Monthly Archives: April 2015

Last night out AWANA children were led through the Lord’s prayer.  When we came to the end, they were asked what “forever and ever” meant.

Their answer was quite simple – time never ends.

Simplicity is great, especially from children.  Until you try to picture what that means.

I’ve been trying.

Longer than my dad’s life span – who lived to 91 (almost).  I watched him for almost six decades of my life.  He seemed always to have an endless quality about him.

His last days were more than a little disconcerting to me.  The thought became very real – he would  not live forever.

I read the Bible through quite regularly.  I’ve tried to think through the ages of those early saints (and some quite obvious sinners!).  As I’ve wrapped my head around a few millenia, forever seems like at least that long. If I could record every day and year, my mind begins to lose count while I trudge through the era of Moses or David or Noah. 

Then I read Genesis 1.  And the millenia continue to tumble past my brain cells.  I’m almost comfortable with the age of this earth as being forever.

Until I get to the part where it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  OK, at that point I put a stake down in my timeline. 

And realize that God started before that.  You ask the AWANA kids how old God is – there answer is again quite simple.  “He never was not.”

Now forever just reached past the horizon of my mind. 

I haven’t even tried to go the other way, into the future!

From beginning to end, God is.  He started with ultimate power, He is in charge of everything, and He sets the standard for all that is good, right, just, pure, compassionate, giving, . . . 

“For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever!”

I preached on this a few years ago.

What if we cleaned out our houses – giving away all sorts of things that are not necessary (or maybe putting them on a garage sale site!)?  What if we increased our church giving every year by 1%?  What if, every time we bought something, we gave something away??

I know that is radical.  And counter to a consumerist, greedy society.

Recently I sat with two of my sisters.  We were talking about our parents and their philosophy on life.  If there was a need, they went about finding ways to care for that need – from the abundance that they had.  They bought a furnace for a church that was just starting.  They paid an outrageous amount of money to help a Bible College that was in need of expanding.  They gave money to each of us children to help us through rough patches. 

God is stretching all of us to live outside our boundary points.  When the town of Kindersley set up lots, they put a stake on each corner of the lot.  All you needed to do was find the metal post and you knew how you were being limited.   

I think God calls us to live outside our self imposed boundaries – to live by faith.  We have driven stakes into the ground over the years, saying this is as far as I will go.  Perhaps we have been hurt.  Perhaps we want financial stability.  Perhaps we just like being comfortable.

I wonder if it is time to find each of those stakes and ask God if maybe we need to move those stakes a little further out!

Saskatchewan has a few “grid road” ferries.

These are not the fancy ferry of the East or West Coast, or even the Great Lakes.  They accommodate four cars in an open space.   The controls are situated on a panel as wide as your arm spread and as tall as your head.  The captain moves the handles for motion an arms length from your car window.   

Speaking in the town of Leader gave us an opportunity to head out on a Sunday afternoon drive.  We skittled (great word, nothing to do with Skittles) eastward down the road for a half hour.  Our tour then led us through the town of Lancer – described by our Sunday morning congregation as “true small town” and “very quiet.”  No traffic jams here – in fact, I wasn’t sure the stop sign off Main Street was even needed!

The return route would take us back in a U shape because of “The River”.  Unless . . . we used a prairie ferry, cutting across The River, providing a straight line to our destination.  We noted the sign to “Lemsford Ferry” showed that the winter season was over and the ferry was ready for passengers (OK, the sign just said that it was open). 

The dust plumed out from the back of the car as we headed down the gravelled road.  As we came to the ferry, a car was just disembarking.  We were able to get on the deck of the boat immediately.  The apparent heavy traffic flow was an illusion.  The ferry captain explained that the business of the day was not so much cars going across the water as the cell phone ringing asking if the ferry was open. 

As we reached the other side, my wife mentioned that this was the first time she had ever taken a Saskatchewan ferry.  For the approximate seven minutes the ride took, this was the ultimate adventure of the day.

May you find a great adventure today – just something that may be ordinary to others but can put a thrill back into your life!

I’m am looking very much forward to worshipping with a new congregation today.  Leader is just an hour down the road, but in the past ten years, I have never attended a Sunday morning service there.

My own responsibilities, up until this point, have meant I was either at the Kindersley Alliance Church, or taking holidays somewhere else.

Now, I am able to take a weekend here and there.  Where I can preach or serve in other churches.

Leader holds an interesting background for me.  In the late ‘70’s I was leading a youth group in Kindersley.  We prepared a play that we took down to leader.  Was it professional?  No.  Were all the lines right?  No.  What was right was the heart of the actors and the reception of the audience.

From that church, we also had opportunity to provide an hours long ride to a youth conference for one interested youth.  His name was Mark Bergen.  He is now pastoring the Prince Albert Alliance Church, where I formerly worked.

In the late 00’s (not quite sure how you write that), I met Jessica Kiunga, who hailed from Leader.  She became a vibrant part of our congregation before moving up to Prince Albert.  And recently our Alliance pastor’s wife in Rosetown also hails from Leader.  Can anything good come from Leader?  YES!

And so, I head to Leader to speak and to enjoy a time together with them.  Should be good!