original settlers would thank our great Father for providing yet another good harvest and for their well-stocked larders for the coming winter, celebrating with the abundance of what they had gathered in. Today, we are no longer sure where anything we put in our mouths come from, whether it's the tinned pumpkin pie filling, or the fruit from everywhere (and nowhere), or the disproportionate turkey. Now, I love Thanksgiving dinner as much as the next guy, but I often wonder how deep our thanks can be to God the Father, if we are not truly dependent on His hand for our daily bread...
I think there is a lot of tranquility and beauty in preparing and stirring produce, making sauces and jams, and thinking of the people who provided me with the fruits and vegetables that I'm preserving. It is nice to think that all of the apples and tomatoes I will be eating this winter are fresh, organic and made with lots of love by people who care for me! The careful stirring, the addition of spices and salts, the aromas that rise from my little kitchen, the bubbling of the canning pot - all of these things bring a simple joy and quiet, and harkens me back to a time when this was the only way to prepare for the winter's cold. Seeing the long lines of jars, with their bejeweled reds and golds, bring about a sense of accomplishment and beauty to my pantry shelves!
If we still lived in a society where we were wholly dependent on the abundance of our land, and the mercy of God, to feed us, then this would be the way we would be fed when the howling winter winds blow. However, we have largely abandoned that; I know I can easily find a banana, or a tomato, on Toronto streets in the dead of winter if I so choose. It sometimes seems to me that we have lost the acknowledgement of God's great and generous hand in providing for our very nourishment by His seasons, as we have taken control over the food supply, allowing us to have all the food we want, whenever we want it. This is particularly poignant today, as it is Thanksgiving. Our abundance of food consumed this weekend is often sadly separated from the original celebration; the original settlers would thank our great Father for providing yet another good harvest and for their well-stocked larders for the coming winter, celebrating with the abundance of what they had gathered in. Today, we are no longer sure where anything we put in our mouths come from, whether it's the tinned pumpkin pie filling, or the fruit from everywhere (and nowhere), or the disproportionate turkey. Now, I love Thanksgiving dinner as much as the next guy, but I often wonder how deep our thanks can be to God the Father, if we are not truly dependent on His hand for our daily bread...
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Better than a kick in the teeth...
I will have some more interesting things to post in the future, as soon as I get some time, but I do need to share this story, even though it didn't happen to me.
So the other day in the clinic, the unfortunate doc who was on got struck by a pretty bad stomach flu, so was running back and forth from the bathroom between seeing patients. She, of course, could not go home and leave the clinic unmanned, for, heaven forbid that a doctor be allowed to be sick and go home from the office early. She was trying her best to keep up with the onslaught without getting into big trouble with her bowels.
One patient comes in, and, because she had been waiting a whole (gasp!) twenty minutes to be seen by the doctor, starts making a ruckus with the secretaries. She complains how if she was in a life and death situation, then the clinic would be in biiiiig trouble for making her wait so long to see a doctor. It's explained to her that the doctor's gone to the bathroom, and, frankly, if it was a life or death situation, she'd be far better off in the local emergency department, for, in a small clinic, if you're in a life or death situation, death will surely win. She then states, bald-faced to the doctor, "How dare you go to the bathroom? You guys are not allowed to go to the bathroom when you're on shift!".
Personally, I would've punched her in the face, or at the very least, refused to see her, especially under the circumstances. However, our good doctor did not, and asked how she could help this jerk. Well, her so-called life and death situation was that she needed a new requisition to go for a test, for she had had her previous one eaten by her dog. That, my friends, is the self-centredness and idiocy that makes up the Canadian public, I'm afraid...
So the other day in the clinic, the unfortunate doc who was on got struck by a pretty bad stomach flu, so was running back and forth from the bathroom between seeing patients. She, of course, could not go home and leave the clinic unmanned, for, heaven forbid that a doctor be allowed to be sick and go home from the office early. She was trying her best to keep up with the onslaught without getting into big trouble with her bowels.
One patient comes in, and, because she had been waiting a whole (gasp!) twenty minutes to be seen by the doctor, starts making a ruckus with the secretaries. She complains how if she was in a life and death situation, then the clinic would be in biiiiig trouble for making her wait so long to see a doctor. It's explained to her that the doctor's gone to the bathroom, and, frankly, if it was a life or death situation, she'd be far better off in the local emergency department, for, in a small clinic, if you're in a life or death situation, death will surely win. She then states, bald-faced to the doctor, "How dare you go to the bathroom? You guys are not allowed to go to the bathroom when you're on shift!".
Personally, I would've punched her in the face, or at the very least, refused to see her, especially under the circumstances. However, our good doctor did not, and asked how she could help this jerk. Well, her so-called life and death situation was that she needed a new requisition to go for a test, for she had had her previous one eaten by her dog. That, my friends, is the self-centredness and idiocy that makes up the Canadian public, I'm afraid...
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Lying bastard!
I can't believe the audacity of people and their sheer selfishness... the other day, a girl comes into the clinic, saying that she had had a vacation day several Fridays previously, but Human Resources was asking for a doctor's note for the day. I clarified, as that didn't make sense to me; why would Human Resources require a physician's note for what is a legitimate vacation day? She stated that was 'just the way' that her company worked.
That totally didn't make sense to me, and I tried to clarify several times as to why her employer would need a doctor's sick note for a vacation day. At any rate, I then shrugged my shoulders, and proceeding to write a note about how this patient had had a vacation day several Fridays beforehand, but that Human Resources was asking for a physician's note, so I was complying by writing a physician's note. Of course, our sick notes do have a fee associated with them, charged to the patient.
So she picks up her note, reads it, and then comes back to me, saying, "No, I need a note saying that I was at the doctor's office that day.".
"Excuse me??", I say. You had a vacation day, you were never seen by a physician that day several weeks prior, it was conveniently a Friday, and I am certainly not going to write a note for you saying you were seeing a doctor, for, you see, that would be LYING and FRAUD. Somehow she seemed totally unfazed by this, but then demanded her money back for the note that would not have gotten very far with her employer. I'd like to say that I denied her her money, just to teach her a lesson about lying, but I didn't. I am hoping, even though I don't believe in karma, that she gets something coming to her for trying to deceive me.
That totally didn't make sense to me, and I tried to clarify several times as to why her employer would need a doctor's sick note for a vacation day. At any rate, I then shrugged my shoulders, and proceeding to write a note about how this patient had had a vacation day several Fridays beforehand, but that Human Resources was asking for a physician's note, so I was complying by writing a physician's note. Of course, our sick notes do have a fee associated with them, charged to the patient.
So she picks up her note, reads it, and then comes back to me, saying, "No, I need a note saying that I was at the doctor's office that day.".
"Excuse me??", I say. You had a vacation day, you were never seen by a physician that day several weeks prior, it was conveniently a Friday, and I am certainly not going to write a note for you saying you were seeing a doctor, for, you see, that would be LYING and FRAUD. Somehow she seemed totally unfazed by this, but then demanded her money back for the note that would not have gotten very far with her employer. I'd like to say that I denied her her money, just to teach her a lesson about lying, but I didn't. I am hoping, even though I don't believe in karma, that she gets something coming to her for trying to deceive me.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sweet poetic justice
So, I was driving around town doing multiple errands today, and one of the areas I went through was a fairly long school zone at 40km/hr. So I was driving along at about 45km/hr, with some guy tail-gating me. He then swerves around me, gives me the finger through his window, drives another block, and then gets pulled over by a cop! Bwahahahahahahahaaaaaa, I couldn't help saying as I kept driving through the school zone. So there, bozo!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Eulogy for the family farm
So I spent a good chunk of my weekend helping out a farmer friend harvesting his apple crop, which I try to do every year. So there I was, amongst his Jamaican workers, picking apples off of trees, deciding which ones were good enough to bring to market, and which ones would have to stay home and be used for personal use. Of course, those ones would be the ones determined "too ugly" or "too deformed" to eat, the ones that consumers would eschew, thinking there was something wrong with them, when really, a fruit growing too closely to a twig, or struck by inclement weather would be the only cause for the lack of perfection.
A few small anecdotal observations this year:
1. The staggering number of Jamaicans (I was told about 5,000+ people!) coming up every year through the temporary worker's visas, in order to try to make decent wages for their families back home, many of them coming from March through November, staying home for three months, and returning again, year after year, leaves me scratching my head. Why do we have such economic systems in place that we take cheap labour from other countries that takes them away from their families and communities for significant chunks of the year? Why are there no safeguards for them? The workers I met were quite happy with the situation that they found themselves in with my friend, but there are stories of outright abuse against some of these workers. Why do Canadians complain that there are not enough jobs for them, when perhaps it's simply that we don't want to participate in jobs for "untouchables"? We don't seem to mind hiring foreign workers to glean our food, to raise our children, and to construct our buildings, some of the most fundamental jobs of all, as long as we don't have to pay them too much.
2. A few climate change notes:
a) There were still many, many mosquitoes out and actively biting! This is a first for me, as I am quite used to them pretty much being gone from Southern Ontario by this time of year. I was told that they had noticed it was a strange summer, much warmer and wetter (well, that part we all noticed), allowing the mosquitoes to thrive longer than usual. How this bodes for their preparations for next year, well, I guess we'll see when we go camping!
b) They had also told me that there was much hail, besides the rain, this year, destroying a good quarter of their orchard. Arriving there, I noticed huge swaths of trees were gone - all destroyed by the repeated hailstorms they experienced this summer. This is a huge economic blow to a farmer. Which leads me to:
3. So, they are talking about packing it in. Another farmer, biting the dust. Another food producer, in decline and heading to extinction. At their age, the cost of replacing those trees in the orchard, and waiting for them to start producing fruit to pay back their costs, is not worth it. They had decided it wasn't worth the cost nor the time to try to rebuild. Which means they have a smaller number of trees with which to earn their living. Which means that farming becomes less and less viable, year after year. Which means we have that much fewer fruit available to Ontarians. I am not sure why this doesn't worry people, but it happens with stunning rapidity; I just had never encountered a farmer I knew personally, and seen the state of the farm, to actually see it in technicolour...
A few small anecdotal observations this year:
1. The staggering number of Jamaicans (I was told about 5,000+ people!) coming up every year through the temporary worker's visas, in order to try to make decent wages for their families back home, many of them coming from March through November, staying home for three months, and returning again, year after year, leaves me scratching my head. Why do we have such economic systems in place that we take cheap labour from other countries that takes them away from their families and communities for significant chunks of the year? Why are there no safeguards for them? The workers I met were quite happy with the situation that they found themselves in with my friend, but there are stories of outright abuse against some of these workers. Why do Canadians complain that there are not enough jobs for them, when perhaps it's simply that we don't want to participate in jobs for "untouchables"? We don't seem to mind hiring foreign workers to glean our food, to raise our children, and to construct our buildings, some of the most fundamental jobs of all, as long as we don't have to pay them too much.
2. A few climate change notes:
a) There were still many, many mosquitoes out and actively biting! This is a first for me, as I am quite used to them pretty much being gone from Southern Ontario by this time of year. I was told that they had noticed it was a strange summer, much warmer and wetter (well, that part we all noticed), allowing the mosquitoes to thrive longer than usual. How this bodes for their preparations for next year, well, I guess we'll see when we go camping!
b) They had also told me that there was much hail, besides the rain, this year, destroying a good quarter of their orchard. Arriving there, I noticed huge swaths of trees were gone - all destroyed by the repeated hailstorms they experienced this summer. This is a huge economic blow to a farmer. Which leads me to:
3. So, they are talking about packing it in. Another farmer, biting the dust. Another food producer, in decline and heading to extinction. At their age, the cost of replacing those trees in the orchard, and waiting for them to start producing fruit to pay back their costs, is not worth it. They had decided it wasn't worth the cost nor the time to try to rebuild. Which means they have a smaller number of trees with which to earn their living. Which means that farming becomes less and less viable, year after year. Which means we have that much fewer fruit available to Ontarians. I am not sure why this doesn't worry people, but it happens with stunning rapidity; I just had never encountered a farmer I knew personally, and seen the state of the farm, to actually see it in technicolour...
Thursday, September 18, 2008
FFT
I read this on someone else's blog and found it so eloquently put; this is one struggle that I have not been able to see clear around for quite some time, and I'd have to shamefully admit this is where I, and many of my friends and compatriots are heading... or perhaps we are already here...
"Traditionally Christianity has been the religion of the common people. Whenever the upper classes have adopted it in numbers, it has died. Respectability has almost always proved fatal to it.
The reasons back of this are two, one human and the other divine.
Schleiermacher has pointed out that at the bottom of all religion there lies a feeling of dependence, a sense of creature helplessness. The simple man who lives close to the earth lives also close to death and knows that he must look for help beyond himself; he knows that there is but a step between him and catastrophe. As he rises in the social and economic scale, he surrounds himself with more and more protective devices and pushes danger (so he thinks) farther and farther from him. Self-confidence displaces the feeling of dependence he once knew and God becomes less necessary to him. Should he stop to think this through he would know better than to place his confidence in things and people; but so badly are we injured by our moral fall that we are capable of deceiving ourselves completely and, if conditions favor it, to keep up the deception for a lifetime.
Along with the feeling of security that wealth and position bring comes an arrogant pride that shuts tightly the door of the heart to the waiting Savior. Our Very Important Man may indeed honor a church by joining it, but there is no life in his act. His religion is external and his faith nominal. Conscious respectability has destroyed him.
The second reason Christianity tends to decline as its devotees move up the social scale is that God will not respect persons nor share His glory with another. Paul sets this forth plainly enough in his First Corinthians epistle:
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him (1 Corinthians 1:25–29).
When God sent His Son to redeem mankind He sent Him to the home of a working man and He grew up to be what we now call a peasant. When He presented Himself to Israel and launched into His earthly ministry, He was rejected by the respectable religionists and had to look for followers almost exclusively from among the poor, plain people. When the Spirit came and the church was founded, its first members were the socially unacceptable. For generations the church drew her numbers from among the lower classes, individual exceptions occurring now and again, of which Saul of Tarsus was the most noteworthy.
During the centuries since Pentecost the path of true Christianity has paralleled pretty closely the path Jesus walked when He was here on earth: it was to be rejected by the great and accepted by the lowly. The institutionalized church has certainly not been poor, nor has she lacked for great and mighty men to swell her membership. But this great church has had no power. Almost always the approval of God has rested upon small and marginal groups whose members were scorned while they lived and managed to gain acceptance only after they had been safely dead several score years.
Today we evangelicals are showing signs that we are becoming too rich and too prominent for our own good. With a curious disregard for the lessons of history we are busy fighting for recognition by the world and acceptance by society. And we are winning both. The great and the mighty are now looking our way. The world seems about to come over and join us. Of course we must make some concessions, but these have almost all been made already except for a bit of compromising here and there on such matters as verbal inspiration, special creation, separation and religious tolerance.
Evangelical Christianity is fast becoming the religion of the bourgeoisie. The well-to-do, the upper middle classes, the politically prominent, the celebrities are accepting our religion by the thousands and parking their expensive cars outside our church doors, to the uncontrollable glee of our religious leaders who seem completely blind to the fact that the vast majority of these new patrons of the Lord of glory have not altered their moral habits in the slightest nor given any evidence of true conversion that would have been accepted by the saintly fathers who built the churches.
Yes, history is a great teacher, but she cannot teach those who do not want to learn. And apparently we do not.
-A.W. Tozer
"Traditionally Christianity has been the religion of the common people. Whenever the upper classes have adopted it in numbers, it has died. Respectability has almost always proved fatal to it.
The reasons back of this are two, one human and the other divine.
Schleiermacher has pointed out that at the bottom of all religion there lies a feeling of dependence, a sense of creature helplessness. The simple man who lives close to the earth lives also close to death and knows that he must look for help beyond himself; he knows that there is but a step between him and catastrophe. As he rises in the social and economic scale, he surrounds himself with more and more protective devices and pushes danger (so he thinks) farther and farther from him. Self-confidence displaces the feeling of dependence he once knew and God becomes less necessary to him. Should he stop to think this through he would know better than to place his confidence in things and people; but so badly are we injured by our moral fall that we are capable of deceiving ourselves completely and, if conditions favor it, to keep up the deception for a lifetime.
Along with the feeling of security that wealth and position bring comes an arrogant pride that shuts tightly the door of the heart to the waiting Savior. Our Very Important Man may indeed honor a church by joining it, but there is no life in his act. His religion is external and his faith nominal. Conscious respectability has destroyed him.
The second reason Christianity tends to decline as its devotees move up the social scale is that God will not respect persons nor share His glory with another. Paul sets this forth plainly enough in his First Corinthians epistle:
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him (1 Corinthians 1:25–29).
When God sent His Son to redeem mankind He sent Him to the home of a working man and He grew up to be what we now call a peasant. When He presented Himself to Israel and launched into His earthly ministry, He was rejected by the respectable religionists and had to look for followers almost exclusively from among the poor, plain people. When the Spirit came and the church was founded, its first members were the socially unacceptable. For generations the church drew her numbers from among the lower classes, individual exceptions occurring now and again, of which Saul of Tarsus was the most noteworthy.
During the centuries since Pentecost the path of true Christianity has paralleled pretty closely the path Jesus walked when He was here on earth: it was to be rejected by the great and accepted by the lowly. The institutionalized church has certainly not been poor, nor has she lacked for great and mighty men to swell her membership. But this great church has had no power. Almost always the approval of God has rested upon small and marginal groups whose members were scorned while they lived and managed to gain acceptance only after they had been safely dead several score years.
Today we evangelicals are showing signs that we are becoming too rich and too prominent for our own good. With a curious disregard for the lessons of history we are busy fighting for recognition by the world and acceptance by society. And we are winning both. The great and the mighty are now looking our way. The world seems about to come over and join us. Of course we must make some concessions, but these have almost all been made already except for a bit of compromising here and there on such matters as verbal inspiration, special creation, separation and religious tolerance.
Evangelical Christianity is fast becoming the religion of the bourgeoisie. The well-to-do, the upper middle classes, the politically prominent, the celebrities are accepting our religion by the thousands and parking their expensive cars outside our church doors, to the uncontrollable glee of our religious leaders who seem completely blind to the fact that the vast majority of these new patrons of the Lord of glory have not altered their moral habits in the slightest nor given any evidence of true conversion that would have been accepted by the saintly fathers who built the churches.
Yes, history is a great teacher, but she cannot teach those who do not want to learn. And apparently we do not.
-A.W. Tozer
Gurl power
One of the things that I have been pondering the last little while has been how to approach the issue of women in the church. Not that that should really be an issue in the first place, actually. However, I'm beginning to appreciate that there is a difference between true freedom and freedom-as-we-define-it, which tends to be freedom-to-do-whatever-I-want-damn-the-consequences. I also, for the most part, am under the persuasion that sola Scriptura does actually mean something significant, and that, I cannot ignore.
That being said, I cannot shake the notion that women, despite our inherent stronger abilities to communicate and to identify spiritually in comparison to our male counterparts, have been given the short shrift in the history of the Church. Without question, much of the suffering of women, be it belittlement, abuse, rape, identity as non-persons, castigation to the home, deprivation of education, raising children alone, or living in poverty (all of which, we are well aware, greatly affect far more women than they do men worldwide), can be linked to religious attitudes through the ages. This particularly, in a religion that promotes the idea that Jesus loved and elevated women to positions of respect, and that proclaims that there is no longer male nor female in Christ, bothers me. How can a faith that says such things, and claims to believe such things, continue to act in ways that clearly demonstrate it does not?
Certainly, I know we are fallen creatures, and the good we wish to do and be we fail to fulfill on many occasions. I know also that other divides, such as racial and socio-economic reconciliation, are even wider gaps that still need to be bridged.
But I also wrestle with the fact that church discipline also means something as well, and in our hyper-individualistic culture, just because my feelings or opinions don't jive with where things are at, doesn't necessarily mean that I'm right, and 'they' are wrong. There is a reason for tradition and practice, and I also fully understand the notion of how women are not actually subjugate and are not lowly creatures in the hierarchy of the church. I understand how we rationalize it in words, and I can agree with it, provided we actually lived that way. But we don't, and the practice of mutual submission is sorely lacking. I think also we tend to ignore how the Holy Spirit may be empowering and gifting women to do tasks that we then prevent them from doing, in the name of staying true.
Sigh. It is a difficult business.
That being said, I cannot shake the notion that women, despite our inherent stronger abilities to communicate and to identify spiritually in comparison to our male counterparts, have been given the short shrift in the history of the Church. Without question, much of the suffering of women, be it belittlement, abuse, rape, identity as non-persons, castigation to the home, deprivation of education, raising children alone, or living in poverty (all of which, we are well aware, greatly affect far more women than they do men worldwide), can be linked to religious attitudes through the ages. This particularly, in a religion that promotes the idea that Jesus loved and elevated women to positions of respect, and that proclaims that there is no longer male nor female in Christ, bothers me. How can a faith that says such things, and claims to believe such things, continue to act in ways that clearly demonstrate it does not?
Certainly, I know we are fallen creatures, and the good we wish to do and be we fail to fulfill on many occasions. I know also that other divides, such as racial and socio-economic reconciliation, are even wider gaps that still need to be bridged.
But I also wrestle with the fact that church discipline also means something as well, and in our hyper-individualistic culture, just because my feelings or opinions don't jive with where things are at, doesn't necessarily mean that I'm right, and 'they' are wrong. There is a reason for tradition and practice, and I also fully understand the notion of how women are not actually subjugate and are not lowly creatures in the hierarchy of the church. I understand how we rationalize it in words, and I can agree with it, provided we actually lived that way. But we don't, and the practice of mutual submission is sorely lacking. I think also we tend to ignore how the Holy Spirit may be empowering and gifting women to do tasks that we then prevent them from doing, in the name of staying true.
Sigh. It is a difficult business.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Visionaries wanted
Certainly, one of the things that I had been discouraged by this summer was the lack of passion and vision amongst my peers for Kingdom living. The feeling that people were more concerned about being social than about being different from the predominant culture. The feeling that mostly people were hanging around church to go for food or for beer afterwards than they were about falling down at the feet of Almighty God. The feeling that our scope and vision for the Kingdom barely extended beyond our small social circles, and had a barely registered notice for the larger planet. The feeling that people were more concerned about being good than about being righteous.
That being said, it did help me realize that I value those whose passion is the pursuit of the knowledge of God's heart. I realized also that it is those that I most deeply respect; more than those who do good, who perform justice, or who enjoy people more than they enjoy God. I also realized I didn't have to agree with their conclusions on God, but a solid, sincere, orthodox approach was sufficient for respect being due.
It was also heartening for me to be at the grand kick-off for Perspectives and to see the number of bodies there; people who are hopefully keen to learn about Kingdom and see how it grows, not just for here and now, but for all peoples and all time. That was a huge encouragement to me!
That being said, it did help me realize that I value those whose passion is the pursuit of the knowledge of God's heart. I realized also that it is those that I most deeply respect; more than those who do good, who perform justice, or who enjoy people more than they enjoy God. I also realized I didn't have to agree with their conclusions on God, but a solid, sincere, orthodox approach was sufficient for respect being due.
It was also heartening for me to be at the grand kick-off for Perspectives and to see the number of bodies there; people who are hopefully keen to learn about Kingdom and see how it grows, not just for here and now, but for all peoples and all time. That was a huge encouragement to me!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Myth busters
You know what is a bit deflating? When a certain myth that you've always cherished gets blasted out of the water! I had recently had a discussion with some friends, and they completely demolished one slightly antiquated, though charming, myth that I held dear. Sigh. So, I had to re-orient my worldview and figure out what that meant to my reality. It's unfortunate when you believe something like, say, that peanut butter always tastes better with a touch of jam, but then get jarred to the fact that, no, mustard also goes well with it, as does bacon (what?!?!). How can this be? I've believed that all my life! Now what am I to do?
Monday, August 25, 2008
FFT
...and it is clear to anyone who looks carefully at any crowd that we are wasting our bodies exactly as we are wasting our land. Our bodies are fat, weak, joyless, sickly, ugly, the virtual prey of the manufacturers of medicine and cosmetics. Our bodies have become marginal; they are growing useless like our "marginal" land because we have less and less use for them. After the games and idle flourishes of modern youth, we use them only as shipping cartons to transport our brains and our few employable muscles back and forth to work.
As for our spirits, they seem more and more to comfort themselves by buying things. No longer in need of the exalted drama of grief and joy, they feed now on little shocks of greed, scandal, and violence. For many of the churchly, the life of the spirit is reduced to a dull preoccupation with getting to Heaven. At best, the world is no more than an embarrassment and a trial to the spirit, which is otherwise radically separated from it. The true lover of God must not be burdened with any care or respect for His works. While the body goes about its business of destroying the earth, the soul is supposed to lie back and wait for Sunday, keeping itself free of earthly contaminants. While the body exploits other bodies, the soul stands aloof, free from sin, crying to the gawking by-standers: "I am not enjoying it!" As far as this sort of "religion" is concerned, the body is no more than the lusterless container of the soul, a mere "package," that will nevertheless light up in eternity, forever cool and shiny as a neon cross. This separation of the soul from the body and from the world is no disease of the fringe, no aberration, but a fracture that runs through the mentality of institutional religion like a geologic fault. And this rift in the mentality of religion continues to characterize the modern mind, no matter how secular or worldly it becomes.
-Wendell Berry, of course
As for our spirits, they seem more and more to comfort themselves by buying things. No longer in need of the exalted drama of grief and joy, they feed now on little shocks of greed, scandal, and violence. For many of the churchly, the life of the spirit is reduced to a dull preoccupation with getting to Heaven. At best, the world is no more than an embarrassment and a trial to the spirit, which is otherwise radically separated from it. The true lover of God must not be burdened with any care or respect for His works. While the body goes about its business of destroying the earth, the soul is supposed to lie back and wait for Sunday, keeping itself free of earthly contaminants. While the body exploits other bodies, the soul stands aloof, free from sin, crying to the gawking by-standers: "I am not enjoying it!" As far as this sort of "religion" is concerned, the body is no more than the lusterless container of the soul, a mere "package," that will nevertheless light up in eternity, forever cool and shiny as a neon cross. This separation of the soul from the body and from the world is no disease of the fringe, no aberration, but a fracture that runs through the mentality of institutional religion like a geologic fault. And this rift in the mentality of religion continues to characterize the modern mind, no matter how secular or worldly it becomes.
-Wendell Berry, of course
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