Help! I’m Drowning!
July 1, 2010
By the Rev. Dr. Ed Hird
While on a school field trip, I found myself river-rafting through dangerous rapids near Squamish, BC. I had been assigned by my wife to accompany my youngest son on his school outing. My bottom-line assignment was to bring him back alive. Unlike certain adults, my son had no fears of drowning. In fact, his greatest delight was to jump into the icy-cold river not once but three times in a row. It left me feeling that perhaps I should sign him up for a junior life-saving team!
Two weeks later, upon leaving the gut-wrenching movie experience of The Perfect Storm, our family walked into a less-than perfect Calgary, Alberta, storm. Rushing madly to our car, it felt momentarily like the whole skies had opened up and we might drown in the parking lot! Our rational side knew that 50% of our fears had been Hollywood-induced from just having seen so many watery disasters. Even so, we were glad to make it safe and sound into the watertight car.
After seeing The Perfect Storm in Calgary, our next agenda was to find a nice waterproof hotel. With thunder and lightning striking on every side, we hit a massive traffic snarl. It was so bad that some trucks started driving up over the perimeter and jumping the guard rails. As we crawled through the traffic jam, we came upon a brand-new ‘lake’ that had been created by the Calgary storm right in the middle of the highway. Seeing no way out, we plowed through the ‘lake’ leaving a massive wake behind us. As we woke up the next morning safe and secure at the Best Western, we were greeted by a Calgary newspaper with front-page pictures of flooded cars that hadn’t made it through our ‘lake’.
While our Alberta storm was minor compared to the tragic Red Deer tornado that hit that same week, it was enough to cause us to cry out to God ‘Help! I feel like I’m drowning’.
In The Perfect Storm, there was great emphasis put on realism and courage. Each of the fishermen were notably flawed and yet lovable in their own unusual way. Each of 
them left behind loved ones who worried each time they pulled out of the harbour. Each of the fishermen showed remarkable bravery and resilience when the chips were down. One of the most Christ-like moments in The Perfect Storm was when one fisherman selflessly risked his life for his sworn enemy.
As I looked at those weather-beaten seafarers in The Perfect Storm, I was reminded of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, James and his brother John. Most of Jesus’ earliest followers were weather-beaten seafarers on the Sea of Galilee. They were courageous, hard-bitten, and loyal. Many philosophies and religions have been dreamed up by intellectuals and academics in ivory towers. How many have been led by fishermen?
My wife and I had the privilege of going a number of years ago to the Sea of Galilee. The closest thing that I can compare the beautiful Sea of Galilee to is Lake Okanagan in the BC Interior. Despite its remarkable beauty, the Sea of Galilee has many wind tunnels which can cause ugly storms to rush down from the nearby mountains with virtually no warning. In one situation, Jesus’ fishermen followers were so overwhelmed that they too cried out: ‘Help, I’m drowning’. They even accused 
Jesus of not caring because he was asleep in the boat.
Those fishermen sounded a lot like us when tragedy strikes, when the ‘Perfect Storm’ hits our family and friends. We may sometimes wonder if God is asleep on the job. We may wonder if God really cares after all. We may fear that we will ‘drown’, that we are ‘going down for the last time’ in our families and careers. Jesus responded to the Galilee Storm by saying ‘Quiet! Be Still’, and it was so. My prayer for each person reading this article is that the Good Shepherd may speak to the storms in our lives, bringing quietness and stillness.
The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Rector, BSW, MDiv, DMin
St. Simon’s Church, North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada)
http://stsimonschurch.ca
-award-winning author of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’
http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com
p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99CDN/USD.
-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada
You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide
O Little Town of Bethlehem
June 3, 2010
By The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird
I will always remember my ‘star’ Christmas performance back in kindergarten days. There I was dressed up as a Christmas shepherd, with my staff, bedrobe, and head-scarf. I was so excited about being a shepherd that I forgot where I was supposed to meet the rest of the cast. So I sat down at the front of the stage and waited for them to find me. Unfortunately that lost kindergarten shepherd was never found, until the whole pageant was over. I was most disappointed, and ‘vowed’ that day to never become a famous Hollywood actor.
Almost 2,000 years ago in the little town of Bethlehem (not Bellingham, as we’d often sing as children), a little shepherd baby was born in a filthy cow barn. Many shepherds were drawn to admire this tiny little child, little knowing that this baby would one day become a Good Shepherd for many. Years later, this christmas baby-turned-thirty said: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep”.
It is amazing how much that Christmas Carols speak to the hearts of adults and children alike. Those of us living on the North Shore are well aware of the remarkable 
popularity of the Carol Ships travelling past Deep Cove and Cates Park year after year.
Carols have a certain poetry, romance, and mystery that draws us unfailingly year after year. When we sing: “Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by”, we almost feel like we were there when the Christmas Star first shone bright. Christmas Carols teach truth, but in a subtle way that feels entirely natural. In singing “Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting Light”, we are reminded that there is a battle between good and evil, light and darkness, but that Light is always more powerful than darkness. No wonder the Christmas baby later called himself the Light of the World. He also said that whoever followed him will never walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
No wonder we love to sing: “The hopes and fear of all the years are met in thee tonight.” There is something about the Christmas baby that inspires hope and banishes fear, no matter how cynical or jaded we tend to be. Many Christmas Carols have a beautiful sense of stillness and quiet about them. There is so little quiet and stillness left in our fast-paced, frenetic culture. Maybe that is why we are drawn to sing: “How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.” All of us need more inner peace, more shalom in our lives. All of us need the stillness and tranquillity of the Christmas baby, known in Hebrew as Yeshua.
The deepest truths of Christmas go far beyond the beautiful tree, the tasty turkey, the colourful lights. The deepest truths are invisible and silent, but still very powerful and real. That is why we sing that “no ear may hear his coming.” Just like with the love between a man and wife, the most important things in life can’t be scientifically measured or technologically formulated. Christmas is a mystery that defies all logical attempts to explain it away. Christmas is the miracle of new birth, not only 2,000 years ago, but also potentially in our hearts. That is why so many of us never tire of singing: “Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.”
My Christmas prayer for those reading this article is that many may discover afresh the joy of the inner meaning of Christmas Caroling.
The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Rector, BSW, MDiv, DMin
St. Simon’s Church North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada)
http://stsimonschurch.ca
-award-winning author of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’
http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com
p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99CDN/USD.
-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada
You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide
-previously published in the Deep Cove Crier
The Irreplaceable Psalm 23
August 17, 2009
By the Rev. Dr. Ed Hird
Again and again when people are buried through St. Simon’s North Vancouver, their family asks for Psalm 23. Regardless of whether they have been in church for years, Psalm 23 seems to have a comforting power that touches people again and again. Why is Psalm 23 so meaningful to so many people?
When Dr. Billy Graham preached a while ago in a Russian Synagogue, what was his topic? None other than Psalm 23. Whether Jewish or Christian, Churchgoer or NonChurchgoer, Right Wing or Left Wing politically, Psalm 23 seems to speak to all of us. All of us can find strength in knowing that the Lord is our Shepherd.
There is an extremely popular book written by a Canadian agrologist entitled “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23″. Philip Keller, unlike most of us, is an actual modern-day shepherd, who has spent many years in agricultural research, land management, and 
ranch development in British Columbia.
From Keller’s first-hand experience, Psalm 23 has burst open with many new insights and surprises. For example, what does it really mean to say “I shall not want”? Keller says that this is a picture of “a sheep utterly satisfied with its owner..utterly contented in the Good Shepherd’s care and consequently not craving or desiring anything more.” Does this describe our personal day-to-day lives? I remember seeing a poster which read: “Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.”
Why does Psalm 23 talk about “lying down in green pastures”? Keller tells us that sheep will never lie down until four conditions are met:
1) they must be free of all fear
2) They must be free of torment by flies or parasites
3) They must have a full belly
4) They must be in harmony with their fellow sheep.
Green pastures did not just happen by 
accident. A good shepherd would put tremendous labour into clearing rough rocky ground into lush pasture land. Psalm 23 tells us that Jesus the Good Shepherd desires to take away our fear and disharmony so that we can find the inner peace that we have always been looking for.
What about “leading us beside still waters”? What difference does that make? Keller tells us that sheep are made up of about 70% water on average. Without a clean water source, sheep become restless and dehydrated. As well, sheep will not drink from fast, flowing waters, but rather from still calm waters. So too the Good Shepherd desires to fill each of us with calmness and stillness, with living water that can quench our deepest thirst.
Psalm 23 reminds us that the Good Shepherd desires to “restore our soul”. When a death has just occurred in our family, we often feel heavy and burdened inside, even down cast. Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”. All of us need that inner rest from time to time. Sheep, from time to time, may fall on their backs, and be unable to get up again by themselves. When a sheep becomes “down cast”, it can quickly become a casualty to sun stroke, or attack from wild animals. A Good Shepherd will restore his sheep when they become cast down.
Perhaps most familiar of all is the phrase: “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death , I will fear no evil, for You are with me”. Think of funerals you have been to, and what comfort these words have been. Keller tells us that the only way to the mountainous green pastures is through the dangerous mountain valleys where wolves and coyotes are in hiding, waiting for their next victim. Psalm 23 reminds us that the Good Shepherd is also a warrior who will fight for us and protect us, even in times of death and tragedy.
All of us want to be loved and cared for by significant others. Most of us believe that there is a God out there. The good news of Psalm 23 is that God really cares about each of us in a way beyond our wildest imagining. That is the meaning of the poetic language speaking of the Shepherd preparing a table before us, anointing our head with oil, and our cup overflowing. All of this means that God personally cares for you.
No matter how tough life gets, and how many setbacks you face, Psalm 23 tell us that God is there for you, and will never give up on you.
edhird
