I have usually considered the passage in Romans 1 dealing with the slide further into sin being one of personal sin. Recently I listened to a message that opened my eyes to a larger application, that of the progression of a whole nation (or even all of Western society) into rejecting God and embracing sin. The pastor roughly laid out a timeline, showing this slide down to the lowest common denominator of morality. I found this timeline concept instructive.

And that pretty much sums up this world we are in.

How long, Lord, must I call for help
and You do not listen
or cry out to You about violence
and You do not save?

Why do You force me to look at injustice?
Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?

Oppression and violence are right in front of me.
Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.

This is why the law is ineffective
and justice never emerges.
For the wicked restrict the righteous;
therefore, justice comes out perverted.

Habakkuk 1:2-4

After lots of research and a long time saving up for it, we finally have a working wood stove. And we got it just in time for Christmas!

The old, open fireplace was a drafty thing that we never used, and looked like it hadn’t been used in many years. I had heard that with this kind of fireplace you could take a piece of firewood, light it, and throw it out the door, because that is about as much heat as you would get  from it. But a high efficiency wood stove is a totally different matter!

The Old:

Since buying this house we have had a goal to put in something to provide an alternative source of heat. I’ve gone through enough power failures back on the glorious East Coast to know the value and reliability of a wood stove. The other reason we wanted something like this is that our house is just cold. Insulating the attic has helped, but it still always felt chilly. Perhaps the large, 40-year old windows have something to do with that…

There was a bit of work to do before the new fireplace could be installed. The old hearth wasn’t going to be big enough for the Regency Hearth Heater we had ordered, so we decided it was best to remove the hearth and get tile laid down that would be flush with the floor.

It’s always fun using a jack hammer in your living room.

Ellie helping Naomi clean up the brick face.

The hearth removed.

With the slate tile installed.

We are thankful for the many provisions from God that we saw even with this rather large purchase. When we ordered the unit, they had a promo for a free $300 blower, plus a one day sale that saved us about another $400.

We had the fireplace professionally installed, so over the course of a few days we had several different guys through the house putting in the tiles, then the fireplace. We took this as an opportunity to hand out some GoodSeed books and DVDs to them. They were all very appreciative of the books. One of the guys was only about 19, and he thanked me for the book, saying he wanted to read it. He told me that he had just moved into his own place, but his X-box was broken and he didn’t have anything else to do. The real shocker came when he told me that the copy of “By This Name” I had given him was his first book! We are praying that they will each read the books and come to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

This thing can really pump out heat (85% efficient!), even without the blower on. The warmth can be felt even in the bedrooms at the end of the hall. The house is much more comfortable, and between the insulation jobs and this, we expect much, much lower heating bills than last year.

They say that having a fireplace lowers your blood pressure. Likewise for aquariums. With my 20-year old fish tank and my new fireplace I expect to slip into a coma soon. I already feel lazy… When I get home at night all I want to do is sit by the fireplace and read.

Ahhh…

The before and after:

I spend a fair bit of time reading childrens books these days and have a few things that annoy me about them. If you’re not a parent, skip this one.

Some authors of series obviously haven’t given enough thought to the naming of the characters. Two examples: The Berenstain Bears and Franklin the Turtle.

Everyone in the Berenstain universe has real names (i.e. Lizzy Bruin, Mr. Grizzle, Fred, etc.), except the Berenstain family. The family is named Papa, Mama, Brother, and Sister. That is fine if they call each other that, but it appears to be their given names, which everyone else calls them. The rest of Bear Country must surely think them a most odd family having names like that. And inconsistency is introduced in newer stories (and makes the family even more odd) when another baby is born and they give a real (albeit not very creative) name: Honey. No wonder Brother Bear gets teased at school.

The Franklin the Turtle universe is the opposite. Franklin’s family are the only ones with names… everyone else is just called by what species they are. Franklin has many friends, like Bear, Goose, Snail, Fox, and so on. I’m not sure if any of these poor unnamed characters have siblings; one would hope not. Most parents have a hard enough time yelling the correct name. “Bear! I mean Bear, no Bear! Come clean up your mess!” Confusion must reign in Franklin’s world.

When you create a story for kids featuring anthropomorphic animals, how do you decide which ones get intelligence and which ones are pets and/or food? Why is Goofy not like Pluto? How can Mickey and crew sit down to eat a turkey dinner? Does Donald Duck get offended when they do?

Speaking of anthropomorphic characters, I for one am quite thankful that trains, cars, helicopters, boats, etc. are not really controlled by bratty five-year old personalities. I feel much more comfortable letting bratty five-year olds charge around in their forty-pound bodies, not watching where they are going, as opposed to several tons of a steam train who has a bad temper and isn’t paying attention to that rail car in the way. The world is dangerous enough with bratty twenty-something year olds texting while driving, thank you very much.

Maybe I should trade the kids books for books without pictures for awhile.

This weekend I helped a friend take Santa photos at a local store. Jon works for a portrait studio so we used his equipment and computer (I discovered that Windows 7 is no better or more stable than its previous incarnations). It was a neat opportunity to learn another facet of photography and the proceeds from the photos were going to GoodSeed and another charity.

Funny.. scenery doesn’t cry when I try to take it’s picture.

Jon working the camera and getting smiles from the kids.

Store staff posing with Mr. and Mrs. Cause.

At the end of the photography session, Saint Nick picked up his sack and was headed out for another event. But before he could leave, I gave ol’ Father Christmas a copy of GoodSeed’s latest book, “What are Christmas and Easter All About?“. The irony almost overwhelms me.

I had just enough time to go home and get Naomi and the kids back into town for the Christmas parade and other celebrations happening in town.

After the parade we went to the Cow Palace where they had entertainment for the kids and free hotdogs and popcorn. There were a number of local singers, dancers and a magician along with face painting, balloons, crafts, and of course, Mr. and Mrs. Clause. It was all quite good and the kids enjoyed themselves. Ellie and Adelaine were fascinated by the performers from Divine Dance. There were a number of young girls dancing, and with their fancy costumes, Adelaine thought they were all princesses.