Camrose Railway Museum

Scripture of the day
Jeremiah 17:7 - But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

When times in life get difficult, I have two options: I can either put my hope and confidence in God or I can choose my own path based on my own understanding.

The latter is often not comforting and can lead to more trouble and heartache. But when you set your eyes on Jesus, miraculous things will happen.

When we used to live by a lake, we would often take our daughter down so she could swim or splash around. The water was clear and the sand was fine. But there were spots in certain areas where the sand would build up just under the top of the water.

"Look dad," my daughter would exclaim, "I'm walking on water!" And sure enough it DID look like she was actually walking on water when in reality it was just on the sand beneath the water.

I remember in Matthew 14:22-33 when Jesus walked on water and the called out Peter to join him. As Peter climbed out of the boat and onto the wavy water he locked his eyes on Jesus. Peter was walking on water toward Jesus. It was only when he started to hear the wind and look at the waves he began to sink.

"Lord save me!" Peter cried out. Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed Peter and asked, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Let us be reminded of what happens when we lose focus and try to live life by ourselves. When our eyes are upon Jesus, when our hope and confidence is in the Lord and when we truly trust God we will be blessed.

Sunset Under Golden Jubilee Park

Scripture of the day
James 1:5 - If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

Sometimes we think we are smarter and wiser than God. We do our own thing without thinking about the consequences or how it affects others.

When I look back at my life I see all of the foolish things I did in my life. Mistakes that not only hurt me and others but also led me away from a more blessed life with God.

In order to avoid many of the pitfalls in life we need to recognize at few truths.

1) All wisdom comes from God (Proverbs 2:6) Mankind thinks they are wise but that wisdom comes from God.

2) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10) Unless there is a healthy fear of God, you will not humble yourself to listen to Him. You will choose your own path that most often will lead to self-desruction.

3) If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. (James 1:5) All we need when we are in difficult situations is to humbly ask God for his wisdom. He will not turn us away but rather generously give us the right course of action.

God loves every one of us and wants the very best things for us. He doesn't want harm to come our way but rather for us to succeed in life. We just need to listen and act on God's wisdom. His plans for our life is based on His wisdom.

Let us look in Jeremiah 29:11 at God's promise for our lives when He says, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Beautiful Sunrise

Scripture of the day
1 John 5:14 - And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.

There are times when I pray that I feel like God's not listening. I'll pray for healing for someone or a job and hear nothing. Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months. Still nothing.

So I start to think, am I praying for the right thing? Do I have enough faith? Is God even hearing my prayers?

When I pray, I have to check my motives. I have to ask myself these questions: Am I praying for God's will or my selfish desires? Will this please God or are my prayers only to please me? Am I praying with all my heart or just muttering words under my breath? Am I thankful in life through the difficult times or bitter?

The Bible assures us that God indeed hears our prayers when what we ask pleases him. We are also to pray with thanksgiving in our hearts (Philippians 4:6), to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) and to pray believing we have received what we prayed for (John 14:13).

We know God loves us. He is faithful and generous. He wants the very best for us and wants us to follow His will. May we humbly pray to our Father all of our requests in Jesus name and believe our prayers will be heard and answered in His time according to His will.

A Walk On The Ice

Scripture of the day
Isaiah 55:6‭-‬7 - Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

I find 3 parts to this scripture: 1) we should always seek God with a sense of urgency, 2) we should turn from our wicked ways by controlling our thoughts and 3) God forgives generously.

It is comforting to know that Jesus forgives all and forgives generously. But we must seek out God when we have these feelings of guilt in our thoughts and actions. 

And what really can be a struggle is controlling our thoughts as we turn away from sin. Satan will try to tempt you again and again to fall back into sin. Sin blocks us from God and his blessings. 

The devil will also put in your mind that you are worthless or you don't deserve to be forgiven. He will bring up reminders of past failures. 

We must stay focused on who we are and who we belong too. When we stumble, we need to pick ourselves up fast, ask for forgiveness and keep moving forward.

As the Apostle Paul so eloquently put it in Philippians 3:13-14, "No dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

Thorny Frost

Scripture of the day
Matthew 5:6 - God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

God loves blessing his children. Our blessings from God can come in many forms like inner peace, safety and comfort to physical blessings like provisions or healing. In fact, we see in the Sermon on the Mount the Beatitudes, found in Matthew 5:3-12, God blesses us 9 times.

We also like to give blessings to our own children. We want the best for them. We want them to love God, be safe and to prosper in whatever they do.

But we live in a world where things don't always go right. There is corruption and injustices all around us. God promises a blessing for those who hunger and thirst for justice.

When Matthew 5:3 was written there was many injustices taking place. There had been years before and after the death and resurrection of Jesus. And it's safe to say there will probably be many more injustices that lie ahead.

But our blessing is knowing that justice will prevail. There will be a time of judgment. It won't be a pleasant time for many, but for others it will be unspeakable satisfaction.

May we always hunger and thirst for what is right and fair in this world according to God's will.

A Walk Through The Cemetery

Scripture of the day
Psalms 119:105 - Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

Last year, after I took an eye exam, I learned that I had 20/20 vision. The test was done in the morning.

In the afternoon all that changed. We were in a car accident that left me with a concussion. Immediately afterwards my eyes were sensitive to light. I couldn't watch TV, use a computer or even look at a smartphone for any length of time.

In the following weeks, I noticed I couldn't see all of the words on the powerpoint up front at church. I knew then that my perfect vision was gone.

I had my eyes rechecked and sure enough I need glasses. I was nearsighted. The prescription wasn't needed for driving but it was enough that I could see everything on the screen in church afterwards. It was great to be able to see details that I lost for a period of time.

So how do we get that type of clarity in life? How are we able to see clearly through darkness? And how do we know we are on the right path of our life?

There are no magic glasses that can give us that kind of sight. But by reading, studying and living by the Word of God, it will give us clarity to life's journeys. It is a light to see in darkness. It reveals clear paths and helps us avoid destructive pitfalls. Let us all set aside time daily to read God's word.

New Underground Walkway

Scripture of the day
James 4:8 - Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

One of my favorite comedies I've watched is Mystery Men. It's about a group of misfits with strange superpowers that battle crime. There is one superhero, The Sphinx, which his superpower is wisdom.

It's comical because this wisdom doesn't make much sense. He'll say things like, "You must go left to go right" or "You must go up to go down".

But what happens when we receive similar wisdom from God when Jesus says "Whoever wants to gain their life must lose it" (Matthew 16:25) or "When I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10)

God is not some superhero the swoops down to save the day although he does have powers. He is not only natural but supernatural. God does save us but we also must do our part.

We need to examine ourselves of who we are. Where does our loyalty lie. Is it divided between thing things of this world and God himself. Or do we need to let go of the things and desires of this world to let God come closer to us.

We do need to lose our life (our worldly life) to gain a life with Jesus. We do need to become weaker, broken down so that God can use us and we ultimately become stronger as we rely on his power, direction and grace.

Let us examine our hearts, wash our hands of sin, plead God for a new pure heart and push away the things of this world that divides us between a life that is distant from God to life where God comes close to us.

Frozen Waterfall

Scripture of the day
Jeremiah 29:13 - If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

It's most parents worst nightmare to lose a child. I'm not talking death but when a child goes missing.

When I worked in a large department store there were times when a child went missing. You could see the panic in the eyes of the mother as she calls out her child's name.

Once we were notified of a missing child, it was policy that every employee except cashiers drop what they were doing and search for the child. We searched every nook and corner of the store and thankfully we always found the child.

Some children took longer than others but through perseverance we reunited the child back with the parent.

As I reflect, I have to ask myself when seeking God, do I always seek him wholeheartedly? Do I drop everything and make it my number one priority to hear his voice? And do I persevere, when I don't get an answer right away?

The answer, unfortunately not always. Sometimes I'm tired that prayers aren't the most sincere. Other times I'm distracted by the countless other distractions in my life that I don't wholeheartedly seek God.

I'm reminded that we will find God if we seek him with all our heart. But for me that means dropping everything (every tv show, every movie, every website, every snack, every book, every video game, etc). Everything.

Today more than ever we have more distractions. And Satan knows this and uses everything he can to put a barrier between us and God. Taking time out in a quiet place is one of the best things we can do to seek God and hear his voice.

Skating On Mirror Lake

Scripture of the day
Proverbs 16:3 - Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

There are times when we make plans and sometimes they work out and sometimes they don't. As in the scriptures we see that, "We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps."

But how many times do we actually commit our actions before the Lord? Most of the time I'm running blind -doing whatever I feel is the best course of action rarely lifting up to the Lord my actions.

How much more would the Lord bless us if we continually gave thanks in everything, lifting up every action in prayer? May we set our eyes upon Jesus and give him our all - whatever the circumstances.

Fresh snowfall

Scripture of the day
Psalms 90:12 - Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

In difficult moments, life seems to never end. Sometimes it seems like nothing will get better but in reality, life is short. Very short.

In the span of eternity, we are only here for a glimpse in time. That time and how we chose to live it is vital to our character. Nothing shapes our soul like our character. It's what defines us and is probably one of the few things we'll take with us when we die.

Let us remember how short life really is and live each moment to the best we can!

Happy New Year 2019!

Scripture of the day
Proverbs 16:9 - We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

Living a life for Christ isn't always easy, in fact it can be downright hard. We choose to live a life that pleases God but that often means we give up what we want and what we naturally desire. It means sitting still when things aren't going right. It means praying, seeking and loving.

There are many times in my life when I just want to rush in and do my own thing. Whether it is getting a new job, starting a ministry or simply just obeying God. Our natural inclination is to do what you want, how you want it and in the time you want it done.

If we truly seek the Lord with all our heart, follow his ways and are live our lives guided by the Holy Spirit, then we will still continue to make our plans, but the Lord will determine our steps as he wants the very best for his children.

As I seek for a new job, wait for interviews and pray for opportunities my mind naturally wants to become restless, panic or make choices that are not good for me or my family. 

But being still and knowing the God loves me, is in control and will determine my steps as I plan my days no longer is scary but rather peaceful as I know whatever God has in store for me will be what God wants. And that reassures my faith and gives me joy - even in the darkest times!