Lessons for Life

Sermon 03.14.10 - "The Stones Cry Out" Part 1

2010-03-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

Introduction

It was great having Dr. Douglas Jacoby with us last Sunday. I heard so many comments about how encouraging it was to hear how archaeological discoveries have impacted our understanding of the Bible. The reality is that our faith is based on events that occurred between 20 -35 centuries ago! We can’t go back there ourselves and personally confirm that the people and events of the Bible actually took place. So how can we know that our faith is based on reality, and not fiction, fairy-tales and fables? How can we know that Abraham or David or Isaiah existed, that there was a nation known as Israel or that Jesus walked its roads and preached to its people?

And why do we need to know? Does it really matter? Read Luke 1:1-4. We need to know the “certainty of the things we’ve been taught.” The more certainly you know that what you've been taught about God, Jesus and the Bible is true, the more confident and motivated you will be in your Christian life. Anything that confirms our faith in the words written by Nehemiah or Amos or Luke or Paul strengthens our faith.

Read Philippians 1:7. The gospel needs to be defended and confirmed. Many are they who would say that the Bible is just a collection of myth, fables and fairy tales. Atheists and other critics who attack the veracity of the scriptures abound (e.g., Richard Dawkins and his book "The God Delusion"). We need more Christians, who like Dr. Jacoby, can stand up publicly to defend and confirm the gospel.

But every Christian needs to be able to defend and confirm the gospel. Read 1 Peter 3:15. People who are sincerely seeking to know God have some honest questions to ask us. They want and need to know not only WHAT we believe, but WHY we believe it. God calls on each of us to do our best to have some answers. How would you feel as one who was seeking God, if you asked a question of a Christian such as, “Why do you believe Jesus rose from the dead?” and then you go the answer, “I just decided to believe it”? That could end your search right there as you concluded that there isn’t any evidence; it’s a fable or a fairy tale.

I did a little poll with the church after Dr. Jacoby's presentations. The results? Over 90% of those responding wanted to learn more about how archaeology has impacted our understanding of the Biblical text. Dr. Jacoby did a very broad overview last week; I want to get more specific. But first, I want to remind you what Dr. Jacoby said last week about the limits of archaeology.
First, at this time there is no archaeological evidence to confirm anything in Genesis 1-11: the creation account, Adam & Eve, the garden of Eden, Noah and his ark or the tower of Babel. Second, even where there is archaeological evidence, it mostly serves to either “illustrate” or “confirm” but doesn’t often prove absolutely.

But that isn’t just true about the biblical account of history, but of so many ancient historical accounts. Why does archaeology not provide us with rock solid proof of everything in the bible? Because only a fraction remains, of which only a fraction has been discovered, of which only a fraction has been excavated, of which only a fraction has been examined, of which only a fraction has been reported. What we know from archaeology is only a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what was done, made or written in the history of the world! And in spite of that reality what has been unearthed and what we do know is sometimes mindboggling and incredibly informative.

The Early History of the Israelites: Fact or Fiction?

One of the ways the minimalists have tried to undermine the integrity of the scriptures has been to question the early history of the Israelite people. Finklestein and Silberman are two minimalist scholars who have denied the historical reliability of everything from Abraham through Solomon. They say that everything in the Hebrew scriptures written about these events was written after the Israelites were taken into captivity by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. As such they are purposely inaccurate and thus fictional accounts in order that the Israelites might create for themselves a history to give their existence meaning and their continued existence purpose. They claim that there is no external confirmation of the main individuals mentioned: Abraham, Joseph, Moses, any of the judges, Saul, David or Solomon. They also claim that certain nations, peoples, cities and practices are mentioned that were not known until much later than when the OT has them existing: Philistines, Aramaeans, Chaldeans, domestication of camels, right of the first born, etc.

But what does the archaeological evidence say? Hoffmeier and Kitchen are two of many scholars who argue for the accuracy and reliability of the OT books. Of course there is no external confirmation of most individuals in the early history of Israel, (from Abraham through Solomon). Archaeological sources for this period (1500-1000 B.C.) are few and far between even for the much larger nations that existed. Therefore, it only makes sense that the history of one little family, as far as the world is concerned, would not make a significant mark so as to be mentioned in any record.

Joseph & Moses

However, while we don’t have direct evidence, we have evidence that illustrates that the history written in the OT is plausible.
Take the life of Joseph for example. We now know that population groups from Palestine lived in Egypt at the time the Bible claims that Joseph lived. Also we now know that foreigners (non-Egyptians) were known to have risen to power in Egypt, as the Bible states that Joseph did. Indeed, the account of Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 37-50) contains details that demonstrate an intimate knowledge of Egyptian culture at that time, to a degree that seems very unlikely were these writings the fictional creations of Jewish scribes who lived a thousand years later!

What about Moses and the Exodus. The places where the Israelites were said to have served the Pharaoh were known to have existed during the time period suggested. Remains of one tomb are particularly interesting at it contains scenes of laborers making bricks for Thutmose III with inscription referring to “the workers as prisoners of war from Nubia and Syria-Palestine”. Paintings from the tomb of Khnumhotep II in 1800 B.C. are of a Syro-Palestinian family migrating to Egypt.

So what does archaeology tell us about the Israelites from Abraham to Moses? While there is no direct evidence, there is consistency between the text and what we know of history for that period and thus archaeology gives credence to the Biblical account.

Does It Really Matter?

What is the relevance of all this to our daily lives? Read Luke 19:37-40. For those who can no longer speak for themselves and personally testify to the truth of God's word, God has indeed made the stones cry out that the Bible is trustworthy, that there is a God and that Jesus is his Son.

So what do we do with all this? What opportunity and responsibility does this create for those of us who call ourselves Jesus' disciples today? Is it not that we should be like the disciples we read about here, that we would joyfully praise God in many and various public ways so that everyone else will hear?

How confident are you that the Bible reliably records the lives of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and Moses? Are you prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you about the hope you have? Are you confident enough that you can provide the answers with gentleness and respect? If not, what can you do to prepare yourself to answer the questions of people who are truly seeking after God?

Sermon 02.14.10 - "Caught in the Very Act"

2010-03-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Around Valentine’s Day there are a lot of people who talk about love. Valentine’s Day is a shortened form of St. Valentine’s Day – but who is St. Valentine? The answer is that we don’t really know. There were two (maybe three) leaders in the early church whose name was Valentinus – Valentinus of Rome (martyred in 269 A.D.) and Valentinus of Terni (martyred in 197 A.D.). When it was first established as a holiday in 496 A.D. it had nothing to do with celebrating love or giving gifts to our loved ones. That tradition seems to have developed much later in England and France. Then in modern times a story about St. Valentinus was embellished by American Greeting, Inc. (a greeting card company - imagine that). Now more than one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sold (2nd only to Christmas) and men spend twice as much on cards as women do on those cards.

But love is not about Valentine’s Day or cards or flowers or chocolates – real love is so much deeper than that and expresses itself in so many ways. Love is what the Bible is all about, because, as the Bible says, “God is love”. Read 1 John 4:7-12. Wow! What a challenge we have before us – to learn about what real love is and to put it into practice in our daily lives.

We can know what love is in practical terms by looking closely at the life of Jesus and especially his interactions with various people. If we understand that Jesus always acted with love towards everyone, we can examine situations in Jesus’ life and we can learn a lot about love. Today, let's consider John 8:1-11; the woman caught in the act of adultery. Most early manuscripts do not have this story in John’s gospel, or any other gospel account for that matter. However, even if it is a later addition, it is certainly completely consistent with how Jesus acted and interacted with people.

Consider the Circumstances

Read John 8:1-2. Jesus was in the temple teaching the people who had come to him. He was in an completely public place that was open to all and there was, presumably, a large crowd gathered around him. What happened? Read John 8:3-6a. The Scribes and Pharisees lead a woman, who had been caught in the very act of adultery, into the midst of the crowd and stand her before Jesus. Try to picture the scene. The scribes and Pharisees were full of rage, both at the woman and Jesus. The woman, perhaps clothed in a bed sheet or a robe, was disheveled, frightened, ready to die of embarrassment and filled with shame and guilt. Probably a hush fell over crowd as they whispered finger-pointed and joked coarsely. Then the scribes and Pharisees made a pronouncement and asked a question: “In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women as these. So, what do you say?" Their motive was not obedience to the law or justice for the offended parties; they were using the woman to test and hopefully trap Jesus. Can you feel the tension, the anticipation, the anger and even the self-righteousness?

What does Jesus do? Read John 8:6b-11. He stooped down and scratched away with his finger on the ground! What was he doing? Why was he ignoring the religious leaders as they continued to question him, yet he remained unmoved? When, finally, he looked up he said to them, “The one among you without fault (sin), let him be the first to cast a stone.” And he bent his head down again and wrote on the ground! What was he writing? Many have speculated that he wrote a list of sins on the ground – lying, cheating, lust, overindulgence, anger, self-righteousness. And that may be, but given what Jesus was about to say, I would rather think he wrote things like: faithfulness, mercy, kindness, love, forgiveness or patience.

There was a silence among the crowd – no one was speaking. Who would make the next move? One-by-one, the scribes and Pharisees started leaving, with the older men going first. Finally only Jesus was left (presumably the crowd was still there), alone with the woman standing right where the religious leaders had left her. “Where are they?” Jesus asked. “Does no one condemn you?”She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on, sin no longer.” If you are the woman, what are thinking and feeling at this moment? What do you do? If you’re in the crowd, having seen all this, what are you feeling and thinking?

Consider the Implications

The response of the scribes and Pharisees was far too typical of them. But before we get too critical and self-righteous towards these religious leaders, think about our own reactions to those who sin in ways that we don’t. Think about drug use, child abuse, driving under the influence, assault, bribery, fraud or robbery. How quick are we to criticize, judge and condemn? Aren’t we often ready to be prosecuting attorney, judge and jury all in one?

Is our first response, one of grace or one of law? How about when it is a Christian who is “caught in the very act” of sin? And it isn’t just the religious who are often quick to judge, but it is an all too human response; it is self-elevating and it is hypocritical. For when those who constantly denounce people of faith and pass judgment on them as hypocrites are they not acting as hypocrites themselves? Are they not trying to justify their own lack of faith by criticizing and condemning those, who though imperfect, are at least trying to follow Jesus.

The scribes and Pharisees had no compassion for this woman and no concern for her soul or her relationship with God. In exposing her sin, they weren’t trying to help her – they didn’t care about her at all. They cared only for themselves and tried to justify their lives and their theology.

The woman was caught in the very act! She was a sinner – absolutely guilty of sin - as she stood there wrapped in a bed sheet or a robe, disheveled and still reeking of her sin. What could she say? But what can we say? We are that woman – each and every one of us. We have been caught in the act, over and over and over again. God knows exactly what we have thought, said and done this week – every slanderous thought, every angry word and every lustful look. Nothing is hidden from his sight. We can say nothing in our defense. We made choices. We gave into temptation. We are guilty of spiritual adultery, as we choose sin and self over God!

But then there is Jesus with a love that is in perfect balance: honesty without condemnation, truth with grace. Love puts us all in the same boat – we’re all sinners; no one is better than another – "Let him who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her!" Honesty – Jesus confronts and exposes sin, not to shame or embarrass or humiliate, but to help us overcome our self-deception and see our need for God. He was honest with the scribes and Pharisees as he called upon them to see their self-righteousness, hypocrisy and lack of love. He was honest with the woman – she was guilty, caught in the act, and had no excuse; he doesn’t excuse her sin or feel sorry for her. But he did extend grace – “Go and from now on sin no longer!” He gave her another chance – he forgave her adultery and he called her to live for righteousness and not for sin. Love is honest enough to confront with the truth but graceful enough to forgive and show others a different way to live.

Conclusion

Can you see yourself there? Do you understand and accept that you are the woman? You were caught in the very act of sinning and Satan and his demons have dragged you before the throne of God and his angels. They are screaming and appealing to the word of God, “This person is a sinner and sinners must die!” But Jesus says, “I am the only one who can judge, because I alone am without sin and I say to you, ‘Go and from now on sin no more.’”

Think about how you, this week, have been that woman. What sin did Satan catch you in the very act of doing? What accusations did he bring against you? What scriptures did he use to try to convince God that you are worthy only of judgment and condemnation? Have you heard Jesus say, "Where are they? Has no one condemned you?" Have you heard him offer you grace and say, "Go now and sin no more"? How have you responded to the honesty and forgiveness of God this week?

Vancouver Church of Christ Update

2010-02-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

It certainly is exciting right now in our city (and a little crazy, too) as hundreds of thousands from all around the world have come to celebrate the Olympic spirit. The opening ceremonies last night were incredibly inspiring for all Canadians, but it was particularly a night to be proud of being a Vancouverite.

At the same time, God is doing exciting things in our church. We are pleased to announce that Dr. Douglas Jacoby will be speaking at a very special service of the Vancouver church on March 7. His topic is "Archaeology and the Bible: The Stones Tell the Story." In two sessions, Dr. Jacoby will share about some of the most recent archaeological discoveries and how they impact our understanding of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. Please see our website (www.vancouverchurchofchrist.org) for the details and current updates.

Also, on May 28-30, David and Robin Weidner will be teaching at a Vancouver church Marriage Retreat. David is the founder of "Pure in Heart" ministry and Robin is the author of "Secure in Heart." Both are gaining an international reputation as they share vulnerably from their own lives and teach passionately from God's word. Again, for more information, please check out our website for current updates.

One of our main goals in 2010 is to "re-plant" the campus ministry. The target date is September 12, 2010, which is also the date of our 20th Anniversary service. We have the couple already who are committed and actively working towards moving to Vancouver this summer. We are in the midst of giving to a Special Ministry Contribution (SMC), much of which will go towards putting our newly appointed campus ministry on as full time staff. In addition, we are praying for Christians to step up and be part of this mission team that will be reaching out to more than 250,000 college and university students in our city!

At the heart of our prayers is this request: May God, by his power, fulfill every good purpose of ours and every act prompted by our faith (See 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)

Spiritual Mentoring - Part 4

2009-11-27T09:39:00.001-08:00

In the last three years, largely due to significant health challenges, I have been unable to keep up any kind of consistent workout schedule. As a result (and with some unfortunate side effects of the medications I am on) I have gained weight and gone flabby. Three years ago I could bench press 250 lbs. and run (OK, jog) 8 to 10 km. at a time (no speed records were broken)! As I'm trying to get back to consistent workouts again, I'm lifting 15, 20 & 25 lbs. dumbbells and walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week. How discouraging! But that's the reality I've got to accept and start working with in order to get stronger and healthier again. It does no good to regret what's happened, to "cry over spilt milk" or to blame circumstances beyond my control. Instead I've had to get honest about where I'm at (like getting on the bathroom scales) and commit and submit to a plan for improvement.

It's no different with our spiritual lives. There has been lots of spilt milk and many circumstances beyond our individual control. But if we're going to get growing and truly have an impact on this world, we've got to get honest about where we're at and commit and submit to a plan for change and growth. No plan is perfect, but when we do it for God and his glory, then with consistency over time, God will work in powerful ways in us and through us to bring him glory and to win and save souls through the gospel.

One last, but absolutely vital, idea: being involved in spiritual mentoring is not just about God's glory and having an impact on this world. The bottom line is this: it's about making it to heaven. No one has made it to heaven on their own, without God's help for sure, but also without the help of other godly people in their lives. Don't be fooled by pride - it is a lie straight from the depths of hell - we all absolutely need a "brother's keeper" or two, at least. The heart is indeed deceitful and beyond cure! You and I need the objective, honest, loving eyes, ears and mouths of people who are intimately and consistently involved in our lives. We will falter and stray, so we need, at times, people who will lead us by the hand back on to the "straight and narrow". We will all stumble and fall, so we will need people to lift us up and support us until we're strong enough to walk on our own again.

It is my intention to begin a Spiritual Mentoring Plan in the New Year in the VCOC. I've already invited several men in our congregation to participate in spiritual mentoring. My goal is to have this spread throughout the entire congregation throughout 2010, so that by the end of the year every disciple has at least one or two other disciples in their lives with whom they are meeting consistently for prayer, confession, bible study, evangelism, serving and fellowship. If you are a VCOC member and are interested in learning more about how this plan will work, please do not hesitate to contact me.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

Spiritual Mentoring - Part 3

2009-11-17T08:58:00.000-08:00

Let's move now to 2009. As a church, we've been through a lot of trials which have brought about multiple changes in our fellowship of churches, many of which have been very positive. However, we are truly in danger now of becoming a dying and declining church! Not one of us wants that to happen and we have the best of intentions to continue to grow personally and to have an impact on each other and the world. But here's the problem: the hurricane of life in the 1990s, for most of us, was a category 1 or 2 storm. Today, for most of us, it is a full blown category 5!

The demands and opportunities of living in our technologically advancing society are simply mind-boggling. Our time, our energy and even our hearts have become divided. Our lives are so filled with things that we've "got to do" and/or "want to do" that we simply have little or no time for what really (and eternally) matters. Our spiritual lives get so little attention because we think we can fly on spiritual autopilot and that one day we'll be able to come in for a safe landing in heaven. Work, family, hobbies and recreational activities (ours and our kids'), have basically taken over many of our lives, so that even meeting with other Christians twice a week has become a challenge. Daily encouragement via contact with other disciples is almost non-existent in most Christians lives, and yet God's word clearly states how desperately we need just that (see Hebrews 3:12-14; 10:24-25). Most Christians are trying to survive on "life support" via tidbits of infrequent spiritual input from brief encounters with God's word and with God's people. Is this not exactly what Jesus warned his disciples about in the parable of the soils when he said, "Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful" (Mark 4:18-19)?

Spiritual growth does not happen "by accident". Spiritual survival is not possible if we live on autopilot. In fact, the only accident that is guaranteed is a spiritual "crash and burn" with no survivors, unless we get back to prioritizing our spiritual lives again, not just with good intentions, but with a practical plan to which we commit and submit. In our past there was a plan in place, and while not perfect, the fact that we are still here shows that it had an overall positive impact on our lives. Do you have a practical plan, to which you've committed and submitted, which truly prioritizes your walk with God, your involvement in the lives of other disciples and your personal outreach to a lost world? I'm convinced we need such a plan right now, not only individually, but collectively.

Spiritual Mentoring - Part 2

2009-11-15T07:14:00.000-08:00

What I had seen from a distance, but now came to experience, was the transformational power of spiritual mentoring (i.e., discipling), in the context of true "one another" relationships. Yes, the worship services a the Toronto Church of Christ were more exciting, inspirational and motivating and the weekly Bible Talks were fresh, challenging and effective in reaching others with the gospel. But the main instrument of personal growth in the lives of individual Christians was the weekly one-on-one times with a spiritual mentor (i.e., discipler), and the many points of contact in between (e.g., at worship services, midweek meetings, Bible Talks, evangelistic efforts, counseling appointments, Bible studies and almost daily phone calls).

For the first several years in the I.C.O.C., I was older in age, and in many ways more experienced in life, than were my disciplers. In fact, for one nine month period, both my wife and I were even discipled by two single ministry staff people. Some of my disciplers would later leave the church and go back into the world. Some of them said some false and hurtful things and at times "spoke the truth," but not necessarily "in love". However, I knew I could not control what others said or did, but only what I did with whatever they said and did. The sins and mistakes of my mentors were opportunities for me to grow in faith, forgiveness, patience and persistence. With the Bible as my standard, I was able to grow and change as never before as God worked through the imperfect mentors he had placed in my life.

These mentoring relationships were structured and followed a plan, but that didn't make them artificial and thus devoid of impact. Instead, in the midst of our all too busy lives and the ongoing demands of living in this world, I (and others), needed the expectations of a structured plan in order to have the consistency of interaction that resulted in impact and thus change and growth. Through these structured relationships I was able to experience the power of daily encouragement. Without this structure, the best of intentions would have simply been blown away like dust by the hurricane we call "Life". The demands and expectations of these discipling relationships did not hurt my marriage or my parenting, but rather by helping me to be a stronger, ever-growing Christian, I became a better husband and father, as well as a more confident and competent "minister of the gospel". I certainly would not want to be living my life now (in 2009), had I not experienced the impact that these relationships had on my mind, my heart and my soul! I am eternally grateful for what God has done in my life through discipling!

Spiritual Mentoring - Part 1

2009-11-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

As a minister in the "mainline" Church of Christ, there were many reasons why I was intrigued, became a supporter, and ultimately a part, of what was originally known as "the Crossroads Movement." Later it was known as the "Discipling Movement", then the "Boston Movement" and finally the "International Churches of Christ".

Apart from attributing the results to Satan (which some did, and some still do), one could not deny the effectiveness of the movement. Too many people were confessing Jesus as Lord and being baptized into Christ. Too many Christians were growing in their faith, knowledge of God's word, righteousness and boldness in proclaiming the truth. For the first time in a very long time, once dead or dying and declining churches were rising up and growing in spirit and in numbers.

What I saw and experienced on visits to Boston and Toronto was closer to the description of the early apostolic church in Acts (especially 2:42-47) than any I had ever witnessed. The Christians were truly "devoted" to the word of God, to fellowship, prayer and to coming together for worship and encouragement. Although I had some initial hesitations and concerns (mostly the result of my own pride and fear), the overwhelming reality of changed lives through the bold and unapologetic proclamation of, and ongoing obedience to, the gospel simply could not be denied.

So in 1988, five days after having major back surgery, I moved with my wife and our two young sons from Kingston to Toronto to become part of the Toronto Church of Christ. It was a risky move, one that some warned and pleaded with me not to take, but one that we felt confidently was absolutely necessary for our spiritual lives. We left our work with the mainline church; Sara started teaching full time for the Metro Toronto School Board and I continued my studies in nursing at the University of Toronto. We knew our lives would be different, but little did we realize how much our hearts and lives would be challenged and changed by this thing they called "discipling".

Commitment - Part 2

2009-10-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

While in Illinois, we attended church services with my wife's family at a small Church of Christ in Barry, Illinois. The worship service started at 9:30, lasted about an hour and was followed by a short break and a 45 minute Bible Class. My father-in-law was there, on time, sitting in his wheel chair at the back of the auditorium. He's there every Sunday, even though he and his wife have to get up earlier than normal, as it takes 2 hours for them to get ready followed by a 30 minute drive.

One of the elders of that small flock told my oldest brother-in-law that "Bob (my father-in-law) is an inspiration to the Barry church!" Over the years, every person there has been aware of his failing health condition. Yet every Sunday morning, there he is. He's had to move a few rows back from his usual seat, now that he's wheel chair bound. When Mark (my brother-in-law) shared that with his dad, he was in tears. He said, "Your life still has value!"

I realize that consistently and persistently attending church services is not all that commitment to Jesus is about, but from my 30 plus years of ministry experience I'll tell you this categorically - it is one of the most accurate indicators of where people are in terms of their commitment to Jesus. Look at the early church! "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers...And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex and broke bread from house to house" (Acts 2:42, 46). Later on the Hebrew writer would warn those Jewish Christians, "...and not staying away from meetings as some habitually do, but encouraging each other..." (Hebrews 10:25). When other things start becoming more important than meeting with God's people for a time of worship and mutual encouragement, there is something very wrong with a person's commitment to Jesus. That's the fact! Both scripture and experience verify that this connection is true and accurate across the board.

Every week I get to witness the commitment of my brothers and sisters to Jesus in their attitude and actions with respect to meeting with the church. I see those who will let virtually nothing except true illness or being out of town stop them from being at church on time and ready to encourage others. That inspires me. I think of one family in our church who have four young children, yet who arrive almost every Sunday an hour before church so that the husband can set up and run our sound system. Yet, at the same time, I see those (or I don't see them) who will let virtually anything interfere with being at church and/or being on time: minor physical aches and pains, work, their children's sports activities, frequent extended family events, frequent and voluntary out of town trips, sleepiness due to a late night out Saturday, etc., etc. And these same people then often complain that they don't feel connected to the church and are often the first to complain about something we've decided as a church that we are going to do.

I'm not saying there aren't times when we choose to be somewhere else on a Sunday morning for reasons beyond our control, but it is always with the desire to meet with the church if we could. Being late happens to all of us once in a while, but perpetual and consistent lateness is not just a sign of a lack of discipline, but of a faltering commitment. The bottom line is this: no person can say they are committed to Jesus when they don't love what he loves. And Jesus loves his people, the church, those whom he died to save so that they could spend eternity with him. And love for one another is the sign to the world that we are his disciples (John 13:34-35). I've said it for years, and I will say it again, "Don't tell me you love me if you won't spend time with me."

Are you a disciple of Jesus? Are you as committed to following Jesus (i.e., obeying his commands and imitating his example) now as you ever were? Do you truly love the church for which he shed his blood and died (Acts 20:28)? Do you meet with your fellow disciples every week for a time of worshiping God and mutual encouragement? Or has your work, your rest, your kids' sporting activities, your non-Christian families, your vacations and weekends away, etc., become more important that being with God's people? Take a lesson from my father-in-law and be convinced that the only thing that keeps you from meeting consistently with the church is not your circumstances, but your lack of commitment to God. Decide today to repent of your lukewarmness and love the people (the church) that Jesus loves. Come this Sunday (and every Sunday) early and ready to encourage and spur others on toward love and good deeds.

Commitment - Part 1

2009-10-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

We just got home from a visit with Sara's family in Illinois. It was a good visit, in that what we went there to do was accomplished. Her dad is elderly (just turned 83), and is in poor health (and has been for several years). He has heart problems and arthritis that is so severe he can barely move and is unable to walk. He transfers himself (with help), from his electric scooter to his easy chair and even that is incredibly painful. It takes him two hours from the time he wakes in the morning to get himself ready for the day, even if the day consists of sitting in his chair watching TV, reading or looking out the window.

This past weekend we had to deliver the news that the State will not renew his driver's license because of his ongoing and deteriorating health conditions. He and his wife live on a farm that is 7 miles (11 km) from the closest town, 50 miles (80 km) from the closest small city (where three of his children and four of his grandchildren live) and 20 miles (32 km) from the church of which he is a member. This was devastating news for him - the loss of independence that can easily lead to isolation and depression. It was not a fun weekend for anyone in Sara's family as she and her six siblings shared that with him and tried to help problem solve.

He has been a member of the traditional Church of Christ since he was converted by his, then, wife to be, almost 60 years ago. She died, when their fourth child was just two years old, of an undiagnosed brain tumor in 1962. A few years later, he remarried and had three more children. Life has not been easy for my father-in-law. Farming a small (300 acre) farm in west-central Illinois has not been financially rewarding and made more challenging by needing to raise seven children. He has been "given" every excuse in the book which, in many people's eyes, would give him justification for giving up on God. But you see, there's one thing that he, and many of his generation understand, but which most of our current generation, and even some of the members of my church, do not grasp: commitment. He knows that when he was baptized some 60 years ago that he made a commitment to God and to his church and no matter what happened (or what happens), as long as he has it within himself to live out that commitment, that's what he has done and it is what he is going to do.

Jesus never promised that life as his disciple in the world would be easy. In fact, he promised exactly the opposite: "You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous!" (John 16:33). Yet, every person who proclaimed, "Jesus is Lord" and was baptized into his death, burial and resurrection, made a commitment to God; a life-long commitment, to "be faithful until death" (Revelation 2:10). How's it going with your commitment? Are you living it out, day-by-day, no matter what "life troubles" you are experiencing, or are you rationalizing and justifying easing up on your commitment to Jesus because your life is so hard right now?

Overcoming the Status Quo in 2009!

2009-01-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

START WITH AN HONEST, INTENSIVE, SPIRITUAL SELF-EVALUATION

This is where many self-improvement plans fail – before they begin
God, the Bible and spiritually mature disciples who know you will help you get the most honest, intensive and spiritual evaluation you’ve ever had
You’ve got to start by dealing with who you really are! Who are you? What can you do? What are your strengths, weaknesses, failings and failures?
Know yourself, get humble and see your need for God. Pride will lead to destruction and to God’s opposition. Humble yourself before God and he will lift you up!

FAITHFULLY EMBRACE GOD’S GOALS, IDEALS, PURPOSE AND MISSION FOR YOUR LIFE

God created you and then he re-created you in Christ. He knows you better than you know yourself and he has a plan and a purpose and a mission for your life.
Bible study, prayer and wise counsel are essential to help you determine exactly what you should do and what you should pursue.
There are certain things God expects from every Christian – these are not optional or up for debate.
Then there are things that you specifically can do and need to aspire to and strive for. Do you have any idea what those things are?
There are only three kinds of people in the world: those who make things happen, those who watch what happens and those who wonder what happened!
“Where will you be when you get where you’re going?” “Begin with the end in mind.” “He who aims at nothing hits it every time.” “If you never fail you will never succeed.” “On the banks of hesitation lay the blackened bones of millions who sat down to rest and resting died.” “You’ll never know your limits unless you try to exceed them.”

FIND SOME HEROES AND LEARN ALL THAT YOU CAN ABOUT EACH ONE

Are you’re ready to find spiritual heroes that you can learn from and model your life after; people who set out to do kind of things that you now have on your heart to do for God?
You don’t have to re-invent the wheel. You can learn from others’ successes and failures, from their defeats and victories.
Find at least one or two Biblical characters who model the kind of person you want to become and study out their lives in the Bible; read books about them; learn from others who’ve studied them.
Find some others who are living examples of what you want to be do and who are doing what you want to do and get to know them deeply, intensely & personally.
“To actualize, you must visualize.” You’ve got to have a clear picture in your mind of who you want to be, what you want to do and how you’re going to get there. Role models and living examples present the clearest image.

HUMBLY SEEK AND ACCEPT THE ONGOING HELP OF SPIRITUAL MENTORS IN YOUR LIFE

Everyone needs the voice of experience, knowledge and objectivity in their lives.
By ourselves we get so easily discouraged and/or deceived and/or distracted.
We need human spiritual coaches in our lives; every great man or woman of God had other great men or women of God involved in his/her life unless he/she was one of those few who were personally coached directly by God!
Open up your life to the input of others, more mature and experienced than you, who can help, direct, advise, guide and, when necessary, correct and rebuke you.
But you’ve got to want it or you will resent and reject input. Therefore, you’ve got to seek it, invite it and then you will accept it!

SET FAITHFUL GOALS, MAKE PRACTICAL PLANS AND THEN GET BUSY DOING, EVALUATING, ADJUSTING AND ADAPTING

Rome wasn’t built overnight, but it wasn’t built by people sitting around thinking about it either.
Your goals and plans need to be reasonable, yet faithful; realistic, yet challenging, calling you out of your comfort zone in an effort to find out what you are really capable of doing.
You will never know your limits until you strive to exceed them.
Then you will need to get busy doing, evaluating, adjusting and adapting. Don’t stubbornly or legalistic hang on to goals that are no longer appropriate. With advice, make the necessary adjustments as you go.

NEVER, EVER QUIT!

You will stumble and have set backs. You will falter and fumble and fall short and even fail. You will be tempted to be discouraged and you will want at times to give up and quit, because it is easier.
But you must decide right now that you will never, ever quit on God, because he will never, ever quit on you. He’ll be with you through the ups and downs, the successes and failures, the hard times and the easy, through all the tears and the problems and the pain and you will rejoice with him in the victories that you win together!
“The only loser in life is the person who gives up, gives in and quits.”
“Be faithful even to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10)

"Your Life is a Mist"

2008-12-20T04:53:00.000-08:00

If there is anything I have learned this past year, it is that as James wrote, my life is truly a mist, not only because it appears for a little while and then vanishes, but also that it gets blown about by forces over which I have little, if any, control. My health has been a real problem since the fall of 2007 and has hindered by ability to work consistently in the ministry. I have had to accept several interruptions and changes to my schedule and to my plans.

However, I have never wavered in my conviction that God "works all things together for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose". While there are many things in this last year I would never want to experience again, from a physical and/or emotional perspective, from a spiritual perspective the pain, frustration, uncertainty, perspective and humility that one experiences during illness can be some of God's most useful tools in molding our characters and maturing our faith!

Now that my health issues are diagnosed and being treated and that I am overall feeling better; stronger physically and more clear minded; it is my intention to get back into the work of ministry, which involves and includes teaching by means of this blog and the Daily Walk Study Series. I apologize for the interruptions and appreciate the patience of those who are regular, or even occasional, readers. I would encourage all VCOC members to make our church website your home page, as we are consistently updating information under the front page heading "The Word", plus it is my plan to continue our studies of Revelation in the "Daily Walk Study Guide", as well as continue my series under "Brian's Blog" regarding the essential topic of "What Must I Do To Be Saved?". In light of our goal of appointing elders in Vancouver soon, the salvation series may be interspersed with a new series about what the Bible really says about the necessity for and the qualifications, roles and responsibilities of elders.

For those of you who have been praying for me and Sara, "Thank You" does not express adequately our gratitude. I would ask that you keep on praying for us as I continue to deal with the issues of Chronic Sinusitis, Membranous Glomerulonephritis and Small Fibre Neuropathy. Pray that I will be wise in my recovery and in the use of the time and energy God provides so that he can use me to the fullest extent to equip the saints for the works of ministry! Because, as we know here in Vancouver, "the body will grow and increase in love as each part does its work!"

"What Must I Do to Be Saved?" (2)

2008-11-18T14:33:00.001-08:00

We know that God has done his part to make salvation available to all, for it is his will that "all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:3-7). Not only did God become a man, die on the cross for our sins and then rise from the dead, but he appointed apostles and commanded all Jesus' disciples to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations. Truly, no one can doubt that He is still doing his part, working in the world and in our lives in such a way "so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27).

God has done and continues to do what he must do so that people can be saved. But we must do our part. The individual answer to the question "What must I do to be saved?" really depends on where the one seeking God is at spiritually when he asks the question. For the person who knows nothing or little about Jesus, the first thing he needs to do is "listen". In other words, in order to be saved a person must first hear the gospel (Romans 10:14-17). In order to hear it, someone needs to preach the gospel to him. He must hear how "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve" (See 1 Corinthians 15:1-11).

Some might think that people don't need to hear someone preach the gospel, they simply need to read their Bibles. While it is certainly possible for someone to read the Bible on her own and come to faith in Jesus, it is absolutely God's plan for the gospel to be communicated person to person. People often need help to understand what the gospel is and how it applies to their lives; like the Ethiopian official who, though reading the scriptures on his own, needed Philip to explain the good news about Jesus to him (see Acts 8:30-35).

In my own personal experience (to make a long story short), as a reasonably intelligent and well-read young man, I was reading the scriptures on my own, but that was not enough; I needed Roy Jeal's help to answer my questions and to help me understand exactly how the gospel applied to my life. But my understanding of the gospel and its power came not only from having the scriptures explained to me, but by seeing how the gospel was impacting the lives of real Christians. If the gospel is true it will not only make sense intellectually, but when applied it will make a difference in people's lives. Seeing the gospel at work in Christians' hearts, minds, marriages, families, relationships, attitudes, etc., is all part of "hearing" the gospel. Please read the following scriptures to see that preaching the gospel is done not only through our words but through our lives as well, and that both are necessary to help those who are seeking God: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5; 1 Timothy 4:15-16; 1 Peter 2:9-12.

As Paul wrote in Romans 10:13-14, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" but "How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" If you are a Christian, are you preaching the gospel in word and in deed? If you are not a Christian are you listening? You can't believe the gospel if you've not truly heard the gospel.

"What Must I Do to Be Saved?" (1)

2008-11-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

If there is a God, if the Jesus is His Son and if the Bible indeed is the Holy Spirit inspired word of God, then there is no more important question a person can ask than this one, "What must I do to be saved?". Before you go on and read the rest of this blog entry, I would strongly encourage you to read each of the following passages where someone asked this question of John, Jesus or his apostles: Luke 3:7-14; Mark 10:17-22 (cf. Matthew 19:16-22; Luke 18:18-23); Acts 2:36-39; Acts 16:29-34).

The first thing that I notice (and perhaps the most important in today's religious climate), is that not one of these Holy Spirit filled men replied by saying anything like, "There's nothing you can do to be saved. You can't earn your salvation; it is by grace and grace alone and therefore anything you do to be saved would be a "work" and thus invalidate God's grace." In fact, they told these salvation seekers very specifically what they each needed to do - based on where each person was at in terms of their faith and understanding of God at the time - even down to the specifics of what needed to be involved in their personal repentance.

We've got to get this understanding on straight and hold to it with all our hearts, that doing something in order to be saved is not an effort to "work" for or earn our salvation, nor does doing something to be saved invalidate God's grace or show disrespect for the efficacy of Jesus' dying on the cross for our sins and being raised again (i.e., that the gospel along saves us). But doing something is an essential response to, and a sign of our faith in, respect for and commitment to God's grace.

Indeed, we all must "do" something "to be saved". Even those who argue that baptism is a work and therefore can't have anything to do with our salvation, tell people they must do something to be saved. They tell the salvation seekers that they must "receive Christ in their hearts" or that they must "pray and ask Jesus into their lives". That's still a person "doing something". The problem with those responses is that they are never found in the scriptures - not even once. Re-read the gospel accounts and the book of Acts (if you don't believe me) and see if you can find anyone who was seeking salvation who was ever told to "pray Jesus into their hearts". I guarantee, you won't find it once! Revelation 3:20 is not about non-Christians coming to Jesus; it's about Christians repenting of their lukewarmness and letting Jesus back into their lives! It, therefore, cannot be a valid proof-text for "the sinner's prayer".

There is something we need to do to be saved! John the Baptist said so! Jesus said so! Jesus' apostles said so! And the examples (especially in Acts) are clear. People who heard the gospel and believed it responded in faith by doing something. Is this not exactly what James taught us in his letter (2:14-26), that "faith without deeds is dead"? Of course, we have to do something both initially and throughout our lives that demonstrates our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as that which saves us, but it's not up to us to decide what it is that we are to do - it is up to Holy Spirit to tell us (and to show us) via his word, what it is that God expects us to do to be saved.

Yes, my friend, there is something you need to do to be saved! What we do, does not earn us salvation (that's an impossible task because we are all sinners); but what we do demonstrates our faith in what God has done to save us. Now, let's find out from the scriptures what it is that we are to do!

Are "Shades of Grey" the Colors You See?

2008-11-12T06:48:00.001-08:00

In 1993, one of my favorite songwriters and performing artists, Billy Joel, released his "River of Dreams" CD. That album was No. 1 on the U.S. charts for 56 weeks and has sold over 5 million copies. Obviously it touched a chord in the hearts of many people. At the time, Joel was 44 years old, and several of the songs' lyrics demonstrate that he'd been spending a lot of time reflecting on, and re-evaluating, his life's priorities and beliefs. The VCOC just passed its 18 anniversary and many of its members are either in, or close to entering, those special years we call middle age - for many, a time of reflection and re-evaluation.

One of the songs on Joel's 1993 CD entitled, "Shades of Grey" has some very powerful lyrics:

"Some things were perfectly clear, seen with the vision of youth;
No doubts and nothing to fear, I claimed the corner on truth.
These days it's harder to say, 'I know what I'm fighting for.'
My faith is falling away; I'm not that sure anymore."

"Shades of grey, wherever I go; the more I find out the less that I know.
Black and white is how it should be; but shades of grey are the colors I see."

"Once there were trenches and walls and one point of every view.
Fight 'til the other man falls; kill him before he kills you.
These days the edges are blurred; I'm old and tired of war.
I hear the other man's words; I'm not that sure anymore."

"Shades of grey are all that I find, when I look to the enemy line.
Black and white was so easy for me, but shades of grey are the colors I see."

"Now with the wisdom of years, I try to reason things out.
And the only people I fear are those who never have doubts.
Save us all from arrogant men and all the causes they're for.
I won't be righteous again; I'm not that sure anymore."

"Shades of grey are all that I find, when I look to the enemy line.
There ain't no rainbows shining on me; shades of grey are all that I see."

"Shades of grey wherever I go. The more I find out the less that I know.
There ain't no rainbows shining on me. Shades of grey are the colors I see."

Do you see the spiritual application? Do you feel it in your own life? Have the things that you once were so sure were "black and white," now blurred into shades of grey? Are the edges blurred? Do you hear the "other man's voice" (i.e. Satan's), and you're just not that sure anymore? Is it harder to say for you today what you're fighting for? Do you feel your faith falling away?

If there is nothing called truth, then we should be excited that we've finally come to our senses and reasoned it out that life is simply all different shades of grey. But if the Bible is God's word, then there are things that are indeed "black and white," right and wrong, true and false. If Jesus is the Son of God, then we've got to fight against this kind of middle age "maturity" and refuse to let go of the "vision of youth". We've got to know who our enemy is (see Ephesians 6:10-12) and we must not allow ourselves to grow "old and tired of war".

Yet, I think that is exactly where many of us are at spiritually. "Shades of grey" are the only colors we see and thus our faith (and along with it, our focus and fighting spirit) is falling away. We're afraid to say that God's word is truth, absolutely, and it does matter what we believe about God, the Bible, Jesus, and what it takes and what it means to be, and to live as, a Christian.

In my opinion, in terms of your spiritual life, if you can identify with the words of this song, then you're on shaky and scary ground spiritually, and it is time to rediscover the truth of God's word, recommit to Jesus as your Lord and rebuild a life of faithful discipleship!

"The Reason for the Hope that You Have"

2008-10-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had someone come up to you and ask, “What is the reason for the hope that you have?” or something similar, such as, “What is the reason for your joy (or patience, or compassion, or love)?” 1 Peter 3:15 is one of the passages we hear quoted and preached about a lot, but seldom, if ever, have I heard anyone give careful attention to the context in which it is found (both the chapter and the book).

The context is the apostle Peter's teaching on how Christians need to live in terms of suffering and submission. If, in the midst of being “owned” by another human being (whether slave master or husband, as was the case for many Christians in the first century), a Christian demonstrates an attitude of gratitude, joy, faithfulness and hope and continues to submit to those “over” him/her and, at the same time, is known for his/her good works for others, it’s not hard to see that such a life would generate some questions.

We’ve often focused on the “be prepared” part - know your Bible; be theologically and academically able to answer the sincere questions of honest truth seekers; but if we don’t have a life in the midst of injustice and pain that is radically different than how people usually respond to oppression and suffering, then “ain’t nobody gonna ask us no questions about our faith”! Effective evangelism is, first and foremost, not about knowing the answers or even about boldness is sharing what we know. Effective evangelism is about truly living a life in which we demonstrate by our attitudes and actions that something is genuinely and authentically different about us from within. And what is it that makes our lives radically different? We have “set apart Christ Jesus as Lord” in our hearts! When you and I truly live each day with Jesus as our Lord, our lives will indeed stand out enough (especially in times of trials and challenges) that people around us will ask, “What is the reason for the hope that you have?”

I think we are heading into a time in our world, brought on by globalization, that will really allow us as Christians to shine. All there is out there is bad news and threats of bad news. People live every day with anxiety, fear and even true dread about what is going on or what might happen. Because their trust is in the things of this world, they fear losing all that they have worked for either through some global economic meltdown, or by means of some terrorist attack. What an opportunity for Christians to show how different we are because of our faith in God and obedience to Jesus. If we can, in the midst of all these threats and setbacks (real or anticipated), truly live by faith day by day, we will absolutely stand out and we will have incredible opportunities to tell our family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances and even strangers about "the reason for the hope that we have" and with God's help, lead many to faith in Jesus.

No one likes tough times, but for us as Christians, tough times bring out the worst in the world and the best in Christians and allows our lights to shine that much brighter and thus the difference that faith becomes more obvious to all. Are you prepared, via your faithful lifestyle in the midst of personal and/or global challenges, to give everyone an answer about the hope that you have?

"Don't just do something...Stand there!"

2008-10-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read the title correctly and it is exactly the opposite of what we have always been told to do. We've been told "Don't just stand there...Do something". That's great advice in an emergency situation, where something needs to be done right away to save someone's life. But when it comes to empathizing with someone who is hurting, that's not what is needed.

We listen to someone, but all the time they are sharing the pain or struggles in their present life, we can be thinking of what we need to say or do to help them. Sometimes even before they finish sharing with us, we jump in with our "helpful" advice; or we educate them on some fact they are lacking or misunderstand; or we share a story from our lives that we think is similar to show how much we can relate and that we understand what they are going through; or we say or do a hundred other things that our friend does not need us to say or do.

I am very fortunate to have a lot of really good-hearted, well-intentioned people in my life. It is one of my greatest blessings. Yet, being good-hearted and well-intentioned does not automatically make you good at empathizing, because these very same people often think they know what someone who is hurting needs and they go ahead and do it, much to the frustration of the very person they are trying to help. I've experienced that on the receiving end lately, especially in terms of medical advice that I have not asked for, or in terms of telling me how it's all going to be OK and it will all work out and just trust God. I know their hearts are in the right place and I implictly trust their motives, but that's not what I need.

I so much appreciate those really good-hearted, well-intentioned people who are also really effective at empathizing. Mostly, they just listen and they don't try to fix me or offer a solution or tell me it's going to be OK. Mostly, when I'm finished talking they ask something like, "Is there anything I can do for you?" or "What do you need?" or even just, "My thoughts and/or my prayers are with you!" Or sometimes they do say or ask anything, they just give me a hug! Now that's empathizing! And I feel listened to and understood and respected and valued.

The next time I'm listening to someone share their struggles or their pain, I pray that I "practice what I am preaching" and instead of responding to that inner voice that says, "Don't just stand there, do something" I will instead hear and obey that newly inspired inner voice that says, "Don't just do something, stand there!"

I Suck at Empathy!

2008-10-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

In my currently restricted role and, at times, restricted mental clarity, there are precious times when I can read and get something out of it. Yesterday I was reading chapter seven in Rosenberg's book "Non-Violent Communication" where the author explains and demonstrates with examples what true empathy is. Consider the following quotes if you're willing to look inside your own heart.

"Empathy is respectful understanding of what others are experiencing."
"In relating to others, empathy occurs only when we have successfully shed all preconceived ideas and judgments about them."
"The presence that empathy requires is not easy to maintain...Instead of empathy we tend to have a strong urge to give advice or reassurance and to explain our own position or feeling."
"It is often frustrating for someone needing empathy to have us assume that they want reassurance or "fix-it" advice."
Here are the obstacles to connecting empathically with others: advising, one-upping, educating, consoling, story-telling, shutting down, sympathizing, interrogating, explaining, correcting.
"Believing we have to "fix" situations and make others feel better prevents us from being present."

Guilty on all counts. Wow! Do I have a lot to work on in order to be truly, genuinely and authentically empathetic!

A New Journey

2008-10-20T03:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't "blogged" for awhile because shortly after returning from our trip, I began a new, completely unanticipated and rather painful journey. Honestly it has caught me off guard and unprepared, though it shouldn't have. These last three months I have staggered and stumbled, faltered and fallen. It is a journey whose destination and purpose is, to me at least, uncertain and frightening. In one sense I am taking this journey alone and yet I have many supporters and helpers. They cheer me on, lift me up, encourage my soul and petition God on my behalf.

In my life to date, this is the roughest, most demanding journey I've ever taken. It is requiring more of me mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually and my weaknesses and inadequacies and failings are obvious to all in abundance. This is not a journey I want to take. I would be glad to end it today and certainly I pray for that more some days than others. This journey has interfered with the route I had wanted to travel. I had other plans, great plans, grandiose plans of what I would do and what I would accomplish in the fall of 2008 and most, if not all, of my goals seem unattainable right now.

Is God leading me on this journey? I don't know. Is he with me on this trek? Absolutely. Whatever the destination, whatever the experiences along the way, I have the confidence of knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that God will never leave me or forsake me, that he works all things together for the good of those who love him, that no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful, and that suffering produces perseverance. I know I should consider it "pure joy", but I'm finding that is easier said than done. Right now, I'm finding it very difficult to find pure joy in being awake again at 3 a.m. What wouldn't I give for a full, uninterrupted and restful night's sleep?

Where will this journey take me? When and where will it end? What will I lose and what will I gain? I have no choice but to "keep on keeping on". I don't know if I'm always doing the right thing or even the best thing. I fight and argue with God and sometimes I ask him to take this cup from me and remove this thorn from my flesh. Other times I pray for strength, faith and wisdom. And yet, at other times I pray simply for clarity and understanding, just some sense of what this is about and where it might be headed. I pray for those who are closest to me; my journey is to a great degree their journey, since what I can and cannot do impacts their lives as does my pain and struggles. I thank God for those who are willing to endure their pain to help and support me. I am undeserving of such love and loyalty.

I feel sleep, once again, creeping back into my body. I will obey its call and surrender to its power.

Input from Istanbul

2008-08-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Brian and Sara's visit to the Istanbul Church of Christ was a very helpful and encouraging time for all the disciples here. We were all just blown away by their love, their wisdom and dedication to God and the scriptures.

The marriage counseling session they lead on Compassionate Communication was especially helpful for the married couples here. The Istanbul leaders were also very uplifted by their time with the Felushkos praying together, sharing ministry dreams and getting spiritual advice on a variety of church issues. Lastly, we were blessed on Sunday with an inspiring and very practical message from Brian on our spiritual journey.

We thank them for their love, their giving hearts and willingness to serve.

With love from the Istanbul disciples of Christ.

Comments from Cyprus

2008-08-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Brian and Sarabeth:

I just wanted to thank you for your visit, which is still making an impression upon us.

In particular we wish to thank you for the evening we had together and in particular the advice and knowledge you were able to pass on regarding our parenting, which both edified us and inspired us. Thanks for your personal sharing, and for John's as well.

Also we deeply appreciated your talk on Compassionate Communication, which we are still mulling over. The website is excellent, and there are many great ideas there, which I want to build and work upon. Indeed only this last week we have tried to counsel two people, where it was so so clear that if they could only apply these techniques they would almost instantly resolve their problem, that the ideas you taught in one way seem so easy to understand, and yet so difficult for most (and at times even us!?) to apply. Your lesson definitely had an impact upon me, us and the church, which we are still all talking over. Thanks for teaching it, and for inspiring us.

We really do appreciate you coming out of your way to visit us in Cyprus, and hope you enjoyed your visit too.

Indeed, I hope we can continue to keep in touch.

God bless,

Dylan Mathias
Limassol Church of Christ

Thanks from Athens

2008-08-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Brian and Sara,

I hope you are back home refreshed, enriched and with a sense of fulfillment.

I look at the pictures from your stay here and it brings a smile on my face; they remind me of the peace, the comfort and the compassion I felt from you. It has always been amazing to me how as disciples we don’t need too much time to get to trust one another and get open about our lives, feelings, struggles etc. It was so easy for me to pour out my heart to you and I believe that is because you came equipped with lots of love, patience, tranquility, readiness to hear and not so much to be heard. As I said many times, your stay here was nourishment for my weary soul and heart.

Sara, thank you so much for enriching my heart and mind with so many wise and useful tips: how to be more submissive to my husband, how to be more compassionate and less critical to my mom, how to see my role in Athens in being there for my sisters and even ….. how to clean my stove;-) So many good and practical things. And most of all, it was such a pleasure to talk to you! THANK YOU.

Brian thank you for getting the time to prepare a moving message for Sunday! It was good to be reminded how short our lives are and that we can make a decision each minute of our lives to do the good we know we can do.

Your presence as a couple was a great example for me and Theo to look up to. You guys are great communicators and our desire and prayer for us is to one day be like you. We want so much to learn more how to imitate your faith and perseverance with God, and also your respect and love for one another. You are a wonderful family and such a precious gift for the Kingdom of God!

And at the end I would like to thank all the brothers and sisters who supported Brian and Sara’s trip to us: you don’t know how much it meant for us to have them here even for just 3 days. May God bless you tremendously for your financial sacrifice!

When I think of the Felushkos coming one scripture pops up in my mind: Philemon 7: "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother (Sarah and Brian), have refreshed the hearts of the saints (in Athens)".

Philemon 3: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Much love in Him,

Meri

*********

Our small fellowship in Athens just wanted to thank Brian and Sara Felushko (along with their son John & his pregnant wife Crystal) from the heart, for their willingness to come and be with us for four days, giving us time, wisdom, marriage counseling, and lots of love & compassion.

We will be for ever in debt to them, and those who encouraged them to add us in their middle east tour (Jerusalem/Tel Aviv/Turkey/Cyprus/Athens), not forgetting those who ALLOWED them to be absent for so long from their congregation(!).

We are refreshed by their input, and our faith gained a extra pillar, knowing that such devoted & humble people lead our churches around the globe. May our gracious Lord inspire more mature-in-the-faith disciples to travel and come to encourage the small churches in this part of the world, as we are in desperate need for vision, teaching, organization.

God keep you
Athens ICOC

Daily Study Series Postponed

2008-07-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

Since I'm having difficulty with the adjustment back to a normal work-a-day schedule (after our month long teaching tour in the Eastern Mediterranean) and that the webmaster for our church site is on holidays, Week 30 of the study series will not be posted until next Monday. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

However, I will be posting photos (see slide show in the left margin of Istanbul sites) and spiritual articles related to our time in the Eastern Mediterranean throughout the week, so please check in often and enjoy!

Where Will You Be August 8-10?

2008-07-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

If you are registered for the NWCC already (August 8-10, Seattle, Washington), awesome! If not, then I want to make one more plea for you to seriously consider how you can get there! When all is said and done probably close to 1000 disciples from Western Canada and the North West U.S. will be in attendance (a little taste of heaven), and, I, for one, wouldn't want to miss that, unless of course it was absolutely impossible.

"Impossible" may be what you're thinking right now and while that may be true for some of the unregistered VCOC members, I really don't believe that's true for the majority! Bottom line is that we do what it is that we really want to do and/or what we really believe is vital to our purposes and goals in life. Somehow we find a way to overcome the obstacles and challenges that would hold us back from doing what we want and/or need to do. We pray, we seek advice, we plan and we scheme and, if necessary, we ask for help and it is often amazing how it all works out. It is my conviction that our Father would want every person who can attend this event to be there. I believe he will help you find a way (even at this late hour) to work it out, if that's what you really want to do!

If you've convinced yourself that it is impossible for you to attend, I urge you to think about it again! Search your heart and ask yourself, "Where do I really want to be August 8-10?" and if the answer is, "At the NWCC" then go to God in prayer, seek out mature spiritual advisers and ask for help and let's see how God helps you get there! It's not too late to turn "impossible" into "possible" - after all that is God's specialty!

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Home Again

2008-07-26T03:56:00.000-07:00

We got back to Vancouver on Thursday afternoon about 2:30 p.m. We left our hotel in Athens at 4 a.m. (Athens time) and arrived safely at our home more than 20 hours later. We wanted to stay awake until 9 p.m. (Vancouver time) but only managed 7:30! I'm having a lot more trouble with jet lag coming home than going there, but in a couple of more days I'm sure I'll stop getting up for the day between 1 and 3 a.m.

I was going to write two more blogs about our trip (Reflections 1 & 2), but I think that would create two very long articles, plus I want to give myself more time to reflect (especially once I'm free of the effects of jet lag). So, probably over the next couple of weeks, I'll be writing a few blogs some of which will be about the challenges I (or we) faced on the trip (it really wasn't a vacation, site-seeing tour or time of R & R), but mostly about the lessons I learned and/or convictions I came home with. I'll publish a few more pictures as I write, since we've got almost 1000 to choose from.

For those of you who have been reading regularly and have sent me emails of encouragement, thanks so much! Your thoughts meant so much to us all. I've heard from some of you that the "comment system" on the blog site doesn't work all that well, so if you have thoughts or comments please email me via briangeo@telus.net or brian.felushko@gmail.com.

Right now I can say, except for the jet lag, that it's great to be home, and that we have returned inspired and challenged and very hopeful due to our many times of extended fellowship, discussions and times of praise and prayer with the Christians in Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Cyprus and Athens. Please be praying for them all.

Check out some of our latest photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/brian.felushko/NewAlbum260708613PM

Time for some R & R!

2008-07-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Nafplio, Greece

The bus ride from Athens to Nafplio took us through some stunning scenery, not unlike Southern California, but with mountains about the height of those just outside of Kamloops, B.C. We arrived at our destination around 5 p.m. and though we only had to walk about .5 kilometer, we were exhausted and drenched in sweat when we arrived as the temperature was hovering around 40 C (104 F). Our hotel is old, but extremely well maintained and full of character and each room is air-conditioned! We rested for an hour or so and then took off to explore our little part of town.

This is so obviously a resort town - lots of families, very clean, full of restaurants and great little shops. We ate some more Greek food and walked along the beach front after sunset. By 10:30 we were ready for bed, but it was obvious that everyone else was just getting ready to party (adults and children alike) and many were still eating their evening meal.

I don’t plan on doing a lot of sight seeing while here, but I am going to find a place where I can get an internet connection in an air conditioned cafe to update my blog, send out some emails and reflect on the incredible month long trip God has blessed us to experience. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to do something like this again, so I’m going to learn all that I can from this one and take the lessons home with me and share them with others.

Well Received in Athens

2008-07-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

Friday July 18-Sunday July 20

We spent from noon on Friday till 2:30 p.m. on Sunday with disciples in the Athens church, primarily Theo and Meri, who both have full time jobs but work extra hard to help oversee the Christians here. We stayed in their apartment in the north end of Athens and enjoyed the comforts of an air-conditioned bedroom for two nights, but most importantly enjoyed getting to know this deeply faithful and determined brother and sister in Christ. They are both incredibly talented singers and have vision for something they call “gospel opera” and how they can use their musical abilities to build up the church and reach out to the world. They were extremely humble, both seeking and accepting much advice from us on their personal lives, their marriage and how better to lead the church here. They were fantastic hosts and their hospitality was overwhelming as they fed us and transported us and ensured our connections to our next destination.

The church here is very small (about 10 disciples), but the Christians are making contacts and building relationships with many Athenians, some through “cold-contact” and some through natural connections at work, through hobbies or in the neighborhood. Some of the disciples are in challenging life situations right now (i.e., new babies, ill family members, personal illnesses) and all struggle with being geographically quite distant from each other. One lives in Tripoli, a three hour bus ride from Athens.

I met with the brothers on Saturday morning, but even though only 3 of us were able to make it, we had a great discussion primarily about 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 and what we are learning in Vancouver about every part being important and every part doing its work. Our talk seemed to energize and inspire Christos and Theo and I certainly was encouraged. Sara met with 3 of the sisters later in the afternoon and had a similarly encouraging and bonding time. Theo and I then met up with Sara, Meri and Georgia (the sister who came in from Tripoli) and we walked part way up the Acropolis to an outdoor restaurant overlooking part of Athens. Peter, an Australian that Theo is reaching out to, joined us for part of our time together. We got home around midnight.

11 of us met together on Sunday, 4 Athens disciples, 2 visitors and 5 visiting Christians (the four of us and Rowan Barrett, the captain of the Canadian basketball team who had been converted a number of years ago in Toronto). Rowan was in town for the Olympic qualifying tournament, which unfortunately the Canadian team lost. However, before returning to France, where he currently lives and plays basketball, he wanted to meet with the Athens church, because he had played and lived in Athens in 2001. We had a great meeting together and I “preached” on James 4:13-17. Because our lives in this world are brief and uncertain we need to focus every day on doing the good we know we ought to do. We had lunch together and then the four of us caught a taxi to the bus terminal for a two hour ride to our final destination: Nafplio, a resort town, for 3 days of R & R before returning home (us to Vancouver and John and Crystal to Istanbul, where they will be for about 1 month before joining us in Vancouver).

Warm and Wonderful

2008-07-18T06:42:00.000-07:00

Our time in Cyprus was incredible - really. It was very hot and very humid, but we had a great hotel apartment with awesome air conditioning about 150 meters from the beach on the Mediterranean. Honestly we weren't up for seeing a lot of sights, as most of them would involve driving outside of Limassol. We didn't want rent a car, not only because of the cost, but because the driving here is British (on the left hand side of the road). It's kind of freaky being a passenger or a pedestrian let alone trying to drive. And we were all quite fatigued.

On Tuesday afternoon, Jordan came to our hotel and we enjoyed a very lively conversation about a variety of topics and got to know one another very well. Daryl and Anne came by about 6 p.m. and said, "It's too early to eat" (it is?) and so they took us out to the old part of city for a walk and a coffee. We finally got to a restaurant about 8:30 and talked with them until 11! They had become Christians in London but have been in Cyprus for the last 8 years. They are a wonderfully humble couple.

We spent Wednesday mostly in our hotel with a few forays out to the airconditioned stores or coffee shops until Jordan picked us up at 5 p.m. We went to the church office and viewed his and his wife's jewelry creations which he sells in various hotel locations throughout the island. That is how they support themselves in the ministry. We helped them out a little bit with a few purchases. Then at 7:30 several of the disciples gathered together for a Compassionate Communication workshop after which we all went out to one of Jordan's favorite restaurants where we chatted until about 11:30. The Cypriots were ready to talk on, but we had to get up at 3 a.m. to catch a taxi for the hour long drive to the airport, so we bid our new friends good night and got ready for the next leg of our teaching tour!

I am really encouraged by all the people we have met and by the network of relationships they are developing in the Eastern Mediterranean and by the support (financial, teaching, discipling), they are beginning to get from the Jersey and Austin churches of Christ. We believe that the future looks very bright for the four churches we've visited thus far.

The View from the Acropolis

2008-07-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

We are actually in Athens! Our hotel is a five minute walk from the base of the Acropolis and right across the road from the temple of Zeus! But I'm getting ahead of myself. It is Friday today and we just got picked up by Theo and Meri and I'm writing this blog from their home. We will be staying with them the next couple of days.

We arrived in Athens on Thursday morning at 7:45 a.m. and took a taxi to our hotel, the Athens Gate. The view from our room was amazing and the Acropolis is just behind us. We needed to get some sleep after our very short night (see previous blog), so we slept until lunch time, then walked to the Plaka and ate souvlaki in an outdoor cafe. We walked to the base of the Acropolis and bought a four day ticket, but it was so hot (now about 3 p.m.) that we went back to our hotel and slept for a couple of more hours. The four of us had supper together in the roof garden restaurant with a perfect view of the Acropolis as the sun set over the city. We decided to get up early the next morning and tour the local sites. Our hotel is very modern and clean and air conditioned, so we slept well.

We rose about 6:15, ate lunch in rooftop restuarant and were at the base of the Acropolis when it opened at 8 a.m. We "hiked" up to the Parthenon for a 360 degree view the city - spectacular and tried to take in the significance of viewing the remnants of a structure which was built 2500 years ago! After a couple of hours we were on "antiquity" overload and just couldn't process anymore. Beside it had become quite hot and Theo was coming to pick us up in an hour or so. We had lunch with them and then Theo took John and Crystal to stay with another couple in the church, while we drove with him to their apartment. The plan is to spend the rest of the day with Theo and Meri and then tomorrow, I'll get with the brothers in the morning and Sara with the sisters in the afternoon. We'll have a worship service in Athens on Sunday and then we're off to Nafplio for a few days of rest on the Aegean Sea before we head back to Vancouver.

It is hard to believe that we've been on our trip now for more than 3 weeks. We've seen so much and spent time with so many wonderful and determined disciples. I'm not sure what they have learned from us, but we have learned so much from them. We can't wait to get back and share with the disciples in Vancouver.

You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone!

2008-07-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

One of the things that has really impacted me on this trip from a spiritual perspective is how blessed we are in North American to be able to fellowship with disciples from other churches. The North West Christian Conference on August 8-10 is a perfect example of such an opportunity that few of the Christians in Istanbul, Israel, Cyprus or Greece have ever experienced.

There are 20 Christians in Istanbul, a city of 20 million, in a country that is 98% Muslim. Even if they could afford to travel, Turks have a really challenging time to get the appropriate Visa to visit other countries. Israel is a society that is really very isolated from other countries and its intensive security works both ways (keeps people out and isolates people within). And there are only 8 disciples in a very tense and sometimes scary city of 800,000. In Cyprus, the island is literally divided in half politically (part Turk and part Greek) and the only way off the island is to fly (at costs of over $200 per person one way to the nearest city, Tel Aviv, if one can gain access). Times of fellowship with the disciples in their own cities are precious and people spend hours sometimes traveling to and from church gatherings, but are grateful to do so! Times of fellowship with other disciples in other cities are few and far between, if not entirely impossible for some!

If you're reading this and you are part of one of the churches in the NW U.S. or Western Canada, I want to let you know how blessed you are to have a conference in Seattle on August 8-10; right in your part of the world! Yes, there will be some "sacrifices" to make in order to attend this event; perhaps in terms of money or time or inconvenience or change of plans. But I believe that if the disciples in Istanbul, Israel or Cyprus were given such an opportunity, they would pay the price (if at all possible) and make the effort to be there! I know that I am coming back to North America in a week a lot more grateful for the ease at which I can attend such events and I'm determined to take advantage of every such opportunity. I want to encourage every disciple to not take the NWCC for granted. Let it not be said of us that we didn't know what we had until it was gone!

From Israel to Cyprus

2008-07-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

Note: Due to the fact that we've had no internet connection the last week, I have posted the following 6 blog entries today - from Wednesday July 10 through to Monday July 14, 2008. So please go to the July 10th entry and read through to this one for continuity.

We were up at 2 a.m. and ready for the taxi at 3. He arrived about 20 minutes late apologizing because he had been stopped by the Israeli police and questioned (he is a Palestinian). On arriving at the airport we had to go through a security check point. The guard questioned our driver, took his ID and told him to pull off to the right and wait. Another guard approached our taxi and asked for one of our passports. After a few nervous minutes he allowed us to proceed to the drop off point. The taxi driver (about 60 km) cost us 280 shekels (with tip) or about $90 CDN (not too bad for 4 of us). I gave him a $10-12 tip because I couldn’t help feeling bad for him - the humiliation of so often being stopped, questioned, interviewed and even interrogated when he is simply trying to go about his daily life and earn a living for his family.

The Tel Aviv airport is notorious for its tight security measures. Upon entering the airport we went through another security check - passports examined, questions asked regarding our identity and checked baggage X-rayed. Both John and I were told to go to another check point where my baggage was opened, examined carefully and I was asked numerous direct, but polite, questions regarding the suitcase and its contents. Once approved we all went to the Cyprus Air ticket counter where our passports were checked once again and we gave them our checked baggage. We proceeded to “Passport Control” where we each submitted our passports once again and had them stamped that we were exiting Israel. With relief, we all then proceeded to our gate and waited for our 40 minute flight to Cyprus.

We landed without incident at the very small airport on Cypress and proceeded very quickly through a customs check - passports stamped, no questions asked, “Welcome to Cyprus”. We were met by Jordan, who along with his wife lead the Limassol church (of about 10 disciples). He is a tall, extremely outgoing and friendly transplanted American brother who led the church in Israel for six years before being refused entry five years ago. Since then they have made a life for themselves on Cyprus and in the hour drive to our hotel (on the opposite side of the road, British style), we got to know a lot about him and the church.

It is still very early in the day (8:30 a.m.), but our hotel (actually hotel apartment) allowed us entry. Crystal and Sara went across the road to buy food at a very modern (and western style) department store, while John and I enjoyed the real air-conditioning in our very clean and well maintained “home away from home”. It is very warm already and much more humid than either Jerusalem or Istanbul, plus we’ve all been up since 2:30 a..m., so after eating a North American lunch of grilled cheese and ham sandwiches with potato chips, we settled in for a long nap.

I can honestly say that I feel an incredible sense of relief leaving Israel. There are no soldiers walking around with automatic weapons here. We have left behind the Arab-Jewish, Palestinian-Israeli hatred, suspicion and disrespect, as well as the crazy pace and the resulting frayed nerves and edginess we saw and felt everywhere in Jerusalem (and to some degree even in Galilee and Tel Aviv as well). Quite honestly, I would be quite happy if I never returned to Israel (at least not in its current state), though I have no idea how things will work out in terms of any ongoing connection with the disciples there.

I have nothing but incredible respect and admiration for the Christians who choose to move and stay there laboring for the Lord. Not only is it extremely hard soil as almost everyone is either Jewish, Muslim or is committed to some kind of “Christianity” extremely different than what we understand Christianity to be, but their hearts are hardened by hatred, prejudice, fear, anger, vengeance, suspicion, pride, arrogance and frustration. We all need to pray more for these disciples as they daily strive to live for Jesus in a place that is so hostile and hardened to his gospel of love!

Going to Church in Bethlehem

2008-07-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 13, 2008

We had breakfast with John and Crystal who then went off exploring more of the old city during the cool morning hours. We went back to our room where Sara got organized for the rest of our trip and I worked both on the lesson I wanted to teach the Jerusalem/Bethlehem disciples that night and to finish the next week of my online NT study guide. Housekeeping actually came and “cleaned” the room and even gave us an extra fan to help compensate for the extremely weak “air conditioning”.

Brad, the ministry intern in Jerusalem, didn’t actually pick us up till about 5:15 p.m. and the normal 20 minute drive to Bethlehem actually took more than an hour - due to traffic and the inability to find a working bank machine. Church in Bethlehem didn’t get started until around 7 p.m. with a few songs (in Arabic and English). I taught a lesson on Psalm 51 entitled simply, “A Pure Heart”, which Aziz expertly translated into Arabic. We had some brief fellowship with 4 disciples whom we hadn't previously met. Only one of the brothers couldn't speak any English at all.

Immediately after the service we all had to leave for home. Brad took us on a driving tour of Bethlehem, which only 10 years ago was a extremely prosperous city, but now is in a state of disrepair and poverty due to the physical separation of the West Bank from the rest of Israel. Honestly, it was a disturbing drive as we saw up close the “Security Fence” (actually a wall like the Berlin wall) that separates Palestinians from Jews, and virtually imprisons the Palestinians. We finally found a working bank machine in Jerusalem and got back to our hotel about 10 p.m. Our flight tomorrow leaves Ben Gurion airport at 7 p.m. so we arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 3 a.m. and went to bed for a short sleep.

The Disciples in Tel Aviv

2008-07-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday July 12, 2008

We are still unable to make contact with the outside world. Sara had a very, very distressing time trying to explain our situation to the hotel staff. We were trying to reach Yakov for confirmation as well as our hotel in Cyprus. Finally she was able to go to the front desk, buy a couple of phone cards and make contact with both. Neither our room phone, nor our cell phone is working yet, in spite of visits by hotel staff. Next time, no 3 star hotel. I’ll pay the extra for a five or six star!

I spent the time until Yakov picked us up (about 2:30 p.m.) working on my “blog” although I am unable to post them because I have no internet connection. But, boy, when I do, anyone who is reading this will get the full dose of several days worth of entries. Yakov drove us to Tel Aviv where we met his wife, Natasha, their 4 year old son, Ron, and their 1 year old daughter, Nicole. He was converted in Vladivostok, Russia and moved to Tel Aviv in 2000. The church in Tel Aviv consists mostly of marrieds (6 couples) with 3 or 4 single brothers and sisters. We met with about 1/2 of the church in the park. It was hot (mid 30’s) with very high humidity. We talked and ate supper (grilled chicken and various Russian “salads”) and then walked back to Yakov’s where we met with one of the married couples and hopefully gave some helpful teenage parenting advice. Most of the disciples are Russian, so we had to be translated during our counseling time.

Yakov took us, at 10:30, on the hour drive back to our hotel in Jerusalem. We talked all the way. I felt a very real connection with this brother who is working two days a week as a carpenter and doing his best to shepherd the church in Tel Aviv. I hope to be able to stay in touch with him.

Walking Where Jesus Walked

2008-07-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

Friday July 11, 2008

We had made some contact with Aziz on Thursday night, who told us that Sara and I were doing a married event in Tel Aviv on Friday - which we knew nothing at all about. We were able to reach Yakov who told us that Aziz had misunderstood and that we would be picked up on Saturday at our hotel at 2 p.m. for a picnic with the Tel Aviv disciples. So our Friday was now open. We texted Aziz and he returned the text saying that we would be getting with couple at 5 p.m., but that he would confirm. However, we heard nothing from him for the whole rest of the day.

So we took off to tour the Garden of Gethsemane (a short, steep downhill walk from our hotel). This was kind of disappointing, as it wasn’t as I had remembered it. We gave up trying to find the location we had visited 11 years ago and decided to catch a taxi into the old city for some bagels. However, the taxi driver didn’t take us where we had requested and we got out of his taxi, after many attempts to convince us to stay with him, outside some bagel shops in newer Jerusalem. We ate some great bagels and hailed another taxi to take us back to the old city. He didn’t speak much English, but eventually (through a huge traffic jam due to Muslim “holy day”, and a near accident), dropped us where we had requested near the Wailing Wall in the Old City.

We toured that area for awhile then paid to enter the archeological museum, which was spectacular. We touched the Herodian stones of the temple that Jesus taught in and walked the same paving stones of the main street of Jerusalem from the time of Jesus! It was very hot and we were all exhausted so we grabbed another taxi back to our hotel. It is hard to describe how moving this experience was, especially in contrast with all the "fake" Jesus stuff in this city.

We received a call from Aziz back at our hotel wondering why we hadn’t replied to any of his 10 or so text messages. We told him we hadn’t received any of them! He said he tried to call but was told our phone was off (which it wasn’t). Since Friday morning we’ve been unable to send or receive texts or calls, though the phone is fully powered and shows at least some signal strength. So we missed the time with the couple, but were able to get with Brad (the ministry intern), Aziz and Marie for a great dinner and discussion in a Bethlehem restaurant, called "The Tent". We arrived at our hotel at 11 p.m. and slept solidly till morning.

From Ein Gedi to Jerusalem

2008-07-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 10, 2008

We checked out of our Ein Gedi rooms and head to Masada (about 20 km to the south) and took the cable car to the top (it was way too hot to hike up the "Snake Path"). It was as impressive as I remembered it and extremely hot. Here, from A.D. 70 - 74, about 1000 Jewish rebels held off a company of Roman soldiers, who over a two year period built a siege ramp up the western side of Masada. When they finally broke through, they found all the Jews dead, with the exception of two women and three children.

We left Masada and stopped at the Ein Gedi spa (our rooms gave us free entrance). John, Crystal and Sara all went in, while I stayed outside to watch our car. We were warned very strongly that cars with belongings showing (like ours) are frequently broken into if left unattended. I’m still not feeling 100 percent (continuing respiratory infection and some newly experienced digestive problems) and really had no interest in the spa or “swimming” in the Dead Sea. The temperature was hovering around 40 C (104 F) which, after the Masada tour, made me want to simply find some shade and relax. They all loved the experience and I felt great protecting our car from possible thieves!

We then left for Jerusalem, a 90 km trip, through the West Bank. The highway itself is safe to drive on and we were waved through the check points without any problems. Once you turn west from highway 90 onto highway 1 into Jerusalem, it is all uphill. We found our hotel on the Mount of Olives relatively easily because once we got in the vicinity of it, we could see it on the very top of the mountain. It took us about 15 minutes to find the right roads, but we arrived safely.

Then John and I had to return the rental vehicle to a location just on the other side of the old city. No problem, we thought. It should take us about 15 minutes to get there. In actuality it took us more than 45 minutes and the location on the map was not the exact location of the car rental office. We fought through the worst traffic jam I’ve ever seen, made more challenging due to the fact that we don’t know this city. So we parked (illegally) and walked around looking for the rental office. We asked 6 or 7 seven people, all of whom gave us different and contradictory directions, but eventually someone gave us the right directions, but it was the wrong office. Bottom line is that we got the car returned, though the lost hub cap cost us an addition $100.

We then tried to grab a taxi to get back to the hotel, but none would stop for us. We went to the entrance of a very expensive hotel and asked the concierge to flag us a cab. After one failed attempt, the second driver agreed to take us, but was unfamiliar with our hotel because it is on the Arab side of the city - to which he seldom goes. He was a pleasant fellow and only charged us 41 shekels (about $12) for the ride. We rested, then went to dinner in the hotel, which was surprisingly good and surprisingly cheap. The four of us had a great meal each, with more food than we could eat, for $68! We went to bed exhausted and unsure as to how Friday would go.

From Arbel To Ein Gedi

2008-07-15T05:49:00.000-07:00

Wednesday July 10, 2008

We had breakfast in Arbel at the guest house - awesome! We said goodbye to our two bedroom “cottage”, with it's two complete breakfasts and one amazing dinner (all with more food than we could eat). We drove to Mount Tabor (the mount of Transfiguration), around 16 hairpin turns, on which we somewhere lost a hub cap (later to cost us 285 shekels, or about $100) to a 360 degree view of most of the Valley of Jezreel.

From there we went to Nazareth, a completely Arab city, where the driving is much like in Turkey and the streets are largely unmarked. We ended up touring a recreated Nazareth “town” that according to archaeological findings was much like the town that Jesus would have grown up in. There were “staff” dressed in first century clothing. herding sheep, spinning yarn and building wooden stools. We sat in the synagogue and heard the scripture read where Jesus said, “This day this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”. It was quite moving. The temperature was extremely warm (OK, very hot) and we were excited to get back in our air conditioned rental vehicle.

We left Nazareth to travel to Ein Gedi (near the Dead Sea) and decided to take the toll road (not sure how much that will cost us) which is the longer route rather than take the highway through the West Bank. There was a huge traffic jam before we reached Hwy 6 due to some kind of accident that left huge amounts of broken glass all over the highway. There were no police present, no clean up crew, nothing. That really set us back time wise so that we arrived in Ein Gedi quite late (close to 9 p.m.) and had to drive the last hour in the growing darkness through some of the most foreboding desert country I have ever seen. The road was quite winding as we descending 500 meters down to the lowest point on the face of the earth, the Dead Sea. We reached Ein Gedi, then went to our rooms for the night. This was a very full day, with an even a fuller day awaited up on Thursday.

Gorgeous Galilee!

2008-07-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

Wow! On so many levels...Wow! We arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday afternoon, picked up our rental car and began to drive through Israel. It's not much different than driving in Vancouver, except for trying to read the road signs which are mostly in Hebrew. We were in the midst of rush hour traffic so it took us a while to get out of the city and find our highway, but after 3 hours we reach our destination in a small town (Arbel) just outside Tiberias (which is on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee). We're staying at a "Guest House" (i.e., B & B) hosted by a really friendly and helpful couple (Sara and Israel). They obviously love what they do and they do it right!

After an amazing breakfast (the fresh bread and local honey were unbelievable) we got some great directions from Sara and we headed out on our Sea of Galilee tour. Wow #1 - the heat! I've only once before felt heat like this, in the summer in Palm Springs. According to our car temperature guage we hit at least 40 C and it felt every bit of that. But we kept drinking lots of water, put on our hats and made our first stop at the Mount of the Beatitudes - a gorgeous hillside on the north shore. 30 minutes outside was all that we could manage, so we headed on to Capernaum, where they have excavated much of the old city and are confident they have unearthed the foundations of Peter's house. The 1000 year old synagogue remains sitting on what they believe to be the spot of the synagogue in which Jesus said, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Wow #2.

We ventured then up into the Golan Heights, an area of land strategic to Israel's defense, over which they fought with the Syrians in 1967 and again in 1973. We ate, paid more than $50 for a half tank of gas and then proceeded to drive around the rest of the Sea of Galilee. We stopped on the west shore and stood in the very warm waters of the sea (not particularly refreshing). Upon reaching our Guest House we all crashed for about 2 hours before taking a walk through the town as the sun set over the Galilean hills and then we sat down for an incredible dinner, cooked and served by our hosts, a stew of lamb, potatoes, onion, garlic, pear, carrots, etc. None of us finished our portions.

There is a look out near Arbel that our hosts offered to take us to that is on the edge of a 400 meter cliff and overlooks not only the Sea of Galilee but allows you to see about 40 miles in all directions! The moon was just setting, a strong wind was blowing and the lights of various settlements twinkled as did the million or so stars in the sky. I simply can't describe the experience as our hosts shared details about both modern and historical events that took place in this area. It was a sight none of us will ever forget!

Disciples are Disciples

2008-07-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend with the disciples in the Istanbul church. On Friday night we went out with one couple to a Starbucks shop on the Coast Road on the European side of the Bosphorus. On Saturday morning, Barish took me to the ruins of another ancient castle overlooking the Black Sea and we prayed. We had breakfast with Troy and her family, whose husband, Andy, works for the British consulate. Sara and Anna went shopping and Barish and I returned to their apartment where I prepared for the marriage workshop and I shared some ideas for my sermon.

The church in Istanbul is a legally recognized religious group which has their own facility in downtown Istanbul. We met there on Saturday night with four married couples, one engaged brother (whose fiancee was out of town) and one sister married to a non-Christian. We shared about the principles and practicalities of Compassionate Communication. We weren't being translated, so we had to go slowly for some and stop and explain numerous words and concepts. Nonetheless, all received the information with excitement and some with the determination to begin working with the principles right away. We fellowshipped for awhile afterwards and got home at 11:30 p.m.

The next morning we got to the church facility by 11:30 a.m. It's summer time here and several disciples are out of town. However, we still had a great service and then enjoyed lunch together. After that we spent about 4 hours getting with various small groups and couples for some spiritual counseling time. Barish and Anna drove us back to John's and Crystal's apartment and we went out for supper together. They left by 9:00 p.m. and we made final preparations for our trip to Israel.

All in all, despite the language and cultural differences, disciples are still disciples wherever you go. The church in Istanbul is a warm, loving, grateful, sincere, hard working and determined group of Christians who want to do their best and be their best for God in this city of at least 17 million and a nation of close to 70 million! They know they have their work cut out for them, and certainly have more than their share of challenges to face and overcome. But they love God, one another and the people of their city. We were privileged and inspired to spend this last weekend with them.

History Lives in Istanbul

2008-07-04T01:36:00.000-07:00

The Bosphorus connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea. Europe is on the east bank and Asia is on the west. The city of Istanbul is on both banks. Two extremely large bridges (one of them the 15th largest in the world) connect Asian Istanbul with European Istanbul, along with scores of ferries. So while the Bosphorus is totally within the country of Turkey, it is considered international waters, meaning that Turkey cannot block passage through it. Many wars over the centuries have been fought over its control!

On Wednesday we once again took the commuter bus (non-airconditioned, double decker) from Bahçeşehir (suburb) to Istanbul (the old city) - a 1.5 to 2 hour trip - and from there caught a ferry that took us up the Bosphorus almost to the Black Sea. It was a perfectly sunny and hot day (what else is new?), but there was cool breeze on the water. At Anadolu Kavağı there is a medieval Kalesi (castle) built on Roman foundations by the Byzantines. From the ferry drop off to the castle, it was a 30 minutes walk straight up. We arrived somewhat breathless and definitely soaked in sweat in the 32 + C temperature and intense sun, but the history and the views were more than worth it; plus the fresh fish lunch by the Bosphorus was that much more satisfying when we returned to town.

On Thursday we journeyed into the old city one more time, this time to see the amazing, number one attraction in the city, the Aya Sofya. It was built as a church in the 5th century and known as the Haghia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), but was captured by Mehmet the Conqueror on May 29, 1453 and turned into a Mosque. In 1935 Atatürk proclaimed it to be a museum, which it is today. To walk on marble floors and to view mosaics on the walls and ceilings that people have viewed and regarded as holy for more than 15 centuries is truly humbling!

We ate supper last night in an area of the "modern" city known as İstiklal Caddesi - one, very long street full of people and stores and bars and restaurants where Istanbulis hang out, eat, drink, shop and party. When we left for home at 10 p.m. the city was still rocking on a Thursday night and the buses to the suburbs were all full.

I must admit that I began to shut down due to over stimulation - the crowds, the smells, the heat, the activity, the new foods, the long bus rides, etc. It was good to get back to our apartment and decompress. We've had the morning to eat (a rather Canadian breakfast) and get ready to leave for another part of the city for the next three days, where we'll be immersed in the lives of fellow Christians. Then we leave for Israel on Monday. To view some pics, copy and paste: http://picasaweb.google.com/brian.felushko/BosphorusCruise

Buyer, Prepare and Beware

2008-07-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

One of the things that is so radically different between Canadian and Turkish society is how aggressively the sellers go after potential customers. In the Bazaar, they literally come up to you and attempt to persuade you to come to their booths and look over their wares. They may do this directly or they may approach you as a seemingly friendly Istanbul resident reaching out to an obvious foreigner. But make no mistake about it - they have one clear and all consuming objective: to get your money!

Whenever you walk by a merchant's place of business, be prepared to be accosted (in a friendly, yet very aggressive and persistent way). Even restaurant owners and waiters come out of their establishments to convince you to eat their food. They bargain with you (offering free drinks or desserts or a discounted price) and tell you why their food is better than the restaurant next door. And a Canadian kind of "No thanks" doesn't deter them in the least. It's like you said nothing at all. And simply ignoring them and continuing to walk on only means they will either physically follow you or they will continue to proclaim "For you, the best the prices" as you walk away. Some will even grab your hand or put their hand on your shoulder to slow you down!

And if you are seriously considering their wares, expect to bargain and bargain hard. Once they've sensed that you are interested they go for the kill. When bargaining for a particular item and starting at a low price, the seller acted like we were insulting him, "How can I feed my wife and children?" The good news is that the originally stated price is almost never the price you have to pay, but the bad news is (in my opinion) you still may have gotten ripped off by paying more than the item is actually worth, even though it may seem a bargain by Vancouver standards!

Personally, I much prefer the no pressure, no haggling, no bargaining style of shopping I do at the Richmond Center or Future Shop. However, even I have to admit, it does make "shopping" a fully engaging and very entertaining experience!

A Day in Old Istanbul

2008-07-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Monday), we spent 12 hours traveling to, wandering through and traveling back from the old city. We saw only a few of the sights, but the history here is incredibly overwhelming! Coming from a country where anything older than 300 years is ancient, it was amazing to walk around a 600 year old bazaar containing 4000 shops on 58 streets, stand beside a 3500 year old Egyptian obelisk, enter into a 400 year old mosque and explore a 550 year old palace. With temperatures at or over 32 C, we walked several kilometers, stopping often for refreshments, shade and to enjoy the cool wind off the Bosphorus which connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea. We arrived back the apartment exhausted but having thoroughly enjoyed the day. If you are interested in any of the sights google "the Grand Bazaar", "the Blue Mosque", "the Topkapi Palace" and "the Bosphorus' and read the articles in Wikipedia. And, if you'd like to see some of our pictures, copy and paste the following URL into your search: http://picasaweb.google.com/brian.felushko/IstanbulSights1

In the Topkapi Palace we viewed treasures beyond belief. Unfortunately we were not able to take pictures in the treasury, but for sure what stood out to me was the 86 carat diamond (the world's fifth largest diamond) surrounded by dozens of smaller stones which was found in a garbage dump in the early 1600's and purchased by a street peddler for 3 spoons!

We decided to keep a low profile today, staying at the apartment and resting up. The plan is to head out early tomorrow morning via bus to the ferry terminal near the Galata Bridge and take a ferry up the Bosphorus to see the Anadolu Kavagi Kalesi, a medieval castle built by the Byzantines, but restored in 1350 by the Genoese!

I've had some great talks with our John and Crystal about the needs in the fellowship here and are looking forward to the weekend when we will spend time counseling and teaching individuals and small groups in ways that will encouraged and strengthen each person.

Some Thoughts from Sara

2008-06-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Many things have stood out to me on our trip so far. I thought I'd share a few observations with you regarding women's lives in Istanbul. The women dress modestly; even the ones whose dress is not dictated by their beliefs. Knees are always covered. There are fewer sleeveless tops and those that are sleeveless offer more coverage. They compensate by wearing sequined, rhinestone studded sandals, jewelry and vibrant silk scarves. We saw an athletic young women walking on an outdoor exercise track while covered from neck to mid calf to mid forearm.

The activities of daily life take thought and effort. All water for drinking or cooking is purchased because local water, although chlorinated, tastes terrible. Society and free enterprise has adapted. You make a call and within an hour a 19 litre (5 gal), bottle is brought to your door. Bottles of cold water are sold by water sellers in every market, public square and bus station. We go through a big jug nearly every day at our son's house.

Grocery shopping is nearly daily. Fruits and veggies need to be used within a day or two because they are picked locally ripe from the gardens, farms and orchards. They are full of flavour especially the fresh herbs like oregano, basil and mint. The intensity of the flavour is so many degrees above the fresh herbs we buy I barely recognised them as being the same thing. Just tomatoes, basil and bread makes a memorable meal.

Sunday at our service I spoke (through a translator) to a widowed sister who is 78 years old and has lived in Istanbul all her life. After exchanging life stories I asked her what her observations were regarding the married couples in the fellowship. She thought for a long moment and said the marriages are basically very good. But she would like to see more unity between spouses. When one is down the other spouse will build them up and thus become one. And she would like to see spouses have a deeper respect for each other. I thought, "Yes, we really are the same all over the world!"

Market Day

2008-06-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

Another cloudless day in Istanbul with the certainty of temperatures in the low 30's C. But again (and I'm grateful), a wonderfully consistent breeze is blowing in from the sea. Today (Saturday) is market day - the Pazarturk (Turkish Market) and it's just a 5 minute walk from the apartment. We enjoy a leisurely breakfast (western style this time) and then head out to the market around 10 a.m. One part of the market is dry goods (clothing, toys, electronics, jewelry, sunglasses, etc.) and the other is for food.

Young boys are moving among the people selling ice cold bottled water for .50 lira (about 40 cents CDN) and older men are selling hot tea by the glass. There are many places to sit and enjoy refreshing drinks and pastries when you're weary of wandering or overwhelmed with the options.

But my favorite part is all the fresh fruits and vegetables. Turkey imports none of its food and whatever is for sale in the market is what is in season - peaches, nectarines, fresh figs, green beans, watermelon, okra, raspberries, strawberries, plums, corn, artichoke hearts, cassava melons, lemons, etc. Other produce included eggs, bread of all kinds, yogurt, hazelnuts, olives...you get the picture! We bought 1 kilo of apricots, 1 kilo of cherries and 1/2 kilo of peaches for 9 lira ($7 CDN). 1/2 dozen eggs and a large loaf of whole wheat bread was 3.6 lira.

We came home tired and hungry and so snacked on many of our purchases for the rest of the afternoon. In the cool of the evening after sunset we took a walk and found an exercise park with a soft track for jogging, a harder track for walking and outdoor, permanently installed exercise equipment. Many people were walking or just sitting outside in the green spaces or on their balconies visiting. On the way back to the apartment we bought some ice cream at one of the numerous outdoor stores called Bufe.

We went to bed excited about the coming day, Sunday, when we will make our first trip into the heart of Istanbul for the worship service.

Any Comments, Questions?

2008-06-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Please let us know what you think of our blog entries. Click on the "comment" button at the end of each entry. If you have any questions, include them there. If there's any aspect of our visit you'd like us to share in more or less detail, don't hesitate to let us know. Let's make this and interactive experience.

Istanbul Day 2

2008-06-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we visited a very wealthy private school and ate lunch with the Turkish English teachers. It was their last day of work until the summer. One of the teachers is about our age and has two sons; the older one in university and the younger in high school (about 24 and 18 respectively). We asked her if they were working for the summer and she replied quite happily and proudly, "Oh no! We do everything for them. They work so hard in the school year that we want them to relax and enjoy life, so we give them money and tell to go the the shows, go to the clubs." With my own son sitting there, whom they know, I said, "I guess in Turkey we'd wouldn't be good parents!"

Also we brought them gifts, 250 ml tins of maple syrup. In Turkey, this is very hard to get and very expensive (about $40 CDN). They were impressed and pleased and stated very clearly, "You gave us very expensive gifts." Obviously the price of our gifts meant a lot to them. Then they asked, "What is maple syrup? Is it a plant? Is it a fruit?" So we explained the whole process to them and John shared some great ways to use it in their own cooking.

The people here are very hospitable and treat us as honored guests, perhaps even somewhat amazed that we would come all this way to visit their country. They talked about visiting "beautiful" Vancouver some day (John had shown them pictures), but they are very proud to be Turks and happy to live here. Afterwards one of the teachers told Crystal privately, "You are very lucky that John's parents are such good people and really care for you." She said that's not the usual in-law experience in her culture.

In the evening we walked down a long, long hill to a very chic shopping mall and then on the way back ate at fast food Turkish restaurant and then enjoyed some amazing gelato at a large and very modern grocery store. We walked about 1/2 way up the hill and grabbed a taxi for the 10 minute ride back home - it cost us less than 4 lira (about $3.20 CDN).

Today we're going to walk to a local, but very, very large market, which we can see from the apartment window.

Day 1 in Istanbul!

2008-06-27T00:17:00.000-07:00

We arrived safe and sound after 15 hours of travel. Both flights went well with only a few delays. We were able to stay awake except for brief naps so adjusting to the 10 hour time change won't be that hard. To stay awake after arriving (5:30 p.m. local time) we went out for dinner with our son and daughter-in-law to a Turkish restaurant in their neighborhood (great lamb kabob!). We slept pretty well, but as I was lying awake at 4:45 this morning, I heard the sound of chanting broadcasted throughout the neighborhood from the local mosque. It really helped me realize we were in a very different place. We woke to a beautiful day, great sea breeze with high temperatures projected to be in the mid 20's C.

Our son made a real Turkish breakfast of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, fresh bread, feta cheese, cherry juice and coffee. We're sitting right now in a 9th floor apartment on top of a hill with views in almost all directions. You can see the city, the Sea of Marmara and country fields.

We're going to spend the day acclimatizing further to the time change and then go out for a walk tonight.

Go Turkey Go!...I think

2008-06-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

Euro 2008 is coming to a conclusion this Sunday. One of the semi-final games is on Wednesday and features the favored German team vs. Turkey (this tournament's "Cinderella" team). I was speaking with Andy Reimer about it and realized that if Turkey wins on Wednesday they will play in the championship match on Sunday, and we will be in Istanbul. Our son, John, who is in Turkey right now, told me that last Friday when they won the quarter-final game, people went out into the streets and shot their guns into the air, including some police!

I wonder what it will be like if they win the championship. In sporting events if I don't have a favorite team, I almost always root for the underdog. But in light of the possible celebrations, my cheer goes something like this: "Go Turkey Go!"... I think! If Turkey wins on Wednesday, check the blog on Sunday or Monday and we'll let you know how the city responded to either victory or defeat.

Can't Be More Excited!

2008-06-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Istanbul is less than six days away! We are so excited about our visit to this incredible city. The population of Istanbul is estimated to be about 16 million. It has been an historically pivotal city for more than 1500 years and rivals any city in the world for its mix of culture and history. Ankara is actually the capital of Turkey, located some 400 kilometers to the east. Istanbul is situated on the both the European and Asian shores of the Bosporus with each side joined to the other by two huge suspension bridges and countless ferries. It is a city that is constantly under construction as it strives to accommodate its increasing population. It is a mixture of modern and ancient in all aspects of life from culture to art to architecture.

But we are also excited because we will be staying with our son and daughter-in-law, whom we haven't seen since last June! They are eager to see us as well, having left Ottawa for Istanbul last August, they are eager to spend time with family. We will take a little bit of Canada with us (Tim Horton's coffee and maple syrup). They have spent significant time touring the city so we will have knowledgeable tour guides to take us to such sites as the Haghia Sophia, the Grand Bazaar, the Tokapi Palace and the Blue Mosque.

Final preparations for our trip are coming together and our spiritual family in Turkey, Israel, Cyprus and Greece are eager and excited to greet us and spend time together. They are already encouraged by the generosity of so many in North American who are making this trip possible. From us, and for them, we thank you. Stay tuned...there is much more to come!

Two Weeks Till Istanbul

2008-06-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

Sara and I are so excited right now because on June 26, we will be landing at the airport in Istanbul to begin a month long tour that will include stops in Turkey, Israel, Cyprus and Greece. We have been preparing for this trip now since last October when the idea first developed after a discussion with Andy Fleming. We began inquiring as to what needs we could meet and were excited to hear that our visit could be used to "strengthen and encourage the disciples to remain true to the faith" (Acts 14:22).

So we're making final preparations right now, both to be gone from Vancouver for that period of time as well as to stay in at least 8 different cities in 4 different countries, only one of which we've visited before. We will be meeting up with our oldest son, John, and his wife, Crystal, in Istanbul, where they have lived for the last 10 months. They will then travel with us for the remainder of our tour. We will be encouraging many along the way, but we will also have the privilege of visiting historical sites, many of which are of importance biblically.

It is our plan to post news of our trip (and some pictures) on this blog every few days, as we have opportunity. We thank all of you who are supporting us financially and/or with your prayers.

Never Lacking In Zeal

2008-01-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

When it comes to spiritual goal setting, I always revisit Paul's statement in Philippians 3:10-14 where after more than 25 years of being a Christian he said, "I want to know Christ" and "This one thing I do." He was just as excited and determined to be as much like Jesus as he could even after 10,000 days of striving to walk as Jesus did as he was the moment he came up out of the waters of baptism. Therefore, he continued to press on and strive toward that goal, because he knew he hadn't attained it yet.

In the big picture this is THE goal every true disciple of Jesus embraces even before they enter the waters of baptism, knowing this is the new life they will be raised to live (Romans 6:1-4; 8:29). But spiritual growth doesn't happen by accident and we cannot put our lives on auto-pilot spiritually and hope to mature more into Christ's image. For me, this goal has to be broken down into specific attitudes and actions of Jesus that I will strive to imitate. I would encourage every disciple of Jesus at least one of his or her goals some specific aspect of Jesus' heart and life that you will strive to imitate this year.

When you watch Jesus, or hear him speak through the gospel accounts, one of the many qualities that is so obvious is his zeal for God. In John 2:13-17, Jesus' actions in the temple reminded the disciples of a prophecy concerning the Messiah: "Zeal for your house will consume me." Everything Jesus did, he did with determination, devotion, diligence, eagerness, earnestness, fire, intensity, intentness, passion, purpose and urgency (all words found in the Thesaurus under "zeal").

My personal goal this year is to be more zealous in my day-to-day life in everything that I do, because everything I do as a Christian I do for God. I don't want to be one who grows cooler and less intense with age, but one who grows hotter, whose fire gets more intense for God. Zeal isn't about energy per se; it's about faith and focus and about doing everything you do for God. I believe the Vancouver church needs more of us to be more zealous for God and that means me.

Goals for 2008

2008-01-10T20:20:00.000-08:00

A tradition that most people take part in at the start of every year is that of "making resolutions." Many do it in jest, never really intending to keep their resolutions.

For me the beginning of the year is a time to set some goals. I may readjust these goals throughout the year, but I try to stick to the spirit of the goals I set, even if the particulars need to change. I only make a few goals, rather than create a huge list, but I try to set goals that will provide vision and a reminder of God's call to follow his Son. I usually share most of my goals with a least a few close friends. I want to share some of my 2008 goals with you, the readers of this blog. I do so for three reasons.

1) To inspire and encourage you to set and then share your own spiritual goals, if you've not already done so.
2) To invite you to hold me accountable to striving for my goals.
3) To inform any members of the Vancouver church of Christ about where I will be focusing my efforts as an evangelist this year.

So, if you're interested, check out this blog over the next week, as with each installment I will be sharing one of my goals for 2008.

Have We Lost our "Saltiness"?

2007-12-23T06:41:00.000-08:00

Over the last month I have been reading, reflecting on and memorizing the portion of scripture normally referred to as "The Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5 - 7). I have been personally convicted and challenged by these basic but incredibly radical teachings of Jesus. I've seen how my standards of what it means to be a follower of Jesus have, in some aspects of my life, fallen so dramatically that I don't think there is much difference between me and the religious world. I've become so relatable as to be indistinguishable from all those who call themselves Christians but are not (i.e. the Pharisees and teachers of the law of our day). In some other areas of my life, I think I've fallen to a lower level than that -- I don't think in some ways my standards are much different than the world's!

Yet, Jesus made it very clear, as he taught these things to his disciples (Matthew 5:1), that he expected them to be so different in attitude and action that they would be both "salt" and "light" to the world. The statement here that is so convicting is this, "You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men." How does that hit you?

When salt is present, in any context, it cannot be missed or overlooked, nor can it be mistaken for anything else. You know that it is there. In some contexts you taste it; in others you can see it or feel it; and in still others you see its impact. Salt is distinctive! It is different! It stands out and it has an impact on everything it comes in contact with. Salt without its saltiness is useless.

What about you and me? We call ourselves "disciples of Jesus." That's easy to say, especially after years of saying it. We call ourselves that because it is biblically correct to do so -- true Christians are disciples of Jesus (Acts 11:26). But true Christians aren't just those who "say" they are disciples, but those who demonstrate by their attitudes and actions (i.e. their lives) that they are actually living in obedience to the teachings of Jesus. And it is our obedience to the teachings of Jesus in our day to day lives that makes us salty -- distinctive with an impact!

Are you still salt of the earth or have you lost your saltiness? How different are you really in your day to day attitudes and actions? In my opinion and from my perspective, I think that not only I, but many of us are either losing or have already lost our saltiness -- that we are right now at risk of becoming no different than the millions of people who say they are Christians but mostly live in compliance with the standards of their world!

It's not too late! But I must act now to find my lost saltiness before it is all gone! And as I do so, I must call and help other disciples find their lost saltiness, before we are "no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

Blessing or Burden

2007-10-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

Why is it so important that we grasp and accept how spiritually bankrupt we all were without God? Because no one considers the gospel good news who doesn't first, at least in part, understand and accept the bad news about sin. Would a billionaire consider winning a $5,000 lottery good news? Probably not; but a homeless person would!

The bad news is Romans 3 for all of us -- no one good, not even one; no one understands, no one seeks God; everyone has turned astray; all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God! But when you really accept the bad news, the good news becomes really, really great! The Jews to which Peter preached in Acts 2 heard some really bad news: this Jesus whom they crucified was both Lord and Christ. They were cut to the heart. They cried out, "What can we do?" Then they heard the good news -- and they really needed some good news about now -- that they could repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. So, what happened? 3000 were baptized that very day!

Do you remember, as you were studying the Bible to become a Christian, when it really hit you just how spiritually bankrupt you were? I certainly do. At one point in my life I was asked to write out a "sin list" - a list of every kind of sin that I could find in the Bible that I knew I personally had committed at least once in my life. The list was really long and many of those sins were not one-time occurrences, but were repeated to such an extent that they were deeply ingrained in my heart and habitually in my life. I saw patterns of sin in my life: selfishness, greed, lust, evil thoughts, slander, deceit, hypocrisy, pride, arrogance, lack of love, rebelliousness, etc., etc. That was my bad news. I was no longer the good, hard working, upstanding, loyal guy. I was instead dead, disobedient, depraved and doomed. My spiritual account was bankrupt. I could bring nothing to God. But then I was able to rejoice in the good news that I could be forgiven and start living a new and very different life!

30 years later I'm still rejoicing in my salvation - well at least most days. But, you see, sometimes I forget who I was (and would be) without God. And when that memory is lost I easily become filled with pride, independence and criticalness. I can begin to feel that I am entitled to God's blessing because of all that I have done for him! When I lose sight of who I was before Christ, I lose my joy, gratitude and my reliance on, and desire to please, God. Living the Christian life, striving to follow Jesus, goes from being a blessing to being a burden. Then I try to save my life for myself and what I want to do instead of losing my life in service to Jesus. I know longer want to deny myself to do what he wants. I think I've done, endured, suffered and sacrificed enough for God.

But the reality is that I need God in my life, his grace and power, just as desperately today as I did 30 years ago, when I first began to see my sin. Without God in my life, who would I be today and what would I become tomorrow? It's really not that hard for me to figure out and I doubt it would be hard for you to figure out for yourself. I meet people all the time who are me without God in their lives. But when I remember (or am reminded) about who I am in and of myself, my gratitude, joy, zeal, determination, willingness to sacrifice, etc., returns. Being a Christian and striving and struggling to live as a disciple of Jesus every day goes from being a burden I bear to a blessing I share!

Christian, where are you at spiritually right now? Blessing or burden? Grateful or grouchy? Zealous or worn out? Silent or sharing? It all comes back to remembering the bad news so that the good news becomes really great once again!

Lest We Forget

2007-10-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

Do we remember who we were without God in our lives; what we were really like before Christ? Do we hold to the distorted humanistic view that because we didn't do a lot of the evil things that some others did (murder, wife beating, child molesting, etc.) we were good people who occasionally messed up? Or do we see ourselves as God sees us? Just a few passages should remind us again of our spiritual reality, the one we each faced before we confessed Jesus as Lord and were baptized into Christ.

Romans 3:9-18 (unrighteous, worthless, practicing deceit...)
Romans 5:6-8 (powerless, ungodly, sinner, enemy of God)
Romans 7:14-24 (unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin ,wretched...)
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (foolish, weak, lowly, despised...)
Ephesians 2:1-3 (followers of the ways of the world, gratifiers of the cravings of our sinful natures, objects of wrath, dead in our sin)
Ephesians 4:17-19 (darkened in our understanding, separated from the life of God, ignorant, hard hearted, having lost all sensitivity, given over to sensuality, indulging in every kind of impurity, having a continual lust for more)
Titus 3:3-4 (foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, being hated, hating others)

Painful, isn't it? Paul never forgot who he was without Christ, the Holy Spirit and the saving grace of God. He was a "blasphemer, persecutor, a violent man, ignorant and unbelieving" (1 Timothy 1:12). And we know that he never let Christians forget who they were with Christ, since all the above passages (and many more like them) were written to Christians. We must never forget who we were with God!

In an auto wrecker's yard you have nothing but wrecked cars; cars that no longer function and are essentially worthless. They can no longer function for the purpose for which they were built. They are worn out, rusted out, broken down, smashed and crumpled heaps of junk. They were misused, abused, not properly cared for, destroyed in an accident or just plain worn out by use. Some are in better condition than others. Some are good for parts, some for scrap metal, some will sit there rotting away and will never be touched again! But the best "car" in the wrecker's yard is still a complete "wreck"!

The same is true of each of us. We can compare ourselves to other wrecks and say that we're not as bad, but no matter how good we may have looked, no matter what good things we may have accomplished, no matter what we thought or others said about our potential, not a single solitary one of us was anything but a mess, in and of ourselves!

The hardest truth of the gospel of Christ for people to accept is not that God could come in the flesh, die on a cross and be raised from the dead. That isn't what causes people to stumble. What they can't accept very easily is that they desperately needed God to come in the flesh, die on the cross and be raised from the dead in order to save them from their wretched, pitiful, spiritually poor, blind and naked lives (Revelation 3:17)! That's the stumbling block of the message of the cross that Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. People don't accept the good news because they won't accept the bad news -- that they are sinners and they can't do anything about it, in and of themselves.

If you truly became a Christian, then you did accept the bad news and you were cut to the heart by the reality of your sin and its impact on God, on other people and even on your own life. But now that you're a Christian have you forgotten what you were like before Christ? You better not ever forget who you were (and would be) without God and his grace.

Start with the Heart

2007-10-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

The beatitudes describe the qualities or character of those whom God promises to bless. Therefore, there are some things we can know about the beatitudes in general. First, they are not innate, inborn qualities which by the luck of random convergence some people have and others don't. Second, these attitudes can be acquired by anyone; they are not a matter of chance, heredity or upbringing, but the result of conviction and decision. Anyone who desire to be poor in spirit or merciful or pure in heart, etc. can be. Third, just as the blessings are a package deal, so are the beatitudes. We can't go through them cafeteria style selecting those we want and disregarding those we don't. To be as physically healthy as possible requires proper sleep and a balanced, healthy diet and consistent physical activity. Doing well spiritually requires not one or two, but all of these attitudes to be in us.

Figuring out what Jesus meant by each of the beatitudes will be vital to our study. We can't go on what we think, or what sounds cool or relevant to us. We can go to an 21st century English dictionary and look up these words and find out what a Greek word spoken in the 1st century by a Jewish teacher meant. Fortunately we can see how the Greek word is used in other NT contexts and we can use Greek language aids, such as lexicons.

But most importantly, to understand what the beatitudes mean we must start with the heart. There will need to be a level of openness and honesty with self, God and others, that doesn't come naturally to most of us. Are you willing to look at yourself from the inside out and figure out what is really going on in your heart? Are you ready for a time of honest self-examination? You might think that sounds about as fun as having a root canal, but think about the potential benefits: renewed confidence in the promises and blessings of God; deeper and clearer conviction about your purpose and focus; revived joy, peace, determination, and desire to live a life of impact!

Then, let's start where Jesus does; because blessed are the poor in spirit!

"Are You Blessed?"

2007-09-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

No matter how you pronounce the word "blessed" (one syllable or two), it is a translation of the Greek word μακαριος (makarios). It is found at least 50 times in the NT and is translated in the NIV as "blessed" (44X), "good" (4X), "fortunate" (1X) and "happier" (1X).

But what does it mean to be blessed? Objectively, someone who has been blessed has been given something by God which meets a real need in their lives. Subjectively, someone who knows they have been blessed by God lives a confident, comforted, fulfilled, hopeful, secure, joyful and zealous life. They know they have been given "every spiritual blessing in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3), and that God will meet all their needs "according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). People who have been truly blessed by God and who truly believe they are don't go around sad, discouraged, frustrated, feeling empty, unmotivated and uninspired; at least not for long. They know they have sufficient resources to handle anything that comes their way and even have more than enough to share with others.

One of our greatest spiritual problems is that we live like paupers, though we actually have unlimited resources. Warren Wiersbe tells the story of "America's Greatest Miser", Hetty Green, who died in 1916 leaving an estate valued at over $100 million dollars! "She ate cold oatmeal because it cost to heat it. Her son had to suffer a leg amputation because she delayed so long in looking for a free clinic that his case became incurable. She was wealthy, yet she chose to live like a pauper." That's crazy! Yet how is it any different when, in Christ, we have received "every spiritual blessing" and yet live as if we are just barely surviving.

What if we really believed that we were truly blessed by God? How would we live each and every day? Jesus starts each "beatitude" with the statement, "Blessed are...". What if we really believed those words? What if we truly knew in the depths of our souls that we not only will be, but we are right now, blessed by God? How would we be doing spiritually? Wouldn't we walk a little straighter, stand a little taller, be more confident, sure, secure and joyful? Wouldn't we be more giving, excited, radical and zealous?

Yet, if you're anything like me (and perhaps you're not), so often when I have begun to examine myself in light of the beatitudes the first and only place I go is to these words and phrases: "poor in spirit", "those who mourn", "the meek", "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness", "the merciful", "the pure in heart", "the peacemakers", "those who are persecuted for righteousness". While those indeed are the ones who are blessed by God, I never come back to that fact -- those are the people who are indeed blessed by God. And I never have taken much time to reflect on the blessings that are promised: possession of the kingdom of heaven, comfort, inherit the earth, filled with righteousness, mercy, seeing God, and a son of God! In fact, aren't these promises the real point of the beatitudes? But to our spiritual detriment, it is that very point we often neglect to discover, understand and enjoy!

If we don't truly believe we are blessed by God, then something is indeed amiss spiritually; something is definitely lacking and there is need for further self-examination. It could be that we simply don't believe Jesus; that we have a problem taking him at his word; that ours is a faith and trust issue. But perhaps the problem is that we know that our hearts are not where they need to be. We know that the attitudes that need to be in every disciple are not in us. Either way, know this: God wants to bless us with everything that we truly need to live this life and to enter the kingdom of heaven!

As we consider each of the beatitudes in turn, let's focus not only on what attitude Jesus expects us to have, but also what blessing he promises, and that "to be..." is "to be blessed"!

How Are You Doing Spiritually?

2007-09-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Whether you've been asked this question too often or not enough, just lately or not for awhile, it is a valid and very important question to be able to answer honestly. But how does one answer such a question? Is it a matter of how well my "quiet times" (daily prayer and Bible study) are going, or whether I'm sharing my faith, attending all the church services or giving my contribution? While these are very important things that every Christian should be doing consistently, too often we look only at the externals. Yet, these are really only important because of what they reveal about what is going on inside -- as the Bible says -- in the heart!

Jesus when he taught his first disciples went straight for the heart. The so-called "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5 - 7) is all about the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. The Pharisees were big on externals, but their righteousness was not sufficient for entering the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20). Jesus' disciples weren't called to do more, they were called to dig deeper and thus to be more than the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Indeed, from the very start of the "sermon" Jesus clearly targeted the heart with several statements that we call "beatitudes".

While the term "beatitude" comes from the first word in each one ("blessed"), a cool way to remember what these statements are all about is that they describe the "attitudes" that need to "be" in every one of Jesus' disciples. What we really think about ourselves, God, our relationship with him, with one another and with the people of this world, will determine how we act and react in life. The beatitudes are a great spiritual self-diagnostic tool, that any Christian can reflect on and thus see how they are doing spiritually. Someone has said that "attitude is everything". The battle for true spirituality is first, foremost and fundamentally an internal struggle, rather than an external one. If we strive to have spiritual hearts and struggle to maintain spiritual hearts, then we will live spiritual lives.

So the question, "How are you doing spiritually?" can actually be restated as "How's your heart doing?" In the next few articles I will be sharing about how my heart is doing using the beatitudes as my guide. Why don't you journey with me and perhaps you will find out how your heart is doing?

Why I Became A Christian (1)

2007-08-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

I started attending the only kind of church that I had any familiarity with -- mainline protestant denominations. And while I found the people to be nice (though a little cold), I found the sermons to lacking in relevance and substance. My questions were not answered, but rather they multiplied.

I got to know the minister in one church who asked me within the first few weeks that I attended to do the scripture reading in his church. After I did that, I received several comments from members about how I should consider a career in the ministry and the minister even took me to SFU one day to explore their theology program. Yet, no one asked me whether I was a Christian or whether I even believed in God. I found that to be confusing and astounding.

However, the leader of this church's youth group was different. He knew the Bible and he taught from the Bible and he showed how its message was relevant to our lives. After youth meetings I'd hang out with him and ask tons of questions. Though still an unbeliever I was beginning to reconsider my atheistic convictions.

I was, at the same time, reading the gospel of Matthew in a newer English translation and was impressed with what I was learning about Jesus. This was not the milk-toast, mamby-pamby, guru, hippie, protester, pot smoking "Jesus" that I had rejected. The real Jesus, as portrayed in the gospel accounts, was substantially and fundamentally different than any Jesus I'd read or heard about to date!

Ron was able to answer most of my questions in ways that made sense. His answers gave me "pause". But I had one question that no one had been able to answer to my satisfaction, that to me represented the crux of the issue of whether or not Jesus was truly more than just a man. My question went something like this:
"I don't believe in God, but if there is a God, he can do anything he wants. So if he wants to come into this world as a human being and, from conception through death, live in the flesh, he can certainly do that. However, if Jesus is God in the flesh, one thing doesn't make any sense to me at all. You've got to explain to me why he died. The fact that men were able to abuse, torture and crucify him proves that, as one song says in "Jesus Christ Superstar" that "he's a man, he's just a man". And if he's just a man, then no matter who he is or what he did, he's not God and while I may respect him, he is not worthy of my commitment and worship!"

Ron pulled out a serviette and began to draw a diagram on it that I will never forget. That Sunday night at the counter in the White Spot restaurant in Surrey was the turning point for my faith. The blinders fell away, the walls of preconceived ideas and convictions that were the result of reactions to religious fluff and hypocrisy came crashing down. While I didn't embrace faith that night, it was the beginning of the end of my atheism.

When I Wasn't A Christian (2)

2007-07-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

Since, in my mind, God did not exist, then I reasoned that this life is all that we have and there will be no accounting or reckoning for how I lived and no judgment passed after I died. Without the someone greater than myself and because I only existed by accident, then I determined that there were no absolutes, no right and wrong. All truth is relative. Life became for me "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die."

The consequences of living consistently with that philosophy was increasing irresponsibility, selfishness, recklessness, hopelessness and despression. Having been an honors student at the top of my class, I began to experience failing marks in all my subjects. The reason I had transfered from Waterloo to Queen's University was with the goal of getting into medical school. However, I lost motivation as I began to ask myself repeatedly "Why?". If we are all here for such a brief time, then we die and it's all over, then what's the point? Why deny myself life's pleasures now, when I don't even know if I'll be around to enjoy the fruits of my sacrifice?

I remember very clearly, even to this day, the morning I woke up with a hangover in my dorm room bed and once again couldn't really remember exactly what I did the night before. And suddenly it hit me, "What am I doing? This is stupid. This can't be what life is all about." So, I seriously began looking, not for God, but for some reason, any reason, that would motivate me to follow a different path in my life. The one I was on was leading nowhere that I wanted to end up. And I knew that reason was not in anything I had so far investigated, so I had to have a starting place. And even though I believed it would lead me elsewhere, I started going to church.

When I Wasn't A Christian (1)

2007-07-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

Convinced that God did not exist, I believed that faith in God was a crutch that excused people from having to think deeply. Faith in God was an easy way to explain all those seemingly unexplainable things that have happened throughout history and in each of our personal lives. It was a cop-out. Therefore, I had a mission to fulfill -- to question and challenge those who claimed faith.

The more people of faith I interacted with the more certain I was of the fallacy of faith in God. Though my questions and challenges were very basic, I heard very little in terms of evidence or reasons for faith. It seemed clear to me that the vast majority of people had no rational explanation or objective evidence for their faith and were indeed, in my books, guilty of "blind faith". I took a religious studies course in my first year of university and was even more certain that religion and faith were based on myth, fables and fairy tales. The Bible (although I'd never read it), was obviously full of errors, inaccuracies, contradictions, and sheer fabrications which created traditions that blinded people in a religious fog.

I certainly was going to make sure I would never give in to such nonsense and began a search for even more evidence to support my atheistic convictions, all the while living more and more in a way that was consistent with my reasoned conclusion that God did not exist.

Why I Wasn't A Christian (2)

2007-07-05T17:02:00.000-07:00

I was "baptized" as a baby by my parents, I think, because they thought it was the right thing to do. But I was not brought up "in the church". Except for weddings, I don't remember any time that we, as a family, set foot in a church building, let alone attended a church service. My mom bought me a Bible (King James Version) and for a few weeks my dad got me up and dressed and sent me off to the church some family friends attended. But I wasn't interested, found it boring, and only got in trouble for being too rowdy with my friend during services; so I stopped going. I tried reading the Bible, but my overall ignorance and incomprehension combined with the archaic language stopped me within the first few chapters of Genesis every time I tried.

By grade seven it was obvious that I had a fairly strong ability in both mathematics and the sciences, which continued into my high school years. Very soon, I totally bought into the atheistic assumptions underpinning much of what is taught today as science and believed that since the theory of evolution was a "proven fact", there was no need for God. We came into existence without him; we evolved into our extremely high state of intelligence and functioning without him; anywhere and every time belief in him predominated a society the result was prejudice, hatred, outright hostility and violence, bigotry, opposition to, or suppression of, true knowledge and the promotion of myths, fables and superstition. Combine these observations with the reality that every one I personally knew who demonstrated any signs of being a theist (a believer in God), didn't appear to me to be any more of a Christian in their daily life than I was, I was convinced absolutely that God did not, indeed could not, exist.

Equipped with that certain knowledge, I began to live my life in a way that I felt was consistent with the implications of that reality.

Why I Wasn't A Christian (1)

2007-07-04T02:12:00.000-07:00

I've been a Christian now for over 30 years. But in my late teen, early adult years, I was an avowed atheist. I wasn't an agnostic (someone who says they don't know whether God exists or not). I actually believed and I shared openly that I was sure that God didn't exist. Right now the Middle East and its strife are on the news every day. In the early 70's it was Northern Ireland. Catholics and Protestants fighting it out on the streets, killing each other and many innocents every week. Since the only church I had gone to a few times growing up was Protestant (the United Church of Canada) and my sister had become a Catholic, in my mind these were Christians hating and killing each other in the name of God. As I studied history, it was obvious how many atrocities and massacres were carried out in the name of God! Since this was Christianity, the world didn't need it and I certainly wasn't going to be a part of it.

Running for the Kids

2007-06-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

What an awesome day this was! Over 100 members, family and friends formed Team VCOC for the annual BCCH Childrun. The weather was amazing -- hot and sunny! The fellowship was warm and inviting. In the 22 years of the Childrun, this was the largest crowd yet -- over 4000 -- and without a doubt they raised the most money ever to research and treat pediatric cancer. Team VCOC placed first in terms of the number of participants for a community team and second in terms of the amount of money raised! This year we raised over $12,000 with over 100 team members! On this same weekend the local Global station runs a 24 hour telethon for BCCH and this year raised more than $14.6 million! It is truly inspiring, in this world that seems so dominated by anger, hatred, violence, selfishness and apathy, to see thousands of people come together to help others and have a blast doing it. I am so proud of the members of Team VCOC who continue to lead the way and set the pace for other groups to see and imitate.

"Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" - Jesus

I'm Back

2007-06-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

It has been a long two months and a lot has happened since I last made an entry here. In April I was preparing for and writing exams -- which went well! In May I was catching up on the work that I didn't get done in April, plus Sara and I traveled to the States to visit with her family -- which also went well. We ate cat fish in Tennessee, spent an evening at the Grand Old Opry and visited with "old" friends (Tom and Sheila Jones) in addition to seeing all six of Sara's siblings, a few of the nieces and nephews, her mom and dad and her 104 year old grandmother.

We came back to Vancouver, very grateful that we live here and that we have such a great spiritual family in the VCOC (Vancouver Church of Christ). We are excited about the rest of the summer both in terms of our work and in terms of another trip we'll be making to Ontario. John, our oldest son, is graduating from Carlton in Political Science and we will be spending a few days with him and our wonderful daughter-in-law, Crystal, in Ottawa and then traveling to Ontario to visit with our youngest son, Daniel, Niina (his partner) and their kids.

Sara just received news that she has been accepted as an R.P.C. -- Registered Professional Counselor. Our hope is that by the fall she will have her own practice set up where she will counsel about 8 hours per week!

There will be more frequent and different kinds of entries on this blog in the days, weeks and months ahead. Please come back and visit me!

Do You Know?

2007-04-01T17:12:00.000-07:00

If you profess to be a Christian (and even if you don't), here are some questions for your consideration. Do you know that you know God? Do you know that you have passed from death to life? Do you know that you are in him (Christ) and that he is in you? Do you know that you will have confidence on the day of judgment? Do you know that you are a child of God? Do you know that you have eternal life?

If you answer most/all of these questions in the affirmative, upon what is your confidence based? How do you know that you know these things? If you answer most/all of these questions in the negative, what is keeping you from having assurance? Satan's plan is for us to live either in doubt or self-deception. God's plan is for us to live with both certainty and confidence.

The apostle John wrote a letter "so that you may know" these things. God wants you to know for sure where you stand with him! A faith riddled with doubt is not victorious. A confident faith that is based on personal performance or false theology will fail you in the end. But an assurance that is based on the truth of God's revealed word will result in a victorious and powerful life now and confidence before God on the final day. Do you know?

Hanging In There

2007-03-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today in the nursing home in Pittsfield, Illinois, there was a very special celebration. Grandma Rhul turned 104 today! I thought that some of you who read this blog would want to know that! Congratulations Grandma! Another year and still hanging in there!

Helping a Sick Friend

2007-03-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

I don't want this to become an advice column, but if you are open to some today, please read on. The next time someone tells you that he is ill or just not feeling well, don't make him feel like he either has ignored his health purposely or he is ignorant of what it takes to be in good health. Here's what I mean:

Don't question him about his usual practices and then talk about how you "never get sick" because you"eat" this or "take" that.
Don't offer remedies based on your experience in overcoming similar symptoms.
Don't say anything at all, if you really think that all illness is the result of a person not taking proper care of himself.

Here's a thought -- when someone is physically down and out, offer your advice, opinions and personal experience ONLY if you've been asked for it. Because by offering our sage advice and wealth of experience and expertise in all matters of health, we are not giving our ill friend the benefit of the doubt (that he actually knows what he is doing), or we put him on the defensive, or worse yet, we make him feel guilty, because somehow, it's his fault that he's ill.

I know we mean well, but really here's what he needs: to know that we care and that he is in our thoughts and prayers. Because sometimes, in spite of our best efforts to be as healthy as possible, we get sick anyway!

What's In A Name?

2007-03-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

The reason my mom gave me my name is that she hated nick names; so it was either Bruce or Brian, and Brian won out. Never the less I've had a few nick names, some of which made sense, but none of which stuck for any length of time (e.g. Bri Guy or Big B). The one that did stick for a while doesn't make a lot of sense at first. For four years of high school, I wasn't known as Brian by my friends or teachers. Everyone called me Chuck! My friends would call my house and ask, "Is Chuck home? Can I speak with Chuck?". It must have driven my mom crazy. I'm not even entirely sure who started calling me Chuck or why, but I know it had something to do with my obsession with the Charles Schultz comic strip "Peanuts" and with the fact that I was the pitcher on our baseball team. My nickname was so exclusively used at school that I went steady with a girl for 3 months before she even heard my real name and when she did, she didn't know who this "Brian" was. Although I've been a Brian to everyone since high school I've maintained my love of the Peanuts character and so this Christmas a good friend of mine created an animated Christmas story about me and called it "A Charlie Brian Christmas" - Charlie Brown with a beard and glasses!

Hi! I'm Adopted

2007-02-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

I have never met my biological parents. Before I was born arrangements were made for me to go home from the hospital with my adoptive parents. I think I've always known that I was adopted; at least, I can't remember a time not knowing I was adopted and according to my mom's stories I actually enjoyed letting others know what I knew. But it got a little complicated for my mom to always have to explain my outbursts to whomever I met. She told me that whenever she would introduce me to people and say, "This is my son Brian" my first words would be "Hi! I'm adopted!" I guess I was quite proud of that fact...and I still am.
My biological parents both died a long time ago, so I never got the chance to thank them for giving me to John and Alice Felushko! They were proud of adopting me and I was proud of being adopted. In the last year of her life I was visiting my mom at her apartment and out of the blue she asked me, "Do you ever regret being adopted?" I didn't hesitate a second in my response: "Absolutely not!". I was blessed because I was taken in by two wonderful people who chose to love me the best way they knew how and they never once gave me any reason to doubt their love! My biological parents "had me". But my parents who raised me, chose me and loved me! What more could I ask for. So I'm still proud to say, "Hi! I'm adopted".

In the Living Years

2007-02-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

It was January 5, 1979. I was 22 years old, married just over a year and we were expecting our first child in about three months. It was late Friday night and we'd already gone to bed when at about 11 p.m. the phone rang. I answered it, still slightly dazed and not yet awake, to hear my aunt Jean's voice. Since she'd never called me before, I couldn't imagine why she was calling now, so I just started small talking. Suddenly she interrupted me and said, "Johnny's gone." I think I said, "What?" and she said again, "Johnny's gone. I'm so sorry, but he died tonight." Completely unexpectedly, without any medical signs, at 53 years of age, the wall of my dad's heart ruptured and he was gone! We had planned on making the trip as a family of three in the summer from Louisiana to Ontario to spend some time with my parents. Now Sara, 6 months pregnant, and I traveled to Ontario in the January cold and snow to attend my dad's funeral. As I stood there beside his open casket with my mom, his wife of 29 years, I made her this promise, "If we have a son, we'll name him after dad." Two months later on March 10, John Paul Felushko was born in the Ouachita Parish Hospital in West Monroe, Louisiana! "I'm sure I heard his echo in my baby's new born tears. I just wish I could have told him in the living years."

Big Yellow Taxi

2007-02-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

Five of Joni Mitchell's songs were inducted recently into the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame: "Both Sides Now," "Woodstock," "Help Me," "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio," and "Big Yellow Taxi". "Both Sides Now" is the only "contemporary" song I learned to play on the piano during my piano lesson days and my mom used to love it when I would play it and sing it.
In the lyrics of "Big Yellow Taxi" there is a line in the refrain that is significant and, unfortunately, eternally true - "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone!" I think we've all experienced that sense of loss and regret that comes when something or someone is taken away that we know we never truly appreciated. Instead we took it/him/her for granted, perhaps thinking that we'd have this situation or relationship for a long, long time, yet. However, I think someone else very wise and experienced said, "There are no guarantees in life and the only certainty is that one day we will all die!" Being "in it 4 life" means being grateful for all that we have, experiencing it to the full and rejoicing in it right now! That's the only way not to have regrets for lost opportunities and joy, when the Big Yellow Taxi does arrive, often unexpectedly!

Down But Not Out

2007-01-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

Grandma is still with us! At almost 104 years old she was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism after having undergone various blood tests, x-rays and a CT scan. The treatment seems to be working and she'll be admitted to a rehab situation for recovery! I think most of us give up too easily when troubles come our way. We're so ready to pack it in at the first sign of difficulty, resistance, opposition or challenge. I was listening to a Garth Brooks' song the other day and found these words both challenging and encouraging:
"Too many times we stand aside and let the water slip away; until what we've put off till tomorrow, now becomes today. So don't you stand there on the shoreline and say you're satisfied. Choose to chance the rapids and dare to dance the tide."
Whatever it is you are doing, if you really believe it in, go for it and don't quit. There will be troubles. You will stumble and fall. But when you want to quit, think of Grandma Rhul - 104 and still going; even if not always strong, she's still going! What are you doing today?

Faith as a Constant

2007-01-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

We just got word today that Grandma Rhul's health is most definitely deteriorating. No one can tell whether it will be a fast decline or slow, but given the fact that she will be 104 years old in March, it would seem reasonable to conclude that it will be sooner rather than later. What a life she has lived so far! Think of all the changes she has seen happen in the world since 1903! From horse drawn buggies to automobiles to jets to space shuttles. She was born the year the Wright brothers had their first successful flight. But one thing that has remained constant in her life has been her faith in God and her belief that Jesus is God's Son and the Bible is his word. And it has been that faith that has motivated her to be one of the most serving people I have known -- as she nursed many family members and friends through various illnesses; some were much younger than she, yet she's outlived most. Grandma, like the rest of us, has many weaknesses, shortcomings, mistakes and failings, but whatever she took on she did with all her heart, soul, mind and strength. That's the way she's lived and I'm confident that the way she'll leave this world!

2007-01-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

I was reflecting on some of Jesus' teachings years ago when I realized that Jesus didn't come only to give us life, but he came to show us and to teach us how to live (in that order). We've all heard it said, "Anything worth doing is worth doing well". I believe that life is worth doing and that the only way it works is if we really go after it; give it all we've got! Jesus said the greatest command was that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. What if we also took that approach to everything and everyone we choose to be involved with and in? What if we had that mindset about our marriages, our parenting, our jobs and our relationships and interactions with family, friends, neighbours and even strangers? Someone said, "You get out of life what you put into it". My goal is to put myself into everyone and everything, heart, soul, mind and strength -- starting with my relationship with God! I'm in it 4 life? How about you?