There’s a story Rhonda and I first heard while studying at Regent College in Vancouver in the summer of 2006 that has become a bit of a theme in our lives, resurfacing over and over for the past 15+ years. Any time a tough decision is pending or a dose of courage is required in the circumstance we find ourselves in, this story finds its way to the forefront of our minds, reminding us of its truthiness and giving just…
Building on last week’s post about the future of our church, I want to provide some more thoughts as to what I think might be a viable direction for our community to turn toward as we face a season of major transitions. To recap, there are a number of factors faced by our community, including—what we sense—to be a persistent exhaustion over the past few years, that doesn’t bode well for moving forward with the same model and strategy as…
Grassroots Church has been our home church for the past 10 years. It has played no small role in our spiritual journeys and an integral component to our social lives, our parenting approach, the development of our worldview, our approach to social issues and so much more. Through this community’s example, we have learned what intentionality looks like and what can be accomplished when intentionality is employed by a large group of people. Over the past decade, we have been…
I ’ve been told that properly stretching before a run is a smart idea. Of course, I rarely do it, but it’s probably a smart idea. Yesterday I went for a run and it felt good but after a cool down and shower I was sitting at the table when I mindlessly moved my leg only to be gifted a lovely Charlie Horse and the reminder that I should have, once again, stretched before the run. It’s a matter of…
We’ve got this incredible grapevine in the greenhouse attached to our house. You can almost watch it grow these days. Perfect conditions – easy access to ground water (which doesn’t bode well for our basement right beside it, but I digress); south facing so it’s getting tonnes of sunshine; and sitting inside the greenhouse, giving it a stable and much warmer climate than would have outside of that greenhouse. Our greenhouse is basically replicating a hillside in Italy. Well, aside…
To date, I’ve done 14 weeks of writing, which is no small feat for a top-notch procrastinator like me. When I set out to do this #2021WritingChallenge it was with the purpose of becoming a better writer and to form a discipline in my life that I could stick with. I’m not sure how well that discipline has been formed, as it turns out. I still struggle every day to write and it’s only my tenacity and pig-headedness that cause…
As an extrovert, quiet isn’t a commodity that holds a lot of value in my life. At least, not quiet for the sake of quiet. Quiet as a response to a migraine prompted by my kids’ bickering and complaining? Well, it’s hard to put a price tag on something of such value. I kid. Like anyone, I enjoy spurts of it here and there – but long noise-free periods of time has not historically been high on my list of…
We live according to our beliefs. “Beliefs” is an all-encompassing term encapsulating our convictions, our values, our understanding of reality and our constructs. The impetus that decides whether we stop and give $5 to a street person or keep walking is based on what we believe our moral obligation to be in that moment, how we believe that individual might spend that money, whether we believe we can spare the inconvenience and potential awkwardness of the interaction and whether we…
I love teaching. I’ve taught all kinds of things over the past 20 years or so. High school computer science; middle school math; web design; guitar (I don’t play guitar, so figure that one out), college communications and digital marketing. Quite the array of subject matter. My favourite thing to teach, though has been the Bible. Well, if I’m honest, it’s teaching in such a way that inspires, challenges and encourages and usually uses the Bible as the means to…
30 years ago I’m swimming in our neighbour’s pool. We aren’t very close with these neighbours but we’re friendly enough. We ride the bus together, skate on their rink in the winter and, well, swim in their pool. Their house is about 500m down the road from ours and they have a big property, 1.62 acres to be exact. The pool is massive, as far as home pools go, situated in a super warm greenhouse with a strong smell of…
Good morning, son; twenty years from now maybe we’ll both sit down and have a few beers Whenever I listen to “Still Fighting It” by Ben Folds, this one line just pops out. It materializes in my head, forming an image of what one day might be. As an aside, another line, “You’re so much like me, I’m sorry” is also capable of ripping apart my soul and would require more than a few therapy sessions and some serious self…
I grew up with the teaching that reading your Bible every day was one of the key traits of being a faithful Christian. We called this “personal devotions.” Personal was key here. There are times when we are to be in community learning together and then there are also times where it’s “just me and God” and all the distractions of the world and those around us are diminished so that we can clearly discern what it is that God…
It is somewhat serendipitous that my wife’s birthday landed smack dab in the middle of the week in which “simplicity” happened to be the word to write about for the #2021WordChallenge. I feel compelled, and in fact am eager to dedicate a week of my writing to the one who demonstrates to me the beauty and allure of simplicity every day. I’m also quite eager to share this photo of her. There’s been this thing over the past few years…
We have a Google device in each bedroom and in the main living area in our house. I am fully confident there is an increasingly growing group of computer nerds in Silicon Valley who, each morning grab their Starbucks, clock in and then pull up a chair around a table with a “Bill Family” label affixed to a speaker, ready to listen in on all the comings and goings of our exciting home life. I don’t blame them, really –…
Bizarro World Quantum theory is interesting. Well, at least it’s interesting when your entire reality has been shaped through a Newtonian understanding of the universe. When the A+B=C, static, binary approach to physics is all that you’ve been handed and therefore all that you have to make sense of reality, then quantum physics is downright baffling and literally beyond comprehension. In other words, this stuff is interesting for all of us. You just gotta dive in. Truth be told I…
I think I’m a pretty good guy to be around most of the time. When life is humming along, things are falling into place, and stress-inducers are at a minimum, I’m a tolerable dude. I handle my kids well, I dote on my wife, I smile a lot. Steve’s the life of the party when life goes swimmingly. But I have this thing. When I can’t find my wallet or my computer is on the fritz or the furnace gives…
My daughter’s been getting into the Art Hub for Kids thing lately. For those not in the know, Art Hub is a channel on YouTube with video after video of a dad and one of his kids drawing cartoon-y type pictures – ice cream cones, unicorn mermaids, Hatchimals, dinosaurs, emojis, etc. Basically, all the things 6 year olds go gaga over. Viewers are instructed step by step on how to draw and colour each picture. It’s basically that part of…
Last week’s #2021WritingChallenge Word of the Week was balance and this week’s is purpose so I’ve decided to combine the two into a long-winded, rambling post. Yikes. A conversation I had with a buddy this past summer has been sitting with me for months now. We had stopped to skip some rocks along a river during a hike and were discussing some of the deeper things of life. To be honest I don’t recall all the specifics of the convo…
This week’s #2021WritingChallenge is the word order. My eleven-year-old is reading Bruxy Cavey’s End of Religion right now. It’s a treatise on the toxicity of religion and how it is antithetical to everything Jesus was about. For those unversed in the ways of Bruxy (or unfamiliar with the actual portrayal of Jesus in the Bible), this may come off as counterintuitive – “Heh? Didn’t Jesus come to start a religion? Why would he be opposed to it?” But actually, it’s…
The week of January 8th’s #2021WritingChallenge is the word ground. At about 2:00am on December 4, 2020, my family and I were sleeping soundly when 2 strung out bad guys found their way into our living space through our attached garage. Exactly what their path of invasion was I’m not sure but they came into our living room, our kitchen and our entryway and snatched all of our computers, phones, devices and purse. They left through the same door they…
