Miserable comforters are ye all

“I have been hurt more by Christians than by non-believers.”  This was said, not so much as a complaint but as a simple statement of fact, by a friend with whom my wife and I were visiting the other day.  This lady has many heartaches and struggles in her past and I don't doubt her … Continue reading Miserable comforters are ye all

Nature: red of tooth and claw

Welcome guests:           Unwelcome guests: The welcome mat is out in our yard for goldfinches, swallows and all of our beautiful native songbirds. We wish that there was some way to convince the murderous English sparrows that they are not welcome here. For several years we have had swallows nesting in … Continue reading Nature: red of tooth and claw

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

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

Finding peace in time of sickness

Most of us, at least in Canada, have heard the sad story of the young couple convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life to their child. The boy was sick for 2½ weeks, a friend told them it was probably meningitis, but they never took him to a doctor until he stopped breathing. … Continue reading Finding peace in time of sickness

God Save the Queen

It was Wednesday morning, February 6, 1952. I was nine years old and in Grade Five. When I got up that morning, the radio was playing solemn, stately, orchestral music. That was all we could get on any radio station. The eight o'clock news told us why – King George VI had died and his … Continue reading God Save the Queen

Did King Solomon hate women?

Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account: which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 This sounds like a pretty severe indictment of women, … Continue reading Did King Solomon hate women?

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?

Trouble with big sister

[This is another excerpt from When I was thirteen] Waubuno, Ontario  March 30, 1897 Today was Saturday, and I did quite a lot of work. I had a set-to with Jessie, though. She gets pretty bossy some times and then I get balky. When she starts to lord it over me, it makes me have … Continue reading Trouble with big sister

Our life is changing

Wednesday evening I said good-bye to the members of the Toastmasters club that I have belonged to for two years. This morning my wife and I said good-bye to the Youth Sunday School class we have taught for the past six months. Today was my wife's last day of work at the home for seniors … Continue reading Our life is changing