God is BIG!

A.W. Tozer once wrote: What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. If this is true, then what comes into your mind when you think about God. Is he almighty all powerful, creator and judge? Maybe he is in your back pocket ready to pull out when you need him. If your God is the God of the Bible, then he should be thought about all the time, in every circumstance and talked about and praised in our everyday conversations! Think about it!

My two-cents...

John 8:32

" Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Have you experienced a group frantically reaching for you? Climbing over their fellows and crying outt in desperation. To be in the middle of a human storm; a mob represented by a thousand focused hands. I have.

Why the commotion? A movie star... extraordinary giveaways? Not quite...someone was handing out Bibles. recently I heard a testimony of a guy who just went on a missions trip to northern Tanzania, in a city called Arusha just south of the Kenyan bordeer; in the middle of a wood-working arena, dirt floor and container shop after container shop. He goes on to share, " I had walked through the market earlier in the day as a tourist, but felt very compelled to return as a missionary". Can you imagine the same happening here in Canada? We hunger for many things, but sadly truth is not one of them. I remember commenting recently to some friends that if a Jonah-type figure were to walk through our cities proclaiming sure judgement, we would laugh and commit him. Not so if the same happened in an African setting. "I believe they still fear the Lord."

" we professors are going to go right on trying to discredit you in the eyes of your children, trying to strip your fundamentalist religion community of dignity, trying to make your views seem sily rather than discussable."

Let me welcome yout to a new battle: one that has the audacity to make outlandish claims, and fears no reprocussion; one that has gained enough popularity and confidence to go public on their warpath. Politicians have their policy while the public maintains a sense of security under the guise of common decency as civilization escapes scrutiny therby evading accountability ina world saturated with theory but missing truth- exchanged for relativity where their only hope has been robbed of his majesty and traded for the temporary deemed morality in the minds of society insomuch as pockets of believers lost within the walls of their sanctuaries cry out " holy, holy, holy" to a people that can no more hear than see them. It is from here that we will change the world. Our IMPRINT group has roughly 30 students that come out weekly, to study and grow in their faith. Statistically of these some 30 students, 23 will walk away from Christ due mainly to intellectual conflicts against their faith. I trust we can do better than this! Satan is making a concerted and precise effort for the hearts of our students, will we respond?

Simple is Beauty...

Simplicity - is the property, condition, or quality of being simple or un-combined. It often denotes beauty, purity or clarity. Simple things are usually easier to explain and understand than complicated ones.

"You can always recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity." — Richard Feynman

"But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." -2 Cor 11:3

It is so easy to get distracted from the simplicity of Christ. You can lose it in the midst of Christian activity. You can lose it when you get so involved in some of the fascinating aspects of Scripture that you lose "the simplicity that is in Christ." You can lose it in the pressures of daily living. You can get so busy and so worried and so anxious about yourself and the things that are happening to you that you lose the sense that Christ is with you, and He is adequate. This is the beautiful "simplicity that is in Jesus." As John Calvin says about this verse: "because by the simplicity that is in Christ is meant, that which keeps us in the unadulterated and pure doctrine of the gospel, and admits of no foreign corruption. By this he means that men’s minds are adulterated corrupted, and debauched. Whenever they turn aside, even in the least degree, to the one side or to the other, from the pure doctrine of Christ.I pray that each of us stays focused on the beauty in the simplicity of the Gospel. Look for the beautiful in the simple things today.

When work and worship aren't in sync...

Tonight was our mid-week Jr. high program... SPLAT.... and as I went through my day I was not prepared for God to take my lesson for these grades 6-7-8 students and rock my world with it. To be honest, today was just one of those days. From my computer programs not working, to people just popping by to chat,to getting distracted with things... it was a very rushed day, especially in preparation for my lesson. I'm sure you can all relate to this kind of a day in some way shape or form. We've all had them. Here's the catch. My lesson for tonight was from Luke 10:38-42... the story of Mary and Martha...As I talk with students... of all ages... whether they be Jr. Highers, high school or college, they all have one thing in common.... they're busy! It doesn't seem to matter how old you are anymore... people are busy!!! Sports, school, committees, friends, relationships, jobs, families... and the list goes on and on. Now don't get me wrong... all these things in and of themselves aren't bad...but the question I ask is " Are we too busy for God?"As I studied Luke 10 today, I saw this story in a whole new light. I have read, and heard this story explain dozens of times... but one thing I can't recall anyone mentioning in a Sunday School lesson or Bible Study was Martha wasn't the "bad guy" here. So often we look at this story and can easily point out that Martha was the one in the wrong.... but why? I find it interesting that the desire of both of them was to please Jesus.... but they went about it in different ways... Martha chose to work, well Mary chose to worship. Now I don't think Jesus was upset with Mary's heart in trying to prepare things, but catch what He said... " You're distracted with doing all these things in preparation.... and really, only one thing is necessary." What is that one thing? ... to sit at the feet of Jesus ; to learn from Him. Now I believe this ( and I had to clarify this with my Jr. Highers :), so as to not give them an excuse to NEVER to serve ever again) that our worship, our spending time with the Lord, should be our motivation, and it creates a passion for us to want to work for him, but when we let the work get in the way of the worship.... we can get in big trouble.Being new to "ministry", I already find this to be true. I read a quote once that went like this.."If my output exceeds my input, then my upkeep, will be my downfall." Pretty awesome eh? If my output (what I'm doing for the Lord) exceeds my input (what I'm taking in, spending time in the Word and talking to God, being in christian fellowship) then my upkeep ( trying to keep my life going, trying to keep things going) doing that will be my downfall. In this passage I see that we have a choice. To be life Martha... distracted with so many things... or to be like Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus and learning.... who are you?As I think about this passage, I find myself here, and I'm sure a lot of you do to. Being busy with our everyday lives, being busy with ministry, being busy with work.... being busy , which hinders our worship. What's more important... work , for God, or worship, of God.... I'm pretty sure He lays it on the line pretty straight forward, but the question remains what am i going to do about it... what am I going to do with this truth?

hey ya'll....

Today is the day. I can not believe I am now the current owner/ author of my very own blog.... not because this is anything incredible or special... simply beacause I have been pestering my sister about this whole blog idea, ( she's a big fan) and I was almost certain I would not get into this.... yet weeks later, here I am. Starting my very own. I'm going into this with no real idea of what I am doing or what I should be doing so we will see how it goes...