Skirt Weather Coming Our Way?

I just glanced at Enviroment Canada's five day forecast for Calgary. There is skirt weather coming our way, possibly by Saturday!

Spacy

I just thought that I'd share with you all that my late night in combination with the cold/stomach bug I've been fighting for a week or two now have caught up with me, and I am having blond moments left right and center. In that spacy, can't quite believe the lapse in intelligence kind of way that I specialize in.

The Winter Blahs

I’m over winter. I mean really. 6 cm short of record snow-fall in February. I heard somewhere that we had 3 times the average snowfall this February. I picked my best friend up at the airport last night from a flight that was about 2 hours late due to bad weather where she was flying from complicated by bad weather in Calgary. As we brushed the four day accumulation off of her car in my driveway at midnight last night, she commented, “Who moves to a place where they have weather like this all the time?” I laughed at her, because she moved from the much more temperate West Coast to Calgary. She’s just sensitive because she got used to all that nice weather in Pakistan.

Now me, on the other hand – I have full complaining rights. I am a born and bred Calgarian, and like any good Calgarian, I do love to hate the weather. Have I mentioned in the last week or so that one of my goals in life is to live somewhere where I can wear skirts year-round without the risk of frostbite? My work wardrobe is severely limited when the weather and necessity of walking to and from the train confines it to pants and sweaters!

Do you think it will help if I declare the official end of winter? (I’m jealous of Nolan and his plans to leave for California soon – much better weather there!)

Disturbing Questions on War and Peace

I’ve been listening and reading and thinking a lot about the whole topic of peace lately. My heart has been undeniably pulled and shifted in this area over the last while, and as I listened to an activist, a Christian, a monastic tell stories and proclaim peace on my ipod on my way to work this morning, I found myself very near tears, with a growing dis-ease in my soul.

My heart is pulled to peace, but I am not sure I see a logical support for the case.

I keep hearing these arguments about Jesus as peacemaker. Was Jesus not also the one who violently cleared the temple? And yes, I know that ultimately, Jesus’ message was one of peace, even non-violence, but how can those who espouse Jesus as peacemaker also quote the Old Testament prophets, while choosing to ignore the God of the Old Testament – the God who directed his people to wipe out many nations, who aided his people in winning bloody battles through miraculous means? I would expect that the argument would have something to do with the new covenant offered in Christ, but I have difficulty with that, for God himself tells us that his character is unchanging – by this very argument the God represented by Christ is the same God of the Old Testament quest for justice.

This whole issue seems convoluted. Take Iraq for example. I don’t think I support a war there. But, I think it’s probably ultimately going to be a good thing that Hussein is gone. Take the death of Hussein – I don’t particularly think it was necessary, but at the same time see the historical precedent for eliminating a leader who has the potential to be freed from custody and regain his tyrannical power (Napoleon anyone?)? And the death penalty in general – I couldn’t do it, so is it right to support (and I don’t think I do) this thing and force someone else to make a career out of taking a life? Does it make it better if we kill someone humanely? Rather than hang them or shoot them we put them to sleep, and then inject drugs that simply stop the functions of life in their body?

What about the fact that violence seems by and large to affect the underprivileged? How do other issues of poverty and injustice play into this debate? What about Shane Claiborne’s argument that it is difficult to teach the children in the poor neighborhood in which he lives not to hit each other or use violence as a solution, when the government is sanctioning violence as a method of solving it’s problems internationally?

These are subjects that deeply disturb me. They disturb my confidence in knowledge. They upset my stomach and my heart. If you’re a friend – watch out – I may be coming your way to have conversations around this subject in the near future – it’s time to begin to verbally process some of these ideas.

I invite you to dialogue here with me, too. Leave a comment. Email me, or give me a call. I suspect this is a subject that requires the wisdom of many.

Walking into a hurricane...

Ever had one of those moments where you feel like you’ve suddenly walked into a hurricane? I did when I came back from lunch today. My boss and I used our lunch hour to go shopping for some things we needed for the office. We were a little longer than planned in getting back, and as we were headed into the building, someone from our office came flying out, shouting at me that an emergency had come up and she was leaving, and someone else was covering the phones but didn’t know what she was doing. Then we entered the building to discover that while we were away some people had been stuck in our elevator. After climbing the stairs to our floor, hauling our rather heavy purchases with us, my desk had items from a number of different sources demanding my immediate attention, the phones needed to be transferred back to me and commenced ringing somewhat incessantly. My boss was off for the day and needed to leave, but also to give me instructions for the afternoon. There was unfinished work from the morning waiting, a courier to urgently schedule, and my lunch to heat up and eat.

So, that was my afternoon. It’s now slowed down, and I have my last 20 minutes or so to sit quietly. I’ve accomplished everything urgent on my list, and am ready to head home and begin work on another important project – a birthday gift for a friend. I’ve also got plans to go out with my youngest brother and one of the girls from my youth Bible study for a while this evening. Then work tomorrow, picking up my best friend at the airport tomorrow night. Work Thursday, meeting for church that night. Work Friday, and a birthday party Friday night. Hair appointment Saturday morning, birthday of another friend, and a youth event Saturday night. This week is shaping up to be busier than I thought!

And all this after a relatively quiet morning at work that I spent doing a demo for a craft project we're doing with some children at a conference later this month - I painted a picture frame! Very fun. Moments like that make me love my job for a little while!