altars for sinning

"Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning”. Hosea 8:11

These two lines jumped out of the page the other day. I’m wondering if this is a warning that anyone who is involved with any sort of ministry or kingdom stuff in general should have plastered on the wall of their office. A couple of friends and I are involved in starting our own business that’s going to be doing some incredible stuff that we are very excited about. We feel like God has given us a similar vision and has opened all these doors to make this vision a reality. In turn I think that our motives are pure but the last thing I want is to have this thing that starts out right end up becoming ‘altars for sinning’ or ~ the exact opposite of what it was designed to do. I mean, there is a precedent for this sort of thing happening; think of any secular university that began as a seminary and now produces a generation (for the most part) of religious skeptics. Or young pastors who began with a passion for the hurting and then hit it big (dare I say - mega?) and end up with the beamers and a real estate business on the side. I guess the only way to really not have to worry about this is to never attempt anything. That is not an option, it can’t be. I guess a good old fashioned gut check every now and again and an earnest effort make sure that our “concern is not whether God is on our side; (but our) greatest concern is to be on God's side” (A. Lincoln) will mean there will be no ‘altars for sinning’.

Either that or we just stick to the business plan, right guys?

a little update

I must apologize for my tardiness the last couple of weeks. I've been in transition mode--moving from home in good old S-town (aka: Smithville,ON) to Fair Havens. So I went from blogging a lot because I didn't have much to do, to blogging never because there was always something going on...but I've missed it.

Do you ever wake up sometimes and have this amazing, profound thought and then ten minutes later you can not remember what the heck you were thinking? That happened this morning. I do remember that it was something about Jesus...

This past weekend I was honoured to attend the wedding of a couple of my good friends. Now, I must confess-- I really like both of those two; they are some of the nicest people I've ever met. During the reception someone mentioned something about how their lives were designed perfectly for them to come together to be married. I thought about that and realized that, holy smokes...its true. They each have had their share of serious family heartaches growing up but it is truly amazing to see the LORD bring them together so that the trend of brokennesss that occurred in each of their pasts has now become this very beautiful thing that is a new relationship.