The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
I'm sure most of you have noticed that we live in a place surrounded by pristine lakes and rivers which afford us some of the best fishing one can find. If you haven't noticed this fact I encourage you to open your eyes wide and take a good look around you. God has blessed this part of the province with incredible natural beauty. As of the May long weekend, fishing season has once again started and I am looking forward to many opportunities to get a line into the water. As a pastor I'm often torn between my desire to be an effective minister and preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for my desire to spend time outside surrounded by the beauty that God has created. Maybe you have been likewise torn. But is ministering to those around us or meeting the needs of our neighbours something that only happens in certain places or can it happen anywhere? Have we tried, intentionally or unintentionally, to confine service to others only to certain places or circumstances? Like many other things, I believe we have attempted to place ministry into a neat little box. Jesus didn't confine His ministry to the synagogue; He brought it to every area of life. For example, some very excellent ministry opportunities happened while Jesus was walking along the road, sitting at a well, out in the mountains, on the lakeshore or in a fishing boat with His disciples. One major key was that Jesus didn't only teach and preach about a Godly life, He lived a Godly life in front of everyone, all the time, in all areas of His experience. For Jesus, ministry was not confined to only certain places, it could Ð and did Ð happen everywhere! If you can already see all areas of your life as ministry opportunities and you use them as such, I commend you. For those of us who sometimes struggle with that idea, we need to start thinking outside the box and start seeing ministry not only inside the walls of our churches but also inside the grocery store, in the park, over the fence with our neighbours, below the surface in the mine, at work, in the school, and yes, from a fishing boat, too.
