Whatever He Says

By Belinda I confess that I have not followed Jesus well to this point in my life. I thought that I had made at least a good attempt, but really I have been far more in step with the culture I live in than with the pattern Jesus lived; and they are both very different. You can read the Bible, as I have, and know it well, but have a sort of blindness to the implications for your own life. For instance: John 5:19 (New Living Translation)   19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. This is a verse that is quite shocking when you think of who Jesus is. Jesus laid down a pattern of humble dependence on God, of not running ahead of God.  By contrast, my life is driven by busyness; by plans and goals and deadlines that have been set without any consultation with God. How arrogant, when I contrast this with the way of Jesus. Here is anot...

By Belinda John 12:26 (New International Version) 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. In much of my pursuit of God I have failed to consistently maintain the intimacy of relationship that is implicit in the notion that I am following him. I know that have only skimmed all that there is to enjoy in him. How can I know where God is, unless still before him, ready to hear his voice? Matthew 11:29 (New International Version) 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. This verse has become more real to me as I have made the choice to live more simply. When I hear God's voice I want to be able to respond, instead of being so scheduled and busy that I have no spare room for his commission. As I move closer to this goal (I am far from there yet,) I am finding that his burden is light and my soul is more and more at rest. Isaiah 2...

by Meg The words jump off the page. But, hey, I've read this passage countless times. Why now? Why me? Am I all that bad? With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brother, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3: 9 - 12 The memory comes that in the past I have always told myself upon reading this that it doesn't apply to me, that I am not one of those people who curses others, one of those bad people. Or at least that I'm not ALL bad. But today, with my heart open to God in fresh ways, I stop, and listen, unafraid and ready to hear. Somehow I know I can face this in myself, at last, and in the moment of confession, find forgiveness. I trust my heavenly Father enough to know He loves me so ...

Dear Faithful Readers, I have decided to honour God's principle of Sabbath by leaving Whatever He Says fallow one day a week from now on. I believe that as I do that here, He will help me to take it into the rest of my life more faithfully too. So this, and every Saturday post from now on, will be my "weekend post." Belinda ************ My friend Susan: mother of nine and grandmother of ten; wrote to me last weekend to tell me how her day had gone. She wrote about her evening with her little granddaughter: "I had a challenging evening. This is one conversation I had - (between me an Lizzie) "I know everything." (Lizzie) "You do?" (Me) "Yes, I do." "You can't possibly know EVERYTHING." "Yes, I do. I know everything." "You don't know when I'm going to die." "Yes, I do." "You do?" "Yes, but I'm keeping it a secret." Now, tell me. How do you reason with THAT?! And sh...

Waste: it is all a matter of perspective. The Kingdom of God has laws that just can't be assessed by human logic. Nothing makes sense if you try to understand it that way. You have to let go of human perspective, and when you do, the rest of the world will think that you have taken leave of your senses. Jesus said that he would bring strife and division among families and I can see why that would be if people really follow his ways. When I chose to pursue faith at 16, my father worried that I was missing out on life--wasting my carefree years. I had, until that point, been immersed in a busy social life that included art, folk music, dancing and parties. I remained just as busy, but now it was with prayer meetings, Bible studies, youth group and practicing with a gospel singing group. When I married the pastor's son, he must have thought my fate was sealed! Even though I was always his daughter, who could do little else wrong, faith separated us for the rest of his life, in way...

I decided to check in with my life coach tonight--you know, those special assistants in living that only the trendiest people have. They are usually quite pricey, but mine is exceptionally reasonable. Besides I had already tried to write a blog post and inspiration was as scarce as yellow bananas at No Frills (they are usually all green, except for this evening after work, I have to say, when they were the perfect shade of yellow with just the tiniest tinge of green at the ends.) While out with my coach I decided to share a bit about me. You might think that I share a lot about me here, and I do, on a certain level, but there is sharing and sharing. Today at work I went to a new training in our agency on facilitating personal planning meetings for the people who are really our employers--and who happen to have disabilities. The training was to help us do a really great job of facilitating, "the meeting" at which they share their goals and dreams. I'm smiling at the though...

Gray, cold and cheerless was the winters day. As I drove, wet sleet splattered and stuck to the edges of my windshield. I was grateful for the warmth of my coat and car. I noticed a strange looking older man walking along the busy street. He looked homeless; transitory. His hair was short and grey. On his back he carried a backpack and his coat was short, black and worn. His tall, thin frame was bent over a long walking stick that he leaned on as he walked with long, loping steps along the street. Something about him seemed free and peaceful; he had a look about him that reminded me of pictures of Jesus. He seemed purposeful, as if he knew where he was going, yet he was not hurried in getting there. Suddenly, in my imagination, the man was surrounded by followers, similarly dressed in simple, plain clothing. They would not have much in terms of money, but would be content to follow him from place to place, to share a message that would grip people with it's counter culture relevanc...

I stowed my luggage in the overhead baggage compartment and sank into my window seat on the aircraft. The friendly man who sat next to me introduced himself, as did the woman beside him, but I was glad that they were soon in conversation with eachother. I had lots to think about on my way home from England. We were soon airborne and flying at a lower altitude than normal to avoid turbulence. I looked at the land far below; at rivers, lakes and a patchwork of fields and communities, as the aircraft slowly moved across them like a giant bird. How peaceful and quiet the world looked from that angle! The week I left for England I had been thinking about the ongoing work of God in our hearts; how he softens and shapes us, sometimes painfully, but always lovingly. My friend Susan gave me a book to read on my journey to England called, A Treasury of Great Moral Stories~ The Book of Virtues for Boys and Girls , edited with commentary by William J. Bennett. It might seem like an odd choice for ...

One of the books I’m currently reading is Donald Miller’s, Searching for God Knows What. Donald Miller gives the reader much to reflect upon, going straight to the heart with honesty and intelligence while writing in a deceptively simple but beautiful style. I, like much of the human race, tend to be self referential in conversation and relationship but Donald Miller put this into words when he wrote of how rare a thing it is for someone to lose themselves in the presence of other human beings. Further on in the same chapter, talking again about relationship, he mentioned how we will close ourselves off at the least sign of danger. Again, I put up my hand. I don’t like it, but I admit; too often “It’s all about me.” Recently something I had offered was not received as I expected. It would cost me something, but I thought that the person had need of what I offered; me; a gift of time. The person’s apparently diffident response, elicited an emotional response. The need seemed to b...

We have a house guest from Germany for a few days and I had offered to spend this afternoon and evening showing her some of the sights in this area. She chose the CN Tower and Casa Loma and once word of our pending adventure got out, first my friend Susan asked if she could come, and then Brenda. So off the four of us went--to "paint the town red." She is studying occupational therapy in Germany and is visiting Canada to spend three weeks with the organization I work for, learning about the system of support for people with developmental disabilities in Canada and then she'll be having a vacation, camping on her own for an additional two weeks. But first she's here with us for just over a week. As the time of her arrival drew nearer, I looked forward to meeting her--curious about who God was sending to share our lives for a while--sensing that he might have an agenda. And it seems that he does, for she said, when Brenda asked if she would be coming with us to church t...

Luke 6:35-36 (New International Version) 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Sometimes God's direction is inconvenient and difficult--but impossible to ignore. I mean I really love all that I read in God's Word about loving one another--until someone does something that is unfair, rude or unjust. That's when my own ideas of justice take over. There's something wrong with that--like saying I'm a vegetarian then having a juicy steak for dinner. In Soul Survivor, a book by Philip Yancey, there is a chapter on Mahatma Ghandi, who was a Hindu. He admired Jesus and often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Ghandi he asked him, "Mr. Ghandi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why i...

1 Timothy 4 1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Face Book--who hasn't heard of it--joined it--or resisted joining it? Even though I haven't joined the Face Book community, I've been amazed at how this social networking tool has reunited old friends. Peter and Brenda have reconnected with friends of twenty or more years ago from Bible College (in Peter's case) and the private Christian public school they both attended. As they have mentioned long forgotten names, my memory bank has spluttered and coughed up from the depths of dusty, long forgotten corners, some faces to match the names. The leap of twenty to thirty years at one jump feels a bit like a ride in a time machine. That scamp of a boy with the glint of mischief in his eyes that I had such a soft spot for--ended up in jail--and so on...I've heard with interest, story after story of who and where these grown up chil...