The Citizen, 2019-01-24, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2019.
Business Directory
Free delivery in
Wingham &
surrounding area
PAUL COOK
ELECTRIC
Home, Farm &
Commercial Wiring
BELGRAVE
519-357-1537
BROWN’S PHARMASAVE
SHELVING & RACKING
519-524-1740
Lakeside
Large instock selection of pallet racking,
store shelving, display cases and more for
Industrial, Residential, Farm & Retail
www.lakesideshelving.com
lakesidemarket@gmail.com
33842 Market Rd.,
North of Goderich, off Hwy. 21
D. C. Craig
Excavating
• Snow Plowing
• Snow Removal
• Excavating
• Bulldozing
• Septic Systems
• Drainage
519-523-4966
NEW CONSTRUCTION
AGRICULTURAL
RENOVATIONS
RESIDENTIAL
Call 519-524-0253
Easy
Prescription
Transfer
Bernard
Enterprises
Authorized dealer for
Central Boiler
Classic Outdoor Wood Furnaces,
Edge Outdoor Wood Furnaces &
Maxim Wood Pellet and Corn Burners
Gasification units available
Inquire about our new edges
Carman Bernard
519-887-6405
RR #4 Brussels
centralboiler.com
Dave
Franken
CONCRETE FORMING
For All Your Concrete Needs!
COMMERCIAL RESIDENTIAL
• Foundations • Floor Finishing
• Circular Tanks • Sandwich Walls
FREE ESTIMATES
RR#3 Blyth ~ Fax 519-523-9604
519-523-9971
306 Josephine St., Wingham
519-357-3894
Affordable
CAR AND TRUCK
RENTALS
Large & Small Trucks
fridge carts - piano dollys-
moving blankets
Complete Selection of Cars
Our rates qualify for
insurance replacement
Passenger Vans
full size or mini
GODERICH TOYOTA
344 Huron Rd. 519-524-9381
GODERICH 1-800-338-1134
- COMPLETE MECHANICAL SERVICE -
COMPUTERIZED TUNE-UPS - TIRES - BRAKES
MUFFLERS - VEHICLE INSPECTION STATION
DAN'S AUTO REPAIR
Owned and Operated by Dan & Heather Snell
RR 3, Blyth, Ont. N0M 1H0
(on the Westfield Rd.)
DAN SNELL, Automotive Technician
519-523-4356
• 2 TANNING BEDS •
• MANICURES & PEDICURES •
• IONIC DETOX FOOT SPA •
• SHELLAC NAIL SYSTEM •
• EYELASH EXTENSIONS •
COME IN AND VISIT YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD PHARMASAVE
198 Josephine St., Wingham, Ont.
519-357-1629
Hours: Mon. - Fri. 9 - 6 Sat. 9 - 4
Rear Parking Available
Call 519-523-4792 or 519-887-9114 to book your spot today!
INSTANT FAX AS FAST AS A PHONE
Send your paperwork by FAX instantly! eg. statements, contracts,
auction ads, favourite recipes, obituaries, messages...
The Citizen has a FAX machine in our Blyth office that lets you contact
any other FAX machine in the world ... instantly.
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The Citizen
Call Us Today For Details 519-523-4792 or 519-887-9114
Fax: 519-523-9140
Ph: 519-529-7212 Fax: 519-529-3277
Email: info@smythwelding.com
37452 Glen’s Hill Road R.R. #2, Auburn, Ont. N0M 1E0
Snowblowers, Land Rollers, Stone Windrowers,
Sweepers, Quick Attach Buckets & Woodsplitters.
Full Machine Shop & Repair Services
www.smythwelding.com
Continued from page 17
baptized. Jesus was there. It was a
thing. He was just another face in the
crowd; an afterthought.
I think Luke did this on purpose.
This understatement. Because the
reality is that our days are not
typically filled with angels and
drama and divine visits. We don’t
often run into prophets or people
with the exact word we need to hear.
We are ordinary people with
ordinary lives.
Most days are quiet and simple.
Most of the time, Jesus is hard to
spot in the midst of the hustle of
every day life. He’s more of a
background character, as much as we
should want him to be the centre of
our lives. A lot of the time it seems
that bad things are happening to
good people – the John the Baptists
are getting locked up and the Herods
are getting away with it. In fact, most
of the time it seems that the Herods
are positively thriving. Many days
we find ourselves wishing that God
would be a little more active. Come
down here and fix a few things. Clear
the threshing floor, throw around
some fire, whip up a few miracles.
But mostly, that doesn’t happen.
Most of the time, it’s more like this
waiting period. Waiting for Jesus to
grow up and start doing something
interesting. In the real world, we go
along to our jobs day after day. We
pray when we remember. If someone
shouts at us that “Jesus is coming!
Prepare yourselves!” we back away
and feel really uncomfortable
because some nutjob is way too close
to us.
So here’s what I think Luke is
pointing out to us: this reality of
everyday, humdrum life, and faith
coming together. Luke is telling us
the story of Jesus, framed inside the
events of the real world, of good
people being treated poorly and
powerful people getting away with it,
of mundane events, of ancestry.com
genealogy research. Jesus hasn’t
done anything flashy yet.
In the first two chapters, Luke
paints us a clear picture that big
things are happening; world
changing, earth shaking events. And
now he’s backing off. Now he’s
reminding us that faith follows
God’s plan, and it’s rarely as
apparent as angels singing in the sky.
Luke is bringing Jesus into reality.
By saying that, “When all the people
were being baptized, Jesus was
baptized too.” Just like all the other
people at the Jordan River that day.
Like most of us were baptized.
Jesus, as ordinary. As a man.
It’s real. And in the midst now of
this simple baptism, Luke points us
again to the underpinnings of Jesus
life. Jesus as extraordinary. As
divine. The wonderful and divine in
the midst of the everyday. In the
midst of the real. Heaven was
opened and the Holy Spirit
descended on him like a dove and a
voice came from heaven and said,
“you are my Son, whom I love; with
you I am well pleased.”
God is here. God is on the move.
On those days when your spirit is
down and your soul is oh so weary;
take heart. On those days when Jesus
is merely another face in the crowd
and you don’t feel like you can pick
him out. When you don’t think he’s
having an impact on your life. When
God doesn’t feel active enough; take
heart. On Monday mornings as you
walk back in to work, and on simple
evenings at home doing the dishes;
take heart. God is here. God has
made his move and come into the
world.
There is divinity and glory in the
everyday things. And there are
everyday things in divinity and
glory. In the everyday moments of
our lives, God is there. Jesus started
simply. Living and growing and
being. Between the angels and the
baptism, Jesus grew. Quietly, slowly
and without a fuss; seeming like an
ordinary man. Until one day, it was
time.
By Luke putting in Jesus’ baptism
almost as an afterthought, he is
showing us the “unflashy” side of
Jesus. The simple side. The Jesus
that is baptized on a river bank with
a crowd of other people. The side
that points to our reality – a life
without many miracles or angels in
the sky singing. Showing us that
even in the every day moments, God
is on the move.
We need that. We need to know
that God is with us in the everyday,
that we don’t have to be
extraordinary to be part of God’s
plan. There doesn’t have to be angels
singing and the earth shaking for
Jesus to be present.
Sometimes our expectations trip
us up. We wait for the amazing
instead of embracing the everyday.
We wait for the big moment to try
and make a difference. And while
we’re waiting, we miss the potential
of the ordinary.
More often, it’s the everyday
things that make change. It’s one
little thing at a time. It’s the ordinary
and daily things where we show our
faith. Where we learn to see God. If
you wait for the huge miracle, you’re
going to miss the small ones. If you
wait for just the right moment to say
a huge dramatic prayer, you miss out
on the simple conversations with
God that can shape your life.
God is moving in the big and the
small. In the incredible and the
normal. It’s alright to be ordinary,
because there is faith in that too.
I promised I would close with the
story of another person: James
Harrison. An average Australian guy,
just about the most average name a
person could imagine. He collects
stamps. Has a few kids and
grandkids. Has saved the lives of 2.4
million children. Likes to go for
walks. You know, regular stuff.
In 1951, when James was 14, he
had an operation to remove a lung.
During that operation he received 13
units of blood, all from various
strangers. His life was saved by
those people. So he decided that as
soon as he was old enough, he would
donate blood too. A very ordinary
thing to do.
Rhesus disease is when a pregnant
woman’s blood starts attacking her
fetus’ blood cells because of a
mismatch. It results in brain damage
or death. James Harrison has an
antibody in his blood that was
used to create an injection
that prevents Rhesus disease.
That antibody has saved the lives
of an estimated 2.4 million babies,
including one of his own
grandchildren. Every batch of the
injection that has ever been used in
Australia has come from his blood.
He donated his blood plasma every
week for the last 60 years – though
he says that he never once watched
the needle.
He is an absolutely ordinary man
who, through an ordinary but
selfless act, saved the lives of two
million babies. In the midst of the
every day and the mundane, there is
God.
Stories of Jesus reflected in modernity: Ireland
Continued from page 1
nominations for the vice-president
role, he went so far as to ask for
nominations for a second vice-
president, who would then be on
track to be president for the 2022
and 2023 Brussels Fall Fairs. There
were no takers for that position
either.
Cardiff then dropped the
nominations, but said that the
presidency of the organization
would have to be addressed soon, as
it would be unfair to Cummings to
stay on for a third year with all of
the time she’s dedicated to the
society.
The next meeting of the Brussels
Agricultural Society is set for
Wednesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. at
the Brussels Library.
Presidency still
in question