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Showing posts from August, 2011

Autumn is One of my 4 Favourite Seasons

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What are you looking forward to this fall? This week the writers at Kingdom Bloggers have invaded Joyce Lighari's website, Sounds of Hope to answer this question. Head over there and share what you're anticipating this season.

Hold On for the Blessing

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Indulge me a moment, take a minute and look up Hebrews 11:41 – what does your Bible say? It’s okay, I’ll wait. Oh? Hebrews 11:41 doesn’t exist, you say. It does in my Bible. It says, ‘By faith, Andrea persevered through trial and held on for the blessing that was promised her.’ Perseverance isn’t a core value in our culture anymore. Fewer couples make it to their 25 th wedding anniversary and many companies no longer have tenure reward ceremonies. Seth Godin, marketing guru, pushes the message ‘newer, faster, better’ and we’ve bought into it. Big time. We have a consumer mentality. We want it all, we want it now, and tomorrow we want something new. The problem is (and we know this already) the kingdom of heaven operates differently than our culture. In fact, most things in the kingdom of heaven is the exact opposite of our cultural mindsets. Hebrews 11 is the Lord’s hall of fame; the problem is none of them received what was promised, which was Christ. Even us – we are caught the

The Mistake [almost] Everyone Makes on Reality TV Shows

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I watch reality shows. I admit it. My favourite used to be Amazing Race  but I stopped watching several years ago because I was tired of coaching from my living room with no one taking my advice (I’ve since turned to blogging). Nearly everyone makes the same error and it’s not just on the Amazing Race - it happens on almost every reality TV show. Hebrews 12:1, Therefore since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. I taught grade 4 Sunday School this year and Hebrews 12:1 was one of our memory verses. As an object lesson, I put the kids in two teams and set up a race. I told them that their instructions were to get from the starting line to the finish line. It was clearly marked with masking tape. I asked the kids to repeat back the instructions so I was sure they knew what to do. As the first kids were about to start, I put a Klee

Can You Find God in the Movies?

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As someone with a Biblical worldview, it’s impossible for me to watch or read something without filtering it through that lens. This week (and the following 4 weeks) Kingdom Bloggers are guest posting on each other’s personal blogs. We’re over at Fire & Grace this week, discussing a theological view from our favourite movie or TV show. Head over there , and I’ll reveal a secret that I don’t tell many people.

Unschooled & Ordinary

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Unschooled and ordinary. Yes. Those two words describe me. I don’t have letters behind my name. I have nothing to hang on my wall. I have nothing to prove that I’m educated. And ordinary, yes, I’m definitely that too. There is nothing about me that is unique. If I’ve done it, then so has someone else, and they probably did it better too. Sure, I have talents but not so much that I stand ahead of the rest. I’m ordinary, plain, average. Peter and John were described as unschooled and ordinary in Acts 4:13 . They were called to stand before the formidable Sanhedrin - the religious ruling body. In a ruling council, 23 leaders including the High Priest stand in a demi-circle around the defendants with other law students watching from their position on the floor. The Sanhedrin was made up entirely of the elite, privileged and educated. The contrast between the Sanhedrin to Peter and John was like a Harvard graduate to a self-educated drywaller. It was intimidating to stand before the Sanhed

A Roadtrip with God - Are We There Yet?

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Last Friday, I wrote a post called Messy Church . More than half of my twitter followers clicked on the link to the post – obviously people can relate. It generated quite a number of comments, which lead to the next post on Tuesday called, Should We Even Bother?  In that post, I wrote about continuing to press into the Lord to look and ask for his direction. Despite our faithlessness to follow through, God continues to be faithful as we seek his face. While that is certainly true, seemingly opposite turns of events does not necessarily mean that one thing was right and one thing was wrong. To give an actual example, the church I attended hired a lead pastor almost 5 years ago. Most recently, the pastor was asked for a resignation (a nice way of saying he was fired). It appears the leadership team did a 180° when faced with pressure from the congregation because they no longer liked what the pastor was doing. The topic today is: what if God used both events to bring about the change th

What I Know For Sure

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In her first O, The Oprah Magazine column, Oprah wrote: "We are all the causes of our own effects, ... That's why I'll never stop asking the question, 'What do you know for sure?'" Nearly every Tuesday morning for 6 years when I was leading Women’s Ministry at the church, one woman shared what she knew for sure. It never ceased to amaze me that the number of women who attended and the same amount of different ways that God taught us all different things for the seaon we were in our lives. This week over at Kingdom Bloggers , we are writing about the most important lesson we’ve learned in our faith journey. You could say we’re answering the question Oprah asks every month in her magazine. What do you know for sure?  Click over to Kingdom Bloggers and check out what I know for sure and leave a message to desribe your most important lesson.

Should We Even Bother?

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Whenever my dad is in the car, Gypsy is always with him, talking to him as he drives. Gypsy is a GPS unit and my dad refers to it as a ‘her’ – I suppose because of the female voice. For someone who has always been directionally challenged (I get that from my mother) the introduction of a GPS system is great, although I still navigate the old school way - Google maps. For my dad though, it seems to have made him dumber less smart about directions. He used to be able to navigate well (except when we were travelling through Europe but that’s another story). Now it seems that he can’t get anywhere without hearing from Gypsy. Gypsy is always talking. First she gives warning, such as, “In 300ft, turn right onto McDonald Avenue,” and then when you get to McDonald Avenue Gypsy says, “Turn right here.” You’d think it would be difficult to get off course; you’d think that, but you would be wrong. When I’ve been with my dad, sometimes we choose to make a detour – grab a bit to eat, stop at a ro

Messy Church

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A few years ago I watched a TV program called Dog Town; the show video-journalled the goings-on at an animal shelter for dogs. A stray dog came in that had massive infection from a wound that had been left unattended. The shelter’s veterinarians were not sure if the dog was going to make it. Part of the healing process was to cut away at the infectious and diseased tissue because any effort to encourage new growth would be overtaken by the rot in the flesh of the animal. It was painful to watch, and it must have been very painful for the dog but it had to undergo this treatment on its way to health and wellness. The church I’ve attended for 8 years is going through the same painful and messy process. After a season of purging almost all of the “old” staff and whittling down the congregation from 1,100 to 600, the lead pastor was eventually asked for a resignation. Anyone who’s been through that at a church, understand how uncovered someone feels when the leader is gone. It wasn’t onl

Keep the Noise Down

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Am I just making noise and adding to noise pollution on the internet? It’s the one question that plagues me every time I hit ‘publish’ button on my post. I don’t want to be a noisemaker, adding to the clutter. The internet has made writers, actors and overnight celebrities out of anyone with a connection – ability is no longer a factor. A few weeks ago, I saw a band called, Write This Down. Their name was similar to my own blog name so I asked them what about the meaning of their name and their response was, “Write this down, as in take note of us because we’re going to make it big.” I walked away feeling saddened.  Perhaps they are still young, and need to figure out it isn’t about them, but about giving glory to God who gives us the ability and the desire. This week on Kingdom Bloggers , each of us are answering the question, why blog? Check it out here.

Are You Bi-lingual? part 2

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When it comes to things of God, less is not more. Too often I’ve heard men and women of God say, “If there’s more, I don’t want it. I’m content where I am.” I don’t think that’s what Paul was referring to when he said he learned to be content in every circumstance. It seems sad to me that anyone who is a Christian and loves God would not want everything he desires to give us.  It’s like a child that receives a present from his parents and plays with the box. It’s cute for a while but it is less charming as they get older. The parent giving the gift wants their child to enjoy the entire gift. Likewise, I believe that rejecting something that the Father wants to give us is foolish. Tongues is only one of the gifts, we should desire them all. Today, we are continuing the post topic from last Friday’s post .  On Friday, I described my first exposure to someone speaking in tongues and I offered an explanation on at least two different forms of the gift. For the majority, we will never

Are You Bi-lingual?

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I grew up in an evangelical Christian home. I’m Mennonite by culture, but it wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I attended a Mennonite church. As a child, my parents attended a Baptist church and then an Evangelical Free denomination church. I didn’t (and still don’t) know the real differences between the denominations. I suppose there are small doctrinal differences but one similarity that draws all the evangelical denominations together is their suspicion and distrust of charismatic Pentecostals. If I pinpoint the specific problem, it’s the division over speaking in tongues. My first experience of hearing tongues being spoken was in a conservative church setting; I was around 12 years. Someone stood up and started speaking gibberish. I don’t know what was more startling – the fact that someone would interrupt the solemn reverence in our stoic worship, or how quickly the ushers got to her and helped her to the back. Later I asked my parents what that was about and I could tell from t

Church Lady

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I knew that when I received a hot/cold food dish and carrying case that I was officially a Church Lady. Until that point, I may have suspected it to be true but it wasn’t defined or verbalized. Once I unwrapped the Christmas paper and stared at the Pyrex box displaying a picture of a happy family going to a church potluck with their food dish carrying case in tow, I knew I had entered a different era of my life. I’m sure if I asked you, you could also recall great details of a few of your defining moments.  Today is Wednesday, which means I’m over at Kingdom Bloggers . The theme this week is defining moments, click here to another, more recent defining moments and then share your own defining moments – I’d love to hear them.

Why Heaven Isn't for You

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I have a friend named Jay; he’s one of my closest friends, if not my best friend. At first glance, Jay isn’t much to look at – he’s probably 145lbs soaking wet but he’s the type of guy you have to get to know before you realize the kind of crazy crap he gets himself (and everyone with him) into. You never know what he’s going to do next. He has a great sense of humour, can quote lines from every movie and he knows how to barbeque a great swordfish. Not only are the good times great, when I need to talk about serious stuff, he listens and always says the perfect thing to make me feel better – it’s like he knows my mind. Many of my other friends know him too and they love hanging out with him, but not everyone.  He told me about one time he was a party, it was a wedding actually. Jay grew up in a small town, and you know how it goes - everyone goes to a social event. The evening is winding down, everyone is drunk or at least tipsy, and Jay’s mother starts complaining that the punchbowl