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"All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us?because there is little time left before the night falls and all work comes to an end." - John 9:4 (NLT)

Basketball has been a large part of my family's life the past few weeks. Fifteen year-old Faith is in her third year as a cheerleader. She loves encouraging the high school team from the sidelines and then dashing out on the court for a quick cheer at rest intervals and at halftime.

Eleven year-old Mary Kathryn is our basketball player. For years I yearned for one of our children and then later grandchildren to love the sport of basketball. But, it never happened. There was no interest for any of them. And then during an intramural season in Mary Kathryn's kindergarten year we discovered she could shoot the basketball well. She is now in the fifth grade and fast mastering this exciting game.

When  I graduated from the Baptist Leadership Training School in Calgary, 1967, before University and theological college,  the school yearbook had some caption about us under our photographs. Somebody wrote about me "Harold always has a quote from James S. Stewart for every occasion."
James S. Stewart was a famous Church of Scotland preacher in the early 1900's. I found him an engaging writer and still do. I very much admire him, though I rarely quote from him anymore. Today will be an exception.

In his book on the life of Jesus¹, Stewart comments briefly on Jesus life up to the time of his baptism.
Stewart's take on the silence of Jesus' first thirty or so years of life was that he lived a normal life of learning and growing the same as any young boy. We see occasional glimpses of his life; his birth, Jesus at the temple, but apart from that, all we know is that he "grew in stature and in favor with God and man." And that's about it. Everything else is speculative until His baptism when he steps center stage into the life of the world.

When I first heard the news about the Tsunami my heart started beating a little faster and my mind immediately started listing the people we know in that area of the world. The list isn't long, but it took a few days before we knew they were all safe, though a couple of them were a little too close for comfort to the danger zone. We are thankful that our friends escaped, but the horror of the worst tragedy to hit our globe is still sinking in, as we watch television and hear the stories of both despair and hope.

I think the image that struck me most, of all those I've seen so far, was the home video footage of little children playing on the beach. As the wave looms large in the distance the children suddenly stand still and watch it approach. The news commentator's last remark is that he had no idea if the children, or the person taking the video, survived. That clip is a dramatic proof of one of the reasons why the death toll was so huge. They had no idea what was coming.

We woke up to a picturesque Alberta winter scene last Sunday - big flakes of snow had piled themselves up against our windows and doors and they were still coming down when we piled ourselves into the car to head to church. A lot of people decided they'd let the snow be an excuse to stay home and enjoy another day of Christmas. I can't say I blame them, but they missed something special.

Because there were only a few kids in each Sunday school class, we combined a bunch and I got to sit in on the adult class, which was also combined. There are normally two adult classes at our church - one taught by a young man who teaches through the scriptures like a university professor. The other is an older, fiddle-playing rancher who uses story telling to teach what he sees in God's word. I enjoy sitting under the instruction of both of these men, but it was a special treat for me to be there that day when the older man took over the class.