The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's here, it's here! That time of the year that we all look forward to. The time of the year that we realize how lucky we are to live in this wonderful country and we can take the time to reflect on how blessed we are. That's right... it's "Tax Time"! What did you think I was writing about? Spring? March 21^st isn't actually the beginning of spring, it is just an arbitrary date picked by some lunatic who never lived in Nova Scotia.

But tax season is a great time to be thankful. Seriously, if you have never visited a third world country you have no idea how privileged we are with our health care, transportation and political stability and most of those things are a result of the taxes we pay.

Don't want to pay tax? No problem, just don't earn enough money. So, we need to be thankful that we make more than the threshold, and that the CRA graciously allows us to deduct our giving to the church. Try that in most other countries. So this year instead of grumbling while doing your taxes why not take a moment and breathe a prayer of thanks.

Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

 

 

 
    

The Game

Quite the game, eh?  And if you have to ask what game, you have obviously been living on a different planet over the past couple of weeks. And at the end of the game, the Canadians celebrated, the Americans were disappointed and the Russians whined.  Oh well. 

I read the other day, that the game was the most watched television broadcast in Canadian history.  At least one source referred to it as “the Crosby Show”, which is probably unfair to the rest of the team.

The interesting thing, is the sheer number of people who watched the game; those in the know, tell us that an average audience of 16.6 million viewers watched the Olympic title game, which is almost half the population of Canada!  In addition, about 80% of the country, 26.5 million Canadians, watched at least some part of the game.  Incredible!

But there is another event that will be watched by an even greater audience and that will be the return of Christ.  And some people will celebrate and others will be disappointed and others will whine.  You will have to decide for yourself, which category you will be in.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Interesting

Have you ever felt like you've been cheated? You know, you were planning on doing something and looking forward to doing it and then somebody else did it for you or before you and you just felt disappointed, like you had been robbed or cheated. But sometimes you find out someone was going to do it and you are able to stop them, so even though they almost ruined it, they didn't.

That must have been how the state of Ohio felt last week, when prison officials found Lawrence Reynolds unconscious on his cell floor, after taking an overdose of pills.

Luckily, officials were able to revive Reynolds and rush him to the hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery. Good thing, because they had to re-schedule his execution for next week. Apparently, when they discovered him, it was only hours away from his date with the executioner. I've always thought it was strange that they put death row inmates on suicide watch in the days before the execution, but I guess it goes back to my assertion that capital punishment is more about revenge than about justice. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

 

 

 

    

The Blame Game

Oh, stop it already. I was reading my online news the other day and couldn't get over the number of times the word "blamed" was used. A sixty-year-old schoolteacher, who stabbed a man in the throat, blamed the attack on stress he suffered from high school students making fun of his last name. A truck driver, whose rig crashed into a parked car, blamed the accident on the chilli he was eating while driving. And an actress, who recently underwent 10, yes 10, cosmetic surgery procedures in one day, blamed criticism over her looks, as the reason for the excess.

It kind of reminds me of the story of the Garden and all the blaming that went on between Adam and Eve. I think the Devil was proud of the part he played. And yet the truth remains, that it's only when we accept responsibility for the choices that we made in our past, that we can take control over our future.

So, before we start trying to point the finger at others for what happened yesterday, instead let's choose to move ahead, with God's help, and make better decisions tomorrow.
Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

    

Keeping in Real

Penn of Denn

Do you remember Steve Fonyo? He was the one-legged athlete who ran across Canada, to raise millions for cancer research in 1984. Fonyo was awarded the Order of Canada in 1985, when he was 18 years old, making him one of the youngest recipients of the order; he said that he had been inspired by Terry Fox.

Well, it seems that they want their medal back; a notice stating that the award has been terminated, appears in the current Canada Gazette. The reason? His behaviour. It seems that Fonyo has a number of convictions, ranging from assault with a deadly weapon, to fraud, to possession of a stolen vehicle. Not to mention, the number of times he's been charged with impaired driving.

The council that grants the award, felt that Fonyo's behaviour was at odds with the title he carried, so they took the title away.

Interesting. I wonder what our behaviour says about the title we carry? You know, the title of Christ Follower.

And I wonder what we should do about it? You can be assured that in the long term, changing your behaviour would be better than relinquishing the reward. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Say What?

Interesting.  I remember reading an interview with Observer Music Monthly Magazine where Elton John stated, “From my point of view I would ban religion completely. Organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate.”
Wow, that stings but I wonder if Sir Elton is blind or just stupid?
During the two weeks I spent in West Africa I saw wells that had been dug by organized religions, hospitals and orphanages that were operated by faith based organizations and schools that were funded and operated by various churches. But in all my travels I never saw anything being done by “once were” rock stars, or for that matter “now are” rock stars. Funny that!
I wonder what the world would be like if the compassion of organized religion was replaced with the rhetoric of people like Elton John?   I'm not sure that it would be a world I would want to live in.
Think of the difference that could be made if Elton and his ilk matched every dollar given by believers for world relief. But then again what do I know? I'm just another hateful lemming.

Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Africa Here I Come

Penn of Denn

In three days, I will be in Africa.  I will be on a different continent and in a different culture, but I will be doing the same thing I'm doing here and for the same reason. Because, like Bill Hybels, I believe that the local church is the hope of the world. And I believe that the local Church, will rise or fall on the strength of its pastoral leadership.  So, the most exciting part of the trip for me, will be the time that our team will spend working with national pastors in Ghana.  For most of our time there, we will be in a classroom setting teaching these pastors, so that they will be able to return to their villages and more effectively lead their local churches and see change in their world.

nd each of you will be a partner in the change that will happen.  Through the financial help you have provided to make the trip possible and the prayer support that will make the trip safe and effective, you have helped do what I couldn't do alone.  So thank you for helping to change the world, one life at a time.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.