Halloween

Today is Halloween – a day in which tons of kids go door to door in search of scads of globs of sugar. Parents are left in fear at the prospect of living with the effects of that excess, unbridled energy.

Many Christians see Halloween as a harmless event. Sure kids dress as witches ghosts and goblins – so what? Others note that Halloween is the high point of Satan worship and the occult. Here are a few references that may be relevant.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. Deuteronomy 18:9-12

What do you think? Should followers of Christ be involved in Halloween?

Strong and Courageous

I must say that I find Joshua chapter 1 to be one of the most inspiring and challenges passages in the Bible.

After Moses was gone, God placed the mantle of leadership on Joshua. God reminded Joshua of the vision that had previously been given to Moses. They were given the scope and mandate for this vision. They were promised the resources needed to accomplish this vision. And – God promised he would always be with them!

Joshua’s part was to be strong and courageous and never waver from the instructions given to him.

God has given clear instructions for his Church. Our part is to be strong and courageous – and never waver from the vision he has given us. God will give us all we need, and he will always be there.

Feasts and Offerings

Fascinating! In the Book of Numbers the Israelites were instructed to observe certain feasts throughout the year. Sounds good! Many of us love feasts – getting together to celebrate and eat!

The interesting thing is that for each feast the people were to bring an offering. This was not simply an admission fee or a payment to cover the cost of the event. The offering was brought to honour God and recognize His essential involvement in their lives.

In our day, we tend to react to the idea of money and the church. “Churches are always after our money,” we say. I wonder if it might be helpful if we changed our perspective. Do we recognize and appreciate God’s involvement in our lives to the extent that we willingly bring an offering to God to demonstrate our appreciation to Him for what He has done and what He is doing?

Birthday Party!

HMCC will be celebrating its 6^th birthday! On November 12^th we are planning a Birthday Party to celebrate what God had been doing at HMCC this past year. We will also be looking at what we believe God is directing us toward into the future.

All those who have been a part of HMCC are invited to join us. All those who are interested in getting to know more about HMCC are also invited to join us. For information email pastor@hmcchurch.com.

Marriage

You know you are in for an interesting wedding when the best man says “The last time I spoke in front of this many people I was found guilty and fined $400.” He did have a great quote though. It went something like this… “May your marriage be modern enough to survive with the times and traditional enough to last forever.”

This past weekend I had the privilege of performing a wedding. I could not help but think of the day my wife and I were married. We made a covenant before God to love each other and remain faithful and committed to one another for life. One of the guests at our wedding asked me later how we could be so confident that our marriage would last for life.

How does a married couple keep the covenant made at their wedding? When I think about the fact that I plan to be married to this woman for 60 plus years (should we live that long), what do I want this life to be like? I want life to be the best that it can be – for both of us. In order for that to be true, I need to do my part to make our relationship the best that it can be. This takes intentional effort and I believe it takes God’s help. May you seek God’s help as you commit to making your marriage the best that it can be – for life.

Balaam out donkey!

I wonder who calls the shots for us? Who pulls the strings?

Have you ever heard of Balaam? He was called by God to speak God’s word to the people. One day Balaam mounted his donkey to follow the instructions given to him by his Moabite king. Along the way his donkey refused to continue along the road. Balaam got mad and beat his donkey. Suddenly the donkey began to talk.

It is interesting that Balaam didn’t seem surprised. I have no idea what I would do if a donkey started talking to me. Unless I was Shrek or something.

Anyway, it was an angel of God who stood before the donkey to keep her from continuing down the road. Go ahead, read Numbers 22-24 for the whole story.

What is interesting to me is that the donkey recognized God’s intervention in the situation. Balaam had his eyes opened and began to speak God’s message rather than what his human superiors wanted him to say. Do you and I follow human promptings around us or do we follow God’s instruction. Do we even look for God’s input into our lives as we make decisions and plans for the future?

Boring Flight

I received this email today…

Bored during a long flight, an eminent scholar leaned over and woke up the sleeping man next to him to ask if he would like to play a game.

"I'll ask you a question," the scholar explained, "and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5. Then you ask me a question, and if I don't know the answer, I'll pay you $50."

When the man agreed to play, the scholar asked, "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?" Flummoxed, the man handed him $5. "Ha!" said the scholar. "It's 238,857 miles.

Now it's your turn."

The man was silent for a few moments. Then he asked, "What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?"

Puzzled, the scholar racked his brains for an hour--but to no avail. Finally he took out his wallet and handed over $50. "Okay, okay, what is the answer?" the scholar asked.

The man said, "I don't know," pulled out a $5 bill, handed it to the scholar, and went back to sleep.

Is there a moral to this “story?” Let me know what you think.

Leadership

As I was reading in the Bible this morning, there were several verses that jumped out at me. Here are a few:

Numbers 11:17 I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.

Moses was carrying the burden of the people he was leading and God provided others to help carry the load. In leadership we need to share the load with others. “Lone Ranger” leadership tends to lead to disillusionment and despair.

Numbers 11:23 The LORD answered Moses, "Is the LORD's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you."

Numbers 13:30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."

When God gives us a vision He will give us all that we need to fulfill that vision. I love Caleb’s faith! When God calls us to accomplish something that is beyond our human ability, do we respond like Caleb?

The Lord Bless You!

In my daily journaling I am reading through the Bible, reading around 5 chapters each day. Today I was reading in Numbers and would like to bless you with Aaron’s blessing.

The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make his face shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

The LORD turn his face toward you

and give you peace.

(Numbers 6:24-26 NIV)

Good morning!

Good morning! It is hard to believe that we continue to have such awesome weather! The change in weather reminds me of the changes we experience in the circumstances of life. We will not always experience sunshine. Storms will come. However, the sun is always shining above the clouds even though we cannot see it. This reminds me of the fact that even though we experience storms of life, God is always present. We may not “feel” his presence, but He is there.

May today be one of those days where you experience the presence of God.