The quest for the perfect gift. Some of you know what I mean and others, you haven't got a clue. There are some folks who every gift is a challenge, to get not just a gift but to get the right gift. The gift that says just the right thing at just the right price.…
The Promise of the Gift
When you think of Christmas what comes to your mind? Before you answer let me tell you a story I heard many years ago. It happened in a grade four Sunday School Class and the teacher was asking the class a question, I don't know what the context was or why she was asking it,…
John the Baptist, An Almost Familiar Story
It is a familiar story for this time of year. A heavenly messenger, a miraculous birth, a normal childhood a short ministry preaching to people who loved his message and hated his message and then an untimely death at the hands of the authorities he had offended. Most people could fill in the missing details…
God Loves Lost People
If you've been around Cornerstone long enough you have probably heard our mission statement or perhaps you've read it on our website. Late in the last century when Angela and I were dreaming about what this church would look like we were told that an important part of that process was to develop a mission…
Hypocrisy
Clean on the outside and dirty on the inside. Wow! Jesus spoke about that concept a number of times throughout the gospels using word pictures like whitewashed tombs all clean and pretty on the outside and full of dead men's bones on the inside. On my first trip to Africa one of my team members…
A Life to Live
Luke 7:11-17 It is a story told only in the gospel of Luke. Jesus is coming into the community of Nain and around him a crowd of his followers jostled one another to get closer to their friend and teacher. And as often is the case when a group of like-minded people gather together the sound…
The Three Temptations
Forty days, in the wilderness. Forty days, not four, not fourteen but forty. And all he took with him was what he was wearing. He wasn't part of a tribe, had nobody to build an alliance with, it was just him, a rugged terrain and God. What did he eat? Did he hunt, or fish,…
Losing Jesus
So, where were you when you lost your kid? Seriously, if you have children you've lost one at some point or another. And if you haven't lost one yet you will. Maybe it was in a grocery store, or on a street, at Disney Land or perhaps at church. But you remember the moment when…
God Answers Prayer, But Not Always God Answers Prayer, But Not Always
Lends a whole new meaning to "I'm praying for you" doesn't it? Prayer helps us feel closer to God, more connected to the church and extremely guilty if it is perceived that we don't do it enough or correctly. And this is one of the verses that is often claimed as a promise for praying…
How’s Your Mud?
When I was a teen we lived just outside of Saint John New Brunswick in Hammond River and when I needed to think or just find time alone I would go down to the river, find a big rock and just sit and enjoy being next to the water. And it seems that it has…