jasonboucher

Words Part Deux

I ran Lori's blog through the wordle program. Click the image to see which words, together, she blogged about most in the last season.

Yikes.

Which Words Do You Use?

I came across this program while reading a post the other day and decided to filter my blog through it.

Interesting stuff. I don't know how long it filters back, but by the looks of it, just a few weeks.

Just imagine if there was a program filtered what you said in the last week and arranged it in a similar fashion. That would be a growth tool eh?

Politican or Pastor?

Due to the recent activity over the weekend, even though I am a Canadian, I often wonder why there is pressure for politicians to speak or answer questions like a pastor from the evangelical community?

I am not sure to what extent this exists in Canada, although I assume it is there more or less in certain areas or provinces within our country, but it is always something that baffles me.

There is nothing more frustrating to me, as a pastor, when I begin to hear myself speaking "politically" in regards to an issue. When I try and cover all the bases I usually end up saying nothing at all - which is a waste of everyone's time. My role, as a pastor, is to live and preach a gospel that often cuts across the grain of culture and self-interest. To stand for scripture even though it may cause others to leave our church, or walk away thinking just how much I fit their preconceived stereotype. Even though pastors do our best, at times this is par for the course.

I guess I just don't see that as the role of a politician. I think a politician, who is representing the people within their constituency or nation, has an obligation to be guided by their faith (it they have it) and do what is right for all people - understanding at times that line may become uncomfortably blurry at times.

When I hear some in the evangelical community speaking, I think there is an underlying expectation that their politician should speak the same way as their pastor on Sunday morning.

Yet the callings are different.

Perhaps that is why scripture teaches that we are to pray for our leaders because the calling they carry is one that must feel like an adventure in the continual disappointment of people, and sometimes their own beliefs that may be rooted in faith.

For the record I thought Rick Warren did a fantastic job! And as a Canadian, I can simply observe your politics without the pressure of knowing that come November I need to vote for one of these men.

Bonanza - Highlights

Bonanza

Today is one of my favourtie days of the year.

It is an event that I always pray eventually becomes a lifestyle for us as followers of Christ in some way shape or form.

One of the tangible ways we love our neighbours at Lifecentre is by hosting our annual Blackburn Bonanza. It has grown from a simple idea, to what it is today - yet I still feel like we are just scratching the surface of what we can do as a community.

Tomorrow we will hand out hundreds of backpacks filled with fresh school supplies, provide free kids hair cuts, bike repairs, train rides, lunch, cotton candy, huge air bounce slides, and much more for one purpose - so that those in our community might know their value to God.

No gimmicks.
No bait and switch.

Just love expressed through the hearts and hands of volunteers thankful for the embrace of Grace on their lives.

Book Review: What Got You Here Won't Get You There

I read this over my holiday's and really like it. The basic premise of the book is if you want to get to the next level, high achievers often need to get over self-aggrandizing beliefs such as thinking that they control everything, believing that all their success is due to their individual efforts, and assuming that future achievements are there for the taking.

The biggest thing I took away from the book is the different mindset that one has to have if they are counseling or coaching people. Both are essential, and do not need to compete. One deals with past/present the other deals with present/future.

I know I am more of a coach than a counselor.

If you are into business/leadership books, this is a good one to pick up and dig into.

The chapter on listening is worth the price of the book - now only if I can work on that more effectively in my day to day life.

Pick it up on amazon here.

Open Season

Culturally today its open season on Christians. At times anything goes. While the debate about whether this is justified or unjustified could go on for a while, of this one thing I am certain. Following 1 Peter 3:15-16 over the past twenty years could have helped a great deal today.

Slander & half truths, those are par for the course. They shouldn’t catch us off guard. I wonder if our disrespect for others or our being unkind towards those different then ourselves has not done a great deal to contribute to the state in which Christians now find themselves?

I know we have heard it expressed, in one form or another, that all it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. Scripture doesn’t suggest we do nothing, but rather it instructs how we do what we do is as important as what we do...do.

Pitfalls of a Planner

I am a planner.

I am a planner who has mistaken the charting of a course for the thrill of the adventure.

I am a planner who needs to constantly remind himself that the only good a plan has is...

1) If it is followed through.
2) If it takes you where you need to go.
3) If it is fun along the way.

If it doesn't accomplish, at the minimum, those things, its a waste of time.

Dry?

Yesterday I was picking up lunch. There was one piece of chicken left...and looking at it I knew why. They gave me that piece. I didn't think much of it at the time, but when I got back to the office to dig in, the chicken was desert dry. I couldn't eat it. No big deal, it came with good side dishes.

While its easy to identify dryness in other things, it is often hard to see it in our spiritual lives. For me, there are a few signs I have detected.

1) I follow Christ out of memory not new experiences.
2) I see things that need to change in others while I ignore my own issues.

Those may not be your signs, but I guarantee that yours are there...if you take a look.

Anniversary

13 years ago today I said "I Do" and married my high school sweetheart...not that we went to the same school, or lived in the same city for that matter :-)

During July Lori and I spent a few days away and it reminded me not only how much I love her, but how much I love about her. There is no one else whom I have more fun just hanging out with than Lori. She is funny in a completely non-conventional way.

For example, there was a golf course where we were staying and while we were there an outdoor wedding was just about to take place. Lori wanted to check it out. She rounded the corner only to find herself standing exactly where the bride would be making her grand entrance momentarily. At that moment the guests looked puzzled as there was someone who wasn't the bride standing there...in a tank top and shorts. This photo was snapped only seconds after that moment.

Today I celebrate not only our love, but equally our life together.

Happy Anniversary Lori.