Whatever He Says

John 15:5 (New International Version) 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Within minutes of last night's blog post going out,about knocking on doors with the gift of the fridge magnets, the first email came back with a message for Brenda, "Please tell Princess Butterfly I will join her in her endeavour..." And it was from our friend Bonnie--who was having serious surgery at 7.00 a.m. the next day! It was good to hear that she's planning to get better fast. Then another came from Susan saying, "I'm in," and by the end of today there were several more from friends in the church saying, "I'll go too." It feels as if God is stirring up our hearts--filling them with passion to reach people in our community with the good news--in a simple way. Someone shared by email that a person she works with has a fridge magnet with the name of a church o...

I was just about ready to leave the house this morning--the car was warming up--and, as usual, I looked as though I was setting out for a long trip instead of just the office. I'd gathered my very full briefcase, thermos (full of coffee, of course), purse and lunch box. The door from the downstairs apartment opened and Brenda came up. "Mom, I've been thinking," she said, "about what it would take to make our community more aware of our church--and what it would take for them to think of us if they had a need." She went on, her eyes shining with excitement, "You know how companies have fridge magnets--what if we had fridge magnets in the shape of the church--and a phrase on them like, "Need Some Care? Need Prayer? We'll be There!" with our phone number." "How can we bridge the gap?" she asked--and then without waiting for an anwer,"I've been praying--I so want to see our church filled with new people who don't kn...

Psalm 50:23 (New International Version) 23 He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, On Friday evening two friends and I met to go to the movies. One of us had two free tickets to share and we'd decided to split the cost of the third ticket. Friday night came and a snowstorm hit. I drove slowly and nervously through it and waited for them at the Tim Hortons in nearby Cookstown. After a few minutes their car pulled in and they got out to get into mine. The friend with the tickets left them on the counter top at home as she rushed out, leaving behind her husband serving supper to the children--but undaunted we pressed on. We'd looked forward to this night out and nothing was going to deter us. The movie we chose to see was entitled, "The Pursuit of Happyness,"--yes, that's "happyness" with a "y." It starred Will Smith and his small son in the movie was played by his real life 8-year-old son, Jayden. One of my friends found it depressing--she ...

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (New International Version) 14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. It was Saturday morning and Brenda and I were having our after breakfast coffee--a time when we ignore the laundry, the dishes and the other chores and just hang out for as long as we can before the world catches up to us. We got to talking--I guess because our annual church business meeting is coming up--about how many people we could think of who found Christ as Lord and Saviour in the past year. We came up with zero. We thought of how much of our church life is focused on ourselves and each other and talked of our need to reach out. I don't mean to make our church sound insular--it isn't--we support missions and have an amazingly well run children's program--and kids from the town, w...

A couple of weeks ago I came home from work to find my husband in a state of urgent excitement. It seemed that our seven year old granddaughter Victoria's class was going to be studying Nunavut and the North West Territories. You have to know three things about Paul. He loves travel and has been to the North West Territories, he loves his grandchildren even more than he loves to travel--and when he's on a mission--he's on a mission. So when I found him on a hunt for the photos and video he'd taken, of the Arctic ocean, pingoes and aboriginal dancers, even if it meant turning our upstairs closet inside out on a night when people were coming for dinner and cell group--I knew my priorities--and dinner came second! No child ever was prepared with more "stuff." Paul insisted on referring to Victoria's "presentation," no matter how many times our daughter Brenda, told him, "Dad, it's not a presentation." He quizzed her on how pingoes were...

A year ago today, Emily Claire, our youngest grandchild was born. I had a meeting that morning and was up early, making pots of coffee to take to work when, at 7 o'clock, the phone rang . It was our son Peter, telling us that our daughter-in-law Susan, had just given birth to their fourth child. I quickly got ready, leaving a message at work to say I'd be late, and set out for the hospital in nearby Alliston. I stepped out of my warm car into the intense cold and brilliant sunshine of that morning, and my breath trailed behind me, and hung in the air as I hurried to the hospital doors. Soon I was holding our petite, dark haired, fine featured beauty--Emily--and breathing a prayer over her. Stepping back out into the morning, bound for work, the air danced with ice crystal confetti that caught the sunlight and flashed with diamond fire. It felt as if heaven was throwing a birthday party. Today I held another little one in my arms and breathed a prayer for God's blessing on ...