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How firm a foundation

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How firm a foundation

Back in 2010, work began on a massive recreation centre in our small city of Owen Sound. Everything was on target until the contractors hit a layer of quicksand.

Work was delayed for the better part of a year while engineers constructed concrete platforms which would carry the weight of the building given the presence of the quicksand. Needless to say, millions of dollars were added to the project’s cost.

If the work had not been done, nothing would have happened for a while. But at some point, the whole thing would have started to tilt or sink.

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Behind a frowning providence

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Behind a frowning providence

Behind a frowning providence there hides a smiling face. That’s a line from one of my favourite hymns, God moves in a mysterious way. 

Although he wrote it in 1773, it pretty well expresses what happened to us a few days ago. 

We had made the long trip to Ottawa to move our two youngest kids to university. We sandwiched this between moving house and leaving for the UK, so we were under a lot of pressure to begin with. There followed three of the most stressful, action-packed days I’ve had in many a year. We had so much to do that it utterly overwhelmed the time and energy available to do it. And inevitably, some things went wrong. 

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The worst enemy of the kingdom

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The worst enemy of the kingdom

The great British Bible teacher David Pawson was in fine form. Visiting a rather traditional church with a large choir, he made this statement: “Sentimentality is the worst enemy of the kingdom.” And then he stuck his hand out in the general direction of the choir and said, “That is sentimentality!”

I never ceased to be amazed he was not shot from behind before he finished the rest of his message.

You may argue with the way he made his point, but the point itself is worth considering.

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Preparing - but for what?

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Preparing - but for what?

Yesterday we walked past a recently closed diner. In the window was a sign with these words: “Prepare to meet thy God.” Hmmm. Was the food really that bad?

Then I talked with my friend Stuart, living in the eye of an epic hurricane in Houston. I asked him how he was preparing for the storm.

We did a lot of things to prepare for our move. The list seemed endless, and we just had to work our way through it. I’m glad we did, because now we are reaping the benefits of our preparation.

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The great morning of God

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The great morning of God

Last week I talked about moving and the challenge of change. You have to pack everything up, live in a state of upheaval for weeks, if not months, and then hope you can actually make it from one place to another with your stuff and your sanity intact. With the sacrificial help of a great bunch of friends, we did.

If you’re smart, you give away a lot of stuff, and take note of how we accumulate way too many possessions, especially for those of us who profess to follow a man who owned none.