Monday, March 7th, 2011
I am so thankful for my church family- I wandered through these doors 20-ish years ago with a heart that wanted to serve God, yet a mind and body that seemed to have their own agenda. Yet, these church people loved me in spite of my habits and attitudes and I absolutely knew that God loved me too.
I was a little like an unbroken horse, with a rebellious inclination- even bucking when pressure was applied to my back like a rider. Little by little, I began to sense the consoling hand of our Father when I was troubled and the gentle prompting of His knee encouraging me to pick up some speed for the next hill. I also began to hear the Father’s “well done” voice and tussle of the mane – and He used my new church family to say it.
However, God wanted to take me into new pastures of freedom from my mind-set and feelings, yet the path getting there always seemed new and the footing unsure. I bucked and kicked and part of me wanted to break out of this new terrain and return to land that I knew. But God and the people around me loved me too much.
The Bible says “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.” Psalm 32:9 NIV
God loved me enough to apply pressure to the bit of correction in my mouth and He used His Word, church family and leaders to do it. Not an easy feeling for an unbroken horse. Yet, in hindsight, I see that the pressure of the bit saved me from a path of pain.
Thank you God and thank you church family for not giving up on me, but loving me enough to tighten the reigns on the bit of correction that saved me from harm and a very real destruction.
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Monday, February 28th, 2011
I think each of us wonder, at one time or another, about how much time our Heavenly Father has to really think about us – I mean, with keeping the whole solar system in balance and all. Face it, He has a lot of irons in the fire.
As a father, I too think about my children… I probably think about them as much as most dads do… thoughts of blessings, thoughts of love, thoughts of their past and future and sometimes even thoughts of concern.
Our children, now leaving the nest, possess a zeal for adventure – whether it be in the jungles of Peru, the streets of Los Angeles, the parliament buildings in Ottawa or some remote rockslide in the Yukon. Our kids are not foolhardy, but they are intent on living lives full of adventure. In a recent winter weekend in -22C weather, one of our sons snow-shoed into the frozen backcountry, just to carve a survival shelter out of the wilderness and spend the night sans tent and sleeping bag… and he was home the next day in fine shape.
BUT, my thoughts about him were many – while I brushed my teeth and headed for my warm bed, my thoughts were towards him. I think that the more perilous the circumstance, the more thoughts I have. I believe the same goes for all parents as they see their children heading off to college, getting their driver’s license or laying in a hospital bed… the thoughts we have for our children are many…
How much more for our Heavenly Father – who knows the very number of hairs on our head – when He thinks about us?
Psalm 137:17-18 NLT
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!”
Trying to rationalize this, I try to multiply my love as a natural father by the vastness of God and I still can’t comprehend how many are his thoughts towards us. I read an interesting quote from the book Attitude of Faith by Frank Damazio on the topic of God’s thoughts toward us outnumbering the grains of sand. It states that the University of Hawaii tried to figure out how many grains of sand there are on the world’s beaches – they estimated there are 7,500,000,000,000,000,000 (7 quintillion, 5 quadrillion) grains of sand. And that doesn’t even come close to how much God is thinking about you!
The next time I am feeling alone and pondering that no one is thinking about me, I will bend down and scoop up a handful of sand.
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Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
This morning, in post-Valentines day (when all of us guys try to hit the ball out of the park for their wives) we now slip back to our computer screens, tool belts and truck cabs to bring home the bacon.
I could not help but notice a significant shift in priorities from yesterday (my wife) to today (my work, my RRSP’s, crammed email inbox)… and it bothered me…
I opened up a financial investment newsletter called Casey Research – now, this is a totally secular financial letter – but there was a nugget of truth right there on the page… the story is about a senior manager from a major company in the financial industry lecturing at a college:
From Casey Research, February 15
A student from the audience asked the senior manager, “What was the most important factor to your success at the company?” I expected a long-winded answer about the financial industry and important lessons learned from the trenches. Or perhaps he would extol the virtues of hard work and reliability. But instead, he replied, “My wife.”
And then he went on to explain, “If you think that any woman will stay with you year after year of 80-hour work weeks, you’re just wrong. And if you think you’ll be able to excel at the most important and stressful projects of your career while having a screaming match with your spouse every night, you’re just wrong. And if you think anyone will follow you to Singapore for a promotion, you’re just wrong.”
He then went on not only to bestow praises on his wife, but to share cautionary tales of careers gone downhill as a result of divorces and sour marriages.
The newsletter closes with this comment:
This may sound crude, but marriage is the biggest investment and career decision in life. Whether one should invest in the S&P 500 for the next two years is small potatoes in comparison.
I was immediately reminded of Proverbs 18:22 “He who finds a wife, finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
I think I will go home today and make my wife the priority she was yesterday.
Dave
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Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
Deep down each of us men has a desire to be all the man, all the husband and all the father that God has called us to be. God desires it – He put it there… just how do we fulfill it? We all know it won’t happen overnight – but it can happen… just like football, one yard at a time… and again, just like football, it won’t happen all on our own.
We are stoked about 2011. Join us as we kick off our New Year on January 15th with our men’s breakfast Saturday morning at 8:00-10:00am, in the Regency Room at the church. Pastor Abe Mouracade from Puget Sound is bringing a message for us – come hear what the Lord has for you.
Our breakfast team will be firing up the grills with Rempels farmer sausage, hashbrowns & bacon, scrambled eggs, Juice and plenty of Starbucks coffee on tap. Tickets are $5 and available this week at the church office or at the door.
See you Saturday morning.
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Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
It’s beautiful in Merrit, BC this time of year now that the rainbow trout are feeding. The snow and ice are gone, the aspens are budding and the illusive trout are beckoning their challenge. All you need is a fly rod, a cold beverage, a cooler full of meat and treats and some guy friends and you are set for an enjoyable adventure.
This last weekend thirty of my friends and I went fishing up at Roche Lake and had an awesome time together teasing, making fun of each other, putting up with each others snoring, just being guys together. We had a blast expressing our hu-man-ity, beating our chests, avoiding showers and shaving and enjoying cholesterol and all meat meals.
Besides all the caveman cavorting we were able to be men who love being men who love other men in a very real and transparent way.
Yes, I did say thirty friends.
You say, “I wish I had thirty friends…”
These guys are all from my Church, and somehow we all get along and actually like each other so much we can spend a weekend together trying to catch the most or biggest fish so our name is engraved on a gawky second hand trophy.
The richest relationships I have are with my brothers from the Church, that is why we call our Men’s ministry, ‘A Band Of Brothers’.
We are building lasting supportive relationships where we encourage, assist, mentor, hug and even cry on occasion because we love each other as brothers.
The rainbow trout dancing on our lines is always a bonus. It’s the deep relationships and bonding that we experience that keeps us coming back year after year. We all want and need friends. The Church is a great place to make lasting friendships and experience brotherhood. I hope you can come with us next year…see if you can put up with my snoring…
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Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Emotions. We all have them.
One simple definition is: a strong mental or instinctive feeling. As we all know, our feelings or emotions sometimes get the best of us and effect our actions either for good or not so good. Case and point is the coach of a local professional hockey team, who in a recent game, displayed emotions out of control.
When things like this happen, it is an example of a lack of self-control, self-discipline and poor self-restraint in the face of opposition or pressures. It was emotions getting the best of him.
If we do not learn to control our emotions when under pressure or when we don’t get our way, then they can launch us into doing things or saying things that we will regret, hurting ourselves and others.
Titus 2:11,12 offers us insight into God’s provision to help us be good examples through our actions. God’s grace will teach us and help us to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.
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Monday, February 8th, 2010
There is a piece of us men that is attracted to, in the words of popular comedian Jeff Foxworthy, “bright and shiny things” like fishing lures and bass boats…there is just nothing as irresistible as all the chrome and colors under bright lights. I say I don’t like shopping, but my wife says it’s a different story when I step into a tackle shop, boat dealership or sportsman’s trade show. She says she can hardly keep up with me…
And yet for the many times I have succumbed to the urge and made a wild purchase, there comes a time when the Visa statement arrives and I am filled with “buyers remorse”…and I have been there more than once. The “bright and shiny” is replaced with regret.
Here is a great quote by Doug Cecil:
“You will never find in sin what you go into sin to find.”
…what a challenging thought…
How many times are we tantalized by the bright and shininess of a sin, maybe in the form of an illicit action or conversation, a choice morsel of gossip, or “venting” on someone, then realize what we thought we would obtain has now vanished?
Where did all the bright and shiny go?
Today, I have a fresh view of James 1:14 (NIV) “but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed”…I am just a little more cautious of the enticement of bright and shiny sins…and maybe a little wiser too.
Pastor Dave S.
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Friday, January 29th, 2010
Well Christmas is all about giving. God the Father gave us Jesus! You celebrated the Spirit of Giving all throughout December as a Church and I want to honor you and your generosity.
One gift you gave was our 19th Annual Nativity Drive Through. It was a huge success with over 800 cars passing through that’s approximately 5000 sets of eyes taking in the glory of Christ’s birth. Thank you for standing out in the rain, setting up, feeding and dressing everyone to make this event possible!
As a result of the Nativity Drive Through you hosted, another gift you gave was $3,389 for the Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope, serving the homeless in our City, and in addition to that, a truckload of food for the Abbotsford Food Bank and our in-house food bank was collected.
You gave the Christmas Morning Gift to the homeless. You donated money and countless items and assembled 140 huge duffle bags full of socks, underwear, pants, shirts, winter coats, warm blankets and food stuffs. And together in a unified effort with other Churches, orginizations and individuals hosted a breakfast for the homeless where they received gratefully these duffle bag gifts!
You gave 26 nicely wrapped Christmas presents that were carefully chosen, purchased and wrapped with care by you to give to 26 children from single parent families in our congregation. This Annual Love Tree expression of your giving blessed 26 children!
This year through your in-house Church Food Bank and Charity Dept. you gave out 25 huge food hampers furnished with Christmas Turkeys and Hams to families who needed a bit of help.
Another gift you gave was organizing, hosting and attending this year’s Christmas Banquet as a fundraiser for our Interns Peru Trip that raised over $1,500 for their costs.
You also gave a $2,000 Christmas Blessing Offering to help the Vancouver City Church plant and Pastor Herb and Pearl Lee.
Thank you for giving to the Lord! It’s a blessing to serve the Lord together with you and be a part of such a generous group of people.
Pastor Mitch
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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Hey everyone,
Thank you for visiting our site, we value your interest in us. We hope we can bring some inspiration and encouragement to you!
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