The Power of Hope

What is it about human beings that make us so fickle… to change our way of thinking in an instant if circumstances warrant?

There I was last Friday night, gathered with 28,000 other football fans to see our local team’s home opener. But things weren’t going well, and by the 4th quarter, after a score that seemed to all but ‘seal the deal’ for the visiting squad, a quiet had descended on the faithful throng. Our guys couldn’t move the ball… even the shortest distance seemed to take forever, we needed two major scores to pull ahead… AND our kicker was injured, so no chance of scoring that way! Plus, we were up against the clock, and seconds were turning to minutes faster than a greased mongoose through a pack of hunting dogs!!! It looked, well… hopeless.

Suddenly, against the run of play, our team scored a miraculous long touchdown, and even though only less than two minutes remained, the entire building erupted into a frenzy… we all believed that maybe… just maybe… a miracle could happen here!!! The noise that continued for the remainder of the match was a display of eager anticipation of something ‘good’ that might happen.

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Partiality

This week’s sermon on Partiality and Prejudice reminded me of a conversation I had with a group of young women. The question of prejudice came up and at first we doubted its presence in our circles. Hadn’t we come a long way from slavery and the KKK? BUT the more we pondered, the longer the list became. Think of these:
    Western and Eastern Canada
    Home owners and the homeless
    Young and old
    Caucasian and Native or East Indian or ______ (any other culture)
    Male and female
    Employers and employees
    Those with children and those without children
    Married and single
    Kempt and unkempt
    Educated and uneducated
    White collar and red necks
    Athletic and non-athletic
    Musical and non-musical
    Technically update and non-techy
    Moneyed and poor
    Those who holiday regularly and those who don’t
    Those with the “right” friends and those with the “wrong” friends
    How bosses treat clients and how bosses treat their employees

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Breathing Through Disappointments

Last week God put me in a place to hear a message I desperately needed. Thanks Helen for hearing from God FOR ME. I know some of you were at the same event as me and chances are you got something different just for you from Helen’s message. How like God to be so personal.

Helen talked about 3 things we need to guard against as we journey with God and those he places in our lives – disappointment, distraction, and delay. The first one is what I want to explore with you.

We will all be disappointed from time to time but we can’t live in that disappointment because as Helen told us, it will turn into selfishness. It becomes all about ME. OH MY, is that ever true. Think about a recent disappointment – I’m sure you won’t have go to far back in time. As you think about it, rehearse it even and ponder it from every angle, there comes a point when it turns into “poor me”. That is a dangerous place to stay.

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My Story…His Plan

“You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well.”
Deuteronomy 4:9 (Contemporary English Version)

In our recent Missions Weekend, I was struck by one of the lines in the song we sang, which said, “Somehow my story is a part of Your plan”. Hold that thought…

My family and I were recently blessed by being able to take a trip to revisit the place where the kids were born when we lived in the UK. Along the way, we made stops in Amsterdam, Paris, York, London, and our former home, Lincoln.

All are very historic cities, and all have places of ‘monuments to faith’ – cathedrals, etc… all built in a day gone by, when Christian influence was so significant in Europe. But today, they’re only relics and curiosities for most people.

However, one of the great moments was at York Minster. Amongst the throngs of tourists, the voice on the loudspeaker interrupted everyone at 3pm to invite them to honour the place as being a house of prayer, and to silently wait or join in as the person said afternoon prayers – reminding everyone that it is still a place of worship!

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And God Remembered Us

Back in January, I had just returned from studying in Los Angeles for a couple of weeks when I realized that the text I was preaching on was going to be very difficult for me. My wife and I have struggled with infertility for a number of years after having our second son. Like so many others whose plans for children have gone unfulfilled, we were working out how to trust God even when we didn’t understand what he was doing in our lives.

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