Posts by Ryan Seow (Page 8)
Initiate Change
Last weekend, I celebrated my 38th birthday. Without a doubt, I celebrate my birthdays these days with a bit less fanfare and excitement than I did when I was younger. I see my daughters, Sophia (7) and Xenia (5) who look forward to their birthdays and what’s ahead for them. Every year marks a year that they’ve grown taller, are able to do more, and get one step closer to being a “big kid.” For me, birthdays are a very…
From the Head to the Heart to the Hands
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and women in the Lifespring family! There are so many ways that you give life to those around you through your care, generosity, and love. Alongside those who have had the opportunity to physically parent kids, there are countless ways spiritual, social, physical, and beyond that the women of Lifespring give life to others. Personally, I’ve received so much from my own mom, from Theresa, and from my two daughters. On Mother’s Day,…
The Benefit of Both/And
1 Corinthians 12:18-20“God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.“ There is an old saying, “variety is the spice of life.” This idea applies to many things in life, but for me, it makes a lot of sense when it comes to food. I enjoy tasting different kinds of…
Our Time in Turkey
On behalf of Gabe, Rodney, and myself I want to give my heartfelt thanks to the Lifespring family for sending us to Turkey over the past week. There was so much that God did on the trip, and we look forward to sharing these stories with you all in the coming weeks and months. To give an overview of what we did, we traveled to Turkey with the intention of exploring the possibility of refugee sponsorship and spent about a…
Kingdom Parenting requires Wisdom
This week, we started a new memory verse for the spring season. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” If you haven’t been able to memorize the longer passages we’ve done so far for memory verses, now is a great time to start! We can better understand what this verse may mean for Lifespring when we understand Proverbs 22:6 in the context of…
Spring Forward
See, I am doing a new thing!Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?I am making a way in the wildernessand streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 After getting buried under the snow twice the past several weeks, I think we can all say that we’re looking forward to spring. We’re just starting to peek out from behind the mounds of snow now and hope for sunnier and warmer days ahead. Personally, Spring is my favourite time of year,…
Trusting In God
5 The Lord proclaims:Cursed are those who trust in mere humans,who depend on human strengthand turn their hearts from the Lord.6 They will be like a desert shrubthat doesn’t know when relief comes.They will live in the parched places of the wilderness,in a barren land where no one survives.7 Happy are those who trust in the Lord,who rely on the Lord.8 They will be like trees planted by the streams,whose roots reach down to the water.They won’t fear drought when…
Anchored In God
Matthew 7:24-25, “Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It didn’t fall because it was firmly set on bedrock.” If you’ve been fasting with us this month, I want to wish you a Happy Breaking Fast Day! Hopefully your fast has been fruitful, and you’ve experienced God’s presence in…
Same Same, but Different
This week, I was reflecting on a couple of meetings I had with the people at Neighborlink North York. As you may know, during the second half of 2022 we decided to support the food bank (called the 415 Food Hub) run by Neighborlink in the Willowdale area. They were unable to operate for one month last year due to a lack of finances, so we decided to support this ministry so that they could continue to operate and provide…
Kingdom Parenting is Caring
Right before the new year, one of the titles of the weekly church email was “Ready, Set… FAST!” I think we’re definitely off to a running start for 2023, fasting and all. I had a chance to be part of the kickoff celebration with MLCF on January 1st, and it was an amazing way to ring in the new year. Our theme for 2023 is “Kingdom Parenting.” As we talk about parenting this year, I think it’s important to clarify…
Blessed Christmas!
From our Life-Spring family to yours, we want to wish you a very merry and blessed Christmas! On behalf of the pastoral team, I want to express our heartfelt thanks for making this a wonderful year. From the mother’s day hampers to the Christmas pageant, and many other countless ways, we have shown together that Life-Spring is blessed to be a blessing. This would have been impossible without the contribution of so many of you, whether in providing food for…
From Equipping to Empowerment
At the beginning of this month, we launched Lifespring’s vision for 2023 (see it here: https://youtu.be/dvDYU138YMc?t=2725). I, for one, am excited about what we’ll be doing in the new year. When Uncle Perry spoke about the new season coming up for Lifespring, he mentioned that God would be taking us from a place of equipping to empowerment. But what does the journey from equipping to empowerment look like? I compare that journey to another journey in the Bible, that of…