I am getting so excited! only 4 more days to go and then I will be done, done, done with CPE. Not that I haven’t enjoyed the experience it has been great. I really feel for those who have had a less than wonderful CPE experience. But I have to tell you I am really ready for a break. Alan and I are leaving Sunday afternoon to go into the wilderness for some R&R. I hope that it won’t rain too much. Camping in the rain with two wet dogs is not my idea of a fun holiday. Ah well, we will keep our fingers crossed.

Today Alan and I decided that we would try and find a basket that would attach to our bikes so…ok, don’t laugh….I know you will anyway….we have been looking for baskets to transport our dogs when we go on bike rides on our holiday. See I knew you would laugh!!
Anyhooo…we did find one and Alan rigged up a harness attachment that would keep them in the basket. We were quite surprised that both of our fur kids tolerated the experience. So I guess the saying is true – you can teach an old dog new things! I will try and get a picture on here so you can see them in the basket. It really is kinda cute.

I can’t believe it! Only one more week to go until its R&R time. I am really looking forward to pitching our tent and doing nothing – absolutely nothing for about two weeks, that is except reading, writing, and sleeping! Yay!

I have just read this mornings’ paper about the car that created mayhem in downtown Winnipeg yesterday. Can you imagine what it would have been like for those people who’s life changed in a blink of an eye because someone else chose to act a certain way? Our lives can and do change in the blink of an eye and we forget this. One minute we can be walking across the street and the next – poof!- we are dead. Our loved ones have to deal with the nightmare that comes next. People’s lives changed in a blink.

Doing the CPE thing has made me more cognizant that the line between life and death is often just a blink. It amazes me that at one instant you can be living and the next you are not. No fanfare, no fireworks, nothing except a holy moment. But death can also be visceral, earthy and bloody like the deaths that happened yesterday in downtown Winnipeg. Where is God in all of this? Does God care about the suffering of people? Why doesn’t God do something? My instant response is God does care, God is here and God does help us.
Jesus was with the disciples in the boat as it was tossed about on the lake (Mark 3:1-4). It was a nightmare for them. They were scared and wanted Jesus to do something to help them. The disciples trusted that Jesus would calm the storm that was happening in their life. Jesus does the same for us. When the unexpected storms rise up out of nowhere Jesus says “peace be still”. The promise is that Jesus is with us in our storms. He does not abandon ship but stays with us to help us weather the storms. Jesus brings us peace, calmness because we are cared for.
My prayer is for the families of the victims of yesterday’s crash – all of them not just those who died, even for those who caused the crash and my prayer is for all of us who are experiencing our own storms and nightmares that we may be reminded that Jesus is with us calming the stormy seas and the winds that toss us about.
“Peace be still”.