After a productive couple of days, I found myself – yesterday – sitting alone in the office for a few moments. The white-noise machine was humming and there was nothing else but the rhythm of my pulse ringing in my ears and the clicking of the keyboard beneath my fingertips… the steady staccato interrupted periodically by the need to backspace or select & delete to correct an error or a misprint.
Many tasks had been scratched off of that day’s to-do list and as for the greater list… the one that’s still looming, well… there’s still work to be done. But for a few moments, the weight of that list was offset by the thoughts… the hopes… the dreams… the promises of what will begin two months from now.
I wonder…
I wonder what it will feel like when the plane touches down at Charles-de-Gaulle, knowing it’s not for a 2-week stay.- I wonder what it will feel like when the car exits the highway into Châtellerault for that first time.
- I wonder what it will feel like to take an early morning walk down by the Vienne River, breathe in the musky air as the current ripples and bubbles its way downstream and pray over the city that God has called us to…
- … to greet the boulanger (baker) or the caissière (sales clerk) at our local grocery store for the “Nth” time… to get to know their name and to somehow be both an example and conduit of God’s love.
I know that I have the opportunity to do that in the city where I live now, and I do. But this is my hometown. I didn’t choose it… I chose to stay. Our family will be in Châtellerault, not “by default” but by choice… God’s choice and our agreement with that choice.
(btw… that bandstand photo, that’s part of our city, Châtellerault… by night. Isn’t it beautiful!?)
…and I wonder!
I wonder… and I wonder. Oh the two words look the same, but put together in that short sentence, they don’t mean the same thing.
- I wonder = I try to guess, to imagine… to conceive in my mind what it will be like.
- …and I wonder = I’m a bit… no, let’s face it, a lot in awe of what we’re on the brink of. To think… that we get to be part of God’s great Kingdom and secondly, that we get to play such a part in it, through our involvement in Short-Term Missions… and I say like the Psalmist:
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him?“
Psalm 8.4
It’s like that song that Jason Crabbe sings… “Who Am I?”
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Enjoy your day today.
Whoever you are and wherever you are reading me from … know that you are important enough for a “King to come and die for.” For that very reason… be conscious – today – of what you do by default and what you do by choice for they are not the same, nor do they produce the same result.
You are too important to simply live by default.
Live by choice. Lead.
I’d like to give a huge shout-out to Pastor & Sis. Michael Trail of Nashwaak Valley Pentecostal Church… an absolutely BEAUTIFUL church located in Taymouth, NB, a community situated along the picturesque Nashwaak River.
Not only was the building beautiful… the people were as well. They took up an offering for us and through their generosity, we were able to just break the 70% mark in our fundraising. Little by little we are getting there, but we still require the remaining 30% to be committed. Breaking it down, it would mean, for example:
My phone and laptop were working well enough for the most part, but then, in each case, there was an app that I wanted to use and was unable to because I’d so successfully resisted change. What if I did the update and it set off a domino effect, requiring me to update a never ending succession of programs and patterns?
I call it being in the Will of God.
It was the second time that I’d heard Bro. Sagil minister and as I said to a couple… it was like trying to eat a steak with no bone, fat or gristle…. 100% pure meat! Incredible. So appreciative to spend time with such high calibre men.
kids were selling scarves that they’d knitted a while back (they probably sold $200 worth this weekend alone).
Sunday morning we attended one of Saint-Laurent’s daughter works… Église Pentecôtiste Unie de Montréal Est. I’d been there several times but it was a first for Liz and the kids.
Our main task for Monday was to visit Montreal’s Italian Consulate to get the kids’ passports.
Good morning from Montreal!
So what’s the connection with Timo’s Great 4 Days?
After hosting the Atlantic District Kids Convention last night and today, we are excited to be heading to Fredericton tonight to hear from Bro. Lee Stoneking. He had a significant influence on my early time in Pentecost and so whenever I get a chance to sit under his ministry, I don’t pass it up.
I’m so grateful for that conversation at the altar. It was both direct and balanced enough that I went home, looked up the 80+ verses that have a derivative of the word “baptize” in them and saw that with the exception of Matthew 28:19, every time we see people being baptized in the Book of Acts – it was either “In the name of Jesus” or “into Christ” etc. …Either the apostles were accomplishing Mt. 28.19 when they baptized in Jesus’ name or they were completely disobedient to it; and if they were disobedient, then the foundation of our faith is severely eroded. There was no doubt in my mind that I needed to be baptized in Jesus’ name. …and I was, on Dec. 14th, 1997.
CCC members gave liberally this weekend and their generous offering put us up to 65% of our required budget.
This weekend is our 7th in a row to be out on the open road… and there are a few more to go! We’re racking up kilometers on our 2007 Ford Freestyle and changing the oil more frequently, but there are a number of benefits that outweigh any cost.
Although pastors frequently see each other at conferences, the contact is often “in passing.” Less frequent are the opportunities to sit across the table from each other, as families, often in the home.
As a kid, I often went on drives with my grandfather. A plastic-wrapped roll of peppermints was on the dash of the 1978 Chevy Suburban and we’d find a country road to follow. Sometimes he’d be headed rabbit or partridge hunting and sometimes it’d just be for the drive… but he always had his eyes open for bottles or cans that could be traded in at the local bottle exchange (that’s how he paid for my first 5-speed bike).
We’re thrilled to take part in Missions Conference at Capital Community Church in Fredericton, NB with Rev. Raymond Woodward and Rev. Jack Leaman. These men were leaders in the Saint John church when we came into Pentecost in the mid 1990’s and both have been important influences in our life and growth. We’re honoured to be with them and with Rev. Bruce Howell, General Director of Global Missions for the UPCI.
AIM Long 