Fear of H1N1

I thought I’d dive into the hysteria that is the H1N1 flu.  I don’t want to get into the topic of whether to vaccinate or not (I think the threads from facebook have covered that) or whether it’s going to destroy the world as we know it (I think Chicken little that he has that covered).   From my perspective I see the H1N1 flu bringing something into the forefront that each and every single one of us deal with; FEAR. 

We fear what will happen to our children if they get the pandemic.

We fear what hill happen to us if we come down with this terrible flu.

The life we thought we’d live comes to a skreetching halt when we realize that we are all open to this deadly sickness. 

Fear overwhelms us, fear controls our emotions and fear sucks our joy like a mosquito sucks our blood.

Here are some great words from a favorite author of mine, Mark Batterson;

I think there are moments in life when we have to make major decisions that will determine our destiny.  And we will spend the rest of our lives managing those major decisions.  And if you let fear dictate your decision you’ll end up with a ton of inaction regrets at the end of your life.  Fear is a great friend, but it makes a terrible master!  Don’t let fear dictate your decisions.  You have to face your fears.  And what you’ll find is this; the thing that scares you to death is very often the thing that brings you to life.

 Fear is present when you think about H1N1 but it doesn’t have to preside over your life.  1 John 4:18  says “Perfect love drives out fear.”  In times where   you are fearful and uneasy about what the future holds – keep growing in your relationship with Christ and you will find out that it’s his love and care for you that will sustain you through fearful times.  A major theme in scripture is “do not fear”.  Take advantage of these words and know that there is a God who takes your fear and puts them on his shoulders so that you don’t have to. 

 

Random

I can’t lift my arms over my head.  I thought to myself  “self – you are lazy and should get back to work out”.  I told myself to “shut – up” but over time I had to listen.  This week I started to lift some weights and am paying for it now. 

I am recovering from Catalyst West Coast.  My favorite speaker was a toss up between Andy Stanley and Francis Chan.  If you know me I enjoy listening to Andy but this was the first time I heard Francis.  He is the bees knees and I’m looking forward to reading his book Crazy Love.  Other honourable mentions would be Perry Noble, Ravi Zacharias, Craig Groeschel and Irwin McManus.  I could have done without Guy Kawasaki and Brian Houston.   

My daughter Abby has been on a role lately.  Yesterday she claimed that A) monkeys were following her in the grocery store, B) her sucker tasted like cement and C) her vegetables at supper time were really parrot food. 

Caleb and I have a tradition when I drive him to school.  When I drop him off we play “rocks, paper, scissors”.  The little guy has beat me four times in a row – don’t mess with him.  Trust me.

I’m speaking to some High school students on May 14-16.  As I prepare for my talks I’m getting really nervous?  Seriously – it’s amazing how quick you get out of the “student ministry” role.  If I were like Mike I would just grow a really cool goatee and sing beyoncee whenever I had the chance.  Oh ya – I can’t grow facial hair – not like mike. 

Do you know how hard it is to keep from laughing when in a sermon the pastor (which was me) says “watch out for big ‘buts’ in the bible”.  Seriously – I almost started laughing really hard because it wasn’t in my notes – it came out and I couldn’t take it back.  I thought of singing the song (you know which one) but thankfully kept going – it was a fairly serious point in the sermon.  I was tired – those are the things that come out when I’m tired. 

There’s my random post.  Have a great day.

Monday morning questions

Three very important questions on my mind today:

1. Is it O.K. for a husband to use his wife’s deodorant when he runs out of his?  It means that he smells like “secret” all day … but is that really a bad thing?
2. Is it me or is the NHL all-star game a big waste of time?  
3. Why can’t people understand the right way of driving on a traffic circle?  

New year – new energy

O.K. I’m getting back into the swing of things.  Here’s a random mind dump for today

• I loved having the folks here for Christmas.  I actually thought to myself  “I would totally buy a house in Mckenzie Towne with the granny suite above the garage for my parents (or in-laws) one day.”   (I told you these are random thoughts)
• I am glad that Christmas is over.  It’s an incredible time of year but it is a very busy time of year for a pastor. 
• It didn’t help that our whole family decided to get sick.
• An Abby moment ; we found her in the kitchen playing with some new sticker she found in the drawer.  Karen: “Abby, stop using stamps as stickers!” 
• I haven’t watched a good movie in a very, very long time. 
• December was too busy of a month – I’ve got to change that. 
• It would be fun to take Karen somewhere for a weekend.  She needs a break.  Vegas comes to mind only b/c it’s hot and I’m sure there’s some cheap deals.  
• I’m listening to “night swimming” by R.E.M. right now – thanks to Deborah. 
• I’m excited for the new year at the church and what God will do in our congregation.  I really don’t want MTC to become “just another church”.  I am praying very hard that God will give us energy, new life, a passion for Him and a passion to see people come to know Him.  
• It’s nice to be back in the office.  It’s a very refreshing thing for me to LOVE what I do. 
• After reading this post from my friend mike I find myself missing youth ministry.  Why?  because too many people look down on students and too few people invest in them.  As a youth pastor it was always a joy to stand up for these incredible kids.  I guess I can still do this, only from a different role. 
• I’m looking forward to getting back into a work-out routine.   

There’s my mind dump for today.  I’ll start writing some more substantial thoughts later.  Thanks for bearing with me.

The Biggest Loser

 

As many of you know Biggest Loser is one of my favorite shows (next to LOST which is coming soon) The latest season wrapped up on Tuesday night and I couldn’t be more impressed with the winner.  She lost over 45% of her body weight which was 110 pounds and she had a great attitude the whole time (plus she goes to a church where a friend of mine is on staff)  

Why do I enjoy this show so much? 

• it is real.  The contestant are the ones doing the work and losing the weight. 
• life change.  You can see the obvious physical change the players go through but internally there is a confidence that they start to obtain because they feel better about themselves. 
• Bob seems to be a cool guy who I’d like to have at a barbecue
• the show acts as a huge motivation for me to lose weight and lead a healthier lifestyle.  You can’t help but be motivated by seeing very large people lose extreme amount of weight! 
• I love it when people succeed. 

Biting my tongue

It has taken everything inside me this week not to write about the political situation in Canada right now.  I thought about writing about other subjects like Christmas, candy or good movies … but my mind has digressed towards politics every single time.  

I’ve broken and now I write these two things that are on my mind;

1.  I’m not going to give my opinion about certain politicians or political parties – all i give to you is a link to The RickMercer.com  which has an interesting take on our current political climate.  (thanks JK)

2.  We are asked, in the bible, to pray for our political leaders.  God has placed them in leadership and He is able to do anything we wishes with them.  Daniel 4:37 says everything He (GOD) does is right and all his ways are just.  And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.   Therefore – Pray for these guys who are bickering and manouvering.  Pray that they might have wisdom and discernment to place the country above their own political agenda.  No matter our opinion of them or which side of the political spectrum you fall  … pray for them.

I’m NEVER buying a gerbal

Some things make me randomly laugh till I cry.  For some reason last night, as I lay my head to sleep, I started to giggle about something that happened to my friend when he was in highschool (like I said – it was random) This is the story of Mike S. and his gerbal (with a little exaggerating on my part).

Mike owned a gerbal.  It was his prized pet that he cared for everyday and felt like they were best of buddies.  His cage was kept clean, his water was always full and the shavings on the floor were the best money could buy.  The life his gerbal lived was one of a king, so Mike thought. 

One regular day, much to Mikes’  horror, as he headed to the basement to feed his beloved gerbal he came upon an empty cage where no gerbal could be found.   It turns out that his beloved gerbal decided to break free from the basement and make and attempt to explore the outside world.   Yes, it got out and vanished. 

The gerbal became a distant memory for Mike.  Days went by and then months.  Summer turned into fall and then fall to winter.   “I wonder where my gerbal is now” thought Mike.  “I wonder if he’s hungry?” 

One day as Mike was watching T.V. in the basement he heard a “scratching” sound coming out of the wall.  At first he thought nothing of it until it happened again and again.  Armed with a mouse trap and a hockey stick he went searching for the critter who dared to invade his personal space.  After taking off the baseboard and banging the wall to see what he could see … out comes his beloved GERBAL; Super-sized! 

It was his old gerbal alright, but it grew to the size of a cat.   It turns out that his beloved gerbal had not run away from his house but ran away inside his house.  For MONTHS  the gerbal had crawled inside the walls of the basement and ate anything he could eat and find … which turned out to be ALOT.  Now mike had his gerbal back … but it couldn’t get in the door of the cage. 

Now everytime I see a gerbal or hear anyone talk about gerbals … I think about my friend mike and the gerbal who ran away. 

* The only true part of this story is that his gerbal ran away and he found him months later in the walls of the basement.  I exaggerated his love for the gerbal and I have no idea how he found him – I made that part up. 

This is crazy!

I thought my friend Mike Whitehouse was good at the yo-yo … until I saw this kid.  Watch it and you’ll see how incredible he is

The weekend

Friday Night – We went shopping with the kids to the mall.  We actually enjoyed ourselves and couldn’t remember when the last time we did that was?  It was fun.

Saturday – Relax, Caleb had a birthday party then we ate the biggest steaks of our life at our friends house.  Oh yes – watched the Riders lose … again. 

Sunday – Church – getting there early, preping for the sermon, buying coffee for the worship team, preaching and then talking with people till about 12:30.  It was a great morning.  Then we had waffles with some friends, worked out and watched a boring movie. 

It was a great weekend

Tuesdays with Bradley

I’m in a point form mood today

• Had a great meeting today with Matt from sonlife.  The guy oozes with wisdom and passion for the local church.  He greatly encouraged me and got me thinking about the impact that MTC can have on our community. 
• Karen and I finished a week long cleanse.  This isn’t news to you if you were in church on Sunday.  Rita (one of my favorites) came up to me after the service and said “now I’ve heard everything at church”.  If you weren’t at church or don’t live in Calgary … you didn’t miss much – just me letting the church know that i was on a cleanse and that I have to go to the bathroom every two hours!  
• Abby has been singing EMF’s “your unbelievable” lately.  Where she heard it – I don’t know?
• Abby started 4 year old preschool today.  I still think she’s as cute as a button (but button’s aren’t cute – it should be “cute as a puppy dog” but then I’d be calling my daughter a dog?  I guess I’ll stay with button for now)
• I am seriously getting excited to preach through 1 Corinthians on Sundays starting Sept. 21.
• Some friends of ours gave us their wooden playstructure to put in our backyard.  After hours of taking it apart and putting it back together – our kids, and the neighbourhood kids – are LOVING IT.   Now it’s time to find a Wii … then we’d be the “cool house”. 
• I’ve been on some bad sports teams and I’ve heard of running up the score … but this is ridiculous
• I don’t know if you noticed – but the Riders came from behind and won this weekend.  Go GREEN
• I’m considering going by Bradley in the future?  If I write a book – I think Bradley sounds smarter.  The downside is – Everytime I hear my name I’ll think I’m in troube!  (Mom would call me Bradley Evan Moffatt if I was in trouble).