I pastor a small local church in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  It’s a relaxed kind of church where you’re warmly welcomed and then offered a delicious fresh brewed cup of premium coffee or tea.  Seating is relaxed as well, sit where you want and if you are a parent with small kids, we have a special place for you.  Round tables are spread across the back of our auditorium laden with colouring books, pencil crayons, crayons, Kleenex tissues, etc. These specially marked tables are designed for families with kids and all the baggage that goes with taking your kids anywhere, stroller, diaper bags, toy bags, snack bags, etc.

Each Sunday, while the band plays songs and the gathered church sings and worships along, the kids are running around like crazy.  They are rolling around together, wrestling, tripping, spilling drinks and crackers, bumping their heads on the table edge, or standing and staring at all the other crazy kids.  When a song has an extra ‘kick’ to it, some kids hold hands and dance around to the music.  Adults who want a refill on their coffee need to tread carefully as they navigate through the maze of little ones at the back.

One of my favourite things to do while all this chaos is going on, is to entertain and confuse the kids.  I have this laser pointer in my hand that is mostly used for advancing the power point slides while I’m teaching or sharing.  Standing at the back while the chaos is going on, I point the laser pointer light in front of a child or two, just enough to get their attention.  They have no idea where it is coming from, they think it is only right there in front of them.  First they stare at it, then look at mom or dad and point to the little green lit up dot.  An sure enough, every single time they will try and reach down and touch it with their finger or stomp on it with their foot.  I’m too fast for them, I move the light and make them chase it.  You guessed it, just like getting a cat to chase a laser pointer, it works just as brilliantly on small children.  The kids are so easily distracted and are so much fun to watch.

Continue reading →

The parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’ is not a story about forgiveness.  This profound allegory has a far deeper meaning.  The story is about the father’s acceptance and kindness.  It’s about his acceptance of both of his sons, regardless of their performance.  The first son’s performance was dismal, disrespectful, defiant, delusional and downright immature.  The second son in the story is not as innocent as many may believe.  He was self-righteous, judgemental, arrogant, boastful, proud and entitled.  If you compare these two side by side, you have to ask, which one is really the prodigal?

The beauty of this story is that the ‘prodigal son’ who ‘came home’ had a manipulative plan prepared to try and persuade his father so that he would ‘have a place to stay and eat.’  His motive was not ‘make things right’, he was only thinking of his own stomach.  It was when the father, who had ‘already forgiven’ him, who had ‘already accepted him’, threw his arms around him, hugged him, kissed him, welcomed him, it was then that the son repented.  It was at that moment the son believed and received the grace and love of his father.  The love and grace was already there, forgiveness was already there, but the son had to believe it in order to experience the benefits.

Continue reading →

Many years ago, I had the privilege of teaching a seminar at a large EQUIP conference in Southern Ontario.  This annual event was designed to equip teachers, youth leaders and parents with hints and tools as they serve in their local church. Each seminar leader was responsible for coming up with a topic that would capture the attention of conference participants and entice them to sign up.  When I presented my topic on ‘prayer,’ the conference organizers suggested I pick a different topic, something that people would ‘actually’ sign up for.  I did not change my topic.  They gave me this small little room that could hold 10-15 people, but on the conference day, they moved me to one of the largest rooms due to so many people signing up! Funny how that works!  ha ha.

One particular year, I was teaching away and I kept asking the participants what time it was, as the conference organizers were very clear we could not run overtime.  I forgot my watch at home that day.  At one of the break times, a gentleman came up to me and said, “I feel God is telling me to give you my watch.”  My response was one of surprise as he undid the watch from his own wrist and handed it to me.  I received the watch with much thanksgiving, and as I put it on I noticed that it was very light and ‘felt amazing’ on my wrist.  Needless to say, I did not have to ask the participants what time it was anymore.  I didn’t think much more of it, except about the fact on how nice and generous that individual was.

Continue reading →

Today was an awesome day.  I had the privilege of hanging out with my family at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario.  We recognized we had not ‘hung out’ as a family for quite some time so we took the day just to explore something we have never been to.   A few moments ago I told my wife Lori that today was a great day, it was a day of ‘rest.’  Her response was, ‘Really, to me it was a tiring day, what do you mean by a day of rest?”

It was true, it had been a very tiring day of driving two hours with Toronto traffic, walking through four floors of incredible exhibits, finding out where everyone wandered off too before we moved on to the next exhibit together.  Walking a lot of flights of stairs, dodging yelling kids in strollers bored out of their minds. Driving another two hours home with several stops along he way, and by the time 5pm rolled around, I had already walked 15,874 steps.  (that is a lot).  Yes, I was tired too.

So why was it a day of rest for me?  For me, I was able to take my attention off of my work responsibilities.  I was able to put out of my mind all the house projects that have piled up.  I didn’t have to think about what I had to do the rest of this week, or month or the pending events coming up for the rest of the year.  My mind was able to rest.  I was able to focus all my attention on my family and love them each individually.  It was fun just hanging out, and not having something else running in the back ground of my mind.  I saw another glimpse into my family that made me love them even more.

Continue reading →

The inspiration behind the “40 Day Faith-bit Grace Journey” comes in part from a unique fitness tool I have called a ‘fitbit’.  This little unit attaches to my belt or I keep it in my pocket.  Some of the benefits of this resource are:

• it records every step I take throughout the day.
• It counts how many sets of stairs I’ve climbed,
• it shows me the distance travelled,
• calories burned, and
• shows how often I’ve been active in a day.

Now that I have this tool, I’m very aware of it in my pocket and I look at it often, trying to see how many steps I’ve taken.  My goal is to reach 10,000 steps a day.  The other night I was shy of my goal and I walked in one place, watching a tv show, until I met my goal.  It has become a fun motivator.

Today, my wife and I went out for a walk and before we left, we each checked our ‘fitbits’ to see who has more steps for the day!  It has been a fun challenge between us to see if we can reach our goals for the day.  That mutual encouragement has been very effective in staying active and aware that we need to take care of our physical health.

Continue reading →

A LONG time ago, I used to run a lot.  Sometimes it was because I was in a race, and other times, well, let’s just say I didn’t know how to keep my mouth shut.  On some of those ‘unfortunate’ occasions when I as being chased, I ran has hard and fast as I could.  Sometimes it was a group of bullies, other times it was one guy on a bike chasing me down, but I could run fast.  I remember one particular time running so hard, but the guy was gaining ground, so I threw off my heavy backpack filled with school books, gym clothes, lunch container items, etc.  I suddenly was able to run faster and made it to a house that had a ‘Block Parent’ sign in the window.  (block parent was a special ‘Community Safety Program’ put in place so people/children in trouble could go to a ‘safe’ house when in trouble).  That was a tough day, the bullies wrecked almost everything in my backpack, and I still had many  lessons to learn in life!

Hebrews 12:2-3 (The message)  It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.

Continue reading →