Treasure Hunt

So yesterday was an interesting day. I forgot my keys at home and got locked out until James was able to get home. So basically I had 2 hours to wait. So I went to DQ for supper and while there I was thinking "what I'm I gonna do?" So I said, "God, if you wanna give me a divine encounter I'd be cool with that." So immediately I thought of this thing called "Treasure Hunting." I learned about it in a book by Kevin Dedmond. Basically you build up a treasure map by asking God to give you clues. Your treasure is people. From my experience you just write down the first thing that comes to your head and go with it. So right after I figured I'd do this in my spare time, sitting in DQ, I took note of my next things that entered my mind. I didn't question them, I just went with the first thing I thought of. I got Red Jacket, Dark Hair, In the hallway in the Arts building under the Library, Girl, and Sprained Ankle. They seemed really random, but I thought whatever I have an hour and am up for an adventure.

So I went to the location that I got in my list. I walked through and saw a guy in a red jacket walking by, but that was about it. Then I had this feeling I should wait at the computers in that hallway. So I did. I didn't pay much attention to people walking past because I figured if God wanted it to happen it would. Then just as I was surfing the net I randomly looked up and to my shock and amazement I saw this girl in bright red jacket, with dark hair, on crutches walking past. I was speechless and she walked by.

Now I had a decision. First point - cool God talked to me. That's crazy! Second point - Now God wants me to act on this divine encounter He set up. Crap. Now I get to look like I'm insane. Whatever. So I followed her. Not creepy like, just kinda walked slowly. On the elevator I was close to her and said "Ankle?" She was like "Yeah." Now Im like okay God certainly is in this, because I mean without God what are the odds of all that coming together within 1/2 an hour?

She was with a bunch of people so I kinda wanted to wait till she was a little more alone. I like to say its because then she would feel more comfortable, but really I didn't want to look crazy in front of lots of people. So once outside it was just her and one other. I figured it was now or never. So I went up to her and said, "You might think I'm crazy, but" and then I told her how God spoke to me about her being there at that exact time. I told her that Jesus loves her so much that He sent me here to tell her so, and that He wanted show that love by healing her ankle right now. I told her I wasn't gonna try to convert her to Christianity, I just wanted to see her ankle healed. I told her that when I pray for people they get healed, which is true. Then I asked her if I could pray for her ankle and have it healed. She looked at me as if I was crazy, which some of you reading this may be thinking as well, and said, "No thank you." At that I said, "Alright" and simply walked away.

Gives and Takes Away Pt. 2

We have all experienced ourselves or seen someone else experience things that are terrible. We say God "allowed that to happen." In a sense yes He does "allow things to happen," but it is the same as how He allowed Adam and Eve to sin in the first place. This sin brought death to mankind (Genesis 2:17), just like actions today can bring sin and death to people. Thank God Jesus completely redeemed us from sin and death (Isaiah 53:5-6, 1 Peter 2:24, Matthew 26:28, Romans 3:25, Ephesians 1:7, Revelation 1:5). We can still choose sin and death however, and so can others around us.

I believe God allows us all to have a choice in our lives, and sometimes another person or group of people's choices affect our lives. When we choose "sin and death" we reap that in our lives. When others choose "sin and death (example - the way our food is sometimes handled before we eat it)" it affects our lives as well. All of a sudden we are fighting off something that we didn't choose.

Just because something happens, does not mean it is God's will. God's will is revealed in scripture. He is the Giver of good gifts. He says that even humans know how to give good gifts, how much more will your Father in heaven know how (Matthew 7:11). He is saying if you can be a good parent, He can too, and more. A good parent would not take away something that is good for the child (unless possibly this "good thing" has become a "bad thing" because of the place the person has given it in their lives, then God could take this "good thing" away because it has become more important than it should. Then He might even give it back after a while). But to say God's will is that someone is in poverty, sick, unsaved or gone to heaven because of an accident is to thwart the entire purpose of prayer.

The only way we can expect any kind of answers in prayer is to know it is God's will to answer. If we think God sometimes teaches us things by "allowing" us to stay sick or by keeping sickness on us, then we could never be sure its God's will to heal in any situation. We could never pray with any certainty for someone to be healed. We could never have faith for healing.

If we believe it was God's timing when some tragic accident happens, then how could we ever pray for protection for anyone? We couldn't because we would never know if God actually wanted to protect us. The reason its so tragic when someone dies from an accident is because they had more life left. They do go to be with the Lord which is awesome, but its too bad they had to go so soon.

Why do these things happen to believers? I don't know. I don't have those answers. I do know that the Bible says that if we pray God will heal (Matthew 8:17, Isaiah 53:4-5, Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 1:18, 1 Peter 2:24, Psalms 103:3, Matthew 9:5, Matthew 13:15, James 5:14-15, 2 Corinthians 4:11 ), and that He is our Protector (1 Peter 5:6-7, Romans 8:28, Matthew 10:29-30, Ephesians 6:11-13, Psalm 27:1-3, Psalm 55:22, Psalm 62:5-8, John 10:27-29, 1 Corinthians 10:12-13). We cannot let experiences dictate truth, but instead let the Word of God tell us what is true. When the two contradict each other we hold fast to the Word of God and expect our experiences to begin rising to the level of our faith. If I'm going to go down, I'm going down swinging.

In closing, I do not know the reasons why bad things happen to good people. I do know however that God is good. He does not do bad things. To give Him credit for bad things is wrong. God is good (Psalm 100:5, 119:68, Matthew 10:19, John 10:11, 1 Peter 2:3), and that cannot be negotiated with me. If that is lost, Christianity is worthless. Since God is good, He is not doing bad things to people. He is the Redeemer, Saviour, Healer, Provider, Peace, Guide, and Victory. The devil is the one who steals, kills, and destroys (John 10:10, 1 Peter 5:8, Luke 8:12). We need to fight against the devil's schemes. To do this we must believe God is not behind these acts (If we believe He is behind these things we might think we are fighting God). We need to know that God is always good and gives only good gifts, and is not the one stealing, killing, or destroying. We need to pray that God's will is done on earth as it is in Heaven, and have confidence/faith it is His will for this to happen.

Righteousness

"We are now justified (aquitted, made righteous, and brought in right relationship with God) by Christ's blood. " Romans 5:9(AMP)[Also see Colossians 1:14 AMP]

We are made righteous through Christ's blood. One redemptive name of God (which describes His redemptive-relationship with us) is Jehovah-Tsidkenu. This means The Lord is our Righteousness.

"For our sake He made Christ {virtually} to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become {endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of} the righteousness of God {what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness}." 1 Corinthians 5:21 (AMP)

Through the redemption of Jesus we can be found In Christ (Colossians 3:3, Ephesians 2:10). Through Christ's blood (redemption) we have been made righteous.

What makes someone righteous? Christ's blood
Do works make you righteous? No (Ephesians 2:9)
Can you become unrighteous because of your works? No

You have been made righteous by the blood of Christ. Your works cannot make you any more or any less righteous.

When we die and are with God will we be more righteous than we are right now? No

Jesus does not have to die again. He made us righteous by His blood. He doesn't need to do this again.

Therefore, Jesus took care on the "sin problem" on the cross. I used to worry about the possibility of dying before I was able to ask for forgiveness for any sin that I may have forgotten to ask for. I thought that sin stood in between me and God and therefore I would be unworthy to be with Him in eternity. But, Jesus took care of the "sin problem" on the cross, my sin does not make me less righteous.

Just like an earthly parent does not need their child to ask them for forgiveness before they are able to forgive their child, God does not need us to ask for forgiveness before He is able to forgive us. He has already washed away all of our sin, past, present, and future, on the cross (Acts 5:31, Ephesians 1:7). Why would we ask for forgiveness then? Because the act of asking for forgiveness is a part of a healthy relationship. When we are in relationship with the Lord we ask for forgiveness for hurting Him, not because we think He will hold it against us if we don't.

God has made us righteous through His blood. We are in right standing with God. The only requirement is to be found In Him. You are found in Him when you confess with your mouth and believe with your heart that Jesus rose from the dead for your justification (to make you right with God) (Romans 10:9). We are not unworthy anymore. We can approach God in confidence (Hebrews 4:16). We are right with God now.

"For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy." (Hebrews 10:14 AMP)

We are righteous, being made holy. We are made holy by renewing our mind (changing the way we think, rewiring our brain) to the truth of our righteousness. When we change our way of thinking to reflect what is already a reality in us. We are righteous in Him, live in this reality.

The Old Man is Dead

Romans 7 reads, "Do you not know the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you may belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not the old way of the written code."

Our old man is dead. When we accept Christ our sinful nature dies, and no longer resides in us. "We were bound by it, but now have been released from it (v. 5-6)." The only way we can be released is through the death of the sinful nature or old man (as seen in the example right before of the woman). Why then, if we no longer have a sinful nature, do we continue to sin?

That's a good question. I have been reading a lot of neuroscience books lately and I made a great connection with Romans 7 and what is going on at the neuronal level. Page 118 of Norman Doidge's book "The Brain That Changes Itself" explains what happens in our brains when experiencing a death of a loved one.

"Often such people cannot move on because they cannot yet grieve; the thought of living without the one they love is too painful to bear. In neuroplastic terms, if the romantic or the widow is to begin a new relationship without baggage, each must first rewire billions of connections in their brains. The work of mourning is piecemeal, Freud noted; though reality tells us our loved one is gone "its orders cannot be obeyed at once." We grieve by calling up one memory at a time, reliving it, and then letting it go. At the brain level we are turning on each of the neural networks that were wired together to form our perception of the person, experiencing the memory with exceptional vividness, then saying good-bye one network at a time. In grief, we learn to live without the one we love, but the reason this lesson is so hard is that we must first unlearn the idea that the person exists and can still be relied upon."

In Romans 12:2, Paul tells us to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds." The renewing of our minds is the rewiring of billions of connections in our brains from who we once were to who we now are In Christ. The reality is the Word of God is clear that our old man is dead, but that reality "cannot be obeyed at once" by our brains. Renewing the mind is a life long process of saying good bye to "old man" connections and hello to "New man in Christ" connections. The first step in this process is to unlearn the idea that our sinful nature or old man exists and can still be relied upon. It is dead, and although many of us may walk around as if it is alive and well, the fact is that In Christ the sinful nature is dead. If you are a believer in Christ you are in Christ. You cannot be a believer and not be In Christ.

We begin our relationship with the Lord with a lot of baggage. Thankfully our Lord is patient. It would do every believer well to start renewing their minds to their reality In Christ, instead of walking around and acting as if nothing has changed. I believe this is the biggest problem in the church right now. We have people we have accepted the Lord and stopped there. They have not rewired or renewed their mind. If our church is like this than why would anybody want to join? We would be no different from the world.

However when we renew our minds to what Jesus provided on the cross we have complete provision for our every need (Jehovah Jireh), we have health and healing (Jehovah Rapha), we have become in right standing with God (Jehovah Tsidkenu), we have complete peace (Jehovah Shalom), we have a Guide in our lives (Jehovah Ra'ah), we have victory (Jehovah Nissi), and we have a God who is always with us (Jehovah Shammah). These things may not manifest all at once, but as we rewire our brains to their truth they will begin to manifest in our lives. The way each one of these is carried out is through LOVE. When LOVE is the main ingredient and all of these benefits are available In Christ, who would not want to come and know both us and our God?

This all must start with each one of us renewing our minds to God's truth. In doing so we will allow more of Him into our lives, and therefore more of Him will leak out of us "in streams of living water" to all those around us.

Faith

Faith is the act of believing in order to see something manifest in your life. Seeing before we believe is not faith for we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus said,

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

“If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Believing you have received comes before it being yours. Knowing the truth comes before it sets you free. Faith is believing something is true before you experience it as truth.

Super Bowl champion NFL coach Tony Dungy believes that “the first thing you have to do when you’re trying to turn a football franchise from a loser to a winner is create the belief that you can win.” Before the team ever experiences actually winning, the team must believe they can win. The experience of winning comes after believing they can. Coach Dungy concludes “It is this expectation of success that defines championship teams.” Faith comes before experiencing even in football.

Faith is knowing the truth of God’s Word before we experience it. Our experiences will begin to match up with our faith, but faith comes first. Just like the football team trying to create an expectation of winning so that they can win, we need to create an expectation of receiving from God so that we can receive from Him.

How do we create this expectation and grow in Faith?

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
(NAS) (Romans 10:17)

Faith comes by hearing the word of God. Faith grows by training our minds to hear the word of Christ in every situation we face. Renewing the mind is creating instincts in our minds that represent the word of Christ in every situation. We grow in faith by hearing the word of Christ and by training our minds to hear this word all of the time. To the point where our every thought is God’s thought.

Gives and Takes Away?

Today in church a song was sung about our God who gives and takes away. I understand this verse in the song comes from Job 1:21 where Job says, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." I have issues with songs that quote this verse as if to say that is who our God is. This is why.

First - Job is the oldest book in the Bible. The Bible is a progressive revelation of God to mankind. We are still to this day moving forward on the shoulders of past generations as God continually reveals more and more of who He is to us. Since Job is the oldest book in the Bible, it means that God is beginning the revelation of Himself in this book. We find Job 1:21 right at the beginning of this first book and it is clearly Job speaking about the way he views God. Just because a person's thoughts are recorded in the Bible doesn't mean we stand on them as truths to live by. Knowing what Job said is part of the story of Job. So in this oldest book in the Bible Job makes a statement about what he thinks about who God is. Job was alive before Abraham and this was his understanding of covenant.

Second - In the story of Abraham, we see God reveal Who He is Himself. He calls Himself Jehovah Jireh (The Lord will Provide). It is the first of His 7 redemptive names (7 names of God showing God's Redemptive relationship to us). Each of these 7 names points to a continuos and increasing self-revelation. Jehovah means "the self existent One who reveals Himself," and Jireh means "Provider." Each of the 7 redemptive names point to the cross and a different blessing that is provided by the Atonement. The 7 names are Jehovah Tsidkenu (God is our Righteousness), Jehovah Shalom (God is our Peace), Jehovah Ra'ah (God is our Guide), Jehovah Rapha (God is our Healer), Jehovah Jireh (God is our Provider), Jehovah Shammah (God is Ever Present), and Jehovah Nissi (God is our Victory). These 7 names express God's nature as revealed by Himself. The represent the redemptive blessings Christ died to provide. Jehovah (God) is seen as meeting every need of man from his lost state to the end. God reveals Himself as the Provider of our every need. So we know that God gives and that part of Job's statement was correct.

Third - You would be very hard pressed to find another verse that shares the same viewpoint as Job in Job 1:21. The entire Bible is the story of Redemption. We see no where God is the one taking away something good. He takes away the sins of the world. He takes away bad things, but never good. The song we sang in church today was about God taking away good things. Here's some scripture

"No good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless (Psalm 84:11)"
"And God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)"
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door shall be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to all who ask? (Luke 11:9-12)"
"I have come that they might have Life and have it to the full (John 10:10)."

The devil is seen regularly as the one who "steals, kills, and destroys (John 10:10, 1 Peter 5:8, Luke 8:12)." God is always good (Psalm 100:5, 119:68, Matthew 10:19, John 10:11, 1 Peter 2:3) and He is Love (1 John 4:8, 16).

I don't understand how we as believers can take one verse, spoken by Job in his frustration, discount the entire rest of the Bible, and then say this is who God is. That is not who God is! Stop saying He is. Stop singing He is. Look at the Bible. God promises to meet your every need. How do receive anything from God? Through Faith. When we continually sing that God gives and takes away, we effectively kill our faith for Him to meet our needs. How about we look to the Bible and who God says He is rather than some catchy song.

What makes me so Special??

In reflection to my time in Haiti, the same question keeps coming to mind. Why am I so special? I knew that pretty much every Haitian I saw would trade places with me in a second. Why do I get to be well fed while others starve? Why do I get to have a life expectancy of over 80 years, while those in Haiti can only expect 49 years? Why do I get to use flush toilets, and they have to use outhouses, or worse yet crap in their hands. Why do I get to experience air conditioning whenever I am hot, while all they have to protect them from the sun is a blue tarp? Why do I get to have fun on the roof when it pours rain, while they have their tent dwellings flooded? Why am I so special? Does it not say in the Word of God that He is no respecter of persons? That means God doesn’t see me as more special as any of the Haitian, American, Brazilian, Cuban, etc. I know I am special, but they are too. Why do I get all these comforts and they get next to none?

I understand that the world would not be able to support the whole world living at the “North American standard.” There are just not enough resources. That means we are hogging them. That means that we are living at such a high commodity level that there is none left for others. It got me thinking, am I willing to become more uncomfortable so that others can be more comfortable? I know that I have gone to Haiti 5 times and have been willing to be without some commodities for a short time, but it is always with the knowledge that I am going back to Canada in a week or two. Am I willing to become inconvenienced permanently so others can be comforted? Or am I too selfish? I understand that aid poured in after the earthquake to help restore Haiti, but that aid has slowed to a trickle. Why is that? Is it because I am willing to give some out of my excess, but I’m not willing to become inconvenienced? Once it actually becomes a sacrifice I stop giving, am I too selfish? I’m not trying to guilt trip anyone; I am just asking the questions that fill my head.

If I actually want to make a difference and live with less so that others can have some, how do I do that? I don’t know. What I am going to do is treat the person in front of me better than myself. I am going to put myself into situations where people need help and I will help them. I know the Holy Spirit lives inside of me and therefore help is available in every situation I come across. I am going to live my life allowing God’s love to flow through me. God said a big part of this was caring for the widows and orphans so I will make sure I am looking out for those who it seems no one else is.

Maybe we all are given different gifts and in order to not be impoverished we need to share with each other. Maybe people who are materially poor are rich in other areas, and those who are materially rich are poor in other areas. Maybe we all need each other. Maybe if we all give what we have been given we will all be rich. And maybe the more we try to keep what we have been given for ourselves, the more impoverished we will be. I have found in my life that it is impossible to out give God. Whenever I give something, I find I receive more back than what I gave. Why am I so special? Why do I get to be one who is materially wealthy? I dunno. But I do know that every time I go to Haiti, which is considered a “poor” country, they give me more than I could ever give them. Haiti is not a poor country. They just don’t have alot of money. I think we should all share the gifts we have been given, so that we can all be blessed.

Day 8 and 9

I am quite exhausted from the trip so if the blog is short, sorry. On Day 8 and 9 we did a basketball camp with the guys again. They always really appreciate the teaching and obviously want to learn. This is the 5th year in running and they are getting better and the ministry is becoming stronger. We always share with them our love for Jesus and show it through our actions. After the camp was over we served them a feast back at the Haiti Arise compound. We had a really great time together.

One of the players brought his little girl who was really quite sick. Tamara and Karen nursed her and she was noticably better after 2 hours of being cared for by those girls. It was really special to see.

I thank God everything went well and learned a valuable lesson along the way. The whole time in Haiti I didn't take time alone to read the Word and spend time by myself with God. I learnt that this is the recipe for burnout. I was quite cranky the last two days and I'm glad my team was so gracious with me. Lesson learned. It is just like a man who is cutting trees. If he spends all his time cutting he will start out well, but things will just get harder and harder. Time needs to be spent sharpening the axe. Eventually if the axe is never sharpened you will spend all your time working really hard for barely any profit. More work and more quality work will be done when time is spent in rest sharpening your axe.

Day 7

Today was the first day of our 3 day basketball clinic. We were out in the hot sun from about 8am - 11am. It was good to connect again with the basketball guys and build on the relationships we have with them.

After the basketball we came back to the compound and got to work bagging rice. We distributed enough rice for about 500 families to eat for 3-4 days from what I understand. It is a real blessing to the community when we do this. Thank you to everyone who came to my mom's fundraiser. Your donations went to this rice distribution. Thank you.

We went on a walk after all that and had a good time interacting with the community and even seeing the market for awhile. Tamara saw some white people and then started yelling "Blanc, Blanc, Blanc." It was quite funny and we all laughed because that is what the kids always say when they see white people.

We are all doing well and could quite easily stay longer, but will be out of Haiti on Thursday. This feels quite soon as we have built many relationships and will be sad to say good-bye.

Days 5-6

God answered our prayers and everyone who was sick was healed quickly. Thanks for praying.

On Day 5 we had even more kids for VBS (We ended up averaging around 600+). The theme was "Sons and Daughters of the King." We wanted to instill in the children that there are no orphans in God's family. They are in the family of God and have incredible worth.

For the craft we had 450 Burger King crowns donated plus we had stickers for the kids to decorate them. It was pretty cool helping the children with the craft and actually crowning each one (We have seen kids throughout the past few days still wearing their crowns). It was a special experience.

Allen and Amos did a great job on the instuments and we all sang songs with the kids. They all really loved this part of the VBS.

Tamara played the character "Princess Sophia" and taught the kids John 1:12. The kids really liked her character and some have called her Princess Sophia ever since.

Karen taught this day and did a great job. We started with a skit about the disciples stopping the children from coming to Jesus but Jesus rebuking them. I took 5 kids from the audience and when Jesus came past the disciples the kids gave Dave (Who was playing Jesus) a big hug. It was a memorable experience for him.

On Day 6 the theme of VBS was "Love." Josh shared his testimony with the kids this day and did a great job. Allen and Amos played the music again and we all sang with the actions.

Tamara taught on love. She did a great job of keeping the kids attention by getting them to do things like "touch your neighbors arm and tell them they are special." I think some of the kids still thought she was Princess Sophia as well. The lesson went very well.

Chad then came out and taught a memory verse on love with the character Scuba Steve. He came out with big flippers and mask and snorkel. The kids thought it was great.

After the memory verse we had everyone from our team go to a different part of the tent and told the kids we wanted to pray a blessing over their lives. I really enjoying laying my hands on over 50 kids myself and blessing their lives in Jesus' name. It was a very special experience and a highlight for many.

Day 4

Today started off quite fun. Karen, Tamara and I went to visit the local hospital. Karen and Tamara are nurses so they really enjoyed the experience. It was quite different from North American hospitals. After touring the hospital we walked over to a local school in progress and saw where the kids went to school. The classrooms were over crowded and the teachers had alot of work on their hands. The ratio was about 1 teacher to 40-50 students. It was alot of fun and a really cool experience.

After lunch half of our team started to experience what we think is food poisoning, but we are not sure. They are sick at the moment and we are praying for them to feel better so they can take part more tomorrow. Karen, Tamara, Sarah, Norine, Dave, and Chad are experiencing sickness right now so keep them in your prayers.

In the afternoon we had Day 1 of VBS. We had over 500 kids show up and we started with ball tag. The kids were squeling and having alot of fun. I saw big smiles on their faces as I chased them. Chad ran the game even though he was a little sick and did a wonderful job.

After the game, I gave them a short 5 minute testimony about my life. The story was about my friend and I who went canoeing one time. He is scared of water and didn't want to go unless I knew what I was doing. I told him I was good at it and we went out. When we were far away from the land and the waves were crashing against us He got scared and said "What do we do?" I said "I don't know this is my first time in a canoe!" So basically He trusted me when he should not have. So I challenged the kids to mke sure they trust in what is Faithful and True. If you believe lies it will just hurt you in the end, but if you believe the Truth it will be a blessing for you.

After the testimony, we sang songs. The kids love dancing and actions so we sang songs with both. One of the songs the children knew in their own language and sang along as well. Dave, Amos, and Elizabeth from Strathmore did a wonderful job planning the songs and the kids really took to it. It was too bad Dave was too sick sick to take part, but his planning allowed it to run smoothly.

I then taught the lesson for the day. The theme was redemption. I taught them about the 7 redemptive names of God and what each promises when we have been redeemed. I explained that redemption means to be bought back and we did a skit to help the children visualize it. I taught them that they can receive these promises if they ask. It works like a seed, a farmer doesn't dig up the seed he has planted each and every day to see if it has grown, because that would defeat its purpose. Just like prayer, when we pray we plant a seed of life, and just like the farmer we don't have to dig it up and look for it everyday to see if it has grown. We believe it is there and it is growing. Just like the farmer has faith in nature, we have faith in the God of nature. He will perform what He has promised. I then challenge each of the kids to plant a "seed of life" into 3 people before they came back tomorrow.

We then had crafts. Sarah from the team from Strathmore had a necklce cross craft and it worked wonderfully. The kids loved it. We did not have enough crafts however as 450 were brought, and there was over 500 kids. We gave a different craft to the extras, but it was too bad because they all wanted crosses.

I ask that you pray for those tht are sick on our team. I took a break in the middle of writing this blog and both Karen and Tamara were walking about feeling a little better. We still need them to feel alot better, and the rest of the sick people to feel better as well so pray for that. Na boo lay (my own spelling for "Keep it Real" in creole)

Day 3

On Day 3 we moved alot of boxes and worked really hard on meeting some practical needs within Haiti Arise. We moved shelves, arranged medical supplies, built shelves etc. We worked hard from about 8am to 3pm.

Church was at 6 pm. It was a prayer service and each person really enjoyed it. We couldn't understand much as most of it was spoken in creole, but each person felt the Holy Spirit move and felt a connection to each other.

Day 2

Today we travelled through the tent villges here in Grand Goave and handed out hygiene packs. The kids walked with us hand in hand (a sign of friendship here in Haiti) and we prayed for the sick and some people came to know the Lord.

Tamara noted that when she was in Port au Prince she saw the poverty and it was devasting, but here in Grand Goave as she interacts with the people she sees the wealth of the country. The people's joy overshadows their grief. She can really feel the Holy Spirit while walking through the tent city.

Karen made friends today with the little 3 year old who captured her heart. He was fairly shy at first, but Karen came and played with him and gave him a ball. By the end of the day he was running up to her giving her hugs.

While hanging out with this child, Karen also attempted cutting the grass with a machete. She wasn't very good, but did better than me my first time (I started cutting down plants).

We also enjoyed the beach in the morning. It was beautiful and we had alot of fun. God Bless each one of you.

Haiti June 2010 Day 1

My basketball league in Saskatoon is doing a fundraiser for Haiti Arise on Thursday. It's called the Super Six league and I believe the website is www.supersixleague.com. Anyway, My first order of business once I got here was to give the captain of the basketball team here in Grand Goave, Louisito Leveille, a signed Jon Thiessen jersey, get a picture and email it back to the league, so I'm sitting here with the internet going quite slow and I figured I'd blog while I wait.

These are Tamara's thoughts so far

She said

"I felt overwhelmed by the poverty. Felt like I was in a dream. It was surreal. It was as if I was watching it on a television and not actually taking part in being here"

"The landscape of the country is absolutely gorgeous and I think it is a Hidden Treasure"

"I find the people to be extremely gentle and a joy to be around"

"I am sweating perfusely"

"I feel absolutely covered in prayer. I am shocked that I am not experiencing a major culture shock or feeling overwhelmed."

"I find myself increasing in my compassion"

The next part is Karen Chan's experience so far

At the beginning of the trip in Saskatoon she found out that her name had been written wrongly on the plane ticket as it didn't completely match her passport. She was warned she may only be able to go as far as Toronto and not be able to enter the States. We prayed for favor however and got it as we were able to go through the airports smoothly. God performed another miracle to get us all here.

Karen says

"Thanks for getting us here with your prayers."

"I couldn't even talk to people in the van in Port au Prince because I was in my own little world. I was soaking up my surroundings."

"Seeing the people here makes me love them"

The next part is Josh's experience so far

He has been serving with fervent passion as he has grabbing the luggage at every stop, and being blessing in helping wherever help is needed.

He says

"I don't have words right now to describe what I am feeling. You'd have to be here to know what I am thinking."

Back to me. After all that talking the loading has not noticeably increased on my picture. I just said a little prayer for the internet here. I think I am going to use this window and try again, while still loading the other. I dunno.

I am good, happy, and cheerful as always. Well at least most of the time. It's been good so far.

Tomorrow we are handing out hygiene packs in the tent villages. Friday, Saturday, Sunday we are having our kids VBS camp. Then next week we are having our 3 day basketball camp for the team here. God Bless you all, or in other words Bondieu Beni.

Haiti Trip June 2010

I will be blogging (as much as internet is available in Haiti) about the trip that I am going on to Haiti starting June 7th. I will be including thought from my team members Karen, Tamara, Josh, and Chad so if you are friends with them you can follow along with how things are going for each of them on this trip.

We are going to holding a 3 day VBS (Vacation Bible School) for the children. The three topics are Redemption, Sons/Daughters of the King, and Love. I am teaching the first day, Karen the second, and Tamara the third. We have three characters that are going to teach the children Bible verses. Josh is going to be "Tiny Tim" the first day, Tamara is going to be "Princess Sophia" the second day, and Chad is going to be "Scuba Steve" on the third day.

I will keep you as informed as much as possible about the trip through this blog. I will share what each person has done during the days, and what each are learning or feeling. God Bless

I am not Religious

Religion – Rules and Regulations to abide by to obtain a favourable afterlife
Faith – A Relationship with God and accepting what He has done for you

Religion and Faith are polar opposites. Religion stresses rules and regulations and that by following these directions you will be allowed into “Heaven.” Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is a gift from God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” True faith is not religious. Faith is believing in Christ Jesus, that He died on the cross, rose again three days later, and defeated death. Through this death and resurrection He offers us redemption.

Redemption – To buy back

Christ defeated all that holds us in bondage through His death and resurrection and offers us freedom. Redemption is to buy back what was lost. At the fall mankind legally handed over their rights to the devil, at the cross Jesus completely redeemed us or bought us back. Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’” To be a “Christian” means that you have accepted this free gift that Christ offers and are therefore redeemed.

The Christian Hope is wrapped up in Redemption. Many people think, due to the Greek Philosopher Plato’s views, that the Christian Hope is going to Heaven when we die. Plato’s views permeate Western thinking today and He has influenced your views whether you have read him or not. He viewed the physical as evil and Heaven as a place where we will go when we die to escape this evil world. Since the physical was seen as evil, Heaven was a place that was spiritual and therefore we would live in a disembodied state in a far away land called Heaven when we died. I may be making it sound more ridiculous than usual, but this is the view that many, many Christians hold about the afterlife.

The Christian Hope is wrapped up in Redemption. To redeem is to buy back. Christ did not die on the cross and rise again to simply save our souls. He came to redeem us. 1 Peter 1:20 shows us that Christ was chosen before the creation of the world to redeem us. Obviously if He was chosen before the world was even created, the fact Adam and Eve sinned did not surprise God. God created mankind with choice, because without choice there can be no love. God created us to enter into a love relationship with Him, and to take away choice would thwart our very purpose for existence, and God would not do that. From the very beginning of time God had a plan to redeem what was lost, and His “Redemption Project” continues today.

We are living in a time that the prophets of the Old Testament longed for. They longed to receive the redemption Christ offers during their lifetime (It worked a little different for them, I will not get into that here, but redemption still works for them). We have been redeemed. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven.” God has given redeemed people power for this to happen when they believe and speak it. We are able to live the redeemed life right now, experiencing the reality of Heaven in our life right now, the prophets longed for that.

The Christian Hope is wrapped up in Redemption. God’s “Redemption Project” reaches to the farthest parts of the cosmos. God’s plan is to redeem everything He created. Revelation 21 speaks of a New Heaven and a New Earth with the Holy City, The New Jerusalem, coming out of Heaven to the Earth. All that has been created will be redeemed and, instead of us escaping to Heaven, God will make His dwelling with men (Revelation 21:3). Heaven’s reality will completely and permanently invade the Earth. We will be living a “Heaven on Earth.” The Christian Hope is wrapped up in Redemption.

We are currently living at a time after Christ, but before the complete redemption of all of Heaven and Earth.Whatever we do in this life to “bring Heaven to Earth” will be beautified when this Redemption Project reaches its fulfillment. Matthew 10:42, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because He is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Whatever is done big or small that brings Heaven’s reality to earth will be rewarded, or beautified, or put in its proper place once we are on the new earth. I can only guess as to what that will look like.

Knowing the Christian Hope is vital to knowing why I am not religious. I cannot do anything in my own strength to be redeemed. Christ has done that for me. What many see in the Bible as rules and regulations, is actually a guide to help us not hurt ourselves. If you have a child you probably don’t want them to touch the hot element on the stove. You tell them, don’t touch this because it will hurt you. That is what God has done; He has given us an outline of how to live in Heaven’s Reality. He shows us how to experience Life abundantly and shows us what will burn us.

Jesus has taken God’s wrath on sin when He died on the cross. Sin is an issue that was taken care of on the cross by Jesus. However, whenever we do sin we allow death into our lives and get burned. Romans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of you mind.” Whenever you make a decision you are being transformed by it. Romans teaches us to transform our minds to Heaven’s reality so that we can experience life. We will be transformed from death to life when we renew our minds (change the way we think and therefore act, from what the world says to what God says). If we choose against God, we are choosing death and bringing that into our lives. The more we decide to go in a certain way, the more the muscles in our brains are trained to go this way, and the easier it will be to make the same decision next time. This isn’t Rules and Regulations to keep you from doing things, God gives you the free will to choose whatever you want. But you will reap the good/bad consequences of those choices.

Finally, a powerful truth to ponder, “You always act out of what you believe.” What you truly believe will always win out when enough pressure is applied to a situation. Your instincts, what you really believe, will show their real colours when pressured. People can say they believe this or that all they want, but whether they actually believe it or not is questionable. Your actions manifest or show what you believe. If you believe in God, His redemption, and what the Word of God says it will be seen clearly in your actions. If you meet someone who preaches one thing, but acts another, either he is a hypocrite or he is in the process of renewing his mind to God’s truth. Nobody is perfect and everybody is going to fail at times, but what you believe will show up in your actions, if you find yourself doing something that doesn’t match God’s truth, then you know where to renew your mind so that you can experience life in that area. That is how we represent Jesus, we look like Him. We will look more and more like Him the more we renew our minds to His truth.

To look like Him is to love. 1 John 4:20, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” God is love, and the person who knows God will have so much love inside him that it will overflow everywhere he goes. This is how you know a person knows God.

Therefore, I am not Religious. I do not obey a set of rules and regulations to be able to go to heaven. I believe God and I believe in God. I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross and then defeated death by rising three days later. I believe that because I have been redeemed I have been put in right relationship with God Almighty. I love God for He first loved me. My actions show that I really believe this. Heaven comes to Earth in big and small ways in my life. I am renewing my mind to God’s truth because I want to experience the Life He offers. This is the Christian life I live. I am not religious, but I am faith filled in love with God.

"In the world, but not of the world"

As Christians we are to be "in the world, but not of it." In church history it seems we have gone for 2 different extremes in trying to live this out. Both of these extremes that I have witnessed come from an old covenant mentality. We need to realize that we have a new covenant, built on better promises than the old. We have been redeemed from the curse of the law. Trying to live out this phrase "in the world but not of it" will not work under the law or old covenant. This is how it has played out...

One of the extremes seen in church history is the "poverty gospel." This "gospel" was created to try in our greatest human strength to not be "of the world." What does the world want? Money and possessions. How could we be opposite of that? Have no money or possessions. In this "poverty gospel" the less stuff you have the more Christian you are. I'm sure we can all look back and see examples of this throughout church history, or even in church today. We have used the phrase "money is the root of all evil" as proof that we need to reject anything of the world and honor God by living impoverished. Somehow being a poor, weak, uneducated, lowly Christian is something God is cheering on from Heaven (Silk, Culture of Honor, pg 121). So just like you want your kids to get no education and live impoverished lives so does God the Father? Doesn't make much sense does it? This "poverty gospel" is man's attempt at living not "of this world." This is a works based way of living. This is old covenant thinking. This is the curse of the law. This way of living does not work because it is not based in our reality. The reality of our new covenant. This poverty gospel also forgets the first part of this phrase "be in the world."

We have seen how this "poverty gospel" falls flat and people aren't stupid. If you read the Bible and see how many times it tells you about receiving riches and honor because of your favor with God and man, it's not hard to guess the "poverty gospel" won't fly with everyone. So what happens? We go to the other extreme. We create a "wealth gospel." This "gospel" tells us that "No we should not be impoverished, actually, we should make the most money out of anybody, drive the nicest cars and have the most comfortable lifestyles." "God wants us to be rich right?" So what this "wealth gospel" has done is taken the "in the world" to the extreme and forgot about "but not of it." They see themselves living in a kind of old covenant 2.0. It's like the new and improved old covenant. So it is still all works based, but hey we get to be the richest people. Really this is no different than anyone else in the world. If we really want to live out what God intended in the statement "in the world, but not of it," we need to see it from a new covenant, redeemed perspective.

God wants us to live in the reality of the new covenant instead of the old covenant. The world lives in a works based old covenant. We are to live in the midst of this old covenant mentality in our world, living in the new covenant. This is how we are in the world but not of it. We will live completely different lifestyles, because our covenant is not based on works, but in the grace of God.

Also we are wealthy, but it isn't the type of riches where we live all comfortable lifestyles. We are rich because under the new covenant, we can go to God with any need and He will provide for us. Any problem any person could ever face has its solution in Christ and His new covenant. That is riches. Living in the world but not of it, we go into the world as powerful people for we have a God that will provide us with our every need, and for every need of those around us. We live in the midst of this darkness of works based old covenant life, and walk around as beacons of light proclaiming the truth of our redemption and Life provided for us by Christ inviting everyone to share in this Life. Light penetrates darkness. It cannot stay when light comes. We will live in the world as light, not of the world that is dark.

Miracles

I like miracles, and I felt like sharing a miracle story, well there is actually 2 in here, and a lesson I learned as well...

In Brazil I got bad food poisoning. I was on the toilet and puking all night. I woke up the next morning a wreck. I was on a missions trip in which we played basketball against the pro teams in Sao Paulo in the evenings and did camps for kids in the mornings. Anyways, the leader saw me and told me to go back to my room and sleep, because I looked like a mess. I was really happy when he said this a was going to agree with him, when out of my mouth came, I'll wait till after Bible Study. These were not the words I was trying to say. Whatever though.

At the end of Bible Study the leader prayed that any evil spirits hampering what we were doing in Sao Paulo, would be rebuked in Jesus name. Right as he said that I felt my stomach turn. It was quite an interesting feeling. It was actually a turning feeling. Anyway, I was completely better. Not sick at all. I had a great day and rest of the trip completely healthy and was one of the only ones not to get sick once we arrived home. God just completely healed me.

The next year I went to Haiti. I once again got really bad stomach sickness. This time I wasn't puking, but I was only the toilet alot. While on the toilet I said, "God you healed me in Brazil, you can do it here too." I should have stopped there, but I was dumb and continued, "When I'm with the kids let me be healthy, I don't care about the other time." This was really dumb of me to add this. Cause you know what, God answered my prayer. Whenever I was with the kids I was fine and had no stomach issues where I needed to run to the washroom. I wasn't really sick at all. Then whenever I was done and by myself I ended up on the toilet. Turns out I did care about the times I wasn't with the kids.

Now I should've just prayed again and been totally healed, but I really didn't believe in healing all that much. Surprising because God had healed me. But I guess it took awhile for that fact to grow on me. So the lesson I learned. When I pray I don't pray wimpy prayers. It says in the Bible that God can do exceedingly more than I could ever ask or think or even imagine. Im going to pray for total healing not partial. I'm going to pray for real. Pray for something that is at least hard for me to imagine, because God can do more than that. I'm not going to add those dumb sentences at the end of my prayers anymore either. God can do more than we could ever ask or think. Let's pray big prayers.

I'm holding a fundraiser for my friends in Haiti. It's dessert and coffee/tea at the Bessborough. Get all dressed up, have a good time, have cheesecake and support a worthy cause.

God "allowing" things to happen

When bad things happen on this earth and I say that it was definitely not God's will for that to happen, the common response is "but God allowed it to happen." I think however we have a messed up view or picture of this. I think the common view is that of the devil going up to God and being like, "Can I do this, Can I do that???" And we see God responding, "No you cannot do this, but I will allow you to do that." This however is not how things go down. This type of picture not only gives us the wrong picture of who God is, but it also puts all the blame on Him as well. This type of view of why bad things happen is not biblical.

God created the world in love, by Love, and for love. With love there is always choice. God created the world in such a way that humans have choice in how their world is shaped. With every decision we make we either invite heaven or hell into the situation. When we invite heaven it is because we believe God's word and are standing/acting on it. When we invite hell into the situation it is because we are relying on human wisdom over the word of God. Proverbs calls people who do this self-confident fools, "He who leans on, trusts in, and is confident of his own mind and heart is a [self-confident] fool, but he who walks in skillful and godly Wisdom shall be delivered (Proverbs 28:26)." When we act like self-confident fools we invite hell into our situation and give a place for the devil to steal, kill, and destroy.

God created the world with choice. He is not going to go back on His original plan because He declared His plan "very good" at the beginning of time (Genesis 1:31), and to go back on His original plan would take away our choice and therefore negate love. Love is the very reason we were created. God will not take away the very purpose of our being created, that is why He completely redeemed us from the curse and has made a way for us to live in complete victory on earth as it is in heaven.

God quote unquote "allows" things that are not His will to happen because He created the world with choice. The more we individually choose to invite hell into our lives, and the more we collectively choose to invite hell into our world, the more place we are giving the devil to steal, kill, and destroy. God is not the one giving place to the devil in our lives, we are. Thank God we have been redeemed and we have been given the power by God to resist the devil and live with the reality of heaven pouring into our lives. With Life pouring into our lives. We have a choice. We can invite death or we can invite Life into our lives. The more we invite Life into our lives, the more we are individually/collectively giving place to God to infuse us with His life. We can live life abundantly and the devil will have no power to stop us for the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against Jesus.