Consider this

                Peace is a word that is used a lot at this time of year.   We sing “Silent night” and talk about the coming “Prince of Peace”.    We give out cards that speak of peace on earth and we hope for a little peace and quiet during our time off.                   Why is it, then, that Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year?   More to the point, why do so few of us live peaceful lives at any time of the year?   What can we do?   Here are a couple of thoughts to consider.                   First, we need to realize that peace is a gift that we can give to ourselves.   I know it sounds odd in our constantly outraged, social media fuelled world, but the fact is that you do not have to be upset about everything.   Not everything is crusade!   Getting upset, especially if you have no ability to make the s

                Sometimes, you get good reminders in the strangest places. This past Friday night, Sara and I attended the Estevan Arts Council’s Stars for Saskatchewan concert featuring Canadian singer, song writer Luke McMaster.   Though McMaster was raised in Brandon, Manitoba, he loves the sound of Motown and his latest project has him visiting, interviewing and recording with singers and song writers from that era.   As part of his show, he shared a video clip of his interview with Lamont Dozier who worked the “The Four Tops” and “The Supremes” among others.   If you have ever listened to this type of music, chances are you have heard a song written by him. At one point, McMaster asked Dozier, “How is it that you are still writing music?   You are seventy-seven years old and have been writing for sixty years.   How do you ke

                I have a confession to make:   I do not like the Christmas season!                 I hate shopping for presents, because I never know what to buy people.   I get tired of hearing the same old carols every year.   Surely, someone, somewhere, must have the ability to write a new song!   Most Christmas movies are so corny that I cannot stand them.   Taking holidays in December is a waste as it is usually so cold outside that you end up being stuck inside doing nothing for days on end.   It seems silly to put all the decorations up just to take them down again a month later.   All of this and more means that I have started more family fights over the Christmas holidays than at any other time of the year.   In the past, I was often less like Santa and more like the Grinch.                 This year, however, I have start

                  After his encounter with the “Rich Young Ruler” (Mark 10:17-31), Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God!” (verse 25).                 When we came to that part, I asked the Bible study class how they had heard this verse explained.   One man raised his hand and said, “Apparently, there used to be a gate in the wall of Jerusalem and it was called ‘The Needle’s Eye’.   It was so small that a camel had to get down on its knees and crawl through it.   It could get in, but it was really difficult”.    Several people nodded their heads in agreement.   They had heard the same explanation.   Of course, I had too.                 There is only one problem:   It is not true!    It is a complete lie!   No such gate ever existed

                  My sister had a milestone birthday this week, so Sara, the girls and I decided that it would be fun to go to Moose Jaw and celebrate with her.   In the end, thirteen of us went out for supper and then a few more joined us for cake and coffee at my mom’s place.   I am fortunate to have close relationships with my immediate family.                 However, outside of that immediate family, I do not know many of my relatives.   In fact, I have cousins in Moose Jaw that I have not seen in years.   Families are not always close.   Sometimes the problem is physical distance. Other times, circumstances and events create relational distance, but the fact is that we do not always have what we need.   Fortunately, your biological family does not have to be your only family.   You can choose to include others and find the pieces tha

                  Thanks to some nice people who bought and built a car for me, I got to drive in this year’s Enduro race at the Estevan Motor Speedway.   What is an Enduro, you ask?   Basically, you take an old street car, remove the windows, move the gas tank and race for 150 laps or an hour and a half, whichever comes first.                 As the race began, I was feeling good.   I passed a lot of cars and thought that I might even have a chance to win.   Then it happened.   Coming off corner two, the car suddenly lost power.   It was still running.   I still had the gas pedal mashed to the floor, but it was slowing down.   Then I looked at the temperature gauge and noticed that it was right at the top.   The car was overheating.   In order to keep speeds down a bit, the track is heavily watered and very muddy, so I assumed that my r

                  “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateway of the city she makes her speech” (Proverbs 1:20-21).                 I have never known what to do with the book of Proverbs.   How do you teach a book that is mostly a disjointed grouping of short sayings?   Also, in the passage above, why is wisdom personified as being alive and calling to people?   Why is wisdom out in the street and in the public square?   What is God trying to say? Here is what I have come up with:   Wisdom is on the streets and in the marketplaces because God’s teaching is to be lived every day!    Over the years, the church has made a big deal about hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17), but that is not enough.   From beginning to end, Proverbs

                  Many people know and love the Psalms of David, but do you know the one written by Herman the Ezrahite?     It seems that no one knows Herman’s contribution to the word of God.   However, Psalm 88 is worth some thought simply because it is a total, start to finish, song of complaint.   The Psalms record a variety of emotions and one of the benefits of them is that they give us permission to be real with God.   Normally, though, they end on a high note.   Unfortunately, that is not true here.   Herman’s psalm concludes with these words: “Why, O Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me… your terrors have destroyed me... All day long they surround me like a flood… darkness is my closest friend” (verses 16-18).                   If Herman was standing here, what would you say to him?   More to the point, what

                “What am I supposed to be doing?”   I get asked that question a lot.   Oddly, it is most often asked by long time, faithful church members.   It seems that we have been good about teaching people what to believe, but not as good about helping them figure out what God wants them to do.   He did not take us home immediately after our baptism, so we must be here for a reason. What, then, is your job?                   If someone uses a hammer every day, you could probably guess that he or she is a carpenter.   If they use a stethoscope, they could be a doctor or a nurse.   A calculator is likely used by an accountant and, if your tool is an airplane, you might be a pilot or a flight attendant.   Therefore, if we look at our spiritual toolbox, we will be able to figure out what we are supposed to be doing

                Most people know about Noah’s ark.   Unfortunately, I believe that we often teach that story incorrectly.                 In Sunday school, the emphasis was on the water and the destruction.   The point was that God hates sin and that a judgment day is coming.   While that is true, I do not believe that it is the point of the story.                 Some focus on the dimensions of the ark and then built exact replicas to prove that it was big enough to hold a lot of animals.   Many of these replicas exist around the world and they are interesting, but I do not believe that the size or construction of the ark is the point of the story.                 Others search Mount Ararat in Turkey looking for possible landing sites or petrified pieces of the boat. Again, I do not believe that the landing spot this is the point of the sto

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells of a farmer who sowed good seed in field, only to find that an enemy had sowed weeds among the wheat.   When the man’s servants realize this, they ask, “Do you want us to go pull them up?” (Verse 28)     The farmer answers, “No!   Because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters: ‘First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn’” (Verses 29-30). I have always heard this parable used as a lesson in patience, or as a reminder of the coming judgment day.    However, I think there is another point to understand. The farmer did not want his servants in his field because they are focused on the weeds!    Their first inclination is to think about

                  At a meeting the other day, someone told a story that made everyone laugh.   Well, everyone except me.   I did not know the people they were referencing, so I did not get the joke.    Sometimes, when you lack the necessary background information, you miss the point.                   That happens all the time when we read our Bibles.    We read them from a North American, 2018 perspective and, therefore, we often miss details that were huge to the early church.                   For example, when writing about the crucifixion, Matthew, Mark and Luke all make a point of saying, “At that moment (the exact moment of Jesus’ death) the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51).   Big deal, right?   Odd, but not all that significant to me.   However, the writer of Hebrews makes that detail one of the centrepieces of h

                  Everyone loves an underdog story.   From kids who start out in bad situations and make it big, to sports teams that should lose but end up winning, we like big, unexpected results.   There is a reason why so many books and movies are “rags to riches” stories.   We like big, sudden turnarounds.                 It should not surprise us, then, that we like spiritual comeback stories too.   We like to focus on dramatic testimonies and instant changes.    However, that is not the way most people experience spiritual growth and renewal.   Most of us are much more like a man that Jesus met in the little town of Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26).                 On that day, some friends brought a blind man to be healed.   Instead of the instant, spectacular, showy event the were expecting, Jesus took the man outside of town where no one els

                  I was raised to value toughness.   You do not whine or cry about your situation.   Instead, you grit your teeth and get things done.   So, imagine my joy when I heard people at church talking about “working hard for God”, or reading passages that said things like, “take up your cross and follow” (Mark 8:34). “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it” (Luke 9:24) made sense.   The language fit too, because we labelled people with phrases like, “He is a strong Christian”.   Be tough!   Take on the challenge!   See if you can do it!    All of that sounded right to me.                 It probably sounded right to Peter too!    On the night of his arrest, Jesus tells the disciples, “This very night you will all fall away!” (Matthew 26:31).   When Peter hears

                I do not like funerals.   However, as I stood out at the city cemetery this past week, I was reminded that I love what happens around funerals.   In short, people slow down and show up.   Days ahead of time, several folks were cleaning the church building and making sure that the facility was ready.   Then the food started showing up.   Even with the large crowd that came, we had more food than we needed.   People travelled hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres to be here.   They hugged one another and, when they spoke, their conversations often centred on topics that were deeper and more important than the weather, or whatever else we often discuss.   There was a lot of laughter, a lot of tears and a lot care for one another.                 Unfortunately, those pictures and words are not the ones that normally

                Believer is a popular word these days.   Any time I meet someone who is a believer in anything, I am happy, because that is a good starting point.   However, believer is not the word that describes the Christian life.   Believer is not our word.   What is that word?   I will tell you in a moment, but first a look at why believer not enough.                 In Acts 8, Phillip, one of the most trusted teachers in the early church, went to the city of Samaria and preached the word of God.   Many of the people responded, including a well-known sorcerer named Simon.   He became a believer and was baptized in the name of Christ (verse 13).                   Later, when he saw Peter and others healing people, he offered them money in an attempt to purchase that ability.   What follows is one of the most harsh a

    When Sara and I were first married and had little kids, old guys would come up to me and say, “Enjoy this time! It goes by so fast!”                 A couple of weekends ago, my oldest daughter got married and my youngest was the maid of honour and now I am the old guy who is saying, “They grow up so fast!”                 How did this happen?   It seems like only a couple of years ago that Sara and I were the ones standing at the front of the church building exchanging vows and dreaming about our future (Incidentally, I am writing this on our 24 th wedding anniversary, so it really was a while ago).   I had a sporty car and I remember feeling badly for the old guys riding around in minivans.    Now, not only is my sporty car long gone, but I have been through the minivan stage and have progressed to the dreaded SUV!                   N

                Imagine with me for a moment that the apostle Paul has been told that several groups within the church in Corinth have been arguing about which is the most important.   Therefore, he calls them together and offers to judge their competition.   Each group will get a chance to make their case and Paul, inspired by God’s Spirit, will pick a winner.                 Happily, the first group steps up and says, “Obviously, we are the most important because we are the preachers and the teachers.   We draw huge crowds and people love to listen to us.   We are entertaining and funny and we do more good than anyone else”.                 To this group, Paul says, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).   This group made a lot of noise,

                When Moses was told to go to Egypt and demand the release of the Israelite slaves, he was understandably hesitant.   “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” he asked (Exodus 3:11).   More specifically he said, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (verse 13).   Moses needs God’s name!                 Names are interesting.   Your name is one of the most personal things about you, but you did not choose it.   It was given to you.   Names come with baggage, both good and bad.   When Sara and I were choosing baby names, we had a terrible time!   One would suggest a name, the other would say something like, “No!   That name reminds me of a rude kid that went to school with me”.    Names sometimes hav

                  Once an airplane is in the air, almost anyone can fly it.   Keeping it in the air and flying straight is not the hard part.   The danger comes at takeoff and landing.   The transitions are the tricky parts!                 Similarly, in our lives, it is not the time of calm but the times of change that test and challenge us.   It is how we act during times of transition that will determine how things turn out.                 Seven hundred years after the promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), God’s people are facing a huge transition.   They are standing at the edge of the Promised Land and they are about to see all their hopes and dreams comes true.   God said, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites” (Numbers 13:1), so Moses chose the twelve of the best men that he could find

                  I have a list.   It is not a physical list, but it is very real.   You likely have one too.   This list consists of my worries, concerns and things I would like to see changed for myself and others.    The problem with this list is that it never ends.   Even when some of the huge things at the top of the list get taken care of, new problems are added.   As well, focusing on this list leaves me anxious and frustrated because I have little or no control over most of it.   Then, because I am focusing on my problems and just reacting to them, I become even more angry and frustrated and the cycle continues.   Then one day, I read Psalm 119:148 which says, “My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises”.   That verse surprised me because when people are wide awake i