Spinning our Webs

Have you had enough spiders this fall? Incredible, the number of arachnids we have around the outside of our house right now. Mind you, having lived in Australia for four years—where you could saddle the spiders and ride them like ponies—these aren’t a particular threat.

It’s not the spiders I mind; live and let live, right? It is the webs. There is nothing more annoying and frightening than walking into a web, unless it’s the thought you had down under: what spun the web could weigh as much as a small puppy. Yuck!

Spiders aren’t the only things that have webs. So do we! Webs of influence and webs of relationships that are all interconnected to the centre—you. I was told recently that, on average, churched believers have a relationship of some kind with seven people who aren’t in church or in Christ. It might be a co-worker or someone you share a hobby with. It might be the parents of your kids’ friends or a relative. Who is in your web?

Maybe it’s time you actually took the time to see whom you could introduce to your church and whom you could introduce to your Lord. After all, it might make an eternity of difference. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

I Owed a Debt I Could Not Pay . . .

1.5 Trillion dollars. Imagine, that’s a 1.5 followed by 12 zeros.  That is enough to pay off the national debt of England, enough to give every Canadian $50,000.00 or enough to buy every person in the world an iPod.  1.5 Trillion dollars, if it was paid in $1000.00 bills, it would be a stack 163 km high and in dollar coins the pile would reach to Mars. 

That is the amount of tax revenue that the Obama administration is trying to raise in taxes.  I wonder if the President ever lays awake at night wishing someone would just come along and pay the bill for him.   After all, he didn’t create the debt, he just inherited it. The American public seems to be blaming the President for their folly.

We can’t even imagine a debt that large, but what about the spiritual debt that we owe?  You know the one the Bible talks about when it says, “The wages of sin is death”. 

We are responsible for that one but what if it was just paid off, clear and free?  That is the offer that Jesus makes.  The question is: Will you allow him to pay your debt?  Because he is willing, but you have to be as well.

Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Now that's big!

I spent part of last week travelling. I got a good deal on a ticket to Atlanta Georgia that went by way of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and saved $150.00 over a more direct flight.   But it wasn’t just a trip to see how much of the Eastern Seaboard I could cover in one day. It had a purpose. The purpose was to attend a leadership intensive, but the side benefit was that on Sunday morning, I worshipped at 12stone Church and on Sunday evening, I was able to catch a service at one of the campuses of North Point. The total combined attendance at those two churches is greater than the combined population of Hammonds Plains and Bedford.  Can you imagine?  Now understand that’s not in one service or even in one location . . .  but still.

I love to see big things done for the Kingdom of God and while we shouldn’t expect every church to be like 12stone or North Point or every pastor to be like Kevin Myers or Andy Stanley, it wouldn’t hurt if we all had their passion for reaching the lost and for doing our very best possible to advance the Kingdom and introduce people to Jesus. 

Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Gently, Gently

I cringed when I saw it fall on the TV news.  It seemed so.., so disrespectful,... just not right.  I couldn’t believe they allowed to happen.  But I suppose, how do you stop such a thing from happening once events have been set in motion.  In case you’re wondering, it was the report that the Stanley Cup fell off a table on its way to visit Bonavista Newfoundland, the home town of former Bruin, Michael Ryder.
The cup was fine, other than a small dent in the top, and Ryder can claim that he left more than his name on the cup.  It’s not the first time the cup has fallen off a table. It happened in 2000 and stranger things have happened to Lord Stanley’s cup through the years, including having been punted into a canal and being used as a flowerpot! You would think people would be more careful.
There used to be a time that I was very careful about how my Bible was treated, but I’m probably less conscious of it now. Maybe it needs to become a concern again.  If I was dismayed at the treatment of a sports trophy, how much more should the careless use of God’s word trouble me?  

Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.