Cast the Net Far and Wide

                        A GREAT LOSS TO SOCIETY:   LACK OF THANKFULNESS             Although our family did not attend church when I was growing up, we still honoured the Lord in many simple ways which are so often lost today.  At  Christmas, for example,  there was always an evening of singing carols, and the faith in these carols was taken seriously.  I can still hear my father and my Uncle Dick each taking the part of a different one of the kings in “We Three Kings of Orient Are”, their bass voices ringing out in joy.  As we celebrated either the sumptuous Christmas feast or the autumn fruit-laden Thanksgiving repast, the host of the table, either my father or Uncle Dick, with whose family we alternated these celebrations, would at the very least utter a brief prayer of gratitude to God.  I remember that Uncle Dick always remembe...

                                                                     A Table in the Wilderness               Copyright Frances K. Van Mil      Things were dull.   Sometimes, there are periods in ministry when there is a lull, things are hard, you do not sense any direction from God nor sense anything good happening.   We were on a small reserve in Manitoba , living in a tiny, shabby box-like house in, of all places, a lumber yard. Let me tell you about our little shabby boxy house in the lumber yard. Then that will help you to understand why an inexpensive but pretty table c...

                                      A MUSICAL MEMORY – AND HOW THE LORD SAVED THE DAY!             I am remembering a special time in my life, and how it almost ended in bitterness instead of joy.               I had withdrawn from university right before my second year final exams   due to pressures mounting in my life.   I was living at home with my parents, recovering from poor mental health and had not yet begun to look for a job.               My dear mother, trained in psychology and having worked with mental patients, knew that I needed something positive to occupy my time.   I took her up on that and decid...

                                             THAT PERSON RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME               Lord, I have missed your will in so many ways!   I think of the time that a senior gentleman had fallen on the sea of ice behind my apartment building.   Both the ladies I was driving with to church and I immediately thought of the good Samaritan story.   In front of us was an almost identical situation.   A lady from an upstairs window called out that the superintendent had been called, and, more importantly, an ambulance.   My friend threw a blanket over him, said a few comforting words, then we left.   I always felt that I should have stayed with him until help arrived.     ...

  YOU WERE THERE – an Emmaus meditation Lord, I didn’t see You, but you were there when I cried myself to sleep , got confused in my bed at night, failed an exam, was demeaned, fearful, misunderstood-when I didn’t measure up;   every time I got lost, trapped, stuck in an elevator, on the highway with a broken-down vehicle, needing to hitchhike. You were Mr. Heaver, our grade eleven history teacher who silenced my classmates when my father’s name was all over the local paper for drunk driving and I, fifteen, was in the car;   You were Santa, the fairies, Father X, father Mehan; father “Chumleigh” – all the “fathers” who helped me before I knew my real Father God;   that compassionate philosophy professor with the soulful eyes; that stranger who picked up the strawberries I spilled in the doorway of No Frills.    You gave me whatever I needed at the time.   Some may have been angels.   But it was always You. Thank You.

THE CASE OF THE VERY TALL HYACINTH I was teaching in Britt, Ontario and living in a cottage on a campground.  I had had one date with my future husband Rien in January, to celebrate both of our birthdays.  He, a recent widower, had taken a trip to Holland to visit relatives, and had now come up to visit his old friend Harold, my landlord, to help him around the campground and to pursue me - even bringing me a sweet little blue necklace from Holland.  I was avoiding him, not sure about this relationship, and had gone down to Parry Sound, a three-quarters-of- an-hour drive which I had to take to get groceries.  I was on a mission to get a hyacinth, my favourite spring flower, hoping its beauty and fragrance would hurry spring along – at least at  my cottage.  I was not dressed for a date, since I was expecting to be alone.  Well, guess who was in the grocery store, not slicked up either?  Yes, Rien!  On hearing my quest, he, a professional ma...

  THE HAM (Memories of a new bride: having my parents-in-law over for dinner) We were living in Wainfleet, Ontario. I invited my mother- and father-in-law over for dinner.   Isn’t that what you do?   They were living in        .   At first, Opa said, ”No!”   But Oma said, “Why not?” And that was that! Meanwhile, more than nervous about the dinner, I was planning to serve ham: my father’s special recipe.   Dad was a gourmet cook, and had invented as wonderful recipe for ham, involving basting it with white wine and apple juice. Rien’s sister Jenny , serving as the go-between, informed me that her parents would be arriving at around 4:30 the day of the dinner. I think my nervousness came more from my own family background, as the Van Mils were much more casual about everything. On the day of the dinner, I had a scrumptious dessert made (this being what I am best at).   I was on the telephone throughout the cook...