Christ Shall Never Forget You

"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:-4).
"Love descends better than ascends. And so does the love of Christ, who indeed is love itself, and, therefore comes down to us himself . . . It is as if he had said, 'The truth is, I cannot live without you, I shall never be quiet till I have you where I am, that so we may never part again. Heaven shall not hold me, not my Father's company, if I have not you with me, my heart is so set upon you; and if I have any glory, you shall have part of it.'" (Thomas Goodwin, The Heart of Christ).
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Real Love

Real love is not a warm fuzzy feeling for another person; it is doing concrete things for others. It is sacrificial, in as much as it is an expenditure of oneself for the good of another. This is the kind of love that God has displayed for us in the giving of his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:10).

2 John 6, says, "This is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands." Love is not self defined; it is God defined. It is not what I think or feel I should do on any given day of the week. It is what God has clearly commanded me to do and shown me to do in his Son, Jesus Christ.

Greg Forster writes in his book, The Joy of Calvinism, "A pastor of mine once said that love is not an emotion; love is a way of behaving. And it's a pretty difficult, strenuous form of behaviour under most circumstances! The emotional experience - the feeling - that we call love is supposed to come to us as the byproduct of loving behaviour. It's partly a support that helps us do the behaviour and partly a reward for doing the behaviour. To make the emotion the main thing you care about, and put the behaviour second - or worse, to want the emotion without the behaviour at all - Is selfish and deeply wicked. Yet that's what we all tend to do. When we separate the emotion of love from loving behaviour in our real relationships, things go off the rails pretty quickly. We get conflicts, we get coldness, we get resentment, we get betrayal. Above all, we discover that the emotional experience of love, which we wanted so badly, has itself disappeared or radically diminished."

This is the great tragedy of our self-absorbed culture. Those who claim to be the followers of Jesus Christ have been called to a deeper level of loving: to love in truth; guided by his absolute commands and Christ's sacrificial life.


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The Dead End vs Forever Life

The ways of the world vs the will of God: wisdom vs folly; death vs eternal life. Choose which one you will follow!

"The world and its desires pass away, the man who does the will of God lives forever." (1 John 2:17).


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Location:Omands Creek Blvd,Winnipeg,Canada

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Build Nations and Stop Terrorism, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, is a perfect example of overcoming evil with good. Followers of Jesus should take care note of what is means to expend oneself for the good of others. Tragically, we have adopted the values of our self-absorbed, ego-indulgent foolish pop culture.

Greg was helped by the people of an impoverished remote Pakistani village in the Hymalayas following a failed attempt at climbing K2. He returned on his promise to construct a school building for the local children. Since then his energy and passion has built dozens more and has even taken him into the remote areas of Afghanistan. An inspiring read!

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Location:Ryan St,Winnipeg,Canada

Faithfulness Defined

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, faithfulness is simply using what you have received for the master. There is a sobering principle imbedded in this short story: use what you've been given or lose it! (vv. 28,29).

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The Cost of Procrastination

"And the door was shut." Matthew 25:10. The sound of procrastination. Wake up and get ready!
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Harambe and Running with the Kenyans

Just finished Running with the Kenyans by A. Finn. An inspiring account of a runner who took his family to Kenya to discover the secret of why the Kenyans have been the most successful people group in the world for long distance running.

One of the secrets is germane to Kenyan culture. It's referred to as harambe. It means "working together." When a Kenyan wins a race it is not only the result of many years of personal training and discipline but also of strong family and community support. There are no recreational runners in Kenya! A Kenyan runner makes it his occupation. And so his only means of support comes from his community. And when he wins, he shares his prize money back to his community. The whole community shares in the joys of success. ( see the Chalmers blog for this in practice in the lives of the students of Pwani Bible College).

This idea is alien to our self-absorbed western culture, where we glorify the successful for their personal skills and possessions. I believe the result of this is a pervasive sense of pride in those who "win"and shame in those who "lose." Consequently resulting in an overall sense of isolation and loneliness.

Followers of Jesus should be the leaders in harambe. The community of faith operates by the principle of "unity amidst diversity." God has made us different and yet we are all equally important to the calling of
Glorifying Christ. To this end the writers if Scripture included many imperatives around the idea of "one another." "Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves." (Romans 12:10). "Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt of love." (Romans 13:8). All of these are inspired by the teaching and example of Jesus himself, "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 13:34-35). He demonstrated his love by expending himself for the good of others.

I can't help imagining what a powerful change that would bring about in our culture and world if all followers of Jesus lived by the rule of harambe. May it begin with me and you!

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M2MS

"Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable." Theodore N. Vail


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Fear or Faith

When I wind-gaze rather than Lord-gaze fear prevails. However, storms have a way of enlarging my understanding of Jesus so my faith can also grow. (Matthew 14:22-33).

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M2MS: On Seeking Happiness

"Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others." Martin Luther King Jr

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Location:Singleton Blvd,Dallas,United States

The Pearl of Great Worth

That which is priceless is worth gaining at all cost! Matthew 13:45-46

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Location:Singleton Blvd,Dallas,United States

For Our Everlasting Good

All the affairs of the kingdom of providence are ordered and determined by Jesus Christ for the special advantage and everlasting good of his redeemed people.
He looks down from heaven upon all that fear him; he sees when you are in danger by temptation, and casts in a providence, you know not how, to hinder it. He sees when you are sad, and orders reviving providence, to refresh you. He sees when corruptions prevail, and orders humbling providence to purge them.
Whatever mercies you have received, all along the way you have gone hitherto, are the orderings of Christ for you. And you should carefully observe how the promises and providence have kept equal pace with one another, and both gone by step with you until now.
John Flavel in The Fountain of Life
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M2MS

"He that demands mercy and shows none, ruins the bridge over which he himself must pass." (Thomas Adams)

"The the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all the debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed." (Matthew 18:32-34).

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Location:Fourth Chute Rd, Eganville, ON, Canada

M2MS

"Love knows no law but the law of sacrifice." L.E.Maxwell (1 John 4:10; ROMANS 13:8).

M2MS

"The best course to prevent falling into a pit is to keep at the greatest distance from it." (Thomas Brooks). "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." Romans 13:14

M2MS

"The greatest fault is to be conscious of none." Thomas Carlyle


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Location:52 St E,Saskatoon,Canada

My Shepherd is Near

Our pastor preached on Psalm 23 today. All our fears are dispelled by the assurance that we have a God who cares for us. David writes from the perspective of a sheep who is in the loving care and protection of a good shepherd. In fact, he says, "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life." As I read the words of this comforting Psalm, I was reminded of an observation I'd read in another book some years ago. David begins his song by talking about his shepherd and then in verse four he transitions to talking to his shepherd. It's almost as if the shepherd shows up part way through the song. When does the shepherd make his presence know, or better, when does the sheep recognize the presence of his shepherd? As he walks through the valley of the shadow of death. I believe he was always there. But like me, David never felt the need for his comforting protection until in the midst of adversity. The fear of evil flees in his presence.

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Location:The Snuggery, Douglas, ON

The Deeps

Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach. Help me chastely to flee it and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be yours alone.

Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in you, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of yourself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in your word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from you. Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman, that my being may be a tilled field, the roots of grace spreading far and wide, until you alone are seen in me, your beauty golden like summer harvest, your fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no master but you, no law but your will, no delight but yourself, no wealth but that you give me, no good but that you bless me, no peace but that you bestow. I am nothing but that you make me, I have nothing but that I receive from you. I can be nothing but that grace adorns me. Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with living water. Amen

(a Puritan prayer)


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Location:Lougheed hwy, Port Coquitlam, BC

Childlike Faith

These are my two little faithful pray-ers! Last week both Denise and I had near misses with large wildlife on the road. Thank God it didn't happen. Every night in their bedtime prayers Elijah and Grace ask God to keep us safe on the road. Grace prays, "Help Nanna and Pappa not to hit a moose again." We have often envisioned an angel dispatched on a mission to shoe a moose off the road, or one time holding the muzzle of an elk as we drive by. Thank God for the prayers of our family.

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Location:Thessalon, ON, heading east on hwy 17.

There is a River

We have a vacation wish list of places that we've driven by in our truck. Some day we'd like to return to take some time to really relish the scenery and sights. I84 heading east out of Portland, Oregon, is one of these. This route is also called the Oregon Trail. It follows the Columbia River. The scene transforms from rainforest and waterfalls to desertlike landscape.

Traveling along this route we passed through many cities using the mighty river as their source of life and commerce. I was reminded of Psalm 46:4-5
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
God is the source and constant supply of all life. Every moment our sovereign Lord is providentially sustaining life on this broken planet. If He were to remove His gracious hand even for a moment we would all dry up and perish.

Further, He has mercifully provided for our life beyond our existence on this planet. In the final words God's message to us, we read these words of hope in Revelation 22,
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Dive deep into God's unending flow of love and experience His grace for whatever challenges that you are facing. He alone is the source of our life.


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Location:I84 eastbound in Oregon