I replied to Kes

Hi Kes,
Obviously, there is more information out there than the one organization Terry Ball is associated with. Like you said we should look at information from both sides and draw our own opinion.
I am sending you some other information regarding solar warming of other planets etc.
I never got from Timothy Ball that there is no need for concern. He said and I agree that all of us need to be concerned about pollution and polluting and being proactive in reducing our consumption of hydro carbons. Nobody disputes that 15 percent of the worlds population controls and uses 85 percent of the worlds man produced wealth.
The difference in scientific opinion is that the main stream thinking follows the ‘people are to blame for global warming’ theory. A much smaller scientific community believes that there is a bigger universal picture that needs to be recognized in that regard.
These should be two different arguments. What is causing Climate Change? And how should all of the rich people of the world be proactive in reducing the levels of pollution and polluting activities?
Just because the herd is following doesn’t mean it is necessarily right. Back in the 1400’s most of the civilized world thought the earth was flat and if you went past the horizon you’d just fall off.
Lobbying to have your data recognized is no more biased than having a multi million dollar organized movement headed by a high profile politician(Al Gore ) that makes a movie supporting only 1 point of view and then try to proliferate that point of view in ways such as trying to deliver it into the hands of the public school system for mass consumption as completely factual and true.
These are your words Kes and I couldn’t agree more with them.
“The key to finding unbiased information is finding the facts and creating your own opinion. In this case real scientific data not some group scientist who's hands are in the back pocket of the industries at blame and over eager to start pointing fingers. Actually look at both sides of the story and decide from there.”

When you talk about the population levels and their effect on climate, I would use the vast amount of hydrocarbon reserves in the ground, oil, gas, coal etc.as pretty strong evidence that it took a pretty massive amount of population of some kind to produce it. Even today its pretty common scientific knowledge that domesticated animals are one of the largest contributors to green house gasses on the planet. Did this planet become so overrun with giant animals that the earth shutdown in its ability to support them or did some humongous cosmic event occur that wiped them out and created this incredible energy supply in the ground?

Personally I don’t have any problem with controlling our consumption. What each person does in their day to day lives can do a lot to reduce pollution and consumption. You’re right if you think that most people don’t give a rats butt or if they do its okay as long as it doesn’t affect the plans they have to buy this that and whatever so they can live the life they ‘deserve”.
The more people that buy into energy conservation, less consumption , less polluting the better it will be for all of us. But those emerging middle classes in India and China aren’t too worried. In our shrinking global village they are learning to be consumers and they’re not going to stop anytime soon.
There are historic examples that it is impossible to stop what and where humanity migrate to. Whether it’s the poor people of Europe coming by the millions to North America, Millions of Latin and South American migrating to the United States or the massive desire for a consumers society in India and China.
Its true these events cause radical changes.
Its a radical point of view that after however many thousands or millions of years there has been life on this earth that we suddenly have a few hundred scientists who say we have 20 years to save the world. Its much more realistic to think they have a bigger political and economic agenda than a real concern to encourage the global community to be more thoughtful in its stewardship of the vast resources we have at our disposal on this planet we call home.
I admit to not knowing too much about the specific goals of Kyoto and I probably should correct that. Typically broad political documents are hardly worth the paper they’re written on in terms of how closely the governments that sign them actually follow the directions that are outlined.
Lets compare our carbon footprints one of these days. Other than the fact our house is too big for us I think were not that different.
Thank you very much for the effort you made to respond. I really appreciated it. I always enjoy and respect the thoughtful opinions you have about the world around you.

Love,
Dad
Here is the research I came up with
Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.
Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.


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Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.
In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.
Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.
"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said.
Solar Cycles
Abdussamatov believes that changes in the sun's heat output can account for almost all the climate changes we see on both planets.
Mars and Earth, for instance, have experienced periodic ice ages throughout their histories.
"Man-made greenhouse warming has made a small contribution to the warming seen on Earth in recent years, but it cannot compete with the increase in solar irradiance," Abdussamatov said.
By studying fluctuations in the warmth of the sun, Abdussamatov believes he can see a pattern that fits with the ups and downs in climate we see on Earth and Mars.

All planets experience a few wobbles as they make their journey around the sun. Earth's wobbles are known as Milankovitch cycles and occur on time scales of between 20,000 and 100,000 years.
These fluctuations change the tilt of Earth's axis and its distance from the sun and are thought to be responsible for the waxing and waning of ice ages on Earth.
Mars and Earth wobble in different ways, and most scientists think it is pure coincidence that both planets are between ice ages right now.
"Mars has no [large] moon, which makes its wobbles much larger, and hence the swings in climate are greater too,"

Perhaps the biggest stumbling block in Abdussamatov's theory is his dismissal of the greenhouse effect, in which atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide help keep heat trapped near the planet's surface.
He claims that carbon dioxide has only a small influence on Earth's climate and virtually no influence on Mars.
But "without the greenhouse effect there would be very little, if any, life on Earth, since our planet would pretty much be a big ball of ice," said Evan, of the University of Wisconsin.
Most scientists now fear that the massive amount of carbon dioxide humans are pumping into the air will lead to a catastrophic rise in Earth's temperatures, dramatically raising sea levels as glaciers melt and leading to extreme weather worldwide.
Abdussamatov remains contrarian, however, suggesting that the sun holds something quite different in store.
"The solar irradiance began to drop in the 1990s, and a minimum will be reached by approximately 2040," Abdussamatov said. "It will cause a steep cooling of the climate on Earth in 15 to 20 years."


Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist at Liverpool John Moores University who monitors studies and news reports of asteroids, global warming and other potentially apocalyptic topics, recently quoted in his daily electronic newsletter the following from a blog called Strata-Sphere:
“Global warming on Neptune's moon Triton as well as Jupiter and Pluto, and now Mars has some [scientists] scratching their heads over what could possibly be in common with the warming of all these planets ... Could there be something in common with all the planets in our solar system that might cause them all to warm at the same time?”
Peiser included quotes from recent news articles that take up other aspects of the idea.
“I think it is an intriguing coincidence that warming trends have been observed on a number of very diverse planetary bodies in our solar system,” Peiser said in an email interview. “Perhaps this is just a fluke.”
In fact, scientists have alternative explanations for the anomalous warming on each of these other planetary bodies.
The warming on Triton, for example, could be the result of an extreme southern summer on the moon, a season that occurs every few hundred years, as well as possible changes in the makeup of surface ice that caused it to absorb more of the Sun’s heat.
Researchers credited Pluto’s warming to possible eruptive activity and a delayed thawing from its last close approach to the Sun in 1989.
And the recent storm activity on Jupiter is being blamed on a recurring climatic cycle that churns up material from the gas giant’s interior and lofts it to the surface, where it is heated by the Sun.
Sun does vary
The radiation output of the Sun does fluctuate over the course of its 11-year solar cycle. But the change is only about one-tenth of 1 percent—not substantial enough to affect Earth’s climate in dramatic ways, and certainly not enough to be the sole culprit of our planet’s current warming trend, scientists say.
“The small measured changes in solar output and variations from one decade to the next are only on the order of a fraction of a percent, and if you do the calculations not even large enough to really provide a detectable signal in the surface temperature record,” said Penn State meteorologist Michael Mann.
The link between solar activity and global warming is just another scapegoat for human-caused warming, Mann told LiveScience.
“Solar activity continues to be one of the last bastions of contrarians,” Mann said. “People who don’t accept the existence of anthropogenic climate change still try to point to solar activity.”
The Maunder Minimum
This is not to say that solar fluctuations never influence Earth’s climate in substantial ways. During a 75-year period beginning in 1645, astronomers detected almost no sunspot activity on the Sun. Called the “Maunder Minimum,” this event coincided with the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, a 350-year cold spell that gripped much of Europe and North America.
Recent studies have cast doubt on this relationship, however. New estimates of the total change in the brightness of the Sun during the Maunder Minimum suggest it was only fractions of a percent, and perhaps not enough to create the global cooling commonly attributed to it.
“The situation is pretty ambiguous,” said David Rind, a senior climate researcher at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who has modeled the Maunder Minimum.
Based on current estimates, even if another Maunder Minimum were to occur, it might result in an average temperature decrease of about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, Rind said.
This would still not be enough to counteract warming of between 2 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit from greenhouse gases by 2100, as predicted by the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
LiveScience staff writer Andrea Thompson contributed to this article.



Neptune is the planet farthest from the Sun (Pluto is now considered only a dwarf planet), Neptune is the planet farthest from the Earth, and to our knowledge, there has been absolutely no industrialization out at Neptune in recent centuries. There has been no recent build-up of greenhouse gases there, no deforestation, no rapid urbanization, no increase in contrails from jet airplanes, and no increase in ozone in the low atmosphere; recent changes at Neptune could never be blamed on any human influence. Incredibly, an article has appeared in a recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters showing a stunning relationship between the solar output, Neptune’s brightness, and heaven forbid, the temperature of the Earth. With its obvious implications to the greenhouse debate, we are certain you have never heard of the work and never will outside World Climate Report.
In case you have forgotten your basic science lessons on the planets, Neptune orbits the Sun at a distance 30 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun and Neptune revolves around the Sun once every 164.8 Earth years. Neptune has 17 times the mass of the Earth, its atmosphere is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, with traces of methane that account for the planet’s distinctive blue appearance. It was the only planet discovered mathematically – scientists noted variations in the orbit of Uranus, they calculated the orbit and position of a yet undiscovered planet that could cause the variations noted for Uranus, they determined where the planet should be, and on the first night they searched for it (September 23, 1846), they discovered the large planet sitting within 1 degree of their predictions. The new planet was named for Neptune, Roman god of the sea, given its distinctive blue color. Observations from Earth and a 1989 Voyager 2 flyby have revealed that Neptune’s cloud tops are extremely cold (−346°F) being so far from the Sun while the center of the planet has a temperature of 13,000°F due to high pressure generating extremely hot gases.
In the recent article, Hammel and Lockwood, from the Space Science Institute in Colorado and the Lowell Observatory, note that measurements of visible light from Neptune have been taken at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona since 1950. Obviously, light from Neptune can be related to seasons on the planet, small variations in Neptune’s orbit, the apparent tilt of the axis as viewed from the Earth, the varying distance from Neptune to Earth, and of course, changes in the atmosphere near the Lowell Observatory. Astronomers are clever, they are fully aware of these complications, and they adjust the measurements accordingly.
As seen in Figure 1, Neptune has been getting brighter since around 1980; furthermore, infrared measurements of the planet since 1980 show that the planet has been warming steadily from 1980 to 2004. As they say on Neptune, global warming has become an inconvenient truth. But with no one to blame, Hammel and Lockwood explored how variations in the output of the Sun might control variations in the brightness of Neptune.
Figure 1 (a) represents the corrected visible light from Neptune from 1950 to 2006; (b) shows the temperature anomalies of the Earth; (c) shows the total solar irradiance as a percent variation by year; (d) shows the ultraviolet emission from the Sun (Source: Hammel and Lockwood (2007)).
What would seem so simple statistically is complicated by the degrees of freedom in the various time series which is related to the serial correlation in the data (e.g., next year’s value is highly dependent on this year’s value). Nonetheless, they find that the correlation coefficient between solar irradiance and Neptune’s brightness is near 0.90 (1.00 is perfect). The same relationship is found between the Earth’s temperature anomalies and the solar output. Hammel and Lockwood note “In other words, the Earth temperature values are as well correlated with solar irradiance (r = 0.89) as they are with Neptune’s blue brightness (r > 0.90), assuming a 10-year lag of the Neptune values.” The temporal lag is needed to account for the large mass of Neptune that would require years to adjust to any changes in solar output.
Hammel and Lockwood conclude that “In summary, if Neptune’s atmosphere is indeed responding to some variation in solar activity in a manner similar to that of the Earth albeit with a temporal lag” then “Neptune may provide an independent (and extraterrestrial) locale for studies of solar effects on planetary atmospheres.”
World Climate Report has covered many articles in the scientific literature showing that variations in solar output, including variations within specific wavelengths (e.g., cosmic, ultraviolet, visible, infrared) are highly correlated with temperature variations near the Earth’s surface. Believe it or not, when the Sun is more energetic and putting out more energy, the Earth tends to warm up, and when the Sun cools down, so does the Earth. The Hammel and Lockwood article reveals that the same is true out at Neptune; when the Sun’s energy increases, Neptune seems to warm up and get brighter given a decade lag.
If for some reason you do not believe that the Sun is a significant player in determining the temperature of the Earth (after all, we are told repeatedly that humans are causing most of the observed warming on the Earth), then asked yourself if you believe that Neptune’s temperature is controlled by the Sun. How is it possible that the Earth’s temperature is so highly correlated with brightness variations from Neptune? The news from Neptune comes to us just weeks after an article was published showing that Mars has warmed recently as well.
If nothing else, we have certainly learned recently that planets undergo changes in their mean temperature, and while we can easily blame human activity here on the Earth, blaming humans for the recent warming on Mars and Neptune would be an astronomical stretch, to say the least.
Reference:
Hammel, H. B., and G. W. Lockwood, 2007. Suggestive correlations between the brightness of Neptune, solar variability, and Earth’s temperature, Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L08203, doi:10.1029/2006GL028764.














Other planets are warming up too.Well, the thing is that it is not only "Mars" and "Pluto" that are warming, but pretty much every planet, and moon with an atmosphere in the solar system is warming/undergoing climate change, and in most cases what is happening to every planet in the solar system, is worse than what is happening on Earth.
Global Warming on Pluto.http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/pluto_warming_02100...
Climate change/warming on Jupiter.http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-05-04-jup...
Global warming on Triton. (Neptune's largest moon)http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/19980526052143data_trunc...
Global warming on Enceladus. (A moon of Saturn)http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20060419/Featu...
Climate change on Saturn.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6135450.stm...

The Great(Grate) Climate Change Debate

The debate is raging world wide. A spark of it ignited at our house Sept 30 when family got together to celebrate the first 40 year old sibling. The day after I sent a link to Kes. The information there goes against the common theme getting all the publicity these days that the production of CO2 by human activity is the major cause of temperature change on the planet and we are running out of time to change catastophic consequences.
The link to Terry Ball is at the bottom of the page. I had heard him recently on a T.V. show. His common sense talk made a lot of sense to me and I located his website and wrote him an e-mail in support.

The preceeding comments are Kes's reply.

Thanks for the link. I read through the website and was unimpressed, they don't present any information on what they think is happening with climate change. There whole view seems to be that it's a natural process and there is no need for concern, but fail to present any solid data supporting there claims.
I dug a ittle deeper and read some of Timothy Balls articles not posted on his website; once again he just points fingers at people trying to cause a so called "fear" and fails to present any real data on what he feels is happening. For someone who has a doctorate in climatology it would be nice if he spent a little less time writing about how all the other scientist are wrong and would start doing some of his own research. On top of all that he was on Fox news, definitely the worlds most reliable source of unbiased and accurate information...
Also it looks like the founder of NRSP (Timothy Egan) coincidentally a lobbyist who happens to have clients of the likes of the Canadian Electricity Association and the Canadian Gas Association. Both of these organizations represent the industries that do most of our polluting and generate the vast majority of C02 in Canada. I found it hilarious there claim that the more C02 the better!?! What?!? Sure maybe plants in very controlled environments have benefited from increased levels of C02 but they failed to mention that plant growth is also linked to a few other more important elements - sunlight, water, temperature etc.. not strictly C02. Smoking is good for us too right? Come on this defies common sense!
Read this: http://www.desmogblog.com/nrsp-controlled-by-energy-lobbyists
The key to finding unbiased information is finding the facts and creating your own opinion. In this case real scientific data not some group scientist who's hands are in the back pocket of the industries at blame and over eager to start pointing fingers. Actually look at both sides of the story and decide from there.
For me it boils down to this. When you think the population of our planet has gone from around 3 billion people in the 1960's to over 6.5 billion present day how can you not think we've had some kind of drastic effect on our planet. Parts of the world (India & China) with some of the highest population density have an increased growing middle class and are starting to modernize at increased rates. If everyone lived like we do in North America we would need 6 planet earths to sustain our current rate of consumption.. Ill let you draw your own conclusions from that.
How can anyone sit down look at the data on C02 emissions into our atmosphere and say that we haven't had anything to do with it? It's completely insane to think that if you cut down the planets forests and start using up all the fossil fuel reserves (stored sources of carbon from dead animal and plant life) that you are not having an impact on C02 emissions. Sure maybe we account for only 20% (now) but what happens in 20 years?? what happens if it only takes 5% to tip the balance? Is it better to be ignorant about it and say it's ok it's ok and not really know? Or is it better to think that even if there is the slightest possibility we have an impact that maybe we should change our ways? There is a lot of information out there that shows earth temperature is directly tied to C02 levels in our atmosphere. C02 emissions are a the highest levels in possibly 26 million years, and as crazy as it may seem the increase started somewhere around the start of industrialization. Coincidence? Maybe. Cause for concern I should think so.
I could go on and on but I won't, the information is out there. I find if funny that people get all bent out of shape at the idea of a carbon tax or a tax to those who choose to abuse the environment when America spends over a billion dollars a day to fight a war over oil. Maybe George will yet find those WMD's and we can all pat him on the back. Isn't it odd that 160 counties in the world have ratified Kyoto realizing there is a problem and are trying figure out what is exactly happening? They are working together to find ways to solve it and once again it's the finger pointing we are right you are wrong style attitude coming from the US and for now our own government it seems. When will people learn.I will leave you with a few links that are more factual in nature:
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpopinfo.html
http://eobglossary.gsfc.nasa.gov/Library/GlobalWarmingUpdate/global_warming_update.html
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/global_warming_worldbook.html
http://gcmd.nasa.gov/Resources/pointers/glob_warm.html
http://biophile.co.za/climate-change/global-warming-fact-and-fiction/
Kes

From: "Glenn Allen" To: keswicka@hotmail.com, y2kdragon@hotmail.com, cathy@tvfacts.org, hjranch@telus.netSubject: Climate ChangeDate: Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:56:11 -0700

Hi,
Great conversation aways happens when we have a little get together. Like the climate change topic which Kes, Scott, Dave, Howard and I had a lively time tossing around for awhile
This is the website for Timothy Ball, the guy I heard on T.V. a while ago and was referring to.
Thought I'd pass it along fyi.
Great seeing everybody and thanks so much for coming over. We really appreciate it.

http://www.nrsp.com/strategy.html

The Myth of a Christian Nation

The Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory A. Boyd

Excerpts and thoughts…

P. 135
If we loved as Jesus loved we would become humble servants of humanity.
If we offer unconditional love, worth and acceptance that can’t be found any where else, we would become known as people who do not judge, who make no claim for themselves but who simply live to serve others.
People will want to hang out with us just as they did Jesus.
“If we would simply internalize Jesus’ teaching that we are to consider our own sin to be tree trunks in our eyes and other people’s sin – whatever it is – to be a mere dust particle, we would quickly become known not as self righteous judgers” (as is too often the case when we say we are “Christians) “but as the most humble, self-effacing people on the planet.”

“If you want to judge someone you have to be sinless. Of course, if you are sinless, like Jesus, you won’t have any inclination to do so.”


P. 27
“Any peace achieved by violence is a peace forever threatened by violence, thus ensuring that the bloody game will be perpetuated.
Followers of Jesus must realize – and must help others realize ….the hope of the world lies in a kingdom that is not of this world, a kingdom that doesn’t participate in tit for tat, a kingdom that operates with a completely different understanding of power. It is the kingdom established by Jesus Christ and a kingdom that is expanded by people committed to following him. It is the kingdom of God…it is a kingdom where greatness is defined by serving and sacrificing for others.”


I have had my beliefs in the roots of democratic government (mainly North American) changed by reading Gregory Boyd’s viewpoint.
I had always reasoned that democratic law was rooted in biblical law and that is why we enjoy the security and freedom we do in North America. The erosion of those laws I saw as fueling the downfall of our society. Thus I favored actions that defend our laws. I assimilated the sacrifices that both my parents made in WWII with the need to fight against those who seek to destroy the freedom that comes with democracy.
Mr. Boyd clearly defined that the way of the sword is an historical and ongoing abuse of assuming that we are fulfilling God’s commission when we use violence.
If we do not look like Jesus then we are not fulfilling his commission.

Salute To Dad

Whenever I go back to Prince Rupert I like to make a point of visiting my Dad.
His spirit has remained part of me since September 12 1982. But I still like to visit the veterans section of the Prince Rupert Cemetery. I usually clean away the encroaching moss from the small rectangular granite grave stone that bears his name, military information and the quotation, A Proud Canadian.
This summer I decided to ask someone to join me. My cousin, Carroll, was always like another son to my Dad. It was Carroll who took on the unenviable task to call me when Dad died suddenly and unexpectedly. He and I have carried on that spiritual connection we seem to have even though our lives have often go in different directions.
Now Dad was a proud Canadian who served overseas for 5 years but there is an underlying significance to this tribute. There is a Canadian Whiskey called Royal Reserve and on the back of each 26 ounce bottle was a removeable sticker the read A Proud Canadian. There were a number of these stuck on various things and places around my parents house.
So when I asked Carroll if he would be interested in visiting Dads place where his earthly remains lie, I already had in hand a bottle of Royal Reserve and a couple of Cokes. So we drove up to the Cemetery one afternoon. We had a ‘snort’ as Dad would have called it straight from the bottle. Then dumped some of the Coke to make room for the other liquid. We stood with Dad and talked about the good times we remembered with him, his sense of humor, how we remembered his life, his never complain attitude even though the last 12 years were diminished somewhat from the effects of a heart attack that shortened his life to 63 years.
His was a simple and sometimes difficult life, yet surely not forgotten by many who knew him. Not perfect by any means. A teeshirt given to Carroll by a close friend had these words, which I think fit my Dad as well: I’m not for everyone, but those who like me like me a lot.
It probably explains why Carroll and my Dad were so close.

We poured some of our drinks around the grave stone in a loving and sharing way that a lot of people might not understand. Mighty irreverent by some standards. But no true Christian is perfect and in that time Carroll and I spent with Dad that afternoon we discovered something pretty amazing ….that each of us in his own private way yet in a real and meaningful way know that we will be together again some day.
It’s the best news I could have ever prayed to have.

Ten Dollars a Month

Before I was 6 years old I had crossed Canada twice.
Not alone of course, so did my parents and brother and sister.
And when we resettled in the Allen family home in 1953, in Sable River, I was old enough to start school. Actually I was only 5 and a half.
School was a one room white building next door to Thelma Harlow’s grocery store.
Grades 1 to 3 went in the morning. Grades 4 to 6 went in the afternoon.
It was a mile walk from where we lived. I remember walking most of the time.
In Grade two my sister joined the trek and in Grade 3 there were three of us.
It’s funny what you remember.
I remember breaking off a dried fern stalk in the ditch and using a piece of it to imitate smoking a cigarette as I walked to school. The dried fern stalk was porous so you could suck air through it and on a frosty morning, inhale and exhale and make it appear as if smoke was being exhaled…it was what most adults did so it seemed natural to practice.

I don’t know what acts of maturity I demonstrated that made me a candidate for the work at the school that actually paid money. But in Grade 5 I received a letter which I think I still have in some papers my Mom gave me a number of years ago. The letter stated that I had been hired to build the fires ( in the stove in the middle of the school house floor), sweep the floors, and fill the water coolers. This work would be done in the morning before classes and I would be paid $10.00 per month.

My parents scrapped to raise their family which expanded by one more when I was 7. The job provided me with spending money. I bought my first new bike out of the catalogue. I would have to make up any other specific details on expenditures but I’m sure it helped out the overall situation although I was never asked to put any of what I earned into the family budget.

I remember feeling grown-up to be trusted with these responsibilities. I enjoyed being in the school when no other kids were present. Feeling the heat off the fire I built warm the classroom, smelling the pine smelling dust retardant that I spread around the floors before sweeping, taking the first drinks of water out of the cooler with a throw away cone shaped cup and leaving before anyone arrived some how made me feel special and I was always sure to do a good job so as not to get any negative comments from the teachers.

Friendly Mrs. Quinlan taught the morning Grades and the stern Mrs. Freeman (who taught my Dad) taught the afternoon Grades. In grade 7, I began taking the bus 12 miles to Lockeport so my early morning walks and bike rides between home and the school were soon shoved to the past.

Years later, I was shown a picture of the old school being moved down the highway through Sable. Someone had bought it and turned it into a home on a piece of land they’d bought.Sometimes, I wonder if there is still someone building fires in a wood heater and sweeping the hardwood floors of the building that provided me with my first steady paycheck. If my grades throughout the rest of my school years were as good as those I achieved at the Sable River West one room school I most certainly would have become famous for something.

SNAPS AND SABLE RIVER WEST




When my Dad, Clifford, left Sable River West in Nova Scotia to find a

new life in British Columbia logging in the legendary Douglas Fir forests, I was two

years old, my sister was one and my younger brother was three months. Mom followed

him a few months later on the train with her young flock..

Three years and several short stays later in a variety of logging camps and small

Kootenay communities, we were back in Nova Scotia.

*****************
We ‘made’ Liverpool in the darkness of a late September evening. Our mud- caked 1949 Ford pickup looked like a horseless-covered wagon. Dad had stretched an old, brown tarpaulin over a bulging load of boxes, trunks and furniture. We’d squished into the cab in assorted arrangements for the 5000-mile journey.
Liverpool,where my Mom's sister Dora live was about 30 miles short of Sable River, our final destination. They hugged and cried happy tears in the front yard of the yellow bungalow with its ivy-covered veranda. Two large maples shed mitten-sized orange and red leaves over the reunion. Uncle Pete, a short man with an accent, shepherded us into their home where their two sons and a daughter eyed us shyly as we did them.
Uncle Pete and Aunt Dora insisted we stay the night. But Dad was ‘antsy’. It was his mother and father whom we were going to live with on the ‘home place’ in Sable.
So they negotiated a compromise.
“Whatdaya think Bub?” Dad tousled my head. “You and I best go up to Sable and see if it’s on the same spot in the road.”
A little while later, as the truck whined up a steep grade, Dad looked at me with that little lopsided grin. It was the one I always saw when he felt good about what he was doing. “Port La Bear (that’s what I heard then but I learned later seeing it on a map that it's Port Le Hebert) hill . . . won’t be long now.”
As we plowed through the night on furrows of yellow from the headlights of our faithful truck, I suddenly felt enormously grown up. The cab was so roomy and I got to sit beside the window!
Dad had grown up here. He knew this country like the back of his hand and he’d say, “If you go back far enough probably everybody’s related one way or another.” He always told stories about ‘ back home’. Many names of places and people were already familiar to me even though I didn’t know who or where they were.
After a few more miles we rumbled over a wooden bridge. “Tom Tigney River.” Dad explained. “Park Harlow’s mill is just up there a ways.” He nodded his head to the right. “He gave me my first job in the bush skidding smoke wood with his team of oxen. Some folks around here don’t like him . . . think he’s a mean bugger. Guess he can be. Always treated me fair.”
Dad pointed to a whitish blob on the left as the headlights shine bounced off a set of gas pumps. “ This here’s Bernard Dexter’s garage.”
We bumped onto the decking of another bridge. “ Well, Sable River, son. Our place goes right down to the river. Good swimming hole there and a nice little beach with red sand. Wait’ll you see it.”
The highway swung left. Dad pointed off to the right. “If we went straight up there, that’s the Nine Mile Road…. Your Grandad has a woodlot up there. Been in the family since I was knee high to a grass hopper.” We bounced over a railway crossing. Dad pointed out Thelma Harlow’s general store and the school house right beside it.
“Thelma’s married to Park Harlow’s son, Tom.” Dad always liked to tie everybody together. “That’s the school where you’ll be going. Same one I went to. You might even get the same teacher. Far as I know, Grace Freeman is still teaching. You better mind her. She doesn’t take guff from anyone. I learned from personal experience. ” Dad’s voiced quivered with emotion.
“Home sweet home with the fire black out.” He muttered.
The truck slowed . We turned left into a narrow, bush- lined driveway. In a few moments I saw a big barn in the bobbing headlights. We swung right. The side of a white shiplap, two- story house with a high, sharp sloped roof hovered before us.
Dad looked at his watch against the dim yellow of the dashboard lights. “Nearly eleven. No lights on. I guess Mother and Dad gave up waiting. It’s way past their bedtime. They were expecting us tonight but they don’t have a telephone so I couldn’t get a message unless I ‘d got hold of the neighbors.”
Suddenly a glow the color of butter smeared a couple of small windows.
“A light’s on Dad.” I exclaimed.
“Huh.” Dad gave a knowing little grunt. “Your Grandad goes to bed early but sleeps with one eye and an ear open.”

A door opened. More yellow oozed out of the house. A hunched figure raised an arm as a visor to peer into the headlights. Dad shut them off, switched off the engine and we both climbed out, closing the doors with a good slam which they needed to close properly.
It sounded like blasts from a double-barrelled shotgun in the crisp fall air. I followed Dad as he grabbed the man’s hand in a firm grip and held it.
“Got a little late for us to stay up and wait.” The man explained. “Sounded like a strange vehicle when the tires hit the gravel in the driveway. Good to have you back son.”
He peered toward me. “Now, who’s this you got with you?”
“This is number one son.” Dad brought me forward with his hand on my shoulder. “Glenn, this is your Grandad.”
“Sure looking all grown up now Churchill. Just a tyke three years ago.” He caught my hand in a firm grip. “ How ‘bout we get inside Glenn? Cold enough for frost on the rhubarb tonight.”
Dad moved spryly as another silhouette appeared in the doorway. They hugged and
exchanged tender sounding words.
“Well, well, well.” The words flowed smooth as molasses on a hot soda biscuit. “Have you got a hug for your Grammie, Glenn?”
I walked forward and was gently drawn into the warm bosom and the husky yet soft arms.
“Let’s get inside. You must be freezing out here.”
“No, I’m fine.” I replied.
“Well, you’re sure tougher than me young man.” She said.
With that she had her arm around my shoulder and headed us into the house. Just to the right as we entered, was the glistening black top of a kitchen stove with a white enamel warmer running along the back of it. I recognized the acrid aroma of freshly lit kindling and newspaper.
“It’s not too late for a snack is it? You men have had a long trip.” Grammie looked at me with a twinkle then over to Dad whose moment of hesitation was taken as an okay. “ Where’s the rest of the family?” Grammie asked as she shuffled toward a cupboard beside the stove.
“They’re at Pete and Doras’’. I’ll go get them tomorrow.” Dad explained.
“I’ve got water on Churchill. I knew that was Dad’s middle name but I’d never heard anyone call him that. “You know we still don’t use coffee but I have tea or Postum.”
“Tea’ll be fine, Mother.” Dad replied.
She returned from the cupboard carrying a round, well-worn cookie tin with pictures of castles on its side and top. “I just made these this afternoon.” Deft fingers removed the lid.
“Ginger snaps!” My Dads eager voice sang out as his hand glided past my head toward the open tin.
“Ah. Ah.” Grammie warned him off and pulled the tin back. “Glenn gets first pick.” She moved
the tin to where I could reach it.
The fragrance of ginger and molasses wafted from the container. It was filled with brown rectangular cookies. Each had precise parallel lines in groups of four, running diagonally along them. I wrapped my hand around one.
“Oh, that’s not enough for a growing boy.” Grammie urged.
I lifted out two more. She smiled her approval as I nibbled at the corner of one. They were hard and crunchy. The taste instantly made my mouth water. Dad grabbed a handful and stuck about half of one in his mouth. The sharp, hard corners bulged his cheeks. Grandad slipped one from the can protesting quietly that he shouldn’t have one because it was too late for him and cookies might keep him awake.
The gingery flavored dough had been rolled thin so when baked they became hard and snapped exactly on grooves in the dough. Grammie’s snaps were pretty much identical. The decorative lines perfectly repeated on each cookie.
While the kettle heated, Grammie went out to the small porch we’d entered through and returned with a gallon glass jar half full of milk. She had to tip it back and forth several times to mix in the thick cream that had separated. “A glass of nice cold milk is just what you need Glenn, to wash down those snaps. Soak them in the milk if you want to soften them up a bit. That’s what we do around here anyways.”
“Sure feels good to be home.” My Dad said. His lopsided grin was wider than usual.

***************
The taste of ginger snaps and milk. Grammie’s caring smile and warm voice. The feel from the place that had been called ‘home’ for several generations of my family tree have remained gentle breezes through my mind. I’ve always felt them as my ship of life sailed far from those times and places. And now they push persistently against a spinnaker of silent hope that would guide the voyage that way again.

Sport talk radio has created a public forum for the sports fanatic. Now it is possible to see inside some crazy weird minds. As Vancouver joins in the annual ritual of NHL playoffs, fans vent their opinions. Man there are some serious dudes out there! Just rippin’ whoever is not meeting their expectations. Of course they are egged on in many ways by the sports talk hosts who enjoy fanning the flames of both sides of every controversy because that’s what they need to create some sizzle.

I know this because I’m an egg in this basket and have been most of my life.

This spring I got challenged by a buddy of mine who cheers for the Canucks. This means win or lose, play bad, play great. Me being a more ‘knowledgeable fan’ was not always so happy with the play and results of the home team. But as the inevitability of the Canucks making the play-offs became apparent my buddy showed up one day with this old Canuck playoff flag and a story about them going to the finals every 12 years. Kiss the flag and maybe we’ll let you on the band wagon, he prods.

The photo tells the story. At first I was so busy biting my tongue I’m lucky to still have one left. But as the rollercoaster ride unfolded I discovered a whole fan life. Never lose hope, never criticize(a few carefully worded constructive comments…maybe).

This has not been as easy as it sounds…letting a 3-1 lead slip away…top players not scoring, blown out in game 1 against the Ducks. But game 2 locked me in. Missing half their top 4 defense and 2 other top forwards, inserting rookies to fill the holes this Canuck team just plain gutted it out and in double overtime Cowan the Brabarian finds a sliver of daylight to get the puck behind Giguere.

It was probably the first game I had honestly just sat there and cheered the team (only one or two tongue bites)and it felt unbelievably great! I know now that I can do this the rest of the way no matter the outcome and still have a feel good feeling for the home team when its all over.

I think I’m a reborn Canadian hockey fan with a new perspective on living and breathing hockey. Kissing the flag has changed me forever....at least for this season.

Wind Me Up Baby!!
When Val took this picture I was sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop listening to rock music. The son of a friend had just released a new cd with his band. So I had an advance release that I loaded into my computer. This is not typical listening music for us 'older' rockers. So I had pulled on a headset over my hat so as not to disturb others while I checked it out.
I felt so 'cool' listening to the music under the hat but this picture shows me as looking like some weird older guy. Oh well, Wind Me Up Baby is still a very good song even if it doesn't make me look younger.

The Rock Tower

Val and I like to garage sale. This is a garage sale story.

This steel structure followed me home mostly because no one at the garage sale knew what it had been used for or what it was supposed to be. It just looked interesting and potentially useful and instantly created conversation. It seemed everyone wanted to suggest possible uses or what it was. These comments ranged from a replica of the Empire State building, to a planter, to a candle holder, to a golf ball storage rack. Once in the house it immediately found a home on the fire place mantle. Our daughter dropped by for a visit and tried turning into a candle home. Nothing fit. As I slouched in the living room chair across from it I glanced at the basket of rocks we have beside the fireplace. In 15 minutes I had chosen 9 of the 'leverites' that we didn't leave right where we found them over the years. I think the rock tower will be around for a long time and if those 9 rocks lose there attractiveness many more await their turn in the basket on the floor. Just another validation for looking forward to the next sunny Saturday morning we find ourselves out on the streets of town looking for those tell tale GS signs on the street corners.

Cliff and Edna

The first time they met she ran away.
But a plan was in place she could not change.
And it wasn’t the dreams she’d once dreamt
They exploded and died in a wartime event

The first time they met made his heart race
The young British beauty seemed out of place
Here in Canada in a Maritimes town
They shared war and its memories for loves common ground
At the Lord Nelson Hotel their marriage began
In his home village of Sable they settled down
A new life together but not fully planned
Sable Baptists were hard on a newcomers stand

It wasn’t long ‘tll she took three kids in hand
And followed their father to a British new land...

She stepped down from a train in Castlegar, B.C.
Mountains and bush as far as she could see
He’d gone ahead and a logger become
You do what it takes with a family to fund

It’s not what you do a as good Baptist son
And the cry if his parents for urgent return
Had him go back east dutifully drawn
Sick in the moment when he knew he was wrong

And they tried once more to make a go of it all
But in 7 more years headed west once more
This time Alberta was destined to be
Home with four kids in the family

Maybe they never had time to love
Maybe they didn’t seek help from the Lord above
But as children each of us knew
Our parents loved us and did all they could do
To give as their values to carry through life
To love our own children as they did us
And the commitment to this has proven so true
Passing it on is the least we could do

Father and Son in Scotland

SINCE OUR CONVERSATIONS IN OCTOBER ON THE TRAIN RIDE UP TO ST. ANDREWS AND SITTING IN THE PUB AT THE OLD COURSE , I HAVE OFTEN THOUGHT ABOUT OUR DIFFERING VIEWS ON THE WAR IN IRAQ AND THE AMERICAN PRESENCE THERE.
I AM WRITING TO TELL YOU THAT YOUR VIEWS AND KNOWLEDGE LEAD ME TO CHALLENGE MY OWN.
DIFFERENCES OF OPINIONS ARE COMMON EVERYDAY EVENTS. THE WAY YOU EXPRESSED YOURSELF MADE ME REALIZE THAT I WAS OVERLOOKING IMPORTANT INFORMATION OR MAYBE NEVER QUESTIONED MY AGING POINT OF VIEW.

READING “GODS POLITICS”, THE BOOK YOU GAVE ME FOR CHRISTMAS, I DISCOVERED THAT I HAD FALLEN IN TO A TRAP. THE TRAP IS: IF I BELIEVE IN GOD THEN GOD MUST BE ON THE SIDE OF WHAT I BELIEVE.

I'M PRETTY SURE THAT YOU SEE ALL OF THE RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN THE WORLD THROUGH OUT HISTORY AND IT RAISES SERIOUS QUESTIONS FOR YOU ABOUT THE NEED OR EVEN THE COMMON SENSE OF BELIEVING IN GOD IF THAT IS WHAT IT CAUSES PEOPLE TO DO.

MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS, JEWS AND MOSLEMS AROUND THE WORLD BELIEVE THERE IS ONE GOD…THE SAME GOD. HOWEVER THEY HAVE DIFFERING VIEWS OF WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO HERE ON EARTH.

NO HUMAN BEING IN THE PAST OR THE PRESENT KNOWS ALL THE ANSWERS. UNFORTUNATELY SOME OF US THINK WE DO KNOW THE ANSWERS AND EVERY ONE THAT THINKS THEY KNOW THE ANSWERS FALLS INTO THE TRAP I MENTIONED. ‘IF I BELIEVE IN GOD THEN GOD MUST BE ON THE SIDE OF WHAT I BELIEVE.

FAITH IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL HUMAN FORCES. SO, WHEN A PERSON WHO BELIEVES IN GOD BELIEVES THAT GOD IS ON THE SIDE OF WHAT THEY BELIEVE, SOMETIMES RADICALLY WRONG THINGS HAPPEN.

THAT IS WHY GEORGE BUSH IS DOING WHAT HE IS DOING.
THAT IS WHY SUICIDE BOMBERS ARE DOING WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
THAT IS WHY ISRAELI LEADERS ARE THE WAY THEY ARE.

AND I KNOW THAT I’M NOT ALONE IN THE WORLD AS ONE OF THOSE BELIEVERS WHO HAS TAKEN THE SIDE OF MY RELIGION AND SUPPORTED IT.

IT GETS A LOT MORE COMPLICATED WHEN VERY BAD PEOPLE EXPLOIT PEOPLE WITH STRONG BELIEFS TO FURTHER THEIR OWN QUESTS FOR POWER, NO MATTER WHAT THE HUMAN COST.

I DON’T WANT THIS TO BECOME LONG WINDED. WITH ALL MY HEART I HOPE TO EXPRESS THE VALUABLE, INTELLIGENT INSIGHTS THAT I HAVE RECEIVED THROUGH THE DOORS THAT WERE OPENED BY YOUR VIEWPOINT.

WHEN I UNDERSTOOD THE TRAP I HAD FALLEN INTO I INSTANTLY RECOGNIZED HOW HORRIBLY WRONG SOME OF GEORGE BUSHES ACTIONS HAVE BEEN ALONG WITH ALL THE REST OF THE ‘LEADERS’ WHO ARE CAUSING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO DIE.

I’M NO EXPERT ON THE BIBLE BUT I DO KNOW THAT JESUS TALKS A LOT MORE ABOUT LOVING OTHER PEOPLE AND HELPING POOR AND DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE THAN HE DOES ABOUT IMPOSING VIOLENT SOLUTIONS TO THE WORLDS PROBLEMS.

THE BIBLE ALSO EMPHASIZES THAT THERE ARE NO PERFECT PEOPLE ON EARTH. THAT CERTAINLY MAKES SENSE TO ME BECAUSE THERE’S SO MUCH EVIDENCE TO BACK THAT UP.

I NOW BELIEVE A BETTER POINT OF VIEW IS MORE ALONG THE LINES OF YOUR WAY OF THINKING. JUST BEING A CHRISTIAN OR A JEW OR MOSLEM DOESN’T MAKE ME ‘RIGHT’ AND DOESN’T GIVE ME THE RIGHT TO IMPOSE MY ‘RIGHT’ ON THE REST OF THE WORLD.

THANKS FOR READING THIS KES.
I HOPE I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO WRITE IN A WAY THAT MAKES SOME SENSE.

Cloning Gods' Creations

I recently read an article about cloning in the Seattle Times newspaper.
The sub-headline read:
“Animal clones have proved far more complex than mere “doubles” – opening the new lines of genetic research and holding the promise of medical advances. But mysteries and controversy linger.”

The essence of this story is about an FDA announcement in December 2006 that meat from cloned cattle, pigs and goats s is safe to eat.

Samples of cloned beef and ordinary beef, required for the testing by the U.S.. Food and Drug Administration were provided by a company named Cyagra.

This is an American company in the cloning business that charges $17000 for a healthy cloned calf. Even they admit cloning for food isn’t financially viable at this time but there is no explanation of the need to have FDA approval.

It was 10 years ago Scottish scientists introduced “Dolly” the cloned goat to the world.

Dolly died at 6 suffering from arthritis and lung disease.

Cyagra Z, one of the American companies first clones, died in late January. She had gone from 1000 pounds down to 500 pounds and died of unknown causes.

In the 10 years since Dolly, cloning has revealed that clones are not identical to the DNA donor they are produced from and in the case of Cyagra Z, she was half the size of her DNA donor.

From here on the story gets more complicated as involved clone scientists explain they now know there is epigenetic code which is written by proteins and other chemical structures that surround or attach to DNA and determine how the code is read.
******

Doesn’t it seem that so often we hear in news stories that we can trust information if it is based on ‘good’ science.
It’s a deceiving premise when as Christians we know that only Gods science is complete and that man’s science is simply a step by step process of discovery.
We are dazzled and amazed at the incredible discoveries that scientists make.
The concept of intelligent design is impacting more scientists these days as being the only logical explanation for some of the intricate perfection they discover.

Yet we commonly hear of how science makes good science discoveries and then months or years down the road replace that science with some more good science.

The cloning science reported in this article is by its own admission incomplete.
Yet I don’t understand the desire to approve food for human consumption that so little is known about.

With a sociologist now the Liberal Leader of Canada, its time for voters to prepare themselves to be manipulated for their votes on a level they have never experienced before.
To have any possibility of understanding what this means a little sociological kindergarten should be compulsory for everyone of voting age.
Unless of course you have a sociologist in your midst.
If so it may be too late …you have to vote Liberal just to keep yourself out of therapy.

Having only received a few glancing blows from contact with a sociologist in training ..read, studying for a PHD, I was able to turn on my computer and google to an enlightening website as I fought off the urge to declare allegiance to the Big Red L party.

So just what do sociologists believe?
How do they think?
What kind of soil are they rooted in?

The one thing I discovered when having a discussion with my sociologist friend is that it was very difficult to have a very enlightening conversation. That sociologist intellect provided such a higher insight on any worthy subject that it was difficult to communicate intelligently on any level lower than their own. And it seemed to me that if I did make a good point, the response became a plethora of large words that the whole point of the conversation wound down to an uncomfortable silence of change of topic.

Cutting back to the political scene, I was amazed how quickly Mr. Dionne was able to create sociological momentum in the way of casting out the spectre of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as the “worst” Prime Minister ever in terms of his environmental record.

Suddenly it seemed nearly every news commentary and government related story had some reference to global warming, and the incredible blame that needed to be layed at the feet of the minority government eco terror leader who has changed the course of global climate change in a few short months in power.

This slickly crafted strategy has us average Canadians hardly know what is happening to us. It’s like we have suddenly been given spiritual insight. Of course! The secret plan of that Conservative scoundrel…We should have known there was a diabolical plan hidden in the dark heart of Mr. Harper.

So if Mr. Dionne can uncover this global mystery in his first few weeks isn’t it just common sense knowledge to put this man in control so he can save our great land.

My sociologist friend says a good education provides the opportunity to become a critical thinker. Grasping that thought I head to my google site.

Wouldn’t you know it, critical thinking is mentioned in the first two paragraphs of the web page.
Quickly the page moves to the topic of how sociologists go about socially modifying knowledge.
“The sociology of knowledge involves the social psychology of consciousness and belief. This cognitive branch alerts us to the facts that we live in a second-hand world, that most of what we "know" is generally received uncritically from others, and that models of decision-making must take into account the roles of pluralistic ignorance, emotion, and the bearing of knowledge type (e.g., scientific, religious, commonsensical…”

The simple fact in this statement is that if you have not been taught “critical thinking” then you do not have the capability to decifer what is fact.

The underlying sociological theme we are being drawn into is that there is no right and wrong in the world so we as individuals can choose whatever we think is right.

Once we’re in that mind set we’ll believe anything, even the fact or non-fact that we have the most credible, straightforward, straight talking Prime Minister in Canada in decades.
We’ll even start to believe that we have a Prime Minister who has managed to govern effectively in a minority parliament for a short period of time has somehow managed to create an environmental disaster in Canada.

I think that Mr. Dionne has so little in the way of real issues to deal with that he dug into his sociological mind set to figure out a way of creating a magical mystery tour that will lead the catastrophe of global warming to the Prime Minster’s doorstep.

Sitting in Vancouver in January 2007 with a foot of snow on the ground and -10 I’m thinking global climate adjustment. Global climate adjustment has been with us since the beginning of time and in my house we believe there’s a Big Guy in charge of all of it and His name is not Stephen Harper.

If we obey just one of Gods Laws: love our neighbour as we love ourselves, it would solve nearly all of the worlds strife. Think about this in the context of a news story about Muslims in a California town who requested a day off from school to honor a Muslim holiday and in reaction to the school board that voted to eliminate all religious holidays including Christmas and Easter.
From a Christian viewpoint it is a terrible infringement on something we thought was our right... is part of who we are. Additionally there is a likely hood for Christians to blame Muslims for the elimination of Christian holidays.
This whole question of religious difference is something that is really tearing apart people who essentially are worshiping the same God. Along the way Jesus Christ set a new covenant that Jews chose to disregard and over a twelve hundred years later Mohammed began a new offshoot when he believed that God had spoken to him about another way to be in relationship with Allah.
These differences really are at the centre of much of what is going on in the world today. Fighting in the name of the God they believe in. No one knows Gods plan in this. Great harm is being done to those people living outside of any of these belief systems. Many young people choose to not have any belief system because they don’t want to take part in fighting over who is right.
As a Christian I believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and will return one day and Bible prophecy says that day will be when Jews believe he is their Saviour.
In terms of how we are going to get to that day these religions , these people who worship the same God have to find ways to respect and acknowledge their differences and do that while worshiping God in their way and loving one another as they would want themselves to be loved…obeying Gods Law. Ultimately that is how we will get to the day when we all are under one roof so to speak.
When that happens the whole world will see a new way of understanding that we are all children of one God one Creator. New desire for worshiping God will flourish.

Maybe this issue of Christian holidays can lead us, since our laws, in our democracy set standards that come from Biblical belief. Daily we see those standards being chipped away by secular reasoning and that is way out of the comfort zone.

If we’re going to be a leader in change, Christians needs to show mercy, forgiveness and grace and love for our neighbours, our kin who believe in the same God but at this time in history just don’t see it in the same way. In terms of Christian holidays democratic countries possibly need to learn to accept and honor other religious holidays.

Today in Muslim countries just the admission that you are a Christian could be life threatening. This does not add up with the ultimate truth of Gods will through Jesus Christ. The extremist Islamic belief that they are on a world mission to wipe out Christians and Jews creates extreme wariness. If peaceful existence and tolerance is truly a cornerstone for doing Gods will, whether Jewish, Islamic or Christian those forces need to step forward and make themselves known to their brothers and sisters.
Change is slow and difficult. Christians and Muslims do not know each other well and we hear much that is not true about the other. If we are to find common ground it must come from making Gods Love the major force….God centered love in the hearts of many will create acceptance of one Creator.

God’s plan for us and Christ’s promise to us is based upon the reality that we do have to change the way we look at things. We as believers in God our Creator must initiate and grow this change that is going to come about as history unfolds so that one day we can worship our One God.
As Christians we must avoid the self righteousness that we were right along and it just took the rest of you a while to come on board. We must grow toward that place where we all recognize the same path to salvation.

Once we become a united force in love, only then can we see the forces of Satan incredibly weakened. As long as this fighting among ourselves is so prevalent we give great power to the choice to not acknowledge God in any framework.
There needs to be all Gods children under one roof for the days of glory to come upon us.

The faith of the original disciples, especially Peter and Paul carried the story of Jesus Christ forward for 60 years after His resurrection. The writing down of the words of Jesus in to the Gospels occurred in the last half of the first Century.

This clearly tells us that the events witnessed by the disciples were so life changing that they were compelled to be the seed planters of Christianity until their deaths. It is a powerful experience if we can put our selves in that place where we can imagine for a moment witnessing events that are so important that we would spend the rest of our lives
telling as many people as possible of their importance in the face of incredible hardships including persecution and horrible deaths.

The teachings of the disciples were assembled into the Gospels we recognize today, essentially after their deaths. The story of Jesus Christ, the beginnings of Christian faith were preserved in the second half of the First Century. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were likely written between 60 AD and the early part of the 2nd Century.

In the Bible, the path to salvation runs through Jesus Christ. When we believe that the Bible is God breathed, that what is in the Bible is there because it is the truth, it decrees that we must set aside controversial challenges such as the Nostic Gospels, written many years after the original Gospels had come into existence.

With a Bible to create an organizational focal point, the church as we know it began to emerge and with it the establishment of a power base that attracted those seeking spiritual enlightenment.

When the Romans began severe persecution of the Christian faith, centered around life after death, they created an army of martyrs to further the spread of the Jesus message.
And when the plague in the 13th century wiped out 75 percent of the worlds population there were still strong forces trying to wipe out the Christians, essentially because they were people who were upsetting the apple cart so to speak.

What history tells us is that violence has been associated with God from the beginning.
The love of Jesus is what changes the equation. Even when we are spiritually reborn in that faith it is not a guarantee that we will live a perfect life on earth.
As saved souls we still continue sinning. Thank God for his love and patience as he says how we too often continue to live. Our salvation really is only in heaven. Only then do we reach the platitudes that Jesus asked us to reach out for.

This is really the only explanation that makes any sense of the history of violence that we see throughout history in the name of Christianity and in the attempts to wipe it out.
Religious ‘experts’ always get caught up in trying to find answers with human-based critical thinking. The search for historical affirmation of the Bible story always produces rich confirmation. But in trying to carry through a variety of scenarios about what the Christian faith is all about they invariably lose sight of the single most import fact. The story of Jesus Christ is not about a human. It is about God coming to earth in human form through a virgin mother and returning to earth in human form through resurrection after death. If this is ‘not’ true then the whole story of Jesus is nothing more that a fascinating tale.

The Nicean Creed, written in the 13 th Century during the time of Constantine, legalized Christianity and formalized who Jesus Christ is…the Son of God. And when the Roman Empire collapsed the Christian faith emanating for the same geographical focal point spread through out the world.

Today, we see escalating violence that at its core is more and more emerging as a global battle for religious superiority as seen through the eyes of Islamic faith and interpretations of the words of the Prophet Mohammed.

The battle for truth is one that will go on until an unchallengeable event occurs to establish what is truth. But until that happens the most important search for every person needs to be a recognition that we need to know what is true.

It is said by many in these life and times that each of us is entitled to believe what we think is right or wrong. This thinking is strongly rooted in the denial of a God or Creator and leans more toward the concept of evolution, that we humans have no substantial difference from animals other than being more intelligent. And then of course it sensibly follows that there is no guiding set of moral values.

That thinking is seen by many as the more destructive force.

Truthiness. Word of the year for 2006 says Associated Press. Although I SHOULD KNOW BETTER, I was surprised to hear that ''words'' were up for consideration in an Oscar like environment. Guess I missed the original announcement for all the words that were nominated.
I don’t want to discuss the fellow who apparently invented the word and what he says it means. When I heard the word for the first time, it started me thinking about how it reflects on how our world runs in the 21st Century. Less and less on one truth…more and more on truthiness. What is put forth as truth. The entitlement of everyone to have their own truth.

This topic easily could turn into a deep philosophical discussion by using a comprehension defieing tangle of words that everyone except the word smiths who relish the opportunity to express themselves with massive explanations that leave mere mortals with blank expressions thick with a glaze of HUH?

A PHD to be, person I know often pulls out the phrase that goes something like this, ‘the essence of higher education is being enlightened to think critically about everything’.
This concept is very idealistic in the sense that to me it creates the ground rules for everything to be questioned with potential total disregard for the facts. That does not mean that I don’t accept that critical thinking is not an important part of the education process. Thinking that is grounded in finding solutions to problems, determines the facts, sorts out the problem areas and then figures out how those problems can be fixed: Man is very good at this as evidenced by all the technology imbedded in everyday life.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but to me critical thinking seems to be aimed at creating intellectual and spiritual anarchy. In the spiritual vein, preferably people would not acknowledge any god but if they choose to, which ever one they picked is okay because everyone is entitled to believe what they want. Once people are convinced to do that then all the moral codes of conduct rooted in Biblical ‘truth’ can be thrown out.

What I see us left with is truthiness. It eliminates a single truth for anything. If it sounds like the truth to you no one has the right to disagree and they probably won’t. They’ll just be happy with what they think is right.

There must be truth. If there wasn’t, gravity wouldn’t be reliable, 2 plus 2 wouldn’t always be 4 and not everyone would die. So far all the health research in history has not kept one person from dieing. All the honest accountants always get the answer 4 and you will always get to the bottom of the hill on skis, even if you do have a garage sale on the way.

Find truth and accept it whether or not you like the answer. That is where our evolution as human being lies not in popularizing the idea that we’re merely smart animals and a little spirituality of some kind is just a genetic quirk.

Drowning Eagles

There is no road to the Tsmpsian Reserve. Boats or float planes like the Beavers and Otters are the only reasonable ways to get there. Somebody rich like B.C. Hydro men or loggers coming to look at our trees come by helicopter. Once, a fella from Ontario with a shiny suit and sharp pointed shoes came by helicopter looking to buy some of the gold jewellery I carve. I didn’t like the way his slippery,city voice told me how famous I was.
I am a traditional Indian. My son Samual has been raised to know the old ways. I’ve taught him the Tsmpsian language. It was easier to do with just the two of us which is the way it was most of the time in our house. Since he was a baby, I’ve told him all the stories passed to me by my parents and grandparents and other elders in the village. Samual most liked hearing stories that had any part about an eagle and sometimes I would add a part about an eagle just to make him smile. I’ve taught him many old songs and chants. Now Samual is nearly 16 and he gets confused about the old ways and all the new things he sees in the modern world. Like some of the songs I taught him; he made them into songs with English words and made up the tune on an old guitar his friend Rickey Robertson gave him. Samual wails like a wolf in the autumn suffering with a big bellyful of rotten Sockeye.
Our house is in the old section of the village. We got some new shingles on the roof last year to fix the leaks. It needs paint. The front window that looks out on Burl Bay has a big crack that runs a crooked trail from from corner to corner. Samuals’ complaining made me fix the roof and now he wants the window fixed. I tell him that at least it looks out on the ocean instead of what the people in those houses up in the new section get to see. “If all I had to see was mountains with the trees torn off,” I tell him, “The window might as well be boarded up.”
“Why don’t we burn this old shack down and go for one up in the new section?” Samual asked, one night after visiting his friends up there.
Even though he laughed, his eyes told me he was only half kidding. Others had done it. When Samual talked that way it made me think of his mother. She had taken off from us when he was two years old. I blamed my cousin, Moses Usher, for turning her away from the traditional ways. He always talked lots about the big city. Then he took her there. He came back to the village ten years later wearing a big cowboy hat with a fake eagle feather in it, boots made from “real” alligator skin according to him and he walked like he had a prawn trap between his legs. All he talked about was being a cowboy in Montana and all he said about Connie was that they split up five years ago and he didn’t know “where the fuck she went.”
Whenever I saw Moses walking around the village I got this worry that Samual would also get taken away from me someday. And I get this nightmare about two strangers coming to the door. They tell me to let Samual come with them. No reason. Just smiling faces. And I wake up in cold sweat feeling sticky like a salmon that has just died.

*****


Samual is a real hero in the village. He scored the winning points for our team when they won the All-native Tournament in Prince Rupert this spring. He played on the men’s team all winter even though he is only 15 years old. Basketball is very important in all the villages in this part of the land. It is like a test of manhood...a way to still do battle. I have accepted that Samual has more gifts from the Spirits for basketball than for carving. I see his warrior eyes and his eagle ways when he moves on the hardwood floor. When the team won the trophy Samual also got one for Best Newcomer. The team carried him around the village on their shoulders when they had a victory parade. I sure was proud too but I couldn’t explain why something about it didn’t feel right inside my heart.

It was three weeks after the big parade. One of those Vancouver Island Helicopters swooped over the mountain and put down on the big cement pad by the village Band Council Office. I watched through my cracked front window as a tall, skinny white guy with legs that flopped in all directions when he walked and a short white guy with a bald head and sun glasses talked to Moses Usher who always appeared when strangers came to the village. Moses waved his arms a lot and strutted around like he was doing a real bad Chicken Dance.

“Is this where Samual Abraham lives?” The tall one looked over my head when I answered the knock at the door. The short one looked up at me from behind. He pushed his glasses back up the bony bridge of his nose with thin white fingers. I could see he breathed hard and sweated from the five minute walk.

When I let them inside, they started piling on the praise about Samual.
“Your boy has a big future...a BIG future in basketball,” said the tall one.
“Think about the good education Samual is going to get if he goes out to school,” the short one squeaked.
His voice resembled his mousy body which paced back and forth in front of the front window. They said the same few things over and over again like maybe I didn’t understand.
“This is a big, big opportunity for Samual.” They both talked at the same time and nodded with each other in agreement.
Samual was all smiles and nodding his head with them. When they left, Samual was ready to go too. I told them we had to think about it. What I was really thinking about was my dream.

It is the biggest thing to ever come between us. At my work desk I go through the motions of carving. I cannot feel the gold or the tools in my hands. When Samual is home he lies slumped in a corner on the old couch that has its stuffing sticking out in the places where the cats have sharpened their claws. The argument is the same every day.
“It doesn’t matter how hard I try, my feelings stay the same. Leaving home will be no good for you.” My voice is low and the words have no emotion left in them.
“No good for you.” Samuals’ voice sounds the same as mine. “That’s what you mean isn’t it?”

“You know all the stories about what happens to young people from the village when they get out in the big city.” My hands stop their work; the one that carves hangs over the one holding the golden shield. Time is frozen like the half finished circling eagle on the shield. “Is that what you want to happen to you?”

“How many times do I have to say it?” Samual’s voice slaps me like his hand slaps the worn out arm of the couch. ”I am not like the others.”
“Basketball is just a game.” I say. Those guys that came here were saying all those things just to get you to play a game. When they don’t want you anymore you’ll be back here. Sounding just like Moses Clayton....walking around with a big bunch of stories to tell whoever would listen. What’s the good of doing that?”
The couch groans a sound of relief. Samuals scuffs his way to his bedroom. Soon the guitar strings moan into their box. Samual plays loud and hard. BOMP PA PA BOMP PA PA BOMP BOMP BOMP BOMP... BOMP PA PA BOMP PA PA BOMP BOMP BOMP BOMP. Hi tongue grabs words from deep in his throat and throughs them like shooting flames....

Ohhh..oh powerful and mighty eagle
Give me your spirit
Let your strong and fierce ways
Run through my heart

The vibrations from Samuals singing and playing shake loose little pieces of dust from the window frames. I watch them drift their aimless paths to the floor.

Ohhh...oh powerful and mighty eagle
I need these gifts from you
So the lands and the waters
Will serve me like they serve you
BOMP PA PA BOMP PA PA BOMP BOMP BOMP.

I turn to see Samual standing with his legs wide apart. His straight black hair snaps backwards then forwards in the opposite direction of his snapping head. His eyes are shut tight. His face makes strange shapes that belong on a mask. His arms are stretched to each end of the guitar which is slung low across his body. The right hand pounds against the strings. Louder and harder.

When he is wet on his hair and face and where his blue denim shirt goes under his arms,finally there is silence. He walks near to my working place. He looks straight into my face. “What if we both moved to the city? That would be better wouldn’t it? There’d be money from the government I’d get for going to school. We could get a nice place. You could still carve.”

“This village. This is the place where I must carve Samual. You should know that by now.”
“What about me?” Samuals’ voice is different than I have ever heard it before. “What about my life?” He smashes the guitar across the couch. “You don’t care shit about my life! All you care about is yourself!”
The words crash into my ears like ocean storm waves on a slab of seashore. When the front door slams behind him the force shakes loose the cracked halves of the front window. The spears of glass fall like they’re being dropped one by one, splattering across the linoleum. My chest feels like a ceremonial drum with the beats coming from the inside. Heaviness closes my eyes. I must remember, I must remember...

*****
It is the early part of summer; the warm days that come near the end of May and early in June. Out on the government dock the young boys fish. They are jigging with their rods and buzz bomb lures for the Tommy cod lazing in the shadows of the big black posts under the dock. The fun is to watch the boys reel up their wriggling catches. When the tide is low the air dances of the fish are about 30 feet long. I see Samual lay down his fishing rod and pick up one of the dead fish. He hollers loud so everyone will watch. The fish spins through the rays of sun and splats on the water.
The eagles are around because they have nesting places not far from the village. They
glide and flap and circle and play their eagle games of chase over the bay in front of the village. When they’re tired of that they fight for the best perches on the big spruce across from the dock. Now, from the big tree a six foot wing span rides a silky curtain to the ripples on bay. Yellow talons grab the fish cleanly. Surging wings grab big chunks of sky. I have seen the eagles all my life and their spirit fills me with joy.

“Mr. Abraham! Mr. Abraham!”
One of the boys is trying to get me watching another fish thrown, I think.
“Mr. Abraham! Come quick!”
I try to see who it is. I rub my eyes. Through the sharp edges of the front window I see Billy Dundas running as hard as he can. I make it to the front door the same time as he does.
“Mr. Abraham, come down to the docks. It’s Ricky Robertson. He was fishin’ and...”
air scrapes into his chest. “And he fell off the end of the dock!”
Billy stumbles behind me down the path towards the dock. “And Samual jumped in to try and save Ricky cuz he was screamin’ he can’t swim. And now we can’t see nobody down there!”
At the dock all the kids are trying to tell me at the same time what has happened. “Samual brought Rickey up two times. I seen him!” It is Billys younger brother Art. “What did you do?” I scream in his scared face. What did any of you do? Stand around and watch?” I run along the edge of the dock looking over. A running shoe drifts out from the black shadows. It wallows in the ripples. White. Lifeless. Long after night comes, village men poke the inky sheen with gaff hooks and spotlights from boats tied to the slimy fingers of the dock.

*****

There was a time we looked after our own dead. Now, two men in a helicopter come and take Samual and Rickey away. They have to go to the hospital for a doctor to make sure they are dead. Then they go to a funeral place to make sure they are ready to bury. The new tradition we have now is the way we return to the village with our dead. A funeral procession of boats carry the coffins and families up the coast from Prince Rupert, into the bay and up to the dock.
The day is sunny. The glistening, white hull of the seine boat, Blistered Harvest plows through soft rolls of green water and the breeze is just enough to feel cool on my face as I stand beside the polished oak. The other boats follow our wake. They make such a straight line it gives only glimpses of waving masts, one behind the other. Then when we turn past the green buoy off Blistered Point just outside the village it is like we are a rope being pulled through the water. Only when the boats enter the inside harbour do they go different directions to find their tie-up places at the docks.
Rickeys’ parents, Joe and Wanda Robertson, look pretty sick when I see them inside the church. When I walk past where they are sitting I get the smell of liquor real strong. I know they are on the “go” lots. That’s the word for partyin’. They weren’t in the village when Rickey drowned.
In the hot, stuffy church Pastor Beams leads in the singing of Amazing Grace. Pastor Beams is a thin, white guy with a lump that goes up and down in his throat when he sings. His voice doesn’t fit his size. When we sit down at his direction he moves over to the pulpit. “This is such a tragic loss for all of us. Our young people should not be taken from us in the dawn of their day. And it is at these times we need Gods’ strength to find the difficult answers.”
There is a rattle of feet finding the floor. It is Joe Robertson standing up. His face is puffy and twisted by unnatural forces. His words come out thick and wet. “If the government didn’t build a dock with no God damned guard rails my boy wouldn’t have fell off it.” He lurches his distorted, liquor swollen face towards me. “And if there were some ropes or life rings down there, Samual wouldn’t be dead either!”
The force of his own words seems to push him backwards. Wanda has to hold him off of herself as falls back into his seat. They both wail and moan and hang on to each other.

After the funeral , I am alone at last with the night air that comes off the sea. The only sound is the soft roll of waves licking at the rocky shores of the bay. I look down from my place on the edge of the government dock. The water is shiny and black as a Ravens back.
“Samual.” I say. “Today I will tell you the story about the eagle that could swim.

Well , there was this eagle back in the times when eagles ruled our land. Rok. That was his name. Rok had a special gift. He never waited for the salmon to rise up to the top of the water. When Rok was hungry he dove into the sea....deep down to where the fish are. He would pick the fattest one, grab it with his mighty talons and with one big push of his wings would soar up through the water as if it was air. And when he came to surface he’d rise right up into the sky like he was fired from a white mans fire monster. Rok was a hero be cause he always caught extra for all the other families.
But Sa-la, his father, did not like this. He loved his son and was afraid he would lose him. Maybe to the sea...maybe to all the others that would depend on Rok for fresh fish. One day Sa-la could not keep his thoughts silent any longer. “Rok, you must stop swimming in the sea. It is dangerous and I don’t want to lose you. Just be like the other eagles.”
“It is my gift, father.” Replied Rok. “I must use it.”
Later that day, Rok went out to fish. He dove into the sea and grabbed a big, fat salmon. But when he tried to lift it, the gift was gone. Try as he might the fighting salmon which he could not release from his claws dragged him deeper into the blackening depths. His father’s words echoed in his mind and then with a blinding white flash he entered the spirit world.

“ Did you like that story, Samual. I hope it isn’t too sad for you.” Lincoln Abraham let his eyes rest on the golden eagle medallion in his hand. “We are all drowning eagles, Samual.”

Lincoln Abraham arched his arm and heaved the medallion onto the sea. As it touched the water he was blinded by a white explosion. An eagle erupted from the waters like a shooting star returning to the heavens. In an eye’s blink the light was gone. Lincoln Abraham stood for several minutes in stone silence
He did not to notice the vapours seeping around his clenched fist. In the darkness, he feltThat his hand again clutched the eagle medallion.

shuttle view

How many of us Christians fully understand Gods word ? My answer is; none.
How many Christians believe that it is crucially important to believe that the Bible is Gods breathed Word where lies the truth about the way God would have us live our lives?. The most knowledgeable person on earth is delusional if they believe they have figured out more than small portions of Gods plan. But a dramatic shuttle crash gave me a thought about how me might look at Gods plan.

Our destiny is laid out in precise detail in the Bible and explicit occurrences that are going to happen or have already happened are numerous. I am not qualified to detail all of them but
the disciples clearly asked Jesus about the end of the world and what the signs would be. In Matthew 24:4-8 He answers that many shall come saying I am Christ, and he says there will be wars and rumors of war. Famines, pestilences and earth quakes. But this is just the beginning…to use another description, the birth pangs and Jesus said in Matthew, don’t be frightened because these things must take place. But it is not the end and he offers hope to those who are faithful.

There are two other significant events which fulfill the prophecy of end times and Jesus’ return. They concern Jews.
First was Christs prediction that Jeruselem would be taken by the the Gentiles and at some point in time they would regain it. Well the first event occurred only 40 years after his death. The second event became fact in 1948 when the state of Israel came into being nearly 2,000 years after Jesus said.
Against all odds, the second part of the prophecy was now able to unfold.
For Jesus said, you will see me no more until you (meaning Jews) say, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord (Matt:23:39)
It is an emerging reality that Jews for Jesus is a growing movement. There are Jewish Christian churches. There are increasing testimonials of Jewish acceptance of the Messiah. This quote appears in a book titled Future Hope. A Jewish Christian look at the end of the world.
“When I accepted Him it was strictly because God showed me, yes Jesus is the accepted Messiah and that was reason enough to believe in him. The realization that I had become a Christian has never made me doubt for a moment that I was still Jewish. My belief is the natural result of my search for God and fulfillment of my Jewishness. This was spoken by Dr. Vera Schlamm, a holocaust survivor.

This view tells us is that God already knows the final outcome. In the world we live in today, it might seem like we are closing in on that time but only God knows and in the interim he need to put our trust in Him.
When the shuttle Columbia crashed and seven lives were lost, Americaan President George Bush quoted scripture in his first words. At the time, having just read a book titled How Now Shall We Live, which calls on Christians to develop their worldviews as a vehicle to point to Christianity and the Bible as the source of truth and purpose of people, I was quite surprised by this bold statement from the leader of the world’s most powerful country. With potential warfare in the Middle East overshadowing even the stunning shuttle crash, as a Christian, I was lifted up by the American President taking such a high profile opportunity to state the ground on which he stands. History books will confirm it is the ground on which America was built but it is not fashionable to make that point in our age of person rights instead of human rights. In our age of denial of wrong doing, even if you are caught and convicted, judges may decide they know a better way to exercise justice where there is no real expectation for the wrong doer to admit his wrong and be punished accordingly.

I’m certain it was not lost on world leaders that heard President Bush’s message. In context, I am one Canadian, with one small opinion, an opinion that probably is not held by the majority in my country.

However getting back to the shuttle flight, I listened and watched on radio and T.V. to the aftermath of speculation about what happened, to cause the disintegration, on re-entry of the Columbia to the earths’ atmosphere. I heard one ‘expert’ describe how the flight may have been doomed 80 seconds after lift off when chunks of insulation ripped off the launch rockets fuel tank and hit the wing of the shuttle, possible tearing off some of the tiles that form the protective shield on reentry and possibly even doing worse damage. The gentleman further described that even if it had been determined that re-entry was not a possibility due to the damage, the orbit of the shuttle was considerably lower than the orbit of the space station. This meant that the crew on Columbia did not have the capability of docking at the space station and awaiting rescue. It has not been common knowledge as to whether any conversation along these lines took place between Columbia crew and Mission control. Regardless, the decision was made to return to earth, but as the fellow on a radio program that i listened to, described it, there really was no other choice.

Thinking about that option, there is no other choice, caused me to reflect on the Bible and how it describes events that will come to pass in the final days before the return of Jesus.
These are specific, historically significant events and since so many astounding prophecies of the Bible have come to pass there is no reason to logically conclude that what is described in Revelations will not come to pass as well.
Since these are pretty horrific developments in terms of human suffering, they are not dwelled upon in much of Christian teaching because it is intrinsically more important to accept Jesus Christ into your heart and lead others to do the same.

What I think most people that have a problem with God have the biggest problem with is fully accepting that God, Creator of heaven and earth and everything within it is in control of everything that happens.
If you have a secular point of view, it is paramount to believe that humans are totally in control of outcomes.But we see such huge examples everyday that humans aren’t in control of much, it seems more and more like a seriously flawed theory.

I believe that many Christians, Jews and Islamic believers also do not fully understand that Gods will is what will be done and the chapters of planet earths' history will unfold to prove Gods word - that which we have had in front of us for thousands of years in the Bible simply foretold of mankind’s battle against sin and the ultimate outcome. There are many differences and religious struggles because each group believes that it has cornered the truth.

We have no option but to go forward. Our destiny was cast shortly after we first walked the earth in the Garden of Eden. There is no short cut that mankind can create to escape the inevitable. And as that realization comes to us we have no cloice but to continue the journey, like the space shuttle crew, knowing that our time is coming to an end, and even as they did, with their last voice messages, showing calm and resolute belief that all would be well.
For all those with trust in the Lord will pass through the fiery end into peace and calm.
And it is important to realize that as time goes on we may just be messengers to spread the miracle of Jesus Christ, the plan that God created so that all who choose to follow have an escape hatch.

We do know that there were Christians on board Columbia and the first Jewish person in space. We do not know all their relationships to the Lord but as described in the Bible when the day came one brother was called and the other left behind. One person in the field was taken and one was left.

Standing back to look at the shuttle flight, I think it is a good example of a way to look at God’s destiny for mankind. Our flight was predestined at the moment of creation.
Our end is foretold in Gods word. Our hope is the last words of the Book of Revelations: The grace our Lord Jesus Christ is with you all. Amen.