idiots of the world today.

so i'm driving around abbotsford around 8:20pm last night (the second night U2 plays out a sold-out concert in Vancouver), listening to the radio as usual. between songs, the DJ plays back a phone conversation he had with a lady around 8:10:

Lady: I was wondering what time U2 went on stage for their concert last night
DJ: From what I've heard, they didn't get on stage until around 8:00 or so
Lady: Oh, that's good...I was just wondering whether it was worth it for me to drive out from New West yet
DJ: It would be worth it just to see the encore...

Lady! What the heck do you mean 'I was wondering if it would be worth it'?! Give me the freaking tickets if you're going to putz around New West with two gold tickets in your hand! What are you doing? Lady!

The joys and sorrows of government

No, this post has nothing to do with the Gomery inquiry, or on any potential guesstimates on the timing of our next election. It has to do with taxes. I love the government. A few weeks ago, a nice little bonus popped into my bank account out of the blue. I don't completely understand why the government chooses to pay me off under the title 'GST Rebate' or something like that....but I certainly am not complaining. Oh, did I mention I also dislike the government? See, I figured that with me going to school full-time last semester and not really earning much by way of income, I'd have a pretty nice looking rebate coming my way. Little did I understand the workings of part-time employment and a certain benefit called CPP. Here's my understanding of the issue. When one works part-time, the employer is not required to subtract any income tax from their pay. Okay, no problem there...except during tax time, the income tax subtracted from one's pay is what is returned to that same person during tax time. When one has no income tax removed from two part-time jobs, that same person should not expect to get a return from such non-existant funds. And here's the CPP deal. When a business is payed for services provided, CPP (or Canada Pension Plan) is not deducted from that business' payment. When that same business is actually just a person providing a service for another, that person does not pay the required CPP contributions. Hence, when it comes to tax time, and one has no income tax to claim and has not payed their CPP dues, that person should not expect to get a rebate from the government at tax time. In fact...that person can actually expect to PAY the government something along the lines of $239.39. That figure just popped into my head. haha. I used to love tax time. Poop.

Mexico Thoughts

Trust. Trust is huge for the Christian community in Mexico. Why? Because that's the best thing they have ... and it goes hand in hand with faith. Evidence of that for me was on Thursday when Jarod fell ill. When Effron found out, the first thing -- the very first thing he did -- was place his hand on Jarod and pray. He prayed in spanish and finished in english. I wish I could remember his prayer in my tongue. I forget how it came about, but within minutes, Effron was sharing with Vince and I why he had just prayed for healing.
"Because we don't have medicine down here, we can't afford medicine," he said. "We have a healer, it's the best thing we can rely on."
Trust. As Effron and I spoke in the living room and later on the sundeck of the church, tears came to my eyes as I came to see how faith and trust must work together. Effron had faith God would heal, and trusted that he would see the fruits of that faith in the healing. Jarod did get well again, only after a trip to a hospital in the states. I wonder if healing would have been taken place more miraculously if we Canadians, we 'Americans' had the same faith as the Christian community of Mexico.
"You're faith has healed you," said Jesus to the blind beggar (Luke 18:42). When Jesus saw the faith of the paralyzed man and his friends, he brought healing (Luke 5:20). It wasn't just the faith of the one needing a miracle, but the faith of those who brought him to see Jesus -- his friends. As Effron prayed for Jarod I thought, That's the way it should be, but I never really blieved it would work. Only when we had brought him back to the States, to a hospital, in the hands of trained and educated doctors did I think he would be okay. Where did that faith go? ... or better yet ... why are we not raised with such faith in our Western world?
If there is one thing I want to leave Mexico with and take back with me to Canada, to BC ... to this house ... it's a faith that God will do and a trust that I will see Him do it.