In A Fog

Coming into Osoyoos this morning I was taken back by the fog layer. Not one bit of the town site could be seen. The valley was literally filled with a thick fog blanket. Wonder if it is this way in the spirit realm at times. May God, our God lift the haze to reveal His awesome glory!

A Bit Of Cowboy Humor

One Sunday a cowboy went to church. When he entered, he saw that he and the preacher were the only ones present. The preacher asked the cowboy if he wanted him to go ahead and preach.

The cowboy said," I'm not too smart, but if I went to feed my cattle and only one showed up, I'd feed him." So the minister began his sermon. One hour passed, then two hours, then two-and-a-half hours. The preacher finally finished and came down to ask the cowboy how he liked the sermon. The cowboy answered slowly, "Well, like I said, I'm not very smart, but if I went to feed my cattle and only one showed up, I sure wouldn't feed him all the hay."

Food for thought (no pun intended)

Make'n God Smile

Four types of thorns are described (Mark 4:18)
The care of this world; What’ll I eat, or drink? What’ll I wear? How can I keep what I got? How do I get more? .
The deceitfulness of riches: not riches themselves, but the deceitfulness of riches. Your line of conduct ought never to be ruled by gain or loss.
The pleasures of this life. This is the age of excessive amusement; Many have had all holy thoughts and resolutions murdered by a continual pursuit for pleasure.
The lusts of other things: All things except the things that glorify God are “other things”. Seed is choked.

The result: The seed was unfruitful. The seed grew, but brought no fruit to perfection. A person may look like, walk like and talk like a Christian... but the proof is in the fruit!

Far too many are growing weak in this late hour. Thorns are choking out the very life of the Christian’s spirit!

Consider: Thorns are natural to the soil. Sin is very much at home in the human heart.
Thorns are already established in the soil. The roots of sin run through our nature. Watch and pray lest temptation choke that which is good in you! Mark 14:38

Many professing Christians are like the thorny ground? I believe it is because the process of dealing with sin has been so watered down. Thorns need to be pulled out by the roots and burned on the spot. It is easy to say you’re a sinner without feeling what it means!

I believe in instantaneous conversion and I love to see it take place - but I’d rather see the thorough work of grace, awakening a deep sense of sin. You can’t get rid of dandelions by delicately nipping off the buds!

In the stony ground we see a group of people who:
· received the Word. They recognised God's truth!
· received it immediately. They jumped right in!
· received it with gladness. happiness vs conversion

These people in not counting the cost, didn’t figure in temptations and persecutions to come. They made rapid progress... but in due time came the trial.

No one gets to heaven without being tried! Not one fragment of God’s gold hasn’t first passed through the fire! The Lord Jesus said this testing came because of the Word!

These people believed, yet were immediately offended ... just as fast as they fell in love with the gospel they fell out! Their radical defect lay in an unbroken heart!

This ground was not soil with rocks in it was bedrock, a hard layer of rock with a thin layer of soil over it. The seed sprang up immediately.

These folk were so fast at accepting the seed they were:
· healed before they recognised they were wounded!
· clothed before they saw the shame of their nakedness!
· filled before they were empty!
· made alive before they were dead!

They were unbroken in heart and that is a fatal defect!

Psalms 34:18 The LORD is near those that have a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.

They lacked depth! Everything was superficial - surface! This seed did sprout - but it had no root! No prayer, no bible study, no fear of God. No intimacy with Jesus.

Dear friends, guard your spiritual life.. Think about this - if your boat is near ready to go down in calm waters, what’ll become of you when a storm arises.

We need the Holy Spirit to cultivate our hearts. The chief work of a Spiritual husbanman is to sow the Word. Multiplying what God has revealed, not human speculation, not human news, not scientific discoveries however good they may be - not theories about the Word - just the unadulterated Word of God. My chief job… sowing the Word.

Each and every one of you is able to sow the Word. Each life touches another—and you multiply power for good or for evil.

Sow the true seed and you may count on a sure and large harvest. The seed’s fruitfulness is according to the condition of the hearts receiving it. Jesus said, “He that has ears, let him hear”. Divine truth needs attention.

Make God smile by being a good hearer of the Word:
· Stir yourself up to listen.
· See your hearing as an opportunity - take care to make the most of it.
· Keep what you hear by reflecting on it (meditating), and assimilating it for your edification and growth in grace.
· “Do” what you hear. To hear without obeying is to harden the heart.
· Make the most of each opportunity!

Make God smile by bearing “Much Fruit”

What Makes A Good Mom?

What makes a good mother anyway?
Is it patience? Compassion?
The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?

Or is it heart? Is it the ache you feel when you see your child disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time? The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 a.m., to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby? The need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a school shooting, a fire, a car accident, a baby dying?

So this is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies--and for all the mothers who wanted to, but just couldn't.

This is for reading "Goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a year. And then reading it again, "Just one more time."

This is for all the mothers who mess up. Who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair and stomp their feet like a tired two-year old who wants ice cream before dinner.

This is for all the mothers who taught their daughters to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

For all the mothers who bite their lips sometimes until they bleed--when their 14-year-olds dye their hair green. Who lock themselves in the bathroom when babies keep crying and won't stop.
This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for all mothers whose heads turn automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home.

This is for mothers who put pinwheels and teddy bears on their children's graves.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them.

This is for all the mothers who gave life to their babies, only to give up their babies in the hopes of a better life.

This is for all the mothers who couldn't bare children of their own and who love the children given to them as if they were their own.

This is for all the mothers who sent their sons to school with stomachaches, assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up--right away.

This is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation. And mature mothers learning to let go. For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers. Birth mothers and adoptive mothers. Mothers with money. Mothers without.
This is for you all. Hang in there!

"Home is what catches you when you fall--and we all fall."
--Author unknown.

BECAUSE

BECAUSE...
Because He emptied Himself of all but love, you can be filled.
Because His body was broken, your life can be whole.
Because His blood was shed, your sins can be forgiven.
Because He submitted to injustice, you can forgive.
Because He finished His Father's work, your life has worth.
Because He was forsaken, you will never be alone.
Because He was buried, you can be raised.
Because He lives, you don't have to be afraid.
Because He was raised, you can be strong.
Because He reached down to you, you don't have to work your way up to Him.
Because His promises are always true, you can have hope!
--Author unknown.

No Words Needed

Pastor Keith and his precious wife were led of the Lord to give Erhard a few extra dollars as he left on his El Salvador Missions Trip. Little did they know the importance of this "small thing". This young girl had cut her foot and was in much need of medical attention. However her family did not have the funds to look after this need. This is where God had pre ordained that his servants (Keith and Lynn) would come in. Because of their generousity, Erhard was able to see to it that this little girl didn't end up losing her foot. A small scar may be a constant reminder to her and her family thay God, our God cares about them.

Lest We Forget

Remembrance Day! Every November 11th, Canadians across the country pause in a silent moment of remembrance.

WW I - it was 1914 and Canada’s population was just over 3 million, most of which were women and children. Of the men and women who VOLUNTEERED 60,000 were killed and 120,000 were wounded. This we should remember.

The Canadians' first major battle was later seen as one of the most crucial battles in history. It was April 22, 1915, and the Germans used poison gas for the first time in war. As 145 tons of chlorine gas drifted over the trenches, the Canadian troops held and stopped the German advance. The casualties were enormous. In 48 hours, 1 of every 3 Canadians died.
In April 1917, the Canadians helped turn the tide of battle when they won a major victory at Vimy Ridge. This too had its cost: more than 10,000 casualties in six days. The war continued for more than a year but finally on November 11, 1918, the Armistice was signed and the Canadians took part in the triumphant entry into Belgium. This too we should remember.

WW2: It was 1939 and again Canadians flocked to enlist. They included veterans of earlier wars, boys still in high school and thousands of unemployed. For almost six years, Canadians fought valiantly on battlefronts around the world. More than one million men and women enlisted in the army, the navy and the air force. When the war was over, more than 45,000 had given their lives.

The Gospel of Saint John says, Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. If this is true than we as Canadians had best remember the price our friends paid for our freedom. And we as Christians had best remember the price our Friend Jesus paid for us.

As the artillerymen swung three abreast down Main Street, traffic stopped and people watched from the sidewalks. Some stood in silence. A few wept. Some cheered a bit or called out to soldiers they knew - they waved at the officer who had for years devoted his spare time to the militia battery, to the gentle giant from the lumber mill, to the young orchardist from the Okanagan, to the blonde haired teenager leaving the prettiest girl in town.

When war came, Canadians volunteered readily to serve their country as champions of liberty. They came from farms, from small towns and large cities across the country, riding high on the initial wave of indignation, excitement, and patriotism. For the men and women who rallied to support their nation's cause, the threats of war seemed far away and unreal.

In the fall of 1914 as the 1st contingent of Canadians left the shelter of the St. Lawrence for the open Atlantic, some of the realities came into focus....Those who came forward had not stopped to count the cost, for the excitement was thrilling, the lottery alluring, and the cause glorious; but now that the confusion was passed and the fulfillment of their vows alone remained to be faced, things took on a more somber aspect ..... and yes this too we should remember!

How could they know that four long years of death and destruction were ahead? With every battle over this century, extremes of temperature, mud, mutilation, mind-numbing fatigue, fear and death were daily realities for over 1,500,000 Canadian men and women. For all of these conflicts fought in far-off lands, there is much to remember. Foremost are the people, the men and women who served wherever they were needed. They faced difficult situations bravely and brought honor to themselves, to their loved ones and to their country They were ordinary Canadians who made extraordinary sacrifices.

We should not keep silent in our reflections, the price of our freedom and liberty is too awesome, the cost too great! Yes we stop to remember today - the horror of war - But I believe it only proper that in our daily living we remember their great sacrifice!

Turn with me to Deuteronomy 8:1-5 Keep and live out the entire commandment that I'm commanding you today so that you'll live and prosper and enter and own the land that God promised to your ancestors. Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don't live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God's mouth. Your clothes didn't wear out and your feet didn't blister those forty years. You learned deep in your heart that God disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child.

Deuteronomy 8:6-9 So it's paramount that you keep the commandments of God, your God, walk down the roads he shows you and reverently respect him. God is about to bring you into a good land, a land with brooks and rivers, springs and lakes, streams out of the hills and through the valleys. It's a land of wheat and barley, of vines and figs and pomegranates, of olives, oil, and honey. It's land where you'll never go hungry—always food on the table and a roof over your head. It's a land where you'll get iron out of rocks and mine copper from the hills.

Deuteronomy 8:10-16 After a meal, satisfied, bless God, your God, for the good land he has given you. Make sure you don't forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget your God.
· The God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
· The God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
· The God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
· The God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18 If you start thinking to yourselves, "I did all this. And all by myself. I'm rich. It's all mine!"— well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.

Deuteronomy 8:19-20 If you forget, forget God, your God, and start taking up with other gods, serving and worshiping them, I'm on record right now as giving you firm warning: that will be the end of you; I mean it—destruction. You'll go to your doom—the same as the nations God is destroying before you; doom because you wouldn't obey the Voice of God, your God.

We should not keep silent in our reflections, the price of our freedom and liberty is too awesome, the cost too great! May God be glorified in our living!

Digg'n Through Some Old Files.....

As I was going through some old e-mails I came across this letter from Lawrence.

Here's a little play on words that came out of this morning. I see the word"revival" that churches across America are using to look to the past to findtheir passion, to get the masses moving again, to find heart and soul andcourage. The "glory days" of old, so to speak. It always alludes to a stateof being where people are dead, complacent, apathetic, even comfortable.Just watch "the Matrix" and you'll see what I mean. God can't help thosethat don't help themselves! So the real word that we are looking for is andalways has been "Revolution". We as born again, bible believing Christ-likebeings are at war. Not necessarily with a weapon. Your Sword and Trowelimage comes to mind. We work hard and endlessly to build the churchfoundation, but yet we as culture have no idea how strong to build it and wedon't have the "army" to protect it. This bodes the question, how are wegoing to build Christ's Church strong enough to withstand the forces at workin our world. Where are we going to find men and women with enough guts tostand and resist. When will we actually fight for our lives and ourfreedoms. What inspires people to become alive....a reason to live. How dowe learn and be open to love people....I shed a tear this morning, thereason...seeing how people have been stripped of their souls throughout theages. At this moment I feel God's pain. And I believe that His pain isintensified when people don't move. Free will is given to us and He can'tmake us do anything. He weaves in and out of our lives trying to inspire us.The word revival, as my wife just put it is for the World, to come alive andsee whats really going on and that they have to fight for their lives.Enslavement is coming on a global scale and the infrastructure is nearly inplace. Much to think about. Unfortunately, the majority of people won't seeit. I just pray for the difference. Lawrence.