13 Hours of Rain

During "at home learning", I helped my daughter design an experiment on plants. She set up four identical pots with the same amount of soil in the same location on our deck (controlling her variables, right?). She planted two bean seeds in each pot. She watered three out of the four plants with various amounts of water (1/4 cup, 1/2 cup and 1 cup). The fourth plant only received whatever water naturally fell from the sky. At the end of one month, her hypothesis was partially verified. She thought the 1/4 cup water plant and 1/2 cup water plant would grow the best, which was true in the end. On the other hand, she guessed the others would not germinate at all. Interestingly enough, while the one that was drench in water (1 cup) did not germinate, the one she did not water at all actually grew! It germinated late but had the most steady growth. Is God good? I have been thinking about this question a lot these days. A global pandemic is still raging over our planet decimat...

A Pandemic. Yes, it has hit our earth quicker than I ever imagined when I penned my last post. COVID-19 was in its infancy as 2019 came to a close. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the pneumonia-like illness, with zoonotic origins, a global threat to humanity. Shortly thereafter, schools suspended face-to-face instruction, non-essential businesses closed their doors and the aviation industry dramatically slowed down. Fourteen day quarantines were ordered for international travelers and anyone with flu-like symptoms (especially a dry cough, fever or difficulty breathing) were asked to isolate. Fast forward to now where all mainstream media feeds are saturated with updates on number of cases, number of recoveries and number of deaths. Some countries such as Italy, Spain and U.S.A. have been hit hard. Other countries such as South Korea, Japan and Singapore have escaped with low fatality rates. It is an uncertain time to be alive. Today is Good Friday, a day whe...

"Let us hold tightly to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." Hebrews 10:23-25 In 2019, climate change overshadowed media and politics with doomsday activists claiming the world will end in about a decade or so unless people radically change their consumption behaviors. Thus, the burning of fossil fuels must be drastically reduced to hold the world temperature at its already warm rate. Greta Thunberg's "How dare you!" is still reverberating through the internet. On the other hand, anthropogenic climate change deniers adamantly assert that the earth is too big and the other climate factors too prolific to reduce global warming to one major cause. After all, the nineteen seventies heard alarms of global cooling...

Much has occurred since the last time I posted. I am one month away from completing my Business Certificate (two more major exams left - yay!). I received a full-time permanent teaching contract for the fall. We have prayed alongside several family and friends as they battled sickness or faced the death of a loved one. School, sports, swimming and piano are coming to an end as we yearn for the slower pace of summer. Through it all, time seems more and more allocated to pursuits other than quiet, intentional reflection. I guess this virtual space (practically void of readership) is my place to think, process, ponder and muse on the issues of life and faith. I have deconstructed many topics in the past as an attempt to arrive at a firm understanding. Some of those understandings remain robust and firm, such as salvation through the Grace of Jesus Christ alone. Others have become more gray-scale and ambiguous. For instance, I am a centrist politically. Now with the polarization of pol...

According to the University of Waterloo, Canadians value components such as fairness, inclusion, democracy, economic security, safety, sustainability, diversity, equity and health (Canadian Index of Well Being). The last week in the news was a tough stretch for our Liberal government with failed NAFTA talks and bungled paperwork on a billion dollar pipeline our nation collectively owns. In spite of the "diversity is strength" slogan emblazoned on web pages and t-shirts, our citizens comprising of different geographical regions, ethnicity, cultures, religions, genders and sexual orientations are struggling to get along. Political pundits of red, blue, orange and green are calling foul for various reasons. Forget about baby bear's "just right" porridge. It's too right for some. And too left for others. Thus, the populous is lighting up Twitter and YouTube with honest (and not so honest) questions about fairness, inclusion, democracy, economic security, safet...

Today was "Semester Turn-Around Day", the one day that high school teachers get to wrap up the last minute flurry of Semester 1 and print out the course outlines for a new batch of students. One of my classes has thirty-five Gr. 10 students eager (???) to learn about the Foundations of Mathematics . I dragged in five more desks to extend my rows. My room will be jammed packed and my marking will probably go out-of-control. And in the face of impending cuts to school divisions because of sparse provincial coffers, I wonder how our teaching and learning will change. Will we be asked to do more with less, again ? I was speaking to a good friend of mine and her husband. We spoke of how the winds of prosperity are dying down in our province. Money is tight in the public sector. Hospitals are understaffed. Classrooms are overcrowded. And employees are burning out. Yet many people are still spending cash like they possess an unlimited bank account. Our society reacts to frug...

I have 1.25 hours to squeak this entry in before the arrival of 2018 in our prairie time zone. My posts were meager this year, which I sense will be the trend over the next while. I even failed to record all the prayers/verses we attempted to memorize during the latter part of this year. For the record, our Fall was spent on memorizing the Peace Pray of Saint Francis and Colossians 3:12-14 . I wish I could say we know each verse inside-out and backwards. But we don't. We are more familiar with the theme of each passage. 2017 promised to be a year at the cusp of something inspiring. But as I glance over the past 12 months, I survived instead of thrived. The biggest focus of this past year was re-entering my previous life as a teacher. However, many aspects have changed since my last full-time teaching assignment. Two children. New community. New school. New curriculum. New colleagues. New technology. And as I encountered the new, I felt old. I love to teach. That has not cha...

Apparently, we are just a bunch of control-freaks. As an educator, I am asked to be flexible in my content delivery because students want control on when they receive their information and how they desire to interact with it (therefore, if some kid wakes up at 4 a.m., my classroom should be virtually accessible somehow). Zoom out, and our society is constantly trying to customize its experience, everything from ordering your McDonald's meal from the digital kiosk (to make your Big Mac "unique") to personalizing your cellphone with its case, settings, ring tone and screen saver. Millennials who are getting married and popping out children are pressured to make sure their events "epic" and "Instagram-worthy". Weddings have to standout from the girl next door (how dare we have the same photographer). The birthing experience has to be picturesque, serene and perfect. And the spelling of a kid's name should snag a domain. Forget "Jane" when ...

" You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world -- like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put in on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. " Matthew 5:13-16 It is dark outside. Spiritually dark. Morality is more and more socially constructed. The gold standard presented in ancient texts is viewed as... well... ancient. Our secular society, steeped in relativism, is a place of hypocrisy. The other day I was perusing the aisles of Children's Place , a popular story for infant and elementary aged children. I was trying to find t-shirts for my daughter. Here are some of the sayings: "On Fleek: a state of complete flawlessness. The q...

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any other powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 You will hear it within your lifetime, the perfunctory claim that a loving God would never subject His children to suffering, let alone the ridiculous notion of an eternity without Him. You will be tantalized by the "logical" argument that the nature of God has evolved from the vengeful, hateful God of the Old Testament to the loving, gracious God of the New Testament. Children, beware that you do not create God into a more palatable image that will resolve your discomfort of not being able to fully comprehend the Divine. Do not mishandle scripture. Yes, we are memorizing Romans 8:38-39 as a family. And yes, you can take the verse out of context and completely misunderstand its inten...

I am in a state of disconnect. We are now plunging into the latter half of 2016 and I know that I am seriously out of touch with the social circles I thought I was part of. This year has been the year of intense service. First, I was part of planning for -- and now settling -- our refugee family. Second, I experienced stress dealing with Dad's health crisis coupled with all the details accompanied with reducing his workload. Third, I poured myself into teaching Gr. 12 mathematics for two intense months. Then I provided care for my intellectually disabled sister in July. And yes, while we have returned from a great holiday with you two kids and your Daddy, I come to this moment utterly spent. Recently, your Dad and I purchased new smart phones. I'd like to say we were forced into the decision, as we received a letter from our service provider informing us that our archaic flip phone's network would not be supported any longer. But I think the real reason is that more and...

Dear Graduate of 2016, Just because you graduated with a North American high school diploma doesn't mean the world will be presented to you on a silver platter. I know you have heard the motivational speeches out there. "Just believe" or "You are special" or "Failure is not an option". I hate to break it to you kid, the oh-so-young adult that you are. No ounce of believing will make you what you were destined NOT to be. While you have God-given worth, you are no more special that the other 7 billion on this planet. And -- guess what! -- you will fail. Your world tends to revolve around the latest smart phone technology. I don't blame you, as the adults in your life are no better in so many ways. But please remember, you don't have the right to technology. No matter what popular culture will tell you, it is NOT a NEED in your life. It's a WANT. It is true that it is becoming more and more difficult to live without one, as it is even an a...

Son, you build creations with little interlocking blocks, Usually intricate ships for your super heroes to fly. You zoom around the house, fighting battles Between good and evil. Good wins. Daughter, you create music on black & white keys, Persevering through difficult pieces with tears. You appear to quit as you run off to your room. Yet, you return and play Beautifully. There are days I am afraid of the future. Our population as a species continues to rise exponentially. However, our Earth's size remains the same. It is becoming more and more challenging to produce food for our world. And the more people we jam pack together, the more we live in disunity. Crazy diseases emerge, threatening to be the next pandemic. Human-produced garbage continues to rise while the rest of the biotic elements of our ecosystem suffer. I feel sick thinking about all of this. Yet your examples, as you battle the next villain or try to master "Singing Donkey" with ...

"Laggard: In the diffusion of innovation theory, the minority group (roughly 16 percent) of population, which is the last group to try or adopt a new project. It consists largely of seniors, and those with low socioeconomic status. Laggards use friends and neighbors as information sources, dislike change, and accept new things only when forced to." (Source: BusinessDictionary.com) "As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved... Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology... Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not..." (Source: Is technology producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis? ) "The real world of technology seems to involve an inherent trust in machines and devi...

It is quiet this morning. All of you are off to school. I am devoid of employment, again (November may be a zero pay cheque month). And I should do some housework. Yet I sit here, hearing the clickity-clack of my keyboard with a smile on my face. I. Am. Not. Busy. Busy. Our culture is way too busy. And any free time we have, we tend to spend in front of a screen (I'm guilty here). Times have changed. There are numerous ways that I can keep track of events at your school. Facebook. Twitter. You Tube. Website. School Newsletter. Teacher Newsletters. And a class blog. The sad thing is that many someones out there have to make sure that all the feeds, either virtual or real, are updated and kept consistent. Oh. My. Word. I guess I am more old fashion since I read only the paper updates and, yes, the class blog. Lately, I've encountered a few exhausted parents. Parents who are running all over this city or this corner of the prairies, transporting their children from here ...

We voted for change.

I rarely watch the news. I catch up on the world's happenings -- where often the horror is reported -- via Google News. Or the brief blurb before classic rock on our favourite radio station. But very occasionally, at the end of the day, I take in the images of national and global headlines. Yesterday I watched the masses trek across Europe, searching for a safe haven away from war-torn Syria. I witnessed little kids crying as they tried to rub away tear gas sprayed by unrelenting border police. The message? You are not welcome in this country. I choked up as a father and his son fell to the ground after being tripped up by guards. The look of desperation on people's faces was heart breaking. Our country is nearing a Federal Election in October. Many voters are curious how the next Prime Minister will address the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Here is an excerpt from The Globe and Mail : Mr. Mulcair [NDP] and Mr. Trudeau [Liberal] condemn Mr. Harper [Conservative] for lacking...

I know the Canadian oil/gas industry isn't too thrilled right now, but I am thankful that at least one of our monthly bills has gone down this Christmas season. That being said, I do offer up a prayer for those who may have lost their source of livelihood due to the rapid decline in oil prices. May God meet your needs during this season of giving.

Autumn lingers, showcasing leaves that have slowly ripened into brilliant yellow, orange and red. The season of Christmas rush and winter hibernation is just around the corner. A tentative gift budget has been struck. Rakes comb our backyard to prepare for snow. And I pause and savor the cool mornings, warm afternoons and the chill of night frost. Change is coming. One side screams with anger and sorrow. Another side whispers hope. On Wednesday, October 22, our country woke up to a different reality. Acts of terror rocked our nation’s capital. The battles fought way over there descended for a moment within the House of Commons. Sorrow flowed. Anger was expressed. Our collective resolve to stand firm was punctuated by political speeches. Fears were calmed with promises of a more secure country. I was saddened that day, saddened over images of citizens and paramedics frantically trying to bring a dying soldier back to life; saddened to know that there is a six year old boy out th...

It began with some national inspiration, the idea to open our home to newcomers or immigrants and share thanksgiving. The weekend approached. We were informed an Irish fellow was to be our guest. But our city organizer was unable to make contact. And I had bought all this food planning on welcoming a family of four. Plans were changed. Your Daddy persevered in spite of my temptation to "just forget it". A last minute invitation was offered. And a couple from your Daddy's place of work graced our table to partake in turkey, Cabernet Sauvignon and pumpkin pie. It was a good time. I hate to admit it, but I really struggled with misplaced missionary zeal while promoting and anticipating this event. I had aspirations of being used by God to transform a newcomer's life, so much so, that they would dramatically profess faith in Christ and testify to the power of hospitality. "See what happens when you open your home to strangers? The church grows! Let's all d...