Page 14'Cassiar Courier November 1987 &

Reflections

By Beth Minty

“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they
shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not
faint.”

(Isaiah 40:31)

Some years ago I listened as a friend of mine re-
lated important moments in his life which brought him to
his present situation. He was “giving his testimony”. Al
told us of a time when he was a young government em-
ployee. He went to work day after day, put his pencil to
the paper and waited. He was waiting for God to move
the pencil and show him what to write. Well, if I hadn’t
known Al to be a sane well adjusted father of teenagers, I
would have thought that he was right out to lunch.
Crazy. As it was I had trouble keeping “nuts” and ‘Al’
from forming too close a link in my mind. Al, of course,
explained that this isn’t quite what Isaiah had in mind
when he exhorted us to “‘wait upon the Lord”.

I’m telling you this because of a funny thing that
happened to me. You see I believe that God introduces
ideas into our minds. C.S. Lewis, in his book “‘Screwtapes
Letters”, pictures us with a little angel on one shoulder
and a little demon on the other. Both the angel and the
demon whisper thoughts to us competing for our atten-
tion. Lewis had his tongue in his cheek . . . but he was
suggesting, as I believe, that ideas originating from God
come into our minds much more frequently than we think
they do. My problem is descerning which thoughts are
from God.

I like to practice recognizing when God “speaks”
to me. During the day, and especially while I’m going to
sleep and waking up, | test out material that may make
good subjects for writing or speaking about. It doesn’t
matter to me whether I will ever write or speak about it,
I just enjoy pretending that I might. When a topic feels
right and it goes somewhere, or says something, then |
know I could “‘use”’ that topic.

Well, for some crazy reason | chose a new method
to pick this month’s Reflections topic. I thought that I
would wait until my fingers were on the typewriter keys
and let God pop an idea into my head at that time.
Then I would be sure to write something I “was meant to
write about.’’ As Al before me had found out, it doesn’t
always work that way. I placed my fingers on the keys
and - ta da - nothing happened. Surprised? Hardly. |
started presenting topics to the Lord waiting for Him to

ANY
K artwind 4

A Special Gift to you at Christmas

“give me that “right’’-feeling. J.sat typing. all yesterday ..

afternoon, accumulating pages of rubbish, until finally
Keith came home for supper and rescued me. (And I
thought I was being so clever to trust God to provide a
topic for me at the exact moment I asked.)

Certainly God can place thought upon thought in
our minds and effectively write through us. He did that
to write the scriptures. Timothy tells us that the scrip-
tures are “God breathed” (2Tim 3:16) I have also heard
of cases where pastors have started to preach a prepared
sermon only to find that it didn’t “feel right” anymore
and that a new topic was urgently presenting itself. These
situations are fairly rare.

Although there are times when our knowledge and
skills are so lacking that God urges us to invite Him to
take over, if we could always sit back and allow God to
use us like puppets life would lose its spice. We need to
learn how to use our abilities. We need to be challenged,
and we need to accomplish. When we ask God to help us
we also learn about communicating with Him. If God had
shown me what to write about yesterday, I wouldn’t have
learned anything or accomplished much. It would also
have diminished my pleasure in doing the work.

You are probably all shaking your heads thinking
Beth Minty is a little crazy, just as 1 thought my friend Al
was. In that case I want to ask you something. Do you
feel inadequate, as I do, when you don’t know what God
wants of you? It occurs to me that learning to communi-
cate with God is a life time process which is perfected
when we come into His presence. Paul explains, “Now we
see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see
face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,
even as I am fully known.” (1Co 13:13) Instant learning
is not part of God’s plan for us. We have to expect some
doubt, confusion, and failures to be part of learning.

“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they
shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not
faint.”

So what have I learned . . . that waiting upon the
Lord is not waiting for Him to do something for me, but
waiting for Him to teach me. I learned that as I seek the
Lord’s help to develop the few skills I may have, I also
become more aware of His communication with me. Lots
of times I have thought, ‘‘Oh Lord, I goof up so often try-
ing to interpret what you are putting into my thick head
that I want to give up trying.” However, with every step
of the way, I learn again that there is a lot more pleasure
sticking with God than giving up. I think Al was saying
that years ago (when I was too shocked to listen) that the
goof-ups, and struggles change to pleasures and content-
ment when we stick with God and wait upon His gentle
teaching.

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=~Cont. from Page6 fm,

JOYCE’S STORY

Joyce is also a Maritimer, born in Spring Hill, Nova
Scotia on September 29th, 1936. Joyce’s dad was killed
in the Second World War, and she and her brother were
raised by her maternal grandparents.

“] had a great childhood,” recalls Joyce. I was a
real tomboy and my older brother was a bookworm. I
always fought his battles for him!’”’ One young fellow by
the name of Artie Canning received at least one thumping
a week from Joyce. ‘My grandfather used to say go get
him Joyce, and I did!’ :

Involved in sports, Joyce swam, biked, played ball
and hockey and loved to dance. “My grandfather was
very religious,” says Joyce, “and Sundays were church;
morning, noon and night!”’ Joyce tried her best, ‘‘But I
was too headstrong!”’

First married at the age of fifteen in Spring Hill in
1952, Joyce found herself the mother of three boys by
1957. “It was a stupid marriage. I was young and foolish,
but I loved my boys!” In 1966 Joyce left Spring Hill with
her children and headed west on the train. ‘We arrived at
Chilliwack, B.C., and I had $2.50 in my pocket and my
boys were hungry.”

Joyce’s uncle, Lester Archibald, helped her out.
She stayed with him for two days - found a job in the Hop
fields and moved to her own place. She was working then
for $1.75 per hour - but she was stubborn and determined
to be very independent!

She held various jobs in the Fraser Valley, includ-
ing one at the Coquilitsa Hospital at Sardis, then at
Henry’s Meat Market.

Joyce had developed a strong sense of self and was
living with her sons as the independent woman she had
wished to become. When she met Joe - life took on some
changes afterward! “He was fun and haywire (we both
were), and I loved him!”’ states Joyce matter-of-factly.

The couple moved to Powell River in 1969. Joyce
found employment with the B.C. Ferries, and Joe worked
for McMillan Bloedel. “I had a good time in my job.” re-
calls Joyce. ‘We'd pull pranks on one another, and the
public - well that’s another story! Most of it’s not print-
able, but I will tell you if you ask about a naked con-
ventioneer and my rumble with a motorcycle gang!”

By January, 1979, Joyce was mad at Joe, so she
left him and moved north to Erickson. ‘We weren’t
getting along - so good-bye Joe!” Joyce first worked for
Iona Catering. ‘I had a ball!” says Joyce with her eyes
twinkling and her proverbial elfish grin. Her son Wayne
brought Joe up for a visit in 1980. ‘(He was gonna stay
three months,” remembers Joyce, ‘“ and he’s still here!”

Cont. on Page 15

Tere EEE ee EEE DE DEDEDE De De De De De De De De De De De De De ie ce es

The ClothesCloset & Cassiar Hair Design

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G hris tmas

Corner of Kennedy and Connell

~- ~~ SCHOOLADVISORY ELECTION —

- Elections were held recently to choose four new members to the School Advisory Council. The new
members will each serve a two year term and attended their first meeting on Wednesday, October 14th.
; New members elected were: Claudia Huber, Ross Harper, Shirley Howard and Lois McGrail.-

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CLAUDIA HUBER

SHIRLEY HOWARE

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ROSS HARPER m LOIS McGRAIL

Cassiar Courier November 1987 Page 15 , =

Cont. from Page 14 . ;

I asked Joyce how she ended up working in the
mill at Erickson. ‘That happened because of a bet be-
tween Dave Chapman and Roy Gould.” Apparently
Chapman said that a woman could not do the work re-
quired in the mill, (up on the grizzle breaking rock with a
sixteen pound sledge hammer), Roy Gould bet on Joyce
and won! :

Joyce worked herself up to her present position as
operator on the jig table. She credits her stubborn streak
for her success. “I was tired,” she says, ‘but I did it be-
cause nobody tells me I can’t do something, ’cause I’ll
prove them wrong!”

Joyce never missed a weekend going to town
and having a ‘good time” in her early days. She still en-
joys kicking up her heels. “I can’t go to a dance and sit
still,”’ says Joyce, ‘I try to behave like a lady - but it
doesn’t always work!”

A couple of favorite memories Joyce shares with
us concern the characters she has met. ‘While I was bull-
cooking at Erickson, there was this one fellow who always
wet his bed when he was drunk. Well, I got fed up - sol
went to town and bought a rubber sheet for his bed. Well
he begged me, ‘Please Joyce, I won’t do it anymore!’, but
I stuck to my plan. He ended up sleeping on the floor in
his room - then the problem was solved!”

One evening in Cassiar, Joyce was out with a girl-
friend in the Cassiar bar. Well this older “guy” called
Nick was sweet on Joyce’s girlfriend and was determined
to give her a ride home on his motor bike. Joyce didn’t
think it was safe - and told the guy so. He was adamant -
and defied Joyce - she kicked his bike right out from
under him! “My friend comes home with me!” said
Joyce, ‘I don’t know what happened to old Nick!”

Joyce says she enjoys the life at Erickson, The
people are interesting and friendly! She especially likes
the socializing at the Christmas party and the Longest
Day of the Year party.

Joyce is a survivor of the Hinton train crash -
the worst in Canadian history. It was a traumatic event,
one she doesn’t like to discuss.

She credits her ability to deal with life as it is
because she takes it as it comes. However she realizes
the decisions that she must make so that she can enjoy
life! Joyce says she is irrepressable - there is no way
she is prepared to accept life in a rocking chair - she
likes to kick up her heels!

The Heberts are good people - honest, open
and straightforward. After knowing them as I have,
I find myself priviledged to be counted as their friend.
Cassiar Country is lucky to have them as a part of its
citizenry!

*

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