OUR HABITAT FOR HUMANITY TRIP was a HAND UP

Two weeks out of December, two years in succession, and Christmas just around the corner. On December 7th Christine and I joined a team of volunteers to fly to Kauai where we served with Habitat for Humanity. Our 16-person group was daily divided on two different work sites, coming together for lunch each day, and of course driving home each afternoon. We met the Habitat leaders each morning in their Hanapepe work yard, did our circle, prayed, and then holding hands, extended out and then up as we recited, "we don't offer a hand out but a hand up."

Countries I have visited

Ron Unruh has been to: Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Martinique, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican. Get your own travel map from Matador Network.

35 countries of the world that I have set foot in … not so much … not enough if Christine could have her way.

GUERNSEY 2009 REMEMBERED

Reminiscing is an occasional enjoyment. The older I become, the further back one can travel for stories, that is, as long as one’s memory delivers. In 2009, Christine and I spent seven weeks in France, one week of which was spent on Guernsey Island in the English channel between Britain and France. Christine’s paternal family (Langlois) originated here. A French speaking island, is unique in that only native born citizens may own land on the island. The wealthiest of people from offshore may only be visitors. One can actually walk around the island if the stamina is there. But for a pittance you can travel all day on the punctual buses. We stayed at a high cliff resort overlooking the channel, looking east to France. Robert and Gloria Langlois, (Christine’s brother) met us there. Perhaps a once in a lifetime joy-filled experience.

OFFSHORE SCAM

Offshore Scam

Nothing right now is vanilla.

It's dark in the midmost part of night.

Phone rings - a long distance call from Manila.

I've been dreaming and I'm up tight.

Accented voice greets me with cheer.

He's called to warn me and to help me.

Seeks calmly to convince me to have no fear

Why then call at twenty past three?

A technician, he's detected

That I'm hacked by an Eastern caller

So now my bank account will be affected,

I risk losing every dollar.

"Let me access your home notebook,"

My glitch he assures me he will fix.

I won’t be this guy’s sucker, is my outlook,

I will not let him play his tricks.

© Ron Unruh, 2014 

An Orangeville ON man recorded such a call 

TREES ARE FOR CLIMBING

Photograph: Tim Laman/Getty images

I was a boy when trees were tall
and I could climb with ease.
High in the limbs though I was small
At home in tops of trees.

This space did not require a friend
Was not a place to share,
How to climb up or to descend,
Only to say beware.

Up there were stories of my mind,
A novelist was I.
I the hero, the dazzling kind
With empires in the sky.

All stories end and so did mine,
Not wasted time at all,
A bold step to maturity,
When childhood trees were tall.

© Ron Unruh, November 14, 2014

See kids need the adventure of risky play.

INSIGHTS ABOUT SEITZ

Insights about Seitz

From his daily demesne of erudition
perceptibly dazzling he is, a scholar,
At ease among strident intellects,
studious inquiry igniting his love
for wisdom, ancient purview of koheleth,
Assembler of insights in proverbs
and the knotty interplay in song of songs
and ecclesiastes with its experienced
pronouncement of humanity's failed
faculties before a constant creation.

© Ron Unruh

Nov 13, 2014 - I penned this last evening following my audit of a lecture by Dr. Christopher Seitz, "A Canonical Reading of Ecclesiastes." He is Senior Research Fellow, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto.

Patrice Vincent and Nathan Cirillo

Cowardly assailant with a car
Emulating villains from afar
Succeeded in killing with violent intent
Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent.

What a day, what a week!
News so shocking, one cannot speak,
From carefree coffee to dramatic strife.
Gunman took a soldier's life.

Nathan Carillo stood in place
With welcoming and pleasant face
Now fallen, his cortege gently goes
Along our Highway of Heroes.

FLAGGING FAITH

FLAGGING FAITH

I watch, listen, and observe

Saddening signs of generations

Moving coldly from my base.

Here is what I see.

Flagging faith, not pennant-waving, flagging,

Fading of conviction, doubting,

Diminishing, losing confidence in long held beliefs.

Ancient tenets distrusted and dismissed.

Conceptions of God exposed to speculation.

Conjecture reigns supremely, ignoring holy texts,

Inducing hopelessness, post modern culture

Hungry for my offspring,

And I pray.

Must pray that God will show Himself

In mercy, grace and truth and pull them

Tightly to Himself so they with buoyancy,

Live and love life knowing

That God's promises are true.

© Ron Unruh, October 2014

COMFORT

COMFORT

Not unexpectedly today we grieve.

People we know had loved ones leave.

A neighbour friend had a fiancée

Who decided she could no longer stay.

Friends with a son who was terminally ill

Mourn his passing and miss him so much until,

As their faith informs them with honest hope

To see him again, they continue to cope.   

A husband we know spent Thanksgiving without

His wife whose virtues he spoke about

Often through years when they served with love,

She waits now for him with Christ above.

The commodity, Comfort, in short supply

Impossible to feign, manufacture or buy.

Grief as heavy as it can possibly be,

Still heard, the master says, "Come unto Me."

© Ron Unruh

Just another couple of weeks in a life

September 20th was an interesting day. I own a Mazda MX5 or Miata as it was formerly known. The company now prefers the abbreviated name and so do I. As an MX5 owner, I was given an invitation to a test driving event called Soul in Motion, and I arrived in the cockpit of my own MX5.

at the Paris Auto Show

The Miata has turned 25 years old this year. In 2011, Guinness World Records declared it the best- selling two-seater sports car of all time. No wonder, because the MX5 handles exquisitely, light to the touch, thanks to its rear-wheel drive. The 2016 next generation is even lighter. It is fun to drive and looks good, and that’s been its calling card. It’s muscular, sleek and runs low to the ground. Mazda Motor Corp. has now unveiled a new version of its iconic MX-5 for the first time in nine years.

A SMALL NOTE IN MY DAD’S WALLET

My father and mother have both passed away into the presence of the Lord. Mom died in November 2007 and Dad in May 2008 six months apart. They were sweethearts, married for 66 years. Our family enjoyed the way the two of them enjoyed each other and cherished one another. The evening before her funeral, when the extended family was together, we all stood by her coffin and dad broke us all by saying, “goodnight sweetheart, I’ll see you soon.” When dad died and we siblings went through what was left, inside his wallet was a small piece of paper bearing a poem. “She was not created from his head to top him. Nor from his feet to be stepped on. She was made from his side to be equal to him. From beneath his arm to be protected by him. Near his heart to be loved by him.”

THE WESTERN HEAVENS CRY

THE WESTERN HEAVENS CRY

Rain gently wetting all that's green and dry

Celestial notice that the heavens cry,

Ending our slow summer days in the sun,

Anguishing at what humanity's done.

Drone carried missiles exclusive of sound

Spray innocent blood on contested ground;

Guiltless targets rapt with work and play.

Comes violent death on this routine day  

Inner-city violence, selfish greed,

Wanting and getting distinct from need,

Society devoid of security,

Few children survive to maturity.

Virulent diseases ravage the earth;           

No one could dream how much water is worth;

Entire nations lack necessary food;                       

Disasters transpire as the heavens brood.

Absorbed in our privilege we ignore,

How helpless other humans are offshore.

Can't bother to think, content as we live

But their brief lives measured by what we give.

© Ron Unruh, 2014