Only 5 Days!

It's only 5 days until Christmas and our family has been experiencing a great Christmas already. Because of travel, we opened gifts on Saturday the18th and enjoyed each others' company for the day. We had a great day at the church too...25 in attendance and one salvation decision! This was our First Christmas Service and it included extra music, stories, videos, Christmas baked goods and sermon. It was a good day all the way around. Plus, one family that used our childcare services for holiday shopping came! This was all a great blessing for us. Christmas is only 5 days away but we have been celebrating for about a week now! :-)

For the message on Sunday, I tackled a very simple subject of Peace on Earth. Simple in that peace comes from simplicity, difficult when you take into account the news that another Canadian soldier gave his life in Afghanistan. (Yep, Canadians are there too...) Peace only comes through knowing Jesus as your Savior and simply trusting Christ brings peace. Good question to ask your friends and neighbors this Christmas. Are they/you experiencing peace on earth? Peace on earth becomes difficult when we are too focused on all the other stuff of Christmas and life.

We can have peace on earth and God gives it freely. That is just great news, right? Great news from the Angels, to the shepherds and now to us today.

Relationships, Relationships!

We have had to learn how important it is to keep building relationships since we have begun this church here in Burlington. It is a test of patience for sure! We have been meeting a lot of people and inviting them to church or to come to our home for a visit. We are having some success but I am looking for the day when all these relationships lead somewhere. You know what I mean?

We had a great Christmas Open House last evening. We started at 4p.m. and the last guests left at 10:30. It was a great time with a mixture of church families and neighbors. If you know Tracey, you know what a wonderful cook she is. We do pretty good at throwing a party and making people feel welcome. We pray continually for the salvation of our new friends and others we are meeting.

You just never know what a relationship may become down the road. My wife and I go back and forth about a few people on our BC3 email list who visited our church once, showed a lot of interest then, but have never returned. I keep them on the list because, they are not enemies. And...you never know when something will change in their lives and they are willing to come be a part of a great church God is building here in Burlington. I am just blessed that they took the time to show some interest at all. They are our "honored guests." Remember that phrase in church when referring to visitors. ;-)

I have had to remind myself to be interested in people and not in building the work. Too many people have hidden agendas for relationships and I just need to be genuine. I read a tweet from Rick Warren that simply said, "Stop trying to be interesting to people and be interested in people." It was very profound and something I will never forget. Out of my own need to be liked and appreciated, I spout off all kinds of things I think will impress or catch attention but miss any kind of impact.

Sadly, I compare who I am today in building relationships vs. my past. I come to very lonely conclusions. I find myself wishing I took more time to be interested in others...maybe I would be reaping the paybacks now. We always had fun, good parties (as we still do), but too many shallow experiences that were more about the fun than the interest in those around me.

I am different today. Trying to build relationships in which I have invested genuine interest. Trying to show a love and concern with the passion Christ would have for me. "Relationships are everything, the rest is just the details," as Gary Smalley would say.

Relationships...I want mine to be genuine, sincere, reciprocated, respected, and cherished. Know anyone out there who needs a relationship like that. Maybe ALL of us! :-)

Merry Christmas!

We had some great pictures taken for our Christmas cards thanks to the Franklin family. They came to Burlington for a Holiday Photo Outreach on November 20th. We met several more families in the community and got a chance to give them the gift of professional photos complements of Burlington Community Church.

God has been good to us and has given us several other opportunities this Christmas season. This past Sunday, Dec. 5th, there was a big Christmas Craft Show in the hallways just outside our meeting rooms. We got a chance to meet many more families in Burlington and invite them to our Christmas Service on Dec. 19th. We also invited them to take advantage of free childcare we are providing for holiday shoppers on Dec. 12th. Tracey and I were blessed because everyone in our church stayed after services to talk to people and invite them to our Christmas events. This is huge in our church development! To add to these opportunities, I am speaking at a Burlington Businessman's Breakfast on Tuesday morning the 7th of Dec.

Keep us in your prayers because we are always looking for ways to meet people and make friends. Our strategy is 3D living of Developing friendships, Discovering stories and Discerning the Spirit. This is an evangelism strategy something Bill Hybels introduced and I like it!

That gives you a little idea of what is going on in the church, here is what is happening in the family...

Tracey is doing good. She went back to work the middle of November. It is not a great job but it brings in a little extra and the hours are great. She works from 8:30 - 1:30 Mon-Fri. at the UPS Store. She is still trying to get the hang of things there but manging quite well. She has also been doing some book reviews for Ed Stetzer, writing blogs for her brother Blake's company Agora, and helping me with church stuff, hospitality, media, childcare, you name it...she is there with me!

Ceilidh is working toward to G driver's license here in Canada. It is a graduated program that is a little different but she will be there soon. She has been working toward nursing. She really has her heart set on this and considering Mohawk in Hamilton as her starting point. There are several great options for her. She has a great future in store and being a huge blessing to me. She and Sarah sing with Greg and I every Sunday and take their turns in childcare too.

Sarah is taking classes in high school for cosmetology. Yes, she wants to run her own shop and work with me at the church. I love her charisma and positive spirit about all of this. I hope she is not expecting the church position to be a paid one. ;-) Anyway, she is really getting better at the keyboard. She has taken on that instrument as I have moved to playing the bass guitar. All in all, she is making incredible strides with school and music. We are also praying about a youth group and leader so she can help with that too. Beyond that, she is a vivacious reader like her mother, sings, plays the keyboard and takes turns in the childcare area for the church.

As for me, I am keeping busy with church work. I am always looking for opportunities and ways to get our church or my face in the crowd. It seems to be working. I was at the Santa Parade here in Burlington on Sunday with 3 lovely neighbors we are trying to reach and saw 3 people in the parade that I knew! I guess I am getting to know more people than I thought. I am also working one day a week in counseling down in Hamilton. This is in efforts to finish my counseling degree at Liberty and build hours toward Family and Marriage Therapy here in Ontario. For licensure in Ontario, I have to get 1000 hours and 200 supervision hours. With all that work, I am thinking about seeing if Liberty will just trade my 60 class hours for some other degree! I try to spend 2 nights and 2 days out meeting people and other times studying, admin stuff for the church and catching some time with my family.

As I think of all the things our church and family is doing in Burlington, I can be very thankful for the continued gifts of friendship, support and encouragement fromPastor Stokes and Fair Oaks Church. Christmas is a time of giving and our home church and pastor have been a great example of that all year long. I thank God for this rich opportunity and for the blessing of this man and ministry.

That wraps up my thoughts for Christmas and all the things going on with us. I wish everyone reading this a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!