Relating to others

A lot of Christians today have become accustomed to using certain language and phrasing specific to regular church attenders, and we call this Christian-ese. As I'm watching football on TV (Go Riders!!), I caught the announcers using football specific terms, something I never really paid attention to before as it made sense to me. Then I thought to myself "Would that make any sense to my wife Dee?". As I watched and thought more about it, I realized a parallel between Christian-ese and football jargon. Both of these modified languages use terms that would confuse someone not familiar to them, and that makes it difficult to relate to anyone outside that group.
If we want to get Jesus' message out to everyone, we have to be able to relate to them. I'm not talking about using them same words (cursing etc..), or by spending time with them putting yourself in a position to sin. I am saying is don't talk in church code (Christian-ese), it just tends to make people tune you out and I don't think that's what God would want. Also simply understand that we are all susceptible to sin, so don't be as willing to judge as we usually are. (And whether you think you do or not, understand that you do, that we all do.)

The need for the return of manners

Holding the door for a stranger, please and thank you, even these small courtesies have lost a place in modern society. Are we too civilized to show respect to those whom we are destined to share time on earth with? Our efforts to be tolerant of everything makes us complacent to the moral decline of our societal etiquette.
It appals me when I see today's children interacting with others, the complete lack of respect for their elders is disgusting and they way they treat their peers is horrifying. Between our quest to be open minded and trying to obtain the "American Dream" lifestyle, society has stopped "raising" their children. We've left that to schools, daycares, babysitters, television and last but far from least their friends.
I'm not saying we need to pull the chair out for a lady (at least not every time, but wouldn't it be nice to make that person feel special?), however teaching our children that it is unacceptable to be rude or disobedient should be of utmost importance to us all. It's a simple thing that we think we're all doing, but we're not seeing the results in real life, are we? We get out of our kids what we put into them, and when we started taking God out look what happened.
I got all this as I watched a Saturday afternoon movie "Kate and Leopold", it made me think of how much we've changed since the foundation of Canada and the fact that a lot of it wasn't for the better. "We have every comfort and convenience, but no time for integrity" Leopold said, and doesn't that sum up the way of the world. It's up to all of us to change it!

How annoying

I know that the internet is still confusing and new for a lot (most) of people, but instead of learning more about it they jump in with both feet after the absolute minimum of knowledge. I'm not saying that people with less experience should not use things like e-mail, I AM saying that if you're going to use it take the initiative to learn more about it!
Let's take forwards for example:
When you forward anything by just blindly following the instructions that come in the e-mail, you are putting your address and the all recipients adresses out there for hundreds, thousands etc.. of others to see OR USE as they wish. So let's protect each other online, LEARN as much as you can and ALWAYS BLIND CARBON COPY if you feel you must forward something!

A simple truth

As I sat here getting more and more angry at the copious amounts of pain I'm in, I was raging at God that I wanted my life back...... My mind finally went quite and I heard the simple truth, "It's not your life".
If you not a Christian and you're reading this it might not make any sense, even as a Christian it may be confusing. Christ gave us a mission when He came, to let people know about Him and His gift of salvation. When Jesus died so that I can have eternal life, He paid for my life. God gave His Son to the world, and Christ willingly died for every person on earth. Jesus not only died for us, His gift gave us the promise of heaven if we simply accept it. How selfish am I to think that what I want is more important than what God's wants, and when you know that ALL God wants for you is the best of EVERYTHING, it borders ridiculous!!!
There is way more to this subject than what I posted, and I hope you'll look into it whether you believe it or not.

Last 2 weeks

This whole thing actually starts July 12th, 2004. That's the date of the assessment that started a rollercoaster of pain. This assessment was three days of incredible pain as they pushed, pulled and prodded my arm trying to assess my functional limitations. It took 2 months for me to get used to the new pain levels, and no they never decreased to where they were prior, I have had to adapt myself to these new levels. I then went to a second assessment on August 5 with an Orthopedic surgeon. This assessment I must say was a FAR more humane than what I was put through in July, and I use the word humane because what they put me through would be considered cruel and inhumane if it were done to an animal.
Anyways on to the title subject. The last 2 weeks I have been going to InTouch Career College, these test are a personal interest inventory, personality type and to find my high school levels (to see if I need upgrading to take anything more post secondary, dependent of course on what field I choose ie: math upgrading for computer programming). It sometimes even surprises me how physically draining it is to go out and do even simple things, and that's due to the varying pain level. And that is still a major concern where retraining comes into play, are the going to flexible enough to accommodate my varying pain and level of ability? But we'll leave that in God's hands, after all His plans always work out.
It is very interesting to have this opportunity to find out where my interests and personality would be best suited in the workplace, it's something that not a lot of people get the chance to do but I believe we'd have a lot more satisfied workers if this were more available to the average person. We'll be able to go through the results either later this coming week or early the next. Either way I'm really grateful for the break now, because I kind of feel like I'm coming apart at the edges (because of continuous elevation in pain through recent testing). I'll post more once we go through the results!

Winter came in like a lion.

It started to sleet last night as we came home from friends, and then this morning I found out how bad it was on the way to church.... the roads are NASTY!!!! Now, I don't have a problem driving in winter, because I actually use my signal lights, shoulder check and pay attention to the road conditions. This is NOT however the case with the majority of drivers out there! I am appalled at the number of drivers that consider a signal light "OPTIONAL"! Last I heard it was still a ticketable offence to not use indicators, I guess if this were enforced more strictly it would be less of a problem. But then the police and RCMP would be considered hypocrites if they were to ticket the public for the same offences they commit. I know I drive better with one arm than most people do with two, and that fact in itself frustrates me about other drivers' laziness. And then there's the subject of driving while using a CELL PHONE... I have to words for these hazardous drivers... "HANDS FREE"!!!!!!!!!!! How hard is it to use an earphone??? I go back to the lack of using common sense and laziness being the main problems here too. There is a whole new level of danger when you factor in how poorly some people drive and add on the distraction of trying to talk on the phone.... It's bad enough trying to figure out what the person in front of you is going to do on dry pavement, now we're dealing with sleet, snow and ice on top of it! Now add all these problems together, multiply by the number of drivers that do these idiotic things and it's one heck of a mess out there!!!
Just because this makes me angry doesn't mean I had an accident, you'll find if you continue reading my posts that I am an advocate of common sense and the lack of it's use is a sore point with me. God didn't put a brain in your head to hold your ears apart, it actually has another use called THINKING!

Welcome!

I wish I would have had the opportunity to start a blog several years ago, when I was first injured and needed an outlet to express myself. See I'm terrible at Journaling or keeping a diary, so a lot of what I went through is lost in the mists of time and medications. What I have written from what I remember is on a page that I will link, it's a combination of writings from my wife and I on some of the going ons of my disability and dealings with those involved.
I'll ask for one indulgence if I may, with the fact of having only one arm to work with I ask that you forgive the spelling mistakes that are bound to pop up (I tend to forget to use spellchecks).