Thank God he's not like paper towel

One thing I've noticed about paper towel: when people think it's going to run out soon, they start using less and less. I know I do. I fear that, horror of horrors, one more push on that towel dispenser lever and I might be faced with a moral obligation to refill it.

I'm thankful, as I look back at 2007, that my Lord Jesus Christ is not like a roll of paper towel which one day, inevitably, will run out. I'm afraid that's what some people's religion amounts to. They know it will only take them so far and that's it. If they're going to get some more, they'll have to put some more in. Religion can run out, but not a relationship with Christ. He is the fountain of living water (eternal life) and the hiding place of all God's wisdom and knowledge (see John 4.14 and Colossians 2.3). As Paul wrote to the Christians in Colosse,

In (Christ) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority (Colossians 2.9-10, ESV).

Thus I am convinced, that no matter how Christ-dependant I become in 2007, and no matter how many problems and difficulties I have to load him with, he will not run out. Nor will he run away. For the One who never lies gave this as his promise:

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20)

Teach us to pray

I confess upfront to being a weak and fledgling pathetic excuse of a man of prayer. Which is why I'm going to link to some articles to the latest issue of the 9Marks eJournal.

I can't think of one assembly that I've visited that couldn't use some major help with corporate prayer. I know the one I'm part of could. For those who would like to do something about it, take some time to read some of the following articles, bearing in mind that there are some bones to be spat out and not swallowed. They're easy to find, though, so I won't bother to point them out.

The Lord in his grace is slowly burdening me about my weakness in prayer, both private and public. Thankfully he can do more than just reveal weakness. He can also point us towards progress in prayer. And where does such progress begin? With a prayer: "Lord, teach us to pray."

A Biblical Theology of Corporate Prayer by James M. Hamilton Jr. and Jonathan Leeman

Recommendations For Improving Public Prayer by Terry L. Johnson and J. Ligon Duncan III

Thirty Two Principles for Public Prayer by J. Ligon Duncan III (following Samuel Miller)

See the whole issue.

Mechanics of men?

Just read the October edition of Uplook. The focus of this edition was on revival; thus nothing seemed out of place with the little blurb tucked away at the bottom of page 28 on the CrossCanada Cruisers.

Here's the blurb:

Cross Canada Cruisers is slowly turning the corner, if you’ll forgive the pun. Three or four young men have expressed an interest in joining forces with others to spread the good news across the land. A few cars have been provided (a 1952 Lincoln Capri, a 1955 Buick Riviera Super, and a 1956 Mercury Monclair). We are trusting the Lord to provide more committed men and vehicles as needed. We are grateful that brother Glen Hayes(Winnipeg) has offered to paint a parable picture with classic cars to illustrate the gospel. The first year’s training will begin after Easter, 2008, Lord willing. The intro mechanical training, car detailing and evangelism orientation will run from Mar 26 through May 4. The road trip is set to begin May 13 and will continue (with breaks) until the end of October. Those interested in more information, or those who would like an application, please contact: Grant Canfield (PE): gandscanfieldatpei.sympatico.ca

The November/December issue has an update on the whole thing on page 17:

CROSS CANADA CRUISERS: Now is the time
Thanks to you who are praying for the new gospel venture to begin, Lord willing, in Canada shortly after Easter of 2008. A group of evangelists from across the nation are eager to begin!We have been able to acquire four cars so far and a few young men have sent in their applications. Others have inquired, but we are praying for enough men for two teams (one travelling west from the Atlantic, one travelling east from the Pacific). The Lord is greatly blessing the Good News on the Move teams in the U.S. and we long to see the same encouragement spreading across Canada. Interested? Contact Grant Canfield at gandscanfield@pei.sympatico.ca

Is there someone who reads this blog and is looking for a way to not waste his life? To further pique your interest, read some of the reports from the Good News On the Move (GNOM) team (based in the U.S.). And introduce yourself (and pray for) this brave young band of men that makes up GNOM III.

If you haven't yet caught the vision for this project, please read pages 28-30 of the August/September issue. Spread the word about this opportunity to spread the Word. Support it with prayer. Follow the updates. Let's catch the vision. Canada needs revival. And so do I.

Amazing Grace, the movie

Last night Helen and I finally got to watch Amazing Grace, the recently produced movie on William Wilberforce's tireless efforts to stop the African slave trade. There are precious few movies I'd recommend someone spending five minutes on, never mind two hours, but this one is worth it. For parents gauging this movie for younger kids, Focus on the Family may be able to help you out.

For those wanting to go farther with Wilberforce, start with this biographical sermon on him. Piper also has a book devoted to him, and of course there are plenty of good biographies. I plan to read at least one of them.

Movie's website.

Leepike Ridge

A few months ago I treated myself to a read of Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson. I don't often read fiction, but not because I don't enjoy it. N.D. Wilson just so happens to be the son of Doug Wilson, and yes, he has inherited his father's gift for writing in weird and wonderful ways. It took no more than the first sentence in the book to hook me:

In the history of the world there have been lots of onces and lots of times, and every time has had a once upon it.

The book strikes some strong Christian themes and closes with a surprising twist, a twist strange enough to echo the greatest narrative twist of all—the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If you've got some 12 year olds—or even 62 year olds—in your house in need of a good book to jump into, consider buying them Leepike Ridge. And if they find it really good consider getting Wilson's latest book, 100 Cupboards, and donating a copy of both to your local library.

Note: in addition to the Amazon reviews, read the review by the author's father, and by some guy at Christianity Today.

More on William MacDonald

A graveside service is being held today. Please go here to read recent updates and to find links to sign and view brother Bill's guestbook.

For anyone who is familiar with this man of God's writings, the simplicity of the funeral arrangements will come as no surprise.

Update: See this interesting and respectful news article.
HT: Nigel Barnham.

Home for Christmas

William MacDonald has entered the presence of Christ his Saviour.

Speaking of income tax deductions...

...we are, as many of you know, expecting our first one (baby) in June. I know of at least one person who caught on to the stork comment posted while we were in Ukraine that foreshadowed this news. Well, here are the pictures.

Being open to critique

An important book for us dispensationalists to read.

A child was born

Join us in welcoming niece # 2 into the world. Isn't she a sweetheart?

Whatever you do, don't call her birth a miracle. C.S. Lewis wouldn't like that very much.

Thinking ahead

First item on my wish list for Christmas 2008.

Also, tensions typically arise this time of year amongst some Christians on whether Christmas should be celebrated or not. Whatever your take is on the matter, Alan Knox has something for you to read.

Thanksgiving Day

A lot of the bloggers I read are in the States, and so these days I'm reading lots about Thanksgiving Day. Is Thanksgiving Day an apologetic for God? Doug Wilson thinks so in a post I really enjoyed.

Well, I just sent a link of Mr. Wilson's post to a sister in our assembly because she had shared a warm anecdote with me of a touching interchange that took place during our last prayer meeting--when every one's eyes were supposed to be shut. I closed the email saying "I smell a blog post coming." Then, moments after sending it, my wife came in and placed a juicy cluster of grapes, wrapped in a napkin, on my desk. "A gift for you," she said. My heart overflowed with gratitude to God for those grapes. And then I read the word written on the napkin: "Thanks".

"You ask me how I know He lives." He lives because of grapes.

[Note from the picture the thing my wife is thankful for: that she could find room on my desk to place some grapes!]

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

We just had a blast. Literally.

Being married to a Brit makes you do crazy things like having bonfires on November the 5th. But in England that's just what you do on Bonfire Night, a.k.a. Guy Fawkes Night. Guy Fawkes was involved with the famous Gunpowder Plot on this very night back in 1605. Every year the Brits commemorate the fizzling out of this attempted treason against King James 1.

So we decided to have some folks over with British connexions (is that how they spell it in Britain?) for the Canadian (read "colder") version of it. Helen's family came with a big box of fireworks and sparklers, and everyone brought food, lawn chairs, and lots of warm clothing. Helen made some delicious toffee apples, sausage rolls, and baked potatoes with sausages embedded in them.

While sitting around the fire with family, both natural and spiritual, I couldn't help but reflect on what joy it was to be alive in God's family, and to know Him from whom all blessings flow. I didn't deserve one ounce of the fun we had tonight. It was yet another blessing purchased dearly by One who hung for my treason long ago.

Top: Mom with a sparkler. Bottom: Toffee apples. The tray has pictures of Devon area on it.

The Clock and the Couple

That couple in the last picture of my last post could use a little of this from Doug Wilson. Here's my favourite part:

So the issue is not whether the husband offers what he has, or whether the wife offers what she has. The issue is when, the issue is timing. Remember, the only difference between salad and garbage is timing.

I hope that couple reads the whole thing.

Settling In Again

Helen and I are slowly settling back in at home. We're both surprised at how long it's taking us to get over our jet lag. Our first night back we woke up at 2:00 AM; second night was better...4:00 AM; last night was 5:00 AM.

I've been asked to do a report to our local church tomorrow evening on our trip. Helen worked hard this afternoon putting a PowerPoint presentation together of pictures.

We had the privilege of having a missionary couple in our home Monday night. Bruce and Marilyn Poidevin were here to give a report on their flight service ministry in Zambia. Their visit fell on our KFC night so Bruce first spoke to the kids and then gave the report afterwards.

There are still several posts and lots of pictures to put on the blog regarding our trip. We hope to get going on them later this week. In the meantime here's a picture of a Ukrainian couple in traditional dress.

Then tragedy struck.

Back in Town

After a long day of flying, we're home! My family was there to greet us at the airport and to drive us back to our house. We've had a good sleep and are now excited about seeing our assembly again this morning.

My parents are having us over for supper tonight, and Helen's mom and sister will be there too. We'll miss dad who is out in the east coast right now having kids meetings.

Can't wait!

[Correction: Dad is doing everything but kids meetings out east!]

From Vienna With Love

We left a rainy Ukraine and are now in Austria for the night. We don´t actually have anything to say. We just wanted to be able to say that we have blogged in Vienna. Helen is laughing at me as she watches me struggle with this German keyboard.

We parted ways with the gang this afternoon. Ruslan did a good job getting us to the airport on time despite locked up traffic.

Please pray for Malcolm as he stays on for one more week. He has a lot to accomplish before he goes. Helen and I have really enjoyed working with him. Please pray as well that Helen and I will get a good night's sleep as Helen has a heavy cold.

Auf wiedersen!

Ukraine 15 – Our Last Night in Ukraine

We’re getting ready for our last night in Ukraine. We had to say goodbye to Yaraslav and Halia this morning, and tomorrow we will have to do the same with Flo, Helen, Ruslan, Malcolm, Marcus and Rachel.

Vadym took us to Lviv today, and then we parted ways with him as well. We depended on Vadym for almost everything, and he never let us down. God bless you and your young family, dear brother.

Tonight we had the special privilege of meeting Misha, a godly man who, if the Lord enables, will be able to study and teach the Word of God fulltime in this needy country. Feeding the physically hungry is important; how much more so the feeding of the spiritually malnourished.

So we leave for Vienna tomorrow at 4:15 PM. We overnight there, and then we fly to Toronto, and then on to Winnipeg, where we land, DV, at 7:35 PM. It will be so good to see our family at the airport again!

We fly in your prayers.

Ukraine 14 – Day 19 (October 17)

On our last leg
Tomorrow is our last day in Ivano Frankivsk. We go back to Lviv tomorrow afternoon. Friday is our last day in Ukraine as we fly out in the afternoon to Vienna. It’s hard to believe that our three weeks here are almost over. Ukraine was a culture shock coming from Canada. Canada will be a culture shock coming from Ukraine.

Update on things mentioned before
A couple of great things have happened that we want to share with you. Both of them have nothing to do with us and everything to do with the Lord and with his people. First, a Christian kindly gave money so that Flo could give the rest of the kids in the orphanage in Loparton jackets. The second thing involves the orphanage in Yassapowich. The three windows have been purchased and installed, and a large amount of money has been given to put in proper toilets and washing facilities. Lord willing, this work should be done in the near future. The Lord is good!

Short update on today
This morning we had a delicious breakfast at Yaraslav’s and Halia’s. If you can call it breakfast. We were served chicken breasts and potatoes, among other things. Apparently Yaraslav had had a lot of chest pains going home after the meeting last night. He was just praying that he would make it through the hour-long bus ride home. Thankfully he did. Yaraslav needs our prayers.

I won’t mention all the details of the day, but we did go back to the orphanage in Yuremcha (close to the Carpathian mountains) to deliver some stationary as we had promised. While we were in the area we stopped to admire a beautiful waterfall and to purchase some gifts for family and friends back home.

We were also able to buy a fridge for Luba, and we visited a woman who faithfully comes to the meetings named Marica (yes, there are two Marica’s). She is clinically blind and has to look after her young son, who is an invalid, and her 13 year-old daughter, who also has health problems.

As I type this Helen is packing our suitcase for the umpteenth time this trip! She will not be able to fit everything into it. There are friendships, memories, and experiences that will have to stay behind. There are also some juicy secrets about Malcolm, but don’t worry, we’ll find a way to bring these home somehow! As the saying goes, what happens in Ukraine does not stay in Ukraine!

Ukraine 13 – Day 18 (October 16)

We’re zonked! The Lord gave us a heavy itinerary today, but we did confess to having an easy day yesterday! There are three big things to report about today:

Visit to the Grammar School

This place was a big surprise for me. It was a beautiful school, unlike anything we had seen before in Ukraine. Only the brightest students get to come here; the school has a little over 400 enrolled. They all wear uniforms, which looked very sharp. The assistant director was an efficient fellow who looked after us for the three hours we were there. He organized six classroom visits for us.

The first class we visited shocked me. The kids were older than I was expecting, and they were very sharp. I was glad Malcolm spoke the first two times! Thankfully the Lord quickly gave me some different messages than the rope trick, which I didn’t feel comfortable using today, for whatever reason. One message involved Pangaea, and the other involved Henry Ford’s automobiles (an illustration I stole from Gooding and Lennox). There was no long-windedness on our part, as we were only given ten minutes in some of the classes, so the good news was given in compact form.

We had a nice lunch with the assistant-director, and then we had the treat of watching one of the beginner dance classes perform. After our classroom visits were finished we were shown some footage of the senior classes performing. Absolutely amazing. They would love to come to Canada to perform in the schools.

Potential Facility for the Christians

We also visited a potential facility for the Christians to use as headquarters. The building is in the core area, and the room we’re interested in would be big enough for storing the distribution supplies and for having regular meetings. Tomorrow we will find out what the rental charge will be, which will determine everything. Please pray regarding this.

Meeting with the Christians

We had a really nice meeting with the Christians at 5:00. There were around 20 out and the little room in the bank was filled up comfortably. I spoke first from Philippians 2 on the prerequisites for a group of Christians working together to spread the gospel (everyone putting the gospel first, and everyone putting each other first), and the Malcolm followed nicely with a message on Friendship. He then shared with the Christians our desire: that they all work together with Yaraslav and Halia in the distribution work. Everyone seemed very excited. We hope and pray that the excitement will be under girded by God-given desire.

Helen and I had to say some difficult goodbyes today. Luba, Maria, Lesia, Natalia, Tanya, Marica, and others, we will never forget you, and we will miss you dearly. Helen took down some email addresses / mailing addresses from the young sisters. It brought joy to my heart watching them group around Helen. I would be lost out here without my wife, and I’ll be the first to acknowledge it.

Then we took Natalia and Tanya home, following close behind a delivery van that was bringing them a new washer machine. We (the group) had used funds from the Christians back home to purchase it. They were overwhelmed. We stayed for tea and had a nice visit with the whole family, who were all at home. They are such a nice family.