We survived

a visit from the putative outlaws.

Sarah's boyfriend's parents came over this evening with the whole family for dinner. I *think* they had a good time: certainly there was much mutual appreciate spoken out.

Actually it wasn't bad - both sides are learning what the other is like, and they seem basically decent people, the kind of family you'd hope your kids would marry into (if you leave God out of the equation). Loving, warm, friendly, caring. If Dan came to know Jesus that would ice the cake nicely. I can see the 2 of them marrying and I'm not at all unhappy with that, except I just wish Dan were saved for both their sakes.

Parenting: who'd do it?

Great day.

And you know what made it? A call from Randall.

I was asleep in the livingroom with Chris's parents after dinner when the phone went. Leapt up, gabbed it as fast as I could in the hope of them not jumping too much and said in a sleepy voice

"Toni Ertl"

"Hi, this is Randall Friesen" came from the receiver.

Never would have expected it, but it made the day for me I think. It was enough to make me almost instantly wake up.

Randall - Thankyou. I hope you had a great day in Saskatoon.

Thank you everyone that prayed

Sarah was virtually recovered this evening, and we were able to all get together.



From the left, that's my brother Peter, Ben, my mother, Alison (Pete's wife) Sarah and Andy (P&A's son). That's everyone except Chris and myself.

Once again, thank you, and thanks to God for being gracious to enable us to get together.

Please pray for us this W/E

Sorry to have to ask this way.

My mother is on drugs that suppress her immune system, and mustn't be brought into contact with sick people. She's due to come over tomorrow afternoon to spend Christmas with us.

As of this afternoon Sarah has been throwing up (last occasion was about 10 mins ago). Seems she caught this from her boyfriend, who had it a few days ago.

So - looks like I need a healthy daughter and a bit of a miracle for her to be OK in tyhe morning, and my mum not to catch it while (if?) she comes.

Anyone good at the bended knee stuff? It feels like a cheek to ask, but who knows? God is gracious.

Thanks everyone.

Happy Christ-mas everyone.

Breaking all my 'rules' I gave in to the family and did the tree this morning.











We're off to the carol service this afternoon (what I guess some would call a 'seeker sensitive' meeting) so no guitar playing required. Poor Chris is having to make mince pies, having promised to do it and then forgotten until about 1.00pm.

p.s. may take more pics after dark.

Today

We went out for a bit.




And this afternoon we stayed in.




The rest of the time I seemed to be driving people everywhere.

BTW the tee shirt says "real men don't waste their hormones growing hair" :D

Satisfaction

Is something I feel after I've finished servicing one of our cars.

It's a task I've been putting off since the spring (naughty naughty). Despite only taking just over an hour, because of all the grovelling on the floor and getting coated with very black, sticky oil, I'm slightly reluctant. Now the job is done, and I feel both relieved and slightly more righteous that I did a little while ago.

I'm not going to think about how many miles that poor little diesel has done since the last one.


On a different note, I'm going to try to get the rest of the holiday pictures up soon. It had become one more burden, and so got laid aside when I didn't have the energy or enthusiasm.

Quite a lot of thoughts.....

but not much time.

I'm quite busy here, and also finding the immediacy of forums tending to draw me when I do have time to post. Plus blogger has been very slow recently, to the point of frustration when trying to log in. I may be shallow these days, but it doesn't seem worth the wait - like being on dialup again.

I was quite taken with a thread over at 'eagle and child' about language and swearing. If I get time later I'll post a little more thats been running through my head - the thread is also getting a little 'mature' now, and I suspect any comments I add will disappear into the morass.

I wonder if?

I wonder if Randall managed to arouse Lauralee last night. I think we should be told, as caring and concerned adults. Come on, tell us man. We need FACTS!

;-)

More thoughts on tradition

We visited my mother at the weekend. Unfortunately I didn't have all that much time with her, but we did discuss the retreat she'd been on.

My mother changed churches about 18 months ago, moving from a fairly loud mixed culture charismatic church to an evangelical anglican one. The move wasn't because of the style of meetings or anything to do with the actual church itself - only that she couldn't cope with the sheer volume of a Sunday morning meeting. The new church is also quite un-anglican, and more like the previous one in terms of attitude, however being mostly white and with a more formal background it is somewhat quieter. As an anglican church they make only the barest nod to the formal liturgy.

Last week she went away on a retreat to a place called Burrswood which is essentially anglican. She's been there previously and benefitted from their healthcare and advice, however this time she went with a friend (the wife of an anglican priest) and for rest/spiritual refreshment reasons rather than medical restoration. The friend wanted to follow the pattern determined for the retreat, and therefore my mother tagged along for each of the 'services' they held. The first of these was a standard formal service, everything done from the book, a mumbled message etc, however the second was managed by a guest speaker who was inspiring and made the service come alive. The 3rd and 4th meetings were just like the first, with even less life (if that were possible).

Back to the point of the title. My mother has never been one to put down tradition, having grown up in formal meetings. However her conclusion was that liturgy applied like this was more likely to kill spiritual life rather than encourage it. I was more than a little surprised to here this, however her concern was that with a liturgy those leading could simply rely on on the form of words and order of service. Even though they may be good (and some of the words ARE very good indeed) without the Spirit of God being involved in the meeting you might as well not bother.

Exactly what I've been trying to say here.