Teachable moments

This morning around the breakfast table we had a rare moment. Usually everyone but myself is in a bit of a tizzy trying to get ready for school or work between 7 and 8 in the morning. I usually let the kids hop on the bus before I leave for my daily routine down at the local gym so I'm in no hurry. But this morning, by some mini miracle, there were five Nichols gathered around the table chatting about the days events and who was going where and when and how they were going to get home and at what time etc. And that's when I asked a question that I had been mauling over in my mind. "Why are you a Christian?" I asked everybody around the table. They responded like good Sunday school parrots, "So we can go to heaven!" they unanimously exclaimed! When I told them were partly right but mostly wrong I had their undivided attention. Yes it is true heaven is coming but is that really the main reason we are Christian? The two greatest commandments Love God with every ounce of your being and love others in the same way we love ourselves don't mention heaven or hell. We are Christian so that we can show the love of God to the dying world. We are Christian so we can bless others even when they curse us! We are Christian when we demonstrate to our neighbors our faith in Christ by loving and caring and blessing them. So I summed it up, we are to pursue God with every ounce of fiber in our being and then we are take what he blesses us with in that pursuit and give it away to others. Strictly for their benefit and for their good ( and we will be blessed in the end).
What a great little teachable moment and I am glad I didn't miss it!

Osmosis

I had a terrific weekend. I took my girls pee wee baseball team to a tournament in Vernon. We were a perfect 1 and 15 going into the tourney so I had very low expectations of my kids though I managed to work up a pretty convincing motivational speech (or so I thought). The first game of the tournament my girls overwhelmed me. They played the best game I have seen them play. Making tough plays, hitting some tremendous and exciting balls, and running the bases like pros! I think they played so well they even shocked themselves. Well to make a long blog short, the team advanced to the playoff round today (Sunday). They won their first game and played even better than the first game the day before! This meant that they could advance to the medal round. Because of our win loss record we ended up playing for the bronze medal. Unfortunately, my girls just plain old ran out of gas. The average temperature of both days was close to 30 degrees Celsius and it had really taken its toll on them. We did lose the game but what a fantastic feeling to come in 4th place. Especially when we had to beat teams that we had lost to during our regular season evening games. I have had a great time coaching and getting to know the parents of these girls and enjoying some great fun along the way.
I was thinking about how much time and energy it takes me to coach this team. I was wondered if it was worth it, and I was suddenly aware of the significant value in taking the time to befriend, train, encourage and mentor a few girls. My prayer is that one day my love for God and my love for others will pay off in more ways than just having fun together playing ball.
I wished I could see me from their perspective. What do they notice most about me? What do they think is crazy and what do they admire about who I am? What about me annoys them? But I suppose this is all just in my head. Maybe they don't even think about any of this. I hope that the Lord is somehow rubbing off on them by osmosis!

No Yoke No Gentleness

Gentleness, and its synonyms, kindness, tenderness, calmness, mildness, and quietness seem like long forgotten virtues with the ever increasing pace of our society. Any one of these deeply spiritual values takes time and energy and often thought, prayerfulness and being still inwardly in order to get in touch with them and practice them in our over-stimulated, over-paced, and over-stressed way of life. However, just because they are mostly forgotten does not make them any less potent or welcomed in whatever relational circumstances we may find ourselves in with others. There have been many times in my life that I remember thinking that I was about to get into serious trouble or times when I was facing an angry person, that I have both felt the affects of a gentle answer or seen the affects of gentleness on the other person(s) involved. The bible says a gentle answer turns away wrath and it really does. It acts like water on fire or like a warm blanket on an icy relationship. Instead of blasting something back that we usually regret later try speaking gently. It will not come easy; in fact it will take all of your efforts plus the added strength of faith in Jesus to make it happen. Jesus put it this way in the form of an invitation; “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."This means that if we want to experience the joy and blessing of both giving and also receiving gentleness we can. Jesus invites us to come to him and ‘learn’ it from him. Like a young oxen that is yoked to an older more experienced oxen to learn how to work the field so too we will learn how to be gentle and humble of heart from being "yoked" with him. As we hang around him we will see the power of gentleness and begin to put it into practice until it becomes an established way of dealing with others.
How about it, could you do with a little more gentleness in your relationships? Then don’t delay, get started as soon as you can. Give one of your town pastors a call and ask them to help you with this journey. You will not regret it.

A mini united nations gathering

I did a wedding yesterday for a family in our church. It was most interesting, maybe even the most unique wedding I have done in 18 years of doing them. The couple are young people who love the Lord Jesus Christ and cherish their faith walk. His parents and family are all yet to become people of Christian faith. Her parents are awesome Christian leaders in church and in our area. His dad's side are all Jewish and his mom works with the Okanagan native school. So during the wedding we had a Jewish part, a Christian part and even a native song of welcome as a part of the service. As I mingled among the guests there were Buddhists, Muslims and Jehovah Witnesses all present, all sitting around tables in groups of 4, all talking and enjoying each others company. Someone joked it was like a mini united nations gathering. I found it very interesting how our country has changed in my short 40+ years. Our Canadian society truly is multi-faith, multi-national and multi-cultural. On the other hand, it was very cool to just strip away all the "tags" we give people and just enjoy them as fellow human beings. Maybe that was the most enjoyable part for me. It was interesting to find out who people were, their religious persuasion and their heritage. But it was even more interesting that for a few hours it really didn't matter. We were all there for the same purpose. To bless Sam and Rebecca and their families on that special day.
I wonder if we spend too much time worrying about what tag people should be wearing. Trying to fit them into nice tidy little boxes so we can judge them as being "in or out" based on what they believe or where they come from or even their heritage. I believe Jesus was the master at just loving people no matter who they were. He had a way of dealing with others that was always winsome and honest. He loved people because...well because... they were people. They were people who needed love, just like me.

Finding the right gear

She was older, at least 65, and she was completely beside herself with humiliation and anger. The car she was in was an older Ford Topaz and it was stopped in the middle of the road when I came upon the scene. There were 4 other vehicles stopped and waiting for this lady to move out of the way so they could take the corner and be on their marry way. I decided waiting was not in my best interests so I cut around the line, drove partly in the ditch passing all the other vehicles on their drivers side. As I passed the stalled vehicle I could see that the women behind the wheel was truly petrified. The road was very steep and she couldn't get the car to move. The only thing that she could think to do was press the brake pedal to the floor and keep it there. I took my daughter home and returned only to find the same situation. No one had come to her rescue.
I asked her to apply the parking brake but it didn't work. Whenever she would take her foot off the brake pedal the car would quickly begin rolling backwards down the hill. And every time she tried to move forward the car would stall. The smell of an over worked clutch and a hot engine was unmistakable. We finally got her out of the car by shutting it down. I slid into her seat, put the car into first gear and drove up and around the corner to a level spot in the road. She was extremely grateful and as it turned out she was a few hundred feet from her destination.

Sometimes something so simple as using the right gear to start with can make the difference between moving forward, stalling or worse, rolling backwards uncontrollably down a steep hill. We try over and over, doing the same things the same way but somehow expecting different results. Our level of frustration grows, our anger deepens and we feel so humiliated. When all the while what we really need is someone who can drive well to slide in behind the wheel and get us moving in the right direction. We need to stop striving and start trusting another. We give up the wheel to another who will help us get to our destination. There is no better driver to trust than the Lord Jesus Christ. It is time to slide out from behind the wheel of your life and to trust him with it.

Death becomes us

So in the last week since I have been back at work there have been 3 deaths in our network of relationships here in town. Death is such a traumatic and cataclysmic event. It moves the earth, it shakes the foundations of our lives, it seizes us and paralyzes us with it multitude of poisons like grief, anger, fear, hopelessness and often complicated with pain and suffering. As someone once said, "Life is full of changes but there are two things in life that never change, death and taxes!" As the scripture says, "death is the destiny of everyone, the living should take this to heart, and learn from it."
Being prepared for one's death is a vital element in the process. Sometimes death comes suddenly but other times it takes it's time. Mercy time really, time to cry out to the creator of life, time to make our peace with the Almighty, time to settle accounts with family and friends. None of us knows when it will be our day. It is appointed that we die once and after that we face the judgment. For some it will the judgment of either eternal life or damnation. For others who have believed in Jesus as Christ and Lord it will be the judgment of deeds done here on earth. The death of friends and loved ones enables us to examine our lives, encourages us to make the changes needed, messages our thoughts about eternity, about the next life after this one. King Solomon figured out that sorrow is better than laughter for sadness can have a refining influence upon us. Death becomes us!

We lost a good one last night

Last night at 10:30 my friend Brad breathed his last breath here on planet earth. He was surrounded by loved ones, his wife, kids, brothers, and his mom. He had a pretty good day and in the evening sat up in bed but before long had slipped into a coma and shortly thereafter he was gone. Brad was a really great fellow and he will be greatly missed by those of us he has left behind. Thanks for the memories Brad.
Yesterday morning I had to walk down town to get the keys to my vehicle from my wife. On the way there I was struck by the absolute beauty of the area I live. My mind went to Brad, whose job it was to make our little town look great. At that moment I heard the Holy Spirit whisper to me that I should seek the Lord to forgive Brad's sins. I don't fully understand this prayer and it did seem a little odd to me but I did it anyway. He then told me to pray that He would speak to Brad in his mind while he lay there basically unable to speak. He comforted me that He would walk Brad through this "valley of the shadow of the death". It was a terrific moment in prayer and it is especially precious to me now that Brad is gone on. I was going to tell him this experience today when I was going to visit him. But instead I shared it with his family and they felt great comfort from it.
Thanks God for those sweet sweet moments yesterday morning. They have brought me great comfort as well.
We lost a good one last night!

Time off is good behavior

Today was my day off. I relaxed, I did some yard work, I enjoyed some TV and I went to firefighters practice. I walked down to my wife's office and we had a cup of coffee together. I was able to go pick up Paige from school as her allergies were giving her a headache. I feel so blessed for having been faithful to my day off. I am convinced that working 7 days a weeks is seriously damaging to us as human beings. I am convinced that the cycle of 6 days of work and one day of rest was not just a command but a command that had our very best interests in mind. It was also one of the most common failures of the ancient Israelites. They constantly disregarded the Sabbath and God constantly made them pay for it. Why is it so tough to keep a Sabbath? Why is it so difficult for us today to lay down our tools, our pens, the business of our busy lives for some good old fashioned R & R. I have been faithful to my day off for about 18 years of ministry. Only a handful of times have I violated it and that was for a serious reason like an accident, a death or a special service of some kind. That's it, as far as I can remember I have been a faithful day-off kinda guy. I always feel refreshed and ready for a new week after taking my Mondays off. Thanks for the great idea God!

Lack of fire

Yesterday I felt very effective in the pulpit. I had a deep satisfying sense that God was using the message to challenge some stale and ungodly thinking in the lives of many folks within the fellowship. The challenge came from James 4: 4-6 where God uses some pretty powerful imagery to express his view of our selfish hedonistic ways. He used relational imagery such as, adulteresses, friends, enemies, communication and jealousy. All very powerful and very real. After church I had an audition for this movie I have been asked to be in. (I got the part by the way) On the way there I had a good conversation with my buddy who decided all good movie stars need chauffeurs. We chatted about the lack of fire in our church and the Canadian church in general. We discussed it to the point to where we finally threw our hands up in the air and basically agreed that God needs to do some serious shaking up of the church. Unless he does we are on a downward spiral towards impotence and generally being of little or no influence at all in our culture. Maybe we were a little over zealous in our view of things but I do pray that God wakes us up before he comes and has to "remove our lampstand" as a the Canadian extention of his church.

Selected

Have you ever been on the receiving end of being specifically selected for something? This week my daughter Danae was selected by a local ball team by being asked to join them for a weekend ball tournament. She was honored but had to decline the invitation. Then one of the girls on my own team was selected by another Westside team to join them as they headed off to a ball tournament. She was so proud and full of joy to have been selected and even her parents were excited about the possibility. So she accepted and that's where she is this weekend. Then last night I received a call from a local movie production company because I had been selected to come in for an audition to play a supporting role in a new movie. Being selected feels really good way down deep inside. It's like somebody was thinking good thoughts about me even though I wasn't even around them. Even in our faith there is a biblical teaching that centers around being selected by God. Wanted by him, like he is thinking thoughts about us even when we think he is not around. It is a teaching that brings us into the heart of God and his deep down desire to be in relationship with us. While it is true we can be honored by this and decline, if we decline we loose out on so much. However, we benefit so much more when we feel a sense of pride and joy by accepting his invitation to be selected as one of his children. To enter in and enjoy all the fullness of life he offers is really the best response to his invitation. Go ahead, feel special for once in your life!

Man 2 man and man 2 25 14 year old girls

What a contrast I experienced today. First it was my weekly men's meeting, where we sit, sip our coffees and enter into each others life journeys the good the bad the ugly and of course the glorious! I completely enjoy mentoring this bunch of guys as we explore how God is moving in and through our everyday lives. Then after that I hustled my way over to my daughters school. On the way over I called my wife and she informed me that I would be the only male there since it was an all girls P.E. class. After arriving I hopped on a bus with 25 singing, screaming 14 year old girls to go on a Phys. Ed field trip. We headed to 19 greens for some serious (haha) mini golfing. I think they should have handed out full metal jackets and helmets the way the balls were flying everywhere. I had a great time and enjoyed my daughters company as well as that of all her friends in school. On the way there the teacher told of the wild antics on the golf course of Danae's twin sister Paige. She was on the same trip only one the day before and really left a big impression. We all had a good laugh.
I am so blessed. Thank you Lord for awesome kids.

When boys miss the bus

This morning I watched a kid, maybe 6 or 7 years old, curly blond hair, face full of freckles come streaking down the hill outside our kitchen window. Actually, I heard him before I saw him, he was screaming at the top of his little lungs, STOP, STOP, STOP. By now our whole family was at the window to watch the drama unfold. The big yellow school bus had waited it's last few seconds before it began to roar up the hill away from our front yard. It left a sad little boy, with a pack-sack as big as he was in the middle of the road in a cloud of diesel exhaust. We called down to make sure his mom was home and he assured us she was while looking a bit dazed by the whole episode.
I think it would be safe to say we've all shared in this little man's dilemma. We have all been late for something, sometimes being late turns out ok and our moms drive us to school. However, sometimes being late can be very costly. Sometimes what we're late for has such magnitude, such enormous importance that to miss it is to miss out on life itself. I'm talking about missing the opportunity to make peace with God. To experience a dynamic relationship with the Almighty. To miss this opportunity is to miss out not only on eternity with him but it is to miss him in the here and now. To miss his wonderful life giving presence and his grace and power to serve and help the rest of humanity experience his full and free life now before it is too late. Believe me you don't want to miss the bus on this issue!

The joys of coaching

This season my daughter Danae and I decided to coach our youngest daughter Mackenzie's ball team. It hasn't worked out for Danae to help because she purchased Kelowna Rockets Hockey Post Season tickets and they are still in the run for the memorial cup. However, this particular group of girls is a team that I have coached since they started playing ball with the exception of last year. Last year our community decided not to have any ball teams so most of the girls missed a year. It has taken the last month to help them remember some of the key points of baseball. However, they are responding beautifully and learning and remembering quickly. I am really enjoying their enthusiasm and team spirit. They really want to learn and I really want to teach them and it is a great combination. There is something unique about the bond that can take place between a coach and a team. In most other scenarios a 42 year old guy hanging out three and four times a week with a bunch of 11-13 year old girls would seem a bit odd even twisted. However, in this case the parents are glad for the input into their children's personal development. Team skills, ball skills, physical skills, thinking skills, cheering each other on skills, communication skills, and sometimes even life skills are a part of our relationship. Not to mention just having some plain old fashioned fun. I really love coaching.

Preaching the Word

Oh did it feel good to break open the word of God to our fellowship today after two whole months of not preaching it. We started off with a mothers day pancake breakfast fundraiser for our youth. It was awesome but it just seem to take forever for the service to start. Eventually I did get to it and I had a tremendous amount of fun as we explored the excellencies of God's wonder-filled word. We continued on from our series in James by picking up on James 4:1-3. I started a four part series on The Art Of Prayerful Living.
Following the service I had coffee with an old friend whose wife has had a long history of being unfaithful to him and this last one was the last straw. While I was sad for my friend, he seemed in a pretty good place and I was very grateful for my awesome wife and our terrific relationship. The girls and I took her out for mothers day meal in Summerland and it was great fun. All in all it has been a terrific day of ministry. Thank you Lord and it sure is good to be back in the saddle again.

Love displayed by a devoted wife

I have been moved deeply lately by the undying devotion, uncompromising display of compassion, and the unyielding care of the wife of a good friend who is losing his life to that all to common enemy cancer. While I was on a recent one hour visit, I watched her change sheets, inject water and food into an intervenes tube, help her husband sit up, go for a thirty second walk to the couch and then back again, assisted him with his bathroom duties, anointed his bed sores, fed him his medication along with some applesauce from a baby food jar. This friend was a six foot 2, ex-champion boxer, with the biggest smile and a hearty handshake. Now, he is only a shadow of his former physical self. It was hard to see him that way. But I must admit, as I watched his wife display the most powerful expression of love and devotion I have witnessed in some time I was blessed by having been in their home. God grant her strength for the days ahead and rest for the long lonely nights in their bed.

First day in the office

Wow what a day! I didn't even unpack my case when someone came in who was down because of a business deal that went sour. Then after he left, I had a staff meeting and found out my administrators wedding is off, after that a homeless man came in and talked for about an hour, then I went home for lunch. I got back just in time to talk to the wife of a friend who is dying from cancer and is not doing so well, followed by a phone call to a man whose wife was unfaithful to him for the second time and their relationship was done and finally, to end if all off, a good friend who I have been warning over and over again not to sleep with his girlfriend finally got her pregnant. That was my first day back in the office. Death, unfaithfulness, sin, sexual immorality, unexpected pregnancy and homelessness and broken dreams. My wife just sighed, laughed and said "welcome back to work pastor."

I will hunt you down and gut you like a fish! 

no connection with the guy on my shoulder! 

First day back was smooth

Well the first day back at work was smooth and mostly uneventful. Blair Bates, one of our elders had a good message about the vision and owning it etc. Was well done and blessed both Cheryl and I. Spent some time with Tommy Nicholson, Steve Huculiak, and Boomer McDermott, who helped me clean up the mess from the garage sale we had Friday and Saturday. Grand total was 8 bucks shy of $1200.00 All the money from this fundraiser, the first one and the next two go towards helping students go to camp. Most of them are going to the alliance camp in the shushwap called eagle bay camp. Then is was off to see Sahara with Cheryl and our youngest daughter Mackenzie. Followed by a relaxing evening at home. Pretty uneventful as I said but a nice easy entrance back into the ministry.
Later

so it comes to an end in two hours

Yes, my 2 month leave of absence comes to an end at midnight tonight. The past two months have been so worth it. I didn't think I needed them at the beginning but now I know that the Lords hand was in this and I have been sooooo blessed. 3 weeks with my folks, 10 days with my auntie and uncle who in their words were here to "strengthen our hands". 6 delightful books, well, 5 delightful books and one that was at best so-so ( Wild at Heart in case you were wondering). I've been so blessed by the authors, I've been mentored, I've been refreshed, I've been awakened, and I've been in prayer, confession, silence, soul journaling, mediations, and of course some good ole fashioned time with my wife and kids. I would highly recommend this to any pastor, in any church. It takes a bit of prep, some permission from those who love you and the blessing of your church and you are away. I have loved each minute, I am sad it is coming to a close but I am also ready and raring to go. I need to think through how I want to respond to our fellowship and fill them in on how much I have benefited from this time off.
Blessings