Good and Evil: Bomb Scares and Blessings

It now being 2:50am I am in my prime evaluating time of the day. And quite a week to evaluate. I realise it has been some time since my last blog. I apologise.

To business, on December 13th, last Thursday, I arrive at church having slept in. For some unknown reason my cell phone decided that my alarm would be silent that morning. Myself and Adam Cornford were supposed to be driving all over the Lower Mainland checking out other church's youth rooms for ideas. Due to my sleeping in I was at the church, rather than somewhere in Richmond, at 10:45am. I walk in to the foyer of the church to hear these words, 'Charles Best is evacuating, there's been a bomb scare, they're coming here'. The next few minutes were pretty exciting for myself and the Reverend Pastor Jon Morrison (that's right, he's a Rev now) as we ran around dreaming up ideas of how we could entertain the 900 students about to pile in our doors.

Next thing we know we are up on stage in front of just short of one thousand high school students and teachers, beginning to warm themselves after the short walk in the snow to the church. We lead them in a game that Jon thankfully remembered was still on the AV/Sound Booth computer after our Wednesday evening's youth meeting the week previous. Some students sang the opening lines to Christmas Songs the rest of the students finished them off, as I ran around throwing out prizes to the fastest groups to respond. The games then proceeded to dance offs, an impromptu 'Silent Night' from a student with quite the voice, drum battles, Buck Buck, Guesstures, and more. Jon and I were simply in our element, supported by the amazing staff at the church. Jared and Brad dropped everything to run the sound and AV, Adam faithfully guarded one of the doors, the office ladies helped in countless ways, and most humbling of all, Steve (our incredible janitor and friend) gave up his lunch to some of the students and then cleaned up after them all once the day was done.

The truth is, we all had fun, we enjoyed the day, Jon and I especially. Once the students and teachers has eventually all left and what just happened began to sink in we were struck with God's faithfulness. As Jon writes in his blog, much more readable than my own, we had recently been very aware of our need to get into the high schools more, and prayed accordingly.

Theologically both myself and Jon were quite aware that 'we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.' (Romans 8:28, ESV) however, we never expected such a concrete example of this to walk through our doors in the shape of 900 local high school students. Some student(s) had called in a bomb scare and God used this for His own glory.

It had been a frustration of ours for some time that although Charles Best Secondary School is literally 100ft from our building, many of those students did not know we existed, much less came out to youth or church. We were afforded the chance to give shelter, food and entertainment to these young men and women.

I am reminded of Joseph and his reaction to his brothers' terrible treatment of himself, as they grovel before him for their lives he replies to them, 'you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.' (Genesis 50:20) God took the evil of those brothers, and used it for good, saving the lives of some. Our prayer should now be that God would save some lives out of this event. That Jon and I, and the church in general, would be able to make the most of the favour God has won us. The morning after the bomb scare, the friday, Jon and I were invited to the school for their assembly. We were heralded as heros, rather unfairly if you ask me, we were just having fun, by the 1400 students. Pray that we are able to build better relationships with a much greater number of the students and that some of them will come to know Christ through this.

Glory to God.

We're Engaged! Facebook Says So!

Jokingly after my proposal I looked at my fiance with a very serious look on my face and said, 'Do you know what this means?' and she was gripped with suspense.

I put her out of her misery by revealing the incredible truth. I replied, 'we can change our facebook status...'

That's a pretty big deal if you ask me.

It's Been A While! Time For An Update!

That's me standing in my favourite place in the world. Tofino. What a pleasure it is to be there. I'm convinced Tofino will be my place of refuge over the years here as a Pastor, Husband and Father. Thank you God for making such a place, you didn't have to make this world so beautiful.

Well, it's the second last week of summer at camp qwanoes. It's been a funny summer actually. Let's talk for a while about what I've been learning and what's been happening. There's no way that I can sum up the whole summers thoughts so here are a few key ones. There will be more blogs to come.

Prayer: I think we need to change the way we do prayer in the West. I'd like to devote a whole blog to this at a later date. It's exciting though and I've been convicted personally.

North American Church Culture: Ok, I conceed that I'm going to have to become more knowledgable on the whole Creation/Evolution/Old Earth/New Earth... deal. I don't want to. I'm sickened by how insignificant the argument seems in relation to salvation. It seems like a bit of a leftover from the evangelical Christendom North America suffered under for the past few decades. That's why I'm confused as to why some of the more 'emerging' people I know still get so worked up over it (I'm not emerging, but it seems to be an example of everything they hate so I don't understand why they're still determined to have non-Christians accept what they believe). Today in staff meeting a counsellor spoke of a kid who stopped talking altogether because he believed in evolution and knew the counsellor believed in creation. This is an issue that is stopping Christians from sharing the GOSPEL in this culture. This is probably worth a blog too.

Book Review: Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives. This book contains 5 authors (Mark Driscoll, John Burke, Dan Kimball, Doug Pagitt and Karen Ward) and editor, Robbert Webber. Zondervan decided that it was time to try to get to grips what what the Emerging Church believed. As Webber notes at the end of the book, it is absurd to ask the more 'Emergent' lot what their theological beliefs are. For two reasons; 1. They don't exactly know, it's supposed to be a 'mystery' and 2. They refuse to communicate in theological language as they're trying to escape that kind of thing. As Webber notes, other than Driscoll the authors fail to give their standpoints on theological issues such as the Trinity, authority of Scripture and the Atonement. Here's roughly where they seem to stand:

Mark Driscoll: Same old Driscoll, able to articulate himself in relevant theology speak. 'Reformed Biblicist' approach leaves no suprises. Had the best paragraph I've ever read on the Atonement.

John Burke: Pushes Scripture, evangelical without the baggage. Also writes in an understandable fashion.

Dan Kimball: Would like to see a return to Nicean Christianity. Still relatively understandable.

Doug Pagitt: One of the head honchos at 'Emergent Village'. Very difficult to understand. Airy Fairy. Fails to pin down any theology, very emergent... he's all about 'conversations'.

Karen Ward: I wanted someone to put me out of my misery reading her chapter. Her authority seemed to be anything. She quoted non-Christian poets, blogs and other girly garbage. Wants to rename everything. Church = 'New Monastic Community'. Her as Pastor = 'Abbess'. Painfully liberal.

Robbert Webber: Discerning evaluation and summary. 'Ancient-Future' vision seems a little useless.

Book Review: The Irresistable Revolution: Shane Claibourne: Hmm... lets wait for the blog perhaps. It'll be interesting talking about this though as the book has a lot of people talking.

Biographies: I've recently downloaded a lot of biographies of some legends like Athanasius, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, and a load of others. I'm going to read more and more biographies this year. More blogs to come.

Post-modernism, pluralism, relitavism, consumerism, Church and today: Culture seems to be more and more dissatisfied with itself. I still believe Reformed Biblical theology will have a big role in address this dissatisfaction.


Well, I'm out of time. There will be many more blogs on the way. I start at Coquitlam Alliance Church in September. To finish off, I had a cool moment the other day. My mail box had three items in it that made me realise I was actually out in British Columbia as a Missionary Pastor. I had a cheque from a church I preached at; I had a wedding invitation from two local friends; and I had a bank statement from my Canadian bank account. I really live here. Wow. Until the next time.

P.s. I graduated.

I Love Pro Plus

So I just hit the 7,000 word mark on my dissertation. And it's mostly thanks to Pro Plus. So I usually only crack out the Pro Plus the night before an exam, but I decided to give them a try tonight. Those caffine highs in a pill helped! Somehow I managed to research and write for 3 hours. I trawled through countless books and wrote over 1,500 words. So life is good right now. I can certainly see light at the end of the tunnel.

Amanda arrives a week today, and I seriously hope to have my dissertation as good as finished by that point. On a less positive note Inter Bread FC's season is over, knocked out in the quarter finals. But, as I prefer a positve spin on most things... at least I get to rest my tired body.

Ok, I think I'm beginning to crash now after the high. Time for some sleep, I have a tutorial in the morning I still need to do the reading for. Romanesque and Gothic Cathedral architecture and how theological reform changed their design. How exciting...

Good Night Bloggerdom.

-Dave

Final Month In The Homeland + Financial Ponderings.

Welcome to May, the last month I'll spend in my homeland of Scotland for as far as I can see, God Willing. That's quite the call there, take a step back, read it over, appreciate the magnitude. And continue...

The above room has become home. I've lived with the lads for 2 years now, and it's been a real pleasure. Granted, our antics have calmed down considerably, but this is mostly due to our growing comfort with nakedness. It's not so fun when you burst in on someone in the shower with a group of people when their only reaction is, 'Hey Guys, how you doing?' Where's the fun in that? Flat 32 has been known for quality banter for 3 years now, and it shall continue next year, without me. This would make me sad, if I'd forgetten where I will be.

The past few days have been strange. Yesterday I blitzed a few issues in my dissertation and I'm over half way now. Which is crazy, I basically did a quarter of my dissertation in a day. I also got an email from my supervising professor asking me to attend a debate on the topic of women in ministry. I've grudgingly accepted. I hope to have my paper done by then, the 9th of May. Wow, that's like... 10 days away?! And I never ever want to read the nonsense 'egalitarians' write ever again. Roll on graduation.

My observation today is that it's ironic that much of the practical teaching on 'Biblical Manhood' from Driscoll appears almost impossible for a young man starting out in ministry. Here are the things I'm getting sick of hearing.

'You should be buying a home for the security of your family and good stewardship of your finances'... Excuse me? Even if I was on a salary where I could get a mortgage I'd still be very catious of gambling on the Vancouver housing market right now. For a start, it's not possible, even for a getting a mortgage on a condo you're looking at a 5-10% downpayment, and a minimum income of $60,000 (yes SIXTY THOUSDAND DOLLARS) to even be given a mortgage. This would be to buy a property that there is no guarentee on making a profit on.

'You should start a college fund for your kids now'... with what? I have no money and my wallet's not going to be bursting anytime soon by the looks of things. A college fund for my kids? I'm struggling to get the money together to even buy an engagement ring, to marry a wonderful Christian girl, to have babies with in MANY years. It's not like I wouldn't like to start a college fund.

'The car you drive, is it a beater that you're constantly having to fix yourself? That time could be better spent. Get a car that won't break down all the time'... I mean, where is this money supposed to come from?

I could go on and on with this kind of practical financial practises that Biblical Man are supposed to practise but it wouldn't get me anywhere. I just find it incredibly ironic how difficult it is for me to even dream of any of these expressions of Biblical Manhood currently. Don't get me wrong, some of his teaching on this stuff is great. Mostly because he uses a lot of Piper, Grudem and Moo's work on it. But the financial stuff?

Who knows, maybe it's just another manifestation at my frustration of being 20 years old with life spread out in front of me. Often I just think, 'how do Pastors do it?'. I mean, honestly, how do they do it? Surely I'm not supposed to be up to my neck in debt 'for the Lord', that's simply poor stewardship and would kill my ministry and relationships. Add into the equation ongoing education, downsizing to one income when kids come along, that added expense a child brings... I mean, is it just me... or do you wonder 'how on earth do they do it?!' too?

I'm not doubting God will bring everything together. I know He will. He's not going to stop now. I suppose my ponderings of the day have been,

1. How on earth are there so many Pastors? How do they support their often large families? Are all pastors supposed to have high earning jobs before going into the ministry? How do I, a young, poor, soon to be married man move to the other side of the world (expensive); begin full-time ministry (very expensive); get married and prepare for a family life (very very expensive)?

2. Should this practical teaching be incorporated into the general teaching of what is essentially a Spiritual matter? Surely the importance lies with what you do with what God has provided. God has not provided such wealth and comfort to the vast majority of men, why is this being taught as a practical outworking of Biblical Manhood?

To be honest, I've had to look at the teaching and think to myself, what impact is this having on me? I've anxiously looked at hundreds of properties all over Vancouver, when as painful as it is to admit, buying a place in Vancouver currrently, in a lot of cases, is equal to going to Vegas and putting my money in a slot machine; hardly good stewardship. I've looked at investment funds for putting my kids through college, when I can't pay for a ring, nevermind the appliances and furniture we'll need for a home to live in, for my future wife. This kind of thinking is absurd.

Really, I'll leave this teaching to the Christian suits that work in the city. It's good teaching, if it's being taught to men with sizable incomes that are able to afford such luxuries. I've resolved myself to being content with the fact that I'm trusting God for every cent, and I will contiue to do the same. I'm blessed to have someone beside me that's content scraping by for a few years as we get our feet on the ground, this is normal for any newly weds. There have been lots of questions floating around today. I'll finish with these ones...

Is Driscoll in a dream world when it comes to finances? Has he forgotten that there are young men striving to be Biblical too?

Actually, I'll finish with this...

"Do Not Be Anxious

25"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.


34"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." - Jesus, Matthew 6:25-34.

The Life and Times Of Dave Smith's Groin...

Hello All. I'd just like to take a moment to pay my respects to the greatest football team in the world, Inter Bread FC. We've had many a good game together, and it's been a pleasure playing alongside this crop of fine young footballers. It looks like we have qualified from our league into the knockout stages; with an excellent record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 2 loses.

As many of you already know, my right groin has been torn since november. However I always intended to soldier on until we were knocked out or won the trophy. I played 90 minutes for the 'Buckfast Monks' today, against the crudely named 'Albion Yer Maw'. Things seemed to be alright, my fitness is on it's way back, which is always nice. The game was a non-event, with the monks having a non-existant midfield it didn't make my job any easier. But I had fun. Anyways, my groin is still torn, but a new revelation I can reveal exclusively on 'Blogheart' is that I may have broken my 4th metatarsal in my right foot.

A challenge almost as crude as their name seems to have severely damaged my chances of playing again this season. I will try to soldier on though. I'll see how it goes, but it may be time to listen to my body and slowly build up my fitness again and only then get back on the field. As long as Inter Bread are playing, I shall play, if I can. But after that, the season is over.

Now to get more philosophical, it really is quite a strange thing getting old. I mean, for the first time in my life I realised the other day... 'I'm unfit'. That's a bit of a tough one to take?! So once I'm recovered, I'm totally going to have to get fit again! It's very strange! I don't like it.

Anyways, I'm going to go and work on my dissertation again. I'm sick of it. The Bible supports a complimentarian view of women in ministry, accept it. I don't want to have to read another person who's like, 'but that's not ethical!'... who are you to tell God what is 'ethical'?! I also hate that there are 'Biblical Scholars' out there who openly tell us they're not Christians?! They can't know the Bible that well then can they?!

I haven't forgotten about that Piper review incidentally, it's still on the way. Anyways, enjoy your evening/morning/afternoon where ever you are.

-Dave

It's Monday!

Hey All. It's been nice to hear from some of the people reading my blog. Feel free to drop comments as always. So, today's monday. Let's start with yesterday though. Well, I spent most of the day reading a John Piper book. A book review will follow in the next couple of days. I read three books this weekend, and I didn't want to review them all immediately and make you think my blog is simply a book review blog. It was a good book, as is expected from big JP, and spoke to me.

Then it was off to church last night. Which was good, I appreciate Matthew's preaching usually and I have a great deal of respect for him in sticking with his congregation. It's beautiful to see the impact God's had there, a lot of it through Matthew. Students really being involved in the elderly folk's lives, and vice versa. If my church is as well integrated at Gerrard Street Baptist, I'll be pleased. Obviously it's not perfect, but it is certainly a good church.

So this morning it's back to reality. As opposed to the dream world I lived in for much of last week in which I denied I had a 10,000 word dissertation and an exam. I was just sick of it. But this week I have to hit it head on, and this morning I've breached the 2,000 word mark and have a decent introduction. I had a class today, the picture above is where I have had most of my classes. It's a shame that in my final semester I'm in the chemistry building, which is significantly uglier. This week's class is on the development of cities in the Middle Ages and how they mirror the Mendicant orders. I know it doesn't sound riviting, but it's interesting to see how evangelism to urbanites developed, as before there wasn't really evangelism to one's own people, and certainly not to city dwellers. They don't teach it like that, but it's the way I'm looking at it.

I should get going. Maybe I'll do that book review this evening. Where ever you are, whatever you're doing, be joyful.

-Dave

The First Of Many Todays

Well, here we are, April 21st. What you don't know yet is that April 21st is a rather big day in my life. Not only is it the day I shall post my third blog, it is also the day that I finish an 18 month cell phone contract. I shall miss you phone. We've had some interesting times together.

The day's two major events will not be further integrated however, and herein ends any discussion of my phone contract.

Hello! Once again, welcome to my life. You join me today at 3:40pm, eating a breakfast of red bull and chocolate. I'm sitting here at my desk in Aberdeen. On my left is aforementioned red bull and chocolate, next to a pile of notes that say the word 'GAY' on them. These notes will be hidden around my respective flat mates' rooms for them to find today, tomorrow, and far off into the distant future. On my right, 18 books and multiple articles on my dissertation subject; 'Women And The Teaching Ministry In The Pastoral Epistles'. My life currently is torn between these left and right sides.

My flat mates, Graeme and Ben, are suprisingly not in the 'game chairs' seen in the picture at the top of today's post. They must be at the pub watching a game. When they return those game chairs will soon find us on them. So, yes, I'm in Aberdeen. Up on the North-East coast of Scotland. No doubt it is a beautiful place. Take a look at my pictures taken up here during my time of study in Aberdeen here.

I'm studying Divinity. More on that will come in future posts. I play for the mighty Inter Bread FC, the self-proclaimed 'hotty tipped favourites for the Champions League 2012'. Unfortunately I doubt we will even win the top competition in Europe, but we do have a lot of fun together. I should really devote a future post to the team; infact, I commit right here and right now to do so.

My time in Aberdeen has been tough. Having known for so many years I am to move to British Columbia has been difficult. Imagine always knowing that your future lies somewhere else? That to settle would be stupid. Relationships you build will not last long. All your free time is spent trying to cultivate relationships on the other side of the world. And among all of that you're trying not to have your Faith suffocated at the 'Best Divinity School in Scotland'. I haven't learned anything from my courses other than observing the damage done by a selfish desire for knowledge. I've watched as students that aren't even Christians are portrayed as great candidates for the ministry. It's terrified me, and made me despair at times. Thankfully I know God is bigger than their 'wisdom'.

What have I learned then? I've actually learned that Theology is incredibly important. If you have poor theology, don't be a Church Leader, go home and get Doctrinally Sound! And hey, Theology doesn't even matter if you've not got an intimate, loving and personal relationship with Jesus Christ that acknowledges our depravity and His Grace! So I've been swallowing good Theology whole, I'm going to do some book reviews on this blog too I think. I think I'm going to do a ranting post about God stuff soon. And topical blogs on different subjects. It's good to get it all down on paper (or blog) sometimes.

I've also learned first hand that building relationships is the best way to do 99% of evangelism. Of course I knew this from books, but from experience it was really cemented. I mean, I suppose a huge chunk of my Christian walk has been here, so I was always going to experience practically the things I was learning in my reading.

And the continuing lesson that I've been learning through my whole Christian walk is that I'm never alone. God's had me in some very lonely situations since becoming a Christian, and He's shown me that I never have to be alone. There has also been the continuing humbling and growing. Really, there's been too much. So I'm going to just pretend that's me covered the past 20 years and get on with living so I can write about that.

Ok! I need more red bull! That is the first of my todays.

Good Today.
Dave.