Opening your gifts

 

I was thinking, like I always do, about what I would have liked to be doing instead of doing what I’m doing.  Where would I be and so on and so on.  This thought led to another and another and soon enough, I was thinking about the gifts that we are all born with and how some of these are extraordinary and unique yet they sit in our mental cupboards, unopened.  We are scared to open them as doing so could drastically change our lives the way we knew it.  We are influenced by our peers not to open them or we are too shy.

 

On Christmas morning, parents sit with expectant looks on their faces as they watch their little ones rip at the gift wrappings on their presents.  Cameras are cocked and ready to record the looks of excitement and glee on the little ones faces as they see what is inside.  Upon opening a much-wanted present, all unwrapping comes to an end as the child is now occupied with that one gift.  “Come over here and open the other presents you have under the tree”.  Each present is special and without opening each one, the child would never know if there’s one that trumps his now-prized present.

 

This can be the used to describe our lives.  We choose our paths based on financial reasons, popularity, peer pressure or other.  We settle on that one gift that make us at least comfortable.  We have not explored our other gifts because we feel comfortable ‘settling’ with what we have.  Married with kids and a basically comfortable life, we fear rolling the dice could upset our lives and so our gift, our unique talent is left unopened and unexplored.

What is your talent that sits unopened?  Life is short, rip it open and see where it takes you.

 

Related articles

• What’s your gift? (thundergodblog.wordpress.com)

 

Thursday’s Thoughts: Winnipeg’s Praying Police Chief

A few weeks ago, the City of Winnipeg got its first black police chief when Jamaican born Devon Clunis got the nod for the position.  Devon, who has over 20 years of service, also served as the police chaplain.  Since his selection, his strong Christian faith has been a topic of discussion.

In one of his first meeting with the media,  (A Christian news magazine), Clunis wore his faith on his sleeve and said the following:

EXCERPTS from the ChristianWeek story, New police chief: prayer will play a role in reducing violent crime

– “I’m a little tired of us… being ‘(the) murder capital of Canada,’ ” says Devon Clunis, who was appointed chief of police at the beginning of October. “People consistently say, ‘How are you going to solve that?’ It’s not simply going to be because we’re going to go out there and police it away. I truly believe that prayer will be a significant piece of that.

“What would happen if we all just truly — I’m talking about all religious stripes here — started praying for the peace of this city and then actually started putting some action behind that?” he adds. “I believe something phenomenal is going to happen in our city. I truly believe it’s coming. I don’t think I’ve arrived at this position just by chance.”

– Clunis attributes his success to God. He says he has never asked God to make him a powerful person, but rather he has prayed that God make him a leader who treats people with dignity and respect and who is successful in his endeavours.

– Clunis says at the end of the day, he just wants to give of himself to help the community.

– “God still cares, He’s still involved in our lives,” Clunis says, “and I believe without a shadow of a doubt the only reason that I am in this position is because God is involved in it. Without a shadow of a doubt.”

Yesterday, the media was in a frenzy.  ’Chief urges prayer to fight crime’ was the general headline, his words sadly taken out of context.

Chief Clunis has my support.  I am happy to see a man of strong christian values in his position.  I have seen, read and heard of too many ‘bad cops’ and ‘dirty cops” that I, for the most part, have lost faith in them.   Clunis has given me a reason to have at least a glimmer of hope.

As for using prayer as part of his arsenal, why not?  With Winnipeg the nation’s crime capital, what do we have to lose? And while you kneel in prayer for our city,  don’t forget to say one for Clunis.  He needs our prayers and support and we need him to stay strong in his faith no matter what comes.

Oh, and like him, I also believe that the only reason he’s in this position is ‘because God is involved in it’.

All the best, Chief!  Keep the faith!

Just my take.

 

Related articles

• Winnipeg police chief proposes prayer to help combat crime (cbc.ca)
• Winnipeg police chief says comments on prayer and crime misconstrued (ctvnews.ca)
• Combat crime with prayer urges Winnipeg police chief (metronews.ca)
• Local Hero: Devon Clunis preaches the power of prayer (stjohnscathedral.ca)
• Winnipeg police chief to speak to media (cbc.ca)
• Police chief ‘misconstrued’ on controversial prayer statement (theglobeandmail.com)

Church Clothes

Growing up in the St. Vincent, my choice of clothes was limited due to financial constraints.  That did not stop me from having what we called ‘church clothes’.  Church clothes were set aside to wear to church on Sundays.  It was just wrong to wear them on any other day.  (I guess this is where the term Sunday best came from).

My church clothes were not limited to just pants and shirts, they also included underwear, shoes and socks.  It was understood that everyone had his or her church clothes.  It was normal.  At least to me.

When I moved to Canada, I brought this custom with me and separated my regulars from my church clothes.  If I did not attend church, my clothes sat unworn.

It was with some reluctance that I first wore a pair of jeans to church.  Even though I blended in with every other non-church-clothes-wearing worshipper, I felt like an outcast.  Here I was dressed like a commoner in the presence of God! How disrespectful!  I grew up in Catholic household where even my grandmother tried to upstage those who were half her age by dressing to the nines.

Later, I changed churches and attended The Seventh Day Adventist Church and we wore our Sunday Saturday best at church.  Jackets and ties were common.  We dressed to impressed, I’m just not sure who.

I am now a member of a jeans and t-shirt wearing church.  Shorts and slippers are not uncommon.  You are even allowed to enjoy your favorite brew as you listen to the sermon.  There is a casual air of acceptance in this church.  Last week I even saw a woman wearing sweats with paint all over the backside.  That, I thought was pushing it a bit.

Talking about pushing it, some church members and non-members seem to get carried away by the lack of a dress code and go overboard with their choice of attire.  Last week, as I looked towards the screen to read the words of a song, the sight of a naked flesh caught my eye.  Instinctively, my eyes zeroed in on the distraction and it was a young woman wearing a back-exposing top.  I am a Christian but I’m also a man. A heterosexual man, so yes, I found it a bit distracting.

A church is made up of all kinds of struggling people.  It’s the reason we are there, right? right??  That and to praise God.  If I had a drinking problem, the last thing I would want to see is someone drinking in the place where I came to get help.  If I had a sexual problem, a church with female church members flashing legs and cleavages would not be in my best interest now, would it?

I know some of you women had that sexy dress or top that has hung in your closet for a long time because you gained some weight.  Now you have worked hard and lost a few pounds and understandably, you want to show off your new bod and wear the dress you haven’t worn in forever.  Props to you! Congrats!  But church is just not the place to wear it.  We are here for you and support you in your weight loss but can we get an hour or so to focus on God and not your body?

What Would Muhammad Do?

A film depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad was recently released.  Apparently, it showed the him as a womanizer and a pedophile among other things.  Followers of Islam were not impressed in the least, understandably.  But, would a man who spoke peace and claimed to be a messenger from God,  take kindly to blood being shed on his behalf, especially innocent blood?  What would Muhammad do in this case?

As we speak.  Or as I blog, thousands of Muslims are rioting in countries around the world.   (Some call it protesting but it’s not a protest, it’s a riot).  They are engaging in criminal acts that I am sure would be frowned upon by their prophet.  Shouldn’t they be practicing the fruit of the spirit?  (But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.)

If the video wrongly depicted Muhammad, I am certain that these uprisings are not doing him any favors either.

Just my take.

Related articles

• Key Questions, Answers About the Prophet Muhammad (abcnews.go.com)
• Why Are Muslims So Concerned with Muhammad? (religiondispatches.org)
• Obama Administration: “Back Off Muhammad” (peacemoonbeam.typepad.com)

Exercising and testing your faith

One of my Facebook friends uses her statuses to testify about her love of God and her relationship with him.   Her statuses are all to glorify him and I have yet to read one that was just about her.   I have always admired her for giving props where it was due.  As a local entertainer,  it would have been easy and excusable for her to exalt herself  but she chose to put God on the pedestal instead.  As I often do when I am touched by what someone did or said, I made sure to let her know how refreshing her statuses were to me.

Reading her last couple statuses however, I got the impression that she was going through a personal struggle of sorts, one that was apparently pushing her faith to the limit and raising questions about God’s plans for her.

Today, her status read, “ Sometimes, I wonder what GOD is doing …when things that make no sense happen in my life. When a problem arises … without any warning.This is when my faith is tested and I am tempted to give up. But, then I remember that … “Faith is being sure of what I hope for and certain of what I cannot see.” Re-assuring me, that even when problems arise, GOD is fully aware of my situation … and HE will work out everything for me … in His perfect time”.

Even though she surprised me with the line, ‘tempted to give up’, I was happy to see that she remembered what faith was all about.  Too often, we as Christians forget that like non-Christians, we are also prone to temptations, disappointments and other heartbreaks of life.  Having a deep relationship with Christ does guarantee us immunity.  It helps us to face  and overcome these setbacks. With faith, we know and believe that God will see us through.

As I commented on my friend’s status, faith is like your muscles.  It also needs to be exercised.  So think of temptations as the weights that our faith must carry to get a workout.  Without these hardships, who needs faith?  How would we know if we have faith if it’s not exercised and tested?  I can say I am a great at math until I am actually tested and prove I suck at it.  So too, we can say we have faith but it’s time to test it, we have little or none.

God never promised us a bed of roses.  He never said, ‘Follow me and you will live a stress-free life with everything you want.’  If we keep this in mind, we will be ready for the next hiccup or road block that comes our way.  We will say, ‘Oh here comes another test.  Let’s see how I do on this one.’  Remember, we have never seen a problem that HE couldn’t fix.  And really, if we REALLY DO believe in him and have faith in him, there is no room for worry as faith and worry cannot co-exist.

How strong is your faith?

Related articles

• What is Faith? (sthaelrazor.com)
• Let your faith remain strong… (the1savedbygrace.com)
• Defending the Faith Requires Definitions (pjcockrell.wordpress.com)
• On The Importance of Faith in Action (cardboardmagazine.wordpress.com)
• Why and What Do You Believe? (ising4god.com)
• Hmmm… Keep the Faith! (myhmmmcollection.wordpress.com)
• Close Your Eyes to Open Your Faith (gggceo.wordpress.com)
• because he trusted God, and had faith. The faith of a mustard seed. (transientreflections.com)
• Is the Bible’s definition of faith opposed to logic and evidence? (winteryknight.wordpress.com)
• Have Faith within (jilljacobs7.wordpress.com)

The Lord's Prayer with a unique twist

Reblogged from Musings Of A Daddy:

I really love this:

"Our Father Who Art In Heaven.

Yes?

Don't interrupt me. I'm praying.

But -- you called ME!

Called you?
No, I didn't call you..
I'm praying.
Our Father who art in Heaven.

There -- you did it again!

Did what?

Called ME.
You said,
"Our Father who art in Heaven"
Well, here I am..
What's on your mind?

Read more… 891 more words

I just had to reblog, especially since I have been blogging on The Lord's Prayer lately

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Lead us not into temptation…we can get there on our own.

Lord’s Prayer rock, detail (Photo credit: jessamyn)

I recently blogged about the impact of the line from The Lord’s Prayer,  ’Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’   Read here.  I blogged about how we say it loosely and never really think of how it is applied in our lives.   Another such line that I think is bloggable is the line ‘Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil’.

In The Lord’s Prayer, we are asking God not to lead us into temptation but since we go there all on our own,  this makes me wonder if we are actually saying, Lord, you don’t have to come with me as I go down the road of temptation.  You stay back here while I dabble for a bit.  Hey, but be sure to stay in the getaway car so you could deliver me from the evil that I encounter.  

So if we pray to God not to lead us into temptation, who is responsible for leading us into the daily temptations we allow ourselves to succumb to?  Not HIM because I doubt he finds any delight in taking his children by the hands and leading them into any form of temptation.  He was mad when Adam and Eve allowed themselves to be tempted in the garden so that would confirm this.   Hmm….so maybe we are the culprit.  We wade into temptation all on our own, sometimes a bit too happily.    Maybe we just don’t want him around to see us enjoying the evil fruit but we sure want him around to forgive us after, right?

Lord, deliver us from the evils that tempt us.

Related articles

• And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us… (myvuze.wordpress.com)
• Do you Mean it? (phillipbrande.wordpress.com)
• Jesus’ Temptation & Our Own (pastorreeder.wordpress.com)
• “Teach Us How to…Live”, An Early Church Fathers Take on “The Lord’s Prayer III (notforitchingears.com)
• I can’t say the Lord’s Prayer (bbressman.wordpress.com)
• The Lord’s Prayer – An Adaptation (godspace.wordpress.com)

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…

The Lord’s Prayer in a Cemetery in Henderson, Kentucky (Photo credit: Lori SR)

How deep is that line taken from The Lord’s Prayer?  Until a while ago, I never paid any mind to the words of that prayer.  Ever since I started uttering words, I was taught it but it had become more of an automatic recital.  It was ‘the automatic pray’.

As my faith matured, I started to seek deeper prayer sessions with my prayers focusing more on depth and meaning.  I also started to meditate, if you can call it that, on the words of The Lord’s Prayer.  I realized then that instead of being ‘The automatic pray’ it was instead ‘The ultimate prayer’.

‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’ was a very poignant line that stood out in the prayer.  I often ponder on it and it makes me search myself.  Am I really forgiving others for trespassing against me, thereby warranting God’s forgiveness?  Sadly, often the answer is a resounding no.

So saying that, should I omit that line until I could say it without crossing my fingers?  How could I in all honesty, ask God’s forgiveness while I carry around a suitcase of memories?  Memories of the trespasses against me and those who perpetrated them?  I can’t.  We can’t.

Even if you are a non-christian, this can also apply to you.  Forgiving is not based on a belief.  Forgiving relieves us of the burden of hate and animosity that we carry around because we have the person in our mind and maybe plotting revenge.  With forgiveness comes great inner peace.  If you are a christian,  forgiving brings forgiveness.  It is wrong to think that one would need to be God fearing to even thing about forgiving.  It’s like saying I can’t be good because I don’t believe in God.

If you haven’t done so yet, next time you say the Lord’s Prayer, meditate on every line and feel it.  You will see why it is the ultimate pray.

Lord teach me how to forgive others so that I in turn could receive your forgiveness.  Amen

Related articles

• Trespasses (divinitytreasures.wordpress.com)
• May 16, 2012 (proactive.typepad.com)
• Something to Think About (meshawnsenior.wordpress.com)
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• The truth about forgiveness (clydestyle.org)
• The Lord’s Prayer, Revisited (pattidavis.wordpress.com)

Calm down, it’s only a T-shirt!

A Grade 12 student in Nova Scotia was suspended for wearing a T-shirt with ‘Life is Wasted Without Jesus’ written on it.  Read here.  I totally agree with that sentiment BUT that’s my opinion that reflects my beliefs.

Now here is my take on this growing censorship of religious freedom by schools.  Schools are places where children of all race and culture mingle.  There are many beliefs and practices that must be respected and appreciated unless forced upon another.  Wearing a shirt that publicize ones beliefs is much the same as wearing a turban that reflects the wearer is a Sikh, which is also a religious group.

Have you seen some of the T-shirts worn by students lately?  They advertise everything, sex, drugs, guns, etc.  The schools seem to be ok with this.  And how about the attire worn by some of the school girls?  Too revealing, too short, too sexy but it’s ok as long as they show no visible signs of religious affiliation.  Right?

Why the increasing crackdown on christian-based practices in schools and public places?  Smothering the truth does not make it go away, it in fact makes it more relevant.

So who are the real bullies here?

Related articles

• N.S. student suspended for wearing religious T-shirt (theglobeandmail.com)
• Student’s ‘Jesus’ shirt sparks feud with school (cbc.ca)
• N.S. school board turns to mediation in fracas over ‘offensive’ Christian T-shirt (vancouversun.com)
• Canadian student suspended from school for wearing a ‘Jesus’ T-shirt (mysteryworshipers.wordpress.com)
• Jesus lobs a controversy bomb into the Nova Scotia school system, leaves, says, “Deal with it, people.” (cafewitteveen.wordpress.com)

‘Playing’ Jesus

A mega church in Winnipeg is attempting to make church more appealing by re-enacting biblical events in a contemporary form.  Their Easter messages are delivered using props and costumes of popular figures and movies.   This past Easter, their Message was entitled ‘Batman: The Dark Night’.  The ‘actors’ including the pastor, were all in full and authentic costumes.

Now I am not sure how I feel about this.  Reading the comments, not too many are ready for something such as this.  Blasphemy is used a lot to describe it.  I can see how something like this could attract people to the church but what happens next Sunday when the biblical stories are delivered raw, uncut and without the trimmings?

I am old school.  To a point.  Tell me the story of Jesus the way it is.  Don’t package it in colorful wrappings.  I don’t want to imagine him as the Dark Knight, no matter the good intentions.  But that’s just me.  Like I said, I am old school.  I do however, enjoy contemporary worship over the traditional hum-drum hymns singing.

On the flipside, Jesus did use parables to drive home his points.  The Bible is filled with stories that he used to make us understand.  So maybe what the church is doing is not all that bad.  If even one soul is gained through this, then who am I or you to talk?

Read all about it here

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