What an incredible trip I had to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia! It was amazing to meet with workers from around the world who are bringing the hope of Jesus to some of the darkest places and challenging situations.

While I cannot post specifics, one of the most incredible ministries I got to hear about was once in which children and young females were rescued out of human trafficking. While our minds automatically go to the sex trade, other human trafficking include workers for farms and females for pre-arranged marriages. The key aspect to this ministry is safety: safe places to live, to work, to be educated and to have community. This ministry covers all of those areas in creative and practical ways that are interwoven with each other. There is training to work in coffee shops, hair salons, jewelry making and soon there will also be sewing. There are safe houses for the girls to live as well as a farm that produces items sold to restaurants and grocery stores while also feeding the girls in the safe homes and equipping local farmers on organic farming. They also HAVE coffee shops, jewelry stores, and hair salons to provide jobs.
On the farm I mentioned they practice organic farming using crop rotation and creative methods to provide their own fertilizer and chicken feed. Why is this so important? In some asian countries that have been directly affected by wars, they are still in rebuilding stages that will take generations for recovery. Some countries are missing generations. In these situations other countries have come in and taken advantage of them and the lack of laws/guidelines for healthy farming practices and have brought cheap and extremely harmful sprays and fertilizers — to the point where some workers, especially children, have incredible health issues and some can no longer even walk! This farms brings in local farmers to help with certain harvests etc and shows them how they too can have healthy farming practices and crops! How is this the light of Christ?

In the midst of this rebuilding the hope of Jesus is being shared. Most of the girls in the safe housing hear of Jesus and accept him into their lives. They get discipled and are taught the bible so they can bring the good news back to their villages or wherever they go to after they graduate or move on to more advanced employment. They have been shown love and respect — they have been given hope and a future…and all through Christians who love them enough to obey the call of Christ to move into these countries and serve.

What a God we have! That he relocates his servants into different fields for harvest and to bring healing and hope. Please pray for this ministry. I will see what I can safely post to provide more information. If you know me personally you can contact me and I would love to provide what I know so you too can support this amazing ministry that just continues to grow beyond imagination!

I CAN tell you this…this ministry has become so effective it has been invited to participate with different levels of government and law enforcement to break up human-trafficking rings and shut down beer stores (sex shops that have beer stores as fronts). Please pray for the girls who no longer are being forced into this trade but now willingly do it because they can make so much more money than working regular jobs. May Christ continue to provide restoration in our world until he returns and justice flows over the whole earth.

The trip to Asia has been incredible so far. I have gotten to talk to some amazing leaders, spend time with close friends who are also mentors, have a coaching session with a godly lady who was incredibly helpful, hear a vision for missions moving forward in the world, and now, seeing that being put into action. I have enjoyed the sun and the heat and the time to observe culture, reflect, pray and try to gain some vision-clarity for the future.

What I never anticipated was the flight between Vientiane and Bangkok and that they actually put into the airplane cabin pesticides to kill any bugs that might be hanging out in the cabin as hitchhikers with disease to spread into Laos. As soon as I walked into the cabin I could smell something and I knew I would be in trouble. A couple days later…here I sit in bed sharing my sinus woes with you all. Between the pesticide and possibly some gluten being ingested, my sinuses are closed up for the night unwilling to be open for the oxygen business. The bed is comfy and the ac is incredible, my body is SO ready to pass out for some much needed rejuvenation through sleep but my sinuses are simply not willing to cooperate. No-flow means sleep is a no-go.

Have you ever experienced that in life? Everything is lined up and ready to go but then, out of the blue, there is a lynchpin that refuses to work in sync to make your progress in life happen? What do you do in those moments? Who do you talk to? How does it affect your joy level and perspective? There is something about being powerless when things have ground to a halt and there is nothing you can do about it — you simply need to wait, pray and see what God will do. And so I wait…your prayers are appreciated at this time. I am trying to figure out how to post some pictures and write some more in the coming days. I hope you have found some of my thoughts helpful or at least primer to have your own thoughts begin to percolate for your growth,

So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees me,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” ~ Genesis 16:13

As I walked around observing and taking pictures at the temple I found this area where people came to bless their loved ones and make prayer requests. They would purchase incense sticks, light them then go to a designated to pray for their loved ones. Afterwards they would stick them in one of a number of huge sand filled urns. In this area there was a kios that you could put your money into and the machine would kick out a number for you which you then took over to the interpretation key on the wall to see what blessing it/the machine/the spirit gave to you or your loved one (like a horoscope).

I was watching all this taking place when my friend Dave came over and explained to me what was going on. He also told me that when praying to the spirits they would have made sure to clearly state their names and even their home address so that the blessings they purchased and requested wouldn’t accidentally land on their neighbour. The reason? The gods don’t know them at all. They don’t know their names. They don’t know where they live. There is absolutely nothing personal in the connection attempting to be made — it is merely a transaction in which the person hopes they have done enough, paid enough, prayed enough to please the/a spirit so that they would be sent results.

My friends have been in the mission fields for years and have observed that when people from different religions learn that God not only sees them but knows them, they are utterly astounded. When they learn that God also WANTS to have a relationship with them it is extremely difficult for them to even begin to comprehend.

It was a good lesson for me to take in and reflect upon. I so often take for granted God’s desire to know me and have a relationship. As our discussion turned towards scripture we talked about how Hagar was amazed that God would see her, talk to her, and care about her plight (Genesis 16) calling Him ‘a god who sees her.’ I think of the Samaritan woman at the well who Jesus purposefully travelled into Samaria to see. Zachaeus in the tree. The disciples Jesus called from the fishing industry or him seeing Nathanael under the tree before Philip came to bring him to Jesus. All throughout scripture God sees people…people not seen by others…people in back yard threshing floors, people plowing their families fields, ones considered dishonourable by society and cast aside to the outer fringes. This personal God of ours who sees us is so rare, so unique, so compelling!

People today still desire to be seen. I still desire to be seen but how often do I believe the lie that God not only doesn’t seem me but doesn’t care? Yet scripture, over and over and over again declares God’s heart desire to know us and be known by us. Even more so, that this desire comes from a deep heart of love. Love doesn’t even enter into the relational contracts that Buddhists enter into when they offer their gifts and prayers. O God, forgive us when we begin to see you as a purely transactional God instead of a relational one. Forgive us when we start to think you really don’t care and our lives are simply a game for Your amusement when all You want is the best for us…and the best for us is offering Yourself to us. Thank you for Your love…and for seeing us.

I cannot believe that the time is almost upon me to head to the airport and begin the adventure in Thailand and two of the surrounding countries! A huge ‘thank you!’ to everyone who contributed financially to make this dream become a reality! And thank you for all of you who will pray for me while I am over there.

We live in such a surreal time. Technology has taken our world and has made it a very small place in a number of ways. Through the technology of travel I will be able to literally travel halfway around the world in 21 hours. Through the technology of our phones I will be able to record and post parts of my experience and share what God is speaking to my heart with people halfway around the world! I am feeling very aware that without that ‘in-person’ connection we can still remain pretty removed from others’ lives when there is not only that large geographical separation but also a cultural separation.

I am reading articles about the cultures I will be entering into, trying to familiarize myself with the basics because I want to show they honour and respect and not accidentally offend. It certainly has me pondering my reality with what others’ lives are like. Countries still feeling the after affect of the Vietnam War that struggle to rebuild even now…possibly for generations to come. Youth being sent to the city to find work to send back money for the family to survive. Predators preying on such easy targets who aren’t there for their own advancement but the survival of their family. I think of Thailand and the warnings about being approached by sex workers and how to spot restaurants which function as fronts to this prolific business that communicate with red or pink lights OR can also be identified by the large amount of male tourists gathered inside. I reflect on the Buddhists monks that I will meet and their temples I will pass by. One question sits in my heart: How can I be Jesus as I have divine encounters along the way through this experience? I already know that my heart will be even more softened for the incredible people of Asia and even broken for the stories I will hear, the realities I will see and the lostness of religions that offer no hope. To me, this is a blessing. Exposure to situations and stories that expand ones world view is always a good thing that bears fruit.

Please pray that as I progress through my time there and process as I go, that I will be open to learning and have spiritual insight in translating this in such a way that I can communicate what God is teaching me when I arrive back home with opportunities to share. When I was last in Asia I truly began to love the Nepali people and my heart was broken for the Rohingyas – a people without a country and vulnerable to abuse and slavery. Who will I encounter this time and what will their stories be? How will I see God’s hand moving and His Spirit saving and transforming?

Also, please pray for all of the international workers that are coming to the Global Gathering. Pray they are well cared for and are refreshed with a new vision for the future of missions in the world. I will have the privilege of hearing their stories and praying for them and it is such an honour to serve them and be peers in ministry.

All glory and honour and power to the One who hears and sees and loves and moves with transformative power in our world. Amen.
More updates to come!

I was really looking forward to leading worship. The songs were chosen. The band was locked in and it looked like the worship service was looking really good. One day I could feel my voice having a bit of a strained tickle…the next day it was completely gone. Those trying to be encouraging told me it would only be for a couple of days. So I used my nebulizer and drank tea. I sucked on lozenges like my life depended upon it and tried to drink water to hydrate my vocal cords but to no avail.
One week passed.
Then one month.
All I could do was barely whisper. My throat didn’t hurt. I wasn’t coughing. I called the doctor to see about getting into an ENT. We had a worship conference coming up that I was not only leading worship at but speaking at. Time was of the essence. Could someone inject steroids directly into my vocal cords to see if there could be some forced progress. I went on a very powerful antibiotic which wrecked havoc with my stomach for a month. Nothing would bring back my voice…nothing helped…not one bit. I was forced to be silent. People were trying to be gracious but I could see some getting impatient with me when trying to interact with me. Some were empathic with their concern growing alongside my own.
My thoughts and fears included: What would my voice be like if or when it ever came back? Would I be forced to find a new occupation instead of Pastor of Worship? Would I ever be able to preach or coach again? Was I being punished for something? What was I supposed to learn through all of this?

AH! There it was…the RIGHT question to be asking: What was God trying to teach me through this experience? All control had been taken from me. No medical expert could help. No home remedy worked. No amount of impatience on my part or from others would change a thing. The return of my voice would not be rushed. And so several lessons emerged that continue to cycle through my mind and heart.

Lesson One: It is far more important to listen than to speak. First, I learned a LOT about people in those two months. When people have a willing listener who will patiently hear them out they often want to share something about themselves or their dreams. In such a self-centred society it is rare to have another actually want to hear from you about you. Second, I learned a LOT about MYSELF! How often was I listening to respond instead of listening to hear and understand well? When you can’t expel your thoughts immediately when they come to mind you have more time to reflect on your knee-jerk response and it gave me time to reflect on how I would have immediately responded instead of carefully thinking out what I would say and what my response said about my own heart and mind.

Lesson Two: Progress cannot be rushed. My vocal-condition was simply a life-lesson in leadership and how sometimes where you want to get to is simply not possible with the snap of a finger or some injection of people. Things often don’t change immediately. If they do it usually means it won’t last or change has come at a severe price of conflict. As much as we want to see change as leaders, as people, the reality is change will come through patience and perseverance. I am certain I will need to come back and read this back to myself time and time again in the future.

Lesson Three: I am not in control. This is by FAR the greatest lesson I learned. As much as the world tells me I am the captain of my own destiny…as much as leadership books tell me the correct formula to get to where I want by making the right choices at the right time, in reality, I am called to make good choices but I am not in control. In this experience God spoke so clearly to me that HE is the one who gives the voice and takes it away. It reminded me of the conversation he had with Moses in Exodus 4, “Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”” How often do I believe that I can wake up and control each aspect of my day as long as I make good choices to move myself further to my goals?

What would life look like if, instead, I woke up believing in my heart that my day’s itinerary was already known and plotted? I could live my day with freedom knowing it was all in my Father’s hands. Each encounter was appointed by God — unique God-given opportunities for me to interact with someone in a way that only I can do so that they know they are seen and loved. In those moments where I am feeling interrupted in what I am trying to accomplish, God has arranged a specific encounter for me to learn and or for me to bless. When I am feeling lost and frustrated, God has created a gap in my action to sit back and exhale, go for a walk and engage God in conversation seeking His wisdom on how to proceed or wait for insight. WHAT IF every day I believed God was in complete control, and all I needed to do was walk with Him, talk with Him, trust in Him, and be free in Him?

Lord, please give me the faith to trust you with my day, my health, my life. Please give me eyes to see and ears to hear. Give me courage to follow and fill me with your love, joy and freedom as I move through each encounter. May I recognize your hand moving and shaping from the moment I wake up to the time I fall asleep at night — resting in your care. Thank you for being in control. Thank you for forcing me to be silent so I could listen better to what You were trying to teach me. Amen.

It has been a LONG time since I last posted anything and my deepest apologies for those of you who have found this tiny blog helpful for life and spiritual development. I have been on quite the journey myself and look forward to growing with you in the future…

Coming Soon: What losing my voice for nearly two months taught me about God and life.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! 
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His benefits, 
who forgives all your iniquity, 
who heals all your diseases, 
who redeems your life from the pit, 
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 
who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 
~ Psalm 103:1-5

Do you ever come to Scripture in desperation for inspiration, for hope, for light and you find yourself reading and rereading a passage and in your mind all it translates into is “blah, blah, blah, blah, wah, wah, wah”? Right now you may be shaking your head, “No”, but inside it’s bobbing up and down in affirmation because you know exactly what I am talking about but don’t think you can or should admit it. You read the opening lines of “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me” and the only thing that comes to mind is, “there’s not much in me at the moment.” Hmmmm. I get it. I truly do. That was my experience today as I found my mind overtaken by hostile thoughts clamouring for attention and demanding focus.

Let me encourage you to take a breath and exhale. It’s ok. God still loves you. God still sees you. God is still there to provide for you…in fact, He’s never left you. So let me invite you to take a moment out of your busy mind, pause, and then read the above quote again from King David, Psalmist extraordinaire, and then come back to keep reading…

There…now…go back and read it again…slowly…take your time! It’s ok, I promise! Life will still be here when you are done reading.

The first two lines really do resonate with my internal desires that come from the new heart God has given me. I DO want to bless the Lord and I do NOT want to forget His benefits that He provides through His presence. Let me do a quick breakdown just to affirm you with God’s love…

A trademark of God’s love is to forgive us and set us free in that forgiveness. We can become obsessed with what appears to be our internal struggles. We can whip ourselves to a bloody pulp and still come out feeling like we haven’t punished ourselves enough. But look at the Lord! He has forgiven ALL our internal twisted DNA. In fact, in Christ we are completely free! It’s our flesh memory that keeps putting up the suggestions of how to handle life like we had PRE-Christ. God forgives us and has freed us!

David writes that God heals all our diseases and I’ll admit this is a real head-scratcher. Has God really healed ALL of our diseases? What about cancer and mental illness, COVID and heart-disease? Is the Psalmist being truthful or is he simply living in a land of make-believe-desires where he is stating what he WANTS God to do and be? Honestly, I don’t have any answers for you here BUT I will say that God did, does, and will continue to miraculously heal people. I don’t know why He doesn’t heal everyone but we see in scripture that God’s heart DOES break when he sees suffering. We also see that He can use suffering to draw people to Him, to rely on Him, to walk alongside of Him and to experience His love even in the midst of hurt. God does not derive a twisted pleasure in your suffering but He will walk alongside of you and can provide strength for you. I know…it’s a jagged pill to swallow and only God knows His reasoning…but God does love you and is not weak. He IS powerful to heal…I don’t know who you are or what you are going through but even now I am praying for each person who reads this to find peace and clarity regarding God and His love for them.

God redeems people’s lives from the pit. Pits are dark and their walls can be hard to climb. In fact, pits often are impossible to get out of and have very little light. God can lift you from the pit you are in. God can provide light. I like that David writes that God “redeems your life from the pit.” When I read this my first go-to thought is “depression.” Depression is a pit like no other that I’ve seen. No one else around you can truly know what you are going through but God does. I’d like to think that at times the way that God redeems our life from the pit is Him climbing down into the pit with us. He sits with us in the dark and grows the light for us to see…then He becomes the lifting hands that pushes and pulls us up and out of it. I pray that you would speak out to Him and experience His presence and strength if you find yourself in a pit that seems impossible to get out of.

The next section is an incredible picture! God CROWNS US with steadfast love and mercy — WOW! I love it! Think about wearing a crown! It emotes such a picture of endowing power upon someone! A CROWN! It’s on display for everyone and it empowers us to live boldly with freedom and security! We have received God’s STEADFAST love and mercy! His love doesn’t change. His view of us remains unaltered! We cannot earn His love. HE is the one who crowns US! We cannot increase His love through behaviour modification or performance. His mercy is bestowed without us needing to deserve it or win it or work for it. HEY! God sees YOU and loves YOU and it is full-out, passionate, down to His core, complete, unreserved, decadent love. God WANTS you! He lifts you up and out of the pit crowning your head so you can walk with head held-high. It doesn’t matter whether or not anyone else thinks you deserve love or mercy, GOD DOES! I know this speaks so loudly to my own heart and its inability to fully grasp this truth but the closer I get to it, the more peace and joy I find…that someone loves ME and wants ME and redeems ME…

And with all of this, all of these benefits of God, He satisfies us with these GOOD THINGS and it really does renew one’s strength. To know God, the Creator of the universe, the King of kings, wants to provide satisfaction in life through His presence with us means we can not only endure but flourish. Our strength, once sapped through the challenges of life and the possible drain of others around us, can not only be renewed but experience the revitalization of youth that enables us to fly high above the troubles grasping at us trying to drag us back down to earth. I LOVE watching little kids play…their energy is insane. I know I used to be an active little boy and God bless the adults that tried to harness and put up with my energy. This idea of youthful energy harnessed is one most of us adults can only dream of recapturing. Yet, here we see, God comes alongside and through providing satisfaction and security, brings renewed strength.

Then we are compared to having the lightness and flight of an eagle. An eagle flies high above the land carried upon slipstreams of air currents. It actually doesn’t take them a lot of energy to keep themselves travelling in the air…they just read the currents and use them to float above the earth where they have a clear vision of the land below. I read on the internet (so it must be true) that, “while most humans have 20/20 vision, eagles are blessed with an astounding 20/5 vision. That means that what looks sharp and clear to us at 5 feet is just as clear to an eagle from 20 feet away.” (www.allaboutvision.com) I think when we live in the strength God provides we do gain clarity of sight: clarity regarding what is most important and what is not; what should be priorities and what should not; what is dragging us down and what is not; what we need for life and what we do not. Boy oh boy do I desire that type of clarity in life.

Those were my reflections on this passage as I sought some grounding and encouragement from God’s Word. Sometimes when a person expounds on a scripture passage like this, we can find “Christianese” dialogue…if you felt that way when reading this I truly do apologize. It is NOT my intent to simply spew out terms and phrases that are unhelpful. I am working my way through understanding and applying God’s word to my life just as you are. These are just my thoughs and hopes as I apply my faith. I WANT to experience the full blessing of God in my life. Actually, I NEED to! These have been difficult days and I really NEED God to do exactly as He says He will — to love me exactly as He promises He will and wants to.

Therefore, I will bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me…I will remember His benefits that He gives to His children…I will grasp onto His hand and rely on Him, that His grip on me is ever stronger than my grip could ever be on Him. I truly do pray that this time together has given you some peace.

Keep it real — Love God — Love people — live with freedom!

A couple of days ago I posted on Facebook that I thought the new crowd sourced TV show, “The Chosen” was incredible. They state that for a mere $100 million USD they could film and complete all 8 seasons they hope to do. I really pray they are able to meet this measly amount because the content of this show is fantastic! One of my friends wondered why I thought this show was so great. I haven’t responded yet because I wanted to reflect and try to discern my attraction for this show and this portrayal of Jesus. Here are a few of the reasons I came up with and I’ll keep them short because there were SO MANY great aspects of this show…

1. Context. As a pastor who has been preaching almost every week, I do a lot of studying about the passage and its context. Who was it written to? How would the original hearers understand and apply what was being said? What was happening historically at the time? What were the customs surrounding the message and how might they be affected? They say a sermon is like an iceberg — less than 10% of the effort put into it is actually seen. This TV show is like that. They have put a TON of effort into studying the context of Jesus, his disciples, what was being said and how it was being heard and how radical of a message it was! How they knit conversations together and brought light to their impact can really stir our hearts and minds to dive deeper into what we THINK we know about the bible and have read there.
2. Culture. Part of context is understanding the culture and they have really done an incredible job researching and trying to communicate the culture of the day. How would we know what sabbath looked like and how it was practiced? Its one thing to read about it but to see it in action is very cool. We know the Jews were being ruled over by the Romans and we know they were being heavily taxed but how did that translate into the community and what were the repercussions of that? To hear and see and feel the weight of the Roman occupancy on screen really adds dimension to what we might gloss over in our readings of the biblical story. The writers explain cultural practices in such a way that we can enter in and better understand what is happening without it feeling like they are “dumbing it down” and we are invited in seamlessly into the story. A great example of this is the wedding where Jesus turns the water into wine. So many subtle touches of what it would have looked like and how the shortage of wine was a huge societal embarrassment.
3. Filling in the blanks. In the bible we have only the smallest, most minute amount of information about Jesus and what his ministry would have looked like. I remember as a child wondering, “Yes but how did he live? Where did he sleep? How did he eat? How did they travel together? How could they afford it?” That was me as a child? As an adult I had even more pragmatic questions like, “How did this ministry affect the marriages of the disciples who followed Jesus? How would the group have reacted to a tax collector suddenly being a part of them? How do the women fit into the context of a travelling group because we are told there were women who not only learned from Jesus but contributed to his ministry and were close friends?” YES, I understand there was creative license taken by the writers but they did a marvellous job of having it make sense. It is rational and well thought out. I love that Nicodemus is a main character in the mix because we know historically he was a disciple of Jesus caught in the religion and politics of the day.
4. Relationships. I can read the passages of Jesus calling his disciples but often can forget how tight knit a community he lived in. People knew each other’s business and knew OF each other. I love how they interact and how Jesus treats people who are the lowly, rejected, and cast-aways. I love the interactions between the disciples struggling to figure out how to live and work alongside of each other in a closer context. Thinking of parents and how they would have felt seeing their children (who were meant to take over their business in the future) leaving everything behind to follow this rebel rabbi really has caused me to think as I see it playing out on the screen. How would Nicodemus have approached Jesus and struggled with what following Jesus would have meant for his life and marriage?
5. Creative license. As I previously mentioned, there has been some creative license taken, in fact, at the very beginning they put a disclaimer at the beginning stating some of the events have been modified or shifted on the timeline of story telling. My first thought when I read that was, “This should be interesting.” At the end my thought was, “That was tastefully done and well thought out and they captured the coming of the Kingdom of God and the Messiah so well that any license they took was well handled.” But CAN THEY DO THAT?! Well, think of the Gospels and how they are written. I just purchased a book called “A Harmony Of The Gospels” where they are laid out in columns beside each other to compare the details. Some gospels are missing stories, others have stories unique only to their accounting, some highlight different details BUT ALL OF THEM do so in order to share the Gospel in a particular way to reach a particular reader. I know this TV show is NOT scripture but they do follow a historical practice of telling about Jesus in a way that would effectively reach the listener and, in my humble opinion, they have honoured God in how they have done this.
6. Script-writing and Story-telling. Christian films over the years have proven that there can never be enough poorly conceived stories filled with bad dialogue and cringe-worthy cliches. I know that sounds harsh but I truly believe it has been earned and is true. I can hear some of you upset with me writing this and already you have on the tip of your tongues examples to prove me wrong. And, I humbly agree, there have been a few movies over of the years that have come out that have not been too bad — I consider those outliers. The script-writing in The Chosen I found to be delightful. It was intelligent, free from cliches and represented real dialogues that people would/could have. The story-telling was well interwoven and thought through intelligently building a plot-line that made sense. There must be a HUGE storyboard somewhere where they are mapping out the Gospels and side-stories to intersect. Watching this show truly was an adventure in seeing what was happening on screen while my heart and mind searched what I knew of scriptures wondering how on earth they were ever going to bring the two together. Delightful! I also liked how they introduced Jesus teaching people recognizing that he would have been teaching the people the same things he was teaching the disciples over and over again. What Jesus taught from a boat he would have taught from a hill, from a chair in a home, along the road while he walked. He was beating the drum of the Kingdom of God over and over and over again. I loved that they not only thought of that but put it into the story-lines to help expand our understanding of what it would have been like to hear Jesus teach to multiple groups in multiple places. His words would have been so challenging that a one time listen would not have been enough to even begin to understand because it was such a different perspective.
7. Jesus. I know it is very challenging to portray Jesus on film. There have been many interpretations over the years of what he looked like and how he acted. After we finished watching all 8 episodes we looked at the extras and found an interview between the director and the actor who portrays Jesus. They discussed how he went about trying to act out Christ in ways he sensed Christ would be, how Christ would speak, how Christ would respond to people. In this discussion the actor explained that The Chosen has a unique edge in how they can portray Christ because it is being done in a series that can breath instead of a movie where there is a time crunch. Upon reflection, I can see how this is very true. We can see the humour and humanity of Jesus. We can see how he takes time for people — that he had to walk everywhere. We get to see his pacing of life and the challenges he faced with the disciples. We get to see his delight when the Father answers his requests for miracles to take place and people are being restored, finding hope and experiencing the love of God. Most of all, we get to see his consistent compassion, care and love for a people he saw as “sheep without a shepherd.” Upon writing this, I feel it might even be unfair to compare Jesus in The Chosen with others in movies because of the unique opportunity this brings to breath life into the portrayal of Christ. Even though we aren’t seeing a show in Hebrew with English subtitles we certainly aren’t seeing the Swedish Viking Jesus speaking in an English accent. Fantastic. Simply fantastic. Of course there is a huge danger I see with this. As this portrayal of Jesus warms our hearts and even has us grow in our love of what Jesus could have looked like and how he could have ministered, it means that the suffering of this Jesus could strike an even deeper emotional chord in us than ever before when they portray the crucifixion of Christ. In fact, to have seen such a loving, caring Jesus only creates a more extreme contrast to the hate and sin that puts him on a cross. Part of me is dreading seeing that while the other part anticipates how great the love of God will powerfully shine through.

You may be wondering if there is anything I did NOT like? Not really. Anything I would point to would surely be picky. For example, the biggest weakness for me in the show are the Roman soldiers. I like that they included a Germanic soldier in the cast as the Romans did absorb and conscript their defeated into their army (for numerous strategic reasons). BUT, when I think of Roman soldiers I think of guys that would have looked at the MMA and sneered. I imagine them as being tanned from hours out in the hot eastern sun. I imagine them muscular and hardened from hours upon hours of hard training to be the best fighting machines of their time. I imagine their uniforms to be in good condition but made of hardy materials that look battle ready. Instead, I find these soldiers to be pasty, skinny and their uniforms to be cheap looking…but again, this is pickiness on my part and most likely the influence of Hollywood on my imagination. I really liked the visual of the soldiers in The Passion Of The Christ and wished they would have followed that a bit more closely. That being said, please hear me in this, what they did with the budget they had is INCREDIBLE! The Passion Of The Christ was made for $30 million USD and added $15 Million USD on top of that for advertising. It was 2 hours and 7 minutes long. The Chosen filmed for $10 million USD and did 8 episodes that I’m thinking worked out to 6 hours on screen time. That is impressive. VERY impressive in my humble opinion.

There are so many other things that come to my mind about what I loved about this show. Is it perfect? No. But as a pastor who cringes whenever I hear of an upcoming release of Bible on film, it was refreshing and a delightful journey that I hope continues for 7 more seasons. I believe God was honoured by how His love was portrayed on screen and the viewers were honoured by the intelligent and interesting crafting of the story of the life of the Messiah. I pray this show would bless people and draw people to Christ. When I think of the timing of this release plus the social restrictions the world is experiencing I have to marvel and the timing of God for the Gospel to go out. I find myself praying that when we emerge from COVID, there will be a great harvest of believers seeking to grow as disciples because as they were locked down they sought out hope and God provided Good News for them in multiple formats — one of which I pray has been The Chosen. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and opinions. I pray you are blessed.

[NOTE: This is a first draft of my thoughts so I may update and polish this further in the future ?]

I just came across these prayers by Ted Loder in his book, “Gorillas of Grace” and it perfectly describes my heart as I look to a new season of ministry in a new church family. ?

I tremble on the edge of a maybe, a first time, a new thing, a tentative start, and the wonder of it lays its finger on my lips.

In silence, Lord, I share now my eagerness and my uneasiness about this something different I would be or do;

and I listen for your leading to help me separate the light from the darkness in the change I seek to shape and which is shaping me.

Bring More of What I Dream

O God, who out of nothing brought everything that is, out of what I am bring more of what I dream but haven’t dared; direct my power and passion

to creating life where there is death, to putting flesh of action on bare-boned intentions, to lighting fires against the midnight of indifference, to throwing bridges of care

across canyons of loneliness; so I can look on creation, together with you, and, behold, call it very good; through Jesus Christ my Lord.

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. – 1 John 3:19-24

COVID-19 lockdown has now been going on for weeks here in Canada. I would love to tell you that as a pastor I have taken all of these “extra” moments in time to sit down in a quiet place with my Bible and have done hours of extra study seeing things I have never seen before and growing so deeper with Christ that when we all emerge I will have been so transformed no one will even recognize me. I really wish this would have been my truth up until today.

Instead, my reality has been a mix of wonderful learnings about new technology and having meetings with church leaders and other people like family and friends. I’ve done some computer and guitar maintenance for others and self. Doing some video taping for worship services. Sorting through music for the next number of weeks worship to record. A portion of time has been taken up by rearranging the house for our “new normal” of having both my wife and I working from home. I now have a little music studio setup in our living room ready to record songs tomorrow with Garage Band (a definite first for me). And I’ve been in to start sorting out my study at the church as I look to the future and my transition into a new church ministry amid all of this insanity. I feel like I have been BUSY!

The other part of time has been spent dealing with two sick cats we are struggling to diagnose and figure out how to get healthy again without an insane vet bill. Energy is being spent adapting to being with people all the time. (If you are an extrovert you will have little sympathy for me but if you are an introvert you totally get what I just wrote.) There are huge moments of reflection where I wonder (and worry) if I am doing enough, meeting expectations and needs, wondering what I can do more in ministry when my internal compulsion is just to dive down into a cocoon of privacy and just try to process and recharge by myself. Some time has been spent reading and watching the latest tv shows and movies I had been too busy to watch before. I never realized how much time one could spend making food, eating food and cleaning up after.

All of that to say…whether introvert or extrovert…whether you are with people or alone…in this time there is a LOT of reflection being done. If I simply stew by myself I find I get even more drained and no good comes from that but if I go back to my source for life, Jesus, and his Word, I find peace settles in and I can begin to breath again. I love the passage from 1 John that is noted above. Perhaps there is no other passage in all of scripture that summarizes what life looks like for believers POST-CROSS. This is an important distinction to make when we read scripture and try to apply Jesus’s teachings. When Jesus was teaching the public he often amplified the Law to show people how impossible it was to live for God according to the Law. When we as Christians look to Jesus’s teaching PRE-CROSS we need to be careful we aren’t applying truths to our lives that simply don’t apply to us as followers of Jesus who are freed from what he, and only he, accomplished on the cross.

What are the commands of God? How can we live in freedom in Christ? How do I be free from my own heart that is always condemning me for not doing enough for Jesus? In this COVID lockdown my previous way of understanding and applying the Gospel simply cannot work, is not working, will not work, and I am left feeling bereft of purpose! What peace we can have when we know that God is greater than our heart! If you’re like me, NO ONE can condemn me more than my heart. No one. But when we realize God knows the truth of who we are and His love pierces through our guilt to bring peace and knowledge that we are God’s beloved and we belong to Him…our hearts cease to condemn us. Everything is good! Everything is taken care of in Jesus! Then we are bring to God our requests in prayer with confidence because our hearts are aligned with him. Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath means we can constantly rest from our work because we live in him.

But what are we supposed to be DOING? Surely we are not called to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good?! No, that’s true. God has left us true commandments that overshadow the Law.

“And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”

First, believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. This statement is so packed with nutrient-dense truths. We believe in order to receive salvation. We also continue believing because Jesus fulfills everything for us. All that we think we need to do to earn God’s love or maintain our own righteousness, Jesus does for us. If we cease to believe that we begin to strive to grow our own righteousness and earn our place before God. That is not freedom in the complete work of Christ — that is slavery to a goal we can never accomplish. Second, love one another, just as he commanded us. How is that? Love our neighbour as ourselves? Nope. That portion is under that PRE-CROSS teachings of Jesus. Jesus told his disciples that we are to love one another just as he loved us. There is a new standard in town, folks, and it isn’t to love others as we love ourselves. Its to love others with the same love we have received from God.

*GULP!* How? HOW?! Relax. Have peace! Don’t let your heart condemn you in this moment of clarity. John continues to write this, “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” God lives in us. That’s right! That word “abide” means that God lives IN US! That means we can love each other how God loves us because God will love them through us. God’s love in us — God’s love through us and all through the power of the Holy Spirit God has given to us.

Some of you are struggling right now. You are struggling so hard I can hear it! HOW? How can God live IN me when I still struggle with sin? That is a great question for another day. I will answer it with another question though, “Would God attach Himself to sin?” No. No, He would not. When you became a Christian and God forgave you of your sins you were cleansed — you were forgiven and are forgiven (past tense). Paul talks about how our flesh and our sin nature battle against our redeemed self (book of Romans) but our spirit, our person, is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come. God IN us. We are clean! We still struggle with sin because we are still using sin to define us. But when we realize that we are loved and cleansed and stand before God unashamed and righteous, the appeal of sin gets destroyed and we find our fulfilment in Christ who bought us and saved us and caused HIS light to shine in our hearts.

So here I sit in COVID lockdown to discover I’ve slipped back into the “doing” mode instead of living in the “being” mode. If you are like me, just sitting down with Scripture in a focused way, with the TV off, the phone on silent and placed in a drawer in another room for a “time out”, can bring back the joy of my salvation. I can begin to untangle from the worries and anxieties of life in the “new normal.” And I can sit and wonder at the love God has for me. I can breath in the truth of who I am and whose I am. I can rest in the knowledge that God sees me, knows me, wants me, has a plan for me…every single moment of my life He accounts for in His plans…and therefore, I can rest, condemnation-free, and begin the next chapter of life by spending more time with Jesus, the Lord of Life and living out his commandments.

[A personal note: I pray you find this journal/devotional to be one that brings peace to your heart. All of us work through our issues at different paces and in different places and times. I can’t believe how time feels different during these days. I feel less productive and confined. I wonder about the future and what life will look like when we all emerge from our homes. One thing will NOT change for me, I will still seek to love God and love people. We need more love in this world and as a christian that is my calling. I love Mr. Rogers and his quotes inspire me in Jesus-like ways, so I’ll close with two of them:

“Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”

“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”

May God be with you this day as you take time to ponder, reflect and be renewed in Him.]