Wednesday, March 31, 2010

He is Risen

Penn of Denn
Talk about a swing in emotions. I have been working on two separate messages this week, one for Good Friday and one for Easter Sunday. A message of despair and a message of hope. A message of defeat and a message of victory. A message about the depths that man can fall and a message about the heights that God can lift us. Two messages both need to be preached, but truthfully I prefer Easter Sunday messages to Good Friday Messages. I know that without the crucifixion, we couldn't have the resurrection, but still we killed Him!

He offered us life and we killed him. He came in love and we destroyed Him with hatred. Good Friday? For who? Jesus? They nailed him to a cross. For humanity? We showed how depraved we really can be. Good Friday, I think not. Black Friday? Maybe. Bad Friday? For sure. Without Sunday, Friday is a blot on the history of humanity. But Sunday changes all of that and turns despair to joy, defeat to victory.

We may not have been there on Friday, but we are just as guilty. We may not have been there on Sunday, but we are just as forgiven.

Have a great week and remember: He is Risen.


 


 


 

    

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Look Behind You


Penn of Denn
Did you hear the one about the man who was hit by the airplane, while he was jogging? True story. Robert Jones, of Georgia, was jogging along a beach in South Carolina, with his headphones on, when he was struck from behind and killed by a small aircraft, making an emergency landing.
Seriously, you have to think about things like that, and that is why I don't jog. I don't know how many times I've thought, "I should go for a run." And then I think, "No, what happens if you get hit from behind by an airplane, that is making an emergency landing?" Better safe than sorry, that's my motto.
The story is a reminder of just how short and fragile life can be. I'm sure that when Jones went for his jog, that morning, that his death was the last thing on his mind. He was probably planning on returning home after his business trip, to be there for his daughter's third birthday. But that wasn't how the story ended. We all make plans for tomorrow, maybe even including beginning a relationship with God, but what if there is no tomorrow? Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.


 


 


 

    

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year


It's here, it's here! That time of the year that we all look forward to. The time of the year that we realize how lucky we are to live in this wonderful country and we can take the time to reflect on how blessed we are. That's right... it's "Tax Time"! What did you think I was writing about? Spring? March 21st isn't actually the beginning of spring, it is just an arbitrary date picked by some lunatic who never lived in Nova Scotia.
But tax season is a great time to be thankful. Seriously, if you have never visited a third world country you have no idea how privileged we are with our health care, transportation and political stability and most of those things are a result of the taxes we pay.
Don't want to pay tax? No problem, just don't earn enough money. So, we need to be thankful that we make more than the threshold, and that the CRA graciously allows us to deduct our giving to the church. Try that in most other countries. So this year instead of grumbling while doing your taxes why not take a moment and breathe a prayer of thanks.
Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

 

 


 

    

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Game


Quite the game, eh?  And if you have to ask what game, you have obviously been living on a different planet over the past couple of weeks. And at the end of the game, the Canadians celebrated, the Americans were disappointed and the Russians whined.  Oh well. 
I read the other day, that the game was the most watched television broadcast in Canadian history.  At least one source referred to it as “the Crosby Show”, which is probably unfair to the rest of the team.
The interesting thing, is the sheer number of people who watched the game; those in the know, tell us that an average audience of 16.6 million viewers watched the Olympic title game, which is almost half the population of Canada!  In addition, about 80% of the country, 26.5 million Canadians, watched at least some part of the game.  Incredible!
But there is another event that will be watched by an even greater audience and that will be the return of Christ.  And some people will celebrate and others will be disappointed and others will whine.  You will have to decide for yourself, which category you will be in.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Interesting


Have you ever felt like you've been cheated? You know, you were planning on doing something and looking forward to doing it and then somebody else did it for you or before you and you just felt disappointed, like you had been robbed or cheated. But sometimes you find out someone was going to do it and you are able to stop them, so even though they almost ruined it, they didn't.
That must have been how the state of Ohio felt last week, when prison officials found Lawrence Reynolds unconscious on his cell floor, after taking an overdose of pills.
Luckily, officials were able to revive Reynolds and rush him to the hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery. Good thing, because they had to re-schedule his execution for next week. Apparently, when they discovered him, it was only hours away from his date with the executioner. I've always thought it was strange that they put death row inmates on suicide watch in the days before the execution, but I guess it goes back to my assertion that capital punishment is more about revenge than about justice. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.