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A Revisited Devotional from July 12, 2008
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. (MSG)
When I wrote Reflections On Success in 1996, I had been a public servant for 22 years. I remember farther back, when I was having job interviews back in the early 1970s, one recruiter asked me where I wanted to be in five years. I told this person, "I want to be where God wants me to be." Now, as I prepare to exit the public service after almost 34 years, it's been a pretty amazing time, and I can see God's blessing all along the way.
I don't think I'd have ever dreamed that a public service career could have turned into a ministry opportunity. In fact, for the first six years or so, I just did my job, "crunching numbers" for Statistics Canada (StatCan). Then around 1980, I discovered that some folks at work were meeting over the noon-hour to study the Bible. This was not new to me — I'd been involved in Bible studies at university and in my own church — but in a work setting — this was something new. I joined the group, and within a few years, I graduated to leadership when the founder retired. Sometimes, it would be only myself and one other person, but we continued to meet ("wherever two or three are gathered…") and over a number of years, God honoured our faithfulness, and other groups were formed by some of those we'd nurtured along. Today, there are six different Christian activities happening regularly at StatCan, including a French group, a Mandarin group, a "video group" that grew out of an Alpha program, and one group that regularly looks at some of the "Christian classics" like The Westminster Confession of Faith. Mainly, we explore what it is to be a Christian in the workplace, but this also involves getting to know one another on a deeper level, supporting each other in prayer, and much more. My group has been a rock for me over the years when I was so busy in my own church that I couldn't squeeze in time in the evenings for Bible study. To see some of "our folk" mature as Christians, wanting to follow God more closely, willing to take on tasks to serve Him, touches the heart.
So, as I prepare to exit my workplace in the next month or so, what is foremost in my mind is what has been accomplished for His kingdom. The rest pales in comparison!
Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to trust You to keep us on track, Your track, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. Help us to be Your people each day, to show others by our love that we have a loving heavenly Father, and to help them to come to know You, too. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
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Monday, February 10, 2025 – In the Americas — Give thanks for those called to lead worship with the vulnerable and lonely in long-term-care residences. Pray that God's Word and music may bring comfort and peace to all.
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You were blessed.
Thanks Gord, blessings.
Thank you for today’s message!
Awesome. I’m going to forward this to my so who is also a public servant. And also my other son who teaches high school.
What a great revisited devotional! I’m curious now what’s been happening in the past 17 years… any update? Maybe another devotional?
Thank you for the Bible study idea in the workplace. This is immediately relevant to reinforce what a few of us are contemplating at my local church.
Thank you, Gordon. I serve in a similar position, leading a Bible discussion time in my retirement community where there are very few believers. My daily prayer here is, “Make me a blessing to someone today.”
Dear Brother Gord,
Thanks be to God and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for the blessings that he has provided to you and the joy that is found when shared with others.
Dear Gord,
Bravo to you, on your long and productive career as a Disciple of our Lord and a Civil Servant. Every blessing in your retirement, and may the good Lord find another are for your many talents and faithfulness.
Thanks Gord,
My niece works for Stats Can (mostly from home now). She has a strong Christian faith… I’ll send her this and perhaps she’ll start a bible study.
Blessings.
Thanks, Gord, for another of your reflective writings. No matter what amount of time goes by, there is no change in the great amount of care and guidance our Lord is ever ready to give us. We need be so thankful to Him each and every day and be ready to encourage and share with others the importance of seeking and receiving Him in our daily lives. Blessings for resharing your writings.
Thank you for writing this devotional.
Under your devotional on PresbyCan page is a prayer request for worldwide mission for their directed prayer groups.
God is at work through his gathering of people together.
May God continue to bless you in your writing.
Blessings.
Hi Gord,
It is wonderful that Robin revisited another of your messages which tells us how the Bible study progressed over the years and all the people that grew and became part of spreading the good news. I was also involved in a Bible study at work which really opened my eyes to understanding a little better the messages in the Bible. Thanks for sharing and I am sure you are still very involved in your retirement. Blessings.
Good morning, Gord!
Thank you for today’s message. It brought back memories of when I attended a small bible study group during my lunch hour at the church across the street from the Corporate Offices where I worked. Once per week, several employees made their way over to the church to study the Bible together. We started out with a handful of people and grew from there. I believe we were all there for the same reason – being closer to God.
Blessings!
The timing of this event seems to coincide with a bible study at noon in Toronto Air Canada started by a dear friend who was a senior pilot. It was bagged lunch open for all – Air Canada employees from pilots to baggage handlers.
However, he did not stop with bible study. He wanted a chapel which he got after years of persistence. Not just a space, rather a brand structure.
And he wanted a full-time chaplaincy team that came one member at a time with more letters to both the company and government. You managed to spark an old memory, Gord. Blessings.