Do Hard Things

A group of guys from our church did a four hour canoe trip yesterday down the Rainy River.  You can read more about it from my son's perspective here.  I wanted to touch on one incident and relate it to our lives as Christians.

My grandson, Knox was very excited about going canoeing...until we got in the canoe and pushed off.  He was suddenly crying and hollering that we were going to tip.  He was very afraid and wanted to get out.  His Dad took us back to the dock to try and calm him down.  As soon as he had the chance Knox was out of the canoe and running away up the dock.  When they got him back his Dad talked to him about asking God for courage and they prayed together.  He settled down pretty quickly and we were off.  

Being a four hour plus trip we tried to keep him occupied with watching for eagles and the beauty of the nature around us.  But it wasn't more than a couple hours and Knox was saying how bored he was.  This continued off and on for the rest of the trip.  I'm not surprised that he was bored.  I can't fault him for that.  Just sitting in the bottom of a canoe isn't all that exciting for a seven-year-old.  What surprised me was how quickly it all became boring for him.  He went from being freaked out(his term, not mine) to being bored.  I jokingly suggested that we could start rocking the canoe and he wouldn't be bored any more.  He didn't think that was the solution.

I started thinking about this turnabout and what it says about the Christian life.  When we are born again and begin a new life with Christ everything is new and at least a bit scary.  We don't really know what to expect.  There are steps of faith like baptism, sharing your testimony, getting involved in some ministry.  Each one presents its own challenges and we grow!  Every time we step out with God we find the new adventure at least somewhat unsettling.  

But it seems that before too long we start to get comfortable in our faith.  We settle into our routines and it can even become boring.  What once thrilled us and even scared us a little now gets no reaction at all.  What a tragedy!  We need someone to come along and rock the canoe.  I'm beginning to think that some discomfort and even some fear is much better than boredom in the Christian life.  We need to keep stretching because it's the only way we will keep growing.  If we are only doing the things we know we can easily accomplish we don't really need God or need to trust Him.  We feel comfortable and secure...and bored.

My daughter pointed me to a website especially for teens, but I think it has something worthwhile for all of us.  It is called The Rebelution.  The site says "The battle cry of the The Rebelution is just three words: but it's an explosive concept: Do Hard Things."  They make the point that as kids we all had many hard things to accomplish: walking, talking, spelling, reading, etc.  These skills took hard work, but we did them and we grew.  But as we grow older we quit pushing ourselves to do hard things and usually there is no one else to push us so we just stop trying and we stop growing.

God, please rock my canoe enough to shake me out of my boredom and remind me that I can't do this without You!  

Kindness Outreach

Our church finally did our cold drink giveaway this week.  This is one of a few kindness outreaches we have planned.  We tried a few times before in a different venue and it never worked out.  This time we took our wagons, coolers and drinks down to the bass tournament parade.  I'm sure we looked a little comical- adults pulling children's wagons loaded  with coolers down the street.  We gave 200 bottles of water or Coke away in less than an hour.  Some people were hesitant until they found out it was free.  Others wouldn't take it even though it was free.  Most people were pleasantly pleased if a little curious.

The purpose is to turn the "random acts of kindness" idea into an act of kindness to the glory of God.  The act of kindness is accompanied by a nice looking business-size card that says we are doing this to show the love of God.  It includes the church name and location.  

I came across the idea of flooding your community with good deeds several years ago through a book by Steve Sjogren called Conspiracy of Kindness.  It immediately appealed to me as an excellent way to do first-touch evangelism.  Yet I've found people don't really seem to understand it.  The major objection is that this seems a waste of money because it is not meeting any real need.  It's just giving something away to people who don't need it.  Also some people think it is so low-key that it couldn't possibly have any spiritual impact.

I still believe that it has great potential if done prayerfully and regularly.  First, it is something just about any Christian can do.  It is usually done in teams so you don't have to go alone and it doesn't take a lot of know-how.  Many Christians are fearful of engaging in evangelism.  This is a great way to get a taste and to develop some skills.  As confidence grows people will look for opportunities.  For the one receiving the kindness, it gives them a different perspective on God and church from what many believe.  God is sometimes seen as harsh and demanding.  The church especially is usually seen as wanting your money, not as giving you something.  It is a no-pressure situation for both the giver and receiver yet it provides plenty of opportunity for people to ask why and for significant conversation to develop.  I see this as another case of our weakness(small part) being used by God for great good.  

Anyone have any experience with this, good or bad, questions or comments?

Dave

Who Cares????

I've recently written four or five posts on choosing life and willingness to die.  This is something that has been on my mind quite a bit lately.  Much of my thinking has been inspired by some of the reading I've been doing and the current sermon series I am preaching.  I see it as a truly important subject in our Christian lives.  I've been a little disappointed by the lack of response because I was hoping to hear what others think about all this.  Maybe I wanted some assurance that I'm not the only one who has questions and fears in all this.  I realize that there could be many reasons why there wasn't more discussion and I'm not putting you down for it.  I was reading blogs for close to a year before I ever made a comment.  Anyway, I'm still curious if anything has been stirred up in you on this topic so I've put up a poll (right side) that will only take you a few seconds to answer and give me at least some idea if this has been of any interest to you.  And if you still want to let your voice be heard, you can still leave a comment.

To Live or Die

Not finished with this topic yet.  It continues to weigh on my mind; I guess even more so because of re-reading McManus' book, Seizing Your Divine Moment and preaching a series from the passage he looks at(1Samuel 14).

McManus makes the point that we can and do know God's general will: to be people of grace and truth-doing good works, sharing the Gospel, and so on.  But, he says, within that there is much uncertainty.  We have no guarantees that doing the right thing will ensure that we will be kept safe and sound.  God promises us His presence and eternal life, but does not promise that nothing bad will happen along the way.  Jesus is the ultimate example.  He was not kept from humiliation, pain or death.  In fact we are told more than once that we should expect trouble and persecution.

I came across the following story a week or so ago that illustrates this very thing.  John(70) and Eloise(65) Bergen from British Columbia had been serving for a few months with Hope for the Nations in Kenya, Africa.  One night they were attacked by eight people with clubs and machetes.  They were beaten, cut and left for dead.

     

Their current plans are to come back to Canada for physical and psychological therapy and then return to Kenya to serve the Lord in caring for orphans.  Amazing!  You can read more here.   

I'm reminded of Matthew 10:28.  Jesus says,  "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."  This couple seems to care much more about serving and glorifying God than about fear of those who can kill the body.  I admire and thank God for their faith and obedience.

McManus rightly says we usually don't get to choose when or how we will die, but we can choose how we will live!  God help me/us choose to live in the will of God without fear!    I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Dave

Choosing to Die

Ever since I read their story as a young man I've been deeply touched by the lives and deaths of the five missionaries, Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Nate Saint in Ecuador in 1956.  In making contact with the Auca Indians, known killers, they were speared to death even though they had guns.  Apparently one gun was fired as a warning, but none was leveled at the attackers.  This was the agreed upon procedure because, they reasoned, "The natives are not ready for heaven.  We are." 

John Piper encourages that attitude as a reason not to even own a gun.  He says, "I suspect the same could be said for almost anyone who breaks into my house."    

We could extend that to risking our lives for people in danger: "They're likely not ready for heaven.  I am."  Paul, a guy who graduated with me from Bible school went to BC the summer after graduation to plant trees.  One night a group of them were on a road in an area that was flooding.  A bridge was washed out and people ended up in the raging river.  According to reports, Paul went into that river more than once to rescue people and ended up sacrificing his life for theirs.  He was ready for heaven.  They weren't. 

As I asked in the earlier post, would I choose to die for Christ, for others?  Do I have that in me?  I really don't know.  What I do know is that Jesus says that when we die to self, then we are really alive!

Dave   

What's in a Name?

This story made our small town paper. Dad trades son's name for free gas. A radio station in Orlando Florida offered $100.00 worth of free gas for the listener with the most interesting item to trade. David Partin offered the right to name his unborn son for the free gas. Radio hosts Richard Dixon and J. Willoughby took Partin's deal. In exchange for a tank or two of free gas the new baby will be named "Dixon and Willoughby."

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. I'm sure they will call him whatever they want, but his official name will be the above! Did he do it for free gas, to get a laugh, to get attention? Did he stop to think for even a second what impact it could have on his son? I'm inclined to call daddy some name!

What grace to have a heavenly Father who gave names of significance and promise when He chose to do the naming.

Dave

Choose to Live

Thanks to everyone who shared your thoughts on how you might prefer to die.  You pretty much covered the thoughts I’ve had, except my daughter-in law's response about dying laughing.  I don't think I'd want to be the one who told the joke that caused you to laugh yourself to death!  I think the first response for most people would be to die peacefully in their sleep at a good old age.  But like some of you, the more I think about that, the less I'm convinced that's the best way to go.  I've thought about what it might be like to give your life for Christ or die to protect your family or give up your life to save someone else.  I've often wondered if I could or would.  Often times those are spur-of-the-moment decisions, not something you have much time to think about.  Am I that kind of person right now that I'd do that without hesitation?  I don't even know how to answer that.  

I started a sermon series today based on Erwin McManus' book, Seizing Your Divine Moment.  The book is based on a story in the life of Jonathan in 1Samuel 14:1-23 and talks about living every moment to the fullest, watching for where God is working and being willing to risk to follow Him there.  Today's introductory message was called Choose To Live.  I think that might be the key to how we see ourselves dying.  One of the passages I touched on was Luke 9:23-24.

23"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."

Jesus says if we really want to live life as He offers it we must die to self.  We must be willing to give it all up to follow Him.  By trying to protect our lives and our comforts and security we will end up losing what life is meant to be.  But when we willingly turn our lives over to Jesus we will begin to experience abundant(overflowing, adventurous) life.  

So, am I going to be more concerned about dying comfortably or choosing to live life to the full now?  I plan to explore these thoughts more in a couple more posts and perhaps give summaries of where the sermon series is heading.

Also just wanted to leave you with a couple "famous last words" that I found interesting, even humorous(if death is humorous).  They really don't have much to do with what is written above but they caught my attention.

William Somerset Maugham:
British author, died in 1965
"Dying is a very dull and dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it"

Gen. John Sedgewick:
Union commander in the American Civil War, shot at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in 1864 while looking over a parapet at the enemy lines
"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..."

Dave

P.S.  For those of you who tend to "lurk" on here, thanks for reading, but I'd also love to hear from you- give it a try.  It's that little "comments" button at the bottom.  You might like it!

 

How to Die?

This may not be something you want to think about.  It may be a waste of time thinking about since we likely won't get a choice, but I'm asking you to anyway.  If you could choose the manner of your death, what would it be?

This question came to my attention simply through trying to find some get-to-know-you-better questions for our small group to discuss.  But then some other things came to my attention through various sources that made this question stick in my mind.  I'll share more of my thoughts later.  For now, indulge me.  How would you choose to die if you had a choice.  Give me a simple sentence answer or get philosophical; whatever you like. 

Dave

Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat

I found this story on John K's blog. You can read his comments here. As I read through the actual news story I have to agree with him. But what bothered me much more than the stupidity were some of the comments on the news story. Here is one example of the line of reasoning several took:



"Just a reminder for all those who complain, this is Britain, a Christian country and puppies are considered cute and loveable!" - Nigel, Somerset, 1/7/2008 5:48



Is Britian a Christian country? No more than Canada is! When we deceive ourselves into thinking this way we feel no need to care about the thousands in Britian and Canada who are dying without Christ. Instead, our issues become protecting our Christian rights and standing up for cute puppies. Rather than protecting puppies, prayer in schools or government, etc., we need to get more concerned and better at sharing our Saviour.



Dave

Best One Yet!

We had a great conference at the BGC Celebration in Winnipeg the end of last week. It was designed to be more relational and more relaxed and it was. I don't know who was responsible for the creative idea of having lunch and the annual meeting on a two hour riverboat cruise, but it was super. I had to laugh to myself that this had to be the best attended annual meeting ever and yet also the shortest! I also thought the evening concerts were a nice touch. I was able to go home feeling refreshed instead of overloaded.

As I expected, the preaching and worship were top-notch. The messages were very simple but powerful. God was speaking, at least to me.

My only suggestion for improvement would be concerning the seminars. Either they didn't start on time or they just weren't long enough to deal with the material. And as I commented in an earlier post, while the information was good, I found the application to be weak or not very helpful. It seems it is extremely difficult to put together a great seminar. Or maybe my expectations are too high.

I still struggled with using the fellowship times well. It was good to connect with people I've gotten to know previously and I did visit with a few new people, but it was still awkward for me. Again, I emphasize that this is my weakness, not anyone else's fault.

As far as the guilt aspect of some conferences I attended, our conference head, Jamey McDonald, took the heat off right from the beginning. On the first morning he announced something like "We have our schedule and agenda and things we need to accomplish, but if that does not work for you and you have other things that you need to get done, you should feel the freedom to do what you have to do." Gutsy! I don't seem to have the faith in people to give them that kind of freedom, but I certainly did appreciate it. I think there is another side of this however. Seeing how most of the people there were delegates from their churches and most likely had their expenses paid for by their churches I hope they felt some responsibility to their churches. And by the looks of it, I think most did.

All in all, it was the best BGC conference I've ever attended and if we can keep going in this direction I won't hesitate to encourage people to attend.

Dave

Off to Conference

This is mostly to let you know that I won't be posting for a few days as we are off to our Baptist General Conference Celebration in Winnipeg. But while I'm at it I may as well give you my impression of these kind of conferences and seminars.

I realize that it is important to get together, and necessary to discuss important issues, encourage each other and do the business of the denomination. But there's probably more I don't like about them than I do like.

Let's do the positives first. The worship and preachers are first rate. I really do enjoy listening to and participating in worship and preaching that I didn't have to prepare. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy those aspects of pastoring, but sometimes I need to take in as well as give out. They also give a change of scenery and a change of duties and they say a change is as good as a rest. Whoever planned this year's conference worked hard to be creative. It looks like one day's lunch and the annual meeting are being held on a river boat. That's a nice change. As well, concerts are being planned for the two evenings. That also sounds like a nice break as long as we aren't too tired out to enjoy it. But that's about it for the positives.

The main thing I don't like about these large gatherings is that I'm not good in a large crowd of people. I go from being the big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a very big pond. I don't think it's so much about pride and feeling important as it is in trying to determine where I fit. I'm not great at mixing in or butting in on conversations or making small talk with people I don't know. I feel a little lost at these things. Also, I appreciate the idea of seminars and I enjoy learning, but out of dozens of seminars I've attended, only a handful have been worthwhile in my opinion. More often than not, I take home more guilt than anything else from such seminars. So big bucks are paid out for what often amounts to an uncomfortable waste of time for me. How's that for negative?

So now you can pray for my attitude, my growth in these areas, and God's presence and blessing as we meet together. I'm praying that God will be glorified, individuals encouraged and refreshed, and that the BGC as a whole will benefit from this time together.

Dave

Happy Canada Day!

It's Canada Day!  Patti and I went to the local parade this morning.  It was nice to be out, chat with a few people and see some of the hard work that went into the floats.  I think I get more out of parades when I'm with my grandchildren or other young children.  It looks much more spectacular when you try to see it through their eyes.

Anyway I was thinking about how thankful I am to be a Canadian and live in this great country.  So here are a few things I'm thankful for about Canada.

1.  The freedom of speech and religion we have to practice our faith without fear.  I know the support or even the tolerance is not what it was, but we still have the freedom.

2.  Four seasons.  As much as I complain about the cold, I love snow and the crisp air of winter, the newness of Spring with a thousand different shades of green, the warmth and thunderstorms of summer, and the colours of Fall.  I even love the leaves falling from the trees.  I just can't picture a tree that never loses all its leaves.

3.  The vastness of this country.  Lakes, rocks, prairies, mountains, wildlife, cities, forests, oceans...  It takes days to drive across this country and around every turn is something unique and beautiful.

4.  Access to everything we could possibly need or want.  We are amazingly rich compared to most of the world.

5.  The people: friendly, innovative, kind, hearty, generous...

I am thankful for the privilege to have lived in a few different areas of Canada and experience the differences and the likenesses.  "God keep our land glorious and free, O Canada we stand on guard for thee."

Your turn!  Take a moment to share at least one or two things you are thankful for in this country of Canada.  It's good for the patriotism and the soul!

Dave