Amazing

I had class today and somehow we got onto the topic of our oldest boy, Riley. Our neighbors across the street love him to death, and Riley loves them. They are like a third set of grandparents to him. Anyway, my professor got into the discussion, and his exact statement was, "I love Riley. Riley ministers to me." This is a man who has known Jesus for over 47 years, flew a float plane over British Columbia to minister to people who were inaccessible by road, has his own Christian Counseling practice for the last 20 some years and has his Doctorate of ministry, and years ago - he was one of my deacons. It is amazing that God would use a 4 year old boy who doesn't talk to minister to somebody with that rich of a ministry background. There are many fathers who are proud of their sons' achievements in sports or school, or hunting and fishing, but I am so proud and humbled at the same time (I know it's an oxymoron, but that is how I feel) that God has chosen to use our son to minister to a seminary professor.
I wonder if this is how Samuel's parents felt when Samuel began to minister at the temple?

"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, "let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
-1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Buffalo

I did a spiritual retreat yesterday for a class of mine, so I went to the Stoney Indian Park Campground about 30 km west of Cochrane, AB. I sat upon a plateau and looked over a gorgeous plain to the south and the majestic Canadian Rockies that had a slight dusting of snow to the west, and just down the gravel road about a 45 second walk was a buffalo ranch. I stood about 100 yards away from some mammoth buffalo and watched them watch me. I am so glad they were penned in, because I could hear their deep grunts as they let me know they did not like me there, but I stayed anyway and watched their calves jump and play. I have had buffalo meat before and I really enjoy it - it is more lean than Alberta Beef (the best and leanest beef in the world)- and I was looking at these buffalo and envisioning eating some good Tatonka (buffalo) burgers.

I was at the same campground about 2 weeks ago and the buffalo were on the plain, and I couldn't help but wonder how much simpler life was 200 years ago. There were only about 100 head of buffalo that I could see on the ranch, but I wish I was around when there were tens of thousands at one time. To hear the roar of their stampede, and feel the earth shake as the heard came through would be amazing and terrifying at the same time.

I guess it would be much like God. For most of us, we see small doses of God. What I mean by that is we are not really longing for Him. When God shows up, it is really cool - like watching those penned in buffalo, but what would happen if God showed up in full force like ten thousand buffalo? What if we longed for God to really show up in our lives? What would happen if the terror of the LORD fell upon us and we were faced with the grotesqueness of our sin compared to His righteousness? I think we would be scared stupid, much like being caught in the middle of a stampede of ten thousand buffalo on a flat Albertan plain.

There was a man in the Bible named Isaiah, who came face to face to God in the Temple in Jerusalem. His response was, "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." He knew he was going to die when faced with the holiness of God. If you are brave enough to come face to face with your sins, click here, then click on "are you a good person on the bottom right. By the way, here is another little resource for you. Just so you know that you are not going to live forever and you will come face to face with God one day, click here.
Get ready for the buffalo stampede!

Say No To Hell

Ok, so this is my friend Jarrod Roberts at XL in Rome, GA. He is the pastor of West Rome Baptist Church and the Pastor of XL, a church plant of West Rome. West Rome is the church that is sponsoring us to plant the church in Medicine Hat. They present the Gospel in a very non-traditional way, but Jesus says to change the packaging but not the message. Here is the Gospel Message in two parts, if you have time, watch BOTH videos.

Gospel

I have been in Canada now for a month and a half, and last night at work I was finally able to share the Gospel with a young man. We had a good discussion, but no decision was made. Praise God that we are just called to be witnesses and He is the one that does the soul winning - I just need to tell people about Jesus and when they accept Him as their personal Lord and Saviour that is an added bonus.

It has been a month and half since I have been able to share the Gospel. That's one thing that sucks about going to seminary - everybody is a Christian! It was such a relief to earn the right to tell somebody about Jesus. I have a really hard time if I don't share the Gospel in a whole week, so you can imagine how stressed out I was not sharing the Gospel for a month and a half! Please pray that I get more witnessing opportunities - not only for the population of the Kingdom to potentially grow - but also for my own sanity.

Thanksgiving and Secret Service

Yes I did say secret service. We are going to a church in NW Calgary called Tapestry and it is located in the community of Tuscany where Prime Minister Stephen Harper has his home. When we got to church, which is located in a community center, we saw secret service outside the community center and they came and did a sweep of the community center while we were attending church. The Prime Minister must have been home from Ottawa for Thanksgiving.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents place in Calgary. It was good, but of course there are some things I miss - like my Aunt Lunnette's homemade perogies, my Grandmother's wheat germ salad and all my cousins and I having contests to see how much we can eat. Today was a special Thanksgiving though, because I got to hold my new nephew, Jonah Ray Cooper, for the first time. He was born on Thursday, so he is only 3 days old.

I can't stress enough how much I missed being in a church whose desire it is to plant churches. There is such a freshness in a church plant in an unchurched area. I am so thankful that God has brought us back to Canada to share the Gospel with those who have rarely if ever gone to church. To see people genuinely seek God - not because it is Sunday and it is the cultural thing to do - but genuinely seek the Living God brings a freshness and new light to church.

So this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for what Jesus Christ has done for me and my family, I am thankful for seeing a cool site - like secret service at church - and am thankful for the new addition to our family, by the way, here is a picture.

New Addition

Leigh and Jason are now proud Auntie and Uncle of Jonah Ray Cooper who was born in Calgary Foothills Hospital at 5:30 pm today! We will post some pics later of the little ankle biter.

Oasis On The Prairies

We just got back from Medicine Hat last night. Wow! When Leigh and I drove into The Hat we felt like we just came home. We stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast called Friendz of Ours in Dunmore - just outside of Medicine Hat. We had a great time at the bed and breakfast and went to church with them the next morning. They go to the Nazarene church in Medicine Hat and that is also where West Rome Baptist church goes when they come up. I was very impressed with the church and was very encouraged by the Pastor who told me that they need at least 25 more churches in Medicine Hat. He also wants to have coffee with us next time we come up to give us some good strategies for Medicine Hat.

Our new friends at the bed and breakfast have a house for sale and they took us through it. It would be a great location for the age group we are trying to minister to. Keep us in your prayers and take a look at the pictures of Medicine Hat. Comment on as many as you like. By the way, the following pictures are only 2 blocks away from where we are looking at buying our home.