Food vendors will be on site during breaks and lunch for those not purchasing an advance ticket. I’ve been told that food trucks maybe be too expensive for this type of event or I’d have endeavored to get 3 there. Food vendors will pay the same table fee as everyone else, listed below. If you know of a food vendor, or a non-profit/fundraising group that offers food vendor service with clean-eating menus, send them my way.
Still looking for 5 vendors each in the areas of Nutrition, Sleep, Exercise, Skincare and Makeup. Skincare and Makeup product lines must either be free of the ingredients in this list, or have less than 5 listed.
Looking for speakers as well for all four pillars and to present in the makeup session. Speakers may also be vendors or consultants with tables.
Table fee for vendors and consultants: $50 non-refundable and payable in advance. Your choice of 6ft or 8ft table with potential to set up outside, weather-permitting.
For more information, or to e-transfer your ticket or table fee: contact Author Marilynn Dawson via email at author@fa-ct.com.
In the past whenever gas got this low, we would make it stretch by walking almost everywhere, from grocery shopping to church etc. It is quite honestly the only downside to living 20 minutes out of town now. We can’t walk to the areas we used to. This morning after my son did his chores, we gathered in the livingroom and discussed what God had been speaking to us about this past week or so.The common theme was centered around trusting God to meet our needs. Matthew 7:11 Give us this day, our daily bread.
that which is needful.
There are so many sources and means of sustenance out there, but not all of them satisfy and many are not needful. God is truly the only One Who can satisfy our actual, legitimate needs every day. By taking this lesser-used derivative, the Wycliffe translation doesn’t merely focus on our daily needs, but on the sustenance that is needful as well. Only God can provide the sustenance that will truly meet our daily needs. There are frivolous means and methods of sustenance, there is sustenance that appears to meet needs on the surface but only leaves one wanting, and there are forms of sustenance that actually cause more harm than good. I could go on rants on each of these types of sustenance, but the point for today, is that God provides that which is needful every day, that which satisfies, that which is for our benefit and His purpose. 
I had the privilege last summer, to read a brand new book by my Uncle David Laity, entitled “Remember the Lord: The Musings of St. Peter’s Wife”. (note: this is posted in 2018 due to finally getting a decent headshot of Uncle Dave in February 2018)
My uncle is a retired missionary, Bible College/University-level professor, former Teen Challenge Director, and now fill-in pastor in the local Central Okanagan region. Throughout his life and ministry he has had a love for history, particularly Jewish history and has made more than one trip to the Holy Land. I enjoy looking at pictures of Israel whenever my aunt and uncle bring them out.
So when he asked if I would write a review for his book, I readily accepted. Unfortunately for me, life is fairly busy and it wasn’t till mid-August when I had a free evening and sat down to read. For a book-lover such as myself, the book is a fairly quick read at only 132 pages. Editing was very well done with only four potential mistakes that I found throughout the entire book. Editing and formatting are always part of my review, because in the world of self-published authors, it is more important even than traditionally-published authors to present as well-prepared a manuscript as possible. I will reserve what few formatting issues I found for sharing with my uncle directly. Again, I found effort that went into this phase of publishing to be very well done overall.
History is a wonderful, fascinating thing! Adults who enjoy a quick read will also enjoy reading this book. Many tidbits of well-known early Church history are woven together with lesser-known facts and trivia to give a better picture of what our church forefathers faced as they first grappled with who Christ was to how they handled life when persecution fell hard and heavy.
I won’t give any examples from the book, but encourage you to get a copy for yourself and for the young student of history in your family or school community. As his niece, I’d love to see Uncle Dave’s book show up on required historical readings lists for Christian schools everywhere! One can dream, can’t she?
Premier John Horgan
The Canadian Press – Jun 29, 2017 / 8:20 pm | Story: 200652
UPDATE: 8:20 p.m.
British Columbia has a new governing party.
Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon asked John Horgan to form the first B.C. NDP government in 16 years, after the BC Liberals lost a vote of non-confidence in the legislature earlier Thursday.
“I have met with Premier Clark and will accept her resignation,” said Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon in a statement. “I have asked Mr. Horgan to form a government, he having assured me that he can form a government which will have the confidence of the Legislative Assembly.”
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BC fire maps glow red
Jon Manchester – Jul 10, 2017 / 4:12 pm | Story: 201451
UPDATED: 3 p.m.
“…
There are currently 218 fires burning, with 29 new starts, according chief fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek.
“It’s certainly less than what we’ve been seeing over the past few days,” he said. “We had in the neighbourhood of 140 new fires start on Friday and almost 100 on Saturday, so certainly less activity.” “
(That’s July 6th and 7th for those without access to a calendar to back up from the date of this news article)
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Everything you need to know about the issues and promises ahead of the provincial election
VANCOUVER The Globe and Mail Last updated: Saturday, May 06, 2017 2:50PM EDT
Green Party: “As well, the carbon tax would be applied more broadly, to capture fugitive emissions from natural-gas extraction, and slash-pile burning in forestry. ”
(never mind the fact that clear-cut followed by a decent slash-burn returns Nitrogen to the soil to help plants start growing again in a healthier fashion! Heck, the natives knew this before we learned about it!)
Green Party: “Andrew Weaver is the only major party leader who has voiced support for the decriminalization of drugs.”
“NDP: Mr. Horgan, too, has pledged to travel to Washington. The NDP platform calls for processing more logs in B.C. and expanded investments in reforestation. Mr. Horgan would not say if an NDP government would impose Ms. Clark’s thermal-coal levy.”
“Green Party: The party proposes several forestry-related measures, including curbs on raw log exports, protection of old-growth forests and steps to encourage value-added processing.”
(however, old-growth forests do not have much underbrush, causing the wildlife to move on to other areas potentially putting them at risk. A younger forest has more healthy, lush underbrush providing both food and shelter/cover for wildlife to return to)
https://www.globalgreens.org/globalcharter
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The Greens/NDP government took power June 29th, 2017. A previously normal fire season for 2017 suddenly and ferociously changed on July 6th, 2017. British Columbia’s largest industry is being hit hard by the worst forest-fire season in years. The ecosystems the Greens claim to want to protect are going up in flames all over the province. Over 42,000 people have since been evacuated and only now as we approach the end of July, are some of them finally going home. Is there a correlation here? Has God struck at the god known as “mother earth” and hit the province’s largest income-generator at the same time? The cost of lumber is going up as large swaths of formerly merchantable timber goes up in smoke.
Both of these parties want to raise carbon taxes to deal with carbon footprints. Honourable on the surface, but damaging on the ground where tax payers have to foot the higher cost because companies passed it on down the line to the end-user. The new government even knows this trickle-down happens, offering low-income families a monthly rebate if their plan goes through. As quoted above, the Green party does not understand the benefit of slashburns in the forest industry, nor has the party ever fully understood healthy forestry practices. This is not good for the logging and softwood lumber industries of this province.
But more than that, when God had a message for the government of Egypt in Moses’ time, He struck at the gods of the land, the gods the people worshipped and for whom the Pharaohs supposedly descended from. Earth worship is being touted more and more as the environmental agenda gets ever more ritualistic in its determination to force the general populace to observe earth days, earth hours, and personifying the earth when speaking of both good and bad events. The earth we live on belches more carbon dioxide into the air via volcanic explosions than cows or cars ever could, every year. Climate change has become the new focus around which to gather the faithful and shame the unconcerned.
Some would say that the BC government’s choice of ruling party(s) has brought down God’s swift and unequivocal condemnation. It’s been observed that while Obama was in power in the US, California experienced the worst and longest-lasting drought in its entire history, but when Trump got into power, the state began to see so much rain that in places it caused flooding. The New Orleans disaster with Hurricane Katrina was an immediate and again, unequivocal response to the US government forcing Israel out of Gaza. As if to add insult to injury, evacuees had to stay in mobile trailers for almost as long as the forced-out Israeli’s did. Anyone connecting these two dots was decried for being unfeeling and uncaring.
What most Christians today fail to consider, is that God, even in the New Testament, continues to deal with nations in an Old Testament fashion according to the prophetic passages and will do so right to the end of time. Christ’s own rule for 1000 years will closely match the type of rule God set down through Moses for the Hebrew people after they left Egypt, with one major addition: any country not sending a rep up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles will see their country receive no rain. (see Revelation 19) Hmmm, there is the use of weather again to deal with the nations. In fact, a number of the seals/bowls/trumpets also use “natural cataclysm” to bring about God’s judgement. Isn’t it interesting that insurance companies classify weather-related damages as an “Act of God”??? This isn’t to say every natural cataclysm is a judgement from God, but there are moments when the fact there is no such thing as coincidence rises to the surface.
The timing here in BC of the swearing-in of our new provincial government, their platform policies and the fires raging across the province is a little uncanny. The observation has been made that perhaps the churches of BC as a whole need to repent of anything to do with feeding the environmentalist lie in perpetrating worship of mother earth. God does call us to be stewards, but a steward is not a priest or spiritual vassal to something being worshipped. The religious fervor of the churches needs to be toward God alone as we manage, sustain, repair, use, and basically farm the land around us. God talks about husbandry in the Bible, which is a term for managing a vineyard. It involves thinning dead branches, pinching off too many flowers so those remaining bear bigger, better fruit, picking the fruit, fertilizing the ground, planting, uprooting, etcetera as needed. Doing this for our forests is mandatory and under NDP rule in the past, these practices suffered hugely, especially on Vancouver Island where the NDP have flourished for decades. We need to relearn what it means to be good stewards and set out a Godly definition apart from the religious ways of the environmental agenda being pushed by the Green party and others.
But is there more to this? Have we as a God-fearing province turned more toward our own provision than toward God’s? Have we gotten complacent as a province about our prosperity and forgotten from whence it comes? Financially, life in BC is going to get more expensive just has it has for our neighbors in Alberta. This is what the NDP do when they get in power. They raise taxes giving lofty promises as to what that increase will let them do – giving back a small portion of that to low-income families as a way to try to look good. It didn’t work in BC before, and it isn’t working in Alberta now. It won’t work here again. But memories are short, change was demanded, and sadly, change is not always for the better as we are seeing across Canada under our new Federal government.
As people go back to burned-down homes and try to rebuild their lives, let us also consider rebuilding our commitment to the local, provincial and worldview that God would have us adopt. What does that look like? How can we work it out in our various areas of influence? How can we honour God in our business dealings, forestry practices, farming practices, fishing practices, etc.? Perhaps as the global Green Charter has done, maybe we as Christians need to have our own council in the modern times, separate from the damaging effects of what the pope is trying to do bringing all of Protestantism back under the roof of the catholic church. Maybe we need a new council of ‘name of city’, whereby the Evangelical and Charismatic churches may find voice to set down for their people, a creed, a constitution if you will, that answers these questions from deep within God’s Word, ignoring for a time the loud voices of compromise demanding the Church give up God’s notions of sin in exchange for apparent relevancy and inclusiveness, focussing instead on God’s own convictions for order, relationship, and management of resources.
The god of the environmental movement here in BC is burning. Here in the Okanagan, Kelowna experienced the worst flooding since 1949, again, the god of the local environment being doused in water and causing extensive damage to homes and businesses all across the Central Okanagan. Who are we worshipping with our day-to-day activities and convictions? Who do our actions and time spent say we worship? Time for some introspection and examination. . .
Pastor Will finished a series this morning about learning to thrive not just survive, in a godless culture. The series was based on the life of Daniel and his three friends from the early pages of the book of Daniel in the Old Testament.
Today as I sat behind the video booth clicking next on the various slides, one word jumped off my notes at me, “sanctuary”. It was a handwritten note about a slide background I’d chosen for a song near the end of the service. The motion background was green in nature, with the light source coming from above. The fleeting thought went through my head “green is the colour of life, all who turn to Christ for sanctuary will find life”.
When I got home, one of my friends on Facebook shared Deuteronomy 33:26,27 which says:
There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
Naturally, most people only ever quote the first half of verse 27, because I assume, it is the most comforting. However, God is not merely our comfort, but it is because He fights our battles for us that we are able to find comfort and sanctuary in His presence. Throwing out the enemy from before us and destroying them is what any good commander of an army does for those who seek shelter.
Canada, along with other western nations that have historically welcomed, encouraged, and built their socially-accepted judicial norms around Judeo-Christian morals and ethics, are now moving away from those morals and ethics, and developing a loathing of Christianity in general. A godless society is rising up flaunting it’s sin as beautiful, inclusive and tolerant while simultaneously rejecting the former godly influence and clamping down on its public voice. Of course this swing away from Judeo-Christian values is not going unnoticed and various groups are doing their level best to slow the speed of the pendulum, but when sin is given voice, it fights to maintain it and quash all others. We’ve seen this in other nations around the world at various points in history, now we are seeing it in our time in nations that never before had this happen.
Such is the timeliness of the sermon series over the past few weeks at Evangel.
God’s people in Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and other western nations need to remember and enact the following:
1) Know without a shadow of a doubt, just who they are in Christ. If in doubt, re-read the Gospels and the book of Romans, followed by Galatians/Ephesians/Philippians and Colossians. Going back through the book of Proverbs one chapter per day for several months will also instill the desired mindset and behaviours required of the Child of God.
2) Be discerning and sharp-eyed/eared to pay attention to what is changing in and out of the church as some denominations try to blend in under the guise of being relevent to those around them. If one’s church is choosing to accept and promote sin as no longer sin, then it’s time to consider a new church. Gather together with believers who will not bend their Biblical worldview based on societal change, but who will stand staunchly on God’s Word for their worldview and resulting acceptance or rejection of what is going on around them.
3) When the temptation comes to become fearful of what is going on, take refuge in Jesus Christ. He is our Strong Tower, He is our refuge from the storm. He can buoy us up on eagle’s wings so that we see the bigger picture, thus giving us broader and better perspective than the fearful scenes closing in around us. This act of taking refuge is found in one’s prayer closet away from the crowds. Spend time with God in his Word, staying immersed in His worldview, resting in His arms for a few minutes every day. This oasis will become more and more necessary as the days get darker before Christ’s return.
4) Pick your battles. Not everything is of eternal significance, but some things while seemingly small and insignificant to the world, will indeed affect their eternal destination. If in doubt, ask the Holy Spirit for advice and hit the Scriptures to see what God says about principles related to the issue in question. If an action, behaviour, etc goes against a principal found in Scripture, what can you do about it? We must always put God’s ways above man’s ways. Sometimes man’s ways don’t necessarily contradict a given principal, but will promote another false religion in apparent condoning of said principal. Living at peace for example, or giving to the poor, neither are wrong by themselves, but it is not wise to seek peace using pagan practices while it’s perfectly ok to ladle out soup beside one of another belief system. Learn the difference so you know when to ladle soup and when to hit your own oasis to seek God’s peace. Christ spoke out against the sins of the day, but welcomed anyone coming to Him in genuine honesty seeking help, healing, or salvation.
As times get darker, God will be our refuge and will fight for us. His arms will sustain us and buoy us up so that coming storms don’t knock us out of the Way. It is up to us to choose that refuge and seek His safety. The more we spend time in that place, the better witness and light we will be to those around us. The more we espouse God’s ways of doing things no matter what others say around us, the more we will attract those who wonder why we are so different. We are called to be different, to stand out, to go against the flow. This isn’t an easy life calling for sure, and Christians have lost their lives, been tortured, separated from family and friends, lost jobs, etc. because they followed God rather than man. But is the way of eternal reward. Christ told John:
Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Revelation 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Let me wrap up with this verse:
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
They were found in Christ. They were different by their very lives hid in Christ lived out before the world. They did not care if that testimony cost them their lives or not. What about you?
The truth is, there are dark tales on both sides of the fence and there are positive, amazing tales on both sides of the fence. Here in Kelowna, I’ve now heard two positive stories, one from an Order of Canada recipient and another from this pastor. Both of them are full-blood native, not even Metis, or some percentage of native vs white in their heritage (because not all were/are french)
Romans 12:9-10
However, that thought was immediately followed by what appears to be a rather silly uproar gaining ground known as “cultural appropriation”. The latest article seemed to infer that if you weren’t French, you shouldn’t be eating French Fries! Um, My background is largely UK and we called them “Chips”! Fish ‘n Chips anyone? What happened to the idea that experiencing other cultures enriched your own? This was a common refrain from world travellers no matter what national stripe they came from. The ability to learn from, engage with, and perhaps bring a little bit home of another culture always left the recipient feeling they’d learned something and become a better person for the experience. Here in Canada, this is at the heart of our cultural mosaic. We borrow from each other with enthusiastic gusto, eagerly eating at ethnic restaurants, taking in cultural displays such as dances, parades, concerts, art gallery presentations, etc. We learn how to make ethnic foods at home and how to sew garments such as mukluks, mitts, and bags. The idea that someone in the “don’t touch me brigade” can’t handle enriching someone else’s life with their own culture comes across as childish.
As Christians seeking to find answers to the current problem in Canada, part of the so-called “white man’s” enjoyment, discovery, learning, and appropriation of native culture should include learning about their system of honour toward each other and to those they deem of importance outside, inside, or having an impact on their community in some way. I think as descendants of European peoples, we white-skins can address our own varied history of conquest and conquoring by honestly asking to learn about the ways of honour among the native peoples. God calls us to honour each other, calls us to love each other as ourselves in the second of the two greatest commandments, and calls us to put others ahead of ourselves and to think of their needs as well as our own. What better way to put this into practice than by choosing to learn how a different culture does it, one that most of us have grown up with in one way or another for the past 300+ years.
Matthew 22:37-40
When one culture takes home the best of another, they become a better people. Canadians have the opportunity to take home the best of the First Nations, the Asians, the Mexicans, the Jamaicans, the Africans, the Arab, the Israeli, the German, Dutch, and the list could go on. Canadians have the opportunity to take the best of the over 200 people groups in this land, and truly become the best nation on earth! Why? Because Canadians are ALL immigrants to these shores. But it begins with learning! Learning requires humility toward the one teaching, and humility from the one teaching toward those desiring to learn.
I seriously feel that God’s people could lead the way on this as Christian brothers and sisters among the First Nations teach Christian brothers and sisters from among the other cultures, the local way of honour! We sing the song, “They shall know we are Christians by our love. We will walk with each other, we will walk, hand in hand. . . ” As Christians on both sides of this issue, let us come together seeking forgiveness and learning the ways of honour. It may be that our histories are so different that we can’t reconcile them. But through Christ, we can link arms and show the world how to build anew!
History is full of them. As far back as tales could be told, mankind has always shared stories of valor, of great feats, of extraordinary accomplishments. Legends of heroes and heroines decorate mosaics, friezes, pottery, and tomb walls. Even our own Scriptures mention people who became known as “men of renown”. This desire to tell such tales matches and many times throughout history, meets a deep-seated need from the populace to have someone to look up to, someone to use as a role model for their children, and someone to aspire to.
Occasionally, men and women rose up in their generation and engaged in causes so much bigger than themselves as to become living legends among their own people in their own time. Joan of Arc, King David, Alexander the Great, Mother Theresa, just to name a very few.
But whether they actually lived among us, or whether we made up stories about fictional characters, these heroes would often take on such legendary status as to become what we now call “Super Heroes” able to jump tall buildings in a single bound, take down the enemy hoards with just one man, and stand up for “Truth and Justice and the American Way”, or whatever the particular cause was at the time.
The Greeks made up extensive stories to showcase their beloved gods and goddesses as they sought to explain how the world came to be as they knew it. The Babylonians, Egyptians, Norse, Japanese, and other ethnic groups did the same. Time went on and North American and other Western writers, artists, and story tellers got in on the act. There were villains, good guys, impossible odds, desperate circumstances and the fabled damsel in distress needing to be rescued by her knight in shining armour.
One could justifiably wonder why, in a world where science and technology have seemingly provided us with “all the answers”, why even today’s generations still find themselves enamoured with legendary figures and “super heroes”. Even today, the need to look to someone stronger, better, more daring and bolder than themselves still drives the public to clamour for tales of good conquering evil. If only for a moment in time, if only in one’s own imagination fueled by a wordsmith or visual story played out on-screen, that moment gives hope for a future that does not seem to exist outside. It is a small chance to indulge in vanquishing all that is wrong with the world and for once, to feel on top of it all as life crumbles around us.
Today’s generation will look to anyone willing to tell the story, whether it is pulled from modern imaginations or from those of ancient history. They don’t care, all they want is the story, that moment of satisfaction described above. Today’s story tellers have latched onto this need and the one movie to start the 2017 summer box office season has been none other than Wonder Woman herself. Initially drawn in cartoon form as the All-American cowgirl standing up for truth and justice and the American Way, at times fighting side by side with Superman himself, Wonder Woman was drawn with cowboy boots, an electrified lasso, a tank top and shorts painted in the colours of the American Flag, and a forehead tiara. But that was the early days. She stayed in this Wild West of sorts until Warner Bro’s decided it was time to tell the rest of the story in this year’s live-action movie, Wonder Woman.
Initial reviews were mixed to begin with. PluggedIn.com’s review suggested that a few scenes might be uncomfortable for sensitive eyes and ears to take in. They claimed these were of a sexual nature only, and due to this kind of review, I was hesitant to bother with seeing this particular movie. Now I must say that it’s no easy feat to get me out to the movies in the first place. My own standards are so high that most movies don’t make the cut to even get me to read a review about them, let alone walk in the door to buy a ticket and sit down to watch. So when I shared Pluggedin.com’s review with my two young adult children, they assured me they wanted to see the movie. My son had two free movie tickets, so attending would only mean buying one more ticket so we could attend as a family. Well, off we went.
The “problem scenes” as it turns out, were only a problem if the viewer naturally tended toward a dirty mind. The characters comprise an abstinent pilot and an Amazon who has never seen men outside of textbooks. The banter then is one of innocent awkwardness rather than knowing, winking advances. This was a relief to see. The parts I had problems with related more to my own over-active imagination forcing me to hide my eyes from two chemical warfare scenes than anything else in the entire movie. What do those have to do with the movie? Well, you’ll have to go watch it to find out.
The movie presents an alternative narrative involving the Greek gods and goddesses and presents us with what could be termed a “coming of age” for a young adult who does not yet know she herself is also among that particular pantheon. Our heroine is thrust into World War I, having been protected most of her young life by the Queen of the Amazons who had raised her from a clay infant inbreathed by Zeus himself. This origin of Wonder Woman was new to me, as I don’t remember it in the comics. If it was there, I missed it, because as a young girl, Wonder Woman was my super hero for a little while. The chance to see my childhood super hero on-screen helped drive my son to recommend we go to the movie theatre.
Our heroine stumbles through the middle section of the movie discovering slowly but surely, that the outfit bequeathed to her upon discovering “the god killer” (go watch to find out what this is) could stop bullets and that her lasso was good for getting the truth out of people. However it is as she is battling the god of war himself, that she finally discovers her true self. She has to figure out her identity and then take full action within it all while fighting for the very life of humanity itself. What amazed me about the entire story, is that for the first time in modern retelling of early Western-style super heroes, DC Comics and Warner Bro’s stayed true to what Wonder Woman stood for and allowed her to stand for truth and justice from the start to the end of this movie! They deserve to be commended for this after all the super heroe twisting that’s gone on in the movies over the past several years.
The retelling of the Wonder Woman super hero story comes at a time when once again, it seems that on so many levels, our world is falling apart. Governments are doing strange things to their people. Big pharma is showing more concern with making money than with preventing or treating illness and disease. Money moguls are pulling strings that are causing mayhem in areas of restlessness and under-employment. Religions that used to bill themselves as peaceful are suddenly at others’ throats. Who will come to our rescue? Who will set things straight again? For a moment in time, movie-goers once again could escape into a world where one woman stepped up to the plate and made things right, discovering herself in the process.
It has been observed that today’s millennial generation is in the throes of discovering itself. Many readily admit they don’t know who they are. They don’t know what their place is, what their role is supposed to be, and as a result they hide in their technology, even questioning the god of science that their parents and grandparents’ generations and so painstakingly built. Today’s millennials are looking for that legend to rise up among them, someone who will take on the evils of their day and win, someone who will blaze a new path that leads to the age-old dream of peace and prosperity with meaning and clarity to tell them who they are and what their purpose is.
It is no mistake then, that Wonder Woman is cast as a young one coming of age. It is no mistake that she finds herself muddling through a confusing crowd around her, and it is quite astute of the script writers to have her discovering just who she is under incredible pressure and temptation to run any which way but where she should and must go! True to form however, she sees through the temptation and goes where she must, to the relief of one character the viewer would otherwise assume was quite worthy of being done in. Again, you’ll have to go watch if you want to learn who this is.
What does talking about super heroes have to do with a writer of Christian Spiritual Growth/Personal Growth? God Himself is calling to those of the millennial generation who will answer. He is calling them out to do spiritual warfare for the world they find themselves in. He is reaching out to them, encouraging them to discover themselves and their callings within that place offered by the Holy Spirit’s power. God is greater than any false god the world may conjure up to tell their stories around. God is more powerful than any villain the enemy may dream up to destroy this generation. This power comes to the one who repents of their sins and accepts Jesus Christ into their lives, vowing to live for Him, seeking the Holy Spirit’s help in taking up the challenge to live a holy, godly life in a perverse and darkening world.
When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, we do not become gods by any stretch of the imagination. Scripture says all the gods of the earth are idols. Only in their stories can they see, hear and act. Outside of those stories they are at best, empty and lifeless. However, at their worst, they are demons hiding behind alluring facades that only pretend to care about their vassals but will do away with them as soon as their usefulness is used up. No, we are not gods. We are humans made a little lower than the angels, humans Christ died for because He loved us that much. It is His power working in and through us that changes the world around us.
In order for His power to change not only us but the world we live in, we need to be fully surrendered to Him! The millennial generation is looking for those Christian men and women who will be so surrendered to God’s Will and Ways that they will make marked and lasting impressions on those they meet, situations they encounter, and change their corner of the world forever! It may very well be that there are young men and women who have indeed accepted Christ into their lives, but they do not yet know who they are or why they are here. Their calling has not yet been made manifest. Pray for these young men and women. Pray that the Holy Spirit will awaken their calling in their hearts and minds. Pray that they will done the armour crafted just for them according to Ephesians 6, armour that became available to them upon discovering Christ as their Saviour.
Canada is celebrating 150 years of Confederation this year (2017), and a small band of 40+ prayer warriors assembled at Warrior Lookout in Kelowna to engage in prophetic re-enactments and to re-affirm Christ’s Lordship over this land. A few Millennials were on hand for this event as their role in upcoming skirmishes was to be affirmed and prayed into. One young Millennial has already been used in God’s army in the local area for some time, and she agreed to take part in a re-enactment. The lighting as pictures were taken, the backdrop and other elements all came together to present her image as a symbol of the spiritual warrior God is looking for here in Canada and across the Western world! With her permission, I created this meme and invite my readers to share it with their Millennials as encouragement to pick up their Sword of the Spirit and be willing to step out into battle for their generation.
Also in celebration of Canada’s 150th, I have created this shield. The original image is of the front of a candle bucket purchased from a local store. The Cross of Christ became apparent in the white lines of Canada’s official celebratory maple leaf. I snapped the photo and enhanced the Cross. May this shield be wielded by all who desire to pray for restoration, reconciliation, repentance, and renewed vision for this sprawling country.
“Take up the mighty shield of faith for the battle must be one. We know that Jesus Christ is risen, so the work’s already done! Praise the Lord. He works through those who praise Him, praise the Lord, for our God inhabits praise. Praise the Lord, for the chains that seem to bind you, serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you, when you praise Him. “
Get the entire course in PDF format in one handy CD-ROM that you can take with you wherever you go! Print only the pages you need! Instructors are granted permission to print as many worksheets as necessary to suit the needs of their classes.
BONUS: Owners of this CD-ROM will also get two bonus spreadsheets to aid them in their budgeting. #OpenOffice required. Free download for MAC or PC from openoffice.org.
Paperbacks of the Instructor’s Manual, Student Workbook and Three Month Journal are also available direct from the author or on Amazon.
Just $43.95 direct from the warehouse!
If you prefer, you can order right here from Songdove Books as well by visiting the blog’s store. Same price, payment via Paypal, and it may take a couple of days longer to get to you as I process your order.
March 5th to 11th is “Read an Ebook Week” on Smashwords this year!
Every year this event gets bigger, and this year I am thoroughly pleased to be part of it!
Three of my books are published over at Smashwords, and you might even get one of them for FREE! But you’ll have to go visit to find out which one it is.
Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author
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Pumpkin Pie From the Ground Up! (Well, sort of!)
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NOTE: Due to the sheer size of “A Year in Prayer With Jesus” in ebook format, I highly recommend reading it on a laptop or computer screen as opposed to a phone or phablet. If it works for you on your tablet, let me know?
Because you can’t actually write on your screen in most cases, you may want to hop over to Amazon to pick up the companion book, (paid link)“One Year Prayer Journal” so that you can jot down thoughts for each prayer point as you go along.
Reading is important, fun, educational, and for many, reading is a respite, an escape, an adventure into another world. Get that book published you’ve always dreamed of. Bake the pie your friends and family will rave over! Take your prayer and devotional life deeper this year, or give as a gift to someone you care about.
Whatever your reason for reading, make this the week you get back into that next good book!
When you decide to finally check out after making your picks on Smashwords, use this coupon: RAE50 to get my books at 50% off!
Recently I saw an advertisement on Facebook, looking for indigenous models. It was a scouting agency I believe, encouraging indigenous people only, to try out. The image (not the one above but a real live human) was of a deeply bronze woman sporting a carefully styled blown longish hair look. Very few characteristics made me peg her has indigenous, but I did have friends growing up from the local bands surrounding my home town who were indeed beautiful. Plains natives I have worked with and volunteered under were also beautiful people.
These images and memories were immediately contrasted with other memories of broken toothless smiles, faces wrinkled before their time, and then I remembered the various aboriginal babies and toddlers and young children I have seen, held, played with growing up, etc. The question popped into my head, what happened between those childhood years and when these people became full-on teenagers and adults? What happened to twist their beautiful faces from plump and round or chiselled and shapely, to the broken and prematurely aged? Pondering this question led to a series of answers that affect many more people out there than merely the population whose shores we landed on. These answers, if acted on, will beautify any person of any ethnicity and even of any age of either gender.
The causes for such twisting of features begin, often, in childhood or tweenage years and carry on into adulthood. Causes such as:
- early introduction to alcoholic beverages of any type.
- early introduction to drugs or being in the homes of those smoking them.
- physical abuse by family members, friends, or strangers
- mental/emotional abuse causing the person to lose their self-esteem and self-worth often leading to the first two points in an effort to find a crowd they belong to.
- Bad eating choices either due to self-made choices or those of caregivers on a consistent basis
- Poor sleep habits often allowed by caregivers, leading to a wide range of health issues.
- lack of personal hygiene either because of consistent oversight by caregivers, or by personal neglect.
None of these causes are found ONLY in aboriginal homes, but those homes have been the public focus whenever people talk about problems in various communities. Growing up surrounded by three native bands, I can say first hand that this list was also found in homes of other colours and languages.
If there are beautiful people out there, and there are, what is their secret? There are actually a number of answers to this question. Some answers are healthy, others are not when taken too far, and still others are unhealthy but pushed by the retail marketing media campaigns.
- they wear make-up (generally only girls do this)
- they wear nice clothes
- they engage in “me time” with healthy or drastically unhealthy products depending on what they bought at the store. The point of “me time” is to achieve a sense of beauty often at the expense of both cost and long-term health.
- they work out at the gym.
- they eat well
- they believe in getting their “beauty sleep”, better interpreted as a solid night’s sleep – early to rest/early to rise.
Four of the above points are aimed purely at the outside of the person, but for the right person, can contribute to maintaining or repairing self-esteem and self-worth. The better answers are as follows:
– Drop the drugs and alcohol! This point can’t be stressed enough! These, by far, are the biggest disfigurement sources out there! A person who gets hooked on drugs, alcohol, or both will often lose all sense of personal care and concern resulting in many health issues that show up on their face, in their voice, in their mind and eventually even in their motor skills. Homes where drugs and alcohol are not present often have nice-looking members purely because they have not entertained what can destroy them from the inside out.
– Drop smoking, of any kind! This particular issue ages a person’s skin very fast! Want to stay naturally beautiful without resorting to expensive treatments? Simply don’t smoke, whether it’s cigarettes, cigars, weed, or other smokable drugs. A smoker develops bad lungs, bad lungs lead to poor oxygen intake, lack of oxygen affects brain operations, skin repair, and many other functions in the body. If a person stops smoking early enough, it is possible to reverse some of the bad effects on their overall health and therefore their appearance by extension.
– Daily engage in proper personal hygiene! This point too can’t be stressed enough! Brush your teeth at least once per day. Wash your face at least once per day. Clip your finger nails. Trim your beard and mustache. Shower at least twice a week, every other day at most. Personal hygiene tends to your skin, your hair, your teeth, and your nails of hands and feet. Your skin covers your entire body and is the largest organ of your body! Look after it! Failure to do so results in many skin-related problems that could otherwise be avoided. Failure to brush your teeth regularly can lead to dental problems that you may never outgrow. Not clipping your nails can lead to various nail diseases, terrible “hang nails” and other conditions. Keeping a guy’s beard and mustache trimmed lends itself to pride in a man’s appearance and ability to look more approachable by others.
– Get a decent night’s sleep! Staying up to all hours of the night and sleeping irregular hours at night or during the day can also lead to health problems that take their toll on your overall health and outward appearance. Scientific studies over the years have debated what the optimum amount of sleep is for a person, but one way to find out for yourself is to take a one or two-week staycation. Hide all your clocks, including your alarm clock. Go to bed whenever you start to get tired (not when you’re exhausted, it’s too late by then) and wake up when you can’t sleep anymore. After a few days have gone by with what seems like a regular habit developing, get your clocks back out but don’t follow them. Use them as markers only. Note when your body told you to go to bed and note when your body decided to get up. Do this for several days and then do the math. How many hours of sleep was that on average? When you go off your staycation, remember that number and schedule your life so that you have the opportunity to get a good night’s rest every single night! Your body does most of its healing and rejuvenating while you sleep, so failure to give it the time necessary to do its job will result in ill-health, lowered immunity to common airborne diseases and viruses, etc. A tired person often has bags under their eyes and make-up companies are capitalizing on this with eye pencils that blend out the dark circles. Sure a woman can spend money to “look good” or “look awake”, but why bother? Save your money and just get a good night’s sleep on a daily basis.
– Exercise is a valid way to stay healthy, but don’t worship the gym, the hiking trail or the bike lane! Our bodies were built for activity and sedentary lifestyles as a result, lead to long-term problems. Keeping the body moving often enough in a day allows for oxygen to get where it needs to go easier and more frequently, allowing bodily functions to take place with less stress or strain. A person who exercises regularly will also think more clearly and be able to process life around them better.
– Eat properly! This isn’t referring to manners or cleanliness so much as it refers to what you eat and how often you eat it. Spending money on sugary products, processed foods, junk food, fast food, etcetera is a long-term recipe for ill-health that will eventually show up in weight gain, skin problems, digestion issues, mental problems and more. Choosing to learn to cook at home and buy healthier options will benefit your body sometimes in as little as a few days. What you eat affects your body’s ability to function and repair itself. Help it along by being choosy about what you spend your money on at the grocery store.
As I said before, the causes of “ugly” people are not specific to any ethnicity. The answers to those causes are also unspecific to any ethnicity, and will positively benefit both genders no matter where they live in the world.
Every single person alive has been born beautiful in their own way, and if they eat well, stay active, sleep well, look after themselves and stay away from harmful substances whether addictive or otherwise, they stay beautiful in their own way as well.
Think about this second list above the next time you hear the phrase, “Stay Beautiful”.