Many people, when they hear an aircraft passing overhead, will idly glance up, wondering who is going where, and perhaps wishing they were up there, not down here. Fewer people are aware of the vast electronic radar blanket that covers … Read more

One of the newest members of my congregation is Jeffrey Alexander. He is nine months old. You should know two things about him. First, he loves to cuddle, and second, he can sleep anywhere. He teaches me things about trust. I've heard … Read more

Having company visit or drop in over Christmas is part of the holiday season for almost everyone. For most of us, part of Advent and Christmas preparations is to give the house a good cleaning, so that it looks good … Read more

Last year in mid-February, the family across the street still had their Christmas lights up, and lit. Another half-dozen neighbours down the block did so too. This year again, long into January, lights in many parts of the city are … Read more

October 31: I'm walking around my neighbourhood and am horrified. Just about every third house has some type of Halloween display. Some are exceptionally elaborate. One woman told me she had been working on her "display" for a month! My … Read more

It's a metal box, with a faceplate full of knobs and dials. Most people don't notice it, and even if they do, they have to ask, "What is it?" "It" is a Canadian Marconi model FR12 transmitter/receiver. Some people would … Read more

On the last weekend of June, I was in front of a ham radio set, listening to the babble of Morse code dots and dashes in my earphones. Each June, amateur radio operators in Canada and the United States stage … Read more

Most churches and denominations have a program for teens and young people. In my case, it was the Presbyterian Young People's Society. It was a rite of passage for myself, and thousands more teens over the years. One year, when … Read more

Aboard H.M.C.S. Sackville — It's interesting to "people-watch" as you go through a museum, especially this one. Most younger people are a bit bored. To them, it's just more history-under-glass, and they think they get more than enough of that … Read more

Sound and noise engulf our lives. It is with us from the rude awakening of the alarm clock in the morning, and does not leave us until the radio stops playing soothing "good night" music. It is constant in our … Read more

Each Palm Sunday, at my church we do something a bit different. We're about a block from the lakefront in Toronto, so instead of sitting in our pews, most of the congregation marches down to the lakefront beach, singing and … Read more

I can hardly pick up a computer publication these days without seeing another doom-and-gloom story about the Y2K problem. That's the problem where older systems use two numerals for the year in dates, and can't handle the rollover to the … Read more

Maybe that should be "prince of the powers on the air". There's a new television show running this season, about a coven of witches. Charmed is running on the WB network in the United States, and the CTV network has … Read more

Late last year I wrote Home Before Christmas . It tells the story of a visit I made to my hometown in the wake of my Mother's passing. I grew up on a short side-street of a dozen houses. … Read more

A local radio station is running a promotion to increase its daytime listeners. It's giving away coffee mugs with the station's call letters on them, asking listeners to drink coffee at work with the station's mugs. It promises listeners that, … Read more

A couple of books off my bookshelf got some extra wear and tear – and reading – this year. One is The Grey Seas Under. It's a book by Canadian author Farley Mowat, about the trials and tribulations of a … Read more

I got a chance to go "home" before Christmas, but I didn't want to go. Home, in this case, is not where I live now, but the place where I was born and grew up. That's Windsor, Ontario, right across … Read more

Lord, maybe what I need this Christmas is a new pair of spiritual eyeglasses, ones that would let me see the hope and trust those ill people had in You, so even if they have died, as we on Earth call it, we know they are alive forever in … Read more

Many people, when they hear an aircraft passing overhead, will idly glance up, wondering who is going where, and perhaps wishing they were up there, not down here. Fewer people are aware of the vast electronic radar blanket that covers … Read more

A while back, I saw a newspaper story on the latest electronic business gadget. The author says, if you want to be on the cutting edge of the digital wave, you need this item. It's an electronic screen about the … Read more

It was a perfectly ordinary loaf of bread. Baked in a local bakery, rather than conglomerate bread, it was unsliced and packaged in a plain plastic bag with a little paper label. It was unwanted. It was all alone on … Read more

Thursday afternoon. I breezed into my eye doctor's office to make an appointment. I was seeing what looked like photographic flashes in front of my eyes. My doctor was out of the country. His receptionist said she was going to … Read more

I was working after hours in our office building. I had to deliver something to a colleague's desk. The lights were still on in her part of the office. After I had make the delivery, I stopped off to use … Read more

It was the morning of Good Friday. I confess I was only listening to the sermon with one ear, because my mind was on some things going on in my own life. The story of that first Good Friday is … Read more

I've been down at the bottom of a mine, but never any place like this. When I was touring the mine, the guide suggested we turn off the lamps on our hard hats. One click and I was in a … Read more

One becomes reflective at a funeral or memorial service. I've often wondered what people do at times like this, who have no faith. They are in all levels of society, from the executive's corner office to the corner coffee shop. … Read more

It was the kind of Friday you want to forget. No, sorry, make that the kind of Friday you don't want to have happen. It was the end of a long, too busy week. The kind of week where the … Read more

Consider that passage from Mark's Gospel. They had busy days, even twenty centuries ago! Put that verse in a modern setting, and you get: "Jesus and His group was so busy they didn't even have time to grab a sandwich … Read more

A couple of years ago, I was at a conference. One of the people there was a long-established and well-respected medical doctor who had a busy, downtown practice, full of corporate executives. One of the lines I heard during a … Read more

Who would leave the shepherds out of the Christmas story? Not me, that's for sure. You see, I'm one of them. The passage from Luke says there were shepherds in the fields that night, keeping watch over their flocks by … Read more

A happy madhouse. That about describes the scene at any airport, train or bus station just before Christmas. A crush of people all travelling for the holidays. Many will be going "home" or making a home, wherever they're going. That … Read more

Handel's Messiah is part of Christmas for many people. People may not know the whole oratorio, but they know the Hallelujah Chorus, and want to hear that. Problem is, it's not near the beginning, it's near the end. People, whose … Read more

There are some homes where the Christmas lights aren't shining as brightly as they did last year. Sorrow and loss affects us all; however the first Christmas with the loss of a loved one is something you almost have to … Read more