Ladies beware of fraudulent men on these sites...
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Posted:Feb 1, 2006 9:43 pm
Last Updated:Apr 14, 2010 6:12 pm 3163 Views
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I usually listen to CBC news nightly at 10 PM. This evening there was a story about a Dennis Zimmerman who had met a lady in Vancouver online and agreed to marry her. The lady wrote him a cheque for $35,000 and in return he gave her a promissory note. The money was to help him start a business. No need to finish this story!
Less than a month later he was in Winnipeg doing the same thing. He gave another gal a promissory note for a lesser amount of money.
CBC news did show "Christian Cafe" as the site he had posted his profile on with a different name each time. The ladies were both in their mid to late 50's-- so he is roughly the same age. But he is still at large and continues to elude authorities. The interesting thing is that he was posting his profile in various places just days after cashing the cheques. So you cannot be too careful with your dates!
Remember the old saying in latin-- caveat emptor... buyer beware!
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God's Troubadours of Beauty:
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Posted:Feb 1, 2006 6:34 am
Last Updated:Apr 14, 2010 6:11 pm 2729 Views
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I have always admired the author of this lovely excerpt from one of her books. Her community of Christian love and faith is an inspiration for all of us. Madonna House is full of highly gifted artists whose work not only inspire us but the fruits of their work is distributed to feed the poor.
by Catherine Doherty
Arts and crafts made by one's own hands, reflecting the ingenuity and creation of one's own mind, can bring beauty into the world and make God's presence more visible. For all creative effort is from God, and God is Beauty itself.
Both crafts and the fine arts, such as painting and sculpture, can be a bond of tradition, bridging the old and the new. Unless there are such bridges, people are fragmented, each like an island unto himself or herself. We are unmoored and do not know where we came from or where we are going. Because of the rapid pace of our technological age, an artistic bridge with our roots is more needed than ever.
As a bridge of communication, especially with those who speak different languages or who may be fearful, shy, or sick, crafts often bring special blessings. There is something reassuring, homey, pleasant, and relaxing in seeing someone embroidering or knitting on a train. One feels a trust and confidence about such a person. If one has some similar work at hand, one becomes friends almost without words. Or one might ask what the other is making and a bond of friendship, gentle and warm, is established with this person who only a short time ago was a stranger. The craft is the bridge.
Handicrafters can "gather up the fragments lest they be wasted," as Jesus says in the Gospel (John 6:12). Rather than turn up their noses at what might appear to be "junk," they can fashion something beautiful of it, or restore what would otherwise have been wasted. They are able to use materials that other people might reject; one man's scrap is another man's gold. Handicrafters help others to recognize the hidden potential for beauty in scraps.
But handicrafts are much more. Humanly and psychologically, creating is one of our needs as persons. What today are called crafts, yesterday were simply all the things people needed to make in order to live: clothes, housing, tools and domestic utensils. So crafts were not just a pastime to keep occupied but rather one's creativeness at work, finding ways to fill real needs. As people became more skillful they crafted more beautifully the things they needed.
Artists who are humble and are people of prayer realize that God is going to create through them. They bring a new dimension to human lives: they bring enthusiasm for art, for beauty, and creativity to everyone they meet. God has sent them as teachers of a new "language" to their brothers and sisters and neighbors.
They liberate spirits and give peace. To create is to be at peace, for in creating one is joined with the Creator. Yet this peace will permit, in fact will almost demand its opposite: tension. Tension is part of creation, part of life. These tensions, and artists' fears and doubts, must be endured and then transmitted into art.
Artists are ordinary people with extraordinary gifts; they know they cannot bear the weight of these gifts so they lay them in the hands of God. They know they have to lean on God; they know that God is the great Artist. They are like a bridge between God and man. The artist is a mirror who reflects God's image in his creation. Art need not have a religious subject, for all beauty reminds people that God is the creator. Artists are his troubadours of beauty.
An artist is a healer who partakes of the power of the Good Physician because his or her works console and comfort. However, his or her art must also ask questions, for the artist is a "disturber" of people as well, like Christ is; artists do not allow people to fall into a sort of mediocrity.
Artists must live in the truth: in truth with God, with themselves, and with the world because it is to the world that they have to convey the truth.
Art defies all definitions of efficiency in production. Artists need to be given time for their work. It may appear as if they "do nothing," but their doing nothing is essential to their creativity: having time to think, time to wander through the woods and through the cities to observe and to sketch, time to research, time to talk, and time to pray.
An artist needs understanding and encouragement. We must be reverent before the gift of creativity in whatever its form. Artists are Gospel people, to whom talents have been given. They put those talents to work so that when the Master comes, he finds them doubled, quadrupled, or maybe even returned to Him a hundredfold. In sharing their talents, they are like just stewards, who give out grain to all their household.
Artists are pilgrims in search of beauty, in search of ways and means to bring God to all humanity.
From The Vision on the Mountain: The Madonna House Artist
and The People of the Towel and the Water, by Catherine Doherty
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What to do about the drug problem....
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Posted:Jan 29, 2006 10:15 pm
Last Updated:Apr 14, 2010 6:09 pm 2856 Views
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We here in Canada have just had a change of government. The new government has slipped in, and received only a minority government status which means they must cooperate with the opposition parties for quite some time as no one can offord to hold another election and Canadians are fed up going back to the polls!
There are many issues that many Canadians would want to have placed on the front burner like same sex marriage, abortion and gun control. But I thought I would say something this evening on the drug issue-- not that I am an expert; infact quite the contrary- I'm not! But we need answers so I have found that many people reading blogs on here have lots of good ideas-- so please do share !
We are experiencing a new drug at the moment called Crystal Meth. I know nothing more than what many drug counsellors or police people have told me. First of all-- people who work on the street with drug addicts tell me these people are very easily distinguished because they are quite violent as a result of taking this drug. They also tell me that once on this drug it is almost impossible to get off it--- so many politicians are working furiously hard to both make the ingredients for this drug more difficult for people to purchase over the counter and also trying to find solutions to fighting this drug.
Cocaine as most people know is a very serious drug and that is the one the police appear to be most interested in controlling. But marijuana in our country is very easily obtained. It is certainly in most of our high schools and people can purchase it quite readily. On construction sites where I have worked I have come across many males working in the trades. I would say that the vast majority of these young men in their late teens or 20s are using marijuana on a regular basis. A friend of mine sent 25 young men to Fort McMurray to work on a construction site and a total of 24 were sent home on the same bus. They had a random drug test and only one passed! I talked to a few Mounties about a month ago and they told me that most often police now will not bother arresting young teens on possession of marijuana because 9 times out of 10 the judge will not even slap them on the hand. The process of arresting and taking these people to court has placed a huge burden on the court system and for whatever the reason the drug abusers are just walking away scott free.
So-- what does one do about it? I myself feel that as a society we are consuming far too much alcohol. Some of our small towns have more alchol stores than they have food stores, Infact there is a small town close to me and the ratio is 3 to 1. There is a strong arguement also for the high number of traffic deaths from drinking and driving--- and yet the numbers never seem to disappear.
So what do we do? Prohibition was used years ago to control the alcohol and I suppose that with the number of people finding ways to make their own brew and then the number of casualties occuring from this the government found a way to make money on it themselves through taxes and also controlling it. Well nowadays... it's a major source of taxation.
We could spend hours talking about tobacco here also... Granted, major efforts recently have brought in some tough laws with regard to smoking but by and large tobacco sales are a booming business.
So... you tell me! What is the answer? How would you legislate all this stuff and explicitly the drug issue. Should we relax our laws like the previous government wanted to do and make marijuana possession a non criminal act? Or should we toughen our laws. IN the last election we had a party called "The marijuana Party of Canada" which campaigned on that very issue-- granted no one was elected but in British Columbia they did get a lot of votes.
I for one would love to see some really tough legislation. But then there is a thing called reality. Would we be attempting to control something that for the most part we have lost the war on years ago. What should we do?
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My friend Ellie
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Posted:Jan 25, 2006 8:03 pm
Last Updated:Apr 14, 2010 6:05 pm 3014 Views
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Last winter I began shovelling snow for a number of customers in the area where I live. Things can slow down in the handyman business in the winter so one needs to be flexible and do a wide variety of things.
One dear old lady in her 80s phoned and asked me to do her walk. I was glad to do it for her and then when I went to work construction for a large company I handed the snow shovelling over to my 18 year old who is now in university. He was more than grateful for the work.
As time moved on I got to know Ellie and discovered she was dieing of cancer of the bowel. So as a thank you for the work she had given us I went over to the house with a bunch of flowers. She didn't know who it was for some time. I went again with some more and finally she caught on as to who was leaving these flowers by her door. Well the doctors had given her only weeks to live-- but she just defied them all. I would go again and again and this time bring her potted flowers and finally a ZygoCactus-- I think that is how it is spelt!
This Christmas when I phoned her she asked me not to bring her any more flowers as she thought I was just overdoing things. So I brought her some chocolates instead. So tonight when I called her I discovered that they turned out to be her favourite chocolates! I also discovered that she has been very sick these last few days but remains in good spirits.
Of course all this time I had discovered that she was unchurched so I had taken the time to pray with her and call her monthly to say a prayer with her on the phone and wish her well.
She continues to believe that the flowers and the prayers have been keeping her alive-- more so than the chemotherapy and other medications. I keep telling her that it really does not matter. We are all here for a short time anyway... and we need friends and fellowship to assist us on the raft to the other side.
She's a delightful little lady and I am sure anyone who reads this will help with that raft and get her safely to the other side.
God bless to all and especially to Ellie!
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The world is not getting warmer... it
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Posted:Jan 24, 2006 3:03 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:29 pm 2787 Views
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The Greenhouse effect is common to most people today as the theory that is very close to becoming a fact-- that the earth is warming very quickly due to the various gases like carbon monoxide and others that are heating up the atmosphere faster than we can handle. Many countries are working to prevent this tragic event from happening by signing onto the Kyoto Accord.
While all of this from my perspective is true-- I have another theory about the state of the earth's relationships. We are experiencing the "Freezing effect" in that more and more relationships are cooling off and indeed becoming frozen.
Think about it. There is still a lot of racism in our world. It still exists in many countries that we do not need to mention-- even in our own.
There is also war. Wars continue to rage around the world. Many of them-- in Africa, Latin America and many parts of Asia. There is much conflict inside countries like the Commonwealth of Independent States (Russia)- Syri Lanka, Burma and many many more. We have seen this past summer much violence in France caused by tensions with the young unemployed youth of African Muslim origin and the values of the state.
We are witnessing the absence of love. Most of our movies are filled with violence and sexual exploitation. These values continue to cool our relationships.
St Theresa of Avila once said " The day your heart no longer burns with love- many others will die of the cold" How true that is.
Look at our large size cities. Food banks are a way of life. We take the thousands of homeless for granted. They are left to freeze on our streets and only when the temperatures drop to recod lows do we open up the church basements and more. Soup kitchens are here to stay.
Remember Oliver- the movie? Where is love? Love is not found in our legislatures where they tear each other apart with words. Love is not found in the love shops where women are exploited to the rafters. Love is not found in the night clubs where the rich show off their wares. No-- love is not here.
What we need is people on fire for the Lord; people who cherish the commandment to love one another; people so fired up with love that they will even sacrifice their own life. That is where love is-- in the heart of God.
I recall once seeing a man freezing in the cold Alberta winter. He came to the back door of the Marian Center (Dedicated to Our Lady- the mother of God) looking for a sandwich from the mission. The man who opened the door saw this poor man's need and took off his own coat and gave it to him. That was in my view a beautiful act of love.
I was at the Salvation Army church two years ago at Christmas. The entire congregation moved into their gym following the service and started packaging gift boxes filled with warm white stockings and hand cream and little chocolates to give the women in the nearby women's prison. This is love.
We do not need more weapons of destruction. We do need hearts that are like heat seeking missiles drawing unto them the cold hearts of hatred and callousness bitterness and corruption.
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No greater love....
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Posted:Jan 21, 2006 10:38 pm
Last Updated:Apr 14, 2010 6:01 pm 2932 Views
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Perhaps we are all looking for love in the wrong places. Romance has become a word synonymous with sex and personal gratification, love of self and self fulfillment. Women adorn themselves with the latest in fashion and accessories, the best hair do, the best makeup, whatever it takes to make vanity take the lead in all opinion polls.
Men are not much different- perhaps worse.We too like to look our best and spend the money on our women. We are the ones that encourage the women to adorn themselves in the role of sex goddess to cater to our erotic needs. And let's face it.. hormones play a vital role on each side. They do serve a purpose in the continuation of creation.
Am I against all this? NO. I love art, I love what is beautiful. I love a feminine woman. But please don't get me wrong.
All of what drives us passionately to the other sex cannot result in good things happening if it is all about ourselves. Men like to dress nice and look clean and neat- and so they should. But if the end result is the worship of one's own body- or the body of another- then we have missed the point.
We are called to love one another. If we have no time for the little old lady who is dieing of cancer in the nearby hospital where she is all alone and gets no visitors-- we have somehow failed. If we cannot take time out of our busy schedules to help feed the hungry and visit the imprisoned- we have somehow failed. If we choose not to be involved in politics and allow our leaders to do as they wish without any direction from our value system- we have somehow failed.
Many years ago I worked as a missionary in a country where white people were less than one percent of the population. A revolution took place and my life was seriously endangered. A Roman Catholic Archbishop-- and yes I know it is not popular to be pro clerical these days-- but this one man-- Tony Pantin in Trinidad helped save my life. By walking in a demonstration to come between the two hostile sides-- the East Indians and the Blacks- it was widely believed that he prevented much violence and bloodshed. Before the march he said that he was willing to lay down his life for his sheep. He was in my opinion a true Christian.
Jesus called us all to love one another. And there may well be times in our lives when we are called upon to lay down our lives for our sheep. There are many ways in which we can do this -- whether by self sacrifice or in a real act of courage as this bishop did.
All love must be seen through the lens of Jesus on the cross-- the perfect sacrificial lamb who willingly shed His blood for us- so that we might live and love each other.
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Does God prefer mountains?
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Posted:Jan 16, 2006 7:39 am
Last Updated:Apr 14, 2010 5:58 pm 2922 Views
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Ps 123.1
"I lift mine eyes up unto the mountains- from whence comes my help"
Genesis 22:2
Then God said, "Take your , your only , Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
As we all know- Jesus was born in the Middle East where mountains prevail. But I have always wondered why many writers of scripture have a preference for mountains. This one verse "I lift mine eyes up unto the mountains" has truly captured a large part of my soul-- and especially so after I hear it being sung in church at times. I was at the funeral of a dear friend a few years ago who had died of bone cancer. She had been given a vision from God to build a retreat house on a mountain top in Hinton, Alberta-- where the truly majestic mountains reside. The song was sung- "I lift mine eyes up unto the mountains" and all my beautiful memories of this lady and the mighty work she had done for myself and many others came to mind. But I continue to ask myself- why does God love the mountains?
Or does he? I know that idol worship takes place on mountains. But I also know that Moses meets God on a mountaintop. Jesus goes up the Mountain and is transfigured; praises God, is tempted.
I know I may well be going nowhere with this hypothesis but it just keeps eating at me. I mean how could God possibly prefer mountains to valleys or flat lands? He created all equally did he not? But there does seems to be this big thing with mountains.
Is there anyone out there with some ideas for me?
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Sanctity and customers//friends from Hell
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Posted:Jan 14, 2006 10:28 pm
Last Updated:Apr 14, 2010 5:56 pm 3002 Views
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Well the last few days I have been working furiously to finish a lady's condominium. I had to install two closet doors with sliding mirrors and put in some 300 lineal feet of baseboard. Not a huge job but painstakingly slow and tedious as you can well imagine. The hardest part of doing baseboards-- for the uninitiated is getting the inside and outside corners nice and snug, square and perfectly fitted like a jig saw piece.
In this case my was most difficult. Not having had other estimates and not knowing anything about the construction trades and not knowing anything about prices of lumber etc. it became a true nightmare as the job progressed. And so often in this field of work you do take on that are very difficult to say the least. One does not always get a clear and accurate read on each and every customer/ !
I can most certainly transfer this same situation to any other I have experienced in my working environment and in life in general. I read somewhere recently-- kind of a fun poem as I recall-- where this nun at the end of her life did not want to live her life again with anyone who was regarded as "a saint". It was her claim that the person was the most difficult human being ever to have lived with!
When i was teaching full time I recall all the difficult students one had to endure. I know many teachers had to go out on stress leave because of the one or two in their class that drove them insane!
NOw here is my point. Why? In the world of faith, why does God do this to us? Why does he send us people from hell for our marriage, our work situation, our daily life? As I read James and many other scriptural passages I sense it is all about testing us.
James 1:1-3
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
Or Thessalonians 1:3-5
3We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. 4Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
We need to be tested in the fire. Sometimes I wonder if Hell is right here on earth. I realize that God does not want to harm us-- but that he does want to condition us and temper us in the fire. And these values are so counter to the ways of the world which are all about comfort, easy living, reducing stress and pain.
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Speaking in tongues.........
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Posted:Jan 10, 2006 10:28 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:29 pm 2871 Views
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Some years ago- about-1971, I had just returned from the West Indies and gone through a terrible ordeal- it was a Black Power Revolution. I was still very young and had a lot of responsibility as vice principal of a huge high school in my first year of teaching-- and also looking after a Catholic parish in my summers. I had to immediately accustom myself to police searches in the dark of night, molotov coctails on a regular basis-- and the thing I feared the most- racist and violent demonstrations wherein it was quite usual to hear the chants of over 10,000 black people calling for power and calling for change. Yes-- being white, belonging to a Church that had been a large part of slavery and imperialism, and lastly being part of the established class-- all black marks against me!
Well-- somehow God wanted to keep me alive. I will admit that during those years I was there as a missionary I went through many trials. And one day a demonstration was called for that may well have ended my life. Had it not been for the bishop at that time-- Tony Pantin, I doubt that I would be here now. He intervened and marched with the demonstrators and stood between the blacks and the East Indians when there was sure to be bloodshed for many including myself.
I know that my time as both teacher/seminarian while in that country paved the way for the rest of my life. History and politics was to play a large role in my life from that point. I went on to do four degrees in philosophy, theology (2) and education. And when I left the church to become a lay person and begin teaching school in Canada-- I took with me a wealth of experience from my time as a missionary.
I had been in university in Canada and beginning to feel spiritually dried out. Lo and behold I attended a charismatic prayer meeting in Northern Ontario. I was still a seminarian then but spiritually dried out. I heard of this elderly lady in a religious community that had an immense faith in God. Somehow-- when I returned to Toronto I sought out this community. It was the Madonna House Community in Combermere, Ontario. So I went there for a retreat.
My life was suddenly to change. I met for the first time a person who was truly in love with God. It was Catherine Doherty. She prayed over me and spoke in tongues. She told me that I was to be burned like a hamburger. Her prophetic words rang true-- much later in my life when I went through my divorce. But more importantly-- it was the acceptance of the charismatic prayer movement and the enormous role and power of the Holy Spirit that has since had a great effect on my life. The power of prayer and the great love of God that occurs in these meetings is beyond any words that I have. Miracles upon miracles. I have seen them all. God's mercy, love and compassion is released at every meeting.
The best part of the Holy Spirit's work as I see it is that he cuts through all the denominations. God does not enclose himself in tiny boxes called Church X, Y or Z. He's for all- no matter how big or small we are- and not matter how sinful we have been. And yes-- there is a thing called speaking in tongues. I have come across many churches who do not accept this, and in some cases vehemently oppose it. I know that many abuse this, and it can be used wrongly. But none the less-- for me it has been real and I truly believe it is a real part of the Church that I believe in.
Halleluiah!
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Little Victories.....in Thanksgiving to God
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Posted:Jan 7, 2006 7:46 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:29 pm 2877 Views
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I spent some time in prayer today-- reflecting on my day of birth and my life since then- in prayer and thanksgiving. I applauded my accomplishments, critically analyzed my actions, asked God for pardon for the un-repented wrongs and surrendered the remaining days to our heavenly Lord.
While reflecting on my life I recognized that in spite of all the hardship and falls, that there was just so much more to be thankful for; so many victories. When we daily make baby strides, it is difficult to note progress. Weight is lost one pound at a time. We gain a college degree through ongoing classes over a number of years. Long and lasting relationships develop over time, as individuals grow to understand and love each other. grow up, day by day. So too our relationship with God. It is slow, ever changing and ongoing. We do not become spiritually mature overnight!
Every scenario mentioned requires painstaking effort. There will be the victories (sometimes small and seemingly inconsequential), but victories nonetheless.
As I begin another year of my life I ask myself if I have applauded those little victories? It may be a tiny act of kindness; maybe it was a display of patience or a minuscule accomplishment. Lord let me count each blessing, celebrate each jumped hurdle and be thankful for every single achievement.
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