Thoughtful Reflections on Faith and Life
I am an introvert. There I said it. I need time to recharge. But in our crazy life there is not much time for that. I have three jobs plus guest preaching. I have a wife and five kids. Where will I find the time? Amanda gave me the time. Last week, Justus was away … Read More “Gift of Time” »
Just over a year ago I started blogging daily about good news. The purpose of this was to force myself to focus on something good no matter how hard the day might have been. This good news discipline achieved its goal as this past year was the most difficult of my life. It is still … Read More “About That Good News Stuff” »
For my good news item, sometimes it is something big and sometimes it is something small. Today’s good news will be small to you but big to me. Logan and Abby generally come for a visit from their group homes on Saturdays. Since lunch seemed to pass us by, we decided to pick up a … Read More “Walking With My Girl” »
Today was the last day of VBS at Queensway Baptist Church. It ended with a community barbecue tonight. That was a lot of fun. While Justus missed out on this and Amanda was working, me and the girls were able to go. I really appreciate our church and the work they do. It was nice … Read More “A Nice Wrap Up” »
For the last number of months I have been working only part-time at Faith Today. The reason for this was my health. My sarcoidosis was hitting me hard. While I had pain, the worst part was the fatigue and the mental confusion (likely connected). I just couldn’t keep myself together. Faith Today was nice enough … Read More “Full Steam Ahead” »
Today we took the kids for the first day of Vacation Bible School at Queensway Baptist Church. It is always fun to bring them. But I must say that I was excited to see so may kids there. I have always thought that 50 kids is a good VBS. There was actually 138 which is … Read More “VBS” »
Today was the last day of swimming lessons for the kids. It was two weeks of swimming lessons every weekday and it was amazing to watch the development in their skills. It was a steady improvement every day. It helped that they had a great teacher and that she both made it fun and kept … Read More “Aqua Kids” »
I just had an article published in the journal Studies in Religion. The name of the article is “On the Treatment of the Supernatural by Zeba Crook.” My article is a response to one that had been previously published in the same journal where Zeba Crook, an associate professor at Carelton University, argued that historians must … Read More “On the Treatment of the Supernatural” »
Was today a better day? Well, not really. I am not going to go into details but I will say that the police may or may not have been involved. Don’t worry, I did not break any laws. However, it was enough to dampen my mood. Later in the day it was time to make … Read More “Joy From Faith” »
For those of you new to this blog, you may wonder why I blog these random events in my day. The reason is, approximately one year ago I committed to blog a good news post everyday as a way of keeping myself positive. As that was a very dark time in my life, it was … Read More “What Good News?” »
We are not the richest family. We do not have all the gadgets and gizmos. You probably won’t drive by our house or car and struggle with envy. But money is not everything. Last year at this time, I was sure that I was dying. I was walking with a cane and had dropped a … Read More “Thankful For What I Have” »
Last night Justus had a friend sleep over. That is always interesting as it turns his 8 pm bedtime into an 11 pm bedtime. However, Justus asked if his friend could come with us to church in the morning. I was very proud of him for asking. How many of us are afraid of asking. But … Read More “Proud of My Son” »
The high point of my day was going to watch the children’s swimming lessons. I was going to stay home but Amanda talked me into going. It was incredible seeing the improvement in swimming for all three kids. They are way better than last year. It is an exciting age as they learn not gradually but … Read More “Swimming Lessons” »
As I have mentioned before, Saturdays really are my favourite day of the week. This is the day Logan and Abby come for a visit. It is so good to have them here. I love listening to Abby sing and watching Logan play around on the iPad. I also get to see glimpses of the … Read More “Saturday is Family Day” »
It was getting toward the end of the day. Another hour and the girls would have to go to bed. Justus was out with a (girl) friend. Faith ran to the TV and slipped in a DVD and turned to me with a big grin. She put in an old 1949 Batman & Robin serial. … Read More “Me, My Girls and Batman & Robin” »
My good news for tonight is that Amanda and I had nice quiet evening. What did we do? We watched Sherlock. I think Sherlock may be the best show I have ever seen. The only bad thing about it is that there are only three episodes in a season. If you have never watched Sherlock, … Read More “Elementary” »
Unfortunately I did not make it to church today as I got sick just as we were leaving. This was disappointing for two reasons. One was that Amanda was on the worship team and this was the first time she was in a long time. She did a great job as always. The second reason … Read More “Proud Dad” »
Tonight Amanda took Justus for his first worship team practice. Justus has some natural talent for music (although not a lot of patience for lessons) and he has a great interest as well. What I am most excited about is not how Justus performs but rather how people at our church have reached out to … Read More “Connecting With Music” »
As you may know, my wife had a pretty serious health scare a while back. She had to take some time off work and even then was only able to go back part-time. Today, Amanda was able to go back to work full-time. She is still undergoing tests and we don’t know what happened, but … Read More “Full Time” »
I have noticed my days getting more productive. I went down in my hours at work because I just was not productive. But I find I have more concentration and am able to get more done. This is a very good thing. My plan is to go back up to full-time hours. I did not … Read More “Getting More Productive” »
There are many times that we struggle to find something to bring us all together. We have different tastes in movies, music and hobbies. But there is one thing that does bring us together. Funny animal videos. We can spend an hour on Youtube watching dogs talk, cats miss jumps and so on. It totally … Read More “Funny Animal Videos” »
We had a good visit with Logan and Abby. Our time with Abby was fairly typical but after she left, we had something we have not had for some time. We went out into the backyard and spent time together. This is easier as we have been doing some spring cleaning and have made much … Read More “Backyard Friends” »
I had a great afternoon. Amanda and Emma went down to her parents. So I took Justus, Faith and Halo to the park. Justus took off with his friends and that left me with Faith and Halo. We had a fun time. We threw the ball for Halo. We went climbing. Faith sang and danced … Read More “Walk By Faith” »
I just had an experience I never thought I would have. Amanda and the girls went out. Justus was out with his friends. That left Logan and I together. We needed milk so I had to go to the store. I have not gone out with Logan in a long time but I thought I … Read More “Logan Made My Day” »
Amanda spent the morning at the hospital today. I won’t go into details as to the nature of the problem. She has more tests tomorrow and we may know more then. Where is good news in this? There is no good news in being sick. But there is good news in that I was able … Read More “A Morning at the Hospital” »
There is not just one thing today that stands out. We had a great time at church this morning. The kids were even good for the drive. After church we went to see Rio 2 and that was fun. We came home from the movies and I had a much needed nap. I love Sunday … Read More “A Good Full Day” »
Our son has been grounded for a week. You do not need to know why, but it is worth a grounding. Where is the good news? Justus thrives on being with his friends. He goes to a friend’s house every day after school and spends most of his weekends doing the same thing. Now he … Read More “Justus is Grounded” »
Today (including last night), I heard some of my favourite sounds. That would be a thunderstorm. I love hearing thunder and seeing lightning. It always has been comforting. Perhaps it is the reminder of the power that is beyond us. The only thing better than a thunderstorm is a thunder snow storm. Now those are … Read More “Thunder Bolts and Lightning, Very Very Frightening” »
Tonight was a good evening. The kids asked us if they could go to Once Upon a Child for some secondhand toys. We agreed but went with dread. Shopping with the kids is a nightmare. We experienced that in full force on Sunday trying to get Amanda a Mother’s Day gift. But we went anyway. … Read More “Date Night” »
Amanda went out with some friends tonight and so it was up to me to take care of the kids. Evenings are not always the best as they are tired and we are tired and this can make things unsettled. I kind of like having Amanda around to help out. But I did my best. … Read More “A Nice Evening With the Kids” »
These are the days that I live for. It is warm and sunny and it is only a taste of summer. It is the kind of weather that breathes life into you. Short sleeve weather, driving with the windows down weather, music cranked up weather. Even if there is nothing else going on, a day … Read More “Loving This Weather” »
Our family has been sick with some bug since Easter. Amanda has had it twice, Justus twice, Emma twice and me once. Faith has gotten off so far. Why bring this up as good news? It is good news because I know that other families suffer much more than we do. I am not happy … Read More “In Sickness and Health” »
