Raindrops Keep Fall'n On My Head

The word for the day is, RAIN.  I know. Seems like Noah must be around somewhere. But he is not. And they have made up a word just for the storm we are  going through.  It’s a Frankenstorm. At the point that I am writing this it’s still coming together and you will be in it as you may be reading this.  After all, nothing to do but read the paper when it’s raining.
They have been talking about two storm fronts converging like we have not seen. And with it comes 130mm of rain.  That’s a lot of rain. Speaking of rain.  If rain is water, and water washes things clean, why do we still have dirt? Thought about that a lot lately. Especially now that I don’t have to wash the car for a while.
I know if I were to ask each of you about a storm you fondly or UN-fondly remember, you would probably mention one that had an impact on your life. I remember very faintly Hurricane Hazel. Then I remember the snow of 1977, where my wife never made it home from work. This was followed by the snow of 1978 where I never made it to work.
Just the other week, we were out after a rain and just happened to notice a rainbow forming. It was amazing and ended up to be two rainbows.  What a wonder to behold as God painted it in the early evening. And for every storm there is an end and it too is beautiful.
But there are other storms. They are part of our lives. As many say, life is not easy. It has it’s ups and downs. We see storms brewing in just living in this fallen world and we do everything we can to prepare for it. When it arrives it seems bigger than we imagined. And after it’s over, we feel relieved. That’s life and that’s our life. Storms come and go and we get through them.
We who believe in a God who loves and cares about us already know He knows about our storms. He sees them coming before we do. He helps to prepare us and he then goes with us through them. And there is the difference. We never go through any storm on our own. Because;
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone.
 
Something to think about
Rob

Do They Know Him

Have you ever done any research on your family tree? Some people are right into it. They work on it in such a way that it will sometimes become an obsession. Let me say, I don’t go that far. I want only to be obsessed with Jesus. That being said, I do enjoy the research and there have been days that I have been so fixated on the family tree, the hours just disappear.

Take last week for instance. Everything I needed to do for that day was done by 2 p.m. At that time I clicked on the website I go to most often and started researching.  Before I knew it, 8 p.m. had come and gone. At present I am up to somewhere around 25000 names. That’s a lot of people.  And in the mix are all kinds of interesting facts. A widow had a house fire just after Valentine’s Day and all the children, upstairs in bed perished.  There are a good number of twins. One man had three wives and many, many children.  Then there are the blank spaces that we can’t seem to fill. Who were they, where did they live and what did they do?

While working on the tree the other day, I came across a cousin who just happened to have a number of old photos. Amongst them were three photos of the same person, probably taken twenty five or thirty years apart. There was the little child in a sugar sack dress with some lace around the neck and bottom edge. The second picture was the next most important picture in a person’s life, her wedding day. Of course back then when this picture was taken, no one ever smiled. Not supposed to, so I’m told. The last picture was probably her last. Older, or should I say, mature. With the ravages of time etched in her face. At first I thought how wonderful to have these pictures but then I wondered, what was life like for her back in the 'good old days'?

At this point God leaned over my shoulder and said something quite significant. He does that every so often just to shake me up. He asked me if I knew if she knew Him. God don’t do that! I was so enjoying adding person number 24328 to my list. And with pictures none the less. God, why did you do that?

It never takes long to warm to His presence and I settled back to look at those three pictures again. Then, yes then, there was a picture in my minds eye of someone still alive who might not yet know Christ. In a short prayer I asked God to step into their life and if He needs me to introduce them to Him, I am willing.

After all, we all want to get to heaven don’t we?

Something to think about.

Rob

My Name Is In THE Book.

Have you ever scanned through the Guinness Book of World Records? I flipped through the latest copy the other day when I was shopping. Don’t think I would buy it, but let me tell you, there are some interesting things on those pages. Some people do some very unusual (read that as bizarre) things just to get their name in this book, if only for one issue.

The other day a young daredevil, now think about that word for a minute…, jumped from the outer reaches of space just to set a few new records that eclipses ones set as far back as 1960. How about being the first human to fly at Mach 1?, without an aircraft, amazing  to say the least.

Humans for centuries have continued to test the limits of time, endurance and strength. Seeking to push the limits we know into the limits we have yet to comprehend. Felix’s record attempt this week is only the latest record we are hearing about. There will be more, you can be assured.  The first record broken that I remember in my early life was the breaking of the four minute mile. As you will remember, it was first achieved May 6, 1954 by Dr. Roger Bannister. We all remember that name but do you know who now holds that record and what was the time recorded?  Didn’t think you would know about Morocco's  Hicham El Guerrouj, who ran in a time of 3:43.13 in Rome in 1999.  By the way, all of these records can be watched on youtube.com.

Most of us will never have our name in the Guinness book of World Records. But that is okay. And the only record we may have anymore are those old vinyl’s we put on a record player. Don’t let that discourage you, because each and every one of us is placed here for a specific purpose. That purpose is dictated by God for us to accomplish for His glory and not ours. Here is something else to consider. Our first purpose according to the Westminster Shorter Confession is; . . . to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. The second thing that comes to my mind is for each and every one of us to have our name in another book. A better book. A holy and heavenly book. The Lamb’s Book of life. And that is the most important book of all to have your name in.

Something to think about.

Rob

Bad News - Good News

I had to turn off the news the other night. Being an ‘up’ person I just had enough bad news for one day. Seems like BAD was all they had to tell us. My wife and I, just like most of you, have the same routine when it comes to keeping up with what is going on in our neighbourhood, city, province, country and the world. At six most evenings we turn on the news. Sometimes it’s interesting.  Sometimes not so much. Some nights are better than others. If they don’t have enough bad news to fill the whole hour, they fill the time with general interest segments. At some of those things, we just shake our heads.
I remember one night, the lead story was, “What will all the ice wine farmers do if they don’t get a good freeze soon?” Really. Earth shattering, not really. But it’s better than the array of bad news. It seems like more and more, we hear about wars and rumours of wars. It’s about people dying needlessly, and troubles everywhere. You know some other bad news, boys spray painting walls, a house burns down, someone was bit by a stray dog. Again not on the scale of the Exxon Valdez disaster but each of these events are significant to someone somewhere and no less bad news.
We are living our lives surrounded by news that we view as bad. I even checked a supposed Good News Radio station and they had bad news as well.  Where can we get a break from all the bad news? Read the paper most mornings and there it is again. Check the scores of some games and you hear about an injury etc. Bad news.
As I was sitting staring at the blank screen, something struck me. Maybe we, who love God and are called to make disciples, need to bring Good News to our world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news to those people, families, countries, nations and the world. After all, doesn’t your bible read about the good news from the angels to the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” And what did Jesus bring in that good news but peace and love, grace and forgiveness. All the good news from Jesus puts a smile on our face and a realization in our hearts that we can bear all the bad news because of the good news that comes in God’s Son.
A long time ago someone published a wonderful New Testament for everyday people, like you and me. It was a amazing translation that spoke so well. When it came out in 1966, it was called, Good News for Modern Man.
Just thinking to myself, maybe here right now in 2012, we need to turn off the news broadcast once and a while and take a few minutes each night and read about some Good News. What do you think?
Something to think about
RB

There Are Good Habits You Know.

We are all creatures of habit.  Agreed? Agreed. Think about this for a minute.  You and I do the exact same things every day, day in and day out. We never, or should I say, seldom change the way we do things. If you do something a certain way, we may always do it the same way. That is until either you can’t do it any more, or someone will convince you it can be done easier, better, or in less time than the way you do it now.  Believe it or not, this does not always stand up in the court of your own minds. Tomorrow morning take notice of which shoe you put on first. Personally, it’s my left shoe. Then the next morning, just try to put the other shoe on first… Feels weird doesn’t it?

It’s the same with most of what we do. Driving to work, you most often take the same route and only change due to some accident you have to drive around. How about the way you walk around the grocery store.  By the way, these stored have it down to a science on how to design a store and where to place items. And most of it gets you to buy certain items.

You might think I’m going to now talk about having good habits, wonderful habits for Jesus like reading your bible and praying every day. Maybe even developing the habit of a quiet time with Jesus sometime every day. These may be great and I would encourage you to seek them out. But, no, I want you to know that Jesus had habits as well.

Jesus was also a creature of habit doing some things over and over. And like us, that is a good thing.  Take for instance His way of communicating that was very effective. We first talked about this in a small group study years ago. Someone asked if Jesus always spoke to people by using questions? The short answer is no, not all the time. But He was a great one to use questions that usually were dependant on who he was talking to and the outcome He expected from the conversation.  Remember the women that had a problem and He asked, “Who touched me?” As Steve Brown would say, “That would have scared the spit right out of me.” Jesus also asked the blind man from birth, “What do you want?” In John 5 he asks the lame man, “Do you want to get well?”

There were other times when Jesus, thirty times in John’s gospel to be exact, Jesus began speaking by saying, “I tell you the truth”. As if we would ever think that He wouldn’t tell the truth. Try looking those up and see what He said. These were two great ways He used to communicate. It might have been His habit, but it didn’t happen all the time. Case in point comes in Matt. 5. when He starts in verse 3 with these words, “Blessed are. . .” Break from your habit today. After reading this, forget everything else you were going to do and sit down beside Matthew and hear Jesus words. As Matthew and all the other disciples did, find yourself in the words you hear echoing in your mind as Jesus says them to you, maybe for the first time.

Something to think about.

Rob