Which Way Do I Go?

There was a day when you had to ask someone how to get somewhere. You would talk to someone on the phone and they would invite you over. You would then ask for directions if you were unfamiliar with the address. Do you remember driving around and around, finally going to a phone booth and asking for clarification. Most women agree that men will seldom ask for directions. People wandered around aimlessly looking and looking.
At one time we also carried in our cars, lots of maps. My daughter used to have books of maps, so she could find where she was going anywhere in southern Ontario with no trouble. I even admit that I had maps as well, and actually, I still buy a new map book each year for all of North America.
In our technological age, most of those maps are relegated to use just for curiosity. We hear someone on tv mention where they live and we get out the map and find it, just so we know.
Technology has really helped all of us. First came the G.P.S. That would be Global Positioning System. Started probably by the military to know where things or people were. It is a great tool they have shared with us everyday folk. Buy one for around $100. and away you go. Type in the place you are going and it will show you the way. Every year they get better and better. The device connects to three satellites and shows you where you are in relation to where you are going.
Now I’m going to venture into the realm of fantasy. Well, it was with Buck Rogers. In our modern age, there is no need for some people to buy a G.P.S. any longer. They can be found in the dashboard of the car or right there in your phone. Yes I knew that. If you possess a data plan on your phone, it’s a mini computer that can do anything for you that your laptop or desktop can do. One of those “apps” is maps. It can get you to where you want to go. Get this, it can even tell the person you call, where you are. Does that mean I will never get lost again? The jury is still out on that one being I don’t have an iphone/Blackberry.
As a Christian our destination is into the presence of God. We are definitely on our journey. Many times we get sidetracked. We get lost and we ask the same questions Thomas did. I remember Thomas saying to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus lovingly said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me”.
Are you lost? Maybe at one time or another you got sidetracked end up on a road to nowhere. Want to find your way back? Just go to Jesus, and He will show you the way.
Something to think about
Rob

Love Lasts!

Like so many other wonderful celebrations, they last only a short time. A day at most. That is what will be happening Wednesday. It’s St. Valentine’s Day. A day for Love. A day for amour. There will be lots of chocolate, lots of flowers and lots of cards.

If you are normal, like the rest of us, there are two things we really like to have in our lives. The first is, we really appreciate having people in our lives who love us. They care about us. Are involved in our lives and in many cases add a wonderful dimension to our lives as we journey through life together. For some that is our spouses who we have or they have chosen to be part of our life. Others can be kids. Some we wished for and some just happen to come along and probably having something to do with amour. Still others are closer to the fringe of our lives but that doesn’t lessen the impact of their love on our life. The second is, we appreciate having people in our lives to love. Is there someone you are thinking about right now who you love? Love lots?

One of those for me was a dear great aunt in Saskatchewan. Aunt Alice was a sweet single lady who brightened a room just by walking in. She never married but always said, “I’d rather want something I can’t have then to have something I don’t want”. She was the first telephone operator for the start-up, Saskatchewan Telephone Company in the small town of Whitewood Sask. In that position in the early part of the twentieth century, it meant she knew everyone and everyone knew her. She would make my day every time I called her. The conversation started with her saying hello as soon as she picked up the receiver and before she had it to her face. You had to smile thinking about how she used to answer the switch board. I smiled and waited a second before answering. After the normal, how are you, she would do the same thing most every time, “Good of you to call, but this call is expensive so, talk to you soon, bye”. And she would hang up. Only a couple of times in all the years I phoned did the call last more than two minutes. Gotta love her.

And we do love don’t we? So, let’s change things. Maybe it’s time to make something last longer than a day, or afternoon. I would like to challenge each and every one of you to make Valentine last. Make it last as long as you can. A week, a month, even a year. Make love reign. God did. He was the one that said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And He said it twice in Hebrews 13:5 and Deut. 31:6. It is also said of Him by John, “For God so LOVED. . .” It never stops. He loves me and tells me every day! How about you?

Something to think about

Rob

One Line, Just One Word

Can you reach back into the crevices of your mind and relive some of the phrases of your childhood? Phrases like; “Wait until your father comes home!”
Or how about; “I’ve already forgotten more then you will even know”.
Not the best lines I must admit. But then we remember other ones.
“Spring is just around the corner”.
“God helps those who help themselves”. Just a quick note, that one is not found anywhere in my bible.
“Let me give you a hand”
Each one of us could make a list. I love this one that we heard time and time again. Yelled at us after a hard day outside playing; “Time for Supper!” Before you move on, just sit there with your eyes closed and think of the ones you used to hear. . . . Okay, you can open your eyes now.
Some we loved to hear, while others, not so much. In our modest home there was one that we didn’t hear as much as we would have liked to, but it became the one we wished we could hear most often. It came from either mom or dad. Came at times when we least expected it and it came some times after great planning.
The line? “Time to go.” For us children it meant we were off somewhere and this was before malls. Most times it was to visit family, or just to get out and be together. I was the youngest in those days before seatbelt and child seats. My three siblings sat in the back and I would stand between mom and dad on the front seat so I could see over the dashboard. And as you can tell, I lived to tell about it.
There was an adventure to pursue. We were “Off and running”, as dad would say. We had a goal in mind and inevitably it was a great time getting there and even a better time when we arrived. I thought about that recently when I was reading my bible. Jesus had lines as well. And none more direct then when He just said, “GO”. In my mind I think he was saying to us, “It’s time to go”. A time to get going, but to where? And why are we going? He did it with His disciples after teaching then what they needed to know. I believe He is asking them and us to just go out in the world and tell everyone in any way we can that God in Christ loves them. And as Steve Brown says, “And He’s not mad at you.”
We live in a world filled with many lines that confuse and mislead. Lines that can “lead us down the garden path,” to a road of destruction and devastation. Maybe we hear those lines as well. Maybe we have heard them in the past until we heard the line from Jesus, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and over-burdened, and I will give you rest!” Matt. 11:28. That’s it. That’s the line God wants us to GO and tell others as the hymn rings in my ear;
We’ve a story to tell to the nation,
that shall turn their hearts to the right,
a story of truth and mercy,
a story of peace and light.
Something To Think About
Rob