OnFire #312 More Stressful than I Thought

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #312 More Stressful than I Thought

I wrote a couple weeks ago about our kitchen renovation. It is almost finished. The flooring guy comes Friday, and the parts to install our dishwasher should come any day, so we are almost finished. From start to finish, we have moved a heating pipe into a wall, upgraded our kitchen electrical circuits and moved the stove plug, repaired wall board, fixed damaged ceiling, primed and painted, and installed cabinets, counter, and over-stove microwave.

Our place is slowly getting back to normal. For a while I couldn’t tell if we were living through a renovation, or an episode of “Hoarders.” We had stuff everywhere.

We had help from a friend. It was great that Dan could come and we had a great visit as well.

Something I don’t understand after the whole experience. This was way more stressful than I thought it would be. I don’t even know why it was so stressful. It went along relatively smoothly with few surprises, good help,  etc.  But it was.

I know some of the factors. We only had our friend’s help for just so long. Little things held us up at times, like moving outlets, and that was frustrating.  Our space and routines were disturbed. We could hardly move around the house without stepping over, around, or on something. The tension of making decisions, which I knew would delay the project, but had to be done anyway. On and on.  I suppose if you’ve been through this before, there is no surprise here.  I’ve worked on other people’s renovations before, but this was my own, and it was different. Much more stressful than I thought it would be.

Well, it’s almost over, and most things are put away. Looking back, I see some actions and attitudes which helped, and some others which probably added to the stress. Let me share these things with you, as I think you’ll agree there are broader lessons for the rest of life.

This won’t last forever.

As these things go, it was a short reno;  they can last weeks and months, so I don’t want to whine too much. Even still, I found this thought a source of comfort.  Indeed, most situations don’t last forever. It won’t always be this way is another way to express this thought.

Getting snippy doesn’t help.

Apparently I get more directive under stress, and I forget my please and thank you’s. That’s the kinder version of  what Jan told me, at least. Backing off, waiting to answer, exercising patience – all these things help make stressful situations go a lot better. Its one thing to have stress, but I don’t need to be a carrier.

Pray for God’s peace.

Ironically, on the Sunday before most of the work, I preached from Philippians 4:6 -7 on God’s peace:  

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”*

I found myself reminded about my own words many times during the week, and prayed about my own stress (anxiety).  I would have been much worse without prayer.

Its probably not as big as you think.

Every reno brings problems, issues and decisions, and ours was no exception.  Taken together, they seemed huge. But  one by one, and with a little time to think about them, they were more manageable and less intimidating.  Most problems appear larger than they really are.

It’s time to call in some help.

We originally planned to put down the vinyl floor on our own. I have done some basic floors, and I thought between me and Dan we could figure it out. But when Dan wasn’t so sure, I took another look, and realized it was beyond our abilities.  That’s when we decided we needed an expert.  This was a good decision. There are times when we would do better to admit we don’t know.

There is no going back.

A few times I found myself thinking, “Maybe we could have salvaged the old cabinets.”  That wasn’t realistic. Plus, once we started the demolition, it was impossible to restore the kitchen. The only way to finish successfully was to keep going on. In the mess of things, it is easy to glorify the past, as if going back was an option. God’s best for us is in the future, not behind us.

It will be worth it in the end.

There was no way to install a new kitchen without creating a mess. But it was worth it, and thankfully we understood this from the beginning. It helped. By keeping the goal in mind, it was easier to press on.

These are some thoughts that helped us over the past few weeks. There are certainly more pressing issues in life than our temporary renovation, but perhaps you’ll agree that there are parallels to some of life’s other troubles.

Blessings, and hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Mar 13, 2014. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. *New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #310 Discerning God's Will

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #310 Discerning God’s Will

Hi Folks:

I’ve got some neat news. On Feb 17, one of my devotionals appears in the Upper Room. The Upper Room is the largest publication daily devotional in the world, so I think that’s pretty cool. On Feb 17, my devotional is in both the print and online editions. If you visit the online version, you can also access my follow-up blog post.

Here is the link to the Upper Room. http://devotional.upperroom.org/

Twitter users will be pleased to know I’m now on Twitter. Follow me @DTroyDennis

Ian has started interviewing for jobs. He will graduate from his forestry and wildlife program in May, so this is important. We appreciate your prayers for him in this.

OnFire is perhaps a little different this time, more teaching oriented. However, these are some of the principles that we have used to discern God’s direction and will for us. I pass them along hoping they are helpful.  There is always more to clarify or add. Feel free to email.

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Changing jobs, moving, a major purchase or sale such as a car or house, education choice, career direction, time commitments, and change in marriage status are all examples of major life decisions about which we ought to be concerned for God’s direction in our lives.  You may have your own concerns and life decisions to fill out my list of examples.

I’ve put together some of the principles we use to help us discern God’s will.  I’m not going to claim to have some kind of perfect handle on this. As always, we need to move forward in faith and humility.

This is a Process

When I say process, I’m thinking a few things. It is not linear, and there is no way to predict how long it will take. “Do these five steps in order, bake at 350 for 10 minutes, and Ding! You have a decision.” Please read mild sarcasm in this. We’re not making muffins. We’re making major life decisions. 

Seek Holiness

Holiness is fast-becoming an old-fashioned term, but comes from passages like 1 Peter 1:15, “just as he who called you is holy, be holy.…” Sin creates spiritual noise and complication which makes it hard to hear God.  As the Spirit convicts, confess and repent (1 John 1:9).

Slow the boat

When a friend and I first began running rapids in a local river, we got stuck on almost every rock. After a while we realized if we slowed the canoe it gave us time to form a plan and line up the boat for the best angle of attack.

The same principle works in life. We often feel anxious about the future and we just want to make a decision so we can get on with life and get rid of our worry. Most situations, however, do not need an answer right now, and in fact, would benefit from slowing down the process. Resist the pressure to decide right now.

Pray

We sometimes take this part of the process too lightly. We toss God a quick prayer and then wonder why He doesn’t send a plane to write it in the sky.

Prayer is both talking, and listening. Depending on the nature of the decision, we may consider fasting as well. We have to allow God time to speak to us, in particular about our motivation. Is this only about what we want, or is it truly what God may want for us?

Even though I list prayer here, it needs to be part of the entire process.

Ask: Does it go against God’s revealed will?

God is not going to lead us in a direction that goes against what He has already told us in the Bible. We would call this God’s general will.  God’s specific will for us will be consistent with God’s general will. I once talked with a man, a former deacon from another church who told me God led him to leave his wife and take up with his secretary. God was not leading that man. Sadly, many people aren’t willing to listen and it causes a lot of pain.

Find wise and trusted people for advice.

These must be people not afraid to give their opinion, even if they don’t agree with us. I rely on my wife, mother, some friends, and pastor. 

Depending on the nature of the decision and direction, I may expand the circles to get specialized advice such as financial or legal.

Seek God’s timing

The WHEN of God’s will is as important as the WHAT. Sometimes we push too hard and fast for a resolution. It is a hard lesson when we think, “If only I had waited…”

Take One Step at a Time

God has rarely revealed the whole picture to me.  I sense a direction, but don’t always know where it is leading. It is easy to worry about the upcoming steps. We don’t need to understand everything, however.  I compare it to driving on a foggy road. It is only as we keep moving ahead that we see the next section of road.

Misconceptions about God’s Will

I’ve compiled a list of misconceptions and misunderstandings about discerning God’s will. Here they are, with some basic explanations.

“If it is not God’s will, He will stop me… “

I’ve heard this one a bunch of times over the years, often as justification for risky or sinful behavior. The fact is, God allows us to make our own decisions, and if we ignore good advice, our conscience, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, God may allow us to make bad decisions.

“It feels right, so it must be God’s will…”

Put simply, feelings can be wrong, influenced by faulty perceptions and selfish motivations. We can’t make major life decisions based on a feeling. God gave us a brain for a reason, and we need to use it. 

“If everything is going against you, you must be in the wrong lane.”

Difficulties may be signs of going in the wrong direction, but they may also just be signs of the spiritual battle we face.  Do we really expect Satan to sit on his hands while we make spiritual progress? Perseverance is important if we are to seek God’s will.

“But I prayed about it.” OR, “God told me.”

These lines have been used on us a number of times by people trying to manipulate situations to their advantage. Don’t get sucked into this. Prayer is no guarantee against being wrong. 

“If I mess up I’ve blown it forever with God.”

A bad decision is not the beginning of the end.

1 John 1:9 reminds us that if we sin, we can have forgiveness from God.

Romans 8:28 tells us that God is a redeeming God, able to bring good even in the worst of circumstances.

God is a redeeming God. We find this in scripture, and it is the testimony of  countless Christians through the ages.

“There is no safer place than in the center of God’s will.”

People normally mean that being in God’s will protects us from the needless consequences of sinful behavior. True. But, this does not mean we will never face difficulty, hardship, or  danger.

OnFire is a letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Jan 27, 2014. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. *New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com, but I’m a little behind in updating things. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #308 Non Destructive Testing

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #308 Non Destructive Testing

Had the Lord not called me into ministry, I think I might have chosen engineering as a profession. Then again, a lot of things are fun if you don’t have to make a living doing them, like cutting wood, for instance. Even still, I love to know how things work and as a child I took a lot of things apart. Sometimes I even got them to work again. Even now, I love to watch shows on how things are made or built.

I remember watching a show on how they test metals for how strong they are. This was on things like bridges and airplanes and pipelines, where they can’t destroy it by testing it. That’s one way, to stress it until it breaks and measure it. But some things you can’t test by breaking them, so they have to develop ways to test them. One way is to do an x-ray. That’s how they test the welds on pipelines. They wrap a piece of film around the pipe, and then use x-ray, an extended and larger version of the way they do our teeth.

And then there is another way where they sprinkle  iron filings across the piece of metal and then use a magnet. If the metal is good and there are no cracks, then the iron filings line up, but if there are cracks, even tiny microscopic ones, then the filings don’t line up properly. It can look good, but unseen cracks threaten the strength of the structure.

Engineers test materials because they want to know the fundamental nature and character of the metal. What is it really like? Will it stand up to the test of daily use and abuse? I’m grateful for this work because when I fly, I want to know that the landing gear of the plane is strong, and that the wings won’t fall off.

There are a lot of parallels to human character. How do we know what someone is like? What they are really like? This is important in hiring, marrying, or appointing leaders to programs, boards, and committees.

But this is not only about evaluating others. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to evaluate our own character and behavour. There are lots of passages which help us, but lately I came across 1Thessalonians 1:3 in my own reading:  “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul was thankful for three fundamental characteristics: Their faith, love and hope. The evidence of these traits was seen in the results they produced - works, labour and endurance.

As I read this passage one day, it hit me that I was working hard, but that’s all it was, just hard work. I was lacking the faith that told me the work was for something larger and bigger than I am. And I was doing it just because that’s what I do. I work hard and there is always something to do, but I was lacking love as a motivation. Not that I hated what I was doing. Rather, it startled me that I forgot I was doing so much of what I do to help people. I got caught in a list of tasks. This passage reminded me that there are people on the other end of what I do, and it changed the way I looked at my work.

The line that got me was this one: “Your labour prompted by love.” It was the spiritual x-ray that revealed little cracks in my character. I don’t believe I was far off, and no one, perhaps, would have detected it. But I had lost sight of the people I was serving, and that was a character issue which needed to be addressed. I thanked God for the insight and almost immediately the work became easier, more pleasant and enjoyable. That was a confirmation of the verse and a further reminder to remember my love for these people.

As at other times, I pass along this along because I figure if I have trouble with these things, and I’m the “professional religious guy,” then perhaps others face the same things. I hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Dec 2, 2013. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. *New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com, but I’m a little behind in updating things. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #307 Sidetracked Personal Bests

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #307 Sidetracked Personal Bests

Hi Folks:

It has been a while since I’ve written OnFire. The fall is always busy, and it has been busy, but more than that, I just ran out of things to say. It was time to take a break.

Our family is well. Jan was hired again as a teaching assistant at a local Christian school and is directing our church’s handbell choir. Mark is doing well in grade 12 and is considering plans for next year. Ian is in his second and final year of his forestry and wildlife program and loves it. Next week he has an overnight survival exercise. They are dropped in the bush, alone, for a night, and must build a shelter and fire using only the things they normally carry in their field vests. Ian has been preparing for this since last year and usually has several knives and about 6 ways to light a fire.

I’m preparing to play in a musical at Mark’s school. We’re putting that on from Nov 20-23. We’re a very small pit band, 8 in total. There is nowhere to hide in this orchestra, so I’ve been working hard on getting my music ready.

Blessings for your week.
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I had high hopes for a personal best in the 5km run. It was a fundraiser for a team from our Convention going to Kenya next spring, and so I was glad to take part, but it was also a chance to push myself and perhaps claim a new time.

The gravel crunched under my feet as I climbed the first hill. Before the race, someone described the course as beautiful, but I really didn’t feel like looking around as I tried to convince my lungs to sync up with my legs. I always find the first 10 minutes of a run uncomfortable, but I’ve also found that the feeling passes if I persevere. And so I lifted one foot after the other and worked to avoid the slippery leaves and uneven ground which might put me out of the run with a twisted ankle.

I was just starting to feel good on my feet when it happened. Several of us missed a crucial turn and headed across a dam instead of down the path into the woods. We realized something was wrong when we could couldn’t find the pink flagging tape which marked our course. By the time we got back onto the course, we had travelled an extra kilometre and wasted precious minutes.

It goes without saying that we can’t do our personal best when we get sidetracked. As in running, so also in the Christian life, where there are lots of ways to lose the path: angry words, curious clicks, unwise money decisions, unguarded hearts, fear of what others will think, hungry habits. These are just some of the ways we miss crucial turns and fall short of our best.

The solution is to keep our eyes on the goal. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize....” (1 Corinthians 9:24)

That’s the apostle Paul writing, telling us that the way to avoid being sidetracked is to keep our focus on the end, the goal. When we lose site of the end goal we get sidetracked, and eventually we find ourselves in a situation we later regret. Of course, we don’t do this on our own. We need to rely on the Lord for strength in the face of temptations and trials.

Hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Nov 8, 2013. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. New International Version. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com, but I’m a little behind in updating things. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #305 Of Spiders and Gardeners

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #305 Of Spiders and Gardeners

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12

From where I write at home, I can look out a window where several spiders are normally working. Some build webs, spinning and weaving their traps designed to catch flying insects. Others wait at the edge, hoping for lunch to land. The other day I watched a spider wrap its prey, rolling it over and over in silk until it looked like a tidy little take-out bundle. Yummy, if you’re a spider.

My neighbour has a garden. I notice his beans are coming along and may soon be ready. There is a saying that no one plants a garden without hope. Each little seed represents fresh produce later in the season, tasty treats on the kitchen table.

Spiders and gardeners are examples of being joyful in hope. They toil faithfully without guarantee that their efforts will be successful. Flies may not be caught. Rain, insects or birds may carry the seeds away. But they do it anyway because they believe it will be worth it in the end.

These three phrases from Romans 12 are all about the same thing. Patience in affliction is the same thing as being joyful in hope. It reflects an attitude of expectation that someday the struggle will end, and so we don’t need to take out our frustration on the people around us. Faithfulness in prayer is about hope and trust in God. When we don’t trust someone, we keep away from them. Its no different with God. There are times when we blame God for our circumstance, or we lose hope that perhaps even God could do something about the situation, so we give up praying. We don’t want to face God.

Funny how we can wallow in that. We don’t always want to be convinced that someday things might be different. It doesn’t matter that the choices are limited. We can give up hope and remain frustrated and miserable, or we can take hope and experience joy. I don’t see any other options, and put like that it seems silly to remain frustrated. And yet I know from my own experience that sometimes I would rather swim in my own self-pity.

I feel this challenge. This is a real temptation in my mind, to think that because things have been difficult in the past that things won’t always be so hard. I argue with myself all the time over this.

There are some people, however, a good number of them I might add, who are not this way, and I really admire them. I think about all those visits I have made in the hospital with people who face tremendous affliction. Chronic pain. Persistent maladies. Cancer. Terminal illness. I want to be like the people I have met who experience these tough things, but yet they remain hopeful because of their trust in the Lord. Many times I have left a patient’s bedside having been far more encouraged than encouraging. I have often said that if I am stricken someday with that kind of burden, I hope I will be able to be like them.

The thought hits me, why wait till then? Are there not other burdens we bear? Difficulties and setbacks? We don’t escape life without them, and indeed, if we let the Lord shape us, they actually strengthen and improve our character and our trust in the Lord. We only learn how strong the Lord is when we come to the end of our own strength.

Hope is a choice. Not an easy one. But it is a choice we make, a thought we cling to. Soon all this will be over, and it will be worth it in the end because God is good.

I hope this helps. Be on fire. Keep up hope!

Troy

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published July 27, 2013. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. New International Version. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #304 Pick Up Those Heels

OnFire Encouragement Letter 
OnFire #304 Pick Up Those Heels

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.” Romans 12:11

A few weeks ago I made a discovery while jogging on our city’s walking trails. I took about 30 seconds off my time for a kilometre just by picking up my feet. I found that lifting my heels a little higher and stepping a little further took only a little extra effort, but the payoff was big. Like I said, I took about 30 seconds off my time on a kilometre. A real measurable difference, just by picking up my feet.

Let me go back a little to explain something. Jogging is not my favourite form of exercise. Actually, I really don’t enjoy it. It is hard, intensive work, but I do like the benefits it brings to me - fitness, weight control, good blood pressure. The first fifteen minutes are the toughest until my body gets into a rhythm. After 30 minutes, my lungs feel great and I really like that, but until then I just keep reminding myself it will be worth it.

As you might appreciate, attitude in this is everything, and sometimes mine is not helpful. My body is often more capable than my mind tells me, especially if I’m mentally tired. That’s how I started shuffling a little more, not lifting my heels, not stretching my step. “Let’s just get this over with” does get the job done, but not enthusiastically. Picking up my heels didn’t take much energy, but it boosted my running and the difference was notable. All it took was putting a little zeal into my step.

This brings us back to the passage. I don’t know about you, but my zeal goes up and down. Sometimes I’m enthusiastic to serve the Lord, to keep up my spiritual disciples like Bible reading and prayer, and serve others. And, sometimes I don’t feel like it so much.

There are times I need to pick up my feet spiritually, and what I’ve found is that my feelings often follow my actions. I don’t feel like putting a little more into it, but as I get going, I feel better, and put more into it, which increases both my zeal and my energy.

Someone is likely going to write to me saying something like this. “But Troy, surely you realize that our spiritual life is about more than just striving, more than just our effort. You make it sound like we’re  trying to earn God’s love.” Point noted. We shouldn’t think that somehow God will love us more if we do more. God just loves us. No more, no less. However, scripture reminds us many times that we have a responsibility to follow faith with action. If we believe stealing is wrong, then we shouldn’t steal. If we believe God is love, then our actions (and reactions) ought to be kind and loving. That’s faith followed by action.

This is about faith and action. As I ran that day and reflected that my running time improved just by picking up my feet a little, I wondered (running does give me lots of time to think...) if perhaps there are times I drag my feet spiritually. I concluded, yes, there are times my zeal lacks, I’m not putting my best into things, I’m not acting like I really believe in God’s goodness, and I need to lift my spiritual heels.

I hope this helps. I would never want to think that I increased someone’s burden by writing about the “Himalayas of the human condition.” Rather, by talking about these things together I hope to encourage us. I have often seen that, spiritually speaking, we get out way more than we put in. As so Paul says, “let us keep up our spiritual fervour.”

Blessings, and be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published July 13, 2013. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. New International Version. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #303 Reflections on Courage

We continue to look at the “Himalayas of the human condition” in Romans 12:9-21. These verses are the high peaks of character transformation.

“Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.” (9-10)*

Love is more than a feeling. It is active, and looks out for other people. It does all it can to stop evil from coming upon the other person.

One of my great lessons in this happened at a ball game with our youth group in Boston. When we arrived to take our seats at the Green Monster wall, we found that some of our seats were taken. Since there were other seats available just across the aisle, we encouraged the youth to take what seats they could. The game wasn’t a sell-out and so this was not a problem, but our group was not sitting together as we had originally planned.

As the leader, I evaluated things. I was worried about creating a confrontation in a strange city, and while the arrangement was not ideal, it was not bad either. I elected to leave things as they were.
One of my youth leaders, however, a young university student, took it upon herself to gather the tickets from the affected youth. She walked over to the people sitting in our seats, showed them our tickets, and moved them. It was an amazing piece of work. It was brave and just, and I learned a lot that day about taking courage to stand up for others.

“Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.” (9-10)*

To hate evil and cling to what is good means we need to overcome our own inertia. To do something means we have to change what we were planning to do. Hey, let’s face it, it is usually easier not to get involved. But being devoted to one another is about putting ourselves aside.

We must face our fears for what might happen as we stand against evil intention. It has been said that courage is not the lack of fear, but rather action despite fear. We feared the unknown which a confrontation might bring, but my youth leader took courage anyway.

It takes determination: “I will NOT let this thing happen. I WILL do everything I can.” This is hating evil and clinging to the good.

This is an area where stereotypical markers of courage do not matter. We think of size, strength, age, and position as advantages, but they are not necessary. I have seen some really big guys who lacked moral courage, and some pretty tiny ladies who could make a king cringe. As I write, Nelson Mandela lies in a hospital bed in South Africa. For many years he led people against the forces of apartheid from a prison cell.

Some lessons are hard. I was ashamed of my inaction that day, but what a lesson it was. Better to learn from a mistake than not to learn at all. And perhaps, I hope, I am putting the lesson into practice each day.

I hope this helps. Be on fire. Let us take courage and act, even when we are afraid.
Troy

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published June 27, 2013. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. * New International Version. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #297 But Do We Pray for Timing?

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #297 But Do We Pray for Timing?

This week we’ll turn our clocks ahead. It’s a good thing it happens on a Sunday and not a Monday. We might arrive at work at the wrong time instead of walking into church in the middle of the sermon. What a feeling to realize that we’re out of synch with the rest of the world. We got up, prepared, and planned to arrive at church with a little time to spare, only to discover we’re an hour off.

Timing is important. I hate it when I’ve got a good joke, and then blow the punch line. In skeet shooting, it is important to lead the target or the timing will be off. The shot will go ahead of, or behind, the clay instead of hitting the mark. When my boys became teens I had to learn when it was the right time to talk to them. Too early in the morning, and the response is a grunt. I usually wait for them to say something first.

Timing is important in both temporal and spiritual matters, and Jesus was the master. After his mother told him about running out of wine at the wedding in Cana, Jesus responded, “My time has not yet come” (Jn 2:4). When his disciples wanted Jesus to go up to Jerusalem and show himself as a public figure, he delayed because “...the right time has not yet come” (7:6-8,14). Later, the crowds tried to seize Jesus to kill him, but they were hindered because the timing wasn’t right (7:30; 8:20). When a group of “Greeks” arrived asking to see Jesus, it was a sign: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23; 13:1). On the night before his crucifixion, he prayed, “Father, the time has come” (17:1).

It is a scary thought that the best of ideas – the redemption of all humanity through the death and resurrection of Jesus – could have been deflected and derailed because of bad timing. If it was so for Jesus, how much more so for us....

Good timing makes our intentions possible, while poor timing can turn even a good idea into a disaster. We might not be ready. The proper preparation may not have happened. The right conditions might not be present. The necessary resources and support may not be in place.

As I write, Jan is away with Mark for the March break, and it is very tempting to start some of the work we hope to do in our kitchen this year. We want to take out a wall and replace the old plywood cupboards, along with fixing the holes in the ceiling from our plumbing repair last fall. I’m itchy to open up the wall, but I know I’m not quite ready to do the job and we won’t have the money until after our tax refund. We’d have a big mess for months, which would frustrate Jan, and I don’t want that for her.

While this is a relatively simple example, I can think of more critical situations which require the best possible timing – when to launch a new program, tackle a tough issue, or have a difficult conversation with someone. Definitely, we should wait to discern God’s timing for when (and if) we ought to speak with someone if we are upset or hurt.

This is where prayer comes in. We often (I hope) pray for God to lead us and bless us in our plans. But less often, in my experience, do we pray that we understand God’s timing.

Last fall when I was hunting, I got a shot off on a duck that sprang from the bank. Water sprayed and I was sure I had hit my target, but when the air cleared the bird was heading for the skies. Because my timing was off, all I had done was make a lot of noise. I don’t want the same thing to happen with my plans. Timing is everything.

I hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Mar 7, 2013. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. Scripture taken from New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #296 Loaded for Bear

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #296 Loaded for Bear

Paddling quietly, we rounded the corner of the creek in our canoe and I spotted what we had come for. It had not been a productive day of duck hunting and so the sight of something on the bank was exciting. My heart raced as I lifted the 12 gauge shotgun and drew a bead on the dark shape.

It was a good shot, dead center. Imagine my surprise when it didn’t fall over. My “duck” was really a mass of dark roots at the base of an old stump. In the poor lighting of the shade at that corner, I blasted the wrong target.

“What were you shooting at?” my hunting partner asked. We paddled back and I showed him what I saw. The mass had the shape of a duck standing to stretch, head up. In my eagerness for the hunt, it was easy to see something that was not there.

One of the very real risks of carrying a loaded gun is that we might fire at the wrong target. So it is with hunter and non-hunter alike. Jealousy, bitterness, infighting, gossip, slander and arrogance are like shells in the magazine of life, ammunition in the chamber of anger. (2 Cor 12:20; Eph 4:31). As if that wasn’t dangerous enough, contributing factors like stress, hurt, and fatigue cloud our judgment.

Paul wrote, “In your anger do not sin.” (Eph 5:26). If there was a redneck translation of this verse, it might read, “When you’re angry, don’t go blasting the wrong things.”

“Loaded for bear” is an expression which means we are angry and looking for a confrontation. We can’t wait to express our displeasure. In this condition we must be very careful since it is so easy to hear or see the wrong thing and blast away.

Anger is going to happen. No one doubts this. Character is about how we handle this emotion. Self-awareness is critical. When we know we are angry, we can take steps to be careful, exercise additional patience, and avoid making snap decisions we might regret later.

My hunting day ended well, with no harm done. May the same be said of us, even when we face stress and frustration, tension and anger.

I hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Feb 20, 2013. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. Scripture taken from New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #295 Just Average? Part 2

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #295 Just Average? Part 2

Hey Folks:

In my last letter, I told the parable of a drill who wondered if he was “Just Average” because there were other drills who seemed to be so much better, flashier, and feature-filled. It came from my own recent experience of dealing with an attack of self-doubt and insignificance. Last time we saw that God uses ordinary people to accomplish his purposes. Scripture is filled with examples of ordinary people.

And now, to continue...

...Second, we need to remember that our measures of success are not the same as God’s. Our ideas of success are based on what we see, and they change according to the age in which we live. God’s measure of success is not the same as ours.

Take David as an example. The prophet Samuel went to David’s father, knowing that the new king would come from the family. David was not the one Samuel would have chosen, but God sees things differently.

"Do not consider his appearance or his height,... The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Sam 16:7)

We tend to judge on the appearance of things - how good someone looks. How much money they have. We find a number and compare. How big? How successful? How attractive? We even do this in Christian circles. How big is the church? How large is the ministry? How much is in the offering?

This is a dangerous game, for a couple reasons. First, our measure of success is constantly changing. Have you ever seen a picture of a winning boxer from the 1800's? A winning hockey or football team from the 20's? We wouldn’t look at these people twice if we saw them today.

Second, and more importantly, if we don’t have the numbers for success then we wonder if “just average” is good enough. We end up feeling small and insignificant, and we question our value.

1 Samuel 16:7 reminds us that God’s measures of success are not the same as ours. God judges based on the condition of the heart, not on something we measure like money or beauty, or size, or how smart we are.

I don’t know about you, but I find this encouraging because it levels the field. The world we live in favours the rich, the beautiful, the powerful, the outstanding. What if we don’t have these advantages? Do we get left behind? God measures on a different scale, and it doesn’t matter if we’re rich or powerful or beautiful. We all have a chance for spiritual success.

Paul reminds us of this also. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Cor 1:27)

Third, we need to ask the right question. After about a week of arguing with myself about these things, it occurred to me that I was asking the wrong question. When I reframed the question, I began to feel better. My outlook changed as I stopped asking if I was “just average?” and ask start asking, “Am I faithful?”

Am I faithful to the teaching of scripture, obedient to its commands? Or, do I dabble in disobedience? Am I a faithful follower of Jesus Christ? Is my commitment solid, or only when it suits me?

“`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Matthew 22:37-39)

Do I faithfully model Jesus in my character?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

Am I faithful in exercising my spiritual gifts?

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” (Romans 12:6-8)

The question we need to be asking, the only one which really matters, is, “Am I faithful?”

Fourth, there was one verse which especially prodded me.

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand. (Is 64:8)

The context of this verse probes the issue very uncomfortably. If God is the potter, who are we to suggest He didn’t do a good job in making us as we are?

Finally, one last thing. These thoughts of self doubt may lead us to do stupid things, all out of panic and insecurity. A ministry colleague passed it along some years ago and it has been helpful to me in ministry and to others outside of ministry. Here it is - Never resign on a Monday or in February. There are times and seasons which seem to affect our outlook on life, and it is wise not to make major, life-changing decisions while under the influence of these cycles.

My attack seems to have passed and even February doesn’t look so bad. I hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Feb 5, 2013. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generation and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. Scripture taken from New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #292 Tenting in December

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #292 Tenting in December


I can’t explain it, but lately I’ve been thinking nostalgically about tenting. So much so, in fact, that I even considered setting up a tent in my backyard last week. I’ve done a fair amount of camping over the years in a variety of situations and settings. Our family spent many weekends in campgrounds when I was young. We camped several times a year in the scouting program. Christian camping was important in my faith development. As a university student I camped three summers in Cavendish, PEI. And as a family we’ve had a camper trailer for many years.

But what I’ve been thinking about lately are the canoe camping trips I’ve been on with friends and with my sons. There is something about getting away from civilization, leaving behind power lines and conveniences, and lighting a fire together which makes everything else worthwhile. It is a lot of work to plan, pull together gear, pack and repack, travel, and set up. There are always difficulties and obstacles along the way. We’ve dealt with heavy rain, cold, forgotten, lost or broken gear, flies, ticks, injuries, portages, navigational challenges, and close calls.

And yet these difficulties are the things which make the trips so memorable. We retell those stories over and over again. There is a bond of shared experiences from having tented together which would not have happened otherwise.

I was already thinking about these things when I came to John 7 in my Sunday class. In that chapter Jesus met his disciples in Jerusalem for the Feast Booths, or Tabernacles, which commemorated God’s provision for His people in the desert after He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Interestingly, the name of the festival in Greek comes from the word for tent. It is, literally, the feast of tents.

I love it when personal thoughts converge with something I find in scripture. While working through my own longings to pitch a tent, and studying John 7 for my class, I was drawn back to John 1:14. “The Word [Jesus] became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” It doesn’t sound like much, but the word for “dwell” is rooted in the word for “tent.” We could read it this way: “The Word became flesh and tented among us.”

John wants us to see the connections. Moses descended from the mountain with words from God, but Jesus is the Word. The tabernacle was a symbol of God’s glory and presence, but Jesus is God in the flesh. The people found manna from God in the wilderness, but Jesus is the Bread of Life.

Jesus pitched his tent with us. There are times when we need to be reminded that He has travelled the same wilderness route we walk. It is sometimes a lonely, difficult road, and it is easy to be discouraged. But God does not stand far off from His people. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

I hope this helps. Be on fire.

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Dec 12, 2012. Scripture taken from New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com . Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #291 I’ve Got Nothin’

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #291 I’ve Got Nothin’

Most weeks it is not much trouble to write OnFire. I usually have an experience from which I’ve learned something and I pass it along. Often I reflect on some of the more unusual moments I have. They stand out, since they are a little odd, and I often glean a little life lesson which reminds me of a passage from the Bible.

This week I’m coming up empty, without some incident I feel I can write about. Its not that there haven’t been some weird moments, like last week when I returned to my locker after a workout at the gym, and couldn’t remember which one was mine. I knew the section where it was, but I often rely on the fact that many locks look different from my generic silver combination lock. This time I scratched my head as I gazed upon an entire row of generic-looking silver combination locks. I hope no one thought I was trying to break into someone else’s locker as I tried all of the locks to find mine. Perhaps I should pay more attention, a fact Jan sometimes wishes, because I don’t always notice when she returns from the hair dresser. I’m working on that one...

I’ve thought and thought about that lock incident and keep drawing blanks. It has the potential for a good story, but without application there isn’t much point. I usually don’t try to force the issue since then I would be drawing from my head and not my heart, and it would probably feel a little artificial.

Moving on, I’m illustrating that I often don’t have trouble drawing lessons from some of life’s little moments and passing them along, but this week I’m coming up short. As the saying goes, “I’ve got nothin’.”

This is actually a feeling I’m a little used to. Even after a while in ministry, I often arrive at church thinking I haven’t prepared well enough. I see the difference between what I have and what could be, and wish I had just a little more time to get ready. Its a variation on “I’ve got nothin’.” I know I did as much as I could under the constraints I had and I wasn’t wasting time, but it doesn’t feel like enough.

At these moments I often pray something like this: “Lord, I’ve done all I could. If anything is going to come from this, it has to be from you.” It’s a very humbling prayer to acknowledge that my effort may not be good enough. But the reality is that God is so much more powerful than I am, and He can work in ways I cannot. This can never be an excuse for not doing my best. But rather, it gives hope in the context of my own weakness and deficiencies.

Here’s the neat thing. I can point back to so many times when I’ve had that feeling, and reached out in prayer to God because I felt so inadequate, and the result worked out so beautifully. Much better than I had planned or hoped. At those times I thank the Lord because I know it wasn’t me. I see this as an example of God’s strength demonstrated in our weakness: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9*)

I told Jan I was going to write about “nothing” this week. I hope my “nothing” gives you something at those moments when you feel inadequate for the task. I hope this helps. Be on fire.

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Nov 30, 2012. Scripture taken from New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com.

OnFire #284 Peace and Joy Prevail

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #284 Peace and Joy Prevail


While we were on PEI for vacation this summer, friends of ours joined us and brought their motor boat. One day while on a cruise of the river a loud buzzer warned that the engine was overheating. As it turns out, a piece of seaweed had clogged the water intake. Once we cleared it, the pump was free to do its work, and we were soon speeding up the river once again.

It’s too bad we don’t have some sort of internal warning like that buzzer to alert us that we are anxious and fearful about something. Sometime in the middle of last week I realized that I was not a good judge of my own emotional state, but rather had been stressing about problems. In fact, I understood that I had been worried for some amount of time, distressed even, and had not realized it. I wonder how often in the past this has happened to me without realizing it....

In any case, perhaps it was in response to thinking about this week’s verses, which I have often used to help other people. Curiously, I was thinking about how to write about them for you, when I needed to apply them for myself.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7*)

These verses rate highly on my “everyone should know list” because they show us how to replace anxiety, stress and fear with joy and peace. Rather than “chewing and stewing” like we so often do, we can experience deep and genuine peace even though “the wheels are coming off the cart,” as people like to say here. When we have real peace, we feel joy and blessing instead of fear, and we can even pass it along to others instead of being grumpy and grouchy with the people around us.

I have come to believe that a lot of what we do when we’re afraid and anxious is about coping with our distress, not about actually taking it away. We tend to do things to make ourselves feel better, if only for a short time, but it doesn’t actually remove the apprehension we feel. 

Here we’re not talking about drugs and alcohol, although lots of people certainly resort to these measures. How many times do we turn to food, or a movie, or a cup of coffee because it feels good, and we need a break? How often do we pour ourselves into work or a project, to cooking or cleaning because it helps us forget our problems, at least for a little while?

What we have in these verses is not about coping, but an actual remedy for our restlessness about the future. “ ...by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” It must seem silly to God when we won’t give Him the things that are too big for us to carry. He is more than capable, and He is more than willing to lift the burden for us.

The word “petition” implies that we’re going to need to repeat the exercise of prayer. We are prone to worry and so we must be prone to pray. Like weeds creeping in the garden, we need to cut back worry with prayer.

“Thanksgiving” is important, too. Do we believe God will help us? We can thank Him for it even before we see the results because we know it is as good as done.

I have discovered I am a poor judge of my own state, but that doesn’t matter so much. Once I understand that I am agitated, I can take these things to the Lord, and I know that he will replace my fear with His peace.

I hope this helps. Be on fire.
Troy

OnFire is a biweekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Aug 20, 2012. Scripture taken from New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com.

OnFire #283 Lessons from the Treadmill

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #283 Lessons from the Treadmill

While I was on PEI for vacation, I ran in a 5km “fun run,” a semi-competitive race organized as part of a local summer festival, the O’Leary Potato Blossom Festival, for those who are wondering. I had been looking for a 5km race to try and this one was close to my mother’s cottage, so at the appointed time I showed up, paid my money, stretched and finally lined up on the starting line.

My goals in the race were very modest - not to embarrass myself by tripping over my own feet, and to finish without walking. I set a comfortable pace under the warm morning sun and hoped I would be OK. Lots of people passed me, but I wasn’t running to compete, I was running to cross the line.

At about the half-way point, it was fun to pass some of the people who were now walking. I kept on plodding, one foot after another.

A fun thing happened at about the 3.5km mark. I passed a girl about 11-years-old who was walking. As I pulled up beside her I asked, “You’re not going to let an old, bald, fat man beat you to the finish, are you?” About 30 seconds later she passed me and I didn’t see her again until the end.

What a joy it was to see the finish line. People were gracious enough to clap. I made it, and actually managed a decent time for a first timer. I had never, ever, run that far before in my life, so 31:28 wasn’t too bad.

When I joined the gym back in January, the longest I could run on the treadmill was about 2 minutes. I went twice a week all winter, and gradually built it up until I could run a whole mile. I kept working on my endurance until I figured out that 5km was within reach. What a difference training all winter made in my strength and endurance.

Romans 5:3-5 says, “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” 

Paul reminds us that suffering is not in vain. We often think that our trials and difficulties are nothing but frustrations and problems which hold us back from what we hope to do in life. On the contrary, suffering can produce good things in our character.

There are character traits which we can’t develop without facing challenges and troubles. That’s not so different from my time in the gym. I would not have been able to run that race if I had not strained and tested those muscles all winter.

I want to be clear. God does not bring suffering into our lives to teach us lessons. However, God is a redeeming God, and He brings good from the bad by doing this work in our hearts.

I wish there was another way to strengthen my body to give me more power and endurance. Likewise, I wish there was another way to gain perseverance, character and hope. However, it helps me to know that my struggles are actually workouts for my soul, strengthening my faith and developing deeper levels of perseverance.

Some struggles seem hard at the time, but someday we’ll look back and see that we have gone on to handle even tougher ones. And that gives us character and hope to trust in God as we face the next challenges.

I hope this helps. Be on fire.
Troy

OnFire is a bi-weekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. Troy is the Pastor of Family Ministries at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. This letter published Aug 8, 2012. Scripture taken from New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com.

OnFire #281 Pumping the Bilge

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #281 Pumping the Bilge

Hi Folks:

It has been a good few weeks. I met with our incoming senior pastor and was very encouraged by this. The boys finished their exams. And Ian found a summer job just around the corner. That was an answer to prayer. In the middle of his exam schedule he went around the industrial park delivering resumes and had an interview on the spot at a local parts distributor. They called the next day with a job for him.

This coming week is especially exciting. This is grad week for Ian. Prom is Tuesday, and the graduation ceremony is Thursday. Many of our families are coming and we managed 10 tickets for the ceremony. We are very proud of both boys, and especially proud of Ian this week.

Blessings for your week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe you’ve seen our bilge.”

My aunt said these words one day last week as we worked on their sailboat to prepare it for the season. The bilge is the lowest point inside the boat where liquids collect so that they may be pumped overboard. I say liquids, because we’re not only talking about sea water. Even the most conscientious boater sometimes spills a little oil or fuel, which also finds its way to the bilge along with other dirt. Take that mix, let it sit around in the dark for a while, and voila! We have bilge water, a particularly foul substance which some suspect may actually be a form of hostile alien life.

All boats take on water and so the bilge must be pumped regularly. Many boats have automatic electric pumps to take care of this important task, with manual pumps for backup. In addition, the bilge must be kept clear of things like plastic bags which may easily damage or block the pump.

No one likes to show off the bilge. Usually it is hidden under a pretty hatch cover designed to match the deck. That’s why my aunt commented that I has seen the bilge. Here I was, looking in at the boat at its worst. I’m family, I’ve been aboard many times, and even helped with this part in the past. But it is a view not normally granted to outsiders.

We share a lot of similarities with a bilge. Only those closest to us actually see us for who we really are.  We are constantly at risk of taking on “water,” the worst of the culture which may sink us. And, we need to pay regular attention to critical areas of our soul in order to stay afloat.

We’re talking about holiness. Holiness is about cleaning out the bilge, allowing our hearts to be pumped clear of all that threatens the soul - negative character traits, worry, fear and anxiety, sin.

The apostle Peter talked about this. “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled...  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” ( 1 Peter 1:13-16*)

I hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a bi-weekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. Troy is the Pastor of Family Ministries at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. This letter published June 18, 2012. Scripture taken from New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com.

OnFire #280 The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #280 The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree

We are well into gardening season and I hope that we’re not so different from others who feel like they’re falling behind on the yard work and weeding. It seems that we get one area done and then it is time to do another, and then  by the time we get that finished the lawn needs to be mowed, and more weeds have sprouted in the first place we worked.

It is interesting to think that we actually reflect the image of God when we garden. Genesis 1:26-27 tells us we were made in God’s image, so it only makes sense. “Like father, like son,” as the saying goes. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” “A chip off the old block.”

So how is it we reflect God’s image when we garden? First, there is the urge to bring order from chaos. This is exactly what God did at the beginning when He created the heavens and the earth. We are reminded that the earth was formless and empty. God set about to bring order from the chaos - scheduling day and night, separating sky and sea, arranging plant and animal life. Gardening is nothing if not bringing order from the chaos.

There is the urge to create and to be creative. Before creation, nothing existed, but God called it all into being from His imagination. He made it new. He is Creator and creative. In the same way, we reflect the image of God in us when we look for new ways to do things. “Wouldn’t it be neat if...?” is the question of creativity. 

(On a side note, I think this issue of creativity is a possible solution to the “worship wars.” Often we turn the issue into one of new music VS old music, when the real issue is not music, but creativity. No one is asking (or allowed to ask?) the question, “Wouldn’t it be neat if ...?” Anyway, back to the main topic.)

No gardener will question that humanity’s first place to commune with God was in the garden. There is something about being in a garden which connects us to God and brings a sense of peace and calm. No wonder Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, a garden outside Jerusalem. I think this is all related to Romans 1:20, where we discover that nature reveals some of God’s character traits – power and divinity, for example. Not much wonder we feel closer to God outdoors.

While we have the image of God in us, Paul tells us that Jesus is the real thing. He is the “image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1: 15) While activities like gardening show that we have some of God’s traits in us, Jesus fully glows in these things because He himself is God.  

Every time I look out the window, I am reminded of my shortcomings as a gardener. There is always more work to be done, something I could have done differently or better. I guess in this way gardening is a little like life. But I have One to look to, Jesus Christ, who isn’t hindered by imperfection. It gives me hope and direction, that I can look to Him as I face life’s troubles. 

I hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a bi-weekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published May 29, 2012.  To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com.

OnFire #277 Empty is Not Void

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #277 Empty is Not Void


Hi Folks:

When I think of the word “empty” my first thought is of disappointment. An empty plate in the fridge means the boys ate the leftover meatballs. When the needle of the gas gauge sits on E, I’ll have to make another trip to the pumps. However, an empty bank account may prevent me from filling the empty tank. An empty cupboard, so the nursery rhyme goes, frustrated Old Mother Hubbard. Empty words are broken promises.

“Hollow” is a related word with the same letdowns. A hollow potato is rotten in the centre. We gain nothing in a hollow victory. To be hollow-hearted is to be insincere.

That was the feeling I had as a child when I discovered that my Easter candy was hollow. What kind of sick joke was that, to build up my milk-chocolate hopes, only to have them crack like the sides of bunny under my teeth?

Empty and hollow are not always disappointing. I love finding empty parking spots. PEI, where I grew up, is covered with pretty farms located in hollows between the hills. I have secret compartments in my desk, small hollow spots perfect for hiding trinkets.

Empty was good on Easter Sunday. When the women first spotted the empty tomb, they didn’t yet know what it meant. Had someone removed Jesus’ body without telling them? It took a little while to understand that the empty tomb was a good thing. “He is not here; he has risen,” and angel said.

Imagine their joy as Mary, and Mary, and Peter and John, and soon all the others began to realize the empty tomb meant Jesus was alive. The impossible was possible with God. Empty was where hope began.

Genesis tells us that before creation the earth was without form and void, another way of saying it was empty. God took that emptiness and turned it into something. He brought order form the chaos and turned nothing into something. That’s what the resurrection was. The empty tomb was not void.

We tend to see empty as the end. We had something and now it is gone. But with God, empty is the beginning. This is the place where God can fill us up once again. I wish there were an easier way, but it seems we often don’t discover how powerful God is until we’re sucking the fumes of our empty. In this way empty is where hope begins.

May God fill your empty on this Easter Monday morning. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a bi-weekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. Troy is the Pastor of Family Ministries at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. This letter published Apr 9, 2012. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com.

OnFire #276 Lessons from the Fish Tank

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #276 Lessons from the Fish tank

Hi Folks:

My latest post on Pastor of Everything Else is “What To do When the Senior Pastor Resigns.” So far, I’ve spent a total of almost three years of my nine years in associate ministry without a senior pastor at the helm. Feel free to pass this along to associate pastors you may know.
http://www.pastorofeverythingelse.blogspot.com/

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A few weeks ago I began to see signs that our koy and goldfish were distressed. Not the “I’m overwhelmed and I’m going to flip out” kind of emotional distress, but the lethargic, not eating, kind of distress which signals that the fish were weak and might not survive.

To explain, these are fish that I brought in from our backyard pond because last year’s fish didn’t survive the winter in the shallow water. A friend gave us a tank and all winter we’ve been keeping 3 koy and 4 goldfish. I couldn’t catch one goldfish, and so it remains somewhere in the pond, forever traumatized by my efforts to net him.

Anyway, one by one and two by two I lost all of the fish over the next couple of weeks. They died despite my best efforts to change the water and filter and clean the gravel. I felt really bad that I tried to save them from freezing, only to have them die in my fish tank later from problems I was ill-equipped to handle.

It was hard not to reflect on those fish and see my life. I sometimes wonder if I’m pouring time and energy into situations and problems which will only be a wasted effort. How depressing that thought is! And yet, it is one of my secret fears. Is all this trouble for nothing? I’m generally a positive, hopeful person. It’s something people like about me. But deep down, when things aren’t going so well, I have these fears.

I have to be careful because some people think I write OnFire like a diary or journal. They think I must be writing about church life or my current mood. This is not always so. I write OnFire because I think that if I talk about the secret feelings we’re afraid to say in public, then we’ll all be better off for it. If I feel this, then others do, too, and so let’s do this together. “I’m not the only one!” is what I hope people will think.

I was surprised when I had these thoughts, and I had to work through them. It really came down to this. As frustrating as things are sometimes, as difficult and discouraging as they may be, I cannot surrender to these fears. Even as these thoughts occur, I must reject them and choose instead to trust that God is good and He is not finished with me.

This is one of the thoughts I cling to. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,” Paul wrote. (Phil 1:6)

I hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a bi-weekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. Troy is the Pastor of Family Ministries at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. This letter published Mar 19, 2012. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com.

OnFire #275 The Creepy Guy Emerges

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #275 The Creepy Guy Emerges

We have a concrete figurine in our backyard, one of those little fishing boy statues which sits by our goldfish pond. Not long after we moved in we affectionately named him, “The Creepy Guy in the Backyard” because all he does is hang around and stare blankly into space. By the way, we like the Creepy Guy, even though we gave him this name, and the boys have resisted our suggestions that we should give him a new coat of paint. They like the “character” he has right now and he would be “too pretty” if we freshened him up.

As I write, the Creepy Guy is melting from the snow bank. With a few warm days his hat and eyes have emerged. I like the way he seems to peer above the snow and I think of him as a symbol of the changing seasons. There is hope for warmer and longer days ahead.

In my last OnFire I wrote about the difference between real and perceived limits. I wrote it on what I call a “low motivation day.” I get these occasionally, not regularly, but once in a while, when I am tired and not feeling like I can push myself. I’ve learned over the years that they last about a day so I just plan to do simple tasks which don’t require a lot of brain power or emotional strain. And then the next day I go back to my normal pace.

That didn’t happen. My low motivation day turned into the better part of a week. I have to be honest, it was a little unnerving. I like to work hard and to push myself. And yet I couldn’t seem to muster my full amount of energy. I put myself on “light duty.” The reality was I couldn’t do much more, anyway.

I’m still not sure what happened, other than I was probably exhausted, spiritually, mentally and physically. The next week was better, last week better again. I wouldn’t say I’m back up to 100%, but then again I’m not sure I want to go back to running at 100%. I recently told one of our church leaders that there are seasons when we go flat out, when it is necessary, and it even feels good to put it all out there. But, I said, we can’t do that all the time. (Someday we’ll all be better at taking our own advice.)

Somebody is going to read this and be worried about my health and my mental or spiritual state. A lot of my relatives are on the OnFire list, including my mother. I’m OK. Really.

Here’s the thing, the reason why I’m writing all this. I figure that if I go through something, other people are going through the same thing, too. And that by sharing my experiences it helps and encourages other people. We’re not alone in this journey.

It’s OK if we’ve been running at 100% and we get tired and need to back off. Really. There really are limits. And it is OK to tell someone we’re tired. We often do much better at telling other people they can take their breaks. Somehow we think we’re unique and so we don’t need it for ourselves.

I think there are lots of reasons why we feel others can and should take breaks, but we can’t. 1) Something won’t get done. Well, sometimes things need to go undone before someone else will step up. 2) We need to prove we can handle it, that we’re tough enough for the job. But, who are we trying to prove it to? 3) Out of a sense of duty. This is my poison, and it’s a tough one because I’m often motivated by the feeling, “It’s the right thing to do.” I’m not sure I have the answer to this one, other than to say, sometimes I just can’t go any further, and that’s OK.

I’m guessing someone in OnFire Land needs to hear this today. I can’t be the only one riding this train. Be encouraged. It’s OK to admit we’re tired and that we’ve reached our limits. Furthermore, it’s even OK to say No.

The Creepy Guy is melting out of the snow bank. We’ll emerge from being buried, too.

I hope this helps. Be OnFire. Oh, and don’t take the “Creepy Guy” metaphor too far. I’m not suggesting that you or I are “creepy.”

Troy

OnFire is a bi-weekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. Troy is the Pastor of Family Ministries at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. This letter published Mar 5, 2012. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com.

OnFire #274 Living between the Red Lines

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #274 Living between the Red Lines

Last weekend the saga of the snowblower came to an end. After restarting the motor to finish the driveway, it revved way too fast and then there was a loud “pop.” The pushrod, broken and no longer bound to the crankshaft, smashed the thin walls of the engine. Judging from the pieces sprayed across my driveway, the motor will never start again.

I really enjoyed that little snowblower. I learned a lot about tuning the engine and I took a certain amount of pride in keeping it going. It was a nice mental break from what I normally do.

There are times I feel like that little machine, times when I wonder if life will rev to the point when something comes apart. I can’t be the only one who sometimes wonders how much more can be piled on and added before things suddenly go pop. That’s not a comfortable thought. Life doesn’t come with a red line to tell us where our limits are.

Now here’s a funny thought. I was at the gym the other day. Exhausted. Not really feeling like I wanted to be there, but knowing it was important to get some exercise, I hopped on the first machine to get some cardio. I wasn’t expecting good results. Just finish the workout, I thought, and go home for nap. A few minutes in, I felt my body respond to the challenge and the numbers on the electronic screen said I was working as hard as I normally do. I finished the weights and machines at full form. It made me wonder if it was mind over matter, that I was capable of more than I felt I was.

Some limits are real and some are imagined. If I go into the danger zone of the cardio monitor, I need to back off because my heart is at risk. Other times I need to push through because my limit is actually beyond where I think it is.

Reality is probably between these two lines, between where we think the limits are and where things go pop. It takes faith to work beyond our imagined limits, and discernment to know the real ones.

Paul knew something about living close to the limits, for real. “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope.” ( 2 Corinthians 1:9-10)

Discovering new limits means finding new trust in God. First, we have to hang in there to trust him more. And second, we discover new ways in which God is faithful. In both these ways we find new trust in God. Only when we run out of our strength do we discover God’s, and its a good thing, for at that point we don’t have what it takes. Paul writes, “On him we have set our hope.”

Hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a bi-weekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. Troy is the Pastor of Family Ministries at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. This letter published Feb 15, 2012. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com.