Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 15 July 2007
by Captain Michael Ramsay
...If you aren’t already looking at Luke, Chapter 8, I invite you to turn to it now.
Now Jesus was very popular and –just like today’s TV shows – he had many regular followers (verse 4). There were many people who would actually follow Jesus around from town to town as he taught. They would be like the regular viewers of THE JESUS SHOW ... with such sensational acts as turning water into wine, feeding the 4 or 5 thousand, healing the lame and casting demons into pigs and much, much more…tune in next week…and he had many regular followers that did: they followed him from town to town. And a good number of them, like it says in verse 2 and 3, were women and they were so devoted that they even provided for him out of their own resources.
Now, Jesus consciously chose not to speak exclusively in the intellectual language of his time and he chose not to appeal directly only to the elite of society. He chose instead to speak in the language that would attract the common people, the mass market. His message, particularly in Luke’s account, as we’ve discussed previously was for the poor, the needy and the oppressed. And for most of its history until (the second temple was destroyed and) the people finally dispersed in 70 AD, this was the bulk of Hebrews, Israelites, and Judeans.
Even though Jesus has a big following, and just like I don’t always understand what is going on in some of these talk shows and reality shows today, people didn’t always get what Jesus was saying and the many of the intellectual big wigs certainly did not even want to understand. If you look at verse 10 with me, Jesus is quoting Isaiah (Isaiah –6:9-10) and it says there that ‘to you (his disciples, the one’s following him – the regular viewers if you like, the one’s who would never miss the JESUS SHOW.) "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that "looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.' Now, there is so much to this verse actually. More than I can possible go into here but suffice it to say for now, that this passage quoted from Isaiah is one of the signs pointing to Jesus as the Christ, The Messiah, the Anointed one of God – and not everyone / not everyone / understands…
Well, so do we understand? What is His point in the Parable of the Soils. What is this great message here that he tells to great crowds that come from (verse 4) town after town. Let’s see if we can figure it out.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/luke-81-18-jesus-show.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
2 Corinthians 9:12-15: Thanks be to God for His indescribable Gift! (Hurricane Ike relief)
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 12 October 2008
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Hurricane Ike struck Galveston TX a few weeks ago. More than 1 million people were evacuated from Texas and to date more than 72 people have been found dead as a result of Hurricane Ike. Bodies were still being found when I left a couple of days ago.
Homes are destroyed. Businesses are destroyed. The sewers, the water, and the phones are still not working. People are housed in shelters both on and away from Galveston Island. Many still have no place to go. Power is still out in some of the parts where we were posted. The power outage means that even for families that did not lose their stoves and refrigerators – and most did; there were many refrigerators destroyed and lying on the side of the road for pick up – they were unable to keep or cook any food. They don’t have food and they don’t have water.
Food and water: this is a big part of The Salvation Army mission down there. We have around 30 food trucks (called canteens) from which we help to serve around 75 000 hot meals every day and give the people water and ice. Ice is very important. It was around 900 F during our time there. And the food: many people told me that without The Salvation Army they wouldn’t have eaten at all. They wouldn’t have survived. We thank the Lord for the service that the volunteers are providing to God and this community. We pray for them that as they continue to serve down there, the Lord will continue to bless greatly the volunteers and the populace alike.
2 Corinthians 9:12-15: This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Thanks be to God indeed ...
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/10/2-corinthians-912-15-thanks-be-to-god.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Hurricane Ike struck Galveston TX a few weeks ago. More than 1 million people were evacuated from Texas and to date more than 72 people have been found dead as a result of Hurricane Ike. Bodies were still being found when I left a couple of days ago.
Homes are destroyed. Businesses are destroyed. The sewers, the water, and the phones are still not working. People are housed in shelters both on and away from Galveston Island. Many still have no place to go. Power is still out in some of the parts where we were posted. The power outage means that even for families that did not lose their stoves and refrigerators – and most did; there were many refrigerators destroyed and lying on the side of the road for pick up – they were unable to keep or cook any food. They don’t have food and they don’t have water.
Food and water: this is a big part of The Salvation Army mission down there. We have around 30 food trucks (called canteens) from which we help to serve around 75 000 hot meals every day and give the people water and ice. Ice is very important. It was around 900 F during our time there. And the food: many people told me that without The Salvation Army they wouldn’t have eaten at all. They wouldn’t have survived. We thank the Lord for the service that the volunteers are providing to God and this community. We pray for them that as they continue to serve down there, the Lord will continue to bless greatly the volunteers and the populace alike.
2 Corinthians 9:12-15: This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Thanks be to God indeed ...
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/10/2-corinthians-912-15-thanks-be-to-god.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Philippians 1: Be Bold! Be Prepared! Are you Ready?
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on January 6, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay
...The world does change very quickly, doesn’t it? I remember when I was kid in the 1970s. I lived in a semi-rural area of Victoria. All behind my house cornfields and beside us were Farmer Wild’s potato fields and we had a very small orchard of our own in our back yard. And the Vantreights, they had Daffodil fields everywhere. Between Farmer Wild and the Vantreights there was no end to seasonal employment for the kids. In the Spring some of us would even cut school in order to go earn a couple bucks cutting daffodils.
Now, of course, my parents home has been completely swallowed up by my hometown, Victoria, which is now a city of 300 000 people or so. It is Canada’s 13th largest city.[2] Things change.
But in those days life was different. The area was semi-rural and dogs could even roam free without being on a leash or without even their owners. They would often stroll along by themselves or together in pairs or packs and then they would meet up with another pack of dogs and start to investigate each other.
Of course, every once and a while there would be an aggressive dog or two and I certainly saw more than one dog fight growing up. (Some of these could be quite scary actually).
We had a dog. His name was Tuffy. Tuffy was a little border collie/sheltie cross and he was a smart dog but every once in a while, of course, he would get into one of these scraps himself.I remember more than once, Tuffy would see some dog on our block that doesn’t belong there. He would charge them. It wouldn’t matter how big is the dog. It doesn’t matter how fierce is the dog; Tuffy runs at them. He’s not afraid of them. He growls at them. He, completely without any fear, engages the intruder.
Now sometimes, like I said, the dogs are a lot bigger than Tuffy. Still Tuffy charges, teeth bared- no fear – he charges the giant intruder with full confidence and then when the large dog strikes back…He runs away.
The other dog inevitably chases him and Tuffy runs right toward home. Tuffy runs faster and faster. As the dog gets closer, Tuffy – never afraid – runs to our next door neighbour’s house. He bounds up the stairs to his deck. The dog comes flying after Tuffy and arrives on the deck where he is seemingly trapped and … there is Goldie.[3] Goldie is by far the biggest dog you have ever seen and Goldie and Tuffy are quite a pair. They really are the best of friends.
So now the pursuing dog, the dog chasing Tuffy – which until this moment seemed quite large - is all of a sudden dwarfed by the giant Goldie, surrounded, and trapped on our neighbour’s deck.So after a couple of very noisy minutes, the intruding dog finds a way out and runs away as fast as it can never to come back again, and there is little Tuffy standing at the top of the stairs –(if dogs could smile)- this little collie-sheltie cross was telling the much bigger dog, I’m sure, never to come back!
When Tuffy saw the intruder, he wasn’t worried, he engaged him; he did not avoid a conflict. He was prepared; he was not afraid. He didn’t worry about what could happen to him. His goal was to encourage his opposition toward Goldie and have Goldie take care of the rest.
This is actually the same sort of thing that is happening in Paul’s life as he writes this letter to the Christians in Philippi.Paul has been openly engaging the non- and pre-Christian world. He has met with some strong resistance and it is just as if he is Tuffy up against a bigger dog.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/01/philippians-1-be-bold-be-prepared-are.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
By Captain Michael Ramsay
...The world does change very quickly, doesn’t it? I remember when I was kid in the 1970s. I lived in a semi-rural area of Victoria. All behind my house cornfields and beside us were Farmer Wild’s potato fields and we had a very small orchard of our own in our back yard. And the Vantreights, they had Daffodil fields everywhere. Between Farmer Wild and the Vantreights there was no end to seasonal employment for the kids. In the Spring some of us would even cut school in order to go earn a couple bucks cutting daffodils.
Now, of course, my parents home has been completely swallowed up by my hometown, Victoria, which is now a city of 300 000 people or so. It is Canada’s 13th largest city.[2] Things change.
But in those days life was different. The area was semi-rural and dogs could even roam free without being on a leash or without even their owners. They would often stroll along by themselves or together in pairs or packs and then they would meet up with another pack of dogs and start to investigate each other.
Of course, every once and a while there would be an aggressive dog or two and I certainly saw more than one dog fight growing up. (Some of these could be quite scary actually).
We had a dog. His name was Tuffy. Tuffy was a little border collie/sheltie cross and he was a smart dog but every once in a while, of course, he would get into one of these scraps himself.I remember more than once, Tuffy would see some dog on our block that doesn’t belong there. He would charge them. It wouldn’t matter how big is the dog. It doesn’t matter how fierce is the dog; Tuffy runs at them. He’s not afraid of them. He growls at them. He, completely without any fear, engages the intruder.
Now sometimes, like I said, the dogs are a lot bigger than Tuffy. Still Tuffy charges, teeth bared- no fear – he charges the giant intruder with full confidence and then when the large dog strikes back…He runs away.
The other dog inevitably chases him and Tuffy runs right toward home. Tuffy runs faster and faster. As the dog gets closer, Tuffy – never afraid – runs to our next door neighbour’s house. He bounds up the stairs to his deck. The dog comes flying after Tuffy and arrives on the deck where he is seemingly trapped and … there is Goldie.[3] Goldie is by far the biggest dog you have ever seen and Goldie and Tuffy are quite a pair. They really are the best of friends.
So now the pursuing dog, the dog chasing Tuffy – which until this moment seemed quite large - is all of a sudden dwarfed by the giant Goldie, surrounded, and trapped on our neighbour’s deck.So after a couple of very noisy minutes, the intruding dog finds a way out and runs away as fast as it can never to come back again, and there is little Tuffy standing at the top of the stairs –(if dogs could smile)- this little collie-sheltie cross was telling the much bigger dog, I’m sure, never to come back!
When Tuffy saw the intruder, he wasn’t worried, he engaged him; he did not avoid a conflict. He was prepared; he was not afraid. He didn’t worry about what could happen to him. His goal was to encourage his opposition toward Goldie and have Goldie take care of the rest.
This is actually the same sort of thing that is happening in Paul’s life as he writes this letter to the Christians in Philippi.Paul has been openly engaging the non- and pre-Christian world. He has met with some strong resistance and it is just as if he is Tuffy up against a bigger dog.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/01/philippians-1-be-bold-be-prepared-are.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Acts 23: 1-11: Punch in the Mouth...
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps
23 September 2007
by Captain Michael Ramsay
There’s a children’s book by Judith Viorst entitled “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”[1] Have you ever had one of those days, where it doesn’t matter what you do you just seem to get in trouble? … I remember grade 2.
Now grade two admittedly was not my finest hour. It seemed that I was a permanent member of the detention club. And I remember one day, I just couldn’t win for losing. It was my birthday and many of the grade twos were coming to my party after school so we were told, ‘no dawdling’. We had to be home right after school.
Well, Mrs Leung gave me a detention – and it wasn’t even my fault! You see, Clinton had been chewing gum in school. Now, I hate gum. He gets in trouble for it and he tells Mrs. Leung that he isn’t actually chewing GUM; he is chewing his cheek. She believed him! I thought it was a strange thing to do - chew your cheek so, like any curious 8 year-old, I have to try it and, of course, … And Mrs. Leung catches me and says “Michael no chewing gum” and I say, “I’m not – I’m chewing my cheek” (which I was) and do you think she believes me NOOOO! So I have a detention after school on my birthday and it wasn’t even my fault!
Now, it is my birthday so Mrs. Leung has pity on me and lets me get out at the regular time and this would be fine except two friends of mine in the class – Wade and Clinton – go and get detentions and Mrs. Leung isn’t going to let them go. So sure I get out at the normal time but we all have to wait anyway.
Well, so there we are waiting just INSIDE the exterior door for Wade and Clinton – and now apparently there is a rule that you are not supposed to wait INSIDE the school for anyone – you have to wait OUTSIDE. So guess what? Wade and Clinton finish serving their time and are on their way out of detention hall only to find out that the rest of us our now on our way into detention…so much for getting home on time for my birthday party! But that is not the end of the story either!
You see Wade and Clinton are waiting for the rest of us and guess what? They decide to wait for us INSIDE the school – so guess what…we all wind up spending the first part of my Birthday in detention hallWell, more than ½ an hour later we all show up for my party…it was just like the children’s book says, “a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”
In Acts, today, up to and including Chapter 23, you will notice that Paul has been having a little bit of a run like that himself.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/09/acts-23-1-11-punch-in-mouth-or-terrible.html
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http://www.sheepspeak.com/
23 September 2007
by Captain Michael Ramsay
There’s a children’s book by Judith Viorst entitled “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”[1] Have you ever had one of those days, where it doesn’t matter what you do you just seem to get in trouble? … I remember grade 2.
Now grade two admittedly was not my finest hour. It seemed that I was a permanent member of the detention club. And I remember one day, I just couldn’t win for losing. It was my birthday and many of the grade twos were coming to my party after school so we were told, ‘no dawdling’. We had to be home right after school.
Well, Mrs Leung gave me a detention – and it wasn’t even my fault! You see, Clinton had been chewing gum in school. Now, I hate gum. He gets in trouble for it and he tells Mrs. Leung that he isn’t actually chewing GUM; he is chewing his cheek. She believed him! I thought it was a strange thing to do - chew your cheek so, like any curious 8 year-old, I have to try it and, of course, … And Mrs. Leung catches me and says “Michael no chewing gum” and I say, “I’m not – I’m chewing my cheek” (which I was) and do you think she believes me NOOOO! So I have a detention after school on my birthday and it wasn’t even my fault!
Now, it is my birthday so Mrs. Leung has pity on me and lets me get out at the regular time and this would be fine except two friends of mine in the class – Wade and Clinton – go and get detentions and Mrs. Leung isn’t going to let them go. So sure I get out at the normal time but we all have to wait anyway.
Well, so there we are waiting just INSIDE the exterior door for Wade and Clinton – and now apparently there is a rule that you are not supposed to wait INSIDE the school for anyone – you have to wait OUTSIDE. So guess what? Wade and Clinton finish serving their time and are on their way out of detention hall only to find out that the rest of us our now on our way into detention…so much for getting home on time for my birthday party! But that is not the end of the story either!
You see Wade and Clinton are waiting for the rest of us and guess what? They decide to wait for us INSIDE the school – so guess what…we all wind up spending the first part of my Birthday in detention hallWell, more than ½ an hour later we all show up for my party…it was just like the children’s book says, “a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”
In Acts, today, up to and including Chapter 23, you will notice that Paul has been having a little bit of a run like that himself.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/09/acts-23-1-11-punch-in-mouth-or-terrible.html
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http://www.sheepspeak.com/
Luke 16:1-13 - Sudden Death Overtime
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 29 July 2007
by Captain Michael Ramsay
When Rebecca was just born, I used to listen to hockey every Friday night. You see. Friday night was my night to be home with Rebecca and clean the house. So I would listen to the junior hockey games on the radio as I was doing the dishes, etc.
I remember this one game. I caught the 3rd period. The home team just dominated. It was three or even four nothing coming into the last minute of play. These players had worked really hard, just dominated and they started celebrating the winning of the last game of their season -(pause)- with one minute left to go. Then the other team scored. Then again; 30 seconds left. Then again; 10 seconds left. It was four nothing less than a minute ago – they were celebrating – now they are up 4-3 with only 5 seconds left and they aren’t so confident – and now there’s a face-off in their own zone. And you know what happens? The away team scores with less than a second left to force sudden-death overtime.
Our team squanders their lead and as a result they face sudden death.
If you’ll turn with me back to Luke chapter 16, the manager we read about also squanders from his position, and now faces sudden death – or sudden unemployment anyway: he is fired.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/luke-161-13-sudden-death-overtime.html
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http://www.sheepspeak.com/
by Captain Michael Ramsay
When Rebecca was just born, I used to listen to hockey every Friday night. You see. Friday night was my night to be home with Rebecca and clean the house. So I would listen to the junior hockey games on the radio as I was doing the dishes, etc.
I remember this one game. I caught the 3rd period. The home team just dominated. It was three or even four nothing coming into the last minute of play. These players had worked really hard, just dominated and they started celebrating the winning of the last game of their season -(pause)- with one minute left to go. Then the other team scored. Then again; 30 seconds left. Then again; 10 seconds left. It was four nothing less than a minute ago – they were celebrating – now they are up 4-3 with only 5 seconds left and they aren’t so confident – and now there’s a face-off in their own zone. And you know what happens? The away team scores with less than a second left to force sudden-death overtime.
Our team squanders their lead and as a result they face sudden death.
If you’ll turn with me back to Luke chapter 16, the manager we read about also squanders from his position, and now faces sudden death – or sudden unemployment anyway: he is fired.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/luke-161-13-sudden-death-overtime.html
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http://www.sheepspeak.com/
Mark 3:20-35: The Family of God
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on February 17, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay
On a quiet winter day somewhere here in northern Saskatchewan, there is this fellow – John. Now John has just finished a long tiring day of work and he is quite happy to be home. He comes in and sits down on his chair and picks up his newspaper.
Now John has a wife, Janet, and when she sees John sitting nicely in his easy chair there, she asks him what he is planning to do before dinner.
“Well, I’m planning to read my paper,” John answers, but from the look on Janet’s face he can tell immediately that he has actually gotten the answer wrong. That isn’t what he is planning to do.
He looks at her in that searching way, trying to discern what the right answer to her question could be: what is he planning to do? …Is he planning to - pick something up at the store? …Is he planning to …pick up the kids from somewhere? …Is he planning to…John didn’t know.
“Shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway,” says Janet. “You’re planning to shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway.”
“But its 40 below![1] …I mean…Yes dear, yes, Mrs McMillan’s driveway,” says John who, until this very moment, had no idea that he was planning to shovel their elderly neighbour’s driveway. So John grabs his shovel and heads out the door…
At just this time, as John heads outside, providentially around the corner of the house comes John Jr., his 15 year-old son: “What are you planning to do before dinner?” John Sr. asks.
“Play on the computer…” says John Jr. who, just like his father, has gotten the answer wrong. John Junior is of course now planning to shovel the driveway.“Just let me put my school stuff away,” says Junior who is hoping to escape into the house and forget all about this plan to shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway - that he never knew that he had made in the first place.
But Dad, who is wise to Junior’s plan, hands him the snow shovel, takes his school bag, sends him off to Mrs McMillan’s and then John promptly disappears into the garage so as to avoid finding out from Janet if indeed there is anything else he had planned to do that he didn’t know about…
Now as John Jr. is standing outside old Mrs McMillan’s driveway, who should come walking by but his little brother, Mark, and a group of his friends… Jr. yells to his 10 year-old brother and his seven or eight friends, “guess what you guys are planning to do?!”
Mark and his friends are all very good-natured and they do start out in earnest shovelling the walk but they only have 3 shovels between the eight of them and it doesn’t take too long for one of the boys to realise that this snow today actually packs quite nicely.
This friend of Mark then quite innocently makes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and even more snowballs and stacks them beside the shelter of a hedge. When he has got a nice lot of snowballs in front of him, Mark, who has actually been working quite diligently, notices him and asks his friend - as forcefully as he can muster - “and what are you planning to do with all those snowballs?” to which his friend replies by throwing one right at Mark. Within 10 minutes the eight boys are in a full-blown snowball fight. Having completely forgotten about any of their work when John Sr., Dad, comes around the corner,“What do you think you are doing?”
Now Mark, in the boldness of a 10 year-old surrounded by his friends, takes the initiative to show his dad exactly what he is doing and promptly hits him with snowball. This is too much for John who then dives behind the car where he and his eldest son assemble their own arsenal and try to hold off the pack of ten year-old boys.
They are now divided into two groups and they have quite a bit of fun until all of a sudden everyone goes quiet as John and all the boys notice Janet –mom- standing, arms crossed, asking, “And what are do are you doing?”
“Shovelling the snow?” Answers John - and indeed for the next hour that is exactly what John, John Jr. and Mark are doing with their three shovels as Janet and Mrs McMillan look on from her front room.
If you’ll turn with me to Mark Chapter 3, you’ll notice that today’s pericope, which was read from Mark’s gospel earlier, is also about a divided house and a bit of a family conflict as well.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/02/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
By Captain Michael Ramsay
On a quiet winter day somewhere here in northern Saskatchewan, there is this fellow – John. Now John has just finished a long tiring day of work and he is quite happy to be home. He comes in and sits down on his chair and picks up his newspaper.
Now John has a wife, Janet, and when she sees John sitting nicely in his easy chair there, she asks him what he is planning to do before dinner.
“Well, I’m planning to read my paper,” John answers, but from the look on Janet’s face he can tell immediately that he has actually gotten the answer wrong. That isn’t what he is planning to do.
He looks at her in that searching way, trying to discern what the right answer to her question could be: what is he planning to do? …Is he planning to - pick something up at the store? …Is he planning to …pick up the kids from somewhere? …Is he planning to…John didn’t know.
“Shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway,” says Janet. “You’re planning to shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway.”
“But its 40 below![1] …I mean…Yes dear, yes, Mrs McMillan’s driveway,” says John who, until this very moment, had no idea that he was planning to shovel their elderly neighbour’s driveway. So John grabs his shovel and heads out the door…
At just this time, as John heads outside, providentially around the corner of the house comes John Jr., his 15 year-old son: “What are you planning to do before dinner?” John Sr. asks.
“Play on the computer…” says John Jr. who, just like his father, has gotten the answer wrong. John Junior is of course now planning to shovel the driveway.“Just let me put my school stuff away,” says Junior who is hoping to escape into the house and forget all about this plan to shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway - that he never knew that he had made in the first place.
But Dad, who is wise to Junior’s plan, hands him the snow shovel, takes his school bag, sends him off to Mrs McMillan’s and then John promptly disappears into the garage so as to avoid finding out from Janet if indeed there is anything else he had planned to do that he didn’t know about…
Now as John Jr. is standing outside old Mrs McMillan’s driveway, who should come walking by but his little brother, Mark, and a group of his friends… Jr. yells to his 10 year-old brother and his seven or eight friends, “guess what you guys are planning to do?!”
Mark and his friends are all very good-natured and they do start out in earnest shovelling the walk but they only have 3 shovels between the eight of them and it doesn’t take too long for one of the boys to realise that this snow today actually packs quite nicely.
This friend of Mark then quite innocently makes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and even more snowballs and stacks them beside the shelter of a hedge. When he has got a nice lot of snowballs in front of him, Mark, who has actually been working quite diligently, notices him and asks his friend - as forcefully as he can muster - “and what are you planning to do with all those snowballs?” to which his friend replies by throwing one right at Mark. Within 10 minutes the eight boys are in a full-blown snowball fight. Having completely forgotten about any of their work when John Sr., Dad, comes around the corner,“What do you think you are doing?”
Now Mark, in the boldness of a 10 year-old surrounded by his friends, takes the initiative to show his dad exactly what he is doing and promptly hits him with snowball. This is too much for John who then dives behind the car where he and his eldest son assemble their own arsenal and try to hold off the pack of ten year-old boys.
They are now divided into two groups and they have quite a bit of fun until all of a sudden everyone goes quiet as John and all the boys notice Janet –mom- standing, arms crossed, asking, “And what are do are you doing?”
“Shovelling the snow?” Answers John - and indeed for the next hour that is exactly what John, John Jr. and Mark are doing with their three shovels as Janet and Mrs McMillan look on from her front room.
If you’ll turn with me to Mark Chapter 3, you’ll notice that today’s pericope, which was read from Mark’s gospel earlier, is also about a divided house and a bit of a family conflict as well.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/02/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
Thursday, April 16, 2009
1 Samuel 4:1b-7:1: Hockey Card
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on June 22, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Do you know what this is? A hockey card: a Paul Coffee rookie card from his debut with the Edmonton Oilers. Some Edmonton Oilers rookie cards are evidently worth more than $2000.00 - if they are in good condition[1] – but this one is not in good condition at all.
Who’d have thought that hockey cards would become the big business investment that they have in recent years with people keeping them in special cases and only touching them with white gloves and the works.When I was a kid, we used to actually play with these cards: close–ies, knocksies (I don’t remember what the games were really called) - we would play all these different games with these cards and they would all involve throwing them against a wall – so much for keeping their investment value – we thought these toys were – uh - toys. Who knew we were squandering our retirement funds by throwing Wayne Gretzky, Billy Smith, and Guy Lafleur against the wall.
Did anyone in these parts ever ‘play’ hockey cards growing up? Or was it just a west coast thing? I remember some games that we would have: you would each line three all-star cards up against the wall and then take turns trying to knock down your opponents cards by flicking one of your cards at it. The first person to knock down each of their opponent’s cards would win and got to keep all of the cards – including every one that had been thrown.
The longer these games went on the more that was at stake. You could see cards piling up and kids would really have their entire collection at stake and then, of course, the more exciting it gets the more people who come to watch. Some of the big matches could have almost the entire school watching. This was a lot of fun if you were competing except for one thing - the grade threes. You see the grade threes loved to collect hockey cards but they didn’t win them. They would steel them. They would sneak closer and closer to any game they could find and as soon as they could get close enough the bold ones would scoop up a handful of cards and run for their lives as a couple of grade sixes always took up the pursuit; and then there were the cautious grade threes, they would step on the cards they want one at a time and then bend down to tie up their shoes over each time picking up a new card and putting it in their pocket, footprint and all.
Now, like many kids, I did collect quite a few cards in my time growing up but like I said none of mine are worth much because – well – because most of them have footprints on them – or are severely bent from my running away from the grade sixes. Oh well. “Who’d ‘a thunk?” If I’d known they would be worth so much I might have invested the $0.10 for gum and a pack of cards in those days. Who knew that hockey cards would become so valuable?
This is the same sort of thing that is facing the Philistines in our story today.
Read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/06/1-samuel-41b-71-hockey-card.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Do you know what this is? A hockey card: a Paul Coffee rookie card from his debut with the Edmonton Oilers. Some Edmonton Oilers rookie cards are evidently worth more than $2000.00 - if they are in good condition[1] – but this one is not in good condition at all.
Who’d have thought that hockey cards would become the big business investment that they have in recent years with people keeping them in special cases and only touching them with white gloves and the works.When I was a kid, we used to actually play with these cards: close–ies, knocksies (I don’t remember what the games were really called) - we would play all these different games with these cards and they would all involve throwing them against a wall – so much for keeping their investment value – we thought these toys were – uh - toys. Who knew we were squandering our retirement funds by throwing Wayne Gretzky, Billy Smith, and Guy Lafleur against the wall.
Did anyone in these parts ever ‘play’ hockey cards growing up? Or was it just a west coast thing? I remember some games that we would have: you would each line three all-star cards up against the wall and then take turns trying to knock down your opponents cards by flicking one of your cards at it. The first person to knock down each of their opponent’s cards would win and got to keep all of the cards – including every one that had been thrown.
The longer these games went on the more that was at stake. You could see cards piling up and kids would really have their entire collection at stake and then, of course, the more exciting it gets the more people who come to watch. Some of the big matches could have almost the entire school watching. This was a lot of fun if you were competing except for one thing - the grade threes. You see the grade threes loved to collect hockey cards but they didn’t win them. They would steel them. They would sneak closer and closer to any game they could find and as soon as they could get close enough the bold ones would scoop up a handful of cards and run for their lives as a couple of grade sixes always took up the pursuit; and then there were the cautious grade threes, they would step on the cards they want one at a time and then bend down to tie up their shoes over each time picking up a new card and putting it in their pocket, footprint and all.
Now, like many kids, I did collect quite a few cards in my time growing up but like I said none of mine are worth much because – well – because most of them have footprints on them – or are severely bent from my running away from the grade sixes. Oh well. “Who’d ‘a thunk?” If I’d known they would be worth so much I might have invested the $0.10 for gum and a pack of cards in those days. Who knew that hockey cards would become so valuable?
This is the same sort of thing that is facing the Philistines in our story today.
Read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/06/1-samuel-41b-71-hockey-card.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
Judges 11:29-40: Jephthath's Parachute
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on May 24, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay
When I was in my first year of studies at university, a friend of mine – Jared – and I decided that we were going to have the time of our lives that summer or die trying. That is the year I took up SCUBA diving. I went white-water rafting for the first time, did a lot of kayaking (I love Ocean kayaking) and we went parachuting…
You’ll probably hear this story again, just in case you haven’t heard it before by the way. I remember the training for jumping out of the plane. They drew all these diagrams on the board and we had to learn about trajectories and wind currents and the speed of acceleration of a free falling object – It was just like high school Physics – and I didn’t understand when I took high school physics and I didn’t understand it now. Then they had the practical test where they suspend you from the ceiling and you practice pulling the ripcord – well, in the practice, mine didn’t work.
This wasn’t looking so good so Jerry and I signed fake names on our waivers, made each other promise that we would steel the other’s waiver if something went wrong. (It was a long time ago.) Then we went to the washroom before boarding the Cessna aero plane.
Now a Cessna is a little plane. It is a very little plane and we went up a long way in this little plane. We were to jump at 3000 feet. Jerry and I flipped a coin to see who would jump first: I lost so I would have had to jump first but I made him jump first anyway because I when we got up so high that I thought I was at 3000 feet I checked the altitude of the plane and it was only 500 feet. This was the only time that I became a little afraid of heights.Jerry jumped first: I could see from the plane that the chute opened nicely and he floated down peacefully to earth. Okay, it looked all right. Next it was my turn…
I climbed out on the wing of the plane like we were told to. You see you are supposed to climb out on the wing, jump, count to five and then check to make sure the chute is working and we’re on our way.
So I jump, and like Jerry (as I find out later), I jump and try to count to five…but I can’t remember what comes after one: “One… rats!… arrg!”[1] Then I look up and see the full canopy of the parachute above me. Phew. So I reach back for the steering toggles that are on my parachute ropes. I reach back and there is nothing there. There’s nothing there. Sure my parachute opened up … but it wasn’t attached to my back!
Well actually only one side was. So it was attached to my back but it wasn’t catching any air so it wasn’t slowing me down at all. It was just like a flag flapping above my head. So from these classes - I remembered something - I had to unhook the streamer and take off the parachute all the while I am careening towards the ground at terminal velocity, I’m sure.
So I get the parachute off and pull the emergency cord and it comes out … in one big ball. It wasn’t catching any air either. In our classes beforehand they told us that if our chutes did this we were to take them off but when it’s your last parachute…while to make a short story even longer as I am falling towards the ground without a parachute. – I pray of course - I look down and I can see beneath me the highway and trees. My friend is watching me from the field. People who live in the houses nearby get in their cars when they see me fall beneath the tree line and come to help scrape my body up off the field – or whatever they else they can do – I don’t know. I do know that after they have seen me fall beneath the tree line towards the power lines and highway that a gust of wind comes, literally picks me up, opens up my chute and blows me over the field so that I land nicely right where I am supposed too – without even a scratch. It was indeed a miracle and an answer to sincere prayer.
You see, when I was without a parachute, and about to pull the emergency cord, I prayed. Now, I was a smoker back then and when I pulled my emergency cord, I remember praying, “Dear God, if you save me I’ll quit smm…never mind just please save me.” And He did. And I knew that as He did the first thing that I would want after I landed would be a cigarette. And it was, so it was a good thing I didn’t make the vow. (I did eventually quit smoking; but that’s an unrelated story) I know that God takes covenants, oaths, and vows very seriously and I didn’t make on then that I wouldn’t keep.
Jephthah, who we read about today, Jephthah might have been better never to make his vow.[2]
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/05/judges-1129-40-japhtheths-parachute.html
---
www.sheepspeak.com
By Captain Michael Ramsay
When I was in my first year of studies at university, a friend of mine – Jared – and I decided that we were going to have the time of our lives that summer or die trying. That is the year I took up SCUBA diving. I went white-water rafting for the first time, did a lot of kayaking (I love Ocean kayaking) and we went parachuting…
You’ll probably hear this story again, just in case you haven’t heard it before by the way. I remember the training for jumping out of the plane. They drew all these diagrams on the board and we had to learn about trajectories and wind currents and the speed of acceleration of a free falling object – It was just like high school Physics – and I didn’t understand when I took high school physics and I didn’t understand it now. Then they had the practical test where they suspend you from the ceiling and you practice pulling the ripcord – well, in the practice, mine didn’t work.
This wasn’t looking so good so Jerry and I signed fake names on our waivers, made each other promise that we would steel the other’s waiver if something went wrong. (It was a long time ago.) Then we went to the washroom before boarding the Cessna aero plane.
Now a Cessna is a little plane. It is a very little plane and we went up a long way in this little plane. We were to jump at 3000 feet. Jerry and I flipped a coin to see who would jump first: I lost so I would have had to jump first but I made him jump first anyway because I when we got up so high that I thought I was at 3000 feet I checked the altitude of the plane and it was only 500 feet. This was the only time that I became a little afraid of heights.Jerry jumped first: I could see from the plane that the chute opened nicely and he floated down peacefully to earth. Okay, it looked all right. Next it was my turn…
I climbed out on the wing of the plane like we were told to. You see you are supposed to climb out on the wing, jump, count to five and then check to make sure the chute is working and we’re on our way.
So I jump, and like Jerry (as I find out later), I jump and try to count to five…but I can’t remember what comes after one: “One… rats!… arrg!”[1] Then I look up and see the full canopy of the parachute above me. Phew. So I reach back for the steering toggles that are on my parachute ropes. I reach back and there is nothing there. There’s nothing there. Sure my parachute opened up … but it wasn’t attached to my back!
Well actually only one side was. So it was attached to my back but it wasn’t catching any air so it wasn’t slowing me down at all. It was just like a flag flapping above my head. So from these classes - I remembered something - I had to unhook the streamer and take off the parachute all the while I am careening towards the ground at terminal velocity, I’m sure.
So I get the parachute off and pull the emergency cord and it comes out … in one big ball. It wasn’t catching any air either. In our classes beforehand they told us that if our chutes did this we were to take them off but when it’s your last parachute…while to make a short story even longer as I am falling towards the ground without a parachute. – I pray of course - I look down and I can see beneath me the highway and trees. My friend is watching me from the field. People who live in the houses nearby get in their cars when they see me fall beneath the tree line and come to help scrape my body up off the field – or whatever they else they can do – I don’t know. I do know that after they have seen me fall beneath the tree line towards the power lines and highway that a gust of wind comes, literally picks me up, opens up my chute and blows me over the field so that I land nicely right where I am supposed too – without even a scratch. It was indeed a miracle and an answer to sincere prayer.
You see, when I was without a parachute, and about to pull the emergency cord, I prayed. Now, I was a smoker back then and when I pulled my emergency cord, I remember praying, “Dear God, if you save me I’ll quit smm…never mind just please save me.” And He did. And I knew that as He did the first thing that I would want after I landed would be a cigarette. And it was, so it was a good thing I didn’t make the vow. (I did eventually quit smoking; but that’s an unrelated story) I know that God takes covenants, oaths, and vows very seriously and I didn’t make on then that I wouldn’t keep.
Jephthah, who we read about today, Jephthah might have been better never to make his vow.[2]
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/05/judges-1129-40-japhtheths-parachute.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
Genesis 15:7-21: When God is Bound...
Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 07 October 2007
by Captain Michael Ramsay
I know that some of you have been coming out to Thursday night Bible study. This has been a lot of fun as not only have we dug deeper into the Scriptures but in past couple of weeks people have confessed old pranks they have pulled and I’ve confessed all the difficulties that I have had adjusting my speed to the straight open stretches of roads here in Saskatchewan. I’m getting much better by the way…
All these stories of pranks and cars got me thinking back to my teenage years. At the church youth group I went to it wouldn’t be uncommon to have fifty kids out on any given Friday night and even more of us came out to the big events. And we had some big nights where we would have some good competitive events – and, I must confess, my team had this terrible habit of… winning - mostly because we paid more attention to the rules than the others.
For example, we had these events called KGB runs. They were these games where you started in the university forest and had to make your way back to the church at night without being caught by the leaders, who would catch you by ‘tagging you’ with a flashlight. So everyone would start walking and sneaking through the woods trying not to get caught but MY team we would sneak (yes) but right to the parking lot where one of us would leave our car and we would drive to just outside the church and walk in – no one SAID we weren’t allowed to drive.
So, of course, once the organizers caught on, at the next event like this, they have all the rules written out and among those rules are –not surprisingly- no cars are allowed and the borders of the game are well-defined of where we are and are not allowed to go.
So with the new rules in place and the leaders determined to catch is, we have a new plan, not too far into the forest we have stashed … really big flashlights. So then when the people who are ‘it’ see the flashlights they just assume we are on their team and our whole team walks safely in without being caught.[1]
Now the planners are making it their priority to make their rules so air tight that know one can possibly misapply them. As they get ready for the next big event, they even brag that their rules are ‘Mike-proof’
Well this next event was a car rally. You know what those are? You drive around the city and are given clues that you have to solve in order to figure out where you are going to drive to next and as you figure it out, you drive to the next location and get the next clue to figure out and so on.
The people who are planning this event, like I said, are determined to stop any creative problem solving. So we are given the rules that include the normal no breaking the law or speeding, –after all this is a church group. To enforce this, they have each of the drivers put our driver’s licenses in a sealed envelope. If the envelope is opened, they know that you were caught by the police. We then had to show we agree to the rules by signing the envelope, along with the leaders, and this big fancy agreement.
Well, we are winning, as usual coming near the end of the rally – and there is this open stretch of road – now you don’t get these so much in Victoria, so we open it up to speed for the finish line and… you guessed it. The red and blue lights come on behind us. The officer asks for my licence and I hand over the envelope.
So we arrive first and they give us the prize and as all the other teams come in, they can’t believe that we’d won again. But then the leader remembers, “Oh, I need your drivers’ licences’, so one by one each team puts their sealed envelopes on the table. And then it is my turn… They were bound to beat us eventually and this is how they did it. They made this big fancy agreement, we failed to live up to it and as a consequence we lost our reward.
If you’ll turn with me to our text today, Genesis 15:7 – 21, we’ll look at Abram’s big fancy agreement with God.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/10/genesis-157-21-when-god-is-bound.html
---
www.sheepspeak.com
by Captain Michael Ramsay
I know that some of you have been coming out to Thursday night Bible study. This has been a lot of fun as not only have we dug deeper into the Scriptures but in past couple of weeks people have confessed old pranks they have pulled and I’ve confessed all the difficulties that I have had adjusting my speed to the straight open stretches of roads here in Saskatchewan. I’m getting much better by the way…
All these stories of pranks and cars got me thinking back to my teenage years. At the church youth group I went to it wouldn’t be uncommon to have fifty kids out on any given Friday night and even more of us came out to the big events. And we had some big nights where we would have some good competitive events – and, I must confess, my team had this terrible habit of… winning - mostly because we paid more attention to the rules than the others.
For example, we had these events called KGB runs. They were these games where you started in the university forest and had to make your way back to the church at night without being caught by the leaders, who would catch you by ‘tagging you’ with a flashlight. So everyone would start walking and sneaking through the woods trying not to get caught but MY team we would sneak (yes) but right to the parking lot where one of us would leave our car and we would drive to just outside the church and walk in – no one SAID we weren’t allowed to drive.
So, of course, once the organizers caught on, at the next event like this, they have all the rules written out and among those rules are –not surprisingly- no cars are allowed and the borders of the game are well-defined of where we are and are not allowed to go.
So with the new rules in place and the leaders determined to catch is, we have a new plan, not too far into the forest we have stashed … really big flashlights. So then when the people who are ‘it’ see the flashlights they just assume we are on their team and our whole team walks safely in without being caught.[1]
Now the planners are making it their priority to make their rules so air tight that know one can possibly misapply them. As they get ready for the next big event, they even brag that their rules are ‘Mike-proof’
Well this next event was a car rally. You know what those are? You drive around the city and are given clues that you have to solve in order to figure out where you are going to drive to next and as you figure it out, you drive to the next location and get the next clue to figure out and so on.
The people who are planning this event, like I said, are determined to stop any creative problem solving. So we are given the rules that include the normal no breaking the law or speeding, –after all this is a church group. To enforce this, they have each of the drivers put our driver’s licenses in a sealed envelope. If the envelope is opened, they know that you were caught by the police. We then had to show we agree to the rules by signing the envelope, along with the leaders, and this big fancy agreement.
Well, we are winning, as usual coming near the end of the rally – and there is this open stretch of road – now you don’t get these so much in Victoria, so we open it up to speed for the finish line and… you guessed it. The red and blue lights come on behind us. The officer asks for my licence and I hand over the envelope.
So we arrive first and they give us the prize and as all the other teams come in, they can’t believe that we’d won again. But then the leader remembers, “Oh, I need your drivers’ licences’, so one by one each team puts their sealed envelopes on the table. And then it is my turn… They were bound to beat us eventually and this is how they did it. They made this big fancy agreement, we failed to live up to it and as a consequence we lost our reward.
If you’ll turn with me to our text today, Genesis 15:7 – 21, we’ll look at Abram’s big fancy agreement with God.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/10/genesis-157-21-when-god-is-bound.html
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www.sheepspeak.com
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