Check out Mark's Blog

Here's a hat tip to Mark Stanley's blog on leadership...click here click on his picture, or follow the link...

Link

Friday Funnies - A Penchant for the Obvious

I worked for the municipal government, back in the day, and I remember the Region investigating a change in their drug benefit provider, a kind of how do we give less to the employees and make them think they're getting more kind of exercise. Anyway, the new provider in cooperation with the Region launched a 3-6 month study on drug usage of employees. They looked at all of the prescriptions which were used etc., and made a recommendation as to the route which should be followed.

All employees were brought into a large meeting room to have the findings, recommendations and course of action rolled out. I remember this like it was yesterday. The report outlined and presenter offered, "Prozac, Ativan, and Imitrex use had increased dramatically and these were the prescriptions which were filled at the greatest frequency by staff at the Region". That was the statistical data, and the conclusion they came up with was this,

"________ Region is spending too much money on prescriptions and staff needed to be encouraged to use the generic brands of the drugs."
DUHHHHHHH!

Here's another conclusion the staff below middle management offered...The findings? "Drug usage for depression, ulcers and migraines is increasing at a rapid rate, and remain the most prescribed drugs for employees of this Region." Our conclusion? "People who work at the Region are stressed out." Go Figure...talk about not seeing the forest for the trees...

More on Community...

Our relationship with each other is the criterion the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful - Christian community is the final aplogetic. (Francis Schaeffer, The Connecting Church) What message are we giving the world when they look at our faith community? What message am I giving the world when they look at my relationships? What do my relationships look like? We've all heard the song, "they will know we are Christians by our love..." and John says a lot about authentic love, what it is and isn't.
See 1 John 2:9-11, 15, 1 John 3:11, 14, 15, 16-17, 1 John 4:7-21, 1 John 5:1-3

1 John (NIV)

2:9-11,15 - Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him[c] to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him...Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

3:11,14-17 - This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another... We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

4:20-21 - If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

5:1-4 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.

Dee
Meegwetch (Ojibway) - Merci - Thank you

Out of Control Disciple

A Magna Charta of Trust by an Out-of-Control Disciplefrom Sweet's Soul Cafe (March 1996 Vol. 2, No. 1)
I am part of the Church of the Out-of-Control. I once was a control junkie, but now am an Out-of-Control Disciple. I've given up my control to God. I trust and obey the Spirit. I've jumped off the fence, I've stepped over the line, I've pulled out all the stops, I'm holding nothing back. There's no turning back, looking around, slowing down, backing away, letting up, or shutting up. It's life Against the Odds, Outside the Box, Over the Wall, the game of life played Without Goal Lines other than "Thy Will Be Done..."I'm done lapdogging for the topdogs, the wonderdogs, the overdogs, or even the underdogs. I'm done playing According to the Rules, whether it's Robert's Rules of Order or Miss Manner's Rules of Etiquette or Martha Stewart's Rules of Living or Louis Farrakhan's Rules of America's Least Wanted or Merril Lynch's Money-minding/Bottom-lining/Ladder-climbing Rules of America's Most Wanted. I am not here to please the dominant culture or to serve any all-show/no-go bureaucracies. I live to please my Lord and Savior. My spiritual taste-buds have graduated from fizz and froth to Fire and Ice. Sometimes I'm called to sharpen the cutting edge, and sometimes to blunt the cutting edge. Don't give me that old-time religion. Don't give me that new-time religion. Give me that all-time religion that's as hard as rock and as soft as snow. I've stopped trying to make life work, and started trying to make life sing. I'm finished with second-hand sensations, third-rate dreams, low-risk high-rise trades and goose-stepping, flag-waving crusades. I no longer live by and for anything but everything God-breathed, Christ-centered, and Spirit-driven.I can't be bought by any personalities or perks, positions or prizes. I won't give up, though I will give in... to openness of mind, humbleness of heart, and generosity of spirit. When short-handed and hard-pressed, I will never again hang in there. I will stand in there, I will run in there, I will pray in there, I will sacrifice in there, I will endure in there-- in fact I will do everything in there but hang. My face is upward, my feet are forward, my eyes are focused, my way is cloudy, my knees are worn, my seat uncreased, my heart burdened, my spirit light, my road narrow, my mission wide. I won't be seduced by popularity, traduced by criticism, by hypocrisy, or trivialized by mediocrity. I am organized religion's best friend, and worst nightmare. I won't back down, slow down, shut down, or let down until I'm preached out, teached out, healed out or hauled out of God's mission in the world entrusted to members of the Church of the Out-of-Control... to unbind the confined, whether they're the downtrodden or the upscale, the overlooked or the underrepresented.My fundamental identity is as a disciple of Jesus--but even more, as a disciple of Jesus who lives in Christ, who doesn't walk through history simply "in his steps," but seeks to travel more deeply IN HIS SPIRIT.Until he comes again or calls me home, you can find me filling not killing time so that one day he will pick me out in the lineup of the ages as one of his own. And then... it will be worth it all... to hear these words, the most precious words I can ever hear:"Well done, thou good and faithful... Out-of-Control Disciple."

Link

Dependency

Are you dependent?
Take away everything we rely on or expect or predict and what are we left with? For some it's fear, others helplessness, others anger...Regardless, it's interesting how we are always driven at the point of having everything stripped away to depend on God. This is the point people cry out in prayer for help.

Everyone is thinking of money and resources right now, I'm sure, but imagine if the things you depended on etc. were things like your talents and abilities, your confidence and personality. Imagine if those things became tested and tried, and were found failing. For some, this is the time they cry out to God for help.

So you can still relate, but imagine if the thing you depended on was your pain and suffering, fear and stress or distress. What if those things were not around to cripple you. For some, this is the time they cry out to God for help because these were the things they depended.

Now imagine if you turned all of those things...personal assets, financial assets, hurts and pain
over to God, and just said, "I depend on You"...

Sweet Home Williams Lake

Home is where the heart is...
When I moved from Burlington to CFOT Toronto for training I always referred to home as Burlington, where our parents, family and friends lived. After moving to Williams Lake for the first couple of years I still referred to Burlington as home. Well guess what? Now that we are living in Winnipeg...I refer to Williams Lake as home! I wonder how long it will take to make that shift in my mind? In my heart as long as family and friends remain in Burlington and Williams Lake it will always be home...the relationships we have been a part of in both locations are lasting - our community on the other hand has changed. And so we have set out to find ourselves a 'new' community to be a part of...no easy task in a city that has 5 (ish) corps and even more difficult when none of the corps are in our neighborhood - sigh. After already visiting Southlands and Weetamah Rick and I (all the kids are away) decided to attend Weston Corps today. I think it was probably the only corps in Winnipeg without air conditioning - let's just say it was stifling hot and humid - but their was no complaints. The fellowship was genuine and in my estimation God was pleased with the sweet aroma of worship. Now the interesting thing in visiting three city corps so far...
the first week coffee was served AFTER the morning service...
the second week coffee was served BEFORE the morning service...
today...coffee (along with ice water) was served...IN THE MIDDLE of the morning service - why didn't I think of that? It includes both the 'late comers' and 'early departures'...I love it!

Dee

Book Recommendations

Michelle recommends "Travelling Light" by Lucado...thanks for the comments Michelle...I recommend as an absolute must read for Christians, "Say to this Mountain" by Ched Myers. As you can see I've attached a link so you can order it from Amazon.com. Or...you can sign up and come to Training College, and get it for free.

If you do end up coming to Winnipeg I'll take you to BDI...I've got to keep running or I'll put on 50 pounds eating BDI ice cream...

Also, I'm signing off my emails with "Peace". Does it work or do people have other suggestions that might work with my personality. I'm feeling a little Anglican with my salutation.

Peace,
rZ

Friday Funnies

Dee and the girls jumped out of the car. I said, "I'm going over to WalMart to get something for my tire, and I'll park over there. They were going to "Garage" (if you have a 9-16 year old girl you'll know it). I went to WM, did my thing then went to Garage...no Deana...2 hours of searching, waiting, and public address paging later, and she walks up to where I was sitting in front of WM for over an hour, and she is looking sheepish (her maiden name is Lamb after all). "Did you remember where I said I would be"...nope...and it would be funny too, except this happened only a month ago too. I'm still reeling from the time I lost my parents in Square 1 mall in Mississauga when I was 4. I'm glad I have benefits with the Army. My therapist has a lot of work ahead.

Oh, by the way...the last time I had Dee paged I said to the person, "I was supposed to meet my ex-wife here and she hasn't shown up....

rZ

Book him Danno

I have been asked recently when I am going to blog next. Some insight into my marriage relationship...behind every brilliant and well penned husband is a wife that feeds him. For those of you who know me well...the computer is not my friend. But I do have ideas and come across some neat and interesting things and I pass those along to Rick and he posts it...with his own little spin of course. Anyway, here is MY contribution for today.

My son Jordan loves to read...really good books. In fact, he will reread the ones he loves over and over again, example, Where the Red Fern Grows, and A Child Called It (I recommend you read that one). I toohave books I really enjoy. What's So Amazing About Grace, by Phillip Yancey is one of them. Awesome book and I have come back to it several times. Why is that? But then I came across this...I am currently reading...An Invitation to the Writing of Martin Luther in preparation for a course in August. Luther writes "A student who doesn't want his work to go for nothing ought to read and reread some good author until the author becomes part, as it were, of his flesh and blood. Scattered reading confuses more than it teaches. Many books, even good ones, have the same effect on the student. So he is like the man who dwells everywhere and therefore nowhere. Just as in human society we don't enjoy the fellowship of every friend every day, but only of a few chosen ones, so we out to do in our studies." page 306

Here's a chance to COMMENT. Recommend a book to the blog readers, and give a quick reason why. What are you currently reading that is good. Share it with all of us.
Here's how...you can either hit comment below or click on the little envelope picture below and email us a little more involved post. We would love to hear from other writers or people who have comments to add. Come on Col. P...send us a blog...Anyway, if you've been reading then you know the tone, and to keep it interesting more input will help. We can't wait to read what you have to say.

Dee

Bloggers are Male

A friend shared with me this blogging thing is a male thing. Women will express themselves through spoken story versus writing or electronics. That's probably why they can sit through a 2 hour Julia Roberts movie, but can't spend 10 minutes in Future Shop. Anyway, moving on....I want to test this theory. Everyone hold down the "A" key on your keyboard with your left index finger and the "L" key with your right. When I say "Go", I want all the men to lift their left hands off of the keyboard and the women lift their right. Ready? "GO". Wow, results are in, and out of the 700 readers of this blog 100% are women....Let me do that one more time...Okay, same thing with left and right hands. This time, all the women raise your right hands on "Go" and all the men raise your "other left hand" on "Go"...Ready? "GO"....Yep, she's right.

Back to the blog...I've changed the way you make comments. They will not be moderated so feel free to respond without threat of censorship.
rZ

Identity Crisis

Looks like TSA isn't the only group in the world to experience a little identity crisis. Church, movement, poor, rich, social, integrated, dual blah blah blah. Check out this opening line regarding the Girl Guides...you know, "hello would you like to buy some cookies?"...those Girl Guides...

"The Girl Guides of Canada are shelving their wholesome image in a surprising recruitment campaign, in favour of provocative photographs of young women. In one ad, a fictitious popstar named Candi promotes her songs Naughty Girl and Taste Me Again. At the bottom of the ad, a girl guide points her finger in judgment to emphasize the tagline: "Why Girls need Guides." ...click here to read more

It should read, "why girls need Guides, and why Guides Canada needs a swift kick in the..."

rZ

White Picket Fences on Wysteria Lane?

‘Desperate Housewives’ reveals the myth of the “white-picket fence” dream.

I have walked with many people who live in poverty in Canada. Too many of them believe the myth that if they can move to the right neighbourhood then all their troubles will magically disappear. Why do they think this? Because most people living in North America believe it. Our society has functioned on the lie that if you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. When someone pulls out a gun and shoots someone in a “nice neighbourhood” everyone is horrified. When children in a “nice neighbourhood” are removed from a home for violence or neglect…actually they are rarely removed from “good homes”, because they are not believed that anything could really be wrong. Words like “incest”, “sexual assault”, “abuse”, “murder”, are not part of the vocabulary of these neighbourhoods.

We stereotype families in our country by the neighbourhood they live in. If you live in the projects then the outside world expects shooting from “those people”. They apprehend children because they believe everything they say, because they don’t come from “good homes”.

I like “Desperate Housewives” simply because it takes away the veneer of lies that shrouds the “good neighbourhoods” of our country. People are people and sin is sin. It is not relegated only to the poor. Violence is real in all families (just talk to most siblings). Abuse can be emotional, financial, intellectual as well as physical. Betrayal and cover-up is a part of life wherever you live.

We have bought into the mentality that all bad things to “those people”. I would challenge us to realize that some groups of people are just more honest about the issues than the other. Maybe the church needs to watch “Desperate Housewives” in order to realize that sometimes our congregations are like the myth. All you have to do is get through the veneer of lies that we tell each other and find the real filth so that we can some to a Saviour who can cleanse us from all our wrongs (betrayal, cover-ups, back-stabbing gossip, etc.) and make our hearts anew!

Maybe we can call it “Desperate Churches….”

Karen Hoeft

A New Writer

By way of introduction we welcome Karen Hoeft as a blog writer. Karen and her husband Al are Majors in TSA in Winnipeg, but more notably were the Officers to the Community of Yellowknife. Their ministry focussed on community, integrated ministry, mercy and justice. Service included a faith body among the first nations people of the north, and keeping the company of politicians and bearocrats on various government levels lobbying for issues of mercy and justice for the poor and marginalized. Welcome. The pic is of Karen with a friend. Found it by googling...

Whose side is the Lord on?

Try singing it with those words..."Whose side is the Lord on? Who will be our foe?" It's difficult to get your tongue around yet I bet there is more of that going on today in the face of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than ever. Like pieces on a Risk board, I'm sure all of the Christian Zionists are lining up the forces of Gog and Magog in the battle of Armeggedon. The news on every station whether liberal, conservative, facist, communist or whatever are all lining up their experts to tell their side of the story. "Hezbolah (and Palestine by extension) was the agressor by kidnapping the 2 Israeli soldiers." Welcome to conservative news. On the other side, "The zionists have launched a holy war against an innocent people." I heard one statesman make this claim, "While the kidnap was an act of agression by Hezbolah, the reaction of Israel is so extreme, and not a warranted response."

At the heart of it all if we tear away the facade, the positioning, sabre-rattling and rhetoric we are left with one question, and this is where Christianity finds itself; "Whose side is the Lord on?" For many the answer flies off the tongue without reservation, and more often without thought as they declare, "Israel, the chosen people".

I'm not gonna go on a rant against Christian zionism or dispensationalism today. Instead, I want to point you to a passage we heard in the service this morning.

"And then this, while Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, "Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies'?" He said, "Neither. I'm commander of God's army. I've just arrived." Joshua fell, face to the ground, and worshiped. He asked, "What orders does my Master have for his servant?" (Joshua 5:14-15).

Joshua asked our question, but the answer was surprising, and I think it's a Biblical way through the mess of the middle East right now. We need to stop asking whose side God is on, and start looking at "Who's on the Lord's side?" In the story of Joshua and Jericho it is interesting to find a woman on the other side who is a friend of the Lord's. Her name was Rahab, a prostitute, and it's more interesting to note she is part of the lineage of Jesus' from Matthew 1. Who's on the Lord's side? It is possible people in Lebanon are on His side, and it's equally possible He has some friends on the Israeli side.

These are only a few thoughts, but hopefully it will help you wade through the rhetoric and think Biblically through the mess in the Middle East. Whose side are you on?

rZ

Prophecy

Prophecy:
"animates public conscience (however inconvenient that may be to the nation's leadership) and which relentlessly advocates on behalf of the least."
Ched Myers - "Baptism's True Claim" Sojourners magazine July '06

go to Sojourners online to read the whole article. Register for free and search for Myers.

Friday Funnies - Politics

WHY ISN'T ANYONE ELSE SEEING THIS?
Did you see Stephen Harper meeting Queen Elizabeth? He walks with his undertaker stride (as if he's wearing a back brace), and shakes her hand. So far so good, but then the queen immediately starts rubbing her hand as if his was covered in sweat or he hit her with a joy buzzer. You've got to catch it today on the news or you'll miss it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch south of the border...George Bush is in Germany and goes on about this roasted pig he's gonna get to carve at a dinner hosted in his honour..."and he, he the grinch even carved the roast beast..." so he comments about the pig and then laughs with his shoulders jumping up and down at every breath. Now questions from the press..."President Bush with the mounting tension in the middle east, are you worried about the threat of all out war, and what will you be suggesting at the G8 summit next week....etc." Bush does his customary chuckle and opens up the answer with, "hahahah...I thought you were gonna ask me about the pig..." not a laugh in the room.

A fellow walks into a pub and orders 3 pints of beer all at once and drinks them. He does this every week for about a month and the bartender gives into curiousity and asks the gentleman why. "friend", he says, "the beer would stay much colder if you ordered one at a time. "Well you see", he begins, "I'm one of 3 sons and me and my brothers always got together on a friday for a pint. Since coming to Canada I am on my own so I have one for my brother in Dublin, one for my brother living in Glasgow and one for myself, and they do the same every friday at this time." A few months of this ritual passes and the fellow comes in one Friday, but only orders 2 beers. Deducing that one of the man's brothers must have died, the bartender offers his condolences when he serves him the 2 drinks. The man is surprised, and when the bartender offers his rationale for the words of sympathy the man explains, "Oh, my brothers are alive and well, but you see, my wife and I were invited to a Salvation Army Corps last week and we got saved and are joining the Salvation Army...but it hasn't affected my brothers one bit."

Sally Anne

So I'm driving to my calling today, and a bus pulls up beside us. It's one of the new revamped billboards on wheels, and this bus in particular caught my attention. There is the smiling face of a woman who looks like she just came from a 50% off white sale at JC Penney, and surrounding her are all kinds of words arranged like bullet points flying in the breeze. Her name is Sally Anne, and to the rear of the billboard it says, "More than everything you could want" (something like that) The Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Here we go again trying to be something we're not. In BC they call the Thrift Stores "Sal Mart". What...is it a used clothing store for the Sopranos? Not to mention aligning ourselves with another business. Instead of yellow happy faces they have a price cutting unemployed clown. hahahaha...kidding, but I couldn't resist.

I have a great slogan for Thrift Stores..."Because you never know what to do with all the crap in your house"...Or, "Because people think they need this stuff." I'll stop picking on the Thrift Store.

On a similar note...how does this sound?
"Salvation Army Community Church"
ouch

peace,
rZ

Did you Know?

Everyone is a terrible driver except me. Driving to CFOT this morning (I almost wrote "driving to work", but it's a calling, not a career)...back to the blog...in the rearview mirror a young lady is using a Hair Straightening iron (like a curling iron, but ...well, you get the idea). So what is more insane? Is it the fact that this multi-tasking young woman behind the wheel of a 2,500 lb. projectile wants to look good for work, or her calling...one shouldn't judge. Or, is it crazier that companies actually make these things with cigarette lighter plugins?

Hey, did you know more people were killed watching the World Cup (65) than have died from west nile virus this year.

It was 35 celcius with a humidex reading of 51 celcius in Winnipeg today. That's hot. Even more interesting...did you know if you give the Army salute to someone stuck in traffic without air conditioning in their car you will get a very hostile response? The sweat filling their eye sockets must distort the image.

Did you know uniform pants look like spandex if you spend enough time in 51 celcius relative humidity heat?

Did you know it's hard for a leopard to change its stripes. I've been in Winnipeg for a week and they've left Dee and I in charge(foolish mortals). So today I'm looking for Dee and can't find her. It's deathly quiet and I walk into my office and sit down. She screams and jumps out from behind my door. OH YEAH...GAME ON. Here's the interesting thing about it. In our criminal code it is not considered murder if someone dies solely from mind influence. Sooooo, if I dropped dead from being scared to death Dee walks free.

rZ

Scent of a servant

If two people are on an elevator and one farts, everyone in the elevator knows who did it. If you're standing in a group of guys and one lets go, you can be sure he will take pride in owning the distinction of the pungent offering. For others there is always the family dog scapegoat to hide the unbelievable embarrasment they feel. Regardless of the delivery, recipients will always offer a reaction. My favourite is, "something must have crawled up inside of you and died!"

You see, there is a stink that is associated with death. Remember the story of Lazarus in John 11. Martha associates Lazarus death with a stink(v.39). He's been there 4 days. There will be a bad odour. I've never smelled the smell of death, but I'm told it's a stench you never forget. It is very distinct, but just one chapter later Jesus turns the table on the stink of death. He hints at it in Chapter 11 when He tells Martha not to worry. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies"(v.25).

The story begins in the house of Mary and Martha, in Bethany. Mary pours a bottle of perfume, and expensive perfume, on the feet of Jesus and wipes His feet with her hair. She is preparing His body for burial. The outcome of her action was, "The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume"(12:3). The smell of Jesus' death is a sweet smell of healing, forgiveness and restoration.

It's interesting too, when people serve Jesus it fills the air with perfume. I often comment, there are people who serve and cause me to look at Jesus. The smell of perfume is the smell of sweat of a youth group doing clean up work for a senior or for a local neighbourhood. I remember Dee befriending a woman who had AIDS, they played Yahtzee together. One occasion when she was quite sick Deana was visiting and the woman needed help cleaning up vomit, just like a good friend or a mother would for a child. Some might think it was javex they smelled when they entered the apartment, but it was actually the smell of perfume poured on the feet of Jesus.

There's another smell that we all know too. It's the smell of someone who serves, but causes us to look at them versus Jesus. The people we serve have antenna that can detect it from a hundred yards away, and often times they'll spend a lot of time drawing our attention to the scent, but if you're like most you'll find it to be a pungent odour. He who smelt it dealt it, and he who denied it supplied it. Either way you cut it, it smells like bull to me.

What's your scent?

rZ

King of the Grill

Not sure if you know this or if you know him, but Brian Slous, Mj., is quite handy with the grill. He took complete control of 45,000 btu's and whipped up the absolute perfect meal for our family. Here's the rub...I've got to dub him "King of the Grill" against my deepest desire to retain that crown myself. I'm not boastful, but I consider myself a bit of a Yogi, you know, "smarter than the average bear", but I felt like a total BBQ dummy. I usually chuck all the meat on the grill (sorry Chuck...I should have said placed), and then I ask people what they want. Brian asks everyone what they want and then places the "well done" meat on first and the "rare" at the end, planning it so the meat comes off the grill at the same time. "King of the Grill".

Funny huh, we do that when we do church too...we rush ahead with our plans and do all of our programs, and buy into 40 days of this and Purpose driven Jabez that, but fail to first ask if we should be doing any of it. Everyone seems to be looking for the magic pill or the program to fix what ails us (The Salvation Army), but like my wise Captain (Deana) suggests, we (TSA) could fix what ails us by a group of believers banding together and seeking God honestly and intently. No program...No formula...just start seeking...

I'm starting a new position, and I feel over my head. I started writing stuff down and making plans and all, but forgot to go back to the beginning. It's always a temptation of mine to run ahead of God's plans, but I need to be doing some serious praying before I take another step. Your prayers are coveted. Pray too, for the cadets in the field and those coming in. HAHAHHA...and not because I'm at CFOT. Pray for the Army. We need officers, and instead of complaining or rushing ahead here and there, let's make it a matter of daily prayer for TSA. Your prayers are coveted.
Peace...
rZ

Gimme a double double

I have had the occasion of experiencing true hospitality twice in my life. I have experienced hospitality many times, but two stick out as benchmarks for true hospitality. Ironically, one was at the hand of an Ethiopian family and the second from an Eritrean family. Both of these nations have been at war since Eritrea's independance on May 24, 1993 from Ethiopia. Both offered hospitality in the same manner...a coffee ceremony. The first family had just arrived from Ethiopia the day before, and we sat in their Scarborough apt. with Dee and I occupying their only chairs at their insistance. The family had come to Canada with only the beautifully ornate ceremonial clothes and a coffee set. Dee and I were made to feel like royalty in this humble setting, and although we could not communicate through words our time spent together left an indelible mark.

Tonight our kids and the neighbour's kids set up a BBQ at their house with 3 families. The parents didn't know about it, but put together a lovely meal with whatever they had in their fridge and cupboards. It ended with a coffee ceremony that took about 2.5 hours to serve the equivalent of 3/4 cup of coffee. Daniel and Ada were our hosts and she began by roasting coffee beans over a camp stove. Once they were roasted she came around us and invited us all into the process by inviting to enjoy the aroma of the fresh roasted beans. She ground the beans and boiled and simmered each pot. The first serving was quite strong, but successive servings were more mild. It was served with heated milk and two spoons of sugar in a small espresso type cup.

I'm going into a lot of detail, but it was quite foreign for us. Canadians are used to flying up to a window that whisks open. A server whips out a cup of coffee, and we chuck some money at her only to receive the change with the cup of coffee and have it or the coffee falling all over. We drive forward a few yards to deal with the mess because the next vehicle is impatiently waiting for their cup of coffee to be chucked out the window. THIS we hail as the cornerstone of Canadiana...the honoured Tim Horton's double double. God help us. Oh, and for you Starbucks fans it isn't much better. You just pay more. (the difference between gas and Starbuck's coffee? Gas is cheaper and it tastes better).

Anyway, in the 2.5 hours it took to serve the coffee we were once again treated like royalty. We were barred from lifting a finger to help serve or clean up, and Ada even apologized for not getting up during the first round and serving us individually. We shared our lives, laughs, and I imagine have begun a new friendship with very kind people. On our way out, Ada told us she was so excited about our arrival, and was praying for us before we came. I learned a lesson about hospitality, and stopping to smell the coffee.

rZ

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Winnipeg is the Slurpee captial of North America. So that means there are a lot of people with frozen brains, but according to every single person who knows we moved to Winnipeg, I thought brainfreeze was due to the freezing cold temperatures. By the way...It's day 5 in Wpg and I haven't seen a mosquia;kljn goit....ok, 1 mosquito, but that's all.

Speaking in Tongues

So when Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14:5, "I would like every one of you to speak in tongues", do you really think he intended or wished that everyone speaks in tongues. In the Alpha leaders guide and training material it refers to tongues as a beginners gift, something that can be taught. It quotes this verse, but the problem is the verse becomes a proof text to bolster a belief rather than interpreted in the intended context.

Just a quick thought. Paul writes in chapter 12 to the Corinthian church to stop viewing people as spiritually superior based on ethnicity, gender or social status. He implores the church to look at everyone as a valuable part of the church with no gift having special spiritual status over another. He reminds people their gifts are not based on anything they did or possess, but on the will of God the Holy Spirit. In chapter 13 he continues to outline the overriding ethic for the church...LOVE...and without love the gifts are a pile of rubbish (my paraphrase).

Quick jump to chapter 14...Imagine if you had a group of people running around boasting spiritual superiority because they have "preferred" gifts, or people who think they're holier than others because of special gifting. It may not be too hard to imagine because it's the same problem in the church today. We give special status to certain gifts and look down our noses at others. We see some people as spiritually superior because of their gifting. In fact, Paul says that those who possess gifts of "supposed" lesser status should be elevated, not the other way around (12:23). Now, take verse 5 into context and what do you have? You have Paul wishing everyone had the gift of tongues...why? because he wants everyone to speak in tongues? No, rather, if everyone had it then no one could claim superiority, and the church could get on with it's business.

These are just a few of my thoughts. I don't speak in tongues, but I would add to Paul's wish for 5 intelligible words over 10,000 words in tongues(14:19). I'd rather see the church bring equality to those of differing ethnicity or race, to women, and to those of lower social status, so that all find a place in the kingdom of God and not just a select few with extra spiritual powers.
And just in case you think I have a certain bent? The principle holds true for those with the gift of preaching who feel it is beneath them to setup chairs or clean toilets in the Corps bathrooms.

By the way...my gift is martyrdom. I'm just waiting to use it.
rZ

Can't see enough of me

Just posting so I can upload the pic into the profile

Greetings from Winnipeg

Okay...4 provinces in 3 days of driving? I feel like one of those garden trolls people steal from lawns and take on holidays and mail pictures back to the owner. I'm a little catatonic, but the internet and phone are up and running. My cat is totally damaged and won't come out of the laundry room except to dig in the litter box at 2am right outside my bedroom door. She went 13 hours in the van without using the litter box. I am both amazed and relieved all at the same time. We have a baby bunny living in our garage, and I'm afraid when my son Jordan gets home from camp he may try to shoot it with his crossbow. If not, he may try to shoot the big rabbit living in our back yard. It's like a Cadbury's Easter Cream Egg nightmare about to happen. I've showered 3 times a day because of all the dirt and sweat from working to unpack every single thing we own. We own too much. I think one more garage sale will fix that.

The girls have met a bunch of friends, and we got a chance to check out the training college today. Nice digs. For all my WL friends...I've gotta find a tie by tommorrow. Anyway, things are somewhat overhwhelming, but we're on our way. Email me at blogger614@yahoo.com to get our phone number.