Randall Friesen
I want to be known as a husband to Lauralea. A dad to my kids, papa to my grandchildren and just a guy who followed Jesus.
I've been helping churches get healthier for a long time, and usually that's about praying and staying a long time in the same place.
Oh and yes, I am a ham. VE6VOR.
My love of Eggnog gets press
I suppose you would call them the good old days of blogging when local news organizations would call me for an opinion on some story or another that I had expressed here in this space. But those days are far far behind us now and its quieter in that way.
Until last Thursday when I was contacted by Maryse Zeidler, a reporter out of Vancouver who was doing a story for the CBC on Eggnog in the stores early. She had seen my photo on Instagram last week when Lauralea showed up at home with some Eggnog for me. The earliest we had ever seen the Nog in the wild.
We had a chat about it on the phone, and last night I saw the story she was working on. Its a fun piece looking at the early release of the seasonal treat this year.
It was enjoyable to do that again, and I'm writing this here mostly so I don't forget it. :)
And to post a link to the story, so I can go and reread it when I am old and grey. Well, old anyway.
Here's the link to the story.
Now go buy yourself a small litre of the stuff. Before it goes away.
Until last Thursday when I was contacted by Maryse Zeidler, a reporter out of Vancouver who was doing a story for the CBC on Eggnog in the stores early. She had seen my photo on Instagram last week when Lauralea showed up at home with some Eggnog for me. The earliest we had ever seen the Nog in the wild.
We had a chat about it on the phone, and last night I saw the story she was working on. Its a fun piece looking at the early release of the seasonal treat this year.
It was enjoyable to do that again, and I'm writing this here mostly so I don't forget it. :)
And to post a link to the story, so I can go and reread it when I am old and grey. Well, old anyway.
Here's the link to the story.
Now go buy yourself a small litre of the stuff. Before it goes away.
When I was experimenting with an inverted V antenna
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20171004172146im_/https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/37094275082_5ba761e743_b.jpg)
via Instagram ift.tt/2h9LJ65 http://ift.tt/2jyHGkB
When I was experimenting with an inverted V antenna, (ham radio) my wife came out and her only comment to me was, "Hmm looks like a sail!"
I know she's a keeper because I've heard what other ham wives have declared in similar situations. #VE6VOR #amateurradio
When I was experimenting with an inverted V antenna, (ham radio) my wife came out and her only comment to me was, "Hmm looks like a sail!"
I know she's a keeper because I've heard what other ham wives have declared in similar situations. #VE6VOR #amateurradio
Living and dying in the valley of vision
Last Sunday we had two guests with us at worship. A young man and his wife who shared with us a God given vision they had, to go to Argentina to work with the churches there who needed help.
They were going into some more language training this autumn and their house had finally sold and they were off to walk with God in this exciting life adventure.
Then yesterday we received word that the night before, on Wednesday night, he died of a heart attack.
Oh God we don't understand these things. It seems all wrong. But we trust what we've come to know in your character. Be present, be a comfort, be mercy for friends and family who grieve these days.
An old Puritan prayer.
Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, You have brought us to the valley of vision, where we live in the depths but see you in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin we behold Thy glory. Let us learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter your stars shine; let us find your light in our darkness, your life in our death, your joy in our sorrow, your grace in our sin, your riches in our poverty, your glory in our valley. Amen
They were going into some more language training this autumn and their house had finally sold and they were off to walk with God in this exciting life adventure.
Then yesterday we received word that the night before, on Wednesday night, he died of a heart attack.
Oh God we don't understand these things. It seems all wrong. But we trust what we've come to know in your character. Be present, be a comfort, be mercy for friends and family who grieve these days.
An old Puritan prayer.
Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, You have brought us to the valley of vision, where we live in the depths but see you in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin we behold Thy glory. Let us learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter your stars shine; let us find your light in our darkness, your life in our death, your joy in our sorrow, your grace in our sin, your riches in our poverty, your glory in our valley. Amen
The air speaks of change
There is change in the air now.
In seasons, in families, in work.
In energy, in health.
This is the part of the year that I love.
The heat and toil of summer is ending.
The cool of the year grows.
"Lyric night of the lingering Indian Summer,
Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing,
Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects,
Ceaseless, insistent."
Thought of the day #329
If the movement of your life is towards God, things become clearer.
If you harden your heart, the less clear things are.
Thought of the day
That is to say that some seem to struggle for clarity in their lives, in their day to day coming and going. That it seems less and less clear to them the ways to walk in. Their hearts are hard towards God, or at least they are moving in a line away from God and his heart. God allows their hearts to be hardened because they chose that direction to move in.
But for those who are in movement towards God, things in life become clearer the closer you are with Jesus. Not that it is an easier life for sure, but it is a life marked by an often singular clarity on most things.
Just saying...
O God, gather me now.
O God, gather me now
to be with you
as you are with me.
Soothe my tiredness;
quiet my fretfulness;
curb my aimlessness;
relieve my compulsiveness;
let me be easy for a moment.
O Lord, release me
from the fears and guilts
which grip me so tightly;
from the expectations and opinions
which I so tightly grip,
that I may be open
to receiving what you give,
to risking something genuinely new,
to learning something refreshingly different.
O God, gather me
To be with you
as you are with me.
Amen
Ted Loder
Praying for Peace (You can do that you know.)
May all who love this city prosper.
O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls
and prosperity in your palaces.
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say,
“May you have peace.”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.
Psalm 122
Time to live (Published in the Prince Albert Daily Herald March 2005)
WHAT'S THE MOST EXTRAVAGANT GIFT YOU COULD GIVE?
Lauralea and I had a talk today about who you "connect" with, on a regular basis. We were looking back at who we had, or rather how we had connected with others lately. She made an interesting observation. That the real connecting we had done over the past month were done with people who had time to connect.
They had, or at least appeared to have had time just to set a spell. Didn't have to plan the get together days in advance. Didn't have them thinking where else they needed to be, as they sat across from us visiting. Their only agenda, was hanging out, checking up, sharing themselves and their time, with the likes of us.
That's how a pastor should look, I think. Like he's got all the time in the world, to share life together. Peterson calls this pastor one who looks lazy, but he's surely not.
Nope, most of us would rather have a full day ahead of us, with a full list of people to see and meet with. Makes us look important, valuable, significant.
We create these busy illusions of importance for ourselves, because un-busyness would be a sign of... unimportance? laziness? friendlessness?
Or, maybe the busyness keeps us from thinking things too deeply or feeling emotions too significantly. Maybe it's like human autopilot or something. Keeps the wheels moving, so we don't have to.
I dunno.
But I do know that we are busy people
Sally Morganthaler, in an interview with One Small Barking Dog said:
We are busy people, and we like it that way, even though we say we don't.
To choose another way may cost us. It may cost us income, perceived significance, being labeled lazy, or worse yet, uneducated.
But maybe this is an area in which we need to be counter cultural. Maybe we need to be an example to our neighbours and friends, and children. That busyness isn't inherently a good thing. That the luxury of time is more precious than the luxury of wealth. And spending time on someone is a huge wonderful extravagance of love.
It's interesting that our reward to come after death, isn't a great gob of cash. It's not wealth untold, or much to my chagrin, a Wendy's hamburger. It is something called Eternal Life. A great, never-ending gob of, time.
Time, will be the reward. Not because we've been so short of it down here, but because of it's incredible value.
Time.
What are we doing with ours.
Lauralea and I had a talk today about who you "connect" with, on a regular basis. We were looking back at who we had, or rather how we had connected with others lately. She made an interesting observation. That the real connecting we had done over the past month were done with people who had time to connect.
They had, or at least appeared to have had time just to set a spell. Didn't have to plan the get together days in advance. Didn't have them thinking where else they needed to be, as they sat across from us visiting. Their only agenda, was hanging out, checking up, sharing themselves and their time, with the likes of us.
We create these busy illusions of importance for ourselves, because un-busyness would be a sign of... unimportance? laziness? friendlessness?
Or, maybe the busyness keeps us from thinking things too deeply or feeling emotions too significantly. Maybe it's like human autopilot or something. Keeps the wheels moving, so we don't have to.
I dunno.
But I do know that we are busy people
Sally Morganthaler, in an interview with One Small Barking Dog said:
Truly, our deprioritization of our own offspring is one of the great tragedies of late twentieth century America. The effects are staggering, and I'm not just talking about broken homes. It goes much deeper than that. The cessation of intergenerational narrative is at the core. The exchange of story has been one of the most important roles of family life. But getting involved in that exchange means sacrificing time, listening, and value that our children are actually worth the effort.
We are busy people, and we like it that way, even though we say we don't.
To choose another way may cost us. It may cost us income, perceived significance, being labeled lazy, or worse yet, uneducated.
But maybe this is an area in which we need to be counter cultural. Maybe we need to be an example to our neighbours and friends, and children. That busyness isn't inherently a good thing. That the luxury of time is more precious than the luxury of wealth. And spending time on someone is a huge wonderful extravagance of love.
It's interesting that our reward to come after death, isn't a great gob of cash. It's not wealth untold, or much to my chagrin, a Wendy's hamburger. It is something called Eternal Life. A great, never-ending gob of, time.
Time, will be the reward. Not because we've been so short of it down here, but because of it's incredible value.
Time.
What are we doing with ours.
The land isn't ready.
These are difficult days here for our farmers.
For some, last years crop is still on the ground and it doesn't dry up enough to even get that off the fields, let alone start this years crop.
Tough days.
We are praying.
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