I'll Do Anything To Stop The Crying

This is the cry of most parents and grandparents as they hear the cry of a child. I’ve notice there seems to be a competition going on out there in consumer land. It becomes noticeable most often at the grocery store check out. There are interesting situations playing themselves out in that dreaded line up.
I noticed them long ago. All three looked normal, just like everyone else. Nothing out of the ordinary. It didn’t take long to realize that it was mom, daughter, and granddaughter. They had, like most of us, made it around the store picking up this and that. Now, as they stood in line they waited their turn to put their items on the belt and pay the price. This store is like all the others, two rows of items on each side of the line. One side you have magazines, I look at these racks as being similar to the doctor’s office, but these are current issues. This is the adult side. We pick them up and read a few pages and put them back. So nice of the store to stock the library for us so we won’t realize how long we are in line.
Then on the other side of the line are the candy, gum and trinkets. You know, those items that bring lots of profit. Most of these items are geared to teens and children. So, here is granny, reading a few pages, daughter emptying the cart and the granddaughter eyeing the treat rack. Entertainment for the whole family. Well, almost.
I knew it was coming. It happens all the time. The little girl spies something, picks it up and defiantly puts it two inches from mom’s face and says those dreaded words, “Can I have this?” I’m waiting with bated breath for mom’s answer. And it comes fast and furious, “No!” “Now put it back.” You know what happens next, I don’t even have to write it, the girl delicately puts it back, smiles and doesn’t ask for another thing. NOT! The girl, in classic fashion, as if this has happened a thousand times, begins to cry that well known, well rehearsed tearless chorus, “Waaaaaaaaaa Waaaaaaa Waaaaaaaa.”. The mother doesn’t flinch. Just goes about her unloading. The girl keeps going, Waaaaa. Waaaaa Waaaaa. The grandma has had enough as she thinks, “I’ll do anything to stop this noise.” Throwing the magazine on the belt and not seeing what has transpired, she asks the little girl, “What’s the matter?” Granddaughter, between the Waaaas says, “I want that.” Grandma, in her classic fashion, picks it up and throws the item toward the clerk. Case solved and case closed as the child instantly stops screaming, and smiles broadly at her mother.
Only once in all my years watching this play itself out have I heard a mother answer effectively. She said, “Sorry, we don’t have the money for that right now.” As parents, we know, or should I say, should know what is best for our children. We live with them day in and day out. We know what they have, what they don’t have and what they really need. Part of the pleasure of being a grandparent is to spoil them or give them something the parents can’t supply. Bill Cosby, when his father came over and gave each grandchild $20, would grab the money and say, “That’s my money, he never gave me anything when I lived at home.”
There are no grandparents in heaven. Only children. When you are part of the family of God, He knows your every need. And even though He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, He gives to us only what we need. The wonderful part is, we do not have to cry or plead or throw a temper tantrum to get what we want. God desires to give to us richly. It takes us a lifetime to realize that what God wants to give us is not measured by worldly wealth but by a heavenly measure. He wants to give us grace, faith and forgiveness. He gave us His son so we can have all our need met in Him.
To the parents at the check out, have you given your children what they need? Jesus.
Rob

Assessment Day!

Last week I wrote about listening, looking and stopping. Today I reflect on what happened this past weekend at the church. As I wandering around, I did those three things again. I took the time to stop, look at everyone who came and listened to the stories of the past and joy of being together again. Everyone was so positive. Not a sad story or a negative comment. Just praising God for all He has done and the lives He has touched and changed.
There were stories of past pastors, SS teachers, parents, grandparents, relatives, friends and so many wonderful memories. As a church takes years to develop so to with our lives, there have been great time, reflective moments and times of struggle. How did we get here? I would surmise that these questions are repeated year after year. Not only here but in many congregations. Next year we will do it again.
But what about us as human beings? Do we assess ourselves each birthday? Do we ask ourselves, where will I be this time next year? What will change? Will I be better off or worse off? I guess we should plan ahead. Have we a plan in place to move ahead as someone once said, “Onward and upward”. And what of your walk with God? This is what John Charles Earle wrote about when he wrote in 1917,

Onward and Upward

I PASS the vale. I breast the steep.
I bear the cross: the cross bears me.
Light leads me on to light. I weep
For joy at what I hope to see
When, scaled at last the arduous height,
For every painful step I trod,
I traverse worlds on worlds of light,
And pierce some deeper depth of God.

A few years ago I changed direction. I thought I was having a great walk with God. I believed all that was written by Mary Stevenson in Footprints in The Sand. I know there have been times when I walked beside Him and I really recognize where He carried me. Then I heard a preacher say that everyone, absolutely everyone is either walking toward God or away from Him. It changed me. Some people follow God and therefore are walking to Him. Others walk ahead of Him, looking back on occasion to ask Him if we are going in the right direction. While at other times we ask Him if we can walk side by side with Him, going where He is going.
In the next year I am giving myself too not only walking closer to God but to walk with Him. This means that I have to walk in the direction He is going. Next year, how will you see this past year? How will you have walked with God?
Robin

God said, "Listen Up!"

Every now and then I get hooked on a word. The one that has been bouncing around in my head lately is, looking. Reminds me of my school days when we were taught in kindergarten to, Stop, Look, and Listen. It was another world back then. In the city we did not have all the stop lights we have now. Back then, most corners were just that. One way stopped and one way drove through. As children we were taught all about crossing streets. I was in school when I was only four so my mom walked me to the corner and then stood there as I walked the six blocks straight ahead into the school yard. I crossed one corner with help and six on my own. At each corner she watched to see if I indeed, Stopped, Looked and Listened. How she could tell if I was listening, I have no idea.
As I sit here in my study, with my open bible on the desk I wonder if we really listen to God anymore. Or should I say, for God. The thing that should distinguish Christians from normal people, or those who make no room for God in their lives, is our willingness to listen to God. We listen to God while normal people ignore Him. But are we listening?
In the last little while I have developed a way of asking questions to questions. I figured Jesus did it so maybe I can as well. I have people come to me all the time with important questions. They ask about what they should do in this situation or circumstance. These are important questions, not just, what should I wear to church? My answer is almost exclusively: “What do you think?” Then I listen.
I listen to people who know what God wants for each and every one of us because this is what they tell me. What I hear is the real answer. They have it, they know it, but they are afraid it is the right answer and not the answer they want to hear. We all want the answer which fits to our agenda. The problem is, our life listens to a God who knows what is best for all of us.
Over the last 20 years, while going to the gym here in Hamilton, I have had opportunity to get to know a good number of people as we work to postpone the inevitable. One such person was a gentleman, a couple of years younger them me, who did listen. In fact he knew all the answers, he just didn’t want to hear them. You see, he had a secret he didn’t want anyone to know. He had a platonic girlfriend. They connected so well and talked so much. Over a number of months, as we talked, he began to confide in me. I was the only one he had shared this with. His question, “Should I leave my wife and child to be with her and to find some happiness?” To which I responded, “You know what the bible says, but what do you think?” He shared with me his heart but he didn’t move. We continued to talk over time as he stayed with his family.
One day this question took on an urgency and a new meaning for him, desperation. It was one of the last times that I saw him. I remember it as a cloudy fall day, not unlike today. “Got a minute?” “Sure, what’s up?” He made this statement, “I really don’t know what to do now. I was told by the doctor this week that I have less then six months to live. What should I do?” I knew he was asking the same question he had a few months before. I replied, “What do you think you should do?” It was the most difficult time I have had to use that line. It was also one of the most important times. At this moment I watched someone wrestling with life, love and losing . . . and winning.
Today, I ask all of you, “What do you think you should do?” Listen to God? Is it time to stop what we are doing and thinking, look to God and listen to what He has to say?
Just a thought.

Memories

It is always good to see old friends. Sometime in the next while we will have opportunity to see people who were part of our past. It has been said that we entertain many people as we travel through life. I wonder if entertain is the right word? Some come for a little while. Others come and stay a lifetime. The wonderful thing is, it doesn’t matter how long they stay but how much we learn from each other as we travel together.
A number of years ago, I had opportunity to reconnect with a friend from the past. We talked about how we were doing today and then we talked of the past. You have probably done the same thing. We all talk of the past and the ‘stupid’ thing’s kids do when they are young and foolish. It was only after we parted that I realized, in those fleeting moments we had been transported back to the people we were. For a little while it was strange because I feel we were 15 and 16 all over again. Those old experiences, those feeling, those moments, came rushing back. And we lived them all over again. Then there was the realization, we were not who we were. But of an instant, while we talked about our shared experience we became who we were.
Throughout that conversation we found ourselves saying, “do you remember . . . I remember . . . ” and usually ended with, “we learned a lot since then.”
The reminiscing inevitably moved on until we started to talk about what has happened in the years since we last saw each other. We talk about our marriages, our jobs and our experiences. Then we talked about the children we raised and where they are today. Intermingled with the here and now, we returned to the other kids we hung out with and where they are today. We even talked of those who are no longer with us. Time changes things. There was the sharing of where life had taken us and how we arrived where we are now. The kids have grown, and the parents are gone, moved from one house to another to another, from place to place to place. How our lives change.
The last part of our conversation ended with, “What happened? Why did we drift apart and go different ways?” How fitting our conversation ended this way. That question still continues to reverberate in my mind. Last year at my high school reunion the same thing happened over and over as I met many people from my past.
When we return to a former church for an anniversary we will meet old church friends and the memories will start all over again. In this context we talk of what we learned from this pastor or that Sunday school teacher. We will talk of people long past and those in our recent past. Each part of our life produces memories. They change us into who we become. Now as we look back, we realize how important they have been.
One day, when God’s timing is just right, we will walk into His presence and talk about all those moments when He walked in our lives. We will talk about the past, where we have come from, how we have grow, the times we drifted away from Him. We’ll talk of what had happened along life’s way and how we arrived where we are, in heaven talking face to face with Him.
I’ll leave you with this. What memories will you and God have to talk about arising out of this week? Rob

Are You A Christ Follower

Ever had one of those, aha moments? Sort of a wake up call. The thought that comes along when you least expect it. Not like an alarm clock but more of an awareness that you had never understood it that way before.
Talking about alarm clocks. I notice an advertisement the other day for alarm clocks. There were a number of setting but none annoying. They have multiple setting, like a water fall, or singing birds. The unusual part of this device is that it also has a screen that shows the waterfall or the birds singing. Now that is progress.
Back to the ahaaaaa. While listening to one of those radio pastors, who leads a multi staff mega church, I heard him refer to his congregants at Christ Followers. Since church time began two thousand years ago, we have always referred to our faith as Christian and therefore we are Christians. Or so we thought. I don’t remember much about the rest of the program but I do remember asking myself is I cannot only call our people Christ Followers but can I call myself by the same name.
For centuries we here in Canada have called the church Christian. Not only have we called the church this but we have also called our nation a Christian Nation. This is no longer true. The United States is finally coming to the same conclusion. Statistics from Reginald Bibby in Lethbridge Alberta places Christian church attendees at less then 12%. This is true stat. The United States has finally found out their true statistics. Unlike the plus 40% they have been telling the world, their percentage of people in the pew on any given Sunday is close to ours.
So are we Christians or Christ Followers. We only need to go back to the bible to hear what happened with Jesus. In Matthew we read these words, “At once they left their nets and followed Him.” They followed His lead and they followed His example. Someone once said that our life starts with, “Once upon a time” and ends with, “They lived happily ever after.” What happens in between can be the hard part. When we follow Jesus, it means following Him through everything. I am stepping out on a limb here but I think we all want the middle part to be a walk in the park or as we see Maria (Julie Andrews) dancing on the hills in The Sound of Music. In colloquial English, “It ain’t so.” Jesus didn’t experience it and neither will we. I know, I know, life will make us strong.
Think about it this way. Think of the disciples’ following Christ. What did they gain and learn? Great Stuff. What did they give up? Not great to give up a thriving fish business. What did they see happen to their leader? A little demoralizing I would think. Then, what did they endure to stand up for what they believed? Suffering is not one of my first choices. Dying is not even on my radar screen.
My mind sometimes goes in crazy ways but follow me. We all know Monopoly. How about that dreaded card, “Go to jail. Directly to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200. Maybe we are looking to follow the heaven part. Just give me the sweet bye and bye, we shall meet on that beautiful shore . . . We want to follow Jesus but bypass the cross. Jesus didn't . . . We are Christ Followers, just like the song in Sister Act, “I will follow Him.” Rob
-I will follow Him
Follow Him wherever He may go,
And near Him, I always will be
For nothing can keep me away,
He is my destiny.

I will follow Him,
Ever since He touched my heart I knew,
There isn't an ocean too deep,
A mountain so high it can keep,
Keep me away, away from His love.

I love Him, I love Him, I love Him,
And where He goes,
I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow.
he'll always be my true love, my true love, my true love
from now until forever, forever, forever

I will follow Him,
Follow Him wherever He may go,
There isn't an ocean too deep,
A mountain so high it can keep,
Keep me away, away from His love...

We will follow Him,
Follow Him wherever He may go,
There isn't an ocean too deep,
A mountain so high it can keep,
Keep us away, away from His love...

I love Him
(Oh yes I love Him)
I'll follow
(I'm gonna follow)
True love
(He'll always be my true, true love)
Forever
(Now until forever)
I love Him, I love Him, I love Him,
And where He goes,
I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow,
He'll always be my true love,
My true love, my true love,
From now until forever,
Forever, forever...

There isn't an ocean too deep,
A mountain so high it can keep,
Keep me away, away from His love