Behind My Self

I was walking down the hall at the hospital the other day when I suddenly realized that I was following myself.  And I was intrigued. I have been beside myself on different occasions but I had never been behind myself.  Now understand, I wasn’t actually following myself, but it seemed that way.  The guy I was following looked like me from behind, the same style of clothes, my size, the same distinguished hair colour (that means grey), he even walked like me.  Well, we got to an intersection and he turned in the opposite direction to where I was planning on going, but I followed him, after all, I had to know, what if it was me?  What a relief when we got to the elevator and he turned and I was looking in the face of a stranger.

I wonder what people think when they look at my walk.  Not my physical walk but the walk that is my life, how I act and react to what comes my way.

I hope that the world never looks at Denn and thinks, “Wow, he walks just like us”.  Because if we consider ourselves to be Christ followers then we are supposed to walk like He walked, not like the world walks. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Why?

How do you react in the face of tragedy when life doesn’t seem fair?  The folks on Grand Manan Island have had more than their share of tragedy over the past couple of months.  Since June there have been six tragic deaths on the island.  Now I understand that most deaths are tragic for someone, but each of these deaths were preventable in some way, shape or form.  A tree cutting accident, a car accident, an aborted landing, a suicide and a man was killed when his RV rolled over him.  Six deaths in a population of less than 2,50o.  Imagine if there had been 900 accidental deaths in Halifax in the same period of time. The Ebola outbreak would have to kill over 15,000 people in Sierra Leone to feel the same affect.  

And the tragedy affects most of the population. I am one generation removed from Grand Manan and I knew two of those folks, at least peripherally and was related to another one, at least peripherally.

And there are no easy answers.  At times such as these we have to trust that God is still on his throne.  And while we might not be able to offer answers to those left behind, we can offer our love and support. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

What is in a name?

20 years ago I added an “n” to my name. It was a whim but I’ve never regretted it.   15 years before that I had removed the same “n” along with a “y” when I went from being Denny to being Den. And for fifteen years I had people correct my name, helpfully changing it from Den to Don or Dan and then I would have to explain that it was neither, that is was Den.  And when they looked at me quizzically I would say “you know, the place where a bear lives.”  (Which is what my Great Grandmother told me.)

And I finally figured out a solution, someone had asked me what Den was short for and I told them, Dennison. To which they asked “then why doesn’t it have two “n”s?  Good question.  So I added an “n” to my name. 

The first time I officially used the new spelling was for my new library card which arrived in the mail the next week, addressed to Dean Guptill.  And again I discovered that people see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. 

But regardless of how I spell my name, I can always be assured that God knows who I am.    Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

We Win

Well, another survey is out, showing that Christianity is losing ground and that church attendance is down.  But, depending on your perspective, we aren’t losing, we’re winning.  When you stop and think about it, every person who isn’t a Christian hasn’t been lost from Christianity, they just haven’t been won to Christianity yet. 

The starting place for humanity isn’t a relationship with Christ, the starting place is being separated from God, so every person who begins that relationship is a win for our side.  Does that make sense?

By default, the other side doesn’t have to do anything except try to keep us, the church, from doing its job; they only win when we stop doing what we’ve been called to do.

But when you stop and think about it, our job is easy, because all we’ve been called to do is be obedient.  And Jesus said that if we love Him, our natural instinct will be to obey him and that has to involve introducing people to Him.  Regardless of what the survey says, every day in Canada, there are people who cross the line and commit their lives to Christ and that is a win.   Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.  

Three guys, Patty Mick and Shaun. . .

You know I have never met a terrorist. Never.  And you would think I would have, considering how many Muslims there are in our community.  Unless, not all Muslims are terrorists.  As a matter of fact all of the Muslims that I've met are pretty decent folks who love Canada and they seem genuinely friendly. Not a terrorist in the bunch.  So maybe the vast majority of Muslims are just regular people like we are. Notice I used the word regular as opposed to normal.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized there are a lot of kooks out there who call themselves Christians who certainly aren't representative of our faith. At least I sure hope they aren’t.  And come to think of it, the terrorists that I heard about when I was growing up weren't named Abdul. Instead they had names like Mick and Patty and they didn't come from Baghdad, they came from Belfast, And while they were killing people in the name of their god, his name wasn't Allah.

Let's never forget that Jesus died for everyone. And let us never lose sight of the fact that Muslims need Jesus, just like Catholics, Baptist and Wesleyans do. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.