Thursday, September 15, 2016

Super Dad To the Rescue!

I have an active imagination.  Some say it's overactive.  I say they have no imagination at all!  :-)

Every so often I like to think that God likes to 'show off' for His kids.  He doesn't 'show off' just because He can, He does it to inspire even greater confidence in WHO He is and WHAT He is able to do.  For me, this has been an inspiring confidence building kind of week.  Here's what happened.

I was a guest speaker at a church north of Toronto this past Sunday.  After I spoke, someone I've known for a long time pulled me aside and shared something that God had put on her heart.  

Here's an edited version of the email follow up I sent to her on Tuesday afternoon...  


Just to encourage you…..

I didn’t really know what to do with the word you shared yesterday, because it really made no sense to me at the time, but you are going to love this…

I went to the Legislature this morning for the Throne Speech and connected with my MPP friend for a few minutes before the speech started.  After it was over, we went for lunch with 7-8 members of from his caucus. As we were sitting across from each other, I noticed the orange ‘puff’ in his pocket.  It’s odd that he would wear orange because his ‘team colours’ aren't orange,  but there it was.  I didn’t connect the dots at that point…

Over lunch something about the Plowing Competition came up and that they would all be going to that next week.  The whole thing seems kind of odd to me, so I asked about it and my friend says …. you should come…. let’s talk more about it later….

When we back to his office, he offered to take me with him and said I could share his room and ride along with him and a couple of other guys.  This is a huge opportunity for me.

Later, I needed to step out and make a few calls and he said, let me show you something… and he took me to a spare office in his part of the building and said, this is mine, I don’t use it…. you can… My office is your office... 

At around 5 we were heading out to the Jays game and he asked if I’d like to stop in at the lounge for a few minutes.  I assumed this was a place for everyone to go, but it was their private caucus lounge.  We spent about an hour there hanging out with about 8-9 other members.  As we were sitting there, I kept noticing his orange pocket puff.

It was only then that I connected ‘watch for orange’ with his puff and realized that I had been following him all day.  God has put this man in my life to help establish the ministry here.  

As I pondered it on the way home from the game tonight, it struck me the orange puff might just be God’s way of saying that He is here with me, working things out before I even get there.  The orange puff speaks of His plan and attention to the details.


Thanks for being obedient yesterday.  Just wanted you to know what happened today.


Expectation ....

‘I’m full of expectation, but I have NO IDEA what I’m expecting…’ 

It’s a funny thing to say, and yet it’s what I keep hearing myself saying over and over. 

For those who aren’t aware, I’m walking through a season of change and transition.  Last fall our board released me to take on the challenge of launching Leading Influence in Ontario. It has been an exciting and stretching season.  I am experiencing again what it means to wait, rest and trust while God is doing more than I think He is behind the scenes. 

After taking some time to prepare at home over the summer, discovering that God had arranged a wonderful suite in Toronto and had provided some seed money to get us started, Barb kissed me goodbye at the airport early last Wednesday morning.  I won’t be back for 3 weeks.  On day 1 of my 2nd week, I can say that I continue to be surprised at what God does and how He does it!

This has been an exciting and stretching season.  I am experiencing again what it means to wait, rest and trust while God is doing more than I think He is behind the scenes.  Trusting is an intentional discipline.  The temptation to involve myself in what is God's business is enormous.

I’ve been pondering these words out of Is. 43:18 for the past several months….

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

It seems to me that our start in BC almost 10 years ago was ONE WAY that God chose to establish what He had called me to do.  I have the distinct impression that He has a different plan this time.  While I’m much more wired to having firm goals and plans, I also know that this is a faith journey and that God reserves the right to surprise me and exceed my expectations.  I understand that my primary responsibility at this time is to expect that at any given moment God may exceed anything that I have dared to ask, think or imagine and to be in the place where I can follow His plan. 

While I am waiting for Him to do HIS part, I must be doing mine. 

Details about Day 1 to follow!  You won’t want to miss the story….