The Storm

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!” Mark 4:35-41

The question from Jesus to me today is, “why are you afraid?’’ It is because I am in the middle of some horrific storm? But there is, in the boat with me, Jesus Christ. Emmanuel—God with me in the storm. I shout at Him to rouse Him from his slumber, “Lord, don’t You care that I’m drowning in this?” He speaks, “Silence! Be still!” And then I realize that Jesus isn’t just speaking to the Storm. He’s telling me to be still and know that He is God and I’m not alone in the middle of the situation. The Storm doesn’t bother him.

The Storm comes and goes like it always does. And then he asks me a question. “Why are you afraid? Could it be that you don’t have any faith?” And therein lies the rub. I have been living on how I feel instead of using faith to apprehend the fact that I have never been alone. Jesus is right there. But when my eyes are the Storm I forget that. When Paul said we walk by faith not by sight he was telling us not to put our eyes only on the physical world around us but to choose to have faith.

Faith is a choice. It is a humbling thing. Because we have to believe in someone we cannot see. We can see the moon and stars suspended in space by his power but we can’t see Him. We have faith that there is such a thing as oxygen and gravity as we see their effects. But when we see the beauty of the world around us it’s like we don’t want to admit He’s real. People say, “if there is a God why is there so much pain?” But could it be that there is another half to that question. “If there is no God, why is there so much good?” Because as Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, said: “Although the world is full of suffering, it's full also of the overcoming of it.” Helen had faith in a God she couldn’t see or hear because she was accessing the latent sense of faith. Perhaps for Helen it was easier for her to exercise faith because she was blind and deaf. I know it isn’t easy. But it isn’t easy to climb a mountain either. It takes effort. I think in the same way it takes effort to exercise faith. Exercising faith is the same as exercising any other muscle.  Use it or lose it.  Strengthen it or it atrophies.  To have faith is to choose to do something we naturally do not want to do. To push ourselves to focus on the invisible. One thing I have found is that people who exercise faith in an invisible Saviour become invincible people. They know that they storm of loss and cancer and pain does not mean that Jesus isn’t with them. In Christ we know that His resurrection power and eternal wisdom can be trusted in the storm and even if the storm tears us apart He will put us back together—because He was torn apart for you and me. Jesus says:

If your eyes are on the storm
Then you’ll wonder if I love you still
But if your eyes are on the cross
Then you’ll know I always have
And I always will*

He is the overcomer—and he can help you and me overcome this storm—whatever it is. I don’t have to be afraid and neither do you. Jesus is the same yesterday and forever.

So when He asks me why I am afraid I will be reminded by the question that I need to choose faith. It is hard—it is humbling to admit I can’t handle it myself—it is a stretch. But we can do it. Jesus is there. When I look at all the good in my life that surrounds the bad stuff, I choose faith. He is the only hope we have. And even the wind and the waves obey Him.






‘Nuff said.






*Mark Hall/Casting Crowns

Empty Nester Dad

When I see the Learner’s License magnet on the back of the car this morning as I was walking down the driveway—I am sad. When I see Max the dog walk into Bethany’s room to jump on her bed—as is his habit after Sandra leaves for work—but then he is stopped in his tracks by the sight of her empty bed and he turns and looks at me with the look of “Umm—where’s Bethany?” I am sad. I am so happy for my youngest daughter to jump into the sky and take off on an adventure in New Brunswick at Bible College. I am proud of her for wanting to leave this town and try new things. But what happens to Sandra and I? We are so used to the bustle of four girls in the home and now we are down to none. What blows my mind is that it all happened so fast. I rejoice in Bethany’s life because she is a miracle baby. She was close to death in the her mother’s womb with heart failure. God chose to save her life and she is a healthy and happy and God and People loving young adult with ambition to help the hurting in this world. I am grateful. I am an emotional guy. Anybody who knows me knows this. So when the waves hit me they are thick and heavy. So this morning as I go back to work after some time off and I kiss Sandra goodbye and we both try and get back to normal I am doing so with a lump in my throat. I am grateful that God, you are there right now with her on the other side of the second largest country in the world, and that You are here with me.

I thank you for a good marriage where we still like and love each other. Keep that strong in us and help us to have fun and use some new free time to make a big difference in people’s lives. Help us to have fun dating and give us discipline to use the time we have left well. Help us to invest! Help me to invest in Sandra’s life in new ways that fill the void in her mothering time. May Your Spirit be the love and joy and contentment and purpose to fill her life. Make her a light for You.

I need Your help to do a job pastoring a town that I have always cared for within the context of my involvement with the schools that my daughters were students at. So in a way, this empty nest, has a big impact on how I do my job. I suppose I am going to have to reinvent myself somewhat. Although there are many kids in this town that I can still be a dad and a grandpa to. This is really the first time in the last seven whirlwind days that I have been able to really sit and journal my feelings—it is very good to do so. To admit that although I am only going to be fifty that I am probably really feeling my age for the first time. If indeed I only get to do my job full time for another fifteen years it is going to go fast. So let me do it with purpose and give me a vision of how to do it.

Thank You for letting us raise those four wonderful girls! You are so good to us, Lord.

AMEN

What Do These Smoky Skies Mean?

The smoke is so thick this morning that I can’t see the mountain that is only three kilometers from here. It is so thick that my nose feels like it is plugged up and now after weeks of this haze I can feel the constant burning in my throat. We haven’t seen blue sky in quite awhile. What is going on?

Well it's sorta like this. 

I haven’t had a day without a headache in a long time either. My neck is plagued by constant pain stemming from a car accident. My hair in gray and there is a constant haze of tiredness around the frayed edges of my brain. It feels like it has been awhile since I have seen the blue sky of my youth. What is going on?

I am aging. I am only going to be fifty this fall but I tell ya—it came fast.

Meteorologists are saying that we may not see a lot of blue sky over the next few summers. Why? Everything is on fire. Ukraine, Britain, California, Washington state just below us and British Columbia just to name a few. These coupled with the volcanoes that are all freaking out right now have put a lot of gunk into the air.

My daughter and I just finished watching LOST IN SPACE where the Robinson family decided to leave the earth after its skies were clogged by the dust created by the impact of a mighty asteroid on the earth’s surface. In one scene you see the mom and daughter Christmas shopping with filtering masks on so they can breathe easier. Mrs.Robinson says to her kids "we need to go somewhere new so that we can see a blue sky again because we never will see one here again."

What do these smoky skies say to us? What does it all mean? It means that the earth is wearing out. It needs to be fixed. And right now I don’t know any human with a sky-sized vacuum cleaner.

Now throw in the fact that even a manufactured evangelical messiah like Trump isn’t actually making anything better and neither is Trudeau. No one can make the earth any better. The earth’s quality of life is going to get worse and worse. We have wrecked the place. We didn’t take care of it and it is going down like a ship in the middle of a black ocean.

What are we going to do?

Well, the only option I see is to look up past the smoke to the only One who can do anything about it. In Revelation 21 there are words of hope about a renewed earth with no more storms or volcanoes or hurricanes and for humans no more cancer or grieving or shipwrecked relationships. In Revelation 21 Jesus says, “Behold I am making all things new.”

The Bible says that there will be a,“renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne...”. Not only will people who have died be raised from the dead and made new but so will the earth.

Right now we are chasing the wind as we try and get environmentally conscious. We need to do our best to recycle and keep plastic out of the oceans we have already wrecked. But we need to realize that what these messed up skies are saying is, “Come back to God.” We need His help. We are trying to keep straws out of the ocean—and this is right—but we aren’t trying to keep sin out our lives. We humans always treat the symptom without focusing on the true cause of our pain. The problem is that our sin has brought death to us and to the earth. We told God to take a hike and He said, “Okay, thy will be done.” And like a smartphone that has been unplugged—here, at the possible end of day, we are dying. Our planet is dying. We need to go back to God and plug in. We need His help.

We need Jesus to do what he did for people when he was walking the earth. We need Him to say, “Lazarus, come forth” to us and the earth so we can be raised to new life.

Read these words of life from Revelation 21–“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”

We need Jesus to resurrect our humanity and our planet. The Bible says that the current systems of government all over the globe will fail until Jesus, the True and Good King rules from His throne in Jerusalem. The Bible tells us that the Earth and the heavens will perish. They will wear out like old clothing. Jesus will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing. But Jesus is always the same. The storms are coming. The people who build their lives on the Rock will remain. They will see the salvation of Jesus.

Long, long ago the prophet Micah foretold the coming of Christ to the Earth and the renewal of all things that He would bring with Him. Look at these words:

“In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all— the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”

He will end all wars: “They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise! (Micah 4:1-4)

The earth needs to be renewed. There is only one person who can end wars and heal the earth and ultimately heal us and give us our youth and our perfect health back.

His Name is Jesus.

We need to call out to Him while we still can.

We need to remember the words of CS Lewis: “God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else - something it never entered your head to conceive - comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it.”

Call out to Jesus—choose to be on His side now while you still can. These smoky skies portend the current earth’s demise and the fall of all men who think they are king. Truth is there is only one King—Jesus Christ. He is the hero we need. He is the One who can fix us and fix this earth. And He will. I am so glad that I can rest in His power and His plans. So can you if you choose Him as your King. Moses asked the question a long time ago. “Who is on the Lord’s side?”

Good Question.

Why is Easter Such a Big Deal to Christians

Wonder of wonders.

A maddening miracle: God is on a Roman cross. The Creator of the Universe is being executed. And He is sacrificing Himself. His own countrymen clamor for His death. His own disciple planted the kiss of betrayal. His own friends ran for cover, abandoning Him. And now His Father turns his back on him as he bears the full weight of mankind’s sin.*

I hear people who suffer pain and loss and betrayal and disappointment and sometimes I hear them say things like, “Does God care?” Or say things like “where is He?” On the cross He proved He cared. He suffered much more than you or I for all the fury of God against evil was poured out on Jesus on the cross. He willingly put himself through the worst pain imaginable to bear the death we deserved. We still suffer the after effects of sin and death but Jesus suffered the pain of hell we deserved. He suffered more than anyone else could bear. His suffering absorbed all justice. The price of sin is death. So He paid it all. His death killed death. His death broke the power of sin and it no longer has mastery over us. My sin was nailed to the cross with Him and I bear it no more.

Does He care? 

It’s blasphemous to ask that question once you see the reality of Good Friday. How dare we ask that question when we see what our sin did to Him? He suffered what I deserved that day. He paid for my sin. My sin crushed Him that day. I wandered out into traffic drunk on my sin, helpless to avoid the impact of the truck that would kill me and he pushed me out of the way and took the hit.

Mankind has created all the suffering of this world. Not God.  And still He walked into the suffering we created and took the consequences of our actions.

And we blame Him?

Instead we should be doing nothing but thanking Him that on that darkest day in history He took on my suffering and paid hell for my sin. And, after having died for our sins, He went even further and rescued souls that had been held captive for centuries in hell, told them He was there to rescue them and he set those captives free forever.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour! The hero we’ve all been waiting for. Jesus Christ. The Hope of the World! Our only hope.

There is no other Name that we can call on to be saved. He is it. God in the flesh, dying for us on Good Friday. The Holy sacrificed for the human. He now says, “I am the way through death to life.” Yes we still die, but now our bodies, like His, may sleep in death but also like Him, we will rise.

This is the hope of Easter. Jesus died and Jesus rose. “Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him from rising again.”

So follow Him. For those who believe in Him and follow Him there awaits eternal life. Death now is just a tunnel and the light at the end of it is eternal life. Not life as a ghost or a disembodied spirit who becomes one with the ether, but life restored as a human being, with a resurrected body living on a resurrected earth with no more after effects of sin—hugging, laughing, eating, building, creating, playing, singing, rejoicing, living life to the full.  Mankind and God together again.

That is what the death and resurrection of Jesus has done! This is why Easter is such a big deal!

‘Nuff said.

And AMEN!

*Italics by Max Lucado from Six Hours One Friday

God is Calling Those who Hearts are True

So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands. Then they will not be like their ancestors— stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.  Psalm 78:7-8

He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens. He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants— God’s own people, Israel. He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.   Psalm 78:70-72

Calling leaders from Sheep Pens isn’t the world’s way of calling a king.

Each Generation should set its hope anew on God—not forgetting His glorious miracles—making sure that they obey His commands...

You are a New Generation of People. Your Parents are the older generation of people and then there is an even older generation of people who are dying.

EACH NEW GENERATION needs to set its hope on God in a new way. You have to choose God to be Your God. Your parents have brought You to church. Or the church has come to You and someone invited You to this truth.

But if You are to be the kind of people who make the world a better place then You are going to have to choose God for Yourself.

You will have to remind Yourself Who He is. You are going to have to make a decision to get to Know God through JESUS.

The SPIRIT of JESUS is here in Sicamous, calling people to be His own. The World thinks Sicamous is unimportant. They like the Lake but the power-player-people in the world with money and power would not ask someone from Sicamous what they think about Life and leadership and policy and what would make the world better. People with money and power would go to Vancouver, or Toronto or New York—to big Universities and to what they call think tanks. They would ask Oprah what she thinks. Heck, many of them would want to ask Justin Trudeau what he thinks.

But Jesus is here in Sicamous—through this church, asking YOU to follow HIM. He asked Justin Trudeau to follow Him. Justin Trudeau watched Alpha, a video series about Jesus, and that was it, Justin Trudeau ignored the call of God to get his heart right and come to Jesus for salvation. Oprah has put her life into a life of doing good but she doesn’t need Jesus to save her. She thinks that just doing good is the answer.

YOU are being called to follow Jesus. One day soon, You will have the chance to train as a disciple and follow Jesus and tell your friends about Jesus. It will be up to You to make that decision.

These are the days in the sheep pen, when You, like David, are being raised to be someone who knows what it is like to be a real person in a small town. But Jesus called that Shepherd boy to be King because David had a heart after God.

He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens. He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants— God’s own people, Israel. He cared for them with a true heart.  Psalm 78:70-72

Do you have a true heart? Do You really do want to follow God? You can make that decision now to Follow Jesus. To be his disciple. To learn to be like Him.

A disciple of Jesus is someone who wants Jesus to be their King. It is someone who wants Jesus to come back like He said He would and be the King of kings and the Lord or lords. The King who will make the earth good again, the King who will raise the dead and judge mankind rightly. Evil will be defeated. Death will die. Life will be everlasting. A disciple of Jesus is someone who wants to tell others of Christ’s goodness and lead them to eternal life in Him.

It is up to You to make that call.

Where is Your heart pointing?

Tim Keller said, “The things you daydream about in your spare time are ultimately the things you serve.” If you daydream about fame, or money, or power over people then that is what you will end up chasing after your whole life.

But if you choose now to follow Christ then He will take You, the person He made, and use You and those skills and personality He has given You and You will make a difference in this world.

Make Jesus Your obsession in life—Your goal to Love Him and Love people and lead people to Him—and you will choose a life of adventure and purpose where every day You wake up and are on a mission.

That is Your destiny in Christ and it is glorious.

The world changes one person at a time. Start each day with Christ in prayer and reading the Bible and ask Him—Who do you wan to me to pray for—guide me to the right people today. Help me encourage them and show them and tell them that You are real, Jesus. And He will use You to be that bridge for people to get across to Him. But that must be the intention of Your heart every day. You must start off that way to have a life like that.

‘Nuff Said

Praying With An Ache — Remembering He is Still God and He is Still There

Father, it seems I have found a prayer for those of us who fear and grieve and worry and stress and who have a hard time praying.

“I cry out to God—I scream His Name. Oh, that God would listen to me! When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.

I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help. You don’t let me sleep. I am too distressed even to pray!

I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul and ponder the difference now.

Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again be kind to me? Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he slammed the door on his compassion? And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”

But then...

I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works. O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you? You are the God of great wonders! You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations. By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled! The sea quaked to its very depths. The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky. Your arrows of lightning flashed. Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world! The earth trembled and shook. Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters— a pathway no one knew was there! You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.” Psalm 77

This is a real prayer written by a real person living in the real world. Father, I know that You are big and powerful and Strong and true. And I know that if You can defeat an army of soldiers by caving in an ocean to take them out in one fell swoop then You can sustain me this day. This flawed, small human being is being held together by a great and loving King. The only God. There is no one else like You. Therefore, in whatever state I am in I can run to You, Father. Give strength to the weary and the ones who hurt and the ones who are tired and the ones who still feel the dull, pounding ache of loss or the sharp pain of loneliness. Spirit of God, remind those who feel lost that You are their God and that Jesus came to reverse this pain and one day He will fix it. Help them to hang on. Flash the lightning of memory and give them the images of You parting the sea and making a way where there seemed to be no way. A pathway through mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there! But You know the way when we can’t see it.  Help us to see Jesus, hanging on the cross, sharing in our pain and bearing the weight of the world on Himself and then getting up and walking out of that tomb.  Nothing can defeat Him.  And nothing, not even death can separate us from Your Love in Christ Jesus.

Lord give us faith.

Faith in You.

Turn Your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

AMEN

Stranger Truths Chapter Two - The Rescue of Will Byers

Last week we talked about the fact that there is indeed an Upside Down, a place where there is darkness personified—someone who wants to destroy us.  The Bible says that God made us in his image, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).  We were literally made to be like Him.  To love, laugh, build and create.  So when Satan, God’s sworn enemy saw us He went for God’s heart—His children.  His lying, killing stealing and destroying was aimed at us, God’s children.  He managed to get our eyes off of God and on ourselves.  He lied to our ancestors and told them that if we did life his way instead of God’s way that we would be like God.  The enemy got us to think like him -  to choose pride and independence.  And as soon as we did that we were now slaves of that sin — stuck in the Upside Down.

Once a human being is stuck in the Upside Down of sin there is only one way to get out.  We can’t get out ourselves.  We are well on our way to eternally “dead” once we are in there.  We are born into. This slavery to sin.  We are physically alive but spiritually dead and unable to get ourselves unstuck.  Some try.  Many use religion to get out of the upside down way of living.  But it doesn’t work because religion cannot change our heart or give us the power to be able to break free.  What we need is help from the outside.  Someone stronger than ourselves who can free us who enters the fray and saves the day.

In Stranger Things the powerful girl Eleven is the only one who had the ability to defeat the demogorgon who was about to kill Mike and Dustin and Lucas.  If Will Byers was going to get rescued from his prison of darkness he needed Hopper and Joyce to come and rescue him.  That’s what LOVE does.  Mike and Dustin and Lucas were powerless to defeat the demogorgon.  All they had was a wrist rocket.  Will was helpless to save himself.  The good news is that Hopper and Joyce entered the Upside Down to find Will and Eleven destroyed the demogorgon. Romans 5:6 says that, “at just the right time, when we were utterly helpless, Christ died for the ungodly.”  In the final episode of Season 1 (spoiler alert) Eleven says goodbye to Mike just before she destroys the demogorgon because she knows that she is going to have to give up her life with her friends to destroy the monster.  In the same way, Jesus knew that He would die to free us from the power of death.  Death is the consequence of sin.  So Jesus took the consequence of hell on himself so we would not have to pay that price.  He took all the pain on himself to save us.  Eleven did what she did out of love.  The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave Jesus, His one and only Son that whoever would believe in Him—that He gave his life to save us—would not perish in hell but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

The death of Jesus killed the monster of death.  The Bible says that, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—Jesus also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14).  Now everyone who believes in Jesus will live forever, freed from the powers of death and hell.  Now, because of Jesus, death is just sleep for the one who believes in Christ.

In Stranger Things 2 we saw Eleven break free of the Upside Down after she had entered it to save her friends.  In the same way Jesus entered death to free us from the power of death and He came back to life.  That’s what Easter is about.  On Good Friday Jesus died for us and on Easter Sunday He rose from the dead.

On of my favorite songs speaks of Jesus, the Hero:

Death could not hold You

The veil tore before You

You silenced the boast of sin and grave

The heavens are roaring the praise of Your glory

For You are raised to life again

This is the Good News, or another word for it is the Gospel!  Jesus came to save us.  The Bible says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:9-10,13).

Is it that simple?  The Bible says it is.  Jesus did it all.  He came after us, in Love, to save us from sin and death.  This is the mercy and grace of God shown to us in Christ.

You can pray this prayer:  Dear God, I believe that Jesus is my Saviour, that He died to pay for my sin and that He rose from the grave.  Thank you for saving me.  Amen.

‘Nuff Said