Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I am Smitten


I have been smitten! As most of you know, there is another woman in my life and she is absolutely gorgeous. A blue-eyed blonde, she already has me wrapped around her little finger. So it looks like Angela is going to have to share me, and she doesn't seem to mind. No, we aren't moving to British Columbia to join Bountiful! We have a new granddaughter. You didn't seriously think the Penn would have been about anything else this week did you? And so it made sense that I would drive 4 ½ hours to hold Capri for an hour and then drive home again. As I held my granddaughter and looked at my daughter I realized that the tiny bundle I was hold was a link to both the past and future, she was a reflection of what was and what would be.

It also brought home the fact that God has no grandchildren. It doesn't matter what type of relationship our parents had with God, each new generation has to start out fresh in their relationship with Him. Each of us has to accept his offer to become one of his children. Have you? Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.


 

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Say What?


Since deciding to use the inukshuk as a theme for our summer messages, we have been on the quest to find inuksuit. (Now you know what the plural of inukshuk is!) And I realized that in our culture a lot of people are familiar with the term. I wouldn't have thought that at all. I was at Costco and had an employee ask if they could help me find something,( I'm not making that up about the Costco employee asking to help by the way!), and when I said we were looking for an inukshuk he said, "We don't have any yet but we are expecting some later in the season." Then I was at Kent and inquiring about Styrofoam, when the clerk asked what we were going to do with it so I told him "build a giant inukshuk!" To which he replied, "Cool". Yet somehow, I think that the same references south of the border might have elicited the reply, "You shook your what?" That is not a slam at our neighbours as most of you probably don't know what chitlins are.

Our church culture has words and phrases that we are comfortable with but if we are trying to reach those who don't know Jesus we might want to translate. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.


 

Oh Stop it!

Penn of Denn
It's people like Lauren Rosenberg, who disprove evolution. The Utah woman is suing Google Maps, because she got hit by a car, while following walking directions provided by the free online service. Yep, Rosenberg claims that by following the directions on her BlackBerry, she ended up walking along a rural highway without sidewalks and as a result was struck by a car. Not her fault, no sir, the lawsuit alleges that the accident was "a direct and proximate result of Defendant Google's careless, reckless and negligent providing of unsafe directions. . ." Had nothing to do with Rosenberg being an idiot.

I understand that it wasn't Ms. Rosenberg's intent to get hit by a car, but nobody put a gun to her head and made her walk on a dangerous highway.

I recall as a kid, being told to go play in traffic, but even as a kid, I knew that might not be the wisest thing to do and if I had of done it and got hit by a car, my parents would have said, "Denn use your head."

Maybe if we all used the sense God gave us, we'd stay out of trouble and off the road. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.


 

Thursday, June 3, 2010

So they will know I was Cranky

Penn of Denn
My inukshuk had been decapitated. And I was cranky, maybe even a little angry. How, you might wonder, had my inukshuk been decapitated? Glad you asked. My summer series of messages will be based on, "The Kingdom of Heaven is Like an Inukshuk." (You will have to be here on June 20th to hear more.) Back to the story, I had purchased a garden inukshuk, made out of resi,n not rock. It was perched on the floor of my car and while I was driving to the church, a truck pulled out in front of m. I slammed on my brakes; my laptop flew off the passenger's seat and voilĂ , a decapitated inukshuk. And I was a little cranky. I blew my horn; I scowled, I did not cuss but I was grumpy for the rest of the day.

How often do we let outside circumstances or people determine whether or not we enjoy life? Because of something they said or something they did we relinquish control to them. Really, the guy driving the truck probably enjoyed the rest of his day, didn't even give the incident a second thought. And I probably shouldn't have either. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.