Christmas Parade & Mini Market
If you live in the Willowdale neighbourhood, there is going to be a fantastic event on Saturday, December 4th! Check out this ad for more details… even dogs are welcome! š¶
Decisions, Decisions
There was a quote that I wrote down from Jon Koh last Sunday that said āWe need to make a decision before the temptation, not in the middle of itā¦ā Jon mentioned that making a decision before the temptation keeps you from getting swayed by the circumstances and feelings in the midst of temptations. In my life right now, there are exams and papers that need to be written, requiring a lot of time management and discipline. One thing that…
Make Every Effort to hold on to Justice & Mercy
We had the privilege of having our elder, Jonathan Koh, preach and teach to the family yesterday. I believe as Jon spoke, as a church family we are truly challenged on the next steps of the journey we call Maturity. In a world where the Bible has become opinion more so than Scripture, it can be difficult standing with God. Yet Jon brings us through an amazing encounter with Jesus and a woman caught in adultery. Jesus shows us how…
Grace that Enables
2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” Earlier this month, I had a chance to share at Life-Spring about what God has been teaching me over the past few weeks. Much of what I’ve been learning is around a new opportunity that I’ve taken up this fall. I had a chance to teach a course at Tyndale Seminary this fall semester for the first time.…
Presents or Presence
Dear LifeSpring Family, The speaker at Power To Change chapel last week spoke on Luke 17:11-19. Most of us are familiar with this passage of our Lord Jesus Christ healing the ten lepers.Ā Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers,[a] who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, āJesus, Master, have mercy on us.ā 14 When he saw them he said to…
Make Every Effort to Cultivate Our Inner Life
When I was a young Christian in the 80ās, the wise words of a church elder in our small group (Danny Chia) made an indelible mark on my heart which has served as a safeguard for my soul to this day: āAs soon as you think you will never fall into a particular sin or temptation, you are already vulnerable.ā (Probably not verbatim, but that was the essence of what he said.) It served to help me embrace my fragile…
Jireh
Jireh by Elevation & Maverick City has been looping through my brain for the last few weeks. Every time I listen to it, I feel like the Lord reveals new layers throughout! Itās filled with references to Scripture that bring comfort and build up faith; God reveals areas in my life where I need to be growing in trust as I release ācontrolā of them; my true identity in Christ is called out; layers upon layers of Godās love and…
Pray By Name
Over the past couple of weeks I have had the privilegeĀ of engaging with people from all walks of life. Some seniors, some children, some in ministry, some in the workplace, etc. Something that really stood out to me was the fact that everybody has a story. In a recent meeting, the speaker mentioned that his eldest child was having a very difficult time in life. In fact he statedĀ that it is an extremely difficult time. It was a passing statement…
Where Sight May Fail You, Vision Will Take You
On our road to growing in maturity, Iāve found that one of the things that hinders our growth is our sight. We hear great things that our God promises for us but they often donāt look like what we think it should look like. Our expectations of what should happen can cause us to grow bitter and angry sometimes. Even when the visions God gives us are so grand and seemingly difficult, we tend to shy away because of the…
No Such Thing As Too Early
Is anybody else out there already starting to Christmas-ify their home?? Iām really hoping itās not just meā¦ š
It feels like I am especially early this year. I don’t have a tree up yet but the decorations and festive soap fragrances are slowly beginning to sneak their way in. And I am here for it! In times of darkness, like the new 5:00 pm (thanks Daylight Savings) and in times of waitingā¦ having something to look forward to, something…
Your Thoughts?
Dear LifeSpring Family, This past weekend Dorothy and I had the privilege of serving our Lord Jesus Christ at Blue Mountain, Collingwood with FamilyLife Canada. This is FamilyLife Canada’s first live in-person Weekend Getaway marriage conference since the pandemic start back in March of 2020. There was great excitement both on behalf of the participants and our FamilyLife Staff. Over 80 couples registered and almost 80 couples showed up for the Weekend Getaway. It would have been over 120 couples…
Grow in Humility
Over the past few months, one of the areas where God has been speaking to me is about humility. As important as humility is for our journey as Christians, it can be difficult to understand what genuine humility is and how it’s different from pride. I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned about humility–two of them are about what I call false humility, and two of them are about genuine humility. The part of scripture that illustrates this…