Skiing with Noah

Had breakfast with a couple friends today. McWrinkles isn't my favourite dining establishment, nevertheless that's where the guys were gathering so I decided to get up early, be a good Joe and show up on time. First mistake. The only other guy to show up was the convenor of the meet and we shot the breeze for the next forty-five minutes until eventually a couple other people put in an appearance. I say this not out of malice but simply to accurately inform as to the timeline. Nobody shows up on time here. Ever. Appointments are made and it's entirely a matter for conjecture whether they show up half an hour late, an hour and a half late, or not at all. People have perished in house fires because nobody showed up. Nobody showed up to collect my rent. For six weeks. Years ago, this would have enraged me. Not the rent part, obviously - one lives in hope that someone just forgot about it this month - but about UNACCEPTABLE TARDINESS! Now, I guess I just let it go because I have learned that God is an economist. Not the beige, dark-suited type, but I think he recognises that time, like money, is under his full control and the sooner we stop fretting about it, the more constructive use we can make of it. Taking 'no thought for the morrow' isn't a bad policy, on reflection, which the exegete in me translates as..do what needs to be done today and tomorrow has a habit of taking care of itself. It was 'nice' to hang out with a few of the church folk today, without the additional stress of actually having to attend the service. I felt rather like a water-skier behind the Ark.