Who is hording all of Hamilton's snow?

Last night we actually pulled crazy carpet's behind Ally's car down a path of snow and gravel...mostly gravel. Robyn's knees were not impressed, but I commend her for her spirit.

James is gone in Peterborough until Sunday, so last night we had a girl's night and tore up our knees then went to Danielle's for hot chocolate. Then I slept in my old room in 333. My first slumber party since before my wedding!

Fun- but I miss my husband.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. T.S Eliot

I appreciate this.
I have been stabbed by a very sharp assortment of "swords" and am feeling a tad drained.
Kuyper's Cafe, Bible study, Stephen Lewis, pancake breakfast debrief, Church, Church in the box, personal devo's, blogs, and a lot of riveting conversations ALL of which have criss crossed eachother on the issue of social justice.

And the issue is not new, but horribly real. And when the veil of affluence and comfort is lifted and you catch a glimpse of our world as it is: murder, rape, child soldiers, sweatshops, poverty, earthquakes, death tolls exceeding 200,000--bad things happening somewhere out there---- it kind of gets you thinking.

What is the problem? Why can't we get it together? I feel drained because I KNOW there is a problem, and I am told I AM IT.
OK. That may be. Maybe my purchasing of mangoes is impoverishing someone, somewhere. Maybe drinking coffee is enslaving someone, somewhere.
Maybe I need to seriously examine where my clothes come from.
And if I discover that my living standards/habits are contributing to the greater problem, then by all means, I must adjust them.
In good conscious I will say this, knowing it will be next to impossible to thrive here as a monk, but willing to do whatever it takes to set things right.
But I need to know that that really is the problem. THEN I can start to get thinking on a good solution.

However, the problem, more accurately can't be just me. The problem has to do with the state of our world. Sin-filled. And, until Christ comes again, it is an impossible problem to eradicate. And with sin comes corruption-- a complete disregard for God, God's law, and a proper understanding of justice. So the world really is a miserable place and yet the entire world is rallying to "save" it.
So.. solutions?
The Green way? Compost, recycle, reduce electricity use, bike.. etc. etc.
Or what- give money to a hobo on the street? Send money to Haiti? Sign up for a mission trip?
Or boycott superstores, protest migrant workers? Stop global trade?
Move? Remove yourself from the structre/system you are living/dying in?

For a non-christian, (and a christian) this may sound feasible, possibly attractive.
But I think Christians need to offer more. I don't think we can blame the "toxins of north american consumerism" for all the world's evils. ( And I would like to argue this rampant idea of "toxic" consumerism further..but later.)

I also don't think we can't act in isolation. The emphasis on individualism in this culture is debilitating and counter intuitive to how we are meant to exist.
We need to live in community.
We need to work together to honour God first, then our neighbour. Our community.
Out of the Christian communities we have got to start seeing/making a bloody difference. So, perhaps we should start getting along so that we can start to shine as a light, and remember who we are giving glory to, and who we will have to give an answer to when we are asked just how we took care of our God's world.

I think recovering a firm foundation to stand on will get rid of the "rubric" of "some" "considerable" and "high degree of" care that we want to enforce or encourage others to follow and allow people to exceed the mandated expectations to REALLY make some change in this God-forsaken country.

Great Recall

I had a lovely flashback last night, while driving home, of my road trip in Australia. It was quite vivid actually, involving my friend Kerri and I about 2 hours into our road trip with our recently purchased station wagon- Old Faithful- a 1988 white, rusty box on wheels. I remember a certain amount of coaxing on my part, going into the purchase. Kerri wanted something a bit more reliable.. but reliable meant $3000 and Old Faithful meant $1600.. and she came with blankets!
So, we went for it. She was perfect. And she ran beautifully for just over two hours.

Then things started smoking and bubbling, and making noises, so we had to pull over and find a mechanic who knew what all the tubes meant under the hood, and could explain to us why they had to stay attached to things... YES. That is STILL all I know about engines three years post-trip. Get over it.

$50 later and we were in good shape. The only problem with a little tantrum like that is that try as you might, you can never really trust her again. We watched her temperature gage like a hawk for the 3000 or so remaining miles, steering clear of the mountains to avoid any back spasms, and staying just around 110 km to avoid the shakes. She had it easy.
And here's where my little theory comes in. If you hold a grudge against your car for being temperamental, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
There was one time after all this pampering, (maybe 4) where we required a favour. A simple climb up an unavoidable mountain on highway one. And as we climbed, so did her temperature, until we found ourselves pulled over on the curb, enjoying the scenery through the haze of exhaust and overexertion . Man, what a blast.

BUT, back to my flashback from last night. Here I am, driving our car (I wish she had a name) back from school after a torturous 10 hour day of seat work. And I'm enjoying the scenery. People have their Christmas stuff up, lights are everywhere.. including inside the car, specifically the ones that have lit up around most of the gages, saying crazy things like "change oil" "low coolant" "low tire pressure" and "service engine soon". All of this would not have concerned me, if I hadn't then noticed that little gage that I used to watch like a hawk in Australia, specifically while climbing mountains. And yes, it too was climbing, right into the red zone, while I frantically recalled what overheating can do to an engine.
Ah yes. Cook it.

Luckily, I remembered something useful as I approached the peak of the mountain (the escarpment, to those of you who might have the wrong idea because you know what a mountain really looks like) and I cranked the heat, and for extra good measure, popped the car into neutral and cruised the remaining five miles down the "mountain" (still averaging 65 km/h I might add).

Well, we made it home. I shamed the car with sound verbal abuse, then picked up James at a gas station, where he was waiting in the rain with a bottle of coolant. Unfortunately, it was the wrong type, so I braved another trek out to school this morning without the coolant, which probably was not smart, but I had a test to write.

Our car is now being serviced. And I am trying to avoid holding a grudge. I am thankful for the flashback though. Time to re watch some old videos ( I definitely caught Old Faithful's geyser on tape... as Kerri frantically tried to pop the hood and colorful fluids rushed down the highway. Oh boy. What fun :)

Things I love about life on Aberdeen

1) I am in walking distance to the library

2) I can see and be comforted by the forest on our 'doorstep' and the city at our backdoor.

3) The convenience store

4) Early Saturday morning breakfasts at "West Town"

5) Starbucks after Vindaloo

6 ) A brother-in-law who can pop in for sloppy Joe's and a slice of custard pie

7) That James enjoys public transit

8) That I enjoy our car

9) The city-sky line in the morning, with the church spires set against a red sky

10) Being three floors up, with an enormous amount of sunlight to keep me warm and smiley

11) I can spot a boneless chicken breast special at the local deli, buy it, and go on with my clothes shopping down the street, swinging a bag of thawed, floppy chicken

12) Diversity

13) Styles that I didn't think existed, that exist on Locke Street

14) Hearing children run through this old house

15) Communal pancakes with the house mates

16) When Rachel brings up leftover spinach rolls

17) Dumping my recycling in the neighbor's bin across the road, because ours got picked up already

18) Being only 10 minutes away from our friends and fam

19) Open windows in November

20) Christmas coming and taking our house with it

21) Being married!

Dr. Seuss
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

Classic.

Of course, I agree with the Grinch. But I admit, I'm excited for the ribbons, tags, boxes and bags. Maybe it's having our own place, and the freedom that comes with that. We can get our own tree, make our own decorations, bake our own cookies, burn some sweet CD's, have our friends down for some caroling, stuff our own stockings... I'm just really excited for that "stuff" that has really nothing to do with that "little bit more" , but a lot more to do with a festive, fun, relaxing holiday from the day to day activities of being a student/ student teacher.

But along with that, I like the lovely reminder from G.K Chesterton

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?

The beautiful thing about all of the above is that it's from God. A Holy God.

And amid all the clatter, clutter, and clamor that surrounds the holiday, the Voice of God holds our world captive. Christmas can never be isolated from that fateful moment in history when the angels sang the truth about The Christ. The reason for Christmas.

Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year -- and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority.

Thanks be to God. W. J. Cameron gets it. We get it. The world better start getting it.