When I was a young, ten-year-old boy, we packed up the car, filled the roof-top carrier, and headed 32 miles north of North Bay, Ontario, Canada, to go on a fishing vacation at a place called Beaverland Camp on the Martin River. The first …( read more )

Praise God for the gift of music! Singing songs of praise can lift our spirits and fill us with His joy. I love to sing and give glory to God through praise songs and hymns. I play my favourite CDs when we are in the car. Lately, I have …( read more )

We had just finally found a place to rent, a former karate studio over a downtown business with a beat-up wreck of a kitchen that looked unusable. Moving in that night, I fed the children and put them to bed before retiring ourselves. …( read more )

Someone who wants to walk on a path in the dark certainly needs a flashlight in order to avoid tripping or stumbling, for in being so equipped, an accident can be prevented. God's Word to the believer fulfills the same function: it is a …( read more )

Recently, while I was at a local restaurant, I kept feeling a nudge in my spirit to go to a clothing store when I finished eating. As I arrived there, I recognized a homeless man named Mike. We struck up a conversation. "I can't give you …( read more )

Don't get me wrong — I loved my old car. Though it was almost ten years old, it was easy to drive and was still in great shape. My family, however, strongly encouraged me to consider getting a newer car with better safety features. …( read more )

It's that SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) time of the year again! I don't like the dark, and I'm longing for the days when they get longer again. I've been using my light therapy lamp since the beginning of November. It's become part of …( read more )

As I was looking through some of the Christmas carols in the hymn books that we have, I noticed that a fair number of them refer to either the stable or the manger: "Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed" or "Child in the …( read more )

I've always been geographically dyslexic. My family used my inability as a reverse GPS. They'd ask me which way to go, and the opposite direction was always right. But I never thought that I could become spiritually dyslexic. It started …( read more )

A lady here in town had just come back from having cataract surgery. While out and about, she met a friend and excitedly exclaimed that she could actually see her friend's eyelashes! She was quite thrilled with this new clarity of sight …( read more )

In November of last year, I had the opportunity to visit the Holy Land, along with my daughter and several others from my church. It was an amazing experience to walk the same ancient paths that Jesus walked and to see a number of …( read more )

Nostalgic 1940s twelve-pack gift books of Life Savers® and tins of hard Christmas candy in every colour of the rainbow were available at the corner pharmacy. There was candy wrapped in personalized Scripture, boldly printed for us to …( read more )

Throughout my career, I was involved in many projects. Some were small, lasting a few hours or days, involving few people, and having little financial impact. Some were enormous, lasting months or years, involving large teams of people, …( read more )

"Let's go to that quilt show that I saw in the paper," I tell my best friend, also a quilter. And off we go to another display of creations by dedicated quilters. Most shows also have vendors — salespeople with a variety of tools, small …( read more )

I look forward to spring, not only because of the work in my garden, but also for the many household chores involved. In a sudden surge of energy, spring cleaning includes washing blankets and polishing floors, reorganizing closets and …( read more )

Lately, I've been googling everything. If I need a recipe, I can google it. If I want to know how many calories or carbs are in a certain food, I can google it. If I want to find out where a restaurant is located in a city when I'm …( read more )

The other day, I accompanied my husband to an early morning appointment with his eye surgeon. As he presented himself at the counter, I looked around for a good place to sit. My eyes were drawn to a row of six or seven empty chairs. …( read more )

Did you, like me, write your first letters on a slate with chalk? In Jesus' day, it is said that, as a reward, teachers in Hebrew synagogue schools would put honey on the slates of children doing well. They were then allowed to lick the …( read more )

In an Advent liturgy presented in our church, one word leaped off the page at me: "Expectations". That word rattled around in my brain for the rest of the service. What was so special about that word? As I reflected, I realized that I …( read more )

Isn't it interesting that the Bible begins and ends with the light? God is goodness and light. Darkness is equated with sin and evil. As a new immigrant in Canada, I walked home alone one evening in the dark. I was confident because I …( read more )

Recently, I had the opportunity to worship in one of the churches that my mother and I used to visit together. It was an early morning service, and the small church — no more than a chapel, really — was nearly empty when I arrived. I …( read more )

The woodpeckers are back. I hear their insistent rat-a-tat-tat from morning until evening. At home or in the bush while I am walking, they are hard at it, looking for the fulfillment of nourishment as they drill into trees in search of …( read more )

"Judge carefully" … "Do not judge" … "Judge for yourself" … "Stop judging" – the Bible Well, is it okay to judge or not? The above texts aren't helpful, are they? It's no wonder: They're extracted from their contexts! Furthermore, …( read more )

I try to begin my days with a cup of coffee and my time with God. I begin with a few online meditations and continue into whichever specific book of the Bible that I have been studying. I know that my days unfold much better when I start …( read more )

One text message can change the course of a life. She really didn't want to come to church that Sunday night. After all, they were just showing the movie, God's Not Dead. But her husband wanted to come, so she obliged. Near the end of …( read more )

With the coming of winter in the north, the cold, dry air quickly takes its toll on a person's skin. One must learn to be prepared and diligent to prevent problems. So each winter, I begin to use moisturizer, especially on my hands and …( read more )

As a child and teen, I fought my parents' rules tooth and nail, only realizing later how much obeying them had profited me. Forty-seven years later, I can still see the rules hanging in a frame on my bedroom wall. I can't remember them …( read more )

I am a person living with a mental illness. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder many years ago, when I was in my thirties. Given the nature of the illness, I have naturally had ups and downs. Each and every day, I need to make sure …( read more )

I was visiting my brother and his wife in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, USA. Los Angeles, California, where I live, has been in the grip of drought for five years, so you can imagine my measureless delight in the seemingly endless lakes, …( read more )

Many people get tied up with big questions like "What is the meaning of life?" or "What is my life's purpose?" These questions are difficult enough that many people give up trying to answer! But there's an easier, and I think more …( read more )

When reading the psalms in the middle of the Bible, have you noticed that the word Selah is positioned in various places? Speculations abound as to what this undefined word means. It mostly populates the Book of Psalms, where this …( read more )

One was large and the other small, but they both needed to learn a lesson. I once owned an Eskimo Spitz. My family owned a much larger dog that I inherited when they moved away. I lived in the country. There were no leash laws to abide …( read more )

Stones and words have one peculiar feature in common, which I realized after hearing a mom share this story: My four children and I were on an expedition to pick wild berries. I happened to turn over a stone and let the children see what …( read more )