Black Ice - Grief in the Scars

"It was late November, and we were just leaving my parents house to return home after a great family dinner.  We had stayed a bit longer then the rest of my siblings, talking with my parents about our plans for the rest of the week.   As we had done a hundred times before, we said 'Bye' and made our way out the back door and down the concrete steps.  We followed the back sidewalk past the garage door bringing us to a short step down onto the driveway.  I had failed to notice a small patch of black ice and as I stepped down,...

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You Don't Choose a Life, You Live One

I don't really have a 'bucket list'.  Because of my life experiences thus far, I make sure that most of the 'dreams' I have, or goals I set remain very attainable and achievable.  I have endured the pain of not having a pretty significant dream of mine come true, and therefore my heart is guarded from dreaming 'big' altogether. But there is one thing...one leg of my journey in life...that I do dream about.  It is a pilgrimage that I heard of...probably 6 years ago now, called the Camino de Santiago.  It is an 800 kilometer...

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Passionate Patience

Lately, I've been reflecting a lot on the word perseverance.  When I shut my eyes and think of this word, I clearly see my grandparents faces.  A little tired, worn, aged and yet beautiful.  Their faces reflecting the lessons, hardships, joys and yearnings of all the things that once were and of those that were not.  Every wrinkle tells a story.  Every age spot holds within in it a memory that will not likely be forgotten. On one hand it makes me sad, and on the other hand it encourages me to press on towards the years...

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The Beauty of Wind

I grew up in the prairies (Southern Alberta) and it was pretty much windy every day of the year....at least that's how I remember it.  Whether there was rain, snow, hail or no precipitation at all....there was always wind.  The worst was in the middle of summer when it was so dry that the wind would pick up the dirt off the ground and blow it straight into your face. ...

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The Intervener? (continued)

For some reason, this past Christmas was the first Christmas in many years that I was able to embrace the season without any bondage or bitterness tangled around my heart.  I found myself putting up our tree and throwin in the carol CD's long before December was even in sight.  This year was just different and every ounce of the amazing Christmas story seemed to seep it's way into my core. As mentioned in an earlier post, the Chris Tomlin christmas album (Glory in The Highest) was in my car and on repeat!  And one regular morning...

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The Intervener?

In-ter-vene  To come between so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events.  I'm sure we've all at one point or another asked ourselves how it is that God 'allows' children in Africa, Thailand, or places such as Haiti die from neglect and/or starvation.  Or how it is that He could sit back and 'allow' children to be beaten and starved within abusive homes?  I could continue on and on about different scenarios or circumstances where I have sat back and wondered how it is, that the Creator of All Life, the loving Father...

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Oh My Soul...

There is something special about the human soul.  Although there are many opinions as to what the soul actually entails or represents....most people recognize that there is something within each of us that makes us who we are, that makes us human. I believe that my soul is a gift.  I believe that my soul was created long before it was placed within this body...

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Unspeakable JOY! - (A Submission from Karey Congo)

Hi everyone!  I received an e-mail from a good friend of mine...Karey Congo.  I got to know Karey, Joel and their two beautiful children (Hailey and Sara) at Camp Homewood, where we had the opportunity to live and minister along side them.  Karey sent me an e-mail this past week expressing her desire to share about the journey that they have been on over the...

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Learning the Hard Way

Why is it in life that for the most part...we have to learn things the hard way?  What is it that makes this type of learning go so much deeper, so much so that we welcome change in ways we probably would not have welcomed before?  In some ways we all know the answer to this.  Our hard heartedness or stubborn nature gets the best of us and we refuse to let God lead us in the way the HE KNOWS is best, and we take things into our own hands.  I think this sheds a whole lot of light into the reason why God allows us to go through...

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Something About Rain...

I've been thinking about blogging for many years now.  It was either blogging...or writing a book.  But if you know anything about who I am, you would know that there are many other things that take up most of my time and that are of more importance that book writing!  So on to blogging it is..... In the past 2 years my life has changed in a radical and elemental way.  There was no warning as to what was coming and it happened within a few minutes.  I became 'Most Satisfied'.  There wasn't a huge parade, there wasn't...

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