The Glad Game

I came across a lesson in life recently, as the title says "Rejoice in all things!". It takes time to examine a title or statement and make total sense of it and I am sure I am not the only one who has this trouble. This summer I have had the desire to read some classic novels that normally people read when they are young but in my case it didn't happen. When I was reading "Our Daily Bread", it made mention about the book Robinson Crusoe and I thought " I have never read that book" so I searched the Internet and found a copy there, then I saved it to my hardrive and read it later. As time went on I found copies of more novels and read them. One of the latest ones is "Polyanna", a story about an orphan girl taken in by her spinster aunt, who by the way is a grouch. Polyanna is the daughter of a missionary minister. Her father taught her the art of appreciation and thankfulness by way of what he called the glad game. They used to receive barrels full of things needed and one time Polyanna wanted a doll but got a pair of crutches. Her father told her to be glad that she did not need the crutches and life goes on from there.

When she came to her aunt's home, she got to know many people in the surrounding village and taught them the "glad" game with the purpose of teaching them to be thankfull for things that most people take for granted. She got to know an older gentleman who had hardly talked to anyone for years and always walked on the streets looking down at the ground with no interest in the world around him. On the second or third meeting with the man (Mr Pendleton), Polyanna was able to break the ice with him but not fully. Some time later as she was walking up the road to his house, she came across him laying on the ground with a broken leg, not able to get up so he asked her go to his house and phone the doctor to come and rescue him. This she did and further broke the ice with Mr. Pendleton, especially when she had the opportunity to visit with him in his sick bed at his home. Mr. Pendleton came to realize that Polyanna's cheerfull attitude was infectious as she showed interest in the colourful designs reflected on the walls from some prisms he had that were sitting in the sunlight. Things exploded from there and a close friendship developed between them to the point that this recluse changed so much he asked Polyanna if she would move into his house to be the "child presence" he needed to make his house a home. He had in the past had a relationship with a woman but it did not work out and the lady went elsewhere to join another man as husband and wife so that is why Mr Pendleton became the town hermit.

Polyanna had similar friendships with most of the people in the village and the atmosphere changed dramatically around town. Towards the end of the story, Polyanna had an accident when a car hit her causing her to lose the use of her legs. It was quite awhile after the accident that Polyanna learned the hard fact that she was supposed to be crippled for life. As you can guess, the cheerful attitude of the young lady began to change for the worse as she couldn't find anything to be glad about but there is a silver lining in every cloud as the townspeople whom Polyanna had cheered up came back to try to cheer her up with the reports of the good things that she had done for them after she taught them the glad game and Polyanna's attitude started lifting up again.

The end of the story is good as she was taken to a specialist in a far off town for treatment from which Polyanna was able to gain the use of her legs again and she now had something extremely good to be happy or glad about. As you can see there really is no need to go around in life with a great long lower lip almost dragging the ground just because things are not quite what you want them to be.

Now that the story is over, I can get to where the story fits in with my life. I have read in the Bible many times where it says to rejoice but it is not always easy to rejoice if things seem to be going against you. Since I got injured in a bad fall 14 years ago, I have had things go wrong and I didn't always have a good attitude about them. These things are financial, health, possibly relationship problems, problems with work related tasks not co-operating with me and many other things. This week I have had a bad last few days because something is not right in my physical body and my wife and I spent most of the afternoon at the emergency department of the local hospital with the doctor checking me over, doing tests and asking many question. After all of this time and frustration, we headed home around 5 PM, feeling somewhat better because the doctor has given us a better grasp of what is going on and how to deal with it. We also realize that there may not be an immediate cure to the problem but if we approach the task and have faith that God will help me to overcome the difficulty then life will be much more enjoyable but it can be enjoyable even in the meantime if I keep rejoicing in God's hand in our lives.

I hope I have not been too boring with this story but I felt that it was time to put down some words about my Revelation.God bless everyone here and everywhere who trusts in our Precious Father.

Wilf Blakey

'Tis Fathers' Day

The date is June 21,2009 and it is two events today, first of all it is the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. If you had ever desired to burn the midnight oil then this day is the hardest day(or night) to try this as it has the least amount of darkness of the year and it is hard to burn what doesn't exist (the nighttime darkness). The second event of the day is a celebration that many families take part in when they honor the man of the house or the father. Fathers are responsible for many things in the family, they work to bring home money to pay the bills for the household, they look after the workings of the house and property as well as, all or most. of the mechanical devices. The statement is true as long as the man is mechanically inclined to do so but I have talked to many men about this subject and hear a long string of excuses and pitiful depressing statements because these men feel they are a disappointment to the world as they cannot even change a tire on their vehicles. God made man and woman and He gave them gifts of traits and abilities to do different things and not all men have the same gifts. Imagine what it would be like if all men were able to repair trucks, cars, etc but none could build houses. What if all women could create children and raise them but couldn't cook meals for people. This leaves a great void in society with many jobs that would be left undone and to put it even farther, we would have many vehicles on the road but no place to live and no food to eat. That would be a disaster for sure so I see that it is necessary for men to have differing abilities as well as women the same but there is no set of rules in society that says men "HAVE" to be expert mechanics or women have to be homemakers only because I am sure that we need doctors, plumbers, and experts in many different fields in the world.
Let us put aside the work abilities, the fathers have another very important task and position in the family, they are there to be a guide and a person of respect for their children. If the young people were allowed to grow up without a mentor (or a coach) they would have no example of good and bad to go by and to pattern their life after, even as it is, there are so many families where the father or mother has deserted their family unit for whatever reason and gone to do their own thing. The boys usually look up to the man for a pattern of what a man is supposed to do and be like but if the man is not there, the pattern is badly mucked up with something that is like the blind leading the blind. The same goes for girls with a mother or a father missing. When the child runs into a problem, they normally don't have any idea as to what they can or should do to solve the problem, if there is a parent around, then the child can ask that adult what they would do if they were in their shoes. Most of the time this adult will give good guidance and the problem is looked after quite well, if there is not adult, then there is usually trouble brewing and more trouble over the horizon as well.
You see, I am getting to the point that the father is a statue of liberty and justice to a lot of young people in their early years of life, I remember my own father who helped me out many times when I needed it, even when I was grown up, I still had times with questions that needed answers and Dad was there to help me. He has been gone for over 27 years now and I still miss him. Many times I wish he was here so I could show him what I have been doing and wait for a comment of appreciation by saying "well done, son". I am a father of my own family with a wife and two step daughters and a handicapped son (who is living in a good Christian home a distance from here) who is severely handicapped to the point that my wife and I realized we could not properly raise and look after him for the rest of his life. He has been well looked after for many years now and will still be taken care of for quite awhile as well. We do thank the foster parents, and I do appreciate my wife and daughters who treat me as though I am their own true biological father showing love towards me and respect for all of the years that I have known them. I love you family.
I want to wish all of you men out there a very happy and enjoyable Fathers' Day. I pray that you will get many phone calls and wishes from your family on this day.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to one and all!!!!!

Wilf Blakey

Appreciation Dinner

The date is April 27,2009 and the time is 6:00 PM. The wife and I are invited to attend an appreciation dinner sponsored by the local Salvation Army Church and held at the Legion. This dinner is to show the thanks that the Salvation Army wants to show for all of the volunteer helpers who spent time and effort over the winter doing fund raising for the Army so they would have resources to buy food and other supplies for the needy families in our area.
The meal consisted of delicious roast beef. potatoes, and another vegetable to go with this. As well it was finished off with a nice big cake.




After the meal, Captain Tim Jenkins awarded certificates of appreciation to all of the people attending. Certificates and mugs with "Salvation Army" printed on them were given to all of the people but awards were given out to others who participated in the competition which applied to those who took a kettle for a whole day and looked after making sure that they had someone of

their group to attend to that kettle without having to call the Captain to provide an attendee.
This is a very great burden lifted off of the shoulders of our Captain so he can go to other duties instead. When all of the awards were announced, the winner of the No Bell Award was named. The winning group was the Anglican Church of Kirkland Lake. This award was given to the group, who brought in the most money in one day and I was impressed at the numbers that Captain Tim read from the top competitors. From this information, it seems obvious that there should be some happy people at Christmas instead of sad, sorrowful faces and empty stomachs. God is no doubt very pleased with the efforts of all of these volunteers.
The evening was a very enjoyable one, with the good meal, the certificates and mugs plus the No Bell Award but there was one sad part at the end. Captains Tim and Laura Jenkins announced that they are being transferred from Kirkland Lake corps to Labrador City, Labrador starting the end of June 2009. We will miss you people very much and we hope and pray for a good transition to your new charge. God Bless you and your
family.
Wilf Blakey

STOP PLEASE

This issue is dedicated to one of our people that most folks don't even think about and literally take for granted. I am featuring our school crossing guards. These people look like some of our ordinary people who seem to have nothing better to do but that is not the real truth behind the story. These men and women have jobs to do, jobs that are important to us and our families. These jobs are to look after the safety of our young children as they go back and forth to school and cross the streets, which at times can be quite loaded with traffic. To me this is extremely important as it is an unfair competition and match set up as you consider the opponents involved. One opponent is a child, age 4 to possibly 20 years weighing maybe 40 lbs to about 170 lbs and the other opponent is a vehicle starting at about 2000 lbs moving down the street at a possible 30 miles per hour. As you can see the smaller person or child hasn't a slight chance of surviving an impact with one of these monsters even though it might be only 2000 lbs so society has decided to give these youngsters a fighting chance by hiring crossing guards to look after our young people when they are in the enemie's territory ( alias school crossing zones).
As well as crossing school children, crossing guards cross adults, not necessarily older retired ones who can hardly get around. The guards look after the safety of these people who decide to go on foot instead of motoring around all of the time.
The guard I interviewed is named Sue Lavictoire. We have known her for a long period of time and know her to be a very dedicated guard with a sincere attitude toward protecting her charge. She has a very kind heart and a loving disposition towards her people. I wouldn't doubt it if some of the kids call her Mom. I know that most of her little people respect and care for her as she fights wind,rain, hot,cold and stormy weather doing her duties.
Besides doing the crossing guard job, Sue can be
found helping at Central Public School serving hot
dogs on Fridays so the proceeds from this can
go to help pay for trips and outings for the
students.


Heads up to our crossing guards and when you approach a school crossing zone with a guard on duty, do our people a favour and wait while the guard holds her/his sign up telling you to stop while our next generation proceeds across the street on their way to and from school.
See you next time.
Wilf Blakey

TIMISKAMING FURNITURE

As I mentioned in my story on the Home Show, one of the first people I met was a friend of mine, John Gagnon of Timiskaming Furniture. He invited me to come over to his store for a visit after the show was over. I told him that today was not a good day but I did make it on the following Monday and here is an account of my visit to Timiskaming Furniture of Kirkland Lake.







Here we are at the front of the furniture store on a nice sunny warm afternoon in May. John has a nice large sign above his store so people won't miss his place. He also has a large window in the front setup with a beautiful display of sofas. The next thing to do is to enter the store and see what we shall see.







Here we are inside the store at Timiskaming
Furniture onGovernment Rd W in Kirkland
Lake, John has a nice arrangement of
comfortable sofas all set up ready for a party.
The only things missing are the people, music and the refreshments.









As we look down towards the office, we see a nice
selection of chesterfields, coffee tables,side tables
and lamps. There are many different fabrics, colors and patterns to choose from.









Upstairs we go to see what is on the second floor. Oh, just what we need. That old bed we have been sleeping on for many years has been getting rather hard and lumpy, time for a new one. These look comfortable and look like a good size to fit our room.








Hmmm, I see more behind me here. These are
very fancy, just like the ones we see in some of the old time movies from years ago, especially those seen in the mansions in the Old South of "Gone with the Wind". Now I have to make up my mind as to which one I would really want. Oh, well, I have to remember that our bedroom is not really big enough for a poster bed so I had better be satisfied for one of the first group, after all they do give a good comfortable night's sleep!





Last but not least, John has a nice selection of dining room sets with table, chairs and china cabinets. Here is a nice brightly coloured set of wooden chairs, etc. I think they look excellent in almost any dining room setup. I even saw a set of table and chairs that must have been made for a very tall family as the table height seemed to be almost 8 to 10 inches higher than what I believe to be the normal height.






As we come down the stairs again we see more chesterfields, tables and lamps on display. We did stop to chat with John and his men for a few minutes but decided that time was going fast and we had better finish our tour and not be late for our supper at home.We are heading towards the back door to see what is hiding at the back.










Now I see! The white goods are sitting in a huddle, waiting for people to come and ask to take them home. There are washer, dryers, stoves, refrigerators and even a microwave oven. I believe that it has been worthwhile to come and explore around John's store and I do thank you for the invitation to come and visit. Why don't you come into Timiskaming Furniture and try out an appliance or piece of furniture for your home. I'm sure you won't be sorry!
Wilf Blakey