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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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FINALLY FREE: IN HONOR OF BILLY Uncategorized

FINALLY FREE: IN HONOR OF BILLY

We stood by his graveside, under a deep blue Alberta sky on a bitterly cold December afternoon. Billy was laid to rest like he had lived his sixty-four years – surrounded by caregivers stung by the coldness of life's unfairness. There were eleven of us – myself, two funeral directors family members, caregivers and friends of William S. or "Billy" as he was known.  The biting cold we felt paled in comparison to the endless winter he had lived through. In Honor Of Billy I met Billy when he started to attend North Pointe Church. His caregivers brought him most every Sunday. Front row, right was his preferred place to sit - close to the action. Rarely did a Sunday…
Bob Jones
December 11, 2016
ISIS, COMRADERY AND CHRISTMAS: CANADIANS IN EUROPE Uncategorized

ISIS, COMRADERY AND CHRISTMAS: CANADIANS IN EUROPE

The truth of the matter is that we learned a lot more than we ever expected by living in Europe. Little did we know when we accepted the posting to Germany that we would spend two years witnessing history in the making. Moving To Europe In 2014 we moved our family to a little village just outside of Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany. My husband Anas was posted there with the Canadian military. The American base was a big part of our lives for the two years we were abroad as it felt like home interacting with English speaking people and shopping in a North American environment. However, it was always clear that we were far from home as there…
Bob Jones
December 7, 2016
SO, YOU THINK ITS COLD? Uncategorized

SO, YOU THINK ITS COLD?

Amos Chapple Photography There's cold and then there's Siberian cold. I wrote this post when it was -33C with the windchill in Edmonton, Alberta. Thinking about Siberia didn't help me feel warmer but it did keep my mind off how cold it was outside. Its So Cold That... Located in the heart of Siberia, the village of Oymyakon in Russia is widely considered to be the coldest inhabited place on Earth. A temperature of −90 °F (−67.7 °C) was recorded there back in 1933 — the lowest recorded temperature for any permanently inhabited spot in the world. The temperature is so cold that crops won't grow so people are relegated to consuming a carnivorous diet - reindeer meat, raw flesh shaved…
Bob Jones
December 7, 2016
HEARING GOD’S VOICE: SHERILYN GRAFF’S STORY Uncategorized

HEARING GOD’S VOICE: SHERILYN GRAFF’S STORY

When you look up "determined" in the dictionary you'll find Sherilyn Graff's image. Sherilyn is a recent high school grad from North Pointe who followed her heart to serve in world missions. She is a rough and tumble rugby player with a gentle spirit. She's determined to make her life count for God. Sherilyn shares her heart in this post and lets you in on a powerful spiritual experience she had in hearing God's voice. Follow Sherilyn's journey on her Facebook page. This fall, I attended a Discipleship Training School (DTS) through an organization called Youth With a Mission (YWAM). The vision of my program is to send out a ‘wave of youth’ into the world to do missions work,…
Bob Jones
December 4, 2016
DAN PETERSON’S FOUR-YEAR-OLD ANGEL Uncategorized

DAN PETERSON’S FOUR-YEAR-OLD ANGEL

A friend who doesn't get choked up easily - if ever - sent me a link to a story saying "this made me pretty teary." After reading the story I understood why. When Dan Peterson’s wife Mary died in March he fell into a deep depression and was searching for a reason to live. Six months later, he met Norah Wood, a three-going-on-four-year-old girl who decided that she wanted to be his friend. Squirrels and Birthdays Dan spent his days staring at squirrels and was just waiting to die. Norah spent her days going squirrely waiting for her fourth birthday. The two crossed paths in a grocery store. Norah was so excited about turning four that she had to tell…
Bob Jones
November 30, 2016
ESCAPE FROM VIETNAM: THUY’S STORY Uncategorized

ESCAPE FROM VIETNAM: THUY’S STORY

I would like to tell you a story. It’s a true story. It’s my story. Though I could never have imagined it at the time, the distressing circumstances and events that I’m about to unveil, were the unforeseen gifts that transformed me into the person that I am and the life that I’ve chosen to live. Thuy Cao's story is unforgettable. When you meet Thuy at the doors of North Pointe, on the badminton court or a snowboard slope you'd never guess his back story. That's why we're sharing it. His escape from Vietnam four decades ago, his journey to Canada and the formation of his Christian faith have the fingerprints of God all over them. Thuy is a much loved…
Bob Jones
November 20, 2016
THUY’S STORY: PART 2 Uncategorized

THUY’S STORY: PART 2

It took us the better part of a day to arrive at a refugee camp in Malaysia on the island of Pulau Bidong. It would become our home for over five months. It was here that I came to know that there was a God who was watching over every step of my life. I came to know that He is real, and that He has so much compassion for me. I discovered that God leads me into the life that He wants for me. God's Hand On My Life There were a thousand refugees who came out to welcome us to the island. The refugee population at the time was well over fifteen thousand. We thought that was a…
Bob Jones
November 20, 2016
THE INSANITY OF GOD Uncategorized

THE INSANITY OF GOD

If you can’t handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Fair warning - The Insanity of God is the kind of story to not only turn up the heat in your kitchen, it might burn your entire kitchen down. Descending Into Hell The storyteller, Nik Ripken is no stranger to danger of his own making. He moved his young family from America to Africa, from a place of relative heavenliness to hell. The Ripkens made the transition voluntarily and eagerly as a means of serving Jesus. Imagine working in Mogadishu, Somalia sharing Jesus with Muslims. Some of Nik’s contacts became Christians. Imagine each one of them being hunted down by Islamic militants and murdered because of their new faith.…
Bob Jones
November 9, 2016
PRESENT OVER PERFECT Uncategorized

PRESENT OVER PERFECT

I was asked to write a review of Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist. After reading it, basically I was asked to review my life! I am a mother, a wife and I have a career that involves long hours that are irregular plus travel. No matter the order of these three things, I regularly feel guilty for not “fulfilling” either one or even all of the three roles “perfectly”. The Choice: Present Or Perfect Shauna Niequist has been there and details this struggle in her book. She states that at the crossroad in her life, “There we were, women in our thirties. Educated, married, mothers, women who have careers, who manage homes and oversee companies. And there we were,…
Bob Jones
November 2, 2016
NEED A SIGN FROM GOD? Uncategorized

NEED A SIGN FROM GOD?

If you're looking for a sign from God, this is it. Thousands of people have seen North Pointe's sign over the past ten years. (Our original sign came to the end of its working life and was replaced by Production World in October 2016.) First Impressions Hundreds of people have felt welcomed by the "come as you are" invitation on 167 Ave. Over 16 percent of our guests say they decided to be check us out because of the sign. Our sign is the first chance we get to tell people who we are, what we value, what we do and if we have a sense of humor. That's not nearly everything people need to know about us but its…
Bob Jones
October 26, 2016