Bird River Bible Blog

I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid. John 14:27

When I think of past Remembrance Days, I have memories of sitting in the school gym, listening to bagpipe music and standing for the National Anthem and waiting quietly but impatiently for that moment of silence to be over. Old veterans would come to the school assembly and listen as the choir sang and students recited poems. Then we’d go on with our day, quickly forgetting about these old men and women that fought through wars that we were hardly thankful that we didn’t have to experience.

In college I went to a school that promoted pacifism: a belief that peace can exist without having to resort to war and violence. We didn’t have Remembrance Day assemblies anymore, but had chapels on non-violence and conflict resolution. It was odd, not knowing whether it would be appropriate for me to wear a red poppy or not. But now as I think about this, I don’t want to ignore the fact that thousands of brave men and women died so that I could live in a peaceful country and I could sit at this computer freely talk to you about Jesus.

We must remember. If we do not, the sacrifice of those one hundred thousand Canadian lives will be meaningless. They died for us, for their homes and families and friends, for a collection of traditions they cherished and a future they believed in; they died for Canada. The meaning of their sacrifice rests with our collective national consciousness; our future is their monument. Heather Robertson, A Terrible Beauty, The Art of Canada at War. Toronto, Lorimer, 1977.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m a big fan of my coffee…and my tea…and really, any sort of hot beverage…or cold one at that. Hmm… I’m just a fan of liquid refreshment I suppose. Right now I’m sipping on a piping hot cup of the most delightful black tea, called “marriage de fruits”. It is actually one of the most beautiful teas I have ever had. Although, while I’m sitting here typing this, it’s beginning to cool off, so let me take a moment and finish off this cup of tea. There, done, finished. What’s that? Why did I have to stop typing and finish my tea so quickly? Ah, well let me share something about my beverage consumption. I like my hot drinks hot and my cold drinks cold. There’s no in between for me. I find “warm” not nearly good enough.

You know, there’s a verse in Revelation 3:16 where the writer records God addressing the church in Laodicea: “You are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of My mouth.” This entire passage of Scripture is quite vivid. One thing this church was known for was it’s wealth and riches. They said, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” (3:17). But then Jesus told them that they were poor, wretched, pitiful, blind! Not materially but spiritually! They couldn’t give their hearts 100% to Jesus because they were focused on their wealth. Those are harsh, harsh words that Jesus shares with the church in Laodicea. If I say that I am a follower of Jesus Christ, he wants me to be 100% for him. I can’t go half-way in my commitment to following Christ. If I act like a Christian only on certain days of the week, then I am lukewarm, and like lukewarm tea, Christ says that he’d rather spit me back into the cup! Bleh! But wait the passage doesn’t end there. In verse 20 Jesus said “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” If you’re not 100% all for Jesus, then he’s waiting for you! He desires a real relationship with you! It’s a huge thing to give your life entirely to Jesus, but let’s think of the return: Jesus gave his life for us, and we can have eternity in heaven with him! Whoo!

Hey all! I hope you’re enjoying the new school year and the beautiful autumn days! I’ve been awaiting our school year to start here at camp. In only 4 days, we will have 6 students joining us for a 30 week adventure in our new Eikona discipleship program. I’m so excited! The summer here ended really well. We had an amazing time during Family Camp and it was such a good way to end the summer. I ended up getting super sick right after camp ended. I was in bed with the worst cold! It was one of my worst annual end-of-a-busy-summer colds. A number of people have told me that I get so sick every year because my body is able to “let its guard down” after having such a tiring summer. This makes sense.

Often, I think our spiritual life can get like that too. You know, you come to camp for a week (or a couple months if you’re staff) and you get super into going to chapel and praying and reading your Bible. You’re running so hard in this great spiritual race, that when you leave camp, and aren’t going to chapel every day, and praying every day, you find yourself under attack! You let your guard down and suddenly you’re discouraged and you get spiritually sick for a while. Paul warns against that in the Bible.

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love. ~1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Life as a Christian isn’t always easy! As a Christian you need to be on your guard because if you slack off in your relationship with Christ, you’re leaving yourself open to getting spiritually sick! Do you see yourself getting sick right now? If you need encouragement in this area, surround yourself with other believers! Find a church and a youth group or kids club to go to! Do you need help finding one? Feel free to e-mail me, or leave a comment, and I definitely want to help you find something!

Camp starts….really soon!!!! And boy howdy, are we excited! It’s going to be a great season, as we seek to lead camper’s in finding the True Treasure, that is, Jesus Christ! Don’t think we won’t have some actual treasure hunts with a map and shovel though! What Treasure Quest would be complete without one of those?!
June has brought with it some exciting changes:
*The head counselors and head of maintenance moved out here in June and have been busy prepping the camp and the program for summer.
*In mid-June, God provided us with the head cook we’ve been praying for since October!
*Last weekend we had a road rally, that saw 19 participants drive up to the camp in sunshine and warmth for lunch…and arrive back in Winnipeg for supper, in a very wet downpour of rain! Nonetheless, everyone was in high spirits and the riders were successful in their fundraising efforts! Thank you to those who gave and to all our riders!
*Last week also saw a house arrive on site. Thank you to the generous couple from Grand Beach who donated their house! Dan and Ronnie will now be able to enjoy more space and more privacy in their new house across from the maintenance yard.
*Staff training starts in less than a week, and the camp season and CIT program start in a week and a half! We still need a handful more guy counselors, CIT’s, and nurses. If you’re interested in helping out, give me a shout via our website! We still have plenty of space for more campers! It’s not too late to sign up! If you need financial assistance, let us know, or connect with us through the Family Life Centre. They still have camper sponsorships available if you’re interested!
Have a great summer! And we hope to see you onsite sometime in July or August!

Who’s going to the Red River Ex this weekend? To tell you the truth, I’ve been here for 4 Junes and I’ve never been. I probably won’t go this year either, because, to be honest, most people would go to the Ex for the rides, right? You see, I’m not much of a ride person. In Vancouver they have what’s called Playland. It’s a big amusement park that’s open from May-September and I remember in high school I used to love going there on a Saturday with friends. My favorite ride was the big ol’ rickety roller coaster and the roller coaster they called Wild Mouse. One day we went with my Physics class (that’s right, we went for a physics assignment!) and I decided to try out the Pirate Ship and then the Corkscrew roller coaster….and I got very sick. I couldn’t go on anymore rides that day, and then…I couldn’t ever really go on rides ever again. At least not without feeling quite sick. So now, if I go to the fair and have to endure any activities, it’s usually something like the maze or the funhouse. Have you ever been in the funhouse, and been to the part where they have all those different mirrors that distort your image? That’s always a fun time. I enjoy it anyway. Before there was the technology to make mirrors like we have now, that reflect back an almost perfect image, regular household mirrors were more like funhouse mirrors. They would have been cloudy and shown a very basic reflection.

I think in one of these past blogs I’ve talked about how God’s so huge, it’s hard to imagine what he actually for real is like, because God is so beyond any human imagination. Well that’s kind of like God’s plan for us too. Right now, we might be looking at our life and it’s not really clear to us what God is doing. It’s like looking into a funhouse mirror, and the image is distorted. We can’t see the whole plan for our life, but only a little bit at a time. But when we look back at our life in the end, it’s going to make sense, and we’ll be able to see that God was there with us, loving us this whole time and caring for us. There’s a couple of verses found in 1 Corinthians 13, in the Bible, that remind us of this fact.

“Now we see a dim reflection, as if we were looking into a mirror, but then we shall see clearly. Now I know only a part, but then I will know fully, as God has known me. So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:12-13.

These verses tell us that someday, we will be able to see fully what God has been doing in our lives and they remind us that God knows us! Things will change constantly in our lives but the constant is faith, hope, and love. And these are all found in God!

This year I decided to start school again and take some classes at Providence. I took a class that was supposed to help me decide what I believed about God. Going into the class I thought, “This should be a breeze. I graduated from Bible college and I already know what I believe about God.” Was I ever wrong! God is HUGE! I mean, he’s beyond anything and anyone I could imagine! He’s infinite (that means he has no beginning and no end), he’s all-powerful, he knows everything, he is kind, wise, compassionate, and he is good. My “learning experience” reminded me of a conversation in a book called

Prince Caspian

. It’s from The Chronicles of Narnia, which is a series about a magical world called Narnia, into which some children stumble upon one day through a wardrobe in an old house they are staying in (this story is told in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). In the land of Narnia, there is a character whom they call Aslan. Aslan is a lion and Christians who have read the stories say that Aslan represents God. Anyway, in Prince Caspian, the children meet Aslan once again and this is the conversation that the youngest, Lucy, has with him:

“Welcome, child,” he said.
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

This is how I feel, having taken this class I just took! The more I got to know God, the he just seemed to expand…but it wasn’t like, I learned one thing, God grew one step bigger. No! I learned one thing and then God grew infinite steps bigger! Getting to know God more has totally blown my mind! My prayer for each of you is that you will spend time getting to know God better because if you haven’t realized this yet, we are so extremely blessed to have a God that is so huge, and One who knows each one of us individually and wants us to enjoy and accept his infinite love.

The Lord says, “My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8,9)

God, the Holy One, says, “Can you compare me to anyone? Is anyone equal to me?” Look up to the skies. Who created all these stars? He leads out the army of heaven one by one and calls all the starts by name. Because he is strong and powerful, not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:25,26)

Love Winnipeg at the Family Life Centre!
Saturday May 31! Come by the Family Life Centre on Pritchard.
There’ll be a free carnival and BBQ set up and BRBC will have a booth set up so you can sign up for camp!

Hey sports fans. It’s play-off season now in the NHL. Are you excited? I wouldn’t call myself a hockey fan (I actually refused corporate seats to a Canucks game once, hahaha). But, I do know a good number of obsessive hockey fans who like to get very involved in the game, especially during play-off season. I was listening to the radio and two show hosts were having a conversation about what length fans will go to during play-offs, to root for their favorite team. Some people paint their face, a lot of guys refuse to shave their beard, some people wear the same hat while watching the game. On this particular radio show, some of the habits people shared, verged on the absolute ridiculous. Why do fans do this to themselves? Well a lot if not most of them do it because they believe that what their doing brings luck to the team. If they religiously wear the same hat every time, maybe the stars in the universe will align and their favorite team will win their game. Pick up a penny, rub the rabbit’s foot, find a four-leaf clover, hang a horseshoe upside down over the doorway…all these are supposed to bring luck to the person who takes the action.

I’ll use phrases like, “It’s your lucky day!” or “You’re so lucky!” But to be honest, I don’t believe in actual luck. Know why? Because when I read my Bible, I don’t see any evidence of luck. When I look at how all the stories in the Bible line up, I can see that God was a part of each story and each one was a part of his larger plan. In Jeremiah 29:11-13, God said, “I know what I am planning for you. I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me!” Isn’t that incredible?!? I find it so awesome to know that my future is in the hands of the Eternal Father, rather than left to luck that a penny I picked up off the ground might hold.

You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother’s body. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well. You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother’s body. When I was put together there, you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old. Psalm 139:13-16

One time when I was watching the news, they did a human interest story on a lady who worked at Value Village and found a whole lot of cash in a ratty old purse. I think it was around $400 or something. Of course in the end the lady did the right thing and hunted down the lady who had donated the purse, returning all that cash to her and that’s why they were doing this news report on her. The story warmed my heart, but it also got me wondering what I would do in that situation. Well, since then, I’ve been to several second-hand stores, and I often think to myself, “I wonder… if I stick my hand in the pocket of this purse, will I pull out a wad of cash?”

There’s a verse found in II Corinthians 4:7 that says, But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

In terms of who I am as a Christian, I am that clay jar. That treasure in the jar of clay (or, if you’d rather, that wad of cash in that ratty old purse), is Christ in me. I am weak and easily broken. I appear to be insignificant. There are stories in the Bible told of many individuals who seemed weak and insignificant. The author who wrote II Corinthians, Paul, wrote many of the books found in the New Testament. They were written as letters to different cities. In some of those letters, Paul refers to some weakness that he has. Even though we never hear for sure what Paul’s weakness was, it’s been suggested that he may have had anything from bad eye sight to a speech impediment. However, Paul, while referring to his weakness, was also able to boast in the power found through God. Paul knew, that if he was a perfect person, without any weaknesses, he would probably be tempted to a) boast about himself as if it were his own doing and b) forget to praise God for making him who he is and c) forget to lean entirely on God for strength to do the things he was doing (traveling around that world, sharing the Good News of God’s incredible love!). For me, I know that when I am at my weakest, tiredest moments, God is totally able to shine that much brighter and I will know that I am only able to do what I’m doing because of God’s strength in me.

I begged the Lord three times to take this problem away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.” So I am very happy to brag about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can live in me. For this reason I am happy when I have weaknesses, insults, hard times, sufferings, and all kinds of troubles for Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am truly strong. II Corinthians 12:8-10

Big congratulations to Amanda and Devon on the birth of their new bundle of joy: Micah David, born March 25th!

For those of you who don’t know, Amanda has been the camp office administrator for the last 4 years and only recently went on maternity leave. Devon is the creative force behind our website as well as many of our cool t-shirt designs!