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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2006-12-20, Page 5Wednesday, December 20 2006 Times–Advocate 5 Opinion Forum News I OYEARS AGO December 18, 1996 - A new spire has been erected at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, just south of Lucan. The original spire was destroyed when it was struck by lightning and caught fire on April 12. Exeter council will take the unexpected resignation of Cemetery manager Harry Knip as an opportunity to introduce cost cutting measures in the operation of the Exeter Cemetery. 20YEARS AGO December 17, 1986 - R.M. Ivey, chairman of the board of All Pak Limited confirmed this week that Trus Joist Corporation of Boise, Idaho has signed a letter of intent to purchase Dashwood Industries. Listeners of Peter Growski's CBC Morningside radio show were given an introduction to Exeter's unique white squirrel population this week. Karen Pfaff was interviewed and said the town boasts between 20 and 40 of the white squirrels, the only non -Albino white squirrels in North America. 35 YEARS AGO December 16, 1971 - Six year-old Peter Uyl of Hensall was so enthralled by the visit of Santa Claus following Saturday afternoon's parade that he wandered away from his parents. Shortly after a check of downtown stores, Peter was found at the intersection of Highways 4 and 83, apparently heading for home. The highlight of the annual Huron 4-H Achievement Night was the announcement of the winner of the Robert McKinley Citizenship trophy. This year's winner is Brian Miller, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Miller of Usborne township. Hensall's veteran reporter, Mrs. Maude Hedden wrote her final stories this week and is retiring. Mrs. Hedden reported for CKNX radio and televi- sion since 1940 and was the Times Advocate cor- respondent for more than 20 years. White bean producers are assured of a record price for their 1971 crop. Ontario Bean Producers Marketing Board chairman Charles Broadwell said Thursday the average return for beans already sold would be about $10.25. 45YEARS AGO December 16, 1961 - Eric Heywood and Mrs. Douglas Triebner were installed as presidents of the Exeter Legion and Legion Auxiliary, respec- tively,Thursday night. Douglas Wein, who graduated recently from the RCMP Training School in Regina has been sent to Halifax for further training. The Town and Country restaurant in Exeter was gutted by a $60,000 fire early Friday morn- ing. 50YEARS AGO December 16, 1956 - Receiving the Elston Cardiff 4-H Citizenship award as the top 4-H member in Huron is Murray Dawson of R.R. 1, Hensall. Winner in the first year of the Exeter corn club was Bob Down R.R. 1, Hensall with a score of 924. 60YEARS AGO December 17, 1946 - Municipal council has hired Jack Essery to plow the streets of Exeter throughout the coming winter. S.S. 1, Hurondale in Usborne was filled to capacity Monday night for the school concert under the direction of teacher Miss Wilma Dinnin and music teacher Sam Rannie. I I OYEARS AGO December 19, 1896 - For Exeter council it would seem that only T.B. Carling and A. Q. Bobier are in the field for reeve. John Taylor, we learn, will offer himself for deputy reeve while for the office of councillor many names are being mentioned. The nomination for Division One in Huron county which embraces Exeter and the townships of Uborne and Stephen will take place in Exeter on Monday before nominating officer C. Prouty. The contest promises to be keen and apparently will be between Dr. Rollins and W. Bawden of Exeter and T.M. Kay and Donald McInnes of Usborne. Stephen is not offering a man as yet, dividing their support between Exeter and Usborne. ROSS HAUGH BACK IN TIME Make time for the important things By Rev. Sheila Macgregor ZION UNITED CHURCH, CREDITON How many times this holiday season have you said you are so busy you don't know how you will get it all done? Or you have so much on your plate that you don't have time to enjoy yourself a little? We don't laugh anymore because we have so much to do. We tell ourselves that when we're done, then we'll have time for fun. But will we ever be done? When you're dead you're done. Have you ever seen a tombstone that said: "Did everything. Died anyway?" I guess what I am get- ting at here is our society's preoccupation with "busyness." It seems to me that today's world is bent on making us do far more in one day than our ancestors did in a whole year of days. Recently I learned about a new concept: 'time stacking'. Now you can tell people that you're 'time stacking'. It's amazing how dys- functional behaviour gets a name that makes it OK. Of course, what it really means is that you are doing seven things at once and not doing any of them very well. This holiday season I invite you to consider how you are spending your time. Instead of stacking your time, try to clear some time through the wilderness of activities that threaten to steal your life away. In other words, make room for the things that really matter. Let go of everything that is pre- venting you from spending valuable time with your spouse, with your kids, your parents, your brothers and sisters, your friends — all the peo- ple who matter most in your life. Pick up the phone. Write that note. Cut something from your already overburdened schedule. Make that apology. Speak that word of love. Speak to that person you haven't spoken to since Uncle Jack died back in 1982. Most of all: Speak to God. There's a story about an elderly couple driving down the street one day. They were listening to the radio as the man drove the car through the busy Christmas streets. As they listened to the beautiful music of Christmas, the wife became nostalgic and said: "Herbert, do you remember when we were younger and we used to sit so close together as we drove along? It was so wonderful back then. What happened?" "I don't know about that," said Herbert. "A111 know is that I haven't moved." Christmas comes each year to remind us that God is not the one who has moved away from us. We are the ones who move. We are the ones who drift away from God. We drift away to the shopping mall or the grocery store, kids' hockey games or ball tourna- ments, to family get-togethers and social events, to jobs and careers that demand more and more of what used to be `free' time. Sometimes we just drift into a few extra minutes of sleep. Then the alarm clock goes off, reminding us of yet another engage- ment, another meeting, or another shopping trip we need to make to be ready for Christmas. Interestingly, the clock was never intended to make us add one more meeting or one more shopping trip to our already crowded days. In fact, the mechanical clock was originally invented to help people honour God with their time. Back in the Middle Ages, for example, people felt there was no more perfect gift to give to God than the gift of time. Therefore, they invented the mechanical clock to assist the monks in carrying out their prayers, some- thing which they did at set hours of the day and night. You could say the clock began as a servant to the soul, to enable people to set aside time for worship and medita- tion. The gift of time. It's so precious. It's one of the greatest ways we hon- our God, by giving God our time. Remember the old hymn: "Take time to be holy. Speak often with God?" Today the gift of time is still one of the most beautiful ways we honour God and prepare for the birth of God's Son. In the Scriptures, John the Baptist calls us to prepare for Christ's coming by "clearing a path through the wilderness." In other words, "Clear a path through the wilderness of activi- ty and `busyness'. Prepare a way for the Lord who loves you! Spend time with God in prayer and in ser- vice to the world God came to save." This is the real way we prepare for Christ's birth. Seniors' Perspective By Jim Bearss SENIORSCORRESPONDENT By the time you learn to make the most of life, most of it is gone. Christmas Concert Mark your calendar for an entertaining evening at Trivett Anglican Church on Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. You will enjoy the talents of the Community Choir and Community band. Free admission. Seniors: Bring a friend for FREE! On VIA Are you thinking of bringing an old friend, a relative, or someone else special along on your next trip? If you are 60 years of age or older, your guest will be ours! On almost all of our trains, your travel- ing companion will travel for free in Comfort class (Economy), while in most other classes, your companion will benefit from a 75 per cent reduction on the full adult fare. Benefit from this promotion soon: find out today how to travel together and save! By con- tacting www.viarail.ca/seniors/ Drop a melted Cadbury chocolate bar on your favorite white shirt? Not to worry, Schweppes club soda will get it right out. A leading global confec- tioner, Cadbury Schweppes is the world's #3 soft-drink producer, after The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo. Its beverage brands are sold mainly in North America and Western Europe and include 7 UP (US only), A&W Root Beer, Canada Dry, Dr Pepper, and Hawaiian Punch. It also makes Mott's apple products and Clamato juice. The company's confections are the market leaders in the UK. Along with the famous Cadbury Creme Egg, its candy brands include Trebor and Bassett. Cadbury Schweppes' gum brands include Bubbas, Trident, and Dentyne. Stuart Hamblen Back in the 50's there was a well known radio host/comedian/song writer in Hollywood named Stuart Hamblen who was noted for his drinking, wom- anizing, partying, etc. One of his bigger hits at the time was "I won't go hunting with you Jake, but I'll go chasing women." One day, along came a young preacher holding a tent revival. Hamblen had him on his radio show pre- sumably to poke fun at him. In order to gather more material for his show, Hamblen showed up at one of the revival meetings. Early in the service the preacher announced, "There is one man in this audience who is a big fake." There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblen was convinced that he was the one the preacher was talking about (some would call that conviction) but he was having none of that. Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights later he showed up drunk at the preacher's hotel door around 2 a.m. demanding that the preacher pray for him! But the preacher refused, saying, "This is between you and God and I'm not going to get in the middle of it." But he did invite Stuart in and they talked until about 5 a.m. at which point Stuart dropped to his knees and with tears, cried out to God. But that is not the end of the story. Stuart quit drinking, quit chasing women, and quit everything that was 'fun.' Soon he began to lose favor with the Hollywood crowd. He was ulti- mately fired by the radio station when he refused to accept a beer company as a sponsor. Hard times were upon him He tried writing a couple of "Christian" songs but the only one that had much success was "This Old House", written for his friend Rosemary Clooney. As he continued to struggle, a long time friend named John took him aside and told him, "All your troubles started when you 'got religion,' Was it worth it all?" Stuart answered simply, "Yes." Then his friend asked, "You liked your booze so much, don't you ever miss it?" And his answer was, "No." John then said, "I don't understand how you could give it up so easily." And Stuart's response was, "It's no big secret. All things are possible with God." To this John said, "That's a catchy phrase. You should write a song about it." And as they say, "The rest is history." The song Carl Stuart Hamblen wrote was "It Is No Secret." "It is no secret what God can do. What He's done for others, He'll do for you. With arms wide open, He'll welcome you. It is no secret, what God can do. By the way the friend was John Wayne. And the young preacher who refused to pray for Stuart Hamblen was Billy Graham. Contributed by Gwen Coward We Must Stop This Immediately! See PERSPECTIVE page 6 Jim Be arss