Go Ahead... Pick my Nursing Home

This year I had the privilege of attending the graduation of one of my granddaughters.

The Leduc Composite High School event was held at the Jubilee Auditorium in

Edmonton.

She is the second of our granddaughters to attend Leduc Comp. and both

have graduated. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the first one.

It was quite a gala affair with the high school band in attendance, who incidentally did a

marvelous job of not only the fill music ahead of the event but also anything

that came afte r w a r d s ,excellent!!

As I am the one saddled with the task of processing the grad pictures for all the

grads in the area, Leduc, Wetaskiwin, Christ the King, Buck Lakeand Pigeon Lake

Regional High School, I sometimes become a bit depressed at the thought that all

these what appear to be nothing more than kids, will soon be running the country and maybe even working at the very nursing home I may soon be residing in. Some of them don’t even look

old enough to be out of grade school.

As the evening progressed, my mind was soon changed. These are bright and

outgoing young adults with new ideas and I must say they seem

to have a greater sense of who they are and the direction theyare headed in than I had at that

young age. When I was a young man, I was unable to express myself in public. These young

men and women are confidently able to step up to the podium and

speak their minds in an intelligent manner. They are also able to sing and play instruments.

They are composers, speakers, singers and mathematicians. They are compassionate not only

about the world around them but of the new ideas that they bring to the table. They are not afraid to speak their minds on any subject. They do not back away from confrontation and believe in a fair exchange of ideas with others. I believe we will be in good hands.

I was also impressed by the inclusion of prayer, not to some indefinable higher power,

but to God. Not only the student body gave thanks but the teachers aswell.

In this day and age, it is not something we have come to expect.

They gave thanks for their parents, their teachers and administrators

and the fact that they live in one of the most fantastic countries in the

world where they have the opportunity to go to school and have the

kind of educations that many in this world will never have. They are truly

a blessed and privileged generation.

After the ceremonies were over and I witnessed the large crowd of

grads throwing their mortar boards high in the air in celebration,

I felt a rather large lump form in my throat. I was proud of my granddaughter

and her circle of friends. I’m sure that at least this small part of the world will be in

better condition than what they found it in.

Kudos to the teachers and to the various schools in the area. I am sure that the feelings

that I experienced during this particular ceremony was repeated many, many times all

over the counties and cities of Leduc and Wetaskiwin. I am sure large, unmanageable lumps

formed in many throats as mothers, fathers, brothers sisters, uncles and aunts watched in pride

as these young men and women all through this area graduated into the next phase of their

young lives to take their places among us as responsible citizens.

Congratulations from all of us here at the Flyer. We are proud of all of you!!

I don’t feel so bad about that nursing home thing now.

Do We Have Value?

Do We Have Value?

Every time I meet someone on the street, they ask me the same question, how come you don’t write anymore, have you retired? The answer is no, I haven’t retired, I have just pulled back somewhat. I do plan to retire soon but the economy has forced Dian and I to stick around for a little while longer. Having said that I also need to say that one of the main reason’s I have cut back on my editorials is the fact that I really hate being beat-up over them. I’m a real shoot-from-the-hip kind of guy and I believe things should be a certain way and I’m not afraid to tell anyone. As my grandchildren will attest, “grandpa knows it all and has plenty of time to tell everyone about it”. Having said that, I have come to discover a few hard and fast facts. Truth is truth and nothing about that will ever change. Unlike lies, the truth can’t be twisted, bent or stretched in any way. No matter what you do or say, truth will always be truth.

We can tell ourselves that we can lie a little, I mean who hasn’t told a little white lie here and there. We can try to tell ourselves that whatever our spouse doesn’t know won’t hurt them. We can convince ourselves that stealing from a large corporation isn’t really stealing at all, after all we are just taking back what is rightfully ours, I mean they have certainly taken enough from us over the years. We can tell ourselves that abortion is okay, after all babies that small really aren’t persons so it isn’t murder. We can tell ourselves that homosexuality is normal, and what’s wrong with being normal? Therefore why not teach our children that it’s okay to experiment with their sexuality? We can have many out-of-wedlock relationships, I mean really, who does it hurt?

We live our lives to the fullest and enjoy everything that God has put on this earth and never worry about the consequences of our actions. We find it more convenient to live outside of the perceived restrictions God’s truths have place on us. I mean it’s really hard to enjoy life to the max with all the those rules.

The problem is, our bodies and our spirits are designed for a specific purpose and if we live outside of that purpose, there are consequences. If we drink to much and become alcoholics, our body suffers. If we smoke, our lungs suffer, if we over eat, we become obese and our muscles and organs suffer. We are beautifully made but if we do things we are not designed for, we suffer. But we have free will to do whatever we want to do, but the unchanged truth still remains, we can’t live in this manner without consequence. It all comes down to value. Do you value yourself? Do others value you? Do you actually have any value at all?

Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, “The existentialist finds it extremely embarrassing that God does not exist, for there disappears with Him all possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven.. Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist, and man is in consequence forlorn, for he cannot find anything to depend on within or without himself.”

As stated in the book by Max Lucado entitled; No Wonder They Call Him Savior, Lucado writes. If man has no destiny, the next logical step is that man has no value. If man has no future, he isn’t worth much. He is worth, in fact about as much as a tree or a rock. There is no reason to be here, therefore, there is no value. Our system goes haywire. We feel useless and worthless. We create false value systems. We say that you are valuable if you are pretty or can slam dunk a basketball or snag a pop fly. Perhaps if you have a PHD behind your name or drive an expensive foreign car. Value is now measured by two criteria, appearance and performance. Self worth is measured by accomplishment.

The fact of the matter is, If there is no God then what is the point of our existence, we would be like animals living only to die with no other purpose than to eat, sleep, reproduce and defecate. A bleak existence to be sure.

So why don’t I write more frequently? Truth is, no one wants to be told that the things they are doing are wrong or outside of God’s purpose, especially by me. They want to believe that their particular version of the truth is the real truth. They feel justified in the way they live their lives. No one can tell them how to live, after all we live in a society where if it feels good. We have been told that this is all there is, why live for anything other than today.

When we live in the truth we have worth not only because we exist but because we have been created in the image of the creator and He values us.

I will be trying to write more in future editions. but I find that I am more critical than I should be. I should try to love more and criticize less. We should not have to beat truth down anyone’s throat, after all it doesn’t change a thing. Trying to live by example would be the right way to teach and to instruct but Christ did that and they crucified Him for it. Truth is I’m not anywhere near that good, so what would they do to me?

Ted Okkerse