Author: admin
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Playmobil Advent – Day One
In seeking to establish a family Christmas tradition, this year my wife and I purchased a few Christmas and Nativity scene kits from Playmobil. Every day from now until Christmas Eve we will reveal more pieces and characters for our scene, tell a little bit more of the Christmas story, read a short passage of…
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Remembrance, Interrupted
In hindsight, we probably should have been more prepared for it. Between the four of us pastors, we had probably over sixty years of public speaking experience. My more charismatic colleague has had more sermons interrupted than he cares to count by a prophetic voice. Our local veteran and our newly arrived veteran can also…
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What is wrong with these people?
A week ago yesterday I got back from a trip to South Korea and Thailand. South Korea is a country I’ve lived in already for a few years, but this was my first trip to Thailand, making it the tenth country I have visited. I can without too much difficulty order food and ask for…
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New Mennonite Programming
It was recently announced that the DIY network will be airing a new TV show called “Vanilla Ice Goes Amish.” Of course, this comes as a huge disappointment to all those who hoped that reality programming based on the Amish, which is a pretty big segment of the population. It also comes as a huge…
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I forgave Ben Johnson
Twenty-five years ago this week our country was in turmoil. There was only one thing we wanted to hear about on the news and there was only one thing we discussed at the coffee shop. Even on the playground at my elementary school, all we wanted to talk about was how much we hated Ben…
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Drama Queens and Syria
In high school I knew a girl that dated a lot. She was a good friend of mine, and so when these relationships failed, I was one of the people she turned to. Also, when there was a prospective new relationship, I heard about that before it happened too. As a friend, she probably wanted…
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Hauling Grace
We left our campsite that morning, already getting a “low fuel” warning. The dashboard display of our Pontiac Montana tells us how many kms we have left on our tank, unless it thinks you have less than 100, in which case it simply says, “low fuel” and automatically turns the gas light on and drops…
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Still buying green bananas #MennoNerdsOnLoss
At the hospice I visit from time to time, there is a list in the staff room of things not to say. It’s a good reminder that even the things said by well-meaning people can be difficult for people to answer if they are dying or watching a loved one die. Among the expressions on…
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How I Talk to My Little Girls
An article showed up on my Facebook feed a few times a long time ago. I had a reaction to it at the time, but I figured it would fade away, which it mostly did. Now I’ve seen the article posted again a few more times and I thought it would be worth spelling out…
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I am Mike Duffy
For those of you who don’t follow Canadian politics (and I suspect you are the salient majority), let me summarize for you one of our current scandals. In this country, our elected officials in the national government (the House of Commons) have their proposed legislation reviewed, revised and/or approved by a group of appointed officials…