Family Pictures 2010

There are only 3 kids in our family, but it seems nearly impossible to get us all together in one place at one time.  My brother Lee was home from Saskatchewan last weekend and Lyndon was also home, not driving his semi across the continent.  We quickly took the chance to take family pictures (one is posted at the side of my blog already - Lyndon is wearing the hat, Lee is bald).  Thank goodness for a tripod and timer. . .I think we did alright!

Strawberry Memories

I hope the rain didn't keep you away from the Winkler festival, because I was there. . .waiting for you!  It was a slow start today, but I'm hoping for better weather over the next 2 days and a lot of traffic.  One of the people who stopped by the table could remember my first name (he actually said Lavonne, but that's pretty close, considering how unusual my name is) and so I tried to place him.  He was young, but I knew that he was not a student, because they usually don't figure out my first name.  David was one of the kids that worked at the strawberry farm when I worked there between high school and university summers (way back when).  I couldn't believe that he remembered me!  He actually said that his family stills heads to the strawberry farm every summer to help with the we-pick berries.  His worst memory. . .the early morning starts!  My best memory of his family. . .the fact that so many of them piled out of the smallest red car (kind of like the clown car trick)!

Winkler Harvest Festival

Just a reminder to find my table at the fair grounds for the Winkler Harvest this weekend (Friday - Sunday).  I will be selling Threads of Hope ($1) and Little Travellers ($5 - $9).  Hope to see you there!

Jesus Thirsts

"Jesus wants me to tell you again. . .how much is the love He has for each one of you - beyond all what you can imagine. . .Not only He loves you, even more - He longs for you.  He misses you when you don't come close.  He thirsts for you.  He loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy. . .

For me it is so clear - everything in MC {Missionaries of Charity} exists to satiate Jesus.  His words on the wall of every MC chapel, they are not from [the] past only, but alive here and now, spoken to you.  Do you believe it?. . .Why does Jesus say 'I thirst'?  What does it mean?  Something so hard to explain in words - . . .'I thrist' is something much deeper than just Jesus saying 'I love you.' Until you know deep inside that Jesus thirsts for you - you can't begin to know who He wants to be for you.  Or who He wants you to be for Him."

~Mother Teresa

Somaly Mam Foundation

I found The Body Shop's petition after reading Somaly Mam's book "The Road of Lost Innocence" (which I blogged about earlier) and heading to her foundation's website www.somaly.org and I would encourage you to do both - read the book about her life and check out the website.  Another great book is "Traffick" by Norman Jean Roy which allows you to look directly at Cambodia's prostitution and trafficking problems through the eyes of its victims.  "The word for prostitute in Cambodia is srey kouc, 'broken woman' - broken in a way that cannot be mended."  (p. 47, "The Road of Lost Innocence")

Sign Our Petition

I know I have already emailed some of you about this, but for those of you who need a reminder or whose email address I don't have, please head to www.thebodyshop.com/_en/_ww/values-campaigns/stop-trafficking-select-country.aspx to sign a petition for your country through The Body Shop - Stop Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People.

The Guest of Honor

The table would not be complete without the guest of honor and my pick is Jesus himself.  He is the motivation behind each person's work at my dinner table.  And it is my personal belief that the fight for injustice is in vain without the One who himself experienced the grossest injustice of all - a perfect life hung on a cross paying for all of humanity's sins.

Dinner Guest #5

Around the table so far South Africa, Albania/India, Britain, and the Netherlands are represented.  Today I add an American to the mix in Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968).  Also a Nobel Peace Prize winner, King wore many hats - Baptist minister, civil rights activist, among other - and as with Wilberforce, King could not view the roles separately.  As Mother Teresa had spoken directly in opposition to abortion, King opposed the war in Vietnam with much criticism.  Where would America be today, had it not been for Martin Luther King Jr.?  And I also wonder, how much farther would they have gone in the civil rights movement had King been around longer?

Dinner Guest #4

Menno Simons (1496 - 1561) is the 4th guest at my dinner party.  He was a Dutch Anabaptist and his followers became known as Mennonites, of which I'm one.  As I blogged before, there is a common thread between all my guests in that they were not preaching one thing but then acting differently (or indifferently).  His relationship with God convinced him of many things that were wrong in the church and so he took action.  Again, he was not always the most popular, but knew in his heart that God had called His people to something greater.  Being one of the oldest people at our table, I'm sure we will gain great insight into just how radical he was for his day and then be motivated to go out and do the same.

Dinner Guest #3

My 3rd guest is a British politician by the name of William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833).  He worked tirelessly for almost 1/2 a century to abolish Britain's slave trade and make slavery illegal.  It's one thing when the majority of the population agrees with your fight for injustice - it was an entirely different thing when, because Britain and its economy were so dependent upon the African slave trade, the fight seemed insurmountable.  In the midst of his political career, Wilberforce also had an encounter with God which made him question whether he should stay in politics or give it all up for the ministry.  Thankfully, with the guidance of people from both sides, he realized that his fight in politics WAS his ministry.  Now, 200 years later, we can look back at his struggle and fight modern day slavery (in the form of human trafficking) with the same resolve.  Imagine getting his insight into human trafficking today.

Dinner Guest #2

Yesterday I was excited to realize that no 2 of my dinner guests come from the same country, and I didn't do that on purpose!  We will have different backgrounds, come from different cultures, perhaps speak some different languages, but I believe that all my guests have the same heart for justice.  My second guest is Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997), a Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship.  Along with Nelson Mandela, she is also a Nobel Peace Prize winner.  It is her transparency and honesty that touch my heart - she talked many times about her 'nothingness' so that Christ could be everything.  The poor were not her burden, they were her Jesus.  And the fact that she lived like the poor around her in order to speak the same language and understand them more.  The fact that she spoke God's truth even when it was unpopular.  She is my lone female guest so maybe I would connect with her in a way that would be impossible with the gentlemen around the table.

Dinner Guest #1

In no particular order, I will start with my only living guest - Nelson Mandela.  I think that you will see a common theme in all of my dinner guests - they did not wait idly by for someone else to do something about their situation, they themselves affected change.  There's something to be said Mandela had fought against apartheid and racism, but he did so much more than that.  In "Long Walk to Freedom", he continually writes about winning over those who had oppressed them for so long.  And it was not to tolerate them or win them over to the other side, but to truly find common ground for peace, dignity and respect for all.  I would be honored to have Nelson Mandela as a dinner guest and to hear what continued to push him to fight for a South Africa's freedom.

You are Invited to Dinner

While hiking the Austrian Alps in 2003, my teammates and I had A LOT of time to kill.  My teammate Dan loved to play the "if" game.  For example, "If you had the choice, would you choose to lose your sense of sight or your sense of hearing?"  Of course, there were never easy or simple answers, so that made these discussions interesting and long (always a good thing while on the trail).  There are actually "If. . ." books that you can buy, full of interesting questions that are great conversation starters.

I remember another question Dan posed:  "If you could invite anyone, past or present, to a dinner party, who would you invite and why?"  For some reason, this has come back to mind in the last little while, especially as I've been reading many biographies/autobiographies.  And so, you are invited to my dinner party this week as I introduce my 5 (or so) party guests.  I don't think there will be any surprises, but maybe you have some suggestions of people that I'm missing.

Speaking Engagements

This is the 3rd Sunday in a row that I've had a speaking engagement (last week was a children's feature and the other 2 times were 1/2 hour 'sermons' at churches where their pastor was on holidays).  In preparation for this week, I looked back at the last 7 months and counted 10 different churches and 3 schools that I've spoken to, plus other activities like newspaper and radio interviews.  I still don't have specific plans for the fall, but my calendar is slowly starting to fill up with more speaking engagements.  I told the congregation this morning that God has a message and I still have a mission, even though I'm home now and not travelling.