Blessed To Be A Blessing

May God be gracious to us and bless us;

may he make his face shine upon us

The opening words of Psalm 67 echo the priestly blessing found in Numbers 6 and are thus familiar to many of us. Over the centuries these words, originating in the tabernacle worship of ancient Israel, have been used countless times as part of the Christian worship service. Perhaps as you read this verse you imagined yourself standing amongst the congregation and hearing the preacher pronounce the Aaronic benediction with uplifted hands.

Continue reading “Blessed To Be A Blessing” →

24th March 2019 0

A Blizzard, A Rebel Army, and A Sabbath

This past week at MTI we touched on the following topics: cultural differences, conflict, transition, spiritual vitality, stress, and Sabbath. The MTI instructors do a wonderful job of keeping us on our toes by switching up both the schedule and the teaching methods. For instance, we’ve had team-building exercises, role-playing, and simulations sprinkled in between short lectures and class discussions. No day is the same. Continue reading “A Blizzard, A Rebel Army, and A Sabbath” →

16th March 2019 2

Learning to Learn a Language

Last week at Mission Training International (MTI) we spent more time looking at the way language works and how we learn to communicate through a language. Our main language teacher is both wise and experienced—he first learned and then helped write down the language of the Jeh people group in Vietnam. He has developed a language learning method and during our first two weeks at MTI we got to put it into practice. With the help of native speakers, we went through a few of the many language projects we will be able to implement on the mission field. Continue reading “Learning to Learn a Language” →

11th March 2019 1

Do You Doubt The Dawn?

Hosea 6:1-3

His appearance is as sure as the dawn.

Have you ever awoken from a night of sleep and looked outside to make sure a new day had arrived? Have you ever worried whether the darkness of the night would persist and the light of day would fail to appear? Continue reading “Do You Doubt The Dawn?” →

10th March 2019 0

The odd Frenchman and a little Russian

After a brief but enjoyable week in Edmonton we have arrived at the Mission Training International (MTI) center and already a week of classes have passed. It is a beautiful part of the country here in Palmer Lake, Colorado, just north of Colorado Springs. The mountains and red rocks provide quite the background for our month of training at MTI. Continue reading “The odd Frenchman and a little Russian” →

2nd March 2019 2

Bringing a Sword to a Spiritual Fight

Mark 14:43-52

When Jesus came to earth to battle with the forces of evil and put an eternal end to sin and Satan, his choice of weapon is telling. Many in Jesus’ day, his disciples included, were expecting him to wield a lethal weapon and lead a mighty army.

In his gospel, Mark recounts how Judas the Betrayer came to Jesus to arrest him. As his disciple, Judas had been a close companion of Jesus and knew of his “battle-plan” against evil: Jesus had predicted his death and resurrection as the path to victory. Yet, on that dark night, Judas approached Jesus accompanied by a mob armed with swords and clubs, a clear indication of the type of fight they were anticipating. Continue reading “Bringing a Sword to a Spiritual Fight” →

24th February 2019 0

One Small Step

The first leg of our move to Mexico is complete.

On the first of February, we said goodbye to Hamilton and five hours later, hello to British Columbia. Many thanks to Burt and Helena Winkel for allowing us to stay at their place for a night so we didn’t have to sleep in an empty house with no beds. We also appreciate the myriad of ways in which people assisted us: cleaning the house, babysitting kids, selling our van, driving to the airport. It certainly takes a village of help. Continue reading “One Small Step” →

13th February 2019 1

Why Jacob?

In his sovereign freedom, God chose to love Jacob, but not Shechem. But why Jacob?

Malachi, and later the apostle Paul, make it plain that Jacob attained salvation because of the brute fact of God’s absolute grace and free choice to do so (Malachi 1:3 and Romans 9:13). If we take Scripture seriously, we realize God had chosen to love Jacob from before the foundation of the world. From the perspective of eternity, Jacob was chosen by God simply because of God’s sovereign grace. Nothing in Jacob attracted God to him and there was no spark of potential goodness in Jacob waiting to be stoked by the living breath of God. God makes it clear that we are born dead in our sins and our free-wills are locked in rebellion-against-God mode. God does not give us a helping hand or a boost of grace to get us going on the right track. He takes a pile of dry, decaying bones and breathes life and soul into them. Continue reading “Why Jacob?” →

10th February 2019 1

Something to Think About

“What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:4

Do you know what a horsehair worm is? Did you know they develop as parasites in insects like grasshoppers and beetles? Do you care? Is it worth even a minute of your day to contemplate it? I know I wouldn’t. There are countless of these worms so what’s one more or one less? The only reason I know about the horsehair worm is that I read about it yesterday. Even so, as of today I haven’t gone looking for one and have no plans to do so in the future. Continue reading “Something to Think About” →

27th January 2019 0

Empty Rooms and Full Boxes

We are one week out from leaving Ontario and landing in British Columbia. As with most moves, it is the final weeks and days which are busiest. A good chunk of our belongings have been sold or freely given away and we have reduced our earthly possessions to a dozen or so suitcases/Rubbermaid bins and five boxes of books. For various reasons, we made the decision not to send a van-load down to México, but to pack most of it down via suitcase instead. Continue reading “Empty Rooms and Full Boxes” →

25th January 2019 0