Crazy Week leads into crazy weekend!

Sorry for the inconsistent blogging, this week has really busy and the weekend looks to be even worse. Here is what I am up to

Friday - Routes --> we will be having a live band performing in Routes to attract kids from Buskerfest. Plus Meadowlands is having a Carnival and outdoor concert.

Saturday - Morning - Meadowlands is having a community breakfast/open house from 8am - 11am

Routes - Afternoon BBQ (FREE)

Meadowlands - Evening concert

Sunday morning Church

Afternoon at Routes

Evening at FRWY

I will be at all of this so if you are interested in checking it out, I would love some company!

Peace!

Jason

Are you being Brain washed

This weekend I had an interesting question posed to me that at first really insulted me and really disappointed me. To be honest I am still a little disappointed by the intentions in the words but on a positive note they have made me think. On Saturday I was asked by Christian friend if I really believed I was being called or was it just that I was being brainwashed by someone. The implication certainly was that they believed I was being brainwashed. I am glad to say that I don't feel like I am being brainwashed by a person but rather I am proud to say I have drank the 'Koolaid' and that if anyone is brainwashing me it is GOD and truly I pray that he continues to envelop my thoughts and place me where he wants me to be! Also, it is worth noting that I am thankful for the person accused of brainwashing me, he has been a good friend with great spiritual maturity, and continues to help me grasp and understand ideas which are new and unfamiliar.

This quote really helped me frame my thoughts,

"Don't do anything until you are sure Jesus is with you. Like Mose's tell the Lord I am not going to take one step forward unless you go first." (Niel Cole)

I am more than conifident that God is one step ahead of me, and no matter where he leads me he will never leave me! That comment from a friend although initially upsetting helped affirm my recent decision. God is not asking me to stay somewhere and be comfortable but rather he is asking me to go places that can only be attempted with his help.

I pray that as I continue down a road, a seemingly impossible road without God that I will always stay focused on the vision God has placed on my heart, and that I stay on the heels of the King! My hope is that no one can say Jason did that but rather I hope they say there is no way Jason could have done that with out GOD!

PEACE!

What a morning

Should have stayed in bed this morning! After a really long weekend that couldn't have been busier I was looking forward to a glorious sleep and may be even an opportunity to sleep into 9 am. Sophia (our dog) had other plans. She had a serious case of the "Trots" and she decided to defile the carpet in our loft (which is open to our master bedroom). All of a sudden I was woken up by a pungent smell, it was 5 am. Kristen being pregnant her sense of smell is extra sensitive so I had to clean it up right away. As I walked up to the loft (barefoot) I couldn't see the "present" until I heard squirt, it was the sound of me stepping in the stinkiest wettest poo you have ever seen. Lets just say I have never been so disgusted!

After cleaning that nastiness up I thought my terrible morning was over until I went to leave for work around 9 this morning, only to realize Kristen has my extra set of keys, as well as my set of car keys sitting in her car in Oakville.

Oh well what can you do! As terrible of a day I am having, I can't help but smile knowing, my terrible morning was no where near as terrible as it could have been. I am still blessed to have a car to have keys missing for a beautiful pregnant wife, an annoying dog but terribly loving, a crazy cat, a gorgeous house, a loving GOD and some great friends!

I hope you have a good morning with plenty of mental pictures of me with Crap on my foot!

MY BOOKS ARE FINALLY HERE!!!!

I have been waiting and waiting for the books I ordered on Amazon.com back in February to get here, and 2 out of the 3 are here!!! "Organic Church, Growing faith where life happens," and "Planting Missional Churches, planting a church that is biblically sound and reaching people in Culture". Both look to be exciting reads as I try and feel out how to create a Church that will shake things up and grow the Kingdom of God.

Here is an interesting thought from "Organic Church"

"Before one speaks about starting or growing churches, one simply must wrestle with this question "Who is Jesus to you?" You must also find the answer from your father in heaven rather then a how to manual or a seminar workshop. Church is spiritual. There is a sense of mystery and revelation in the church."

He goes on in the opening chapter to talk about shifting the churches current "defensive" mind set to an "offensive" mind set. He argues that you can't separate yourself completely from the world, go to Christian; amusement parks, schools, restaurants and expect to win the war! He likens this to the Denver Broncos showing up to a football game with only there defense, although the other team may not score, the Broncos can't win with out scoring a point. They need the offense to push forward and win.

Offensive Christianity for Cole (author) means putting himself and pushing others into positions where they can be the light in the darkness, as opposed to lights in the light!

There are a few points as I start to read through this book, and start to pull together ideas on what God is calling me to do here in Hamilton.

Peace,

Music

Yesterday I blogged about language and how we need to speak our faith in different ways to different people. That idea got me thinking about a transcendent language that can reach/touch all people. For instance take the top 10 no matter what country you are in the top 10 is still the top 1o, Britney, Madonna and friends have a knack for transcending culture. The same can be said about classical music, the works of Bach and Beethoven although European in origin are listened and loved throughout the world. Although it must be said, not everyone likes/enjoys the same music, but music does seem to be a unifier of different cultures. When it comes to spreading a message or values music has a strong ability breakdown walls. As a body of believers I believe we need to look strongly at the way we use/can use music to spread the good news.


Peace,

Were back!

Kristen and I got back around 8 last night, just in time for our street fireworks (one of the neighbors was shooting fireworks off his front porch).

The trip was great! I hadn't been to Quebec City since I was in grade 8 and fresh out of French immersion. It turns out French is like anything if you don't use it you loose it lol! It was really interesting being the minority, trying to communicate with waiters and hotel attendants that spoke very little English. Trying to order food especially on the outskirts of the city where English is not spoken at all was difficult.

It was amazing that even though Kristen and I were on a vacation God chose to teach us something. When we were at Dairy Queen I was trying to order, I was saying the right things, but the waiter didn't understand me, we weren't speaking the same language. This is like the gospel, it is always the right thing to say but how you present it needs to be different for different ppl! Because of different life experiences people respond differently to different approaches, it doesn't mean you shouldn't try, it just means you have to be creative and "relevant" in the way you do. In order to do that you need to be willing to invest in someone and bring the gospel to them where they are at!

PEACE,

Here are a few pics from the trip, I have posted more on Facebook!

A spur of the moment vacation!

So Kristen and I are heading out on what will probably be our final trip sans baby. We are going to hit the road early tomorrow morning in hopes of getting to Quebec City in the early afternoon. In any case if anyone is wondering where we are this weekend, thats where.

We will be staying over Friday and Saturday night and travelling back sometime on Sunday. After a terrible weak with car problems, grant problems at work and life, it will be nice to spend some quality time with my wife, and having a chance to just chill out with no responsibilities and polish off a couple of books I have been working through!

Stay tuned for pics and potentially even a video journal of our trip (thats if I can figure out how to posted stuff on youtube).

Peace,

Things that make you go hmm

I saw this advertisment on the window of MACs store advertising there new WTF slurpie. This didn't sit well on a couple of levels, thought I would post it just in case you hadn't seen the promotion.

Why do you got be like that?

Have you ever had one of those moments when you just had to ask yourself why did they have to do that? Today I had an experience which forced me to ask that question. I arrived to my intended destination, got out of my car went inside, and before I was able to say anything I walked into someones bad mood. I was torn a new one for no apparent reason, my response was to smile nod and walk into the other room. But I was left perplexed, "why did that just happen" I mumbled to myself. I did nothing (this time lol) to insight any negativity and yet I received an ocean of sarcasm. I guess its not just this incident that has me a bit rawled up, in fact I pride my self at being able to shrug off negative or destructive comments. I guess what got me today is the fact that this comment came from a person who tends to act/react like that on a regular basis.

Part of me wanted to rip right back at that person, but I didn't. But should I have?

Oh well just needed to vent.

Here is something that made me laugh!

Funny Stuff

I found this on my bros blog its pretty funny and inspiring, enjoy

A thought from the tub

I had a insight while I was sitting in the tub this morning (I know I am a bit of a loser, I would rather have a bath then a shower, what can you do).

If I truly want to reach out to a group of people, if I want to witness to them, in some sense I need become them.

Follow me for a second, when God wanted to reach out and save a group of people, he became human. Fully man and fully God. He ate with those he witnessed to, he partied with them, he even slept in their homes. God for all intense in purposes became what he came to save. But while doing so he managed to stay in tune with his vision and his purpose, being tempted in those situations but not breaking.

For me I am called to the fringes of society, if I am going to be able to relate to them, to build relationships with them, to help them and hopefully lead them to Jesus. I have to experience what they experience, I need live where they live, sacrifice like they sacrifice, eat what and where they eat. I need to get passed the fact that I was blessed to be raised in a middle class home, blessed to be educated, blessed with a good job, and realize that I am not better then others because I have been blessed with the capacity to acquire more material goods.

Someone once told me that rich people don't really want to worship with poor people and poor people really don't want to worship with rich people. At first I was taken back and I thought thats ridiculous we should all be able to worship together. And may be we should.

But the story of the Salvation Army tells us that that person was right. William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army) stirred things up by reaching out to the marginalized, the poor the drunk, he went into dirty nasty bars looking to share Jesus by helping those in need. The people he attracted were not welcome in the traditional Church culture of the time, so a new Church was created a poor mans church, the Salvation Army. This Church was created not to exclude the rich but rather embrace the poor. People who joined were asked to live a life of sacrifice. (very broad overview of the beginnings of the army) Over the years I have talked to many old officers (Sally Ann Ministers) about the early days, and they talk of going with out food, of sickness, of giving of themselves fully to serve the lost. Of living a truly sacrificial life.Arguably much of the Army has moved away from this early vision, I believe strongly that I am called back to it, I wonder how many others who are reading this right now are called as well?

Interesting to note those officers I talked to, talked about those days with a huge smile on their faces, with sincere conviction that they wouldn't have changed the experience for anything. They were living the Full LIFE!!!

Welcome to the conversation

After one of my first attempts at blogging someone made a comment, "welcome to the conversation." He was responding to my Blog that emphasized the need to rethink some of the ways we do church. The more and more I read, the more I appreciate the wisdom in that comment. I have come to the realization that this whole idea of rethinking church is really just a series of conversations. This way of thinking is articulated well in the book I am currently reading "Adventures in Missing the Point" by McClaren and Campolo. In this book each author writes a chapter and the other responds to the chapter. Sometimes they respond in defense of key points and other times they challenge them.

Here is a parable McClaren quotes while presenting ideas on Salvation. This parable stirred up some great conversation between Kristen and I, and hopefully it will make you think as well.

The parable of the race.

This is the response of people who have just been informed of a race which will have no end and will end boredom and be exciting.

"Excitement grew as the day of the race drew near. Thousands gathered in the appointed town, at the appointed place. Most came to observe, skeptical about the news. "Its too good to be true," they said. "It'sg just a silly rumor started by some teenage troublemakers. But let's stick around and see what happens anyways."

Others could not resist the invitation, arriving in their running shorts and shoes. As they waited for the appointed time, they stretched and jogged in place and chattered among themselves with nervous excitement. At the appointed time they gathered at the starting line, heard the gun go off, and knew it was time to run.
Then something very curious happened. The runners took a step or two or three across the starting line, and then abruptly stopped. One man fell to his knees, crying, "I have crossed the starting line! This is the happiest day of my life!" He repeated this again and again, and even began singing a song about how happy this day was for him.

Another woman started jumping for joy. "Yes!" she shouted, raising her fist in the air. "I am a race-runner! I am finally a race runner!" She ran around jumping and dancing, getting and giving high fives to others who shared her joy at being in the race.

Several people formed a circle and prayed, quietly thanking God for the privilege of crossing the starting line, and thanking God that they were not like the skeptics who didn't even come dressed for the race.

An hour passed, and two. Spectators began muttering: some laughed. "So what do they think this race is?" they said. "Two or three strides, then a celebration? And why do they feel superior to us? They're treating the starting line as if it were a finish line. They've completely missed the point." A few more minutes of this silence passed. "You know," a spectator said to the person next to her, "if there not going to run the race, may be we should."

Others heard them, and soon many were kicking off their dress shoes, slipping out of their jackets, throwing all this unneeded clothing on the grass. And they ran-past the praying huddles and past the crying individuals and past the jumping high-fivers. And they found hope and joy in every step, and they grew stronger with every mile and hill. To their surprise, the path never ended-because in this race, there was no finish line. So they were never bored again.

IS SALVATION A ONE-TIME EXPERIENCE OR IS IT A LIFELONG JOURNEY?

When I read this passage, I first thought of which type of person I was, and then which type of people we have been developing in our churches. This parable has really challenged me in my personal walk but more importantly in the way I should share my faith and disciple those around me.

PEACE

PS I probably shouldn't be writing blogs this late at night but oh well I apologize for the many grammatical errors which I am sure I will find tomorrow morning when I read it over.

Living the Good life

I think sometimes as Christians we can get caught hiding behind the idea that we are storing up our rewards in heaven. Don't get me wrong I believe in this spiritual truth, and I definitely believe that heaven will be an absolutely amazing experience. That being said, I believe that God is calling us to an abundant life here on earth. This abundant life doesn't necessarily mean material wealth or fame (it mostly likely won't) but we should be extremely happy no matter where we find ourselves. Cito Gaston (former Blue Jays manager) said about missing a flight "you need to be happy where you are because where you are is where you are supposed to be.


God calls us to be new creations to live with the fruits of the spirit, if we call ourselves followers of Christ we should be we should be "Happy People." Often times as Christians we find ourselves fighting between the world and God and as a result we can sometimes be pretty stressed and strung out. If you are not living the Good life their is probably something God is calling you to give over to him.

At this point it is essential to clarify, that being a Christian doesn't mean we won't ever struggle or experience pain, but it should mean that through everything we should be able to see God working and rejoice that we are living in tune with Christ.


In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct or path. (proverbs 3 and something)
*** Its hard to say that without smiling isn't it?

Listening to the Bible

I am not sure if any of you have heard of this before, but this morning when I was doing my devotions I stumbled upon a link that allowed me to listen to the Bible while I read it. Other then that corny narrator esq voice I found it quite interesting listening to the words as I read them. I just started studying proverbs, which historically I have just glanced over, but today I found it much easier to really grasp what the author was saying.

Here is the link http://www.ibs.org/bibles/audiobibles.php

A reassuring quote

Here is an interesting quote I stumbled upon this evening while I studying,

"Have you been deeply hurt? A lover has disappointed you. A marriage that started out with much promise has turned sour. A person you invested much in has betrayed you. Go to Jesus! He knew what it was to be betrayed by his close friend. But He will never betray you. Lean on his gentle breast. And weep away your bitterness as you release your burdens upon him."

"Jesus will not only heal you; he will also draw you nearer to himself then you ever were before."

Ajith Fernando

Isn't it amazing to know we have a God who has experienced all the feelings good/bad that we have, no matter how big or small he understands! This impacted me tonight, I hope it has impacted you as well

Peace

I'm officially retiring from moving people

The past few years it seems at least once a month I have been moving or helping someone or organization move. Well I'm officially retired from the world of moving people or at least charging for my services lol! This season of moving was capped off this past weekend when I helped my current church family move from a temporary location into a new building up on the mountain, and then moving my brother in-law from London to Toronto. Its not that I don't like helping people its just that my back is really sore. Oh well, I guess the only good thing about moving people is there is always a funny story to look back on. For example, when I moved Martin this past weekend we were waiting with the loaded truck at a service centre for over an hour (long story) but while we were they we watched a senior citzen assault the pavement with his nose, he missed a stepped and fell and there was blood everywhere (in the end he was fine) then while we were waiting by the truck another truck parked to close to us and ripped off our mirror. Ironically it was another rental truck from the same company. And to top things off we watched a lady empty out her van filled with like 7 dogs of all shapes and sizes (it was like a clown car, one after another), interestingly enough she didn't clean up after the dogs (my pet peeve!) In retrospect, I will probably help out again, just so I can see what other crazy stuff will happen!

PEACE