OnFire Encouragement Letter
Hi Folks:
Two bits of news this week to pass along. First, we’re looking forward to visiting my family on PEI this weekend for one of my grandmothers’ 90th birthday. It will be nice to see everyone. The boys have grown a lot since last summer when we were home and I think they’ll be surprised. A student from our church will take the worship service while I’m away.
Second, I responded to my first house fire last night as a member of the volunteer fire department. It was a great learning experience. The house was not occupied and no one was injured. It was a mobile home and was fully involved when we arrived. I did a little bit of everything, but the neatest was using the air pack for the first time for real. I went with a captain from a truck onto the pile of rubble and we put out spot fires. Thankfully there was no basement since the floor was burned through in many areas. I have a whole new appreciation for the amount of work it takes. I came home soaked from sweat.
Blessings for your week.
Troy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I reached a crucial step in my podium project the other day. I finished cutting and fitting the 64 dovetail joints and assembled it on my friend Dan’s workbench. There it stood, not quite finished, but tall and proud even still. Now I can see the end.
Until this point, it was hard to be certain that I had anything more than a pile of boards. We had planed, glued, cut and chiselled the pieces, but until we actually assembled them, they were still only parts. As we tapped the last one into place, it felt good to see that, yes, all our work and labour had not been in vain.
For the past number of weeks we’ve been building parts of our character based on 2 Peter 1:5-6. As we worked on them, we stacked them in the corners of our lives and we can see that we’re making progress on our goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.
But parts and pieces do not make a character. To make a complete and finished character, we must put the pieces together. If some are weak or mis-shapen, the rest of our character will not quite come together.
When I was a teen, my grandfather handed me some boards and asked me to build a trough to feed the pigs. I had never done anything like that before, but it didn’t matter. I was proud of his confidence in me and I got to work.
When I was done, my grandfather was encouraging, but the final result was not quite what he had in mind. None of the parts fit well, so it wobbled, and worse still, it didn’t hold water.
We can work on parts and pieces of our character, but the test will always be how well the pieces fit together. Where are the gaps? What doesn’t fit? What’s missing? How strong is it, really? This is the test of character.
I was impressed when we stood the podium up. It was solid and moved very little from side to side, even without nails, screws or glue. This is the way we should be because the pieces fit tightly and match each other.
If we keep reading in Peter’s second letter, we see these words. “If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”*
Peter tells us that in order to be effective and productive in our faith we need to continue to cut and shape the pieces of our character so they fit tightly. Then we will stand strong, tight, tall, proud, effective, productive.
Hope this helps,
Troy
ON FIRE is a weekly letter of encouragement by Troy Dennis. To be added to or removed from the ON FIRE list contact him at onfire@eastlink.ca . Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com This letter published Mar 5, 2008. *New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978 by the International Bible Society.