The Weight of Snow I love how God allows us to see gospel messages in nature, and how He reminds us of His great power through natural phenomenon and weather. I'm no stranger to natural disasters. Back in January '98, I lived through one of the worst natural disasters in Canadian history. At the time, nearly 100mm of freezing rain fell over parts of eastern Ontario and ...

Snowmageddon 2020 It's certainly been a wild week here in St. John's Newfoundland. You've likely heard about the massive snow/wind storm that we had here 7 days ago. We're still recovering from the whopping 70-90cm of snow that fell and the city is still in a State of Emergency (SOE). Among all of it, I'm trusting that God is in control over the weather. "He givessn...

Every year the theme of Advent never changes. In a lot of ways, it can be summed up as 'expectant waiting.' From Genesis to Revelation, we are given a front row seat to see the beginning, middle and end of the world. And this creates a tension because we know how the story ends, but here we are, still waiting. There's always been this 'expectant waiting' throughout salv...

1 Corinthians 3:7-9 7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9For we are co-workers in God's service; you are God's field, God's building. The truth of the matter is this: it is God wh...

What matters most? I have no doubt that hard choices have to be made and that they are a hard burden to bear. I have no doubt that those in leadership have to shoulder responsibilities that most of us could not imagine. I do, however, have to wonder sometimes if we can forget that those who work "for" us in ministry are people first; not employees. I have my own experien...

Something that every human being has to deal with in life is change. Change is inevitable and often someone will face different changes based on where they are in life. Typically, seniors will have different kinds of life changes than teenagers and teenagers will have different life changes than college students....

Last weekend my wife and I found ourselves without our two children. In our newfound freedom, we went to a movie together, had supper together, and did some shopping together. It was a breath of fresh air. Before we decided to go home, however, we decided to make a quick stop into Toys-R-Us. And so, after a bit of browsing, I decided to head on over to where the board gam...

One of Paul's final exhortations to the Philippian church is to not "worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." In the lead up to June 26th, this exhortation came alive to me in ways that it never has before (not that it's never alive and applicable but the situation made it all the more real). Ph...

'Pastor, this group feels left out.' If you have been in pastoral ministry for any length of time, and especially in a multi-generational established church, you have most likely had something like that said to you. A common struggle of pastoral ministry is navigating the competing interests of sub-groups within a church. Reflecting upon 23 years of pastoral ministry, I d...

WHEN I WAS A YOUNG BOY When I was in Grade 6 my teacher asked the entire class if anyone wanted to participate in a public speaking event being held at the school. Whomever participated would be required to research, memorize and recite their findings for the entire student body. Unsurprisingly no one volunteered. For whatever reason, myself and my friend were voluntol...