Consider this

            “Google maps” has a “satellite” feature that allows people to see the earth from the air.   Take a guess as to what most people do with that feature.   If you said, “They use it to look at their own town” you would be close.   More specifically, most people use it to look at their own house (At church when I asked “Who has done this?” 80% of the people raised their hands.   Those who didn’t don’t use the internet!).             Why would you look at your own house?    You know what your house looks like!   In fact, you are probably sitting in your house while looking at a satellite picture of it!   Why do we do things like this?               We do it because we are the centre of our own worlds.   In other words, I am the most important person to me!   I care more about my problems than anyone else’s.   My thoughts and ways of doing things are more “right” than yours because they are mine.   Think about this: Who do people talk about most often?   Themselves!   Lef

            I hate seeing marriages end.   It is always sad when two people, who at one time loved each other, go their separate ways.             It is just as sad, though, when people stay together physically, but leave emotionally.   Unfortunately, I know too many people for whom marriage has become nothing more than business proposition.   They live together and share the expenses, but their relationship is joyless, uninteresting and boring.   Their hearts are no longer invested and they have stopped growing as a couple.   It is sad when something that was exciting gets boiled down to something mundane, ordinary and is taken for granted.             As sad as that situation is in a marriage, it is absolutely deadly in spiritual things!   We are missing something vital when serving God moves from being a privilege to being a duty.   We are in big trouble when spiritual things are boiled down to “keeping the rules” and “being faithful”, rather than being changed and made mor

            “We cannot fix what is wrong on the inside of us by re-arranging what’s on the outside” - Rick Atchley.             Intellectually, most of us would agree with the truth of that statement.   It makes sense.   However, in practice, we do just the opposite.               I know lots of people who act on the principle that says, “If I just change… (fill in the blank)… then I will be happy” and sometimes they are right.   Sometimes one small change yields big results.   More often than not, though, if people are not happy where they are, then they will not be happy in another place.   Buying a new house, getting a new job, or moving across the country may provide a temporary distraction and something new to think about, but in the end you still end up with the one thing that has not changed; you!               Churches fall into this trap too.   Many think, “If we just … (fill in the blank)… then we will start to grow.”   Therefore, they throw out the pews and brin

            About a month ago, my buddy Jason said, “I am going to a conference in Dallas and you should come with me.”             “I would love to,” I replied, “but I can’t afford it.”             “That is the best part,” he said.   “Someone is paying for my flight down there and I am sure that they would be willing to pay for yours too.”             Then he said, “The other thing is that when I was booking my flights online last week, I had a problem with my credit card, so I ended up calling the airline and booking my seats that way.   However, when I looked at my credit card statement today, I realized that the first transaction actually went through, so now I have booked two seats on each flight.   I will get the airline to take my name off one of the tickets and put your name on it.   Everything else is covered.”             So I went to Dallas.             Notice, though, that I had absolutely nothing to do with making this trip happen.   I could not pay for it

            By now we all know about the terrible and horrific events that unfolded on Parliament Hill and at the National War Memorial on October 22 nd .   What you may have missed is the role that Barbara Winters played on that day.             Winters, a lawyer and a former member of the Canadian Forces Naval reserve, was walking to her office near the Canada Revenue Agency building when she heard the unmistakable sound of gun fire.   She began to run, not towards safety, but toward Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.             When she arrived, several others were tending to his wounds, so she did the one thing she could do: she held his head and began talking to him saying, “You are a good man.   You are a brave man.   You are loved.”   She told him to remember that he was doing something good by serving his country and standing guard.   “Your family loves you.   Your parents are proud of you.   Your military family loves you.”   She kept repeating these words until Cpl. Cirillo passe