outWORD by Matte Downey

First course at the wedding feast I attended Dean and I just returned from a brief vacation in Manitoba. My nephew was getting married so the plan was to fly out the week before the big celebration and spend some time relaxing and hanging out with family and friends.  But things changed.  In the middle of the week we flew back to Montreal to attend the funeral of a dear friend. When I arrived at the funeral, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Because our friend had moved away a few years ago, we had not had much contact with him recently. I wondered if the end had been painful, wrenching, heartbreaking. And because he was so young, I assumed that a sense of premature loss would permeate much of the atmosphere. I was wrong.  His family set a tone of peaceful, restrained celebration. His mother told me the story of his brave last days when courage overcame pain and hope outshone disappointment.  She told of the final chapter of his life when clarity, revelation,...

We are doing a series on healing in our small group. Tonight we tackle the topic of "why?" Why are there destructive patterns in our lives, why do we sabotage the very processes that are meant to mature us? Why are we sick and poor and needy in the first place? An interesting theory is that if we never get to the "why?" we will never change, for we spend all our energy on managing the problem instead of eradicating the cause. We may be able to turn lemons into lemonade, but without uprooting the lemon tree from our garden, the fruit will always be with us. Yes, I know, we kind of like lemonade, but try to work with me on what the analogy is saying, people. Yesterday, I was talking to a friend of mine about the legalisation of prostitution in Amsterdam. A law was introduced in 2000 recognising prostitution as a legal profession in an effort to reduce crime and protect prostitutes. The authorities try to regulate prostitution, aiming at protecting minors, eliminatin...