Callmeteem

I prayed through this verse from Ecclesiastes in my morning devotions today:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

How profoundly simple and free from religious rules and external expectations.
And yet how incredibly difficult because it seems conforming to all the stuff of church life is often easier than to walk in a real sense of holy fear and love--changed from the inside.

It is simple because there really aren't a lot of rules to follow. Yet is incredibly difficult because to live in this simple ways is foreign to my nature.

I need a daily revelation of the power, the holiness the beauty of God to live this way. I know to walk in the Holy Spirit. I desperately need daily grace. And I need to be changed.

Oh Lord show my Your Self. Change me. Break me. Mold me. I need You.

My marketing director, Dave Limpert, is something of a superstar in World Financial Group. And he is really quite an amazing guy.
He is constantly working on our way of thinking--getting us to develop dreams and vision. It is challenging and stretching me. I mean by the time one is middle aged things like dreams and vision all too often are no longer party of ones life.
His homework for our next team meeting is to list our top reasons we are thankful. So I've been thinking about my reasons for thankfulness.

1. I will be eternally thankful for Jesus Christ and His goodness and grace and place in my life. He is the foundation and centre of my life. He gives me strength, grace and purpose. He quite simply is my life. He reminds me that all of life is a gift. And I never want to forget Him.

2. I am thankful for my wife Faye. She truly is a noble wife. She lends courage to my heart. She gladly takes risks with me. She speaks truth to me--even when I don't wish to hear it. And she never lets me get complacent, or settle for anything less than my happy. I am not always gracious when she touches me in those ways but I will always be thankful for her.

3. I am thankful for my extended family--children, grandchildren and spiritual children. They stretch me, they call for my best and they are someone to give a legacy to and to whom I can pass the torch.

4. I am thankful for this new opportunity. It gives me reason to believe the last third of my life will be the best third of my life.

5. I am thankful for the gifted and good-hearted people I am blessed to have in my life.

6. I am thankful for the mountains. There is a hill I climb on my way home. On a clear day, when I climb the top of the hill the mountains look so close I feel I can touch them and they inspire me. They restore my vision, they help me get my eyes of the mud in the road directly in front of me and into what lies ahead. They remind me that there is beauty and grandeur in this world--that there are solid unshakeable things and there is something out there that is bigger than me.

7. I am always thankful for health.

8. I am thankful for the gifts I've been blessed with. And I do have gifts and talents. Now there are more talented people--but I have gifts and I'm thankful for them. The thing is to use them well and wisely. I have weaknesses also but I need to grow and I also need to surround myself with people who are stronger than me.

9. I am thankful for freedom. It is precious.

10. I am thankful for tomorrow. Life is short and must be lived well. Yet, for all that, I am thankful for tomorrow. Challenging days come--days when I get kicked around--when I lose my sense of purpose, or joy or simply mistakes. And I am thankful for tomorrow.

My new life involves lots of work at home. And I admit I find this challenging and I need discipline.
So how do self-employed businessmen develop their needed discipline?
I'm working at it.

So our new life in beautiful Turner Valley is getting back into order.
We have a church.
I've started my new business as a financial adviser with World Financial Group--which I am very excited about.
Life is challenging. Life is exciting.
I've heard a rut is only a shallow grave. I may have been in a rut eight months ago but not anymore.
This is stretching in the extreme but I am happy to be stretched.
God is good.
More to come.
The photo, by the way, is of the sunrise as seen from our balcony.
The heavens declare the glory of the Lord.
Lord reveal your glory. Let your fire fall again.

These cuties are Braden and Natalie--our grandchildren in California.
Because I'm their step grandfather they call me Teegee (my given names are Timothy George) and they make me want to be the best Teegee possible.
They also make me care very much about passing on the flame of faith to them.
So I pray daily that Christ would shape their hearts to know Him and love Him.
May they grow up always in His love.
Oh by the way, Natalie is 2 1/2 and Braden is three months.
They are both heart stealers.
And they are teaching this long-time bachelor (I only got married at 40) an awful lot.
Thank you to them

It's like coming home.
We've moved to a new home in the Alberta foothills--just east of the Rocky Mountains. And it feels like coming home.
I've spent most of my life in the Prairies. And I loved Manitoba--but our new mountain home, or near mountain, truly feels like home already.
I love this place.
I feel God has brought us here.

We are nearing the end of our long time of transition from Manitoba to Alberta--from reporter to financial advisor--from old life to new. This blog will kick off again soon.