JOHN MURRAY’S NEW BOOK, ‘DISCOVER YOUR HIDDEN SELF.'

John Murray is a personal friend and also an author. His new book 'Discover Your Inner Self,' may be exactly what you need right now. The subtitle is ‘Opening the door to who you reallyare.’ Here are 125 pages that can lift your spirit and increase your contentment by giving you a fresh perspective about yourself as it helps you identify your own significance and uniqueness. The paperback version is available from John’s website now and will soon be available (August 24, 2020) from Amazon in both Kindle and paperback versions. My own endorsement is contained within and I recommend this book to you. John will personalize and sign your copy from his website.

Sunny Days Apr. 6-13, Covid-19, Social Distancing, Drives in the Convertible Keeping Distances

April 6 2020 

Can’t let a sunny day go by without a ride ... For Langley, a ghost town, but the Fifties Diner served milk shakes out the door, then down the river road as far as possible and south to 0 Ave., and west to 184 and north to home where I began to paint a landscape.

April 7, 2020
Sunny again. We’ll take it. Morning walk, Washed windows; a drive in the sun, Brodeur's Bistro (takeout only) Montreal Smoke Meat Sandwich (embarrassingly huge & good); tailgate party of 2. (wasn’t close to anyone .. that’s for my children)


April 8, 2020
Sun. 15C. Milkshake Country. Planet Java 50’s Diner. Can’t go inside. Shout in an order. It’s brot out. Thru farm country, top down on the Miata. What a win! & we were distanced from everyone.

April 9, 2020 Today, warmest of the week, Miata open, ohhh so nice, to a friendly farm, wiener roast in isolation. I even distanced from my car. Eugene &  Elaine invited us. We shouted to one another from adjoining fields. Fuel on Fri. in Aldergrove was .80/litre. Last year it was $1.60. 

April 13, 2020 Easter Sunday
Sunday. Easter. Streaming Church Service. Easter Bread & sprinkles delivery to our Kids. Miata top down & what can I say, Open Road, few cars out, Mountain views spectacular, Vanilla shakes from Planet Java 50’s Cafe (takeout, nothing but distance), stopped @ Chaberton, home for dinner - Christine’s Rouladen, (beef roulades filled with bacon, onions, mustard and pickles, then browned and simmered in the richest gravy imaginable). But sad without family.

PALM SUNDAY 2020 AMID COVID-19

It has been as uncommon a Palm Sunday as I can recall. Born during WWII, my memory doesn’t hold a recollection of what must surely have been an atypical Palm Sunday or two. Palm Sundays that I remember as a child embraced colour. Flowers embellished the front of the church. It was a celebrative ambiance. Women wore stylish hats and pastel shaded attire to church. Those were days when men and boys wore suits, shirts and ties to church, and it was standard and it felt respectable. In the afternoon our family would drive to Niagara Falls where we would walk through the Floral Showhouse to enjoy orchids and tropical flowers. 

Christine remembers Palm Sunday of her childhood in Britain with a song. Who would have guessed? I’m facetious. Her life and career has been music. “Hosanna, loud hosanna, the little children sang, through pillared court and temple the lovely anthem rang. To Jesus, who had blessed them close folded to his breast, the children sang their praises, the simplest and the best.” She remembers waiving palm fronds or other branches. 

Perhaps again today our modest, isolated at home worship will be the simplest and the best adoration we can possibly offer to our Saviour. We know the outward adornment doesn’t count for much when God is looking at our hearts. Today, may the whole multitude of Christ’s disciples worldwide rejoice and praise God with loud voices for all of his mighty works and may we say, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!

COVID-19, ABNORMAL DAYS,

This entry is intended more as a personal record for future reference rather than a news report.

Covid -19 has changed our lives within a few weeks. Many of us have spent a minimum of 14 days in at home isolation. Most people are observing the precautions recommended by provincial and federal health officials. This seeming imposition of self-isolation will feel like salvation when this scourge dies. No knowledgeable authority can predict a quick end to this pandemic. Individual financial futures as well as the global economy are a great concern.

COVID RESPONSES & FLASHING BACK (a poem)

While expected to self-isolate 
My mind made a quick happy trip
To my boyhood a long life ago,
When I was content in a hole
That I myself dug
And where dreams lived
When I was six.

Higher than houses and nearby barns
In the crotch of our tallest tree,
I snuggled with wood with my small frame
At peace with the world and alone.
In need of no one else
Thirty feet high
When I was twelve.

Two weeks, three weeks, four weeks or two months
No shortage of neat things to do
As many as minutes of each day
No Internet or Nintendo.
Just bike, open air, open road
With a good pal
At age fifteen. 

I am glad that I lived when I did.
Modest pleasures were good enough,
Never envisioned anything more.
I’m alone and writing this verse,
I’m seventy-seven
And if God wills
Seventy-eight.

© Ron Unruh March 2020

Backstory: Playgrounds and public recreational facilities are closed and children’s default activities are indoors and electronic, and I am saddened that children are short on self-initiated notions of fun.

MY WHISTLE IS BACK

My whistle came back unexpectedly.

Today it returned as I stepped from my car.

Such a surprise, put a smile on my face

It had not occurred to me in this race of life

That in all these past months it was gone.

But there it was with two lips together

Whistling a fine, happy day song.

Just as it’s always been with me and my dad,

A melodic whistle to begin my long day,

And sustain me through each working hour.

I can only explain whistle’s long leave of absence

As the outcome of dealing with grief,

Sometimes when absorbed by life’s heartaches

The desired relief that one looks for is missing

And the whistle is blocked and forgotten.

But it’s back to stay now I think and my neighbours will know

When they hear me passing their places

Like a bridge over troubled waters or some other song 

I can imagine their faces, smiling as they pick up the tune,

Returning to what they were doing and saying that must have been Ron.

© Ron Unruh, Feb 2020

WE DO NOT LOSE HEART

On Sunday February 9, 2020 I preached at Northwest Langley Baptist Church. It’s a small congregation now. This church had glory years of vibrant helpful ministries to many people. Over many decades the bush that once surrounded this church building turned into a commercial, industrial area with numerous dining establishments nearby. It’s on the 200^th Street high traffic corridor at a strategically located intersection where the Colossus Theatre sits. Residential areas are not immediate to the church property. Some might view its future as tenuous. Some in the church might be discouraged. The apostle Paul wrote letters to the church in Corinth, and 2 Corinthians chapter 4 Paul expressed ideas that I believe were appropriate for NWLBC, and predictably for almost every other Christian who experiences a whack of trouble and heartache at different times. 

The link below brings you to an archive of audio recordings of recent sermons. Look for Feb 9, 2020 – 2 Corinthians 4. You can listen to all of it, or perhaps touch the thin grey progress line at the 35-minute mark, and listen to the last few minutes.

How Can Northwest Langley Baptist Church Fit Into God's Strategy