They are just friends. That is a statement with multiple meanings in our society today. It can be taken as a good thing. They are friends and share a few connections. Or it can mean they are just people who know each other. But it can mean more. Especially if you use the word friends in the way the dictionary understands it. So, here it is; “the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, affection, and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis.” Now, let’s get to it.
Our bible is not filled with definitions. On the contrary, it is filled with definitions through the stories of the people who live within its pages. So we have the unmistakable friendship between David and Jonathan. That my friend is the basis of all understanding on this topic. John Piper says that it is the gauge by which we view all our relationships. We look at them, look at ourselves and . . . YES!
Many people call their spouse their best friend, their closest friend. That’s wonderful but I wonder, who do you call a friend? This past Sunday I realized how many people I can call friend. Maybe that is the reason for the tears. And Sunday taught me that words cannot express what is in our hearts. So thank you for what is seen by others and felt by us as individuals.
As I notice the sun rising in the clear air of this morning, I return to the person of Jesus and those men and women that surrounded him. There were not just twelve. Yes, he emptied himself into the lives of twelve, eleven after someone killed himself. There were others. People like Mary and Martha. Or how about Lazarus? Jesus wept over him.
I think Jesus gave us another definition of friends. I believed he did indeed emptied himself into the lives of those 12 men. They were not just his students, but they were his friends in a special way. He wanted them to find heaven first and to share it with the world second. Jesus made eleven disciple friends in his life. We should do no less. How many disciples have you made? How many people have you brought into the family of God? How many have you lead to Jesus so they can walk with the master?
You know, I don’t want to get to heaven and leave my friends out of all that can be ours. Its past time to share everything in your life with your friends, even your friend, Jesus.
Something to think about
Rob

Mean What You Say

It was never a problem saying Mabel was a big woman. To most she was a disagreeable old woman in a big old wheelchair. To add to the look she had a big dirty beige canvas bag dragging along behind her chair. It was full of stuff. To us, there was nothing in the bag that would be called important, except to this lady. I had heard stories about her even before I saw her for the first time. She knew how to bark at people and how to keep them in line. And listening to her you believed she said what she meant and meant what she said.
Sometimes it takes a lot of looking to find the beauty in things and with people there were times . . . It took longer then most to find the soft spot in Mabel. But like all of us, it was there. Most times when we met each week, she would bark at me and I would playfully bark back. Then the smile would come, but only when no one else was looking. After all, she didn’t want to ruin her image.
Over the years, our friendship and respect for each other grew. I looked forward to seeing her each week and she probably appreciated my visits and our time together even though she used to greet me by saying, “It’s about time, where’ you been.” But as time passed, the inevitable began to happen. She started to get tired, and less combative. Her time was going and we both knew there would be a time to say, “see you in heaven.”
As I met with her for what would be the last time, we prayed. Yes, I said we. I prayed for our Lord to come and put His arms around her and take her home. It was a solemn heartfelt prayer. When I finished, I opened my eyes to a very peaceful contented woman. Then as her lips began to move, I heard her pray for the first time. Here was this dear person, on the threshold of heaven, talking to Jesus and praying for me. I could no longer see clearly through the tears that restricted my vision of the face of one of God’s own, lifting me up before Him and asking Him to take care of me.
Putting aside her own pain and struggle, weak and very near her coronation in heaven, she prayed, but not for herself. I can still hear her quiet voice as she talked to her Lord. I can hear her words today as she prayer that God would use me to stand at the side of the bed of others, just like I was doing and to continue to tell people that God was near and God loves them.
As I sat in the pew a few days later listening to the words of her memorial service, I could think of only one thing. Prayer. She had taught me how we need to pray. In prayer I knew Mabel meant what she said. How about you?
Something to think about
Rob

Always Something To Talk About

The number one topic Canadians talk about is the weather. And this summer has given us lots to talk about. Wether its too cold, too wet, too hot or just too much. If you are wondering about the summer that just arrived, it’s right here now, all at once. Maybe this has not been the summer you were hoping for, or maybe the summer you were wishing and praying would be here. But this my friends, is summer. There are a number of ways to describe this summer so far. Too wet, too cool, and finally too hot and not what we were expecting. Early on we could have asked, where is this global warming everyone is talking about? How do we explain the warm weather staying well to the south and never arriving here? And now, are you complaining of the heat, or like me having to stay in the air more then I want to?
To tell you the truth, I would say we are getting exactly what God wants us to have.
Someone asked me one day if I could talk to God about the weather. I replied, “That’s way above my pay scale.”
Reality is, in life, God gives us what we need. That being said, it never suggests we get what we want or what we think we deserve. Remember the commercial that said, “You Deserve a Break Today”? I hate those commercials that tell you to run out and spend money you don’t have on something that the seller tells you, “You deserve it!”. My question is, how do they know so well what I deserve? Someone remarked, you deserve happiness. I feel we make our happiness. In John C. Maxwell’s book, “The Difference Maker,” he suggests that we get a great day when we get up and believe it’s going to be a great day, it will be. It’s a state of mind. Maybe that’s why I smile so much in the morning. Do we need great weather to have a great day? Sit down and watch Gene Kelly dancing and “Singing in the Rain”. Then go and do it. I have and what a great feeling.
I agree and think we all get what we need in life by how we approach each day, I also feel that we get from God only what we need. Because, doesn’t getting what we deserve mean that we are getting what we need to become all God, not only intends us to have, but to become all we need to be for Him?
After all, what are we really here on this earth for? To enjoy great weather? Let’s read together the first question of the WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM
Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
And that my friends is all we need.
Something to think about.
Keep Warm.
Robin

There's Another Storm

There’s something about a thunderstorm that calms my heart. Some people really don’t like them and I understand that. They are like the dog of my childhood. Sandy used to run for cover, and that cover was my bed. At the first sign of lightening, she would run as fast as she could on the nicely polished hardwood floors to our room and duck under the bed. I guess she assumed it was the best place to be.
But think about it. Wouldn’t it be the darkest spot? Wouldn’t it be the place where the flash of light would show the best? My theory would be, wouldn’t you want to be in the brightest room so the lightening didn’t show so much?
I remember my dad telling us there was nothing to fear with lightening storms. If you were in the right place, you need not worry. He was a very practical man at times and he took us young boys out on the front stoop one stormy day. Same house I talked of last week. There we sat and watched the storm come in from the west. The darker it became the brighter the lightening and the louder the thunder. It was wonderful to see this as part of God’s creation and we even put on our bathing suits and ran around in the rain. No tall trees or such near us.
From that day until today, I love walking in the rain, getting soak’n wet.
This past Sunday as I was preaching at church, the ominous thunderstorm had little effect on the sermon or what I was saying. When the sermon over, I began to pray with, and for the people. Lightening struck, thunder rolled and the lights, organ and mike went out. I continued to pray, and everything was fine.
On the North Atlantic over a century ago, a ship went down in a sad period of one mans life. He had lost his four-year-old son a few years before, then this. On arriving in Wales, the mother wrote “Saved alone.” When the father took the next ship to Europe to be with his wife, he asked to be called when the ship was over the spot the other ship went down with his children. There he stood on the deck and the words of 2 Kings 4:26, came to mind. From those words he wrote;
“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.”
The disciples experienced the same when in the storm they were afraid and woke the calm Jesus sleeping at the back of the boat. He calmed the storm. Does He calm yours?
Something to think about
Rob

Going Home

It's true you know. Dorothy said it well when she clicked her heals and said, "There's no place like home". I remember another time before I knew anything about Dorothy. It’s been a long time since my brother and I thought ourselves adventurers. Back before time began, we had an adventure due to our family moving. I don’t remember much of the move but I do remember that day. Paul was the advanced age of six and a half while I had just turned the rip old age of five a month earlier. The area we were moving to was brand new with lots cut out from bush and farmland. There was mud everywhere and the city would put down pavement soon. Or so they said. On that day we arrived at our new home excited about our new surroundings. Paul and I decided to check out the neighbourhood. In our search we found the remnants of a bush and in it, a stream. It didn’t take long to get to the seriousness of what to do in the woods and the stream. We were there for hours. Checking out the wild life, what there was left, and just learning new things. Before we knew it, time had gone and we knew we better get home. But which way was home? We had never been here before. In our excitement of the adventure, we never thought of where we were, where we came from or how to get back. This meant, not that we were lost, but we had another adventure ahead of us. It only took a few minutes for us to make our way out of the woods and onto another street. It wasn’t as muddy as ours. In fact, there were cars and grass and flowers. It was a time when neighbours were neighbours and kids could come and go as they pleased. We knocked at a door and a gentleman answered asking "What's up". After telling him we needed to get home, but didn’t know the way, he had us in his very old Model A coupe, if my memory doesn’t fail me, and on our way. In the fog of an old memory, I remember him saying, “I think I know where you live”. Two short blocks later, and excited by the car ride, he turned the corner and we saw our new home for the second time in our lives. Thanking the man we ran in, into our new home, our new bedroom, sitting on what was familiar, our old beds with the family who love us. We were home. One day, when our adventure on earth is over, we will get home. Burst in the door and see a new house, and a loving Father waiting for us there. Looking forward to going home? I am.
“Going home to see my Saviour,
Going home to meet a friend”,
Something to think about.
Robin