Twice in the space of two weeks, we’ve had to deal with serious plumbing problems. First it was the bathroom (lavatory) faucet. Next it was the ensuite toilet.

Our plumber friend, Dave, spent countless hours trying to fix them.

The faucet kept on leaking slowly despite Dave changing its “guts” and installing a new “seat.”

The toilet was a rare model for which he could not find a suitable part at local hardware stores or plumbing specialty warehouses.

I must say that I admired his tenacity in researching resources online and picking the brains of plumber friends offline in his quest to find an inexpensive solution.

In the end, Super Dave had to admit that he (and we) had run out of options. Both were beyond repair. It was time to replace them with newer models.

As much as Dave was kind enough to do his level best to save us some money, his repeated forays to retail outlets and online excursions to plumbing sites were certainly expensive as well–in time, if not money!

This experience made me appreciate once again the wisdom of Jesus when he said: “Who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” (Mark 2:22)

Yes, replacing the old cloth with totally new cloth and replacing old wineskins with totally new skins are expensive solutions. But losing the old cloth altogether, losing both new wine and old wineskins are also expensive propositions, amen?

The apostle Paul says something similar in Colossians 3:5: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.”

Those are strong words with an edge to them, wouldn’t you agree? Paul is basically asking: “Why resort to “Patch-It” solutions when you can take a “Hatchet” to the old self and replace it instead?”

In other words, stop trying to repair your carnal nature. Let it die. Choose to live by the Spirit instead. Put on the new cloth, the new wineskin, the new self.

When we do, we will spare ourselves the expense of wasted time and reach our destiny a lot faster, methinks.

What do you think?

Robert Lewis, author of The Church of Irresistible Influence, uses the metaphor of building bridges to illustrate how the “culture” of Fellowship Bible Church makes it possible for members to identify opportunities to serve others in Little Rock, Arkansas and then take the initiative to make them happen.

Every time someone in the community is served by someone in the church, it is as though a bridge has been built between the church and the community.

Initially, all the traffic goes one-way—from the church to the community.

However, once the bridge has been built, it is now open for two-way traffic. Anyone from the community may now use the same bridge to come to the church, should they so desire!

If no one chooses to come, that’s OK too. Because, the church has fulfilled Jesus’ mandate to be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, a light that is visible for all to see and to let their light so shine before others that may see their good works and give glory to our Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16).

Have you noticed that the gospels repeatedly mention how Jesus “went into/throughout” certain territories (Matthew 4:23, 9:35), homes (Matthew 26:6, Luke 19: 5) and even hostile territory such as Samaria (John 4:4)?

Jesus was a master at creating traffic one-way!

In Acts 2:47 we read that the early church was known for “enjoying the favour of all the people.”

Historians tell us that this was likely because Christians had a reputation for taking care of people in the community who were ignored and abandoned by others. They would care for the sick and the disabled, and even bury the destitute who had died of dreaded diseases.

In other words, they began by creating traffic one-way. The Lord provided the traffic coming the other way as he “added to their numbers.”

Perhaps we need to ask: “Lord, where would you like me to create traffic one-way today?” Amen?

In his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey tells about a subway ride where he was seated next to a man who seemed totally oblivious to his unruly children running around causing a commotion. An exasperated Covey suggested rather gruffly to the father that perhaps he should do something about it.

The father replied: “Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”

Covey wanted to slither under the seat.

Jesus says: “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment” (John 7:24). Or as another translation puts it: “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”

Easier said than done, though, eh? Case in point.

One Sunday morning I had just come back from church in time to grab some lunch before the cafeteria at the student residence shut down. As I started eating, a scruffy-looking guy sporting a wrinkled short-sleeve shirt with bright pink flowers looked up and down my three-piece suit and said: “Where did you come from buddy, a funeral?”

In a slightly self-righteous tone I retorted: “Well, if you knew anything about church, you’d realize exactly where I came from on a Sunday morning.”

To my utter surprise, he reached into his pocket and promptly produced the bulletin from the church service he had just attended.

By now the runny eggs on my plate had raced all the way to my face.

I’d like to say I learned my lesson at that point and never ever judged anyone else by mere appearances. NOT!

I still need to pray regularly: “Lord, let me not judge by mere appearances; please help me judge correctly.”

How about you?

On Saturday, I decided to bake Morning Glory Muffins for the very first time. Following an online recipe, I sifted together the dry ingredients, whisked together the wet items and blended them together.

It was only while spooning the muffin mix into the 12^th baking cup that I went “Oops!”  I had completely forgotten to add the grated carrots. What is an amateur baker supposed to do? Stick them in the oven anyway and hope for the best. Amen? (Thanks for your Amen).

But what of the 2 cup mistake that was staring me in the face? Surely, I couldn’t waste all that carotene! Brainwave!! Make a carrot loaf!!!

Thanks to a Martha Stewart recipe, the ingredients were all mixed together while the muffins were merrily baking away. Within an hour, we had 16 Morning Glory Muffins and one carrot loaf.

Incredibly, the muffins tasted just fine, as did the carrot loaf.

In retrospect I realized that I had subconsciously followed Elisha’s prescription for dealing with culinary disasters (II Kings 4:38-41). Add flour!

OK, so we weren’t exactly dealing with poison in the dough…but it made me realize that God can make even our mistakes come out tasting good!

You may have heard the story about the guy who went to the wrong funeral by mistake and ended up marrying the daughter of the deceased!

Or Art Fry who turned a mistake in manufacturing an adhesive at 3M into the highly successful “Post-It” notes.

The apostle Paul reminds us that “All things work together for good to those who love the Lord.” (Romans 8:28).

Ever wonder why God does not prevent us from making mistakes along the road to our destiny? Could it be partly because He wants to make blessings out of our mistakes?

What do you think?

Today, many of our readers observe Remembrance/Armistice/Veterans Day, with two minutes of silence at the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month of every year. The red poppy has come to symbolize the sacrifice of those who defended the cause of freedom in the two World Wars and other conflicts. The term “lest we forget” has become associated with Nov. 11.

Thousands of years ago, Moses prepared the people of Israel for life in the Promised Land with these words of caution:

 “10 “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (Deuteronomy 6:10-12)

I am beginning to realize that the greatest enemy of Thanksgiving is a poor memory. I would define a poor memory as one that is marked by either an inability or an unwillingness to remember.

No wonder that God, in infinite wisdom, prescribed the observance of feasts and festivals for the Jews.

Take for example, Sukkoth, the Feast of Tabernacles.  It requires them to live in temporary shelters to evoke the memory of the booths in which the people of Israel dwelt during their years of wandering in the wilderness.

The elaborate rituals of Passover clearly transport every Jewish person to the years of slavery in Egypt and how YHWH delivered them in dramatic fashion from the hands of Pharaoh on that fateful night.

As Christians, we recall how Jesus’ instructions regarding the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper end with this reminder: “Do this in remembrance of me.”  (I Corinthians 11:26)

Not surprisingly, David reminds us to “bless the Lord… and forget not all His benefits.” (Ps.103:2)

The Destiny Word of the Day for Oct. 15 encouraged us to keep a Thanksgiving Journal where we record our reasons for thankfulness on a daily basis at the end of every day.

It is a potent way to counteract the impotence of a poor memory, amen? Beware, lest you forget!

Several years ago a young woman said to me: “Pastor Jeeva, I’ve been dealing with mental and emotional issues for a number of years now. I’ve seen psychologists and psychiatrists, taken all sorts of medications, even had some sessions with a hypnotist. Every time I do that I stay good for about 90 days, then I hit bottom again. Can you help?”

I began by helping her understand a basic fact of life…that God created us with a body, soul and spirit. The body, of course, is the physical part of our being. The soul refers to our mind and emotions. And the spirit is at the core of our being.

Purely physical problems such as a cut or a fever can be healed by applying or ingesting appropriate medication.

Psychosomatic problems may appear to be physical, but have a root cause that is mental or emotional. (“Psyche” and “Soma” are the Greek words for the soul and the body respectively). So, for example, high blood pressure can be treated with medication, but if it is caused by stress, meds alone are not enough.

Once you identify the source of the stress, you can learn how to reduce it or remove it completely from your life and experience healing.

However, when the root of the problem is spiritual, the best drugs ever produced to treat the body and the best counselling ever discovered to heal the mind and the emotions will not produce lasting results.

It’s a bit like taking painkillers for a broken hip that can only be fixed by surgery. It will work for a while, but the pain will keep on returning until the break is fixed.

I could see the light come on inside her head as she heard this liberating truth. A spiritual problem can only be addressed with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Over the next few weeks as she opened herself up to receive His ministry, her own spirit began to receive healing. What medication, counselling and hypnosis could not do, the Holy Spirit could.

As the apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 2:4, some things need to be “spiritually discerned.”

Can you relate?

Has this ever happened to you?

You’re driving along listening to a CD. All of a sudden, the disc starts to wobble and the words come out garbled. Did the CD just suffer a mini-stroke?

What would you do?

My first instinct was to check the surface of the CD for scratches. None.

Could there have been a glitch in the recording process? Possibly. How do you verify it, though?

So I took it out and replaced it with another CD, after a thorough inspection for scratch marks.

The first couple of tracks played perfectly. Then the symptoms started to re-surface–skipping, sliding and slurring. What was going on? Could it be a flaw in the professional recording and/or manufacturing process? Not likely.

Upon repeating the process one final time with yet another specimen, my inner rocket scientist could finally concede that the problem was not with the recorder, but with the player.

At the suggestion of a friend, I got a cleaning CD and ran it through a couple of times. Voila! No more mini-strokes.

Jesus says in John 10:27: “My sheep hear my voice.” No ifs ands or buts. No riders attached. Every follower (sheep) of Jesus (the Good Shepherd) hears his voice. Period.

So, if we are not able to hear his voice clearly, if we experience interruptions in the flow, if there is any kind of hindrance, interference or uneven modulation…is it fair to say that the problem is not with him but with us?

Isn’t it possible that there is something in us that needs to be removed? The dirt of sin, residue from past hurts, dust particles of doubt, _____________(feel free to fill in the blanks), etc.

As Jesus said: “First clean the inside.” (Matthew 23:26)

Methinks it would be wise to check the player before we blame the recorder.  Whaddyathink?

Would you kindly take a minute to scroll down and Speak Your Mind? It will be such a blessing to me and all your fellow subscribers. Thanks in advance.

Our pastor friend Deborah Borozny of Eagles Nest Christian Centre recently pointed out that when 12 year-old Jesus chose to stay back in Jerusalem while his parents headed back home, he was totally captivated by his “Father’s business.” (Luke 2:40-52) Obviously this continued over the next 18 years.

Because something happens at age 30 when he embarks on his earthly ministry. After preaching just one sermon, as Jesus is walking along the seashore, he calls Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow him. Scripture records that they left what they were doing “immediately” and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-22)

Jesus has not performed a single miracle. He has not delivered the Sermon on the Mount yet. The text of the one sermon he did preach consisted only of one point delivered in one single sentence: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Not exactly the kind of eloquence that would galvanize an audience into obedience!

Jesus did not launch much of a recruitment campaign either. He made no sweet promises. He had no compelling slogan. He gave them no vision or mission statement. Yet, these fishermen were so captivated by Jesus that they were willing to walk away from their previous calling and follow him.

May I suggest to you that it was because the disciples could see in Jesus the Father who captivated him. Later on, it was said of these same disciples: “These men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13) Clearly, they had been captivated by Jesus!

Who captivates you? Be careful! Because it determines who will be captivated by you. As an old hymn puts it:

“By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be; Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.”

Our friend Regine Hüttner was describing the last leg of her journey to scale Mt. Kilimanjaro earlier this year during the Freedom Climb that she made along with 46 other women to raise awareness of the evil of human trafficking.

“I had nothing left in me physically,” she recalled. “It was more a test of whether or not I had the mental strength necessary to take the next step upward.” The beckoning peak looked too difficult to scale even at such close quarters.

How did she make it up to Uhuru, then?

She chose not to focus on making it to the top. Instead, she simply decided to take one step first, followed in slow succession by the next step and then another one. She described how when she decided to take that first step, it was as though God took over and helped her take the next step. This process continued for three agonizingly long hours before she could experience the exhilaration of reaching the summit.

Her experience reminded me of the words of a beloved hymn:

Lead, kindly Light, amid th’ encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead Thou me on:
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene–one step enough for me.

If you are not able to see “the distant scene” today along the climb to your destiny, perhaps you, like Regine, just need to take the next step. And the next step. And the next step. And, before you know it, you will have made your way to Uhuru (a Swahili word that means “freedom”)!