The Call

We awoke Friday morning to the phone ringing. Lakeview Heights Baptist Church near Kelowna, BC, voted the night before to hire me as their youth pastor. Wow, what a great moment. Sadly, the moment was a bit overshadowed by the brutality of the timing. It was 7:30am and I had been in bed less than six hours. We were out at a concert in Victoria and it was really late when we got home. I think I said yes. I sure hope I did. Maybe I should give them a call and confirm.

Okay, so we’re moving to the Okanagan. Oh, and we’ve got a month to pack up everything and go. Awesome. Please pray.

Trustiness

Sometimes I’m tempted to think that my being right with God is easy. All I have to do is have faith (a.k.a. trust) that a man long ago, who was God, took care of everything and made it all possible: my being right with God. As long as I leave it at that everything seems easy.

But trust isn’t so easy.

I’ll “trust” that it’s done, that faith makes me right, but for good measure let me add to that reading of the scriptures, going to church, tithing, feeding the poor, not shopping on Sunday, praying five times a day, and reading to blind kids. That’s a mouthful. Let me just sum it up (it being all that I’m going to do to win God’s favour) with the word religion.

While all these things are good, and, to some degree, part of how we should live, we must honestly ask ourselves how often we are trusting more in them for salvation. Our trust is to be in God not us: in what God did not what we can do.

Sometimes taking care of things myself can seem easier than trusting that God took care of it all. But I wasn’t made for religion. I was made for relationship. I can’t help but think that religion is a hindrance to having a relationship with God.

Perhaps I need to spend more time learning to trust, than relying on myself.

Dove Awards

Just wanted to throw out a huge congratulations to David Crowder Band and all the others who won Dove awards last night (but mostly to David Crowder Band).

I have but one question that I’d love for someone to answer for me: what exactly is the award for “Recorded Music Packaging of the Year”? Does someone, somewhere, look at all the various ways you could package music and go, “Wow, these guys put it on a CD. That’s amazing! A CD, who would have thought of such a thing?”

Regardless, Remedy won that award so it is therefore a good award.

To see a clip of an award wining song check out Everything Glorious

thoughts on an all too common job description

A co-worker handed me a posting for a job the other day. (I’m not sure if perhaps this warrants some discussion of another kind.) I thought I would share the contents of that posting with you as I’m not sure if this is serious or not. The posting read:

Wanted – Youth pastor

A go-getter, a person of passion, a visionary, a leader of youth, a person who will solve all our problems

Wow.

To the church who posted the job, I have but this to say: “good luck with that.”

I have a sneaking suspicion that add is somewhat tongue in cheek, but it reminds me of just how often we fall into the trap of “one thing more,” and we get thinking that all our problems will be solved once we acquire that “one thing more.” We say, “If we hire this person all the problems will be fixed”, or convince ourselves that new love seat will make life complete.

But our problems don’t go away once we get more.

When we finally pause to asses the situation, we often find ourselves with heaps of stuff, and even more problems, because, not only are the old issues still present, we now need to figure out how to move all our acquisitions with us.

Perhaps we expect from stuff, and people as well, things they were never designed to do or be. Just ask my wife if her problems were solved when she married me. Nothing ever seems to come with the same level of satisfaction advertiser’s promise.

I’m often wondering if I’d have fewer problems if I had fewer things. Maybe I need to stop wondering and find some answers. If “only one thing is needed,” why do I have so much?

Towers

I want to be close to God. I’m sure, at least I hope, I’m not alone in that. On days when God doesn’t seem so near, building a tower to get closer to him seems like a good idea.

Sometimes I’m tempted to think that those guys in Genesis 11 had a good idea. Only I’d build a tower with more noble intentions. Instead of trying to be famous like God, I’d build my tower so I could poke my head into heaven and have a look around.

I wonder how many of us are trying to get closer to God through our own efforts of elevation.

It seems like a good idea, doesn’t it? After all, where is God? He’s in heaven right? Now Heaven, as we all know, is up. Isn’t it?

Generally when we read the Bible we find all sorts of verses to support a “God’s up there and were down here” system of things. So we build towers, climb ladders, tie weather balloons to lawn chairs all to get higher and, therefore, closer to God – at least where God is supposed to be – to the place we understand is his home.

However, there are also verses that talk about God coming down and walking about the earth. What if he still does that? We’re often taught that God doesn’t do that anymore, but what certainty do these teachers have? What if God’s hiding out in some quiet corner of the woods, or the Rocky Mountains, or Coombs, or Central park just enjoying his creation? We are confident that, at the very least, his Spirit inhabits his people. God’s Spirit is on the earth.

So what if God isn’t just up there, but also down here? And what if we, through all our efforts of trying to get higher and closer to God, find ourselves somewhere in between? What if we’re missing God because we’re up in a tower out of touch from the dirt he’s walking on while yet not high enough to reach heaven?

Perhaps I should spend more time looking for God around here, and less time trying to climb my way to heaven.

Stuff

My wife, Sheena, and I have been going through a bunch of old boxes. Almost all of them are full of things we acquired prior to getting married. Sometimes it’s embarrassing to see what we’ve spent money on. We can’t help but think of the sizable down payment we’d have on a house had we saved all that money instead. But at the time one of us just had to have the latest *NSYNC album.

There are, however, a good number of items I’m pleased to have brought into our marriage. I had great expectations that my wife would be as excited about each item as I was: if not more.

But not a single one impressed her.

Actually, for the most part, she’s eager for the day we can get rid of them.

Now, how many times do we come to God with all these things, this stuff, expecting Him to use them, and be as impressed with them as we are?

One day Jesus said to a woman frantic to provide stuff for him: “Only one thing is needed.” (For the whole account you can turn to Luke 10:38-42)

When Jesus spoke those words, the one thing needed is nothing that we can make with our hands. The one thing needed is our attentive heart: our life. It’s not a meal, an apple computer, or twelve of the hottest tracks of 2000. These things impress men, but not God.

Are we still trying to offer God the things that matter to us, and expect Him to use them?

He wants to use us. Jesus didn’t come to earth to redeem stuff so that the things of this world can be used by God. He came and redeemed us so that we can be made into the people God wants us to be.

Perhaps it’s time to take stock once again of all our stuff, especially the things that we’re trying to force fit into God’s plans, maybe then we’ll see there’s a whole lot of stuff we need to get rid of.


Like when I got married and brought into the marriage all this stuff expecting Sheena to be excited about it, at least as excited as I was, if not more, only God isn’t as excited about our stuff as we are.

Jesus said: “Only one thing is needed.”

When Jesus said “only one thing is needed,” He wasn’t talking about my apple computer. Or any of the stuff we offer God with expectations of his appreciation.

In truth, when Jesus spoke those words, He was speaking with a woman who though that Jesus would be impressed with a nice meal. Now I would be impressed with a nice meal, but not Jesus.

Let’s read the story found in Luke 10: 38-42

Instead of just coming as He made us, or as He is making us to be, we come with our accomplishments and what we have made. That doesn’t impress God. He wants what He has made.

Perhaps it’s time to take stalk once again of al our stuff, especially the stuff that we’re trying to force fit into God’s plans, maybe then we’ll see there are whole lot of things we need to get rid of.