my kids

i am very proud of my kids. sometimes they drive me nuts, (i think i did the same to my parents when i was younger..any maybe still do to this day.....) Anyway, today was Emma's awards day at her school. i was hoping that she would get an award, and she did!!! she got the Havelock home and school award, which was awarded for being a helper.. this is what she does the best, she loves to lend a helping hand... just like her mother.
Erica, on the other hand, would much rather sit and watch TV than work, which i might add she gets from her father...
I've said all of this to say that while my kids are different, i am very proud of them... it's my prayer that they will grow up to be contributing members of society and become fully devoted followers of Christ. i truly believe that the second prayer will help with the first.

take a walk

Bill Hybels wrote a book a few years back called "just walk across the room" the basic premise of the book is that evangelism is as simple as taking a walk across the room and saying hello to someone you don't know.
I have, for the last few years, been talking a walk with a fellow in our community. he is, by his own admission, not a religious man, but i have been trying my hardest to show him the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.
i don't know if he will ever accept Jesus as his lord and savior, but i am only responsible to "take a walk". I do know, that i have left an impression on him and his family.

he has told me several times that he and i hit it off, because i didn't "preach to him".
i tried to become his friend first, and by becoming his friend, i have had the chance to pray for him more times than not.

i know that evangelism is much bigger than walking across the room, but i think it can be as simple as walking across the room.

i am glad that the Lord has used me to impact the life of this man, and i am praying that he will, one day, come to know Jesus.

do you need to take a walk and become a friend to someone? you never know where it might lead.

new posts....

.....may be lacking in the next few weeks. with us packing up and moving, (and on vacation too) i might not have too much to say, but i will be back again once we are "settled" in at Maple Ridge, which, by the way, we are looking forward to....
thanks to you all for reading in the past, and i will try to keep up on the blog at a later
date.

My life in boxes

that's an interesting title, isn't it? In case you haven't heard-- or you've been out of the country for the last few months, my family and I are moving. We have been called to Pastor the Maple Ridge Wesleyan Church, a task that we are looking forward to very much--- anyway, back to the post...

We are starting to put all of our stuff in boxes, as this makes moving much easier. As I was filling up a box (notice I said "a box", I don't like packing) as I was packing a box, I began to ask myself "do you really need that?"

I tend to, oh how shall I say it, hold on to things. I come by it honestly enough, for i think we all hold on to things too much. (it could be a harsh word that was spoken to us years ago, or it could be stuff, either way we all hold on to stuff....)

As I was packing this box, I was also throwing stuff out. I came to the conclusion that If i haven't used it in the last 6 months, I probably don't need it to begin with, so it make it's way to Value Village, or the garbage can.

This reminds me of the words of Jesus: "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15b, NIV).
Our life is not measured, according to Jesus, by the amount of "Stuff" we have.

Eventually, all our stuff, will, one day, go in a box. All that you have will, one day, be packed up. John Ortberg said "when the game is over, it all goes back in the box."
So take a look at some of the stuff that you have, it could be that maybe you don't need that 5th gold Rolex, or that extra drill press, or that.... well I hope you get the idea.

If you would like to have some extra "stuff" I know where you will be able to get some......

quote

as I've mentioned in an earlier post, I am reading John Ortberg's new book:" the me I want to be". It is a good book.. makes one think.

Here is the quote I read yesterday and have been thinking about off and on since: "When someone bumps into me, what spills out of me reveals what is inside of me". (pg. 46)
what he is referring to here is when someone "bumps" into us, what comes out of us, should be good. When the Holy Spirit invades our lives, He should fill us with His life-giving water, and that should come out of our lives when we are "bumped" into by someone, or when we face trouble, or hardships.
It all comes back to what Jesus said in Matthew 12: 35: "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." (NIV)

If Evil is going into our lives, then when someone "bumps" into us, evil will come out. But if, and this should be the case if you are a disciple of Jesus, you put good in, then good will come out when someone "bumps" into you.

I know I still have work to do in this area... how about you, if I happen to "bump" into you, what will come out of you.. Good (the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit) or Bad?

I've been thinking.....

Usually, when My wife says that, it ends up costing me money.... or maybe it's the other way around... anyway,

I have had this thought in my brain the last few weeks, I am not sure what to make of it, or even if I should expand on it or not, but here it is
"why is it that people in the church-- the one's who have been saved by grace-- are sometimes the least likely to show that same grace to other people" ??

it's an interesting thought, right? Maybe I am way off base here, but often times I am "ungraceful" in my dealings with people, even though it's only because of Grace that I have been saved...

I need to, as John Ortberg suggests in one of his books (when the game is over it all goes back in the box) to learn how to ""play with grace, win with grace and lose with grace..."

my kids are yelling at each other right now... .. I guess there is no time like the present to to show some Grace.

Quote

I read this quote today during my quite time with the Lord.. It is taken from Rick Warren's Book "God's Power to change your life".. Here it is:
"God produces the fruit of the Spirit in us by allowing us to encounter situations and people with characteristics that are exactly the opposite of the Fruit of the Spirit." (pg.44)
Interesting.
If I have read this correctly, God, who wants to grow in me the 9 Fruit of the Spirit, (that's all nine, not one, two or five, If I am a disciple of Jesus, I am to have all 9 fruit) He will put in my path people who don't have the Fruit of the Spirit.
Rick explains this quote by saying that if we want to love, (the first fruit) God will not give us people that we love, that's easy. God, who wants to grow the Fruit of the Spirit called Love in His children, will put people in our lives who are "hard to love" this, Rick says, will allow God to grow the Fruit of Love in our lives.
It makes sense. If I want to have Patience, (which I do, especially with my kids) then I need to have an encounter with someone who takes Patience. It's the same way with the other 7 Fruit.
God wants to grow these fruit in our Lives, and, this takes, time. Just as plants are not grown in one day, the Fruit of the Spirit will take time to "grow" in my life.
By allowing these 9 fruit to be in my life, I am becoming more and more like my Savior, Jesus Christ.

It's as a bumper sticker once said "God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts"