Christine and I are now the eldest in our respective families. Our parents left this scene some years ago. This Quebec/Ontario trip has been a means by which to reinforce to succeeding generations the value of heritage and much more.
"We are pilgrims on the journey of the narrow road and those who've gone before us line the way, cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary, their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace. Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us run the race not only for the prize, but as those who've gone before us, let us leave to those behind us the heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives. After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone, and our children sift through all we've left behind, may the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover become the light that leads them to the road we each must find.
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe and the lives we live inspire them to obey. Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.”
Thank you to all of the 38 people who were able to attend the Langlois Family Reunion, and to the 29 who attended the Unruh Family Reunion.
(quotation from lyrics by Jon Mohr)
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Showing posts with label faithfulness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faithfulness. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Friday, January 23, 2009
My Beard - On Again Off Again
A NEW LEARNING
Pogon is the Greek term for ‘beard’ and trophy a Greek term for nourishment or
growth. Pogonotrophy is the growing of a beard and I was involved in it.
My beard was a test. What would it look like? How would people perceive me? How would I respond to peoples’ reactions? How would Christine respond to it? She has historically, not hysterically, thank goodness, voiced her objections to facial hair on me. Would it be different now that I retained it for a while? I started growing it during our family vacation at the end of August and I have maintained it for five months. Have you picked up on the past tense? Yes, it’s gone.
Here’s what I found. I did and I didn’t care what anyone thought. This maturity level delighted me. My vanity and autonomy were intact. No one rained on my one man parade. Younger generations affirmed me thinking the beard was cool and older women said it was sophisticated. Men daring to comment said it made me look like the artist I pretend to be.
I enjoyed my goatee. It was fun to wear it. I didn’t plan on removing it. I just woke this past Wednesday and knew this was a shave day. It was a practical decision.
My goatee bumped into my lifestyle. I want to be in and out of the morning shower and I want to shave while I am in there. Mine was a high maintenance beard requiring daily trim time.
In my pre-beard days a hairy Hindu neighbour informed me that Jesus never told me to shave and he urged me to grow my beard. I will likely grow it again. Perhaps mine is an occasional beard, a seasonal fuzz, but it will always be an egotistical adornment. It does make me feel manly, feeds my ego and image. What my beard will not be is a faith associated growth as it is for Sikhs, Hindus, some Jews, Amish, Hutterites, Old Colony Mennonites, Eastern Christian priests and Franciscans. Neither will my beard be utilitarian as though I required it for warmth in cold weather unless the lower mainland becomes any worse in winter than it already was this year. I can still afford Mach 3 razor blades if I determine to pull even the dull ones across my mug.
Nuts, now a man walked past my house with a nice white beard and I am jealous.
Pogonology is an actual term for study of beards. How bored must one be, yet I wonder whether it comments on the sense of nakedness one feels when looking into a mirror at a smooth face where once there were whiskers?
Pogon is the Greek term for ‘beard’ and trophy a Greek term for nourishment or
growth. Pogonotrophy is the growing of a beard and I was involved in it. My beard was a test. What would it look like? How would people perceive me? How would I respond to peoples’ reactions? How would Christine respond to it? She has historically, not hysterically, thank goodness, voiced her objections to facial hair on me. Would it be different now that I retained it for a while? I started growing it during our family vacation at the end of August and I have maintained it for five months. Have you picked up on the past tense? Yes, it’s gone.
Here’s what I found. I did and I didn’t care what anyone thought. This maturity level delighted me. My vanity and autonomy were intact. No one rained on my one man parade. Younger generations affirmed me thinking the beard was cool and older women said it was sophisticated. Men daring to comment said it made me look like the artist I pretend to be.
I enjoyed my goatee. It was fun to wear it. I didn’t plan on removing it. I just woke this past Wednesday and knew this was a shave day. It was a practical decision.
My goatee bumped into my lifestyle. I want to be in and out of the morning shower and I want to shave while I am in there. Mine was a high maintenance beard requiring daily trim time. In my pre-beard days a hairy Hindu neighbour informed me that Jesus never told me to shave and he urged me to grow my beard. I will likely grow it again. Perhaps mine is an occasional beard, a seasonal fuzz, but it will always be an egotistical adornment. It does make me feel manly, feeds my ego and image. What my beard will not be is a faith associated growth as it is for Sikhs, Hindus, some Jews, Amish, Hutterites, Old Colony Mennonites, Eastern Christian priests and Franciscans. Neither will my beard be utilitarian as though I required it for warmth in cold weather unless the lower mainland becomes any worse in winter than it already was this year. I can still afford Mach 3 razor blades if I determine to pull even the dull ones across my mug.
Nuts, now a man walked past my house with a nice white beard and I am jealous.
Pogonology is an actual term for study of beards. How bored must one be, yet I wonder whether it comments on the sense of nakedness one feels when looking into a mirror at a smooth face where once there were whiskers?
Sunday, January 11, 2009
At the Crossroads again
A NEW LEARNING
I am going to make it easy for myself. I ran out of time for a researched post so I will simply tell you that on Saturday Christine and I attended a wedding - a rather unique wedding. A youngish father of five children, divorced, married a woman nearly his age who was unmarried and had never before been married. She became the instant step mother of five children. She is brave, good for him, and will be a pleasant female influence upon those children. They truly care for her. The couple is deeply in love with one another. It's a redemptive story through and through.
They used a Brian Doerksen song called 'Lead Us Lord,'the words of which may be an encouragement to you for life situations quite unrelated to this couple's.
Here we stand
At a crossroads again
Like you said
In time the seasons change
Looking back
We recall the blessing and the pain
But now we turn our hearts toward
What is still to come
We want to dream again
Lead us Lord
Into a life of fruitfulness
Prepare our hearts to risk again
As we trust
Taking simple steps of obedience we know
That you will lead us Lord.
Look at Brian Doerksen's site if you like to find music you may want in your home or on your ipod.
I am going to make it easy for myself. I ran out of time for a researched post so I will simply tell you that on Saturday Christine and I attended a wedding - a rather unique wedding. A youngish father of five children, divorced, married a woman nearly his age who was unmarried and had never before been married. She became the instant step mother of five children. She is brave, good for him, and will be a pleasant female influence upon those children. They truly care for her. The couple is deeply in love with one another. It's a redemptive story through and through.
They used a Brian Doerksen song called 'Lead Us Lord,'the words of which may be an encouragement to you for life situations quite unrelated to this couple's.
Here we stand
At a crossroads again
Like you said
In time the seasons change
Looking back
We recall the blessing and the pain
But now we turn our hearts toward
What is still to come
We want to dream again
Lead us Lord
Into a life of fruitfulness
Prepare our hearts to risk again
As we trust
Taking simple steps of obedience we know
That you will lead us Lord.
Look at Brian Doerksen's site if you like to find music you may want in your home or on your ipod.
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