Thy will be done

A quote from an old friend from Victoria concerning prayer:

"1. It is, first, doxology. We call God by name. To pray in an orthodox manner, God must be rightly named. He must first be called GOD, and not 'Santa'. God is free and holy and other than us. He is not bound by our expectations. He is, rather, true to His word.Interpretation, however, is a receiver-act. It is our act. God is not true to our interpretation, an act of our mind, but rather to His word, an act of His mind. Therefore, to say "Thy will be done" is to invoke a word we have not yet fully understood; it is to expect a world which we cannot ever fully, well, expect.To ask for God to move on our interpretation of His word is to ask Him to create the world we imagine. It is to ask Him to make His will OUR will, not the other way around. In other words, it is "My will be done.""

Matthew Davidson

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Serendipity

A thought by J. B. Phillips:

"Now John, in his wisdom, points out in inspired words, 'if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.' This is a gentle but salutary rebuke to our assumption that we know better than God! God, on any showing, is infinitely greater in wisdom and love than we and, unlike us, knows all the factors involved in human behavoir.
We are guilty of certain things, and these we must confess with all honesty, and make reparation where possible. But there may be many factors in our lives for which we are not really to blame at all. We did not choose our heredity; we did not choose the bad, indifferent, or excellent way in which we were brought up.
This is naturally not to say that every wrong thing we do, or every fear or rage to which we are subject today, is due entirely to heredity, environment, and upbringing. But it certainly does mean that we are in no position to judge ourselves; we simply must leave that to God, who is our Father and 'is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.' It is almost as if John is saying, 'If God loves us, who are we to be so high and mighty as to refuse to love ourselves?'"

Oh these words were good for me to read today. I have so often considered myself the authority on myself and have refused to love myself. I would even say that at one time I hated myself with a pure loathing of something corrupt. But Jesus in His rich mercy stripped away the filth that my eyes could only see and showed me that for which He died and loves. Thank you Jesus.

Remembrance

I will take this time to reflect upon Remembrance Day and its significance to me.

Remembrance Day. A day to remember. Lest we forget. A moment to remember years of bloodshed and sacrifice. We remember that our fathers bravely agreed to fight for the freedom of all people. And we remember this so that we might not find ourselves slaying each other again. And perhaps also we remember this time and that there was good reason for us to fight ... but it was not for fightings sake. It was for my sake and yours.

How many of my children will remember as I do, as my father does or as my grandfather did, the atrocities and realities of World War. It is becoming so far removed from our generations. A dusty page in a history book in the mezannene of a library. I am acutely aware of the horror, bloodshed and pain that marked the second world war. And that by choice. My grandfather (Papa), now dead, fought in that war as a tailgunner in a lancaster bomber. It was a horror he did not relish to revisit. My grandpa from my mothers side abstained as a mennonite pacifist and was unofficially 'interned' on Texada Island for the duration of the war. These people are dear to me and I know them and could see in their eyes that memory of a war that covered the globe.

Let us not forget and in so doing honour the memory of those who fought and died.

Lest we forget.

Pioneer Work Weekend

This last weekend Kari and I journeyed back to Thetis Island and Pioneer Pacific Camp for their annual Fall work weekend. What a blast! Seeing old friends and helping such a great camp improve and grow in so many ways.

Here is the new building called the 'Sea Swell'. I had the privilege of helping many others insulate this building. Well, mostly, we didn't quite get finished, but almost.

Christopher and Andrea live here on site with their three children and are doing a great job keeping Pioneer Pacific alive, vibrant and active throughout the year. Thanks to you two for your courageous hearts.

Quitting

Quitting. It's not a verb that is looked highly upon. I have quit a number of things in my life. Most recently was a construction job here in the town of Hope. I worked 9 days. And now I'm done. Why? you ask. Well, the long and the short of it is ... I was miserable doing it. The work itself was less than satisfying. In fact, I was de-satisfied working there. I find no fulfillment or joy in constructing houses. There is the odd good feeling of finally figuring out how to do something after having been told 20 times, but as a whole, this job was not doing wonders for my psyche. My wife can attest. It had nothing to do with my employer or fellow employee. The work was depressing me. I've never really felt that before ... go figure (whatever that means).

I have quit one other job in my life. That was a landscaping job. The employer was not someone that treated or trained me well and I felt that his lack of care was detrimental to my person. So ... see ya!

Also, once, when I was young, I was asked the question by my mother if I wanted to continue playing soccer the next year/soccer season. Given a perfectly open option without persuasion or manipulation I decided, in my own little mind, that I would prefer not to continue playing soccer, but would have rather done something else. WELL. Dad was NOT happy about that. And it seemed other members of my extended family were also upset by my decision (or perhaps the fact that I was given the option of 'quitting'). By the way, here is me at the age of 9. I played on a soccer team for an Abbotsford little soccer league. We came second over all after a shoot out. I had a fantastic time and enjoyed it thoroughly. My Uncle Dale was our coach and I learned a great deal from him.

So why am I giving all this historical nonsense to you ... I'm not sure. But I know that quitting does not make me feel good. It is in my nature as a man to abhore giving up the fight. We're taught as males to fight to the last man and to work hard until the job is done. And I guess I struggle with this action.