The Dangers of Easter

You may not be fully aware of this, but there is a great danger in Easter. Don’t misunderstand me. I think that it is a tremendous thing to have a time of year when we focus all of our attention together on the greatest event in all of human history, the turning point in the destiny of mankind, the Lord Jesus Christ giving Himself for us, laying down His life and suffering for us, being crucified and then raised again from death and the grave as risen Lord and conquering King, triumphant over sin, death and hell!!!

So what could the dangers of Easter possibly be, you might be wondering? Well, the danger is that, in setting a time of year to focus on these greatest of truths, we can fall into the trap of not giving them the priority they deserve the rest of the year. In fact, this is not only the danger of Easter, but it is the danger of Christmas too! And, come to think of it, it is also the danger we face at the beginning of every single week because Mondays are just as holy as Sundays, or at least they should be. Should our passion for Christ be any less on Friday than it is on Sunday? Or next Friday compared to Good Friday?

From the teachings of the New Testament, and particularly those of the Apostle Paul (See Romans 14:1-12 ; Galatians 4:8-11 & Colossians 2:16-23), we can understand the glorious truth that every day is resurrection day because every single thing we enjoy as blessings in our lives as Christians are a reality because, and only because, of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The saving work of Christ upon the cross and His victorious resurrection, also on our behalf, is just as relevant and significant today as it was last weekend, and will be next Thursday too.

The observance of what we call Easter can be a very good thing, but there is this danger. So, what should we do to avoid this danger? Is there some way that we can ensure that we don’t fall into this trap? Here is a way - make everyday of every week of every month of every year of your life a celebration of thanksgiving and worship of the crucified and risen Lord. When you draw that first conscious breath each morning, remember that He has given you life. Everyday, when you put your feet on the floor, take the time to remember that you live because He lives; that He died to give you life and that your life is a gift from the God who loves you that much, and then walk into each day with a heart beating for Jesus. That is what it means to live as a Christian. How glorious is that!!!

Chickadees

Last week I wrote about chickens. Well, kind of. This week I’m writing about chickadees. Just because I want to. I think chickadees are amazing. Sure, lots of things are amazing in this great big incredible world that God made, but chickadees are something else.

Now, I know that not everyone thinks chickadees are a big deal. After all, they are not really big at all. In fact, they are really very small, and seemingly insignificant. That is one of the reasons I like them so much (apart from their incredible repertoire of course). It is their DEFIANCE!!! They refuse to be dismissed. They defy the enemy. They stare that great big harsh Canadian north wind right in the eye and they don’t even blink. At least I’ve never seen one blink. They eat winter for breakfast. They might not be big on the outside but, mister, they are big on the inside! They can tough it out with the best of them. Those other birds can fly south every winter and wimp-out in some tropical paradise but not these little guys. No sir. They wouldn’t even consider it. They say, ‘bring it on’. You’d think their little feet would freeze and fall off, but appearances can be deceiving. I think those little chickadees are a great testimony for God because of the way they defy the elements; the gods of this world, with their assumptions and preconceptions. They don’t appear to be any great thing, but then, there they are, living out their little lives with supernatural strength in the midst of the raging forces of a big bad world. They remind me of David, with armies looking on, staring down the giant in the land. Appearances can be deceiving for sure.

You think I’m being melodramatic but I’m really not. These little guys inspire me to no end. Those bitter cold winds and sub-zero temperatures do their utmost to drive away any sign of life and, meanwhile, what does the little chickadee do? He just keeps on doing his thing, the thing that God created him to do. There are these people who have been given a strong voice in our world today that boldly proclaim that all of this incredible creation we see around us just happened, by chance and without cause. They want us to believe that if things were to just somehow happen, this is what we would somehow end up with! They profess to have an answer for everything. I don’t hear any real answers coming out of their mouths at all; just a lot of bitter cold rhetoric and nasty animosity towards God; a lot of ranting and raving and going on. But, if you disagree with them they will belittle you and intimidate you. Don’t think so, just ask a Christian on a university campus. They are like bullies on the playground who want everyone to cower before them in hopes that it will somehow sooth their own self-doubt.

Yeah, I know, they have an explanation for how the blood flow in those little feet allow the little guys to function in such a cold climate, quite comfortably I’m sure. They have an explanation for everything. They have all the answers. They’d really like you to think so. But they don’t seem to realize that they really haven’t explained anything. Science tells us how things are. It doesn’t tell us how it came to be, at least real science hasn’t explained that. Pseudo science maybe “… a hundred million years ago…” Give me a break!!! More importantly, they can’t explain WHY?! Why what? Why anything! They have no ‘why’. They have no ‘why’… no meaning… no purpose… no hope… no One… Why, even a little chickadee defies their unbelief. I just love those little guys.

“Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him… But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things.”

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

Florence's Chickens

My wife Florence has had it in her mind, I should really say in her heart, for quite some time now, that she really would like to have chickens. I’m beginning to think that she may be wishing she had married a farmer rather than a pastor.

Not to be deterred, she is a very innovative woman. When you look at this picture you probably see pheasants but Florence calls them her ‘chickens’. I guess she figures that if she can’t have real chickens she’ll have substitute ‘chickens’.

Don’t be fooled though. She is not only innovative, she is also determined. Florence cuts my hair. She has for as long as we’ve been a couple, but a while back I started paying her. It’s kind of fun really. I even give her a good big tip every time. She takes the money each time and she is saving it up for - ? - you guessed it – chickens! And now you know why I’ve been wearing my hair so short these days. It began about the same time that Florence decided that chickens were in her future.

Of course, to have chickens you have to have a place to keep them and it has to be warm and dry and sheltered from the wind. Let’s just say that it isn’t likely to happen in the near future. So, for now, all winter long, she lovingly puts cracked corn out for her substitute ‘chickens’. The crows get their share, of course, but she derives great delight out of watching her ‘chickens’ make their little pilgrimage up the driveway from the river bank each morning and afternoon for a feed of sweet corn.

Paul tells us we need to be content with what we have (1Tim 6). It occurs to me that there is a very strong correlation between, being content with what we have, and learning to appreciate what we’ve got. What happens so often is that we get so focused on all of the desirable features of those things we want but don’t have, that we overlook the really cool things about what we do have. It’s almost like a type of spiritual blindness, the result of which means we can miss out by failing to enjoy or appreciate all of the good things that God has allowed into our lives. Someone has said that “contentment is simply wanting what you have”. I guess that is the wisdom behind the ancient counsel to ‘count our blessings’.

Who knows, maybe someday Florence will get to have real chickens that sit and lay eggs and everything. Until then, something tells me she will continue to take great delight in feeding the pheasants and the crows and a host of other creatures. As for the rest of us, maybe we can console ourselves in the fact that, though the grass may not appear as green where we are on this side of the fence, at least we don’t have to put up with the bull either. I might not be a farmer but I do know what makes grass green.

Old Friends

Ted Davidson died last weekend. I conducted his funeral service on Tuesday. Ted and Winnie Davidson were neighbours of ours when I was a kid growing up at home. Many days I would jump on my bike and peddle up to Ted and Winnie’s to play with their son Lyle on the farm. My own dad had stopped farming by the time I was old enough to have a hand in it, but I have many memories from my childhood of time spent on Ted and Winnie’s farm.

Ted was a quiet man but a great story teller. He always seemed to have time for people whether it was just to visit or to help out someone who needed a helping hand. And that included little people too! I don’t think I ever saw the man in a hurry. He loved life. He loved people. He loved his family.

Children have a unique vantage point when it comes to judging character. They have a way of slipping under our radar, especially after they’ve been around for a while. People generally don’t think of children as being in any position to further their cause one way or another and you don’t get anywhere by impressing children nor have anything to gain from them really. As a result, children often get to see the real person that others don’t get to see.

Ted Davidson was a gentle man. I always liked him; always felt safe and good around him. He had a way of making you feel special like you were somebody; somebody important, even though you were ‘just a kid’. He always seemed glad to see me and genuinely interested in me and how I was doing. You know, they talk about the measure of a man, but sometimes it isn’t easy to really get to know people because we can all put up a pretty good front. But, you can tell a lot about a man when you show up unexpectedly at meal time, tramp through his house, tear his hay mow apart to build forts and tunnels and piles to jump in, chase his cows around the pasture… and Ted was just a truly great man. He was one of the most patient men with children that I can remember from my past, and to me, that really says something. Especially when I consider my own lack of patience a lot of the time.

Then last Friday night I got a call from Lyle. He told me that his dad was not likely going to make it. He was in the hospital and heavily sedated. Lyle asked me if I could swing by and visit for a bit with his mom who was home alone. With that knot that you get in your stomach at times like that, I jumped in the car and headed up the road and landed at the door of that old familiar farm house where Winnie greeted me and welcomed me in just like old times. We talked for a while and then I said to her, “Winnie the last time I was here to visit I left a little something for Ted and you to read through. Do you remember that?”

In October of 2008, as Florence and I were preparing to go on a sabbatical leave that would take us away until last summer I had stopped by Ted and Winnie’s for a little visit and we talked a little about the Lord that day and I prayed with them. And as I was leaving I said, “I want to leave you a little something to read and the next time I get to visit with you I’d like to talk about it.” Ted accepted and I slid a simple gospel tract into his big hand that warm sunny October afternoon.

Now, sitting in their quiet kitchen on a cold icy February evening, I waited to see if she would even remember. Without a word, she slowly and with difficulty, raised herself up from the coach we were sitting on and, with the help of a cane, made her way across the old farm kitchen. Reaching up to a shelf above the stove she took down that same gospel tract and brought it back across the room and placed it in my hand. She said, Ted was waiting my return so he could give it to me.

I was kind of trying to remember myself what it was exactly that I had left with them for though I remembered leaving something, I didn’t remember which tract it was. It was a simple explanation of the gospel. It talked about how we all need to acknowledge our sin to God (Rom 3:23) and put our faith in Jesus Christ to receive forgiveness and to be saved for all eternity (Jn 3:16). It had a place on the back where you could make a decision and sign your name to it. And there it was – ‘James Lawrence Davidson’ (‘Ted’ was a nickname that everyone, including his family, used). There was a place for your address and also for your age. He had written it in – 91 ½.

I can’t tell you how good I felt the moment I flipped that tract over in my hand and sat there suddenly staring at that man’s signature on that piece of paper; that man who had been so kind to me as a young boy, that man who had been such a gentle and patient influence in my young life; such a grand friend for a little neighbour to have. But I can tell you that at that moment my spirit was giving thanks to God.

You really miss people when they die, even if you haven’t spent a lot of time with them really for many years, you just kind of like to have them around because the world just seems like such a better place with them in it. And you always wish you could just see them one more time and hear them speak and watch them tell a story.

But, need I remind you, that is exactly what heaven is for. And Ted is just one more person I will be looking forward to seeing there. How about you?

10 All-Time Favourite Quotes

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” Agatha Christie

“It isn’t hypocrisy to reach for more than we can currently grasp. It isn’t hypocrisy to pursue a purer, braver, more honorable lifestyle than we now possess.” Jim McGuiggan

“I was brought up in a Christian environment where, because God had to be given pre-eminence, nothing else was allowed to be important. I have broken through to the position that because God exists, everything has significance.” Evangeline Paterson

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out." Unknown

“There are two types of people - those who come into a room and say ‘Well, here I am’, and those who come into a room and say, ‘Ah, there you are!’” Unknown

“Never let that which you do not understand rob you of the value of that which you do understand, for the one is founded upon your knowledge and the other upon your ignorance. Believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts. Never make the fatal mistake of believing your doubts and doubting your beliefs.” Unknown

“The poorest of all are those who don’t know the one to thank for the sunshine or to trust in the dark” Unknown

“To be known and still loved is perhaps the greatest thrill of the human soul.” Dave Currie


If you have a favorite quote I’d love to hear from you. Why not send it to me and we’ll post it for others to appreciate.

Steve

Tales of the Riverbank

It was really nice and sunny and quite warm on Tuesday so Florence and I took a walk down by the river. I took this picture of the ice breaking up. Like a lot of people, I’m pretty anxious for any sign of Spring. We also found some tracks that I thought might have been made by a fisher. I sent this picture to my brother Curtis and he said he thinks they are and that their population seems to be up. I was pretty sure I saw one down by the river this past fall but wasn’t close enough to make a definite identification.

You get to see a lot of wildlife when you live on a river bank. Sometimes it reminds me of that show that used to be on when I was a kid that was called ‘Tales of the River Bank’. Only in that one, the animals talked and had tea parties and stuff. Any of you remember that one? It was a CBC production (1959-1961).The main characters were rodents, Roderick the Rat and Hammy the Hamster. In supporting parts were Mrs. Duck, Mrs. Hen, Mr. Weasel, Mr. Guinea-Pig, and Mr. Squirrel.

I also had a fairly large collection of Thornton W. Burgess bedtime story books when I was a kid. I ended up giving them all away after I ‘outgrew’ them but I remember some of the characters… Peter Rabbit, Patty the Beaver, Jimmy Skunk, Sammy Jay, Uncle Billy Possum, Reddy Fox, Prickly Porky, Bobby Coon, Jerry Muskrat … and some really neat places like the Laughing Brook, Smiling Pool and Old Briar Patch. There was a human presence that occasionally made the scene as Farmer Brown would sometimes make it into the story line, but it was always only a cameo performance. After all, Farmer Brown lived way clear up beyond the fields and the story lines were always told from the perspective of the forest animals. As a child, I found that to be totally fascinating. I think it was because I was ‘Farmer Brown’ and I lived way up beyond the field. And though I loved to visit ‘the woods’ every chance I had, and very often did, it was totally cool to be able to read what went on when I wasn’t around!

O well, just a little trip down memory lane. Not sure what purpose it serves if any but it is fun to remember isn’t it! Maybe it’s like taking a mini-vacation. Come on Spring.

Emotional Intelligence

I guess people have been aware for a long time that there are different types of intelligence. Someone years ago coined the phrase ‘book smart’ to describe a person who excels in academics while, by implication, lacks a practical knowledge in everyday kind of stuff.

For my part, I have always wondered why so many really intelligent people struggle so much, both in areas of personal well being, and with a lack of healthy interactions with others.

A while back I came across an article in the May/June 08 issue of REV Magazine by Maurice Graham. In that article, he references some research done by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer, who studied non-cognitive aspects of intelligence and who first coined the phrase ‘emotional intelligence’ in 1990.

Graham writes that, “Initially, they described emotional intelligence as ‘a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions’”. He says also that they later revised their definition of emotional intelligence in this way: “Emotional intelligence involves the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth.”

I found this all very interesting, as I suspect you do as well, because it really explains a lot when you think of it. Our emotions are indication of what is really happening in our hearts after all, and so there is a strong, albeit mysterious, connection between our thoughts and our feelings. Of course, the pressing question in one’s mind when considering this line of thought quickly becomes, can this type of understanding be gained in the same way that you would gain more cognitive intelligence?

The author suggests it is very possible, though not easy. Many of these things are learned, or not learned, at a very early age. He writes, “The (person’s) family of origin provides the incubator for the development of relational skills, which powerfully effect the (person’s) ability to engage in healthy relationships at home and in (community).”

When I read that, I was caused to think of my own parents who modeled incredible relational skills of listening and empathy and the like. I am completely certain that I owe a great debt to them for any success I have had in either my marriage, my family or my work as a pastor/leader. At the same time, my heart goes out to those who weren’t so fortunate. But, I think we need to take heart in the author’s lifeline of hope when he suggests that developing such intelligence as adults, though difficult, is possible.

What are we talking about? Daniel Goleman says that “The key components of ‘emotional intelligence’ include: personal competencies (self awareness and self-management) and social competencies (social awareness and relationship management).”

Again, very interesting stuff. But how would you learn these kinds of things? Forgive me but I have to ask: Is there a book out there that teaches us how to be self-aware, a book that helps us explore our inner selves and enables us to search our own hearts? Is there a book that teaches us personal life management? Is there a book that we can trust that teaches us how to really get along with others? I mean a practical book that we can really trust to be right on the mark and completely true?

In fact there is! Now, I’m not suggesting that a person can learn these things simply by reading or studying a book, but here is the thing - When we honestly and prayerfully allow the truths of God’s Word (that would be the Bible!) to search our hearts, and when we then prayerfully put into practice the truths therein, we are effectively training ourselves to relate to others according to God’s wisdom (‘applied or practical knowledge’) and ways. The Bible is, after all, intended by God for us to be a book on relationships, both our primary relationship with God Himself, and then along with that our relationships with one another.

It’s all about allowing God to speak truth into our personal lives; into our souls, and then applying that truth as He guides us by His Spirit to make the changes that need to be made through life experiences over and over until we know it full well, not just in theory but in practice; not just in concept but in the experience of reality.