Monday, June 30, 2008
"God Bless Canada"
Tomorrow is "Canada Day." It's the 131st birthday of our nation. (And Suzanne's **st birthday, and Suzanne and Brian's second anniversary.)
For about two years now we have been blessed with a godly Prime Minister, Steven Harper. When he was elected, he ended his speech with "God Bless Canada." To my American cousins this may seem ordinary. But not up here. The three previous Prime Ministers (going back to the days of my youth) saw Canada as a "sovereign nation" and recognized no higher authority.
The Harper government has done many things to restore justice and good government. For example, just a few weeks ago, He publicly and officially apologized to the First nations Peoples (Indians) for the wrongs and abuses of the government sponsored "Residential Schools." (In years past a lot of injustice and abuse happened in these church run and government funded institutions.)
A few months ago, in Sexsmith, our MP (Member of Parliament) up there told us of the National House of Prayer. It was started a few years ago by a Christian couple. It is a converted convent where people can come and stay and pray for our government. They go and sit and pray in the public gallery when Parliament is in session. It is a big encouragement to the Christian MPs.
At Church yesterday I learned some more things God has blessed Canada with. A teacher and a student who had been at this house of prayer told of giving Prime Minister Harper a plaque with a prayer on it. He was very appreciative of it. They also told of many more MPs being believers than I would have imagined.
I also learned that there are three Bible verses inscribed in the Peace Tower in our Parliament Buildings.
Over the East window – “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea” (Psalm 72:8).
Over the South window – “Give the King thy judgment, O God, and thy righteousness unto the King’s son” (Psalm 72:1).
Over the West window – “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18).
Over the East window – “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea” (Psalm 72:8).
Over the South window – “Give the King thy judgment, O God, and thy righteousness unto the King’s son” (Psalm 72:1).
Over the West window – “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18).
Our pastor reminded us to not be "whiners and complainers" because we just come across as "whiners and complainers!" Instead, as citizens of Heaven, we are to uphold our leaders in prayer.
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. I Timothy 2:1-4
Friday, June 20, 2008
House to House
If you had told me five years ago that I would either buy or sell a home for over a quarter of a million dollars, I would have laughed at you. But tonight I am not laughing.
Less that two weeks ago we left our beautifully renovated home and moved to Camrose. At that time we had no potential buyers for it. It was a little disconcerting, but Colleen and I prayer for the Lord to work out His will in the sale of our home.
However we had already made an offer on a nice home here in Camrose. It seemed like the perfect place for us, and close to the grandkids too. I was sure this was the house the Lord was providing for us. But a few days later our offer was bumped down to backup status because the owners had received a better offer. Despite all the anxiety this caused, I still chose to trust the Lord to work out His will and His timing. How would it all work out? All we could do was wait, and pray.
But then the "better offer" got bumped back because certain conditions could not be met. Now we were back in first place. About this time, actually the day after we move out of our former home, Ron called us with an offer on our home. We negotiated a deal and we soon had a firm offer. A week later, just this past Monday, that offer was finalized. Our house in Sexsmith was "sold." We had actually doubled our original investment.
Today was our final day to waive conditions and , in effect, purchase the house in Camrose. Yesterday Ron faxed information on the sale of our house in Sexsmith to our banker here in Camrose. This morning when I phoned our banker, she said that she had not received the fax. So I gave her Ron's number and we tried again. I was busy all day, in and out of the shop. After playing telephone tag all afternoon, I finally connected with our banker again, just ten minutes before she would have left work. The news was good, and within minutes I had finalized the paperwork with our realtor here in Camrose. My next stop was Wal-Mart to celebrate with Colleen. We continued to celebrate by taking Suzanne out for supper with us.
About our new home... It's just a ten minute walk for Suzanne's. It is on a quiet cal-de-sac. It is on a good sized pie shaped lot. And it backs up to a beautiful park. Talk about location, location, location! Although its about 35 years old, it has been well cared for and should serve us well.
Moving day will be July 25-26. Now, lets take a peak...
I like it's "curb appeal" The kitchen has been modernized. The living room is spacious. And the large L shaped rec-room has a fireplace and, most importantly, a ledge for my collection of tractors.
I like it's "curb appeal" The kitchen has been modernized. The living room is spacious. And the large L shaped rec-room has a fireplace and, most importantly, a ledge for my collection of tractors.Wednesday, June 18, 2008
On The Move
Saturday, June 7, was moving day for us. Here you see the U-HAUL truck backed up to our garage. Ron and two of his basketball friends came and helped with the big stuff. Afterwards they sat on the front deck and watched the parade that was forming in the school parking lot and street in front of us.
We even had a marching band to serenade us as we packed. It was Sexsmith's fair day but this was as much of it as we saw. As it was Colleen and I did not get done loading the truck until 11:00 that night.
Yes, the parade was led by RCMP in their famous red dress uniform. Some of the firefighters above were at this spot three years ago attending the fire we had in our house. Peter (in the fire-truck) is a good Christian friend and neighour.We had a successful move to Camrose, with an overnight stop at the Turner farm to store most of our belonging there. We will retrieve it when we move into our next home. More about that later.
