Thominism

Marking Time with Hockey Through my self-isolation period I have taken to watching old classic hockey games. I can't believe the memories and the times in my life that these games bring me back to.  I saw a special about Bobby Orr and was transported back to when Micheal Micallef first got me really pumped up to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs in the play-offs.(it was 1969)...........it was heart breaking as the Bruins beat the Leafs 10-0 and 7-0 in the first two games. I remember going into the living room and telling mom and dad how bad it was, but like most everybody else in my family , they didn't much care. But I was hooked , Bobby Orr was like a being from another planet and the game , my word, there was so much going on all at once ! I was hooked on hockey. When we go for walks we pass the house Paul Haddad lived in and I always recall the night in 1978 when Pauls folks were away and he and his sisters had a rather large and quite wild house party. It was my...

Yet another mass murder in the USA. Gun control, gun control, yeah that will fix it. I'm not against gun control , but I don't see it as THE problem. There were guns in peoples possession in the 60's, 50's, 40's ....... - there were however also many more mothers raising THEIR  own children who they showed a caring love for  and disciplined with a passion and concern you can only have for your own child. - there were many more fathers who not only didn't run away from their kids lives , but helped discipline, teach, love and support THEIR own children. - there were NOT video games given to children to show them how to kill cops, beat old ladies, and rob stores. - there were not movies to watch that are full of violence and sex with anybody , as long as its not your spouse. -I've known many young children who in 5 or 7 short years have filled their heads with more garbage and crap then I have even thought about in my 55 years. People tell me "Tho...

The media is the tail wagging the dog So, do people really care this much about the football player and his wife or is the media just feeding it to us. Talk shows determine what the topic will be. Editors decide what the headlines are. They don't ask us  whats on our minds. People who believe the media reflects society's interest, and not there own,  are just right out to lunch. Nobody cares about the three elderly nuns who were raped and murdered last week in Burundi or maybe a follow - up on the oil spills that "destroyed the planet"  a few years ago.  We're all just waiting to hear another opinion on the football player and his wife? Don't get me wrong. The story does not completely lack newsworthiness, but how many people does it take to tell such a simple little story when there is all kinds of other things happening that are important.

I think modern Christians in North America think to much.  Always trying to redefine or make fresh a message that doesn't need to be tampered with .  I think we become petty and judgemental over the use of words . I was listening to Francis Chan this morning  one message was - Don't Focus on the Family - the next was -  Don't Tithe . Yet when all is said and done his is the same message as before. It's Jesus's message. Constant reinventing of the same message is really tiring to me. I get it.  I got it a long time ago. Maybe we should be less petty about the words we use and winning arguements and more busy about living as Christ has taught us to live. I don't believe when Christ spoke to the multitudes that all who heard and followed were leaders. It seems to me that many were working class believers. Serving God in there humble and lowly or middle class lives. I feel like today's Church puts the burden of leadership on everyone and I don't think ever...

It's a beautiful day out and I just got in from playing my guitar/harmonica and singing some songs on the deck. I really enjoy doing that. I started playing my guitar in grade 10. It went really slowly. I would start and quit every few years . Often I would become very discouraged and give it up for three or four years at a time.  I'd hit a plateau that was beneath my expectations and I would just quit. I've never risen above that level , that level of  talent isn't there.  But I became inspired by , of all things, hockey analogies. Harry Neale once said something along the lines of " Bill Berg has had a nice career because he doen't try to play like Gretzky ,  he plays like Bill Berg." Or as Don Cherry so nicely put it  the other day . " Crushers who try to be rushers , soon become ushers".  If you're really talented in sports , music , arts or academics it will become obvious in a short time. Go for it ! (If  there is absolutley nothing ...

Now that I've been on the internet a number of years I am totally convinced that our education system needs to stress "source finding" and discernment , regarding real facts and internet viral un - truths , from kindergarten to the end of post secondary. I find it discouraging, even depressing that so many people don't care if what they just said to 500 "friends" is really factual or not. The comments on You Tube is a place I need to avoid if I want to have any hope in our future as civilised people. Am I the only one ?

" Just as time-lapse photography makes visible, in an ever more compressed and penetrating form, movements that  otherwise not be thus grasped by our vision, so the war makes manifest in particularly drastic and unshrouded form that which for years has become ever more dreadfully clear to us as the essence of the "world" . It is not war that first brings death, not war that first invents the pains and torments of human bodies and souls, not war that first unleashes lies, injustice, and violence. It is not war that first makes our existence so utterly precarious and renders human beings powerless, forcing them to watch their desires and plans being thwarted and destroyed by more "exhalted powers." But war makes all of this, which existed already apart from it and before it, vast and unavoidable to us who would gladly prefer to overlook it all"  Dietrich Bonhoeffer This was a note written from a pastor to his students at Christmas time at the outbreak of W...

I don't ever remember my mother or the other women in the neighbour hood always talking about "MY body" , "My rights", "My dream house". My , MIne , I , ME . Everything they did ,they did for others first. The fathers too , they were always working hard for there wives and thier families. Not playing games or sitting on the internet. Couples got pregnant at inoppurtune times they still had the baby. It was a person they could share the future with , not a piece of property they could throw out or keep . I never heard my mother refer to me as "my baby " or "my Tommy" It was just "Tommy" , I was a person. It wasn't up to her to let me live or die and I wasn't a possesion to brag about or be ashamed of. It wasn't "all about me" in my mom's world . It was all about others. I think they had it right.

As I was heading out to cut the grass I looked at our house and was struck suddenly with overwhelming thought and emotion . It wasn't really the house , but the memories of the life and unconditional love I've been blessed with. I wondered what my father would have thought if he could see what the next sixty years would be like when he and some friends built this place. I thought of being a child and how strong and wholesome our upbringing was , I thought of the tougher times in the teens when there was some battling and brutal remarks made by defiant teens and loving , devastated parents , the real meaning of unconditional love is taught more often in battle fields than in comfort and agreement. I could almost hear inspiring and loving wisps of music as the thoughts of Holly , Ken and the grandchildren from far out west came visiting and brought out the best in everybody and the joy of grand parenting and great grand parenting abounded. Then Roxanne and Vic married a...

Lora an I went camping at Platte River camp ground this summer and it was a wonderful time. It's a beautiful place and we had a real relaxing time there. A funny thing happened though. As we usually do when we bring our canoe, we looked at the park map , found the river , determined which way the current flowed and planned to go up stream first and down stream on the way back. That way you do the hardest paddling when you're rested and gun-ho and then you can coast home. Well, we started and noticed immediately everybody else was going the opposite direction , there were thousands of em', all going down stream , canoes , kayaks , inner tubes, blow-up toys , anything that would float . But we persevered ,we stuck to our up-stream , against the flow plan. Soon people started saying things like "your going the wrong way", "wow, your really good"(sarcasm), even "the guy who own's this place must hate you ". It was weird , we got glared at by ...

Isaiah 55 : 8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnrJVTSYLr8

I Recieved this from my mother - in law. I love it. It seems so obvious to me. Young people today are the one's who don't seem so interested in sorting things to dispose.I'm always picking banana peels , cans and and cardboard out of my garbage. At least that's how it is in my house. We're not from the Green generation... What a shame... How Wasteful the Older Generation Was ... In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment." He was right...that generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to ...

I was on another long walk last night. The kind of thing the Cialis advertisers refer to as boring. (No more long walks ,nudge , nudge , wink , wink). As I walked I was amazed at the rate of thinking my mind was doing. In this fast ,constantly entertained world am I the only one or do other people find the "boring" times like long walks , working on the assembly line , cutting the grass, or waiting for an appointment a great time to think about deeper things like rolling the scripture I didn't totally grasp , over again in my mind . Taking it to heart and with the spirit's help understanding and thinking of how I can apply it to my life without reading someone elses view or watching a video telling me what it means and how to think. The "boring" times are great times to be with you and God alone , to develop who you are. Convict yourself , "hey , maybe I was wrong about this or that". Or if your sure about something the "boring" time is ...

Lora and I were discussing the "Kingdom of Heaven" on our walk last night and we got quite entrenched in our discusion as we are both in the book of Matthew. I'd like some comments ,corrections , or opinions on this view I have. The Kingdom of Heaven is like..... Many people speak of Jesus as there Savior but not so much there Lord , leaving them to trust in His sacrifice but not modeling his examples or sanctifing there own personal lives. I believe JESUS is LORD and Savior. As our Lord if every person in the world followed Jesus's teaching on righteousness and servitude the "Kingdom of Heaven" would be here. Not that we are without sin here , but that we sincerely try to remove it as much as we can from our lives (not so ironically , if we do as Jesus says and put others needs ahead of our own many of these sins disappear). This attitude of serving and sanctification has to be prevelant in our lives to enter the "Kingdom of Heaven" No...

First Point - Cultural relevance and an eternal out look do not mesh well- Do people ,christian people , realize that when they mock older brothers and sisters because they aren't "culturally relevant" , they aren't computer savvy, they like hymms. That they are just as intolerant and narrow minded as the accusers they accuse. In fact as a young man and atheist I found I enjoyed the company of older people who where just themselves , who acted ther age and didn't try to be like me, they didn't listen to my music or talk as my friends did . I respected them and wanted to some day be like them . 1 Corinthians 13:11 (New International Version) "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." And who's going to teach young men and women how to be mature men and women when there mentors are so busy trying to be like them ? And when we witness to other ad...

A great devotional and lesson from Dr. David Jerimiah. Monday, August 2 Patient or Peevish? Then the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" Jonah 4:4 Recommended Reading Jonah 4 Newspapers recently reported about a Chicago murder suspect who attacked his own attorney. The lawyer had advised the plaintiff to stop "mouthing off" during jury selection, but the alleged murderer didn't like the advice. He punched his defender in the face. Now the plaintiff comes to court with his hands, feet, and head strapped to a chair and his mouth covered. He also has a new lawyer. It's odd how irritable we can be at others when the fault lies purely with us. We often resent those who try to help us. We may really be angry at ourselves; but our frustration erupts toward our husband, wife, coworker, teacher, or church worker. Sometimes we can even be angry at God, as Jonah was when God spared Nineveh. But whenever we lash out, it's wise to listen to the Lord, who...

Are we a better society than they are in Haiti? Are we smarter, wiser, more righteous, nicer, more organizationally gifted? That would be an awful thing to claim. Why though do they suffer so? Not just now, but over and over and over again. Politically, militarily, naturally. They suffer, suffer, suffer. there is no lasting peace there. Why? Our God is a living God. He's here, he's alive. He's not on vacation. I certainly would not have said what Pat Robertson said, but, who really knows, but God himself. Another case: How can our parents generation in the west be in a war that takes an estimated 50'000'000 lives and then have peace in a few short months with our enemies Germany, Italy and Japan, when the Arab world and Isreal can't stop hating and killing each other over and over and over again, generation after generation? It's easy to criticize Pat Robertson, but alot harder to look for better reasons or answers for these things. I don't hav...

At work the other day I noticed two men talking, they had big smiles on, one patting the others shoulder. It was a nice sight to see. I don't know if I just don't notice little suttle things like that all year or if it comes out more at Christmas time. It sure is great. As a Christian I do find increased prayer time and more frequent reminders of the Lord's presence around me this time of year. As a Canadian, the tradition, the lights, the trees, secular people singing songs praising God. It is the "most wonderful time of the year". If you have people around you that you love tell them how you feel and maybe Christmas time would be a great time to spread that love to your neighbors, shut-ins, the lonely, soldiers far away. Use the lights, the songs, the "spirit of Christmas" to spread Christ's love this year. Merry Christmas!! And "God bless us EVERYONE!" John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and onl...