Of fear and pancake batter

It was Franklin D. Roosevelt who first coined the phrase "All we have to fear is fear itself." It was part of his presidential inauguration speech. America drawn to his every word as it searched for hope amidst the struggles of the great depression. Fear is one of those things that is common to humanity. We all share in it to some extent or another. We fear many things, some more justified then others. We fear spiders, snakes and public speaking. We fear the dark, we fear the unknown, and we fear what we can’t control.

Quito

Dogs have fears too. Many dogs fear thunder or other loud noises, but even dogs have irrational fears. My dog fears - of all things to fear - the smell of pancake batter. The smell causes him to quiver with fear, cowering at my side for hours. The only way to console his dread is to hold him put him out of the house far from the smell of the notorious and ferocious pancake batter. (Who knows what goes on inside of that wall-nut size brain of his?) 

We live in a day and age of fear. ISIS desperately tries to instill a culture of fear in our world. Governments and politicians have pounced on that fear to further own agendas. Fears fodder mistrust, anxiety and even hate. Fear causes people to retreat to what is known; to circle the proverbial waggons and keep out all that is different and unknown.

When thinking about the absurdity of my dog's fear of pancake batter I begin to wonder what God thinks about our fears. Are they as ridiculous to him as Quito’s fears are to me? Why are so many people so afraid of a tiny spider that is virtually defenseless against a human? Why is a familiar path so frightening at night when it is perfectly safe during the day? Why do fear the unknown or what is different? Why do billions fear thousands. Does God not promise to be with us – always - even to the end! Trust is the opposite of fear and fear is the opposite of trust. 1 John 4:18 says “There is no fear in love, perfect love drives out fear.” Hate causes fear, love dispels it.

The instinctive reaction to fear is flight or fight; retreat or revenge or on the world stage, isolation or aggression. Further escalating hate, suspicion and fear. The best we can do is not give into the fear, to answer fear with love. A perfect response to the fear in our world is opening our borders to refugees, not only into our countries, but into our lives. In many ways F.D.R.'s words are every bit as relevant today as they were back them. All we have to fear is fear itself, and if I could add, our reaction to it.

HJK

I'm Back

After an almost three-year absence I have a renewed desire to start writing again. (This desire has been simmering for a while now but the motivation to actually do something about it has been seriously lacking.) There are a number of reasons for this renewed desire; the primary ones being self-focused. The first is to challenge my brain again - to sharpen it - to stimulate a bit of creativity.  It scares me how little activities I do that challenges my thinking. Activities that cause me to look beyond the surface of things and dig a little deeper. It is even scarier how lack of such activity makes my cognitive functions feel feeble and fragile, like they are slowly disappearing.    

The second reason is to produce something positive, to make use of free time in a positive way, to add value to something beyond myself and something to fill those long winter nights.

I fully realize that most of you have long quit looking at this blog for any new entries. In that case I will be still be fulfilling my primary motives for writing again. However, I do have third reason for writing these. I hope that I will be able to bless someone with these words on my (your) screen.

As with most things that you have not done for a while, it  easy to get back on the bike again, but it takes time and effort to be skilled at it. I hope as time and practice goes on my writing will be both entertaining and thought provoking. |In the mean time bear with me,

My original blog in this site was written as we began a new adventure in our lives in our newly acquired camp ground in Nova Scotia. Four years have passed since we began that journey; with it many ups and downs, many highs and lows. Thru it all i hope i have stories to share and some wisdom to impart. 

Till next time…

HJK 

Something Out of Nothing

I got an email the other day that I found both fascinating and inspiring. It described a community in Paraguay which subsist by pillaging through trash looking for items to recycle or resell. One day, amongst all the trash, they discovered a violin. This discovery and its music became the inspiration to create many more musical instruments out of trash; astonishingly beautiful sounding instruments out of nothing but trash. Together with leadership, vision and training, the local teens with these instruments have started the landfillharmonic orchestra and their music is awe-inspiring.

This is an amazing story of human ingenuity and the human spirit, but it also a great analogy of what God does with our own lives. Take a look: http://vimeo.com/52711779    

Grief Unimaginable

 Newtown, Connecticut – a place up until Friday, most of us never heard of. A “small” sleepy new england town has become the focus of the world; has become the center of another American tragedy and the place of unimaginable pain and grief. As president Obama said, anybody who is, or has been, a parent is saddened by this tragedy. The world is a sadder place because of the actions of another deranged gunman. I cannot begin to even imagine the sorrow, the hurt, the anger and helplessness that the parents of these murder victims must feel. My empathy is but a tiny fraction of their pain, yet I am sickened by yet another senseless tragedy.  

I don’t believe much could have been done to prevent what happened. Connecticut  have some of the strictest gun laws in the states and the school had well-rehearsed lock down procedures and safety practices in place. But immediately the questions of gun control and gun laws are brought forward by the press, the president and many bystanders. To me it’s a no brainer, the need to do something is long overdue. The continued violence carried out with guns is not worth the right to bear arms, not to mention the absolute stupidity of any argument for allowing anyone to own a high powered machine gun or extended magazines. There is not a need for stronger gun licensing; there is, however, a need for an outright ban of anything but long guns. This isn’t rocket science it a matter of simple comparison of what works and what doesn’t, and what is happening south of the 49^th parallel doesn’t work.

What I do find so ironic is how quickly churches and spirituality come into play in the face of tragedy; not that, that in itself is ironic, tragedy naturally brings people back to their spiritual roots. The President himself skilfully used scripture to bring comfort and hope in his speech to the citizens of Newtown. The ironic part is that schools all over North America have systematically pushed God out in the name of freedom of religion, but flock directly back to church in the face of tragedy. I believe schools should not be exclusive to one religion, but as much as prayer, faith and spirituality are a part all societies so must prayer, faith and spirituality  have a place in all schools. How long are we going to allow the vocal tiny minority drive God out of school? This is not about exerting Christianity on anybody. This is about recognizing that as much as we have physical, emotional and mental facets we also have a spiritual aspect. We must move beyond the scientific idealism of  modernism and move to the new reality of the postmodern era which declares people to be more than the sum of matter but rather an whole being which includes spirituality.

First Snow - November 25

Being outside in just a t-shirt one day and 3 inches of snow on the ground the next, that is how winter showed up this morning. It doesn’t matter how long winter waits, its always to early; I always could use just a couple more weeks. But I have to admit the crisp air and clean snow brightened up the place a whole lot, and it also put an end to all those nagging jobs that will now just have to wait spring.

Snow seems to bring the children outside, and seems to bring the children out in people. Jaymie couldn’t wait to get outside this morning. Her eyes glowed and face brightened at the sight of snow falling outside our window. Before church, before breakfast, before the rest of the family woke there she was, throwing snowballs at the window. She invited me out. The kid inside of me wanted to go. The old person in me – not so much; but there is something inside of me, and I think most of us, that wants to stay young, that longs for more energy, that romanticises our youth – the time we had enough energy, or thought we did, to run outside at the sight of first snow.

The problem is, it takes effort; it so much easier too not do it – to grab that cup of coffee or tea and watch the snow from the comfort of one’s chair. But something deep down despises the fact that I would rather sit then play, that I would rather not, then do. So I go – I go outside into the crisp air and enjoy the first snow and throw a snowball at the window, than at the cat and then at Jaymie who returns the favor. It was a short time, but a good time. As I reflect, I see this morning as a microcosm of life. We all know we get out of life what we put into it; the more effort we put into it, often the fuller life is. We know it – the tough part is doing it.

So go, enjoy the snow – Today!

Trees

Have you ever noticed that trees are not that photogenic? They just don’t look nearly as good on a picture as they do in real life; pictures just can’t do them justice, (I understand trees - that’s my excuse too.:-)

Why am I writing about non-photogenic trees? Because the trees in Nova Scotia are absolutely brilliant. The reds, the oranges, the yellows and the greens are just incredible. Coming from Alberta (where it snowed 6 inches this week – Hee, Hee) these colours are not lost on me.  Not only are the colors incredible, each kind of tree displays their colours in their own time, extending the season for many weeks, but nothing beats the maples which have been displaying its many colours for the last four weeks.

Yet there is something in me that wants to capture the beauty, wants that perfect picture – wants to own a piece of the beauty. Maybe it is just for memory, or maybe to boast – if even just a little bit. Whatever the reason, I find myself to often regretting not having a camera instead of just enjoying the beauty in front of me. And this is not just with colourful trees. How much scenery, or how many scenes have I missed because I am trying to dig out my camera or peering thru its tiny lens, all the while missing what’s right in front of me. Hopefully one day I will learn to just relax and enjoy the beauty in front of me – hopefully, but I doubt it.  

Another thing about trees is that their beauty is far greater than the sum of its parts. Look at an individual leaf, it is hard to find one that stands out. Most have some kind of flaw or another; misshaped, broken, a hole or any sort of imperfection. But put them together and let the sun shine on them they are completely amazing. I think there is a lot we could learn from the trees.

First Summer

It’s time. It’s time to start blogging again. It has been over a month since we closed for the season. In many ways it has taken this long to settle in again – to regain some sense of routine after our first incredibly crazy summer. Below are some thoughts about our first year which I wrote a few weeks ago, but wasn’t ready to restart blogging.

Yogi and the Kingston Fire Deaprtment
at Hero's Weekend 

We did it! The first summer is behind us and we survived. A little more experienced – for sure; a little more cynical – most definitely, a little more wiser– hopefully. In a way this was the longest summer of our lives, in other way it is nothing but a blur – a blur of events flown by.  Looking back now, the daily details are intertwined memories of a summer gone by, making us wish we kept some kind of record of the daily highlights (or lowlights), but there is something about putting in 70-80 hour weeks that deprive you of any energy for any good intentions.



“So how was it?” you ask. In short it was everything. It was good; it was overwhelming; it was busy; it was fun; it was frustrating; it was exhausting; it was exciting; it was rewarding; it was _________; (You fill in the blank, it probably fits.) There is no one word that comes close to describing our first season. If I had to pick one it would be “full”. Our lives were filled to the brim with all things campground; it is all we did. You could say, it consumed us and in the end, spit us out . And we are glad it’s over. However, it was also a good, no, a great summer, because we got to know many new amazing people, especially our staff who made each day entertaining and fun.

Waving Goodbye

To see many more pictures from our summer check our Facebook page – Yogi Bear’s Jellystone™ Park Resort – Kingston NS or something like that  

Till next time,

HJK

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