Consider this

                If you are job hunting in the future, do not be surprised if you are asked to submit two resumes: a traditional one that lists your accomplishments and a second one that lists your failures.   To a society that spends a lot of time bragging about itself, a resume of mistakes may seem like a silly idea, but we usually learn a lot more from failure than we do from success.   As well, the ability to deal with disappointment and to adapt to unfavourable circumstances is a valuable skill-set.   Therefore, employers are wanting to hear about a person’s full range of experience, rather than just the shiny, cleaned up versions of themselves that show up on the traditional resumes.                 That sort of thinking and honestly would go a long way to helping the church as well.    Unfortunately, a quick look at all the smiling faces on any given Sunday morning would make it hard to believe that anyone struggles with anything.   Too often, we only see a fake, cleaned up vers

              Many children’s sports teams no longer keep score during their games because they do not want to end up with “winners” and a “losers”.   While I understand what they are trying to do, the reality is that, at some point, everyone must face the fact that life is not always fair and even. Some get more and some get less.                 The question then becomes, “If God is so good, why doesn’t he make sure everyone is treated the same?   Why is life unfair?”                   I certainly do not have all the answers, but let me give you two thoughts that may help you to at least see this unfairness in a different light.                   First, things are uneven because we are unique.   If everyone was exactly the same, it would be easy to make sure life was fair and equitable.   However, Psalm 139 reminds that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (verse 14) in exactly the way God wanted us to be and that means that each of us will have our own skills, talents and e

                When I was twelve years old, a story began circulating around my hometown of Moose Jaw about a group called “The Cult”.   This group had apparently sacrificed some cats in some sort of ritual and the rumour was that they were going to something even worse.   Soon, “Cult” graffiti and symbols started appearing all over town.   It was all we talked about on the playground at school.                One night during that time, I went to movie with a bunch of guys from school.   My assumption was that after the show we would all walk home together.   However, as it turned out, everyone else had something else going on, which meant that I had to walk more than a mile home, at ten o’clock at night, by myself.                 Soon, I started to see the cult everywhere!   Every set of headlights was a car full of cult members coming to get me.   Every group of people on the other side of the street was just waiting to grab me.   It was the longest walk of my life!          

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).   I like this little prayer because it teaches us five important facts.                 First, it says that our God is a “God of hope”.   I love that description!   We do not serve a God that is out to get us or out to make our lives miserable.   We serve a God who is defined by hope.   Therefore, there is no reason to despair or give up, because anything can happen.   Nothing is hopeless if God is involved. Next, this passage tells us that Christians ought to be filled with all joy and peace.   If your Christian walk is making you miserable or negative, then you are doing something wrong.    Note the word “filled” as well.   Joy and peace are not qualities that we have in small measure.   Rather, these are the words that define God’s people.                 Interestingly, these new attitudes come “as you trust in him [God

            King Solomon ruled Israel from about 970-930 BC and during that time God blessed him greatly.   In fact, people were talking about him so highly that the Queen of the kingdom of Sheba decided to pay him a visit to see if what she had heard was true.   After travelling fifteen hundred miles and spending several days with Solomon she said, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard... praise be to the Lord your God” (2 Chronicles 9:5-8).                 I like the fact that the Queen is even more impressed with Solomon after spending time with him.   It is one thing to look good from afar, but it is another to maintain that image when people get to know you.   Solomon was who he appeared to be.                   I also like that that Solomon used h

                I understand why people are sceptical about churches, preachers and even the Bible.   Over the years, many terrible, dishonest and even criminal things have been done in the name of God.   If I was not born into a Christian home, I do not know that I would have given Christianity a second thought. Therefore, I do not expect anyone who happens to read this article to take what I say as truth simply because I said or because I quote some verse from the Bible.                    However, if that is where you are coming from, can I make a suggestion?   Try it anyway.                 When my kids were little, we had a rule about food that stated, “You do not have to like everything, but you have to try it”.   Often, the things that the kids thought were terrible soon became some of their favorite meals.                 That is my experience with tea.   When I was growing up, my mom drank tea all the time.   Every once in a while I would try some and I absolutely hated i

                The stated purpose of the “Community Mediation Calgary Society” is to be, “A place to learn how to settle disputes” and they have a lot of work to do.   The society receives more than 400 calls per year from neighbours who cannot get along with one another.   At the top of their website is a phrase that every group I have ever been involved with needs to hear. It says, “Being right may not be a solution!” Somehow, we have become convinced that being right is the most important thing.   However, the process of trying to prove that I am right and you are wrong only creates separate camps that suddenly feel the need to defend their position and tear down the other group.                   Sometimes, the issue is not even the real problem.   I once met a man who did conflict resolution in churches.   He stated that in his 30 years of experie

                It is not our circumstances, but how we deal with them that makes the difference.   Generally speaking, people respond to life in one of four ways.                 First, there are “Reactors”.   Think about pool balls on a table.   What happens if you just leave them there?   Nothing!   Pool balls do not move until they are acted upon.   Reactors are like that too.   They take no initiative.   Instead, they wait until they are hit by something and then they respond.   This perceived lack of control over their circumstances frustrates them and so they go through life yelling at everyone and being mad about everything.                 Another approach is to “Conform”.   These people do not feel that they are in control of their life either, but instead of getting angry (like the “Reactors”) they respond by blending in.   They are like a stick in a stream.   Rather than choosing their own direction, they just “go with the flow”.   These people often feel like their li

    Edgar Latulip was twenty-one years old when he vanished from Kitchener, Ontario.   Gone without a trace for thirty years, his family assumed that he was dead.   Then in February of this year, Latulip solved his own cold case when he suddenly remembered his identity.   Police believe that a head injury that he suffered shortly after moving to St. Catherine’s, Ontario caused him to lose all memory of his past.   Eventually, a DNA test confirmed his identity and he was reunited with his family.     Bad things happen when we forget who we are.     In Exodus chapter six, Moses was sent to God’s people with a message of hope and help.   However, verse nine states, “Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labour”.    Their circumstances caused them to forget about God and their relationship to him.   The fact that they did not remember who they were made them ignore the good news that Moses had for them.     It i

                Many stories from the life of David are well known (think “Goliath”), but this less familiar story is one of the best. David ruled Israel from approximately 1010-970 BC.   During that time, his son, Absalom, gathered an army of his own, rebelled against his father and declared himself king. This, of course, put David in a bind.   He could not allow the rebels to overrun the country and take the throne by force, but he did not want to see his boy harmed.   Eventually, David sent his army out to fight, but he commanded them that they must not hurt Absalom.   He was to be brought back alive.                   Ultimately, David’s forces won, but, unfortunately, Absalom was killed in the battle.   This sent David into such a deep depression that when the victorious army returned home, David was not there to greet them, thank them or celebrate with them.   In fact, he hid in his palace and was not seen for days.                 Eventually, Joab, the commander of David’s

                “It is going to be really hot while I am gone, so you are in charge of watering the flowers in the yard”.    That is what Sara said to me at the beginning of August just before she left town for a week.   In fact, she even walked me around the yard and showed me every last plant just to make sure that I did not miss any of them.                 “Yep!   No problem!   I will water your flowers” I said.   Then I promptly forgot.   Well, I did not actually forget, it just never crossed my mind again.   Watering flowers is not normally my job and it is not part of my routine, so it just did not get done (Ok – I forgot!). A week later, when Sara got home, she was not happy!   Many of her carefully tended, lovingly cared for, beautiful plants had been transformed into dry, brown, crispy, dead sticks.   Interestingly, those plants had everything else that they needed.   They had good soil.   Their roots were well-established.   Obviously, they had lots of sunshine an

             “Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him… Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he… saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake… When they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.   Immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed” (Mark 6:45-51).                        Why didn’t the disciples recognize Jesus that night and why were they so scared of him?                 By this point, they had spent more than two years with him.   They had heard his teaching and they had seen all kinds of miracles.   In fact, just prior to getting in the boat they watched Jesus feed five thousand people with a little boy’s lunch.   After all t

                Most of us have a timeline that says things like, “By this time I will have this sort of job and make this much money”. “By this time, I will have kids”.   “I will retire by this age with this much in the bank”.   We may not have all the details worked out, but the picture is there and the clock is ticking.                 Overall, that is a good thing.   I admire people who know what they want and work to make it a reality.   Having said that, though, there is one huge danger that we must avoid.                   When Saul became king of Israel around 1000 B.C., he had one constant and lingering problem: The Philistines.    This nation of people lived to the west of the Israelites and they constantly battled over the borders of their respective territories.   In 1 Samuel 13, the Philistines had pushed so far into the land that they cut Saul’s kingdom in half, so he rallied his army and prepared to fight.                   However, Saul had another problem:   He n

               Every year, my brother and I do a week long motorcycle trip together.   This year’s version consisted of driving rain, hail, broken tent poles, three inches of water in my basement at home, two flooded vehicles and a wind so strong that it blew us off the highway and into the ditch.   It was the worst vacation ever!                 Standing on the on the side of the road in the middle of North Dakota with rain pounding down on me, I began to think, “This should not be happening to me!   I am a nice guy who tries to help people all the time. I deserve better than this!”   Honestly, though, that is not true.   In fact, it is not even logical.   Bad things happen all the time, so why should I be exempt from them?   Logically speaking, bad things ought to happen to me once in a while.                   More than that, though, those thoughts are not scriptural.   Some believe that if you follow God everything will be easy, but even a cursory reading of God’s word would

                “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.   When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought the field” (Matthew 13:44).                     If our faith is going to be alive and meaningful, we must focus on the treasure and not on the field.                 Years ago, I knew a girl who seemed to have it all.   She was popular, bright and she was dating one of the best athletes in the school.   It seemed like everything was going her way.   However, years later, life has not gone according to plan and now she finds herself in a very difficult place.   God is still blessing her, but she does not seem to know it.   If she could just see the eternal things in her life, she would find deep relationships, forgiveness, grace, joy and freedom.   Sadly, she has lost sight of her treasure because she is so discouraged by the circumstances of her field.                   The other mistake that we often make is

               When reading the Bible, it is important to pay attention to the small details of the stories.   Often, those details are the point.                   For example, in Genesis 13 Abram (or “Abraham” as he is more well known) and his nephew Lot have a problem.   Their flocks and herds have become so large that the land cannot support both of them, so Abram comes up with a plan.                 He said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine… Is not the whole land before you?   Let’s part company.   If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right.   If you go to the right, I’ll go to the left” (verses 8-9).                 Did you catch the small, but very important detail?   If you miss it, then you will miss a big part of the lesson and example of Abram.                 Abram allowed Lot to choose the land that he wanted.                 That detail is important because that is not the normal procedure.   Abram is

                It seems that everyone I know is planting a garden this year.   Even those who have had no interest in gardening before are building raised beds and talking about which variety of tomato grows best around here. My grandparents always had a garden and as did Sara’s Dad, so I know a little bit about them.   In fact, I think that gardens can remind us of some important spiritual truths.                 For example, gardening is all about expectation and anticipation.   Those are two of my favourite words these days.   When you plant a garden, you do not plant the finished product.   Rather, you plant seeds hoping that they will become something fruitful.   Gardening is an investment of time and energy now so that you can reap the rewards later.                 The process of sowing and reaping is a constant theme in the word of God.   Paul reminded the Corinthian church that, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap

               There are times when our problems seem insurmountable and no matter how hard we try we cannot find a way out.   When that happens, it is easy to just give up, pout and feel sorry for ourselves.   One day, though, Jesus’ disciples discovered another option.                   Thousands of people had gathered to hear Jesus’ teaching.   As evening fell, the disciples looked over the crowd and realized that they had a problem, so they found Jesus and said, “This is a remote place and it is already very late.   Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat” (Mark 6:35-36).   Jesus’ responded, “You give them something to eat” (verse 37). Suddenly the disciples had a problem that they did not create and could not handle.   After a quick calculation, they estimated that it would take more than eight months’ wages to feed all those people and even then each person would only get a small bite (John 6:7).   T

            Telling people off feels good, doesn’t it?               Most people are too polite to admit that, but I know the feeling that comes after setting someone straight.   I feel smart because I was able to point out someone’s stupidity.   I am proud that I spoke my mind.       It feels good to let people have it! That is until I realize that my angry rant did a lot more harm than good.   Anger is a bottom-level emotion because it takes no thought or effort.   Anger is simply reactive.   Other emotions, such as compassion, require us to see the situation in new ways and imagine what it must be like to be the other person.   Anger does not require that because it is rooted in selfishness.   Most of my anger has nothing to do what is actually right or wrong.   Rather, it is based on the fact that my thoughts and desires have been disregarded.   At its core, most of my anger is about me rather than the specific issue or topic that I am hiding behind.   That being said, it is

            My wife, Sara, loves birds, so in the spring I get daily reports that go something like this: “The chickadees are back…. I saw a Robin today…. Ooh, I hear a woodpecker over there!”   She gets excited when she sees hawks floating on the breeze.   Our backyard is filled with bird feeders and we get more than our share of feathered visitors. Over the course of our marriage, I have come to enjoy watching the birds as well.   I even know the names of some of them now.   I am especially good at spotting “Red-winged Blackbirds” (Why can’t all birds be this obviously named?).     Of course, there is nothing new going on here.   The birds have been around for my entire life.   I just never paid any attention to them.   What is new is that Sara has taught me to notice these little creatures and now I cannot stop seeing and hearing them.   They are everywhere! You will see what you choose to see. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah worked during a difficult time in the history of

           “Mother’s Day” has just come and gone and, as usual, it has left me thinking about the power of relationships. Pick up any Mother’s Day card and you will find words like; love, sacrifice, care, nurture and compassion.   We honour mothers because they demonstrate these sorts qualities.   We appreciate how selfless they are and how give themselves to their families without expecting much in return. Mothers have a powerful influence because they invest in others. The same attitudes that create strong and healthy families are the exact same attitudes that needed for a strong and healthy church.   In fact, if you read the first fifteen verses of virtually every New Testament letter, you will find words of care and affection because these letters were written not only to instruct, but also to strengthen, encourage and nurture. Churches as a whole, and we as individual church members, make a huge mistake when we think that faith is an individual undertaking.   No one would e

             Sometimes Bible stories sound weird simply because we are missing some necessary information.   Take Matthew 21:18-21 for example. It says, “Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.   Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May you never bear fruit again!’ Immediately the tree withered”.                 What is going on here?   Why is Jesus being so harsh?    To understand the point, it helps to know a little about fig trees. Unlike fruit trees around here, fig trees produce both their leaves and their fruit at the same time.   The fact that this tree had leaves meant that it ought to have fruit as well, which is why Jesus went over to it in the first place.   That is also why Matthew went out of his way to mention that Jesus “found nothing on it except leaves”.   This tree was all show.   An impressive outer appearance that does not produce anything real is n

               Author Allison Fallon tells a story about her brother who was riding his bike to church one Sunday morning.   As he approached an intersection, a student driver in the car ahead of him turned her left turn signal light on and then made a right turn right in front of him.   Allison’s brother crashed into the side of the car and was sent flying across the hood and onto the ground on the other side.                 A crowd quickly gathered.   Some of the people asked “Are you okay?” or “Does anything hurt?”   Others, though, were angry and started yelling at the driver for making such a stupid and dangerous mistake.                   Allison’s brother looked up and asked, “What is the driver’s name?” The driving instructor told him that her name was “Candace”.   Bloodied and scraped up, he made his way toward the car.   He found the driver sitting in her seat sobbing uncontrollably. He leaned in the window and said, “Candace, it is okay.   Accidents happen.   Mistakes a

               Ontario was established in 1849 as a home for former African American slaves who had found freedom thanks to the Underground Railroad.                 If you visit Buxton, you will see a large bell that was housed in the community’s church building. Whenever a new family arrived in town, the bell was rung in joyous celebration.   Everyone would come in from the fields, welcome the new family and commit to helping them becoming established in their new homeland.   The bell was also rung every morning and every night to remind the community to stop and remember those who were still in slavery.                 Everyone in Buxton understood what it was to be a slave.   They also knew the courage that it took to make the journey north.   Most of all, they understood how valuable their new life was and because of that they were eager to help others who were starting over.                 Ideally, the same things should be true of the church.   It, too, is a community mad

               “The guy in that picture is an idiot!”                 That is what I thought as I gazed at a photo of Sara and me on our wedding day.                 Now, let me clarify:   I was not an idiot for getting married.   In fact, marrying Sara is one of the smartest things I have ever done.   The problem is that the guy in that photo has no idea how to love the beautiful girl that he just married.   He has no idea how to be a good father.   He worries way too much and is more angry than he ought to be.   In short, he needs a lot of work.                 The good news, though, is that the guy in that photo is not me.   At least, he is not me anymore.   I have grown up some in the last twenty-two years.   I am still not a perfect husband or father, but I am a better one.   I still worry, but I do it less often.   I am a little more relaxed, kind, open and generous than I was when that picture was taken.                   One of the most hopeful things about this life is

            I am a wimp!   I am not a wimp when it comes to pain.   Compared to others I think I have a very high pain tolerance.   I am not a wimp when it comes to work.   I think I can outwork many people.   I drive a motorcycle, love hockey and I am a track official at the “Estevan Motor Speedway”.   I like working on old motorcycles and cars and I always have a project on the go.   I am not wimpy in those ways. What am I a wimp about then?   I cannot stand complainers! When people start complaining, especially about things that neither they nor I have any control over, I quickly lose interest in the conversation.   There are many legitimate concerns in the world and if you have a real problem, I am glad to listen and help you in any way that I can.   However, if you are just whining then you can see yourself to the door. Maybe this is a character flaw of mine.   Maybe I should be more patient and compassionate.   However, I think I actually have some backup for this atti