Acknowledging outrage, stepping toward love
I’ve spent the past weeks sifting through the rhetoric that is being used to describe the Israel-Hamas conflict, and it’s been confusing, to say the least. At the time of this writing, officials say that more than 10,000 Gazans are dead. As vested interests try to control the narrative, try to justify, try to capture…
The guy with the toothpick
A good friend, Wes Neepin, died this past week. I’ve written columns about Wes in the past but used a pseudonym, because I never got around to asking permission to tell his stories. Anonymity seems less important now. Wes was in his nineties. He was born in a tent in northern Manitoba. He was kicked…
Choosing death
My sister Helen is a retired nurse who spent much of her career working with palliative patients. In the last few years of her working life, she encountered medical assistance in dying (MAID). Though it was a steep learning curve for everyone on the floor and was seen by some as being very much at…
The three blessings of June 17
As I swing my legs out of bed, with a hip-to-heel grumble from a sciatic nerve, I experience a moment of curiosity: What new thing will the day bring, what blessing will come? Saturday, June 17th, was such a day. It began a little sooner than most. Shortly after 6 a.m., I pulled into my…
The gift of urgency
An impassioned rant by a grandchild included these words: “Opa, why are you not dead yet?” Why indeed. The comment regarding my deserved death connects to the story of a recent event in my life. I had been asked to do some welding on a large metal frame at the local ball diamond. When fully…
Standing ready for the end
Recently, another of my old aunts died. Aunt Anne was my dad’s sister. The Olfert family was a large one, with six boys and six girls. Three sisters and a brother remain. Aunt Anne was a grand old lady, who carried the family trait of great determination. Her life was often not easy. A long-time…
‘An old nose’
A recent weekend was exhausting, delightful, enlightening, hilarious, touching . . . and exhausting. The stars lined up in such a way that we kept our youngest grandchild, seven-year-old Jaxon, here for the weekend. Usually when he’s here, he is accompanied by his two older brothers, but they were busy doing other things. “Excitedly” is…
Gentleness behind bars
On Thursday mornings, I drive an hour north to the Saskatchewan Penitentiary, a federal institution in Prince Albert. I am escorted through the belly of the beast to the chapel area. Inmates begin to arrive. I am there, at the chaplain’s request, in support of a program geared towards healing injured spirits. It feels like…
Dump truck affirmation
In this new-ish year, I find myself searching out new-ish challenges. My youngest brother and I have been trading off shifts driving a dump truck in Saskatoon, which is still cleaning up after the great Christmas Day 2022 snowfall. It has been a delight to re-insert myself into the truck-driving culture, a culture that communicates…
Welding a Mennonite reality
In January I was tasked with providing a meditation on Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday at a local church. As I peck out this column, that day has not yet arrived and I’m spending my time welding up a sermon. I’m not an historian, nor a learned interpreter of our faith heritage, so I am grounded…
