Mark 10

V.15 What does it mean to receive the kingdom of God like a little child?
V.23-31 Why is it hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of Heaven? I see Jesus is asking this man to sell everything. Do the rich really have to sell everything to enter heaven? Or maybe it's harder to simply trust in God when you have other things, like money, to give you security. And maybe that's why he tells him to sell everything because it is hindering him. Verse 27 seems to say it would be difficult for the poor too because it is impossible for people without God either way, which we know well because we are saved by grace alone. Then 29-30 goes on to say it is those that will sacrifice the comfort of family for the sake of the gospel that will receive eternal life. It is a little confusing but what I think Jesus is getting at is that people should not let anything hinder them from coming to the kingdom, not family or wealth or anything else, just come to God like a child and God makes salvation possible.
V.33-34 those words I imagine would have been difficult for Jesus to say, knowing it was about himself.
V. 43-45 This is a key verse in this book. In my opinion this is the heart of what Jesus has been saying and trying to do to this point.

One thing I have begun to notice is that Jesus was intentional about his teaching and healed only when called upon to do so. The stories earlier on where mostly healings, people came to him to be healed but didn't recognize the wealth beyond that that Jesus had to offer. Now in Chapter 10 it seems they are beginning to realize. 10:1 says it was his custom to teach them (it did not say heal their sick). The chapter with a healing because the blind man comes and asks for it. The Blind man calls Jesus "Rabbi" which means teacher. Jesus constantly heals because he has compassion on the people. I love Jesus.

Our 2009 Family Snapshot

In case you didn't get out Chritams letter, here are a few snippets from our life:
-We've been in Manitoba for more than 6 years now and it really feels like home. Sometimes people ask us "If you die now where would you be buried?" We say Manitoba, that's how I know we are home. That said we still miss the mountains and ocean and family we have in BC, especially now during the holidays.
- For summer holidays this year we went to BC with Jeff Krahn and kids, and Al and Martha Sawatzky and boys. While we were in the Rocky Mountain area we went to a lake way up in the mountains. It was an afternoon in time I wish could last forever, the sun was so warm, the lake was a wonderful turquoise colour, we were swimming and lounging on the dock with some awesome friends and then it started to rain, yes the sun was still shining and this was the best. The whole trip was a memorable adventure.
-Our family loves music. We have a lot of diversity in our music. Music is often combined with dancing at our house, that's how we keep fit :). Our favourite musical artist right now are: Krystal Meyers(Joelle), Hannah Montanna(Ariel), David Crowder(Cindy), Xavier Rudd (Ben), and Gummibar(Seraya)
-Ben really got into cyclocross(off road biking with a road bike) this year. He is part of a local group that call themselves ABES (Altona Biking EnthusistS) and I can tell you first hand he is very enthusiastic about biking, he has the kids hooked and is not giving up on trying to convince me to be a Babe of ABE. It has been a lot of fun cheering him on at races and see him so excited about it.
- We attended the Church Planting Congress in Calgary. We travelled with over 40 other people from our conference. It was amazing. We were encouraged once again to keep focused on the basics: Make followers of Jesus, reach out to our local community, and reach out to the ends of the earth.
-This year we saw more than ever that our little girls are growing up, the thought comes with a mixture of fear and excitement. The scary part is how they move to be so independent of us and look and act more like tweenagers than little girls. The exciting part is seeing them grow in their faith, read their bibles on their own with enthusiasm and begin to ask questions that matter and to be active in caring for the poor. Ariel read the whole book of Psalms this fall. Joelle and Seraya went on a unicef collecting drive all on their own in some cold weather. And now they are all getting enthusiastic about fundraising for drilling a well in a place that needs clean water, talk to Ariel if you also have an interest in this.

Mark 9

V.4 Have you ever seen a dead person? Or a ghost? The disciples see Jesus converse with this 2 dead guys. It just seems so weird.
V. 15 Jesus is treated like a superstar, but he ignores it and goes straight to the issue at hand in verse 16.
V 19 Jesus is tired of their unbelief, they love his miracles so much but they lack faith and he is frustrated it seems, but he always has compassion.
V. 23 "Everything is possible for him who believes" Jesus says. I hear these words in my life too, and I echo with the boys father in verse 24 "I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief." Jesus I need your help for so many things.
V. 30,31 Jesus takes his disciples on a retreat. Cool.
V. 35-37 Jesus teaches them again about what he has come to do, he teaches about serving one another. Pride and selfishness have defiantly been the disease of my life, I keep trying to get rid of it but it comes back or I find more of it in my life. Jesus has said a few times in Mark about the way to greatness, it's through being a servant to all, to become like a child. Jesus' kingdom is an upside down kingdom, the way up is down. I think this all means that we need, I need to be less selfish, more serving, more grateful, more generous, relinquish more of what I think is "rightfully" mine. Like I said riding myself of it will be a life long endeavor but I think I'm on the journey anyway.

Mark 8

V. 15, as I read this I wonder what does it mean, "be careful for the yeast of the pharisees." I know yeast is something that even if there is a little it can affect the who batch and once you add it to the dough, under the right conditions, it works all on it's own fermenting all the dough. The Pharisees have just asked for a sign and Jesus seems ticked with them. Maybe Jesus is warning them not to let the Pharisees influence and thinking work into their lives, not even a little. It seems the Pharisees were doubting Jesus' authority.

For the first time in reading the gospels I feel like I am seeing Jesus' healing ministry as a side show. Am I seeing something wrongly? Set me straight if I am. Jesus is healing people because he is so compassionate and can't stop from helping them when they have faith, it's just in him to love and give but it's not what he really came to do. I feel like I am seeing this because he constantly tells people to keep the healing a secret and then he asks his disciples in verse 27-30 "Who do you say I am?" as if he is really wondering if his true intent is coming through to them, but then he tells them to keep that a secret too.... I don't know ...

V. 34-38 gives us another picture of Jesus' intentions on earth, to be an example of a true servant of all.

While examining 34-38 of the chapter I ask myself these 3 questions
1. How do I see this working in my family right now? - Wow I don't see the servant that I should be, I do see boldness though.
2. What new possibilities are here? - A happier home, serving home, with more thankfulness.
3. What would happen if we took these words seriously? - Less hesitation in sharing our faith anywhere and everywhere, more people would know Jesus. We would focus less on gaining in this world and focus on serving and gaining in eternity.

Mark 7

V. 8 I wonder if Jesus might have this to say about some things we do?
V.24, 36, 37 Again Jesus is trying to be secretive. It is almost as if he is willingly doing the miracles because of his compassion but yet doesn't want to do them for some other reason. Just a thought here, maybe the people were all seeking him for the wrong reason, selfish motives, wanting to be amazed, wanting healing, not truth and understanding and maybe Jesus feels he is getting too much glory and he wants His father to get the glory instead.

1.What does the text say? - Jesus is healing people, Jesus opposes the pharisees who are following traditions that are nullifying the word of God.
2.What does it mean? - Jesus is more powerful than physical ailments, God cares about our physical well being, Jesus was a compassionate man, traditions need to be evaluated by scripture to see if it nullifies the word of God.
3. How will I respond? - Be more compassionate like Jesus and remember to ask for healing on mine and other ailments, evaluate my traditions(as best I can) in light of scripture.

Mark 6

For those of you that might be just joining me, I'll let you know, I am reading and journaling through Mark over the holidays and I'm hoping you'll join me in doing the same. I really appreciate the accountability.
I will be taking a 2 day blog break on the 25th and 26th, so you have time to catch up if you're behind.

My random thoughts on Mark 6
V.1-6 Faith is a big deal. These people in Jesus home town did not see him like others did and they lacked faith. To them Jesus was just too familiar, he'd just always been around, part of their life. And it seems that because of his familiarity to them he was nothing too special, and so they didn't have faith in him. As I am writing this I am noticing something similar between the people in Jesus home town and my experience from a Christan upbringing and this predominately Christian town. When one has grown up in a Christian home the freshness and excitement of Jesus is often missing, he's just always been there. I hear it all the time from young people when talking about their testimonies, "My testimony is boring, I grew-up in a Christian home, I asked Jesus into my heart when I was 3, I never did anything really bad.blah blah blah..." The realization of Jesus' power is missing, the realization and expectation of a miracle is missing. There is nothing wrong with knowing Jesus from child up but I guess the question is - How do we keep being captivated anew with radical faith in a "Jesus bubble", where Jesus is familiar and has always been there? How do you create an expectant faith filled atmosphere as we raise our kids? (I'll have to explore this father in a future blog post)
V. 34 Jesus has compassion on them. I love these words about Jesus.
V. 46 Jesus need to get with his father again and so he makes the time for it.
V. 48 Funny that Jesus was about to pass by them, wasn't he heading to them? Maybe he was playing a joke on them?
V. 56 "All who touched him were healed." Amazing, Jesus these stories are amazing, I want to see action like this in our time too. There are so many sick and hurting people in our day too, if we have faith can these events take place in our time? Are they happening? Where? How? Lord help me to have faith. Increase the healing in our day.

Mark 5

V. 17 Jesus was just too much for them to Handle, they were afraid of what they didn't understand about the situation, so they send him away. I wonder if sometimes we do the same, Jesus is doing something amazing but it is way to different or scary for us so we have a choice to distance ourselves from him or follow him one step at a time in faith.
V. 19-20 "Go home to your family and tell them." Jesus gives the man his mission, to reach him family and home town, as opposed to going to far and distant places. I think this is an encouragement for people who don't feel God's call to distant places, but to stay near their family and neighborhood to be the missionary right where they are.
V. 43 I wonder why Jesus didn't want anyone to know what happened? and I always find I interesting that despite his wishes the story ended up being written in the most popular book of all time(also God's own word), still being read 2000+ years after it happened. Obviously he didn't really want it to be secret forever.

I like the story from 21-43. One of the reasons I like it is because it shows a day in the life of Jesus more than other stories seem to. Jesus is on the way to one miracle and another one "happens" on the way. I thought "happens" was a strange word to use for a miracle but it was the best word I could think of because from everyone but the woman and God's eyes it just suddenly happens. This day in the life of Jesus is filled with 2 kinds of people, those with faith and those without faith. Each persons experience with Jesus hinged on if they had faith or not. Because of faith Jairus got his daughter back, the woman stopped bleeding and was freed from her suffering, Peter, James and John got to witness an amazing miracle. because of their lack of faith the others had fear and sorrow, others ignored them, Jesus ignored them and left them out of the amazing things he was about to do, they did not witness a miracle or experience one themselves.
After reading this story I feel challenged to have faith, reminded to just believe Jesus will do what he says he can do and will be who he says he will be.

Mark 4

V. 2,34 he taught them(all the people) many things by parable and he only tells his disciples the meanings of the parables. The rest of the people had to figure it out. I don't really understand why he does this, it doesn't seem fair.
V. 40 It seems that Jesus expected brave and bold things from the disciples. Maybe with the fact that they had the inside scoop on the parables Jesus also expected more of them on account of it. Actually I think that is what V.24 and 25 says.
V. 41 I love this questions, I can feel the awe in it. " Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" I read this stories of Jesus and I get so excited. Let's be honest we don't always "feel" it, I mean "feeling" like Jesus really did this, sometimes it's just a story, but the closer I get to know him the more I really believe and "feel" it. It's a powerful thing to know it's reality. Jesus instantly calmed the storm. Anything seems possible.... I am in awe of You Jesus.

2 questions I ask myself
1. What do I see in this chapter that is already at work in my life? - I see good soil in my life (V.20) where truth is producing good fruit. I see being a disciple of Jesus is enlightening(V.34), I just wish sometimes he was here in person.
2. What new possibilities are found here? - Blessings of more understanding will be found as I use the knowledge/understanding I already have(V.24). Great and wondrous things will happen when I have faith and am not afraid (V.40), like the calming of the storm.

Mark 3

Jesus is not so interested in keeping a list of rules, he has his Fathers business in mind, which in this first story(v.1-6) includes Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath, which was considered work by the rule keepers. Jesus is concerned about reconciling the world to right not keeping rules, even to the point of taking great risks(the pharisees are now plotting to kill him because he does this) As I read this I wonder am I willing to take great risks to do the work of reconciliation? Risk like Jesus did?.... Lord make me willing to do your will no matter what it might do to my "image".

What questions do I have after reading this chapter?
V. 12 Why did Jesus not want the evil spirits to say who he was?
V. 14 Did Jesus only give power to preach and authority of demons to the apostles? Or was that also given to other believers?
V. 29 What does eternal sin mean?
V. 34, 35 Does biological family really mean nothing to Jesus?

* For those in the Young Moms Bible Study that are following along here, I just want to make a note about the lists of questions we gave you, feel free to deviate from those questions, as you can see I don't follow them. I actually have found it difficult to follow them. The point is to find what works for you and do it and learn from scripture.

Mark 2

The first story(v1-12) is Jesus healing the man who was lowered through the roof. The part that has caught my attention is the miracle of forgiven sins. We often see the physical healing as, "wow-Amazing" but take the forgiveness miracle for granted, at least I do. I know forgiveness. I've experienced that a lot but physical healing not so much, only a few times in my life have I specifically identified my healing as a miracle. We, or I should say I, need to be more wowed over forgiveness because they are equal miracles.

Jesus a friend of sinners, Jesus not for the ones who think they're religious(v.13-17).
1. What does this say to our world? - Jesus is for them.
2. What does this say to our country? - Jesus is for them.
3. What does this say to our community? - Jesus is for them.
4. What does this say to our congregation? - Jesus is for us and we need to move out from our 4 walls and 101 self-serving programs to be Jesus to our world, country and community.
5. What does this say to our family? - Jesus is for them
6. What does this say to me? - Jesus is for me and I need to remember to extend grace and that Jesus is good news for sinners and I need to be their friends too.

Mark 1

Journaling Mark 1
As I read the chapter my mind didn't settle on just one story or passage but several points that stand out.
I notice it is interesting that Jesus is tempted(v.12) and yet in James 1 says God can not be tempted. Not a discrepancy, I don't think, it just shows me Jesus was able to be tempted because he was fully human, which I feel brings Jesus closer to really knowing and understanding what I go through. Oh Jesus you know what I go though, your strength will be my strength.
Verse 35 seems to highlight, Jesus gets up early to pray in solitude. He's getting his fathers priorities for the day..... Jesus I want to be like you... I don't know how often Jesus does that, it doesn't say, we always assume it was daily maybe it was weekly maybe monthly does it really matter? I know my day goes in a wonderful way when I can get up in the house while it's still calm and quiet and have some solitude with my heavenly father, to get his priorities. Jesus thanks for teaching us how it's done.

1 What is the question to which the text responds?
- Was Jesus really tempted like us? Does Jesus need to get direction from God? What does Jesus do to get directions from God?
2 What do these passages say to you about relating to others?
- I will know the fathers priorities in relating to others when I spend time with him in a quiet place like Jesus did.

Christmas Break Challenge

I want to give you the same challenge as we gave in our Young Moms Bible Study for the Christmas break.
Some of you might be like me, when routine changes I need something different to keep me focused on Studying and learning from God's word, or I do nothing at all.

The challenge is to read one chapter a day in Mark and journal. There are 16 chapters, so since there are 21 days we actually have 5 free days. (which I know is 3 weeks, when Christmas break is only 2 weeks, but that is how long we have until out Bible Study meets again)

So the challenge is read a chapter and journal your thought and answer some application questions of the text. Like-

What does this say to our world?
What does this say to our family?
What does this say to our community?
What does this say to our congregation?
What does this say to me?

or

What does the text say?
What does the text mean?
Ho will I respond?

or other questions you think are important to the chapter.

So I'm going to do this here through my blog, I'm going to journal my thoughts on each chapter and I'd love for those of you who are taking up the challenge to join me by adding your thoughts, comments and questions for each chapter.

Tribute to Ben Sawatzky

For those of you who knew Ben Sawatzky, who dies this past weekend, go to Ben's blog and comment about what he meant to you. Tomorrow Tuesday Dec. 15 at 2:00pm is Ben's Funeral.

I knew Ben because he was almost always at the coffee table at church when I was there, he'd have already made coffee and was waiting for others to arrive. We really took him for granted. He always brought food. I remember when Marv found out he had diabetes and the other pastors where watching their weight he started bringing fruit instead of sweets because it was what you guys would eat. One things for sure, Ben won't be lonely anymore, but we'll be missing him.

Funny - from my kids

Some day my kids are going to hate me for having a blog, but they make me laugh, I can't help but tell you about them.

Some of the things that make me laugh are the words my children mix up, or what they think is being said is not what really is being said. So funny what they say

My kids have all honestly said these

Tomatoes for Potatoes (they still get them mixed up) "Tomatoes and gravy."
crotches for crutches (We didn't correct his one for a while it was too funny)
6 white boomers sung as 6 white bloomers (from the Australian Christmas tune)
grill cheese are girl cheese at our house (the burnt ones are boy cheese)
"O Tannenbaum" sung distinctly as "oh tiny bum" (that was definitely sung for me ;P)
french immersion was french inversion (this took a while to correct, lol)
annoying and ignoring always getting mixed (One pestering the other in the back seat, "Mommy, she's ignoring me!")
pimple for Pupil (heard this one today)

A Baby in Another World

Today you are going to read my dream diary. I actually don't have one but I've often thought I should keep one, I dream every night and often when I tell them to Ben he is sure I have the strangest ones. Be warned my dreams can be disturbing to some.

I was at a gathering and I was in the kitchen I think, then I turned to find a baby in a cradle, the baby was a new born and had not been feed since it's birth, it had been laid in the cradle and abandoned. The baby was still alive but was turning blue from hunger. I brought it to my breast and what do you know, I had milk for it... lots of milk. The babies face began changing from blue to a beautiful blend of African and White skin, the baby was happy and so was I. I was bonding with the baby now and I was pleased when the unknown biological mother said "You can have it". The gathering continued and I let others hold my baby. At some point while the baby was elsewhere I discovered it was time to feed again -a nursing mother can just tell. But the baby was not around so I poured my milk(yes I mean poured) into an ice cream pail but it was watery almost all water, my mom was there I was calling for her to get a second container because there was so much. Then it was over, the dog barged into the bedroom chasing the cat; beautiful baby, watering milk, gathering, all disappeared into another world, a distant time.

Not sure why I wanted to share that with you.
Some might say "Too much information!" and I say oh well, that's just the way my blog is, that's just the way I am :P.
I found something odd and wonderful about it.