Souljourn

Devotional thoughts

I am reading through Nehemiah in my devotions right now.  I am really enjoying it from the perspective of seeing a leader help people step out of brokenness and oppression and into the desire of God for them.  Here's a quick recap of some of the highlights for me:

Chp 1 - How will I respond when I become aware of the needs of others?  Nehemiah welcomed the burden and went before the Lord, his brother was even more aware than he and yet did nothing. 

Chp 2 - The power of testimony.  Nehemiah tells of what God has done in his life and those around him are encouraged to take bold steps of faith. (2:18)

Chp 3 - Revival (rebuilding the walls) requires everyone.  It isn't about superstars, it is about everyone standing together and working for the same purposes.

Chp 4 - The correct posture for engaging the enemy in battle comes out of a constant awareness of God's glory. (4:14)

Chp 5 - (What I read today) If my personal rights/freedoms will harm, or put others at a disadvantage, then I must willingly yield them.

 

I pray you have a great day!  I'm headed out today with Nehemiah 4:14 ringing in my mind and reflecting on our glorious God!!

But Dad, I'm starving!

We have three children and at different points they have all come to Naomi or me with the same plea for food, '...but I'm starving....if I don't get some food I'm going to die...'.  (I'm sure that I did the same to my parents.)  They really did believe they were starving, famished, ravenous.  If a morsel of food was not to soon pass over their lips their very lives would escape them.

Each time they came with that cry I knew they were not starving.  I knew that the actual state of their hunger was greatly exaggerated.  They may have thought they were starving but they were far from it.

Those childhood moments make a point very clear to me.  It is quite easy to be self deceived about our hunger level.  I know that even in the face of those anguished declarations had I produced a Disneyland brochure their supposed hunger pangs would have immediately subsided.

This self deception and misplaced satisfaction doesn't just happen with food.

It happens with our hunger for more of Jesus.  We can fool ourselves about our actual level of hunger for more of Jesus in our lives.  The Bible gives us a litmus test for our actual hunger level 

Proverbs 27:7 says, " A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry."

All I need to do is pause and reflect on my life and I can quickly determine the level of my hunger for Jesus.  Do I pass over, or push back from sweet opportunities to worship, linger in God's presence, take time to enjoy reading His Word (these are just a few examples).  Do I embrace the more difficult (bitter) tasks in life - sacrificing my time in service, adjusting my schedule to walk with those in pain and dysfunction, dying to myself with opinions, perspectives and communication that does not add to the unity of the Body?

With just a quick reflection I can safely conclude that I am nowhere near as hungry as I thought I was.  I am nowhere near as hungry as I want to be, and need to be. I have allowed my hunger pangs (we all have them) to be drowned out and satisfied with so many other things.  

Why don't you take the Proverbs 27:7 test and see what your true hunger level is and then respond accordingly.

 

 

 

 

I don't want to be like the pool of Bethesda

From the account found in John 5, the pool of Bethesda most often lay still and dormant surrounded by people in great need.  It was occasionally (infrequently) stirred.  Sometimes troubled.  Mostly useless, and surrounded by unmet expectations.

It wasn't until the water was stirred, or troubled, that somebody would be helped.  As long as the water stayed calm, or unmoved, the needs of those around it went unanswered.

I don't want to live a life like that.  Infrequently, if ever, stirred.  Hidden away in comfortable complacency, untroubled by the needs of those around me.

I want to be stirred.  I want to be troubled.  I want to live as if Heaven and Hell hung in the balance.

But I have discovered that no matter how stirred I get, unless there is a continual stirring, or agitation, I can quickly settle back into complacency once again.  And I can't rely on some external person, or event, to stir me (the elusive angel at the pool).  This is a responsibility that is mine alone.  

It is my responsibility to determine the time I will spend with God allowing Him to speak to my heart.  It is my responsibility who I associate with and the voices I listen to (1 Corinthians 15:33).  It is my responsibility whether or not I  turn a blind eye or deaf ear to the needs and cries of those around me. 

As far as  I can tell from the story in John 5, one person had their needs met that day and countless others continued their vigil around a dormant body of water.  Waiting, hoping, and probably even praying that it would get stirred enough to meet them at their point of need and help them.  

I'm convinced there are people around you and I doing the exact same thing.

 

 

Random Sunday Night Thoughts

What a weekend!  We hosted about 300 students this weekend for our annual youth and young adults conference - Consumed - and it was incredible.  Adam & Janice and their team did a superb job of leading the conference and hosting our guests.  In the words of a couple youth leaders, '...this weekend was awesome and flawless...'  Our ministry team of Andy Moore and Heather Clark knocked it out of the park in worship and the word in our general sessions, and our breakouts definitely struck a chord.

This morning in our service, several students shared testimonies about the work of Jesus in their life this weekend, and their growing passion for Jesus definitely shone brightly.

The conference and all it held was absolutely impacting, but some of the highlights for me came from behind the scenes.  

• The servant hearted flexibility of our Soup & Sandwich ministry to share a too small kitchen with a too large group and all I heard was the sound of laughter.
• The enthusiasm shown by church family members to participate in the service this morning in a video overflow room because our auditorium was FULL.
• The over abundance of cookies baked by our church family in a show of love and support for our students.
• Despite the volume, some of our more senior saints expressing joy because what they heard was not volume but students passionately loving Jesus. 
• Volunteer youth leaders taking time off work and giving up a weekend of their time for the sake of students encountering Jesus.
• Not moments after this conference was over having conversations with people who were definitely exhausted from flat out serving but were already looking forward to next year.

These are just a few of the moments that are currently filling my heart.  I am so incredibly thankful for the opportunity God has given me to journey with such an amazing group of people!!

 

Here's a few other random musings:

• It looks like I'll be cheering for an Eastern team to win the Grey Cup (Go Montreal!!)
• At our Saturday night service I preached from 1 Corinthians 13 - love is patient and not easily irritated - and then hit every yellow/red light driving home.  Great opportunity to practice what I preach!
• I'm embarrassed to admit it but when I was looking through one of Andy Moore's internship applications I found quite a bit of pleasure in discovering a spelling mistake. (does this make me a bad person?)

I agree

I share this author's perspective on considering November 11th a holiday.  It is a day off for most. but I don't think it should be considered a day for ourselves.  It is a day to remember.  A day to reflect, and a day to honour.

Time for a change?

My last couple of posts should have made it pretty clear where my thoughts are.  I've been thinking about starting some fires.  Not in the arsonist, get yourself arrested kind of way, but in the revival, display the Glory of God way.

I am naturally drawn to fires.  I would much rather leave the damper open on the woodstove, go through multiple cords of wood, and have to open the windows to cool the house off while I watch the orange flames lick up every stitch of wood, all the while radiating a penetrating heat, than I would dampen the stove down and watch it make charcoal.  

Sitting around a campfire in the evening watching the flames dance and curl around the logs is hypnotic.  I find it difficult to tear my eyes off the flickering flames. Long after the campfire conversations have died down, and friends have made their way back to their camping accommodations, I enjoy just sitting quietly by the fire watching the flames and glowing embers.

It is quite easy to build a large, sustained blaze in a woodstove or campfire ring.  Starting a fire in real life in the hearts and minds of people is more difficult.

Emerson and I once went to a father and son retreat at Camp Homewood and we played this great late night game.  The object of the game was to start a fire, and build it to a certain size.  We were given a couple small pieces of wood, a bit of paper, a couple of matches, a few water balloons and taken to our campfire ring in the dark. We could start our fire immediately, but we might not have enough wood to sustain it, and we certainly didn't have enough wood to build it the necessary size so we needed to get more fuel for our fire.  Hidden throughout the darkened woods were fuel stations where we could pick up one piece of wood at a time and take back to our fire.  This seems simple enough except there were some obstacles in our way. As well as the water balloons that each team had to try and extinguish the other teams fire, there were individuals whose goal was to catch us and take our wood.  Facing these obstacles we had to start, and sustain, a fire until it could grow to a certain size.

We quickly had to determine our strategy.  Were we going to go on the defensive and spend our efforts putting out fires, or were we going to go on the offensive and focus our energies on building our fire. We decided to focus on building our fire and when/if we needed to we would try to dampen, or extinguish, the other fires.

That night, that strategy worked to perfection and we won the game.  

I like that strategy.  I like to live by that strategy.  I don't know that I have been for awhile.  

I think I've been putting my energies towards putting out fires instead of starting them.

It is definitely time for a change.  I want to marshall the majority of my energies towards starting a fire.  Along the way, when/if the need arises, I will certainly work to put out fires, but I don't want to live there.  

Hebrews 12:29 says that God is a consuming fire.  As I spend time with Him, and draw others to Him (just like finding wood in the game), a blaze will begin to burn and grow.  That blaze will display a glowing light into the dark, and radiate a comforting heat into the cold of our world.  People will be drawn to it.  God will get the glory.

My mind is made up.  It is definitely time to start some fires, and I am starting with myself.

What about you?  Are you tired of running around putting out fires?  Has living on the defensive grown weary yet?

Let's draw near to God and allow Him to consume our lives and set us ablaze for His glory.

 

ps. thanks for reading such a long post.  

 

 

Seems pretty straightforward

What would you rather be?

I'm not satisfied

There must be more than this.  I'm convinced of it.  I haven't yet seen it with my eyes other than to read the testimonies of others, but that has only served to whet my appetite not satisfy it.

It is interesting living with dissatisfaction, and not at all comfortable.  At many points I am aware of the enemies efforts to turn that towards the people and situations around me.  If this is allowed to take its course I will develop a 'woe is me, the grass is always greener' perspective (I write this from personal experience) that will only bring bitterness and frustration.  But, if I resist the efforts of the enemy to hijack something that God is doing in my life, this dissatisfaction will produce a growing passion for Jesus and the power of His Spirit in my life (I write this from a mix of theory and experience).

This isn't the first time I've been here.  I'd love to tell you that every time went well.  I can't.

Without too much difficulty I can recall times when the journey my dissatisfaction caused me to embark upon wound up going in circles in the cul-de-sac of busyness and trivia. I like what CS Lewis has to say about this: 

        "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted         creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an         ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is         meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

I talked with a couple friends today who are in a similar place as I am.  God is stirring a greater hunger for more of Him in our lives, and a growing awareness of His love for us.  I don't in any way consider my circumstance unique.  I know that God is at work in the lives of His sons & daughters inviting us to experience His love at deeper levels.  

If we all journey together, we can probably avoid a lot of cul-de-sacs.

 

Meetings

Today was a full day of meetings.  Phone meetings, staff meetings, lunch meetings and planning meetings (topped off by picking up my kids from a youth meeting). It was a great day.  Not because I particularly like meetings, but because I had the chance to spend time with some great people hearing answers to prayer, discussing some exciting ministry opportunities on the horizon, and making some decisions to help us more effectively share God's Word.  

If you are already feeling that this year is going by too quickly you may not want to hear this, but we spent a good deal of time planning Christmas.  We discussed some great ideas for worship and our Advent services, as well as Christmas eve and our Boxing Day door crasher prizes (stay tuned for more on that!). I think we've got some great ideas that I really believe people are going to connect well with.

I'm privileged to serve at an amazing Church and work alongside amazing leaders.

Oh and the icing on the cake, when I went to pick up our kids from youth I found out that two teens said YES to Jesus tonight.  

What a great day!