Posts by Ryan Seow (Page 7)

The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand is one of the most iconic and memorable stories in the Bible. Earlier this week when I was telling my family that I was speaking on this passage, Sophia (8 years old) piped up and said she knew the story well from her Rhyme Bible (Bible stories told through rhymes – I recommend!) The story appears in all four gospels and stands as a significant event in Jesus’s ministry in and around…

We were privileged to have Adib Ahmad from the Afghan Church GTA join us as our speaker yesterday. If you missed his message, I encourage you to see the recording here. Adib shared his testimony with us as a refugee who had to flee his home, Afghanistan, because of persecution as a Christian. In a nutshell, Adib became Christian through the work of missionaries in Afghanistan and began attending an underground church. Government authorities caught wind of this church and…

On Sunday, Pastor Anita shared a very timely message titled, “Restore Your True Identity by Renewing Your Mind.” Pastor Anita’s message reminded me of a time in my young adult years when God brought me through a season of learning and discovery about the importance of identity. Over the course of a few weeks I went through a series called “Identity Discovery” by Steve Chua (if you’re interested please ask me about Lifespring’s copy). I was so impacted by this…

It was wonderful to have Donna speak at our Sunday Celebration last weekend. Whenever Donna visits, I feel like there are so many gems in her message that always encourage me and get me thinking. One gem that she mentioned was, “to go higher, you need to go deeper.” When Theresa and I were living in the US, we had a chance to visit Sequoia National Park in California. The size of these Sequoia trees was absolutely amazing. We stood among a…

Matthew 7:13-14“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Does anyone remember the song “Refiner’s Fire” by Brian Doerksen? For those who have been Christian for some time, there are certain songs from our early days in faith that we never…

John 15:4-6“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into…

The fall season is upon us! For many of us September is a month of change as we say goodbye to our summer routines and get ready for the fall. For all of us, September is a great time to reassess where we are, and thinking about God’s calling is a natural part of that. One person we can learn much about calling from is Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah is a first person account of Nehemiah’s work on behalf…

Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I’m there with them.” This past Monday we wrapped up another annual Family Weekend after having not met since 2019. I, for one, had an amazing time. In fact, it’s now the middle of the week, and I still haven’t recovered fully! If you were able to join us in person or online, I hope you enjoyed yourself and learned some valuable things. If you weren’t able to join us…

Hebrews 6:1: So let’s press on to maturity, by moving on from the basics about Christ’s word. Last week, I was watching a show that had a classic legal scene that some of you may be familiar with. There was a person who had served some time in jail, and now they were at their parole hearing. They sat in front of a group of people who had the power to get them out of jail, or send them back…

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Many years ago when I was in school, I remember learning about the story of John Landy. Landy was…

Several weeks ago, Theresa showed me an impressive video of a young person who constructed a massive domino project. In the video she uses bins of dominoes and carefully lays down individual pieces following a very careful design. She even themed the project after the Mario Bros., complete with a princess castle and full cast of characters. The entire project took her 24 days where she laid down 18,000 individual dominoes. Of course, the topple was perfect (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsR8WNx6qbc if you’re curious). Matthew 25:14-30…

1 John 4:7-9“Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him.” To all the dads at Lifespring–Happy Father’s Day! Being a dad can feel like a roller…