Discipleship

Uncertainty and the power of an unfinished story

March 4, 2025

Sometimes uncertainty gets the best of me.

I lose sight of my true hope.

When that happens I become 

short sighted, and lose the long view.

That’s when I feel stuck. That’s when

decisions are dangerous.

Fortunately it’s usually only for a bit, 

but not for long.

How about you?

Revelation is the last of the books in the Bible.

It’s the “end of the story.”

Does reading Revelation scare you or comfort you?

When I was 15 it scared me.

But now I take comfort from the book of Revelation. 

God has written one ending for us but it’s also a new beginning.

Even now God is not finished with you or with me.

When Jesus takes hold of you

He takes hold of you as the master craftsmen.

You and I are God’s workmanship.

He’s the author of our faith.

He’s the potter with the clay.

He’s the stone mason.

He’s the carpenter.

From the day you trusted Him till now 

He’s still working on you.

And you — 

you are still writing a story with Him.

The Apostle Paul knew this truth.

So, he kept praying for people.

“I thank my God every time I remember you.

In all my prayers for all of you,

I always pray with joy

because of your partnership in the gospel 

from the first until now,

being confident of this,

that He who began a good work in you

will carry it on to completion until 

the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6)

When Jesus takes hold of you

He takes hold of you for good.

Joseph couldn’t see the good 

from the cistern, from the caravan,

from the prison, from the palace.

But he saw the good years later

when he looked into the eyes of his brothers.

“You intended to harm me, 

but God intended it for good, 

to accomplish what is now being done,

the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:19-20)

Mary faced uncertainty as she

processed the inconceivable,

but she was able to trust the 

God who fulfills His promises. 

So she said, 

“I am the Lord’s servant. 

May your word

to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:18)

What uncertainty are you facing today?

I am not thrilled with the 

tariffs nor the rhetoric filling 

our ears these days. But,

my heart is steady. I serve the God

of our unfinished story. 

I’m not thrilled when family 

and friends face difficulty 

but I keep on keeping on 

in prayer

and presence if I am able.

Jesus is my certain hope through

these uncertainties. 

So I have hope.

I’m hoping to write with Christ Jesus

on the hearts of many. 

I’m hoping Origin continues to 

welcome students into His Kingdom.

I’m hoping Jesus empowers me

to live His way of love.

And my hope is sure.

Is yours?

I’m so grateful for the people

on both sides of the border

who have been steady friends,

advisors, encouragers, family,

and prayer warriors.

(See 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20)

“For what is our hope, our joy,

our crown in which we will glory

in the presence of our Lord Jesus

when he comes?

Is it not you?

Indeed you are our glory and joy.”

Our story is not done yet!

To be continued…

Change, Discipleship

Fight Like Jesus

March 8, 2023 0 Comments

Have you ever wondered, “Was Jesus a peacemaker and should His people take up His ways”? Maybe you have wondered, “Was Jesus a pacifist?”

If you are not reading Jason Porterfield’s book, Fight Like Jesus during Lent, there is still time to order it and start reading before Holy Week. His subtitle “How Jesus Waged Peace throughout Holy Week” sets us up to take a journey with Jesus through the seven days leading to the cross and the resurrection.

Jason began working out the realities of peacemaking in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. In the preface he confesses that he was young and naive, but that’s not the real problem. He goes on: “The combination of so many destructive forces at work in the Downtown Eastside soon proved too much for me… Over the course of a few short months, my neighbourhood’s brokenness had broken me. Despite my claiming to be a peacemaker, it was now readily apparent that I had no idea how to make peace.” p. 16.

Most of us are ill-equipped to actually make peace in conflictual settings, but Jesus affirmed the place of peacemaking among His followers as a response to His Kingdom. “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:6) As well James, one of Jesus’ brothers who became a leader in the church in Jerusalem, affirms a distinctive quality of Jesus’ followers in the world when they have the “wisdom that comes from heaven.” He writes that we will be “Peacemakers who sow in peace” and that we will “reap a harvest of righteousness.” (James 3:18)

So how?

Jason takes us through the lessons Jesus delivered to His disciples on each day of the week as He journeyed to the Cross in Jerusalem. I found myself at times surprised and delighted by Jason’s observations of Jesus’ journey and teaching. I learned something new in almost every chapter. Jason challenged the internal assumptions and reflexive movement toward violence that most of us have learned from our culture, our society and perhaps even from our churches. He shows how this reflexive movement toward violence colours how we read the witnesses of Jesus’ life, ministry and teaching. 

I imagine that most of us, as Jason notes, race through Palm Sunday into Holy Week and miss the announcement of Jesus’ theme for the week. The crowd is waving palm branches joyfully but Jesus is weeping. He cries out, “If only you knew on this of all days the things that make for peace.” (Luke 19:42)

Jason writes, “What if Jesus’ lament is more than just an intriguing glimpse into his innermost thoughts and desires? What if it was placed at the start of Holy Week as a marker so that it might guide us down the correct interpretive path? What if Jesus spoke these words on the first day in order to introduce his primary objective for the week?

Jason goes on: “This book makes a bold claim: Jesus’ lament is the interpretive key to Holy Week. His lament suggests that the events of Holy Week are best understood when viewed through the lens of peacemaking. And it encourages us to see the central struggle of Holy Week as a struggle for peace.” (p. 21)

In Fight Like Jesus, Jason Porterfield writes in a very approachable style as he examines the events and teachings of each day to draw out lessons for the peacemaker. He shows us how Jesus himself corrects our tragic approaches to life and conflict. He show us how Jesus makes it possible for us to live into and out of the love of God in a world that desperately needs His peace. 

Jason Porterfiled, Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace throughout Holy Week, 2022, Herald Press.

Change, Discipleship, Jesus

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Too Busy to Make a Home

August 9, 2022 0 Comments

Read John 14:22-30

“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” vs. 23

This Judas, not Judas Iscariot, was puzzled over the limited vision of Jesus. Why not show yourself to the world? Why are you showing yourself only to us?

Jesus’ answer is telling. God is a home-maker!

Jesus wants to a make a home with them in which the communion of God will reside. The ongoing work of being at home with God is one in which Jesus’ disciples must participate. The participation is founded on love and yields obedience. In the grace of loving Jesus, the disciples keep on growing by obeying Jesus. Jesus and the Father will come make a dwelling with them; the Spirit is coming!

Our imaginations regarding being at home even in these bodies with God are too small.

I remember as a kid, building “forts” with friends in the woods behind our homes. These forts become places from which great adventures were planned and performed. The “fort” was a dwelling a place for us to gather away from the regular paths of adults. As we got older the forts become more complicated and the planning became more ambitious until we too like the adults could not afford to enter into the play of having a fort. We were busy with other things.

Ah our life with God! Imagination is required. Yet, we are never too old to build an abode with Him in our hearts. But, we can be too busy!

Heavenly Father, enlarge my heart for loving you. Through Jesus your Son, captivate my imagination with the supreme worth of knowing You and being known by You. Through your Spirit empower me to obey you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Daily Readings, Discipleship

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DR: Beyond the Applause

August 5, 2022 0 Comments

Read Luke 4:14-30

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus’ reputation in ministry had preceded him. So when he went home to Nazareth all the good feels likely awaited him. But controversy was just below the surface. Jesus was aware. At home in the providence of His Heavenly Father he was handed the scroll of Isaiah. He read a passage and then declared “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Temptation abounds. Who’s “servant” would Jesus be? A servant of his hometown, moved by their applause and needs? Or would Jesus be the Servant of the Lord who ushers in a new era of life, faith and obedience. Jesus takes up the testimony of the Servant of the Lord and declares that “this” is who he is.

Applause as an external compass is fickle and can lead us places bound up in foolishness. We each need an internal compass formed in the reality of who we are in Christ and formed by reflection on what matters to us until we search out the values and principles that form who we are and guide our decisions. That’s a solitary work. Jesus likely did that over the years of labourer work in Joseph’s care. Jesus likely did that again in the 40 days of wilderness prayer.

Heavenly Father, May I move in the power of your Spirit who knows your heart and knows me. May the transforming work of Jesus be in me. Come Lord Jesus. Set me free. Help me see. And let my life be governed by love. Form within me such delight in you that I know what pleases you and willingly move accordingly. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Daily Readings, Discipleship

DR: Facing Temptations

August 4, 2022 0 Comments

Read Luke 4:1-13

“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”

After a high and holy moment Jesus was moved by the Spirit into the wilderness, into a solitary place and the devil came to tempt him. This too is a holy season as Jesus persists in setting Himself into the Presence and purposes of God.

It’s Jesus’ commitment to the Father and his commitment to the way of the Father that is being tested. The devil need not come himself to tempt us. He has his agents but there is more. The Apostle James says that “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” (James 1:14). And then there are the systems of this world that are opposed to the knowledge and way of God. We are tempted by their promises all the time to act and live independent of God as He is revealed in His Word and by the Spirit.

Jesus shows us the way forward when tempted as he constantly returns to His life with the Father and the realities of His Word. He resists the devil. 

Heavenly Father, whether I find myself in the solitary places or in the wildness of the crowds I know I am tempted to wander from You and Your ways. Seek me and set me in the delight of your love. May no willful sin dominate me. Protect me from the evil one and the lead me in the way everlasting. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Change, Daily Readings, Discipleship