not ashamed

I was just on a website called www.prisoneralert.com, a branch of the large Voice of the Martyrs ministry. On it there are pictures and life stories of prisoners from all around the world: Vietnam, Indonesia, Eritrea and many more. All of them have one thing in common- they are in prison for their faith. I can't imagine what their world is like...

You can write letters to them and the UN right on the website. Have a look.

Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It's quiet up here...

Well, we've moved into our new place. I've dreamt about living in Downtown Toronto ever since I first came here to visit in Spring 2001.
We were really blessed with the place - we just wanted somewhere close to Beth's school to make it easy for her to get there, and somewhere cheap. We ended up with the most amazing apartment. Just check out the view from our balcony. I eat breakfast while looking at the city skyline every morning.

Things are taking some interesting turns at the moment. Beth is looking more and more pregnant every day. She's 24 weeks pregnant tomorrow, so we're nearly into the 3rd trimester. Not long now until I get to hold my beautiful baby son or daughter. If I put my hand on Bethany's tummy, I can now feel the baby moving around. Man, that thing can kick. It's like Bruce Lee meets Chuck Norris in there.
We launched the North York Church a couple of weeks ago. It's going so well. We had John Arnott speak on Sunday, and he talked about how he sees us being a Church that sees many people saved. That's cool, eh? You can download his message for TACF North York here.
Beth and I are speaking this week, on Hearing God's Voice.
This is seeming to be a really busy Fall, but then again, it was a busy Summer, and a busy Spring. And the Winter was rather hectic too. I'm starting to notice a pattern emerging.

Let's recap:
I moved to Canada in January, we got married in February. Came back off honeymoon, and helped to run a huge youth conference. In April, we got pregnant, and in May we started preparations for TACF North York. In June and July, we did the Leaders' School of Ministry, and shortly after that, August took us to England for my sister's wedding. Returning from there in early September, I drove to Texas for Jacob's wedding, driving back in one go, me the only driver, a week later. Then to Peterborough for Tim & Kathryn's wedding, and finally, last Friday to Laura and John's. With the launch of a church in the middle, and the preparations for a baby. And a move of apartments. Oh, man. I'm tired just writing it.

So, this is a busy time. But I notice that we're slowing down a bit too, in preparation for the baby. Tonight we walked to the Eaton Centre (yep, we're close enough to do that now...) to buy me a new Fall jacket (I left my old one in Texas). Last night we stayed in too. I don't think we have any big plans for tomorrow night either. We're busy alright, but we're just taking some time for ourselves too.
It's a little bit like our apartment here up on the 19th floor. The road and everything is busy down below - it never stops. The elevators are constantly full of people. But the walls here are concrete, and it's all rather quiet and peaceful really.

Right, I'm off to sit on the couch with my lovely wife. I might just see if that baby will give me a roundhouse kick too.

hair therapy

There is nothing like ending an insanely busy week at the salon.
Something about sitting there in the chair being waited on hand and foot while someone else drips with sweat all to make you look and feel fabulous.

And the smell of freshly groomed hair? You know that smell ladies........sigh.

So it was a long week... now back to the books for me. I've got three assignments on the go- tata!

urban bliss

Ooooooooooooh the joys of moving. We are settling into our new corner of the world at Wellesley and Sherbourne. Who knew representin' the East side could be so fun. Here are some perks of our nineteenth floor apartment:

-the view of the CN Tower and lake
-the Food Basics directly underneath the building
-the free ESL classes in the building
-the sauna and workout facilities
-the 15min walk to school and 20min walk to the Eaton Centre
-our French Canadian neighbour

The list goes on...


Come and visit, ok? We have lots of treats!