He never stops looking
Scripture Reading: Luke 15:1-32
We moved into the new house last November and we started unpacking. Isn’t it a lot of fun to try and find room for everything? Especially when you’re moving into a place a little smaller than you had before?
But as we were unpacking, and as we were trying to figure out just where everything goes, we realized some things were missing. In particular were a couple of small jewelry boxes which held some things special to us. We searched the house, we went back to the old house and searched there in case we left them behind. Couldn’t find them.
Then panic started to set in, when we began to worry that maybe they got mixed in with the bags of stuff we sent to charities.
What to do, what to do?
Back through the boxes again. They have to be here somewhere! read more…
Don’t Give Up
Scripture: Luke 13:1-9, 31-35
Last summer on vacation we left the cottage and we spent a day on the South Shore. We visited Lunenburg, we drove through some of the old neighbourhoods I used to frequent as I grew up down there. We also thought we’d go to the beach, so I took Bev and the kids to a favourite beach near where I grew up.
It was a nice day for the most part, but when we got to the beach on the Atlantic Ocean… well, it was foggy of course. We couldn’t see from one of the beach to the other.
Now, one thing I know about beaches on the South Shore is that even if it’s foggy at one beach, it may not be foggy at all of them. So we had a decision to make. Do we stay and make the best of the fog and cool air, or do we load back in to the car and see if there’s better weather somewhere else?
We decided to stay. We could still dig in the sand. We could still throw around a ball. We decided we could still have fun, even if it wasn’t what we had ultimately planned. Eventually, since we were on a beach, the kids decided they still wanted to brave the cold water and try out their new boogie board.
Then… finally, the fog receded back into the Atlantic and the sun even came out.
In the end, we were very glad we stayed. We had a great day playing on the beach. Much better than driving from beach to beach to see if any of them had what we were looking for, wasting what could have been hours in our day. Because we were patient, and willing to compromise, it actually turned out we made a pretty good choice!
As the fog rolled back, we were treated to the beauty of the beach I remembered from my youth. Surrounded by rolling hills. Long stretches of sand. It was like a great curtain came up and showed us all we were missing.
And for me, as the fog lifted and familiar scenery came into view, fond memories of my childhood came back to me as I remembered school trips, family days, and times spent with friends, all on this small piece of coastline. To be honest, I felt like I was home, even though I haven’t lived in the area for 25 years, over half my lifetime ago… As hard as that is for me to believe most days. It felt like I was truly home. It’s a feeling I don’t get very often.
It was a good day to make some new family memories together. read more…
Listen to the Master
Scripture: Luke 10:25-42
There are well known stories in the Bible, and then there are well known stories in the Bible!
Photo by http://www.sxc.hu/profile/TheUsher
The parable of the Good Samaritan is probably the most well known story Jesus tells. There are Good Samaritan laws in place, which protect individuals from being sued because they stop to help someone in need. We call people Good Samaritans because they are helpful, you see the name used in the news and other places regularly.
The challenge of looking at this story is that people will think they’ve got it all figured out and there’s nothing else to know. This is a danger we can face when we don’t let the Holy Spirit reveal something new to us each time we pick up our Bibles.
We want to carefully read our Bibles, trying to ignore our preconceived notions as to what it means just because we heard some preacher say something that one time. It’s when we carefully read our Bibles that God can speak to us in a new way about how we interpret, how we see ourselves in the story, and how the story impacts us not just as readers, but as people who want to learn and live out the teachings of Jesus Christ. read more…
Let it Sink In
Scripture Reading: Luke 9:28-45
There are times when life is pretty great, and there are times when it’s draw-dropping, awe-spiring, amazingness. Now unfortunately those moments don’t happen very often. And maybe that’s a good thing. If things are totally amazing all the time, then how do we respond when things are bad, or even just “normal”?
Peter, James and John had a pretty good day with Jesus in our reading from Luke. But before we dig too much into today’s reading, we should back up and take a look at what’s happening in the life of the disciples before they head up the mountain with Jesus.
What’s been happening in the earlier verses of Luke 9 is that Jesus had sent out his disciples to do ministry on their own. Then he fed the 5000 people with 5 small loaves of bread and two fish and ended up with 12 large baskets of leftovers.
Right after that, Jesus asked a question of his disciples. He asked them, “Who do they say that I am?” (v18) read more…
“Share what you have seen and heard”
Scripture: Luke 7:18-35
We’ve been watching some magic shows lately in our house. One in particular is called “Fool Us” which features the famous magician duo of Penn and Teller, who invite magicians to try and fool them with their magic to earn a guest spot on their Vegas show. Not very many actually succeed in fooling them. Then again, when you’ve been doing magic as long as Penn and Teller, they’ve seen and done a lot of different tricks. But it does happen occasionally, and it’s usually quite entertaining when they are fooled.
As you watch the show, and you know they are trying to fool professionals, you watch very carefully. You try and see where they made their trick happen. You look for the slight of hand, you look for the distractions and the misdirections so they can make their switch or whatever they need to do in order to pull it all off. Honestly, it’s not very often we see it when we’re sitting on our couch, but it does happen on the rare occasion where we pick out where the switch was made.
I can’t imagine it’s easy to stand in front of probably the most famous magicians in the world right now and try and fool them. The pressure would be immense to not make any mistakes. Everyone is watching your every move, your every gesture, possibly even your every breath. read more…