Whatever He Says

Urgh! I felt ashamed of the words I had just blurted out and even more, the heart they revealed. It was cell group night and, as usual, a group of friends were at our place for dinner before the Bible study. The pot roast, steaming bowls of mashed potatoes and sweet carrots, and the gravy, were being passed around, when some friends who share their lives and home said that they had just bought a second car. The large car they own is a gas guzzler; just filling the tank costs enough to feed a family for several days; they had bought a second, smaller car that was already delighting them with its economy.  "We'd like to ask your opinion," they then said to the rest of us. One of their friends had asked to borrow one of their cars for a week. The friend had the opportunity of a week's work; badly needed financially; but no way to get there. On the one hand, they said, "There was a reason we got the second car--we need it;" but on the other hand they s...

By Belinda Lent, a season of fasting, reflection, preparation and mourning, precedes Holy week; the week leading up to Easter morning--that glorious dawn when the sacrifice of a son breaks the power of hell and offers the free gift of grace to the world. Last Sunday Paul and I sat in a pew at  Yorkminster Citadel Salvation Army Church in Toronto  and learned of a different way of celebrating Lent:  Forty Acts of Generosity .  It was wonderful to learn about; and although it's too late for this year; next year that's the way I want to celebrate Lent. But that's not what this blog post is about. We were at the church to bear witness to an act of generosity I cannot begin to imagine. One young couple, who found themselves in spite of birth control of the most final kind; unexpectedly (and miraculously) parents-to-be; at a time and stage in their lives when they hadn't planned on a baby. But instead of ending that life in abortion, as some might have done, they f...

By Belinda Sam and Jamie, are my two best pie customers. They ordered a pie a month (Jamie for one year and Sam for two) for our Power of One fundraising effort at work. I think the fact that they are both bachelors makes them  especially susceptible when it comes to pie. Sometimes I feel that I am shamelessly taking advantage of them but then I think of the cause (global missions to children with disabilities,) and I'm okay taking their money. When April turned to May and they knew another pie was on the way, Sam said to Jamie, over supper at cell group, "I'll fight you for them. The last man standing takes both." :) Jamie demurred and kept his pie. But Sam made me smile as he danced out of our house on Thursday with his May pie. He said he planned to give half of it away, because, he sang with joy, "I have 19 more of them coming!" He felt "pie rich" enough to be generous--he had pies in the bank. I laughed about it to myself because if he...

James 2:5 (New International Version) 5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? Her eyes brimmed with laughter. An inner radiance spoke of joy somewhere deep within this daughter of Susan's. Emily has her own special place in this heart. I love her, and have been witness to the miracle in her of a heart warmed by the gentle hands of Jesus. She sang on Saturday with the Salvation Army Songsters, in the concert we were at, and afterwards she told me that she had been, "kettling." At first I thought she said, "Cuddling," and wondered what was coming next, but then I realized that "kettling" is a verb in Salvation Army lingo, referring to the transparent globes in which donations are collected now, but which used to be actual kettles. So I listened as she went on to tell me a"kettling story." She had been at Yorkdale Sh...

The guest worship leader came representing a well known ministry. He was gifted musically, playing the piano with casual ease but great skill, while talking, in between songs he'd written and recorded, about the children whose lives could be changed forever for the price of our North American coffee habit. His young wife ran the sound system at the back of the church, "Great with child," as he put it proudly; their first. They have been called to "live by faith," serving this ministry; he using his voice and talent to make a difference. But not on any pedestal, this young man. He talked of idols, of the constant personal temptation to be captivated by "stuff," or addictions; on-line shopping; this or that. I know how it goes. Nail one down addiction and the self life oozes out somewhere else. At the end, one of my younger friends met me at the back and said she'd sponsored a child. She said slightly nervously that she hoped she could manage it. In ...

Psalm 86:5 (New International Version) 5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Psalm 86:15 (New International Version) 15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. I looked out one recent morning at the field of corn that is planted below the stand of maples on the hill. From the green leaves of thousands of young corn plants--wet from the rain that had come in the night, light was reflecting--silver. As I gazed on the shimmering field, it looked like a massed medieval army of soldiers with light reflecting from shields locked above their heads as they advanced into battle. To the side of the corn field lay the alder grove and there the trees waved their arms at the sky in the morning breeze, the leaves dancing opalescent--simply beautiful--not caring if anyone noticed or not, it seemed. I thought of how God made the world so beautiful, as if he loved to do it--as if he delighted in ...