How To Survive Another Lockdown!

 

My son, Rylan did a report for his studies on the effect of the first lockdown on small business.  At that time 30% of small businesses were not able to adapt or survive.  A survey was recently done with local businesses and of the remaining ones that did survive, 70% felt that were in danger of closing going through this yet again.  It certainly is a difficult season for many and in my business of roofing, it already is a built in down time due to the end of our work season.

The question is how do we survive and stay sane in the midst of the chaos? The number of cases continually is on the rise despite the efforts, masks and everything in place…and oh yeah, there’s another Covid strain and it’s even more contagious! I know the vaccine is coming and there’s a lot of uncertainty there as well as to its timing, effectiveness and what are the long term implications… will I turn into the “walking dead” lol?   It is certainly something we have never seen before and everyone is looking for answers and more importantly when can we get back to a more normal life?

When we go to the Scriptures we can learn a lot from the life of those who lived under similar circumstances, however they found themselves in the wilderness.  The Israelites found themselves in the wilderness for over 40 years when they made their pilgrimage to the Promised Land.  David found himself in the wilderness for over a decade leading up to His time as the King of the Israelites and we also find Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days leading into His public ministry.

At once, this same Spirit pushed Jesus out into the wild. For forty wilderness day and nights he was tested by Satan.  Wild animals were his companions, and angels took care of him.  Mark 1:12,13

I believe there are answers for us and strength to get us through this upcoming month of lockdown and I want to bring encouragement for a good “wilderness of the soul” time in His presence.

I have been reading “Leap Over A Wall” by Eugene Peterson…it just happens to be another thrift store bargain find for me and I want to share insights that have inspired me while reading this book for this time.

Here’s how you know you are in the wilderness – you don’t have any assignments, you don’t have any appointments to keep and you are not in control.  I can honestly say that pretty much sums up my life right now.  When we are in the wilderness we have a choice, we can choose to allow this time to simplify and deepen us or we can live aimlessly and without direction. 

Survival Tip 1   Learn To Be Intentional

If you have ever watched “Survivorman,” you know that the wilderness is a place of pristine beauty and breathtaking discoveries and it is also a place of sinister threats and danger as well.  WE are right now living in this tension of choosing to live in fear or live with courage through this time.  In this chaos of time where each day starts looking more and more the same, we have the opportunity to be intentional or simply to drift.  Drifting is easy and can easily become second nature to us.  Being intentional means I take time to plan, to focus, to pursue direction.  In the midst of all this uncertainty, our feelings erupt in us and cause us to question a lot of things that we did before and why we did them.  I pray that we choose to be even more conscious of the Holy Spirit, more aware of His living presence in us and through us than ever before.  I pray that His calm, transcendent peace will cover our lives with confident hope and wisdom for our present situation.

Survival Tip # 2   Discover The Sacred In The Wild

The wilderness is one of the greatest places of testing for our faith.  The wilderness is untamed and wild.  It isn’t domesticated and come with the comforts of home.  It is in the place that David is hated and hunted like an animal.  It is here that he can choose to curse God or choose to depend on Him like never before.  It is in this place that David chooses the sacred, he chooses the path of holiness, but not in a ritual-like way with priestly clothing.  It is a real earthy spirituality as Eugene described. 

Holy is our best way to describe that life – the human aliveness that comes from dealing with God-Alive.  We’re most human when we deal with God.  Any other way of life leaves us less human, less ourselves.

It was in the wilderness of En-gedi, a rugged place near the Dead Sea known for cliffs, canyons and caves is where David truly experienced and understood the holy presence of God.  It was here that David learned to discover beauty in everything and everywhere.  He had the opportunity to take Saul’s life at a most vulnerable moment, a time when Saul was relieving himself.  Instead, David cuts a piece of his clothing and then when Saul is on the other side of the canyon, he calls out to him, “my Lord, the king”. In 1 Samuel 24, David goes on to show Saul that he is not his enemy and furthermore sees Saul still as the Lord’s anointed.  This is significant because we know through Samuel that the anointing on his life had long left him.  David had an awareness of the sanctity of life that God had given him even though this very person was seeking to destroy his. 

Survival Tip #3  Experience Him As Your Refuge

Do a word study on refuge in Psalms and see how many times it pops up.  An Old Testament scholar,  J. Gamberoni, showed how this word started as a very physical and geographical word.  Refuge was literally understood as a great hiding place.  However in the Psalms it lost all reference to this definition and became an exclusive reference to Yahweh, the personal, covenant keeping God who is Refuge personified.  I pray that more and more that we will recognize God as our refuge in the midst of the upside down, topsy-turvy, turbulent ride that we are on now.   Have you ever been through turbulence on a plane? There have literally been times where the turbulence was so bad on a flight to me that I was praying desperately to God as my refuge.  However, I want to discover Him as my refuge as well in the midst of my everyday life.

Eugene described it this way,

We start with the immediate data of our lives – a messy house, a balky car, a cranky spouse, a recalcitrant child (and on our good days a burst of sunrise, an ecstatic smile, a piercing insight.) We start our being desperate in the wilderness of En-gedi, and before we know it we’re ecstatic in the wilderness of God.

 

The prayer of David traditionally assigned to this time period is Psalm 57.  I leave this with you as your inspiration for yes, another lockdown.  May you and I learn to be intentional, discover the sacred in the midst of this confusion and experience the LORD as our refuge in a new way, a way we would have never discovered before!

Psalm 57 The Message

1-3 Be good to me, God—and now!

    I’ve run to you for dear life.

I’m hiding out under your wings

    until the hurricane blows over.

I call out to High God,

    the God who holds me together.

He sends orders from heaven and saves me,

    he humiliates those who kick me around.

God delivers generous love,

    he makes good on his word.

 

4 I find myself in a pride of lions

    who are wild for a taste of human flesh;

Their teeth are lances and arrows,

    their tongues are sharp daggers.

 

5 Soar high in the skies, O God!

    Cover the whole earth with your glory!

 

6 They booby-trapped my path;

    I thought I was dead and done for.

They dug a mantrap to catch me,

    and fell in headlong themselves.

 

7-8 I’m ready, God, so ready,

    ready from head to toe,

Ready to sing, ready to raise a tune:

    “Wake up, soul!

Wake up, harp! wake up, lute!

    Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!”

 

9-10 I’m thanking you, God, out loud in the streets,

    singing your praises in town and country.

The deeper your love, the higher it goes;

    every cloud is a flag to your faithfulness.

 

11 Soar high in the skies, O God!

    Cover the whole earth with your glory!

A little humor goes a long way too...one of my favorite memes from this year...

Also, Josie cannot be denied...she gives me a lot of great moments...lol

 

Check HERE for the latest deal! You don’t want to miss this!

 

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and oh yeah. Giving Tuesday if you have any spare change…lol  needless to say I think we have it backwards here.  If we are really serious about this, I think Giving Tuesday needs to come first.

I can’t lie, I certainly am one who likes a sweet deal, an amazing find at an unbelievable price, but there is something so rewarding about being part of giving to something that is beyond myself, my family or my own personal gain. I believe it is the very reason that I’m excited to be a Canadian ambassador for Trust Future Uganda.  www.trustfutureuganda.org

The moment I think that I “owe it to myself” or that I have every right to hold on to my own blessings, I miss out!  Living a life of generosity forces me to not hold on to things, but to learn the art of holding everything I have with open hands.

I’ve wanted to share some reflections on the real beauty of contentment.  I had a chuckle when I read the following…  the problem with contentment is that I want more of it J

 Giving is the best place to start if we want to live a life of contentment.  I believe that is why the LORD challenged His people always about starting with giving Him our “firstfruits”, the cream of the crop so to speak. I believe this is the beginning of the pathway to experiencing contentment.   It has been said that contentment is soul rest, but why is it so difficult to really experience.  I remember that even using the word “restlessness” as it related to my aspirations as a pastor and where God was leading me was acknowledged as a good thing.  However, I’m not sure anymore.  When you go back to the very first sin recorded in Genesis, it wasn’t violence, lust, murder or stealing….it was discontentment.  So, if contentment wasn’t even possible in the Garden with perfect conditions, how much more difficult is it for us to live in our world constantly being bombarded by what we don’t have.  It truly is a sickness of the heart.

If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.  C.S. Lewis

At the end of the day, I’ve always known that it is not about what I possess.  My life verse from Matthew 6:21 is found in this paragraph.

19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

 

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 

Thankfulness also paves the pathway to a life of satisfaction. 

Spiritually speaking we become sick when we start tolerating God’s blessings instead of being thankful  for them.  Gary Thomas

The very lack of thankfulness and forgetfulness for all that the LORD had done led the children of Israel astray

Deuteronomy 8:10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

I really work on being mindful here especially with thankfulness from the moment I wake up to even the very ability to do the work that I do.  I find myself in the midst of my work taking time to breathe prayers that are filled with gratitude for everything that I am, that I’m able to do and enjoy.

I learned very early on in my desire to do ministry to take nothing for granted.  I really have seen the providence of the LORD in placing me in the positions that I was called to.  The very fact that my first full time position as a youth pastor had nothing to do with my experience, my resume, my education…(don’t get me wrong, those are all very helpful)  because I never applied for the job!  However, when I was asked to take on the role, I knew I had finally understood that it’s all about God’s timing and not my own.

Inner Peace is experienced through contentment.

A heart at peace gives life to the body,but envy rots the bones.  Proverbs 14:30

Thankfully I can say that I have not struggled with envy.  To be honest, when I look at what other people have, I’m really happy for them.  I’ve been on a lot of roofs and surveyed a lot of properties.  I’ve been able to compliment others on their own personal oasis, but possessions, nahhh, couldn’t be bothered with the stress of worrying about my stuff.  I also realize that is why I gravitate towards older vehicles now… less insurance, less cost, less worry about nicks and scrapes because you know full well someone’s going to ding your door…lol

As my brother Edwin told me, the best way to be happy with my vehicle is to stay off a new car parking lot…lol

Contentment is about resting, about removing ourselves from the comparison game or striving to catch up to the latest designs or technology. It is really finding peace and quiet in the place where God has me right now, in this season, in this very moment.  

I’ve presently unplugged from social media and it’s a good place for me in this time.  I pray that you will find real peace, joy and contentment as we enter this season of advent and the celebration of Jesus becoming the very peace, good will to all people. 

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.  Luke 2:14

I pray that His favor will rest on you as you experience His amazing, faithful love and truth of the realization that He came to be your Savior!  He came to give you forgiveness, hope and fullness of life as you put your faith in His sacrifice for you.

John 10:10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Hidden Gems!

Sharon and I have taken time to do some day trips in the local area to find some hidden gems.  We’ve gone to the usual places to find the fall colors like Hockley Valley and check out some local artisans and then we’ve also hit the more unusual spots like Shakespeare, Ontario.  Well, there wasn’t much there other than the small pumpkins that we found and the little white ones that we were on the hunt for.  We also have a lot of fun thrifting and one place that was always great fun is “Pay By The Pound” that just moved to New  Hamburg from Elmira. 

It’s the place that Sharon with her amazing treasure hunter ways find amazing deals, but on this particular day, I found a hidden gem in the used book section.  I picked up a book called “Authentic Faith” by Gary Thomas.  It is a book that he wrote in 2002 on spiritual disciplines and man, it is challenging me to my very core!

I want to share some insights in this blog that have been inspired from reading his book that I am presently working through.  I find myself highlighting thoughts, takeaways that I keep going back to and rereading because I really want to let it sink in much like the Word of God.  He has distilled truths from the Father that are so pertinent for the season that I find myself in and I know many others are in.

A statement that really opens up his purpose for writing is,

In a broken and fallen world, we really only have two choices: mature friendship with God or radical disillusionment.  He goes on to say,  authentic Christianity majors on a powerful display of God’s presence, often through his people, in a world that is radically broken.

The first discipline I want to reflect on is the discipline of selflessness and learning to live beyond yourself.  It is the art of checking our “hurry” at the door and learning to be fully present in the moment with others.   It is inviting the Holy Spirit to take the lead in all of our conversations and everything we do.  It is the rhythm of learning to live by God’s agenda and releasing my “own” agenda.

Philippians 2:3,4 challenges us to look not only to our own interests, but to the interests of others.  It is the ability to lavish God’s love on others, the kind of empathy that is deeply rooted and invested in the health and well-being of others without the attitude of “adding up the cost” or somehow to derive attention to self in the process. 

The discipline of waiting continues the journey into a depth of relationship with the LORD that learns to trust Him above all else, above what I’m seeing with my own eyes, above my own timeline, above my expectations.  Can I really trust God that He is pursuing my children and my family harder and more deeply than I ever could?  Can I believe that? Can I learn to have the long-term view that He is working all things out together for my good?  If we don’t have this question settled in our heart then waiting can be debilitating and suck our soul dry.  The discipline of waiting is marked by hope in God ( I spoke about this last month).  Paul also speaks about the Christian life as a type of “groaning in anticipation”.

Insert song here…Man of Your Word by Maverick City (my current favorite worship playlist!)

https://spoti.fi/3kDfnfU

 An obvious point is that real growth takes time.    As it relates to our own personal growth, he shares,

Faithful obedience over time weakens temptation’s allure.  As we begin to find new ways to deal with stress or insecurity or other “sin triggers” in our lives.

The hope is that we learn to live without the sin which has often served to be that “spiritual narcotic” in our life. Christian classics speak of a soul sadness, that being the pursuit of a character trait that we have yet to fully possess.   There are certainly stories of those who are miraculously delivered from sin sickness or addiction, but the ongoing story of strength is found in that moment by moment, daily leaning on the power of His abiding presence.

If you’re called to love, you’re called to wait.  There is no love without patience, without waiting.  Waiting is the oxygen of love, it is the virtue that gives love its sustaining power.

Waiting also can mean we move into a place of recreation, sport, pursuing physical health instead of soul-numbing activities like constantly scrolling news or a social media app on our phone.  I have often met with God on a bike run, a run, a swim where I am totally captivated by the LORD of creation and my mind is cleared of the fog of negativity and messages that only fed fear.

The discipline of suffering isn’t one that is championed or spoken about too often and on this subject Gary Thomas hits the mark when he says,

This is a fallen world and terrible things happen in a fallen world.  We dishonor our suffering sisters and brothers when we try to explain all of this away.  The truth is that we are called to suffer with them, not as some think we are called to do- to try to cure them of their suffering. Paul tells us to ‘carry each other’s burdens’ not to try to explain the burden away in Galatians 6:2.

On the subject of pursuing holiness in the context of suffering, there is what the early classic Christian writers spoke of that is known as the ‘desert of detachment’.  This subject really resonated with me.  The desert is the place where I go to learn to live without whatever I thought I needed to “get me by”.  It is the place without my ‘coping mechanism, that self- justifying behavior that I has been my “go to.” A coping mechanism is an immediate sinful behavior I have used as a way to either protect myself or fulfill my own need.  It is where I have gone to in the place of allowing God to meet me in what is my deepest place of need.  You fill in the blank as to what that need is, the need to be safe, to be in control, to be liked or the need to be right. We need to understand that often sin is taking a God given desire and choosing to short-circuit the process and meeting that need without Him.

However, the place I need to go is the desert of detachment where I learn to wait on God and trust Him.

Can I in that place trust God to really meet my needs, can I truly believe that His unfailing love is better than life itself?

Just learning to stop myself from sinning is not the end goal.  It is the desert of detachment that I trust my Father to richly meet me in a profound way and here’s the lesson, there will often be a dip before there is a rise, it’s not automatic.  It takes time to really see how He fills that need.

When resistance to sin becomes painful – when we honestly think that we can’t survive without that drink, that relationship, that way of coping – will we embrace the suffering, endure the spiritual torment, and remain faithful to God, or will we collapse, once again, into the soft prison of our addictions?

I know that the winter is coming and that can be a very difficult and challenging season for many people.  My prayer is that you and I will wait on God like we never have before and experience the oasis that is His profound presence in the middle of a desert or dark night of our soul. 

Sunset from the rooftop!

Sunsets are another reminder of God's faithfulness to me and the fulfillment of another great day and hope for tomorrow. 

What is hope?  It is an expensive attribute and one that can often take years to build, that is when we are talking about something rock solid and something that gives us absolute confidence, not wishy washy like “well, I hope so…”.  There is certainly the wishful thinking side of things, but then there is the biblical definition.

It is the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in His faithfulness.

Hope’s strength is the strength of the person's desire and how they look forward with expectation to what God has in store.  We can so easily be swayed by our feelings and our perception of how things will turn out that can cloud our judgement and make us weak and volatile. 

Call it a singular focus, a heart locked in, a mind engaged that moves us closer to where God longs us to be.  He never wanted us to doubt His goodness.  He wants us to believe for breakthrough, a miracle . 

I love how The Passion translation unpacks Romans 15:13

Now may God, the inspiration and fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with hope!

If there was ever a verse to pray over yourself and others, this is it!  The verse crushes fear and it destroys doubt where we really lock into the promise of uncontainable joy, perfect peace, super abundance and radiating with hope.   I mean, really, this is the kind of person I want to be when people meet me.  I know I’m known pretty well by my laugh, but I also want others to know that my joy comes from a deeper place and I’m learning to rest more and more in what He is doing and less about what I’m striving to become.

What is the sentence of hope that you need right now?

In desperation I will be set up for a new revelation from the LORD

Out of the biggest mess, He can create the greatest miracle

God is preparing me for the miracle of empathy.

God shows us who we are by what He has brought us through.

We know enough about the LORD to get through this valley.

 

He makes me lie down in green pastures and sometimes to get us to green pastures, he needs me to stop!

Stop wasting today's strength on tomorrow's problems.

God is already in my tomorrow.

The word wait in the Bible is also translated into hope.  A classic verse that I committed to memory in my youth was Isaiah 40:28-31

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

Here is what I have been sensing the LORD speaking to me as I wait on Him…from my journal.

 

Jack, my son, be watchful and wait on me.  Step into my calling, be vigilant and walk in your authority.  Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be strong in the LORD and in the power of my might.  Be a man who is full of grace and truth.  Trust in my way for you and be led by the Holy Spirit.

I also have been really blessed by those who also love to lead people to a restored soul and I want to give a shout out to Jonathan Puddle and his 30 Day Devotional that has just be released.  It is a book about practicing the presence of God and creating space to allow us to breathe in His life… just started but really excited about the journey He has me on.

 

 

 

 

He restores my soul

We have been slowly walking through Psalm 23 together with Addi and Rylan as I recently revisited a book that I read a while ago, "Travelling Light" by Max Lucado.  The book really challenges you on the subject of joy.  He asks, 'what is the one thing separating you from joy?  How do you fill in this blank: I will be happy when ___________________.   He goes on to ask the really hard question... what if your situation never changes, could you be happy?  If not, you are sleeping in the cold cell of discontent.  You are in prison and you need to know what you have in your Shepherd.  Can I really say, The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want?

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

There is an imperative here where the LORD wants to slow us down, to be more mindful, to not always been on the go, in a hurry or always feeling rushed.  Sharon and I have been listening to a podcast recently on this very subject of pushing back against the hurry and the rush.  It's called Fight Hurry, End Hustle by John Mark Comer and Jefferson Bethke.  We are starting to build a trellis for our lives.  A trellis is a list of formations that we will practice.  It is one that we hope will allow our lives to flourish and allow us to practice being more present with each other and others.  One obvious one that they share is that they don't have their phones present when people are visiting with them.  They determine a set time that they pick it up in the morning and a set time that they put it away for the evening.  There are certainly other formations that are included but our phones are definitely the most invasive 

He leads me beside still waters.

I have discovered that I enjoy riding my bike early on Sunday mornings the best.  I find that the roads are incredibly quiet and I never get tired of chasing a sunrise.  I love how the LORD paints the skies and with my worship music playing, it's an incredibly peaceful time for me.  Where are your still waters?

He restores my soul.  

The realization is that Jesus gives us Himself.  

I was working on changing the day running light in the Outlander and fighting with the encasement that it was closed in.  It felt like 30 minutes and then I finally breathed and said LORD even in these small things I need You to partner with me and literally it took me seconds after that to replace the light.  It was a small thing, but it was a huge reminder that He wants to be with me, present with me every moment of my day. I have often laughed and His timing especially when I've been working on a roof. We will have finished the job, packed up, start driving away and then it rains lol.  Don't worry, I do check my maps but I really can feel God with me when I'm working as well. As a matter of fact, can any of us take the weather network seriously??  I joke that they are the fake news network.  My son says it is just some guy looking out his window lol.

Better Together

 

It’s not too often that you get the opportunity to work together side by side with family, but at this season in my life, that is exactly what I get to do.  It’s nothing but positive vibes for Rylan, Jordan and me most days on the roof.  However, don’t ask them about me and the roof underlay.  It is not my friend lol.  When we are in rhythm we work so well together.  I don’t like to think that my sons work for me or do work for me but more that they work in partnership with me.

I believe it is the same way with Jesus.
 
 I don't do anything for Jesus, I do everything in partnership with Jesus.  I don’t work for Jesus, Jesus works through me…it’s humbling and amazing at the same time, but what is more powerful is when he works through us collectively as a group of followers of Jesus.
 
I love Ephesians 2:8-10 because it is the gospel and the outworking of the gospel all in one paragraph.
 
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
 
So cool…we are being prepared and God is already setting up our lives for action. The question is, “Am I paying attention to the very situation He is placing me in?”
 
One of the things that God has been revealing to me again is the unityI  have with other believers and how powerful that oneness is to break the power of darkness. 
 
In unity as well, we are powerful when we minister to others
 
We had an opportunity to host a Kickstart ministry day at our home and it really stretched me.  I love the boldness and the passion of the people that we met with that day.  There is a real hunger to be agents of change and to be the healing presence of God on the streets and in homes with the people that they meet.
 
We had the opportunity to take some of the team to visit people at the Manor and really spent time encouraging them and praying for those who were open to it.   As soon as we drove in the parking lot we met Barb who was emotionally distraught and right away we knew it was a divine appointment.  She was so overwhelmed by her circumstances and right there she received prayer and discovered real peace.  Shortly after Alice showed up and then Smitty was at the back of the Manor in the beer garden as we like to call it.  It was an eventful afternoon as he managed to lock himself out of the room and he definitely needed to lie down.  So, there I was with “sweet Dave” and another lady popping out the screen from his window so that I can squeeze myself into his room and get the door open…lol.  I recognize that Roger, the owner, has cameras everywhere and there I was breaking in to a room, oh my goodness.
 
While we were there we also met a new lady who hadn’t moved in to long ago. She was 24 hours sober after just going 3 months without a drink and figuratively beating herself up.  She was dealing with tremors and pain in her back and just felt compelled to drink again.  We took the opportunity to pray for her and the tremors stopped and she could feel heat going through her body as she was being prayed for.  She opened up to us about being separated from her son who doesn’t want anything to do with her and it was a powerful time to talk about faith and the love of Jesus with her. 
 
I have often gone on my own to the Manor to do visits, but this day was incredibly special and I again was reminded that we are so much better and stronger together when we serve in community.
 
Once we arrived back at our house to debrief with the others who gathered, Jeff shared the gospel and right there in our pool there was powerful baptisms, people being filled with the Holy Spirit and deliverance happening as well.  The whole experience stretched me and reminded me about the invisible battle that we do face against the enemy of our souls and the power in the name of Jesus!
 

 
Jesus is our peace, He is our bond of unity and in Him we move and live and have our being together!

 
We also had the opportunity to join Pastor Michael and Kingdom Life for an outdoor time of singing and prayer walk at Riverside Park.   Man, it was SO good to be with them because we all know singing indoors at church isn’t happening anytime soon.  I didn’t realize how much I have missed the power of singing together and worshipping God with other believers!  People were singing and sharing from their hearts.
 
It was another reminder that our reconciliation is not just towards God but towards each other and it we think that the temple of the Holy Spirit is just us individually then we have completely missed the understanding of us corporately as the temple of the Holy Spirit!

 
So, I just want to end by sharing some thoughts about how important community from a really powerful message that Steven Furtick shared on living in a lonely place.  He spoke of the desire of how we just want to be known.
 
He reflected on the state of a man who had leprosy in Mark 1:40 and had to cry out “unclean” when anyone went near him.  How demoralizing it is when you are just known by your issue, how long you have been known this way...unclean
So, he knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. 'If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,' he said.  Leprosy is clearly visible from the spots on your skin.
 
Today, the spots are on our soul, and we are living with shame.
 
One of the realization that you have leprosy is you have lost the ability to feel.  It’s the same way with the leprosy of the soul
 
Whatever we are going through, remember for the follower of Jesus,  He is our great high priest who is able to feel everything that we are going through.
 
In Mark 1:42 immediately the leprosy fell off...immediately our shame is able to fall off.
 
Whatever is keeping me at a distance LORD, break it. Leviticus 13:46
 
Jesus told the man to not tell anyone! He didn't want people just coming to him for a miracle...but the man did just that,  he told everyone.
 

Jesus did it anyway! He knew he would tell everyone.  When you know you’ve been healed, you just have to share it…it’s contagious!

The Hugmaster 2020!

I have been inspired recently by my new friends Jeff and Maria. They have been an incredible joy in our lives as we have gotten to know them over the past month. They will be getting married at the end of July and both of them have an incredible journey towards finding faith in Jesus. We took the opportunity to show love a few weeks ago in the Willow and Dawson area and it was so encouraging to see so many show up to give out flowers and let people how much we care in the midst of all this fear, anxiety and social distancing! I know so many who are struggling just to feel human and crave real connection. Jeff in particular wasn't afraid to take the opportunity to pray for people who were hurting and dealing with pain whether physical or emotional. We even borrowed a pretty hilarious "Hugmaster 2020" to give out hugs.

 

Jeff's enthusiasm was contagious and our time together on the street ended up moving to our backyard for the "after party" where we had a spontaneous time of prayer and worship with 10 people...ok, maybe, there was a few more but there was healthy space, but more importantly, healthy spirituality. One thing this whole pandemic has taught me has been that we were not meant to do life alone. Our personal relationship with the LORD wasn't meant to be just a personal thing. It is richer, fuller and more amazing when it is shared in community.

I know as churches begin to open up and do worship outdoors or in limited spaces indoors, it will be with a lot more appreciation for what a shared experience allows us to know and feel. I was recently listening to a podcast and was really challenged by it. The pastor was speaking on the woman in Mark 5 who was considered unclean and soiled by the religious crowd around her. Here's the story starting in verse 24

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

She had been conditioned by her issue to hide and not touch anything, but Jesus invited her to the center of His attention and affection. When you go through extreme disappointment, extreme private issues and extreme pain He doesn't want you coping on the fringes. He wants you transformed, made whole, reproducing and He wants your identity restored that your issue stole from you. Jesus called her, "Daughter."



I also realized that Jesus responds to intentionality not emergency. The bleeding church has been given an opportunity to point to Jesus. We've been called to host the presence of Jesus. Every time someone have an encounter with heaven it was initially met first with fear. We are not called to be younger or more relevant. Breakthrough begins with exposure to your private issue! Speak to your issue in the name of Jesus.

Sometimes you have to press through the crowd and the rejection so there's nothing between you and Jesus.

She thought she could be healed and hidden, but Jesus loved her too much so let her stay on the fringes. Jesus wanted to do more that heal, He wanted to make her whole and that's the truth about us as well, Jesus wants to make us whole!

She was conditioned by her issue to just stay in the shadows, however Jesus wanted her as the centre of his attention, his affection. It is painful because it requires exposure. She is now ready for real intimacy and restoration as she is completely transformed.

Your faith has made you well, go in peace.

So, as we look forward to more gatherings, more BBQ's and opportunities, I pray that it will be done with more transparency, let's get real with each other, be honest and open and discover the healing that Jesus wants to bring to all of us in community and make us whole! 

With love,

PastorJack9

feel free to reach out to me



twitter @pastorjack9

Just Call Me The Bread Man!

Since we have moved to Exhibition Street in Guelph, we have discovered the most amazing place to get bread, Polestar Hearth, a bakery just around the corner.  I have to admit that with all the social distancing requirements, waiting in line has taught me to appreciate it even more.  They make incredible sour dough bread and our favorite is Super Seed!  It is starting to become a Saturday morning ritual for us.  There is an incredible sense of satisfaction that you experience when you know you are eating good bread!

I am also discovering new things as I learn to be still in the presence of Jesus.  In John 6:28, He is described as the bread of life.  I know that as good as the bread that fills my belly, I desperately need to be in His presence to sustain me and that time for me is carved out in the morning before I start my day.

Jesus in John 6:28 was trying to teach His followers a “new normal”…the very thing we keep hearing today.  In that day He was getting them to go beyond just getting their daily needs met or rushing after another miracle.  He was offering them so much more and He wanted to completely fill the hunger of their soul.

What matters most in the Christian’s life is “who is Jesus to you?”… not what Jesus has done for you. 

Holly Furtick in a powerful message she gave on Mother’s Day shared about identifying the things that are first not bread in your life.   

·         Gossip is not good bread.  Proverbs 26;22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.

·        Good bread is not trying to find all my needs met in my spouse or my children or material things.

She also made a really good point that bread is meant for right now.  The Word that God gives you is a word for the season and more importantly for this moment.  Don’t let it grow stale

Jeremiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.

His bread is normal, God is not limited to sermons and worship songs. Expect God to speak to you through every mundane moment.   Holly Furtick

Psalm 34:8  Taste and see that the LORD is good

His Bread sustains us, but it is also placed in front of us to declare It’s powerful and life changing promises too!

I also have recently I have been reminded once again about the power of praying Scriptural declarations over my family.  I take time to insert their names into some of the most profound prayers written in the Bible, for example, I will take my children’s names and insert them into the following prayers for example:

Ephesians 1:17   I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give Rylan the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that he may know him better. 18 I pray that Rylan’s eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that he may know the hope to which God has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

I will take turns and then insert Jordan and Katelyn, Phil and Brynley and Addi as well.

I also pray verses like Galatians 2:20 and the prayer of Ephesians 3:14-21 and there are soooo many great ones packed in Philippians, Colossians as well.

As we take time to listen, to journal, to pray these powerful declarations, I believe the atmosphere changes in our hearts and in our homes. 

When everything starts to open us and the pull comes to go in every direction and chase after everything, remember to stay, to listen, to be grounded in His truth, His Word, His life-giving bread.  Then, go out there and let the new normal be revealed in you,  a new appetite, new desires…not willing to settle for the cheap stuff that never satisfies.

I close with a story about Addi.  She has just started a new job working for a landscaping company.  She has been very diligent about her health, especially her “gut health” after dealing with some parasites after being on cross cultural missions.  I watched in amazement as she meal prepped 5 identical healthy lunches on Sunday evening.  I asked her to give me her lunch break down and here it is!

Quinoa bowl with roasted carrots, beets, brussel sprouts, black beans, corn, grape tomatoes and arugula with hummus or greek yogurt as a dressing, some sort of vegetable like small bell peppers, carrots and hummus, unsalted nuts and some sort of fruit!! like cherries, watermelon, or peaches

Well, the other workers are noticing when they show up with their white bread sandwiches and go for fast food runs.  One guy in particular is noticing so much so they he is actually asking Addi now to prepare lunches for him!  I believe the same is true when we are sustained spiritually from Jesus’ presence.  I believe other’s will notice the contentment, the transcendent peace, the joy, the goodness that He fills our lives with and it will be contagious in a really good way!

Never Be The Same Again!

The new and improved www.jmnroofing.com

I have been so grateful for is to have Jordan, Addi and Rylan working with me during this time as an essential service.  However, what an incredible time of upheaval in our world it has been.  We have all had our lives turned upside down with this Covid19 outbreak, social distancing and lack of real meaningful connection with other people.  I’m sorry, but video calls just don’t cut it after a while.  I have heard stories of people just craving for human touch and longing for a simple hug in the midst of all this craziness. There have been people in groups of five walking downtown Guelph with signs protesting what is going on silently.  The sign they held up was, “We were meant to live together”.

 One question that has been asked is, “when are things going to be normal again?”  We are all doing our best to cope during this time and for some it has been extremely difficult just getting by and I feel for you.  As for myself, this time has been an opporunity to really dig in and become a better version of myself.  TBH… I really wasn’t excited about the person I was becoming.  In some ways, I felt like I was being lulled to sleep in my lifestyle.  My life was predictable; there was no surprise, no carpe diem to me.  I was living life on auto-pilot and then the crisis hit and we were all caught in the whirlwind. 

So, you say, how are you managing?  I don’t want to manage.  I’ve actually turned into a voracious reader with 4 books on the go and just completed 3 books.

Here are the books I read for other avid readers now lol.

Extraordinary by John Bevere; In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson; Unexpected by Christine Caine; Compelled by Heidi Baker; Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet by Sarah Hagerty; Hungry For More of Jesus by David Wilkerson and The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do.

I haven’t read this much since my days in Bible College…lol.  and learning a lot about myself, gone on more walks than ever before and committed to a daily workout routine!  It has all kept me grounded.  I have never run this long or this fast for that matter…I just did a 17.3km run on my way to doing my first half marathon. Running for me makes me come alive.  I laugh now because this virus has turned my sons Rylan and Jordan into competitive runners and Addi, I’ve never seen her workout so much!  BTW I quit facebook and Insta…at least until I feel like it’s worth going back there…too much time wasted scrolling. 

The most important thing that has been rediscovered for me is my walk with Jesus and listening to the Holy Spirit.  I really love journaling and hearing from the LORD, HE definitely still speaks today and is longing for us to listen.  Here is what I sensed the Holy Spirit telling me recently.

Jack, continue to rest in my presence and be satisfied with my unfailing love. Keep you face like a flint, ever seeking, ever knowing the path of life.  I then searched up “face like a flint” and discovered it in Isaiah 50:7  It means to stand strong in the face of adversity, regard these difficulties as worthwhile when you consider what they will lead you to.

As we come out of this hibernation of sorts with this virus lockdown slowly easing, the thing that God has really showed me is that I need to step out in faith in greater measure.  I’ve been reading through the Psalms and in 77 the psalmist Asaph reminds me to cry out to the LORD and He listens.  This is a time of repentance (a change of heart leading to a direct change in lifestyle), a time of reset to where God is leading.  I’m challenging in my reading that the greater risks that I take, the more that God can use me.  I also know that it needs to be a God-ordained risk.  I also am riveted and rocked by Jesus’ words when He says in Matthew 19:29 that everyone who has left houses, family, and children will receive a hundred times in this present age and eternal life.  I also know that when we finally arrive in His presence fully in heaven, it won’t be the sins of commission that we will regret, but the sins of omission. Our biggest regrets will be the missed opportunities!  For me, I know that it comes back to my life verse, Matthew 6:21, “wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also”.  I know that to make a real difference my investments can’t be tied to the here and now.  It’s a huge wakeup call right now when our financial investments are getting flushed down the tubes to stay in that place of trust.  My investment needs to be in people, it’s all about others in the kingdom of God!

Steven Furtick in his latest message was sharing how we were not meant to go back to normal.  In fact, he said we should just remember that we have never been normal…that’s not the goal.  However, why do we want to go back to normal?  The reason is because it’s familiar.  Sometimes we even crave normal even when we know it’s killing us like the children of Israel longing to go back to Egypt in Exodus 14.  I love that he said, “Let’s have the funeral right now!  We are not going back to normal! God brought us all out of Egypt, but is Egypt (representing the world and its values) out of us?

So, what will your new normal be?

As much as I want to light a fire under us, I also want to remind us of the encouragement, hope and strength that God can provide us in the midst of this uncertainty.  I was reading Psalm 91 this morning.

We are called to rest and to abide in the safety of the presence of the LORD.  We are not to people overwhelmed with fear and anxiety.  As children of God, we are under his wings and sometimes in the darkness we don’t even realize how close we are because we are covered right under his wing!

“Realities are released through decrees.  Say what God is saying.  The power of life and death is in the tongue.”  Bill Johnson  We need to speak life over ourselves and our families during this time.

Sing this song over your family, it is so powerful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp6aygmvzM4

and something to make you smile :)