Quote of the Day

He may be mad, but there's method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It's what drives men mad, being methodical.

G. K. Chesterton, The Fad of the Fisherman (1922)
English author & mystery novelist (1874 - 1936)

No wonder I'm nearly mad some days! I seem to be looking for the perfect plan or strategy -- driving myself and those around me mad. New year's resolution: be more spontaneous, go with the flow, trust God more, listen to the wise counsel of my wife and other around me who I admire for their spontaneity.

Picture of the Day: Rwanda

From Rwanda, Afric...

International Peace Light from the Bethlehem Nativity Grotto

As I reflect on another Christmas season, a time near the end of the year when us 'task oriented' types can be run off our feet, I am warmed by this story of the Peace Light Campaign. No matter what complaints we have with the commercialization of Christmas, or the new political correctness that drops Christ out of everything, we can find some glimmer of light that reminds us that Christmas does indeed belong to Christ.

Enjoy this story and your own story of Christ's birth in your neighbourhood.

[Singing] ‘The light from Bethlehem will give the world a new hope, let us all warm in the light of peace.’

The Nativity Grotto Peace Light campaign is a two-decade-old tradition. Every year a child from Austria fetches the light from the place in Bethlehem where Jesus Christ was born. Then the light travels to Austria where it is distributed to delegations from different nations at a special ceremony. Back in their home countries, messengers take the light to churches, hospitals, old people’s homes, prisons, schools and other institutions.

Polish scouts take part in the tradition for the 16^th time this year. Ewa Lachiewicz, head of the international office of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association.

‘The message of the campaign of the light of Bethlehem is to spread peace. For the scouting family peace is the most important value. We believe that this is our aim living here on Earth, that we should try to build friendship with all other people. We perceive the Peace Light of Bethlehem as something very important for scouting.’

The Nativity Grotto Peace Light campaign originated in Austria as part of a charitable mission organized for children in need. It was very quickly spread as an international peace campagin. Since its onset 20 years ago, scouts from many countries have gathered together to help the light travel throughout Europe and recently even to the United States. Polish scouts have collected the light of peace from their Slovak counterparts and will pass it on to Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania and Russia. Ewa Lachiewicz of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association again:

‘In Vienna it was distributed to national delegations. Slovak scouts received the light in Vienna and brought it to the Polish Slovakian border. Polish scouts received the light just last Sunday from our Slovak friends. Now we will bring the light to the countries to the east of Poland. This is very important to us to be part of this chain of spreading the message of peace to our neighbor countries: Russia, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.’

For Polish scout Adam Staroniek the light symbolizes peace, family, warmth, and the good that is in people:

‘This light comes from the Nativity Grotto in Bethlehem. Just before Christmas we take this light and give it to all the people. It symbolizes family warmth and peace. It is supposed to be an occasion for all of us to sit by this fire, because as one of our songs says, everything that’s evil seeks darkness, and what is good, comes out into the light. This is why we spread this light.’

Earlier this year it was feared that there might be problems collecting the light from Bethlehem because of the turmoil in the region. However, due to a peace agreement in August, the tradition can still be practiced.

‘This year will be the first time that the fire will arrive in Russia before December 25 in order to bring light to the believers of Catholic, Protestant and other non-Orthodox parishes for Christmas,” said Vyacheslav Chernykh, initiator of the initiative and an officer at the Russian Scout foundation, according to the press service of the Russian Conference of Catholic Bishops.’

In the past, the light of peace has been presented to Pope John II, Pope Benedict XVI, Mikhail Gorbatchow, former King Hussain of Jordan, EU President Romano Prodi, and troops in Kosovo and to Ground Zero, New York.

The International Peace Light Website

Honorary knighthood for U2's Bono

Take a closer look at this controversial Irish Christian and his dedication to bring 'good news to the poor'.

U2 frontman Bono is being awarded an honorary knighthood by the Queen, the British Embassy in Dublin has said.

The singer, whose real name is Paul Hewson, has been given the honour for "his services to the music industry and for his humanitarian work", it said.

Prime Minister Tony Blair congratulated him, telling the singer in a letter: "You have tirelessly used your voice to speak up for Africa."

The 46-year-old will receive the honour in Dublin early in the new year.

British ambassador David Reddaway will conduct the ceremony.

The embassy said the agreement of the Irish government was sought and granted for the Dublin-born singer to be honoured.

I know from talking to you how much these causes matter to you and how determined you are to do all you can
Tony Blair

A statement on the band's website said the singer, who has lobbied Western leaders to increase aid to developing countries and cancel Third World debt, was "very flattered" to receive the award.

It added that he hoped it opened doors for his campaigning work against extreme poverty in Africa.

Pressure on leaders

Because he is not a British national, he will not be able to use the title "Sir". The honour is the same as that conferred upon fellow Dubliner Bob Geldof in 1986.

Other recipients of honorary knighthoods include Microsoft founder Bill Gates, singer Placido Domingo and film director Steven Spielberg.

In his letter to the singer, Mr Blair thanked Bono for his work in the run up to 2005's G8 summit, which had a focus on African poverty.

Alongside Geldof, Bono organised the Live 8 concerts to coincide with the summit, and increase the pressure on Western leaders to take action.

"I know from talking to you how much these causes matter to you. I know as well how knowledgeable you are about the problems we face and how determined you are to do all you can to help overcome them," he said.

"I want personally to thank you for the invaluable role you played in the run-up to the Gleneagles G8 summit. Without your personal contribution, we could not have achieved the results we did.

"So thank you and I look forward to continuing to work together to maintain momentum on Africa, and ensure leaders around the world meet the promises they have made."

In 2003, Bono was presented with France's Legion D'Honneur by President Jacques Chirac, while in 2005 he was voted Time magazine's person of the year for his work promoting justice and equality, along with Bill and Melinda Gates.

Last year, he admitted that at one stage, he was worried his commitment to the cause might force him to leave U2.

In 2006 he was named the most influential pop star of the past 25 years by music network MTV, and in February U2 won five Grammy Awards, including song of the year for Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, and album of the year for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

Check out Bono's involvement in DATA @ http://www.data.org/ That is, "Debt, Aids, Trade, Africa"

New Archbishop for Toronto -- promises to be outspoken

Experts from a Toronto Star article ... interesting reading. I would like to meet Archbishop Collins someday.

‘In a democracy, I think it’s important that voices be heard’

He won’t be a shrinking violet.

Archbishop Thomas Collins, who takes over as spiritual leader of the Archdiocese of Toronto’s 1.6 million Catholics early next year, told the Toronto Star he will be both visible and vocal on many of this country’s most divisive issues.

Currently serving as the archbishop of Edmonton, Collins was tapped by the Vatican last week to replace Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, the quiet and often controversial 76-year-old intellectual, who critics say was a rigid follower of church teaching.

Yesterday at a packed St. Michael’s Cathedral, Ambrozic celebrated his last mass at noon. The Slovenian immigrant praised his successor as “a wise man, a man of faith and man who will look to the Holy Spirit for guidance and counsel.

“I have no doubt that he will be a responsible steward of the diocese, a faithful shepherd who will guide his flock for many years to come.”

Collins, described as easygoing, approachable and scholarly, has been busy brushing up on the issues of his new constituency since Saturday, when Pope Benedict XVI handed him the job of shepherding the country’s biggest, richest and most diverse archdiocese.

Catholics, who make up the biggest faith community in the GTA, will continue to hear the same message but can expect to have it delivered with a friendlier face.

Not surprisingly, in his seven years as archbishop in Edmonton, Collins has been an advocate on moral issues, such as opposition to abortion and same sex-marriage, positions he will continue to embrace.

He sees it as not only his job, but the job of all Catholics, to be “very much engaged in the wider society in which we find ourselves. I think that’s essential.”

“This doesn’t mean supporting this or that political party,” Collins said in a telephone interview from Edmonton yesterday. “I certainly think it’s very important for the Catholic church to be present in society. After all, we are a very significant element in society.

“In a democracy, I think it’s important that voices be heard.”

Born in Guelph, Collins was ordained in Hamilton in 1973, and has a master’s degree in English and a PhD in theology.

His views on the highly sensitive issues of same-sex marriage and abortion are well known through his writings and pastoral messages.

“Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman faithful in love and open to the gift of life,” Collins told the Star. “Certainly that’s what the Catholic church believes, and absolutely what I believe marriage is.”

“But this is not just a Catholic belief, but a reality that is valued by Catholics, by Protestants, by Jews, including many people of no faith — the fundamental structure of marriage, the fundamental meaning of marriage.”

His position on abortion is just as clear. “Life is the most precious gift, from the first moment of existence to natural death. I think when we forget that, it wounds all of society,” he said.

“He’s an intellectual, but he’s a real teacher and he’s able to convey that knowledge in a way that the ordinary people in the pews can understand and get enthused about,” said Glen Argan, editor of the Western Catholic Reporter.

Collins was in Rome last fall to hear Pope Benedict tell his bishops to speak out more on political issues, and to remind Catholic politicians what it means to be a good Catholic.

‘Catholics have a right to expect that they can rely on the integrity of their priests’ Archbishop Thomas Collins

“I think it’s important that each individual, when faced with moral issues in society, acts according to their conscience and not do anything that pulls down or goes against the dignity of the human person,” Collins said yesterday.

He has little tolerance for priests who abuse those in their care and trust.

“Catholics have a right to expect that they can rely on the integrity of their priests and bishops, so that those entrusted to their pastoral care may be confident that they will not be harmed,” he once wrote in the Western Catholic Reporter. “Even one priest who turns evil can cause enormous harm, for he abuses a sacred trust.”

“I think the main thing you can say about him is that he is an outstanding teacher of the faith. He’s a brilliant man who knows several languages.

“While in the seminary, he managed to complete his master’s degree in literature in one year.”

Argan, who has known Collins since he arrived in Alberta almost 10 years ago, called him “a very easy man to get along with,” who counts among his major accomplishments the increased number of young men who joined the priesthood since he was appointed archbishop of Edmonton in 1999.

Dale Brazao, Staff Reporter

Gangs use voodoo in Nigeria sex trade

Excerpts from an article by CNN. Notice how International Teams and Jennifer Roemhildt are a part of the solution.

If she runs away from her life of prostitution, her parents will become sick and die.

At least that’s what this Nigerian woman believes. The threatened curse, she claims, was part of a voodoo rite performed in her homeland just weeks before she was brought to Europe by a prostitution ring.

“I have no doubt in its power,” says the petite 24-year-old, who goes by the alias of Maria and described being forced into seven-night-a-week duty at a flophouse brothel on an Athens back street. “Even if I had a doubt, how could I risk the life of my mother and father?”

Maria’s case illustrates one of the least understood corners of the sex slavery underworld: gangs using the perceived potency of native West African voodoo and hexes to hold women in their grip. Recently, however, an unusual alliance has started fighting back.

One of Nigeria’s new anti-prostitution inspectors is turning to Christian-affiliated groups to confront a system that—even by conservative estimates—may hold sway over at least 10,000 Nigerian women forced to work as prostitutes in Western Europe.

“We cannot fight this by police work alone,” said Muhammad Babandede, the chief investigator for a Nigerian task force against human trafficking. “We need the faith groups on our side.

One of the most recent collaborations is being formed in Athens, a chief crossroads for prostitution smugglers from Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia.

International Teams is working with Babandede and other experts in voodoo culture on strategies to persuade the West African women—mostly Nigerian Christians—to reject the curses and seek help from authorities.

The group, Lost Coin, started counseling and prayer sessions this year aimed at shattering the voodoo influence by evoking the even greater might of God.

“These women believe in voodoo and all kinds of lesser gods, but most are also Christian and believe in the one almighty God who is above all,” said Jennifer Roemhildt, who leads the Athens Team for Lost Coin. Her organization is affiliated with International Teams.

“God can undo the voodoo,” she added. “It just takes a while to convince them of this.” Babandede offers a more blunt message: “Voodoo is just a myth, not a reality.”

But, in practice, it’s not so simple. ‘Spiritual terrorism’ Faith in the power of voodoo—sometimes called juju—is deeply ingrained in West African culture. It’s a direct link to ancient ancestor-based beliefs that include a wide variety of spirits and other supernatural entities, and it forms the base for rituals brought to the Caribbean and elsewhere.

In West Africa, voodoo priests still are often used to seal financial transactions or root out suspected thieves—often with a threat of a deadly curse for the wrongdoer.

Prostitution gangs parlay this fear to their advantage, Babandede said. Thousands of women and girls seeking transport to Europe—sometimes with false promises of legal work—undergo voodoo rituals that can involve cuts and taking nail and hair clippings as totems. “God can undo the voodoo”— Jennifer Roemhildt, who leads the Athens Team for Lost Coin

“They are told that fleeing the traffickers will bring death to them or their family,” said Babandede, who addressed human trafficking conference in Turin, Italy, one of the hubs for Nigerian-based prostitution networks. “This is a heavy power over these women.”

It is also something difficult for most authorities to comprehend. The international prostitution trade in Europe is mostly built upon other methods of bondage: holding women in prison-like conditions or setting impossibly high repayment sums in exchange for their passports and IDs. For some women who manage to escape, the ordeal is finally over.

“But in the cases of voodoo, it can be just beginning,” said the Rev. Tom Marfo, a Ghanian-born pastor who operates mission houses around Amsterdam that specialize in helping West African women break from prostitution gangs. “They think, ‘Oh no, the curses will begin.’ I tell them to have faith that the true God will not let this happen.”

Dutch authorities have taken notice. Marfo is increasingly consulted to understand the centuries-old rituals behind the Nigeria prostitution rings.

“This is more than a police issue. This is an issue of native spirituality—a kind of spiritual terrorism being used on these women,” said Marfo. “You need religious people and the power of faith to fight this.”

Quote of the Day

"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties."
Sir Francis Bacon

This quote reminds me of the way I describe my own journey. When asked, I usually say something like, “In my twenties, I knew everything—you need an answer, just ask me, I know. In my thirties, I realized that I really do not know all the much—at least not for certain. In my forties, I have lots of questions and very few definitive answers.”

A good question, approached with honesty, can lead to Sir Francis Bacon’s ‘certainty’. An arrogant certainty can lead to questions and doubts all around you—particularly those who love you most.

I marvel at the teaching of Jesus, who when confronted with an expert and their cleverness, he would answer with an insightful question and let the truth of the situation ‘speak for itself’.

Jesus, help me to question sincerely and listen clearly today.

Link to "Swimming Outing!"

Check out the story and pictures on Brett's blog ...

http://brettinmanila.blogspot.com/2006/12/swimming-outing.html

Silly String In Iraq?

Marines working in Iraq had shown the Army combat engineer how Silly String can be used to detect trip wires. Before searching buildings, for example, personnel spray doorways from at least 10 ft. away with streams of foam--and see if they're snagged by barely visible wires, which are often affixed to bombs. The Army acknowledges the off-label use, and Marine spokesman Captain Jay Delarosa says, "We force Marine trainees to improvise."

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Silly String

Silly String is a child's toy: a flexible, brightly-coloured plastic string, shot as a stream of liquid that sets quickly, through an aerosol can. One can "shoot" a seemingly-endless strand of the colourful stuff. Silly String is popular for usage during weddings, birthday parties, school carnivals and other festive occasions.

You have to admire the ingenuity, and in fact the real credit goes to the British SAS for the discovery of this unusual application of a 'child's toy'. However, as I think about this story and other news stories I have seen recently, I am reminded of just how much violence is a part of our world .

Ah but then my gaze turns inward, and I see the violence in my own soul. This day I must choose to seek healing for my own hurts, my own shame and my own violent reactions. Perhaps those who know me would never see the violence come to the surface, or perhaps they see more than I am aware and offer forgiveness without my knowing.

Nevertheless, today I begin again to seek help and hope from 'the maker of the mountains', the all-knowing, but all loving Father.

Today, holy and just God, rid this world of violence by beginning with me. Today, loving one, remind me again and again that you walk with me and bear what I cannot. Today, like St. Francis of Assisi, let me be a channel of your peace.

Twenty four years with the 'wife of my youth'

Brett, Yvonne, Neil & Michael -- The Ostrander Family

May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. Proverbs 5:18

On Monday, December 4, 2006 Yvonne and I celebrated 24 years of marriage. Like so many people in our age group we often say, "where did the time go?" It is a valid question, even though we recognize that time is a constant, the more experiences we have in our past, the quicker time seems to move.

Next to following Jesus, deciding who to marry was the biggest and best decision of my life. Building a lifetime of good memories began when we became engaged and has continued to today. My Yvonne is getting more beautiful as the years go by, and I just seem to be getting older.

We are so proud of our two boys and the men of character they are becoming. Each have their own unique personalities, and each their interest and pursuits. And we love each of them for who they are and what they contribute to our world.

Today, I am feeling blessed by the decision we made some 24 years ago, and I'm looking forward to at least 24 more!

Liberal leadership race over

I admit it -- I'm a bit of a political watcher. Today the Liberal Party of Canada choose Quebecer Stephane Dion as their new leader. I wish Mr. Dion and his family well as life just got a lot more stressful.

A reality of the democratic process is that to 'win' you much 'demonize' your opponents. While all the leadership hopefuls tried hard to steer clear of this age old tactic, it slipped out now and then. Even if your demonization is of a rival in another party -- once you stoop that low, should I not be wary that you will turn that venom on me some day? To my way of thinking, this is a sad reality of our political process. However, as a follower of Jesus, I read in Bible the following words ...

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 (emphasis added)

So I get a vote every time there is an election. I can read the press, even contribute a few words to the political columns. But, my responsibility to pray for those who lead our country is still a daily requirement.

Why not join me right now and follow the real leader. Stop and pray for those who take the responsibility to govern our nation.