My Last Week of Parental Leave

It's time to change things up a bit. This posting is not a devotional like my previous postings. This one is more of a reflection on my four and a half months of parental leave. I've added some pictures. I especially love the ones of Luke eating a chicken wing. It was massive, and he just picked up the whole thing and started munching on it. I think he's very thankful for his teeth!

It has been an awesome experience! Luke and I have had a great time, and I'm sure that in some ways we are closer than we would have been if I had worked the whole time instead. There is no experience quite like being a dad.

It has been so cool to be here for so many of Luke's milestones in development. I was here when he crawled for the first time (and got it on video)!

Kendra, Luke and I were able to go up north to visit my parents in Sault Ste. Marie over March Break. That was awesome, because we don't get to visit them very often. It was so great to spend some quality time with them.

I've also had the joy of taking advantage of some unique training opportunities. I have completed the training to become a Prepare/Enrich Facilitator, which means I can take couples through pre-marital preparation or marital enrichment. A lot of pastors use Prepare/Enrich for their pre-marital counselling. I really enjoyed this training as I have always been interested in things related to counselling.

I've also done some funeral training through Celebrating Life Ministries, which Kettle Creek Weddings is a part of. I have been with Kettle Creek Weddings for roughly a year and a half now.

Overall, I'm so thankful to God for this opportunity to spend time with my son. I hope that ultimately, he will growing up knowing that I love him, and I hope that this time with him will be a part of that. I know he won't remember it cognitively, but it's still part of his development. And I pray that he grows up to be a man of God.

I Can't Forget

Do you ever feel the need to remember where you came from? To remember where God has brought you from? I do. When I was in High School, I wrote a song entitled, "Walking," and it's a small picture of where I was at spiritually during that time. Here are the lyrics:

I'm walking on from where I was.

I'm not alone in my journey.

The Spirit is here to guide me.

I love all the things He does.

I've found joy in the Lord.

Security surrounds me.

The things of this earth

Cannot drown me.

Gotta keep my eyes on the Lord.

Chorus

Jesus, let's go walking.

Jesus, let's go walking.

Walking makes me tired,

But not when I'm with Someone who's more than a friend.

This walk doesn't need to end.

It's a very simple song, but I wrote it at a time not long after I had discovered what it was like to have my own relationship with God. I no longer lived off the faith of my parents. It was such a spiritually exciting time, because I seemed to grow in leaps and bounds in my faith. I loved Jesus so much!

Today, I still love Jesus, and I am growing in Him. However, there are times that I still need to look back and see how far God has brought me. I need to remember those things that I never want to go back to (sin). I need to remember what I was like before God changed my life, and thank Him for saving me.

At different times in Scripture, God reminded Israel that He was the one who brought them out of Egypt. He reminded them of where they came from. I think we need those times to remember. We forget so easily how far God has brought us because we are so focused on what's happening now.

I want to encourage you to take some time to remember where God has brought you from. Remember the joy that comes from the salvation that only He can bring.

God's Timing

Why are the meals that take the most time to prepare usually the most delicious and the most satisfying? There is nothing like meat that has been slowly roasting in the Crock Pot. It comes out so tender and juicy! It makes me hungry just thinking about it.

The truth is that so many things are like that in life. So many aspects of our lives require patience because they simply take time. I've heard people say that God is not insecure, and that He does not feel the need to rush the way that we do. Or you hear people say 'God's timing is not our timing.' I think that this is very true!

It reminds me of the verses in 2 Peter 3:8,9 that says, "But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief." So, sometimes it is because of God's compassion that He waits and does things in a way that seems slow to us.

But sometimes things that are slow are good. They may not seem efficient in our eyes. I mean, we probably wouldn't send Jesus into the world to be born from a poor family like Mary and Joseph. Why wasn't he born to a king's family so that it could be known throughout all the world that the Messiah had arrived? And why was he born as a baby? We had to wait 30 years for him to grow up...but then he only did 3 years of ministry, and after he rose from the dead the world was turned upside down! God's timing is definitely not our timing. It's much, much better!

Often good things in life take a long time, and this involves building a strong foundation. The foundation is made of three things. The first is our relationship with God. The second is our relationship with others. And the third is our character.

Jesus used the construction analogy of a foundation. The foundation determines the strength of a building. A crack in the foundation can determine the life of a building. If not treated, a crack can grow and compromise the integrity of the building. If we neglect our relationship with God, it's going to show up in our life somewhere. If we are in such a hurry to build, that we step on people and hurt them, then we have missed the point.

Jesus definitely taught that we need to be careful how we build, in particular towards evangelism. To paraphrase what he said, "Once salt has lost it's saltiness, how can it become salty again?" There is a sense in the Bible that there are definite consequences to how we build. There are some things that can't be done, and there are other things that take a long, long time to undo. We need to be so careful to keep our priorities in check.

It reminds me of the lyrics to a Newsboys song:

"This is not the warm-up round
This is not a trial heat
It can't be repeated when your time has gone
This is not an infinite resource
Or the prelude to a starter course
You don't send it back if it gets done wrong

Chorus:
This is your life
Treat yourself right
Treat others right
Live like you know you should
This is life
Fight the good fight
Fight for what's right
Do what you know you should"

I am definitely learning that it is extremely important how we build. We need to take our time and make sure that it is built according to the blueprint (God's Word) by making sure that our foundation is built on a strong relationship with God followed by loving relationships with others and a life of character and integrity.

I believe that if we trust in God's timing and his methods things will always turn out the best! We may not be able to understand why things happen the way they do or when they do, but we do know that God is both trustworthy and faithful. I pray that God would help us to be faithful to Him!

Strong and Courageous: Joshua 1:6-9

One of my favourite passages of Scripture is the Lord's encouragement to Joshua in chapter 1:6-9 of his book. It says,

"Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them turning to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (NLT)

This is quite the pep talk! But I imagine that after Moses' death, Joshua needed it. I can only imagine the bewilderment Joshua must have felt being thrust into this leadership position after the death of his friend, leader and mentor. Then he was called to continue to lead Israelites on their journey to the promised land. This meant that they would have to take on all kinds of enemies. I mean talk about intimidating!

It is so easy for us to succumb to fear and intimidation in our own lives, but I believe that the Lord is with us just as He was with Joshua. THREE TIMES the Lord says, 'be strong and courageous!' We need to hear this because all too often we look at the 'enemy's territory' and are frozen with fear.

It is only the presence of God that can give us true confidence despite this kind of adversity. So, it makes me think, 'Am I afraid to storm into the enemy's territory?' I shouldn't be! Do I pray courageous prayers for those who don't have a personal relationship with Jesus? And what about those who many write off as 'hopeless cases?'

Am I strong and courageous enough to make the most of every opportunity to share Christ with others? What about when the opportunity isn't so obvious? Sometimes it's not so convenient to share Christ, but we don't know the outcome. We just need to be obedient!

We learn from this passage in Joshua that we will only be successful when we are both obedient to God's Word and living with the courage that comes from knowing God is near.