A Letter to the Hurt

You've been hurt!

Hurt by the ones you trusted, the ones you confided in. With not only your heart but also in some cases your soul.

You woke up one morning to find out they had not been living the upright spiritual Godly life you thought they were and you instantly start to question everything that they had ever taught you and everything you believe in.

Because of this, you struggle to forgive them and others, you battle with trust, you struggle in your spiritual life, and you struggle because you instantly question whether they are real or not. You have no idea who you should trust with your heart and who you shouldn't.

Why? Because everything you had built your life foundation on, got kicked out from beneath you.

Today I want you to know, I hear your heart!

I hear your pain!

I hear your frustration!

I hear your cries!

It's painful to realize you have been lied to your whole life. That someone you had trusted was a fraud and that you had built your life foundations on what they have said and you are forced to evaluate what is truth including everything you believe in.

It's hard, I give you that grace. I am here to tell you today of an alternative. An alternative to thinking you are simply a victim of outside circumstance and can't be mended.

That Mender is Jesus Christ. He is not a human. He does not fail. He will never go against what He has said. He will never change His mind and He is always simply a prayer away.

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almight. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress My God in Him I will trust."
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge His truth shall be your shield and buckler You shall not be afraid of the terror by night Nor the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilience that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked....
"Because He has set his love upon Me, therfore
I will deliever Him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon me,
And I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honour him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation."

Psalm 16:1-7,14-16NKJV

Count Your Blessings

A cold trickle of water slowly makes its way through my hair and down my back, making me shiver and gives me the ever present reminder that I am/was not at home.

A little malnourished kid is abandoned on the side of the road. Why? You may ask, his mom died and his dad doesn’t want to be responsible. So bad is this little kid off that he looses his eyesight.

A child screams and runs out of the house as their angry, drunken father stagers into the room.

A young teen girl shakes with fear along a cold stony cell wall trying to drown out the pain of what has happened to her in the passed couple of hours. It seems to her as if this must be the end of all hope.

Tragedy strikes and we are forced to look at reality again. Our lives are just but for a day!

Here in Southern Ontario we are protected from a lot. Thanks to the News Media it is almost our only way of staring devastation in the face. Yet we have tragedy and heartbreak right here on our back door. We are so protected from everything around us.

Yet one could get so depressed by looking at all the terrible things around us and because your or my day maybe going a little backwards. But when you look at just simply all the regular things that God has blessed us with it overwhelms me every time.

Let me back up a bit to where this all started……..

With my job I spend a lot of time on the Internet, and in this case Twitter and everybody was talking about the devastating sites of Alberta. It is very devastating, and the reality stares us all in the face. If you were ordered to leave your house and you had twenty minutes to get out of there, what would you all grab? Where would you go? What would you do? How would you emotionally respond?

That night me and some of my sisters were riding home in the car and as always listening to one of our favorite groups, it was an old CD and it was good to hear all those favorites again. The song came on “Count Your Blessings”. And that is how this all started.

So I have come to count my blessings… one by one…

I want to start with the most important blessing of all and that is Jesus Christ. I am thankful that He saw us down here on earth as sin sick people in need of a Savior. I am also thankful that He was willingly to leave heaven, come to earth as a man sacrificing His own life for my sin and the rest of the world’s so that we would have the gift of having salvation and eternal life!

I am thankful that it’s an all-sufficient gift. God didn’t just choose a few people to except this Perfect Gift, but it is available to all.

I am thankful that God is Faithful. One of my favorite songs is an old song titled “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” As a kid I disliked the song for the sole purpose that it took …so long to sing… but when I grew older and grasped the depth of the words of the song if forever became a favorite.

“Great is Thy faithfulness, Oh God my Father, There is no Shadow of Turning with Thee, Thou changest not,… Pardon for sin and peace that endureth,… Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all Mine with Ten Thousands beside…”

…and forever I will sing.

I am thankful for parents. I am thankful that they love God and serve Him with everything that they have. I am thankful that they love me and the rest of my siblings.

Something else that I’m thankful for that I haven’t mentioned yet. I am thankful for the Church and that is not just the local Body of Believers that I choose to apart of but that also includes the Global Body of Believers that because of Jesus Blood we are apart of this Body and are unified as the Global Church. My reason behind this one is because when you are miles away from home and a lady walks up to you and with a hug and her broken English cries the words “Jesus Bless You!” It warms every bone in your body, and even though the communication with her is difficult at best, it’s Jesus Christ that bonded our hearts!

Tonight, I have a house to sleep in. I have a warm bed. My parents and my siblings are safely all under the same roof, I have food to eat, cloths to wear, and no foreseeable threats to any of my family or our belongings.

I could go on naming all the things that I am thankful for because I am not near done, but then this poor blog post would sit forever in draft mode and you would never have the opportunity of reading it because I would never get done with my list.

I challenge you to consider what you are thankful for, maybe it isn’t much but write it down, make a list, keep adding to it. Focus your life at counting your blessings. It has a way of changing your perspective on a lot of things!

Even when the day is going completely backwards.

Hey, you still have something to be thankful for. At least it wasn’t raining, or maybe it did rain… at least it rained because it watered all the freshly planted soil!

And when the shower is cold and cold water trickles down your back remember you could be bathing in ice cubes!

“Count your blessings… again… and again… and again… and all of a sudden you’ll have blessings you didn’t know you have.”

Grand Canyon Faith

Well I have been to Haiti in back in the past few weeks, I've sat down to write here multiply times, started multiply times, but haven't exactly had a complete vision of where to next. My hearts been full, my heart has a burden but strange as it may seem for me my thoughts are not collecting in an organized fashion enough to write.

After being in Haiti and witnessing everything that we did there is a list of things one could write about it's long... the inspirations are countless... they just keep on coming to me...

But as I was lying on my bunk, two feet from the ceiling one very warm morning the wave of the fan felt like it was simply bating hot air... and in a way that's all it really was doing... :)

I opened an email of inspiration and it was exactly what I needed... so I am sharing it with you...

I read that high-wire-walking legend Nik Wallenda planned to walk a tightrope across the Grand Canyon. 

I told Brice I did not want to miss the excitement of the live television event. So on June 23, 2013, my family and I were glued to the television when Nik crossed the Grand Canyon. He had no net, tether, or safety harness, just a two-inch steel cable stretched between the canyon walls far above the rocky floor. The distance was greater than the height of the Empire State Building. 

Nik Wallenda had agreed to wear microphones and to be recorded during the live crossing. Not long after the hazardous event began I was expecting the TV network to bleep out what he was saying — not because it was a swear word or other profanity, but because he was crying out in prayer to his Creator. 

This is what the microphones picked up: “Praise You, God! Praise You, Jesus! Help me to relax, Lord... You’re my King, You’re my Protector, You’re my Shield, You’re my Strength, You’re my Lord.” 

When Nik realized the wire had become slick from blowing dust and the winds had picked up to thirty miles per hour, his prayers intensified. Suddenly the cable began to shake. If he proceeded, it would only continue to get worse. His grandfather had died from a high-wire fall in 1978. That stunt had ended in tragedy when the cable began to shake — just as this cable was shaking now. Nik stopped and crouched down, giving time for the cable to quiet the vibration. “Thank you, Lord. Thank You for calming that cable, God.” 

One step after another, the twenty-two-minute, fifty-four-second crossing seemed to last an eternity. But as Nik began to draw near to the other side of the canyon he began to run on the wire. The last ten steps were an adrenaline-fueled dash. When asked later about his prayer on the high wire, he said, “My life is based on my faith. I guess the biggest role that it plays is that if I do fall and die I know where I’m going.” 

Unlike Nik Wallenda, most of us don’t put ourselves in situations that require real faith. You will know you are seeking the face of Jesus when you are so far out of your comfort zone that you can’t help but cry out to Jesus as he did fifteen hundred feet above the canyon floor. 

But I am not talking about doing high-wire stunts. I am not even talking about low-log stunts. I am talking about seeking Jesus in the place where He said He would be found. I am talking about getting out of your comfort zone, your cultural and social bubble. Getting down and dirty and serving others — because that is where we will see Jesus. 

You see, faith is more than just believing and saying you believe. Satan himself believes that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Satan was there and witnessed the resurrection himself. He believes it happened because he saw it. 

"You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!"— James 2:19NKJV

Just believing the right stuff is not enough. True faith is believing and surrendering to that belief — to the point that you’re willing to step off the edge of safe and sure. 

True faith is not just lip service. It’s not just “magic words” or "pre-written thoughts" said in a prayer. It’s surrendering to God and allowing the Holy Spirit to invade us and then allowing that invasion to transform our lives. 

True faith is offering yourself as a living sacrifice to your Creator and allowing your life to be used for His purposes.

You know we live in protected part of North America most of us have been born and raised in an environment where we didn't have to go out and fight for our daily lunch, we aren't getting burned alive for our faith. We don't see a lot of the hardships like others who have gone on before us have and some people still today in parts of the world.

What would happen if instead of living inside of our North American bubble we stepped out of it a little and lived "faith based faith."

That our soul speech would be Nik's words, "Praise You, God! Praise You, Jesus... You’re my King, You’re my Protector, You’re my Shield, You’re my Strength, You’re my Lord.”

Are you willing to take that step out from the safe and the known onto a wire that may or may not hold you as you walk across the Grand Canyon? And do you have faith that even though the wire may break God's going to hold you there and sustain you?

How far are you willing to go for the cause of your faith? Because you Believe!

Do you have faith enough to walk the Grand Canyon not physically but spiritually?

God Bless,

Changing Our/Your Church, from a Church to a Church

They cry but no one sees them.

They scream but its not heard.

They run and no one stops them.

They hide because no one hears them.

They wallow in there pain and slowly slip through the cracks, well we stand idly by, watching it all happen. Instead of helping them out we criticize them.

We have depression issues and instead of showing them Jesus, we either tell them to get over it or put them on pills. I do realize sometimes it is a medical need.

Instead of helping the victims we praise and lift up the victimizer to the point he or she can do no wrong. Pulling our victims down even further to the point they have no hope and no escape.

Thus, leading the way for those behind then to repeat this process again, and again, and again, and we wonder what is wrong with our churches.

We've watched this go on for years, decades and even centuries, yet we still sit here and wonder. What is wrong with our/your church?

The hurting people around us continue to faint and fall and yet we sit idly by and do nothing about it.

To be free from bondage is anybody's dream why then those of us who are free in Christ sit here and do nothing about it...

Where are you men and women of God?

When will we who know the truth stand up for what we believe? And follow God's two greatest commandments.

First to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and Second, to love our neighbor as ourselves or as Christ loved His Church. If I may jog your memory, Christ died for you, so how far are you willing to go for that hurting person in your Church or community?

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22: 36-39NKJV

What if we acted on the benefits of others instead of focusing solely on ourselves?

What would happen if we actually considered loving our neighbor better then ourselves?

We've already proven we can band together to save the needy in a foreign country.

I ask you, can you band together with believers in Christ to rescue your physical Church neighbor (the one who is suffering and hurting) from hell and damnation and show them Jesus Christ?

As Believers in Jesus it is our responsibility to make sure that every hurting and lost soul hears of the Truth of Jesus Christ, the Truth that will set them free from their bondage.

We will never change the world by going to Church in a physical building and having Sunday service.

We will only change the world, once we discover the benefits of courageously standing out and serving our neighbor as the Church of Jesus Christ and that's not in a physical sense.


Are you willing to allow your Church to become not just a physical building but rather a group of worldwide believers who represent Jesus Christ? That's a pretty high calling, because to be a Christian means you walk as Christ did.

Or are we supposed to be nothing more that a group of people represented by a steeple, two by fours, insulation, doors, a few benches, and a name printed on the front of your building.

Some how I don't believe this was Christ's intent when He said "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Matthew 28:19NKJV

I believe that if we finally got this figured out it would do number FOR the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

How far are you willing to go, for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Are you willing to stand alone physically, in order to rescue the hurting souls around you?

I ask you, what are you willing to do?

Ice Chunks

We are supposed to be on our way to Pennsylvania tonight but here we sit patiently waiting for the car to be fixed.

Why?

You may ask... I'll get there...

I remember telling my sister before we left. She was all concerned that we would know how to get down there. I told her, "I learned a verse along time ago that goes like this " Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto thine own understanding." And so I'm going to trust the GPS and the Good Lord to get us all the way to Pennsylvania and back, and wherever we end up is exactly where we are supposed to be."

Well without me saying more, we hit an ice chunk that came rolling off a oncoming truck and 5th wheel trailer and damaged the front end of the car to the point we severely damaged the radiator and are in need of a new one.

Well if that isn't a way to blow a hole in your already late start for the States I don't know what is. So here we sit. On a note of confidence, God's timing is perfect and sometimes it takes a magor ice chunk to stop us and make us refocus or make us sit and wait for something better.

I don't know what God stopped us from seeing or have happen to us tonight and we may never know, but right now sitting in the middle of the waiting room at the garage is exactly where we are to be!

We like to question God's timing we do it by trying to do all kinds of things... We could make a list but to everyone it would be different. Maybe it's not God who is placing the ice chunks in your path but rather you are standing on the side of the road through them on the road to avoid having to experience a separation from sin, your family, etc!

I want you to fill in the blanks. I don't know what ice chunks God has you facing tonight just know that God's will or His plan is perfect and when you need to move on your damage to your car will be fixed and you will be back on the highway!!

I want to continue with Proverbs 3:6 "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths."

Until next time please avoid throwing the ice chunks into your path, and allow God's timing to be completely worked out according to His plan with every ice chunk He gives you!

God Bless,

Heaven

Do you ever dream about heaven?

I do!

Ok, so maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm crazy for sitting down and wondering what it must be like to sing and never run out of air, or to always be on key, or to sing and never get tired, the sound must be absolutely amazing, breath taking to be exact, and oh the beauty that must be there! I think it would make earth seem pretty boring and plain.

To dreaming of standing among the millions of people who have gone on before us and join in a song no person can ever do justice to here on earth! It sends shivers up and down my spine just thinking about it.

"I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me a sinner, condemned unclean... How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be: Oh How Marvelous, Oh how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me!"

Oh, our human earthly voice can not do justice to that song and we only get a little flavor of what it must sound like in heaven here on earth.

But then who knows what we are going to do in Heaven, after years and years of praise and adoration will we finally sit down and have those talks or will our hearts still be so full we cannot stop singing and praising our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the One who has saved us from everlasting death and pain.

We already know that we won't be able to measure time in Heaven and that in itself is enough to blow our little human brains. Man have tried for years to understand eternity and we just can't. It is completely impossible.

I wonder!!!

"And He shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb..." Revelations 21:1NKJV

Not only does the singing get me thrilled, but everything else, it will be truly amazing.

And so I will continue to dream of heaven, the beauty, the music, the awesomeness of meeting my Savior for the first time face to face, and I do hope for the opportunity to sit down with those of old and to hear the good ole stories of how God brought them through!

I do believe even the Second Coming of Christ will be breathtaking! If you need a slight picture of what that day could be like read the Book of Revelations.

And so I will keep dreaming and anticipating that glorious day!

I ask you to anticipate with me, for that moment when we will be forever with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen,

Humility and the Grace to Overcome

How big are you???

OK, so I don't mean in size, I mean in mind?

Who are you?

Do you look at your accomplishments or the things you have done, as your own work or God's?

Do you think you are humble about what God has done in your life?

If you take the time to boast about your current responses to these questions, I will begin to question your humility on the spot. :)

Humility- the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc!

You know the funny thing about humility the moment you think you have it, you've already lost it.

The struggle towards the top of the mountain is old, its been around since the beginning of humanity. In fact that's how sin first came into the world. The desire to be somebody, to be wise regardless of the end result.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate...Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked... Genesis 3:6-7NKJV

And we could go down through history, story after story of people who thought it would be better to knock God off the top of the top of the mountain and instead place themselves on the top. It's been bread into us as little kids, why else do we play "king of the castle"?

We take pride in not only our own accomplishments but we try to make what God has done our own accomplishments!!! The stories have repeated themselves again and again but we've only changed the names and the numbers of the year on the calendar!

The Jews had the same issue, even after they had been cleansed of their sin. "For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh." Galatians 6:13.

Paul went on to say, "Hey, wait a moment you are making them do something, that isn't needing to be done anymore, because of Jesus Christ and the Cross only so that you can boast in the fact of what you have done. When you accept Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross being circumcision means absolutely nothing, but you being a new Creation in Him."

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation." Galatians 6:14-15

Pride is such an ugly thing and is the result of sin entering the world and only with God's help can it be brought under the blood and we can be free from it and grace shows itself strong once again!!!

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

You and me, are both a work in progress and until God sees fit to take us out of this world, He will continue to work on us and mold us into the human beings that He wants us to be and that is going to involve grace. Grace that exceeds anything that we could have ever imagined.

"And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, them am I strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

The key being, for when I am weak, and at the end of of everything that I can give, I am strong, because of Christ. 

I love this song and for me it explains grace way better then I could ever try. It's entitled simply "Grace", and feel free to click here to listen to the song.

My heart is so proud. My mind is so unfocused.I see the things You do through me as great things I have done.And now You gently break me, then lovingly You take meAnd hold me as my Father and mold me as my Maker. 

At times I may grow weak and feel a bit discouraged,Knowing that someone, somewhere could do a better job.For who am I to serve You? I know I don't deserve You.And that's the part that burns in my heart and keeps me hanging on. 

As I walk with You, I'm learning what Your grace really means.The price that I could never pay was paid at Calvary.So, instead of trying to repay You, I'm learning to simply obey YouBy giving up my life to you For all that You've given to me. 

[Chorus:]I ask you: "How many times will you pick me up,When I keep on letting you down?And each time I will fall short of Your glory,How far will forgiveness abound? "And You answer: " My child, I love you.And as long as you're seeking My face,You'll walk in the power of My daily sufficient grace. "

And so God is saying to you and me today, "My child, I love you, and as long as you are seeking My face, you'll walk in the power of my daily sufficient grace."

Amen,