Sabbatical

Today is the last day that I am in my office before I head on a three month sabbatical. Looking back I realize I have not been very faithful about blogging the past few weeks. It has been interesting getting things ready to be gone for three months.

So what will we be doing as a family?

To start I will be taking some courses at CMU (Canadian Mennonite University). The two courses I plan to take are one on leadership and one on Jesus. Should be lots of fun studying. While taking the one on Jesus I get to car-pool with a former colleague - looking forward to that.

In June my family and I will be heading to Asia. Here we will be visiting a couple of different countries. Our plan is not totally finalized yet. But we do know that we will be visiting some homes for orphans. Cindy plans to do some art classes with the kids.

The final part of the sabbatical will be spent in BC. Here we are planning on doing some reflection on our experiences, spend time with family, among other things.

I am not sure how much I am going to be blogging during this time (probably none when we are overseas). But will try and write somethings.

City boy in the country

I have lived in a small town for 7 years now. And I love it. However occasionally I still find myself acting like a city boy.

The other day, for example, my wife had gone for a run down a trail near our house. After about an hour I drove out to see how she was doing (she was doing great and did not need a ride). At the trail head I found a dog leash just lying there. It was in great condition so I picked it up and brought it home.

That evening my wife saw the leash and asked where this came from. So I told her. She looked at me completely horrified. I wondered what was wrong.

Apparently someone had been walking their dog down the trail. And they had dropped their leash off at the trail head. People in small towns do this kind of thing. Leave stuff on the side of a trail and pick it up on their way home.

So now as a pastor I had stolen someone's leash. What to do?

Cindy had meet this person on the trail but did not remember their name. So she asked some people if they new a blond lady who had a black dog. And yes, without too much difficulty we found the owner of the leash and returned it. Though I do have to admit that I felt really silly.

Sunday's sermon

The passage for this Sunday's service is: Matthew 7:7-12

Other passages:

Luke 11:9-13

Mark 11:22-25

John 14:12-14

Some questions:

Why right after talking about prayer does Jesus then talk about doing good to the people around us?

Do we really believe that God gives good gifts to his children?

Baptism

This weekend is a really special time for my church. On Sunday night we having a baptism service. I am very excited. Over the past couple of months I have had the privilege of walking with the people who are getting baptized. It has been totally awesome.

Hearing how God has worked and called people to him is amazing. And then seeing people stand up and publicly say that they have decide to live their life for God inspires me. Through their stories I am reminded how God works in my life.

What happened to last week?

Wow did last week fly by. I had the opportunity to be involved in so many great things that I did not even get a chance to blog.

Two of the biggest highlights for me were:

"Quiz Night". Every year my daughter's school hosts a quiz night for a fundraiser. These events are a lot of fun. You come in teams of eight and play trivia against teams through out the evening. There is also great food. Some teams dress up. This year there were 31 teams - this event has really become a community event not just a fundraiser.

"SEEDS of Hope". We had John Chalkias come out to our church and share about SEEDS of Hope - an organization that runs homes for AIDS orphans. It was awesome.

Holy Week - Friday

Reading: Matthew 27:45-56

Today is Good Friday. The day that we remember the death of our messiah Jesus the Christ.

This morning I will go to church. Together as a community we will sing, pray, celebrate communion as a way to tell the story of Jesus's death.

A few days ago I was involved in a story time at the church. It was lots of fun. I ended up telling a couple of silly stories (some of the others told more serious stories - good to have both). But as I got ready I wanted to tell a story about Easter. The problem was that I could not find a good kids book on it. Oh there were lots on Christmas. There were just lots of good children's books. But there was this major hole - very few were on Easter. Easter the most important time for us who follow Jesus.

In fact we looked at one children's bible. It talked about creation, the flood, David and Goliath, Daniel and the lions den, Christmas, some of Jesus healing, and then nothing. No mention of Jesus dying.

My wife asked can we really even call that a bible. After all it missing the key story.

So today don't forget the story of Easter - the real one.

Holy Week - Thursday

Reading: Matthew 27:27-44

Why did Jesus die? This is one of the most pivotal questions in history. I believe that something amazingly mysterious happened. Jesus took on the sin of the world, he became sin, so that we might experience salvation and enter into a real loving relationship with him, the Father and the Holy Spirit.

But as I read the text today I wondered did he have to experience the mocking and the slander? I mean everyone slanders him - the soldiers, the priests, the by-standers, those killed with him. Why did he have to go through all of that? Couldn't God organized his death in a way that would allow him to die in peace?

I don't have nearly all the answers to these questions. But I did have a thought.

What if the cross did more than just purchase us salvation? What if through the cross God was exposing the wickedness and depravity of humans?

After all I am fully convinced that God can do more than one thing at a time.

The cross truly does expose the wickedness of humans. Jesus has been beaten, mocked, spit upon, is now dying and people still mock him. It seemed that it was not enough to kill Jesus there was a desire to publicly humiliate him. Even the ones dying with him joined in the mocking.

The cross shows us that humans have a great potential for evil - we don't want to just kill our enemies we want to humiliate them.

Save me Lord Jesus from the evil in my heart.