Suburban Outpost

Where have we been?

2007-01-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

So if you still check this blog (and I'm surprised if you do) you will have noticed that we haven't posted for four months. Several reasons for this...
we moved
we had computer problems
we had a baby
we had a flood
we're both blogging elsewhere
we haven't been "suburban" for a year and a half so it doesn't suit us anymore :O)

We are well. Our kids are fantastic. God is great.

If you want to check out where we're blogging more regularly you can read Jonathan's stuff at www.thewarcollege.com
I post on Mondays at www.614network.com

Grace

Carla

God is Faithful

2006-09-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

In short, we must trust: Faith, not feelings and Character, not circumstances.

When we do this, we are no longer relying on circumstantial evidence but are learning to circumstantiate—which means to prove that something is true. God’s love is true. His promises are true. The gospel is true. We can stand on these truths with unswerving conviction and not let the incidentals of life lead us astray. “Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your truth always protect me,” Psalm 40:11 NIV).

This is from my rations today. God is so good. He knows just what I need to hear!

He also gave me this song to sing while I walked with my kids this morning:

Father of lights, You delight in Your children
Father of lights, You delight in Your children

Every good and perfect gift comes from You
Every good and perfect gift comes from You
Every good and perfect gift comes from You
Father of lights

Father of lights, You never change, You have no turning
Father of lights, You never change, You have no turning

Our life has felt hectic and sometimes stressful lately but we can trust in God whose character doesn't change and who is completely faithful.

More pictures

2006-09-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hey all... okay so I haven't updated like I said I would. Give me a break though... I'm adjusting to life with two children and have had family visiting!!

Jael was dedicated to the Lord on July 13th and now is 2 months old already.

She arrived!

2006-07-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick post to announce the arrival of our beautiful baby girl, Jael Honour Evans. She was born on June 27th at 1:53pm. She weighed in at 7lbs. 4oz. and was 51cm long.
Praise God for new life!

Recent pictures

2006-05-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures that Kirsten recently took of Jedidiah (thanks Kir!).
That's all for now. We're busy in the process of moving...
I will post again soon about fasting.

CNE

Our Little "A-oh"

2006-05-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

I was once told via our comment section that we should post more pics of our son because he looks like an angel... so here are a few - and by the way, he says "a-oh" for the word "angel."
Pray for him - he's going to be a big brother soon! And pray that he would understand and experience who Jesus is at an early age.
Thanks :o)

CNE

Life-Changing Benefits of Fasting:

2006-04-22T19:53:00.001-07:00

In 2 Corinthians Paul writes:

"Each time he said, "My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ's good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persectutions and calamaties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
(Chapter 10, Verses 9-10)

I don't think many would argue the truth that fasting positions you in a 'weak' frame. Physical weakness ensues as does a noticable change in soul and spirit as time progresses during a fast. Interestingly, it seems to work that first our body responds, then our soul, then our spirit.

We can't avoid the physical sensations that fasting can create - growling stomach, low blood glucose, perhaps a headache etc. Can we avoid the impact fasting has on our soul (mind, will, emotions)? I bet some would argue an emphatic no! They would argue that getting grumpy, irritable or lacking in self-control is inevitable. This is where the battle begins to rage and we should be aiming to grow better at submitting our soul and body to our spirit (that is, if our spirit is indeed in step with the Spirit) instead of making excuses for the way we act throughout the course of a fast.

Paul's point in 2 Corinthians is to highlight the fact that in the times when we feel the weakest, it is then that we can be strong because we are relying on the power of Christ to help us. In order to see the life-changing benefits of a fast we need to be dependent on Him to get us through it. From this scripture, it is notable that a benefit of becoming weak (voluntarily fasting) gives us the opportunity to agree with God about who we are.

Agreeing with God about who you are is definitely life-changing! Whether you come from the camp where everyone is 'puffed up' (prideful) or the camp where everyone is down on themselves (accustomed to believing lies about their worth), submitting to the truth of who you are in Christ will revolutionize your life, your world.

Can I get a witness?!

CNE

Fasting and the far country

2006-04-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

The one thing that really struck me with regard to the question 'what is our purpose in fasting?' was the relation to the prodigal son given. The son's problems didn't stem from where he was (or where he went) but from within himself. That's often the case with us, too.

Janet Munn shared that one purpose in fasting is to 'get the far country out of us after we have left the far country.'

The 'far country' can be typified by indulgence and self-gratification... whether for the body or soul (mind, will and emotions). What we want is to throw this stuff off because it hinders.

Stay tuned for more posts on specific benefits of fasting. And, let me say, I haven't fasted much from food in the past two years or so since I've been either pregnant, nursing, or pregnant again :o) I do plan to incorporate this discipline into my life again once I'm through this phase of life. I have been fasting chocolate this Lent and it has been difficult! God has been gracious though and I've not succumbed to temptation!

CNE

Happy Bloggiversary, Sis!

2006-03-27T09:36:00.000-08:00

So I was doing a regular check-up on my regular blog sites and ran across one of my sister's recent posts. Happy bloggiversary to you, Sherri. It has been a great year of keeping in touch with your thoughts, stories, challenges and humour! You're a good writer and have done well at keeping up with the regular posts.

Over the past week or so it has come up a few times that we, on the other hand, have not done so well recently with updating our blog. Sometimes I feel as though I don't have much to say... or don't know how to say what I want to say... or just don't feel like I have the time to say anything. So, I apologize for being a slacker! I plan to work on this. Let me say though, that the past month or so has been a great time of growth for me and it's not that God isn't doing much in my life - far from it :o)

We just got home last night from a prayer and fasting retreat called 'Fullness.' This was our first weekend away from Jedidiah (big props to Uncle Andy and Auntie Steph for taking great care of him). I thought I'd do a short series on the "benefits of fasting" over the next little while. Please hold me accountable to this!

Blessings, peace and grace to you all in the blogosphere!

Carla

Bono on AIDS & Poverty

2006-02-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

Bono's best sermon yet: Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast

If you're wondering what I'm doing here, at a prayer breakfast, well, so am I. I'm certainly not here as a man of the cloth, unless that cloth is leather. It's certainly not because I'm a rock star. Which leaves one possible explanation: I'm here because I've got a messianic complex.
Yes, it's true. And for anyone who knows me, it's hardly a revelation.
Well, I'm the first to admit that there's something unnatural...something unseemly...about rock stars mounting the pulpit and preaching at presidents, and then disappearing to their villas in the south of France. Talk about a fish out of water. It was weird enough when Jesse Helms showed up at a U2 concert...but this is really weird, isn't it?
You know, one of the things I love about this country is its separation of church and state. Although I have to say: in inviting me here, both church and state have been separated from something else completely: their mind.
Mr. President, are you sure about this?
It's very humbling and I will try to keep my homily brief. But be warned - I'm Irish.
I'd like to talk about the laws of man, here in this city where those laws are written. And I'd like to talk about higher laws. It would be great to assume that the one serves the other; that the laws of man serve these higher laws...but of course, they don't always. And I presume that, in a sense, is why you're here.
I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here - Muslims, Jews, Christians - all are searching our souls for how to better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God.
I know I am. Searching, I mean. And that, I suppose, is what led me here, too.
Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here - but maybe it's odder for me than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was...well, a little blurry, and hard to see.
I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays... and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.
For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land...and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash...in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment...
I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV.
Even though I was a believer.
Perhaps because I was a believer.
I was cynical...not about God, but about God's politics. (There you are, Jim.)
Then, in 1997, a couple of eccentric, septuagenarian British Christians went and ruined my shtick - my reproachfulness. They did it by describing the millennium, the year 2000, as a Jubilee year, as an opportunity to cancel the chronic debts of the world's poorest people. They had the audacity to renew the Lord's call - and were joined by Pope John Paul II, who, from an Irish half-Catholic's point of view, may have had a more direct line to the Almighty.
'Jubilee' - why 'Jubilee'?
What was this year of Jubilee, this year of our Lord's favour?
I'd always read the scriptures, even the obscure stuff. There it was in Leviticus (25:35)...
'If your brother becomes poor,' the scriptures say, 'and cannot maintain himself...you shall maintain him.... You shall not lend him your money at interest, not give him your food for profit.'
It is such an important idea, Jubilee, that Jesus begins his ministry with this. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis, impressed everyone, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever guy, this Jesus, but he hasn't done much...yet. He hasn't spoken in public before...
When he does, is first words are from Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' he says, 'because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.' And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour, the year of Jubilee (Luke 4:18).
What he was really talking about was an era of grace - and we're still in it.
So fast-forward 2,000 years. That same thought, grace, was made incarnate - in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me club... it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to get out in the streets, get their boots dirty, wave the placards, follow their convictions with actions...making it really hard for people like me to keep their distance. It was amazing. I almost started to like these church people.
But then my cynicism got another helping hand.
It was what Colin Powell, a five-star general, called the greatest W.M.D. of them all: a tiny little virus called AIDS. And the religious community, in large part, missed it. The ones that didn't miss it could only see it as divine retribution for bad behaviour. Even on children...even [though the] fastest growing group of HIV infections were married, faithful women.
Aha, there they go again! I thought to myself judgmentalism is back!
But in truth, I was wrong again. The church was slow but the church got busy on this the leprosy of our age.
Love was on the move.
Mercy was on the move.
God was on the move.
Moving people of all kinds to work with others they had never met, never would have cared to meet...conservative church groups hanging out with spokesmen for the gay community, all singing off the same hymn sheet on AIDS...soccer moms and quarterbacks...hip-hop stars and country stars. This is what happens when God gets on the move: crazy stuff happens!
Popes were seen wearing sunglasses!
Jesse Helms was seen with a ghetto blaster!
Crazy stuff. Evidence of the spirit.
It was breathtaking. Literally. It stopped the world in its tracks.
When churches started demonstrating on debt, governments listened - and acted. When churches starting organising, petitioning, and even - that most unholy of acts today, God forbid, lobbying...on AIDS and global health, governments listened - and acted.
I'm here today in all humility to say: you changed minds; you changed policy; you changed the world.
Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.
Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.
I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff. Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. "If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places."
It's not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It's not an accident. That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. (You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.) 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me' (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.
Here's some good news for the president. After 9/11 we were told America would have no time for the world's poor. America would be taken up with its own problems of safety. And it's true these are dangerous times, but America has not drawn the blinds and double-locked the doors.
In fact, you have doubled aid to Africa. You have tripled funding for global health. Mr. President, your emergency plan for AIDS relief and support for the Global Fund - you and Congress - have put 700,000 people onto life-saving anti-retroviral drugs and provided 8 million bed nets to protect children from malaria.
Outstanding human achievements. Counterintuitive. Historic. Be very, very proud.
But here's the bad news. From charity to justice, the good news is yet to come. There is much more to do. There's a gigantic chasm between the scale of the emergency and the scale of the response.
And finally, it's not about charity after all, is it? It's about justice.
Let me repeat that: It's not about charity, it's about justice.
And that's too bad.
Because you're good at charity. Americans, like the Irish, are good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can't afford it.
But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment.
Sixty-five hundred Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about justice and equality.
Because there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the tsunami. 150,000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature." In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.
It's annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren't they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain.
You know, think of those Jewish sheep-herders going to meet the Pharaoh, mud on their shoes, and the Pharaoh says, "Equal?" A preposterous idea: rich and poor are equal? And they say, "Yeah, 'equal,' that's what it says here in this book. We're all made in the image of God."
And eventually the Pharaoh says, "OK, I can accept that. I can accept the Jews - but not the blacks."
"Not the women. Not the gays. Not the Irish. No way, man."
So on we go with our journey of equality.
On we go in the pursuit of justice.
We hear that call in the ONE Campaign, a growing movement of more than 2 million Americans...Left and Right together... united in the belief that where you live should no longer determine whether you live.
We hear that call even more powerfully today, as we mourn the loss of Coretta Scott King - mother of a movement for equality, one that changed the world but is only just getting started. These issues are as alive as they ever were; they just change shape and cross the seas.
Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market...that's a justice issue. Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents...that's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents...that's a justice issue.
And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the subject.
That's why I say there's the law of the land¿. And then there is a higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn a living?
As the laws of man are written, that's what they say.
God will not accept that.
Mine won't, at least. Will yours?
[ pause]
I close this morning on...very...thin...ice.
This is a dangerous idea I've put on the table: my God vs. your God, their God vs. our God...vs. no God. It is very easy, in these times, to see religion as a force for division rather than unity.
And this is a town - Washington - that knows something of division.
But the reason I am here, and the reason I keep coming back to Washington, is because this is a town that is proving it can come together on behalf of what the scriptures call the least of these.
This is not a Republican idea. It is not a Democratic idea. It is not even, with all due respect, an American idea. Nor it is unique to any one faith.
'Do to others as you would have them do to you' (Luke 6:30). Jesus says that.
'Righteousness is this: that one should...give away wealth out of love for him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.' The Koran says that (2.177).
Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.
That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.
A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it¿. I have a family, please look after them¿. I have this crazy idea...
And this wise man said: stop.
He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing.
Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed.
Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.
And that is what he's calling us to do.
I was amazed when I first got to this country and I learned how much some churchgoers tithe. Up to 10% of the family budget. Well, how does that compare with the federal budget, the budget for the entire American family? How much of that goes to the poorest people in the world? Less than 1%.
Mr. President, Congress, people of faith, people of America:
I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective foreign assistance as tithing.... Which, to be truly meaningful, will mean an additional 1% of the federal budget tithed to the poor.
What is 1%?
1% is not merely a number on a balance sheet.
1% is the girl in Africa who gets to go to school, thanks to you. 1% is the AIDS patient who gets her medicine, thanks to you. 1% is the African entrepreneur who can start a small family business thanks to you. 1% is not redecorating presidential palaces or money flowing down a rat hole. This 1% is digging waterholes to provide clean water.
1% is a new partnership with Africa, not paternalism toward Africa, where increased assistance flows toward improved governance and initiatives with proven track records and away from boondoggles and white elephants of every description.
America gives less than 1% now. We're asking for an extra 1% to change the world. to transform millions of lives - but not just that and I say this to the military men now - to transform the way that they see us.
1% is national security, enlightened economic self-interest, and a better, safer world rolled into one. Sounds to me that in this town of deals and compromises, 1% is the best bargain around.
These goals - clean water for all; school for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty - these are not just any goals; they are the Millennium Development goals, which this country supports. And they are more than that. They are the Beatitudes for a globalised world.
Now, I'm very lucky. I don't have to sit on any budget committees. And I certainly don't have to sit where you do, Mr. President. I don't have to make the tough choices.
But I can tell you this:
To give 1% more is right. It's smart. And it's blessed.
There is a continent - Africa - being consumed by flames.
I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did - or did not to - to put the fire out in Africa.
History, like God, is watching what we do.
Thank you. Thank you, America, and God bless you all

A seagull scared me today

2006-02-15T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today I was doing a shift in 614 Vancouver's 24-7 prayer room, the War Room.
I was praying facing a wall with requests on it and heard a few taps on the window. I thought at first it was this cord thing that is always hanging outside the window... but when I looked, a big white seagull was on the ledge, pecking as if trying to get inside. First I felt freaked out because I had just a few moments earlier shut the window most of the way because I was getting a bit chilly.
What would I have done if the seagull actually came into the room? Sooooo glad I didn't have to respond to that kind of situation.

But, I jumped at the opportunity once the bird flew away to ask the Lord what He would have me learn from this little situation.
He gave me Hebrews 12:5-13 and shed some light on what He was saying. I still have to look into verse 13 especially... and I think Isaiah 58 too.

Thanks Lord for speaking to us through funny circumstances and seagulls.

CNE

Recapture the Wonder

2006-02-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

I recently started to read "Recapture the Wonder" by Ravi Zacharias. I was touched by soemthing he shared in the first chapter... because I related to it. God has been giving me a renewed sense of His love for the lost, and, in particular, the unloved.

Ravi was writing about an experience he had while he and his wife were out in the city walking. They saw an old, homeless man searching through garbage for something of worth.

"Whenever we see such a person whose whole being reveals the mark of such impoverishment my wife remarks, "To think that he was once a baby, held in the arms of his mother while she dreamed great dreams for him."

If only we all had eyes to see individuals as the Lord does. Sometimes I can't believe it when I hear or see followers of Christ who have such disdain for the smelly, dirty and hungry. I'm not claiming to perfectly love those who are outcast and dejected by society, but I do see their worth. I see this as a challenge for me to always take a stand for the worth of the unlovely in the sense of acknowledging who they truly are (God's creation), not only verbally, but through action.

CNE

2006-02-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted here in a while. I found a quote from Tozer to share with all of you. Here it is:

I suppose my suggestion will not receive much serious attention, but
I should like to suggest that we Bible-believing Christians announce
a moratorium on religious activity and set our house in order
preparatory to the coming of an afflatus from above. So carnal is the
body of Christians which composes the conservative wing of the
Church, so shockingly irreverent are our public services in some
quarters, so degraded are our religious tastes in still others, that
the need for power could scarcely have been greater at any time in
history. I believe we should profit immensely were we to declare a
period of silence and self-examination during which each one of us
searched his own heart and sought to meet every condition for a real
baptism of power from on high. The Pursuit of Man, 94.

Could the church just stop for a period of silence to get our priorities in order? How about stop all services in order to pray and fast?

Overflowing garbage

2006-01-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

Today my friend Tara (thanks for babysitting!) was over and I commented to her about our garbage. Sometimes I just don't feel like changing it and before we know it, it's all heaped up and stuff is practically falling out. When we do eventually get to changing it, it's a much more difficult job than it would have been if we had done it sooner.

I said "Hey, it's a life lesson." and Tara said "You could blog that."
Hence, this post. I'm sure you get the drift here.

Letting things slide makes a more difficult ride.
That rhymes and I just made it up.

CNE

Ch. 9 - The Immutability of God

2006-01-27T21:12:00.000-08:00

The what of God? That's what I thought when I read the title of this chapter. I don't think I had ever heard the word 'immuitability' before. Thankfully, early in the chapter, it was explained:

"To say that God is immutable is to say that He never differs from Himself."

I liked how Tozer spoke of God not being able to change for the better nor for the worse.

"Since He is perfectly holy, He has never been less holy than He is now and can never be holier than He is and always has been."

I don't have much to say about this attribute of God. I believe He can't, nor will He ever change. Although, I did consider that He could possibly get better. Then I had to correct myself because believing that means believing He isn't right now all He can be. I guess what changes for the better is our experience of and the amount of revelation we receive from Him.

Tozer always ends with a poem of some sort so I'll do the same:

Fountain of being! Source of Good!
Immutable thou dost remain!
Nor can the shadow of a change
Obscure the glories of Thy reign.

Earth may with all her powers dissolve,
If such the great Creator will;
But Thou for ever art the same,
I AM is Thy memorial still.
(From Walker's Collection)

Ch. 8 - God's Infinitude

2006-01-24T09:38:00.000-08:00

As our discipleship group we got caught on this part of the chapter for a few minutes:

"We have only to prepare Him a habitation of love and faith and humility. We have but to want Him badly enough, and He will come and manifest Himself to us."

The discussion was mostly on the second line there about God's manifestations to us being matched with the desire we show Him. I don't think we really came to any strong conclusion but we definitely struggled a bit in coming to terms with what we believe... or know. When does God just show up because He wants to and when does He show up in response to seeing our strong desire to see Him? Is there a balance between the two? That's definitely something I'm still thinking about.

God is limitless, measureless and infinite. He, in fact, is the only 'thing' (person) that can be called limitless because all created things have limits. We have limits, which is very apparent if you look around, but "How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none." Woohoo.

CNE

Ch. 7 - The Eternity of God

2006-01-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

I've found myself behind (again) in my posts on Tozer's "The Knowledge of the Holy..."

God is not affected by the succession of consecutive changes we call time. Very cool that I've come back to this chapter this morning because last night at knee drill (prayer meeting) I kept getting "You are unchanging" as what I needed to declare to the Lord.

Tozer talks about Moses in this chapter and his experience of God being eternal. One of the practical meanings that Moses came up with (with God's help of course) and that Tozer recognized is that "since God is eternal, He can be and continue forever to be the one safe home for His time-driven children." Praise God for that! He is our shelter and peace when we are caught up in our own time.

Now the next few lines that I'm about to share are what really struck me in this chapter:

"All within us cries for life and permanence, and everything around us reminds us of mortality and change. Yet that God has made us of the stuff of eternity is both a glory yet to be realized and a prophecy yet to be fulfilled."

I don't like change. I love permanence. How boring is that?
Over the years I've grown to accept (with time!) that change is inevitable if I am to grow into who Christ wants me to be and to accomplish what He wants me to do. When my perspective is shifted to eternity it makes my heart and mindset shift with a lot less pain and a great deal of purpose.

Lord give us eyes that are set on ETERNITY. Reveal to us as individuals and as a corporate body the glory yet to be realized and the prophecies yet to be fulfilled in our 'time.'

Amen

CNE

1st post of 2006!

2006-01-15T09:50:00.000-08:00

Jonathan and I have both been quite neglectful when it has come to our blog. For that, we apologize. We moved in December and were getting settled. Then, we went to Ontario over Christmas time and were getting resettled again once we got back. We hope to be more consistent in posting...

Our son Jedidiah turned 1 on January 3rd. We are so blessed to have him in our family and thank God for him each day. It's so exciting to watch all of his new developments and skills. Lately we've been enjoying dancing with him. He seems to really love to dance and for that we are so thankful. We pray that he will use dance to worship the Lord in the future. His dad has taught him to raise his hands when we say "Praise the Lord" or "Hallelujah." As cute as this is, we sincerely pray that he will come to an understanding of and belief in God's worthiness to be praised.

Pray for our son. Pray for the kids in your life. They're worth investing in. God has great plans for them.

CNE

Pyramid Scheme

2005-12-23T14:58:00.000-08:00

I'm trying out my first Pyramid scheme. Wanna help me get a free ipod?

Okay this is to get a free ipod in a pyramid scheme. I know I know.. You hate this kind of thing. Me too. But I checked it out and you can easily get out and it costs only $1. I'll buy you coffee if you sign up under me, easily making up for it. The sooner you get it done, the more likely you can get people to sign in under you and get your ipod. They rely on people not cancelling to charge you $17.95 a month for this shopping service. When I called to cancel they asked me if I wanted the year membership for $17.95 {to make me not cancel}. I didn't accept and then cancelled [$0}.

Here is how it works:

1. Go to http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=26245169 to sign up. [use this link so I can get credit and get 5 people]
2. Sign up for one of the offers. I did the Galleria CANADIAN TIRE one. It only cost $1 and I got a $25 Canadian Tire Card and a $25.
3. When you get your card in the mail, call and cancel. That way it only cost you $1. They rely on you not cancelling to make a profit.

Here is their information proving you can cancel. (I had no problems)

WEBSITE:
After your 30-day FREE trial period, it's just $17.95 per month, automatically charged to the credit card you register today. Remember, you can call us toll-free at 1-888-522-9808 within the first 30 days to cancel, and you will not be charged the monthly fee. To ensure continuous service, you will automatically be charged each month at our then-current fee, unless you call to cancel.

If for any reason you are dissatisfied, call our toll-free number to cancel, and you'll no longer be charged.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER:
Payment of the Membership Fee for the initial term will be charged after the end of the first 30 days of the term, unless during such 30 days You terminate your Membership as provided in paragraph 9. If You terminate your Membership within such 30 day period, You will not be charged a Membership Fee.

paragraph. 9. TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP. YOU MAY TERMINATE THIS AGREEMENT AND YOUR MEMBERSHIP AT ANY TIME BY CALLING US AT THE TOLL-FREE NUMBER LISTED ON YOUR MEMBERSHIP CARD OR THE PROGRAM WEBSITE OR BY NOTIFYING US IN WRITING AT MEMBER SAVINGS, P.O. BOX 100, STN B, MONTREAL, QC, H3B 3J5. YOUR CANCELLATION WILL BE EFFECTIVE PROMPTLY UPON OUR RECEIPT OF YOUR CANCELLATION REQUEST, UNLESS YOU HAVE A MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN IN WHICH CASE TERMINATION WILL ONLY BE EFFECTIVE ON THE DAY IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE END OF THE MONTH IN WHICH YOU GIVE YOUR NOTICE OF TERMINATION. UPON CANCELLATION, DEPENDING UPON THE TERMS YOU AGREED TO

Use my reference (http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=26245169) so I can get an ipod. I need 5 people to do this:

News.... AGAIN!

2005-12-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

Hey

A few weeks back I put up a post and deleted it the next morning. The post was the announcement that Jonathan and I are expecting our second child in July 2006 (the 8th to be specific).

After posting I realized that there were a few people who didn't know yet... and I wanted to tell them in person. So, I removed the post so that I had that chance and so that they wouldn't discover the news on the Internet (how impersonal!).

We're definitely excited by the blessing. We're so glad that Jedidiah will have a sibling. What a blessing for him too! Please pray that he adjusts well to being a big brother. And please pray for the health of our family addition.

Blessings all.

CNE

Ch. 6 - The Self-Sufficiency of God

2005-11-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

This chapter is about God being self-sufficient; the word necessary being wholly foreign to Him. He doesn't need anyone or anything and didn't bring us or the world into existence in order to meet unfulfilled needs.

Tozer points out that the clear teaching of the Word is that God exists for Himself and we exist for the glory of God.

He also says: "I fear that thousands of younger persons enter Christian service from no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation His love has gotten Him into and His limited abilities seem unable to get Him out of. And to this a certain degree of commendable realism and a fair amount of compassion for the underprivileged and you have the true drive behind much Christian activity today."

That makes me really examine why I think I desire to serve God. Do I do it because I think He needs me?

My role is not to help God because He needs me but to join in His work in order to bring glory to Him.

In closing, I leave you with this line I loved:
"He needs no one but when faith is present He works through anyone."

Hallelujah!

CNE

Catching up with Tozer

2005-11-24T20:05:00.000-08:00

I've been away for just over a week and got behind on posting my thoughts and hilights from "The Knowledge of the Holy" so here I go.

Ch. 5 The Self-Existence of God

Hmmm... Where did God come from? Have you ever heard a kid ask that question? The question in itself implies that God was created, which is untrue. We naturally ask this question because we live in a world where we learn about cause, source and origin. So this is another aspect of God that we have trouble understanding because we can't fit our minds around His self-existence.

I'll share one quotation from this chapter that struck me:
"It is not a cheerful thought that millions of us who live in a land of Bibles, who belong to churches and labor to promote this Christian religion, may yet pass our whole life on this earth without once having thought or tried to think seriously about the being of God."

Sadly true. But since we can't understand God's self-existence we probably dismiss it as something that isn't relevant to life and being. "What possible meaning can the self-existence of God have for me and others like me in a world such as this and in times such as these?" Good question Tozer!!
Any ideas?

CNE

Adventures in Apt #102

2005-11-18T16:43:00.000-08:00

Darryl was sitting alone in his bachelor apartment listeneing to the Dixie Chicks with his shirt off. Darryl loved the feeling of the cool air blown by the fan he bought for two dollars at a yard sale.
knock knock knock! Someone was at Darryls door.
Slowly Darryl looked through the peep hole to see who it was. A curved, skinny figure of Darrly's neighbour was standing at the door. Darryl opened it slowly.
"Can you turn down your music please? I've got to work in the morning and all I can hear is the baseline of your country music."
"Oh, uh, umm, I'm sorry" replied Darryl, "I didn't know it was that loud. I'll turn it down."
"Thanks" replied the neighbour, "I'd appreciate it."
Darryl shut his door, went over to the stereo and turned down the music. He decided to watch a movie instead of listening to his beloved country darlings. He picked out the movie Mortal Combat. He put the vhs on and turned up the volume. He loved the techno music that went along with the fighting scenes. Darryl spent many days in high school playing the video game at home and in the arcade. He had all the high scores, "DAR DAR DAR DAR DAR" read the mortal combat game. People would line up to have a shot against him.
As Scorpion was fighting Liu Kang, Darryl rolled out his futon and preteneded he was the one fighting the evil Scorpion. He would make the sound that Liu Kang would make, he kind of sounded like a turkey being strangled.
In the middle of the fighting scene Darryl heard another Knock knock knock! at his door.
Darryl went and looked out his peep hole to see his neighbour again looking very upset. He didn't want to answer the door so he went over to his tv and turned down the volume all the way. After he did this, he went back to the door and looked out the peep hole again. His neighbour was still standing there looking ticked off. Darryl stayed and looked out the peep hole as if he was in a staring contest.
"I know you are looking out the peep hole Darryl."
"uh.. okay... yeaaah..uh... sorry."

2005-11-16T16:34:00.000-08:00

Darryl Esquire sifted through the jelly cookies at the local Army & Navy Store. He thought he'd get the few packages he'd buy gift wrapped if possible. He really had noone in mind that he would give them to but gift wrapping them would be fun. "It's always nice to get something for free. Besides it'll give the allusion that I'm generous with friends." When Darryl got home the wrapping paper would be kept and used for some of his craft projects. Craft projects to darryl were writing variations of his name on fancy papers. He really liked Dare. It was edgy; a trait that was definitely not Darryl Esquire. But for those moments scrawling with a sharpie on textured wallpaper, this is who Dare was.

"Who is this for?" asked the early aged mouth-wrinkled, fifty something cashier.

She was taking a lot of care into wrapping the 4 packages of cookies. It was something Mag took great pride in. That and she was a really bitter employee and knew the more time she spent wrapping, the less productive A & N would be. [It's sorta ironic because she was holding a grudge against her manager and actually appreciated the ladies shoes section]. During the silence Darryl thought through all his mannerisms making sure he wasn't letting her in on his paper scheme. He might blow his cover for next years Christmas rush. "They'll probably put a picture up in the staff room and have a note or memo that says do not gift wrap for this man if you see him." He thought.

After the awkward pause that Darryl's slow thought process created, he jumped in, "My support worker!"

"What?" asked the lady.

"Uh... My old support worker. We keep in touch. Yeah, I talk to her all the time. Uhhhh... She really likes cookies when she comes over to help me with Suduko puzzles." Darryl was uncomfortable. This explains why he ran out of the store after he saw authorised on the Interac machine. Forgetting the gift wrapped cookies.

"Come on Dare!!!" Dare shouted as he caught his breath half a block away. Clenched fists

"What'd you say? A big burly security guard wheezily asked Darryl after sprinting 40m in a personal best 16 secs.

"I didn't... I uhh... I ... I..."

"That's right, watch your mouth!" The 268 lb security guard wheezed. He liked the power he had when he donned his "A&N Security" jacket. "Now get against that wall!"

Two more security guards joined Kelly, the veteran guard, a future hall of famer who has always done it his way. "Good nab Kelly! Let's get him back to the office."

"I... uh." Dare had been in a situation like this before. He pulled out his cue card which read:

[officer, if I am under arrest or being detained, please tell me so. If I am free to go, please tell me so. If I am not free to go, please tell me why. I wish to exercise all my legal rights including my right to silence and my right to speak to a lawyer before I say anything to you. I do not consent to be searched. I wish to be released without delay. Please do not ask me questions, because I will not willingly talk to you until I speak to a lawyer. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING MY RIGHTS.]

"Shoot!" Kell yelled. He knew this one would get away. Punching the wall didn't help but even though it hurt and scraped a few layers of skin off his second and third knuckles, it made him look tough.

Mary strolled out, "Your cookies!"

I have heard the calls

2005-11-12T23:37:00.000-08:00

I have come out of the woodwork to post. Thanks for the encouragement. This season is a time where I feel my outlet is with my War College students. Thus, I have been scarce here and I'm glad Ken and Carla have held the fort. I'll tell you what I'm processing personally:

Leadership: How to be respectful and make tough decisions. How to balance the individual and community. How to correct and deal with the consequences. How to have a burden for my students.

Recreation: I'm finding that ALL my time is God time. That is, I do not separate the secular from the spiritual. I was confronted with this when I was sitting on the bus on my way to fifteen for a tan (free: thanks Stephanie). I was reading and felt I had to make the most of my time... So I was reading my course text, thinking and preparing for class. God hooked me up with Athena, a young musician trying to write a hit. I was glad to share with her what I was reading about how God is the author of creativity and we are invited to join him. But.... I was wondering, "Why am I going to 4th Ave when I could be spending some more time on the streets?" Then I turned the page and read about how God is the author of REcreation. The exercise was to imagine God shining His light on us, exposing those dark things. I felt that this tanning session could be redeemed from hedonism to spiritual reflection. I'm learning more that God can bring deep meaning to other activities like feeding my son cereal in the morning, riding the SkyTrain or taking out the trash at the Command Centre.