Commodities

3 When I consider your heavens,     the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,     which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,     human beings that you care for them? (Psalm 8) This past week I had the amazing opportunity to Zoom into a webinar on CRISPR technology, put on by the Canadian Council of Churches.  I only know the bare bones of this new science – basically its tool for editing genomes, meaning it allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function. It can … Read more

One of these things is not like the other.

One of these things is not like the other, One of these things just doesn’t belong Can you guess which thing is not like the other? Before I finish my song? (Sesame Street)   The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 … Read more

I am not ashamed

Romans 1: 16 I’m proud of the good news! It is God’s powerful way of saving all people who have faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 17 The good news tells how God accepts everyone who has faith, but only those who have faith. It is just as the Scriptures say, “The people God accepts because of their faith will live.”   I’ve just finished binge watching a show on Netflix called “Midnight Mass”.  Now before you all go and watch it, I need to warn you all; this is a horror series.  It’s not a feel-good watch.  In … Read more

Trust

Matthew 6: 31-34 “Don’t worry and ask yourselves, “Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?” 32 Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these. 33 But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well. 34 Don’t worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today. “ I have a secret super-power: problem-solving.  … Read more

Little Children and Little Dogs.

Mark 9: 36-37 He put a child in the middle of the room. Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me.” (The Message) I apologize to all of you for the late entry this week.  Normally I write my blog on Thursdays, after Prayer and Share, but this past Thursday I had two meetings after Prayer and Share, got on the road for home rather late, and; Just as I was leaving Perth I got a text from my … Read more

Stay the Course

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? Mark 8: 34-37 I’ve noticed a new thing in my life that I’m not too proud of:  … Read more

Instagram Poses and Blurry Pictures of the Dogs

Romans 12:1-2 (The Message) Place Your Life Before God 12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, … Read more

Strong Love

Love as strong as death (Song 8:6-7) Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.  (Ephesians 5: 1,2) This has been an “interesting” week, hasn’t it my dear Bethel family.  Our world is slowly opening up.  We have all been able to enjoy visits in person with people that we haven’t seen in a long time.  We can eat indoors in restaurants.  We can visit elderly people in assisted living. Yet, at the same time, everything seems oddly … Read more

Find your Nathan

“As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; 6he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” 7Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; 8I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9Why have … Read more

A Spiral of Deceit

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.  When one of my children was a toddler, I signed her up to participate in a research study on lying with Queen’s University and the Child Development Centre.  I was absolutely sure that my child, in all of their fair-haired golden gloriousness, would blow the researchers away with the depth of their innocence and integrity. Oh how wrong I was. My child ‘lied like a rug’. I was mortified.  The researcher had to spend … Read more