The Flood in Calgary, Alberta Canada

By Gillis Killam –

Six of us travelled from Calgary to Southern British Columbia for a golf trip. The weather was wonderful for the trip there and we stopped near Kimberly British Columbia for our first round. We then motored on to beautiful Kokanee Springs, nestled in the Rocky Mountains, surrounded with lush green trees, flowers, grass and tall cedars.

After a day and a half of good weather, everything changed when heaven opened and torrents of rain came down on the green landscape. Everyone sped their carts back to the lodge where we waited hoping it would soon clear up – it didn’t. We saw on TV that a massive flood had hit Calgary and surrounding towns. Houses were evacuated and businesses shut down. The whole downtown core of Calgary was without power and communication and the response teams moved quickly to get people out of the flooded areas and into dry places. People were rescued from their flooded homes in a variety of unconventional means. It was a disaster of great magnitude.

Deciding to travel back home, we arrived to witness the devastation first hand and were in awe! It was worse than what we imagined. Nearly one hundred thousand people were evacuated. Hundreds of homes and public buildings were destroyed in just minutes.

What came to my mind was Noah’s flood that covered the whole earth: a gigantic disaster. No one escaped except eight people in the ark Noah had built. We don’t know why this flood hit Calgary and what God’s message was, but in Noah’s day people had become exceedingly evil and violent (Genesis 6).

Whenever there is disaster it is time for people to look heavenward and remember the words of the Lord to nations and people that forget God. It is not for me to say that the flood in Calgary was for the same reason, but God does warn of a day of reckoning. In Noah’s time He warned the people of the coming flood, but they thought him crazy and refused to listen. The Apostle Peter wrote about those who scoffed at God’s warning of coming judgment:

“ But they deliberately forget that … By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:5,7 NIV).

Prayer– Lord, I know that you are not willing that any should perish, help me to be a light in these dark times.

Unfathomable Love

By Susan Dollyhigh –

The call came from the emergency room after the crisis had passed with my three-year-old granddaughter. “Mom, Katelyn’s okay, but I just spent four hours in the ER with her,” my daughter said.

Even though Emily said Katelyn was okay, a wave of fear washed over me.

“It was awful, Mom. We were grocery shopping, and Katelyn was sitting in the cart with her baby dolls. I turned away from her for just a second.” Emily’s composure broke, and she sobbed, “She was trying to climb out of the cart and Mom, she fell… face first, onto the concrete floor.”

I closed my eyes, and the image of Katelyn’s fall flashed on the screen of my mind. I dropped my head into my hand, the horror of my own imagining too much to bear.

“The people who witnessed the accident were frightened; someone ran and got an ice pack, while others directed us to the nearest medical facility.” Emily’s family was vacationing at Carolina Beach.

“I was so scared, Mom,” Emily continued. “Katelyn’s head was bruised and bleeding. We took her to a walk-in facility, and they sent us straight to the hospital. I cried all the way there. I wanted to trade places with her, Mom. I wanted to take her place.”

I wanted to take my children’s place when they suffered injury, illness, or heartache. I would have gladly endured their pain in my body rather than helplessly watch them suffer.

I can’t imagine the agony God must have experienced as He watched His Son, Jesus, suffer on the cross. I don’t know how He endured the pain when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Yet we’re told in The Message version of John 3:16, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.”

God the Father in His boundless, immeasurable, unfathomable love for us, endured His Son’s suffering so that every one of us, even sinners like me, can be spend eternity in Heaven. Unfathomable.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV).

Prayer: Father, thank You for loving us so much that You gave Your one and only Son so that anyone who believes in Him can have eternal life. Thank You for Your unfathomable love. Amen

Sparrows Fall

By Charlotte Riegel –

A friend was helping us remove a rather large tree stump from our back yard. The tree had died and, prior to its death, had also broken through a fence. My husband was reclaiming some valuable yard space and hankering to repair the broken fence.

While taking a breather, Lois exclaimed, “Oh look, a baby bird has fallen from its nest.” It took a long time until I could find it amongst all the pine cones under the evergreen tree where the nest was secured. The baby bird looked as if it hatched only hours before we saw it squirming for life. It was nearly impossible for us to access it and even if we had, our efforts would have been useless in attempting to preserve its life.

We were reminded of a song learned in Sunday School and encouraged each other to remember the simple truths of this song, by Marcus Tidmarsh, based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 6.

God sees the little sparrow fall, it meets His tender view;
If God so loves the little birds, I know He loves me too.
He loves me too, He loves me too, I know He loves me too.
Because He loves the little things, I know He loves me too.
He paints the lily of the field, Perfumes each lily bell;
If He so loves the little flowers, I know He loves me well.
He loves me too…
God made the little birds and flowers, and all things large and small;
He’ll not forget His little ones, I know He loves them all.

Lois had recently moved to a new province, a new temporary home and completely new circumstances and was still feeling challenged by the upheaval. She felt encouraged by the reminder that God knew all about it and was walking with her into this new life.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-27 NIV).

Parchments, Books & Coat

By Gillis Killam –

We are downsizing and there will not be enough room for my large library in our new home. I know how I feel about my books. They are like old friends to me and I don`t like the thought of parting with them. I want them to go to a place where they will be read and valued by someone.

The Apostle Paul was in a Roman prison awaiting execution when he wrote his last letter to his prodigy, Timothy. Paul’s words to Timothy resonate with me, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments” (2 Timothy 4:13 NIV). These are what he missed most.

Think of the changes in the way books are published, and how we acquire them today in comparison to Paul’s time. Books and letters that were written on parchments by hand are now downloaded as digital books and manuscripts on line. The idea that entire books and volumes can be transferred through the atmosphere in a few seconds, to a device that can hold thousands of books would have blown Paul’s mind.

Books were God’s plan to record the way the world was created; and the origin of man. He also chose the written word to have a permanent record of how He sent His Son into the world to save mankind from its sin. God used terms and methods that we can understand. In his vision the apostle John saw God open the Book of Life at the final judgment.

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books”
(Revelation 20:11-12 NIV).

Prayer: Thank you, Lord. Because of salvation through Jesus Christ my name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. AMEN

Pursue All You Were Created To Be

By Peter Lundell –

To my daughter—and every child, however young or old.

When I first got you, I held you and sang. You filled a hole in my heart. When Mom and I took you to kindergarten, you and your classmates walked like little ducks behind your beloved teacher. And I often thought, Someday I’ll sit in a grandstand and watch you graduate from high school. On that day I will NOT wonder, “Where did the time go?” I determined that I would be part of your life and share it as much as I could.

And here I am.

Was I more successful or less? Through the years with you I’ve known joy and sadness. And that’s okay because one is incomplete without the other. If I could do things over again, I’d do them the same way. Perhaps that’s as good a definition of success as I can ask.

So pursue all you were created to be. You were not created to be a cog in a vast machine. No one is. Possessions and positions will claim they’re important. Entertainment will claim it’s worthwhile. Others will expect you to do things their way. I pray you see through that.

You have a life to fulfill. Someday it will end in eternity, and until then the two will intersect—every day if you’re looking. God has His hand on you. I have prayed it be so. As you practice your life’s call, never let go of purpose and hope. He has more for you than you now know.

Soon enough you will not have me to tell you what to do. The times it’s hard to stand on your own are when you’ll learn to do just that.

The best years of your life are ahead of you. Explore every open door. And may you find your way through every jungle of emotions and tangle of thoughts.

I will be there behind you.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9 NIV).

“Lord, my life is in your hands. Work in me to keep me from the maze of things I shouldn’t do. And keep me on the path of what I should.”

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