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BOB JONES

Coach / Author / Communicator /  Check out the popular posts page, for a curated list of top stories.

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LIVING LANDSCAPES: REJOICE, PRAY, GRATITUDE

Many of the following thoughts may seem strange, maybe unrealistic to apply. The more I look into it, the more I see quite the opposite. These things are actually the very best tools to take you through life in the most amazing way, no matter what the circumstances. "I have spent a lot of time wondering what God’s will for my life is. Am I using my time here on earth the way that He had planned for me? Is the work that I do in line with His will or is it leading to something more, something maybe more spiritual, more purposeful, eternal type work." Thanks to Jim Kapteyn for this guest post. His wife, Kathy is facing the…
Bob Jones
July 31, 2016
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FINDING HOME

From the timeless classic, Wizard of Oz, to Disney's latest blockbuster, Finding Dory, the last century of Hollywood productions agree there's no place like home. The longing for home is so universal there's even a special word for it – “homesick.” Summer camp for elementary-aged campers can be a sweet and sour kind of experience. I asked one of the directors how the kids were doing. "Fantastic, except for a few cases of near-terminal homesickness." No Place Like Home Home is the place where you can be you. A kick-your-shoes-off-and-relax kind of place. Its this longing for home that helped us shape the DNA of North Pointe Community Church. When we opened our doors on Sunday July 16, 2006 we…
Bob Jones
July 20, 2016
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FOR TALIYAH AND THE WORLD

My day ended with with thoughts of 5 year-old Taliyah Marsman on my mind. I’d listened to Ryan Jesperson and Andrew Grose field texts and phone calls from irate listeners on an unscheduled 630 CHED radio program in response to the terrorist killings in Nice, France and the discovery of Taliyah’s body. A Pastor And The Death Penalty All Albertans held their collective breath as we waited with hope that Taliyah, missing for four days, would turn up somewhere safe with a caregiver. We took a collective punch to the gut with the discovery of her body and the 1st degree murder charges laid against the suspect. Then the calls flooded in for the death penalty to be re-instated for…
Bob Jones
July 15, 2016
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WHEN TROUBLES FALL LIKE LEMON DROPS

When life hands you a bucket of lemons you can either become bitter or make lots of lemonade. Ruth Johnstone has been pouring lots of glasses of the latter to thirsty travelers. She's accumulated awesome insights to the amazing abundance of potential that is in each of us, to rise above the ashes of our circumstances. When Troubles Fall Like Lemon Drops is Ruth's account of the sixteen year process of learning and understanding what was happening to her husband, Steve a victim of Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) - a subtle, invisible presence that showed up like a thief in the night. I met Steve Johnstone in 1982 at the prime of his career when we worked in neighboring churches…
Bob Jones
July 13, 2016
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HUMANS OF NORTH POINTE

The most famous photograph from Brandon Stanton’s book, Humans of New York: Stories is of a boy in an open black bubble jacket. The world learned that the most influential person in Vidal’s life was Nadia Lopez, his principal at Mott Hall. A feature on Lopez’s devotion to her students yielded Vidal and Lopez a meeting with President Obama, in the Oval Office. This series of events - from photograph to popular phenomenon - is in many ways a perfect realization of the ethos of stories. Everybody's Got A Story Like New York, there's a ton of great stories at North Pointe. The stories are too wonderful to keep to ourselves. Combine the stories with the skilled photographers in the…
Bob Jones
July 10, 2016
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WHY WE MUST REMEMBER ELIE WIESEL

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, at a time when the world could not bear to remember, he could not bear to forget. Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate was described as one who "...gave voice to those who had been silenced forever and devoted his life to fulfilling the promise of 'never again' for all future victims of genocide." The closest I got to Elie Wiesel was in Jerusalem at the Holocaust Memorial Center in February 2015. The Center showcases thousands of binders of testimony, testimony which fills over 2.2 million pages - stories of Jews murdered by the Nazis. Wiesel's story is one of the rare survivors. My time at the Memorial Centre was numbing. Story after story…
Bob Jones
July 3, 2016
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FREE STATE OF JONES

Matthew McConaughey (center) and Mahershala Ali (center left) star in THE FREE STATE OF JONES The credits rolled and we couldn't move. It wasn't that the 139 minute film had left us in want of fresh air but actually wanting more. Free State of Jones is the best Civil War-era film I've ever seen and it ended far too soon. Civil War Infatuation It was 1965 and our family was heading out of Ontario on a spring break holiday to South Carolina. It was the centennial of the end of the Civil War and what I saw started an infatuation with the "Blues and Greys," the "Stars and Bars," the folklore of General Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart,…
Bob Jones
June 29, 2016
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FIRST RESPONDERS: THE HIDDEN SCARS

As an Emergency Medical Technician, Nadeen LaBoucane belongs to an elite cadre known as "first responders." She's proud of the role she fills. While saving lives is all in a day's work for her, years of accumulated stress nearly came at the expense of her own life. Spiritual IV I met Nadeen at North Pointe in 2015 when she came looking for what we would later call "spiritual IV."  Nadeen shared how she'd served in the emergency medical field for twenty one years as an EMT and most recently as a dispatcher. “I loved being out there helping people. I have to admit, I was a little bit of an adrenaline junkie as well.” But when she suffered a serious…
Bob Jones
June 26, 2016
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CHRISTINA GRIMMIE / BOB DIXON / FOREVER

He loved music. She was a singer. He listened to YouTube. She went viral on YouTube. His music made him feel happy. Her music made others happy. They were generations apart and lived in two different countries but they are now sharing heaven together. Christina, Bob and Eternity I was numbed by both of their deaths. Christina Grimmie was 23 years young when her life was taken by a murderer's bullets. She was gunned down while signing autographs after her Orlando concert on June 10th. Grimmie was a rising star made famous by her exceptional vocal talent and her genuine love for her raving fans. I learned about her murder from a distance and was deeply saddened by her senseless…
Bob Jones
June 22, 2016
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GOOD NEWS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Welcome to the Middle East. All the news isn't bad. Muslims all over the region are coming to faith in Christ. What’s more, they’re willing to suffer persecution for Jesus in part because they see the redemption of other Muslims and want to be faithful in sharing the good news of Jesus. ISIS and Genocide Terrorists of the Islamic State are enslaving, starving, beheading and crucifying Christians in Syria and Iraq and trying to forcibly convert them to Islam. The number of Christians in Syria has dropped from 1.25 million to 500,000 in recent years, according to analyses by Alliance Defending Freedom. The number of Christians in Iraq has dropped from 1.4 million to fewer than 275,000 in recent years.…
Bob Jones
June 19, 2016