The Little Things

Mark got a call from his daughter about a stray dog. He really couldn't leave work to go help, but he decided this was an exception. While driving to render a hand he heard an announcemet on the Christian radio station about a new church in town, Calvary Fellowship London. "Hmm. I've never heard of that place before."

When he called the phone number, I answered. "Let's get together at Tim Horton's for some coffee." He told me about the ad on the radio. "That's funny. We haven't been on the radio for months. They must've just stuck in to fill up an empty space." Unfortunately, we were no longer doing the Bible study, as we wanted to focus more on Toronto.

Mark and his wife Christine were in Miami recently. He reminded of this story. It reminded both of us of how God works. We never know why "little" things happen. But God does. And He uses even the little things in our lives to reach others, help us grow, and glorify His name.

Thirty Nine

I turned thirty nine last month. Next year at this time I'll be forty. I used to think that was old. I plan on using the next forty years of my life to make disciples, namely my children, and secondly, those that the Lord brings around me at church and beyond.

Isn't it true that we gain wisdom as we continue to walk with the Lord through the years. Now that I've got a pinch of wisdom, I'm looking forward to helping others navigate life for Jesus.

God could have planned it that our bodies just get better and stronger as we get older. But if that was the case, we would all look forward to old age, and probably not long for heaven as much. What hope we have of eternal life! That will be absolutely glorious.

What If Peter Blogged?

The Apostle Peter would’ve made a good blogger. Luke 9:33 says, "As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out..." (NLT)

I remember noticing this one time. Peter, not knowing what to say, opened his mouth and said something. That sounds like some bloggers out there. Admittedly, all of us do that at one point, blogging or not.

Some blogs are blabs, others are blurts. That’s ok. Reading is a choice.

One of my favorite classes at the University of Miami was Honors Creative Writing, taught by Peter Hargatai. He provoked us to use powerful words. Words are to be crafted into meaningful sentences. I love writing.

Know a good blog? Share it with me. Let me know what your favorite blogs are.

Friends from Canada

Friendship is important, cool, necessary. It's what life is made of. Last week, on seperate occasions, we had the joy of seeing two friends from Canada. They were in town. One was Joan Veldcamp. That's a picture of her along with my daughter's foot. Joan serves the Lord with Gospel for Asia. She's been a blessing in our lives.

Our other visitor was Andy Falleur. Andy serves Jesus as Pastor of Calvary Chapel Ottawa. We wish he could have brought his wife and kids. Pat was able to spend some time with Andy and his cohorts but the visit was cut short because of Caleb's illness.

Thank you guys for coming!

Mac Attack

I've been having problems with this blogger service since I got a MacBook Pro. I'll keep the computer and change the service, thank you very much. I guess Type Pad is the way to go? Let me know those who know!

Acts

I'm going to be teaching the book of Acts for our newly developed School of Discipleship. We're using Stott's commentary. Should be a great time. I'm excited.

Resurrection Eggs?

The first time I saw "Resurrection Eggs" I thought, "Whatever." I surmised it was another typical cheap, embarrassing "Christian" product that people I don't have much in common with would like. (Editors note: that was many years ago, and hopefully I've grown in grace and don't harbor much cynical judgment anymore, maybe.)

Be that as it may, the other member of my marriage asked me to buy Resurrection Eggs so that we could have an egg hunt with our gonna-be-three year old daughter, Genesis. I mumbled something about Astarte, without committing to making the run to the local Christian store.

Later, recognizing scoring points with my wife and daughter is a high priority, (know that our marriage is not based on points because if it is, I'm losing) I proudly announced that I would succumb to her desire and go buy the pagan eggs. By the way, I also bought this thing to color eggs without making a mess, and some Christian Easter/Resurrection stickers. Twenty bucks later, we were sitting around the dinner table as Daddy was telling the Easter (Resurrection) story and Genesis was opening each egg - the last of which is empty. (Empty tomb, get it?)

I was pleasantly surprised, well thought out, nice product. I was glad to have a great opportunity to teach my daughter about Jesus betrayal, torture, death, and resurrection.

Resurrection Eggs get a thumbs up in my book.

Then we really got carried away and hunted Easter eggs filled with gummy worms and M & M's!

In A Battle?

Deuteronomy 20:3 encourages us to not let our heart faint. Do not be afraid, do not be terrified. Here's why. The LORD our God is He who goes with you - to fight for us against our enemies - to save us. Jesus is always with us. I can look back through the years of my life - those times from a teenager to young adult to grown man - Jesus has been my constant companion. Lord, You fight my battles.

Converted, Andy, and the Main Thing

My principle computer of use now is a MacBook Pro. Pretty cool. Many people are hard core PC or harder core Mac. I always respected Mac but used PC's just because that's what I had. Now I use Mac. Pretty cool. Especially this camera that's built into the top of the screen. Here, I'll take a picture...



You can simply do things better and easier with these machines.


On another note, my good friend Andy will be visiting from Ottawa. He and I moved to Canada from Florida around the same time. We didn't plan it that way, God did. Actually, we never met until we were both at a Canadian Pastor's Conference a couple years ago. I thought it was a bit uncanny. Our daughters are exactly one month apart, we both planting churches, moving to Canada within one month of each other. Andy's one of those guys that will be my friends for a long time. God's going to use him, I believe, in a big way there in Ottawa.


The subtitle in my Bible reads, "The Essence of the Law." It's right before Deuteronomy 10:12, which reads, "...what does the Lord require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul..."

That's not only the essence of the law - it's the purpose of life! Go live!