Why I believe in the local church

This is my Sunday Sermon.

The Communion of Saints #1 August 28, 2005
The Apostles Creed
The Vision and Mission of our church
Eph 5:25-28 And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.
Do you believe in the same vision (THE DIVINE DREAM) of the church as Jesus?
I have believed in the local church all my life. At times I have hated her but most of the time I love her, I have been cursed by her and I have been blessed by her, I have been hurt by her and I have found healing through her, I have been disciplined by her and I have been loved by her. I have been called by God to be a leader in her, I have been gifted as and evangelist, pastor, preacher and man of faith for her. I believe this local church is glorious in the sight of God the Father and of Christ the Son, I believe the Holy Spirit is in this church, I believe many have been blessed by and through this church and that many more will have the same experience. I have been captivated with its deep and mostly untapped potential. And finally, I believe in her so strongly that I would die in service of her. (WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?)
This is why I believe what I believe about the local church…
a) I believe it is a house of prayer for all nations. It is a haven, a sanctuary, a holy place where we gather together to pray, worship, and adore the Creator of heaven and earth. It is where we confess our totally unworthiness and together announce our total dependence upon God as we look to him to lead and guide us.
b) I believe that Jesus Christ the author and perfecter of our faith has said that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. I believe we are a part of that great expansion that Jesus is building. A grand a glorious church both here in peachland and around the globe.
c) I believe that the church is meant to bare much fruit not just some or a little or a bit but MUCH! John 15:8 my true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father. The glory of God is the church full of changed lives, transformed by his power and lived out to his glory for all eternity.
d) I believe we are to finish the unfinished mission of Jesus Christ and this is to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:5 the church is Zacchaeus) IT is the only force upon the earth that has the power to transform lives with faith, hope and love.
e) I believe it will be messy! That it will be full of unpleasantness and that we will never quite get it right but by the grace of God we are here for those who need help, admit weakness, share common faults and chase after the divine dream in the common mess. As Jesus said, it is not the well but the sick that need a doctor Matt 9:10-13 that night Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. 11 The Pharisees were indignant. "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?" they asked his disciples. When he heard this, Jesus replied, "Healthy people don't need a doctor — sick people do." 13 Then he added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.' For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough."
f) I believe we are Commissioned and equipped by the Father and by the Son for the task at hand. John 20:21-23 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. AND Matt 28:17-20 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

This is what makes me tick. If you cut me this is what I bleed. I am hopelessly in love with my savior Jesus Christ and I am a hopeless romantic about his body, the local church.
I believe in the holy Christian church, the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. I BELIEVE!
THE QUESTION IS DO YOU BELIEVE?

Close call

Pictures from yesterdays close call fire! The night pictures are from Saturday night/Sunday morning and the aerial picture is from yesterday afternoon.


Yesterday was a packed day. 6 of our Fire and Rescue crew were called out to help with a potentially huge forest fire that was threatening the Westside are of Kelowna. Fortunately the wind pushed the fire away from the residential areas and prevented a very scary close call. Everyone was thinking of the fire in kelonwa a couple of years ago so forestry took no chances. They blasted away for hours with four helicopters and dumping tons and tons of retardant on the fire. As it stands mop up is happening today and the fire is under control. If you want to see some of the pictures check out castanet.net there should be pictures there. Church was fun, I was able give a passionate plea for why I believe in the local church. We are studying our way through the Apostles Creed for next 5 months and this was the first sermon. Lots of comments and prayers for people following communion.
Then we had two fire calls of our own in Peachland. The first was a downed power line that was so hot it turned the rocks it hit into chunk's of glass. There was a couple of scary moments when the wind picked up but for the most part we had it under control within a couple of hours. The farmer whose field we used gave us a bucket of tree ripened peaches - oh so good! As as result of the downed power line our power was out for about 5 hours or so. Later a dry lightening strike brought us back out this time up the Cocahuala Connector about 4 klms up. This turned out to be a false alarm but on our way back into town the lights came back on. What a day. I am looking forward to a day off and woke up to the sound of rain falling so everything got a pretty good drink last night. Hope you all have a good day too.

Whatabunch@home.calm

so the three musketeers are reunited today and it feels so good!









THE CAMP DIRECTOR WILL BE HAPPY BUT......



I think mom and dad will be the happiest of all!!!

My new helper

Today I got a kiss and a hug from my secretary! Actually a few kisses and a few hugs! Mackenzie came in and helped out in our church office this morning. She was so good and very professional with the "hello this is peachland community church my name is Mackenzie how can I help you" sounding so grown up and all. When I asked her to come in yesterday she spent and enormous amount of time practicing to get that little speech just right. The past few days she has had no spark, no sisters to even fight with, and way to much time by herself in front of the TV. Just the knowledge of being useful filled her with such joy and anticipation. I often think that there are so many people out there without any spark. They have nothing worthwhile to fight for and they spend way to much time in front of a TV just by themselves. They may be a church attender but not a church contributor, they may be alive and breathing but for the most part they are dead and gone! Such an awful waste of a life. It has been very refreshing to me to see Mackenzie just come back to life over such a simple thing like feeling needed and useful. John Maxwell talked about this in an interview I heard him give a couple of weeks ago. He said that he makes it his goal to add value to every single human being he encounters. Often this means just a simple word of encouragement or a pat on the back or an appreciation for some little thing that they had said or done. It is amazing how this can put a spark into the eye of someone who may be feeling like their candle is flickering and about to go out. Thanks kenz and good job today cant wait to see you at it tomorrow.
Love Dad

Good news is no news but bad news is good news

Today I responded to a two vehicle MVA (motor vehicle accident). When we arrived on scene we saw a white Chevy firefly completely demolished and a green Infinity SUV that had sustained a pretty nasty crunch to the drivers side. There was a women lying on her back beside the white car and a man and a dog inside the same vehicle and 5 grandma looking types, dressed up to go out for lunch in the SUV. As it turned out the driver of the SUV pulled out onto the Hwy in front of the little firefly and CRUNCH! I had to attend to the man in the car. He was from Germany and spoke very little english but he was able to indicate that he was very sore in his chest area from the seat belt. We took care of everyone, carted the two german patients off in the ambulances, took their dog to the SPCA in Summerland and called a Taxi for the 5 senor ladies to catch a ride home. All in all, not to serious for how it looked on the outside. Eventually the local TV news station reporter showed up cameraman and all. We all headed for something to do to stay away from the reporter that was looking for someone to give him the goods on this nasty looking crash. I headed for the fire truck and took my place behind the steering wheel. The reporter noticed the RCMP officer outside my door window and asked him to describe what had happened. After telling him what I just told you the reporter shouted, "What that's it, that's the whole story, that will never do! He shouted to his camera man to at least take a picture of the huge traffic jam that the accident had caused as said that would have to do!
So let me get this straight. Because no one was to seriously injured, no blood all over the place, no deaths to report it was a lousy story! I don't know what it is about us humans but tragedies seem to make the best stories. Good news is no news and bad news is good news! That's just a bit twisted! The reporters story is carried out in so many ways in so many lives. You could receive a pat on the back 10 times but if you get one negative comment that's the one you remember! In the real world one bad report, one negative word or criticism can send us reeling! There is something so frail about us, we really are weaker than we think. We gravitate to the negative because happy endings are just for fairy tales. I think that is one of the main reasons why we need to know the rich and abiding love of God. We are weak but he is strong. He will help us with our weaknesses. He will overshadow us with his love. He will speak truth to us in love. He will love and accept us no matter how awful we have been or how big a mess we have made of our lives. We need him and his love so desperately. He even provided a tragic story, the story of his Son Jesus and his terrible death, to attract our attention. Has he gotten your attention yet?

Messy

The past few days have flown by fast and furious. There was a wedding I did for my neighbor, a serious elders meeting that was so heated that one elder told another elder to leave his house immediately, a serious and painful church discipline episode that was handled this morning after the morning service, and all this was followed by a couple in our church that informed me that their guest that they have been bringing out to church with them has been totally ignored the 3 Sundays she came! They later told me that she had called them up in tears claiming no one accepted her and that she would not be back to our fellowship! Needless to say it has certainly taken its toll on me and I am tired and ready for a good Sabbath rest tomorrow (or should I say today by the time I get this to my blog site). What has the Spirit been teaching me these past few days? Well, probably the most significant thing is the messiness of the christian life. Eugene Peterson once wrote that when we sin it makes our lives messy... and that would seem to me to be the sum of it. Messy. I'm certainly not a clean freak but I know a mess when I see one whether it is in my life or the life of another. There is so much pretending that goes on in our lives. We fake our way through so much I am not even sure we know what is really real at times. We put on the "I've got my life together" act whenever we are in church or when we are around others who we think will not accept us if they really knew how messy our lives were. It's not acceptable behavior to be messy by most standards and that really is a tragedy. I think Jesus was drawn to those who were messy and they had enough sense not to pretend otherwise. Folks who dug holes in other peoples roofs to lower down a friend in front of Jesus for healing or those who barge into dinner parties uninvited and begin weeping and wiping Jesus feet with their tear soaked hair. Messy, very messy indeed. The blind were messy and the sanitized religious leaders tried to keep them and their mess away from the "clean" Jesus. He hung around with cluttered tax collectors and messy prostitutes and messy men who he would later dub as his apostles. To often we sanitize our faith and it sends us into dark lonely cellars of sin. We hid there as often as we can rather than just being honest and plain and that usually means messed up! I guess the most important thing is to just admit the mess and keep on pursuing Jesus with a bit of desperation and lot of determination. Now that's messed up!

40 Million Dollar Babies

I am just guessing but I think I am pretty close in my estimation. Today I saw about 200 million dollars. That's $200,000,000.00! While I must admit I was taken in like all the others who saw it, I did have some questions about it afterwards. I mean lets face it, it certainly isn't every day that one gets a glimpse of that much money in one place at one time. There was not to much security either so this cash could get up and walk away if it wanted too! That much money could do a lot of good in our world. It could feed a small nation for quite a while, it could go along way towards helping AIDS victims, orphans, homeless folks could be housed, starving folks could be feed, uneducated folks could be educated, those who need simple life saving medicines could be supplied with those medicines and on and on the list could go. However, this money was more than likely not going to be used for these noble and humanitarian purposes. NO this money was strictly for entertainment purposes. Ya, that's right, 40 guys desperately in need of a rest being watched by thousands of people desperately needing exercise! Anyway, enough with the preachy stuff, on with the story. Mackenzie and I went into Kelowna today to watch the Canadian National Hockey Team practice. Yes we saw Gretzky and whole bunch of others like, Bertuzzi, Morrison, St. Louis, Gagna, Peca, Bourdour, Yzerman, and a whole lot more. While I was in my glory Mackenzie patiently waited and took a few pictures of the event for mementos. I enjoyed myself until it dawned on me just how much money was skating around the arena. I had just watched about forty, 20 to 40 year old men, chase a black piece of rubber around on some ice. Forty million dollar babies entertained me today... GO CANADA GO!

SUPER BAD HAIR DAY

PLEASE PRAY FOR SUNNIE AS THE GROOMER GOT CARRIED AWAY:(

Searching

How much time today have you spent searching for someone or something? Last week we locked the van keys in it and we had to search frantically for another set only to discover that all three sets were locked in the van! Then we had to call BCAA and they had to search for our address so they could help us out of our bind. While watching a TV program a couple of days ago an AMBER ALERT flashed across the screen. A nation wide search was on for a missing little boy. I shot up a prayer for him that he would be found safe and sound. We went for a drive the other day and ended up searching for the house some folks from our church have moved into. In my job I am constantly searching for information and helpful ideas so I can write my sermons. I have a friend that is searching for satisfying work. There is a soulful or heart-felt kind of search that some of the pop music has captured in poetry and song. Whether you are a Stones fan and you "cant get no satisfaction"; a U2 fan and you "still haven't found what your looking for"; or a Green Day fan searching for someone to find you as you stroll down the boulevard of broken dreams; the search is unmistakable. Some are searching for inner peace, others are searching for justice, still some are searching for somebody to love and accept them for who they are. Everybody's searching for something. This week I was reminded that even God is searching. The bible says it this way: GOD is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout, searching for people who are totally committed to him. We act foolishly when we go for human help when you could have had God's help. I like that very much. It is kind of soothing to know that the great God of the entire universe is searching the earth looking to strengthen those who search for his help in any given situation. Makes me wonder why I don't search for his help more often.
So, hears the thing, when was the last time you sat down and figured out just how much you are searching for purpose and meaning in this life? Then ask yourself and even bigger question, when was the last you time you sought out the creator God of this universe to help you out with the answer to that question? Contrary to popular opinion God is interested in our lives. And he really does want to strengthen our hearts to face the trials and toughness we find ourselves in these days. So, go ahead, search for him and he promises if you do this with all your heart we will find Him.
Search the bible and search for him at a church this Sunday I know that once you find him a big part of your search will be over. One ancient church father wrote that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. He was right! Hapy searching everyone!

Against the Current

Mackenzie and I took time this afternoon to go to Penticton and ride the canal that connects Okanogan Lake with Skaha Lake. The water moves along at a pretty good clip and you cover about 3 or 4 kilometers in about 1 1/2 hours. We take our goggles and snorkles along and look for treasures that fall out of peoples pockets and off of their flotation devises as they float along down the canal. The sun is hot, the water is just right and the company is just plain ole fun to be around. There were a couple of times when I got separated from Mackenzie since she was having some wardrobe malfunctions, i.e. her goggles kept fogging up for some reason. When this happened I tried to put the brakes on and stop so I could wait for her to catch up. Nearly impossible! I bumped and slid along trying to get some sort of footing so I could fight the current and hold my ground. Once I even tried swimming up stream but soon found that the best I could do was exert a lot of energy and go exactly no where. I stayed above the same rock the whole time I was frantically trying to make some head way. As I floated along I notice a nice par of speedo goggles on the floor of the canal but it took a ton of energy to swim back and get them(I also found a quarter). I figured there was a lesson to learn in all this and sure enough one easily surfaced. Sometimes doing the right thing really does feel like your trying to swim up stream or even just hold your ground against the current of a sin filled and sick culture and sadly even the church culture. The current is so demanding it never lets up, it never lets you rest if you try to fight it and it is carrying you along even if you don't want it to. The best way to stop was to guide your feet to a big solid bolder under the surface of the water and firmly plant your feet on it. Once firmly planted upon the rock we could stand against the relentless current. I know it's getting a bit over the top but it sure is fun to capture the imagery and see how life imitates faith so often. In case your wondering what happened to Cheryl she gracious offered not to float but to do a little shopping and then meet us at the half way point with the van. She picked us up and we drove to Ok Falls for some famous tickleberry's ice cream. I think one of the beautiful things about Heaven will be the absence of the current of evil. Once we got out of the canal, at that exact moment, there was no more fighting or struggling. It was all over. What a day that will be.
Good day off.

Out of the Blue!

Today I received a call for a group of concerned Peachland citizens that took me quite by surprise. It was a neighbor of ours from the last neighborhood we lived in 8 years ago. She started out by saying that she hoped I wouldn't think she was sticking her nose in my business and that if she asked me what she wanted to ask that I wouldn't think less of her. She went on and on about the group she was a part of and how since she was the one who knew me best from their group she was picked to phone me up and ask me the question. It just seemed that every time they tried to come up with various names of people it kept coming around to my name. In fact, she said, the group was unanimous! Well, by this time I was really starting to wonder where in the world she was going with this conversation and where in the universe it would end up! That's when I told her to go ahead and just ask instead of all this preamble. So she dropped the penny! She said that her group believed that in the November elections for our town that I should run for the mayor of Peachland! Well you could have knocked me over with a feather! I burst out laughing but managed to keep some dignity by saying that I was honored and surprised that they had even thought of me in this regard. We chatted briefly and I explained that I had enough on my plate to keep me quite busy, in fact too busy but in the end she insisted that I at least think about it! Cheryl heard me laughing and when I told her what the call was about she laughed along with me. She has always said that I am the unofficial mayor of Peachland but this one even took her by surprise!
The good side is that I believe the Gospel of the Lord Jesus has gained a very positive hearing in this dark little town. The dark side is that we are to beware when all men speak well of us. I had some fun with this in my head for a couple of hours but then I was back to business and focused on what the Lord had called me to do here in Peachyland.
Signed
HIS WORSHIP MAYOR OF PEACHLAND
REV. K.C. NICHOL

Following Hard After Christ

Best quote of the day went to John Maxwell today. It didn't originate with him he borrowed it from Dietrich Bonhoffer. "As a follower of Christ we are not often sure of where we are going but we can be sure we're following Christ." This really hit home for me today. Sometimes I wonder what it is that Christ is doing or where he may be (or may not be) leading us in this ministry here in Peachland. But there is one solid thing I can know for sure and that is I am following Christ. I am following him by loving, leading, feeding and caring for this church and many in this town. I felt some serious inner depressurizing as I later sat and let this quote sink in. I think at times I wonder why I am still in this town leading this awesome little church. I wonder why the Lord has asked me to carry on here when it would seem to me that I should step aside and let another leader come in with gifts and skills that are more suited to this area. But that is part of the mystery for all of us, we are often not sure of where the Lord is leading us. It keeps us searching and seeking, it keeps us in prayer and tuned into what the Holy Spirit is saying. It makes us hunger for a fresh move of God, a break through of any sort. It forces us to deal with relationship issues that often seem complicated and at times very difficult. It forces us to face our mistakes and admit them and move on. Sometimes, like many other leaders I know, we foolishly think that the grass is greener over there somewhere but in reality it is the same dog just a different collar.
It was a refreshing and relaxing and a bit of re-tooling today. I am grateful to my church for paying for my way to this conference. Sadly only two of us are able to attend but hopefully this number will grow in the coming years.

A Voice Calling Out in the Wilderness

This morning I headed into Kelowna with my church administrator (Stacey) for a satellite simulcast conference from Willow Creek church and I was looking forward to all the good teaching I was about to encounter. Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, John Maxwell just to mention a few. As I crested the hill near my old stomping grounds at Westside Alliance church the traffic was at a complete standstill. I made some calls and listened to the radio to find out what had happened and discovered that a Pepsi truck had caught fire at 4 in the morning and they were still trying clean it up. What that means for all you non-kelownaites is that a stretch of hwy that would normally take us 10 minutes to drive had now turned into a 3 hour stretch of hwy! We sat in my pickup truck and breathed super heated vehicle exhaust air mixed with the already hot morning air and the sun beating down into the cab through the front windshield. I had sweat dripping down my back and heading straight into the "nether regions of my backside" if you get my drift. As we slowly rolled along I "cracked" and so did Stacey! We turned on the radio tunes as loud as we could and began to dance and sing inside the cab. We were having a great ole time. We ended up beside a couple of motor homes and we joked about asking to use their washroom if things took much longer. Then I said it would be great if they had some ice water in their fridge and almost before I could finish the sentence Stacey hung her head out the window and asked the lovely senior couple if they had any cold water in their fridge. The older lady laughed, hopped out of her seat, disappeared into the back of the motor home and reappeared with two ice cold water bottles! We sipped on that refreshing beverage as we inched closer and closer to our destination. We arrived just in time to hear the second speaker Rick Warren give a passionate message about Moses's shepherds staff turned "Rod of God". It was a great message, one that I will never forget. I love to hear the preaching of the word of God. Even though it is probably the worst form of communication out there (the foolishness of preaching) and sometimes it is painful to listen to, I still love to hear that lonely voice proclaiming eternal truths. The long tense ride into town paled and was quickly forgotten as I settled in and listened to the man of God calling out, seeking to affect our hearts and minds for the kingdom of God. I head back tomorrow for day two and hopefully it goes much better.

43rd

Mom yesterday I golfed one of the nicest courses in the Okanogan. A place called the harvest if you go to http://www.harvestgolf.com/ you can check it out. Bruce, paid for me as a birthday gift and we were joined by Phil Callaway and his son Steve. Phil is an author of several great and humorous books and the editor of servant magazine out of Prairie Bible Institute. He is such a fun guy, we laughed a ton and baked our buns off. I shot a 95 in the 36 degree weather!!! I thought of you a quite a few times. There were a couple of times when I was thinking of packing it in it was so hot, I know you would have loved it. Today was great. Cheryl's old boss had given here a gift certificate to a fantastic and expensive restaurant in Peachland so she saved it for today. We were joined by Bruce and Niki for a great conversation filled lunch. Then tonight we took in a double feature and relaxed and munched on popcorn and chocolate covered almonds. 43 years and I am feeling fantastic. I've been meditating on Isaiah 66 the past few days and was reminded of what kind of man I want and need to be. Isa 66:2 "This is the one I esteem:he who is humble and contrite in spirit,and trembles at my word." So I took it as my birthday theme. If you think to you can join me in this prayer. Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone they were greatly appreciated.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

what a cutie! :-0


This is Kevin's hacker...breaking into his blog to wish him a very Happy 43rd Birthday! hee hee

Nasty Assumptions

The service today was absolutely gorgeous! By the time the service started at 10:30ish it was getting close to 30 already. We are blessed by the fact that there are a couple of families in our church with access to their own sound system. They are more than happy to let us borrow it for our church service. We are slowly learning the sad truth that we don't seem to have any insurance to replace our stolen property. We still are searching for why that is and hopefully we will uncover some clues to find out for sure if that's true, but it is more and more becoming the reality. Life can be a bit like that. We think we know something, we believe it is true, we take great risks under the assumption that there is a net beneath us to catch us if we fall. However, when the opposite of all this trust is revealed and what we assumed was true turned out to be false the cost can be enormous even eternal. We often march through life bravely and foolishly taking certain things for granted until of course they are taken from us. Like the old saying goes "you don't know what you've got till its gone! Makes me wonder what else I have assumed was true (or not true) that has remained undetected as of yet. Then again, that is one of the key purposes of our faith. We need someone outside of ourselves to show us the way of life. We must trust God that he will be a kind and gracious father, leading us and guiding us. When we decide to no longer lean on our own understanding he literally makes what would have turned out to be a crooked path into a straight path. Left to our pitiful selves we would fumble around in the darkness but thanks be to God, he gives us the light to show us the way of truth. He is the only one we can trust with absolute assurance we will not be left holding the bag or have the rug pulled out from underneath us when the chips are down and the rubber of truth meets the hard and often harsh road of life. He will be there to catch us when we fall.

HOT HOT HOT

Yesterday I did a wedding rehearsal at 6:30 PM and it was still 31 outside. While we were standing there rehearsing suddenly the guys started jumping up and down. Upon investigation we all had red ants crawling up our legs, I even had them crawling up my shorts. It was quite hilarious. But today I did the wedding in 34 degree weather in a suit and tie! To be sure I didn't get a serious burn I smothered myself in goopy sunscreen before heading out to do the wedding. About mid way through the ceremony the sweat that had been gathering in my bushy eyebrows suddenly broke the dam and began to flow into my eyes. I was instantly struck with blindness and a serious amount of sting from the lotion. I had to stop the wedding, take a Kleenex from the maid of honor and wipe my eyes several time before the stinging finally left and my vision returned. Needless to say it was a good laugh and a fun break in the action. Fortunately, the mother of the groom had come out early with a bottle of raid to keep those bothersome little red bodied biting ants at bay! (say that five times fast) It is nice to sit here and blog in my air conditioned house!!! Tootles

Reports of wonder

Today, I started out with a good walk as my cardio workout. During that 50+ minute march I began to feel consumed with all the garbage that is running wild in our church. Sins too many to count, a lack of participation, a lack of care and concern, a lack of initiative, the coming church discipline and the probable fall out that comes with such an ordeal and the poor attendance we have had the last few Sundays while in the park. That was just for starters! I was not thinking right nor was I particularity interested in thinking right, I was enjoying my pity party complete with my imagined written and re-written resignation. I was almost finished planning my own farewell party and all of you were invited!
However, over the course of the morning I had three guests come to see me in my office downtown. You might say they were three little angels sent by the Lord. Each one had at least two or three stories of victory and one specifically told of so many encouraging things that were happening to him I lost track of them all. One thing he mentioned was this little saying that had been blessing him over the past couple of weeks. It goes something like this..."It's not how many breaths you take in a day but what takes your breath away throughout the day that really matters." I could literally feel myself coming out of my cloudy disposition and as I sat and listened to the "reports of wonder"(things that just take your breath away) in peoples lives I began to feel God's sweet presence creep back into the center of my heart and mind. Needless to say, the rest of my day was much more productive and more vibrant. I was in a terrific frame of mind come the end of the day. I zipped home, grabbed MacKenzie, and headed to the beach and for the next hour and a half we swam and laughed and played water games and had a terrific time together.
I re-learned an old lesson today. We sure do need each other in the faith. Sometimes to prop each other up or to hold back the prevailing dark clouds, other times to bring light and truth and a sense of wonder back into our mindsets. I guess that must be why we are commanded so often to encourage each other. It really does make a huge difference.

There and back again

The trip was smooth, the traffic was minimal, the fun was exceptional. It was great to see Cam and Janelle, Ethan and Avery this weekend. Such cuties! (And the kids were pretty cute too!) We took in the Zoo, saw elephants and monkeys, hippos and Zebras. We ate at Peter's Drive In, munched on KrispyKreme donuts, shared a couple of tickle sessions, a show me all your owie time and one total free for all wrestling match between Ethan and myself. Ethan won hands down. On Monday night we left Kenz and her friend Jessie at Tim and Kelly's and we joined Neill and Marilynne in Cochrane for some scrumptious Mexican food. We had a mysterious phone call from Kenz just as we finished eating. She was claiming that the two of them had heard noises and doors slamming somewhere in the house. They were pretty freaked! But upon investigation they discovered that the Foster clan had returned home from their camping trip. All was good and we were able to zip over to Uncle and Auntie's house for some dreamy dessert! All in all our quick trip to Calgary and back was well worth the effort and the 16 hour drive there and back again.
Peace out