The Faith of a Parent Goes a Long Way

Moses learned a lot about faith from his mom and dad.

This is how we pass on the faith to our children: by our words, but more pointedly by our actions. Children are either hardened by the hypocrisy of their parents, or like Moses they are inspired by the consistency between word and deed. If we are unforgiving with our children and show an unwillingness to admit our sins, then we communicate a lack of grace to them. If we spend all our money on ourselves, begrudging the church or those in need, or if we speak harshly of people, seeming to rejoice in their failures and follies, then we communicate a religion other than that of Christianity.  But when we are quick to repent and ready to forgive, when we trust the Lord for our own provision and give freely to others, and when we speak graciously of other sinners… we show our children our belief in a God who is merciful and kind and mighty to save.

- Rick Phillips, Hebrews (498).

God is More Interesting than Stealth Helicopters

I often find myself eager to log in to Google News or some other source to see what is going on. I installed Leechblock on my work computer some time ago and was surprised to see just how much I like to “check on things.”

While this fairly constant urge may be the sign of some pretty significant heart idolatries, I think part of what generates this action is the urge to find something interesting to think about. When you think about it, most of us lead pretty boring lives. We sleep, we wake, we work, we do stuff around the house, we sleep. “News” holds out the promise of something, well… new! And new means interesting.

To look for something interesting in this life can be good at one level – we were made to subdue and enjoy the creation. Yet, something is wrong when my hunt for the  “interesting” curbs my pursuit of God. God is the most interesting subject in the Universe! If I am more excited to log on to an internet news source than I am to read my Bible and pray, this is evidence I have gotten things backward.

It is true that God is unchanging. But He is unchanging in unsearchable wisdom and unfathomable depths of love. Who God is remains the immeasurable mystery that will take up an endless eternity. Our love and enjoyment of Him will increase daily in the new heavens and the new earth. Why then do I allow myself to be sidetracked and distracted by what kind of helicopter Navy SEALS used to crash land in Osama bin Laden’s compound?

God is the most interesting subject in the Universe.

That thought has helped clarify to me what I should be thinking about and chasing after.

Telling a Teller About Jesus

I had the joy of talking to my bank teller about Jesus yesterday. She is from India, a very pleasant and kind woman, and we got to chatting about Easter. I told her that Good Friday commemorates the death of Jesus for sinners and that Easter commemorates the third day after his death when God raised Him from the dead. She looked shocked. Having lived in Canada for over twenty years she had no idea that was what Easter was all about.

I was shocked, too. It is so easy for me to forget how little people know of the Gospel. And how distorted the world’s perception of true Christianity can be (she later innocently assumed that “Canadian” equaled “Christian”).

I say all of this just to remind you, if you are a Christian, to be careful to not assume too much when talking to others about Jesus. It is a post-Christian world we live in and the most basic tenets of Christianity that my generation grew up understanding (even if rejecting) are unknown by most today.

Good Friday Service Tonight! (7PM - Winter Garden Theatre)

This is going to be a beautiful, amazing time of worshiping together and remembering the dying love of Jesus on our behalf. A couple of helpful hints for the night:

1. Arrive early – around 6:30 – if you can. The doors open at 6:30, and by all indications from the other participating churches, we could have a pretty full house. The intriguing thing is that we are going to need tickets to get into the event. They are free, and can be picked up at the box office – but to get in, get your tickets and then take the escalator or elevators up to the theatre could easily eat up 15 minutes. 
2. Only take as many tickets as you need. If you are meeting people, let them get their own; the area around the ticket box office is too small and easily will get congested, from what we can tell. Take your tickets and then head up to the theatre up the escalators, and grab some seats for your friends.
3. The service begins with a theatrical meditation on the Cross by a professional actor, Ins Choi. It begins the service – you do not want to miss it! So don’t straggle or you will regret it!!
4. There is a suggested donation of $20 per person to defray the costs of hosting this event. Please come with checks made out to Grace Toronto Church, or if you have cash, please grab an envelope from an usher as you enter the theatre. The envelopes have room to put your info on them for tax receipt purposes.
5. There will be refreshments, for sale, after the service. The theatre is manning these concessions for us.

Good Friday Service - Some Important Updates

The Good Friday service will be framed around the Seven Sayings of Jesus from the cross. AW Pink wrote a great little book on these statements that would be wonderful reading in preparation for Friday. You can find those sayings in these passages:

• The First Word – Luke 23: 32-38
• The Second Word – Luke 23: 39-43
• The Third Word – John 19: 25-27
• The Fourth Word – Mark 15: 33-34
• The Fifth Word - John 19: 28
• The Sixth Word – John 19: 29-30
• The Seventh Word – Luke 23: 44-46

You will need to get a ticket to get in to the Winter Garden Theatre. This is one of the few “double-decker” theatres left in the world and the Winter Garden sits atop the Elgin. As there will be an event going on in the Elgin at the same time, you will need to pick up a free ticket for our service in order to get in the building. Those tickets will be available at the ticket counter at the front of the theatre.

Again, the easiest parking looks to be at The Eaton Centre. Park there and walk across Yonge Street and you will be at the Elgin/Winter Garden.

More important than all of this, however, is what you do today. It is the week we remember the single most important event in human history.

• Have you been reading the Gospels?
• Praying?
• Thinking about Jesus?
• Talking about His death around your family table?
• Confessing sin?
• Remembering that Christ died for your sins and was raised?

Redeem these precious days.

Anticipating great things with you!

Perspective: Your trial is smaller than you think

Have you ever gone back to an old school or the house in which you grew up? Did the place seem a lot bigger in your memories of it?
I popped into my grade school a while ago and was flooded with recollections of seven of the most formative years of my life. But the most shocking realization was how small the building was. In my memories, those halls were hundreds of meters longer.
Today my office is located in a Christian school and just a few minutes ago the First Grade class ran by my window three times. There was a sweet little something trailing pretty far behind by lap three with a look on her face that said, “This is impossible!” I am sure that once around this little school building seems like quite a haul when you are less than three feet tall.
Some day, though, she may come back and chuckle to herself as she sees how short the distance really is.
What will it be for us, Christian, as we look back on this life? The trials that seemed so long and up hill and endless will be puny and insignificant. That can be hard to remember in the middle of your run unless your eyes are set on the finish line.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4)

Persevere!

Download some great free hymns!

Thank you, Matthew Smith!

Greg Lucas Reflecting on 18 Years of Providence

Standing in that courtroom 18 years ago I would have been absolutely overwhelmed seeing my life as it is today. The failures would be too devastating; the burdens would be too great. But when I stand there tomorrow, looking back over the past 18 years of triumph and tears, I will see God’s hand of providence in my life. I will recognize His perfect plan of love, grace, adoption, rescue and redemption--both mine and my son’s.

If I had a hundred lives to live, I would live every one of them as Jake’s dad, and I would choose to stand in no other place...rather, I would choose to run in no other race, than the perfect providence of God’s great grace.

Good Friday Service Details - Downtown Toronto

My pal Darryl has posted the details to the Good Friday service our church and four other congregations are sponsoring downtown this year. We will be meeting at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre at Yonge and Queen at 7PM.

Click here to see the details since Darryl knows how to post these things and I don't!

John Knight on one of those quiet sorrows of raising a child with disabilities

Read the whole thing here.

In the pile of papers I referenced yesterday were some old test scores. Since Paul attends public schools, they assess his educational progress as mandated by various federal and state bodies.

The things they want to measure, he can’t do. His scores on reading, reading comprehension, math, math concepts and the like were as low as you can score and still be breathing.

The things they can’t measure – like his inherent, God-created dignity as a human being – he excels at.

I used to cry when those came in the mail every year. They still make me sad, not because of how severely disabled they ‘objectively’ show him to be, but because this is the cultural measure of his worth.

And therein lies a danger to children with disabilities not yet born. These are the objective measures of ‘reality’ that doctors and social workers and university professors understand – and which are communicated to parents who live in and breathe the air of this culture. The decision to do away with such seemingly worthless human beings then appears to be obvious.

No, let us talk about what is truly real. God creates some to live with disabilities (Exodus 4:11), he knows all their days (Psalm 139:13-16), he will supply every need (Philippians 4:19), and he knows the end from the beginning (Revelation 21:5-7).