BOB JONES

My first class had me standing as straight as I possibly could stand while reaching my clasped hands as high into the air as was physically possible. At first I thought, “This is yoga? I can so do this.” Until I learned that THIS was the entire class. Nothing else. Just reaching up. Straight up, as in, straighter than a wall sorta straight. Just up. FOR ONE WHOLE HOUR!!! Up. And I should mention here that a. I am so not flexible and b. I am so not graceful – so you can imagine how quickly I was eating my, ‘yoga-is-a-piece-of-cake’ words, as my friend looked on in amusement smirking from ear to ear. Our instructor, taking cue from our/MY…

Ambition - Jesus never criticized the ambition of his disciples - he re-directed it. He told them, BE GREAT but don't strive, serve. Whoever serves the best wins. The way up is down. Descend into greatness. Find your SHAPE and make a difference. Phil. 2:6-8(The Message) "...he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.” There are upside down churches and then there are churches that turn the world upside down. North Pointe…

Jen Gray has found her “sweet spot” much to the delight of food lovers' “sweet tooths.” Jen, the Events Co-ordinator at North Pointe, is using her SHAPE to create one-of-a-kind, edible architecture. She was recently featured in the St Albert Gazette. Her love of creating ultimately helps her friends and clients celebrate important occasions in their lives. Jen decorated her first sheet cake in Grade 6. In Grade 9 she was raising money for a field-trip to Vancouver.  She baked two character cakes and put them in the teachers' staff room with business cards. The cakes were about $12 and she raised about $400, enough to pay for the trip. By the time she was 15, she challenged herself by…

Reflecting back on my past I sometimes wonder what would’ve become of my life if someone hadn’t reached out to me and shared Christ. I clearly wouldn’t have been a Music Pastor and my value system at the time would’ve caused me to make decisions that I wouldn’t choose today. Would I have gone to post secondary school? Would I have been working at a job I despised? Would I be married and have children? Would I have been a mess because of poor choices. Would I have blamed circumstance and problems in my life on others and been paralyzed in life by feeling sorry for myself. Would I have been aimless? Would I have been wondering about the meaning…

Rebekah came into this world as a fragile 2lb 11oz baby girl, born as the fourth child into a family already challenged by financial pressures and a paradox of love & violence. Her mother's pregnancy, distraught by a fall and multiple hospitalizations, resulted in Rebekah's premature birth. The emergency C-section delivered a tiny, fragile 2lb 11oz baby girl with her own set of complications. Each day that she survived was a victory, but also brought more issues to be addressed. By the time Rebekah was 18 months old, she had the diagnosis of “spastic-quadriplegic cerebral palsy," and was now the child of a single mother. During the next 2 years, it became apparent that a motorized wheelchair would be a…

I'm sure that by now we have all had quite our fill of shoveling snow and chipping away at ice. As frustrating as the many 'dumps' of snow have been this winter, maybe for you it has opened doors to reach out and help your neighbors. My story begins on a VERY snowy weekend in January. It was 11:30 on a Saturday night and I was spending some time 'reaching up' to the Lord before going to bed. It was then that I felt the Lord speak to me saying, "Jeremy, now it's time for you to reach out. Look out your window." As I gazed out my window, I saw a car stuck in the snow with smoke all…

Approximately 4 years ago my life changed in a way I never would have imagined.            My family was torn apart by divorce. Our precious boys were 1 and 3 and our worlds had changed forever. Only through God's grace was I able to courageously pick up the shattered pieces and keep going. Throughout this storm I never stopped loving God. This was not God's fault, this was the result of free will; a choice that affected so many.                  Continuing to seek God I searched for a church and discovered North Pointe. As my walk with God strengthened I felt a calling in my heart to discuss a DivorceCare ministry at NP. So I met with Pastor Bob in November 2010…

“Reach” is a verb…an action word. It requires some degree of effort. Imagine a plate of freshly baked yummy chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the table. The smell is tantalizing. They are still warm so the chocolate chips are melted. Mmmmm! Anyone can reach out and help themselves to a cookie or two.  Some might even crawl right up on the table to get to the treat.  No problem at all! Now the plate is empty and a little dirty. Who wants to put it in the dishwasher?  A different kind of effort is needed to wash that plate and put it away.  How does that play out at your house? When we are enticed by something wonderful,…