Fly Away

We are home from our vacation. We had a great time and everything went smoothly right up to our flight home.  Plane left on time, flight crew was great, we arrived on time and then we attempted to land in Halifax.  We experienced some of the worst turbulence that I have ever been in and when we finally came in for touch down the wheels just touched down when the pilot pulled us back into the air.  That was breathtaking. 

To make a long story short, we landed in Sydney, Cape Breton (not Australia), where we had to remain on the plane for four hours before attempting to land at Halifax again.  When the Halifax thing didn’t work out we flew to Montreal, but by now the toilets weren’t working and there was no drinking water left for the two hundred passengers.  Once we landed in Montreal we cleared customs, made our way to the domestic terminal, boarded another aircraft and flew to Halifax, arriving 10 ½ hours after our scheduled arrival. 

When we were waiting to deplane the senior flight attendant told me that through it all nobody complained or got nasty and how much easier that made her life.  And really, isn’t life easier for all of use when people aren’t complaining or nasty?  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Hello?

One night our phone rang at 4:45, in the morning! You know that if you get a telephone call at that hour it can't be good news. Nobody calls you at quarter to five in the morning just to say hello or to tell you that you’ve won the lottery, in which case it would be a wrong number at our house. We have had people call at that hour to say G'day, but that was because they were confused about the time difference.

It is amazing how many thoughts can go through your mind between the time the phone first rings and when you finally pick it up.  Within seconds, you have considered every possible tragedy that might have necessitated someone calling you at that horrendous hour, because you know in your heart of hearts that it will be bad news.  In our case whoever was calling hung up as Angela answered the phone and the caller ID showed it was a payphone.

I wonder if our prayer lives are reflective of early morning phone calls, they only happen when there’s a problem? God wants us to bring Him our troubles, but I’m pretty sure He wants to hear the good news as well.Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

abandoned

You can find pictures of it everywhere, I have two in my office, but that’s to be expected, my Grandfather was born there over a hundred years ago.  And I while I have seen it from a distance I never actually got over for a visit, and now it’s too late. 

It was a little lighthouse situated just off Grand Manan on Ross Island.  Built on Fish Fluke Point it was first commissioned in 1878. My great grandfather and his family tended the light from 1900 to 1904, during which time my grandfather was born.  The light was retired in 1963 and heavily damaged 40 years ago in the groundhog day gale of 1976.  And for years the scenic light was photographed in various states of decay until it was destroyed in a storm on November 19, 2013.

Now Ross Island Light only exists in pictures, in memories and on the website www.abandonedabandoned.com  

What had been a beacon of hope became a curiosity and then it simply disappeared.  And that doesn’t just happen to lighthouses.  Without a passion for God and a vision for reaching people with His grace, the same thing can and will happen to churches.   They go from being a beacon of hope to a curiosity and then simply disappear.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Missed it, by that much.

I was talking to a friend the other day when the topic of the terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso came up & she mentioned that I had been there in the past and wanted to know how I felt about what had happened.  And the conversation got me thinking, I was supposed to be leading a teaching team to West Africa the first couple of weeks in January but we had cancelled back in October for a couple of different reason.  So I checked our itinerary and there it was, on January 16th the team was supposed to arrive in Ouagadougou in preparation to preach in local churches on the Sunday.  And while I assume that we would have been staying at our usual place, which was less than 7 kilometres from where the attack happened, it’s hard to say where we would have been that evening.

I’m never sure if things like that are providential or fortuitous because I’m not convinced that God loves our team more than he loves those who were in Ouagadougou that day let alone the Canadians who perished in the bombings.

But I am thankful that we weren’t there that day and will credit God with having kept us out of harm’s way. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Do You See What I See?

Last Thursday, I had a late afternoon appointment with my eye specialist and as part of the process he dilated my eyes.  Not the first time I’ve had my eyes dilated but I never had them dilated so late in the day before. 

After supper Angela and I drove our son back into the city, or I should say that Angela drove and I just went for the ride because my eyes still weren’t focusing.  And as we drove I marvelled at the streetlights.  Every light was a kaleidoscope with a large blue halo surrounding it, and their colour depended on whether they were LED or sodium vapour.  Regardless of their colour each was incredibly beautiful in their own way.

As I oohed and aahed I realized that neither Stephen or Angela seemed aware of the display.  And when I asked what they saw they described ordinary street lights. Their undilated eyes were missing it. 

Sometimes when we dream of what God can do, others are unable to see the dream, no matter how eloquently we try to describe it, they just don’t get it. We describe the extraordinary and they simply see the ordinary, but that should never be a reason to give up on the dreams that God has given us. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

A Lot of Zeros

1.3 billion dollars, that’s a one and a three followed by eight zeros.  That’s the projected jackpot in the US Lottery Powerball this week.  And there will be people who will play this week who didn’t play last week because apparently last weeks’ jackpot of just under a billion dollars wasn’t large enough, but 1.3 billion, now you are talking some serious cash.

Here’s a question, how many billions of dollars had to be lost, probably by people who couldn’t afford to lose it, in order to have a jackpot that large? Billions of dollars that could have been spent or saved instead of gambled away.

I’ve heard state run lotteries defined as: a tax on those who are bad at math.  But the reality is that they are a tax on dreams.  The dreams of those who see it as their only escape from their present financial situation. 

A third of those who buy lottery tickets do it for fun, they can afford to throw the price of a ticket away, but for the other two thirds it is a form of financial planning.

The reality is, that for a majority of the world’s population, just living in the US or Canada would feel like winning the lottery.    Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

No Worries

The other day, I sat with a lady who is receiving palliative care, and she cheered me up.  It’s not often that happens, but during the entire time there I didn’t hear a discouraging word from her, no complaints, no regrets.

Bev has spent her life loving Jesus and serving His church as a pastor’s wife and now that she has been told that her time on this earth is limited it seems that she’s looking forward to being in the presence of the One she has loved and served for so long.

Not that she’s without concerns. Her son said that after she had planned her funeral service she has been quite adamant that they make sure there are enough sandwiches and sweets at the reception that will follow her funeral.

Every one of us will die, but we won’t all face death like Bev, who simply sees death as a doorman and not as one to be feared.

The choice that Bev made many years ago to follow Jesus allow her to face her impending death with peace today. 

I trust that if you haven’t yet embraced the grace of God that you will soon, so at the end of your life your biggest concern is that nobody will leave the reception hungry.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.