Some years back, when I was pastoring “the cowboy church” in  Sherwood Park, Alberta, I was blessed to receive a wonderful birthday gift from my wife. It is a custom-crafted, saddle-bag-style briefcase marked with my brand.

We had to drive to a community a couple of hours away to pick it up, and that involved driving through an area with numerous pothole lakes and plenty of rough farmland.

Since my birthday was in November, the little lakes were mostly frozen. The ice wasn’t thick yet, but it was definitely there. If I recall correctly, we saw several mule deer and whitetails. We likely saw some late migrating flocks of ducks and geese, as that would have been typical for the season.

What I do recall clearly are muskrats. Now, muskrats are not rats at all. They are semi-aquatic mammals more closely related to voles than rats. An adult muskrat weighs about four pounds (a little under 2 kg), about half the size of your average house cat.

Typically, on that particular roadway, we would see a few muskrats on or in the lakes on the drive down and back. Sometimes we would even see four or five on the same tiny lake, which seemed like a lot.

On the return trip, I was astounded to see the population on several lakes. There were muskrats, for sure, but in incredible numbers. We were driving, and I couldn’t stop to count them, but I am a pretty fair estimator over small areas. There were several hundred muskrats basking in the sun on each of the lakes.

That’s more than I would see in a typical year, all in one place. I had read about places up north where the fur trappers could harvest them by the hundreds in a day, way back when the north was being opened, but to see them was breathtaking.

So, what does all that have to do with the Christian faith walk? Maybe nothing directly, but it does bring to mind a few thoughts.

Sometimes, we get to thinking that, like the few muskrats I normally see, we are among the few faithful Christians left in the world.

Elijah, the prophet, felt sorry for himself and complained to the Lord about being the last faithful one in Israel (See 1 Kings 18-19). God let him know in no uncertain terms that he was wrong.

We can get into Elijah’s mindset at times.

We get tired and defensive when the world seems to be spiraling out of control. We can start to doubt and whine. We forget the incredible power and presence of God. We begin to repine (to feel discontent and complain … sorry, I heard that word in a hymn recently, so I had to look it up and find a place to use it)

Now, it is true that only a remnant of humanity will be saved. More will choose the darkness over the light than those who will be faithful. Even the so-called “church” has people who are not believers. It is easy to become discouraged and isolated, particularly if your little corner of the kingdom struggles.

When we feel that way, we need to stop and remember that we are in God’s presence, and we need to consider His long-range plans.

These words from the closing book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, through the Apostle John, encourage me.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 7:9-12

There are multitudes of believers from all over the world. I also remember some encouraging words from the book of Hebrews.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

When you start to doubt and feel discouraged, hold fast. God is still in control. We are united with all the saints (past and present), and victory is ours through Jesus.

When you are tempted to repine, remember that, like the Lord showed Elijah, He has a much bigger picture than we can see in the moment, and stay the course.

Until next time,  remember that while battles are still to be fought, the victory is ours.

Be blessed

Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

Kevin

Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

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The old country church in the ghost town of Dorothy, Alberta,  was run down and no longer used. Someone had told me that it had once been a vibrant little congregation, but the town had dried up. It seemed such a waste. 

I wondered what happened to the people who had invested so much time and money in this no longer usable building. 

The once bright exterior was faded white in the few places where the peeling paint remained. The grass around the grounds was unkempt, and even the cemetery seemed tired. 

The door was unlocked, and the hinges screamed from disuse as it opened. As I walked in, my nostrils were assailed by the smell of an old abandoned country church. It had that combination of dust, must, and old wood. It seemed both stale and sacred at the same time. 

The old pews and pulpit were made of hardwood, probably oak, but time had discolored them, so it was impossible to tell. They looked almost black; whatever colour they had been to begin with was buried under layers of dirt and age. 

The discolored wood got me thinking of the cross. We often seem to have this idea that there was a fresh, new cross crafted just for the crucifixion of Christ. 

The reality was probably quite different. The Romans were efficient, and I find it hard to believe they would have made new crosses for each crucifixion. After all, they were only used to kill criminals. Why waste them after being used just once? 

The cross he died on probably wasn’t like the nice, neat, clean one that hangs in most sanctuaries. It would have been roughly shaped enough to do the job, no fine woodworking wasted on common thieves and enemies of the empire. 

The cross Jesus carried had probably been used many times before and was likely used many times afterwards. It was perhaps stained with its victims’ blood, sweat, and waste. It had been dragged around and lay in the dirt as each new person was nailed to it. 

Even in His final death and suffering, He suffered on a second-hand cross. He was scourged with a whip that had chewed apart many backs before his. 

In the same way, our walk as Christians won’t always be pleasant, neat, tidy, and new. There will be pain as we grow and unpleasantness to deal with. Some will laugh at us and ridicule us for our beliefs. We may be typecast as narrow-minded and judgmental. 

Christianity costs. The cost is often overlooked in this day of easy believism and comfortable Christianity. We often downplay the truth to make it more palatable and then wonder why people fall away. They fall away because they bought into a lie about what the faith is genuinely like.

We see this happen in the churches that preach the lie of the prosperity gospel. We can find it in evangelical churches where the gospel’s truth is buried beneath the pragmatism of growing a crowd through entertainment. It hides in small churches, where the pastor needs the job and doesn’t want to ruffle the feathers of his little flock.

Yet, Jesus was clear about the cost.

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:25-33

That old church building may have been abandoned, but Jesus will never forsake His own. He will never leave or abandon us. His church is the people, not the buildings.

Until next time, when you are struggling with one of those painful moments, remember what He went through for you and hold fast.

Count the cost, consider the goal, and keep on. 

Be blessed

Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

Kevin

Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

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All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word.