Well, things are hot here in Toronto--with lots of bad air quality. Today it's supposed to hit 29 Celsius (what is that, 86 F?) with high humidity. The particularly bad news is that in Toronto there's a law that buildings can't switch from their heating systems to a.c. until June 1--and after they make the switch the system has to be serviced. So we won't be getting our a.c. here for a few more days. Last night I used no covers and had our large oscillating fan trained on me full blast. It makes you not feel like doing much of anything.

Nevertheless I'm going to be making an adventurous journey (I'm still influenced by Lord of the Rings I think) via subway to Dufferin Mall in Toronto which has both a Walmart and a No Frills supermarket. Charity, who's now absolutely, completely, indisputably finished with her studies, will be coming along. It will be an "outing." (Take note, younger people: this is the sort of thing people often do for fun as they get into middle age.)

Then later in the day (and this will be really exciting) I'm planning on taking a long walk through Toronto's underground mall and tunnel system for the exercise. The bad news is that just about all the stores are closed on the weekends, except for the Eaton Centre. But maybe that's actually good news, cause maybe what I really need is to get away from too many people and to be alone as I stride along endless corriders as I contemplate the meaning of my life and what comes next.

A book I mentioned earlier called A Long Obedience in One Direction by Eugene Peterson has, in recent weeks, been helpful in my meditations on such topics. It's a book I have in my backpack and pull out when I'm travelling north on the Yonge subway line each morning. Sometimes I continue to read it as I board the 34 Eglinton East bus, and sometimes I put it away and just meditate and pray about what I've just read.

The reason I like the book, I think, is that it's written by someone who not only is scholarly and articulate, but who also seems to walk the talk. I need to have the sense that what a guy (or gal) is talking about really works--that he/she has proven it experimentally. I just don't have the time or energy to read something written by one more phoney, Bible-spouting windbag. (Been there, done that, and been there, done that, and been there, done that, ad nauseum. I've also been, in my time, a pretty big windbag myself.)

Anyhow, here's a sample, from the last chapter (called "Happiness") I was reading:

There is a general assumption prevalent in the world that it is extremely difficult to be a Christian. While it is true that many don't completely disqualitfy themselves as 'Christians," they do modify their claims: ordinary Christians they call themselves. They respect the church, worship fairly regularly, try to live decently. But they also give themselves somewhat generous margins to allow for the temptations and pressures put on them by the world. To really be on the way of faith, take with absolute seriousness all that the Bible says--well, that requires a predisposition to saintliness, extraordinary willpower and an unspecified number of nameless austerities that they are quite sure they cannot manage.

But this is far from the truth as the east is from the west. The easiest thing in the world is to be a Christian. What is hard is to be a sinner. Being a Christian is what we were created for. The life of faith has the support of the entire creation and the resources of a magnificent redemption. The structure of this world was created by God so we can live in it easily and happily as his children....In the course of Christian discipleship we learn that without Christ we were doing it the hard way and that with Christ we are doing it the easy way. It is not Christians who have it hard, but non-Christians.