What is in a name?

20 years ago I added an “n” to my name. It was a whim but I’ve never regretted it.   15 years before that I had removed the same “n” along with a “y” when I went from being Denny to being Den. And for fifteen years I had people correct my name, helpfully changing it from Den to Don or Dan and then I would have to explain that it was neither, that is was Den.  And when they looked at me quizzically I would say “you know, the place where a bear lives.”  (Which is what my Great Grandmother told me.)

And I finally figured out a solution, someone had asked me what Den was short for and I told them, Dennison. To which they asked “then why doesn’t it have two “n”s?  Good question.  So I added an “n” to my name. 

The first time I officially used the new spelling was for my new library card which arrived in the mail the next week, addressed to Dean Guptill.  And again I discovered that people see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. 

But regardless of how I spell my name, I can always be assured that God knows who I am.    Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

We Win

Well, another survey is out, showing that Christianity is losing ground and that church attendance is down.  But, depending on your perspective, we aren’t losing, we’re winning.  When you stop and think about it, every person who isn’t a Christian hasn’t been lost from Christianity, they just haven’t been won to Christianity yet. 

The starting place for humanity isn’t a relationship with Christ, the starting place is being separated from God, so every person who begins that relationship is a win for our side.  Does that make sense?

By default, the other side doesn’t have to do anything except try to keep us, the church, from doing its job; they only win when we stop doing what we’ve been called to do.

But when you stop and think about it, our job is easy, because all we’ve been called to do is be obedient.  And Jesus said that if we love Him, our natural instinct will be to obey him and that has to involve introducing people to Him.  Regardless of what the survey says, every day in Canada, there are people who cross the line and commit their lives to Christ and that is a win.   Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.  

Three guys, Patty Mick and Shaun. . .

You know I have never met a terrorist. Never.  And you would think I would have, considering how many Muslims there are in our community.  Unless, not all Muslims are terrorists.  As a matter of fact all of the Muslims that I've met are pretty decent folks who love Canada and they seem genuinely friendly. Not a terrorist in the bunch.  So maybe the vast majority of Muslims are just regular people like we are. Notice I used the word regular as opposed to normal.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized there are a lot of kooks out there who call themselves Christians who certainly aren't representative of our faith. At least I sure hope they aren’t.  And come to think of it, the terrorists that I heard about when I was growing up weren't named Abdul. Instead they had names like Mick and Patty and they didn't come from Baghdad, they came from Belfast, And while they were killing people in the name of their god, his name wasn't Allah.

Let's never forget that Jesus died for everyone. And let us never lose sight of the fact that Muslims need Jesus, just like Catholics, Baptist and Wesleyans do. Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.