Category Archives: Education

God’s Heart for People: Insights from a Montreal Visit

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Greetings from Montreal, Quebec, Canada! The hubby and I have escaped for a few days and are staying at a really cute little place in the heart of Montreal… country folks back in the city. Admittedly, I don’t miss it. It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t wanna live here. Too many cars, too much traffic of said cars (okay Montreal-ers are crazy drivers, I know) and the people are everywhere. And the only chickens we saw were the ones deep fried in a bucket to go. Nonetheless, it was worth the sore feet to tour through old Montreal and enjoy the hustle and bustle for a change. Street vendors, your pick of food, (including two giant farmers markets with European meats and cheeses!) and the sights and smells of city life. Montreal has some great churches, building rich in history and beautiful to look at. It was good to see a collection of diverse faces and the sounds of many languages and cultures for a change.

Like the story of the country mouse and the city mouse, each place has its pros and cons, but as the mice discover, home is always best. Yet, the visit had me thinking about cities. Big, diverse, bustling cities. Of course, I grew up in the “city” and should be used to the chaos. I learned how to drive with traffic in winter. I do miss the conveniences of city life: a shop on every corner for quick pick up of milk and coffee. Don’t like this selection of shoes? You can find another store just around the bend. No car? The transit system in most cities will get you to where you want to go. And the culture of a city. Yup, people. People from every walk of life and every level of education.

Perhaps a little taste of heaven? Every colour skin and language, all praising God in the way they know best. I’m sure it will be cool when we get there! Not that I’m ready to go just yet, but it will be cool when we do get there… I hope God lets us all cook our favourite foods in Heaven. Can you imagine Pho noodles or an authentic Italian pasta in Heaven ?! Fabulous!

Anyway, I digress. I was thinking about “cities” in Bible times. Unlike now, people rarely traveled out of their own space, and if they did, it wasn’t far. Yet, big cities would have similar characteristics: people of diversity with busy businesses and a way of life reflecting that city culture. Paul talks about it. He traveled enough to see the sights. Ships similar to the current means of transport that we saw on the great St. Lawrence in the old port in Montreal. Okay, maybe not shipping containers littered with graffiti, but I’m sure there were trunks and wooden containers piled high with the same stench of rotting fish as we experienced.

Still, above all the sights and sounds comes the target of God’s heart: the people. At one point on our one-too-many tours, I sat resting my ever aching feet and marveled at all the people. Tourists, like us, wondering around the streets. I wondered about how many knew that God loved them. How many people sitting in the great cathedrals of Montreal knew that God didn’t need their lit candles and silent prayers in gold lined alters. He wanted their hearts and a relationship with them. I wondered if the families sharing breakfast with us knew that God watched over their travels as He did ours. Or the young girls who served us were aware that God sees their devotion and cares about their work. Or the homeless folks sleeping on park benches knew that He cares about them, too.

My mind is reminded about people when I go to the cities. I think about it, but rarely does my heart follow the thoughts long enough to actually do something about it. Admittedly, my faith is weak in this. I don’t have a heart for people as some do. I don’t cry out for justice for the homeless or care for the poor in the ways I should. Jesus stood at the footholds of Jerusalem and wept for its people. He cried over the hearts of the people who were so lost in their sin, and the “ways of the world” that are so rampant in our cities still. May He soften my heart for them, too. May a vacation to “the big city” change my heart for not only all the people in the crowds there, but for the few in my circle here at home too.

Deep and Wide: A Muddled Reflection

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Welcome back, my beloveds! We’ve had an exciting weekend! It was our church’s annual “church in the park” where we take over the local parks band shell and hold our service by the beach. Traditionally, we have a baptism service and bbq lunch with fun activities for the afternoon. This time, eleven people committed to living a life for Christ through baptism. The fun part was that our staff had to wade out in to Lake Ontario … and it was anything but calm. June makes it a little chilly out there and the waves were coming in hard. Poor little youth leader; she was struggling to keep herself a float, let alone dunk others under! Yet, all survived. And it had me musing…

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

Okay, but before I get to that, I need to premise it with another trigger. We have been enjoying watching our little grand baby grow (he’s six month’s already!) and this weekend he got to hang out in our inflatable kiddie pool… well, sort of. Hose water is still slightly cool for his chubby little legs. I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Hanging out at the farm with grandma means Alexa is playing Veggie Tale Songs. I tried “traditional Sunday School songs” but that led to crazy war propaganda from the USA and nothing I recognized. Veggie Tales was it.

Yada yada yada…. all that to tell you that waves and water were my thoughts this weekend… which had me thinking about how many traditional hymns and songs have water, waves and being “washed” in fountains and rivers. Are you thinking of a few? Anyhow, I settled on Deep and Wide. A traditional Sunday school song all about (what I thought was) how deep and wide God’s love for us is. Turns out, other people have different thoughts. So here’s what I found.

The original “Deep and Wide” song was written by a Canadian Salvation Army officer named Sidney E. Cox. The original had three verses. You can find it here. Mr. Cox was saddened by the fact that the verses were essentially lost due to the song’s popularity as a children’s diddy. And the actions? Well, that was frowned upon too. Ha Ha… just realized this was originally printed in the Salvation Army’s War Cry Documents… it’s a war song too! He’s Canadian at least. Nonetheless, I think the song emphasizes how vast and wide God’s love for us is. Since depth and height are infinite in opposite directions, it’s a pretty good description, I thought.

The Original Deep and Wide with 3 verses printed from Salvation Army War Cry

Other thoughts on the song, however, reverberated with the idea of water, river and flowing. Like the waves of Lake Ontario, a crashing wave can be quite cleansing! Ezekiel 47:9 describes a river flowing bringing life to all it touches. So true a foundation to teach our little ones! And so, as we begin the summer season, and you hit the beach and get bowled over by a wave, think about Deep and Wide! Or perhaps your vacation takes you hopping through European cruises with great fountains bringing fresh water … flowing deep and wide!

So that’s my thoughts for this week… and hope it gets stuck in your head all week. Some veggies will be proud, even if Sidney is unimpressed.

The Surprising Science Behind Dandelion Survival

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Another week… and finally some nicer weather! It’s still a little chilly, but at least the sun was out today. Alas, the dandelions have turned into their little puff ball stage. Gone are the yellow rivers along the curbs, and a snowy, grey blanket has replaced them. If you’ve been following along, we’ve been chatting about the humble weed, and this week is no exception. And we’ll begin with a cool “fun fact”.

Cool.

Did you know that dandelions are “hydrophobic”? Which, for you non-science type folks, means “afraid of water”. Afraid of water? It’s a plant. Sounds a little sus. That means a little off in case you don’t speak teenager. Anyway… it is true. Each dandelion seed is attached to a tiny parachute like structure (called a pappus). The pappus has little hairs, and when the tiny hairs of the pappus are submerged in water, they close up, trapping a water droplet inside, essentially rendering the parachutes dry. Those little puff balls, when dipped in water, do not soak it up; they will come out pretty much dry again. If you want some proof, here’s a little video link to check it out! Dipping Dandelions. Pretty cool, eh?

And since that little puffball can resist a pretty significant downpour or dunking, it might get picked up and blown away. That “wishing flower” can send off upwards of 200 seeds, which have a germination rate of about 90%. Which is likely why we see so many of those yellow flowers blooming again! A pretty successful “weed”. And resilient too. We talked about that, already though (go check it out if you haven’t read the last few weeks of our “study”.)

So let’s muse about it, shall we? Resisting a downpour. Unable to be “wet blankets”. Not harmed by a little outside interference. Sounds pretty protected if you ask me. I’ve been learning about our Godly protection lately. Harnessing His Power to resist the downpours that come our way. Did you know you can be “resistant” too? You have the cool ability to say, nope, not today, Satan. Go ahead, dunk me under if you want… but I am coming out dry on the other side, and then I am gonna spread my wishing flower of 200 plus witness stories, Lord willing! And 90% of those stories will have an impact: and then there will be more of us to resist! Satan and his evil schemes don’t stand a chance. Dandelions seem to keep popping up year after year, no matter how much weed killer you might spray. We just get encouraged and float over from someone else’s wishes.

Spread a little sunshine, my friends!

So stand tall, my little puff balls! Resist the downpour. Fight back and make wishes. Spread a little sunshine and happiness to the next lawn over. Or float on the breeze and go as far as the wind will take you. Then take root, and pop up with glory to smile at another spring! Blessings, dear ones!