Author: Ron Baker

I’ve just finished a sermon series.  The idea was to read the four biblical stories of Jesus (the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in eight weeks (or the two months of summer).

Today I gave a final sermon in the series, attempting to summarize some of the big ideas from each book.  As I listened to the sermon over again, it struck me that this might be something others would like to listen to.  I haven’t seen the content of this sermon in other sermons (OK, I did use Brian McLaren’s Jesus Creed as part of the sermon, but that wasn’t really a sermon – technically speaking).

I called the sermon – Dust Jacket Jesus.  If you’d like to hear the sermon, head over to this site – http://www.sermoncloud.com/kindersley-alliance/dust-jacket-jesus/.   Click on the headphones to listen, or the down arrow to download the sermon.

The last few days I have been resting.  Yesterday was a true sabbatical.  Taken away from work, encouraged by co-workers, today feels like the beginning of a new week. 

And it’s only Friday. 

I entered a meeting first thing this morning.  For most there, this was the end of the week.  Thinking was like molasses in January – thick, black and slow.  As for myself, I sat back feeling like this was the headwaters of a stream of life.

So, there I was feeling like I was out of place – or more rightly – out of time.

And perhaps that’s what a sabbatical is all about – returning life to time.

With our wonky weather patterns this year, I’m not surprised. 

The temperature has been remaining around 14 degree Celcius all day.  As I mowed the lawn, the wind bit and the frosty nibbles on my ear felt like winter.

Can it be?  Winter is just around the corner.  Summer came in April.  And the April showers have been plaguing us all through the summer (?) months.  Fields have not yet turned golden and frost may soon decimate them.

For an almost desert land, we have been inundated with floods of rain.  As my wife mentioned:  “I wonder how much snow we will see?”

Don’t even think it!!

We jumped onto www.ransom.tv tonight and listened to Rock the River, a youth concert being held in Calgary.  While our youth group of 23 (including sponsors) were jumping and yelling, we were sitting here in our study tapping our toes and lifting our voices.  We even saw Jesse Bond, one of our youth, enjoying his time there.

Great stuff we can do with technology today!  To be with others while being away.  I still like the real face-to-face but the next best comes to you through the internet!  Not bad!!