The Call and the Cost - Austin

"They will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish."

Those are Jesus' words, and from my perspective, some of the most challening he ever spoke. In a culture of feel-good Christianity, they aren't verses you will find taped to many bathroom mirrors for someone to memorize while they shave or apply makeup. They aren't verses quoted frequently in the majority of North American churches. And as I contemplate them, I suspect I understand them on a very shallow level only.

Paradoxes fascinate me. The beautitudes are probably my favourites. But this seeming contradiction comes from the same teacher who gave us the beautitudes. That gives credibility and authority. It demands a closer look.

Luke 21:12-19 NIV
"But before all this they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life."

Eugene Peterson's The Message, says it this way:
"But before any of this they'll arrest you, hunt you down and drag you to court and jail. It will go from bad to worse, dog-eat-dog, everyone at your throat because you carry my name. You'll end up on the witness stand, called to testify. Make up your mind right now not to worry about it. I'll give you words and wisdom that will reduce all your accusers to stammers and stutters.
"You'll even be turned in by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. Some of you will be killed. There's no telling who will hate you because of me. Even so, every detail of your body and soul--even the hairs of your head!--is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it--that's what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry, you'll be saved.

What do we do with Bible verses that don't suit feel-good, comfortable Christianity? Rewriting our Bibles is one possibility. That requires the assumption that we are the ultimate authority. If we are the ultimate authority, then it necessarily follows that Jesus isn't, so his words, however fascinating, don't really count.

Oh--BUT-- we call him The Son of God. Even in our feel-good Christianity we call him that. Doesn't that come with authority and credibility?

We don't have to look very far to know that in some countries of the world today, people are behind bars for the "crime" of believing that Jesus is in fact The Son of God, and for sharing that belief. If we look a little farther, we find fresh graves in some of those countries where people have been killed for that same "crime." How do the spouces and children of those people understand the second part of that scripture passage? "Not a hair of you head will perish." I'm pretty sure their understanding goes deeper than mine.

Jesus warned repeatedly that the cost of following him would be high. He repeatedly gave a stark and gruesome call. "Take up your cross and follow me." The cross, in his time and culture, was not a beautiful gold pendant. It was a bloody, cruel instrument of the most brutal death imaginable.

I own a 2007 edition of Foxe, Voices of the Martyrs, 33 A.D. to Today. A historical treasure, and a treasury of intense and costly belief, it's not my favourite reading. Yet it is filled with stories of people who dared to believe that death was not the end. They dared to believe Jesus' words could be taken literally. They dared to accept the high cost of his call, and trust that he would also make good on his promise--even after death--that not a hair would perish.

Maybe I need to get out of my comfort zone. Maybe my Christianity is a bit too much me-centered, and too little Christ-centered. That's the strange thing about paradoxes. They almost always challenge me, sometimes more than my comfort zone wants.

Courageous - Boge

The makers of FireProof and Facing the Giants are about to release their latest film. Courageous hits theatres September 30, 2011 and it’s aimed at encouraging the role of fathers. Based on the trailers and that more than 21 Christian organizations in Canada are supporting the movie, Courageous looks to be another winner from the team based out of Albany, Georgia.

It’s also a good indication of where films in general are going from the Christian community. There’s an increase in great Christian movies being made – ones that are realistic, genuine and God honouring. On a personal note, it’s a very exciting to see these developments. Our church runs a film festival and we’re just getting ready for our second year. Someone asked me last year if we would have enough films to fill a roster next year. While our festival does not target only Christian movies, it does have a number of expressly Christian films. And based on the quality of films that are coming out, we find that there is lots to choose from. If your church is interested in starting a festival in your city, check us out at www.WinnipegFilmFestival.com and see if it might be something you’d like to spearhead in your town.

Courageous will give churches a platform to invite friends and neighbours to see a film that will challenge them in their faith. If you haven’t yet seen the trailer, you can check it out on their site. Maybe your church would be interested in showing the trailer on Sunday morning. And if your community doesn’t yet have a showing booked in your area, you might be inspired to bring it to your community.

For more information on Courageous please visit: www.CourageoustheMovie.com

Re-charged Consciousness - Smith Meyer

How easy it is to take life for granted and how quickly our perspective can change. The sudden death of a loved one can do that. So can a tragic accident that forever changes the abilities of an active, intelligent person. Even if it doesn’t happen to us, but is someone we know well, for awhile, we are more aware of the fragility of life and health. Earthquakes, tsunamis, memorable events like 9/11, even if they happen a half a world away, make us stop and think, “What would it be like if that happened to us?”

Sunday evening the skies above our town churned with layers of white, black and blacker clouds. I watched from our deck as here and there, from the blacker ones, tails formed and threatened to descend. I was ready, should those funnels really get it together in earnest, to run for the basement. It wasn’t long until we heard that a tornado did touch down and wreak havoc, demolishing the centre of Goderich, less than an hour away from our home.
We have extended family members who live in that town, and we wondered if they had been affected. We later learned they were safe. Another couple we know were there with their grandchildren. Had their little granddaughter not been in such a hurry to get her promised Timbits, they may still have been down on the beach when the storm hit. As time goes on (it happens anytime there is a natural disaster) there will be many such stories of near misses or providential moves at just the right time. Those times feel like small miracles or mercies—what if we hadn’t? is often asked. For the family of the only casualty, the quandary will be “if only.”

Three days later, I sit in the basement writing this entry, because after Sunday’s happening, our local station has been super-careful to keep the severe weather watch and warnings running across the bottom of the tv screen—it’s been doing that all afternoon. And because of my heightened awareness of what could happen if we ignore those warnings, I choose to play it safe and do my work in the basement instead of upstairs with one eye toward the west.

With communication so advanced, we hear and see video footage of natural tragedies almost as soon as they happen all over the world. We are aware of the pain and suffering of the people involved. We let ourselves feel their pain for awhile and maybe even make a donation to help them. The closer to us, the more we become involved, the more conscious we are that it could happen to us. I used to struggle with my ability to forget so quickly. Perhaps we cannot always live in that kind of heightened awareness, but we can learn from those times.
While thinking through the happenings of the past few days, I was reminded of Mr. Simmonds who taught a few evening classes I took at Toronto Bible College many years ago. He had the class all note our greatest fear, then our assignment was to write a composition about what we would do if that happened—how we would face it and get through it. That exercise helped us, as he put it, “Turn around and face our fear instead of fleeing from it.”

That exercise assisted me many times in life, to do just that. It helped me many years later when one of those greatest fears I had noted did happen—the love of my life died. Although at the news that it probably would happen, I was tempted to flee from it, I was able to turn and face it head on. However his death had a more lasting effect. Somehow, since then, it’s easier to believe that it could happen to me or to ones I love. Rather than making me paranoid and fearful, it has done the opposite.

Although I take precautions (like sitting in the basement in threatening weather) a deep contentment and peace is present even in threatening circumstances because l know that my times are in the hands of the One who planned my life in the beginning. It’s wise to live as well as we can and take precautions, but it’s also wise to take risks if necessary. However there is only so much one can do to determine the outcome of any circumstance in life. How grateful I am that Mr. Simmonds set me on the right track so long ago.

www.ruthsmithmeyer.com

Weak in Christ - Rose McCormick Brandon

I was guest speaker at a women’s retreat on the weekend. During my three days there I felt conscious of the Holy Spirit ministering through me. Though finding time for rest was difficult, I didn’t feel tired at all. But when I arrived home Sunday evening, I felt the weight of household duties rise to meet me. As I trudged through the front door, tiredness pressed into my bones.

When my body’s fatigued, my mind doesn’t function well. Even reading a book takes more concentration than I can muster. At times like this when physical weakness overtakes me, I’m keenly aware of my fragile humanness.

Jesus-followers often use the phrase “strong in the Lord.” Because Sister Jones’ faith is unshaken by many challenges we say she’s strong in the Lord. We also use this to describe people who do what we consider great things for God.

Most believers from time to time do great things for God. But I don’t plan to do anything great today. Today I’d describe myself as “weak in the Lord;” and I’m finding it a pleasant place. My weakness reminds me how dependant on Him I really am. I’m not self-sufficient, far from it. Feeling my humanity is good for me.

Today I crawl under God’s wing. He lowers it over me. I snuggle into Him; rest my head on His strong shoulder. Tomorrow I might wake up ready to take on the world again but today I plan to gain strength from Him because I am, after all, only human.

“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me under the shadow of your wing.” Psalm 17:8
". . . we are weak in Him yet by God's power we shall live. . . " 2 Corinthians 13:4

Visit my blog Listening to My Hair Grow

A ‘Nomadic Gene’? - Peter A. Black

I wouldn’t have thought I would become a restless, unsettled nomad, and it’s probably a safe bet that if my sweetheart had any inkling that she would have been making 13 or more house-movings with me, she would have adopted a “thanks, but no thanks” approach to the marriage proposal I pitched her one night back in ‘65.

As it is, I’m working on moving into my 16th residence in life. My tenancy has so far averaged just over four years a shot. Mind you, it’s not an eviction – we pay our rent; it is more the path of life that we’ve – more correctly perhaps, that I’ve – adopted.

When you have an understanding that God has a personal interest in, and claim upon, your life, you consider what might be His plan for you, and you seek to find His path. As a young fellow it was important to me that the one I marry should have a similar desire as I to find and fit into God’s plan and follow His path. And now, despite many ups and downs and ins and outs, we have an assurance that He has guided us through life by His Holy Spirit.

Although I loved my work in the music industry the time came when it seemed to be God’s leading that we emigrate from the UK to Canada, after which I was nudged into pursuing pastoral service. Following that path took us to numerous addresses around the Province of Ontario.

And now, it might appear there’s something of a nomadic gene in us, showing up in retirement, since after living in our present home for barely 15 months, we’re on the move again – but not far.

This time we’re heading several houses up on the same street. My present path in life has me doing a little pulpit supply, taking nursing home and residence services, often with a musical component. And so I need to put in some practice, now and then. Besides, I compose and make music for relaxation and enjoyment.

We like our rented duplex, but (always a ‘but,’ eh?) . . . but there’s no deadening between the walls of the two halves of our current residence. Our lifestyle and schedules are different to those of our neighbours. We haven't received any complaints from them about my piano and accordion playing and occasional singing (no complaints?–amazing, eh?). However, since even conversation travels through those walls, I know most certainly our neighbours can’t escape my music-making, and I’m conscious of that. The result is that I do less and less of it.

As a rent-paying citizen I’m probably within my legal rights to make music between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. in our home. However, I represent my Lord and don’t want to be a source of irritation to our neighbours, and so it costs.

My wife and I prayed for wisdom, asking the Lord what we should do. Then, out of the blue came the opportunity to rent a single dwelling a few doors along. Despite the higher cost, we consider that in view of the liberty and flexibility the situation affords, it seemed to be a god-sent solution.

Most of our worldly goods have already made the trip up the street, and the move should be completed by the end of this week, when the larger, heavier items get moved in.

Over the years I’ve met people who hardly know what it is to relocate to another home. A friend of ours, Shirley, is in her 70s and has only moved house once in her life. I can scarcely imagine what that would be like.

In our case decisions to uproot and relocate over the past more than four decades have mostly been ours. However, what we understood of God’s call on our lives and what was best for those we served was a big motivator and source of input into the making of each decision.

I’ve found that even this present one, while accommodating us for our comfort, is also influenced by considerations pertaining to the working out of a sense of call and what better serves us in our present role as representatives of the One who called us. That includes our being “wise as serpents and innocent [harmless]as doves.”* And so, we go the extra mile and pay the extra bucks.

~~+~~
Peter A. Black is the weekly inspirational columnist at The Watford Guide-Advocate,
and the author of “Parables from the Pond,” a book that is finding various applications and venues among children, families, educators, adults and senior adults(Word Alive Press; ISBN 1897373-21-X).

Doing Something I Love - Eleanor Shepherd

As I drove back to Montreal from some successful donor meetings in southern Ontario, with my colleague, I reflected on how much I enjoy the work that I do in philanthropy. 

In the three years since we retired from The Salvation Army and returned to Montreal, I have been working in philanthropy with Health Partners International of Canada and Opportunity International Canada.  What I have discovered is that I love this work and it gives me so many opportunities for meaningful ministry. 

  When I express my enthusiasm for the work that I do in philanthropy, people shake their heads, wondering if they have heard me correctly or if I really am telling the truth.  I do love working in philanthropy. 

I think the reason that people fail to understand my enthusiasm for what I do, is rooted in a common misconception of what philanthropy is.  Often I get the idea that people view philanthropists or fund-raisers as people who plead with others to do something that they do not want to do – part with their hard-earned money.  This does not describe what I do.  If it did, I would run from it as far and as fast as I could.

I will never forget one of my first donor meetings.  Walking into the office of Mary I felt a little intimidated.  As she stepped out from behind her desk to welcome me she offered a hand with nails beautifully manicured, a warm smile lit her immaculately made up fine features, complemented by her stylish hairdo.  As we talked together over the next forty-five minutes, I discovered a businesswoman with a heart for God and for the poor.  As I shared with her some of the things that we were doing, she responded with compassion.  The goal of the meeting for me was to get to know her, so that I could determine how she might want to become involved in the work we were doing.  To my surprise, before I left the office, she reached for her chequebook and made a donation on the spot.

What then is philanthropy?  For me it is an opportunity to provide a double blessing.  It is a way that I can open doors of opportunity for two different sets of people.  The first set of people whose lives I can affect are those whom our organizations exist to serve.  Sometimes those served are the sick who are recipients of medicines, vaccines or medical equipment in the developing world channelled by Health Partners International of Canada, and brought by volunteer doctors who hold clinics in rural towns.  Other times we serve the women entrepreneurs who have banded together in trust groups, as they have each created a micro-enterprise with the loans that they have received from Opportunity International.  Throughout the world there are thousands of organizations made up of groups of people whose hearts have been touched by the needs of others.  In response to those needs, concrete steps taken to address them include standing alongside seeking to offer resources that can help to alleviate the difficulties. 

These are the first people that I am able to bless as I succeed in bringing in donations that allow the non-profit organization to fulfill its mission.  Another equally important group of people I am able to help through my philanthropic work is the donors.  I have discovered that when I provide an opportunity for people to engage in the work that is being done by a charitable organization, I give them the privilege of being involved in something good that brings them great joy and satisfaction.  To help someone see how it is possible to change the life of another by giving hope is a wonderful gift.  I give that gift when I expose people to what we are doing in parts of the world that they may have heard about on the news. With a sigh, they turn off the television, feeling helpless and inadequate in the face of problems that seem insurmountable. 

I do not deny that those I approach about becoming involved in the work that I am doing may react with scepticism or mistrust.  They should ask questions about what we are doing and as charitable organizations we must be open and honest, taking the time to answer questions people raise about what we do and how we do it.  We need to treat our donors with the same respect and dignity we show to those we serve. 

The secret that we are able to share with our donors is what God is doing in our world.  We can show examples of the way that through ordinary people who care He is showing His love in so many different situations.  Then we can invite them to participate in what God is doing.  That is a noble calling and I love being a part of something like that. 

https://wipfandstock.com/store/More_Questions_than_Answers_Sharing_Faith_by_Listening

Fundamental – Lawrence

In the local summer Writer’s Group that I attend we each take turns in leading the group. This leadership role includes giving the topic to bring for the following meeting. These writings are taken home by each member and brought the next time with our comments and critiques to be shared with one another.

Our last topic was Fundamental and below are the offerings I presented under that banner.

My Belief Foundation

The fundamental basis of my belief system is that anything that happens to me cannot harm the essence of my being but only make me stronger.

Things happen to us in life over which we have no control. Sometimes they are things that seem good to us and sometimes they are things that seem bad.

In this day and age, with our lives so busy, we have to plan and keep track of our various activities otherwise we would be sure to miss some important meeting with a business associate or a friend.

We cannot control everything; sometimes outside forces come upon us and control our lives. Unexpected, forces of nature, forces of sickness, or forces of evil may come suddenly upon us and throw us off our well-planned path. What happens then to our carefully laid plans?

Having a fundamental belief that says nothing that comes upon me unexpectedly can harm me but only make me stronger, will save me from despair, help me pick myself up, and start again. This may not happen immediately but it will happen. I know this because I have been through such things before and know that all things will work out for good in the end.

Through disasters or failures we learn what is really important to us. What is left to us when we are stripped down to our foundation, when all we have built on that foundation has been torn away, then that is our fundamental ground, the truth of our being, and our core principle.

Success has very little to teach us in the spiritual life but failure and fiascos are great teachers. …We learn much more from our pain than from our pleasure. We learn much more from letting go than holding tight.[1]

            The older I get, the more often my building is torn down and I discover my foundation—the ground of my being once again. I hear the lowest note of my life’s chord and feel the vibration of the essence of my being, my soul, as it is meant to be.

© Judith Lawrence August 6^th, 2011   345 Words

Building on a Good Foundation

We are born into this world

With a fundamental principle

Instilled within our being.

As we go through life

We build upon this basic principle

With materials available to us

And tools that are at hand.

If we neglect to build our house

Upon the foundation we are given

It will be covered over

And hidden from the world

By indigenous growing forces

Like moss or forest plants,

Which may look beautiful

But are not of our doing.

From time to time

We will remember

Our true foundation.

We’ll scrape it down,

Make it clean and clear,

Ready to build our lives

Into what we are meant to be.

We must build upon our own foundation

Not let others do the work.

For the building must show

Who we are and what we have learned

While living here on earth.

As we gain wisdom

And choose better materials,

Our building will become stronger,

Requiring a touch of renovation

Now and then as we learn new lessons

On our pilgrimage.

We are born with a good foundation;

Let us build a good work.

© Judith Lawrence     

August 11, 2011          35 lines

---

[1] Richard Rohr, Simplicity P.112

Judith's latest spiritual non-fiction book, Highway of Holiness: Soul Journey, is available at Amazon.ca 

What is Real?/MANN

It is no secret that home and hearth is close to one’s heart. Doug and I have just returned from travelling east to Nova Scotia. Regardless of the many resources I packed, countless times in the beginning I thought of checking something on that top shelf at home, or thinking about a writing deadline, or wondering if I’d returned that last call left on the answering machine.

It’s usually very difficult for me to turn off one lifestyle and switch to another but after a few days; I managed to surrender to reading, knitting, writing long hand while sitting in the RV passenger seat. I think the only consistent action was the sound “AWH” in response to Canada’s kaleidoscope of scenery.

Always on a trip, I hope to experience something that I haven’t done before. It was no different this time. When I was invited to go searching for Sea-glass – I readily accepted. Walking along the shore of North Sydney, N.S., it was not difficult to spot the odd green and blue pieces. The white ones were easier to see among the many pebbles. Over a period of an hour, I had gathered a lovely collection of a variety of colours. I was so proud of myself and even as I walked I had visions of covering a patio table with my precious little pieces of glass to look like stained glass.

“This one isn’t Sea-glass,” my daughter said.

“Oh! Are you sure?” I asked.

“That’s a stone,” she said.

“Well, it looks like Sea-glass to me.” I turned it over. “I’m going to use it with the rest. It’s pretty.”

“It’ll look different,” she warned.

I knew she was right, yet I also knew that the rich brown colour of the ‘so-called’ Sea-glass would look splendid in the midst of the brilliant greens, blues and whites of the true Sea-glass.

I conceded of course, wanting to have a true reflection of my evening’s search for Sea-glass. Later as I washed the small pieces they seemed to blink in their brilliance that my choice was a good one.

In hindsight, I wonder how many times we blend the real with the imaginary just to get the results that we want. Maybe a little piece of phoney glass in a collection isn’t as easily seen as an action or behaviour that is not the real thing. I suppose there in lies the grace of God to help us see the truth of our errors.

Furthermore, I think my little pieces of beautiful glass truly represent how waste and brokenness can be transformed into brilliance and goodness. A little like the times that we let ourselves or God, down, yet through God’s grace and mercy, we continue to shine through our life. , , although we know there’ll still be the odd stone among our gems.

A friend teased that one of the little pieces was probably a piece of china from the Titanic. Could be, I thought. Certainly gave me pause to think . . . a little more about all of this. However, I take the bottle of Sea-glass home with me and put it on the shelf to remind me of a precious experience.

Blessings,
Donna Mann
http://www.donnamann.org/

Religion shrinks your IQ - O’Leary

;) You didn't hear?

Professor Lynn and colleagues wrote a paper in 2008 in the journal Intelligence which has been widely discussed. Here is a summary of its claims:

"Evidence is reviewed pointing to a negative relationship between intelligence and religious belief in the United States and Europe. It is shown that intelligence measured as psychometric g is negatively related to religious belief. We also examine whether this negative relationship between intelligence and religious belief is present between nations. We find that in a sample of 137 countries the correlation between national IQ and disbelief in God is 0.60 [a high correlation]."

The highlight of the paper is the chart of 137 nations. And it looks pretty convincing until you study it carefully.

Religion shrinks your kid’s IQ too. - O’Leary

;) From "Does religion rot teenagers’ brains?" (MercatorNet, 25 July 2011):

Recently, we looked at a claim, published in a serious science journal, Intelligence, that belief in God correlates worldwide with lower IQ. From the same journal in the same year, we learned that religion correlates with lower IQ among American teenagers.

[ ...]

If half of the Catholics and Baptist teens are sporadically observant and doctrinally indifferent (no unusual state of affairs), religious orthodoxy collapses as a predictor of IQ. So it is not clear just what Nyborg is measuring. Social class is a possibility.

More.

Denyse O'Leary is co-author of The Spiritual Brain. Follow me at Twitter!

Neuroscience: Religion shrinks your brain. Sure. - O’Leary

;)  In "Does religion shrink your brain?" (MercatorNet, August 1, 2011), we learn:

Over the past couple of weeks we have looked at studies suggesting that religion rots your intelligence and that religion rots teens’ intelligence, and, not surprisingly, both theses fell apart. Now here is a different, more solid proposition:

In "Religious factors and hippocampal atrophy in late life," Amy Owen and colleagues at Duke University found that in late life there was greater atrophy in the hippocampus (associated with memory) among individuals who have been "born again," as well as those with no religious affiliation.

Which attracted the attention of a Scientific American neuroscientist columnist. More.

Denyse O'Leary is co-author of The Spiritual Brain. Follow me at Twitter!

Religious people worry less. - O’Leary

Finally, a pop science story that is true, as stated. :)

In a finding that wouldn’t surprise many,

Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital have found that those who believe in a benevolent God tend to worry less and be more tolerant of life's uncertainties than those who believe in an indifferent or punishing God.

- “Religious Beliefs Impact Levels of Worry” (ScienceDaily Aug. 5, 2011)

Here’s a welcome point:

Harvest Begins—Carolyn Wilker

On a Wednesday evening in late July, I stand at the sink washing and cutting harvest apples into quarters to make applesauce. The very act of doing this and the smell of the apples takes me back home where Dad and I picked them a few days before, and still further back when I was a child and we helped our parents in the orchard.

“I’m climbing the tree,” Mary says. She picks up a basket and tucks it into the space between two branches, then climbs the tree, hands on the skinnier branches and her shoes gripping the bark, and hoists herself up.

I can climb that tree too, but there won’t be room for both of us. She starts, first with the apples she can reach from that crook in the centre, then leaning out further and further until she’s straddling one of the branches, tolerating its movement as my mother or someone else shakes the tree from the other side to get apples just out of reach. Exactly why I’m not climbing the tree. Mom’s not looking, or my sister would get a warning, telling her to be careful. She’s already had one broken arm.

There’s a wooden box at the base of the tree to be used as a step for shorter legs like mine. That tree is one of the few I can or will climb. Dad once built a small tree house— a platform really—for the three of us girls to play on. That seemed a little safer than shimmying out on branches.

“Time to pick,” I hear behind me, and I am reminded to get to work, even while I stand there, basket in hand. I pull apples from the branches that lean low, heavy with fruit, and I step on and around apples that have fallen. Ripe apples, some of them scabby or with worms—the bad apples. Later I will look for good ones that have fallen to the ground.

We use the better ones for making applesauce and send some to the cider mill for pressing into sweet apple cider. The cows and pigs will get a treat too, for they also like the sweetness of the apple. Our milker pails are clean, ready for the apple cider that Dad will bring home and Mom will bottle.

The apples are smaller than they once were, I reflect, as I cut them into pieces. I could pick one that fit my hand rather than two that I can hold now. Harvest apples seem rare now; one of those trees was taken down by the tornado in 1979. Dad doesn’t spray the tree anymore, and even then he was cautious, lest we eat substances that might hurt us.

I cut and quarter, tossing parts of apples that are bad. Sometimes I wonder if all the cutting and trimming is worth the time, but as the apples cook and I put them through the sieve, I smell the sweetness of the orchard at harvest time. My kitchen smells like a canning factory, just like our home where my mother spent days canning fruits and vegetables. I remember the potato pancakes Mom made when we had our first applesauce and new potatoes, and how we’d make a meal of that, maybe with some fresh peas from the garden, or a cucumber salad.

True, there was a lot of work involved, sometimes too much, yet we never went hungry. We had parents looking out for us and teaching us, and we had food to nourish our bodies. Even when crops were not so plentiful, God was caring for us and still does.

Carolyn Wilker, author of Once Upon a Sandbox

Out of Africa -HIRD

By Rev Ed Hird

What a joy to be part of the recent Embrace Rwanda Trip to Rwanda. We have read so much about Rwanda over the years, but it is another thing to actually be there. Thank you so much for your faithful thoughts and prayers during our African visit.

After air flights covering 14,000 kilometres, we took a taxi to the Kigali Cathedral where we were greeted by Bishop Louis Muvunyi, Pastor Samuel, Dean of St Etienne’s Anglican Cathedral and his staff. Kigali Cathedral is the place where so many remarkable gatherings have taken place with Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini and the new Rwandan Primate, Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje. As well as the seats in the Cathedral, they have an outside speaker system for overflow crowds.

Coming to Rwanda was a dream come true. We had the chance to tour the Milles Collines Hotel, made famous by the significantly inaccurate ‘Hotel Rwanda’ movie. We learned that one of the ways that the people survived in that hotel during the100 days of genocide in 1994 was by drinking the water from the swimming pool.

On the first night in Rwanda, we stayed at the Kigali Cathedral Guest House where we met Bishop Mpango, a retired Tanzanian bishop staying at the Kigeme Cathedral guest house. He is very interested in helping launch people in businesses that can then invest in helping others. Being deeply jetlagged, our time clock was way out of whack, waking up at all times of the day/night. Even with DEET and a mosquito net, I had to kill six buzzing mosquitoes that first night just to sleep. The meals provided were very tasty. We were very careful to not eat any uncooked vegetables, and thankfully never became sick during or after the trip.

I had a very strong sense from God that we were to purchase a guitar, then use it in the music workshops that Janice would teach, before donating it to the Kigali Cathedral. The problem was that we already had way too much luggage, including a massive duffle bag of baby clothes. The solution was to purchase it in Kigali just before we went on a ‘sardine-packed’ bus to Kigeme. A man working at the Kigali Station agreed to take me five blocks so that I could purchase this guitar for 70,000 Francs (around $105 Canadian/US). Unfortunately I forgot to purchase extra strings which I did later in Kikongoro many days later, after breaking a string on my first day in Kigeme! I was also pleased to see the Cathedral’s other guitar which had been donated on the ACiC Mission Trip six years ago. Sadly the E-string was totally dead. But after new strings, the original guitar was in fine form. In the workshop, we taught the participants how to tune a guitar. It is amazing the difference between a guitar in tune or almost in tune. The Cathedral had a third guitar but it was literally in three pieces. All in all, this felt as if we had obeyed the promptings of God’s still small voice. It is sometimes hard to tell whether it is God or just us.

Having spent the first day at Rwanda’s capital of Kigali, we took a sardine-packed bus to the southwestern town of Kigeme. As the Canadian wing of the Anglican Mission in the Americas, we have been asked to have a special relationship with the Anglican diocese of Kigeme, led by Bishop Augustin Mvunabandi. As my wife Janice Hird is a UBC Music grad & our St. Simon’s NV Music Director, she was invited to lead four music workshops that week at the Kigeme Cathedral. The Rwandan people are such remarkably gifted singers, dancers and worshippers.

Education, health, and church planting were core values of the original Anglican missionary who came to Kigeme in 1932. The Kigeme Anglican Hospital was birthed from the original 1932 vision for medical care and healing through prayer. The compassion of Jesus has been wired into the very DNA of this hospital. The staff even starts every day with a half hour of worship. While we were at the hospital, a mission team from the Anglican congregation in Maidenhead, UK, came to do many tasks, including rewiring the Kigeme Anglican Hospital. Thank God for people with electrical skills who can use them to help others in need. We particularly enjoyed meeting Pastor Samuel, the Chaplain for the Kigeme Anglican Hospital, whom I found to be very godly and Spirit-filled. It is clear that the Anglican investment in health has made a significant difference for local Rwandans in the Kigeme area. The goal of the Rwandan Anglicans in Kigeme is that everyone plays their part in extending God’s Kingdom and rebuilding their nation. Our Embrace Rwanda* team, led by our local Deep Cover Hilary King, makes it possible for Canadians to share in this rebuilding in practical ways involving the Healthy Mums Project, purchasing goats for mothers in need, and building multi-use chapels which assist in educational needs.

Given the tragic genocide in Rwanda 17 years ago, it was wonderful to see how peaceful the country has become, how it is being rebuilt, and how much reconciliation has happened among people who have suffered so deeply and lost so many family and friends. It inspires me to keep short accounts with others, as we are so easily offended as Canadians, and not always that good at forgiving even petty offences. “…as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The Reverend Ed Hird, Rector
St Simon’s Church North Vancouver
Anglican Coalition in Canada/TheAM
http://stsimonschurch.ca
http://www.embracerwanda.org/

-published in the September 2011 Deep Cove Crier

http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com/p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99CDN/USD.-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled CanadaYou can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide

Maybelline

skip to main | skip to sidebar                 by Glynis M. Belec

     A few weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting Maybelline. She was a pretty dark haired woman probably in her mid-forties. She, and just over 200 residents of the community of Sandy Lake, had been evacuated and were now being housed in the arena in downtown Arthur. The residents who arrived in Arthur, not too far from where I live, were offered temporary accomodation there because their community was being threatened by forest fires. Sandy Lake is a community of about 2,800 residents and is close to the Ontario-Manitoba border. Arthur residents had kindly tossed a bit of a lifeline. I thought that was such a great gesture, reaching out to those in need. I wanted to help.

My delightful grandchildren in tow, we walked a little aimlessly into the arena intent on dropping off some games, toys and children's books to help offset the boredom some of these poor, displaced folks - especially the children - must have been experiencing as they anxiously awaited word that they could return home. And I also wanted to ask how else I could help.

Along with the items I had sorted to give away, I thought it might be a good thing to tuck in a few of my own books hoping that someone might enjoy them. So I did. I signed a few copies and included them in the box. At the arena, I received direction from the Red Cross gal at the desk and she told me where to take my package.

That was when I spotted Maybelline. There were many people milling around, quietly sharing words, drinking coffee, watching and waiting, walking back and forth. Everyone was busy and focussed on something. Except Maybelline.

There was just something about her. Something that made me want to sit and listen to her story. Her smile lit up her face. She stared at me. White girl bringing in 'stuff.' I suddenly felt a little sheepish.
After I had finished emptying my box, I found myself clutching one of my books - A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider. She smiled again and seemed to beckon me to sit down. I did. I asked if it was okay, and she said, yes.

Before 30 seconds had elapsed she was already sharing her situation and how devastating it was for her and her two teenage children to be taken away so suddenly from their home. She had no idea what was happening, although she did tell me that they received daily updates and she was hoping that by Thursday they would be able to return home.

Maybelline looked at me with those deep brown eyes and told me how grateful she was and how nice everyone was to her. She was humbled by the generosity of the local people. I asked her if she might like to read a great book. Her face lit up and she tossed me another helping of her special smile. I handed the book to her and we continued to chat a little longer. I learned that she was a single mom with two teenage children. She was in Arthur with some of her other family members - aunts, uncles and siblings. But she described how many other Sandy Lake residents had been separated from their families as they faced the evacuation and she talked about how she really did not know what to expect when she would finally be allowed to go home. No one really knew. The unknown was particularly hard on everyone, she told me. Her raw emotion touched me deeply.

Looking back now, I should have invited       Maybelline to come to my house for dinner. I should have asked her what else I could do for her. I should have given her that ten dollars in my purse. But I didn't. Maybelline and I said our farewells after a while and before I knew it I was in my vehicle with my grandbabies, heading home.

I kept wondering if I missed an opportunity. But later, I turned to page 207 in A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider - the book that I had given to Maybelline. The title was Bannock and Sweet Tea; the author - Dorene Meyer...then I knew why I had to give my new friend a copy...

How Does One Deal With Death? With Life? – den Boer

At 74, Marty’s dad appeared to be an active, healthy man with nothing so seriously wrong with him that a hearing aid couldn’t fix. We assumed he would be around at least another twenty years: feeding his steers, planting his garden, driving sick old-people to doctor’s appointments, writing letters to the editor, hooking rugs, playing with his grandchildren, and doing the 800 other things that kept him busy from morning until nightfall.

Then suddenly this past summer he complained about a backache. Even with rest the backache persisted. There were blood tests which led to more tests which pinpointed the problem: cancer of the pancreas with lesions on the liver.

He spent his last two weeks on earth tidying up his financial affairs (not that they were ever messy), arranging funeral details, and saying good-bye to family, friends and neighbours. He died at home one evening shortly after family devotions at his bedside. That was the day he lost his ability to swallow. He died at peace with the full assurance that soon he would have a new body. Days earlier he had mentioned, with a twinkle in his eye, that he was looking forward to having his hearing restored.

At the funeral there was an underlying joy mingled with the sorrow of missing a loved one. We knew he was in heaven with Jesus. As the minister put it, “He’s gone ahead.” And as our twelve-year-old son said, “I can look forward to seeing Opa in about 80 years.”

After the funeral, back at the homestead while eating salads and casseroles prepared by loving members of the church, I sat beside Carol, a non-Christian friend of Marty’s missionary sister. “Must be quite a shock to your kids to suddenly lose their grandfather,” she commented.

I looked at her, briefly wondering if I should talk to her honestly, as if she were a Christian, as if she would understand. I decided to go ahead.

“Actually, they’re pretty good with it,” I said, picturing my five children. “There’s been tears and they’ll miss him, but you know, he said good-bye to each one of them and told them to live for the Lord. They’ll always remember that. That’s special…and,” I added, “they know he’s in heaven.”

She looked at me curiously, “Is everyone in the family so strongly religious?”

That left me tongue-tied. Obviously she saw all the faith and assurance stuff as a made-up, organized set of beliefs. I had wanted to give her the truth, serve it to her like a piece of cake, but alas, I didn’t even know how to cut into the cake. As Christians we know death is a step along the road into eternity, but that was only so much mumbo-jumbo to Carol.

Our conversation left me with a couple of questions. How does someone, who thinks this life is everything, deal with death? How does that person deal with life? Or, if someone doesn’t believe in Jesus, but suspects there could possibly be something beyond the reaches of this life, how does he or she dare approach death?

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:4–5)


As I re-examine my conversation with Carol and reconsider my questions about life and death, I realize the Holy Spirit knows all the answers. To be an effective witness, I need God’s power.

This is an excerpt from Blooming, This Pilgrim's Progress by Marian den Boer.

Oh, Water Our Souls--Gibson

Morning. The sun has barely lifted itself off the horizon but already its bright needles have sewn long stitches of light across my backyard. Lacy leaves flutter in silhouette against the silk sky, God-scattered with cotton batting clouds.

The organza moon, with transparent grin, observes me pacing my patch of velvet grass, watering the young plants that dot the gardens like knots of chartreuse embroidery.

Before summer's end a tapestry of color will obscure this black corduroy soil, tuck it in right to the edges. But today I watch the dirt welcome the water I bring. Rivulets form a wide mesh of brightness, then vanish, whispering, into dark earth. Crystal beads cling tenuously to parsley fringes and decorate neatly folded fern buds.

A brown button of a bird perches on the edge of the bird bath and fluffs its wings, anticipating. We've had a peck of rain this year--and last--but after this long-awaited hot spell, nature pants for relief. This is the task for which water was made: to quench thirst; to cleanse, to grow roots. To decorate soil and make of it a receiving blanket suitable to encompass and foster new growth.

I'm thankful for long hoses and outside taps. But watering, every gardener knows, merely invites rain to do the job over again: fling open a cloud and let loose a transparent veil of long silver needles.

I’ve noticed that when God tilts his own watering can over our small quilt of earth, gardens smile. To soil accustomed to tap-water, rain must feel like dessert—the herbs seem more flavorful, the colors more vibrant, the flowers extra fragrant. Even bees seem more cheerful after the heavens open.

I think of that this morning, as I recall Jesus' comments about Living Water. The stuff the plumps up souls, makes of them transparent reflections of his own. Living Water, found only in direct connection with God--a God most forgotten, even by his own.

God mourns, the Word says, when people forget him. Jeremiah 2 lists his lament: “They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that can’t hold water.”

This morning, recalling the litany of grief we call world news, and two summers of mostly-wet, I wonder if the rain is God’s tears.

Find author, columnist, and broadcaster Kathleen Gibson online at www.kathleengibson.ca