Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash Dear Christian, I’ve wanted to write this letter for a long time, but I wasn’t sure it would do any good. Like you, I’m on my own journey. (more…)
A change is in the air. A great mellowing is at work. It’s in the breeze, in the trees, inside each and every one of us. And somewhere, not far off, the smoke of backyard firepits is seasoning the darkening sky. Autumn. (more…)
My cousin Mark is a big deal. A big, controversial deal. Mark is Dr. Mark Tyndall, one of Canada’s top infectious disease experts. He spent four years conducting HIV research in Kenya. His name appears on numerous papers in some of the world’s top medical journals. Many of those studies, completed during his 11 years at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver. He is the Lead of Research and Evaluation for the PHSA Opioid Overdose Response Team and a Professor with UBC's School of Population and Public Health. (more…)
Going to Israel will give you a whole new view of Jesus, the Bible and your faith. I'm not over-promising in saying that. Every one of the over 60 people who have traveled with us to the Middle East, including Jocelyn and I, came away with something more than money can buy. Jocelyn and I hope you will come with us in November 2020 for a life changing, unforgettable experience. Details and costs in this post. (more…)
Reuben Celemin is a man on a mission. In March 2016 Reuben shared his dream with me of starting a fitness and faith group for men at North Pointe. Men can get stuck in a rut – so busy taking care of everyone else that they forget themselves. Reuben's group would start with whoever showed up and see where it could go. Men of the Rock (MOTR) hit the ground running on a cold and snowy March Saturday morning. Three years later the group is flying and the men credit Reuben with their inspiration. (more…)
I know what it's like. You find a girl, start dating, maybe get married, and soon you find yourself in this new exciting time. You're working and in the prime of your life. Some of you have kids and your priorities shift, like a good father should. And again, you shift your gears, sometimes into overdrive. (more…)
Every story is told from a vantage point; it has a bias. I’m trying to read the stories of the Bible for all they’re worth, but I’ve got a problem. My vantage point is not as a Hebrew slave suffering in Egypt or a conquered Judean deported to Babylon. I’m certainly not a first century Jew living under Roman occupation. I’m a citizen of a G8 nation, born among the conquerors, and living in the empire. But I want to read the Bible and think it’s talking to me. This is a problem. (more…)
Beautiful and maddening, hopeful and condemning, simple, yet like a knot that takes a lifetime to untangle. A heartbreaking, rewarding story that still haunts me. That’s how author Jamie Ford describes Up From the Blue, the debut novel by Susan Henderson. Novels aren't usually a genre I do book reviews for but this one is an exception. And I think you would agree once you meet Tillie. (more…)
Azalea Lehndorff 's idea was to build classrooms in Afghanistan for girls. She felt empowered and saw an opportunity to do something huge for a better world - she's one of my heroes. (more…)