Shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus came to Bethany and was invited to a meal in the home of Simon, a man whom He had healed of leprosy. To get the full story of the event, we need to put together the accounts found in Matthew 26, Mark 14 and John 12. Lazarus, whom Jesus had … Continue reading And the house was filled with the odour of the ointment
Christianity
The love of God
[The following words were written 19 centuries ago, not long after the time of the apostles. It is part of what is known as The Letter to Diognetus. Neither the author of the letter, nor Diognetus, have ever been satisfactorily identified, but the letter breathes an authentic and dynamic faith. Shouldn't those two qualities still … Continue reading The love of God
Elections
All is quiet on the election front where I live – Canada had a federal election last fall and Saskatchewan had a provincial election just a moth ago. But the media that I read are full of angst and bewilderment about the upcoming presidential elections in the USA and France (this fall in the USA, … Continue reading Elections
FIRE!
Over the past few days the people of Fort McMurray, Alberta have had an all too close encounter with a fire like the one above. News reports indicate that all the 80,000+ people who live and work there have been able to make their way to safety, leaving their homes, businesses and most of their … Continue reading FIRE!
We Bleed, All The Way Up
"We live in a disordered, chaotic, fractured, fallen world where the current of sin devours everything." I love that phrase and it pretty much sums up the thoughts that were going through my mind today. I was sitting with my wife as the chemotherapy drugs were dripping into her bloodstream and meditating on the twisted … Continue reading We Bleed, All The Way Up
The loneliness of the pathfinder
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Isaiah 6:16 We have joined a grand throng of pilgrims and strangers, wending our way through a wilderness where we have never … Continue reading The loneliness of the pathfinder
Gossip
Gossip. talk or news about the personal lives of other people that is often not kind or true. The above definition comes from the Harcourt Brace Canadian Dictionary for Students, © 1997. I think this was the best school dictionary ever, but it is unfortunately out of print due to Thompson Corp buying up a … Continue reading Gossip
Monoculture
Monoculture is a term used in agriculture to describe the planting of a single crop in a field. It is also used in a narrower sense to describe the widespread planting of a single cultivar. This is the sense which I will refer to. This kind of monoculture results when a cultivar is developed which … Continue reading Monoculture
Am I a soldier of the cross?
“Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof” (Judges 3:1-2). … Continue reading Am I a soldier of the cross?
Robins and skunks on O’Malley Road
The songbirds are back: robins, meadowlarks and others – spring has come to Saskatchewan. Sometimes we can even tell it by the weather. Last Saturday was a beautiful sunny day with a high of 22° Celsius. That would be 72° in Americanese. This morning the ground was white again for several hours and the high for … Continue reading Robins and skunks on O’Malley Road
Flatlander Faith 