One Family or Another

Anybody out there into Genealogy? Just thought I would ask because I am. Found out some fascinating information through the years. Some things come from a generation back and some eight generations back. Every family has their our villains and our very own rouges. So, don't try to deny it. If we are really fortunate we have exemplary family members we like to talk about more than the others. When we think of them, we smile as we consider the reality that their blood runs through out veins. As I sit here I think of my grandfather who was my hero, and pray that I have lived up to a life that he would be proud of.

I’ve been told that one of my infamous relatives was a rum runner between England and France. But I also know one relative was a close friend of John & Charles Wesley and this relative brought Methodism to USA and ultimately to Hay Bay Ontario. Which one do I want to associate with? You guess.

A connection to a first order Methodist is wonderful but we all have direct connections to the first order of Christendom. Yes, we do.  Steve Brown loves to tell everyone that everyone related to Jesus is related to every one who is related to Jesus and the other way around. It doesn’t matter who they are or what side of the theological fence they are sitting on. The truth is, if you are related to Jesus, you are related to me. Hope you don’t mind this bro.  So get out your phone and take a selfie with all the rest of this amazing family.  And you might consider singing along together.
"I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. . ."
Something to think about.
Rob

Just - Do - It!

I was at the gym the other day and noticed something. I noticed it before but for some reason it really clicked in this time. I noticed all too well that none of us are at the same place physically. Like myself, there were people there who are not in the best shape of their lives. Some would say, loosing the battle. Others work out and have worked at it for decades. Don’t say anything but some have been there for 20 years and it hasn’t helped. People come in all types of shapes and sizes and I am proud to be part of this gym where people are at least trying to get in better shape than they have been.

One lady that day looked like she has just joined and I wanted to go up to her, introduce myself and welcome her and encourage her. But then I was afraid she might ask how long I have been at the gym and by looking at me, she might have thought I just joined and she might have been discourage by the lack of progress with my body over these last thirty years and quit before she got started.

The best part - we get up, get there and try. The same is true for each one of us who have come to Christ. We get up, open our bible, go to the church, pray, and meet with others who are also looking to get in better spiritual shape than we have been. We go to churches that fit our personality and look for the Christ who meets us where we are. We connect with all the other Christ followers who are also trying to get better. Even though we are at different places in our journey, we are all there to help each other. It’s part of who we are. He helps us and maybe we can encourage those who are just starting. Can even be excited for those further along who lend us a hand. After all, we have the same goal. The goal; to get to the end of the line where we look into Jesus eyes and hear Him say, “Well Done!”

Something to think about.

Rob

Snowbells

Do you agree that it’s been a long time coming? We have indeed been waiting.  By long I mean maybe five months. Well actually it has been more than 135 days of cold wintery weather. Seems much longer. If my memory serves me correctly, our winter started the first day after Halloween.  For those who don’t think spring will ever arrive, I’m here to tell you it will and it has.  Just the other day I took note of the snow bells sticking their beautiful white heads up through the snow. I know where they are in our garden so I went looking for them. Actually, we placed them out near the front sidewalk so we could share this momentous occasion with everyone.

Many of us are delighted to see them and to now realize that spring has indeed come. You may have even heard the song of your first Robin, and it wasn’t me. In many ways, spring is a new beginning, especially with these first evidence of it. New life is starting to come to our gardens, and to our lives. I look at Easter as just that, the evidence of new life. Just like when we first accepted Christ into our lives and we were born again into the family of God. It was the spring of our spiritual lives and the evidence of a new beginning. It was a wonder to behold. God knows. He knows when we need a spring in our world just as He knew when we need a spring in our spiritual life.

It is time for a new start but not just in our world. We also need a new spring in our spiritual life, a renewed commitment to Christ. A new beginning don’t you think?

Isaiah 45:8

“You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it; I, the Lord, have created it.

Something to think about.

Rob

Reading and Writing

It’s been a long time. A very long time.  No, not long in relations to dinosaurs. The long time ago relates to that fateful day I began writing these articles. Well over seven hundred have passed out of the ends of my finger tips and into your mind. Some of you have been here from the very beginning. Back then you put up with a struggling young writer, trying desperately to say something that might vaguely connect everyday life with an ever present God. Or maybe it’s the other way around?

Over these years we have all noticed that times have changed. Not only has life changed but we have change. Society changed, and it’s still changing as it drags us kicking and screaming into the future. Most of us don’t like change, well, deal with it. When I started writing, tv’s and land line phones were the norm, not computers, not cell phones. Well, except for the rich and famous.  Some of my early articles have been lost to the crashing of old computers, deletes that were un-intentional or I just forgot to click on “save”. Maybe that’s for the better. But then again, God is unchanging, 'The same yesterday, today and forever.'

In all these articles and years I have prayed that you have learned something about being a child of God. If truth be told, we have all grown in our faith through these snippets in time. After writing, and in your case, reading, I pray you turn from this to your bible. Much better writers there. If only one thing is true, it would be that I have grown while writing. Before sitting down at the computer, I have seen how God steps into time and space and touched lives and changes people. I have seen children look up into the eyes of their parents and noticed a glimpse of God in dad’s eyes. I’ve seen the eyes of the elderly light up as they shared the most intimate moment of their lives when they felt the pull of God on their heart strings many decades before. And, at times we have even enjoyed a smile every once and a while as we read these fleeting words in our area paper and recognized something of ourselves. Thanks for joining me on this amazing journey. He still loves each and every one of us. That will never change. I pray that through all this time you will have grown closer to Christ. I also pray that you have experienced many moments where you had Something To Think About.

Rob

Planning The Trip

There is something magical about planning a trip.  It can be as mundane as planning to go to the zoo or the art gallery down the road. For some, planning a car ride on a warm summer Sunday afternoons can lead to a wonderful visit with an elderly family member only a hundred kilometers away.

Just recently I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to our good friends share many experiences they had on trips they have planned over the years. We were even part of one of those trips where we saw whales swimming close to the ship. But that wasn’t the planning. It was what we all experience once we are where we planned to be.

It’s a process that begins with making a decision. Of deciding where to go and only ends when you set foot inside your front door on you return. Recently we did some planning. Checked for flights, made a choice, paid the price and waited for the day to arrive. Actually, we didn’t wait, we continued to plan. The exercise of asking questions like, what to take, what needs to be done before going, contact numbers, emergency planning and more and more and more. And then there is the final part of the planning, answering all the questions about coming back. Wonder if Lazarus had to do that?

Planning is also something we need to do in our spiritual life. From the very first moment we accept Christ into our lives we start planning. We ask ourselves all those planning questions that begin with, “How do I get from here to there?” You must understand God planned our trip to this earth and we are planning our return to heaven. I’ll let you in on a secret, don’t get lost or make a wrong turn. This is what I believe. My bible tells me that heaven is my home and I’m on a journey back. It’s not just how’s you planning going to get home before the dark, it’s also the bigger question, how is the return journey going so far?  Heaven is our home and we are all homeward bound.

Something to think about.

RB