Consider this

                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 ca...

                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).     ...

    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...

                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 ...

                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...

                  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 t...

                  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 ...