The Importance of Prayer

OK, this one is a bit personal, again. (So much for my blog being a more academic exploration of church planting.)

Yesterday our niece, Yana, had her third open heart surgery. She's only 2 1/2. The surgery went well. I opened my email this morning eagerly waiting another good report (the first 24 hours post surgery are very critical).

While we are still waiting the report on Yana, I found out this morning that my Grandmother has been admitted to the hospital. She's in pretty critial condition.

I'm finding it a bit hard to focus on anything but prayer right now. It feels like half my heart is in Edmonton, and the other half in Florida, and I'm stuck here in between.

I have no profound insight right now. I have some hope. I have a lot concern. I don't really know what to ask for beyond the most basic prayer- Father, bring them both through this.

For now that will be enough. And if you believe in prayer, ask God to put His hand on a two beautiful girls; one at the start of life, the other who has lived a wonderful and full life. Both of whom mean a lot to me.

Soul Revolution: RENEW

...Over and over again the people of God were called to remember who God is, what God had done for them, and what God promised to do for them. It was a way or remembering God’s faithfulness in the past to build faith for what He do in the future. On these occasions the people would renew their vows to God. Abraham renewed the covenant with God when his son was born after 20 years of waiting, at 100 years of age. Moses renewed the covenant before the people took possession of the Promised Land. Joshua renewed the covenant when it was time for him to pass on the torch of leadership to the next generation. Over and over again we see this as a essential part of worshiping God and being his people. It wasn’t that God forget, it is that we do. We need these occasions.

At one point in the history of God’s people they had forgotten the covenant for so long that the book of Deuteronomy, ironically the covenant renewal document Moses wrote, had actually been lost! A young king named Josiah took the throne and when, in a building project, the scroll of the law was discovered, he said this…

1 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. 3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD -to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. 2 kings 23:1-3

Listen to the message at connectionschurch.ca or read the manuscript at cccsermons.blogspot.com

Wii are family!

Sorry, I couldn't resist making that the title. I have to give a big thanks to my gram, and to my friend James.
Gram gave us money to get something special for the kids.
James called on Saturday morning to tell me the store where he works had one Wii come in.

By lunch the kids were hooked and the rest is history.

So when did my family go from a bunch of little kids learning to walk and read, to 1 girl that has her own blog and website, 2 girls hooked on email and chat rooms, and all 3 kids better at Wii and DS than their dad?

Time marches on, and they are changing very fast. I would not have guessed that we'd be here this fast. But I guess that because I hadn't really thought about it.

But I'm very confident that Robin and I, and the kids, can navigate this pretty well. We'll have to monitor time and create the boundaries and blocks, but I'm encouraged by their ability to discern already. Well, not Justin so much- he still operates on primal instincts.

I'm not concerned because as fun as these things are, and as much time as they can consume without proper monitoring, by kids are still kids at heart. And I hope they are for a long time.

I know this doesn't have much to do with church. I'm just feeling rather fatherly tonight.

January Series: Soul Revolution

What is the human soul? What do people mean when they say they want to be “spiritual?”
This January we are going to revolutionize what it means to be spiritual.
Join us as we get in touch with our soul and the One who meets us there.

This Sunday at Connections Community Church,
9:30am Cafe
10am Experience
SilverCity Movie Theatre, Masonville Mall

Bible Reading in 2009

Over the years I've used may different bible reading tools and plans. All of them have had two things in common:

1. The got me reading the bible in a structured fashion;
2. They were hard-copy.

More and more I find I've transitioned to the electronic age. I don;t need to print things out to really read them. And while most time online is spent scanning, I can actually focus on things that matter.

So, this leads me to my bible reading plan for 2009- online! I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes. I've picked an ambitious one- through the whole bible in a year. Even at a quick reading pace it will require about 15 minutes each day.

Here my KEY IDEA to make this happen:

I've set the plan as my homepage so each day it will be the first thing I see.

So I'll be waking up, brewing some coffee, starting my computer, and sitting down to read before anything else.

If you are interested in such a plan you can check it out yourself.
http://www.youversion.com/one-year-bible#