Monthly Archives: September 2007

September 27, 2007 · 11:41 pm

I think I got it all done

Since I am leaving for a couple of days, I took the afternoon off to get ready – and do all the things I haven’t had time to do for the last ? maybe a month?

  • Short meeting with my staff – some problems to sort out.
  • Then home for a quick lunch of leftovers.
  • Hair – appointment was squeesed in.  Thank you Carol!
  • Home to collect cheques to drop off at the care home
  • Grab the telephone bill to pay for my aunt 
  • Stop off at the drug store for some supplies
  • Go by the care home – leave stuff there and visit for a bit with Aunt Florence
  • Run by and pay phone bill.
  • Filled vehicle with gas.  Bought a car wash but the line was too long!
  • Back to office for a short meeting with some staff
  • Call home and tell Grace to order chinese food (we could have invited a bunch of you over – there was a lot ordered)  They can eat leftovers this weekend.  Food didn’t arrive till I was gone.
  • Run up to the church, pick up my bass and go to orchestra practice.  One hour practicing The Brandenburg Concerto. 
  • Joined some of the women in the orchestra for coffee at the Bison.  A wonderful bowl of soup was my supper. 
  • Home again.  Changed another load of laundry.
  • Vacuumed car.  Loaded up the chair to drop off for Rachelle.
  • Changed another load of laundry.
  • Went to bank to deposit paycheque and on way home washed car.
  • Came home, finished laundry and packed.

The day is done.  I think I am ready.  I won’t get back to this space till Monday at the earliest I guess.

Advertisements

Comments Off on I think I got it all done

Filed under Day to Day

September 26, 2007 · 11:26 pm

Just stuff of very little depth

There has not been much written here lately since there has not been much time for writing these days. 

I need a break to refresh my mind. 

But the  laundry is getting done and I make it to work every day. 

Just today I missed my hair appointment – didn’t finish work quite in time and she couldn’t get me on the phone so we missed each other.  Bummer really.  My hair could have used some refreshing. 

This weekend I am off to Alberta – to a retreat I am helping with.  That will be good I think.  I was also going to attend the Early Childhood Caries conference in Calgary – but – it was full.  I have never registered a month in advance for a dental conference that was full.  I guess it will be a good one.

Comments Off on Just stuff of very little depth

Filed under Day to Day

September 23, 2007 · 10:33 pm

Down in Saskatoon

I hate it when I write a good post and lose it all due to a slip of the thumb! 

Been down to Saskatoon this weekend doing all sorts of things – visiting the grandson, shopping at Costco and spending too much money in that place, arranging supervision for part of the course I am doing, drinking Wendy’s good coffee, keeping Jordon talking late.  It was a good weekend. 

Comments Off on Down in Saskatoon

Filed under Day to Day

September 20, 2007 · 9:01 am

Bliss

There is something incredibly blissful about a hot shower.

Our boiler is back.  Hot water and heat are on.  Dishwasher works.

Bliss.

Comments Off on Bliss

Filed under Day to Day

September 19, 2007 · 9:19 am

On Songs and Mystics

Marc responded to a post by John Stackhouse on songs that speak of love for Jesus in fairly intimate personal terms – along the line of lyrics designated as "Jesus is my boyfriend".  The post on Stackhouse’s blog elicited some interesting comments.  I would recommend going there and reading it.  It certainly brings up the issue of those songs that raise discomfort in people who do not like expressing their relationship to God in this kind of intimate language.  I guess we need to be sensitive to the aversion and the wrong kind of message that songs strong on love language and weak in theological content give to some participants in worship services. 

Stackhouse also interjects some comments on the mystics and obviously does not appreciate the type of ecstatic language and experiences recounted by them.  Here I think he is off base.

I don’t think the tradition of "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs comes from the mystics. They may have had what we would consider erotic ecstatic experiences but from those visions came writings that were not so individually oriented as some of the songs for which we are questioning the theology. There came writings on prayer and on seeking deeper prayer experiences with God and there came expressions of adoration of God. 
 
Hildegard of Bingen is noted for her musical compositions and, though many speak of adoration of Mary and saints that we protestants find foreign, I would hardly call them "Jesus is my boyfriend" type lyrics. Here is a short example.  I thought the English translation would be appreciated more than the Latin!
 
O Shepherd of souls
 
O Shepherd of souls
and o first voice
through whom all creation was summoned,
now to you,
to you may it give pleasure and dignity
to liberate us
from our miseries and languishing.
 
 
I think we have much to learn from the mystics who had such deep relationships with God that they actually experienced him in ways most of us today find foreign.  Maybe that says more about our life styles that leave little time to develope this kind of intimacy with God than about the "whackyness" of their experiences.

Comments Off on On Songs and Mystics

Filed under Dealing with stuff

September 17, 2007 · 12:23 pm

Ebola

Seems there is another outbreak.  It is probably not far from the hometown of a friend. 

An old friend – he used to be our pilot at Karawa – sent a bit of a report/prayer request.  Here it is:

The news today is that there is a confirmed outbreak again of the Ebola virus in western Kasai.  The most cases have come from the Luebo area which is about 380 nautical miles southeast of Kinshasa and around 80 miles north of Kananga.  Last count I heard was 180 have died.
 
At this point we / MAF did one flight last week with some supplies and to take some blood samples for verification.  There is a possibility of doing one flight on Thursday and also Friday in the Caravan then we will need to do a mini – check on the Caravan which, at this point, will take place Friday afternoon and Saturday morning then return to Kinshasa Saturday afternoon.
 
SANRU which is kind of an umbrella organization overseeing many health projects in the country and is also connected to the Protestant Church in Congo is overseeing some of the responses along with CDC and MSF. (Center for Disease Control and Doctors without Borders ).
 
Last time the response from MAF lasted about six weeks.  We / MAF are already quite busy with other flights so we’ll need to be flexible in adjusting our schedules to meet the needs this disease is bringing.
 
At this point Ebola is not communicable through airborne means, but is communicable through fluids.  So in that respect it is similar to AIDS, but much more virulent.
 
Prayer requests to go along with this include:
 
1. Ability to keep the airplanes maintained and flyable.
 
2.  Good judgment with the airstrips that we will need to use.  Luebo is seven hundred meters long with an up an down slope to it.  You cannot see one end from the other since the hump is too high.  It is only ten meters wide and is built in the middle of town with houses all around it.  The other airstrip is longer but very soft so to take any kind of a load out you have to be down quite a bit on your fuel.  Bulape is also a little short at eight hundred meters long with a slope on it and it can also be a bit soft.  It also has some rough areas on it now.
 
3.  Pray that God will intervene and get this epidemic stopped.
 
4.  Strength for the ones going in on the ground to check out the surrounding villages for other cases.
 
5.  Understanding hearts for those who had flights scheduled and now may get bumped because of this epidemic.
 
6.  Availability of fuel to keep everything going.
 
So pray as you feel led.  We are willing and want to be used by God to further His Kingdom here.
 
God Bless,
 
Daniel R. Carlson

 

Comments Off on Ebola

Filed under Africa

September 16, 2007 · 7:46 am

One Funeral, One Wedding

Busy day yesterday.

One funeral – and old friend and colleague, Dr Gamal Shenouda.  Spent too many years in a nursing home.  Life can be rough sometimes.  So he is free from the constraints that an ailing body and mind put on him.  What a character – loved bad jokes, belly dancing and Jesus. 

And on after that, up to Waskesiu to a wedding.  We missed the ceremony but were told that it was pretty short anyway.  Got there in time for the barbeque and visting with friends. 

There was a beautiful sunset – which I missed getting pictures of.  The sun set rosy red over the lake and a bit south of the sun, a thin sliver of a moon.  Beautiful!

Comments Off on One Funeral, One Wedding

Filed under Day to Day