HELLO!

Happy New Year! I pray you experience memorable moments of insight, deep joy and fun you will treasure in 2025, moments that will last you a lifetime. Call me weird, but the conservations I enjoy most are ones where people share those experiences with me. And not like I hear in so many coffee shops, “That’s interesting…it reminds me of this experience I once had…” Note to self and others, when people share memorable experiences, it is NOT their way of asking us to share ours. My usual response to these epiphanies is to ask more about the experience, I may even ask, “that is so interesting, but it seems at odds with some things you have told me about yourself”. I should say, my highlighting of inconsistencies is NOT how the other’s views are inconsistent with mine, but rather how they seem at first glance inconsistent with what the other has said to me previously. This assessment can only be offered if you listen to what others say about themselves. But as my wife Kim so often tells me, “You keep expecting people to be consistent. No one is consistent. You need to stop worrying so much if you are being consistent, why others are inconsistent. It’s just human nature to be inconsistent.”

Today I visited with Sylvia Whitman, long-time member of Woodlawn United Church. Her husband Elliott died on December 20^th. I called her that day, she was overwhelmed with the death, her home filled with care and support from family. She asked me to visit after Christmas. I have Sylvia’s permission to share this sad news. Here is Elliott’s obituary: https://www.arimatheafuneral.ca/obituaries/2024/12/27/carl-elliott-whitman-1

Elliott’s “home” was/is St. James United Church in Upper Musquodoboit, which is why he never transferred his membership to Woodlawn. No surprise, he will be buried there. I remember my former Professor, Canadian philosopher, and author George Grant, once sharing a story about former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. Diefenbaker was asked about Toronto. He said Canada’s largest city was a wonderful place but not somewhere one would ever want to be buried. Kim and I bought plots at the St. Andrew’s Anglican cemetery in Timberlea, where all her kin reside. As I often say, it’s the only place where Kim and I can afford waterfront property. Please keep the Whitman family in your prayers.

Peace, Kevin