Resurrecting the Rant

Here we are, 2015, FINALLY settling in to a "new" house (130 years old) after transitioning from one church to another, and all of the life circumstances that have gone along with it.  During my last Pastorate as the Associate Pastor of Discipleship and Fellowship Ministries at First Moncton Baptist Church ( http://www.firstmoncton.com ), I published a weekly (for the most part) newsletter called Pastor Mark's Rant.  It was partly a communication tool for announcements, but mostly an opportunity to talk about ideas and Christian teaching.  There was a solid following, I am sure at least a dozen people read it! OK, maybe more than a dozen!

My family began the process of seeking God's direction for a new call to ministry in the Summer of 2013.  It was becoming clear to me that it was time to make a shift, but was uncertain where we would be serving.  After considering calls from churches throughout the Maritime Provinces, and as far away as Alberta, we received and accepted an unanimous call to the small town of Hantsport, Nova Scotia.  This meant a resignation at First Baptist in early 2015 for me, and the completion of my wife's teaching position at Moncton Christian Academy ( http://monctonca.ipower.com ), listing a house in a buyer's market and waiting for it to sell.  I began ministry with Hantsport on July 20th, 2014.  The life adventures and learning really began just a few days later!  In many ways I feel like a micro-version of the story of Job in the Bible!  What more can happen?  Honestly, there is room for many more negatives.  But this Rant is not about the negatives in life.  I have no interest in allowing negative experiences and hurts the power to stand unchallenged.  Rather, my desire is to use illustrations from my life, stories I hear, and challenges I face, and place them all into the context of the teachings I believe God has for me and you through these experiences.

One thing to make abundantly clear is that these challenges and learning experiences are by no means due to a lack of love and support from the church communities in Hantsport and Moncton.  The generosity of these people has been immense!  Just as one example:

On July 18th, my family and I drove in to town to meet one of the church Trustees, a gentleman in his mid 70s.  He and his wife were providing us the use of their cottage in North Grand Pre, Nova Scotia.  We had no idea what this place would look like, where it was really located, or how to get there.  And so, we start down the road from the church, the Trustee in the lead, me alone, with my 6'3" frame squished into my tiny Toyota Yaris Hatchback, followed by my wife, 11 year old daughter and 10 year old son in our Chevy minivan.  We wind down streets, through a couple of awkward intersections, back onto the highway, off a couple of exits later, past Grand Pre National Historic Site of Canada (a landmark I actually knew), two 90 degree turns and into cottage country.  My children get a glimpse of the water of the Minas Basin, start getting excited, and bouncing in their seats.  My wife does the motherly thing, "Now kids, you need to remember, this cottage is probably not on the water.  You need to be prepared for this."  But no preparation was needed.  The gentleman turned into the driveway of a beautiful cottage directly on the beach!  His wife is there waiting, everything is spotless, beds all made, some food in the fridge, and fresh spring water at the ready!  They showed us how to use the satellite TV (I think it was on twice) and gave us keys to every door, shed and lock out there!  Even the new stainless steel BBQ was at our disposal! And a pellet fired stove with electric baseboard heaters for backup when the weather got cold.  Based on the going rate, this place would rent for between $500 and $700 per week!  And the kicker?  Aside from a few weeks in the early fall, we stayed at this place FOR FREE until November!  I figured this value was in the ballpark of $6,000+!  This was a humbling show of generosity for my family an I.  And all this was given with care, assurance of privacy, and no expectation of return.  WOW!  God said He would provide, and He did!

This is going to be a fun ride.  May God bless each of you, and feel free to spread the word that the Rant has gone blog, and is available for all!