Old Cars, New Cars?

Didn’t see that one coming! Everyday life seems to motor on for most of us with few, if any surprises. You know the routine. Maybe that’s it. It’s just the regular routine. Get up, do the regular activity, have supper, waste three hours in front of the tv and then go to bed so you can be rested enough for tomorrow. Sound familiar?
We do the same thing when we get in our cars. Get in, turn it on, put it in drive, (reverse for those who were not too tired to back in last night) and then drive away. We do it sometimes without thinking. It’s called an automatic for a reason. Have you ever driven somewhere and can’t remember how you got there? That aside, look around and see so many other people doing the same thing as you. Same speed, same expression on their faces, and even the same cookie cutter cars.
That is when I didn’t see it coming. A tan, 1973 Plymouth Scamp drives right by me the other day. Life was going along, the driving was about the same, and then . . . There goes this guy in this shiny beige four-door sedan. Gives you a little wake up call. You start thinking back and say to yourself, “I remember when I had a ____(you can fill in the blank yourself) 1969 AMC Rebel 4dr the same colour”.
In a moment you (read that guys) think back and relive the past. It may go on for a while, until, until you remember getting under the car with a coat hanger to tie up a dragging exhaust. It was hot too. Or how about having to check the oil at least once a week. We have not opened the hood of the Honda in five years. Then there are all the other things that went with cars from that time period.
Some recollections make us realize that reality today isn’t so bad. The car you drive today is far different then the one you bought ten years ago and definitely twenty years ago. I overheard someone say that cars today are so expensive compared to what they used to be. Moving my mind from the past, I start to think about that. We have better built cars now, just as Doug Mordue. They have more gadgets to make driving better and simpler. And safety? Did you know that in 1955 Ford put seatbelts on their list of options but GM didn’t because they thought that people would think they were unsafe cars?
Before I get to the spiritual connection, I have something to end with. In 1974 I purchased a new Ford for $3700. If all went well and I drove the average length of time, the warranty told me that it would start to cost me money after the third year and 40,000 miles. And it did. In 2003 we bought Deb’s Honda. It has now traveled 210,000 Km. and we have only replaced one set of tires and one set of front brakes. Now tell me what’s cheaper?
Time changes and so has life. Do you know how it has changed? It has changed by getting better and better. And it does so, when we learn from the past and make things better and better . . . even our lives. We can get out of our routine by doing one thing new or differently every week. Being a Christ follower is very similar. It gets better and better when we learn from our past and make our relationship with Christ better and better.
Sorry to tell you, but that takes work, and study, and prayer, and fellowship, and participating in helping others. Now, think to yourself, which one of those five is routine and needs a shake up?
Something to think about
Rob

As many of you know, I write my weekly column on Monday mornings. And today, Monday morning is a very special morning to me. I so look forward to these special days. After all, they only come a few times a year. It just happens that this one always comes on a Monday. Besides this one, there is the day after Halloween. Another couple are, the day after Valentines day and the day after Christmas. It is on those days that I head down to the store early. Being an early riser, I have no problem getting the morning things done and cleared away in time to make the trip to one, maybe two stores. This morning will be no different because it is the day after Easter and all the chocolate is on for half price!!! Such great mornings these mornings after. Store owners don’t want it anymore. After all, who wants Easter chocolate the morning after the event. In my own thinking I would put some away for the Orthodox Easter but that is another story. To most people, hollow eggs and bunnies are just that, hollow. The store owners think it is using up valuable space where the next greatest thing can be displayed. So, people like me, and there are many, make the trip down to Zellers and Walmart and buy the most wonderful thing this side of heaven. Not really. We just buy it because we are chocoholics and half price is half price. In our lives there are many days like today. It’s called the morning after. The morning after your graduation. The morning after the baby is born. The morning after moving into the new house and maybe the morning after falling in love for the first time. Unlike the chocolate days these ones are memorable. There is something in the excitement of life moments when we can sit back and reflect on what just happened. Those first day when you move into your future with excitement of what is coming next. You are probably right now thinking of one that brings a smile to your face. The day after reconnecting with a lost love. The day after that special vacation by the lake with all your family around you. The day is finished but not in your mind and heart. God gives us these moments so we can get through the everyday grind of living in this fallen world. The memory of them carries us to the next one and the next one and the next one. In His infinite knowledge of the human animal, He realizes that this special days’ brightness makes a difference to our everyday struggles through life. But there is one day final day after coming that will be like no other. It will be better then any day after chocolate morning. That day will be your resurrection morning. If you haven’t given your heart to Christ, do it today and look forward to that resurrection morning that’s coming soon! What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, And I look upon His face, The One who saved me by His grace; When He takes me by the hand And leads me through the Promised Land, What a day, glorious day that will be. Something to think about. Rob

HE IS RISEN!

He Is Risen!

Put yourself in the events of that unforgettable week. You are out scouring the city looking for them. You remember the events of last week and being part of the crowd. At Passover you had seen Him coming into town. As much as you had hoped, your heart sank when you saw Him riding on a donkey. With what you knew from the studies at the synagogue you knew this meant only one thing. It meant that He was not going to be a military leader. We were all going to have to put up with the Roman rule for some time to come. Even so, the electricity in the air was dynamic. People had been saying that He brought someone in Bethany back to life after being dead for four days. And you wished you had been there.
Then just three days into the week there were rumours swirling around town that He had been arrested and gone to trial. For some reason the temple leaders wanted Him gone. You had even heard that one of His own followers had turned Him in. At one point, you started to doubt the healing and then you didn’t want to admit you also had been there when the people had to pick one prisoner for freedom and you had shouted along with the other, “Barabbas” and “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!”.
It was just over a week now that all this started and you don’t know what to believe. And then this new rumour. You just heard that this Jesus is alive. Yes, that’s right, Alive. There seems to be some men in power who are trying to cover this up but they are unable to produce a body to prove He is still dead.
But what do you believe? And what do you feel now? You now recall that burning feeling in my heart the first time I laid eyes on Him. You knew there was something about Him. He was different and He taught us so much on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Didn’t the words, “Crucify Him” get stuck in your throat?
And now, you are going around town looking for them. Searching for His followers. You want to know the truth. You want to know this Jesus who told all of us about God. He had opened the scriptures and told about God’s love and how He wants to forgive us for all the wrong things that have entangled our lives. It is now and it is not too late to find Him. Your heart is almost beating out of your chest. You have knocked on the door of the house where you were told His followers were staying. The door opens and they invite you in...
Now, do you invite Jesus in?
Something to think about
Rob

Life Is Changing

We could all ask ourselves, “What Happened?”. After all we take it for granted. We really do. We expect that our lives will be just the same tomorrow as it was yesterday. We still have a roof over our head. We still open the fridge and take out the milk to add to the coffee. Our pay or pension check will be there and life will be “good.”
For most folk’s life goes on and on and on. Little changes and we accept life as it goes along. Almost like water over Niagara. Think about that for a moment and then ask yourself, can I watch the water for a while without getting bored? We could say to ourselves, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” And it is. It really is. I see all the lives around me in two ways. One is recognized when it goes on and on, and is seen as boring. The other is exciting and people mix it up a little every day. Life does both as it moves forward in a direction we sometime have little say about.
In reality our lives change every day. We add something here and drop something there. Subtle changes. Changes that we sometime little realize until one day we wake up and say, “What happened?” A good many years ago I had a wonderful friend that I could talk to about anything. He did the same with me. Both of us were single and both of us had similar interests. Don could call me and we would talk for hours. There was a special bond. Then one day I woke up and realized, we had not talked for almost a year. Today, it has been more years then I can count. What happened?
Life is what happened. It got in the way and time passed before we knew it. We had such a great connection. We were on the same page. Then other more urgent things happened and they got in the way. We turned the page and forgot what was on the previous page. Just like reading a book and your mind wanders to the bird sitting on the window sill. And in a few minutes you forgot what you just read.
Many years ago, there was a time when other things got in my way. I had greater priorities then church. One Sunday missed once and in a while lead to two in a row and then before I knew it the “important” things of life took the place of church. The family went for 11 o’clock and I stayed home. I justified it by saying that I still believed and still prayed and still looked at the bible, (that really means that you notice it on the desk but don’t turn a page.)
Life gets in the way. It is wonder for me, and for all of us, that God waits for us to wake up and realize that our life is from Him. We turn back the pages and return to Him and the fellowship of His church. One day I woke up and asked myself “What Happened?”
Did you wake up today? Did you ask yourself the same question?
Something to think about
Rob

Just One Line

Some people have them in their head while others have them on paper. Myself, I have so many I found it easier to put them on paper. The problem was, I had this large pile of paper, scraps and full pieces, that continually fell over. Sometimes on the desk and unfortunately, sometimes on the floor.
After this happening a few times I decided to invest in a note book. You know the kind. The ones the stenographers used to use. Don’t think they do that anymore. I would even go as far as saying they don’t use Dictaphones either. No mater, I have one and started to use it. With this change I had another problem that confronted me. That being the transfer of the notes to the book. It went along fine for a while, but I seemed to tire of it easily. Then I had a better idea. Why not put them in a file on the computer. Brilliant I thought. So, I started to type them into a file that I called, “One Liners”. This went along very well until, I wanted to find one of them. Never have found it. But I did add one thing to the title of the file, They are now called “One Liners 08” But only for this year. By the way I have a new problem, I changed to a new computer.
What I do in the future is unknown. But I do know that I am still on the search for the best way to store and remember all these one liners. At church I used one each Sunday in the bulletin as a thought for the people to take home with them. After all, most people never remember the sermon anyway.
Here are a few that I have right in front of me, on paper I might add.
“Where is God in the snow storm? Making the next Day.”
“A change will not occur unless you do something to change it.”
“A journey begins with the first step.”
“The things that consume you, own you.”
It would take the rest of this paper to print them all. But you get the idea. They are thought provokers. They make you think. Mostly about life. Your life. We are all on a journey and at different times it only takes one line to change direction or consider a new destination. Just so you know, the bible is full of one liners. We notice them jumping out at us. Sometimes the words of Jesus. Other times they are the words of the writer, like Paul, or John. Someone asked me recently what the most significant one liner from scripture that has got me thinking right now. Not an easy one to answer. This is not my life verse or my favourite verse or even the most known verse but the one at this point in my life is the most significant. Without hesitation I said, “Matthew 28:19.” “And what does it say to you?” they asked.
“Go!” I am still on my way.
Something to think about
Rob