Renos With Rosie: Bunkies or Bust

 

 

Here I sit, comfy and content in the cozy main cabin drinking a delicious coffee and watching the mist drifting over the lake, thinking grateful thoughts that my two daughters and my granddaughter Junie are comfortably asleep over in our two bunkies.

The mostly finished bunkies

If you’re not aware, bunkie is a shortened version of the word “bunkhouse”, basically a free-standing bedroom where in this case, we house our guests in comfortable seclusion.

It all started around eight years ago, back when the idea of building bunkies was an unattainable dream and I tromped around with Rose and the girls clearing a building spot and pounding in stakes. We had fun, marking out an imaginary pair of bunkies surrounding a cute little unbuilt deck.

Rose in the newly cleared area

Imaginary future bunkies staked out

At that time, I wasn’t even remotely concerned about having to actually build this idyllic village in the middle of our little patch of heaven because we very simply did not have the money to do it.

Even if it was possible to YouTube my skill level up to the point where I could build something that wouldn’t collapse around our guests’ ears, we didn’t have the money to make it happen and probably never would.

But I have learned over the years never to underestimate the power of my lovely wife to imagine and plan things to such a degree, so intensely and with such fierce determination that despite the impossibility of the task, it somehow comes together and falls into place.

I often will eventually find myself standing with a bewildered expression, once again in the position of trying to make the vision happen.

In this case the actual building process started innocently enough four years ago with the idea (source officially unknown) to build a “tent platform” over in the exact spot where we had fantasized building bunkies for the girls.

Me and my helpers pitching a tent on the new platform

I stupidly believed that it would stop there.

We did use it for a few years with a tent and that worked pretty well, and our daughters seemed to like staying in it on occasion. Junie loved having a separate play place and she would drag unsuspecting adults over to the tent to be the mommy or daddy in one of her games.

The real trouble began when Rose’s elderly mom passed away in the spring of 2024 and she came into a small inheritance.

Suddenly everything began to align itself into an inescapable vortex that threatened to draw me down into a years long building program that looked likely to grow into something that would also siphon the groceries off our kitchen table.

The awesome power of obsessive planning, intense desire and the focusing of ones will (one being Rose) was threatening to pull me along with it into a multiple summers long building frenzy.

“Flee Douglas, flee!” my brain frantically screamed at me.

But then Rose looked at me with genuine admiration as she contemplated the little group of cute, warm, bunkies that already existed within her very active mind. They posed there in a delightful cluster around the erstwhile tent platform that was rapidly morphing into a central deck/living room, sandwiched between the two cozy cottages and acting like catnip to our future guests.

At that point there was no escaping the inevitable and I somewhat reluctantly began to swim with the current, deciding to join the process so that I could have a little input into the details of what I knew I would soon be building.

The strange thing that always seems to surprise me (again and again) is that once the sticky switch in my mind gets freed up and switched on, I find myself becoming more and more excited by the whole idea.

We began to ask ourselves the important questions that needed to be answered before we could begin.

What shape would the bunkies be? Answer: Rose wants shed style, with the front 18” higher than the back. Well, ok then!

How big can we make them without going through the county for a building permit? Answer: 107 sq. ft.

How much will each bunkie cost? Answer: $5,000 to $7,000.

Will I need help beyond what Rose and the girls can help me with? Answer: yes, definitely!

Surprisingly rapidly, the design began to take shape and with Roses’ very specific design requirements firm in my mind I quickly searched out a great plan. We opted for a 12’ x 10’ shed that I could customize and scale down to a 12’ x 8.5’ bunkie, bringing it in at the required size of 107 sq. ft.

Within a few weeks we were ready to get started and with a list of building materials clutched in my hand I set out for the Camrose Rona store to load up.

After I had the concrete support blocks in place and the 4x4 rails all attached and leveled I got started on the base.

Building the foundation

Ready to install the sheeting on the base and then flip it onto the foundation

We wanted this bunkie to be as warm and cozy and quiet as we could make it, so we were determined to have a well-insulated base to build on.

First, I built the floor from 2x6 lumber, then the girls came out and with their help we sheeted it with tongue and groove plywood, flipped it over onto the support structure, insulated it and added the top layer of plywood.

Readers of my book might recognize the building process that we reprised from the original cabin build and once again in the fictional cabin builds undertaken by our heroes, Dan and Jo.

Despite what they accomplished in the novel, effortlessly building a similar cabin in the woods along the Pembina River over a couple of days, in real life things go much more slowly and are sometimes a real challenge!

My helpers were game for the task, and they all did great, cheerfully taking on anything asked of them, and we soon had it sealed up and ready to build the bunkie on its nice solid foundation.

The next part of the project went quickly and with some help from a friend, the bunkie was soon framed up and ready to have the roof put on and the walls sheeted. I won’t bore you with the details but there were a few small challenges adapting the shed plan and figuring out how to order and install the metal for the roof.

Starting to sheet the walls

We eventually decided on a light grey colour and we ordered panels six feet long so I could bring them out to the cabin in the back of our Envoy SUV. That meant we would need to overlap and join them together on the roof but that all went surprisingly well and I enjoyed the spectacular vista from the top of the bunkie as they were installed.

When I told Rose about the amazing view, she got that look in her eye and innocently inquired about the possibility of building a deck up there.

My immediate response (measured and thoughtful as always) was something like “are you insane?”

She usually reads me pretty well and she quickly backed off that line of speculation, probably slipping it into her back pocket for future negotiations.

One thing Rose and I did agree on is that wherever possible we would save money and use whatever we could from materials we already had on hand. One prime example is the three large windows I had squirreled away after removing them from a rental property a few years ago.

Applying the pine siding

These windows were still in good shape but not as attractive or energy efficient as modern windows. They had been demoted to storage in the country, waiting for a time when they would be needed again and low and behold, against all odds, that time had arrived.

We used the two matching, smaller windows in bunkie one, reserving the largest window for bunkie two and the spectacular view that it would have over the lake.

The exterior door came from our basement suite where it was no longer needed and scrounging around, we would eventually pick up a free Queen mattress from our niece and other used furniture from marketplace to make a cozy and functional space.

The mattress gets a hillbilly style delivery

This first bunkie was earmarked for our daughter April as a pet free zone with the future second bunkie going to our daughter Kait and our granddaughter Juniper.

Between Rose and my daughters there are a lot of design ideas and opinions and I try very hard to relax about it all but my innate cheapness and desire to keep things simple causes me to “step in it” from time to time.

They pretend to take me seriously, but I’m pretty sure that they all know I’m a big softie and though I may grumble a bit, eventually we work out some kind of a compromise leaning heavily in their favour.

April had a kind of modern Scandinavian esthetic in mind for her little cottage, and she picked out materials for a drop-down pine shelf under the window with the idea that she and her husband could sit there on cool mornings with their coffee and take in the view.

She wanted a plywood feature wall and after a lot of shenanigans involving removing the center piece after the fact and replacing it with one more similar to the other two, with the matching pretty grain (to make Rose happy), it turned out great! We went on to finish it with a clear coat so that squashed mosquitos wouldn’t ruin it forever.

In keeping with the rustic cabin theme we decided to avoid the messy drywall route and opted for ¼ inch plywood on the rest of the interior walls and after trying to make the cracks and seams disappear with wood filler, we painted the rest of the interior a sort of warm white colour.

Then it was time to add the finishing touches.

This is how things often work in our household. Rose will say something like, “April really wants these super cool chairs that she found on marketplace, look how lovely they are! They are absolutely perfect, and April is such a sweet daughter, don’t you think? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you were to drive over to Southgate (way across the city) and pick them up for her? What a great dad you are!”

Not quite sure what just happened, and with a bewildered look on my face I will find myself bundled out of the house with an address scrawled on a piece of paper, driving across the city in search of some cool vintage folding chairs in a green jungle motif!

The same thing keeps happening repeatedly and though I may squeak a little, I do enjoy making all of the ladies in my life happy in some small way if I can.

Of course, that extends to my lovely wife Rose and since she was determined to have the ceiling done in tongue and groove, select pine with no joins at all. I found myself hauling out many bundles of 12’ boards and then I faced the daunting prospect of installing them.

I definitely needed help with that particular job and we enlisted a friend for the project and with Rose, my buddy and myself, we soon had it done. Once again, she was right, it looks great.

Aprils bunkie

April's drop down shelf and cute retro chairs

As I stood looking at the ceiling, admiring how well it had turned out, despite being a real pain in the heinie to install, I shuddered, knowing as I did that come next summer when bunkie 2 was built I would be called upon to do the same job all over again.

Nooooo

To be honest, as much as I moan occasionally, I have very much enjoyed getting these bunkies built. As I often say to Rose, “I may not enjoy every aspect of the job, but I really love getting the job done.”

It’s fun to sit on the deck (formerly a tent platform) and look at the beautiful view with a cute, cozy bunkie at my back, all snug and finished and just waiting for visitors.

The view from the deck

The crew takes some hard earned time off after bunkie 1 was finished

Then it was winter and my ardour for the building process cooled off with the weather. Come spring I casually tried to downgrade the expectations of my wife and daughters.

“I’m feeling exhausted and overwhelmed and stressed out at the prospect of starting over and going through the whole process again.” I tried.

Well, that boat didn’t float!

Rose countered with, “If you’re not feeling up to it sweetie, I will just hire you some help. Don’t worry, I don’t want you working out there alone, we’ll get you lots of help!”

I tried again with, “I was looking at the county bylaws and I don’t think we can build them that close together.”

Rose countered with, “Let’s call the county and see what they say, maybe you’re worried for nothing.”

After some mumbling and grumbling from me, I made the call and after a little back and forth with the powers that be, we concluded that it wouldn’t be a problem.

Rats!

And that brings us to bunkie 2.

Basically, it’s the story of bunkie 1 but turned 90 degrees and with the door in a different place and one new window added for cross ventilation.

The crew once again consisted of Rose and my girls and a few good friends who pitched in when needed and with the addition of one new, two wheeled helper.

I absolutely hate having to rent a trailer or overloading my vehicle by hauling too many building materials, so we bought a little trailer to help out with the building of bunkie 2.

We got it online from Costco and then put it together on the driveway and we have gotten a lot of use from the little guy. He’s hauled lumber, junk, furniture, a stone fire pit, a lawn tractor and many other awkward, heavy and messy loads since he joined the menagerie.

Kait and Junie got full creative control on bunkie 2 and after getting over the slight shock of how different it turned out from April’s choices, we all love it. At first, I protested over the chair rail moulding and the idea of painting different colours on either side of the moulding and having to fuss around cutting the corner pieces, etc. etc. I eventually calmed down, did what I was asked and now I am glad I did because it turned out beautifully.

Insulating the base

A hard working painter 

In progress but almost there

The women in my family seem to see the finished product in their minds when they are designing but I’m afraid I see mostly the problems and expenses I’m going to run into while trying to make it come out as they imagine it. Oh well, that’s why I have learned to (mostly) squelch down those misgivings and trust them and their vision.

At this point things are still slowly evolving as we add the finishing touches.

First there was the addition of a shed style gazebo/pergola that has a metal roof and provides shelter to the deck and can be closed in with wind walls and mosquito netting.

Kait and I building the gazebo

Two 100 watt solar panels do the trick

Kait calls her style "cottage core-granny chic"

A room with a view

Then it was the sink that I picked up from a defunct hair salon in Leduc. It happened to fit just perfectly on the deck and with the addition of a custom wood shelf, a water tank to feed the sink and a battery powered bar fridge underneath, voila! We have a sort of kitchen/bathroom sink area.

We had picked up an EcoFlow solar power box that we placed on a shelf and with it connected to solar panels mounted on the sunny side of bunkie 1 and wired into both cottages, we now have plenty of power for fans and lights and phone chargers, etc.

Then it was the little luxuries that would make the whole thing irresistible. We added a sofa to the deck (free from friends) and a $10 coffee table that I drilled a hole in and added a little mini table top firepit that connects to the tank from the bottom.

Next it was how to have outdoor movies on the deck? I found a great little projector that is battery powered and connects to your phone or laptop or of course a DVD player and with an ancient screen that I used to use with my slide projector, we were all set.

Or were we? 

It turns out that only the newest phones have a video out capacity so our old phones were out. But when we used the girls newer phones we discovered that most of the streaming services have somehow blocked the video out function and their shows won’t play.

I eventually discovered that with my laptop I can download and play from Amazon Prime Video (hooray for them) but what an annoying restriction to have for the rest of the streaming services!

But hey, we can’t have everything in life and in the grand scope of things that issue is a very minor annoyance, right honey?

So now, with the project nearly complete and the money nearly gone, I worried that Rose would once again begin looking around for some way to keep me busy.

Later my fears were realized.

“I’m not happy with the size of the deck” she began, “I want guests to have their own cooking area and prep/cleanup area. I want them to be completely self-contained over there and to have plenty of privacy. There's no room for a table and chairs on the deck as it is. It needs to be twice as big!”

From that point on it devolved into a bit of a tug of war around whether we actually needed to expand the deck with my position being, “absolutely not!” In fact I may have said something about it being in danger of looking like a bowling alley if it got much longer.

But wonder of wonders, with the help of the rest of the gang piling on, it was eventually decided that yes, we did need to expand the deck by 8’ and move the steps over to the side and add a cable railing.

But when Rose scheduled a weekend to get all the work done, unrest in the ranks began to foment and culminated in a united decision to defer that particular project until next year.

At that point Rose got that speculative faraway look in her eyes and I quickly went from relief about the deck delay to fear of the unknown.

Later I saw a gathering of the female household members milling around in the open area beside the cabin; they were pointing and waving their arms in alarming ways as they clustered around a few wooden stakes they had pounded into the ground.

"Oh, oh", I thought, "time to make myself scarce."

Over the next few days, I worked diligently to appear busy and sore and tired all at once, hoping that I was mistaken about what was surely coming, until…yes, you guessed it, it turns out she had an idea. She handed me her phone one day and surprised me with a Facebook marketplace add for a stone firepit for sale.

“Huh” was my response. “Why are you looking at that?”

“Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a permanent place for bonfires and cooking over an outdoor flame?” she sweetly asked.

“Guests love sitting around a fire, and I still remember how Jamie Oliver would cook in his backyard making such yummy food, wouldn’t that be awesome honey. And we could put in a few posts around the edges of the gravel pad that we would need and string a bunch of twinkly lights from them; it will be magical!”

I smiled at my wife and sent a message to the seller. “We’re on our way.”  

The new firepit area (waiting for the rest of the vision to be realized)

Buy my book - The Republic of Dan

Welcome wonderful reader in France, you've made my day!

I never thought of myself as naïve before but I find it’s true; when it comes to writing a novel and how being the author of a self-published novel would affect me emotionally, I realize now that I never had a clue.

It has been both one of the most rewarding and one of the most agonizing experiences of my life.

I was convinced that I would be able to write it, edit it, design the cover, write the back cover blurb and publish it, all with very little help and then I would sit back without a care in the world.

I believed I could impassively watch as my friends, family and of course the public either chose to read my beautiful baby or ignore it completely, without suffering horribly in the event it turned out to be the latter.

Of course, I knew publishing success was a longshot, but I stubbornly persisted in believing that if it was a good book and enjoyable to read, somehow it would prosper even in the incredibly competitive, independently published fiction book market.

Well, live and learn as they say. It turns out that my tuff, gruff, façade is just that and nothing more.

It turns out that I do care—a lot!

It was a lot of work to get set up with Amazon as an author/publisher and I have to say it has been quite a ride. Their incredible system reports sales of physical books (or lack of them) almost instantly. It also shows Kindle book sales as well as Kindle Unlimited pages read each day, including which country the reader is located in.

I can’t adequately express how it warms the heart to see someone begin to read your book and to see them read not just a few pages but to power through it like a book they just can’t put down! Today I basked in the glow of seeing someone in France reading several hundred pages over the course of the day and it made me very happy.

Long gone is the notion that I can maintain a placid attitude towards my book’s sales figures; not because I care much for the money that may come in but simply for the joy of knowing that someone somewhere is reading and hopefully enjoying my book.

I can't speak for other writers of course, but I write because I believe that I have something useful to say, and even if that's my own personal delusion, perhaps what I write might at least be entertaining to the reader and that's no small thing.

It is gratifying to think that readers are learning about how an Albertan may think and act in the kind of situation that arises in the novel and maybe they may even learn something useful from my own experience and research.

I know I learned a lot as I wrote the book, and it has been fun to put what I learned into action as I worked to make our family as safe and secure as possible in very uncertain times.

So if that's all that comes of it—my own family and a few friends are more aware of the dangers our society faces and become better prepared to face them successfully, I'm ok with that.

Meanwhile I’m trying hard to resist the temptation to visit my Kindle sales dashboard for the twelfth time today in the hope that the reader in France has picked up my book to once again journey to that beautiful place that exists only in “The Republic of Dan” and in the reader’s mind.

I'm just going to pop over there to check, I'll be right back...

Graphic of pages read in France

Is Jesus the Real Deal?

Whenever Christmas season rolls around once again many of us are reminded to think about "the baby lying in the manger".

That brings to mind an old saying that goes something like this, “careful you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”

It’s a saying that’s hard to disagree with, and yet when it comes to God’s message to us all, that’s what many people do. 

There is absolutely no doubt that there has been confusion, lies, greed, hypocrisy, selfish ambition and every other bad human behavior among church leaders and those proclaiming to be followers of Jesus. (That’s the bathwater.)

But the important thing, the thing that we mustn’t throw out with that dirty bath water is indeed “the baby” and yes, unlike the character Ricky Bobby from the silly movie Talledega Nights, I do know that “baby Jesus” grew up to become a man.

The precious part that we need to hold onto in that scenario is the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for each and every one of us.

A Statue of Jesus in a little prairie church

If you’ve never heard it before, hear it now.

Jesus is God. He came to the earth and lived among us as a completely sinless man until He was betrayed, humiliated and crucified as the ultimate, willing sacrifice to atone for the sins of all humankind. 

After three days He was resurrected and appeared before many witnesses who have left their testimony for us so that we also can believe and have hope. 

He did this so that we all could have the chance to freely make the choice to be forgiven.

We do this (be forgiven) by choosing to recognize and admit that we are sinners in the eyes of the God that made the universe and by choosing to accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour so that we too can be forgiven and have new life, eternal life.

That’s the good news also known as “The Gospel”.

The first line of a popular Christian book from a few years ago began, “It’s not about you.”

What the author was trying to get across is that we were all created for a purpose and that purpose is to be in a relationship with God, through Jesus. Many people today, for various reasons, reject God out of hand, without knowing this simple truth, “God is real and He wants to have a relationship with you.”

Every person who has somehow stumbled onto this truth has a duty, a responsibility and hopefully a desire to share this good news with the other people in their lives and of course, I’m no different.

So that means, even though this is my story, my testimony, still, it’s not about me. In fact, it’s much more about you than it is about me.

The reason for that is this: who I am and where I’ve come from, my experiences and life story is mostly in the past, yours on the other hand, at least in how it pertains to your relationship with Jesus is most likely in your future.

I can say that because in this country of Canada, the vast majority of people have only a vague, distorted and incomplete idea of who Jesus really is and most have no relationship with Him at all.

There are many, many, reasons why people reject the idea of “religion” and they may be good reasons. But what is missing from our understanding of who Jesus is and our perceived or experienced reality of religion is that Jesus and Christian religion are not the same thing and are mostly very far apart from each other.

So before I begin to tell my own story I want to get across one very important point.

The historical church and the church that exists today, even though they may try very hard to be what they were intended to be, fall far short of God’s mark, just as you and I fall far short of God’s design for our lives.

Sure we may try hard to do what is right just as the church tries, but the problem is the same, human nature and sin corrupt our lives just as they corrupt the church.

It has been said that “all religions lead to God.” But the sad truth is that “NO RELIGION necessarily leads to God!” 

Jesus Himself often spoke warnings about the hypocrisy of religious zealots who put religion ahead of people. 

He often warned against focussing on the trappings of religion and He instructed His followers to concentrate on doing good, loving others and being in a right relationship with God.

Originally believers and followers of Jesus referred to themselves as followers of “The Way” and unfortunately over the years, many people and churches have lost their way.

The Christian church today (just as it always has been) is composed of people; flawed, imperfect, damaged people who for many reasons have “joined the club” that is the church and these people may or may not have an actual relationship with Jesus.

For the first few years that I attended church with my family I didn’t have a real understanding of what it means to be a Christian and that’s on me. I was afraid to totally commit to anything in life and my Christian faith was no different. Like many people, I had one foot in my new Christian life and one foot still in my old life and that doesn’t allow you to move forward very easily, as a matter of fact it’s an extremely uncomfortable pose making it very easy to fall on your face!

But thankfully I stuck with it, mostly because I enjoyed the life; I enjoyed the people and the sense of belonging and being part of something much bigger than me. Eventually, in spite of my reluctance, I managed to soak up enough of the atmosphere and information so that God finally got through to me and I did “get it”. 

I finally understood that God is real and accepting Jesus is the way that we come into relationship with Him.

I wish that I were one of those people who are just blown away in the love at first glance sort of way and thereby avoid the slow arduous journey to faith that I experienced and if that first scenario describes you, then lucky you! Perhaps you’ve managed to avoid a lot of the heartache and wasted time and probably a few of the big, life sucking mistakes made by those of us who are slower to make that move to faith.

God calls us all to be in a relationship with Him but we are free to ignore that call and many of us do just that. We lump Christianity into the bag with all of the rest as “just another religion” and in some ways that’s not wrong. But as I explained earlier, Jesus is far bigger and more important than the jerk across the alley that calls him-self a Christian but insists on feuding with you over some petty grievance.

If you are a human being and I’m assuming you are (welcome aliens if you are also reading) you will occasionally hurt those around you, sorry but it’s the truth. You will also be hurt by many people, ranging from strangers, to authority figures and especially by those that you love. It is inevitable.

This world that we live in is a fallen world, full of sin, evil and pain and alongside all of that yucky stuff there is also kindness, generosity and beauty.

It is important to note that we do have an enemy here with us, we find we are trapped here with a being the Bible calls “a liar and the father of lies.”  There is no making peace with this enemy.

I believe that anyone who takes an honest, eyes wide open look at the world we live in will see that the evil that exists is not just a dumb, blind evil but instead it is a directed force that hates us and wants to destroy everything that is good.

Much of what we know of Satan comes to us directly from the mouth of Jesus and He is very clear that Satan is a dangerous adversary who will “devour us” if we are not careful. Our defence is our faith and the power that comes from being in an authentic relationship with Jesus.

Some of us are determined not to believe in God or Jesus and are apt to summarily dismiss the Bible but we do this at our own peril.

Years ago I purchased a book to send to my sister called “The Case for Faith” by Lee Strobel and as I traveled around Edmonton for work, the book sat in a bag beside my seat, waiting to be mailed. It just so happened that day as I worked on a POS system at a service station, I was talking to the attendant, a middle aged woman that I knew from previous visits. 

After a bit she confided in me that her life was a mess and she was going through some serious issues with one of her kids. I was feeling bold that day and when she asked how I dealt with life’s big problems I mentioned that I was a Christian and my faith got me through a lot of stuff.

I went out to my van and took the book that I had bought for my sister out of the bag and brought it inside to give it to the woman. I told her that it was well written and explained a lot and how it had helped me to understand much better that faith in God is not some crazy delusion but that there is real evidence that the God of the Bible is very real.

She said that she didn’t believe in God and if she was going to change her mind then He was going to have to show up in her life and speak to her.

As I handed her the book I just looked her in the eye and said, “well, maybe He just did.”

I don’t know what happened after that, I don’t think I ever saw her again but I often wonder what she did with that book and if the encounter that we had perhaps led her to give God a chance. It was up to her at that point to choose to open and read the book and maybe to open her mind to the words and ideas that were written in it pointing the way to the Bible.

She had her own choice to make, just like we all do.

God rarely appears in person or speaks directly to us, although it has happened. He prefers to work through people, He has often operated that way, right from the very beginning.  

People can be positive examples to us; they can actively pray for us, they can speak into our lives by showing us love and kindness or reminding us that we can be better people and calling us to a higher standard. Or they may give us a Bible or a Christian book and invite us to Church where the transformation of our lives through exposure to the Word of God can truly begin.

People can also influence us to pull away from God, convincing us that God isn’t real or if He is real then He must be a terrible hating being that is a destructive or uncaring force.

They say that ”misery loves company” and that tendency sometimes comes into play here, after all if you start following Jesus some of your old friends may be afraid that you will be “less fun” because all of a sudden some of the more destructive behaviour will begin to lose its appeal for you.

Hopefully they will say to you something like, “you’ve changed” and that’s a good thing because if we are following the ways of this world, we are likely doing a lot of behaviors that are bad for us and the people around us. Some people don’t like it when anyone (especially God) says anything that might spoil their “fun”.

When we hear the Word of God we are absolutely free to reject it out of hand, to say that it contradicts science or that Christians are intolerant maniacs or we may point at the abuses of the “church” over the years and the harm that resulted. 

Many people will summarily reject God for various reasons, denying His existence or relevance and that is their prerogative of course, but if they/you will thoughtfully and carefully examine the evidence with a truly open mind, you may be surprised.

Hearing about God through others, whether it is friends, celebrities, media outlets, scientists or some other source is not the same thing at all as reading the Bible with an open mind, after prayerfully asking God to speak to you and to make His word come alive to you (even though you may not believe that God exists at all).

This is a subject that shouldn’t be decided upon without careful consideration and a thorough, personal examination of the Bible and the history behind it.

The Christian Church, flawed as it may be, is God's creation and is part of His plan for us and it is within these flawed local churches that most Christians first hear about Jesus and learn that they too are called to be in a relationship with their creator.

It has been my own personal experience that if you give God a chance, He will reveal Himself to you in ways that right now you can only imagine, taking away your doubts and confusion through His Word and your own spiritual journey to faith, and replacing them with His Truth.

(See my blog post - Room 1219 - An Appointment With Jesus)

https://thedoorinside.blogspot.com/2011/11/room-1219-true-story.html

Please don't take my word for any of this, or the word of anyone else. Instead, search the scriptures for yourself. 

At Christmas when you hear the music and see the nativity scene with baby Jesus lying in a manger, I hope you will at least consider that His birth and life are historical fact. 

We are still celebrating two thousand years later all over the world for the simple reason that "God so loved the world that He gave  His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

So please don't throw the baby out with the bath water! 

Each one of us owes it to ourselves to make a truly informed decision about the most important choice that we will ever make.

Blessings all!