One Of Those Days

Most preachers look forward to Sundays. At least I do. You might think after preaching every week for almost 17 years that it might get "old" and lose some of its appeal, but it hasn't happened. After 17 years I still can't wait for Sunday to roll around.

I felt that way last week, but last Sunday turned into one of those days. Now don't jump to conclusions. It's not what you think. I mean it was one of those days in an awesome way. Yes, I was excited about my message. It was to be the second in a brand new series. I was good to go. I was fired up. Fasten your seat belts!

But then... everything changed. Don't ask me to explain it. I can't. All I know is that something was stirring, no, Someone was stirring in the service and I couldn't peach what I had prepared. I couldn't preach period. I didn't know exactly what to do but I knew, at the very least, that the Lord had something else in mind. Something other than our 'order of service'.

Don't get me wrong. I believe in having an order of service. I believe it serves a purpose. But how many times do we say, "God, have Your way" when we really don't mean it or don't expect Him to change the direction that we have planned? I don't know, but I do know that on Sunday, God called my bluff. He did, what in theory, I claimed He could do all along and that was to take over. He did. I'm glad that it turned out to be 'One Of Those Days'.

I need more of those days. How about you?

BodyBugg

I know there are a few things I do that drive my wife crazy and not just a little bit. One of her issues with my behavior has to do with the opening of Christmas presents.

Case in point: My BodyBugg. You may have seen this product on The Biggest Loser. All the contestants wear and use them. Sometime last Fall, while watching the show (The Biggest Loser) on a Tuesday night, I mentioned in passing, 'Hey, those BodyBugg's are pretty cool.' Next thing you know... that was my Christmas present. Now one would think that I would have been excited and eager to get this gift. So what did I do with it? Nothing. It sat on a shelf in my closet, unopened, for the next 4 months. However, in the month of May I decided to give it a try and do you know what... I love it. I mean I really LOVE it! But here's the thing... I would have loved it sooner if I had just opened it and used it. I would have been so much closer to some of my fitness goals, had I taken this great gift out of it's box.

There's a spiritual principle and parallel here. At least there is in my life at times. I think, no, I know God has given me gifts. Gifts of abilities, gifts of relationships, gifts of opportunities. But I also know that instead of taking advantage of and using some of these God given gifts, some of them have done nothing more than sit on a shelf. Why? Because I placed them there and forgot all about them. It's a sad and yet common story of neglect.

Neglect. Is there anything or anyone you are neglecting? Is there a gift that God has given you that sits neglected on some shelf?

There is a verse that comes to mind when I consider this subject of neglect.

Joshua 18:3 (NKJ)

Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers has given you?

I love my BodyBugg. It's been my accountability partner when it comes to working out. But I almost missed out on what it had to offer me because of neglect. The same can be true of our God given promises and our God given potential. Now is not the time for neglect. The time is now to possess the land.

Pastor Gwen Lipke

Almost 2 weeks ago Renee and I loaded our 3 kids (4 if you count Kenzington Raine, who is due to arrive in 6 and a half weeks!) in our mini-van and headed to the Great White North, my home country of Canada. We were going to Waterloo, Ontario, the city in which we pastored for 6 years. We were excited about this trip because we were going to get to see and spend time with some of the best friends we have ever made.

While we were there Renee and I both were given the opportunity to minister at Waterloo Pentecostal Assembly, our former church. It was a wonderful thing just to sit in the Sunday morning service and sense the presence of God and to see and hear Pastor Marshall preach the word of God. One of the greatest gifts God ever gave to WPA and to the Matchetts has been the friendship and leadership of Pastor Marshall and Merrie Eizenga.

On Monday, June 7th, we went to go see Pastor Gwen Lipke. Pastor Gwen served on our staff when we pastored in Waterloo and if you ever met Gwen you knew she had a pastor's heart. Her love of people, in my opinion, was without an equal. She reminds me of Mother Teresa. Her commitment and compassion towards those who are hurting is something that I always admired and I have asked God to give me more of that which she had.

Back to Monday, June 7th. We went to see Gwen. For the past 2 years she has been fighting a battle with cancer. Although when we arrived you would have never known it. She was the same old Gwen. Positive, smiling, pleasant, and praising God. There was no bitterness. There wasn't any blaming God. There was only gratitude and thanksgiving. Man, that hit me.

As we left we took pictures. Little did she or anyone else know that within 48 hours her battle would be over. On Wednesday evening of the same week, Pastor Gwen passed away. She will be missed but her legacy, her example, her love for God and for people will live on because it lives on in all of us who knew her. For all of us who knew her were changed because of her. Thank you Pastor Gwen.

Pastor Gwen Lipke: A Class Act.

A Chosen Vessel.

A Life Well Spent.

Liar Liar

I just returned from attending a Pastor's Conference. It was a great time of refreshing and I believe it was time well spent.

I couldn't help but be reminded of the old adage that "Misery Loves Company" as I spent too much time this last week commiserating with other pastors about the challenges all of our churches appear to be facing due to the economy, global warming, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, the Spirit of Jezebel, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and the Anti-Christ. You name it. We blamed it. We told ourselves and each other that we had every right to feel sorry for ourselves.

Oh, there it is. Did you catch it? Most of the time I don't, but I did just now. You know the part, 'the right to feel'. Feelings are funny things. They can make you or break you. It all depends on which direction those feelings are taking you. Hey, when you're feeling up, your world tends to be a pretty good place to be. However, when you're feeling down, you better look out because it's the end of the world as we know it.

The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things. I can't help but wonder how many lies I have swallowed hook, line, and sinker that have come from my own heart. How many? Too many.

There's a reason why we are instructed to guard our hearts. The truth is our hearts know how to lie to us. They know how to take us to places that are counter-productive to the call of God on our lives. They know how to take us down some roads that are nothing but a dead end. To tell you the truth, I'm tired of living a lie or allowing a lie to live my life.

The Frightening Favor Of God

Well once again time has elapsed since my last blog but this time, I have a great excuse. Well at least I think I do.

A few weeks ago, my wife Renee, called me into our bedroom. She had news. I could see that but had no guess. She had something in her hand. Something I hadn't seen in a long time. It was a home pregnancy test and yep - you guessed it - it was positive. Her hand was shaking. My heart stopped beating. What the? Long story short, we got a baby on board.

For the first week or so I was in a state of shock. To be quite honest, I freaked out. I'm no spring chicken you know and initially all I could think about was worse case scenarios. Until Renee gave me that news, I thought I had the rest of my life all mapped out.

I wonder if that is how Mary felt when the Angel announced to her the plan of God for her life. I wonder if she didn't feel as I did and wrestle at least a little with the "Yeah but I....."

It's funny isn't it, how so many of us desire and seek the favor of God and yet the favor of God can be a frightening thing. When the Angel showed up on Mary's door, the first thing he said to her was that she was "favored" of God. But God's favor was about to take her down a road that she never dreamed she would be on.

Crazy as it sounds, the Christmas story of 2009, which happens to be my 45th Christmas, is helping me understand God's favor in a whole new light.

The favor of God can be a frightening thing. Frightening in the sense that you can't anticipate the future... but when it's all said and done, there is no future like the future that reflects God's favor.

Shades of Grey

I just finished with my Sunday morning message entitled "The Sounds of Silence" and I know that somebody in the service on that day is really going to get something out of it. Only one problem. I'm struggling to believe, receive and practice what I am about to preach.

Does that make me a fake? Am I a hypocrite? Challenging questions with no easy answers because it is not always as black and white as it seems. There are grey areas. At least there are in my life. Those grey areas, as much as I would rather not admit their existence, represent seasons and shades that need to be wrestled with, examined, and investigated.

I wish I could say with all confidence and certainty that I do nothing but practice what I preach and preach what I practice. Truth be told there are shades of grey. For every moment that captures the colors of a perfectly worked out truth, there are as many moments that are reflected in shades of grey. Some things are neither here nor there but rather somewhere in-between. It's in those in-between times and in-between places that you can feel like a fake because you're not there yet.

The deception that so many buy into is that unless they have mastered the truth they have committed themselves to, they must be faking it. Don't buy into that lie today. We are all a work in progress and there will undoubtably be some times and seasons colored in shades of grey.

Time Flies When...

Three weeks. It's been three weeks since my last blog. Three weeks. Where did the time go? Three weeks isn't a long time in the big scheme of things and yet it's long enough for me to once again, admit that time flies.

Ordinarily you follow that up with 'when you're having fun' and for the most part that is true. But the converse of that is true as well. It seems that regardless of the season you find yourself in, time still flies.

Time flies when you're having fun. Time flies when you're stuck in a rut. Oh, it may feel that time is standing still when you are stuck in that rut but you will discover that once you get out, if you get out, that time did anything but stand still. Life passes us by in the twinkling of an eye. One day you're still dreaming of what the future holds, the next day you're looking back on what might have been. Where are you today? Who are you today?

Regret is a silent but deadly killer. If you ask most people about their regrets, so many will speak of not their failed attempts but rather their failure to attempt to challenge the status quo. I wonder what I will say tomorrow about what I did or didn't attempt to do today. I wonder. All I know for sure is that time flies.