One snowy winter morning several years ago, I waved goodbye to my husband. A team of volunteers left in a small bus to build a house for a needy family in Mexico, and he was the main driver. Shivering in the -25°C (-13°F) morning, I … Read more

It was the saddest Christmas school assembly that I'd ever experienced. I left as a devastated six-year-old. The evening had included a gift exchange arranged earlier through drawing names. One by one, the principal announced the name … Read more

Every Wednesday night, I help with the children's program at church. It's a motley group: the pastor's three kids, four from a blended unchurched family with children from several families, five from a church-attending family but who are … Read more

December is the last month of the year, but it is a busy month. We put up decorations, wreaths, lights (inside and out), Christmas trees, villages, and so on. Many do extra baking. We shop for perfect gifts for family and friends. Shopping … Read more

Leading up to and during the Christmas season, we read how the angel of the Lord told Zacharias that he and Elizabeth were to have a child who would be the forerunner of the coming Messiah, how the angel told Mary that she would be the … Read more

Do you know the story of the Dayspring Mission? It is a fascinating story of courage, determination, and sacrifice. In the 1860s, the Presbyterian Board of Missions decided that the New Hebrides Mission (Vanuatu today) should have a large … Read more

In the olden days, when we were expecting a child, we did not know in advance what gender our child was to be. There were no ultrasounds, no CT scans. We just waited until the child was born. These days, parents can find out quite soon. … Read more

Did you notice the hidden miracle here? It's the conception of new life within Mary's womb. This, I say, is Advent's hidden miracle! Nobody witnessed this amazing overshadowing of the Spirit, not even Mary. Yet, what followed would be … Read more

It happened overnight: a seasonal change ushered in by a thick blanket of snow obliterating all remnants of autumn. That was early November. Yet, I felt myself launched into the mood for Christmas — with the rich reds, twinkling lights, … Read more

I recently upgraded my vehicle from a 2014 Terrain to a 2017 Terrain. I now had to sell my 2014 vehicle. I mentioned it to my neighbour, and right away, she said that she was interested. Thinking that it needed only brakes, I committed to … Read more

One Christmas, my 16-year-old sister got pregnant by her boyfriend. I was a year younger, and neither of us had the slightest idea how such a thing could happen. No one had ever told us anything, and we had no friends who might share … Read more

I was hired on a short-term contract to catalog a prison library in a federal penitentiary with an inmate crew to help me. The men lived in the cell block that my husband guarded. "Anything that you tell me will go straight to him," I … Read more

The formation of life is surely a miracle beyond comprehension. It begins with a speck so small that it is invisible to the naked eye. Yet it contains a vast treasury of DNA coding: the coding of destiny which determines what the tiny dot … Read more

After years of childhood pain, I didn't love Christmas. I identified with the sentiments of Blue Christmas. I sat in darkness, spending time on a website called "Christmas Misery". I had plenty of memories of sorrow and loss to keep me … Read more

A grandmother purchased a book designed to introduce teen-aged readers to Jesus Christ. After reading it herself, she mailed it to her adolescent grandson for his birthday. About a week later, she received a letter from the lad thanking … Read more

In November of 2011, I was told that the aortic pig valve in my heart, which had been placed there in 1993, was leaking badly and had to be replaced. Even though it had lasted much longer than I had been told to expect, it still came as a … Read more

The extravagance of British royalty fascinates me. Yet sometimes, I wonder, Why bother? This pageantry is just a remnant of the past. It's not the real thing; monarchs no longer rule. Yet royal traditions can preserve values like … Read more

One Christmas season, our church's Celebration Choir was introduced to a song entitled, "Mary, Did You Know?" which became very popular in both the spiritual and secular worlds. The words were written by Mark Lowry in 1984 as part of the … Read more

Few verses reach me as deeply and as often as this one today. Most of us in the rich "first world" countries are well fed, but God says that the rich may well be sent away empty. Ouch, that hurts, for unavoidably, though we are not as … Read more

During the last number of years, I have visited a considerable number of elderly people, and most of them seem to want to talk about their life's experiences. I knew one gentleman who told me a great many stories about how things were in … Read more

Reflecting on today's Scriptures, I thought about my early upbringing in the Roman Catholic Church. I was taught to genuflect or bow the knee as a sign of reverence, as if Christ were physically present inside the sanctuary. Although … Read more

Have you ever felt so confused, afraid, or alone that you desperately needed to talk to someone, but no one would understand? Then you can probably identify with Mary after this visit from the angel. Women who have given birth could … Read more

As Christmas approaches, I keep hearing these admonitions to children: "Have you been good or bad?" "If you are not good, Santa Claus will not come." The children quickly get the message, "I have to be good or I won't get that toy or … Read more

Twice a month for a great number of years now, I have been leading a Bible discussion at the local Long Term Care Centre. On special occasions such as Christmas, New Year's, and Good Friday, I lead a worship service there as well. My wife … Read more

My mother had the gift of telling us about real-life developments as they unfolded. She kept us spellbound with vivid details, even when the story took several years to reach its secretly hoped-for, but still-unexpected climax. One such … Read more

I am enthralled with Mary's song recorded in Luke 1:46-55. It's not what I'd expect from a young teen who finds herself pregnant — it's more like the utterances of a seasoned prophet! Here, Mary expresses her personal joy in the style of … Read more

I started to read the New Testament while walking on my treadmill five days each week. Some passages about Jesus being the light of hope in a dark world caught my eye and made me think of an event which happened a few years ago. One of … Read more

Ever since I was a youngster on the platform in our one-room, country school, along with about twelve children of varied ages and grades, I have enjoyed Christmas pageants. At the age of ten or eleven, I was the chosen angel Gabriel, and … Read more

"I have a present for you," Izzie called out from the living room of our country home. And on most occasions, I just call out and say, "I will be right there." However, this time, my auntie antenna was up, for I had had a shoebox with a … Read more

Last fall, my husband and I joined a Messianic fellowship at one of the members' homes to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as Sukkoth. In their backyard, we sat in booths which were constructed according to God's Word. … Read more

A generation is defined as the length of time when children are ready to take the place of their parents, often 30 years. So in my life of 83 years, I have seen three generations in the world — three generations of memories. Each … Read more

When my father was close to the end of his life here on earth in 1987, I spent a lot of time with him, and he told me many stories. He was born in 1900, and he went to work when he was twelve. He told me about the time when the first car … Read more

Last Christmas, I found myself lingering over one particular verse in Luke's nativity account: Here I see a pattern which I believe is worth imitating. Interestingly, this verse is situated in the middle of a narrative about the … Read more