A couple weeks ago a group of us met to worship and pray at our house.  It was a really cool time, and near the end of our evening I grabbed an old guitar that had been tuned a little different.  As I played God began to place a song on my heart that I hadn't sung in years (not sure if I've ever used it when I was leading.)  As I sang it the words caused my heart to rise up from deep inside me.  I Lift My Eyes Up is a Brian Doerksen song that has been a voice for many in worship, but that night it was brand new for me.  I took the time to record it, and I pray that it leads you to a quiet place where your spirit is releaed to sing "so I will wait for you, to come and rescue me, come and give me life."

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Blessings, Chad

Merry Christmas!  I pray that this entry finds you safe in the care of the God who's birth we celebrate.  I can say without a doubt that Janna and I definitely are.  The year that we've lived since last Christmas has been filled with opportunities to see Him at his best.  There are obviously too many stories to even touch the surface here, but I did want to share one major blessing that has changed our lives forever.  In the spring of this year I accepted a job with the Salvation Army, and that decision has brought about an indescribable blessing in our life together.  With the 'job' has come the lives of many who struggle to find meaning, purpose, freedom… the list is endless.  These lives have deeply touched ours, and know find no exagerration when I say we will never be the same.

I've learned so much from these people, and from my daily interaction with them.  I've learned that very little seperates our lives, and sometimes am awe struck by how close our realities really are.  God has shown me a piece of his heart as I've spent time with those who have little, but often give generously, love without pretense, and show genuine passion for justice in a world filled with injustice.  I know count many my friend who were only months ago hidden to me.  They teach me daily what it looks like to live honestly even when the honesty of their lives may discust even themselves.  I've seen too the 'wages of sin' and have felt the sorrow of seperation from God like I've never seen it.  Lonliness, regection, faiilure, shame, drunkeness… the tip of the iceberg where the 'desires of our sinful nature' are realised. (Galatians 5.16ff)

There is one thing I've head God say louder than any other this year.  It is simply but profoundly this – "We need a Saviour".  The reality of this need grips me even as I write this.  I can help but think of those I just spent time with at a community Christmas dinner.  Men lost in drunkness.  Women overwhelmed with sorrow on a day that should be filled with praise.  People who often know no hope.  The reality of Jesus birth, the coming of a saviour!  I am filled with worship and moved to prayer for those who don't know Him.  Father, speak… show your face… touch hearts… that they would come to see You, and join in the truest song of Christmas- Christ, our Saviour is born.

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Silent Night by Joseph Mohr 1816 – Preformed By Chad & Janna Block

17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
      for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
   He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
      that the blind will see,
   that the oppressed will be set free,
      19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

 20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Luke 4:7-21 (Isaiah 61)

I've really grown to love Thanksgiving.  Truth is I have so much to be thankful for, as do many of the people I love.  I think it only makes sense to set aside a day every year for the sole purpose of giving thanks (truth be told I wish we could set aside a festival week!).  I love too that this purposed time of giving thanks is one that we share with others.  It's when we come together in our thankfulness that we are really able to give a voice to the gratefulness that we feel from day to day.  It's incredibly significant to sit down at a table with friends and family, and to share the blessings of our lives in a purposed way.  To speak out the things that we've come to treasure and to celebrate together the countless ways that God has broken into our lives with 'good gifts'.

This year, I am most thankful for so much.  My new home here on the Island, the time I've had to really rest and reflect on the past couple years, and the way in which God has walked so close to me.  I'm deeply grateful to Him for the restoration that has begun in me, and for the way that He's using our home and life to bring that to others as well.  I'm thankful for family, and the deep ways we've grown in love for each other through the incredibly hard year that has just passed.  I'm thankful too for friendship.  Specifically, I'm thankful for the way God has been so purposefully teaching me what it is both be a friend and to receive the plethora of gifts that come to me through my friends.  I've always said it's miraculous to see God heal a blind man, or to part the sea… but far more amazing to me is the way he brings lives together.  More than anything this year I am incredibly thankful for the people that God has brought into the life of Janna and I.  We are truly blessed to have the friends and family we do, and our lives show the extent of that blessing daily.

Although I'm thankful for many people, there are two that I am most thankful for, as I reflect on the many blessings of my life this past year.  First and foremost I am thankful for Janna.  She has given so much to me, and loved me in ways that have completely changed who I am.  I've always seen her as a gift from God, but the journey of this past year has opened my eyes even more to the depth of that reality.  Secondly…. words can't express how grateful I am to God for my sister.  Jayda was also a gift from God, and her life… her love… and her legacy are a treasure worth far more than anything available to me on Earth.  I miss her, but today I celebrate her and give thanks for the memories and ongoing way that her legacy shapes my life everyday.

Thanks finally, and most of all, to my Jesus.  I've seen you in new ways, and known your presence in some of the hardest of circumstances this past year.  Jayda spoke of you with such certainty, and her witness has strengthened my faith even more.  Your love and faithfulness have been an incredible gift… and I pray that this weekend you'd be blessed as we give thanks.  I pray to, that thankfulness would fill the lives and hearts of those I love, and that this thanksgiving You'd be seen in our praises.

Jayda died yesterday at 10:55pm.  Janna and I arrived at the hospital 45 minutes prior to her passing, and I'm deeply great full to God for the chance to be with her, and with family as she died.  I am truly overwhelmed by her death, and yet to my sorrow has come an incredible peace and presence of God.  I know that Jesus has defeated death, and so I have hope for life beyond this one.  Jayda knew Jesus, and in her last days I believe she came to know Him on a level that many of us never have.  She spoke of Him often, and the language she used reminded me that His presence is a very real and everyday reality.

I wrote a new song last week, and it's filled my days ever since

"Whatever the situation
No matter the cost
When my heart feels like singing
Or saying nothing at all

I'm going to praise You Jesus
You've always been there for me
In my joy and in my sorrow<
I know it's going to be okay
I'm going to live to Your glory
And pray the world sees you in me
For as long as I live
I'm going to praise

I'm going to praise You Jesus
You've always been there for me
In my living and in my dying
I know You've conquered the grave
I'm going to live to your honour
Giving glory to Your name
With every breathe You give me
I'm going to praise "

God is teaching me more than can fit into a blog entry right now.  I may write a book, and will for sure be working on an album in the months to come.  More than anything, I pray that the remainder of my life gives testimony to the impact Jayda had on me.  I pray too that I can be a witness to the deep things of Christ's heart that have become clear to me in that past 3 years.  Through out this journey with Jayda… I've wrote many songs, prayed many prayers, heard God whisper many words, and seen Jesus hand many times… I am eternally great full for it all.

Today, as I write this, I am most great full to God for my sister.  She was an amazing girl, and had become an even more incredible woman, wife, mother, and friend.  She was always real, and called things like she saw them.  She loved people deeply, and her God most of all.  It is weird to not have her here with us anymore.  I will miss her often and with all my heart.  I praise God for her life, her friendship, her love.  It has been an honour to be her big brother, and I'm honoured to know she loved me as deeply as she did.  I'm so glad that her fight is over, and that she now knows life to the full!  She had a huge heart for worship and never could contain the creative desires that God stirred in her.  I can only imagine that she is already a huge part of heavens worship.

On Mother's Day (last month) Jayda spoke at her church.  I wasn't there, but I've been told that she read a psalm that I've read many times this week.  It has really spoke to my heart, as I know it did to Jayda's.  It was Psalm 23:

 1 The Lord is my shepherd;
      I have all that I need.
 2 He lets me rest in green meadows;
      he leads me beside peaceful streams.
    3 He renews my strength.
   He guides me along right paths,
      bringing honor to his name.
 4 Even when I walk
      through the darkest valley,
   I will not be afraid,
      for you are close beside me.
   Your rod and your staff
      protect and comfort me.
 5 You prepare a feast for me
      in the presence of my enemies.
   You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
      My cup overflows with blessings.
 6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
      all the days of my life,
   and I will live in the house of the Lord
      forever.

Well, Janna and I are in the Land of Living Skies right now (aka – Saskatchewan).  Janna's grandmother passed away this week, and so we've come for the funeral.  We're really glad that we could both get away for the week and come… what we didn't know is that God had much more in store for this trip.  When we arrived in Regina (via westjet) my brother in law picked us up.  He told us that they would be receiving biopsy results from a lump they'd found in Jayda's breast the next day.  Our being here with them meant that we were able to pray with them, and receive the bad news together.  Jayda's cancer is back.

Our main desire over this past couple years has been to really share this journey with my sister and her family.  That can be hard given the geographical distance between us.  I'm so thankful to God that we could be here with them this week.  I recently read a powerful devotional by Henri Nouwen in which he speaks to the necessary co-existence of joy and sorrow in our lives.  To live a full life we must truly live in both the sorrows and joys that it brings.  Ultimately, Henri points out that we can't have one without the other.

This week is turning out to be a major lesson in this reality.  I feel immense sorrow both personally, and for my sister and Chris.  AT the very same time, I'm filled with joy by the love we have for each other, and by God's divine hand in the smallest details surrounding yesterdays life altering news.  Most amazing to me is the intense intercession that God had lead me to earlier this week (not knowing that my sisters situation would become such a major concern.)  The song that I recorded has been ringing in my head, and coming from my lips non-stop.  

God, thank you for the peace you bring to our lives, and for your presence… it is truly life giving.  I thank you God for your divine intervention in the everyday moments of life.  I thank you that though you've called us to impossible tensions, you walk with them with us making the impossible possible.  I pray your healing, and for your life.

Father, Have Your Way.

Chad 

Thank you everyone for your prayers… your love and friendship is a gift.

I've been  thinking a lot about community lately.  It's not just the conceptual idea of it, but also the reality of the community that I live in.  I live life connected to many different forms of community.  The word itself is used in a variety of ways.  The dictionary defines the word as such:

• a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
• a locality inhabited by such a group.
• a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by the): the business community; the community of scholars.
• a group of associated nations sharing common interests or a common heritage: the community of Western Europe.
• a group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule.
• an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area.
• joint possession, enjoyment, liability, etc.: community of property.
• similar character; agreement; identity: community of interests.

Given the fact that the English word 'community' has such a broad definition, I should clarify that the specific community I'm speaking of is my 'church community'.  One of the reasons Janna and I have come to the Island is to share life with friends here, and to continue learning what it looks like to 'be the church'.  I know that church is not an institution or a building… it is a community of people.  People with shared values and goals.  People who are connected to a shared truth, and in turn to a common journey through life.  I love it, and I more importantly I need it.  God has so clearly shown me that we are all created with a deep need for relationship, and that life, dreams, passion, purpose… all find inside of community.

All that said, I wanted to throw out some of the questions that I'm wrestling with right now.  It would be amazing to have your thoughts, insights, questions, and life experiences thrown into the mix.  To do that just comment here (just scroll down to the bottom of the post, and submit your comment there.)

• Why is community so important?

• What are the key values that God is calling use as a community to share? 

• Why am I so important to community?

• How does/should a church community connect with other church communities, both locally and around the world?

• What does community need to look like from day to day?  How do we best live it out?

• How do we create a hospitable community? (an inclusive community, where others can easily enter.)

• How does my 'church community' best relate to my other communities (i.e. Family, Neighbours/City, Work, etc.)?