A town called Smith

When I was at Bible School 10 years ago now, we had a chapel and the President of PRBI spoke.  He always had great stories as well as a different sense of humor.  He began this chapel by telling us of his family.  His father was a teacher at PRBI and they had no children when they came up north here and while they were here they had like 10 kids.  "Before my parents came up here, the town was just called Smith."

Grace Bible Fellowship has been our home church while we are living up here and it feels like home.  This is the church we were fortunate to share with this week.  I was telling Colleen earlier this week that I prayed hard that God would keep us here in Sexsmith, I even applied for a job teaching shop at the high school, but they had just hired a new shop teacher when I applied.  We are thankful each day that God has us here as it is our first home as a married couple and Sexsmith will always have a dear spot in our heart.

God really challenged me this week about His plan and His work in the world.  If you read previous posts from 2011 you will read that we were planning on going to Mozambique but we did not go, however, we raised a lot of money, and the same people that gave are giving again for us to go.

I asked God, "Why are the same people giving who gave before?  They should not be giving because they have already gave and it is counterproductive to give again."

God the asked me, "Who are they giving to?"

"Me and Colleen, of course, who else would they be giving to?"

God replied, "How about me?"

Then it clicked.  I was convicted.  The focus was on me.  People are not giving their prayers and finances for our sake, but for God's sake.  People are giving to God and therefore, it makes sense to give again because God is their focus.  So, in a few short words, you, reading this letter have been an encouragement and a rebuke to me.  You are not reading this letter because I am such an eloquent writer or explaining God's truth in an amazing way, You are reading because of God's work in your life.  You are excited by God, not me.  Thank you for all of your support and being a great example to me!

Little Ukraine

So this past weekend we were blessed to share at the Vegreville Alliance Church.  I really enjoy preaching and was given the opportunity on Sunday, but what happened afterwards really hit me.

First, on a lighter note, as my title mentions, Vegreville is like litte Ukraine.  We love Ukrainian Sausage from Stawnichy's and you really haven't eaten real Ukrainian food unless you have had their kubasa!  Well, my parents had a big barbeque afterwards and, because we are in Vegreville, we ate kubbie burgers as well.  My cousin David, who is not from Vegreville, asked what a kubbie burger is.

"It is like a Ukrainian sausage that has been made into a burger patty!"  I exclaimed.

He then shook his head, ate the kubbie burger and we laughed at the ridiculousness of the kubbie burger, yet, it is Vegreville, so the kubbie burger makes sense, only in Vegreville!

I am sure as we go to Ukraine, there will be many things that don't make sense, but they will only because we are there and it wouldn't work anywhere else!

Onto the afterwards stuff - We were visiting our good friends the Proberts on Sunday night and we got talking about how they came to Vegreville.  It is quite an amazing story, but to make a long story short, they tried for 2 years to move on their own and it didn't work, the trusted God completely and it ended with a miraculous yet random phone call on the side of a busy highway in Washington.

They said "We have no idea why God moved us to Vegreville, but we knew God was moving us to the area."

After our visit, I turned to Colleen and said "I know why God moved them here, It was for me!"

I worked for them the summer I graduated and looking back, I was probably not a great worker, yet they kept feeding me and letting me work.  At the beginning, I was eating lunch at their house, by the end, it was breakfast, lunch, supper and probably bedtime snack.  I will never forget that summer.  We did not necessarily speak of spiritual things but we talked about life and they shared their home and food and time.  And for that, I am eternally grateful.  I don't know where I would be without them in my life.

For a teenager, having someone take them under their wing has eternal value.  It wasn't about them needing to share their wisdom or immense spiritualism with me but to share life.  You can do that too, just be yourself.  You don't need to know what you are doing or how to mentor someone, just be real.  It will make a world of difference to someone who is trying to find out who they are in this world.

Hebrews 11:41

I was talking with my wife today about her women's Bible study at GBF church in Sexsmith.  They are doing a video series from Beth Moore and today they were discussing faith.  If you look at your Bibles, you will find there is no Hebrews 11:41.  Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, states many heros of the faith who are an example for us to follow (chapter 12 speaks of this).

Beth stated that Hebrews 11:41 should read "By faith      your name here    did    accomplishment of faith.  Wow, I thought, the very same God who was with Abraham, Moses, David, etc. is with us.  God expects us to accomplish great (even seemingly impossible) things by faith in Him.

I have to admit, at times my faith is so small, smaller than a mustard seed.

To be honest, I have a hard time believing we will be going to Ukraine.  I don't have a problem knowing our financial support will come in, but the actual going I doubt more than our favorite doubter Thomas.  "Until I set foot in Ukraine, God, I will not believe you want us there."

A month ago I was talking with Waldie (president of PRBI) about faith and he said that experience plays a role in our ease of believing.  He asked me "When you go on missions, is it easy to believe the money will come in?"

I answered "Yes!"

"Why?" he asked

"Because He has provided in the past"

"Exactly, you have experienced it"

Experience plays a huge role in our belief, however I also would argue that we grow in Christ as we are stretched to limits we have not been.  So, having faith in something I have not experienced is more difficult yet more rewarding because it stretches my faith and makes me jump into the unknown.

 It is kind of weird knowing we are going to Ukraine yet struggling to actually know it.  Like when we were expecting our first child, Ellianna.  Knowing I was a dad when my wife was pregnant but not really as it didn't    quite hit until she was born.

In conclusion

Now Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for. (Hebrews 11:1-2)

I hope you have been encouraged and challenged as we all strive to grow closer to Him!