Godly incompetence

Wow this week has slipped by and I have neglected my time of reflection around my blog site. I have had a very interesting week, mostly full of messy relationships, messy lives and messy unclear circumstances where I am not always confident that I say or do the right thing. In fact I had to resign myself several times this week to the fact that God will be my judge some day on the "wisdom" I offered on the disputable matters I have given council on to people this week. There is a part of me that would love for things to work out neat and tidy all the time but then there is a part of me that seems to believe, and even quite strongly, that messy is were the action really is. I read a quote this week that has been rumbling around in my mind and I am beginning to see what the author Mike Yaconelli was writing about. "No one does holy living very well, we all suffer from godly incompetence. However, the church has communicated that competence is one of the fruits of the Spirit. There are so many afraid of entering into the joy of their salvation because they fear the possibility of doing or saying the incompetent thing." As I looked around and as I looked inside, I saw the truth of these words. Spiritual incompetence is like the 8th deadly sin. Mistakes are taken way to seriously and there are those inside the church who believe that their competence is a badge of their maturity. When I would say that the desire to love God and the desire to love others is really the essence of truly living a godly incompetence. I think we get it right far less often than we think we do and we get it wrong far more often that we admit we do. Yet, God is so gracious and merciful, and slow to anger, and forgiving, accepting, loving and kind. Tonight as Cheryl and I sat sipping our coffees after a good hard walk, a man who is well known in the community for his wicked life, came up to us and declared he was three days old in his new found faith. And with that the harshness of the week evaporated and the joy of serving Christ was invigorated. He asked if I would do his fifth step for AA and he wanted to know what to do next. It was like a warm bath of joy flooded my soul to see his new joy in the Lord. And somehow all was made right once again.

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

STOLEN

Well I would have to admit that I am surprised it hasn't happened in the 12 years of doing church in the park but it finally did. The trailer we store our $15,000 + worth of equipment was taken from the front of the house were we keep it. The police called our office Wednesday at noon asking if we had a utility trailer. When we told them we did they told us it was parked in Penticton. The police informed us that they would tow it to the police compound in Penticton and we could pick it up from there. Yesterday a team of three went off to retrieve the trailer and when they arrived they investigated and discovered that most of the sound equipment except the sound board was gone. But, we have our trailer back and not everything was taken our tents were still there and a few chairs. Fortunately we have insurance and should be able to replace it all within the next couple of weeks.
Thou shalt not steal was written for good reason. The sense of loss, the frustration and grief it causes, the injustice is nauseating. God's commands are given for good reason and not as so many assume to keep us from enjoying life. And in keeping these commands there is great reward. Let him who stole steal no more is the true testimony of those who have taken Gods forgiveness and his new life as their own. They now seek to respect their fellow man and also their possessions. One of the interesting things to me is that theft is now so common place most the people we have told have their own stories of being robbed as well.

Weep and Wail and Mourn

It was about 38 degrees today. I was melting but the cool evening is so welcome. My lament yesterday did me much good. Sometimes you just have to say or write it or both just to get it out of the system. Fortunately God has blessed me with a personality that is usually pretty positive and enthusiastic. But I still like and need to let it all out sometimes. Laments are one of those "overlooked" biblical concepts that is generally misunderstood and therefore way undervalued in our western culture. Nothing like the purifying power of a good lament! But our culture likes to make us all think we're supposed to be happy all the time. And that line of thinking seems to be epidemic in the Christian world. Everything has to be fixed and/or "victorious" or our faith comes under suspicion. What I find most interesting is that Kind David would write a lament, put it to harp music and then everyone at synagogue would sing it that Sabbath! How weird would that be. Imagine the song leader getting up there and saying something like, "Ok everyone David had a really bad week this week and somehow he found the time to put it into a poem and then to music and we're all going to sing and weep our way through it this morning." It was depressing, miserable, "durgy" type music and everyone felt the sadness of the song as they sang it. Then to top it all off, the Holy Spirit decides to make sure it is preserved in the bible for all eternity! Most of the Psalms are laments and of course Jeremiah left a whole book with the title Lamentations! Funny, I have grown up in the church and the only things I know about that book are the two or three positive statements in the whole book and virtually nothing else! Anyway, if your feeling down say so about sums up what a lament is all about! BOO-WHO!

Propping Up

How long does one need to be propped up by fellow believers? I know a person who arrived on our churches doorstep about 6 years ago broken, depressed and really hurting. His wife had left him with their kids suddenly. He arrived home to find them all gone. He started coming out faithfully to church , joined a life group and rededicate his life to God and even got baptized with a believers baptism. He began the slow but steady road to recovery and really did very well up until about a few years ago. That is when he met his girlfriend. They instantly made a great couple. His life group began the process of introducing "purity" into his life as a healthy and godly way of respecting this young lady. We tried our best to hold him accountable and for the most part he had been very respectful and accommodating. But things began to change. Silence began to show up in his life when before he was always talking about his relationship. Then we began to notice her staying over night and we began to dig into the idea of purity more and more candidly. He constantly was on a roller coaster over this and eventually, even with our valiant efforts to encourage him to keep their relationship pure, she got pregnant. Now the issue is to marry or not but my friend can not make up his mind. He was eager to submit to the group and be accountable to make changes with their sexual relationship. Then our group decided to take a break over the summer and we left on holidays. Yesterday, I found out he is ready to buy a house with her and move in. I was so angry with him I just stormed away. What is that about? I understand the power of fellowship and how essential it is to our Christian lives but come on... When does it become like some sort of "co-dependent" thing. As soon as the group is absent, even after 5+ years of propping him up he has no backbone to make good solid Christ-like decisions! I'm pretty frustrated with him and I am planning to sit down and chat with him about the unwelcome but necessary prospects of church discipline. But the thing that bothers me most is all the work, years of building into a life, and the repayment is summed up with him repeating the exact same mistakes over and over again. Very frustrating!
So I guess, after writing thus far, it is not far from my mind that God has had to deal with me and all of us the same way even after years and years of working on our hearts and propping us up we still are prone to fall. We are prone to unforgiveness and holding grudges, we are prone to walking away from relationships rather than working them out in a Christ like manner. We are prone to blame and accuse and criticize and blast away at another person who is made in God's image just like us! We are prone to sin and therefore we are all in a position of needing much grace. I guess at the end of the day we can trust that God will deal with his children and sometimes that means church discipline. Oh the joys of church leadership! Any way, thanks for reading my lament, I would be suprised if you're still reading this with me. Cheers!

Preaching

This is me this morning preaching in the sanctuary that God has provided for us throughout the summer. NOT BAD EH!!!!

Breakfast ... Club

Ok for all you whiners out there it did rain here in the not so sunny Okanogan so the temperature was only 26 C and it poured most of the day... Most of the day except for the morning that is. This morning I woke up late from the affects of attending a motor vehicle accident last night until 2:00 in the morning. But when I did finally wake up my wife pleasantly asked me if I wanted to join her down town to sit at a table on the sidewalk in front of her Edward Jones office and share breakfast together. When we arrived we found that the neighbor, a fish and chip shop, had left their stove on slightly and the entire building smelled of the sickly odor of natural gas. But once we got past that little surprise we were able to sip on fresh brewed Tim Hortons coffee, enjoyed a ham, cheese and mushroom omelet and some delightful conversation that had little direction and was quite light hearted. One of the best ways to start any day I would say.
Meanwhile, my friend down the street named Tim opened up his hardware store. We could see him putting out his wears and getting ready for a full day of business from where were sitting. He also shares the building he is in with a nice Hungarian lady who runs a clothing/beach wear shop. Shortly after Cheryl and I had finished our sweet time together a couple of young men began to bother this lady. She came out of her store shocked and upset and acting as though she had been assaulted. So Tim, who is usually a bit of an over actor, grabbed a grub hoe handle to use as a club and marched out after these boys (both in their twenties). He also thought they had stolen a couple of shirts off his outdoor rack so he was pretty heated. The thing escalated to the point where the police were called in and after statements were taken the tempers finally cooled down. Later he told me that the lady next door was defiantly over-reacting, he definitely over-reacted ( the boys didn't take his T-shirts) and said that a gentle tone would have been a much more powerful way to solve the problem. Really not the way you would want to start off the day - anytime really! Seems like there is never a dull moment around here these days.
As the day progressed Cheryl got some really great news and I better stop there or she will be mad at me for stealing her thunder.
And now the weekend is upon us... Counseling tonight, wedding tomorrow evening and more visiting with Quentin and Tracee before they leave Sunday and then church, preaching and family on Sunday. Looking forward to it all.

Old Friends, Chatting and Stuff!

Today I spent the most of my day with old friends. Nothing like it really. They are the kind of people we just connect with. We see eye to eye on most issues and we love to chat up every issue that comes to mind. Quentin and Tracee Steen are long time friends and "Q" used to be on staff with me here in peachyland for two years. We golfed in 36 C weather and I melted and even he melted it was soooooooooooooo hot. Then we joined the wives and kids for a bbq and more chatting. We have such a good time, laughing, sharing stories and telling lies! Well you know what I mean. I am pretty beat up from the heat so I'm going to keep this one short. Yip, nottin like good ol fashion friends. Good night all!


Cheryl is on the computer beside me and found a good website for quotes, these ones made me laugh."Have you ever noticed that if you rearranged the letters in mother in law, they come out to Woman Hitler?" OR "Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken over there ... I'm gonna eat the first thing that comes out if its butt"? OR Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink what comes out"? OR "Why is it that when we are humming and then we plug our nose, our humming stops? Do people really hum through their nose, or their mouths?" OR "Don'’t you find it weird we teach our kids: scrub a dub dub, three men in a tub?" OR "If your named Will and you are in the army do you get worried when people say fire at will?"


Good ones babe!

Ok be honest, how many of you tried the humming one!

Blood Splattered God Garments

Today I read about the day of God's vengeance and the year of his redemption. It has to be one of the most graphic and disturbing passages of scripture in the entire bible. It portrays God as such a violent God. It states in Isaiah 63:3-4 "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. 4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. After this graphic and disturbing description of the wrath of God the prophet seems to run to the aspect of God that is much more likeable. He goes on to say...Isa 63:7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us — yes, the many good things he has done... The lesson seemed clear to me. The passionate wrath of God is scary and at the same time motivating. Motivating because of the "year of his redemption". The point I got this morning was that this terrible and awesome aspect of God's character should drive us to the side of him that longs to show kindness and mercy now. The two times are compared. His wrath is pictured as a day but his redemption is described as a year. His mercy is huge and his anger is slow in coming but in the end his wrath is swift. I've seen this in my own family, especially when the kids were younger. My anger was swift and decisive but my mercy and kindness was slow and steady and thankfully long. The display of my anger I am sure was terrible in the eyes of my kids but the calm following the storm was sweet, deep and abiding. I think I saw this in my heavenly father this morning. Later in the passage the prophet wondered why God would make us in such a way the we wander from his ways and our hearts can become hardened so we don't revere him. But this again is a tribute to his amazing love. His warnings are thick and long and often and his patience seems to be endless but in the end we must chose to love him back or face the terrible consequence of our own choice. This was the beginning of my day and this passage has been rumbling around in my mind the whole day. It feels good to get it out of there and write it here in my blog. What about you guys any thoughts about this subject?

What up with that???

We have friends living in china. They are teaching English there and seem to be really enjoying themselves. Dale has a great sense of humor and one of the things he blogged was a translation off of a hair spray bottle. It is so funny I thought I would post it for you.

Translation #1: Hairspray Bottle - word for word....it's confusing

The vogue's what hair style need is which suite vogue already set. Profession special hair spray have type of the strong dint the result. Design of in keeping with all shapeness. Show hair that make you since now moving magic power, again hold out for long time the constant type, and the special afiliation is wet validity lock lives water the care for show hair for does not outflowing, for you providing the profession but completely.

How's that for a translation! What are they talking about!!! More to come....

You talk about LOST IN TRANSLATION!
Tonight I did some premarital counseling with a young couple. We got sidetracked (kinda) on this whole topic of not understanding what the other person is saying. It is about being lost in translation. So often feelings are hurt or things are said one way but completely taken the opposite way. What's up with that?
I guess it is God's way of helping us learn to understand our differences, learn about ourselves and learn about how God deals with us as well. We don't often understand his ways as they are higher and wiser than ours. And just as we have to work hard at communicating with and understanding one another so we have to work hard at hearing and understanding what it is God is trying to commuicate with us. I guess it is just further proof of the fall of mankind from the perfect paradise of the Garden of Eden.

Did you understand anything I just wrote????

My Secret Chocolate Cake Story

This is for Shuana who has not heard my secret chocolate cake story. More than likely she was preoccupied with getting married to some guy named Rick something or other. As the story goes... My roommate and I lived in a little cultisack while staying in Quezon City Manila Philippines. We eventually made friends with the neighbors who were the owners of the only Bus lines (worth mentioning anyway) on the main Island. They were very wealthy and they loved to party and basically about once a month they would make any excuse to have a real big bash. On this particular weekend they had decided to celebrate the 9th month birthday of their sons youngest child. By then we had become pretty good friends, playing basketball until the wee hours of the morning and we got an invitation to the fiesta and what a feast it was! Complete with dog meat, humogous prawns, giant crabs, frogs legs, shark fins, sticky rice, regular rice, noodles and of course coagulated pigs blood with special spices mixed in for dipping what ever you wanted to dip. We finished off the evening with biut(baby duck pickled and still inside the shell) and chocolate cake with ice cream. Well needless to say the chocolate cake was the most moist and delicious cake I had had for quite some time and so I had a couple of massive pieces. The Filipinos loved it, they were laughing at my enormous appetite and seemed far to eager for me to eat more chocolate cake. At the time I just assumed it was a quirky thing between big white guys and little brown guys and that was all there was to it. WRONG! When I went to bed and fell asleep, my body felt like I was sinking deep down into the bed. My dreams were wild and all of them were in fast motion. When I woke up my sheets were on the floor and my mouth felt like it had been filled with cotton balls the night before and I sucked on them all night. I also felt really disoriented not to mention completely exhausted. When I explained to my x-drug dealing roomie what I felt like he left the house in a flash and marched directly over to the neighbors house. When he came back he told me his suspicions had been confirmed. They had laced the chocolate cake with a large amount of pot. That was the source of the big joke when I helped myself to a second massive piece of chocolate cake that night. They all seemed to be in on the joke and so stayed away from the cake. I never ate their cake again. That is the first and only time I have ever been high and I slept right through it! And that folks is my secret chocolate cake story.

Random Thoughts and Home Sweet Home

Two weeks of sleeping in other peoples beds, eating other peoples food, borrowing other people's shoes, clothes and cars, staying up late, playing games, watching stampede fireworks, hanging around family, driving and driving and driving, going to a heavy metal meets punk meets acid rock concert, stampeding, spending money left right and center, getting eaten by mean little critters who love to suck your blood, seeing new converts come into the kingdom, guiding young men and women into deeper faith, mentoring a good up and coming youth leader, watching the passion play, getting a hug from Jesus afterwards (I knew him he is from Vernon and I watched him grow up at eagle bay camp were I often spoke and now he is a fine actor), seeing some seriously cool and old bones in Drumheller, wondering about the amazing Creator of all this weird whacked-out and wonderful creation, enjoying some crispy cream donuts, shopping, shopping, shopping, picnics, parties, getting a bad sunburn on my bald head, going to church and hearing an awesome sermon by an old bible school buddy, singing happy birthday to 2 complete strangers, singing happy birthday to 3 different family members, leading worship, blobbing some 90-120 lbs kids and watching them sail with extreme joy through the air, gaining a couple of pounds (oops), buying some new clothes, enjoying Banff, dancing with two people named Mackenzie at the same time, late night talks, early morning silence, enjoying a very engaging book, getting lost in Calgary, riding while Cheryl drove in Calgary, experiencing a city bus tire blow out from being over packed with wild, black eyed, black haired, blacked nailed, black clothed, pierced, tattooed, spikes, chains, evil looking t-shirts, pot smoking young people, golfing at Cirrocco golf club with uncle N, auntie J, and cousin Doug, playing bochie ball and going undefeated, playing pingpong and being beaten by a 10 year old kid and a 60+ year old uncle, BBQing, going out for dessert and coffee, watching thunder clouds roll in, listening to a huge rain storm, watching some awesome sunsets, hanging with Jeff and Veronique for a day, buying a cowboy hat, eating a taffy candy apple and an awesome piece of stampede fudge, losing Cheryl for 2 hours at the stampede (ouch), driving home and finally sleeping in my own bed. I had a pretty full and wonderful two weeks. Nothing like hanging out with some of the ones you love the most in this world. Cheryl and I and our girls are truly blessed people. It is nice to be back in our home sweet home!

Face Your Pace

How is your pace these days? In the past 2 or 3 weeks I have had conversation after conversation where I ended up challenging those who spoke with me regarding the pace they had set for living their lives. It seems as though for most folks they don't recognize that the pace they travel at is the exact pace they have chosen. After my mentioning it to them their first tendency is to blame everything and everyone else for their pace. The worst part is that if I had not taken my two months off I would be just like them. During my time off I was forced to stare my own pace in the face and it made me sensitive and alert to this subject. Over the course of those two months, my pace was drastically decreased. I thought I would be very restless but because of the record breaking pace I had been keeping prior to my time off I was far more exhausted than I felt or thought I was.

I think it is possible to live very full and exciting lives and still maintain a sane pace while doing it. I was reading a study of a group of professional tennis players. The study found that often the top tennis players are equal to and in some cases less equal in talent or skills than those who are not considered "top" in their profession. So what made them the best at what they did if their skills were basically the same as the other players around them? Pace. They knew how to pace themselves during matches that can take several hours to complete. What set apart the top of the top athletes was their ability to maximize small amounts of time to remove themselves from the pace of the game. The writers of the study gave an example of one super star who would take a vacation in his mind in the few seconds it would take to walk back to his line before serving or receiving a serve. To their surprise this same pattern was followed by all the best tennis pros. They had learned to pace themselves this way and it often gave them the advantage especially during longer matches and even when playing much younger but more intense (all the time) players.

Jesus was the master of maintaining a sane pace while keeping what we would even consider in our day a pretty full and busy life. He lived his life to the fullest but that included often taking breaks to rest and pray. He instructed his disciples to come apart and rest awhile when he noticed that the pace they had set was getting to much for them. One speaker I have enjoyed in my life named Howard Hendrix used to say that Jesus told his disciples to come apart or they would indeed come apart! So many things suffer when we don't learn this vital lesson on pace. Our health for one thing; Our physical health, our mental health, our emotional health and maybe the most important part of our lives our spiritual health are often unhealthy because of our unrestrained pace. If we are not healthy in these areas then everything else about us and around us will suffer.

Start small; take small breaks throughout your day. Make sure you are faithful at taking one day off per week. Take celebrations seriously. Long weekends, Easter, Christmas etc. are perfect to pull back, take stock, rest and pray about our lives. Church attendance is a simple way to pull back, relax, take a load off of our hearts and minds and be refreshed by the music, the fellowship, serving and by the preaching of the word of life. It is time to face your pace!

New Faith

New faith. I cannot think of anything more exhilarating than new, fresh, faith. Today, was a trip to the house of 3 new believers. A widow and her two teenage children. A family that just buried their father not more than 5 weeks ago. But through the whole event, they have thrown themselves upon the "God who is near" and they are so excited about what they are learning and experiencing. The 16 year old son said, "we should have church every two days. It is what keeps me going, it makes me excited and fills me with great hope." His 18 year old sister said that she is totally amazed that God hears her prayers and that he is answering them and the prayers of her family in such an amazing ways. "It is unmistakably God and I feel sorry for those who have to go though this without him?" The mother said she was over to visit a friend who doesn't believe in God yet. She was shocked to see her friend, who had lost her husband over 3 years ago, still grieving deeply and was basically at the same place. "The difference is hope, she said, we have so much hope!" Her friend believes in annihilation and it was obvious it had basically held her captive in a dungeon of grief. I left them about an hour after I arrived and I felt rejuvenate from a visit that normally would have left me pretty drained. At one point in the conversation (over a mean cup of coffee shuana) they had so many excellent questions about faith and God. It was absolute fun for me to lead them in a simple bible study and to watch their eyes light up as they began to see the truth revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. I love new faith.

Good Sunday.

Good Sunday. Made early morning omelets for the lasses before they left me in an empty house by 7:15 AM to hit the pitch for three rugged games of football (hear the Scottish brogue in there). Once again I was able to take advantage of the silence. I also did a bit of prep for the morning, had a nice long hot shower, and headed off to the service. We have made a conscious decision as leadership to "linger-longer" much longer, over the bread and the cup. We have dubbed the last Sunday of each month as "1st Priority Sunday" (sorry Chris) in order to accomplish this. Each time I will give a short 10 min talk on some aspect of either baptism, Communion or prayer. Then we have made more room in the service for the elders to come to the front with oil for anointing and prayers for those who come. The people really responded. Many came forward to be prayed with for many different situations and needs. We went so long that the "sermon time" was reduced to 10 minutes. I loved it. There is something very rewarding and revitalizing when we linger over the Lord's Table and pray for each other in this fashion. Very spiritually energizing to say the least. We were given a treat by a couple of teens at the end of the morning service. They won a couple of awards at a local film festival so we finished off the morning service and invited the folks to stay and watch the 11 min. production called CSI Kitchen. It was amazing! We have so much hidden talent in this little church! After that I had lunch with friends, headed home for a change of clothing and a 10 minute nap, and went off to coach my last soccer game of the spring league. And you all know the rest of the story by now. Proud moment for a dad and a coach!(hear the buttons popping off the shirt I am wearing and ricocheting around the room). So... just as it started out this morning there is silence in this house again. Everyone is sound asleep and so I am able to catch up on all the blogs and even write my own.

Enjoyed the day

Early morning stillness just sat there in the silence, then coffee with my girlfriend, a leadership meeting, coaching last Saturday game of soccer(two more tomorrow), eating at Wendy's, fed goldfish, watched goldfish, worked on church stuff, went to our small group for a wiener roast, had a good chat with a teenager from church, brought two of kids friends home for a sleep over, came home tired,watched movie called BIG FISH, must go to bed now. night night all:)

A blessing And I Didn't Even Know It!

Last night after the ball game Mackenzie begged and begged and wore me down until I finally gave in and went for a "last-ball-game-of-the-season-slushie" at our local Petrocan. I ended up parking outside the building and waiting while kenzie took my debit card and went in and bought a good sized slushie as a reward for her stellar season. As I waited I was looking in my rear view mirror and I watched as a 1/2 ton pick up truck without a muffler came roaring into the gas station parking lot. The boys tumbled out one by one laughing, swearing, and smoking, looking like they were looking for some mischief to get into. By that time Kenzie had made her purchase and had jumped into the passenger seat of my truck and started sucking on her straw enjoying the sugary ice. I noticed one of the boys was heading towards my truck and as he came closer I recognized him as a kid who I had worked with when I was involved in the Restorative Justice program. "Jack" (not his real name) came over to the window and said hey Mr. Nichol how's it going? He proceeded to tell me how his life had changed since his incident with the law. He had made restitution with those he wronged and in fact was friends with their two daughters. He told me he graduated from high school and that he now was working 14 hour days, 6 days a week for a paving company. He said over and over again how much he appreciated my input into his life. He said that what I had done for him had really helped him get through a rough period in his life. I was blessed by his words. I figured that I had had very little input into his life and that he really wasn't that interested in the tough work of making some serious changes to his behavior. I remembered how I had prayed that I would be able to be at least one positive male adult in this kids life. The Lord graciously answered my prayers.
I got thinking about how often that has happened to me. Many times I have been thanked by those who I really didn't think I had had that much influence on. But I was determined to bring the light of the kingdom of God into their situation and trust God that something good was going to happen even if I never got to see it. He often uses us when we are completely unaware of it. I think it will make heaven even more delightful as we bump into people whose lives were changed by having been near us.

Full day

Tonight we played our last ball game of the season for Mackenzie's team. We got to end on a victory note so that was nice and our party is next week Thursday night. All in all it was a terrific season and I had a lot of fun coaching the kids and working with their parents. A good group of people all around. I had a pretty full day only touching down in my office for about 15 minutes late in the afternoon. The rest of the day was spent with people. Walking, talking, coffeeing, and doing life together. One of my co-mentor groups I belong to is working its way through a book I would highly recommend to all of you. It is called The Power of Full Engagement. It really is one of the best books I have read for practical steps to fully engage life in all its aspects. Physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. By following some of its ideals 3 of the 5 other pastors have found significant changes to their energy levels. Pretty cool.

the peachland piranhas 

the team....contemplating the season.... 

The Awesome Power of Music and Songs

Last night our girls ball game was cancelled so we decided to have team photos and play a game of Kalifornia Kick Ball along with the parents. We had just nicely gotten into the top of the 3rd inning when ZZZZZZAP CRASH BOOOOOOM a massive lightening and thunder storm came over our heads. That was the end of kickball! After a few seconds of what-should-we-do-now, we decided to hustle the girls and the few adults there down to the local restaurant for some good old fashioned ice cream cones. While we were there some guy showed up with his big expensive Karaoke machine and to our surprise we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of Karaoke night at the Peachland Garage Grill and Pump. Well, the rest is history. The kids started singing songs, laughing, ribbing each other, some started being the back up singers to the two or three girls that were singing. Some of the kids could really sing and some of them, well, you know they did try anyway! I even ended up joining in on the fun and sang one song with Paige and one song with Mackenzie. We stayed there for over an hour and a half and everyone went home with a little ice cream in their tummies and a big smile on their faces (adults included).
Music and songs are such powerful things. They have the power to make us laugh or cry. They have the power to attach themselves to our memories and suddenly take us back to those moments. They have the power to take a good time and turn it into a great time. We are made to hum or sing or just be moved by music and song by a humming, singing, dancing creative God. The stack of evidence is thick. Just look in the bible and see the poetry, the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. From funeral durges to loud angelic choirs and from flutes to drums it's all in there. We are instructed that making music and melodies in our hearts to God is meant the be a picture of a heart set free from sin and engaged by the beauty of the savior. Interestingly enough in the end times one of the things that the angels will destroy is mentioned in Rev 18:22 "The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters,will never be heard in you again." One of my favorite passages of the scripture is found in Zeph 3:17 "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
I can almost hear him.....

The missing man, money,mat,and meat!

Today I mowed the lawn and was surprised at how damp the ground was. The grass is so wet it kept plugging up my mower! When I had finished I headed down to pick up the van from Cheryl's office to take into Kelowna to have it cleaned inside and out. After a weekend of sandy, muddy and wet shoes plus the mess that 5 people can make it really needed a bath. When I arrived Cheryl's friend Yvonne was there. She had picked up Tim Hortons coffee for everyone in the office. But Brian, Cheryl's boss was missing, so I ended up drinking his cup of coffee (sorry Brian if your reading this). Then I headed into Kelowna but about 5 minutes into the drive I checked my wallet and my debit card was missing! So I headed back and picked up Cheryl's card (I later found mine in my bedroom). Then I went to have my van cleaned. When they had finished I drove off and at the first stop light I noticed the passenger side floor mat was missing. So I turned around, went back and was told they often get put into the wrong car and a day or so later are returned. So I am supposed to call back tomorrow and find out if it showed and if not they will replace it. By that time it was lunch time so I headed to Tim Hortons for one of there sub sandwiches. I ordered the BLT with turkey meat. I was driving down the road towards home when I opened my sandwich, took a bit and discovered that the turkey meat was missing! The most serious thing that went missing this week was a fellow pastor. He was missing after he had taken a buddy off on a hike in one of the near by wooded areas of Westbank. They were found the next day a bit tired and scared but no worse for wear.
I figured there must be something to all of these things going missing. I thought I should stop and contemplate this before I ended up 'missing' the point all together. I did a little search of scripture and landed on a terrific passage in Isaiah 34:16. God told the prophet to tell the people to search out the scriptures. They would find that not one prophesy nor one promise was missing it's intended fulfillment! The point was that his word is 100% complete and utterly trustworthy. What he says he will do for his word and who he is are one and the same. Pretty cool. This was meant to calm the people and to free them from worry and fear.
So, don't miss the point here. The bible has so much in it and no matter what it is you can take it to the bank. Prophecies, promises, proverbs, poetry and parables. All written down for our wisdom, instruction, encouragement, hope, and for teaching in righteousness. Nothing is missing!

Happy 17th Sweetie

Just got back from my 17th anniversary dinner with Cheryl at our favorite restaurant in town. We had a nice lunch together as the rain poured down and we ate under covered roof to the sound of rain dripping and splashing in the nearby puddles. The rain seemed to set the rhythm for our unforced and delightful conversation. What a ride it has been and I'm more in love with you than the day we made this thing official. I think I will just let King Solomon say what my words would fail to say. This is for you sweetie.
A good woman is hard to find, and worth far more than diamonds. Her husband trusts her without reserve, and never has reason to regret it. Never spiteful, she treats him generously all her life long. Her clothes are well-made and elegant, and she always faces tomorrow with a smile. When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say, and she always says it kindly. She keeps an eye on everyone in her household, and keeps them all busy and productive. Her children respect and bless her; her husband joins in with words of praise: "Many women have done wonderful things, but you've outclassed them all!" Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades. The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-GOD.
I really like the line- "she treats him generously all her life long"- it really says so clearly how you treat me.
Thanks for the 17 years and Lord willing we will enjoy the next 17 as well.

Are Your Arms Crossed or Your fingers Crossed?

I was listening to CBC radio the other day. The interviewer was interviewing a young up and coming actress. They were laughing and enjoying themselves over the questions and answers. Then the actress was asked, do you get nervous when you go on stage? The answer went something like this... "Before it starts I am all nerves but once I get going and get into character it's what makes my soul sing. I love acting. The worst is when you are all alone on stage and it is opening night. No one comes to opening night because they love the theater. Most of the people sitting out there have their arms crossed rather than their fingers crossed. They are there as critics and not supportive..." Her words created quite a picture in my mind. I began to think about how I respond to those who appear to have their arms crossed rather than their fingers crossed in my own life. Arms crossed folks are the frowners, nay sayers, wait and see people, negative, usually legalistic, unforgiving, gruff, control freaks, and sour pusses! Howard Hendricks once said they are those who appear to have been weaned on a dill pickle! They seem to have all day to develop their judgmental muscles. The fingers crossed folks are the well wishers, the positive, yes-sayers, merciful, kind, encouraging, the hope for the best and pray for the rest, kind of folks. The arms crossed folks usually get very little out of me while the fingers crossed folks bring me great joy.
Then I wondered if I was a cross the arms or cross the fingers kind of guy? Do I speak life to people or do I deal in death with my words? Am I a joy bringer to those around me or do I smother with condemning words and sour attitudes?
I also wondered if there was a right time to cross the arms and a right time to cross the fingers? Jesus seemed to cross his arms when those around him were legalistic, harsh and unforgiving. But he seemed to cross his fingers when it came to the common people. He longed so much to see them be filled with life and the true kingdom of God. He despised what the preachers of the Law had laid on them. He worked himself to the cross to set them free from all the burdens that the arms crossed religious leaders had laid upon them.
I pray that I would have the kind of wisdom and sense of timing that Jesus had. Arms crossed over sin and selfishness, over power and control or just plain nastiness. But fingers crossed hoping for the best and praying for the rest in the lives of those around me.

Heaven and Earth

Yesterday I attended the funeral service of Mrs. Margret Bedford. Her son Wes and their family attend our fellowship and so I went to support and encourage them. I knew Mrs. Bedford as a fun loving, hard working, Christ loving, Proverbs 31 kind of women. All 5 of her sons got up and offered stories and characteristics of this deeply loved lady. Kind, firm, joyful, prayerful, happy, faithful, contented, wise, understanding, a person who loved family and friends and had 25 grand kids and 10 great grand kids who all rose up and called her blessed. There were even a few unofficially adopted sons and their families who did the same. Then the preacher got up and did a good job of passing this saintly mother's mantle to the remaining family. Then he went into a gospel presentation that focused mostly on heaven and hell. I was uncomfortable with his presentation. The way it came across it made it seem that the life she had lived on earth was not really as important as the final destination she had arrived at. Statements like "she finally has received her reward" only fueled my thinking about this. Yes, there is a reward coming, that's not what I am talking about. However, what about the reward that was sitting right in front of us? What about the life of heaven, (i.e. the kingdom of heaven) she brought to this earth by her passionate faith and vigorous service? As we looked on and saw an amazing heritage of Godliness and faithfulness it was impossible to mistake who was receiving the glory for the life she lived and the blessings she bestowed. Sometimes we make heaven out to be so far away and that this life doest really matter all that much. It seems like as long as we get to heaven in the great bye and bye ( or avoid hell which ever comes first) that's what really counts. The kingdom of heaven is within us and it is meant to be lived out in the here and now for good of all people. In Jesus great prayer it was heaven on earth that was of great importance. It is to bring heaven on earth that he fills us with his Spirit for and uses us for. Heaven in the great bye and bye will be awesome to be sure. But, I think it is faulty and shallow thinking that makes the here and now seem less important than the hereafter! The lure of the comforts of heaven far to often become our selfish reason for being Christian at all. Tragically, in some ways, I think we can play into the devils hand when we think and speak like this. Our mission should we choice to accept it is to be like Margret Bedford. The women who experienced a great portion of her reward by bringing heaven to this earth. And now she has entered into her complete rest in Heaven. Thanks for the legacy Mrs. Bedford.

Weekend Report

Well I finally have some time to sit and work on writing down some thoughts from the weekend. It has been a few days since my last blog. Friday morning as usual I mentor about 5 other guys and this one was especially rewarding. Friday afternoon was a go at the local lynx with our "retiring" District Superintendent Brian Thom. We had a beautiful afternoon and really enjoyed ourselves. It will more than likely be my last game with Brian at least in his current role. I will miss our golf games.
Saturday, after making everyone a bacon, eggs and hashbrown breakfast it was off to coach soccer for Paige's team. We won 3-0 and played the best game I have seen them play to date. Our paigey had so many chances but just couldn't put the ball in the net! She is so close to chalking one up so hopefully next game she pop a couple in. The game was followed up by a mini family reunion of Cheryl's cousins. We were going to have a picnic but got rained out so we went to East Side Mario's for supper. Fantastic meal and what a busy place. This morning was an excellent church experience, followed by a nice relaxing afternoon and then at 5 I went to play ball. Paige and Danae brought a couple of friends out to watch the game and Cheryl also decided to join them so I had a cheering section. We won our game and then decided to head over to the team captains house for an after game party. They are the proud owners of two bull dogs. Those dogs were definitely the show of the party. Each waddling around snorting like pigs eating what ever happened to fall to the ground. Very funny. I have made such good friends by being involved in our local fire department. It was a fitting finish to a great weekend to hang out with these bunch of crazy guys. As I write this my whole family has slipped into bed and are starting to drift off to sleep. I have been blessed with such a good and enjoyable life. I am very gratefully.

Emotional maturity must accompany Spiritual maturity

Well today I was able to attend a free workshop for pastors sponsored by Focus on the Family. My good friend from Bible School, Steve Wilson, was the organizer of the event so I went mostly to support him in his ministry. I did go with lower expectations as I am not always the biggest fan of the focus on the family ministry. However I was pleasantly surprised at the caliber of speaker they brought in all the way from N.Y. His name is Peter Scazzero and he started his church 17 years ago and has stuck with it all these years. That alone was interesting as his journey closely paralleled my own here in Peachland. He authored a book entitled "the emotionally healthy church" and that was the focus of our seminar today. His basic thesis is that Emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is not possible for a Christian to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. That when we join Gods family we need to be "re-parented" into emotional wholeness and this is the basic direction of discipleship ministry within the church. Things he mentioned were like, as a leader start with yourself embracing the new person you were called to be in Christ. Then knowing your gifts and limits, embracing grief and loss in all it forms as normal and finally he did a really good job of establishing the need for a contemplative lifestyle of silence, solitude and Sabbath.
Anyway, it was very good so I bought the book and hope to use it to teach my leadership with.

Rain

Rain. I love rain. I love how the sky changes color from blue into ever increasing shades of gray-blackness. I love the sound of deep rumbling thunder that shacks the house and makes the dog go crazy. I love the sight of lightening as it cracks open the sky with absolute brilliance. I love to hear the sound of rain on the window or roof or the windshield of my truck as I drive. I love how everything is cleaned up by rain and afterwards there is that fresh pungent smell that cuts through the air from the ground up. Rain. For some reason I couldn't remember the last time we had an all day all night rain here in Peachland. I found myself constantly looking out the window of the store where my office is located to watch the rain fall and drops splashing on the road forming huge puddles. Today when Cheryl and I were walking we watched a boy on a scooter run through a huge puddle over and over again. Making waves! The rain brought a reprieve from our busy baseball schedule, it gave us the night off so we played family card games till bedtime. Rain. I love it when I feel rain in my soul. God pouring out his love and mercy drops into my life. The sound of his grace splashing upon the surface of my heart. The waves of his forgiveness washing over me leaving a fresh clean smell from the ground up. Rain in me Lord.

Gone fishing

Took our empty water bottles to my friends house this morning. Tony the water guy was there to meet me in his house coat. We made the exchange of empty ones for full water jugs then started yaking. He was on the opposite ball team yesterday so we reminisced over the game and re-lived the fun moments and the plays that stood out in our minds. I ended up going in for a cup of freshly ground coffee and more horse tales. During our chat he kept looking at his watch. As it turns out he was scheduled to go fishing with his brother. However, his brother ended up calling him from his vehicle and he was 1/2 way to the lake they had planned to go to. Tony was not one bit impressed and some good old fashioned brotherly "love" was exercised! It is true brothers are born for adversity! Anyway, because he was geared up to go fishing he decided to go down to Okanogan lake and put his boat in and go fishing. One of his customers who works downtown told him she sees big fish jumping all the time about 1000 feet off the shore. I quickly returned home, grabbed my fishing gear, hustled down to the Sears depot to get a fishing license and met Tony at the boat launch. Two and a half hours of sunshine, shooting the breeze, chomping on spitz and dragging the lines. I was the only one who had some action, 2 big bits and caught one 15"Rainbow Trout. We had a great time. I would have stayed out longer but I had scheduled a lunch date with Danae and had to hustle off to pick her up from school. We also had a great time together. When I told her about my adventure with Tony she was immediately making plans to invite a friend, take me and Tony out on the lake and do a little fishing of her own. That sounds good to me. Nice start to a day off.

Sports imitates life

What a great service today. Awesome Holy Spirit saturated worship and a fantastic testimony from one our young people who recently returned from Guiana, South America. I am pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye among us as she wept her way through her talk sharing of Gods powerful grace in her life. She was so moved by how God used their ministry group to literally deliver people from evil, to open the eyes of the blind and to see the lame walk. It was a tremendous time and our church was deeply moved by it.
After that I went out and played my first game of softball in about 3 years! I absolutely had a blast. They put me on 3rd base and fortunately I was able to make a couple of exciting plays. One play in particular was a diving catch but after making the snag I realized I would be too slow to get up and throw it so while lying face down in the dirt I passed it off to the pitcher who threw it to first for the out. Later people were calling it the Panasonic turning point of the game. I also hit a homer.
Something interesting did catch my attention while we were playing. I was playing with the firefighters team and in the middle of the game we had two emergency calls. So, while the team on field looked on, the "team" on the bench answered the emergency calls. We continued to play with sirens blaring. In the middle of playing we were in the middle of two emergencies. It was kind of a snap shot of what life is like. Parts of life are just skipping along while other parts of our life are experiencing some sort of trauma. I wondered about how many of the people on the two teams who were playing a great game of baseball, were quietly suffering relational trauma, or personal pain, or a health crisis or some other emergency. As I looked around I recognized a few who would fall into this category. It is amazing how sport imitates life! The great bible missionary Paul recognized this connection and used athletics to help us understand how the Christian life works. Thanks for the fun of sports God, and thanks that they can teach us about life in you as well.
Oh by the way, the game ended in a 14 to 14 tie!

SSSSSSSSSSSSnake

This morning it was so beautiful outside I decided to walk down to my office for my 9:00 am elders meeting. I grabbed a handful of grapes and a tall Starbucks coffee mug, filled it with piping hot coffee from Tim Hortons and headed down the hill. The scenery was spectacular as the sun shimmered off the water below, the grapes were delightful and the coffee was impossible to drink. Have you ever tried to walk down a steep road and drink coffee at the same time? It was all over my hands, up my nose, splattered across my sunglasses, down my shirt, and the cream and sugar made it into a sticky gooey mess! DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!! Anyway, as I cut across a big open grassy area and came to the road side I almost stepped on a mound of snake! At first is was motionless, so I tapped it with my shoe to see if it was alive and its tale began to rattle and so I knocked it about again and he went into his defensive "S" formation like he was ready to strike. I moved back because I was suddenly aware that it may not have been a bull snake (harmless) but an actual rattle snake (you know what that means). So I quickly alerted the fellow doing his yard work near by. However, by the time we got back to the location of the snake it had already wisely vanished into a deep grassy ditch. After I told him about the encounter he was pretty sure that no rattle snake had been sited around that area for as long as he could remember (I think he mentioned 50 years), however, he did grab his little dog up into the safety of his arms. When he grabbed his little Schitzu like that his actions definitely spoke louder than his words. He swooped that little mutt up into his arms and whisked him away to safety. I looked a bit further in the ditch but decided I was going to be late for my meeting. I also didn't want to risk being the first person in Peachland to discover a rattle snake the hard way!
Just some of my adventures in Peachland. Hope your having a good day.

Lacking Nothing

Well it is nearing the end of my Friday office time. Thought I would jot down the good news that came out of my regularly scheduled eye doctors appointment this afternoon. After a very thorough investigation Dr. Noell said, " Kevin without a doubt something supernatural has been a work here!" He was responding to how well my eye had healed and how almost all of the scar tissue is gone from my left eye. It is barely recognizable that there was any problem at all. He must have said he was happy to see how well I was doing about 5 times during the examination.
I have to say, this whole journey with the eye has definitely been a faith building experience. I have seen and sensed the presence of God at work in my life while going through this life changing event. It is one of those things that you would never wish to see happen to anyone but in the end, after seeing the positive results, way down deep inside, you're glad for the experience. James the half brother of Jesus said it this way. "Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials brothers and sisters knowing this, that the testing of your faith produced patience and let patience have it perfect work that you may be perfect and entire lacking nothing."
Thanks Lord for the experience and for drawing near to me as I drew near to you. Thanks for your healing touch and thanks for the prayers of church, family and friends that knit us closer together and that you built up our faith by your gracious answers. It is true, it definitely feels like I am lacking absolutely nothing!

Accusations

I'm on a lunch break so I thought I would write a little quickie. Today I had a guy who called himself Eugene Peterson stop by at around 10 AM while I was working in my office. He came barging in, plunked his stuff down on my office floor, told me his name, told me he had talked to me before, (which he hadn't) then he let me have it. Both barrel's of pure slimmy accusations. All about how I never did anything for the lost, those who need assistance I just ignore. He said I was just like all the rest of those pastors out there just looking after their own. Nobody ever helps him, they take one look at his he dirty clothes, unshaven face and walk away. He had had it with Christians who just left him hungry and angry. This went on and on for about 10 minutes and I just sat there and let him cough up his hairball. He kept stopping to see if he was going to get a reaction out of me but I just sat there quietly listening. My silence unnerved him a bit. Then I finally asked what it was he wanted help with and it started the whole show all over again. I finally took him for a bowl of soup and a quick ride to Westbank where I bought him a one way ticket to Armstrong. That is where he wanted to go. After he got into my truck I confronted him on his horrible way of asking for help. All he had to do was tell me honestly what he wanted without all the unfounded accusations. I said it was not suprising to me that he received very little help. He sat for a bit in silence and then he apologized. He asked me if I knew Pastor Tom from Cold lake and I said yes and that my brother works with him. He really liked that. He also asked me if I knew Kevin Hogan in Sylvan Lake and a few other Alliance pastors even the one in Hythe Alberta. He even asked me if I had ever heard of Eugene Peterson, you know the guy who wrote The Message? I told him I had and that I enjoyed his "book". Anyway I dropped him off, he thanked me and began to down his soup while he waited for 10 min. until the bus came. Come to think of it I should have had him sign my copy of The Message! There is never a dull moment around here.

CHEERS!

Yesterday at fire practice one of the female firefighters in our hall had her birthday announced. She was turning 25 years old. Instantly and without any forethought or hesitation I started in with one of the baseball cheers my girls use when someone on the field makes it home. Or sometimes the opposition team will come over and with arms up create a kind of arch-way that the girls run through while being cheered on. It goes like this; "we are proud of you, we are proud of you (clap clap) and then repeats itself over and over again. Well that's what I did without thinking and before I could hold back the words the cheer spilled out. One of the guys turned and looked at me kind of strange like and muttered that he thought that was kind of a wired birthday song. A few others just chuckled at how strange of a guy they know I am. I felt the need to explain but somehow knew it would be lost in translation.


Cheering is such a big part of our game plan that during baseball season I often go to bed with some crazy cheer running loose in my mind. I even wake up with them swimming around in my head. As I am writing this I am realizing that this same thing happens to me every year and without fail the cheers come out of me in some situation other than a baseball game.
It got me to thinking, why is it somehow "unacceptable behavior" to cheer someone else just for the sake of cheering for them. We all need to be cheered on, even the bible indicates that we all have a "heavenly cheering section". I've decided I don't care any more about the looks and the jeers about my cheering. I am going to give as many cheers as I can to whomever needs one.
Whose in your corner cheering you on? If you've got someone it sure feels good but if you don't have anyone cheering you on you are really missing out!

CHEERS!