friend

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I Lost Something Precious

Have you ever lost something that was precious to you, only to realize you could live without it?

It happens a lot and in many different areas of our lives.

Years ago I had a watch that I got from my dad. It was a Rolex so it was worth a little bit. My dad wasn’t wearing it and it wasn’t working, so I took the back cover off and cleaned it up.

The insides of that watch looked much different than your run-of-the-mill watch. It was all shiny and had a couple of jewels in it. I put it back together and amazingly it worked. 

Since my dad wasn’t used to wearing watches, he didn’t seem to mind letting his teenage son wear it. 

I had that watch for about three years. 

Then just before a camping weekend with my friends, I thought maybe I should get a new watch band because the band was starting to wear out. 

But I never got it, and the first night of the camping trip I lost the watch. 

I looked forever for it, and that weekend learned the truth that the big outdoors is pretty big. 

Though I was upset with losing that watch, now it means very little to me. I’m way past missing that hand-me-down from my dad.

We can also lose a friend. We can be very close to someone, but then distance and time cause that friendship to wain, and not be as important to us as it once was. 

We can lose friends through death. Where once they were part of our lives, and we saw them frequently, enjoyed their conversations, humour, help, and company, suddenly they are gone – people who were precious to us are no longer with us. 

This weekend we said goodbye to someone like that. 

Colin had been an integral part of our church since I arrived 22 years ago. When I look around the church I see his handiwork in so many places. 

It’s a real loss, but I know that, in time, the loss will be eased. I’ve experienced it many times in my life. 

You can also lose a friend through a disagreement. Maybe you were hurt or felt betrayed and the friendship is lost. 

It’s possible to remain friendly but, for all intents and purposes, you or they don’t feel the same, and you’ve lost that friendship. … That might be the saddest loss of all, because the friendship is still there just beyond your grasp. You can see it, but that friendship remains lost until the hurt or betrayal is dealt with –  and that takes two willing people who desperately want to hold on to something precious and not lose it. 

Here’s the thing: God is your friend if you have put your faith in His son, Jesus. To God that friendship is not something He wants to lose. But you could lose interest if you let other things in your life become more of an interest to you. You could let wrongs build up between you so that you try to avoid God, causing you to lose something that is right in your grasp if you don’t deal with those wrongs. God has already agreed to make things right. Confess your sin regularly and keep what is most precious.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What friendship have you lost, and what can you do to get it back? Leave your comments below.

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Final Goodbye To A Dear Friend

Yesterday I heard of the passing of a good friend and colleague, Ian Ross. Well, he wasn’t a colleague in the strict sense of the word, but he definitely was a partner in ministry.

IanRoss

My introduction to Ian came 30 years ago. I had just been hired as the youth pastor at the church he attended, Beulah Alliance Church in Edmonton.

Along with a youth group, I inherited several volunteer youth leaders. Ian and his wife, Audrey, were two of them. At first we spent time getting to know each other, which consisted of mostly hanging out at restaurants after Friday night activities.

We got along amazingly. Ian and Audrey had a love for the students in the youth group like nobody else. It’s rare to find commitment on a volunteer level like these two had.

The most startling thing about our relationship, and their ministry with teens, was that they had already raised their family and their youngest child was just graduating out of the youth group.

These two relics in terms of youth ministry were only a handful of years younger than my parents – and I was 29 at the time.

Over the years I found Ian to be a quiet mentor. What I mean is he wasn’t pushy. He listened, observed and when he thought I needed some advice … well, I was all ears.

He was like that with the teens. He participated in everything the students did; they loved him and listened to him when he had a word for them.

We did some crazy things together over the eleven years I was in that church: staying up all night with the group when we had all-nighters, taking kids to the hospital when we went tubing, setting up the gym or the whole church for big events.

He got roped into all kinds of stunts, skits, and situations that most people his age would have had nothing to do with.

Ian, however, just rolled with it all. The thing that Ian did best, and did the most, was hang out with our teens, and interact with them. He encouraged them, teased them, instructed them, impressed upon them, teased them (did I say that already?).

He befriended them.

There is not a student who went through that church who didn’t like Ian, who didn’t respect Ian, who didn’t learn something from Ian … well, maybe Kurt … That one night cost Ian a couple of years, I think. At any rate, he was greyer, if you can get greyer when you already have completely grey hair.

For me, Ian was a mentor, a partner, a friend – oh, and a golfing buddy. I have only seen him a few times in the last 19 years but I’ve never felt that we were far from each other.

Ian was one of those friends you could pick up with like you saw him yesterday, even when it had been more like 10 years.

My heart is saddened that he is not here, so I will just look forward to when I see him again in heaven.

Here’s the thing: We don’t find a lot of Ian Rosses in the world. But God uses people like him. And I would challenge you, if you knew Ian, or know someone like Ian, to decide today that you will seek to make your life count for God like Ian Ross made his life count. Our world, our churches need more people like the Rosses leaving their fingerprints on everything and everyone they touch.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who has been a mentor in your life? Leave your comment below.

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Mystery Phone Calls

The other day I had a phone message, but I didn’t recognize the name.  My secretary said he asked for me by name and seemed to know me.

I went to my office and hesitated making the call, not being sure what this person may want from me.  Instead, I made another call, just to warm up to the idea of returning this message.  It didn’t help.  I again looked at the message, to try to figure out who this person might be, and how I might know him.  I decided to give it a shot; I made the call.

Some people answer the phone and start talking like you know them, and if you don’t immediately make it clear that you have no clue who they are, the phone call becomes awkward.

It’s agony when that happens. You strain to pick up on any tip the person may drop as they talk.  About a month ago, I was five minutes into a conversation before I figured out who I was talking to.  During that time I thought it was one person and then I thought it was someone else.  When I eventually figured it out, what the guy was saying finally made sense.  I was sweating on the other end of the line.

Thankfully, this guy didn’t leave me hanging.  He could tell I didn’t have the slightest idea who he was and asked, “You don’t know who I am, do you?”  When I said “no”, he gave me some context to place him in.

I had played shinny hockey with him years ago. In fact, except for one game of hockey he played with me about a year ago, I probably haven’t seen him in about 5 years.  Let’s just say he hadn’t been in my circle of associates for a long time, and I had only known him by his first name.  He phoned me because he knew I was a pastor and thought maybe he could talk some things over with me.

The guys I regularly play shinny hockey with all know that I’m a pastor.  Somehow it comes out.  When they find out, their language usually changes for a while, and when they slip up they usually apologize … at first.

Even though I’ve been playing hockey with some of these guys for years and years, not often am I asked for anything other than a pass on the ice.  This call was pretty unusual, especially given the fact we had been out of touch for so long.

We talked about setting up a time to meet and then ended the conversation.  When I hung up the phone, I just sat in my chair for a moment, thinking about how that guy came to call me at this particular time in his life.

Here’s the thing:  What we do today may not seem like it makes much difference.  In fact, one day may not make much difference.  But over a long time, being genuine to those around you may trigger something in someone, years from now, in their time of need.  That’s when being a consistent Christian example before them will make a difference.  God reminded me this week, through this phone call, that the testimony of my life has no expiry date attached to it.  So, I need to keep living a life God can use.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: How has your life, your testimony, your example made a difference years later?  Leave your comment below.