Blog

I have been getting a reputation as an excellent muffin maker!
When Brenda brings muffins to work, rarely does she bring any back home.
I started baking years ago when I was given a muffin pan and a muffin recipe book
as a gift. So I started to bake.
Our children loved it when I baked their favourites. I have baked almost all the
recipes in the book. Many I like, and a few I am not so keen on.
I have been asked many times: “What is your secret?”
To me, the answer is simple: follow the recipe! There is no shortcut; the principle is
always the same.
Usually, when I bake, I think of God and often pray for people. It is a relaxing
pursuit, and it can be fun, too, when I have an eager grandchild helping.
But seriously, there is a lot to learn from my baking endeavours. To bake a
delicious muffin, you need three things: a good recipe, fresh ingredients and a passion for
what you are doing.
That is the same in our Christian life. As a pastor, I resisted the temptation to run
after the latest fad or shortcut to the Christian life. There is no such thing! Paul describes
the Christian life from the point of view of an athlete, a soldier and even a farmer. All
of those require hard work and discipline. There is no shortcut.
Paul says to Timothy, “All scripture is breathed out by God.” You need a good
recipe, and the Word of God is that recipe. It can be demanding, upsetting, and even
disconcerting, but it is what we need for our Christian life.
Then you need good ingredients, as fresh as possible. But you cannot choose what
you prefer if you want the muffins to be good to eat, flour, salt, sugar, baking powder
and/or baking soda, oil and something to bring flavour.
That is also a prerequisite to our growth. You cannot dictate what ingredients will
help you grow. Lastly, there is a passion, a desire to make something that will bring a
smile to someone’s face. Does your life bring a smile to God’s face?
I have gone on from baking muffins to baking bread. My bread is quite popular
too! I have been told I should open a bake shop. My next challenge will be to bake a pie,
but I am intimidated by the baking of some special women in my life! But that is another
story.

Our family has a lot of movie buffs. Most family gatherings include rundowns of recent box office buzz.

Whether it’s in the theatre or sitting in the best seat in the house (my seat in my house), like me, you’ve probably had those crazy moments in the middle of watching a movie. The scene is tense, filled with drama and danger. The characters are at risk. The dark music draws you in. The apprehension builds. Your palms are sweating, and your pulse is elevated as you grip the armrests. The moment rivets your mind, body, and soul. Suddenly, the scene ends, often with the main characters surviving the immediate risk. The story ensues, and you calm down, realizing – it’s just a movie.

Of course, life is not a movie, but it can be filled with scenes that feel traumatic and threatening. (Hasn’t it felt like we’re living out a movie as these last three years unfolded?) As a pastor and chaplain for the better part of 20 years, I’ve sat, shared, and prayed with many people in the middle of a heartbreak, trauma, loss, or fear. Truth be told, I’ve had my share of those scenes in my own storyline along the way.

The truth that brings great comfort in times like this is the reminder that the movie is not over yet. As bad as the present scene feels, it will pass and the story will unfold under the hand of our gracious and loving God. Even when we do not understand the movie, we know the Movie Maker – and He is good.

On Good Friday each year (or perhaps one of the other days of Holy Week), Christians often have Psalm 22 as part of their daily readings. This well-known Messianic Psalm reflects Jesus’ agony on the cross – in many ways, the most painful, cruel, unjust ‘scene’ in history. The Psalm begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.” (Psalm 22:1-2).

This reflects the real emotions of the Psalmist (and of the Saviour in a prophetic sense) at that dreadful moment.

Yet, the next verses focus not on the feeling of the present scene but on the character of the ‘Movie Maker.’

“But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered.”

The rest of Psalm 22 goes back and forth between the pain of the immediate scene and the greater reality of the character and promises of the Movie Maker. The last section of the Psalm is filled with praise in spite of the excruciating pain of the moment. For example, verses 23-25 read, “You who fear the LORD, praise Him!… For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. My praise shall be of You in the great assembly”.

Essentially, he is saying that as bad as the present scene feels, it will pass and the story will unfold under the hand of our gracious and loving God.

So, here’s where the rubber meets the road for us today: friend, you may be in the midst of a horrible scene in connection with your health, your role at work, your finances, your marriage, your family, or even your internal thoughts and emotions. The scene is real. The struggle is genuine. But! — the greater reality is that your movie is not over yet.

Above your storyline is a loving, gracious, and divine Movie Maker, and He. Can. Be. Trusted.

At Central, we tend to set July and August apart in our ministry calendar as a season of rest. It’s a time when many of our regular ministries pause for a breath or occur less frequently. In fact, I’m writing this devotional at the beginning of summer so that those involved in the Challenge Central devotional ministry (myself included!) can take a rest.

As I look ahead to summer, knowing this will be published near summer’s end, I have some questions for my future self:

• Was summer what you expected?
• Do you feel more rested than you did in June?
• How did you spend your 2023 season of rest?

Maybe some of these questions resonate with you as well. How would you answer them? The idea of rest has always puzzled me. That’s probably because I’m not great at doing it, but I sure do want to get better. Hebrews 3 and 4 have become an important key to my growing understanding of how to rest in a culture where the clock seems to be king.

The writer of Hebrews draws a shocking conclusion about the generation of Israelites who died in the wilderness because they disobeyed God (Numbers 14:34; 32:13). He writes that they were unable to enter God’s rest “because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). Their restless and futile wandering was a result of not taking God at his word.

Two Greek words have helped me understand why this can be such a big problem:

1. Kairos (καιρός), which means ‘appointed time or season.’ This is sanctified time; time set apart for a purpose—like the author of Ecclesiastes was referring to when he wrote, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven …” (see Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
2. Chronos (χρόνος), which simply means ‘time.’ This is the passing of time or perhaps the measure of passing time—like the seconds ticking by on a clock.

I find that I often get caught up in the struggle to manage my passing time at the expense of the sanctified moment. Maybe you feel the same. What I am beginning to understand from these two words is that God has set apart, or sanctified, certain times in my life for specific purposes. So when I race through a conversation, over-schedule my day, or neglect to leave room for things that really matter, I am not trusting God. It is as if I would rather count the minutes passing (chronos) and race to the next thing than trust that God has numbered my days (kairos) for a wise purpose (Psalm 90:12).

So I want to “strive to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11) not just by scheduling my time better but by being with Jesus more. It seems counter-intuitive, but it’s not. We begin to rest when we “draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). This is an attitude of prayer that permeates every aspect of our lives. It is a recognition and savouring of Jesus’ promise to those who labour and are weary that in coming to him, we will find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28-29). This is something we practice during those sanctified times so that we can continue doing it during the chronos-grind of everyday life.

So here’s our challenge, Central: Tell someone how you’ve been living in your sanctified time this summer. Ask them about their time. And ask yourself, ‘How will I live in my God-sanctified time during the coming weeks and months?’

The rest is not in the hours, Central; it’s living out the reality that Jesus is ours.

I had dinner this summer with a couple accused of spying for the CIA. Truly.

They seemed like ordinary folks.

He wore a black T-shirt and jeans. She wore a blue (or was it grey) patterned top and had a huge, sparkling smile.

He’d sent me a tongue-in-cheek e-mail earlier telling me that he and his wife had “died their hair grey” so I would be able to recognize them at the restaurant.

I had told him to look for a very bright blue and yellow Hawaiian shirt. That would be me. (Maybe we should have had secret passwords)

Davey and Marie Jank are missionaries supported by Central.

The Janks had spent the better part of the last 20 years living in the Amazon jungle among the Maco people of Venezuela. Davey’s first home in the jungle was a shed of sorts. You needed something to keep the rain and bugs out… more or less.

During that time, Hugo Chavez came to power in Venezuela as president. He described himself as a Marxist and a prominent foe of the United States. He decided to target missionaries, likely because that needled the Americans and particularly Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, who may have said some colourful things about Chavez on air.

At first, the Janks were ordered out of the jungle and required to live in the city. Soon enough, they were accused of being spies and booted out of the country.

But the real story is this; the Janks had one goal in mind. Bring the Gospel to the Maco people. Talk about a mountain to climb.

The Maco had an oral culture. That means no written language. None, which affects everything, their lifestyle, how they view the world, how they communicate, how they think, how they make judgments. Everything.

You, on the other hand, approach the world in an entirely different way. You have been trained to read since you were a toddler. To you, all the words you speak are letter groups. Reading is as reflexive to you as breathing. You may not win a spelling bee, and you may even have slept through grammar class. But make no mistake; reading is part of your DNA. Every day and everywhere you read. Road signs, directions, google, every app you look at, product labels, and the caption under every YouTube video—the Bible. You are a people of the written word.

And that’s why the Janks were in Venezuela. To find a way to introduce literacy to the Maco to bring them the Word of God.

Talk about a job that requires Supernatural strength and assistance. The Janks needed to live among the people, learn their language, develop an alphabet (a staggering task), and create written words with the singular goal of producing the Bible in their language.

It also meant developing relationships, meeting the people where they are, developing common ground and gaining their trust. Learning about how they think, how they put things into context.

It took years, and only when that personal, trusting relationship had been built were the Maco ready to listen to what the Janks had to say about the Gospel.

To date, the New Testament has been published in the Maco language, and Davey figures they are about two years away from publishing the Old Testament.

The Janks have meanwhile found a way to meet with the Maco people at a village on the Colombia side of the Venezuelan border. And the work goes on.

The Sunday after that fascinating dinner, Pastor Alan preached about the free gift of salvation and told a story about giving an extra sandwich he had to a panhandler. (Pastor Al had got a two-for-one deal). He told us that he’d run out of Bible tracts but refreshed his stack that afternoon and returned to where the panhandler was still sitting. This time he offered him a bun and passed a Gospel tract along with it.

The man took the tract along with the bun from Pastor Alan because he remembered the sandwich. What transpired between Pastor Alan and the panhandler is a microcosm of what the Janks are doing.

The Janks found common ground and laboured to gain trust through their actions to do one thing, share the Gospel.

Jesus said, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15 (ESV) And that means us. And the whole world lies just outside your door. Peter offers a prescription for how to do that: 1 Peter 3:15 “…in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (ESV)

Honour Christ in your hearts. Show gentleness and respect. Love your neighbour as yourself. Find common ground, then share the Gospel. That is the challenge every day.

On one of my hunting adventures out west, I was exploring a new area looking for signs and generally scoping out the trail.

One thing I did learn was that it was generally easier to get into the bush than it was to get out!

I was walking down a forestry road, which is a path cleared through the bush wide enough for a vehicle to travel. The thing you need to remember, dear reader, is that you are most likely to meet a bear, a moose, a wolf or perhaps something else on a road like this. After all, most animals are lazy and will walk an easy route rather than blaze a trail in the woods.

As I was walking, I could see fresh moose sign and some unmistakable wolf tracks! I continued my trek, watching and listening. After a while, I heard a low growling sound.

It surprised me at first, but I kept a wary eye on either side of the trail. The pine trees that stood sentry along the trail were dark, and I couldn’t see very far. There I was, alone and walking down a strange path, and I heard growling sounds. I stopped listening, and finally, I realized the source… my stomach! I had allowed my senses to play tricks on me.

If you will forgive my embarrassment, fear is a master manipulator. It is most effective when it creates an irrational response, paralyzing us. Many times while in the bush, a shape, or a noise, can set the mind on alert, expecting to see something that is not there.

It has been said that fear is practical atheism. There is a lot to that statement. The believer has confidence in God for all his needs. But there are times when fear takes over.

Remember when the disciples were in a boat, and a storm suddenly threatened to engulf them? Jesus said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you no faith?” (Mark 4:40) The disciples still didn’t realize the power Jesus had over creation and, therefore, their wellbeing.

Timothy was an interesting character study. Paul, at one point, wrote in a letter, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2Tim. 1:7). When Joshua was given the daunting task of leading a recalcitrant people to the promised land, God said to him, “Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Josh. 1:9)

There are so many references to fear in the Bible. Many are in connection with God’s direct involvement. Some are from being in self-imposed trouble. But the message is always the same; we need not fear when we are in God’s hands.

While I laugh now at the situation that I was in, there are many times when fear has affected my life. The enemy of our souls knows this and will try and rob us of the joy of knowing God.

Read through the Psalms and highlight the verses that talk about fear:

Above all, don’t venture into the bush on an empty stomach!