It was the end of August in 1979. I was a 19-year-old fisherman on the herring seiner Rali 2 out of Paspébiac, Quebec. Don’t ask why a crew from Saint John and Grand Manan were crewing a seiner from Quebec, it’s a long story. We had spent the summer in the Bay of Fundy and…
The Story of a Treasure
It is a serendipitous story, which is a story about serendipity. Serendipity, isn’t that a great word? It is probably one of my favourite words. In 2004 it was included in a list of the ten hardest English words to translate. You know what serendipity means right? Serendipity means an unplanned fortuitous discovery. And if…
Praying for Canada
It was his custom to start his day with prayer and Scripture reading. And that morning was no exception; he felt that before he attended to the business of his country that first, he must attend to the business of his soul. And as he read from God’s word his heart and eyes were drawn…
Promise of a Return
It was March 21st, 1942 standing in the Terowie Train Station in South Australia, following his retreat from the Philippines that General Douglas MacArthur promised the people of the Philippines "I came out of Bataan and I shall return". And he did. Two and a half years later, after wading ashore on the Island of Leyte,…
The Promise of the Father
In an effort to be environmentally aware, this Father’s Day I’ve decided to embrace the ethos of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Most of you know that my Dad passed away a couple of weeks ago, and many of you are aware that I conducted Dad’s funeral and preached at it. As I was working on…
The Promise of Peace
Do you remember praying as a child? Do you remember the words that you prayed? Let’s try it together: “Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take.” In retrospect a little creepy, but…
The Promise of a Helper
It wouldn’t be long, and he knew it. For three years he had taught throughout Israel, for three years he had healed the sick and fed the hungry. For three years he pointed people to the Kingdom of God, but the time was coming, it wouldn’t be long now, and he knew it. The end…
The Promise of Rest
Sometimes you hear people talk about how hard they work and how tired they are. But in 2018 in North America, I’m not sure that we have that completely in perspective. And I understand that there are different types of work and different types of tired. I was in a meeting with a group…
When Only One Believes
“Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage, goes together like a horse and carriage”, at least that’s what the song says. You know as well as I do that isn’t always the reality. Sometimes the horse doesn’t want to pull the carriage, and sometimes the carriage doesn’t want to be pulled. For the last seven…
Love by Honouring
Do you remember TV families when you were a kid? There seemed to be more extended ones then there are now at least when I was watching TV as a kid. You know more families with several generations living under one roof. The Waltons had their Grand Parents living with them, the Beverly Hillbillies had…