MISSION: KEEP KEVIN AWAKE!

THE BOYS! Tikki,Jared,Frank,Art,Mont (me) and Dandy (Tikki missing as he took the picture)

The misson: Keep me awake as long as possible. TO start with a HUGE Vietnamese Dinner - so big I could only eat half!

Then it was on to the 10 pin bowling ally! What a blast until about the 7th frame and I started to drop quickly. What a great time I had!

NEW ZEALAND 06

I am writing this from the home of John and Carolyn Gummer who are the directors of C&MA in New Zealand. I am here over the next two weeks, preaching, attending meetings, meeting with church families of International Christian Center and hopefully get some sight seeing done while I am at it. I will endeavor to keep you posted of my adventures here and maybe even a photograph or two as well. This is crunch time. We are praying and ask you to pray with us as well that this will either be "closure time" or "clincher time". That God will close the door and we look elsewhere or it is a clincher in our hearts and we move to NZ.
Blessings all,
God is Good all the time!

YAHOO IRELAND 2006

We made it home! We are happy beyond words, tired but a good kind of tired, totally overwhelmed by our awesome experience, blessed beyond measure, the whole thing was a thing of grandeur from start to finish. Any of you relatives reading this must begin plans immediately to go and visit our Irish cousins. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!
More will follow I am sure as I get my internet connection back up and running. Right now we're on dial-up so I will be brief.
Thanks for praying for us if you did, your prayers were most definitely answered.

THANK YOU PEACHLAND FOR 13 GREAT YEARS

As you start to read through this blog, my family and I are getting ready to make a trip to the Island of Ireland. We’ve been planning this vacation for almost 2 years now, ever since we met my cousin, David, from Belfast at my grandfather’s funeral. Many Peachlanders have been to Ireland and have told us of all the beauty, history, the exciting culture, and of course the Irish hospitality that was second to none. So, now we are here, consuming all the sights, some good old fashioned Irish breakfasts, and some much needed R & R.
Much needed R & R because I have been in pastoral ministry for over 20 years (19 of those years in Westbank and Peachland) without a significant break. Over 13 years ago my wife Cheryl and I and our 3 little girls moved to Peachland to start a church. The Peachland Community Church has been driven to live up to its middle name over the years. We have won prizes in the Canada Day Parade, an award for community service in recognition of our work with the youth of Peachland and we’ve gained quite an international reputation as the church that meets outside in Heritage Park during the summer months.
But there comes a time when you begin to realize that you have given all that you have and there seems to be a growing sense of what I call a “holy discontent” about what is happening. This means that it is time for a change. The same God, who brought us to Peachland from the church in Westbank, has now decided that the time has come for the Nichol family to move on once again. June 30, 2006 was my last official day as the Pastor of Peachland Community Church. P.C.C. will now be busy searching for a new pastor to lead them with fresh ideas and new vision. I am very excited as I consider what is in store for them.
For a while we were following several promising leads regarding where God would have us go for new ministry. However, one lead after another dropped off the radar. Finally this left only one lead that was still very alive and active. A church in Auckland, New Zealand was in communication with us and a few days before my last day of work they extended an official call to us to come and be their pastor.
Upon returning from our vacation, the hard work of getting our family to New Zealand will begin. We expect it will take us several months to finish the massive visa process. We will need to sell almost everything we have, so if anyone needs some furniture, vehicles, a house, and lots of stuff, just give us a call and make us an offer we can’t refuse!
One of the bigger challenges that this move will bring is that the church there is quite small, so they don’t have enough money to pay our salary. Therefore they have asked us to raise our own support until the church is large enough to pay us. If you’re looking for a good cause to support financially, I happen to know of a really good one! I have gifted people working on creating ways for you to receive a tax receipt for your donation should you choose to help us out. If you would like to be put on our email list to be kept in the loop on our New Zealand adventure just send me an email (nicpcc@telus.net) and we will be sure to keep you informed of all that is happening.
As I write this final paragraph I want to communicate to you the greatest passion of my life. I have hoped and prayed that my life and how I have conducted myself among you all has done one thing well. That is that you have been witness to the joy and the fullness of life that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That through my conduct you would have unmistakably seen what a good Christian is like and that the life I’ve lived has backed up the message I have attempted to speak to all of you. This message is of the forgiveness of sins and the deep love of God for all of us expressed through his Son Jesus Christ. And that by believing this message by faith you too might have fullness of joy and fullness of life everlasting. While I know I have not been even close to perfect in all of this, I am consumed with a desire to know and to love God more deeply each day and to share this knowledge and this love with others I meet along the way. This is my greatest passion.
God bless all you Peachlanders and from all of us Nichol’s thanks again for 13+ fantastic years.

GO OILERS GO

Seventh heaven: Oilers force deciding game in Stanley Cup

Hurricane ALBERT"A" Comes Ashore!

AAAAWWWW:(
soooo sad!

GO OILERS GO

Pisani scores OT winner to keep Oilers alive in Stanley Cup

GO OILERS GO

Random

I had a bag of dog food stolen out of the back of my truck in the two hour span it was sitting outside my office. I was there tiding up some loose ends at the end of the day on Friday. When I went back to buy another bag on Saturday it happened to be the same guy standing behind the counter who had sold me the first bag. He remembered me and he had that "what did you do with the last bag of dog food you bought here?" look on his face. So I told him what happened and he felt sorry for me and decided to give me the replacement bag even though I was willing to pay for. There still are some good people still out there!

I preached my first sermon of the last month of ministry in Peachland Community Church Sunday. I thought it went pretty well considering I had steep competition from a little two year old girl that was wondering around in front and in behind me for the closing point of the message. It was amusing/frustrating to look out over the congregation and see that all eyes were NOT on me but instead were watching her do her little show! You just can't compete with a little kid in a situation like that.

Cheryl and I went and saw the Da Vinci Code Sunday afternoon. After seeing it I'm not too sure what ALL the fuss is about after all it is a fictional story! It seems that the church subculture is consumed with it by the number of books and the zillions of articles out there trying to denounce it. It so happened that while sitting in an A&W restaurant yesterday morning a man who used to live in Peachland several years ago was there. He came over to have a conversation with me that started with, "My uncle is dying in Vancouver and he's been preaching at me for years that I need to get born again. Whenever I hear him say that I think of you because you are the only Christian I have ever met that I truly respect. And here you are right now. Can we talk about this for a minute..." During the conversation he brought up the Da Vinci Code and we were able to discuss it and some of the questions it had brought to his mind. It was good to share the gospel again with someone it has been a few weeks since the last time that has happened. After an hour of conversation he left saying he would think about all I had said on his bike ride down to Vancouver. He gave me his card and wants to be added to our email list so he can keep in the loop of all that is going on. He is currently in the diamond mine business in West Africa.

We Baptized 5 new believers last Sunday in the lake. It was a great celebration. I think about how many times I have been down in the water doing that over the past 13 years. It totally thrills my heart to know that God has really used our ministry here over the years. This truly has been a great harvest ground for the gospel. I hope and pray the next pastor has the same privilege and then some!

We are still searching for a new place to minister. Most days that go by bring up new possibilities. We had to make a choice to follow just one lead at a time to its conclusion or it just got to confusing. Right at this moment we are being pursued by New Zealand. It seems like such a long way away right now but as it stands we are simply putting one foot in front of the other until either we are on Kiwi soil or God shuts that door. Then we would be free to explore the next thing and so on until we find the right place to minister.

Our D.S. preached a great sermon last week in our area. He mentioned the movie "Narnia". At the end of the movie the scene is two kids walking along side the lion. One says to the other, "He is good you know" to which the other responds, "Yes, he is good but he is not tame". I sensed the weight of Spirit in these words upon my heart. Be good Kevin, pursue it with all you've got and be good to others with everything you have. Be good BUT for heavens sake, for the gospels sake, for the sake of the lost, don't be tame! Be a wild man for the kingdom of God. Take risks, never be satisfied with the status quo, avoid what is safe and comfortable. Like King Saul's son Jonathan said to his armor-bearer before the two of them took on a garrison of Philistines, "Perhaps the Lord will be with us!" and he rushed at them head long!

Trust Him after all God is Good all the time!

When the Dust Settles

Many times I have witnessed the swirl of dust particles, hair and lint through the blazing sunlight coming through the window in our home. A dog shakes, a cat jumps, a body whisks through the room and little pieces of stuff are on the move. If the sun was not shining through the window at just the right angle nobody would even notice these tiny particles and what-not floating around in the air. Given enough time, eventually all the dust particles will settle down to the floor, furniture and counter tops. When the dust does settle it usually means that all activity has calmed down or ceased all together.
This past week was a swirl of unfortunate activity. Three people connected to our fellowship through relationships passed away. A mom, a friend and an uncle. The funerals and memorial services lined themselves up starting on Monday and finished on Saturday afternoon.
As the dust of these activities has settled I see two very important lessons to be learned, prayed through and put into practice.
First, as Christians our lives lived out is indeed the gospel to others. The preacher at my uncle’s funeral spoke of the great evidence of a changed life by the powerful display of the gospel of Jesus Christ as it was lived out in the life of my uncle. He entitled his message, “The Gospel according to Kenneth Neill Foster”. His life was full of the evidence of a life well lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. What is the Gospel according to Kevin Cecil Nichol like, I wondered to my self as I sat there listening. I wonder what 6 points the preacher at my funeral would make as a comparison to the real gospel of Jesus Christ I said I believed in.
Second, was a comment my good friend made about his mother as he read out her eulogy. He basically explained that his mom had a gift. This gift was powerfully evidenced as the family tried to come to a consensus on who would do the eulogy for their mom. The fear was that whoever did the task would somehow make it appear that they were "more favoured" than the others in the family by their mother. As the conversation continued it became quite clear that their moms wonderful gift was the ability to make each of her children feel like they were more favoured than the rest. Each child found that they believed that mom treated them more special than the others, only to discover together, that in reality she had treated them all so well it had become their own personal perception of that relationship. Oh that we would all inherit such a God-like quality. The ability to make others feel uniquely special, to make others feel highly favoured by our actions of faithful love towards them. This love is like God's love toward all of us. Lord, make me like my friends mother.
Well, the dust has settled now. Reflections have benefited my life. Like the scripture says the wise allow sorrow to have a refining influence upon them. Thanks Lord for the privilege of knowing these fine Christian people. Thanks also for the joy of knowing that becuase they believed in you, recieved your forgiveness, and lived out their faith they are with you even now forever in your care.
God is good... All the Time!

Blessings Following After

Blessed are those who... the word blessing, bless or blessed, has been brought into clearer focus lately. It is a curious word packed full of all that is good and pleasing. It has the strange ability to go deep into the center of our hearts but at the same time stay bubbly at the surface of our lives. It is something we can do for others like when we say "Bless you" after a sneeze or "bless you" in place of a greeting or a good-bye. It describes the life of a believer and in essence is the pronouncement of God on all of life from start to finish. After he made Adam and Eve he blessed them and said be fruitful and multiply. At the end of the Bible he pronounces a blessing on all those who carefully study the revelation of the Lord Jesus to John while he was imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos. According to Paul all those who believe in the saving life of Jesus by faith are "blessed with every spiritual blessing" which seems a little hard to grasp just how big and wide this word blessing seems to indicate. We are even instructed to use a blessing as a spiritually charged weapon to combat those who would harm us, do evil to us, abuse, curse us and persecute us. A blessing must be deeply treasured for it can be stolen as was the case of Jacob stealing Esau's blessing from their father Isaac.
I believe the Lord's deepest will is to bless and be a blessing to all of his creation. I believe we are to seek a blessed life, enjoy the blessings given to us in Christ, live in them and embrace them to the best of our knowledge.
Blessed are all who reverence and hold in awe our great and blessed God!

Sometimes you just gotta shout!

The way I have been feeling these days is really quite remarkable given the circumstances that I find myself in. After a week and 1/2 of resigning from this great work in Peachland I am still very full of joy. So full of Joy that I could just shout! However, there were several moments this week when I began to doubt whether or not I had heard from the Lord regarding this. One parishioner jokingly wondered out loud if I had maybe listened to the Devil instead! I must admit I am a firm believer in trusting someone who has a few "second-thoughts" about any major decision that can greatly affect ones life. I don't think that person would be "normal" without them. I believe that even Jesus wrestled with some "second-thoughts" in the garden before he went to the cross. He asked his Father is there was some other way, something else that could be done, but in the end he wrestled those thoughts to the ground and went with the good and perfect and pleasing will of God. The second guessing in this case was simply being honest with himself and his God. This honesty lead him to came out the other side in line with obedience to the still small voice of the Spirit in his life. And the result, the result was JOY! Who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scoffing it's shame... I guess the danger comes when we allow the second guess to become the third, fourth, fifth and sixth guesses which lead us to doubting and despair and eventually not following through on what the Lord has originally told us to do.
How about any of you? What do you do with your second guesses?

A Chapter is Finishing

Last Sunday April 30th I announced to our congregation our resignation from the work here in Peachland. Our last day of official ministry at the Peachland Community Church will be June 30 2006. It was over 13 years ago that the Holy Spirit laid this little town on our hearts and Cheryl and I were obedient this call by getting a church started in May of 1993. We have seen some unbelievable things happen here, even mini-revival type events in our journey with what used to be this little (and now not so little) town of Peachland. We will miss many things about being here but we know that the same Holy Spirit that lead us to this town in '93 has spoken again and is now leading us away from this great place. To where? We don't know just yet! We will be taking a look at some options that have been offered to us but for right now there is nothing to go to. So for the next week or so we will just be relaxing in the knowledge that we are putting the finishing touches to this chapter of our lives in anticipation of what the next chapter brings. We need your prayers so don't be stingy with them. When we first came to Peachland Paige and Danae were only 3 and Mackenzie just 1. They had no input into all of this but now they have a much greater stake in this whole thing. Please pray for them as they have no control over this leading and so they're perception of all this is quite different from mom and dads.
Cheryl and I are very excited as we anticipate what new adventure the Lord will be taking us on. Our hearts are bubbling with joy over what has been and now what will be coming.
God is Good – All The Time :)

vain hope is really no hope at all!

Vain hope is what most people have. They hope things get better, their job improves, their health returns, the future will be favourable and they really hope their marriages work. But all such hope is vain. It is aspiration that more often than not never quite delivers!
The recent interest in games of chance especially card games like Texas Hold’em illustrates this truth. These games are like a window into what most of us call hope. A lucky break here, a risk taken there, out on a limb praying [hoping] for something to go your way. So much depends on the hand your dealt; so much depends on when you lay your bet down. Hold your cards close to your chest and deceive everyone around the table as best you can. Try hard to make them think that you truly do have a winning hand! You've got what it takes to make it work. But in the end it truly is a game of chance and as in any casino 97% of the time the house wins.
This is how many people go through life. Round after round our chips of hope dissipate as life beats us up. We slowly but surely loose our aspirations, we loose our hope. All those Grad speeches we heard where just that, just speeches. Hopelessness is ramped in our society. Hopelessness leads to despair and that leads to all kinds of trouble. Hatred, deceit, stealing, violence, anger and rage, all stem from the root of despair that comes from the helpless sense of hopelessness.
Without hope we go through life with significant disadvantages. 1) The is no expectation that someone can save us from our selves and those nasty habits that bring damage to our lives, relationships and loved ones. 2) There is no knowledge of the great and awesome promises of God that introduce, foster and make hope flourish. 3) There is no hope past the grave. It's eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die! 4) The best hope we can muster is an, “I sure hope so…” kind of hope. 5) A desperate hopeless world breeds desperate hopeless people. It feels like a trap that is slowly squeezing the life out of us. Vain hope is really no hope at all!
Fortunately, vain hope is not the only kind of hope out there! God himself has intervened in his mercy.
Easter is all about a good and living hope. The Bible tells us that there is hope that comes from God. It describes it as a better hope, a Good hope, and a Living hope. It says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!
Allow me to introduce you to this kind of hope that is held out by the good news of Jesus Christ.
What he did was die and take all the punishment that we deserve because of our sin on himself. This death opens up a way for us to connect with the God of the universe. The God of all hope! A way of hope, a way of grace, so that we can now have God and all the promises he makes of a life forever where He is the center of it all.
Jesus resurrection is like a guarantee that he really means business. His resurrection means what he promised is true and those promises have power to bring us good and living hope to transform our lives both now and forever!
So, what kind of hope do you have in your life; vain hope or Living hope? If you don’t have living hope would you like to have it? Hope that is good, merciful, living and eternal! This hope can be yours by believing the message I have just told you. We must claim it as our very own, turning away from lives full of vain hope and the trouble it brings, and turning them toward God for life and hope forever which he offers through his Son Jesus. Just believe it!

Sandy Footprints

I sat and looked at these footprints for along time tonight. Maybe I am just a bit tired from the week of rollercoaster riding that Cheryl and I went on. Ministry has those moments when you feel like you're just making dents in sand dunes. When it seems like you are in a dry and weary land where there is no water. When there isn’t a person in sight and you feel all alone.
Except - someone took the picture. Someone is there, right behind me all the way. He has my back. Encouraging me to keep putting one dusty foot in front of the other. Keep pressing on. Keep the way straight.
Marks are left in the sand. A Footprint is not a monument. A monument shouts, "At least I got this far". But a footprint, a footprint says, "This is where I was before I moved again." Not stagnant but moving, not stationary but progressive, not aimless but purposeful.
Finally, I looked up at the horizon. What adventure is just beyond that hill top? The next thing, the next event, the next whatever! I suppose it could just be more sand, but maybe, just maybe there is an oasis or a city or even just a camel. Nobody but God can see over that horizon and he has my future in the palm of his hand.
I can hear him whisper, “I delight in you, and you are spectacular!"
That's all the encouragement I need.
I will get there with the Lord's help one sandy foot in front of the other.
Where are your footprints taking you?

W A I T I N G ................................................................

Waiting. I've waited an awful lot this week. In fact I waited for almost 4 hours on Monday for a part to come to the mechanics shop but when it came it was the wrong one. Then yesterday I waited for 3 hours because when they sent the right part they didn't send all of the parts that go with the right parts. So I waited. Then I waited in line at the grocery store. Then I didn't want to have to drive home then turn around and come back and pick up Paige at soccer so I waited around the soccer field. I've waited an awful lot this week.
How much time have you been waiting this week?

Road Trip!

This past week I have spent an enormous amount of time on the road. First with five screaming, laughing uncontrollably, giggly and rambunctious-gotta-stop-again-and-use-the-bathroom teen age girls cramped into one itty bitty space! I am glad to be alive!
Then a second trip took me back into Alberta country, into the beautiful and exciting town of Banff where I was able to meet up with a good friend for a couple days of R&R.
An interesting thing happened one day while I sat in the mall food court having just stuffed my face with some delicious Japanese food. I noticed an old man who was smiling at me. Or at least I thought it was me and sure enough when I turned around to see if there was someone else behind me there was no one. He smiled again and then made a B-line for the empty chair across from me. Jack Lee he said as he sat down univited. He was 72 years old and was born and raised in Canada. His grandfather was one of the first people to set foot on Canadian soil from China back in the early 1800's. In fact his grandfather and his father after him both came to Canada as stow-a-ways in the bottom of commercial ships. The journey of his forefathers fascinated me and he told his story with deep reverence. Before I knew it an hour had zipped by. I figured that this was too good an opportunity to pass up so I asked him about matters of faith. He is a devout Christian who attends a United Church in Calgary. As I got up to leave he blessed me in the name of God and shook my hand like nobodies business.
Today at a funeral service I listened to the stories of a man who moved here right after the 2 World War from Germany. Tough times, yes, but he just kept moving, building, growing until he was done and he went on to his reward.
Pilgrimage; one foot in front of the other followed by the same thing over and over again. Seems like going somewhere is quite a strong and deeply felt unction in the heart of human kind. Everybody seems to be going somewhere.
God reminds us in Psalm 85. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
We're moving; we'’re moving on to God; we'’re moving in the right direction. Someone once wrote, "A monument only says' "at least I got this far" while a footprint says, "This is where I was when I moved again". Keep going.
The Christian life is meant to be done on the move. It is meant to be a pilgrimage, a journey for a lifetime. Are you moving these days? How's your road trip going?

It's all about understanding each other!

this ones for Niki and Paige

We need him in our church!