Israel and Lebanon

As I have watched thing progress in that horrible situation in the Middle East, I keep wondering how I should respond. My views on Israel as well stated in this open statement. I also believe Israel has some right and responsibility to protect its citizens from terrorists. On the other side we find Hezbollah and their armament and terrorist activity. I in no way want to seem to endorse what they do. Yet, at the same time it seems Israel is not merely attacking Hezbollah, but also Lebanon and the citizens who have nothing to do with the terrorism. As I considered it, and listened to the many people raking Israel over the coals for what they are doing, I wondered how would people here respond? I know this is not a likely scenario, but imagine if you will that a terrorist organization against Canada was located in the US. They were building up arms there, and at the same time were supporting various terrorist activities in Canada. They also, from those arms they have built up, shot rockets across the border at Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Hamilton, Windsor and various other cities. If that were going on, how long would most Canadians wait before they started to demand that our government do something? I highly doubt it would be very long, and I highly doubt that the response would be to demand a ceasefire. I guess the same goes for Hezbollah. If someone came in and made a new country in land that our fore bearers had lived on for generations, I am sure we would be less than impressed. Being dispossessed and moved off as has happened there would certainly be something that would also raise our anger. It is things like that which lie behind what they do. Now don't misunderstand me here. I don't think either side is in the right. Both have done things that are reprehensible. Yet, into that situation we have these political pundits who say we should call for a ceasefire. All well and good, but at the same time it is sort of pie in the sky. Hezbollah will not be satisfied until Israel is gone, and Israel will not be satisfied until they believe Hezbollah is sufficiently disarmed. Neither side is being "measured" in what they do, and trying to get into their minds a little makes me wonder if we in our comfortable, secure homes can understand what is going on there. I know I can't. At that same time I know that any ceasefire will only be putting off of hostilities until one side or the other decides that they don't feel secure or effective any longer. Finally, all this reminds me, that the only lasting peace is one in which the walls of division are removed with the two people becoming one people. That will only happen when people are truly united in Christ, so my prayer is that in this situation, people who truly follow Christ will show that he is the Prince of peace who breaks down the wall of division to build one new people to the praise and glory of God.

Chicken pox

It had to happen sooner or later, but Justin has chicken pox. Annette noticed the first spot yesterday, and today he has several more on his back. She took him in to see the doctor, and with one look he said, "Yup, its chick pox." So now we have a little boy who will start to get very itchy. I hope he doesn't get it as bad as I did. Of course I was 25 at the time, but I was very sick with a high fever. It was miserable, and frankly the itching was the least of my concerns when I had them. At least this is now out of the way for him.

It Must Be All The Robert Ludlum Novels I Have Been Reading

Hit Counter

Because I wonder how many people actually view my blog, I thought I would add a web-counter. After a little research I discovered how to do it, and there it is at the top of the page. It was easier than I thought it would be, and now I will know if people are reading, or at least how many :)

Not The Vacation We Wanted

Today we arrived home from our week off. The weather was good, all be it, hot. The camping was lots of fun for Justin with lots of things to discover and get really dirty doing it. However, for myself and Annette, it was not what we had hoped for. Although we had not told anyone (some had guessed) Annette was pregnant. This was her third pregnancy, the first ended in a miscarriage, and the second in our wonderful boy Justin. We hoped that this would be the time for a brother or sister for Justin as we are now both in our 40's (I just turned 40 on Sunday), but that was not what was in the providence of God. On Monday the 10th, Annette told me she was spotting, and by the middle of the week we had lost the baby. Although it was only 2-3 months into the pregnancy, the loss is no less. Annette picked the name Angelina for our unborn baby. Rather than being restful, this vacation turned into a very tiring emotional stretch that left both of us drained. It was good to be together through this, and not have to work. I worked the last time and paid for it in being completely drained emotionally and from that physically for months afterward. This time I had the time to work through things a little, but it was not the vacation either of us wanted.

At Least Some of my Hardware is Working Again

Although my video editing computer is still off-line (pretty much sure it is an overheated and cooked CPU) I have fixed the other piece of hardware that has been causing me problems, that is, my laser printer. It is a Samsung ML-1210 and has served printing sermons, agendas, letters, and a whole host of work related printing for the last 4-5 years. However, recently it has had problems feeding the printer. After some research I found that the paper feed wheel tends to dry up and get glazed over, so since the printer had stopped feeding paper at all, I decided to take it apart. It was actually quite easy to do. I opened it up, took out the paper feed wheel out and used some sandpaper to remove the glazing. Boy was it glazed and cracked. Then I cleaned the rubber wheel up with some cleaner, and put everything together. Other than one piece that I cannot figure out where it goes (a solid rubber cylinder that seemed to have no mounting point that fell off in my hand when I removed one of the parts) it is all back together, and everything works. It feeds paper again and prints just fine. Now I can print my sermons out on the printer I prefer. I am glad God has given me the ability to do things like this.

My Boy At One

It has been a year (a year and day to be exact) since Justin was born. I find that hard to believe. It certainly doesn't seem like a year, but it seems each day Justin gets bigger and bigger. He is starting to walk. I have seen him walk from one item of furniture to another in the living room, about five or six steps; and Annette has seen him walk across the kitchen. He will stand up on his own now without holding on to any furniture, and stand there waving whatever toy he happens to have in his hand. Come Saturday we will be celebrating his birthday, but to celebrate the day, here is a picture taken yesterday, his birthday, as he was eating lunch.

Video Computer Died

Well today we had to go out and run some errands. While we were out I thought I would download the video for our TV broadcast on to the computer we use for our editing. I started it up, and off we went. When we arrived back, the computer screen was blank and the computer was making a weird noise. I turned it off and back on again, and the same thing happened. So I opened it up and the problem became very apparent, the cpu cooling fan had stopped so the Athlon XP 2100 processor is now toast (sort of literally.) It is totally burned out. That means at the moment we don't have a video editing computer, which is a problem since we have a broadcast coming up this Sunday. After some thinking, I decided to take out the hard drive that has the raw video on it and put it on another much slower computer on our home network. That would allow me to copy the video file (if it was downloaded before the computer died) to my laptop (the only other fast computer we have which has a DVD writer) and do my editing on it. I did that, and after some trouble found that the video file was there. Now to copy a 16 Gigabyte file over a network connection. This is not a fast process. It will work for now, but I think I need to find a way to get my video computer back up and running. I figure since AMD has stopped making the Athlon XP processors a long time back, to do so will probably require purchasing a new motherboard, processor and ram (my current machine used SDRAM not the DDR ram that most current motherboards use.) Best case situation is probably about $200 before taxes. If editing works well on the laptop I could go a much less expensive route and purchase a firewire card for it. That would allow me to do all my editing on the laptop from taking the digital video off the tape to writing it back to DVD or videotape. Cost wise, the second option is much preferable. I guess I have some decisions to make.

RCA lack of stand on abortion

I once again read through the report of the commission on theology to the GS of 1984 entitled, "Moral and Spiritual Issued Raise by the Practice of Abortion." As I read it, I found I was simply made angry at its double speak. While it has a strong point, speaking the the need of strong covenant community, it does not actually address the moral issues of abortion. Instead as it draws to a close it states the following, Communally acceptable guidelines for the option of abortion will be available in such cases as early-teen pregnancies, incest, rape, life-threatening or health-threatening circumstances for the mother, or the high probability of a seriously defective child. In a covenantal community, however, many of these situations which otherwise would encourage abortion, should be less prevalent. The community will participate in, and accept responsibility for, birth decisions and abortion decisions if any. There will be frequent community experience of common prayer and common forgiveness. As I read that, and re-read that, I realized that our official statement to the world is that we see the real possibility of abortion for a whole host of reasons including a "high probability of a seriously defective child." All this flies in the face of the fact that all human beings are in the image and likeness of God, even those who has sever handicaps. Not to mention the number of times that I have had a couple come to me with the doctor saying that the ultrasound showed their baby would have a serious defect, only to have a healthy baby born. Not to mention those who have been born with a serious physical or mental problem, who are some of the most amazing babies that testify to the grace of God in the lives of his people. Such a stand, or lack of it, in my mind is yet another place were we have decided to abandon following our Lord and trusting his providence so that we can compromise with the world's view of things.

Started Pod-casting

In an attempt to keep up with technology, I have started to pod-cast the messages of our Sunday services. The podcasts are still in the formative stage, and will probably be plagued by problems as I work to incorporate all the aspects of a pod-cast to the feed. If you are interested check out Messages From Bethel Exeter

General Synod 2006

Another General Synod (GS) has come and gone. From the reports I have heard so far, I cannot say that I consider this a positive GS. The positive thing that I heard of was that the attitudes of the delegates was supposedly quite good. However, the that being said, the things that are important for the denominations ability to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, were not. The overtures dealing with the 3 year dialog on homosexuality were all turned down. There was some hope when GS voted against the recommendation by the advisory committee on the overture from Classis Ontario which called for the dialog to be clearly defined as dealing with how to minister to those struggling with homosexuality rather than dealing with whether it is sinful. However, simply voting down the recommendation does not mean the overture is accepted. When a friendly motion to that overture that was even more open in its statement was presented it was voted down. I cannot remember the wording of the final motion that was made on this, but I cannot say I was happy with it. I will try to get the actual text and comment on it more, but my take on it was that it still leaves open the door to trying to maintain unity with people who do the exegetical gymnastics needed to say that homosexual behavior is acceptable in certain settings. To say that is to strike to the heart of the good news that Jesus has not only faced the punishment our sins deserve, but that he has also set those who believe in him free from their bondage to sin because it still gives sin the upper hand. I don't know where this will lead, but I can't imagine it would be to a good place. The other overture that was basically buried was one from Classis California which called for severing our ties with the United Church of Christ in the USA. That denomination not only has a policy that encourages churches to accept and ordain practicing homosexuals, bisexuals, etc; but they also have in their fellowship several congregations that are Unitarian Universalists. This overture was declared out of order by the president of the GS because Classis California has not paid their entire assessments. This is not to say that I would have expected this overture to pass as similar ones have come in previous GS meetings and have not been supported. The final concern I have is the fact that the GS, unlike previous years, decided that the Lord's Day really isn't that important, so to cut the meeting length shorter by one day, they decided to do business on Sunday. As a person who is becoming more and more convinced that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, I doubt that such a move pleases God, nor will it be blessed by God. Even if Sunday is not the Christian Sabbath, it is a day that has been set aside for the worship of God through Christ. By making it into yet another business day, even when it is church business, removes what sets it apart. Once again we have all this talk about seeking to have the denomination grow, but we continue to think that we can have real growth while being in disobedience to God. To think that is not only arrogant, it is dead wrong.

Dry Bones

I found this great quote from Matthew Henry as I was researching my Sunday sermon on Ezekiel 37:1-14. Here he is talking about how the Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones. But we call in vain, still they are dead, still they are very dry; we must therefore be earnest with God in prayer for the working of the Spirit with the word: Come, O breath! and breathe upon them. God's grace can save souls without our preaching, but our preaching cannot save them without God's grace, and that grace must be sought by prayer. Note, Ministers must faithfully and diligently use the means of grace, even with those that there seems little probability of gaining upon. To prophesy upon dry bones seems as great a penance as to water a dry stick; and yet, whether they will hear or forbear, we must discharge our trust, must prophesy as we are commanded, in the name of him who raises the dead and is the fountain of life.

Quote

One of the books I picked up while here at the Banner conference is, The Pastor in the Sick Room--Ministering the Gospel to Those one the Brink of Eternity by John D. Wells. Since it is a fairly small book (only 128 pages) I decided to start reading it while down here. It has been a fascinating read so far. As I was reading today there is one quote that struck me, so I thought I would share it: James M. Campbell, in his little book, Unto the Uttermost, has well said of the Christian ambassador, "Down to the dying moment he is to stand beside the sinner, telling of the mercy that stoops to receive the fragments of a wasted life; tell of the blood of sprinkling, and challenging earth and hell to show a sin it cannot cleanse."

Justin

Sometimes I just need to post a picture of my boy,

Not live blogging, but the best I can do

The Banner Conference is going great. It is a great blessing to have this opportunity to not only sit under the preaching of the word, but also to fellowship with like minded pastors and elders. As you can see I am trying to take the notes I write down and transfer them to blog entries. Since I am not a very rapid typist, and my hand writing is quite bad, this takes a fair amount of time. I also don't want to miss out on the free time when we can fellowship with one another. I have had the joy to be able to visit with ministers from several denominational backgrounds, and even with some from the RCA. Scott Peterson, Scott Nichols and Peter ? have been great to speak with, as we all share the same concern with the current situation in the RCA. It is good to know that there are pastors, even in the liberal east of the RCA, who are solid theologically and have been kept by God not bowing their knee to Baal.

Banner Conference 2006 -- Session #3 Philip Ryken "The Need for Reformation Today"

Philip Ryken spoke on Jeremiah 7:1-15. What we find here is that reformation starts with the preaching of the word of God. Jeremiah is preaching in the gate of the temple to all the people of Judah who had come there to worship. Perhaps, although we are not told, it was one of the high feasts (Passover or Tabernacles) when a great number of people would have been at the temple to celebrate. This preaching of Jeremiah also came at a pivotal point in the history of Judah. In Jeremiah 26 we find that this preaching of Jeremiah occurred following the reign of Josiah with all its reforms and at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. That was a time of growing darkness and desperate need for reformation. The only way that reformation would come is through the proclamation of God's word. What we find here is that this proclamation of the word of God will face opposition. Jeremiah would be seized by the people for this as recounted in Jeremiah 26. The preaching of the word will be opposed and we should not be surprised by this. Instead we should persevere in preaching it. The reason the preaching of the word upsets people is that it points out that religious observance without moral obedience does not save. The people were religiously observant. They were coming to temple to worship. They would be what we call church goers. Yet, we find here that it is just these people who need reformation. So also today, reformation starts in the church, then brings change elsewhere. It starts in the hearts of the ministers of the word, and spreads out from there. That means that the problem is not just out there, it is in the church. The church needs a greater sense of God. That was the problem with the people of Judah. They were putting their trust in the external observances. They trusted in the temple--in its outward trappings and observances. We see a similar thing today in the focus on the visible--numbers, buildings, programs, cash--instead of the holiness of our members. When a church does that it is on its way to apostasy for the measure of a church is the power of God at work in it. Yet, we are tempted to look at externals like:

• Self-help Christianity with its focus on what you do for God to make yourself better
• Political Christianity that thinks the right party in government will make things all better
• Style based Christianity that looks at outward style either traditional or contemporary
• Or those who call for a new version of God
• Love not justice
• God of Uncertainty rather than certainty
• God who is powerful but not sovereign

The temple became a place of superstitious trust. Do you religious duties and you will be safe. Then you can go and do your own thing all the rest of your life. In doing this the people misapplied what it means to be the elect people of God. That as the elect people of God they were safe even if they lived lives of sin. It was not the temple itself that was the problem, but their misplaced trust in the temple as if it protected them in such a way that the rest of their lives were unimportant. Looking at the list of things Jeremiah is told to confront them with it becomes apparent that they had broken every one of the ten commandments. Once again this is very similar to today. People are making their own laws, and no surprise they are against the laws of God. Even in the church today people are religious, but less moral. All this is an indication that people do not really know the God of the Bible, for they mistreat the poor and weak and helpless. It has been said the test of a nation is how they treat the weak and poor. Here we find that a similar test can be used for our own reformation. The truth of our spiritual reformation can be seen in how we treat the poor, weak and needy. The Jews thought reformation only had to do with temple things, not the whole of their life. It seems often people think the same today. They think God cares nothing for what they do through the week, but Jeremiah reminded then and reminds us that God is watching. He sees how we live. Religious observance without moral obedience is a faith that will not save, and the results are seen in Shiloh. That were where the tabernacle was located at one time, but because of the wickedness of the people it was only ruins when Jeremiah spoke to the people in the temple gates. He tells them go look at what religious observance alone brings. Go to the place where God was and find what happens to those who think this way. The people of Jerusalem thought this would never happen to them, but Shiloh was the location of the tabernacle and it was no more. The same would happen to Jerusalem, and too all who think and live the same way. We need to heed these words, and realize that reformation will start with the preaching of God's word used to change hearts and lives.

Banner Conference 2006 -- Session #2 Sinclair Ferguson "Jesus Christ The Church Builder #1

In this lecture Dr. Ferguson started to looks at Jesus Christ the church builder. In this first of two lectures, he looked at Matthew 16:13-28. This passage comes at a pivotal point in the gospel of Matthew. It is a turning point in the divine revelation of who Jesus is, and through the supernatural work of God in Peter, he confesses that Jesus is the Christ. Following this confession Jesus started to reveal more fully where the final destiny of his ministry would be, pointing the disciples to his suffering and death. It is in this context of the confession of Peter and the revelation of Jesus of his suffering and death, that Jesus gives the teaching concerning his building of the church. The particular verse in question has been one that has been much discussed. For the word "church" is not frequently used in the gospel. There is teaching concerning the new community that Jesus came to form, but the word "church" is not used. Following these things Jesus also told the disciples not to tell anyone. For while he spoke with more clarity, he did not speak with total clarity because the disciples understanding of him as the Christ lacked total clarity. With this in mind, Dr. Ferguson stated that his purpose in this lecture was to draw out various strands that show Christ as the great church builder. There are four things in particular that he wanted to examine. First, the church is central to the vision and work of Christ. This is something we really need to be convinced is true. Christ came not to simply save individuals, but to form a new people for himself. Central to the Father opening Peter's eyes to who Jesus is, is to show that Christ intends to build his church (ekklesia). This word in used in the LXX to speak of the gathered people of God, called out of Egypt, called out from the world, called out to worship, called out to community to assemble for Himself. Jesus speaks of one flock with one shepherd in John, and in the Luke 9 account of the transfiguation of Jesus we find he speaks with Moses and Elijah concerning his exodus (Luke 9:31) which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. Jesus came to make a redeemed community, and his words were fulfilled at Pentecost where he starts to build his church in the power of the Holy Spirit forming a new community. This means we need to love the church and give ourselves for the church, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. It is the church that is the context for the transformation of our lives. It is there that we are fit together more and more, but this is slow work. It is the church that is the context for all NT evangelism, and there are little if any verses that speak solely of personal evangelism. We need to understand this. It is not about getting better movies to use for outreach. Evangelism is a church thing. Together the people of God are the evangelistic tool God uses. This is seen again and again in Acts. It is as the church is the church that it is used by God to draw people in. Jesus is making a community so different from everything else around it, that people wonder where did that come from. When the church is the church it astonishes the world, so our task as ministers is to see that this community is formed. Second, The church is build in enemy occupied territory. Jesus taught that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. That is the principle that he holds forth, only to have it shown in practice with Peter's response to his teaching that he would be betrayed, suffer and be put to death. Jesus responds to Peter's disavowal of that mission of the Christ by saying, "Get behind me Satan." So what are the gates of hell? Dr. Ferguson pointed out that in the OT the gates were the place where the elders meet. It is at the gates where the leaders provided their leadership. It is this that Jesus refers to when he speaks of the gates of hell meaning that there are strategic forces arrayed against building the church because the church is build in enemy occupied territory. As the kingdom advances, attacks come against it. Attacks from within, and attacks from without. It is in this environment of attacks from the gates of hell that we do our work. When you enlist in the gospel ministry you enlist for a life of danger. You enlist as soldiers. Again we need to recognize this truth for ourselves. We also need to make the congregations under out care understand this. For, Christ builds his church in enemy occupied territory. Third, The church is built by Christ, by the work of gospel ministers We find this in verse 18 where we read, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church" There has been much discussion on this, but it seems best to say he is speaking about Peter. This is not saying that Peter has primacy of authority as some claim, nor that Jesus is bestowing a succession following Peter. Rather, Peter is the dominant apostle. He is always mentioned first within the apostles. One reason Jesus speaks to Peter here is to contrast the glorious community Christ is building, and contrasting it to the weak vessel he uses to build that community. Peter in all his pathetic weakness will be used by the grace of Christ to build his church. But, that is not all, in speaking about Peter here, it speaks of his primacy in ministerial exercise. He was the first to confess Jesus is the Christ. Peter would be the first to be used, but not the last or only one. This speaks to us and reminds us that Jesus central instrument in building his church is the work of the gospel minister. That is seen in places like Ephesians 4 where the gifts listed are all 'word' based gifts. Gifts of those who proclaim the gospel that the church might be built up. This calls all who are gospel ministers to pour the word of God into the people in their care. As a gospel minister you could put your name in the place of Peter's here as one of those who are used by Christ to build his church. Fourth, the church is modeled by Christ in the pattern of his death and resurrection (v 24ff) Those who belong to this new community that is being built by Christ, have their lives molded by Christ and his example. They see in him that death is the way to life, and the cross is the way to victory. This is the shape of the Christian church in this world. Dying and rising always go together for them. Sorrows and joys, sufferings and glories go together in the life of the community Christ is building. As we find in 2 Corinthians 4, death is at work in us, but life in you. We need to see that this is the pattern in the church that Christ is building, so when we suffer we seek God to work life through that suffering in others. Because, Christ is building his church through himself, through his death and resurrection.

Banner Conference 2006 -- Session #1 Matt Kingswood

The first session of the conference was an excellent sermon by Matt Kingswood. I met Matt the first time I came to the Banner and have gotten to know him a little, but have never had the privilege to sit under his preaching. I was in for a treat. Matt preached on Ephesians 3:14-21. This passage if found between the opening section of Ephesians which focuses mainly on doctrine, and the next section of Ephesians that focuses mainly on application. In it we find the doctrine that Paul had just expounded moving him to prayer, and in that prayer Paul has this statement, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us." It is this statement that the message revolved around. First, it was noted that when Paul looks to himself he sees that he is disabled. Usually when we think of someone who is disabled we think of physical things, and that is part of what Paul may have seen. We know he had a thorn in the flesh, but his disability goes further. It is found in his weakness and he realizing that he is not sufficient in himself for the gospel ministry (2 Corinithians 3). We also are disabled when we look at ourselves, and Paul here wants us to redirect our attention away from ourselves to God. In doing this he speaks of God's ability in such a way that it is not specific, but at the same time he states the truth of God abundant ability that is covers everything. The call is first to realize the power of God. God does far more abundantly in the power that is at work in us. Consider this power. It is the power that spoke at creation and brought all things into being. Even more than that, it is the power that is spoken of in Ephesians 1:19-20 were it speaks of this power as, "the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places" The power of God at work in those who believe, is the power of the resurrection, of the empty tomb. In this great power God answers prayer. Notice that means that whatever we ask in prayer, even more, whatever we can even imagine, God can and will do more. This is a rebuke to our prayers. It calls us to look at our prayers and ask if we are praying with this great power of God in mind. Or, do we have small expectations. Our are expectations of God unworthy of his great and abundant power. For, small expectations lead to small blessings. Are not our prayers often too timid? Now we need to be clear here, for some name it and claim it teachers look to this passage as proof of their gospel of prosperity. One web site even sub-titles this verse as as "extreme prosperity." As if it is speaking of God providing our physical needs beyond what we ask or imagine. With this misuse, it would be tempting to avoid a passage like this, but just because it is misused, does not mean we should not properly use it. For this text is a great encouragement to prayer, if it is understood in the context in which it was given. The boundaries for this verse are found in its context, particularly verse 21. First we find that God does far more abundantly than we ask or imagine in the context of being in Christ. There is no reason for those who are not Christians to expect God to hear their prayers at all. This is not a blanket promise to all men. It is a promise to the children of God. Second, we find the context of God doing far more abundantly than we ask or imagine is in the church. Jesus promised to build his church, so we must ask whether what we are asking is something that promotes the health, growth and well being of the church. Third, we find the context of God doing far more abundantly than we ask or imagine is that it is to the glory of God. Is what we are asking something for the glory of God. As James taught, ". You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." We must always remember that the context for God power is his glory. In all this we are reminded that God can do exceedingly more than we ask or imagine. The limits are not what we think. The limits are not even what we imagine. They are what God will do. This means that our prayers must acknowledge the infinite power of God in these three areas. From the abstract we must move to how this is realized in our lives for God's abundant working is according to the power at work in us. It is not only realized out in the abstract, but as he works in us. God seeks to strengthen us in the inner man (3:16). He works at making us something. Think of all the things called for in the application section--that we maintain the unity of the Spirit, that we speak the truth in love, that we make the most of the time, and all the rest. Think how that would change us if we were like that all the time. Can you even imagine that, or does it seem beyond imagining? Now realize that God can do exceedingly more than we ask or imagine. God is able to do it. You do not need to stay where you are. Looking to the actualities of life, if you examine how God works in your life, thankfully doesn't he do more than you ask or imagine already. What we receive is not in keeping with what we pray for, thanks be to God. It is far more. God does more than we ask or imagine already. Often in spite of us God works. Our prayers may be small, but God's grace is big. Yet, there is one more thing we need to acknowledge--sometimes God does things that we would not want to imagine. Matt gave the example of a man whose wife was pregnant. She went to bed with flu like symtoms, and never woke up. Both her and the baby died from a rare blood infection, and at the funeral he said he could not imagine that she was gone. He was left alone to take care of three children. We must remember that even there God's power is active, and it is directed by is perfect wisdom. On the last day we shall count it a great mercy that we didn't have our way (JC Ryle) Even these things we would never want to imagine are for our good. For the God who does for more abundantly than we ask or imagine, is the God who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. And as verse 19 reminds us, his love is also far greater than we really know. These are my notes on this talk.

Banner Conference Arrival

After a good nights rest in Carlisle, and a hefty breakfast, we headed up to Cumberland Valley Books to do some shopping. As usual once I get into a bookstore with a good collection of theological and reference books, walking out without purchasing at least a few is almost impossible. The shopping was good, and I lefts with several books for quite good prices. However, while shopping a person from the US Geological Survey hit the mirror on my van with their mirror as they drove by where I was parked. Thankfully they left their contact information, so I won't be one the hook to pay for that repair myself. The glass is cracked in several places and I am not sure if the motor of the power window is undamaged or not. It seemed to move the window, but then stalled in one direction. It is also now much more noisy than it was before. My hope is that we can get everything organized so that I can get it fixed when I get back to Canada. Following our shopping spree, we headed over to Messiah College where we registered and checked in. Some of our group decided to head off to see Gettysburg, but although I would have liked to go again, I needed some time to wind down and rest. But, that was not to be, as one of our party needed to go to lunch because he is diabetic, and my van was the only one available. So off to the restaurant we went for a fairly good meal. By the time I got back, there was only 1 hour left until the first speaker, so I did get a little rest before heading over. It was good to finally be here. To know that soon I would be able to enjoy the fellowship and even better listen to the preaching of God's word.

Arrived in Carlisle

The first portion of the trip to the Banner of Truth conference has been completed. We had 9 people driving down which required two vans. We left Woodstock ON at a little after 8am. We had to pick up one other person in Burlington, then we headed for the border. Usually border crossings are pretty straight forward, but that was not to be the case for us this time. The first van got through with minimal problems, but the second van, the one I was driving had a British citizen on board and on person had just finished his education at an American seminary on a student visa and instead of saying that his studies were completed the seminary recorded them as terminated. The border guard must have been having a bad day because he really got in the face of both of these gentlemen, and while he rightfully pulled up over, the attitude he showed was the sort that gives border guards a bad name. We were told the wait to get the visa would be 2 hours, so the other van went ahead and left us with some directions. Thankfully the wait was not 2 hours, and God got us through in only 45 minutes. Overall it was both concerning, thinking that we might be turned back and not get to the conference, and somewhat exciting to see the border security people at work. By the way, the people inside were very friendly, and did their job with efficiency and professionalism. My compliments to them for doing a demanding job, especially with those who did not speak English, with a professional but friendly manner. Once we were back on our way we made good time, although instead of taking the by-pass to I-90 we ended up taking 190 around Buffalo. That added another five minutes to our trip, and we had some other navigational concerning when we thought we had missed the exit for Batavia while we were talking theology. That is what happens when you get a bunch of pastors in a van together. Again, we were wrong, and we soon arrived at the exit. In Batavia we started to look for a washroom to relieve ourselves, but none of the gas stations had one. The first one we stopped at told us they used to have one but their customers destroyed it. There must be some anti-public toilet gang in Batavia, because none of the gas stations had one. Thankfully, a short way out of Batavia we did find one, and we stopped to answer the call of nature and pick up some snacks. We also checked a map to verify the directions we had been given, and all seemed good. We headed out and made great time, passing the other van which had stopped for lunch in Savona. They caught up, and we continued together all the way to Carlisle where we checked into the Motel 6 for the night at about 6:15pm. Overall a pretty good trip with only a few hitches. We then headed out for supper at Applebees. Picked up some stuff from Wal-mart, and headed back to the Motel for the night. So now we are here, ready to rest and prepare for the start of the conference tomorrow. The trip was one that reminded all of us that we are always under the providential care of God. In his providence he had us stopped at the border for some reason. Yet, in all of this the comfort is that we are in his providential care, and he is working out his good purposes that he may be glorified. It is wonderful to serve a God who oversees this creation in such a way that even the sparrow falling to the ground is in his care, and since that is the case, so are all the events in our lives.