Tracy's Blog

A week ago we were snowed in.  Selkirk had more snow in 48 hours than it had had all of last winter.  While I was very happy to be blanketed in white stuff, I did find the experience a bit dis-orienting.  School was cancelled.  We had to walk if we wanted to get anywhere.  Life wasn't normal.  When life isn't normal, I want it to be.  I try as hard as I can to put things back into order.  The problem last week was that I couldn't make things go back to normal.  I had to wait. That wasn't the only waiting I had to do last week.  On Saturday morning we had our rehearsal for our church's Advent Pageant.  I was pleasantly surprised when things went smoothly and we ended on time.  Right before the lunch..... a pizza lunch that the church was providing for our 60 (or so ) children and youth.  A pizza lunch THAT WASN'T DELIVERED WHEN IT WAS SUPPOSE TO BE!  Turns out there was a misunderstanding about the order and it had to...

" Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour ." (Matthew 24:44) This is how the Gospel reading for the first Sunday in Advent (which was today) ends.   The words that stand out for me are "must be ready".  We spend so much time focusing on "getting ready for Christmas" that I think it is important that we are reminded in the Advent Season to be ready for Jesus when He returns.  Now, getting ready for Christmas, and by that I mean shopping, baking, planning events, wrapping gifts, and cleaning, is very important.  Personally, I hope to get all those things done before December 25th!   But what does it mean to be ready for the Son of Man's return? Right now I am focused on the verb "be".  Now my problem is that I don't really remember much about English grammar from high school so I can't rattle off what kind of verb "be" is.  What I am aware of, however, is that it implies a state. ...

Where are my keys?  Not this again! (See my post on Monday, April 25, 201 6.)  These are the thoughts I was having awhile back when I couldn't find my keys.  The clock was ticking as it was time to go to school and my frustration with myself was rising.  I think I may have prayed but don't exactly remember.  Here what I do remember: After a few minutes of searching, I looked down and realized I was holding my purse.  Inside it were my keys!!  "Ah," I thought, "isn't that similar to us with our identity and value.  We look everywhere for it when we've actually had it in our possession in Christ all along."  Let me explain. Many of us spend a lot of time and energy searching for meaning and significance in our lives.  We look to other people's opinions of us, our list of accomplishments, or our bank accounts to give us a sense of importance or security.  Sometimes we find the search too painful and turn to habits to comfort, numb, o...

This past Sunday's Gospel reading was Luke 18:9-14.  It is an amazing parable which Jesus told to " some who were confident of their own righteousness  and looked down on everyone else ." (verse 9). The parable challenges the religious thinking that people can have merit before God that makes them righteous.  The Pharisee thought he was better than others because he wasn't like "other people" who sinned (vs 11) but instead called attention in his prayer to the things he did that were measurable: fasted two times/week and gave 1/10th of all he got (vs. 12). The other person praying in the temple that day (and to whom the Pharisee compares himself and thought himself better than) was a tax collector.  The tax collector had a posture of contrition and humility.  He wouldn't even look to heaven and was beating his breast.  His prayer was,    ‘ God, have mercy on me, a sinner .’ (vs 13). Jesus goes on to say this about the tax collector: 14...

This past Saturday night I had a wonderful dinner at the Youth for Christ banquet in Selkirk.  As we listened to the great things God is doing in the lives of youth, I realized that I knew the woman who was involved in starting the ministry 30 or so years ago.  The next day I saw her and I asked about how YFC Selkirk started.  She told me an amazing story that involved a dream in which God spoke to her, youth meeting in a banquet hall of a bar, many challenges, and much prayer.  It was the prayer part that I picked up on.  Why?  Because at one point - once they no longer could meet at the banquet hall and a few other things fell through - a group of people met weekly for 2 years to pray for the youth of Selkirk.  Two years!  Finally their prayers were answered and YFC was established in Selkirk at the location they still meet at today.  The youth of today are benefiting from the perseverant prayers of people in the past. It was fitting that...

Happy Thanksgiving!  I know it has been a LONG time since I have blogged and I am not promising that I will do it regularly in this season of my life but here I am today.  Why?  Two reasons: 1) because the Gospel passages of the last two weeks have caught my attention and 2) because a friend said, "Blog!" Today we are headed to Luke 17. This past Sunday's lectionary reading was Luke 17:11-19 .  This is not a surprising text being that it was the Thanksgiving long weekend but it is a startling one.  Only one of the ten lepers who was healed by Jesus thanks Him "- and he was a Samaritan"!   For a second time in this Gospel, Luke challenges readers to not judge who has faith, who is truly worshiping and trusting Jesus.  The Parable of the Good Samaritan  followed shortly after a Samaritan village did not welcome Jesus ( Luke 9:51-56 ),  But unlike the parable, this time it wasn't a story Jesus told.  There was a flesh and blood ma...

I was sitting in the car as my daughter had to run into the house for a minute.  As I sat there, I wondered what can I do in this moment? Come before God. So I did, with prayer and thanksgiving.  The experience stood out to me.  Or maybe I should be more accurate..... the reality that I, sinner that I am, can come before the Almighty God startled me in a delightful way.  What? Wow!  I have that privilege. I can " approach God's throne of grace with confidence " (Hebrews 4:16).  We can.  You can.  All because Jesus has made a way. Hebrews 10:19-22 "Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscien...