Gettin' jiggy with it.

Squid jigging is probably one of the most memorable activities I did as a teen while I spent the summers living with my grandparents. Not only was it a lot of fun, but I actually made money at the same time.

My cousin Gerry and I use to go out at midnight and fill two or three baskets of squid in a couple hours. At 20 dollars a basket, it was considered good money 30 years ago. When the adventure was over for the night I was covered in back ink, but I have to say it was well worth it. If you haven’t tried squid jigging lately, I highly recommend it.

Every now and then I take time to reflect on that past and thank God for what experiences He allowed in my life. Squid jigging is one of those experiences that taught me a few things about life.

First, life can get messy at times, but the experience is worth the final product.

Secondly, don’t do life alone. As much as I love to squid jig, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it half as much if I did it by myself, as I did with my cousin Gerry.

What is God teaching you through your life experiences, and who are you doing life with?

Pastor Donald Calder

Last week I was rushing around getting ready to leave the house and head to Cape Breton to perform a wedding, and the one thing I really wanted to do was clean my car. I didn’t want my car to stand out in the parking lot looking like I just went four-wheeling, so I made sure my car looked shiny and clean.

When I arrived in Cape Breton I drove directly to this beautiful historical home where I would be spending the night. I dropped off my bags, hopped back into the car and headed to the rehearsal.

Everything seemed to be going so well… until I went to hop back into the car. I had only been parked there a couple of minutes, but it was long enough for a flock of geese to do its damage. My shiny black car was now the color of my salt and pepper hair.  There must be a designated bird’s dumping zone in Cape Breton and I was parked in that spot. All I could do was laugh. So much for making a good impression with the cleanliness of my car. (Ha.)

Sometimes life just doesn’t go according to plan. But that doesn’t mean it needs to wreck our day. Sometimes the best solution is to have a hearty laugh.

What have you had a good laugh over lately?

Pastor Donald Calder

I’m not much of a mechanic, but I have tried to fix a few things in my day. And what’s discouraging is when you invest a good amount of time into fixing something, and at the end of the day… it’s still broken. UGH!

The same is true about preaching. When you invest a good amount of time into preparing a message that you have studied, and prayed about, and soaked your shirt while delivering its content… and the application fails to stick. UGH!

This past Sunday I started speaking on a new series entitled True Colors, and for the next three weeks it is all about the power of words. We can breathe life into people, and we can breathe death into people by the words we use (Proverbs 18:21). So, after sharing my heart on what the Bible clearly says about complaining, I was surprised to have someone come up to me immediately after the service and… complain. I thought there would be at least a one week delay. (Ha.)

The complaint wasn’t even about me, but it felt like death being breathed into me. There are people who simply have a natural tendency to always see the negative first before they see that God is working in our midst (positive). I am not trying to minimize people’s concerns (complaints), but sometimes we just need to sit back and know God is in control, and that He uses even the things we don’t like, to accomplish his will.

I guess it’s back to the drawing board to figure out how to make application stick. UGH!

Pastor Donald Calder

Not your typical town hall meeting.

I experienced my first ‘church town hall’ meeting last night. WOW!

I admit; I walked in with some trepidation. The future can sometimes be unsettling if you don’t already know the outcome. (For those who are tempted to email me that I shouldn’t fear the future because it is in God’s hands… I already know… I am working on that area of my life.)

Town Hall meetings can be very helpful and informative or they can have the ingredients to be explosive. When people have concerns and share them with a spirit of grace, their character shines through. What I witnessed last night was a room full of gracious people.

I love this church, and I love the people that attend this church, even the ones I don’t always see eye to eye with on certain things. No church is filled with perfect people… but I think we come close. (Ha.)

Thanks to everyone who attended last night’s meeting, and for your input. If you missed it, we plan to have another town hall meeting in the fall, but if you feel you have a burning question that can’t wait that long, by all means, send it along to our church board via srfboard@srfconnect.com.

Pastor Donald Calder

Commodus says... fail!

If you’re anything like me, you don’t like to fail.

Somewhere along this journey of growing and maturing into adults, we’ve learned that failure is unacceptable. But what happens when you find yourself in leadership? Many get paralyzed because they have this fear of failure. Fear is one of the enemy’s greatest tools. When we are afraid to fail, we fail to dream. If you are going to dream and follow through on some of those dreams, failure is not an option – it is a must.

Leo Buscaglia said it well: “We seem to gain wisdom more readily throughout our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antitheses of success, but it isn’t. Success often lies just the other side of failure.”

Craig Groeschel said, “If you are not failing, you have stopped dreaming. You‘ll eventually stop learning. And you will stop growing. Those who have ‘it’, fail often.”

Let me be honest… I have failed many times, and in doing so I am learning how to fail gracefully, and am learning some principles along the way. Thankfully God isn’t finished with me yet.

Join us this year as we learn about failure AND success during the 2010 Global Leadership Summit on August 5-6.

Pastor Donald Calder

The last time I blogged on leadership I said it gets “messy,” and it’s true. This truth does not come from a text book that I read, but from personal experience. So when the task is messy and it gets difficult, I choose to do two things:

1. First, I turn to people who have spiritual depth. The leader who thinks he can always do it on his own without input from wise counsel is in Big Trouble. I am truly grateful for the men and women in my life that I can turn to for counsel who have more life experience or different life experience than I do, and have journeyed with God longer than me or differently than me. They are a priceless treasure of resource.
2. Secondly, it is very easy to get jaded and bitter in leadership, so I must choose to seize joy in the midst of a mess.  Don’t let your emotions overtake your mission. With so many “joy-robbers” around, I must seize the joy, or I could go a long time without any.

I hope you will join us this year for the Global Leadership Summit on August 5-6.

Pastor Donald Calder