Posts

Showing posts from October, 2010

Movember: Growing a Moustache for a Great Cause

Sometimes what starts as a laugh turns into something more... To be honest, when I first learned about Movember yesterday, I chuckled and thought that was it. But after praying about it and chatting with my family, I'm totally sold on this and excited to be a part of it! The 'Mo', slang for moustache, and November come together each year for Movember . Each Movember men are challenged to change their appearance and the face of men's health by growing a moustache. The moustache is our ribbon, the means by which we raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, my commitment is to grow a moustache for 30 days. Funds raised benefit Prostate Cancer Canada. Why am I doing this? To be honest, and it's kind of sad to admit this, when it comes to health issues I'm incredibly ignorant. Even though I serve as a pastor and come along side people in times of need, I'm totally clueless on medical issues and th

Masks

Image
I gotta admit. I love costumes and getting dressed up. Always have... and probably always will. I dream of the day when I'll have this incredibly cool costume that would win me all the prices at every Comic book convention... but I digress. I've been reading a lot this week about Moses and his veil. In Exodus we read how Moses' face would shine because of the glory of God... but then it would start to fade. It's been challenging to me to think how do I allow God's glory in me to fade. Is it even possible? If I have the spirit of God in me, does it ever fade? There are times when I feel my life is shining bright with God's glory... and others, well, not so much. This Sunday I'm preaching on this text and Paul's comment on it found in 2 Corinthians. I'm looking forward to unpacking it and sharing with the entire congregation since this will be my first Family Service at Greenbelt (normally the kids grade 1 to 5 go to KidZone). I'm always a

Loving Our Neighbours

This morning in our men's community group we discussed the parable of the Good Samaritan and Jesus' reminder that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our being and to love our neighbours as ourselves. We had a great discussion about what that looks like in our culture and how it impacts some of the difficult issue that come up in people's lives. Our talk really hit home in my heart this morning... especially being in a new community again. Before, in our previous home, it was VERY easy to make connections with our neighbours since everyone was pretty much a young family like ours. We could easily connect just based on the common ground we had with the age of our kids. In fact, every evening a large number of families would meet up at the park across from our house and the adults would socialize while the kids played. Now, we find ourselves in a new city. And we moved into a community where, as of yet, I have not seen a single child. The house is nearly 40

Go Waste Some Time

I've been doing a lot of reading on Sabbath keeping in order to prepare this Sunday's message. I've been skimming through Mark Buchanan's book The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath . GREAT STUFF! I particularly like the chapter called Play: Stopping Just to Waste Time. Why? Because he recommends to his readers to go and read a comic book! Ok. That's not the only reason. Play is such a big part of our lives as kids... and somewhere, somehow that goes away with the increased demands on our lives. It's interesting how it even affect how I play with my own kids... We love family game night in our house... but I find myself so scheduled with it sometimes that it can actually take the fun out of it. I begin to stress about it when we've passed bedtime... or if there are other things on my mind... or worrying that I should be finishing the basement. In those times, play just doesn't feel like play. It feels like obligation. God has

Get Some Rest

This week I've been yawning like crazy. I've been having a hard time getting a good night's sleep and feeling a little restless. Normal, I'm sure, considering the recent move and all the renovations we're doing around the house... Next Sunday I'm preaching on the importance of keeping Sabbath. Not as a legalistic, religious tradition... but rather as a privilege and as part of our wireing as people created in the image of a Sabbath keeping God. I'm learning a ton re-exploring this topic. I've not always been a good Sabbath keeper. This past year I've gotten a lot better at it. This afternoon, while studying, I was just reminder of what Jesus told his followers after they've been doing the work of the ministry like crazy. Jesus told them in Mark 6:31: "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." I love that Jesus didn't say "Go somewhere by yourselves and get some rest" but rather he wanted them t

Be Joyful Always?

I'm always amazed at how it's the little, tiny verses in the Bible that really seem to stretch and challenge me the most. This week I was reading 1 Thessalonians... and verse 5:16 really hit a cord in me. Be joyful always. Very small. Very simple. Easy to skim over. But how am I doing in that area of my life? Am I joyful always? In every situation that I find myself in, am I joyful? Or do I allow myself to get grumpy and crabby? Is my joy only situational? When things are good and I'm content, I'm joyful? How can I work at always being joyful? The next two verses give the answer: pray continually; & give thanks in all circumstances! Pray for me is not simply a 20 minute prayer time in the morning to kick start my day... but rather a continuous conversation during the day. Sure, from time to time, I'm doing most of the talking... but when I find those quiet moments during the day when I can just chill and listen then I find myself more joyful and more

What Are You Expecting Today?

This morning in my Men's Community Group we very briefly touched on the question "Do you live each day expecting great things from God?" Do I? Do I expect God to show up in mighty and miraculous ways today? Do I expect great things today... or is it just another day... just another sermon to finish... just more emails to answer... just more phone calls to make. I choose to live my life trusting in the incredible and powerful nature of God! I know that God can show up in the big events and the tiny details of life. I know God is great and he is doing great things all around me. I'm expecting something GREAT today! How about you?