Life Is A Highway…

 A few years back I had honour of going to the CNE with my family as well as my in-laws (really… I like them). What an incredible experience! All the lights, the huge rides, the horns from the those rides attempting the break the land-speed record. I thought it was simply incredible. Apparently there were others who felt differently.

Somewhere between the cotton candy booth and the man telling me that all I had to do was put a softball in a bushel basket; in the middle of a crowd larger than life, I felt a tiny little hand slowly but methodically slide into the middle of mine. I looked down to see my little daughter taking in the sights… mesmerized, but a little overwhelmed.

It reminds me of the Psalm that says “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. (22:11)” Sometimes we can get a little like that. We enjoy our independence. We look forward to the ‘fun in the sun’ but when life becomes a little overwhelming, a little staggering, and we don’t know where to turn, we can raise our little hands and set them in the palm of the One who is not only in control, but desiring to take us through the journey together.

At least that’s how I see it,

It’s hard to tell someone to stop worrying when they aren’t the one facing the situation. I’m sure I see some nodding of some heads right now. It’s all well and good to hear that but what about when you are the one FACING it!?!

W.R. Inge wrote that ‘worry is the interest paid on trouble before it is due.’ Truth is, when you pay interest on something, it’s usually something that you already have. At least you have it. Worry on the other hand is a whole of energy and fear paid out before you even know if you have it or not. You may worry and not even face what you feared. Worry can paralyse you and stop you from being able to accomplish anything well at all.

Proverbs 12:25 says that ‘worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.’ Wow!  You and I have the opportunity to help someone get out of debt… worry debt that is. The words that we use can help someone move forward in a ‘potential’ crisis before they even know whether or not they will face it.

No sense paying for stuff that you’re not even sure you’re going to get. Let’s help them face the day. Who knows when we will need the same sort of help.

At least that’s how I see it.

Craig

I’d hate having the last name Jones. McKibbon is bad enough. I get McGibbon, McRibbon, one time I even got MacIbone, Whatever. But imagine the last name Jones?

I’m sure many of you know people with that last name and I am sure that they are fine, upstanding people… but these are the people that we are apparently always trying to be like. “Gotta keep with the Jones’!” Who were these first Jones’ anyway and why were they so amazing?

Regardless, there is this pressure in our society to always be worried about how we are perceived and how we ‘look’ in other people’s eyes. Media convinces us that the car we already have, the house we already own, the clothes we already wear, and the job we currently go to everyday are inferior to what OTHER people have.

Sorry to tell you but this is nothing new. Paul told a church in Galatia “do your own work well and then you will have something to be proud of. But don’t compare yourself with others. (Galatians 6:4 CEV)” Be proud of who you are, and what God has already given you. I’m sure that if you WERE the Jones’, you’d probably wish you were the Smith’s, the Thompson’s, or the Johnson’s… no offence to any of these families either. I’m sure you’re nice people too.

At least that’s how I see it.

Craig

I can picture it now… the wife standing in front of the television during that final minute of the third period… goalie pulled… breakaway… “Do you love me?”  Aaarrgghhh!!!

Okay, maybe that’s a little extreme but let’s be realistic… Do we really believe what we say when it comes to our spirituality? We may hear or say terms like ‘loving God’ and ‘loving Jesus’ or ‘living for Jesus’ but when it comes down to it, do we really live up to those words?

I may step on some toes here (and I’m not light) but when I think about following God, I think he’s a little more concerned about the motivation of our hearts than the words that we can use to try to appease him.  Jesus said in Matthew 15:8 that there are people who honour him with their lips but their hearts are far from him.

I think a lot of people think God is some cosmic force off doing his next thing not caring about us or what we are going through. Personally, I think God is not in ‘front’ of the television but rather sitting ‘beside’ us wanting to share in the experience with us. He may be ‘silent’ but his love for us ‘screams’ everywhere around us. Why don’t we try turning the ‘television’ off in our lives and take some time with him instead. I think we’ll be surprised what we may find out.

At least that’s how I see it.

Craig

Now that the weather is starting to finally cooperate a bit more we can start looking for the joggers on the sides of the road who have come out of hibernation.

Have you ever watched a marathon before on TV? I’m sure following one person for 26 miles might be a little boring but the thought of putting the human body through that much stress and agony is mind-boggling. I can see them coming down the road in my mind grabbing cups of water that are passed out to them by staff and volunteers on the side-lines.

What do they look like? Can you picture them? Are they ever interviewed on camera as to how their re-fuelling abilities helped propel that runner to the finish line? Of course not. There would be no point. It would be boring… but it would be a HUGE oversight.

The runner wouldn’t be able to make it without the periodic filling up stations because their body would collapse from the lack of care and succumb to the stress that they are placing on it.

In our own lives, God is willing to stand on the sidelines and ‘re-fuel’ us if we so choose. “He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; He offers strength to the weak. (Isaiah 40:29 NLT).  God isn’t looking for the camera interview. He’s standing by the water cooling station waiting for you to come to him and receive from him the care needed to keep going on. He is waiting there for you… because he wants to see you make it across the finish line.

At least that’s how I see it.

Craig

Boy, if I’ve ever had to be cautious about blogging it is today.  I totally understand that what I am about to write about it a delicate matter but I feel that something has to be said here.

As some of you know, Highway Church was placed strategically between two towns. Hagersville (yes… the Hagersville Tire Fire) and the other town has been in the news a little lately… Caledonia. When Kerry and I moved here we bought a house around 300m from the disputed land claim site and within months were thrown into a whirlwind of police, natives, residents, power outages, helicopters, roadblocks, violence precipitated by anger, rage, bitterness, arrogance, racism, and ignorance - on both sides. We have subsequently moved; not due to the land claims issue - we actually live closer to the Grand River than we did before, we just found another house we liked.

These past 2+ years have been extremely eye-opening for me and I have been very surprised as to how people act… and react to what they perceive and perhaps do not know. I have seen people during the height of the stand-off bent on ‘taking the law into their own hands’. I have also seen our provincial police officers do the best that they can with the mandates that they have been given.

I guess the reason why I am writing is because of the latest article I saw on the CBC website see link where our Aboriginal Affairs minister noted that “peace is being restored in the southern Ontario community of Caledonia.” I don’t know much about the power and authority that Michael Bryant has but I can tell you that in the years that I have been here, I have yet to see someone (or someones) who have the ability to control the chaos that is going on here… on the streets, on the highways… and most of all in the hearts of BOTH communities thrown in the middle of the ring here… native AND residents.

I think that most Canadians would agree that unfortunately, for whatever reason, our government has made agreements that they have not fulfilled with some native land claims. This is unfortunate and really, our government needs to fulfill their obligations. It’s the right thing to do.

I do however find it hard to send my kids to school where on every wall and on every piece of literature sent home we see ‘anti-bullying’ paraphernalia yet it seems to me like that is exactly what our government is tolerating - and just like bullying, nothing changes until SOMETHING changes.

In my humble opinion, I feel that Mr. Bryant’s words would be better translated “we’re taking down this  barricade and we will see some semblance of peace until such time that persons (from either side) will react to something again and start the whole process all over again.”

If you are going to ‘bring peace’ then both parties need to ensure that there are qualified, and mandated peace-’keepers’ as well as if the conditions warrant them, peace-’makers’.

Through it all, I believe in the power of prayer. I have learned in life that many of the things that concern me are also things that cannot be changed by me. So, I have turned to the One who can change not only circumstances, but how ‘I’ react to those circumstances.

It is unfortunate that I disagree with Mr. Bryant. I do not believe that the removal of these barricades will bring peace.  So, instead of putting my faith in him, or others, I choose to put my faith in Christ. Last time I checked, they referred to Him as the ‘Prince of Peace’.

At least, that’s how I see it.

Craig

John Wayne, one of Hollywood’s more inspiring actors had this to say about ‘tomorrow’: “Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.”

To me the difference between a person who makes a mistake and a person who chooses to be a failure is that the person who fails doesn’t get up when they make a mistake. We all make mistakes. It’s in those mistakes that we have the opportunity to change or stay put.

Romans 5:3 says that ‘we can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us – they help us learn to endure.’

Midnight is a great time to recognize that yesterday is gone. It cannot be redeemed or relinquished. Nothing will bring it back. But ‘today’ is a perfect opportunity to make the changes necessary to ensure that tomorrow will be better. That comes by building on the mistakes of yesterday and the momentum of yesterday’s victories as well.

At least that’s how I see it.

Craig

I grew up never hearing about terms like “Earth Days”, “Earth Hours”, and “climate control’. When we had garbage, we took it all out to the end of the laneway and the garbage crew would pick it up… all up. There were no blue boxes, grey boxes, clear bags. Garbage… was garbage. Simple as that. As soon as it left our driveway, we never had to worry about it again.

But we were apparently mistaken. People who knew more than us starting telling us that our selfish decisions were having a negative effect on the Earth’s conditions and that if we didn’t make changes soon, we would affect our planet and civilizations to come forever.  We were faced with the decision: live carefree and let the future suffer or make changes now to save our future. Actually we still are.

In Mark 8:36 Jesus talks to his followers about the cost of living carefree, “how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?” One can make the choice to live however they like, with no regard for how it will affect the future (just like we put out all of our garbage when we were younger because it was easy and ignorant) but it comes with a cost; a cost that many don’t take the time to assess before they make the decision.

What is the future worth to you? Are you ‘thinking green’ when it comes to your spiritual life? Are you making decisions today that are going to benefit you tomorrow and the generations to come?

At least that’s how I see it.

Craig

I’ve read in the paper and on different news-sites about Gen. Hillier’s announcement that he is stepping down as the current Chief of Defence Staff for the Canadian Armed Forces. The words are hardly out of his mouth and people are already asking him if he is planning on running for politics.

If you listened to the man, you would notice that he is talking about doing things like hunting, fishing, relaxing after all of the service that he has brought to the Canadian Forces and this country of ours.

I know some of Gen. Hillier’s extended family personally and success has followed them well and though I have never met the man before I can tell you that even from the fringe you can see that this person is a leader.

I’ve been trying to think of someone who was incredibly influencial yet at the same time extremely unnoticed. Someone who had the ear of the people when they spoke yet could never be found when they were needed.

I think that the Canadian Forces are losing a great leader and the uncertainty that comes from the rank-and-file is noticed mainly on the fact that Gen. Hillier did an incredible job of standing at the front to lead the way, stand at the side to encourage the men and women who proudly wear our uniform, and stand at the rear to make sure that no one was lagging behind.

Heroes are hard to come by. We need more heroes.

At least that’s how I see it.

Craig

Do you remember that? Growing up, on Sesame Street there was that sketch where the kid had to go to the grocery store so he made up a little song with his list, “A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick o’ butter.” Maybe you hear it now too and like me, won’t be able to get it out of your head,

That’s what the writer of Proverbs is doing here. He’s giving a ‘shopping list’ so-to-speak of what one needs to get by in life. “Get the truth and don’t ever sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and discernment. (23:23).”

If you make sure those things are in your life’s ‘shopping cart’ I can assure you that you will be well on your way to living a life full of blessing and contentment. Remember Jesus told us that ‘the truth will set you free (John 8:32).” Now get out there and go shopping!

At least that’s how I see it.

Craig