Category: Faith

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The fragility of life

My Beloved Man had a frightening experience recently, though I think perhaps it frightened me more than it frightened him.

Some months ago he got a metal sliver in his left-hand ring finger. Over time his body built up a callous around it. That finger started to swell, until one evening it throbbed and pained him so much he couldn’t sleep. The next morning he decided to seek medical treatment.

At the urgent care clinic a doctor started poking around, trying to find the metal culprit when, because of the pain he was feeling, she decided his finger need to be frozen. She got a “big, huge” needle and almost immediately my Beloved Man fainted.

When he came to there were several doctors and assorted medical personnel surrounding him, moving him to an ambulance stretcher.  He’d been hooked up for defibrillation though he’s not sure if he was shocked or not. Regardless, this man got up, insisting that he was fine. The medical staff tried to convince him otherwise, but he was determined to leave. He had to sign a paper saying he wouldn’t drive and they saw him into a taxi.

Like that would work with my stubborn man. He had the taxi stop out of sight of the clinic, walked back, got  into his own car and drove to work!

His memory around all of this is uncertain.
I have a hundred questions with no answers. But what I’m left with is this –
life is fragile, you don’t know when or how it might be taken from you.

Live today!

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A Sunday evening drive

Sometimes, when I’m feeling kinda down, I take a drive. The evening of Father’s Day I did just that. I brought my camera, looking for beauty, for God in creation (having experienced that topic in an “indoor outdoor worship service” that morning at Bloomingdale Mennonite Church).

The weather for the last several days had been unsettled, rain and sun, sometimes at the same time. I got some dramatic sky pictures. When I got to the park in Stratford it was raining lightly. Billie and I waited in the car until most of the drops had quit, then started our walk by the river. A rainbow was evident. I also took iconic Stratford pictures, the river, the theatre, the swans.

On my way home another rainbow appeared in the sky. It accompanied me from New Hamburg to Kitchener.

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A Good Neighbour

My Beloved Man is an Iranian Baha’i. The Baha’i were (and still are) persecuted to the point of death in Iran by the Muslim majority as he was growing up. He has no soft feelings for that religion; I’ve heard him say that it would only be a good thing if they were wiped off the face of the earth.

He has a business neighbour who is going through a tough time of family breakup. Mohammed is a Muslim from Syria who goes around telling others that his wife is a bitch and a whore and whatever other nasty thing comes into his head. BM has heard Mohammed call her these names and treat her with total lack of respect or kindness.

Last weekend, at 1:30 AM, my Beloved Man got a call from Mohammed who was sleeping in his garage (business) because he wasn’t going to back to that “whore house” anymore. He asked BM for a blanket because he was cold and sick and hadn’t eaten in days. And so BM got up, gathered three blankets and drove into town, stopping at Tim Horton’s to pick up a large tea and bagel and spent the next hour plus listening and talking with this Muslim man.

And I keep thinking about the story Jesus told of the Good Samaritan. When we can bind the wounds of our enemy we are walking in the Way.

Who is my enemy? Would my friend/enemy know he/she could call me in the middle of the night to request help? Would I be willing to get out of my warm bed to go help?

I am so grateful for “That Man,” he has taught me much about love.

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Counting the Cost

Saw this sign this afternoon:img_3421I was surprised. It immediately brought to mind Jesus’ story (Luke 14:25-33):

Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Clearly, Jesus says we need to count the cost. We need to know the cost right up front and we need to be ready to pay it.

If you are going to love you need to know there will be a cost! The difficulty is that there is no way to really know what the cost will be. Jesus told us over and over, “Love one another as I have loved you.”  Jesus knew the cost of love and he was ready to pay it. All the way to death on a cross.

I think that sign would more closely align to Jesus’ teaching if it said, “Love counts the cost and is willing to pay the price.”

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