The Big Picture

Sometimes people ask me where I work. When I tell them I work at a golf course at which one it is the reponse is something like, "Oh, that is such a nice course!" My reponse (to my self) is generally something like, "Yah, whatever." They don't work at the course so they don't see the wet spots, the ruts, the bumps, the bare batches...and on and on and on.

Is your life like that? Are you seeing the bumps and ruts and missing the beauty that others see?

One day at work recently, I was thinking, "Why do I suck at being social?" Here is the thought that came to me. "Because that is the way I made you and I got a plan."That's doesn't mean God doesn't want me to improve in this area but let's stick with my original thought shall we.

My social ineptitude is a bump, BUT God sees the BIG PICTURE. He's got a plan for me. He's got a plan for you. Maybe we need to step back every once and awhile and take a look at the big picture and not the details.

Stray glove

In the Bible, in Matthew 18:10-14 you can read The Parable of the Lost Sheep. It tells of a man who has a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away. The man leaves the 99 to go look for the one.

Why would somebody do this? Would somebody actually do that? This parable has always sort of baffled me. But maybe we do what the parable is talking about and we don't even know it.

The other morning I was making my way down from my third floor apartment to my motorcycle. I had a lot of stuff with me as I was about to make my way to work. When I finally made it to my motorcycle I realized I had dropped a glove on my way from my apartment. I left everything I had brought with me in the parking lot next to my motorcycle to go find the missing glove. And when I found it, great joy was mine.

The parable has nothing to do with motorcycle gloves. After I looked in my Bible commentary, I found out the parable has to do with God having concern about his little ones and how we should show concern for others as well. But that is not the point I am trying to make here. The point I am trying to make is that the God's Word does make sense and does reflect our tendencies as humans.

Traffic Signals

Your travelling down a busy road, surrounded by other vehicles doing the same. You are all hurtling you way toward a traffic signal which at the moment is green. Suddenly brakelights appear in front of you, and the long string of traffic slows down and eventually comes to a halt. The traffic signal has changed from green to red. You are close enough to the intersection to see what is crossing the path of the busy intersection, one car. ONE CAR! Are you kidding me? The traffic light changed for that one car.

If you where the only one on earth, Jesus still would have died for you.

Biblical DOH!

In the book of 1 Samuel 13 we read the account of King Saul getting impatient waiting for Samuel, the prophet, to arrive. Saul in his haste sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in place of Samuel. Samuel, in chapter 10 verse 8 had told Saul that he would come and sacrifce the offerings. Shortly after King Saul had finished with the sacrifices, guess who showed up? Yup, Samuel. DOH!

Are you waiting for something from God? Are waiting for that special someone that just never seems to arrive? Does it seem like you are in an impossible situation? Are you tired of hearing God say, "Nope, not that one."? I know I am.

When Saul disobeyed Samuel it cost him the kingship. If we decide not to wait for God's leading and obey his instructions in this matter, disaster is the order of the day... and it probably doesn't come wtih fries and a drink.

Does God have someone for each one of us? It is possible. Some of us may never marry. But you may be on the edge of the Jordon about to cross into the promised land.

It is better to wait than to say DOH!

The Great Zamboni

Have you ever seen a sheet of ice at an arena before it has been skated on? Our life is kind of like that sheet of ice, smooth and shiny at the beginning for most of us. As life continues, we get gouged and rutted up over time with out experiences. But if we come to know Jesus, He floods into our lives and the gouges and ruts are smoothed out. He is the Great Zamboni. Do all our problems and troubles disappear when we invite the Great Zamboni onto our ice surface? No, but He gives us the strength to carry on when we face those gouges and rough spots in life.

The Lord is my SAR Tech I shall not sink...

As I a child I had a poster of a ship sinking at sea in the middle of a storm. A man was still on the ship waiting to be resuced. Above him was a military helicopter with a Search and Rescue (SAR)Technician being lowered down to him.

Lately I have been thinking of my salvation along these lines. The sea represents my sin and me sinking in it. The helicopter represents God. Big and almighty with all sorts of power as the rotors of the helicopter spin with tremendous noise and incredible force. The SAR tech represents Jesus. He was lowered from heaven to save me from my sin.

Salvation to me is being resuced from my sin and that is what Jesus did.

Who are the people in your neighbourhood?

I didn't go to church tonight. Why? Probably because I don't know the people in my neighbourhood. When we go to church I, like many, normally sit down in the same general area. You could call this our neighbourhood. Do we welcome our neighbours, or just accept that they are there and don't bother to get to know them.

I was helping to stack chairs at an evening service. Helping is great, but my motive was wrong. I was avoiding getting to know my neighbours. If I help long enough, people leave and I don't have to get to know them. Pretty sneaky huh.

I rode a train from Edmonton to Vancouver one year as I headed back to the Island for Christmas. I got to talking to two other fellows on the trip. What we talked about was just stuff, nothing of real importance from what I remember. Here is the kicker, none of us throughout the entire trip knew the other person's name! We didn't really know our neighbour, we just accepted they where there.

I had a pastor tell me one time, "I knew you where here, I saw your truck." That might not mean much to you, but to me it spoke volumes. You know my face, you know my name, you know my TRUCK. Thanks neighbour. I know your vehicle also.

I don't know about you, but I need to meet my neighbours.

Prison Walls

I taught a Sunday School class today on Acts 12, the miraculous escape of Peter from prison. Amazingly enough I think it has applications to us singles out there that want to be married. You may feel that being single, you are in an impossible situation. Let's face it, sometimes it feels that way doesn't it?

Peter was in an impossible situation, chained up between two watchmen, guards everywhere, a locked iron gate that lead to the city and not a Tim Hortons coffee to be found.

Disregard the Tim Horton thing...I don't even drink coffee. Better make it a Tim Horton peanut butter cookie.

Our "impossible" situation is like a prison. But be sure of this, God still cares and He knows what we are going through and He has a plan. We do serve an impossible God.

The jack-in-the-box

Growing up as a child we had a jack-in-the-box in our family. Sometimes I would grab that handle and spin it as fast as I could to see how fast I could get the music to go while holding down the lid. I can still remember the tune it played.

I bought the jack-in-the-box pictured here for my niece and what was the first thing I did when I got it? Spun that handle as fast as I could to see how fast the music would go. Is this a guy thing? Focus! Focus!

The jack-in-the-box we had was a clown with thin plastic hands. Sometimes I would stick his hands out, push the rest of him into the box and close the lid. The only part of the clown sticking out was his little plastic hands pinched between the lid. I wonder what is in that box? I see some plastic hands so there must be something in there, but what?

I heard a sermon recently about God living inside of us. It reminded me of this jack-in-the-box. How much of God's character do we show, just the hands? If somebody was to turn your handle, what would pop out? What music would you play? Let God out of your box. He wants to come out.

Life in the Inuksuk Pile

I was in Duncan on Monday visiting a friend. We went to Dairy Queen for something to eat. Dairy Queen in Duncan has planters along the booths with white stones in the planters. Being a mature adult waiting for a meal and sitting next to loose rocks I decided to build with them. What does a mature adult build with rocks? An Inuksuk (Innuit spelling).

I went on the internet today to try to figure out how to spell Inuksuk as I could not find a spelling in my dictionary. I also found out a little about them. Each stone is balanced and supported by others.

You provide balance and support to others. You are important! You are here for a purpose; your life has meaning. Why? Because that is the way God designed you.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:13-16

Kevin's Lumber Yard

Since about the middle of October I have been working Sundays. So no more going to church. This week I have been very annoyed by the fact that only one person has called me to see why I haven't been at church. Many people know why I haven't been to church, but I haven't been to anything else either due to my fluctuating schedule or because I just didn't want to go. Why hasn't anyone called me to see how I am doing?

Ring Ring!
"Hello?"
"Hey Kevin, it's God."
"Oh hey God"
"I would like to order four 2X4's and six 2X8's."
"What?"
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all time there is a plank in your own eye?" Mattew 7:3-4

Some time ago a man at our church had a stroke. I never went to the hospital to see him and I never called when I heard he had come home...I still haven't called.
When I was teaching Sunday School there was kids that just seemed to stop coming. What happened to Dakota, Cameron, Lizzy, Shania...? The list goes on and on.

Welcome to Kevin's Lumber Yard.

Fishing buddies and Tonka Joe

I was looking through some old papers a while ago and found a quote from a sermon I had heard, "Lone Rangers are Dead Rangers." This got me thinking about my post, "In the harbour". Not a good idea to be heading out to the open sea without other fishing buddies. As Ecclesiastes 4:12 puts it, "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."
We need fishing buddies for defense and preventitive maintenance.

As I heard from a sermon that was about loneliness: to overcome loniless, build bridges, not walls. It's hard to make friends when you are surrounded by walls. I have been reminded recently that if I am waiting for somebody to call me to say something like, "Hey man! What's going on?"It's not going to happen. I have to put my engineer hat on and start building bridges. You can call me Tonka Joe, from Tonka Joe Construction. Gotta go, I am expecting a delivery of steel girders.

I Will Praise You In This Storm

The waves they just seem to keep coming, relentlessy,

Again and again.

Lord, will you calm the storm?

You have calmed the storms so many times in my life

So why do I find myself questioning if you will do it again.

This time it's different though.

But is it really?

You are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Lord, calm me.

In the harbour

It's is nice in the harbour, even on a foggy day. The colours may be muted, but it is still a pretty place to be. A harbour by nature is a shelther from the storm.

I was at a church service this week and the question was asked, "What are you hungry for?"
During the service I could picture a fishing vessel heading out of the harbour into the open water, bobbing up and down with seagulls flying around.

Out in the open it is not so safe. The water is much deeper and the wind much stronger, but the water is much fresher. Am I hungry to go deeper with God? Am I willing to get knocked around by the storms of life because of what I believe? Am I willing to put my faith into action? Is God really my anchor in the sea of suffering?

Maybe you are just coming into the harbour from being battered around out there. Welcome, enjoy your stay and get refreshed, repaired, restored and whatever else you need to do. You can take my berth, I've been in the harbour far too long.