Today my pastor read this poem by Jimmy Stewart to illustrate friendship. He first heard Jimmy read it on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.



My pastor said the poem did, and still, makes him cry. I get a lump in my throat as well, because it makes me think of my own "Beau", a springer spaniel named Freckles who was my best friend from age 5 until 19.

I have been watching the new CBS show Kid Nation, for no other reason than curiousity. Haven't I already seen this show before?

Oh, yeah. It was called Lord of the Flies.

IT'S A GIRL!!!Welcome,Liana Cyan Melanson!

Congratulations Gordie, Natasha and Aidan!!!

I realize that these stories are a metaphor for something else, but ...

"And no one puts new wine in old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved." Matthew 9:17, NLT

If you don't put new wine in old wineskins, what do you put in old wineskins?

Do they just get thrown away when the old wine is gone?

If so, why should you care if they get ruined?

"A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing. So he said, 'I know! I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll have room enough to store everything'." Luke 12:16-18, NLT

Who tears down a perfectly good barn to build a bigger barn?

Why not just build a second barn?

How did this guy get so rich making such poor business decisions?

After spending some time listening to music with the group of two-year-olds from my work, here are some of my observations ...

• How can "Hot Cross Buns" be both "one-a-penny" and "two-a-penny"? Are the "two-a-penny" buns day old?


• In "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain", when they said, "We'll all go out to meet her when she comes", I used to think they were all going out to a town named "Meter". That seemed like a typical Saskatchewan town name to me. What else do you do when company comes, but make a trip into the closest larger community for some shopping, visiting and maybe supper out?


• What is "playing knick-knack"? How do you do it? Should "This Old Man" be doing it on any part of a little kid?

For years, I have been walking around church every Christmas talking about a song we used to sing at my school ... but no one ever knew it but me - until now! I have found vindication in finding the lyrics and a free MP3 download!!!

It is apparently from a kid's Christmas album called Sunshine and Snowflakes (1973). It is a really fun song that I always thought would be cute for kids to sing in a pageant or just in Sunday school class.

Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus

Well everybody has a birthday,
And a cake and a party too,
And all your friends come over,
And sing “Happy Birthday” to you.

Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus,
Even when your birthday’s through,
All year long we’ll remember,
Each precious gift we get from You.

So we sing,
Fa la la la, Fa la la la la,
He was born on Christmas Day.
Fa la la la, Fa la la la la,
He brings so much joy our way.

[Break]

When Jesus has a birthday,
The whole wide world was there,
And he gives out the presents
For all the people to share.

Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus,
Even when your birthday’s through,
All year long we’ll remember,
Each precious gift we get from You.

Let’s all sing,
Fa la la la, Fa la la la la,
He was born on Christmas Day.
Fa la la la, Fa la la la la,
He brings so much joy our way.

Let’s all sing,
Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus,
Even when your birthday’s through,
All year long we’ll remember,
Each precious gift we get from You.

Fa la la la la la la la la la,
Fa la, la la.
Fa la la la la la la la la la,
Merry Christmas to you.
Merry Christmas.

Fa la la la la la la la la la,
Fa la, la la.
Fa la la la la la la la la la,
Merry Christmas to you.
Merry Christmas to you.

Likely, more people would have been onboard if I was able to carry a tune. Usually, when I would ask if they had ever heard the song before, they would respond, "Sing a little!". I would labour out a few bars, and they would reply, "I've never heard that one ...", then silently add, " ... nor would I want to ...".

What the ...

One of the girls at my job was given the task of doing a reading from Colossians at a Catholic school mass next week. I decided to help her practice for this, using a list of tips from The Lutheran Handbook 2.

Tip #2 is "Unleash your curiousity as you read".

Ask questions like: Who is speaking? Is this a story or a teaching? What is the context? Who is the audience? Where is that place? Who is that person? How do you pronounce that?

I asked her, "Who is speaking?"

"Ummm ... I am?"

As I explained that, while that is technically correct, the more correct answer is Paul, I came up with a question of my own.

If the Romans lived in Rome ...
and the Corinthians lived in Corinth ...
where did the Colossians live?

Answer? Colossae.

Thank you, Wikipedia!

This afternoon, I played Oregon Trail and Number Munchers on a site called "Virtual Apple", which allows you to play your favorite childhood computer games online. A person forgets how simple graphics used to be! However, the games were still as fun as ever. I was impressed at how good I am at Number Munchers now ... but not that good, which is sort of a sad commentary on my math skills.