One of my challenges as a pastor is to isolate the positive lessons that can be learned from negative experiences.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Don't panic. I'm with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you” (The Message).

In the late 1980s, Stephen Adams was assistant city editor for a newspaper that was experiencing major upheavals in management. In the process he received a pay cut and was assigned to a night shift in a dead-end position. Every night he would come home to a darkened house where dinner had been eaten, bedtime stories read, and prayers said without Dad.

For nearly two years he searched fruitlessly for another newspaper job. Stephen eventually took a job in public relations, which meant turning his back on a 20-year newspaper career.

Six years later, two of the guys at this company were called in on a Monday morning and told their services were no longer needed. Stephen was shocked and shattered. Just 15 months earlier, he and his wife had lost a child—a newborn son, who lived only two weeks.

“I can say, however, that some of these experiences were blessings in disguise for the fruit they produced in my life,” Stephen writes in Back to Work.

“It became clear that my priorities needed adjusting so that my career was not such a huge idol in my life. [And] I used those lonely hours in a dark house when I came home from work as an opportunity to write fiction, which eventually turned into my first book, October Holiday.”

What positive lessons can I learn from negative experiences this week, Lord?

When expectations rule your life and your relationship...you need to see this.

Ten reasons why I thoroughly enjoyed the services at Heritage Park today?

#1.  I got to sit with my wife and our daughter Jamie in the 9am service.  Jamie was smiling from ear to ear with the music!  Heaven was closer today because of her.

#2.  Cliff Cline is a friend who lives in Burlington and he led worship today as our guest artist.  Did a great job.  Thanks, Cliff.  This is getting to be a habit (See you next summer)!

#3.  Mark brought glory to the Father today by extolling the Cross and exalting Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life for everyone.  His message reminded me (again) that we have some good teachers on our staff, and they get better and better...

#4.  I met some new people who told me why this church is the place to be!  It was encouraging to hear more newcomers speak so positively about their experience here!

#5.  Some things never change - nor should they.  The gospel.  Love.  Welcoming new people warmly.  Rick VG's warm smile and encouraging words.  Ushers who love to usher.  Greeters who love to greet.  Preachers who love to preach...

#6.  Little ones who wrap their arms around my legs - not because they mistake me for "dad" but because they are happy to see me.  Does it get any better?

#7.  Knowing that Jesus Christ is the Head of this church and the only One who can nurture a body that will become a loving community of fully devoted followers.

#8.  Talking to a young dad who has been married for 15 years, and he's taking his bride on a cruise for their anniversary.  He's excited and eager to honour his wife.  How awesome!  Having couples and families like that in our church is such a blessing.

#9.  Watching the audience during worship (from the back of the Worship Centre for a change!).  I love seeing men and women of all ages raising their hands in worship.  Inspiring...

#10.  Praying with a woman who wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  We prayed, and she was.  God is good.

Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life; change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, he alters our assignments. Gideon: from farmer to general; Mary: from peasant girl to the mother of Christ; Paul: from local rabbi to world evangelist. God transitioned Joseph from a baby brother to an Egyptian prince. He changed David from a a shepherd to a king. Peter wanted to fish the Sea of Galilee. God called him to lead the first church. God makes reassignments.

What is joy?  One person called it “the echo of God’s life within.”  C. S. Lewis made an important distinction in separating joy from happiness or pleasure.  Happiness comes as a result of favorable external circumstances. Pleasure comes as the result of having a bodily appetite fulfilled.  Both are legitimate and have an appropriate place in the Christian’s life.

But joy is different from these two, I believe.  It’s wholly independent of external circumstances or bodily enjoyment.  It’s the indescribable enjoyment of the living, breathing presence of God. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).  I call it indescribable because it’s a kind of happiness that defies explaining to someone who has never tasted it.  But it’s also a kind of happiness that outstrips happiness or pleasure.  It’s a cleaner, stronger, deeper happiness than the others.

I’m convinced that many of God’s children think they are experiencing joy when it’s really just happiness or pleasure.  I’m also convinced that there are oceans of joy that we all have yet to taste; in fact eternity will be spent doing just that.

Just about every time Patty and I get away by ourselves for a few days our daughter Jamie experiences challenges to her health.

This week Patty and I are in Florida celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and Jamie is congested.  Grandma is taking her temperature every hour.  When Jamies gets sick, she goes from "cold" to "pneumonia" in about 30 seconds flat!  Seriously, she gets very sick very fast, and that always concerns us.  So, I'm selfishly using my blog to ask for a prayer covering.  We are asking friends and family to pray for us and pray for Jamie, especially, and for the caregivers at home with her.  Thank you.

Your sin has been dealt with. Your Father has removed it from you "as far as the east is from the west" (Ps. 103:12). Your sins have been washed away (1 Cor. 6:11). When God looks at you he does not see your sin. He has not one condemning thought toward you (Rom. 8:1). But that's not all. You have a new heart. That's the promise of the new covenant: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezek. 36:26 -27). There's a reason that it's called good news.

Too many believers in Jesus today are living in the past.  They've had Jeremiah 17:9 drilled into them and they walk around believing their heart is deceitfully wicked. Not anymore it's not. Read the rest of the book. In Jeremiah 31:33, God announces the cure for all that: "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." I will give you a new heart. Sin is not the deepest thing about us.  As redeemed people and blood-bought believers, we still experience temptation, and we still fall into sin, but it's not the thing that defines us.  We have new hearts!

What God sees when he sees you is the real you, the true you, the man or woman he had in mind when he made you.

I have enjoyed my time at MBC (Muskoka Bible Centre) this week.  Preaching through Habakkuk again has been a blast.  It's 2600 years old, but the content is as current as yesterday's headlines, and I never get tired of it.  And the Lord has used the message and the ministry in worship to touch a lot of people here.  Last night I concluded the teaching on Habakkuk, and tonight is our last speaking engagement.  Patty and I plan to share the spotlight tonight when we talk about Living With a Broken Dream. 

After speaking here for a week, I appreciate our church at home even more.  The folks here are great, but they come from all over the place, and they are not a church.  They form part of "the" church, but they are not from "my" church, if you know what I mean, and I really miss the family atmosphere of our Heritage Park Church family. 

I'm rediscovering...

• how much I rely on feedback while I'm speaking.  I like having some response (nodding heads, smiles, "amens").
• how the right songs can set up the message and make it very easy to preach.
• the value of prayer before and during each and every service!
• that no matter how many times I have preached a particular sermon, I need to edit and change and tweak it for the specific audience I'm giving it to.
• the critical nature of excellent childcare during the service so moms and dads can relax, be refreshed, and get the spiritual food they need to keep growing their families in the right direction.
• the contribution of nature to a fuller expression of love for God.

Years ago in another city we were part of a small group in which we were all relatively young couples.   We talked about our adjustments to married life, our sexuality, our jobs, our faith, and our money. We went to movies, baseball games, and some of us even vacationed together.

But one day one of the guys didn't show up, and we found out later that he had struggled with compulsive gambling for years. This put him in huge financial problems, which then led to financial dishonesty at work and at home.  Eventually he got caught, lost his job, and got divorced.  He had lived in fear, compulsion, and self-loathing for years—but none of us knew.

Maybe he didn't have the courage to tell us. Maybe we sent subtle signals that talking about such deep problems would be unwelcome. I found myself wondering, If we could have talked about them, would his life have gone differently? How much did my own need to look better than I am contribute to a culture of superficiality? All I know for sure is that what should have been the place of greatest safety and healing was not.

People are okay telling a doctor their body has a problem. I wonder what needs to happen before sinners (like us) could be okay telling other sinners they have a sin problem?

We have enjoyed some of the beautiful Muskoka scenery this week while I'm here speaking at Muskoka Bible Centre (MBC).  It's hard to imagine, from my vantage point, how people can deny that a Master Designer is behind all of this natural beauty.  We argue from what is and what has been created to support the One who created out of nothing.  He is an amazing Artist!

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