Leaning

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and
my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you...

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me--a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”

My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.

Psalm 42

Mondays

I like Mondays. Sunday is over and a new week is beginning. There aren't too many pressures on Mondays (they come later on in the week).

I'm a person who likes to reflect a lot on life and Mondays are my day to do that. I usually take time to write in my journal while enjoying a cup of tea. Today it's more likely going to be over a cup of hot chocolate because I have a couple of free drinks coming to me at Starbucks and so I feel the need to get the most expensive drink I can!

My friend Chad gave me a jar of honey about a month ago. It was really good but now I'm sad because all the honey is gone. I wonder if this is the season for honey? I fear that not every season is a season for honey. But is that really true? What about the figs? What point was Jesus making when he became upset that there were no figs on the tree, despite it not being the season for figs? I think that there should be honey available year round!

And where do you go to get honey? Would it not be in the same isle as oil? Sure, you can get go and grab a jar of honey in most stores, but I don't just want any ol' honey! I want the really good stuff! (shun-dy) You can't just run around the corner and get the really good stuff.

I seem to go through phases. Sometimes I'm in a honey phase and there's nothing better than a good peanut butter and honey sandwich! You eat one and then you want another, but by the time you eat the second one, you kind of realize that your eyes might be bigger than your stomach. That's the problem with honey: it always leaves you wanting more. Discontentedly content!

But then I go through a phase where I'm not quite as into the honey as I was before. Never sure what causes the switch. However, all it takes is for me to have another PB&H and I remember all over again how good the honey really is!

Did you know that a colony of bees will eat between 100 and 120 pounds of honey in a single year? Looking at that from a weight ratio perspective, those bees are consuming several times their own weight in honey! They're really drinkin' in the honey!!

Anyway, it seems I'm out of honey. Chad says he'll get me some more. In the meantime I'll reflect a bit longer about where the honey has gone and what can be done about it. I know that honey needs to be cultivated. Maybe I should be a bee. Then I'd be swirlin' in the honey! (but then bees are dying off at a very alarming rate, so maybe being a bee wouldn't be the best thing right now! say that 5 times in a row!!)

Well, I'm off to Chapters for my drink. I'm not sure now if I'll end up having the hot chocolate or not. I might get my Earl Grey tea.... I always put a generous helping of honey in my tea!
:)

slow

Do you ever have a day where you're just moving slow?
Some days it's physical, some days it's not.
Today is one of those days...

Anyway, so I'm working on message for this coming Sunday about God and loneliness.

We actually entitled it 'God and being alone', but as I've come closer to the message I realize that was the wrong title. It's about loneliness and that's different than 'being along' It's a challenging topic. (okay, so the entire series is challenging!)

We're surrounded by people a lot of the time and yet so many people feel lonely. It's a longing for deeper relationships, in a facebook world that excels at shallow ones. It's like we've become so mistrusting of people and society in general, that it is becoming more and more difficult to actually have deep meaningful friendships.

Take blogs for instance (since you're reading one!):
Some people use them as public diaries, and simply spew unfiltered thoughts onto the world-wide web for anyone to see. On one level I understand the attraction. There is a desire to vent one's spleen on a regular basis. Many times I have wanted to blog but I simply have not had anything appropriate to blog about! (especially as a pastor, one has to be careful about what one writes in public forums) The problem with using blogs for deeply personal stuff is that there's no discretion being used in terms of who you are venting to. It's like you're trying to share your life with others but from a safe, often anonymous distance.

I've been doing some interesting reading about how people are exploring links between loneliness and issues like depression and addiction. One author wrote that we have bred a generation of isolation. We keep the people around us at a distance. "Never let them see you sweat", right? Remember that TV ad?

A friend of mine was commenting on how many people think that 'nobody understands me', and how in his mind, this is a load of crap. It may well be a load, but the point underlying it seems to be a longing people have to be understood.

There's little point in decrying the evils of technology that are facilitating our own isolation tendencies. We're social people, so we will inevitably be drawn into social settings. The problem is that we seem to be losing our abilities to socialize in meaningful ways. Increasingly people struggle to be truly vulnerable with any close friends, or even to have close friends.

The unfortunate part of human relationships is that it's inevitable that we're going to get hurt from time to time. Each time we do it often makes it more difficult for us in the future because we don't want to get hurt again.

The result in a loneliness that is pervasive in our society.

So that's about it for now.

Too Good

My friend Al shared a book with me called "This Beautiful Mess" by Rick McKinley who is the pastor of the immensely popular church Imago Dei, in Portland Oregon. It's a big church now but he writes about the humble beginnings in the following quote. It's set in a larger context, but for right now, I'll just include the story.

For obvious reasons, I think this is a fantastic quote and I laughed very hard when I read it.

I am a church planter, which simply means that I started my church. At Imago Dei Community, we started from nothing and have grown to a decent-sized little church. You know what makes a church planter depressed on a Monday morning? Low attendance or a low offering the day before. If the poor pastor happens to get hit by both, he may need to be put on suicide watch.

For the person attending a young church, the perspective is different. Let's say that person is you. This week you decided to go to church. But come Sunday, you decide not to. You have a birthday party to deal with. Or a relative to visit. A bunch of friends are going snowboarding. Real life stuff. Anyway, you think your church decision is yours to make, and no one else really cares.

But someone-the pastor- cares, and I am sad to admit it's not always about your spiritual well-being, though that concern is down there somewhere. Nickels and noses. Levels. That's what makes or breaks Sundays for most people starting a church.
I remember one Sunday when we were first starting out. We only had about thirty people. We met on Sunday evenings in a Baptist church that was kind enough to rend us space cheap. That particular Sunday also happened to be the seventh game of the NBA championship, and Portland was playing LA for the title. As you can guess, I was in for a kick in the groin.

We sat in a darkened room with candles lit. Seemed like an artistic, atmospheric thing to do. But when I stood up to preach to twelve young women who didn't care if Portland won or lost or that Portland even has an NBA team, it felt more like a funeral for a bunch of sorority sisters whose cat had been hit by a car.

That night we slid from thirty to twelve, and even though rationally I could tell you why our turnout was low, my heart was reeling. Here I was, trying to jump to the next attendance level, and our church had slid. A 60 percent drop in one week. Where was God? What did I do wrong? Why were we both failing?

I love the story, but I also love the title of the book, 'This Beautiful Mess'. The church is a mess. It's easy to write off local churches; there are a million and one different reasons... some reasonable, others not.

However, it's refreshing to hear someone like McKinley express the tension: the church is a mess, but it still is beautiful.

Talking Snakes

Today a new movie hits theaters called 'Religulous'. It's a 'documentary', or more correctly a 'mockumentary' on organized religion starring everyone's favorite sarcastic comedian Bill Maher. I have not seen this movie and have no real interest in seeing it, however as I read the review in the Edmonton Journal today, I was irritated enough to blog about it.

According to the review, Maher's main goal in the movie is to create doubt in people about the foundations of religion, obviously in context of sarcastic attempts at humor. One summary of the movie says "Religulous describes religious ideas, beliefs, or claims that are patently absurd, comical, or ridiculous"

One of his main issues focuses around the Genesis narrative of the garden of Eden and the presence of a talking snake, which seems to Maher to be a classic example of the ridiculous nature of religion.

While the movie is a 'comedy' of sorts, seeing a trailer for it was enough to get my undies in a bunch because it makes clear that the film does have more serious undertones. With that in mind, I offer some of my own thoughts on the 'talking snake' narrative:

1) The presence of a talking snake is not the central idea or purpose of the passage, and to focus on it is to miss the entire theological thought that is being developed.

2) What is being developed is the theological truth that God is the one who sets the terms in His relationship to humans. We don't get to set the terms. We may not like it, but that's simply the way it is. Deal with it.

3) Another major point is that of choice. While God sets the terms, he allows us choice in terms of how we respond.

4) The last major point I'll mention is that we humans don't get the change the consequences later on. Again, we may not like the terms, but God sets them and we don't get to change them. Period.

Why is this so significant? Quite simply because these same principles apply in the matter of salvation through Christ. God has set the terms for salvation: Jesus Christ alone. No other name. We don't get to set the terms. We do however get to choose how we respond to those terms. Free will. Finally, we don't get to change the consequences later on. People can be as angry about them as they like, but that doesn't change the fact: God sets the terms and we don't get to change them. Period.

Those are some really major theological premises and to trivialize the narrative of the garden by focusing on how 'ridiculous' we find the idea of a talking snake, simply reveals a complete ignorance of the purpose of the story.

Anyway, it feels better to get that off my chest; certainly my undies feel better! So that's my theological rambling for today. The end.

Time

Time is one of those subjects that I just can't get my mind around. Specifically time management.

I'm looking at the assortment of books that I have on my desk, the majority of which are ones that are there because I really want to read them. Or do I? Somehow they sit there and I keep allowing myself to do other things: some things are urgent and thus I'm caught up in the 'tyranny of the urgent'; other times I'm just getting caught up in other activities. Reading is something I have to make time for; it doesn't just naturally happen (much to the horror of my wife, who is a book-aholic).

Have you ever wondered what it means to honestly like something and want to do it, yet somehow it doesn't actually happen in your life? Some would argue that it means it's not a value in your life. One the one hand I understand that, but on the other, I know what it is to really want to do something, but not get around to it, so I'm hesitant to dogmatically say 'it's not a real value'.

I think everybody has areas like that in life. For some it's exercise, for others it's scrap-booking, for others it's going to church or praying, or like me, it's reading.

Last night I didn't sleep very well at all. I've often thought about how much time we spend sleeping, and how much more we could do and experience if we didn't need to sleep. Think of all the reading I could do if I didn't need to sleep.

Strictly Business Pt. II

Many years ago, as I was studying 1 Thessalonians 2:8 the Lord spoke to me the following phrase: 'Whom you would change, you must first love'.

You can see in Scripture that Paul was passionately committed to helping people to grow in spiritual maturity (change) and seeing churches grow up into the 'fullness of Christ'. His first letter to the Corinthian church clearly shows how much that congregation needed to learn and grow into related to the gospel of Christ. In short, there was a lot of change needed in the people of Corinth and the apostle knew it.

There isn't a day that goes by that I am not confronted with some area of my life that needs change, as I seek to live a life that is worthy of the Lord (1 Thess. 2:12).

Some would argue that we don't bring about change; God brings about change. Okay. I agree. However, we are very often his agents of change in this world. Quite clearly Paul sought to teach and instruct in order to bring about change. "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ." (Col. 1:28) That's change folks!

I'm not saying that loving people is separate or distinct from helping to lead them toward change; the problem is that often when change does not occur then discouragement and frustration with can be stirred up, either towards ourselves or others we are working with.

I believe it was about this reality that the Lord was speaking to me about when I sensed him say, 'Whom you would change, you must first love'.

So the first priority needs to be on love for people and then the priority of being an agent of change (in this case meaning spiritual maturity). It's a matter of having things in the right order. When they are not in the right order, then it can lead to discouragement and frustration.

Another aspect of all this that I find very challenging is applying this to myself! I am remarkably good at getting all this mixed up when it comes to myself. I am often frustrated and discouraged with myself and the areas of my life that need to be brought into alignment with Christ. The idea of 'loving myself' can feel at odds with Biblical ideas of self-sacrifice and self-denial, but that is not the case. We must have a healthy and appropriate love for ourselves.

By this point, I've strayed off course from my original intent with the post 'strictly business'. That point was that it's very risky to love people because you often end up getting hurt. That's why I find Paul's words, 'we loved you so much that...' in 1 Thess. 1:8 to be so amazing.

It's easier to relate to people on a 'strictly business' level. It's less messy and lower risk, but it is NOT what God calls us to.

Strictly Business

There's a great line from one of my favorite movies, The Godfather: "It's not personal, it's strictly business'. It's a powerful line about not allowing personal sentiment and emotion to influence sound judgement. It sounds good, but often it's hard to do.

In stark contrast to that is a statement the apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church:

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
1 Thess. 2:8

It's a little warm and fuzzy for me, but the point is clear: for Paul, it was personal!

It's an incredible statement to me. Think of all the churches that Paul travelled to and was involved with; think of how busy he was; think about how radically committed he was, not only to the introductory message of the gospel of salvation, but also to seeing the church grow into spiritual maturity!

That phrase, 'we loved you so much...' is a huge challenge to actually live out. When it is, you end up with deep and powerful community, but you also take some real risks because your heart is on the line. It's the very thing that Michael Corleone, in The Godfather, was working to avoid.

As a Christian, I am compelled to strive to follow Paul's example. It's an incredible goal to pursue and one that continually challenges me.

Near & Far

Like many people throughout history I wonder why God often feels near by and yet far away. There are times in prayer and worship when I sense the Presence of God quite clearly and times when I sense His voice and direction. And yet there are other times when I feel very much alone and wonder where exactly God is at. There are circumstances that I pray about and very little seems to change; there are issues where His direction seems shrouded in mystery.

There are times when I feel God leading the way and dynamically at work in my life and yet there are others when it feels like God has gone on vacation or put his MSN/ichat on 'Be right back'!

This has been the experience of multitudes throughout church history, including King David and the other Psalmists. Certainly that is why so many of the Psalms bring comfort in such challenging times.

All this has led me to recent meditation on Psalm 43

2You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?
3 Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.
4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.

Previously in Psalm 42 (which traditionally is considered the first half of Ps. 43), the Psalmist asks "Why have you forgotten me?" (v. 9). Then is Ps. 43:2, he says that he feels that he has been rejected by God and oppressed by the enemy. He cries out for the Lord to cause His light to shine and His truth to guide him, and asks God to lead Him to His holy mountain, which is a reference to God's Presence (it's also a clear reference to the House of Prayer, but hey, that's for another post!).

The Psalm is concluded with a confident assertion that the Psalmist will experience God's nearness and will respond with joy and delight and worship. He ends with a recurring statement to stop feeling sorry for himself and remember to trust in God.

I love the Psalms because they're so dramatic. Some might say melodramatic! I'm a melodramatic kind of person, so I connect very easily with statements of feeling rejected by God and then turning around and stating that God is my joy and delight!

So which is it? Is God near or is He far? I believe that the answer is that we experience Him as both near and far. It's not at all satisfying an answer, but given the testimony of Scripture itself, that has been the experience of countless people and seems to be the way God chooses to reveal Himself!

Some people have become so tired of this kind of roller coaster experience of faith that they have chosen to get off the ride entirely. While I understand that temptation, I am 'haunted' by the reality expressed in Psalm 42:7

7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me--a prayer to the God of my life.

It's that experience which causes me to continually pursue God...when He feels near and even when He feels far.

No Other Name

I'm here at House of Prayer Edmonton. It's 1:30 a.m. and as I've been praying I sensed the Spirit speak to me about the power of the name of Jesus.

Consider the following verses:

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth
Php. 2:10

Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me...
John 17:11

It is no wonder that the name of Jesus has been made to be a curse word that is on the lips of multiplied thousands in Edmonton and around the world.

How amazing that Jesus would pray and ask for the Father's hand of protection over the disciples through the power of His name! That the name of Jesus would push back and destroy the devil's work and result in protection over the hearts and minds of people... Incredible!

Of course I'm not saying that the name of Jesus is some kind of magical formula... nothing could be further from the truth!

But there IS power in the name of Jesus; the man Christ Jesus; the lamb of God who was slain and who purchased men for God!

Jesus, you are the King of Kings and your name is the highest and the best. You are Savior and Lord and I love you!

Lately

Lately I've been getting back into the fall routine of life with Pam and the kids. Pam's coaching the swim team again and the kids are in sports again and I'm still running quite a bit. It all makes for a busy schedule and a lot of laundry!

Lately I've been trying some different things in my spiritual walk with God and it's going pretty well, but I'm also discovering that God is responding by causing a lot of internal issues to bubble up to the surface. Thus at times it feels like life has become more difficult than before, and yet I don't desire to go back; I must press through and into new things God has for me.

Lately I've been praying in tongues quite more than ever before. Not hours a day or anything; more like just daily. It works well in the car because you can't analyze too much about it when you're driving.

Lately I've found myself noticing motorcycles more than ever before. Perhaps that's because my friend Eric is now a 'biker'. Regardless, I'm also finding that I can't stand all those really loud obnoxious motorcycles that are on the road. Some of them are deafeningly loud. Perhaps that makes me sound old.

Lately I've been thinking that less is more.

Lately I've been wanting less than more.

Lately I've been finding that time flies by and I wish I had more of it. What would I do if I had more time? Why am I not doing those things now?

Lately I've been reading a book to the kids that I really enjoyed when I was a kid. It's been fun to read the story again; it comes back to me as I read it, but I can't remember what's going to happen next, so it's kind of even better than the first times I read it!

Lately I've been trying to be more organized, but not finding as much success as I would like.

Lately.... well, I'd better go now or I'll be late

I Can't Stand Lou Dobbs!!

Tonight Lou Dobbs began an 'Independent Convention', which follows the Democratic and Republican conventions. (it sounds far more grandiose than it actually is. In reality it's Dobbs normal show with a studio audience of average Americans that never actually get to take part in the 'convention'!)

Amazingly, this bonehead gets paid to promote his opinions on CNN!

Here is my big beef with Lou Dobbs: he continually insults the American federal government and says how stupid everyone in government is, yet REFUSES to step up to the plate at actually DO anything. He won't run for any public office where he could actually try to fix all the problems he seems to have all the answers to.

I'm not saying that there are no problems in American government, but Dobbs just sits on his high horse at CNN at spouts off all his ivory tower type opinions about what should be done.

Dobbs repeatedly speaks about the 'American people', referring to the average American citizen, whom he believes have all the answers themselves and have more common sense than anybody in Washington. It's just empty rhetoric! If the situation is SO bad and the the American people are SO smart, then why are there not riots in the street seeking to overthrow the 'Washington elite'?

On November 4th, tens of millions of these 'American people' will go out and vote and willingly take part in supporting the electoral system that Dobbs says is so broken and dysfunctional.

As I've said, I think that Dobbs is pointing out some important problems and issues that need to be raised but it's the overwhelming cynicism and insulting commentary that goes on day after day, week after week that gets me so angry.

It's easy to say the 'system is broken', but why doesn't Dobbs get off his high horse, run for office and try to actually fix something?

Ready, Set, Go!

Today the Canadian Federal election began. Despite the fact that Stephen Harper made a law to establish fixed dates for elections, he managed to use the loophole that was built into the law, allowing for exceptions to the fixed dates under circumstances of ineffective government. So while he may not have violated his own law in legal terms, most political observers agree that he has violated the spirit of the law.

Harper's no dummy; he knows that the opposition leaders can't really make much fuss about this because they would be arguing against a chance to campaign to become Prime Minister; there's no way they would do that because it would be politically stupid beyond words.

This may go down in history as one of the most boring elections ever in Canadian history. There really aren't any significant issues; perhaps an argument could be made that the Liberals 'carbon tax' proposal will be the main issue, but I just don't see that being the issue that will grip the Canadian people.

I was discussing the reasons for the election with another father in the schoolyard and he argued that the reason was that Harper knows that the economic climate is going to get a lot worse in the next few years, so he's getting the election out of the way so he can stay in power, rather than fight an election in the midst of an economic downturn.

Hmmm... maybe, but this is also a guy who tried to tell me that the federal deficits in the 90's were a cover-up by the government in order to justify the cutting of spending on social programs (and yes, he does campaign for the NDP!)

Stephan Harper has launched TV ads that portray him as a normal average Canadian family guy. Does this mean that we are going to be asked to vote on who should be Prime Minister based on personality rather than substantive issues and policy differences? That sounds a bit like some of the rhetoric that comes from the political campaign south of the border!

But then again, if there are no major issues at hand, then what exactly should Canadians base their vote on?

For the most part I don't think that the Conservatives have done all that bad a job running the country over the past few years and I'm not at all clear on how the country would end up being better off (or even different) if the Liberals came to power. They are the only other realistic alternative; the NDP and the Green Party are certainly welcome voices in the political debate but we all know they won't form a government.

Somehow I'm still left coming back to the question, 'why exactly has this election been called?'

Barak Obama's Big Night

Last night, I along with millions of others watched the Democratic National Convention in Denver Colorado. It was certainly an historic night. 85,000 people crammed the outdoor stadium to attend the event and the overhead TV shots conveyed the epic nature of the crowd. It must have been an overwhelming event to be at.

Here's a commentary for you: today, the Edmonton Journal carried the story on the front page, while choosing to carry a story announcing the almost certain, soon to be called Canadian Federal election, on page 4!!! Definitely an honest reflection on the state of politics here in Canada.

In the United States, history is being made as Barak Obama became the first African American to be nominated as a major party candidate for President. Next week, the Republicans will nominate John McCain as their nominee and the race for the White House will officially begin. Most likely, that same week, a Canadian election will be called and the vote will take place prior to the American vote on November 4. Thus the entire Canadian election will be drowned out by the much larger, much louder and frankly, more interesting election to the south.

I'm a Canadian and proud of it, but I have to admit that I'm far more interested and captivated by the American political scene. Despite the fact that they have the longest democratic election process on the entire planet, I still can't turn off Wolf Blitzer, Campbell Brown and my favorite Jack Cafferty, on CNN!

Clearly I'm not alone, as evidenced by the choice of the Journal in relation to these two political stories.

Although the Canadian election has not been called, I have to wonder, WHY would they call it now? It strikes me that having an election in the middle of one of the most historic elections in American history is just plain stupid.

I also have to wonder, how many people in Canada will even know that an election is happening in our country? And will they care? Or is having an election now a recipe for the worst voter turnout in Canadian history?

Telus: the present is NOT friendly!

So I'm looking at The Canopy's phone bill today and seeing that we have $6.95 in long distance charges. This strikes me as strange because I know that I didn't make any long distance calls this month, so I go looking for more details. I soon find that there is a line called "Long Distance Administration Fee" for $6.95.

Now I have never noticed this before, probably because usually there are a few long distance calls on our bill.

In hope of gaining more information, I decide to call the Telus billing inquires number. After a few minutes of being irritated by the soft sultry tones of a computer generated female voice asking me a series of questions I arrive on the Telus help desk waiting line. Prepared for a long wait, I put the phone on speaker, where I am tortured by bad country music.

I begin thinking that eventually I am going to be talking to somebody who is physically located in India or Sri Lanka, and soon enough somebody comes on the line. It's a woman, but she definitely doesn't have the same sultry tones of the computer generated version!

I am informed that the 'Long Distance Administration Fee' is a charge for being able to make long distance calls! By this point the irony of the situation is sinking in: Most likely I've been on the phone for over 20 minutes, talking toll-free on Telus' dime, to a woman in India, who is informing me that Telus is charging $6.95 each month for the ability to make a long distance call, even when I DON'T make a long distance call!!

Is this what Telus imagines as a future that is friendly?

I suppose I should be thankful that I wasn't charged for calling India for 20 minutes!
(then again, maybe I was...)

Rain

It's rained pretty much the entire time we've been here in Banff. Incredible. It has been great to be at such a wonderful hotel facility... we've spent more time here than we normally would.

Today we went horseback riding. I haven't done that in nearly 20 years. It was great to see Josiah up on a horse and Rebekah looked so cute with pig-tails and cowboy boots! (Rebekah did a horsemanship option at camp this year, so she had more experience than all of us!)

Josiah was such a trooper on the horse: a couple of times his horse didn't want to cooperate and another time he lost hold of the reigns, which scared him a lot. I was very proud of my 6 year old!

We've been eating in our hotel room most of the time, which saves a lot of money. Tonight we're having mini-pizzas and hot chocolate. (not exactly the peak of nutrition, but hey, we're on vacation!)

I'm going to scarf down my pizza and head off to the hot tub, which I've been enjoying a lot of. I've always loved hot-tubs ever since I was a kid, and this one is a really good one. Josiah likes it too; Rebekah is more like Pam, who can take them or leave them.

That's about it for now. Not too many deep thoughts right now. Just enjoying the day!

Reflections from Banff

Pam and I have been coming for a number of years to the Banff area for part of our summer vacation. In the past years we've stayed at a hotel in Canmore that has been great, however this year we found that they had increased their rates substantially, so we decided to check out other options. Pam searched around and found a place right in Banff that looked pretty good (at least on the internet) and was a really good price.

When we arrived yesterday we were all totally amazed with the place. It feels more like a small condo than a hotel room. There is an upstairs loft with 2 queen beds, so the kids are there. It has a half bathroom and TV in the loft as well. The main bedroom is on the main level, with a small balcony, wood burning fireplace and a full kitchen.

Normally there's no way that we could afford to stay here, but they're doing a major construction project to expand the facility, so during the construction they have lowered their prices.

Oh, and there's a fantastic outdoor hot tub, which I'm all over!

Today we went white water rafting. Since the kids were with us, we were only able to do the introductory level rapids, (which for adults, isn't intense at all) and we had a lot of fun. It rained on and off but since we were getting wet anyway, it wasn't a big deal at all; actually it was a great way to spend a rainy day.

I'm enjoying a real spiritual sensitivity right now. My heart seems soft and responsive to God's Spirit. As I enjoy this time away, I'm aware of 2 things: first, our time of vacation always goes quickly and feels like it just flies by; second, I'm aware more than ever that it's not vacation that renews me. Nowhere in Scripture does it ever say that vacation is what gives inner strength or vitality. I'm not renewed on the inside by a good vacation; it's connecting with God in a meaningful way that brings renewal.

Don't get me wrong... not being all super-spiritual and saying that vacations are no good; clearly not, since I'm on a vacation that I'm enjoying quite a bit.

Yet as I contemplate how quickly the time is flying by, it helps to keep things in perspective.

A Matter of Running

Well before I take time to continue my reflections on the recent trip to IHOP, I thought I would write about my recent experience running in the ING half-marathon. It was held yesterday at 8 a.m., and there were about 1100 participants. It was my first time running that race and I have to say that it was a very well organized event. There were lots of volunteers and water stations.

I had a sweet and sour race. It was sour because I made a really stupid mistake and forgot to take my gels with me on the race. I brought them with me to the race, but then forgot to take them out of my bag; thus they sat unused in my backpack! (for anyone who doesn't know, gels are energy supplements that you take with you on the run to refuel as you run; without them, you can get in to serious trouble)

I won't go into all the details of how this impacted my race, but suffice it to say that I ended up 'bonking' about 2/3 of the way through the race and had no strength in my legs. (bonking is a term used to describe what happens to your body when you run out of fuel).

The other sour dimension was the heat. I've never run a half marathon in that kind of heat, so it was pretty overwhelming. I was sweating within the first 300 m!!

The race was sweet because in spite of my own self-inflicted stupidity with the gels, I still was able to run it in 1:50, which isn't a bad time, especially given the heat the lack of energy.

It was quite a bit slower than I had trained for, but given the circumstances, I can't complain too much.

So there you have it.

I'm going away for a week of vacation, so I'll be posting again once I get back.

Jim & Al's Excellent Adventure Pt. V

Al and I just arrived in Grand Forks, staying at the same hotel, greeted by our old greasy friend, Ole, the night auditor (he's the one with the elbow holes in his shirt)
As I chatted with him tonight, he told me he's been the night auditor for 25 years! Ole cow! (shoot me now!)

One of the advantages of driving all this way is that you see the United States in much more detail than if you just fly. America is certainly a different culture than Canada!

For instance, at stores you are asked if you want a ‘sack’; meaning a ‘bag’!
In a restaurant, when you’re drinking coke, you are asked if you want a refill on your ‘soda’;
and when you go to pay you’re given your ‘ticket’; obviously meaning your ‘bill’.

America loves really big signs. There are LOTS of enormous billboards, advertising everything you can imagine; if you’re ever hungry for some McDonalds, all you need do is look up into the distant horizon and you’re sure to find some golden arches, atop a pole that has got to be 75 feet in the air!

Americans also love casinos. They are everywhere, in all sorts of sizes, and it seems that virtually every city wants to have its own version of Las Vegas, with some manner of casino-hotel. (and yes, there are enormous signs everywhere, announcing each one!)

And of course there is beer. Everywhere. In every corner store and gas station you can get jumbo cans and bottles of suds, many of which are only slightly more expensive than a ‘soda’!

Speaking of soda, that’s one of the great things about America: you can get cherry coke everywhere, and I’ve been enjoying lots of it! (LOL) And for some reason I don’t understand the fountain ‘soda’ dispensers work perfectly! I’m so used to having to poor off the extraordinary excess amounts of carbonation bubbles, but here in the States, all you do is push the button and watch your glass fill perfectly to the top. It’s amazing! (It’s almost as if it’s the way it’s meant to work!)

I also discovered that Jiffy Lube puts all other Canadian car ‘lube’ places to shame. (who knew!!)
It was amazing. They cleaned all the windows by hand, vacuumed the car, drove the car into the shop for me and offered me coffee while I waited (a wasted offer for sure, but nevertheless). Jiffy Lube rules!

The humor highlight on the trip may well have been Al's discovery of the 'pickle in a pouch' for sale at a local gas station (it's a dill pickle in a sealed pouch, floating in juice). He couldn't pass up the chance to buy one for his dad as a gag gift!

Only in America!

Jim & Al's Excellent Adventure Pt. IV

It's 6:15 a.m. The sun is beginning to rise and as I drive up to the prayer room at IHOP, there are several dozen cars in the parking lot. I go in through the doors, which have screws drilled into the locking mechanisms of the crash bars, preventing the doors from ever being locked.

As I walk into the prayer room, there are about 150 people praying and worshiping along with the worship team. The back sections of chairs are roped off except for a couple of rows of people who are in the designated area for prayers for healing. There are about a dozen or more people sitting and soaking, being prayed for by people standing behind them.

On each side of the room there are tables and chairs set up and they are filled with people using laptops, with their Bibles open, studying the Scriptures and praying. It's powerful to see so many people reading and studying their Bibles as they worship and pray!

Right now, as I type this, there is a young woman praying on the microphone for small fledgeling houses of prayer, just getting started in other cities and nations. This will be the theme for the next while. I'm thinking of HoPE and the beginnings of the House of Prayer in Edmonton.

Earlier in the morning there was an emphasis on praying for people in the work place. After some lengthy intercession for those going to work today, they invited people who are on their way to work, to stand and to have people gather around them, praying for their day and for God to use them and open doors for ministry in the midst of their various places of work. There are a good number of people who stand. To my left in the row behind me, there is a young man in a business suit praying. I found it amazing to see the number of people who came to IHOP before they go to work. This is a daily emphasis during the 6-8 a.m. prayer block during the work week.

Al and I are leaving Kansas City today to head back home. We're planning to drive to Grand Forks today and stay overnight and then do a longer day of driving from Grand Forks back to Edmonton tomorrow.

I wanted to get up and come to IHOP one last time before I have to leave.

Jim & Al's Excellent Adventure Pt. III

I appologize for the lack of posts lately. We are supposed to have free internet access in our room, but it has not been working well. I would have tried to get them to figure out the problem, but I've been pretty busy with other things.

Now I'm using the computer in the hotel lobbey (it's finally free)

Last night we were at the Encountering God service, and the honey was flowing, for sure. It was pretty off the charts to be awesome. Mike Bickle really knocked it out of the park with a great talk and then Jill Austin led the ministry time which was crazy intense. From my perspective, last night alone was worth the trip down here. It's been quite a while since I've been at that kind of meeting. (yes, Abbotsford was wild and crazy but like I said in an earlier post, the honey here is a different flavor)

Today I went to church at Forerunner Christian Fellowship, which is the Sunday Church 'wing' of the IHOP missions base. Al and I will be going tonight, but I wanted to see what it was like at the 10:30 a.m. service (they have 3 services each Sunday). It's interesting to go to FCF because the crowd of people at the services is quite different than at IHOP. IHOP mostly consists of full time and part time intercessory missionaries and various students with the various IHOP schools and internships; On Sunday you see more families and normal Kansas City folk, so the 'intensity' level is noticibly lower. It's just an interesting difference.

I will try to take time to blog again very soon, so stay tuned!

Jim & Al's Excellent Adventure Pt. II

Al and I arrived at Kansas City last night around 10 p.m. It was a good day of driving but we were both more than ready to finally get there! We both agreed that it was a very good idea to break the trip up with some sleep!

Al was pretty tired and wanted to chill out at the hotel, but I couldn't wait and had to get over to IHOP. I thought I'd stay for just a while, but when I got there, plans changed! When I walked in, there were about 600 people there and they were in Song of Songs... just perfect in my world!!

It was awesome! I loved it. It's simply great to be here. Right now I'm typing in the coffee shop at the IHOP missions base.

Today Al and I were at the 10 a.m. slot and it shot off the intensity meter, pretty much from the start. They are getting ready for the CALL DC, which Lou Engle is heading up. The CALL is a young adult ministry that Lou leads here in the States and they have a few enormous gatherings each year, and next week there will be one in Washington, DC. They are praying for that event in major way here and they gathered around Lou and prayed for him and spent quite a while doing prophetic declarations over him and the CALL DC. Some of the declarations were really over the top (neither good or bad). Mike Bickle led the time along with Allan Hood. Cory Russell was there too, as was Jill Austin, who spend quite a long time prophesying over Lou. (I realize those names won't mean much to most, but at least one reader knows who they are!)

Al and I had lunch at TGI Friday's, which was the inspiration for the old Maxwell Taylor's in Edmonton. It's a great restaurant and one that we'll go to again for sure! There is also a Fuddruckers, here in Kansas City too, so we'll be going there too.
We honored the tradition of going to Fudd's in Sioux Falls on the way down. Man that was a good meal!

We don't have a camera (Pam needed mine) so we won't be able to take any pictures, which is a definite bummer. Al and I had a great idea for a picture at Fuddruckers! LOL

What else to say.... hmmmmmm......

In some ways it's hard to describe the more serious dimension of things, which is happening now that we're at the prayer room. I think that reading about the experiences of other people is sometimes difficult, because you can't really appreciate what's happening when you're reading about it.

So I'm hoping to be able to continue to have some humorous things to share with you, but we'll see how it goes.

(If any of you friends back home are wanting to hear about anything specific, please feel free to leave me a comment)

Sadly, the bookstore has been a bit of a disappointment this time around. Not a lot of new material.

Tomorrow the Healing and Deliverance seminar begins, so we'll see how that turns out. We're both going into it lightly, in that we're here more for the prayer room than the seminar; probably we'll go to some of the main sessions, but not the breakouts. (Eric, you get the idea!)

For those faithful readers wondering if I've encountered any honey yet, I can say that it's beginning to drip, but it's a different type of honey than in Abbotsford. No honey glory yet, (On the way in to KC, we drove by 'honey creek', and I laughed. I told Al that if it had been 'honey river', I would have had to buy a camera.... bathin' in the honey!!.... let the reader understand) :)

Well, it's about time to head over to the prayer room. Luke Wood is leading from 10 - midnight, so Al and I are stoked about that. Should be a really good set.

Jim & Al's Excellent Adventure Pt. I.5

So it's 9 a.m. now and after a good night of sleep, Al and I are ready to go!

We ended up staying at the local Holiday Inn (other motels were full and at 2 a.m., you don't have energy to shop around!)

Last night, the greasy night guy named 'Ole' told us our room was poolside, which really didn't matter too much, but this morning I awoke and saw the pool and I have to say, it's amazing. My kids would love it! There's a pretty decent water slide and a big play area for little kids, kind of a small version of the new area at WEM waterpark.

One classic moment last night was Ole informing us of the various amenities of the hotel, when he said, "as of last week, we now have a free continental breakfast; it's located beside the pool'. The tone he used made the comment so funny... mainly because to me, continental breakfasts are about as common as Orange juice, but Ole seemed so impressed as if this was some impressive leap forward in hotel amenities. Nevertheless, Al and I were quite happy to hear it and enjoyed it this a.m.

This morning as I looked over to the pool area, I saw a rather incorporated middle aged man sitting with his family in the hot tub, drinking a diet coke. Not something you often see at 9 a.m. in the morning. As for me, I had some cereal and toast, with marmalade (I looked for honey, but alas, none could be found!).

America certainly has different products for sale. Not only could you have your normal breakfast foods, you could also purchase various snacking foods, such as M&M's and chocolate bars. They also had a snack I'd never heard of before, called a 'Salted Nut Roll'. I have to confess that I'm not a 'salted nut roll' type of guy (not that there's anything wrong with that!!) ;)

Anyhow, so we're pretty close to being on our way, for another fun-filled leg of our journey to IHOP.

I'll keep you posted!

Jim & Al's Excellent Adventure Pt. I

It’s 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon and Al and I are hurtling down the highway towards Yorkton, Sk. Pretty much the entire trip so far, we have been surrounded by storm clouds behind us and to our left and to our right. It’s been kind of interesting to be just on the edge of a storm; at times it looks like we’re headed right into the middle of it, but then it ends up being just off to the right of us. We’ve even seen some lightening at times!

We drove straight through to Saskatoon and then had lunch at ‘Cactus Jo’s’; some tex-mex place. It was ok. Not sure that I’d saunter across the road to eat there again, but it did the trick.

Saskatchewan has some weird little towns in it. We’ve been through “Sheho”, “Mozart”, and my favorite, “Kandahar”!! (actually we teleported to Iraq.. strangely more desolate than I’d imagined!!)
Another favorite was “foam lake”, which welcomed us with a sign declaring it to be ‘the greatest place on earth’. (wow, if that’s true, then all I can say is Come Lord Jesus, Come!!)

(pause)

It’s now 2:22 a.m. (CST) and we’re in Grand Forks. A greasy looking attendant at the local Holiday Inn welcomed us; his shirt was worn out in the elbows (a wardrobe issue I’ve not seen before!!)

No matter... after driving over 1500 km and being on the road for the better part of 15 hours, I’m ready to crash. It seems I’m not as young as I used to be.

more tomorrow! (okay... later today!)

Jim & Al's Excellent Adventure 2008!!

Well, it's 11:28 p.m. and I'm pretty much packed and ready to head out tomorrow.... ready for 30 hours of driving bliss on the way to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City!! Yahoooooo!

Al and I are scheduled to hit the road at 8 a.m. tomorrow; we'll see how it turns out.

Our time at IHOP happens to overlap with the Healing and Deliverance summit, so we're signed up to take part in it. It's a pretty small gathering of about 300 people, so that will be good. Kind of an unexpected bonus!

Personally, I'm not really going with any specific expectations; mostly wanting to connect with God... spend time reading and praying... soaking in God.

Maybe not expectations of God or IHOP or anybody, but perhaps some expectations about the time I'll have there. Time to get away and not be thinking about responsibilities.

So that's about it for tonight.

The plan is to blog fairly continually about our excellent adventure, kind of like we did last year.

Hopefully it will be both humorous and thought provoking for those who follow along with our journey.... so stay tuned!!

:)

Bread and Water Pt. III

He said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”. “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
Jn. 4:32-34

Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.
Jn. 5:17, 19-20

In this discussion on Jesus being the bread of life and the living water, my attention has been drawn to Jesus’ statements about the satisfaction and sustenance he gained from doing what his Father told him to do. I’ve found myself beginning to pray and asking God to show me what he is doing. Jesus’ statement, ‘...the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does’, is massive to me right now.

I know that the Father loves me with the same quality of depth of love that he loves Jesus (Jn. 17:23), so I have not only the right, but the invitation to come to my Heavenly Father and ask him to show me all that He is doing.

Bread and Water Pt. II

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will ecome in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
Jn. 4:13-14

Jesus makes this statement and in the next verse, the Samaritan woman immediately interprets it completely literally and assumes that one drink will suffice for the rest of her life:

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water".

On the surface of it, this assumption makes sense. Only a couple of chapters later we read this:

The Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty".
Jn. 6:35

The problem is when I assume that a single 'drink' will satisfy me forever. It's not a 'once filled, always filled' type of thing.
Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us today our daily bread". When I connect that prayer to Jesus saying "I am the bread of life" (Jn. 6:48), I recognize that Jesus is calling me to daily 'eat and drink' of His Presence.

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
Jn. 7:38-39

I've known for many years that being filled with the Spirit is not a single event, but an ongoing lifestyle of being continually filled with the Spirit. The problem is that like the Samaritan woman, I often want to 'eat or drink' of Jesus in a way that 'I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water'. The Samaritan woman was thinking in terms of frequency, while Jesus was thinking in terms of level of satisfaction
Perhaps most importantly for me, as I realize that Jesus wants me to daily come to Him to eat and drink and be satisfied, I understand the presence of spiritual hunger and thirst in my life. It's not that I've somehow failed to properly drink of the spring of living water or eat of the bread of life; rather it is His gift to me that keeps me coming back over and over again, because He enjoys my presence even more than I enjoy His.

Bread and Water

Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
John 4:14

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.
John 7:38

I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never by thirsty.
John 6:35

I've been staring at these verses and praying them for some weeks now.

Many thoughts... many thoughts...

I've got your back

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but I got kind of 'spooked' by the whole blogging thing and it's taken me a while to recover.

A lot has happened since my last post, and although I usually don't mention a whole lot about my life in this blog, I feel like making an exception.

At the beginning of June I traveled with my father to Ontario to visit the cemetery where my mother is buried, in honor the 7th year since her death. I very much enjoyed the trip and the extended time with my Dad. It was great to see lots of relatives that I have not seen in several years, especially my cousin Sarah, who I am especially close to. I visited Sturgeon Point, which is the place that I named this blog after. It was good to be there again and I felt a definite sense of release from God in terms of some of my emotions about the Point.

June also saw Pam and I enter another season where our home is opened to others. We have some friends that have been staying with us for a month before they leave for Korea and we saw that God had a purpose for their stay with us even beyond saving a month of rent. Also in June, we agreed to an opportunity to have a french exchange student stay with us for the month of July. It has been a few years since we sensed the Lord wanting us to have people stay with us; some may recall that the last time we had people living with us, it didn't end very well, and we certainly needed a season to recover; God seems to have decided that season is over; I'm glad that He's led us back to an open home again; Pam and I have always wanted our home to be a place of ministry to people who would stay with us.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a very minor car accident but ended up totaling my car! Not cool! I was turning left at a 4-way stop in extremely heavy rain, which reduced my vision and I hit a cement meridian. I was going about 15 km/hr., but the impact deployed both of the airbags. Smoke filled my car which made me think my car was on fire, so I leapt out of the car into the pouring rain, but not before I managed to sustain quite a nasty burn on the majority of my right hand, thanks to the airbag that was supposed to protect me (don't get me started!!)

At any rate, the sub-frame (whatever that is) was bent, so that, along with the other damage caused the insurance company to write off my car. I got a decent settlement but I'm now without a car and I miss my little Honda Civic. Strangely in the midst of it, I've had the sense that somehow God was involved in the car thing. Obviously I can't prove that, but I don't think I'm just being hyper-spiritual about it either. Seems something is going on.

So between Ontario, the car, people staying with us, and the normal activities of life (not to mention some pretty intense adjustments at The Canopy), it's been an unusual June, to say the least!

Back on the evening of May 22, I went for a walk and I remember very clearly God saying "I've got your back". At the time it was a powerful word to hear, and I heard it both with my mind and with my heart. While I knew some of what was coming, I didn't know everything that would happen in the next month.

So as I move on into July, here's hoping that it's a bit of an easier month. For sure I'm glad that God's got my back, but I'm still ready for a bit of a break!
:)

A Neighbor without a Name

Our neighbor died today.

I came home mid morning, from a trip to the city landfill to discover ambulance and police vehicles along our street. It did not take long to discover that they had come to our neighbor's house. The grim reality became apparent to us that he had died, alone in his home and his body had been discovered this morning.

The events of today are haunting to me: coming to discover ambulance and police at the residence; the arrival of a medical examiner to officially document the death; the presence of a dead body in the home and the subsequent removal of the body wrapped in a blanket, on a gurney; the quietness of all involved as they move about to do their jobs, and the silence and emptiness of a home.

To make things more troublesome is the reality that in the eight years we have lived next to this man, I never knew his name. We had talked many times between yards, over the years, but conversations were never personal in nature; they were instead a bland exchange of pleasantries about the neighborhood and our respective houses. He was a nice enough man; judging from his accent, of some sort of European background.

It's unsettling to suddenly have all sorts of questions about him now that it is too late to ask them.

I could wax eloquent about lessons learned from being too busy, but I won't.

Perhaps the colder reality is that I simply didn't really want to know him. We didn't share enough in common on a surface level to lead beyond that, and besides, I remain essentially a fairly shy person who often struggles to be comfortable meeting new people....

still, it is unsettling to not even know his name.

Perhaps the final irony of today is that two days ago, on Saturday, I finally got around to knocking down the last part of the old, rotten wooden fence that is between our properties. He and I had talked about the fence a number of times, in a friendly way.

In the end, I doubt he even knew that I'd ripped the fence down...

perhaps I should have gotten around to doing it sooner...

The Coming Kingdom

As we get closer to Mother's Day this Sunday, I've been wondering what my own mother is up to. She died on June 4, 2001. Some people believe that loved ones in heaven can look down and see us on earth... sort of 'peering in' on what's happening.

There is no indication in Scripture one way or the other, but personally I hope not! Although in some ways it's nice to think of people being able to peer over the balcony of heaven; I know my mother would love to see my son Josiah, whom she never met on the earth. She'd love to see Rebekah and watch her growing up. (she'd be amazed at how smart Rebekah is and how funny Josiah is!)

The reality is that we're part of the most amazing plan imaginable: the redemption of our soul, our body and ultimately the entire earth itself!

So, in honor of mother's day, let me explain what I mean by saying a bit about the hope I have related to my mother:

Her soul has already been redeemed. That happened when she put her faith in Christ as her savior. Right now, because of all that Jesus has done, my mother is hanging out in heaven, which is a temporary location for her soul. Again, I'm not sure if she can see us, nor am I sure of what she's doing these days, but I do know that there's no pain or suffering or cruelty in heaven.

She is still awaiting the redemption of her body. Romans 8:23 says that we groan as we await the redemption of our bodies. Unfortunately for most of her life, my mother hated her body. She had a terrible self image, caused mostly by her childhood. There's pretty much nobody that I've ever known that 'groaned' as much for the redemption of her body, as she did! Think about it: we ALL will receive a redeemed human body, one that is imperishable, that 'bears the image of the man from heaven'. (1 Cor. 15:49)(I love that phrase... 'the man from heaven'!)

We know that even the earth itself is 'groaning' in anticipation of its redemption (Rms. 8:21-22) and the arrival of the city prepared for us (Heb.11:16 & Rev. 21). In June my father and I are going to visit the cemetery where my mother is buried, on the 7th anniversary of her death. It's in a town in Ontario called Lindsay, which is near a small village called Sturgeon Point (which is what my blog is named after). Sturgeon Point was my mother's favorite place on earth. The reality is that one day she will be back on this earth; on a redeemed earth, in a redeemed body, and she'll be able to visit Sturgeon Point again. (it may not be called Sturgeon Point then, but she'll be able to visit it again.

Scripture says that those who live by faith are really longing for a better country (Heb. 11:16)...a redeemed country ; Paul wrote that the sufferings and groanings of this age are pointing us toward the hope of the age to come... the coming Kingdom.

If you and I are going to persevere in this age, as Hebrews 10:36 says, and receive what has been promised, the coming Kingdom, then we need to focus on Jesus and the certain hope of living with Him forever as a redeemed soul, in a redeemed body, on a redeemed earth!

Happy Mother's Day!

On Faith Pt. II

There's something bigger than me...
There's something bigger goin' on...
Misty Edwards

I've been noticing a subtle and yet unmistakable shift lately in the spiritual arena around me. I'm having times where I feel deeply stirred to intercession and can't seem to focus on anything else. There have been times when I've been on my way to a ministry context and feeling good and positive and then when I arrive I'm hit with a major wave of discouragement and frustration, seemingly out of nowhere. Then there have been times in ministry contexts where there have been real events that should legitimately really discourage me, yet for no apparent reason, it doesn't affect me and I'm able to have a positive, faith-oriented posture.

Am I going insane? It seems unlikely. In my spirit, I'm pretty clear that these events are more than just emotional ups and downs... they are spiritually based.

Why is this? Good question! I'd like to know myself. It's as if there is a ton of stuff happening in the spiritual arena but virtually no indication of that activity in the natural realm. (I apologize to those readers who think I've gone off my rocker in talking in these spiritualized terms!)

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Heb. 11:1

Clearly Scripture teaches that there is much reality that we do not see; much activity of which there is no natural evidence.

Thus in faith I must choose to act in the natural (i.e. pray) when my spirit senses activity in the spiritual.

I believe that there is much happening around The Canopy these days in the spiritual realm. I have no outward evidence or reason to support that belief. All I have is subjective impressions and feelings and experiences, some of which I have mentioned here. Beyond that, I believe that something is happening on a city level as well.

While such statments sound all well and good, the question becomes: can I muster the strength to continue to believe such things? With cynicism and doubt crouching at my door, seeking to have me, seeking to hinder me, what will I choose?

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Heb. 10:35-36

He persevered because he saw him who is invisible. Heb. 11:27

On Faith Pt. I

Today I've been thinking about Luke 18, which is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. I had been praying it this morning at the southside city prayer gathering.

At the end of the parable of the persistent widow, Jesus asks the question, "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

Clearly, given the context of Jesus teaching a parable to teach that we should always pray (night and day BTW!), the question is whether there will be faith that moves people to the place of prayer.

This is a HUGE issue and one that I have felt God speaking to me about today.

In Luke 22:31, Jesus tells Peter: "Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail."

Shortly after that he says a similar statement twice to the disciples saying "Pray that you do not fall into temptation".

In my own life, as well as in the lives of many people that I know, I believe that the enemy is hard at work seeking to undermine our faith. Certainly I am aware that this is not a new work of the enemy, however I feel God speaking to me about a particular dimension of this attack.

I don't see this attack focused on faith in the person of Christ (i.e. His deity) but rather on faith about how active God is TODAY.

Our faith in the person and work of Christ may be secure, but when faith weakens in regard to God being active today, the first evidence is that we stop praying. When we don't believe that much will happen when we pray, or when we don't believe that God is doing very much around us, then prayer falls to the wayside.

Right now I sense a weariness in the arena of faith about God's activity both for today and for the future.

Today there was a strong battle in my own life over this issue and I have sensed the Lord speaking to me about it this afternoon.

This is a difficult time here in Edmonton. There seems to be little evidence of any significant activity of God these days. There are prophetic words about the future, but there is little manifest activity right now. I see (and feel) a certain degree of scorn and cynicism about the prophetic words; words that are intended to stir us to the place of prayer!

So I look at the words of Jesus to the disciples:

"Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

thoughts

As I was praying today, the Lord drew my attention to a passage of Scripture:

To keep me from becoming conceited... there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor. 12:7-10

As I was praying God brought the phrase 'I will glory in my weakness' into my mind. I knew that it was from Paul's writings and I soon found it in 2 Corintians 12.

I was bit taken aback, as I had never really thought about 'glorying in the weakness' of these circumstances. Sure, I was familiar with the passage, but had not applied it in this way.

What also strikes me is how little I wanted to do it. I still would much rather have the circumstances change!

I am also impacted by the reality that I am not allowing God's grace to be sufficient for me. (How's that for a wake up call!)

All this requires more prayer and thought... probably just prayer!

A Honey Glory!

For many years, I've been deeply impacted by David Ruis' song 'Let Your Glory Fall'. I've listened to it and prayed around it for over 10 years.

Let your glory fall in this room
Let it go forth from here to the nations
Let your fragrance rest in this place
As we gather to seek your face

Father of creation, unfold your sovereign plan
Raise up a chosen generation
That will march through the land
All of creation is longing
For your unveiling of power
Would you release your anointing
Oh God let this be the hour

Ruler of the nations the world has yet to see
The full release of your promise
The church in victory
Turn to us Lord and touch us
Make us strong in your might
Overcome our weakness
That we could stand up and fight

Let your kingdom come
Let your will be done
Let us see on earth
The glory of your son

by David Ruis

I've been preaching lately on the manifest glory of God. I got an email asking me why we should desire to see the glory of God; why is it necessary? isn't it rather selfish to want to see God's glory?

My first reaction was that if Moses could ask to see the manifest glory of God, why can't we?

It's interesting to note that this person has had some rather unfortunate experiences with 'charismatic' Christian expressions, and given that the charismatic wing of the church are pretty much the only people who ever talk about the manifest glory of God, I wasn't entirely surprised.

I've been in many charismatic gatherings, and so I too know what he's talking about.

For sure I long for a more experiential relationship with God, but I guess how I've been talking about God's glory is a bit different:

I believe that the glory of God is about proximity or closeness to God.

Every time we read of a person in the Bible encountering the manifest Glory of God, they are in close proximity to God. We are designed to long to be in close proximity to God. This desire increases in us once we come to know Christ. We 'taste and see' that He is good. We recognize that He is, as the Scripture says, more desirable than any other created thing, and we want more. We want to be closer. We want greater proximity.

I also believe that to God, His glory is found most fully within his character...within his nature. When Moses asked to see God's glory, the Lord's response was to show him what He is LIKE; that is, His nature, His character: The Lord, slow to anger and abounding in love and kindness... etc.

I find this to be a vital truth: sometimes people have made the glory of God mostly about ecstatic spiritual experiences that some people can relate to and other cannot. But in God's encounter with Moses, He clearly wasn't just giving Moses an ecstatic experience for the sake of spiritual entertainment. God was interested in Moses encountering God's character and nature; the essence of who He is.

Moses asked "teach me your ways so I may know you..." A few verses later he asks "Now show me your glory". Moses understood that to encounter the glory was to encounter God's character and nature!

God has taught me a lot about His glory since the days I first started to pray around David Ruis' song. My thinking on it has been greatly expanded.

Yet for all this time, I've wanted to be like Moses how simply couldn't live without encountering the Glory of God.

I don't want to be a person who can just 'take it or leave it'.

So I'm praying these days for my heart to be expanded in it's desire and thirst for greater proximity to God: to see His glory, to know His character, to touch the honey Presence!

Out on a Limb

Today the Edmonton Journal reported that two 12-year old girls had been charged in a series of robberies in the city. According to the article, a group of young girls surrounded an 18 year old young woman and robbed her. This swarming technique was used on 3 different occasions in West Edmonton Mall about a month ago. This story is simply shocking.

What on earth is going on? 12 year old girls? Has the world gone completely mad?

If that wasn't enough of a shocker, there was a small piece in the paper reporting that in Amsterdam, law-makers have passed a law which allows for gay sex in a public park.

Here's a quote:

Paul van Grieken, an Alderman in the Oud-Zuid district of the city, has startled many Amsterdammers, despite their famously liberal attitudes, with plans to allow public sex as part of this summer's new rules of conduct for the country's best-known park.

"Why should we try to impose something that is actually impossible to impose, which also causes little bother for others and for a certain group actually means much pleasure?", he said.

Amsterdam's beautiful Vondelpark in the centre of city draws hordes of summer visitors, families, skaters and joggers.

Here's a thought: What about CHILDREN? How can it be appropriate to allow sex (gay or straight) in a public park, where children are more than likely to see it?

This is pure insanity!

If this is the kind of world that we are living in, it's little wonder that we've got 12 year old girls swarming around people and robbing them! Let me be clear: I'm not saying that viewing public sex is going to cause children to become criminals, but I am arguing that the debasing of morality in our society will have a wide range of negative implications on upcoming generations.

Let me say it again: I am NOT making any direct connection between these two stories. But when we hear about 12 year olds swarming and robbing people, and we ask 'How on earth can this happen?', I think we need to pause and think about the context in which many children are being raised. What level of family support are they receiving? What kind of moral compass are they being given? What messages are they being exposed to?

Maybe I'm going out on a limb by writing all this, and I certainly run the risk of offending some people, but as Richard Simmons used to say, "STOP THE INSANITY!"

Things need to change in our society or else 12-year old girls robbing people at knife-point will seem tame compared to what we'll be dealing with in the future!

Maybe Eliot Spitzer wishes he'd been a governor somewhere in Europe, because he'd certainly still have his job!

"High Ethics"

Today the news broke that New York State Governor, Eliot Spitzer has been linked to a prostitution ring. There is a lot of discussion about this story in the press, especially in light of the fact that Spitzer has been the attorney general of New York who prosecuted other prostitution rings.

Some are calling this a 'political earthquake' and the press is jumping on the fact that he 'preached high ethics', but now has basically admitted meeting with a prostitute in a Washington hotel.

People who knew him apparently are shocked that he would be involved, given his reputation. He was "a crusader who was looked up to by the public".

I'm reminded of the danger that every person faces who is a public figure who ways into ethical issues. Those who call for a 'high' standard of ethical living are always going to be looked at closely, but for the press to say that the public 'looks up to' such a person seems a bit much. Is that why Spitzer won over 60% of the vote in his election as Governor? I'm not convinced that it is.

It certainly does cast more of a shadow on the already tattered reputation of politicians.

All I can say is that for once, there is no connection to the Church.

Too Funny

A friend of mine, Mikaela Hanley passed this on to me.

I loved it:

IKEA has announced its intention to start selling cars.

Politics and Hockey

On the eve of our provincial election here in Alberta, I thought I'd offer some thoughts I've had:

Tonight my friend Scott Reynolds was kind enough to offer me a last minute ticket to the Oilers game again the Columbus Bluejackets (the name 'bluejackets' warrants an entire blog entry of its own....but I digress!)

Scott is far more of a 'student' of the game of hockey and specifically the Oilers and the NHL, than your average 'joe' fan. I guess I fall into the later category myself: I basically read the Edmonton Journal sports page and watch the TSN highlights of the Oilers games and that's pretty much it. Scott is far more aware of the statistics of individual players, the various lines that the Oilers have, as well as those of the opposition team. Trying to talk with Scott about hockey leaves me, well, thinking I need to go to an Oilers version of the Eskimos 'intro to football' course!

At any rate, allow me to develop my thoughts further: Sam Gagner is one of the new Oiler favorites this year. People in town think he's simply an amazing rookie hockey player. He's scored a lot of points this year, especially for a rookie. In spite of this, Scott maintains that the Oilers should have kept him in the minors this year to give him more time to develop, rather than making the jump to the NHL. Scott's main reason is that while Sam has scored many points, he's been on the ice for far more goals against the Oilers than he's scored for the Oilers.

The difference between Scott and the majority of Oiler fans illustrates nicely the reality of the current Albertan political landscape.

Tomorrow thousands of Albertans will go to the polls and vote more on the basis of who they 'kind of like' or 'feel good about' rather than on the basis of thought out, fact based decisions. Which party leaders sounds best in speeches and sound bites. Most of us will base our decision on several 15 second TV clips we've seen in the news of the leaders.

Sadly this results in our democratic process being reduced largely to a popularity contest set in the guise of a debate on political ideas.

Lest anybody mistake what I'm saying as a argument for not voting as the answer to political ignorance, nothing could be further from the truth. People who don't vote infuriate me! As I was discussing with my good friend John Hanley tonight, the Australian system where it is illegal to not vote has great attraction to me! (although, I grant that such a system would do very little to deal with the problem of ignorant voters.)

When you go to an Oilers game, you have 16,000 different opinions about what's right or wrong with the team and what should be done to fix it. It's like sitting in a room full of arm-chair quarterbacks.

While watching tomorrow night's election results likely won't be as entertaining as watching an Oilers game, it almost certainly will end up making me think about the people I watched the Oilers game with!

What is It?

I've been thinking recently about intimacy. Most of the time we think of intimacy in terms of sex. Years ago I heard a great quote: "Sex doesn't create intimacy; it is a celebration of intimacy". So what exactly is intimacy anyway? How do you create it?

As I thought about this, I recognized that I often use the term intimacy in relationship to God (so obviously there is no sexual connection to this use of the term). I also recognized that I'm not sure I can sufficiently explain what I mean by the phrase 'intimacy with God'. This is a problem.

Jason Upton sings about the Key of David being intimacy. It's like it's become part of the Christian 'lingo' but do we understand what it actually means?

It's widely understood that our relationship with our earthly father will dynamically impact our view of God as Father. So here's a question: if our framework for the father-heart of God is impacted that way, then what about our framework for understanding and entering into intimacy with God? How important is the existence (or lack thereof) of intimacy in our human relationships in allowing us to experience intimacy with God?

One would assume that it is, but that creates some difficult problems in my mind: King David is not who I would lift up as a model of human intimacy. You could look at his friendship with Jonathan, but he certainly didn't hit the mark with his marriage or with his kids!

So I'm left with a difficult paradox: how could David have experienced so much intimacy with God and yet have such lousy family relationships?

This brings us back full circle to the original question of what exactly is intimacy, either with other human beings or with God?

Invited

Far away but invited
Distant but sought
wandering and apathetic
It's time to go back
Time to see
Time to hear

If I lie on the beach will I soak up the sun?
Will feel the warmth?
Can I breath in the air?

Will I stand up or will I sit down?
Will I run with the horses or fall in the thicket?

The jug is cracked
water lost
lips parched

And I, I want to be like a tree
planted by the streams of living water
I want to be unmovable
unshakable
let my roots go down
let them go down deep
rooted and grounded

A hand lifted high
yet eyes remain closed

The yearning soul
the longing spirit

A feast of rich food
a banquet of aged wine
a honey pot on the shelf
honey from the rock

What's Missing

I've been watching quite a bit of the American election process. The primaries that will decide who will run for the Presidency of the United States. I've watched several of the debates and countless reports on the candidates rallies as well as the election night coverage, with the self-named 'best political team on television' (words can't express who arrogant that is and how nauseating that is!!)

I know that I'm from Canada and that the political issues are different, and I know that I'm from Alberta and thus I risk offending most people who will read this, however I simply cannot refrain from making this point:

There has been an almost total absence of any discussion on one of the most important issues that impacts not only the United States, but every other country on earth: the issue of climate change.

I have heard NONE of the candidates speak about this issue. I have heard no questions directed to the candidates on this issue in ANY of the debates. I have not seen even ONE news report on the primaries deal with this issue. I have NO idea what any of the candidates plan to do about this issue. Okay, well I guess I do have an idea: they have NO plan to do anything.

In some ways this isn't exactly shocking, but what is shocking is that this issue simply isn't on the radar of the candidates, the American media or the American public. This is utterly appalling.

Do you know what the main issues are? The economy and the immigration problem. Both are major issues at every turn because the problems with both are interfering with the pursuit of the so-called 'american dream'. Of course, the same basic pursuit certainly impacts our Canadian populace, but the issue is at least of real concern to many Canadians.

This issue of climate change is very complex and there are no simple answers, but the absolute silence on the current campaign trail is more disturbing to me than I can express. At a time in world history where such a global problem exists, we need the sharpest minds working on solutions and we need the very best in world leaders to be giving genuine leadership to this issue.

At a time when cynicism about government and political leaders is at an all time high, I am saddened to say that this issue is having that effect on me: I too am becoming cynical about what really drives these candidates and whether they will actually act as leaders and make difficult decisions, regardless of whether those decisions are politically popular or not.

I've often wondered how committed to 'democracy' I really am. Well, let me put it this way: I am NOT into 'populism'; meaning that I do NOT believe that leaders should simply do the will of the people. That's not leadership. The role of leaders it to have a more in depth understanding of the issues and be able to make judgements about what decisions are needed, regardless of whether they are 'popular'.

So as we watch the unfolding of the American political process, I invite you to watch and listen with me to see if the issue of climate change even is raised in the coming months.

An Inconvenient Service

I've been thinking about the nature of voluntary service. Like cleaning a house, helping people move, stepping in to help out with short notice, doing things without being asked.

There are times when we are willing to step up to the plate and times when we are not. There are times when it's convenient to serve and times with it is inconvenient. Most people are willing to get involved when it's convenient because it makes us feel good; but things change when it becomes inconvenient. I want to say that being willing to help out in spite of inconvenience is a sign of maturity but while that is often true, it isn't always the case.

I think our present day culture of being served, being entertained, and being entitled has led to a culture of convenience. (I'm continually amazed that the 'convenience store' near my house is able to stay in business, but I certainly am willing to occasionally go there and pay $1 more for a jug of milk simply for the 'convenience'!)

I see examples of both all around me: some who will jump in and help and serve regardless of whether it's convenient or inconvenient, and others who mostly just step up to the plate when it's convenient. Yet I'm left with the realization that I need to assess how tied I am to convenience. I am becoming more accepting of inconvenience or less? Some days I'm not sure. Some days it changes. I guess I hope that in the overall picture of things, that I'm moving in the right direction. Can't blame the culture. At some point you have to suck it up and get some maturity!

A few years ago, one of my favorite worship leaders, Paul Oakley wrote a song entitled: 'It's all About You'

One line from the song goes,

It's all about You, Jesus And all this is for You For Your glory and Your fame
It's not about me, as if You should do things my way.

One of my friends, Mike Tkachuk does a humorous version on this line, to make a point:

It's all about me, Jesus and all this is for me; for my glory and my fame
It's not about you, because you should do things my way.

One of the reasons why Paul Oakley's lyrics in this song have struck a chord with people (pardon the pun!) is because we know (or should know) that the gospel of Jesus is a gospel of service, and very often that makes it a gospel of inconvenience!

just some things I've been thinking about.

Remembering

This weekend, Irvin Reich died when the Golden Arrow bus he was driving slammed into a flatbed truck that was carrying metal pipes. Irvin used to be the owner & operator of Brightwood Youth Ranch. I was sobered to hear of his death. While I really didn't know him, I do have several memories of him from my times at Brightwood camp. Many of my favorite retreat type memories are from Brightwood. The McKernan College and Career group went there several times for winter retreats. I remember Irvin from the orientation times to the camp, from the winter horse drawn hay ride, and bringing countless amounts of wood into the main lodge where they had an incredible wood burning style stove/fireplace.

Tonight I watched his wife on the 6 p.m. news and remembered her working away in the Brightwood kitchen, cooking many meals.

Even though I barely knew Irvin, there is something jarring about knowing a person who was killed in such a horrific accident.

So today has been a day of reflection and remembering. It was a good time in my life... those days when we went to Brightwood. Lots of prayer and conversations and RISK games and eating. We saw the Holy Spirit come in power and start a spiritual fire in many lives, the effects of which are still being felt today!

It's interesting to think back to the time when the Spirit came in power... since I've lately been thinking so much about the 'honey glory'!

I pray for the Reich family, and honor the work and life of Irvin Reich, who loved Jesus and now is able to see the One who he served for his entire life.

One for the Dogs

Today I woke up to a very cold, snowy day with wind gusts blowing snow everywhere. We've been told for a while that this week coming up would be brutally cold and it's here!

Today it's was about -23 outside and about -30 with the wind chill factored in.

But it's Sunday, so, you guessed it, I went for my weekend long run. I actually was pumped up about it, just because it was so cold out and it seemed like a badge of honor to be running in such conditions. (others would say it's a badge of insanity, but that 's another story!)

If the idea of running in -30 seems nutty to you, think of it this way: at least I was running, and thus keeping myself reasonably warm! I honestly didn't expect to see anyone else on the Mill Creek path today, but I did. Quite a few of them actually. DOG WALKERS. People out in -30 walking with their dog. Now that's hardcore! I even saw one couple walking where the woman had the dog and the man was reaching into a snow bank to retrieve the dog's poop! Believe you me...I appreciate pooper-scooper-uppers, but that's going above and beyond the call of duty!!! WOW.

Speaking of poop, there was an article in yesterday's paper about police finding a pipe bomb in the bottom of a port-a-potty. It happened in north Vancouver on Friday morning. How would you like to have been the poor sap who had to remove the bombs!! If they had gone off, it would have given new meaning to the phrase 'the &*^% hit the fan'!! Ha Ha.

One final thought on the topic:

Every so often I end up feeling like *&^% on a Sunday afternoon, having preached with energy but without much anointing. Or so it seemed today. It reminded me of the Canada Dry Ginger Ale that's been sitting in our fridge for a few weeks: FLAT!

Who knows, maybe everyone was so cold from the drive to church that the blood never really got flowing again. Who knows. The whole thing is, admittedly, subjective, given that I'm basing it primarily on how I read the congregation. Listening, but not much response. At least people were listening. That's got to count for something.

Tonight I'm staying in! We've got the wood fireplace going, for the first time this winter and it's great. I love real wood fireplaces. My grandmother had one in her lakeside house in Ontario, so I've been in love with them ever since.

So with hot chocolate in hand and a fire burning, I will bunker down and let the cold wind swirl away outside, while I stay warm on the inside!

Honey

"The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward." Ps. 19:9-11