I wrote last about a place of rest, not just physical rest, but deeper, soul rest. I believe that this is what God invites us to, but that for many it seems to be a lovely idea that we read about but struggle to experience.
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So there is a rest for us too, a rest that is more than just a location, a promised land, a well-deserved day off. There is a rest from “works” just as God rested from his works.
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I work in what many see to be a “knowledge” business. It’s my job to help people learn about God. I love what I do, and I think that it’s the most important job in the world. But I am also keenly aware (more as I grow older) that there are aspects of knowledge that are more “caught than taught”.
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This past week a good friend of mine died. At 43 years of age she lost a long battle with cancer and in her sleep slipped away to be at home with Jesus. Leanne was like no one I had ever met…
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After watching the hearing of Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford yesterday the one question that I can’t get away from is how come we treat each other so poorly? One side demonizes the other, believing what they want to believe, hearing what they want to hear, seeing what they want to see to support their hatred, disgust, and contempt for the other. It’s the same on both sides. What is it that stops us from basic courtesy? Why don’t we listen without pre-judgment? Why can so few people seem to feel compassion on both sides of the issue?
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I wrote last week about our upcoming retreat. The 12 of us had an amazing week-end, learning from each other about what it means to be who we are in Christ. I’ll be honest, I went in with some fear and trepidation, but what can go wrong when you have a group of people like this? But over the course of the weekend I realized anew why I think this series of Spiritual Formation Retreats are so important. Let me tell you…
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David Benner writes, “Seekers settle for being finders, even when what is found is so much less than what their spirits call them toward. Being and becoming are both routinely sacrificed on the altar of doing.”
I can identify with that…
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I’m always hesitant to post a video of a sermon, because what kind of people watch sermon videos online? But I’m posting this one because it was from our GBC Family Meeting where I talk about what it means to be a part of our church and why it is so vitally important, both for us as individuals and for our community. So consider yourself warned…
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One of the “friends” listed on my website is Impact Ministries, an organization based out of Kamloops, BC that works to develop schools in the mountains of Guatemala. Our church has partnered with them over the past 15+ years in the work that they do. Our most recent team just go back from 10 days there. There are too many things to say about this ministry that is not just educating children, but impacting people all around them with the Good News of Jesus. You should really check them out here.
Just to give you a taste of what it’s like…
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Let me be honest and upfront: I love my job. I fully believe that what I do is what I was made for and would want to do nothing else. But there are days…
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The more we immerse ourselves in technology the more overwhelmed we become. Instead of actually living life and experiencing our activities and the people around us, we seek to capture it, to contain it, to save it into a chunk of data that we can carry in our pocket. We lose the ability to actually be present, and even worse, we lose a vital skill in relationships: empathy.
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“…I sometimes follow my doubts
outside to the yard and question the sky,
longing to have the fight settled, thinking
I can't go on like this, and finally I say
all right, it is improbable, all right, there
is no God…”
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Maybe you've heard the story. Last week Pastor Andrew Stoecklein of Inland Hills Church (Chino, CA) took his own life. He was 30 years old, and with his 29 year old wife Kayla had three young sons, aged 5, 4, and 2.
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That's the way it goes with "riches". You aren't given them to hoard them. They are to be passed on, to serve as a blessing for others.
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We are all the same. In these hard moments, words become all that we have. We use them like packing peanuts. We think that if life is full of them that it somehow keeps us safe, protects us from being damaged or broken.
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Four years ago last Sunday, my best friend (other than my wife) of 27 years died in a tragic drowning accident. His name was Matt Auten. He was 45. He left behind an amazing wife and two sons. He also left behind a tremendous impact on my life, so much so that rarely a day goes by without some memory or thought that is tied to what he meant to me. What's interesting is that in the past four years his absence has influenced me just as much or more than his presence did before.
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“It's enough to drive a man crazy; it'll break a man's faith
It's enough to make him wonder if he's ever been sane
When he's bleating for comfort from Thy staff and Thy rod
And the heaven's only answer is the silence of God”
Ever feel that way?
One of the biggest questions I run into as a pastor and as a person is "Why can't I seem to change?" Even when I know the right thing to do I struggle to do it. I see time after time when people can't seem to shake a destructive behaviour, despite the fact that it brings them pain. This is obvious in cases like addiction, where drugs and alcohol take over a person regardless of how much pain and brokenness their presence brings. But the same thing happens more subtly with tendencies toward pride and selfishness, fear of failure and shame. All of these characteristics seem to propel us toward behaviours which actually do us harm, and yet it appears we are often powerless to choose the better, and healthier, path. I am coming to realize…
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When the sea came calling in my life, I had to realize that my faith isn’t what I do for God, or what I believe about God, but it is the fact that I am totally consumed by who He is. My identity isn’t based on how I think or act, but on the fact that He has me. The doorway has opened up for me to live in a constant relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and that has turned everything on its head. That understanding, if it can even be called an understanding, has changed everything for me.
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I had an amazing experience yesterday. I was invited by some friends to lead a Vow Renewal ceremony in honour of their 20th wedding anniversary. It was a great honour to be asked, but their request came with some perks. They wanted to have the ceremony…
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