Consider this

You may have heard on the news last week that, in terms of “numbers of stores”, “Subway” is now the largest fast food chain in the world. How did that happen? Of course, they benefitted from the trend toward more healthy diets and away from more traditional “fast foods”. That alone, though, cannot be the secret to Subway’s success, because every fast food chain is offering “healthy” choices on their menus, so what makes Subway unique? One article stated that they grew because they were willing to be creative. They were not locked into just one way of running a restaurant. Therefore, you can find a Subway restaurant in a Brazilian appliance store, a German Riverboat, a Detroit high school, a church foyer and not a few Saskatchewan gas stations. It is the same food just in a non-traditional outlet. Instead of making the customer come to them, they have decided to set up shop wherever their customers happen to be and it has worked. As I read that story, I thought about church a...

Sitting in my Bible College cafeteria, after just finishing three platefuls of spaghetti (I was starving), I looked at the clock and thought, “Hmm, six o’clock… what am I supposed to be doing right now?” My next thought was, “Oh no!” The college had a guest lecturer in town for the week and one of the teachers had invited him and me over for supper that night at six o’clock. Now, this teacher’s wife was a trained chef, so being invited to her house was a rare treat. Unless, of course, you have just finished eating a year’s supply of spaghetti in one sitting. Backing out was not an option, so I ran over to the dorm, showered, changed and hurried to Mr. Walker’s residence. Without ever mentioning my first supper, I went in and ate every hors d'oeuvre and every course of the meal placed in front of me. In fact, I even crammed desert in there… seconds too if I remember properly (I couldn’t be rude). I went home that night thinking, “I am never going to eat another thing again”...

Recently, I read quote that said, “We have been taught a watered down version of following Jesus for so long that people think it is Christianity, but it is not Biblical”. I do not know if you agree with that statement or not (depends on your experience and what you have been taught, I guess), but it probably would not hurt us to think about what it means to really follow Jesus. What might that look like and what might it entail? In Matthew chapter four, we read that Peter, Andrew, James and John were mending their nets by the Sea of Galilee when they heard these words; “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (verse 19). Maybe those simple words can give us some insight into what following Jesus is all about. First notice that they were called to, “Come, follow me”. To be a true disciple means that we are going to follow Jesus’ desires in every aspect of our lives. We are no longer living only for what we want, or what we think is best. We are taking our directi...

My oldest daughter turned fifteen this past weekend. She also got her “learner’s licence” and was anxious to give driving a try, so Sunday afternoon found us both in places that were a little uncomfortable – her in the driver’s seat and me in the passenger’s seat. Now, she did a great job! She was cautious and careful. She was observant. She asked the appropriate questions and she took advice well. In fact, over the course of the two hour session, I was only really concerned two times and both of those had more to do with the snowy road conditions than anything she had done. Still, it was a bit unnerving. You see, I like the driver’s seat. I like to be in control. Even when I my wife is driving, I think I know how fast we should be going, when we should be slowing down and when she needs to shoulder check more (Truth be told, she is likely a safer driver than I am, but I am not going to admit that). It is just an odd feeling, no matter who the driver is, to be in the passen...

Off key piano recitals. Hockey games where little kids trip over each other and fall into a big pile and yet the puck does not move. School plays where no one can hear a word that the actors are saying because they are speaking so quickly and so softly. Based solely on execution, these things are disasters. To an outsider, they are likely a complete waste of time. However, turn your eyes away from the performance and look at the faces of the parents, grand-parents and friends who are sitting in the crowd. Here you find smiles, not frowns. You sense anticipation instead of dread. Rather than “booing”, you hear thunderous applause and (at least at the hockey game) shouts of encouragement. You see, when parents watch their children, the pride is in the attempt. You cheer the effort if not always the result. Parents and grand-parents see things differently, because they love the performer. So let me ask you this: How do you think God sees you? Hopefully, from the drift of thi...