I was just looking at the list of blogs I’ve done and noticed that I wrote one around a year ago giving an update on what was going on with Ken Ricketts.
If you have not seen the video on YouTube yet, I strongly encourage you to click right here and be truly inspired.
God is good!
At least that’s how I see it (and saw it),
C
Well it’s a new year… plus a week and a bit and I’m already noticing how much has happened in 8 days! We often talk about so much that happens in a year… I’m talking about EIGHT days!
But when I think of all that’s going on, and anticipate what is going to happen this year, I get excited!!! I know that it is going to take a lot of work but I believe that the same God who leads us… sustains us.
I also admit that all that seems ‘new’ this year is merely just a new page from the same book. God’s plan for our lives doesn’t bounce back and forth with no rhyme or reason. On the contrary, it is all part of a masterfully designed plan to place us exactly where He wants us… as long as we are willing and obedient to listen.
2011 is going to be an incredible year and I can’t wait to write about all that happened at the beginning of 2012.
God is writing an INCREDIBLE book! I’m just glad I get to be mentioned in it as I watch His hand at work!
At least that’s how I see it,
C
Here is an article that was written in today’s Brantford Expositor on what happened last year when Ken was hurt during the disassembling of the Singing Christmas Tree last year.
C
Ken Ricketts says he is still here because of a miracle.
The 44-year-old Brantford man was injured by an electric shock in a mishap at Evangel Pentecostal Church last Jan. 3 while helping to dismantle the church’s annual singing Christmas tree display.
Ricketts had no discernible heart beat for about 40 minutes while fellow parishioners, including a firefighter and a nurse, and then paramedics, toiled to bring him back from the brink, administering CPR and four shocks from a defibrillator.
Ricketts has no memory of the event but was later told that emergency workers were ready to give up. It seemed hopeless.
A friend started to pray. And then a couple more joined in. All of a sudden, a gash on Ricketts’s head started bleeding profusely. His heart was again pumping.
Ricketts was rushed to hospital and, after 10 days in a drug-induced coma, he pulled through. Nearly a year later, he is back to work as an electrician, with no lingering physical problems, he said Friday.
“People tell me I’m lucky,” Ricketts said. “I don’t think it was luck. It was God. It was a miracle.”
Ricketts’s story will be incorporated into this year’s singing Christmas tree presentations at Evangel Church via a video with clips of Ricketts and some of the people who helped during last year’s emergency.
The Christmas tree is a 30-foot artificial tree assembled like a jigsaw puzzle with runners and bases and six different floor levels. When assembled, the tree boasts thousands of lights, said Pastor Scott Bacon.
Choir members stand amid the artificial bows during the performance, creating the effect of a singing Christmas tree.
Presentation nights will be Dec. 11-13 and 18-20 at 7 p.m. Admission is by freewill offering.
Bacon said he expects between 2,500 and 3,000 people will take in the presentation over the next two weekends.
The theme of this year’s presentation is “God with us,” and concerns finding faith during difficult times of personal loss, Bacon said.
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At a Glance
WHAT: Singing Christmas tree presentation at Evangel Pentecostal Church, 30 Fairview Dr.
WHEN: Dec. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 20 at 7 p.m.
COST: Admission by free-will offering.
Just was thinking of the Singing Christmas Tree production that we are about to launch this weekend. We had the practice with all of the tech people and the actors with some of the soloists. Tonight is the dress rehearsal.
I said to someone yesterday, “This thing is about to happen… whether we are ready or not!”
The truth is that I believe that we are ready… for the production. But I’m not quite sure that we are really prepared for what we believe God is going to do ‘through’ this production.
The story is incredible. The music is amazing. The entire production is going to really set a new standard to what our people are prepared to do as well as deliver.
The message is timeless… yet intensely relevant to all who will come. Everyone of us, at one point or another, finds themselves in dark places wondering where God is.
And He IS there. Though we may question His PRESENCE, we can never question His PROMISE to be there and never leave us or forsake us.
He IS with us. And I can’t WAIT to see His hand at work of the next six performances. I trust that you will be there too.
At least that’s how I see it,
C
I am not sure of a poem I’ve heard more at funerals or in messages about the person who was walking in the sand only to see one set of footprints during the hard times. I’m sure you know the rest, Jesus was holding this person during the hard times.
Jesus was called Immanuel – “God with us”… In the good times… in the bad times… During days of joy and happiness… during days of pain and despair. Jesus came to be with us during it all.
This Christmas at Evangel, we are endeavouring to make Christmas real. Our message series is entitled “Characters of Christmas” as we delve into how the Christmas story really affected the lives of the people involved.
Our Singing Christmas Tree production this year is entitled “God WIth Us” and is a candid and realistic perspective of how Christ came for the hurting. I’m not sure of a better opportunity to bring friends and family to an event in the year than to the Singing Christmas Tree. The production is always created not to entertain but to inspire people to come back to God. You can click here if you want more information on it.
Kerry and I would like to wish you the most blessed Christmas and thank you for the many great memories that we will remember about 2010.
Be blessed,
Craig
I was sitting in a meeting earlier this summer and the person who was talking said these words…
“Selective surrender isn’t surrender at all.”
OUCH!!!!!
How true. How hauntingly true.
I think that we all can take some of the blame for being guilty of doing the same. We come to God in our church services or our prayer times and we convincingly say, “God, we’ll do anything you want us to” but we unknowingly (and sometimes we must admit, knowingly) throw in the fine print “… as long as we are in control.” We wave the ‘white flag’ to God but the truth is that it really isn’t ‘that’ white. We surrender our lives to God but we’re always keeping an eye on the back door to boot out of there!
The prophet Samuel was talking one day to Israel’s first king, Saul, about Saul’s intention to serve God ‘his own’ way… “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1Sam 15:22 NIV)”
I think that God sees through our feeble attempts to ‘really surrender’. We give it up… we take it back. We give it up… we take it back. Truthfully, it’s a life-long struggle to give up our desires to seek the desires of God.
But His love endures… forever. He is patient with us… because He knows what He will get when we ‘finally’ surrender… US.
And that’s been the plan from the beginning. Creation. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Jesus’ promise to return again… for US.
Does God read the fine print? Yep. He just can’t wait until we finally strike it from the deal!
At least that’s how I see it,
C
Here is a question I got today. I thought it was a great question and might generate some feedback and discussion.
Q: Does Luke 4:18 (The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,) apply to us as well or just Jesus? If this is why He came is it also what we are here for ideally?
A: Without exploring all of my theological options, this is MY take on it.
Jesus came to accomplish these things (as He pointed out). He told the disciples that we would participate in ‘even greater things’ than Him (John 14:12). I believe the ‘greater’ means quantity, not quality, as there is nothing we can do ‘greater’ than Jesus.
So… how ‘we’ fit into Luke 4:18 is that we get to actively witness Jesus’ continued work as HE continues to fulfill His changing work in other people’s lives still today.
It doesn’t apply to ‘us’… but we get a front row seat!!!!
At least that’s how I see it,
C
My son and I were talking the other day about a ‘crisis’ he faced… he needed batteries for the game controller.
I know… stop the world… Actually, if it were me, I’d be looking in drawers and old remote controls as well to try and find batteries to finish playing the game. The guys he was with put their money together to get more batteries at the store but didn’t have enough to buy them.
Then the unthinkable happened… (‘unthinkable’ meaning that ‘I’ would never have thought of it). They started opening up disposable cameras that had been already emptied. The film was out and already processed but the batteries were still in the cameras and were serving no use at all.
Problem solved… GAME ON!!!
Then it hit me… How TRUE is that with God and us as well. God has placed the ultimate power source in the cheapest vessel. No one really cares about the camera… They worry more about what the camera is able to produce. The camera is just going to be thrown in the garbage some day but it’s the film and the memories that will live on forever.
One day we will all die. It’s a written guarantee (Hebrews 9:27). When we do, what will REALLY matter is the life and fruit that came from that cheap vessel. He gives us the power within to make it all work through His Holy Spirit. The ‘camera’ will be cast aside… The ‘film’ will live on thanks to the power of the ‘battery’ within it.
At least that’s how I see it,
GAME ON!!!!
C
You, like me I am sure, have been prompted from time to time to re-enter your login / password combination. I can start to feel my blood pressure begin to climb as I start frantically thinking of password / login options fearing that I will somehow never be able to access my account.
It just happened now when I was trying to log into my blog. I couldn’t remember what I had decided to make my login / password for my blog…
Then it hit me… um… what is the REAL reason for not remembering?
Unfortunately I can’t chalk it up to short-term memory (which I have from time to time used as an excuse for other things I’ve forgotten to do). The REAL reason why I forgot it is because I didn’t make it part of my routine… I waited too long to access my account.
I think that we can sometimes fall prey to that same problem when it comes to our discipline of seeking God. We ‘open the account and create a password’… we say we’ll read three chapters of the Bible a day and get up a little earlier just to be able to spend time with God. For a few days it actually works. We log in without any problem because we had just done it the day before.
Then a day goes by… a couple more… before you know it, we are now leafing through the Bible wondering where we left off. We try to find our prayer journal. We struggle to remember what we prayed for last.
Joshua 1:8 says “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
Routinely seeking God as a priority is the source of prosperity and success… not running after the tyranny of the urgent or frivolous.
Wanna remember your password / login? Keep using them.
At least that’s how I see it,
C
I recently got an email from someone with a thorough investigation as to the historical roots of the idea / concept of Easter. According to research, the easter season dates far earlier than the days of Jesus.
Honestly, as much as I find that information interesting, it doesn’t do a thing to shake my faith in God. I don’t really concern myself with how the easter season developed over centuries to where crucifixes and empty tombs are seen at the same time as eggs and rabbits. What I DO concern myself is how the life, ministry, tortue, death, and resurrection of Jesus is told and re-told so that the truth of JESUS… not easter is proclaimed.
The story of Jesus expresses God’s love for us in a way that cannot be recreated. 1John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
This Easter season, I want to challenge you to remember His life, His death, and His resurrection in a way that will challenge you not to question how it fits in with man’s history, but rather how it fits in with God’s love and plans for your life.
At least that’s how I see it,
Craig
