Welcome

The Sons of Thunder is a Christian band and part of a larger, growing group of average guys who have decided to take a stand for Christ and work on becoming better husbands and fathers - yes, even sons.

The Sons of Thunder was hatched about 5 years ago. This group often leads/joins a larger group of men in study and prayer and seeks to serve the wider community.

Based in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, SOT has been known to tackle a range of projects - everything from home maintenance chores to helping move immigrant families. In 2008, the group did some missions work in NYC serving, playing and singing at the Bowery Mission. As is often the case, those who went to 'minister' were 'ministered to'. When the praises go up...the blessings come down!

If you live on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, look us up at Bridgewater Baptist Church. And feel free to invite us to lead or participate in your event. We love road trips! Rock on!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Your Life is a Story: You Choose the Ending

Dim Capacity For Wings emailed this and I found it helpful and timely as it ties in with our recently completed EPIC study...

When prayer is our lifeline then we partner with God and come into a greater fullness of fulfilling God’s plans and purposes for our lives.

by Margaret Gibbs

In his book, Know Your Story, Shape Your Future, Dan Allender, writes: "You are a story. You are not merely the possessor and teller of a number of stories; you are a well-written, intentional story that is authored by the greatest Writer of all time, and even before time and after time.”

Prayer is one of the primary themes in our story. We are impoverished if we regard prayer as a religious activity. When prayer is our lifeline - our spiritual breathing - then we partner with God and come into a greater fullness of fulfilling God’s plans and purposes for our lives.

The power of prayer is best seen in our daily lives. Prayer changes and transforms us. Prayer is far more than asking and receiving, it is becoming. When we pray, we create our own prayer atmosphere by our thinking and attitudes. Our attitudes are shaped by our thoughts. Our thoughts form our prayers.

John Ortberg in his book, God Is Closer Than You Think, writes: “Being with God is something that takes place primarily in our thoughts, our mind. To experience the closeness of God, it means a revolution of the mind.” Back in my teen years, when I fought insecurity, acute shyness and a limited purpose, my praying came out of my own insecurity. I approached prayer with trepidation. I battled questions such as: “Does God care for me? What do I have to prove to God to be accepted? Would God just drop me if I didn’t reach a level of personal goodness?” In those days, I felt I wasn’t being embraced by God. I failed to understand what was recorded in His Word. He loved me with an everlasting love and would never leave me nor forsake me. He was embracing me and lovingly calling me into His presence but my own thinking created a disconnect between God and myself. I was in a self-inflicted prison and only Word-based prayer could set me free.

How we view ourselves is the most revealing commentary on our theology and can be the greatest hindrance in prayer development. In later years I kept an extremely busy schedule and battled the Spirit’s gentle call to prayer. I resisted because my mind and heart were elsewhere. At one mid-week church prayer meeting, I had a wake-up call when, surrounded by incredible intercessors, I found myself writing out my "to do" list.

Multi-tasking and my demanding schedule pulled me farther from my heavenly Father. He seemed removed, unreachable. Only Word-based praying could transform my thinking and bring me into a place of spiritual hunger.

A personal crisis was the catalyst God used to call me to intercession. Emotionally drained, I turned to God’s Word. The book of Ephesians became like a stream of fresh water to my parched and weary soul. I studied and prayed Paul’s prison prayers – word by word and phrase by phrase – assimilating God’s truth into my spirit. My prayer time steadily increased until an hour in prayer seemed like mere minutes.

Prayer became an incubator for change. God’s Word came alive in my heart – my thinking was transformed! I finally saw God as able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine or think according to His power that is at work within us. I saw myself as chosen, called in partnership with God to fulfill His plans and purpose for my life. The plot of our stories could forever change if we prayed the Scriptures, allowing His truth to change our thoughts and attitudes, transforming our prayers by becoming a divine partnership – one page at a time.

Hope this helps...

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Power of Prayer

Just a short post today.

I just found out I passed my Canadian Securities Exam and it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.  The failure rate for this course is 70%.
The day before I wrote the exam I asked a number of men (the large Sons of Thunder) if they would pray for me during my exam.  Now I'll be honest, I didn't pass with flying colours.  In fact, it was close but it was a pass, which is a high enough mark (it's not 50%).  I'm telling you this to make a very important point though.  I left the exam feeling like there was little doubt I wouldn't pass.  Some of that was because of the fact I studied of course but a lot of that was because I knew God would take care of me.  I knew if there were people also asking God to help me, I would be taken care of.  There was that confidence I have mentioned before.  My guys have got my back and so does the Lord.  The path I am now on is the path God wants me on and because of that, because I know that, I am in good hands and He will help me the whole way through.  
If you need anything, any help, we are all here to pray for you and that is powerful.

David

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Tombstone Story

How do you want to be remembered? In our EPIC study, we've been talking about the "Story of the Bible" and our place in the story. Here's an interesting article by author/ comedian Phil Callaway, on a brief summary of your life - your tombstone story! Have a quick read.


TOMBSTONE EVANGELISM, by Phil Callaway

On the night of my 35th birthday, I tucked my ten-year-old into bed. He squinted at me. "How old are you?" he said. "Thirty-five, Son," I replied. "Wow!" yelled Stephen, "You're half dead!" I tucked him in calmly, went across the hall and removed him from the will. Actually, I got thinking about how fast these years have gone. And we pick up speed the closer we get to Home. So I decided to pick out a tombstone. There are some real winners out there.

One says, "He should have ducked." Another headstone reads, "Here lies an atheist. All dressed up and no place to go." A woman in Key West, Florida, married to a man who was known as a womanizer, ordered a tombstone that read: "Frank, at least I know where you're sleeping tonight." Such a horrible epitaph should cause us to ask ourselves: What are we leaving behind? What will be our legacy?

I asked some of the best-known Christians of our time those questions. I think you'll enjoy their answers.

Josh McDowell, the internationally-renowned apologist said, "When God called me into the ministry He never called me to be successful. He called me to be obedient. And I'd like to be remembered as a man who was obedient and faithful right up to the end. I want to take as many people as I can with me to Heaven, and enjoy life along the way."

Author Elizabeth Elliot had a simple answer: "I want to be remembered as a servant of God. Nothing else."

Popular singer Steven Curtis Chapman said: "I hope my children will say I was a committed father. And it would be nice if people remembered a song here and there, but that's pretty insignificant compared to my desire to know Christ and to make Him known."

And popular songwriter Gloria Gaither, whose song "Because He Lives" has been translated into almost every known language on earth, summed it up this way: "If I had to write my epitaph, it would probably say, 'She gave herself away for the things that last forever.'"

And what would I like on my tombstone? Simply this: "He found God's grace too amazing to keep to himself."

How about you? What would you like to be remembered for? Even when you're half dead, you still live your life on purpose!

Phil Callaway is an award-winning writer and popular speaker.
Visit him online at philcallaway.com