Inspirational Message

THE ROSE

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it bloomed he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom and also the thorns. And he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?" Saddened by his thoughts, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom it died.

So it is with people. Within every soul there is a rose. The Godlike qualities planted in us at birth grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only thorns, the effects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

Some people do not see the rose within themselves, someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others. This is the characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing his faults, realize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can overcome his fault. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns. Then will he blossom, blooming forth, thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold as it is given to him. Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other, only then can we bloom in our own garden.

Unknown Author

Found on door at Pine Ridge Bible Camp

Children Are Diamonds in the Rough

Deuteronomy 11:18-21

18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

(God's word)



Study and learn God's word yourself, know what it says

Have God's word at your finger tips for instruction and guidance

Your children will see you leaning on and depending on God for everything

They will be learning that with God all things are possible

That you are weak but He is strong, and He will carry you through

As a family you can depend on Him in everything that comes your way

When you sit down at meals together as a family you talk about the Lord

And dwell on His word, when you travel you pray asking and inviting Him to go with you

When you go to sleep at night your children can learn how to pray

In the solitude of their bedroom, a quiet place to meet the Lord

Waking up with a thankful heart for the Lord watching over them through the night

We can display the goodness of the Lord through poems

And pictures and verses hanging on our walls, teaching His ways

Take stock of yourself, where are you in your relationship with the Lord

And consider your children, your time and your thoughts are being watched;

How would you reply to the Lord should He ask, what have you done

“What kind of parent are you, will your children know who I am because of you?

Children may not inherit their parents’ talent, but they will absorb their values.

We as parents need to ask ourselves these things each and every day.

(By Peter Salmond's thoughts)

Rwanda

God's Plan
Once you read this, go back to my first two posting about Rwanda, and then you will be back on track with me.

How, did this all happen? How did the Lord get us to go to Rwanda? Well it is a long story happening over the period of many years. Let me tell you the story. It started away back before I ever even met my wife Diane, back when she was just a young teenager or younger.

She went to church every Sunday with her family, it was then at that early age God started tugging at her heart strings, to be a missionary some day. Because of the missionaries that came to her church, of which many of them seemed to be missionaries from Africa, she felt God calling to go to Africa as a missionary.

If anyone who know my wife, she is very fair skinned and has always been very fair all of her life. Because of this natural condition, she some how felt this disqualified her as a missionary to Africa. She felt that there would be no way that she would be able to stand the heat and that she would just burn to a crisp. So because in her young mind, all missionaries went to Africa, she figured out that she would never be a missionary. At that point she did not know or understand as to how BIG of a God she would serve. With God all things are possible.

As she grew and remained open to the leading of God in her life, He lead her to work in Bible camps following her graduation from grade twelve at Caronport High School. She came to Torch Trail Bible Camp in North Central Saskatchewan.

It was while at camp that summer she met me, a young disturbed man, that felt the only kind of a person he was fit to be was a cowboy and that he was no good for nothing and God could not use him so he would just chase cow around all of his life, and there is nothing wrong with being a cowboy, I am still thankful for my early years, growing up as a cowboy in Northern Saskatchewan. But I figured at that point and time in my life is that, that is all there was, and so then that is what I would always be.

When I met Diane, I was in my first year of Bible School at the Nipawin Bible Institute and was just starting to understand that there was more to life than just being a cowboy, I had choices I could make and that God had a plan for my life, which would be a lot different than I had thought. Actually I found out that God wanted me to make the choice to give Him control of my life.

Two months after camp was done that year in 1977, my life would change forever, I became engaged to my beautiful new girl friend who is now my wife, then we proceeded to get married 8 months after we were engaged. So on April 29 1978 we got married. Thus began the rest of my life. I did not know it then but I was signing up for a ride that was beyond my wildest dreams. I have been places and done things that I could never have dreamed of. So it has been and will continue to be an eventful and interesting life as we let God be the guide to our walk on this earth.

Lord willing I will write more tomorrow, but for now enjoy this much of this story.

Please remember as you go through life, whether you are young or old, With God all things are possible.

Welcome

Face book - friends, welcome to my blog, I hope you will enjoy my ramblings, thoughts and messages. My goal is to honor God in all that I put on it.

Disciple And Discipler

The verse of the day today reminded me once again that every Christian is to be a disciple and is to also be a discipler. We are responsible for the growth of the New Christians around us, and we are to be encouraging for all Christians in not being a stumbling block to them by the things that we selfishly want to do for ourselves, it may not cause us to sin, but what about our brother?
Verse of the day - Acts 1: 6-8 (The Disciples asked), Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, [1] after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem(neighborhood or city), and in all Judaea (province), and in Samaria (your country), and unto the uttermost part of the earth (to the world).

I had never really experienced the world as such before May of 2010 as Diane and I went to Rwanda Africa with e3 Partners Ministries. It was an amazing trip, I started to tell about it earlier but now I would like to finish telling it.

Since going and experiencing how God is working in another country and learned more about discipleship, God has given me a new burden for Canada,and the church. As well as a new burden for new believers. Every new believer needs a mentor, someone to model the Christian life for them. Someone to walk beside them, as an encourager and someone that can be forgiving and understand that as a new christian they are going to make mistakes. As new babies fall, hurt themselves, get up and do it over and over again until finally the they can walk. Why do we expect new baby Christians to be any different. They to need guidance and someone to lean on as they learn to walk the Christian life.

We as the Church need to provide that kind of service, for those that we see come to the Lord so that they feel that they are a part of the family of God.

Rwanda 2010 Day 2

The night was short but good, it was so good to get to know Mike and Sidney a bit more that morning. We were beginning to see more and more that this trip was ordained by God. It just made us more excited about what He was going to do in and through us when we arrived in Rwanda.

We seen God allow us to get through airport security with great ease, to Him be the glory. It was 11:00 AM and we were all aboard the Ethiopian Air lines and ready for lift off. We were about to take off on the longest, tiring airplane trip of our lives.

What I didn't realize was that we were going to be landing in Rome, yes I said Rome, one of the cities that the Apostle Paul had walked in. I was pretty excited until I found out we were not getting off the plane and it would be totally dark the whole time we were there. But at least we can say we have been in Rome.

Then in another 5-7 hours we landed again in Abba De sis Ethiopia, then a small hop over into Uganda and then to Rwanda. We had made it and we were seeing a very beautiful land that God had made, and were about to meet a beautiful people also that God had made. We were now very excited to meet the Rwandan team.

On this day God gave me a poem as our plane had been delayed for a bit. So here it is

DELAYED

Has the return of our Lord been delayed
In no way has it been
Our Lord is always on time, His time
He will return as He said He would.

If it seems that His return has been delayed
It is because He want us to draw nearer to Him
He wants us to bring more people Home to Heaven with us
When He returns to take us there.

Delayed- Never, His love constrains Him
Every ear must hear and every eye see
The glory of our Lord and Savior
For He is returning in the sky for you and me

Jesus is coming again although
We don't know when that will be
If we are ready for His coming
We will go with Him. when He comes

He will come from on high for you and for me, if we are ready, waiting and watching.
As well as going about His business of Spreading the good news to the whole world.

Rwanda May 2010

I have not been on my blog for quit some time, to busy getting ready to go on our trip to Rwanda in May, we were gone from the 16- June 1, it was a fantastic trip and I would love to tell you about it. So here we go for as long as it takes, come along as I relive the trip on my blog.

We went into Saskatoon on the 15Th, and visited with Audrey and Garold, Audrey is a sister to Ron Frank, He and His wife Sheila were teachers for all of our children in the Yukon. Anyhow the connection happened when we sent out our letter looking for those supporters the Lord had prepared a head of time to support us on our trip to Rwanda. Ron and Sheila called us and said that Ron's family were involved in the Frank Sewing School/Factory in Rwanda, and through that we were put in touch with his sister and brother-in- law in Saskatoon. So we had a good visit with them and seen their pictures of Rwanda, it was great in preparing us for what was a head of us. That evening we stayed with Diane's sister Leona and husband Fraser Kent, Leona graciously agreed to take us to the airport early the next morning.

May 16
Departure date, we arrived at the airport in Saskatoon at 8:00 AM that morning. Flight leaving at 10:00 AM. Ps. 146:6- The scripture the Lord gave me before we left- "God is the maker of the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything in them. He is the Lord, who remains faithful for ever". Everything is in His control. This verse and these thoughts calmed my heart as we were leaving to fly many miles over land and sea, across the ocean for the first time in my life to actually leave North America. I knew God had called and still I had a hard time placing my faith in an airplane to carry me across the ocean. But I knew my faith was not in man made things but in the LORD.

So our day was an up and down day of flying from, Saskatoon -Toronto- Ottawa- Washington DC-, so yes a long day of ups and downs
But over all a great day
God held us in His hands
For He is our Heavenly Father

We met up with one of our leaders, Mike Wagner, and Caboose- Sidney Allen, who would on the way to Rwanda bring up the back of our four man team at that point. It was a great time of meeting in person for the first time. So we went to the hotel and went right to bed to get as much sleep as possible before the looooooooong flight to Rwanda the next morning.

I will leave you with the poem the Lord gave me that first day.

Be Not Overwhelmed
We must not be discouraged
When great problems beset us
And we grow weary
In that we must trust our God

We must not be dismayed
Because our life is perplexing
When our God know the way
Through the wilderness

We must not get depressed
When we suffer for doing good
Even though our days are full of trouble
We learn to lean on our Saviors strength

We must not despair
In those days of adversity
When we face that tribulation
Seems our burdens more than we can bear

We must never forget
That we have our Father
A loving Heavenly Father
Who is watching over us up in Heaven

By Peter C. Salmond