Strange calls...

As I was about to sit down and write this, I had an experience that just confirmed to me what I had been thinking about writing...

The phone rang, and I picked it up as normal, "Faith Covenant Church," and it was a lady asking for the pastor. Now, when you work for a church, you know that these phone calls are either people looking for money, or they are really strange...they are not usually looking for the start times of church on Sunday.

I told her that he wasn't here, because I was tired (coming from my job at Starbucks) and did not want to deal with her, but I said I'd take a message. Well I got more than I bargained for. This was her message,

"You need to pray for Canada. You need to pray for Canada and the U.S. Canada is in great trouble. There is a lady here named Cindy. It's short for Cinderella, and she a witch. She is here in Winnipeg and is practicing her witchcraft right here in the city. You need to pray for Canada, she's gonna kill everyone! She is going to kill both white and black people. You need to pray!"

How many of you want to be in church ministry now?

I'll tell you, it never ceases to amaze me the uniqueness of human beings. I told the lady that I would pray, but in my mind I was wondering "WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS?"

Regardless of if what she was saying was true or not, there is a deep truth that speaks in a loud voice for me, the truth that I was planning on writing about before the phone call....

We need Jesus, people. We need Jesus!

As thanksgiving came this last weekend, we were all reminded of all that we have, and hopefully reminded that we did not earn all that we have...that we were given gifts gracefully by God.

We are fragile people in need of a Savior.... So yes, pray for Canada, pray for the U.S. and countries like ours in abundance, that we would not forget how fragile we are, how much we need God.

When we recognize our weakness, it puts us in a posture of thanksgiving and humility... and I believe this is the posture that frees us from the chains of autonomy, a state that leaves us dissatisfied.

There is freedom waiting for those who humble themselves and pray.

Lord, let me never forget all your benefits...may I never cease to give you the honor and praise always.

Whirlwind trip...

Last week, a friend of mine asked me what I was doing this week for a couple days...I said, "nothing," and so he proceeded to ask me if I wanted to go to Philidelphia to pick up a vehicle he bought, then drive to Columbus, Ohio to pick up another vehicle, then drive home to Winnipeg.

So, this was how it all shook down:
-Left Winnipeg at 7am and arrived in Philidelphia by 1pm.
-Picked up at the Phili airport and drove to Cherry Hill, New Jersey where we picked up the car
-Ate lunch in New Jersey
-Left and drove straight to Columbus, Ohio
-Picked up the 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel Quad Cab (which I drove the rest of the way)
-Continued to drive until past Indianapolis, Indiana
-Stopped at a reststop at 2am, slept for 5 hours.
-Hit the road again at 7am, arrived in Chicago at 8:30 am
-Drove on the Chicago skyway during rush hour with what seemed like three million other cars
-Drove the rest of the way home with a few stops here and there, arrived back in Winnipeg at 1am in the morning.
-Made it home and in my bed at 2am.

So we flew to Philidelphia and drove back in about 40 hours, as if we were just going to the store and then return right away.

It was intense.

Oh Lord, this is a serious request!

Kevin Glenn got injured tonight...
the world needs to pray that God's teams' quarterback get's better...

God, I recognize my need for you.
I recognize my need for you.

In the prayer room: September 12, 2007

I feel as though prayer in this room has not given me any kind of blatant yes, no, or wait answers... And for that I am grateful, for it spared me from taking the answer in my pocket and going on my way, alone. God has, rather, left me in nowhere, but he is here with me in nowhere...prodding me to "continue praying, my child..." as it seems to be his way of saying, "continue walking and learning with me, my child." I do not know where I am, but knowing who I am with has given me an unexplainable peace...

This is the grace of God to me today...Thanks be to Him.

Lose to someone classy...

Finally...after almost 6 agonizing months of looking at an ugly minivan that we had bought out west in order to sell here, we got rid of it!

It truly is a glorious day. Actually, we ended up losing money on the ordeal, but it turned out o.k. The person(s) that we sold it to were the right people to lose money on. They were Filipino folks from the North End of our city. The guy who was buying it, get this,wasn't even gonna drive or technically own the van... He was the god-father of a 29 year old family man who just moved to Winnipeg a month ago from the Philippines, and he decided to welcome him here by buying him a $9000.00 vehicle. What's truly amazing about that is that he himself drove a van that was a piece, way worse than the one he bought for his god-son, our van.

So, I'm truly o.k. with losing money on our van experience to some classy, classy folks, whom we could probably learn a lot from.

I'm thankful for that.

sick of being sick...

for some reason I don't just get the 24 hour flu. My 24 hour flu turns into the 2.4 day flu, or more.
It's been interesting (and it always is when I'm sick) how you realize the extent you take health for granted.
I need to remember things like good health as part of God's provision for me.