Internationally Known

Is what describes this picture... this is me and Nic at Niagara Falls standing beside a statue of the tallest man on record to live (Robert Wadlow). I knew i was short, but this is a real shot to the ego... ok maybe not so much, but definitely neat to see...

We are back home after a great trip with our group to Youth Convention in Winnipeg and a nice week in Toronto for my fellowships General Conference! It was good to take some time away from the office and "work" and get out... Spring is my favorite season and so therefore, also my favorite time to be on holidays! Not that this was a holiday or anything, i mean i was still working as my Church sent me... right...

Youth Convention was a hoot this year... great speakers, music and i know our group had a blast... General Conference was also interesting... Getting to sit in a room and hear people from the fellowship debate and discuss issues was an interesting experience... not to mention the time in Toronto was great... Go to take in a Blue Jays game, went to Niagara Falls and tried to experience everything, had dinner with my former leaders and people i still love and look up to, read some good books, drank a lot of coffee, caught up with other leaders, and best of all spent time with my beautiful wife! Although, i think i was a bit grumpy from time to time... living on 5-6 hours of sleep per night, can only go so long!

I guess what is on my heart today and over the last week is the whole idea of how we as humans make decisions that we argue are based on the scriptures! I wonder how often we bring our feelings/pre-conceived beliefs into the process and whether this waters down the impact that scripture should have in our decision making? How do we let the scriptures and our emotions help us in making decisions that we believe are God centered? There was a bit of a controversial resolution passed at our conference this past week and i'm totally not saying it should've or shouldn't have been passed (i'm not an ordained minister yet, so i refrain from getting to vote... i know... perhaps i''ll get the added anointing soon)... It was passed and i support our fellowship... But what i'm contemplating now is how much of 'me' do i allow in judging what is 'biblical'?

Take Capital Punishment for instance... I've heard one of my favorite speakers/authors Tony Campolo, once say that it is impossible to read the Sermon on The Mount and not come out against Capital Punishment! I have to agree with Tony... Jesus preaches a Gospel of love, hope, grace, mercy, forgiveness and especially Justice! YET, our human hearts often desire to see JUSTICE be played out... in the ways we deem fit... and so many would reason that Capital Punishment is a legitimite Biblical and Christian response to evil, even though the scriptures may not overly agree with our passionate desire to see justice prevail through these 'means'... and often times, speak very contrary to the way we use them to back up our 'beliefs'...

I guess as humans we are very emotional people and often issues hit close to home... are we prepared to let the scriptures have final say in what we do? Or do we allow culture and our heart's desire lead the way? Just some thoughts... It's a tough battle to wrestle out sometime, but needed nonetheless... It's tough when the scripture goes contrary to my nature and natural beliefs... It takes humility, to accept it's truth at times!

If I could've voted at Conference i honestly don't know how i would've voted on these difficult issues... One thing i now know, is that a vote isn't something to be done carelessly... I think deep study of the scripture and much prayer should go into any decision we make... especially when the truth of scripture is the deciding factor and what we are claiming our decisions are based on... you wrestle with this much? Those are my thoughts today, i'm working on a couple of sermons and listening to the new Death Cab disc... hope you're having a great day!