Merry Christmas 2007

I’m standing at the counter making some toast when I hear an inquisitive, “Dad?”

Turning, I’m greeted by Wyatt (7) with his index finger shoved two-knuckles deep up his nose. As with any experienced parent, there is not even a flicker of “You are a really weird kid!” on my face. “Whussup my young friend?”

“Dad, what’s that thing up there that keeps my finger from going all the way up my nose?” I think, but don’t say - It’s probably your brain, you little freak.

No sooner am I back to my toast than I hear from Walker (5), “Guess what I can do Dad?”

I turn to see Walker holding a brim full glass of orange juice to his lips with one hand, and the other hand is on the down stroke of bouncing a basket ball. Guess what Walker can’t do? I must not say what I’m thinking. I must not say what I’m thinking. I must . . .

So begins another day.

Much has happened since last year.

Our oldest son David and his girlfriend Gina had a brutal breakup of their relationship last fall. One year later they’ve set a wedding date of March 1st/08. God has been good to David by bringing Gina into his life. She’s a fine, fine person.

I was putting Freedom (2) down for a nap one day. As I was pulling the bedroom door closed, I heard her say to herself, “Gampa loves me, Gamma loves me, God loves me, Jesus loves me, eddybuddy loves me.” What a great way to see life!

Wendy has decided that it’s time to take better care of her body. For every two kilograms that she’s lost, I’ve gained one. The measurement of my waist is surpassing that of my in-seam at a staggering pace. She looks great and I feel guilty.

While we’ve met some really nice people since moving here, getting a baby-sitter ($30.00/hr. for five kids) has limited our seeing people socially. This is an area that Wendy wants to change as soon as possible. On the other hand, Wendy has a really good friend in town (they’ve known each other since high-school) and they meet regularly. Wendy also gets together with a group of women once a month, and volunteers at the school in each of the kid’s classes. Her life is pretty much the same as it was on our first go-round with kids. The creative side of Wendy is moving us toward renovating / expanding the kitchen. Maybe next year. Wendy works harder and puts in more time, energy and prayer at being a good mother than anyone I know. She takes the kids to all types of lessons, does crafts with them, makes excellent meals and reads books with them throughout the day. So far it’s been appreciated by six of our seven children.

Speaking of Erin, she completed four months of a six month sentence at the Pine Grove Correctional Centre for fraud. The last two months were spent at a half-way house in Saskatoon. She is living and working about 15 mins. from our place so we see her a fair bit. Sometimes Wendy and I just look at each other and blink in stunned silence as we contemplate a daughter who seems to be living in a parallel universe. Her rationale for her approach to life is as fascinating to her as it is foreign and baffling to us. She's home for Christmas and it's going good.

I was out for a hike with Walker one day. We passed a group of people and a little bit later Walker said, “Dad. I think people smile at me because they know that I’m cute.” He’s all that for sure.

I’m doing some pro bono counselling. Not a lot but just enough to keep my mind occupied. My Remicade is still doing wonders for my arthritis. It would have to rank in the top five things that have added to the quality of my life. It would come right after,
1. Jesus
2. Wendy
3. Remicade
and just before
4. My computer
5. My snow blower.

For those of you who are not in the loop re: Christianity, I should explain that the drop in quality from Jesus to the snow blower is precipitous in nature. Still, I’d highly recommend the 12 Horse, 34 inch “Yard Man” if you need one.

At the end of one of Chelsey’s prayers one night she said, “And please help me to not be afraid of chickens.” You just never know what’s going on in a kid’s head.

So, after another year, Wyatt is in grade two and doing well. Riley is in grade one and struggling mightily. Chelsey and Walker are loving kindergarten and Freedom is enjoying some alone time with us a couple days a week.

The kids have been going steady at piano, swimming, ballet, soccer, kid’s club, basketball, skating etc. They seem healthy and happy. I never realised before that a child in a larger family always has someone to play with. It’s kinda cool to watch.

With the help of my wonderful sisters and their husbands (who are pretty wonderful as well), Wendy and I were able to go to Hawaii for a couple weeks in March. Catherine and Gordon, along with Carol and Wayne stayed at our place while we were gone. The kids loved them. In fact, when Wyatt is angry at me, he sometimes says, “You should go on another holiday.” We were also able to go to Fairmont in July and short trips to lakes that are close by in the summer. Overall, life is good. Overall, life is hard and overwhelmingly difficult. Overall life is an adventure.

It’s bed-time. I wander into the boy’s room to see how they’re doing and find Riley (7) just sitting on the bed. “Whatcha doing bud?” He looks at me and says with perfect innocence, “I’m just thinking about who I might marry.” So ends another day.

We hope this finds you and yours experiencing the grace of God the Father and the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have a great 2008!

Happy Holy Days

True Story.
A mission group (I forget the name) was celebrating 100 years presence in the Congo. Christian natives from far and wide had walked days to come to this celebration. Some of the oldest men and women of the various tribes had been asked to speak. One elderly man, related a story that brought amazement and horror to the guests and leaders present.

This man stated that there was one reason and one reason only for the massive shift from tribal gods to Jesus, “It was because we watched how you died. When you first came, we believed that white people were evil spirits, who had come to harm us. And so, slowly, methodically, we poisoned your babies, your children and you. Year after year, decade after decade, we watched as you cared for your orphans, your sick, your dying. We watched as you provided the same love and attention to the weak and the dying as you did to all of Creation. This was something totally foreign to us and our way of life. We came to see that those who believe most strongly in Heaven, are those who do the most for the weak in this world. We came to believe that you were not evil, but that you possessed a goodness that was not present even in us. This goodness came to you, and eventually to us in the person of Jesus.”

This is exactly what Jesus came into the world to do.
Jesus came to bring peace on earth to all those who are pleasing to God.

Jesus brought us peace through experiencing our violence.

Jesus brought us life through allowing us to kill Him.

Jesus brought forgiveness of our sins by taking our sins upon Himself.

Jesus brought us the love of God by wearing our hatred like a garment.

Jesus brought acceptance by God by opening the door to our rejection of Him.

Jesus brought us mercy and grace by accepting our condemnation.

Jesus, the Saviour of the world, came to us in the most lowly of earthly circumstances so that He could one day raise all believers to the highest of eternal rewards.

Happy Holy Days and Merry Christmas to all who love Jesus and worship God the Father.

Happy Holy Days

In just a few days, Christians around the world will pause to think about, rejoice in and share the good news of Peace and Salvation come to earth. The God of second, third and one thousand chances came not to shake His finger at the world, not to judge the world but to present to us His offer of rescue from the world. This God, who loved us so much as to give His all for us, came to earth to experience this life that we so often complain about. He came to experience the rejection, the hardship, the pain and death that is inevitable for all humans throughout history. This God, who loves us, came to show us that “our light and momentary troubles” are not worth considering compared to the glorious riches that await those who take Jesus at His word, accept His Lordship and live out the rest of this life according to His wishes. This is truly a magnificent and Holy time of year. A time to remember the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ.

Happy Holy Days

“Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.”
Ephesians 5:1,2.

That is why Jesus came to earth. To give Himself totally for our sake, to demonstrate for us a love that is incomparable. At Christmas time, let us make a special effort to celebrate this love by reaching out to others who are being drawn by God to this wonderful love of Christ Jesus. Jesus came to earth to bring you safely home to be with Him forever; to wrap you in His warm loving arms; to protect you and keep you from harm.

Merry Christmas.

Happy Holy Days

Jesus, is God’s glory who walked on earth (Hebrews 1:3). We are commanded to recognize His glory, honour His glory, declare His glory, reflect His glory and live for His glory. God deserves our worship, and we need it. For only in worshipping our Creator do we find our true selves. The greatest emotional achievement that any of us can attain is to develop a life of worship. For in worship do we find it possible to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. “In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him,” C.S. Lewis. In this Holy Day Christmas Season, we once again have the opportunity to develop a lifestyle of worship which in reality is a lifestyle of enjoying God, loving God and freely giving ourselves to be used by Him for His glory.

Happy Holy Days

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Any psychologist will tell you that the harder you grasp trying to please yourself, be it through money or power or relationships or mood altering chemicals or anything else, not only will you lose the fleeting pleasure of the thing but you will also lose the ability to please yourself. Go after something worthwhile on the other hand, and you will please yourself plus gain a new “wealth.”

That is why God promises that if we focus on Him and Him alone then, “all these things will be given to you as well.” The Christian life is one of change; change from ‘How much pleasure am I getting out of life? To ‘How much pleasure is God getting out of my life.’ At Christmas time Christians take time to meditate on their priorities. Are we remembering the cost to our Lord and Saviour as He came to earth to rescue the lost? Are we losing sight of the past and the destructive hold that it had on our lives? Are we keeping our eyes on the prize? Jesus IS the reason for the season.

Happy Holy Days

“All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.” 2nd Corinthians 1:3-4.

At this time of year, Christians throughout the world pause to remember how Jesus came to earth to experience life at it’s darkest and most horrific. He did this in part so that He could relate to us in our times of sorrow. Something that atheists can’t seem to grasp is that there is purpose and meaning in our times of suffering. Rather than allowing us to isolate ourselves in our pleasures, trauma and suffering causes many to reach out to others who are experiencing the same type of difficulties. Jesus, our Lord and our Saviour tells us, ‘As I have done for you, you do for others. God’s extravagant love for us caused Him to show us His love in the darkest and messiest corners of our lives. Christmas is the time that we pause to remember this love, this sacrifice, this offer of salvation.

Happy Holy Days

Joy To The World! In a few days, this familiar Christmas Carol will be heard round the world. Joy to the world. The Lord has come. More correctly, Joy to the world for those who come to know the Lord Jesus as Saviour. You see, happiness is not a word we can understand by looking it up in the dictionary. In fact, none of the qualities of the Christian life can be learned out of a book. Something more like apprenticeship is required, being around someone who out of years of devoted discipline shows us, by his or her entire behaviour, what it is. Moments of verbal instruction will certainly occur, but mostly an apprentice acquires skill by daily and intimate association with a “master,” picking up subtle but absolutely essential things, such as timing and rhythm and “touch.”

For the Christian, circumstances are incidental compared to the life of Jesus, the Messiah, that all Christians experience from the inside. For His is a life that not only happened at a certain point in history, but continues to happen, spilling out into the lives of those who receive Him, and then continues to spill out all over the place. Christ is, among much else, the revelation that God cannot be contained or hoarded. It is this “spilling out” quality of Christ’s life that accounts for the happiness of Christians, for joy is life in excess, the overflow of what cannot be contained within anyone person. Indeed, Christmas time is a reminder that God brings Joy To The World.

Happy Holy Days

Some kids were playing in their back yard. Without realising it, they left the gate open and their puppy got out. When they realised what they had done, they went to the front yard to look for him. Sure enough, there he was, across the street playing in the neighbour’s yard. Upon seeing the children, the puppy did what comes naturally. He began to run back to see he favourite friends. The kids yelled for him to stop, but it was too late. The pup ran out in front of a vehicle and was killed instantly.

. The kids had done something wrong, and the dog paid for it with his life.
. The kids made the mistake and the dog died.
. The kids were the ones who were careless and something they loved paid the price with its life.

At Christmas time, Christians remember that we are the reason that Jesus had to die. Jesus came to earth to pay the price for our sins. Our carelessness cost Jesus his life. Without Him doing that, we, all of us, every human on earth would be eternally lost. Praise God from whom all blessings flow, that God loved us so much, that He came to earth in the body of Jesus. He came into humble circumstance; no crib as an infant, no home as an adult. He died, alone on a cross. He did that for you and for me so that we could share in Heavenly riches with Him forever.

Happy Holy Days

Jesus didn’t come into the world to shake His finger at us or to yell at us or crush us with criticism. Jesus didn’t come into the world to break our will to live. Jesus came into the world to forgive us and to offer to us a salvation that will take us into the eternal presence of our Creator.

Have you ever noticed that what gives your children the most pleasure is when they know that you are watching them? Well, we can know that as Christians, celebrating at Christmas the arrival of God on earth, God is watching us with pleasure and with a smile on His face as we honour and worship the One that He so freely gave.