Randall Friesen

Christmas is behind us now and I’ll soon start helping take down the tree and things, which is ok and needs to go as soon as there is time.

Tomorrow the kids head back to school and we’ll have to get them to meet their ride in Edmonton by 2 pm, so we may have to get out of church on time. No pastoral over-speak tomorrow.

And of course the month’s been busy. With Christmas and New Years, concerts, dinners, parties etc etc, and still learning the ropes around here, work is getting done. We were at 21 different places this month, to meet people, and we hosted 67 people at our house, which was a good chunk of life. But it means we’ve been on the go quite a bit. The good thing is that the names are starting to stick, for the most part.

This month I’m going back to talk about prayer. God’s been taking me to some fun places as I explore this in my own life. There are just so many levels of prayer to explore that to keep one’s self limited to just one kind of prayer seems so, limiting. Like colouring with one crayon.

Anyway, that’s in the works. And we need to get to work on our health cards and auto transfers and drivers licenses, and bank stuff and all that stuff that is so fun. Probably be a paperwork month.

Then at the end of the month I’ll be in Chicago for MidWinter again. I haven’t attended this Pastors time in a few years, while I was working on my Spiritual Direction Certificate. It will be good to be there again to see the others and learn a few new things and hear some good talkers and listen to some Jazz.

 

61 days into this new Field, and things are progressing nicely.

This was the sight that confronted me as I was on the phone this morning, well, this sight times three. The whole sky was filled with smoke as I looked up from my desk, out my office window.

It looked bigger than a stubble fire, so I cut short my phone meeting and ran out the door. Apparently out here in The Field if you see something like this you are suppose to get in the van and get there to help, ASAP. Because you’ll get there quicker than the local fire department which is 20 something minutes away.

So I ASAPed it over there.

Turned out the neighbour was burning an old shed and though he had called the other neighbours, he hadn’t called me. Being the new guy he hadn’t met me yet.

So I got to meet the neighbour, which was good.

I watched a bit and had a good chat with him, but it’s cold out there this morning. Besides, other frantic neighbours were starting to tear into his yard to help put the fire out. So I headed home to tell the guys they didn’t have to fight a fire but since they were up they might as well shovel snow.

My first fire in The Field.

Quite a film.

On many levels.