If you haven’t already, this little game is worth a play. Who can resist Lego?
Lego Treasure Hunt
Reply
Bringing the House
Last night, the B.C. Lions beat the Montreal Alouettes in CFL action. The Lions set a team record by sacking Anthony Calvillo TWELVE times!!
Guess who B.C. plays next week…
Yep, that would be our beloved Riders. And yes, that means that by reading this site, you have signed over your CFL allegiance to the green and white… just so you know. Shop our best selection of rain chains to reflect your style and inspire your outdoor space. Find the perfect patio furniture & backyard decor for your home. Come and visit us.
So around Taylor Field this week, can you say “protect the quarterback”?!?!
My Confession
I don’t really like that word; never really have. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t automatically get a touch defensive just by reading that word… put your hand up. Anyone? Anyone?! Bueller?
That’s what I spoke about at church this morning: The place of confession and repentance in preparing the way for the Lord. Isaiah spoke of them. John did too (that’s the Baptist, not the Close). I admit that there’s a foolish part of me that would have preferred to have walked around the topic, but it just wasn’t an option. So on we marched.
A few thoughts…
Socrates has his famous quote: “An unexamined life is not worth living.”
An examined life… that’s GOT to be connected to confession and repentance–it’s being in tune with what’s really going on inside oneself. Not an easy task to be sure, but necessary. Derek Webb’s great song “Crooked Deep Down” has been in my head for over a week. I guess I can relate to its chorus:
“Oh Lord, I’m crooked deep down. Everyone’s crooked deep down.”
Crookedness can run so deep that we find the desire to rationalize and justify around every corner of our insides. One would think that such charades would get tiring enough that we’d just desire to simplify… just to live open, honest lives that have no games playing out. One would think…
John Wesley, while at university, gathered a group of friends. They called themselves the “holy club“. Their goal? To live examined lives and push each other upwards towards greater discipleship.
Below is the list of questions that they formed to help in the quest…
John Wesley’s Holy Club
Questions
These are 22 questions the members of John Wesley’s Holy Club asked themselves every day in their private devotions over 200 years ago.
- Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I relly am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
- Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
- Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
- Can I be trusted?
- Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
- Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
- Did the Bible live in me today?
- Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
- Am I enjoying prayer?
- When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
- Do I pray about the money I spend?
- Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
- Do I disobey God in anything?
- Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
- Am I defeated in any part of my life?
- Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
- How do I spend my spare time?
- Am I proud?
- Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
- Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward, or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
- Do I grumble or complain constantly?
- Is Christ real to me?
Money-Ball Moments
I’ve got a window in my office. No, I’m not in a corner office on the 48th floor of a building downtown. But I do have a window in my office. And a chair that swivels.
Occasionally, I find my chair swivelling towards the window just to look out. Did you know that trees and grass and sky can make you think? I’m not kidding. It happened to me.
I got to thinking about some decisions that were needing to be made, some choices I need to make that will affect myself and my life. Then I got to thinking about other choices that will affect others besides myself. Most of these aren’t major, shake-the-world decisions. But they can feel like it.
That got me to thinking about the NBA. Logical, I know.
Remember those 3-point shootouts, where guys would launch about 25 shots to see who was best. Every 5th ball was worth two points instead of one… the money-ball! Every rack of balls, the tension would mount as the player got into a hot or cold groove as he neared the money-ball. But when the money-ball was picked up, the shooter would never do anything different than before. You’d think that with more on the line, he’d make some special preparations. But no. At most (if he had the time), he’d simply reset his feet, take a breath, and go through exactly the same motion as before.
As I stared out my window, I found myself wanting to be a money-ball shooter. I want to fire with confidence on decision-making because the truth is that life never really identifies the money-ball moments. They don’t get marked like those Harlem Globetrotter-style balls used to. They come in the steady stream of shots both big and small every day. You likely know which decisons were the big ones AFTER they’re already made. But that’s of little comfort unless…
I believe that God’s coached me on how to honour Him in big shots and small ones, and that I need just go through those rehearsed movements again and again, knowing that His guidance can be trusted. I’ll set my feet every so often again and re-align my elbow like He showed me, but I want to place my confidence in Him, in all that He’s already done, and all that He’s still teaching me.
Take that for what it is… what flew in through my window the other day.
Prepare Ye the Way
Yesterday was the start of our new sermon series at Glen Elm. For the next three weeks, we’re digging around in the phrase “Prepare the way for the Lord”. The lesson yesterday was aimed to be somewhat introductory; you know, a warm-up. But I’ve got to say that I love that sentence…
Prepare the way for the Lord.
It comes in Isaiah 40, one of the Bible’s best chapters, I’ve GOT to say. And it gets followed up by calls to fill in valleys, cut down mountains, and smooth out rough spots… all with one goal in mind: To make the coming of God as easy as possible. I just love the imagery of removing barriers, clearing the road, and making it as easy as possible for the King to reign.
I’m signing off before I type out my whole sermon. All this to say: It was a pleasure to prepare it and to share it.
Now on to week #2!