The International Ice Cream Day is Coming!!!

July 17th is coming. Now I know that may not actually be the international ice cream day...and neither do I actually know if there even is an international ice cream day but I do know that the entire Wood family gathers on this day and together has an icecream in memory of my Dad.


David Vincent Britten Wood VII


Yup no matter where we are on the planet... sometimes we were in italy, other times Peru... some were in Costa Rica while others were in Phoenix... where ever we find ourselves we gather and celebrate together a life well lived.


So now all those who are reading this blog, choose this July 17 to stop and have an icecream and in doing so choose to live your life well. Choose to climb the next mountain you can, fish the next stream, kiss the next loved one you see and thank the God who has given it all to you.


And by enjoying that icecream may your life be creamy and smoothy, may your troubles only be ripples, your love life be tiger tiger, and if in your life you come across moose tracks, follow them.  And when you find yourself on a rocky road, stop for a moment and make mud pie.

Have a great ICE CREAM day

Father's Day

The Sounds of Wet Canvas

The days were always exciting as we prepared for a trip. My father would go into the storage area and be greeted by a group of old friends; the camping equipment that was so near and dear to his heart. The Old one, the Packer Nelson pack board complete with its canvas bag holding fast to it's wooden frame. Packer Nelson, of course, was in charge. He was the oldest and had the most to share, the longest miles to remember. Stories that could turn your hair grey he would say. We believed.

Following behind Packer Neldon was the Egyptian Silk Pup Tent. Delicate and fine you could almost hear her sigh as she was once again allowed to flutter and flash her robins egg blue cloth in the wind. Released from a year tied tightly, the joy that she shared as she burst out of her confinment was infecteous and joyfilled. Last, of course, was the Coleman stove, and his sidekick the red gas can. Dented and bruised he was right where he always was just inside the green lid under the grill, blacked by years of use. Together they were the always the quiet ones. Always there together, always ready to serve but above all... always dangerous.  Little people were wise to steer a wide berth around these two, and we did.


Carefully like a gentle friend my father would lay each item out behind the house on the grass . Yearly this right of passage would act itself out again as each piece was brought out from it's long winter hibrenation. Each item, the axe, the hat, the boots restless to once again tell it's own story. Stories that if you listened you could hear them share with each other and they greeted each other after a long winter away. Together once again they spoke,  as one by one they were squeezed into the backbacks.

As the stories were told and as Father prepared for all the lay ahead, I could feel the excitement growing in my heart. One can of white gas? Check. Pots, Pans, Plates and Cutlery? Check. Sleeping bag, socks, clothes, and hat? Check. All the old friends ready and willing to once again go on a great adventure.

Each item carefully noted and carefully readied for the backpacks. Each provision prepared, each friend reaquainted. After all this noise, I knew, I just knew it would be my dad's turn. His turn to translate all the noise into stories I could understand. Stories to dream about, to capture my young imagination and release it onto a waiting world. Stories from the sounds of wet canvas. 

“A boy has a lot to learn in his journey to become a man, and he becomes a man only through the active intervention of his father and the fellowship of men. It cannot happen any other way…
This we must understand: masculinity is bestowed.”

Today it is the smells that I remember the best. From the musty pine smell to the smell of the muskoil coating the boots. Each smell today is just outside my memory, waiting patiently for that moment when a single whiff memories will rush back bringing back a flood of memories and with them... my Dad. Once again he will be standing beside me... once again, surveying all the supplies.

Today on this fathers day, my father's voice is silent, his words are no longer readily available to hear. Today I listen for the sound of another young man growing into his boots. In among the volume and noise, the hustle and hurray of a graduation from his highschool, there hangs an old Packer Nelson Pack Board, now safely resting in my garage. Waiting once again for a new set of young ears to lean in real close and listen carefully for the sounds of wet canvas.

Hiding Behind His Blessings

Recently I was speaking on passage of scripture from Genesis where God was looking for his son Adam. The scripture says, as God was calling his name, Adam did something that we all do.

"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

It was then that an amazing thought hit me. Did you see it? It's right there after they heard the sound of the father calling their name. Yes..right there after God was walking in the cool of the day... wanting to commune as friend to friend with his child. Did you see it?

Adam and Eve hid behind beauty of the garden to keep themselves away from the presence of God. They used the presents that God had given them to keep their hearts away from the presence of their father.

Oh how often we do the same thing. We have an experience with God as a child or a youth and then spend the rest of our lives hiding behind that beautiful presents of fruit laydened fruit trees and flower covered bushes and plants in order to keep our hearts away from the present presence of God.

I am constantly aware that God is not into yesterday, although he is the God of yesterday and neither is He into tomorrow although once again he is the God of tomorrow, but God is primarily the God of today. With fresh, fruit, and new release waiting for us to discover. Oh may each of us, reading this, discover what our Dad has in store for us today.

(a) What is your personal philosophy of ministry? My personal philosophy of
ministry is two fold.

1. To
be an example to the world of a sinner saved and sanctified by the power and
love of God and through my words and actions reflect Christ and lead others to
Him.
2. To
be a leader that discovers, develops and released David’s mighty men of Valour.


(b)Do you have a personal mission statement?

1. To
live my life with the theme from Ecc. 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do,
do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is
neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

(c) What is it in ministry that produces the greatest sense of joy and/or
fulfillment?

Mentoring, mentoring, mentoring. I believe that the ones that God gives men
are the men that will change the world.

(d) What is it in ministry that you have found to be most challenging?

The internal struggles and disagreements that undermine the truth of the
Gospel with those who we are around and those who are watching from afar.

Gal 5:13 You,
my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the
sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

(e) What would be some key advice that you would pass on to a graduate about
to enter into vocational ministry?

Sheep stink. Not because they intend to stink in order to get under your
skin but rather because they are sheep. Get used to leading the smelly church
and don’t ever assume that the stench that you are experiencing is anything
other than life. Live your ministry with your grip on held lightly. Don’t ever
believe the reports that you hear on Sunday whether good or bad. They are all
lying. Believe the one you hear on Tuesday morning at Tim Horton’s.

(f) What do you see as a major weakness in the North American Church right
now?

The acceptance of Jesus as our saviour without accepting him as our Lord.
Flowing out of that, the lack of Holiness, purity, integrity, honesty, and
personal accountability. Today it’s always someone else’s fault for your issue.

WOW! FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT!

A refuge from moral relativism

Ian Hunter, Special to the National Post · Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011

In a Feb. 11 letter to the National Post, responding to recent criticism of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, CAUT executive director James Turk defended his organization's witch-hunt against faithbased universities. He argued that CAUT's investigation of religious schools was necessary to ensure that parents know what kinds of institutions their sons and daughters are attending-- and, as Mr. Turk puts it, "to ensure that neither universities nor outside groups impose ideological requirements on academic staff." In other words, we are asked to believe that CAUT commissioned studies of Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C., Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ont., and others, in an effort to glean information readily available to anyone who took the time to glance at the universities' respective calendars.

I found the CAUT report on Trinity Western University particularly risible: Two academics (Professors William Bruneau and Thomas Friedman) burrow away through 22 turgid pages -- plus four Appendices and 24 footnotes -- to discover what the university's mission statement says on the first page of the calendar; namely, that TWU is a Christian institution intended "to develop godly Christian leaders, goal-oriented University graduates ... who [will] serve God and people in various marketplaces of life."

Likewise Redeemer, and the other institutions under scrutiny, do not exactly hide their light under a bushel.

And that is precisely the problem. These institutions, you see, are committed to something other than secular relativism; and that sticks in the craw of the CAUT and however many of its 65,000 members actually support these ludicrous investigations.

As it happens, I have lectured at both Trinity Western and at Redeemer College, as well as many secular Canadian universities, and, for that matter, at Oxford and Cambridge in England. So I am in a position to offer a bit of direct evidence, evidence overlooked by the prolix twosome of Bruneau and Friedman: Yes, faith-based universities are different. Allow me to explain.

At Redeemer and Trinity Western, the buildings are clean, the walls undefaced by graffiti. The knuckles of their students do not drag the ground. I noticed immediately that informal and animated discussions were going on everywhere on campus between students and faculty -- and the faculty seemed to know each student's name.

The Staley Lectures, which I was at Redeemer and Trinity Western to deliver, continued over several days: public addresses, seminars and discussions, an evening panel, etc. I experienced culture shock.

I discovered that these faculty and students were unafraid of concepts such as "truth," or "good" and "evil" -- words not only foreign to, but suspect in, the secular university. The students, mirabile dictu, were not intimidated by intellectual debate; ideas were not threatening to them, nor was free-ranging inquiry immediately challenged as "offensive." In fact, I never once heard the word "offensive." Controversy was not something to be avoided. I quickly realized how long it had been since I had spoken at a school without speech codes and "equity officers."

It was the experience of lecturing at such institutions that reminded me of what universities once were.

One manifestation of the contemporary university's moral and intellectual vacuity is the transposition of the labels "liberal" and "conservative." In the multiversity, it is generally those called "conservative" who are disturbed by what these institutions have become and who propose drastic change. It is those termed "liberal" who are content with abandonment of core curricula, with rampant grade inflation, with declining standards of scholarship wrought by affirmative-action hiring and with the emergence of courses and departments based on ideology. In times past, a university "liberal" was identified with free speech; today, a university liberal is likely to be leading the charge to suppress free speech on the ground that someone, somewhere, might take offence.

A university's real mission is the pursuit of truth, however unpopular or politically incorrect that truth may be. In his classic essay, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill wrote: "Ages

are no more infallible than individuals; every age having held many opinions which subsequent ages have deemed not only false but absurd; and it is certain that many opinions, now general, will be rejected by future ages, as it is that many, once general, are rejected by the present."

Today, university dissenters from politically correct orthodoxy are encouraged to keep quiet, to fit their conclusions to premises they believe to be false. Instead of providing intellectual leadership, our universities are full mostly of CAUT-types, those whom J.S. Mill aptly called "conformers to the commonplace."

Serious students, looking for the kind of liberal education that was once available in many Canadian universities, will be fortunate indeed if they secure a place at a faith-based institution. Condemnation by the CAUT, in our topsy-turvy world, should be considered the academic equivalent of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

-Ian Hunter is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario.

The Delusion of Deception

How does one know when they are deceived? How does one know when they have been convinced by people, situations and circumstances that simply are not being honest with them or honest at all.
It is in this situation that I find most people who are secular humanists within our Polite Canadian Culture. I find an intelligencia that proposes to all who will listen their exalted position of keeper of the real truth, as opposed to those lowly pions who live a faith based, God centred existence.
It is these wise individuals who carry the torch of wisdom for those of us who "just don't get it" or simply are too immature to understand their man centred philosophy. So what is a faith based person to do? What should be our response?

To answer these questions I had not choice but to go to the bible and see what God has to say about it. 1 Cor. 4:1-4 Says...Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.
If our Message is obscure to anyone, it's not because we're holding back in any way. No, it's because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won't have to bother believing a Truth they can't see. They're stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we'll ever get.

So what do you think? Do you think that the god of darkness has blinded your eyes so that you cannot see the truth that is right in front of you?

What do you think?

So the National Media are at it again... here is the quote.
A national coalition of women's groups called on CBS on Monday to scrap its plan to broadcast an ad during the Super Bowl featuring college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, which critics say is likely to convey an anti-abortion message. "An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year - an event designed to bring Americans together," said Jehmu Greene, president of the New York-based Women's Media Center.
The ad - paid for by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family - is expected to recount the story of Pam Tebow's pregnancy in 1987 with a theme of "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life." After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child and gave birth to Tim, who went on to win the 2007 Heisman Trophy while helping his Florida team to two BCS championships.

Do the Womans groups mentioned in the article comment on the sexual demeaning ads running throughout the Super Bowl? No!
Do they mention the use of woman as props rather that intelligent human beings ready to compete on equal footing with men? No!
No! Instead they continue to ridicule the promoters of the advertizing, Focus on the Family as being unworthy to even be considered to purchase airtime during the superbowl because they have done the unthinkable... they promoted the worst kind of social engineering... and corruption of real social liberal ideologies... they promoted, the family! Wow and I thought Amercia was free. I know Canada isn't but I thought they were.
Here is their contention...

The protest letter from the Women's Media Center suggested that CBS should have turned down the ad in part because it was conceived by Focus on the Family. "By offering one of the most coveted advertising spots of the year to an anti-equality, anti-choice, homophobic organization, CBS is aligning itself with a political stance that will damage its reputation, alienate viewers, and discourage consumers from supporting its shows and advertisers," the letter said.

Since when does forcing women to work equals equality? My mother was equal to my Dad even though she never worked as much as he did. No inequality there...they called it a team, a duet, a family. Equal... different but still equal.
So just because the advertizment was conceived by Focus on the Family they have no right to communicate their support of the traditional family? This is freedom? Like I have said before, the liberal media and the social engineering leadership believe that real tolerance is achieved by stamping out intolerant people. (sigh) How Orwellian is that? Everyone is equal, just some are more equal than others.
I do appreciate CBS and their position, as Schneeberger from Focus on the Family has said, "CBS officials carefully examined Focus on the Family's track record and found no basis for rejecting the ad." Way to go CBS!
Finally the hypocrasy of the complainants reached new heights of comunication when they used the very language of excusivity that the church has been criticized of for years to defend their rejection of their family friendy ad. Here it is...

A national columnist for CBSSports.com, Gregg Doyel, also objected to the CBS decision to show the ad, specifically because it would air on Super Sunday. "If you're a sports fan, and I am, that's the holiest day of the year," he wrote. "It's not a day to discuss abortion. For it, against it, I don't care what you are. On Super Sunday, I don't care what I am. Feb. 7 is simply not the day to have that discussion."
The Holiest Day of the Year? And they call us fundamentalists!

here is the full article...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/26/national/main6143105.shtml?tag=strip
Surely Someone has the courage to comment....

Helen Keller was asked once, "What could be worse than being born blind?"To which she relied, "Having sight without a vision."



What a time in which we live!



The foundations of belief that have been the basis of thought both Secular and Sacred have been eroded and or removed completely. The basic understanding of right and wrong are gone and in it's place stands the highest commandment within the Satanic Church. "Do what thou wilt!"

The idea that the highest authority for a persons behavour is determined exclusively by that person. And that that individuals upper reason has now become the whims and will of the individual and not higher authority from any outside source. While the foundations of belief found in the bible have been thrown away it is now that we hear it repeated in the house of commons as readily as we hear it on the streets of West Vancouver.



In it's place we find, not just the quiet removal of belief but now the open assault on the beliefs of the church sighting them as hate literature rather than foundational truths. Today we hear about the confusion from the youth concerning their identity and purpose while the bringer of life is not contacted or even discussed.



Mom is used to saying that anyone who will not stand for something will fall for anything.

Leadership is not a learned behaviour... and the business of leadership development is just that...business, nothing more.

Recently I was reading an excellent book entitled "Leadership Reconsidered". The basic premise of the book was how we define a leaders. Was is by their power, influence and control or was it rather by the legacy that we leave upon leaving this planet.

Is a leader some one who has followers? Is is a gifted person who possesses a charismatic personality? I have found this book to be supremely challenging and thought provoking.

With Chapters like "Jefferson and Jefferson, walk like a man" and "Smile when I'm gone, the legacy of laughter" this book challenges the concepts of leadership within the 21 century mindset, both inside and outside the church.

So how about you? What is the legacy that you are trying to leave? What footprint will be followed after your walking is done?

It's an interesting time to be God.

Have you ever wondered at the thoughts that must go through God's mind as he watches the world?

He watches as mankind now worships creation rather than a creator.
He watches as mankind dismisses Him as just so much mythology.
He watches as mankind refuses to accept a gift that cost him everything, replacing it with something that was never designed to satisfy.

I have once again been deeply saddened by reading the blog of a good friend.

His self realization and self assurance is so confident and presumably so "right". His rejection of any voice that does not start it's reasoning with... "in the beginning me..." and his presumption that if something cannot be measured and confirmed by science then it holds no truth is nothing short of unsettling. The arrogance of any position that assumes the understanding of all there is, a position that he has been faithfully constructing over the decades, is inspiring in it's selfishness and closedmindedness.

"For the scientist that has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance. He is about to conquer the highest peak. As he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greated by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."~Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomer

I simply see my friend, a picture of a small man...so small that in the picture he looks smaller than any ant, standing looking toward heaven declaring in his tiny ant voice. Show yourself God to that I can measure you! For if science can't measure you you simply don't exist." And all around him there is a slow constant wind making a sound that he simply can't hear. It's the lowest voice of all... the voice of God...and he is sighing.

So... I come back to my original thought. I wonder what thoughts are going through God's mind as He watches us?

I have discovered that only in the realization that there is a God and he is personally interested in every aspect of our lives can real contentment and purpose be found. But not as some buddy, friend or life insurance policy but rather only as He can be seen. His interest is simple... in it's truth. He is simply interested in being God. Our God. Our King. Our master. Our Lord. Our Guide. Our Ruler. And on His throne there is only room for one.

Oh yeah...and because He is who his billing says He is...He can't settle for anything less.

From a U ground to a Twist Lock.



Over the past few months I have rediscovered a truth that has changed every aspect of my life how I live and how I walk through life's challenges. This new truth isn't really new at all. I boils down to this.

People are focused on control in their lives, and focused on the responsibilities and trials that are standing in front of them. Because God asks us to relinquish our control, His request places us at odds and fighting his will. So this walk of faith thing, that we so quickly talk about is simply a battle of wills.

From the drug addict who kills and fights to get the money to feed his addiction to the theologian whose struggle to grasp the complexity of God without acknowledging Gods control over his life, both suffer from the same disease. They think they have any rights at all with God.

I am tried of the liberal whose self professed understanding attempts to undermine the simple faith of the believer. But I am just as tired of the spiritual leader who believes that they in their wisdom have anything to offer the world. So with that thought clearly spoken let me humbly suggest that David N. Wood no longer has anything to offer to you or to your spiritual life, with the exception of a life totally surrendered to the Lord.

Daily, I come to the father, confess that I am empty of anything of worth and I am in desperate need for his grace, wisdom and love. And from that worthless position I stand. So God please, allow me to no longer connect with you using a simple U ground, one that I can unplug easily with a slight tug of my will, but God rather allow me to connect with you using a twist lock. Tied together forever. May I understand your power by understanding your suffering.

Paul the apostle said, I have determined to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified. . (yeah...that's it.)

STAND FIRM(Lessons from the Canadian Rockies)

This is a reprint from 2006 ...just thought God wanted me to do that.

How do you teach a young man the underpinning principle called faith? How does one move a young man from the world of see and touch to the world of faith and vision? The world where God is viewed in greys to a world where God is in living colour? The answer is... you don't! That's not how it's done...To say that the Canadian Rockies are rugged would in no way be an exageration. The wild untamed wilderness is alive and well in Canada and many people yearly they find themselves lost or experiencing some difficulties in the rockies with tragic results. The Canadian Rockies have taken their share of lives. So it was not a trivial thing when I found myself stranded on the top of a pass miles from the trailhead and unable to move.Walking, hiking and camping have always been second nature to my Dad and his experience of growing up in Calgary and spending all of his teenage years in the backcountry provided him with a deep love for the mountains and all their grandeur. So as his son, I naturally wanted to join him on his adventures...that is until I turned 13. Then sleeping on the ground in a small tent just did not seem as fun as it used to. It wasn't cool. No girls.But Dad who somehow always knew just what to say, suggested that maybe I would be interested in going hiking with a friend and he could come along as the guide, chief cook and bottle washer. Well I tell you that sounded great to this 13 year old. So on a warm day in July we set out from the trailhead and began our long trek into the formitable Rockies. Derryl, the friend who came along, was a young man who like many young men simply did not get that whole faith/God thing.So we walked...and Dad talked... "Derryl do you see that mountain? God has provided that mountain for us. Derryl do you see that stream...isn't God great how he made that stream...He's a great provider." You get the idea...As the day wore on, my God carefully and methodically set the scene in place to build into our lives the principle of faith. Then my legs quit. Slowly at first... then more rapidly, they began to ache and strain. Rhabdomyolysis was setting in. (An acute, fulminant, potentially fatal disease that destroys skeletal muscle) I’ve had an acute case since I was was four and now in the middle of the unforgiving mountains my muscles were packing it in. With little water, due to the fact that we found ourselves on the top of a mountain plateau ...things, shall we say, did not look good.So lying on a flat rock in the middle of a mountain meadow, miles down a trail from help, I stopped, unable to move, and Derryl pounced!Where is your God now Mr. Wood? Where is that provision that you are talking about? Lying there... I was so angry I could spit! My Dad? He stood silent. Looking back down the trail from which we had come... he waited...silently. No more than 30 seconds after Derryl's question I looked at where Dad's eyes were focused and I noticed the distinctive view of a ranger cap rising over the top of the plateau's rise."Derryl", Dad said quietly, "that's a National Park Ranger... David is going to ride out on his horse" ...and it was ...and I did.Paul said, "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong." (1 Cor. 16:13) In our relativist culture the idea of standing firm is almost viewed as antiquated. At best, something from history, at worst a sign of a thoughtless, ignorant person. And yet, in the bible, we are encouraged to stand firm. WHY? Is God grey? He certainly is not when talking about our faith. His words are clear... (Do a bible search on the words stand firm and find out for yourself.) our faith in him must not be grey...because life is not grey... nor white...it's black...and out to kill you. Face it! None of us are getting out of here alive!Faith is not a skill. It is not learned through lectures and notes...through truth read and items noted. It's not grown through blogs typed and responces discussed.

If allowed... it is a living breathing reality that must be experienced to bring it to life.

If allowed... Faith comes to life in the dark.

If allowed... it grows strongest in the place of death.

If allowed... It advances in the moments when all else has already retreated.

If allowed... Faith is learned on the top of a mountain plateau on a day in July.

A wise man once said, "Faith is not faith unless it is the only thing you have left to hang on to." My dad. So... Hang on

THANK YOU SIR! MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?

At this time of graduations and school finishing I was reminded of a grad ceremony that I was at a number of years ago. It was a normal grad banquet where each individual graduate took turns giving speeches and telling the proud parents and friends of their reflections on the past and their plans for the future.

Into this scene of tuxes and gowns stood a young man named Gideon. And like his biblical counterpart this young man was about to stand out from his peers and say something that rocked his friends and all who were listening.

Well… he said… his voice hesitating on every word, I would first like to thank the Lord for his kindness to me.” We all smiled as we listened once again to the same words that we knew every graduate would say. Then Gideon said something that surprised us all. This 18 year old high school graduate said, “I would like to thank my parents for spanking the daylights out of me when I needed it.”

Laughter broke out throughout the room as we could not believe what this young man was saying. Thanking them for spanking him? It is impossible to look cool and thank your parents for a spanking you! But he was very serious. He was thankful for the discipline his parents has given him. Wow! I was amazed!

So are we? Are we thankful for those times when God disciplines us with the straight hardness of the rod rather than the soft curve of the staff? Are we thankful when we are taken out behind the woodshed and taught the lessons of life? So many of us no longer really understand the principles that are laid out so well in scripture. We would rather choose to avoid the pain and the deep lessons that God intends to teach us. Maybe as we walk toward this father’s day we will once again be reminded about the love that our father has for us even when he appears to be interested in nothing but disciple…

Hebrews 12:7-11
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Are you my Daddy?



Try this thought stream on for size.



Where as Children are always looking for affirmation...

and where as historically Children have received said affirmation from their Dad...

and where as psychologists almost completely agree that the majority of a child's self-esteem comes from their interaction and encouragement from their fathers...

and where as our society has a complete and utter vacuum of healthy male role models, and even fewer father figures...

and where as the internet, blogs, chat rooms, my space, youtube, lavalife and the like have now replaced the personal affirmation benefactor in the lives of children (old and young) world wide.


Be it resolved that from this moment on we officially change the name from the internet and begin to call it by the name indicative of the purpose it is serving worldwide...DAD.

Has Daddie been replaced by Google?

oh come on...be bold...think about it...it's dark, you've caps locked your home you are tucking your children in bed...they have logged off for the night and are ready to let their screensaver take the daily images away...you gently backspace their sheets under their mainframe, set their real player playlist with some calming and soothing music that will help them defrag their day...

Until they can esc in the morning...and press start to a new day...

tickle tickle...google loves you...

A Discussion about the "H" Word.

I have a question to all those associated with the emerging generation in the church. I was challenged today that the entire reformation that is occurring within the Christian church today is actually the great falling away described in revelations...

Any thoughts?

The reason I ask is because there seems to be a complete absence of the word Holiness in the lingo and the lifestyle of those who are leading the reformation... Have you noticed a low level of personal integrity when it comes to issues like drinking, swearing...and drug abuse... and other things that in other generations would be considered taboo?

Are these now social norms and as such are covered by the bibles understanding of Matthew 15:11... (I have a hard time believing that.) or is this generation simply, under the ruse of "the creation of new worship" and "experience", rejecting the standards of behaviour that they don't choose to follow? Under the guise of being contemporary and relational have the reformers lost the holiness that Jesus describes when he asks us to also be holy?

I'm not convinced that this is the case but it sure begs a discussion. So are we the generation that is falling away or is the existing church in fact the ones who have rejected holiness as described in prophesy?

Now that I have offended all my friends...thoughts anyone?

Thought for the moment...

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds." Albert Einstein

How can you not trust a face like that--->

Happy New Year to all those... close and a far. Know that we love you where ever you are...

(Hey... that rhymed.)

From the Woods

THE SEARCH FOR DAD.
(THE BEST PRESENT YOU CAN FIND UNDER YOUR TREE THIS CHRISTMAS)

As a Dad and a busy one at that...I have a feeling of mixed compulsion and guilt writing this blog... but none the less I think that this should stir some thinking.

Is it possible that the generation next (...that is so desperately searching for meaning and authentic spirit life...) is in that search primarily because the life bringer has not brought life. No I'm not talking about God...but rather his reflection here on earth. Good old Dad!

Dads have the ominous task to be the living breathing earth bound example of the heart of the Father God. Therefore if they are absent or MIA the consequences for an entire generation will be a loss of meaning in the heart of the culture and the heart of the family.

It is said that the average 6 year old will have already spent more time watching TV then they will spend talking with their father in their entire life.

IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFE!

How can a generation have the foggiest idea what loving God and being loved by God is like if their view of masculinity is so baddly marred. Is it possible that the culture war that is being waged for this generation is simply a battle for the hearts, passions and integrity of men?

Albert Einstein said, "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." Or as Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing."

I'm becoming more and more convinced as I talk to this culture and listen to their hearts that there is a cry for authenitic men...yet when they step up to the plate the criticism that the media throws at them for being men reduces them back to the shadows. FIND ME AN AUTHENTIC DAD... WHO LOVES, DISCIPLINES AND GUIDES THEIR KIDS IN THE MEDIA ANYWHERE... I CAN'T.



When asked, in a recent poll...most youth and young adults claim their example of a authenitic dad is Ozzy Osbourne...Lord help us.

Is it possible that this reformation that is occuring within the church is simply a search for Dad.

Comments?

AND THE TRAX PLAYED ON...

IRON SHARPENING VS THE ILLUSION OF COMMUNITY - PART II

This morning I saw over 370 children on a single stage in a single church singing songs about a child in a manger.
...Hundreds of pictures taken... and the cd trax played on.
...grown men crawling around on a concrete floor to gain a better photo shot location... and the cd trax played on.
...mothers crying though out the church as they watched their little Johnny, Suzy or what ever the kids name was...and the cd trax played on.
...Grandparents who had never been in church this year, thrilled to the sight of little Billy Bob swing his arms back and forth like a washing machine somehow mimicking the actions of a cradle...and the cd trax played on.
... and he/she (the kid) stood there like a deer in headlights ...and the cd trax played on...

I stood there watching this organized confusion...this chaos...this riot of children somehow attempting to form what could weakly be described as a choir, but more accurately described as a mob and I had no choice to respond... as only one who had a clear understanding of the challenge of the generation next issues could respond...

I smiled.

This community was alive and well... and the emerging generation where were they? They were all down at the Starbucks building a different community...with those who were just like them... They were sitting in a mindless circle supposedly expanding their thinking by talking about issues that "really matter" while their younger brothers... nieces...nephews... and entire families enjoyed the ritual of the Christmas concert.
Their explanation, was as simplistic as their hearts. It's too contrived one said... too planned... said another. Indoctrination...said yet another. Look Dave even the trax were controlled...it wasn't real music.

And yet it was real... you see often times under the guise of authentic community we underestimate the place of rituals and traditions. These timeless events score card for us the innings of our lives... They mark the moments of passage from childhood thru young adult thinking to maturity. And it is these very same traditions that provide the foundation upon which real honest appraisal and thinking can occur. For it is from the solid foundation of people who know where they have come from, that the ground breaking visionaries of the future can rise. Not the momentary flash in the pan thinkers, momentary genius glimpse's but the steady culture changing men and women who know and run to the battle because the have the ground leveled under them through the lives of those who have come before. Those brave forefathers have built the structure upon which real change and community can be formed.

and the cd trax played on...

But instead these "relevant thinkers" sat and discussed how they were not a part of the music...did not want to sing...and would never be a part of the community of people who sang to the trax.

I thought as I listened and reflected about the music cd which blared the background trax for the kids to sing along, how similar the trax is to the music of our lives. We all have the same background music playing... you know the tune... We live, we grow, we love, we let go and we die... yeah that music. Community is found in the music... in singing along with the trax that has gone on for decades

... the music of God.

How much of this vane struggle for community and being apart of something is simply an attempt by those seeking to avoid the bigger issues in life. And just like authentic relationships that will stand the test of time and struggle so will the music of our lives. Together we live our lives to the very same changeless melody of pending death. And it is against this backdrop that I sat this morning...smiling...

Have a great Christmas season...I'm going to get a candy bag from Mr Kuhn...just like I did when I was eight.

"Be near me Lord Jesus I ask Thee to say...close by me forever and love me I pray...bless all the dear children in Thy tender care and take us to heaven to live with Thee there."

IRON SHARPENING VS THE ILLUSION OF COMMUNITY

With all the merging generation pontificating about the mascarade that the church is at presently demonstrating...and with their communication that is being foisted on the church as authentic and real...relational and vibrant. Few if any really have the courage to build relationships that challenge and stand... people committed to each other come what may.

Even those Velvet Elvis groupies who somehow can vax on at infinitum about the woes and problem within the church and speak community until your ears turn blue and fuzzy...and yet...bolt the moment that someone has the courage to call them out and challenge them on their life, their ethics, or their morals.

How shallow our entire culture has become...we live in a low commitment, low impact world. Where we talk about "making a difference" and "standing up for others" when we in fact live shallow lives. Lives that are based on some vain idea that we are to be in happy bliss with those in the church... continually growing through some quiet move of God on our spirits as we merge with the eternal goodness of God ...and therefore somehow blend our personalities seamlessly and effortlessly with the goodness that He is.

Rather than the iron sharpening battle ready church community who have the guts to talk openly and honestly about who each of us are and more importantly who each of us are not.

I understand why we, the church used to describe each other as brother and sister... because brothers and sisters should be able to stand toe to toe and fight out the issues in a family without the chance that the relationship would be destroyed.

You see I am beginning to understand this issue better because I had the privilege to work with my brother in law, and although I hated it when he did it, he was able and willing to come into my office and challenge me on what I had done, said and even who I was. Man is that difficult to swallow when he said that I have screwed up and I need to fix it. But there is nothing that he can say (within reason) that can break our brotherhood. He will still be sitting at the table on the 25 of December and I will still be loving him...

So to all those who somewhere in your heart are chasing the rainbow of community I have a challenge for you... Stop running and searching for authentic relationships in others and find it in your relationship with God beginning by being honest with yourself. Yeah that's it....stand up and be honest... and let the shallow relationships fall by the wayside. The ones that remain will be the ones that are honest enough to matter for more then right here and right now. They will matter for tomorrow and forever.

Trust me...would I lie to you?