YOU CAN HEAR ME PREACH - IT HAPPENS SELDOM NOW

I once prepared and delivered several sermons or talks per week and in recent years only occasionally. When I do have an opportunity I relish the hours of reading and prayerful consideration and writing and then to be able to present the product of such spiritual labour to willing and sometimes eager listeners is a privilege. That’s because it is God’s Word that I am daring to comment upon with a view to encouraging decisions.

One of the last times was all the way back in 2017 at Johnston Height Evangelical Free Church in Surrey, B.C. Here is a video recording of that 30 minute sermon called ‘LIVING FLAT OUT FOR GOD.’  The text will be Ecclesiastes chapters 11 and 12. And I make reference to my book on the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes that I published in 2016.
https://vimeo.com/204941347?ref=fb-share




Here is the paperback available at Amazon for $10.00 plus shipping or for $4.13 as a Kindle book.

WAKING UP FROM A DREAM

This was unexpected to me. Last year was my first year as a marshall and starter at Pagoda Ridge Golf Course. I supposed that for those of you who have been there longer this was an anticipated annual event. The e-note as I read it was simply an invitation to us all to attend the season opening celebration. When I arrived, I was stunned at the level of organization. Dreams are under no obligation to divulge all the details of what made this so impressive, so I am uncertain whether the large banqueting rooms were off site or under enormous tents on site on the course. My fantasy suggested we were at Pagoda Ridge. As soon as I arrived I was handed a garment bag and was directed to a change room.  I walked past colleagues like Bryan and Tom, Stuart and Jack and there was Lenny, each of you seated cross-legged and imperial in brown three-piece pin striped suits and polished brown dress shoes. I moved past Pam, Cindy, Tammy, Char and Pat in their charming light blue or coral orange dresses and stylish blue slacks and complimentary colour tops, wine glasses in hand. In the change room I unzipped the garment bag to find that I too had a brown pinstriped suit that fit perfectly. I thought immediately that someone must have called Christine to inquire about my shirt, suit and shoe sizes. This is how all these rainy and frozen ground weeks had been spent by a handful of planners. I asked myself, what clothing rental store has enough brown suits to accommodate this party. This was an extravagant gala beyond anything I could have imagined. We were directed to a banqueting area and as we moved, conversing and smiling at one another, I lamentably began to lose sight of all of you, and woke up … so here I am with my coffee, a typed paragraph and my gym bag. In a few minutes I'll head to the gym through slush as the big snowfall continues to melt away.  

Please don't get your nose out of joint if I didn't mention you by name. It's not my fault. Dreams are notoriously unpredictable.

(I sent this to maybe 40 fellow staff at the Pagoda Ridge Golf Course on February 25, 2018. Rain, snow and frozen ground has closed the course for most days in 2018, so far, but soon, we will be there again.)

WHAT SHOULD YOU SAY ON THE DAY HE DIES?

WHAT IS APPROPRIATE TO SAY ABOUT A FELLOW CHRISTIAN ON THE DAY HE DIES?  Some people think it is suitable to denigrate his memory on the day he dies. On the day he dies is my point.  We're not speaking about a madman or a money launderer or a serial rapist. It would be entirely apt to recite his transgressions one minute after he bites it. I'm talking about an upright man whose entire life was devoted to God. What would be appropriate to say about him on the day he died? Be clear, this is not an hypothetical personality. I refer to someone whose 99 years of earth life were spent talking to God, and to people who loved God and to people who did not know God but would. What 's fitting to say about him on the day he died? If the person making the post mortem comment hates God, then anything goes. Say what you want about the deceased. But if the commenter is a child of God and a good brother has died, would the right time to point out all of the brother's alleged bad stuff be on the day he died? Why am I asking this question here? 

This is what some Christians posted on the day Billy Graham died this week.

"This is very sad, and especially so when you read of so many within the Christian community who feel that he was sound in his theology. He did not simply make a few errors within his theology; his entire ministry was based on anything but the pure truth of the Word of God. Anyone who can write a book entitled "How To Be Born Again" is far from the truth of Jesus' description of regeneration.”

You saw the line that I highlighted I’m sure, or what was the point? 

Oh, and they have said much worse than that.  Or, they have checked out from being original and merely pasted in a link so that every curious reader goes to a site belonging to someone else. Or they just cast some doubts on an area of Billy’s theology with which they profoundly disagree, or some comment he made within a peculiar context or when he was older or confused or mistaken. And to what end? Slanderous articles like those posted on the day he died, did what? Thousands of people from many ethnic communities welcome Billy in Heaven this week or will join him when their time to cross over occurs. There is a time to analyze, dissect, publicly challenge the man, before his death or some respectable time after his death ... but not mere hours after he has realized the promise of Christ that he has shared with all who would listen to him. 

APPEARANCE DOESN’T MATTER ANY MORE - A POEM

Appearance Doesn't Matter Any More

I knew I was good-looking
as a young boy blond and lean.
Combed my hair back to a duck tail
Stretched my height out as a teen.
Sex appeal was so important
As a college young adult.
Some outstanding wedding photos
Display the superb result.
Obligations soon took over
I gladly became a dad.
I learned children prefer play time
To good looks I thought I had.
Nonetheless employed by others
I made sure that I looked smart.
Yet mirrors gradually told me
Signs of ageing had a start.
Kids grew up and career moved on
Thinning hair, a few pounds more.
Arrest the pace, start the program
Trim the fat, strengthen the core.
I did all that for many years
Now experience lets me say
I'm genetically compromised
My dad had a part to play.
So here I lie beside my wife
And she sees someone other
Than the young man that she married
She likely sees my brother.
He too has realized the truth
Nature's laws will never bend.
Plastic surgery and workouts
Can't reverse this trend.
I have coffee with my friends now
Talk comes easily and free
Guards are down and we are honest
They all seem to look like me.

© Ron Unruh, November 2017