Mark's Mind

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

New Year

Well some of you may be thinking "New Year?" Well as a youth pastor my year always seems to start and die with the school year and so September starts me into a running sprint of endless events meetings and kids. It really isn't bad, actually I love two out of three (I will let u guess which two)! Every year I struggle to be completely focused and to know what this year will bring. I supposse I may never know but my human nature likes to have some direction and a strange need to try and anticipate what is going to come. So I plan and organize and try to be ready for what God has in store for the "Year".
Part of my being ready depends solely on where my heart is and how much time I have spent studying and learning and focusing on Christ. This summer my thinking has been on why I do what I do. I guess the honorable thing to say would be to glorify God and serve Him. I really hope and want that to be why I do what I do. Deep down I think there are probably some self serving tendencies. Those I am trying to change. Please pray for me! Here is a verse I am trying to focus on this year.
"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14
Thanks
md

Monday, August 29, 2005

I'm Home!!

I am really!! Just home today and absolutly had a great time. Thos e relatives in Hepburn are amazing. I love them as well. We had a safe trip home and had a wonderful time. The MC thing went well and people laughed a bit and well, they groaned a bit. It was a tough crowd but fun anyway.
I met some new people and enjoyed haveing some interetsing talks about all sorts of stuff from church and evangelism, to bethany college and what goes on there to the dreaded Flames.
It's back to work tomorrow and that will be a blast. I am looking forward to getting in the swing of normal life again.

Have a great week!!

md

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Heartburn, Sask

Hey all!! Well, it has been some time since anything has been said on here so I will give a bit of a update of where we are. Bonnie , Benjamin and myself are in Saskatchewan. We will be here until Monday. I get to MC a wedding here on Saturday and so for the week I spent time with my nieces and my friends Gil and Shelley. It has been raining here for two days and it isn't very warm. Today I get to do some more preparation for the wedding.
So I hope all is well and I get to touch base with all of you soon.

md

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Hope........means.....

So much talk with friends outside the blog world has led me to really question what hope means to people that don't know Christ. Do people live with hope or is there really nothing to hope in? Can we or do we as Christians, people who know and have expiererenced Christ forgiving grace , have a special corner on "hope" to offer people who are at the end of their proverbial "rope"?
So if we do how do we offer these people this hope or show them this hope? What sort of practical steps need to be taken?
Maybe some of you are already doing something. Lets hear some ideas!!

md

Monday, August 15, 2005

Wow what a weekend!!

So I spent three days at the end of last week and the beginning of the weekend at the Leadership Summit in Calgary. This leaders conference is put on by Willow Creek a huge church in Illinois. Whatever, all that is just some meaningless info for those of you who care to know.
Bill Hybels, the pastor of this Willow Creek, believes very heavily in the local church and talks about it as the hope of the world. Very interesting and challenging because I work in the local church and wonder what kind of hope we give to the local community. How we are being all that God had hoped we would be?
This may be the first in many blogs about this conference because it has stirred some interesting thoughts and questions in Mark's Mind. So for today and maybe only to start today, what are we doing to bring hope to the local communities we live in? Are we as the "church" self serving or are we serving the community and trying to heal the hurting and bring hope to the hopeless, food to the starving, or water to the thirsty? Remeber Christ came for the sick not the healthy.
Thanks for your time chew on that on for a while and let me know what you think.

Mark

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

It's new and it's me!!

Well this is the first post in many to come. I was pressured and secumbed to the pressure of a brother-in-law and a friend to also create a blogspot. Here it is. Mark's Mind will entertain and screw with what reality we may already know. I invite your comments as this computer dumbass tries to navigate his way through a blog spot. Enjoy and laugh if you have too.