daily life as life goes on . . .

The good news that is found in Jesus goes until the end.  True restoration of a world that God created is never done until Jesus returns.  But in the meanwhile, we pray that God’s kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.  And we note that Jesus talked about the kingdom is near, and is among us.

What does that mean?  Certainly a spiritual appearing.  Something that affects us intrinsically (I’m loving that word more and more – those in this community agree that we must change intrinsically – by which they mean working from the inside out – they just don’t agree on the starting point for the inside and who does the changing!).  Spiritual change can have an ethereal sense.  No material change, no tangible results.

Unless we agree that an inside change has fruit.  In which case the kingdom come on earth will mean a holiness in our community.  Civility?  Perhaps that is a good word.  Good?  I wonder if Toronto the Good had something to do with God (if you trace this term you will find it does go back to a Christian revival in Toronto).  Living by a higher standard?  Perhaps that’s why we use a phrase – God keep our land.

Committed to the community.  As Christians we are probably the most committed to our community.  Now – and in the end when all the nations of the earth gather around Jesus – this is about restoration.  Jesus restoring his kingdom – completely at a later date and in seed form now.

Well, with a new understanding, I’m taking Monday’s off.

The idea is to intentionally take a sabbath (shabbat).  Spend the day with God in mind, worry out the door and a day without having to feel like you need to spend time, money and anxiety on the things of this world.

So, I awoke to rake a section of the front lawn which had been trampled by the snow of winter.  Swept out the garage, repaired a wooden chair and cleaned the entrance to our side door.

Then to an afternoon reading.  A book by Benjamin Perrin called “Invisible Chains:  Canada’s underground world of human trafficking.”  Not a pretty picture as I dug into the first few chapters.  Our denomination is setting out to address this problem with a program called “Defend Dignity.”

Then, off to supper with friends who are singing at our senior’s XYZ meeting tomorrow.  Afterwards we did a sound check.  AND – the fun of singing an acappella  quartet spontaneously!  That to me is refreshment at it’s best!

Now, after watching the TV show, “Castle”, Jill and I are sitting at the computer checking Facebook, listening to music and writing my blog.

A great day of rest!

Yesterday our youth group played a game.  Nine questions were asked, then the answer sheets were mixed up and we had to guess who answered what.  Things like, “If you were from Ethiopia, what would your name be?”

Lots of fun until they came to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  They turned towards me and laughed.  I think they figure when you are older you are all grown up.  So you don’t have any thing to write.

Little do they know.  Right away one thing came to mind, and a few others flitted across my memory.  Perhaps the question should have read, “What do you want to be when you retire?”  or some aberration of that thought.

You never grow up.  Just overload your memory banks and expose yourself to different life experiences. 

And personally I hope I never grow up!

Noon lunch today completed a 24 whirlwind of activity. 

Our regional Alliance church pastors gathered together (seven altogether).  In that time we walked together, talked together, ate ice cream together, and even slept together (separate beds but same house!). 

There are some divine appointments that happen.  The co-leaders had left open a very simple agenda.  Care and share with each other, laugh and play, and look at ministry.  Well, the crokinole tournament highlighted Keith and Rob completely cleaning up on the rest of us.  The ice cream was from “Cold Stone” at Tim Horton’s – first time for me.  We prayed for each other.

A few days ago I heard that a special speaker was coming in to address one of the other churches in town.  Robert Henderson is from Colorado Springs and is part of the “Apostolic Movement.”  Some of us had heard of the movement but weren’t sure what was meant.  I phoned over to the church and they graciously opened up an hour in his schedule to come address us.

As we completed out time together we prayed for him and he prayed for us.  We saw his heart to have this world changed for the good of God.  We may wonder about what the structures that will look like in this new venture, but the heart is for Christ.  And in that we rejoiced.

And after lunch we parted.  My wife to rest, myself to separate tasks and the others on the road home.

A good time had by all!