micahemerson.ca

All things good, beautiful and true.

Tag: life

  • Awakening

    Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.

    – Ephesians 5:14

    Preamble: Recently, God called my family and I into a season of transition. A season culminating in our departure from Crosspoint Church, the local church where we served for over a decade. Then, the Lord led us join an amazing community of Jesus followers at Beulah Alliance Church. We said yes to being a part of new work of God in the southeast of Edmonton. The following story comes from the early days of this movement.

    We walked out my friends back door and up a grassy berm along the Whitemud. The highway was like a rushing river with thousands of people passing by everyday. Neighbours walked their dogs down a narrow path. From the high ground we walked, talked and looked to the south. Mill Woods, a city within a city. A hundred thousand people and forty-two language groups. Single family homes lined the parameter, with affordable housing the further you moved into Millbourne Center. The middle of Mill Woods is alive with activity. From the local grocery store, grade school, Mosque and Gurdwara. Newcomers from around the world live, worship, work, learn and play.

    We headed south and prayed. As we went, there was an apple tree. It’s branches hung low, heavy with fruit. Many of the apples dotted the grass below. It was clear that this tree was ready for the picking. The Spirit stirred within me, in the same way, Mill Woods continues and is increasingly ready for the Gospel.

    A hundred years ago passionate followers of Jesus packed up their lives and crossed oceans to reach the nations. Today, many people from the nations have immigrated to North America. They are right here in our backyard, our neighbors and co-workers. These people come from groups and places where they rarely hear the name of Jesus. They almost never hear the Gospel.

    In Mill Woods, the nations are on our doorstep. Let’s ask ourselves some guiding questions. How will they call on Him who they have not believed? How will they know what they have not heard? And how will they hear if we do not tell them?

    Here is what we know do know: Jesus sought out and sat with lost people. He entered there towns, their houses and their worlds. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. The marginalized and searching. The disillusioned and poor. The ones who had messed up and those who were desperate for hope, peace, purpose and meaning.

    A hundred years ago, Beulah Alliance Church has been focused on reaching people far from God. Today, in this new expression, that continues to be true. I believe that God has prepared Mill Woods to hear the good news of Jesus. He has organized the time, place and a people for this work. And he has laid the groundwork. softened hearts and prepared Mill Woods to be Awakened to King Jesus and new life.

    I believe God is calling us to the lost and the least in southeast Edmonton. We are waking up to Jesus, being renewed and revived to new life. Now, we are praying and preparing for what God is doing next in Mill Woods.

    To learn more about what God is doing in Mill Woods visit beulah.ca/millwoods

  • Yellowknife

    Yellowknife

    Part 1

    I walked
    to the end of time.
    To the very edge
    of the earth.
    ‘Til my feet
    bled in the soil.

    I went
    into the wild,
    where the sun never sleeps,
    and the moss becomes your bed

    I came
    to listen.
    To hear the song
    creatures have been singing
    since before we had words.

    And I found you
    in the dirt and silence,
    as surely as you were
    in the dust
    and the noise.

    Oh great Shield
    you sleeping giant.
    You footstool of heaven.
    Granite Goliath
    with your back to the stars.

    I went to the edge of creation.
    Just to see you
    at the center
    of it all.

  • New Ground

    A Ministry Update in the Life of the Emersons

    Change is a constant part of life.

    Now, I am not the kind of person to bounce around. I shirk at the thought of ladder climbing and platform building (it’s ironic, I know). My primary ministry motivator has always been pleasing God and loving people. So, when God leads our family somewhere, we set up to stay. I plan to stay until closing time. The last to leave. So, I set up shop and buy my funeral plot.

    But life is full of change. We follow where the Lord leads, lay our best plans and see what happens. Then, we try to hold them loosely and surrender them if Jesus leads us somewhere else. It’s easier said than done.

    A couple years ago we started to notice a shifting in our hearts. We didn’t think it meant we were going anywhere, but we were expecting change. We didn’t feel released, nor did we desire to do something different, but our eyes were wider and more aware to something bigger than ourselves and our day to day lives.

    So, after a challenging season, hard decisions, bittersweet goodbyes, some retrospect and the words of a new friend – we could finally see what the Lord had been doing.

    He was disrupting the ground, where He called us to and that we had so firmly planted ourselves in. He was disturbing the roots that we had set so deep down. Shaking and moving the things we dearly loved. Preparing us for what was next. Whatever that was.

    At the same time, unbeknownst to us, He was preparing new ground. A new place to set down roots and fall in love with new people. And to be part of a new thing He was doing in a place of need and opportunity.

    So, this summer, as a family we made a difficult decision, and I resigned my position as Assistant Pastor at the Crosspoint Church after over a decade of precious memories and meaningful ministry. They were some of the best years of our lives.

    And now, in the time in between, we prepare for what’s next. Reaching the lost and the least in the Southeast of Edmonton. Joining an brilliant team of Jesus followers. Serving the amazing people of Beulah Alliance Church and loving our neighbours in the Millwoods area.

    I believe that the Lord is increasing our faith, and calling us to a harvest in Southeast Edmonton. He is awakening the spiritually dead, walking among the living, to life in Christ through the good news of Jesus, and we can’t wait to see what God will do.

    Over the next year we will be preparing a peculiar people, called to this particular work, for this specific time. A community we already believe God has gone ahead of us to prepare to reach lost people he loves. If that’s you, I would love to chat.

    What is the Lord inviting you into? Would you join Him in his redemptive mission in the world, right here in Edmonton?

  • When the Journey is too much

    A reflection on despair and the God who meets us there

    “The journey is too much for you.” — 1 Kings 19:7

    Have you ever wanted to give up?

    Elijah did.

    After one of the greatest spiritual victories in the Bible, calling down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel, Elijah found himself under a broom tree in the wilderness, exhausted and praying to die. It’s a sobering turn. Just one chapter earlier he was bold, confident, and victorious. Now, he’s alone, afraid, and undone.

    And maybe, if we’re honest, we can relate.

    Real People, Real Pain

    Elijah isn’t a Bible character out of reach. He’s a real person with real problems. Just like us. Despite his faithfulness and bold obedience, Elijah found himself in a dark place. He believed he had failed. That the mission was over. That he was all alone.

    But what happens next is deeply human—and deeply divine.

    God meets him there.

    Not with shame. Not with punishment. But with presence, provision, and a plan.

    God meets us in three movements:

    God Revives You

    Before Elijah could get back on his feet, God sent an angel to minister to his body. Not his spirit. His body. The angel didn’t preach. He brought food and water. Twice. Elijah was exhausted, and God knew it.

    Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap and have a snack. Our bodies and souls are deeply connected, and when one is suffering, the other often follows.

    We live in a culture that divides the spiritual from the physical. But Scripture doesn’t. A.B. Simpson once wrote,

    “The Redeemer appears among men with both hands stretched out to our misery and need.”

    Jesus Himself felt hunger. He needed rest. And He shows us that being human means honoring both body and soul.

    If you’re in despair, start here: rest. Eat well. Be gracious and kind to yourself. Step outside. Care for your physical self as an act of faith. And maybe, you just might meet God in your next nap.

    God Pursues You

    Elijah traveled to Mount Horeb—the mountain of God. He found a cave. And in that cave, God asked a question:
    “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

    It wasn’t because God didn’t know. It was because Elijah needed to say it out loud. Twice Elijah spills his soul: “I’ve done everything right, but I’m washed up, alone. and they’re trying to kill me.”

    And God listens.

    No lecture. No rebuke. Just presence.

    Then something unexpected happens. A windstorm breaks the mountain. Then an earthquake. Then fire. But God wasn’t in any of it.

    Then—a whisper.

    And in that whisper, Elijah knew: God is with me.

    The God of the universe met Elijah in his pain and listened. He enters the mouth of the cave. He sits in the pit with us. And He gently whispers.

    Where do you need to hear God’s whisper?

    God Restores You

    After all this, after food, sleep, travel, and whispers, God gives Elijah a renewed purpose. He sends him back, not because Elijah was strong enough, but because God had gone before him.

    He wasn’t alone after all. There were 7,000 others still faithful in Israel. God had already lined up the next leaders—Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha. Elijah thought everything was lost. God knew everything was in place.

    Here’s the truth: your despair doesn’t disqualify you. It’s not the end of your story. The journey is too much for you—but it’s not too much for God.

    You were never meant to carry it alone.

    The Meeting That Changes Everything

    Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, once wrote:

    “Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure…or for power…but a quest for meaning… we give our suffering meaning in how we respond to it.”

    What if the meaning of your suffering isn’t in trying harder, but in meeting the God who enters it with you? Who suffers with you and for you?

    Elijah’s story tells us this: God revives us, pursues us, and restores us. He meets us in our deepest pain not with platitudes but with presence. Not with shame but with sustenance. Not with distance or shame, but with a whisper.

    So—have you ever wanted to give up?

    God will meet you in your despair.

    A blessing for the weary:

    May the God who made you—body and soul—revive your strength.
    May He meet you in the stillness and whisper your name.
    And may He restore you to walk with Him once more.

    Meet with God in your pain with this practice.