It's Not On YouTube

Have you ever wanted to do something so badly but didn’t know where to go to learn how to do it?  In our electronic age, some of this learning stuff can be found at the click of a mouse. We did just that the other week when we had to fix the riding lawnmower.

Back when I was much younger, and into old cars, I decided that I wanted to purchase a wonderful kind car I really liked. A search of the sale ads in the paper, lead me to a very nice car that fit the bill. (If you want to know what the car was, click on 'reply' or send me an email and I will let you know). It was exciting to go and look at it and listen to the seller.  He was a doctor who had purchased the car three years earlier. It needed work and he decided that he was going to learn the skills to do it himself. Thinks like welding, bodywork and even learned upholstery and engine work. I was so impressed with his finished product, I bought it right there and then.

There are still many other skills like the doctor developed that take time and effort. You can’t just do a YouTube search and start doing working away and be good at it. It takes doing something over and over until you develop the skills. When I worked at Ford, they taught us how to take dents out on a painted car so they didn’t have to repaint the car. We didn’t learn it in one day, it took weeks of continuous repetitive work to perfect the skill.

I believe it’s the same about being a Christ Follower.  Yes, our Christian life starts at one moment in time. But the spiritual journey takes time and effort, it takes reading and praying and worshiping and being with others who have been down the road a long time before we came along. Through all those many, many years of training, teaching, and learning, we finally get good, but not great as Paul told us about his own journey in our bibles. We get good, when we finally recognize that God is the instructor of our training.  

Something to think about

Rob

It Was Hot!

Our Christmas song goes something like this: “The weather outside is frightful…” But this past week we were saying the same but in a different way. We Canadians spend a lot of time talking about the weather. It’s either too hot, or too cold, too much sun or too cloudy.  We even had the odd time we are lost for words when all we need to say is, “today, the weather is perfect”.

We are creatures who have the unfathomable ability to analyze everything about our outward environment. It’s true, but we have to understand the difference between whiners and wishful thinkers. This goes beyond just the weather. Case in point, we complain about the grass. First it turns brown way too fast as the sun comes out and withers not just the grass but us as well. So, we fertilize and it grows like crazy and we complain we have to cut it too often. To which we say, “Can’t win for loosing”.

The question for today is, “Do we also have similar problems internally?” Are we sometimes cool and sometimes hot? Interestingly, this past week I struggled with the word for the Sunday. The word was commitment. In some way, I was still struggling with it myself. Until I read the daily verse for today.

It told me of one place we need it to be hot all the time. Not externally but internally. Here it is for all of us.  The NIV reads: “the Spirit gives us power and love”. But the MSG reads “. . . the special gift of ministry you received . . . —keep that ablaze! We all received it when we were called. Every time it gets hot outside, may we be reminded to be hot inside for Him.

Something to think about.

Rob  

Say Something Nice

Something has been on my mind for a long time and I hope you don’t mind if we talk. It seems like everything that goes on fb is picked up and criticised by almost everyone. For example; a person goes out and loses 50 lbs and posts a picture, then so many people write back telling the person they should wait until they’re skinny to post a picture. Or, on the news feed they are taking about how terrible it is that Prince Harry is ignoring the press. What! He and Megan are already in a fish bowl existence and they are upset because they want to ‘normal’ life experience. Seems that most of them compliment and say congratulations. Then there are the people who must troll the internet all day and they say things like: ‘ooww, you should have waited until you lost another 100lbs. Nobody needs to see that’. Really people!

I’m thinking, wasn’t Jesus the Son of The King Eternal? Maybe that is why Jesus came when He did. He had His critics. I can only imagine what people would post on the internet about Him. But then again, with His power, He could end the www. His critics then were mostly the ministers and church leaders. Remember the time He went back to His hometown and did some amazing teaching. The leaders and people argued, (my words) “Who does He think He is. He’s just a carpenter’s son. And where did He go to school to get to teach like this?”

I can only imagine what it would be like for Him to be here today. After all, there are people, who don’t believe He was who He said He was, they would be filling His fb page with terrible stuff? Out there, people think they are number one. They don’t believe in Jesus. They also think they can get themselves to heaven, if there is one, because they are their own God.

Back to fb. Even though the creator of Microsoft wants everyone to get off fb, because of all the bullying, we have the opportunity to change this in our small piece of this world. If you are going to post something, say something good. That’s biblical. I remember where it says, ‘build each other up….”. Or how about that saying you heard your grandparents tell you; “If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all.”

 

A Lot Of Buzzz

I’m really getting into my new hobby. Simply put, BEEs. With the help of Bill, Catherine, and Jack, I’m learning what it’s all about. The bees showed up about four weeks ago and this week I had the opportunity to take my beehives apart to see how the bees are doing. Now I know where the line came from, "busy as a bee". They were working away all over the place in the hive and they didn’t even notice I was there.

This past Saturday I drove out to see Bill and get some more equipment that was needed right away as the hive was getting over crowded. This time I took it upon myself to double the size of the hive. Again, they didn’t give me second look. They were totally fixated on their role and what they had to do. You see, every single bee has a specific task and they never stop working on that one task.

They fly out, get what they need and get back and install it. Then, out again. It can be the waxy substance for the cones that hold eggs or honey. Or looking for pollen and all that goes into making honey, The best part, our cousins over home call it, 'the bees knees'. What a beautiful thing to watch.  Here they are flying back in, making their contribution. They would walk in and go to work, many times crawling over each other and just going for it, going to accomplish their God given task – and undoubtedly loving every second of it.

So, how about us? God gave each of us a ministry to accomplish for Him. Are we working at it? I would think that is how God wants us to walk in life. Emulating what we see with these bees doing time & time again. When we do, we are not part of a hive, but church. And just like the bees that make more than they need, the world gets the overflow.

Something to think about.

Rob

Someone From The Past

One of the beautiful things about holidays is, you get time to reconnect.  Sometimes you have not seen or talked to people you know for a long time and the quieter summer avails us the opportunity to see family and friends once more. Sometimes it’s been a long while. Other times it may just seem like a lifetime ago when you saw each other last.

Just recently I ran into someone from the past. Haven’t had opportunity to connect often and even this time, it seemed so brief. Right now, you might be thinking of someone you have not seen for a while. Maybe the person that comes to mind is a family member, a former close friend or even, way back in those long forgotten school days.

At graduation time, I think of school. Had a few schools in my time. We moved a number of times so I can count, eight up until graduating high school. That means eight groups of individuals who walked together for a moment in time. Some of them still pop up in my mind at times like these.

Then I start to think about people I have grown to know in the churches I have been in. There were seven of those in my first sixteen years of life. Even more churches after I accepted God’s call on my life. I still fondly remember many, many people over these years. I remember, like in school, learning so much from other people.

One important lesson I learned from one individual on this journey was (or should I say ‘is’) “Never let God become a connection of the past.” We may walk away from others but God is not one we should ever consider someone of the past. He is present, He is here. He is not across the country where you have to travel. If you have disconnected with Him, maybe it’s time to call out His, He is near and easy get to know once again.

Something to think about.

Rob