Parkside Pastor's Blog

Father’s Day is just over a week away and so I find myself thinking about fathers. Not necessarily any in particular, but simply fathers in general. I saw the results of a survey once that stated the average father spent 4 minutes a day with his children. 4 Minutes is barely enough time to say, “Hello,” and get an answer to the question, “How was your day?” And if 4 minutes is the average than this means some fathers spend even less time than that with their children.
How does a father help equip a child for life in less time than it takes a computer (alright, I admit it – mine’s a little slow) to boot up? How do we build a spiritual foundation for our children to grow on in less time than it takes a pot of coffee to brew?
What about you? How much time was your father able to invest in your childhood? Or, if you’re a father, how much time are you giving to your children?
I’m thinking that if we want our sons to be godly men they need us to model it for them. If we want our daughters to marry godly men we need to set the bar. I don’t write this as someone who has it all figured out. In fact, if I’m honest with myself, I probably write it as one who has failed in this more than many. There is always something that will call us away from our family and claim our time whether it be by our own hand (sports, hobbies, etc.) or from without (work, etc.) But some of those things we have a choice in – and if we’re not already doing it we need to start choosing for the family. Now I know, some of you don’t have quite that same choice. You serve in the military – and we thank you for it – and I imagine that your heart longs to be at home with your children when you’re away. And I understand that the reality is you might not be able to be there right now – but when you are at home – well, I’d encourage you to really be there for your children. As for the rest of us … we have a choice. There will always be good things and better things that we need to choose between. We need to choose the best. Children are only young once. That window into their lives stays open only so long. As I watch my kids grow I’m well aware that this window is closing all too quickly.
Being a father is a privilege. If we’re not already doing it we need to step up into the gap that exists in all too many families and be the dad! So much of our life is focused on work. As men I tend to think that we often get a good part of our identity from the work we do. In many cases it builds into our sense of worth and self-esteem and it can even feed our egos. Work is good – nothing wrong with working or working hard. But as a pastor I’ve sat at the bedside of many people who were near death. Never once have I heard someone say, “I wish I worked more.” I have, though, heard people say, “I wish I had spent more time with my family. I wish I had made more time for my kids.” The truth is, in many cases, the choice is ours. May God grant us the wisdom, the urgency, the courage to say “No” to the good and “Yes” to the best that we may be found faithful men of God in His eyes. Let’s hear your thoughts …

We’ve all been there at one time or another. We’ve all experienced it. Maybe you’re in that place right now, maybe your experience isn’t in the past – it’s being lived out in the moments of this day. What am I talking about? I am talking about the hurts we receive from the people in our lives. It could be from a parent, a spouse or a child. It could be from a friend, a co-worker or a neighbor. Regardless of who it’s from the pain you experience is very real. It could be a physical pain, or emotional or spiritual or some combination of these but whatever the case that pain is very real. And when you think of the one who has hurt you, or when you see their face, those wounds tend to be re-opened.

When we’ve received a deep hurt our natural tendencies are to reach out and try to hurt the one who hurt us. Sometimes the innocent are caught in the crossfire as we lash out with our words and so on. An untreated wound will fester and contaminate our way of thinking, and speaking and acting towards others. Instead of seeking healing and reconciliation we either seek to cause pain to the one who has hurt us or we shut that person off from our lives. This is the way the world deals with these things. But what is honoring to God is something different and much harder to put into practice. In Romans 12 we read this …

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Romans 12:17-20

How contrary this runs to our worldly way of thinking! We are much more comfortable with “an eye for an eye” or “a tooth for a tooth.” Unless, that is, we are the ones who have wronged another. Our sense of justice seems to be directly linked to whether we were the ones who were hurt or whether we were the ones who did the hurting.

“As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Those are good words for us to live by. We always have a choice of what we can do with our wounds. We can let them fester and fill ourselves with bitterness and resentment or we can seek healing which leads to forgiveness and freedom. I know which one I long for in my life. And the key in these verses is that phrase, “as far as it depends on you.” That’s all you are responsible for. You are not responsible for the one who has hurt you. You are responsible for what is right in God’s eyes in so far as it is applicable to your words, actions, and thoughts. If you live with hurt you are likely to inflict a similar hurt on others because the truth is that hurt people hurt other people. How much better to have those wounds healed by God so that instead of inflicting hurt on others you become an avenue of blessing!

A prayer for today: “Dear Father in Heaven heal the wounds of my heart. Show me where I have hurt others that I might do what I can to make it right. Help me to understand the hurts that I’ve received that I might turn these things over to you and that you might make whole that which is broken. Father, keep me from bitterness and fill me with love. Help me to seek peace in all my relationships and let my words, thoughts, and actions be agents of peace as I interact with others in this day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

It’s late at night (at least for me!) and I write this with tears running down my face. I haven’t cried like this for many, many years so why now? Well, a good friend of mine died today very unexpectedly. While I was worshipping the Lord in church he was dying in a hospital bed. Now he worships God face to face and I go to my bed with an aching heart.
He leaves behind a young wife and a young family and I admit – I’m having a hard time with it. Everything in me cries out “It’s not supposed to be this way!” We were at seminary together and both moved to Manitoba around the same time to take up pastoral roles in our respective churches. We were supposed to have years ahead of us as we served the Lord together.
I’m not mad at God and my faith isn’t shaken – but I don’t understand why things like this happen. I probably never will and the truth is that no answer is going to bring him back and no answer will take away the hurt.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 says this …
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
We may not grieve like the world grieves, we may not grieve as those who have no hope, and we take great joy in the certain knowledge that we will one day be reunited for eternity, but we can still cry.
Perry, I will miss you. God Bless!

No … I’m not talking about the Trinity in this one as you might think from the title. Instead I’m thinking back over the events of the last few days. People are grieving the passing of three of society’s ‘icons’ over the course of this last week: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson.

All three were well known names during my growing up years. Ed McMahon, of course, was Johnny Carson’s sidekick on The Tonight Show. I never was a huge fan of the show but I recall my friends talking about it frequently. Posters of Farrah Fawcett adorned the walls of friend’s bedrooms through the 70’s and into the early 80’s. And Michael Jackson, well, he made kind of a splash on the music scene as I recall!

To some extent these three lived out the dreams of many – fame – fortune – success – in their chosen endeavors. To some they were ‘larger than life’ – and their beauty (alright – Fawcett’s beauty!) – their material wealth – the life they had the freedom to live – were to be envied. But the events of the last week remind us of what we know to be true – they were just people – people, in all the ways that matter, that were just like you and me.

And that brings to mind another thought. Because they were just like you and me – created by the hand of God – they have souls that live on past the dying of their bodies. It means too that they now stand in a place of giving account to a Holy God for the lives they have lived. Now, I make no judgment on their standing with God. I don’t tend to follow celebrity news and have no interest into peering into someone else’s life. Therefore I have no real idea of where they were at spiritually and what they did with the Good News of Jesus Christ. But the news of their deaths has made me think of the parable Jesus tells in Luke 12:13-21. I would encourage you to read this passage yourself but just in case you don’t, the short form of the story is this: A man was blessed with great wealth. He spent his life focusing on it, and the enjoyment of it, but gave no thought to God. Just when he thought he had it all, God spoke to him and said, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” What a challenging thought!

I’m also reminded of Matthew 16:26 … “What good will it be for a man (or a woman), if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” Kind of puts things in perspective for us, doesn’t it? One day we too will stand before a Holy God. Our bodies will have withered and died … but our souls will live on. And the testimony of God’s Word (the Bible) is that the soul lives on in one of two places – either in Heaven or in Hell. If one is a real place then certainly the other is real as well. Jesus spoke of them both as being real. I’m willing to take Him at His word. In that moment of time, when we stand before the Lord, I can only imagine that everything we have done and built up with our lives will pale in comparison to what we have done with Jesus. That should inspire us to live our lives here on earth with a greater view of eternity, with a better perspective on the things that are really worth our time and efforts and resources.

That’s not an easy task. Our lives are filled with a lot of ‘distractions.’ But it’s well worth our while to put in the effort. Perhaps a good place to start is in prayer – to start each day by praying that we would see the world around us as God sees it, that we would see others, and ourselves, through the eyes of God. To pray in such a way would surely transform our lives and our hearts, our desires and our dreams. What do you think?

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated the blog – sorry about that! But I’m back at it now and will try to be more consistent in the weeks to come.

Hebrews 12:1-3 says this:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

I tremendously enjoy reading! But not just anything will do … whatever I’m reading has to capture my attention and hold it. The best books also nurture my spirit and build into my faith. Among these are the many spiritual autobiographies that fill my bookshelves. Real life stories of people who have wrestled with their faith, who have frequently been through extraordinarily difficult times – people whose faith has been refined in the crucible as it were. To me it is a tremendous encouragement to my own walk to see how faithful God has been in the midst of the trials of others. It’s a reminder that I’ll find Him faithful in mine as well. That’s a part of the wonder of the Bible too – it’s the story of real people – the good, the bad, and the ugly! – who strive to live out their faith (or not) – and the God who speaks into our lives.

I’ve just finished reading “A Dangerous Faith,” edited by James Lund and Peb Jackson. It’s a collection of ten stories each one focusing on an incident in the life a different individual. True life stories of people trying to make sense of their faith when their world is falling apart – from inside the Pentagon on 9/11 to a plane crash off the coast of Alaska; from Iraq to Columbia, from mountain tops to sea level, the reader discovers God at work in remarkable places.

Why do books like this excite me and fuel my faith? Because I think to myself, “That could have been me!” (Well, maybe not the mountain climbing adventure – but you get the idea!) These aren’t “heroes of the faith” – they are merely faithful people who struggle at times with their own mortality but who persevere in their faith and in doing so experience the presence of the Lord in powerful ways.

How about you? Whose story has touched your life? Let me know … I’m always looking for another good read!

One of the most awe inspiring encounters that people have had with God is when Paul encounters the risen Lord on the road to Damascus and is profoundly touched by the experience.  For three days he is left blind and goes without food and drink.  And while he has been touched physically by this encounter we do not want to overlook the likelihood that in those three days Paul must have been doing a great deal of soul searching as well.  Everything he had poured himself into – the persecution of the church and so on – was being stripped of it’s veneer of righteousness and being shown for what it really was.

In the midst of this physical affliction and inner turmoil the Lord sends to Paul a Christian by the name of Ananias.  The Lord speaks to Ananias, telling him to, “Go!  This man (Paul) is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”  (Acts 9:15-16).  Not quite what we expect to hear, is it?  God is going to use Paul’s life powerfully, He’s going to use him to reach hundreds and thousands with the Gospel message, but Paul will suffer as the Lord before him suffered.  This is just a partial list of Paul’s sufferings as recorded in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28  …

He has been imprisoned, flogged, and beaten.  He has been stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked and hungry and the list just goes on and on!  Yet he did not waver in his committment to the Lord nor the task set before him.  Instead he was able to rejoice in the midst of suffering for he knew he suffered for the sake of the Lord’s name – he suffered on behalf of his king, his Lord, his soveriegn, his savior and his people.  Paul was able to rejoice because he kept his eyes fixed on Jesus and saw the big picture.

Our first inclination when trials, hardships, or opposition arises is to pray and ask God to take them away.  If we constantly focus on the trial rather than Christ we will miss the blessing that the Lord may have for us in the midst of these things.  I came across these thought provoking questions the other day which I would like to share with you and which might help us to each view the trials of our lives a little bit differently.

“Which is the greater demonstration of God’s power – changing something around me or changing something within my heart?”

“Which is the greater faith builder – seeing God’s deliverance from every difficulty or experiencing His presence and strengthening in the midst of trials?”

“Which reward is greater – immediate relief from discomfort, or tested and refined faith that will result in praise and glory when Christ returns (1 Peter 1:7)?”

“Which answer to prayer is greater – that God has removed something and given me external peace, or that He’s left me in a trial and given an internal peace that nothing can steal, not even my circumstances?”

Peace.

In 1 Peter 1:6 we read these words, “… now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”  That will be a familiar experience to many of you who read this.  The trials we face in life can take many different forms – from the loss of a job to the loss of a loved one and everything in between.  Many of us will face trials that stem from sickness or disease.  In the midst of that struggle we will be called upon to live out our faith when we don’t have the answers to our problems, when the outlook is not what we would hope, and when we are not certain what tomorrow will bring.

My family has been ‘rocked’ by the news of the last few days – from news of the growths in my neck to the phone calls informing us of my father-in-law’s brain tumors and of the accident in which my wife’s cousin broke his neck rock climbing.  Through these things we begin to catch a glimpse of what Job must have experienced as servants came to him, one after another, to share their sorrowful news.   Job’s response has always inspired me.  He did not curse God nor turn from Him but cried out in faith, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away may the name of the Lord be praised.”

May it be that in the midst of the adversity each of us faces that this may be the song of our hearts as well!  For we know that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”  Furthermore Scripture reveals to us a sobering truth – that it is in the midst of these trials that we experience the provision of God’s grace.  The Lord tells Paul, “my grace is sufficient for you.”  And so it was.  And so too will it be for each one of us for the God to whom we come is the same yesterday, and today, and forevermore.  Praise be to the Lord our God!