Consider this

                   As I walked through the kitchen of the church building, I noticed some dirty dishes in the sink, so I decided to wash them.   When I was done, I went to the tea towel drawer and pulled out the most threadbare, worn-out piece of cloth that I had ever seen.   This towel had a hole in the middle of it and I could see through the rest of it.   It was so fragile that it tore as I unfolded it.                Holding that dish towel, I had two thoughts.   First, we can do better than this.   There is likely room in the budget for a towel that is not more air than towel.   Second, I want to be friends with whoever put this towel in the drawer.   Someone, at some point, washed that tea towel, saw the holes and how thin it was getting and then said, “We better keep this.   There is still some good left in it!”                You want a friend like that, right?   You want people in your life who can see your faults and your shortcomings and still say, “There is a lot of

                 In 2013, the town of High River, Alberta experienced one of the biggest floods in their history. Hardly a home or business escaped without damage.   Things were so bad on the main street that even the radio station had to move to another town just to stay on the air.                That move did not sit well with morning show host Jody Seeley.   She did not like the idea of broadcasting about the community without being in it, so she came up with a plan.   She convinced her bosses to create a mobile radio station in an enclosed trailer and had the trailer towed to a local restaurant called The Hitching Post.   From that day on, Jody did her radio show from the parking lot of the restaurant.   Next, she started what she called “Honks and Hugs”.   The idea was that if you were alright and having a good day, you were to let he

 Benedictions are prayers of blessing. Here is one that will help us find, and live in, one of God's best gifts.  

 Even when it is imperfect (which it always is), there is value in the community of believers that we call the church.  

                 Richard Griffin, who for many years served as the Queen’s Personal Protection Officer, told this story about her.                The Queen spent the summers in Scotland at Balmoral Castle where she enjoyed hiking in the nearby hills.    One day, she and Richard met a couple from America.   They exchanged greetings and the tourists began to talk about their trip and how much they were enjoying Scotland.   Eventually, one of them asked the Queen, “Where do you live?”   She replied, “In London.   However, I have a holiday home just over the hills”.   One of the tourists then said, “Well, if you come up here in the summer, you must have met the Queen”.   Elizabeth replied, “No I haven’t, but Richard meets her regularly”.                Upon hearing that, the visitors asked him what she was like.   He responded, “Well, she

 Teaching is great. Sometimes an example is better.  

 Finding - and living in - the blessings of God. The good news, you have what you need.  

                   I heard an interview with comedian Jeff Foxworthy in which he said (and I am paraphrasing here), “I wish I had been a singer.   My singer friends can write three good songs and then get paid to sing them for the next 40 years.   People love hearing their old songs.   That is not true with comedians.   I can write the best joke ever and it has a lifespan of three months.   After that, no one laughs, and they never want to hear that joke again”.                Why is that true?                In part, it has to do with the fact that comedy relies on surprise.   We laugh because someone says something we did not expect.   Once we have heard the joke, the surprise element is eliminated and, therefore, it is not funny anymore.                  However, I think

 Saying, "Things should be different!" does not help! We must deal with the situation we are in. Here is one way the church must adjust.  

 Sometimes we put up barriers that do not need to be there. Jesus was consistently amazed when he saw one quality in people. We ought to start where he did.  

 Reflections on the things we think and the words we say.  

                 If you were looking for an otherworldly spot to test what it might be like to live on another planet, the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii would be a good choice.   At least that is what NASA decided when they built a 1200-square-foot geodesic dome there and gave it the name HI-SEAS (“Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation”).                Scientists in the dome were cut off from the outside world.   Food and other supplies were delivered at predetermined intervals.    If the crew wanted to go outside, they had to wear pretend spacesuits and they were only allowed to venture a certain distance from the dome.   NASA even established a communications delay of several seconds to simulate the time it would take radio signals to travel from Mars to Earth and vice versa.   Since it first open

 We don't do good things to make God happy. We do them because we need them. PS. Norma gave me my money back, just so you know (Watch the video.... it will make sense) :)  

                 In 1960, the Aral Sea was the fourth-largest inland lake in the world.   Located on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea played host to a fishing industry that supported some 3.5 million people around its shoreline. Then things began to change.   In 1959, officials in the Soviet Union diverted the two streams that fed the Aral Sea so that they could irrigate cotton fields.   While the cotton grew, the Aral Sea shrank.   Within a few years, the lake began to evaporate and by 2014 most of the former lake bed was a desert.   People moved away.   Lively cities became ghost towns and now the only tourists that visit this once popular area are those who enjoy seeing ecological disasters. This story interests me because I see a similar process at work in th

 Typically, if you accuse someone of being a "sell out", it is a bad thing. In this case, it is not only good, but necessary!  

 In a world that can drag us down, we need something that lifts us up.  

                 When reading scripture, it is easy to get the facts right and the application wrong.   Take the story of Daniel and the lion’s den for example.                Five hundred years before Christ, a man named Daniel lived in the Persian Empire.   God blessed him, and he eventually rose to be second in command in the entire kingdom.   This displeased some of his coworkers because he was a foreigner and they decided to get rid of him.   After digging through his history and work records, they could find nothing wrong, so they came up with a different plan.                They convinced King Darius that it would be a good idea to have everyone in the kingdom pray to him for the next month.   This would be unifying, and it would show loyalty to the king.   Darius thought this was a

What the story about Daniel and the lions den actually teaches us!  

 Finding abundant life.....

 What Jonah teaches us about God and our relationship with him  

                 Our air conditioner quit last week, so I took it apart and spread the pieces all over the backyard.   This caused me to realize two important facts.   First, I am not a plumber and I have no idea how an air conditioner works.   Second, most of the time you cannot tell whether a piece of electrical equipment is working or not based on how it looks.   One needs some sort of diagnostic tool to make the proper assessment.   When the plumbers showed up the next day, they brought their multimeter, found the bad component, and fixed the problem in ten minutes.                That experience made me think that it would be great to have a similar diagnostic tool to check on our spiritual health and see how we are doing.   Fortunately, God has already supplied one.             

 Giving is about something much more important than your time or money  

                 In the late 1800s, it was common for railway companies to plant formal gardens beside their stations.   These gardens were filled with trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.   Sometimes they also featured a kitchen garden growing lettuce, carrots, corn, and potatoes.   Estevan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Garden was once located where Mid-City Plumbing and Heating is today.                The purpose of these gardens was to show what the land could produce.   After hours and sometimes days of riding across the featureless prairies, the railways wanted to show settlers the potential of their new home.   The gardens showed what was possible and they encouraged the settlers to transform their own land and discover its potential too.                Today’s verse acts similarly, in that it challenges us to find the potential in

 Faith isn't just about what we stand against. It must be governed by what we do.  

 What to remember when you feel like giving up

 Two powerful ways to transform your trouble into something good.  

                 On the fifth day of a nine-day motorcycle trip to Wisconsin, my clutch cable broke in the middle of nowhere.   I was alone and not sure what to do.   Typically, my first response would have been anger at the fact that my holiday was ruined or worry about how I was going to get home.   However, this time was different.                After looking at Google Maps, I made my way to the nearest little town and found an O’Reilly Auto Parts store.   The manager said, “We can fix this!”   Not only did he sell me a cable repair kit, but he also called a buddy of his to come over and install it for me.   Within two hours, my motorcycle was patched up and I was back on the road.                Another factor that made me feel better was that someone was

 As Christians, we have trouble, but we also have help. Some reflections on trust, peace and hope.  

 How to stop discouragement before discouragement stops you.  

                   Generalizations are helpful because they show a pattern that is normally true. However, they are also dangerous because they ignore the exceptions to the rule.                  Here is my generalization:   It is a quality of the strong to be able to forget the past and move on.   The apostle Paul summarizes this idea when he states, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Too often, we trip over things that are behind us.   We remember and nurse old hurts.   We rehearse mistakes that no one else recalls.   In doing so, we pull the past into the present and allow it to dictate how we feel right now.   In these cases, we would be better off “forgett

                 During the Toast to the Bride at a wedding this past weekend, a gentleman stood up and said, “When I was young, Rhonda looked after me.   When I was a teenager, Rhonda looked after me.   Even today, Rhonda continues to look after me.   Here’s to Rhonda!”   Those simple words, delivered with heartfelt emotion, were the most memorable words of the night.   They perfectly captured the spirit of the bride because everyone in that room had experienced her caring nature.                We are inundated with so many meaningless words from social media and other sources that is easy to forget that words can have a huge impact.   I have a file folder that is stuffed full of notes, cards, and letters of encouragement.   I never look at them, but I have kept some of those pieces of paper for decades.   The words mattered so much to m

 Thinking about high school graduation speeches made me wonder, "What would I say at a spiritual graduation ceremony? What would help us move to the next level?" Here is what I came up with from John 21.  

 A short prayer with big results.  

               The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most loved and iconic structures in New York City, but it was not always that way.   When it was completed in 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world and many New Yorkers did not believe it was strong enough to survive.   Many refused to go anywhere near it.                This fear reached its height six days after its grand opening when a lady fell down a set of stairs leading off the bridge.   As she fell, she screamed and that scream caused someone on the bridge to panic and yell, “The bridge is collapsing!”    This started a stampede as everyone pushed toward the exits.   People pushed, shoved, and ran over one another, resulting in twelve people dying in the ensuing chaos.                More than any other emotion, fear is dangerous and contagious.   Fear-based thinking hinders prog

 Three facts about fear and what is required to face it well (Here is a hint... the answer is not "Be Braver" or "Try harder!")  

 

                  Jumbo, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands, recently introduced a new checkout called a Kletskassa, which translates to “chat checkout”.   This is a lane for those who are not in a rush and would like to chat with their cashier.                   The idea began when it was revealed that 33% of seniors in the country felt lonely and disconnected from their neighbours and their communities.   Realizing that their grocery stores acted as meeting places in the community, Jumbo intentionally created spaces where people could connect.   In addition to the new slow lane, the stores have also installed “chat corners” where customers can have a cup of coffee and visit.   The project has been so popular with the older age group that the slow lane is now open to anyone who would like a short visit as they go about their day.                I believe that we need some slow lanes in our lives!   When asked, “How are you?” most people reply, “I am fine”, but people are not