Back from Saskatoon

I came back to Winnipeg from Saskatoon overnight on the bus. It is good to be back, but discipline is an ongoing battle for me. It is a good thing I am not married yet, but what can I say. It is not good for this man to be alone. I will patiently and contentedly wait until the day we finally come together, but please know that I look forward to that day more than I can say. It will be like sunrise after a very dark night.

"Our soul waiteth for the LORD more than they that watch for the morning; I say, more than they that watch for the morning". Psalm 130

Missing thee...

Daniel

My last surviving grandparent (my father's mother) died...

My last surviving grandparent (my father's mother) died, as far as I know, this morning (above is a picture with my younger sister). I was therefore extremely glad I had taken the train from here in Winnipeg to Saskatoon last weekend. Among other things, I was able to see Grandma one last time, give her a hug, and have a happy time with her. It was at my aunt and uncle's place, and they had a beautiful ancient Bible sitting on a shelf. I asked my aunt if I could read that Bible, and she said to go ahead.

Grandma was right there, though, and I did not know quite what she would think of me doing this. Over the years, she has not always enthusiastically approved of my desire to read the Scriptures and be in church morning and evening on the Lord's Day. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when she actually went so far to explain the history and significance of that Bible. It had been given to one of her ancestors, and been in the family since the 1800's. In a word, she seemed, as a matter of fact, pleased at my interest in it.

She had a smile on her face, and did not seem to feel hard done by in the least, which is commendable; because she had been living with a lot of infirmities for quite a while. She almost seemed to know this was the last time she would be seeing us, so she had better enjoy it while she had the opportunity. If she did not know, she certainly could have fooled me.

My uncle, as he has ever since I was young, owns a dog; and whenever someone comes in the door, his dog barks and jumps up and down. When grandma came in, however, the dog was quite and did not get stirred up. But when grandma said how much she liked dog (which grandma did many times), the dog came over and readily received grandma's kind strokes. I recall a song by Wendy Francisco, called "God and dog":

http://www.songoffaith.com/mp3s/Albums/NewSongs/Demo_GoDAndDoG_WendyFrancisco.mp3

You can watch the video here:

http://www.godanddog.org/


"Give Your Heart a Home" (the theme song for this blog) is playing right now. I am particularly astounded at the job Don Francisco did on this song for the "MP3-on-demand" section of his website. He could not just throw the studio recordings he had originally done, into that section, because apparently his record labels have the rights to those recordings. What he could do, however, was just make his own recordings of those same songs and make them available to anyone who wanted them (of course accepting donations from those able to make them). (Which could be made here, if you made use the free MP3's and wanted to help support their work:

http://www.rockymountainministries.org/membersite.html). I personally think they are worthy of any investment.

These recordings, therefore, are often simpler than the original recordings, which is great, by all means. It is just that, in the case of "Give Your Heart a Home", this "simplified" recording touches about as much as any other versions I have ever heard. Thank you, Don.

I did not always know how to navigate my relationship with Grandma. Just over a year, in fact, we clashed probably more than we ever had in my lifetime. Though I did not find it completely "fair", I "gave her the benefit of the doubt" and apologized to her. I also sent her cards, talked to her on the phone, or phoned her from time to time.

Then, last week, I decided to take the opportunity to be in Saskatoon for thanksgiving. That allowed grandma and I to have one last positive experience with each other - and, by all means, that meant she had to do her part. After all, she was down to her last week. I thank her for mustering the gumf to make sure we had a good time to finish things off.

The fact is, I am me. That means I cannot always see the way I am making other people feel. I know there were times I probably astounded her with my thoughtlessness, without even knowing it. At times, her frustration at that boiled over, and sometimes that left me hot and bothered. She, however, did her part, and I did what I could, and we had a happy ending to our friendship.