New announcements.

As promised, here's the announcements for this week at TACF. Stay tuned for next week's extravaganza. I won't tell you exactly what they'll feature, but there's superheroes and a green screen involved.

We just went to the Smiths' place for their son's first birthday party. It was so good to hang out with people we haven't seen for a while. There was much talk of Wonderland, which is exciting, because we have our season's passes. Oh yeah! I love that water park. I love that we have lots of friends that we can not see for weeks or even months at a time, and then just pick up where we left off. I guess when you live in a place like Toronto, and go to a church like TACF, you have to be able to do that. Everyone is coming and going so much that basing a friendship on always being around each other often results in sadness.
More on that another time though. It's late, and Addie's just dropping off to sleep. She's so cute and cuddly, but it's definitely time for Mommy and Daddy to get some rest. I'll put some pictures of her up on here soon, or Beth will.

Just because I did a little movie review in my last post, I'll do the same again here. The night after we watched Lars and the Real Girl, we watched Juno. Seriously, it was fantastic. I loved the characters, the themes. I loved the way that you felt relationship with them, and really identified with them. The soundtrack was ridiculously good. Watch it, because it's a great movie, and it will break your heart.

One more thing: Beth and I have been talking about recently is starting a bluegrass band. Inspired by David Crowder and Hayseed Dixie, I busted out a little bit of bluegrass in worship at church the other night. Then I found out that a friend of ours plays the banjo. Beth loves the harmonica and wants a washboard. Then, tonight, we were hanging out with a Mr. John Patell. He nearly shrieked when I told him our plans, and said he'd been looking for a band to play the broomstick bass in. Keep your ears open for our first record...

Videos of all kinds...

Let me start by announcing that the TACF Video Announcements are now up on Youtube. As you can see, I've posted this week's edition right here on this post for your viewing pleasure. You can check out the last 4 announcements on there right now too, and I'll upload the new ones every week.
For those of you that don't know, one of my jobs here at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship is to write, film, direct and produce the video announcements each week. TACF has 7 congregations city-wide, and we use video announcements to let everyone know what's going on in the coming weeks, and also to introduce everyone to pastors and leaders that only one congregation would normally get to see.

Anyway, enjoy this week's edition. I have a slogan for the video announcements:
TACF Video Announcements - completely pointless after the event.

Also on the subject of films, I watched Lars and the Real Girl last night. When I first saw the posters, I thought that it looked kind of quirky and wanted to see it. Beth told me that it was about a man that has a relationship with a 'love doll' though, so my interest waned. I wasn't really up for seeing something like that. Then our neighbour lent us a copy that she got from the video store, and the reviews didn't seem to suggest it was anything like we'd expected.

The movie was incredible. I loved the cinematography - it was so well shot. The story was fantastic, and the characters were superb. Ryan Gosling blew us all away with his portrayal of a dillusional man with a troubled past.
The message behind the movie was very moving, and I think we all felt affected by it.
It was also, surprisingly, very clean. There was no bad language at all, and there were only two or three references to sex - all of them mild and in context. Great stuff. I totally recommend it.

Right then. Let me know what you think of the video announcements. If you have any good ideas for themes for future announcements, just post a comment on this blog. Till next time...

Moving Pictures...

A touch of Europe.

I know it's been a long time since I posted on here. I've been a bit distracted by my knitting blog of late. There's another little distraction in our life since I last blogged here too. Having Adelaide round is such a joy. She keeps surprising us, when she does something new, or when she loves being held by us. Sometimes, it's just amazing to wake up, and remember that we have a beautiful little daughter.
It's tiring too, though. Sleepless nights take their toll, and she needs so much attention at the moment. So we decided to take a little break.
We left Freshwind early this Easter, setting off at Lunchtime on Saturday, and heading to Montreal. We have a history with that wonderful city. We got engaged there, and also took our honeymoon there. It's such a fantastic place. It's very strange how much more European it feels than Toronto. It's not just the fact that they speak French, either. There's all the greeting with kisses, French food, and European architecture. You can even buy wine and beer in the grocery store (boy, do I miss that one).
What was surprising, was the part of Europe that I discovered while we were there. On Monday, just before we came home, we checked out of our hotel, and headed into Old Montreal. Needing some refreshment, we found a little cafe. When I took a look at the menu, I discovered that they would serve me Turkish coffee. Not only this, but they would prepare it at my table! I've been trying to do this myself for years now, and I think that I've learned fairly well. My only teacher was Google. But now, I had the chance to learn from a master.
Sure enough, when I ordered it, the owner of the cafe emerged with a burner on a trolley, and set about making the drink. I asked questions, he answered them, we laughed, and I enjoyed the pleasure of being served my favourite coffee in what seemed like the most unlikely place.
I ordered baklava with the coffee, and spent a good while enjoying the feeling of being on vacation in Europe. I love North America, but I do miss Europe sometimes. I miss the variety of places you can visit, the traditions, the culture. I miss the fact that you can visit the other side of the continent for very tiny amounts of money. I miss being able to visit a coffee shop and order a coffee that tastes different from the last 50 coffees I ordered.

If you fancy trying the delights of the coffee at A Propos the next time you're in the Montreal area, you can find it here. It was delicious, by the way.

Can you still feel the butterflies?

See the pyramids around the Nile
Watch the sun rise from the tropic isle
Just remember darling all the while
You belong to me"
- Jason Wade, You Belong to Me

Yesterday we celebrated our first wedding anniversary and it was absolutely delightful.
It is amazing to think that I've lived and done 'life' with my best friend for one whole year. Not only that, but there are so many more years to come. Through the good times, the bad times, the waiting times, the rushed times, the tearful times...wherever we live, whoever we have around us...there are more wonderful wonderful wonderful years to come.
And there will no doubt be more lessons on teamwork, friendship, patience, honour, oneness, and love to be embraced. Make no mistake- marriage isn't boring or dull, it is exhilerating.
But at the same time, our God's timing is perfect and He isn't in a hurry...so don't rush anything :)


Forgive me if I have quoted these Ben Folds lyrics before, but it is one of our songs, and always seems to help me put into words how ridiculously blessed I feel to have Mark as my husband.


I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

quote of the week

"Grandchildren - God's reward to you for not killing your kids."

so it was YOU all along...

Adelaide Selah Hardy

Born Wednesday February 6th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

Weighing in at 6 pounds 12 ounces


We have a little daughter! WooOOooHooOOOoooooo! What a princess.
She was born in a snow storm as we predicted, and her arrival took a total of fifteen hours at North York General Hospital.

Adelaide means 'of nobility, or of noble kind'
This name was imported to England by Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the wife of William IV of Great Britain. She gave her name to the South Australian city of Adelaide. In contemporary literature of the time, Adelaide was frequently used as a name for upper-class, elegant women.
St Adelaide of Italy lived in the tenth century. She was heir to the throne of Italy and married Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor. She was made a saint on account of her good deeds towards the poor.
Adelaide of Aquitaine was the wife of French king Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty.

Selah means 'a pause for rest and reflection'
This word occurs seventy-one times in thirty-nine of the Psalms and is thought to indicate a pause for reflection similar to the word Amen.


We can't wait for you to meet her, guys. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts for all your excitement and encouragement... she must feel so welcome!!!

from the east end to the west end

By this time next week we will definitely have met our little son or daughter, as the Doc will induce labour on Friday if there is no action before then. Hmmm...not too keen on the inducing idea, but whatever. Although I am feeling very heavy (heavy isn't even the word...it is so hard to describe) at the moment, when we peered out from our balcony the city looked too deliciously beautiful to stay in. Mark and I decided to venture out early and once again spend a Saturday down Queen West area.
We enjoyed it so much last time and hadn't explored nearly enough. So many artsy shops... so little time!

On the way to the subway we admired our funny neighbourhood. You'll see the pictures above. There were parents all over the place, out making snowmen with their kids. They were full-on rolling around, getting wet, messy and cold. One mom was getting attacked by her children who were mercilessly throwing snowballs at her head and face. Well, I hope they were her children. She laughed it off. It was so cute to watch and got us both very excited to have the perfect excuse to play in the snow now- our kid! Yipeeeeee! Oh, let the baby come soOOOon!

Two Christmases ago, Mark gave me this gorgeous coffee table- type book about snow.
I love it. Here are some random facts from that book, Let It Snow!, that might help you sound clever when sharing them with friends as you are strolling along in the snow next time:
- No two snowflakes are alike, but they do fall in seven basic types: star, needle, hexagonal, dendrite, irregular, column and capped column
-A snowflake falls at a rate of about 3 miles an hr, about 6x slower than a raindrop.
- Little was known about these exquisite crystals until late 19th century when a farmer from Vermont named Bentley began investigating them. He was the first person to photograph snowflakes, and dedicated 50yrs to their study.
- The heaviest fall of snow was in Silver Lake, Colorado on 14th-15th Apr. 1921. 74 inches fell!
Now I must go keep myself busy so as to keep my racing mind off of waiting for the baby. Last night I watched Braveheart for the first time (I know, I know...what took me so long?!?!?!) and now look forward to being back in Stirling, Scotland where an enormous statue of William Wallace stands tall. I didn't fully appreciate it last time.
I don't really feel like another movie tonight. Maybe tonight we'll have an extra romantic dinner since it is still just the two of us...

Until next time, the soooo close almost-parents

Christmas time...

Christmas is a funny time for me.
When you marry someone from another country, like I did when I married Beth, you put yourself in a difficult position at this time of the year. Traditionally, of course, Christmas is a time for family. For gathering together and celebrating the birth of Christ with those closest to you. When you marry, you form a new family, but you also keep the one that you had, and gain another one too.
Because my family is in England, and Beth's family is here in Toronto, we're left with the choice of who we spend Christmas with. If both our families were in England, even some distance apart, we could come up with a reasonable solution - my parents, my sister and I always visited my mum's side of the family just before Christmas, with our immediate family on Christmas day, and with my dad's side on Boxing day. That's not really possible with a 3500 mile plane ride separating our families now.
We've been doing this for some time now. Last year, we spent Christmas in England - our last Christmas before we were married. Beth came to visit mid-December, and we stayed at my parents' place for the holiday. The year before, when I proposed to Beth, I had come to visit her in Toronto, and we celebrated with her family.
This year, we were in Toronto too - the decision of where we would be was largly made for us by the advanced stage of Beth's pregnancy.

All this to say, we had an amazing time this year. We spent time with friends, we spent time with Beth's family. We went out for a meal on Christmas day, and we had a nice quiet Boxing Day at home, just the two of us (well, three, I guess).
Certainly we missed my family, although the blow of this was softened by the fact that my parents surprised us with a visit three weeks ago.

Christmas can be a tricky time for families, but in many cases, it is what you make it. Just because I didn't get to see my family over Christmas, it didn't stop me remembering what a great time we'd had the previous year, or thinking about visiting them next year, or even from celebrating with them in some small way; as we opened presents from them, they opened presents from us and we spoke on the phone.
In the future, we may find that we live in a completely different country from all of our family - that's something that is yet to be revealed to us - but Beth and I will be together. I guess that's why it's so important to start our own family traditions at Christmas. Especially with a new member of the family about to join us...

Happy New Year everyone, hope you all had, are having, and will continue to have an incredible holiday, whoever you're with.
Love.

(Apologies to someecards.com for stealing their lovely image used in this blog.)

I look psycho when I laugh

So, whilst procrastinating today (there are two essays I should be churning out) I found these two ridiculous pictures that made me jump. Hahahaha....how scary.
Ooooooooh I should be researching right now. One paper has to do with the Cuban Revolution and one is on Aboriginal rights and quality of life within Canada...yeahhhhhhhhhhh.

I know. Before that, I'll let you know that the countdown to Mark's twenty-sixth birthday has officially begun: t minus *22 days* WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Here are some nifty present ideas... he likes comedy movies, british comedians, classic literature and mystery novels, games, ginger, cakes, rock music, hockey, cryptic crosswords, graphic design, cats and silliness. Alrighty?

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!

Four Weddings And...Another Wedding?

Two down and three to go! I've never had an Autumn like this before...

I don't get tired of weddings. Ever. Ok ok, this is partly because I love to dress up and dance like the rest of you party animals (I don't get out much), but the big fat MAIN reason is because nothing feels better than celebrating love. L-O-V-E.
I sit in the pew while the bride clutches her dad's arm down the loooooong aisle and re-feel all of that nervousness, excitement, and emotion of our wedding (give me a break it was only 8 months ago). It makes me want to BURST but I end up just subtly tearing up into a kleenex and leaving it in the slot for the hymn books.

On Laura and Brett's day, Mark's dad spoke about resonating with God. He pointed out that when we find ourselves celebrating love, marriage, committment, security and family... our hearts resonate with the Creator of it all. This was a timely reminder for all of us present.
No matter how near or far we felt from the Lord, we were on the same page as Him when we willfully supported and witnessed the union of two of His favorite people. Pete went on to illustrate this with a tuning fork. We all hushed to hear the note fill the stone church in Carlton.
The foundation of the church is over 1000 years old!

This past weekend on Jacob and Carolyn's day I remembered that clear note coming from the little tuning fork. I was resonating right there with God the Father as he cheered his children on.
The day went really well, and the night was exceptional...yes Mark, even though they played Hip Hop. It was a blast. The baby, who is now GROWING like CRAZY seemed to like it seeing as I didn't ralph after all that spaghetti and meat balls. But wait, he/she doesn't like Yorkshire puddings so does this mean our baby has an Italian palette? Hmmm...

Best. Video. Ever.

There's no such thing as a jaggy snake...

Biffy Clyro. If you haven't heard them, you should do. Watch them live here. Really, do it.

Oh, I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside...

Wow. We're back in the UK. It's my sister's wedding next Saturday, so we're over here getting ready for the big day. It's been quite emotional at times; this is the first time we've seen my family since our wedding, and so it follows the first time we've seen them since we got the news that we're pregnant. There were lots of tears at the airport, and when we got back to my parents' house, there were more.
My parents and my sister had gone a bit crazy with the baby clothes shopping, and presented us with about 6 bags of clothes. Some of them hand knitted by my mum. Incredible. There were also some things from when I was a baby, saved for this sort of thing, no doubt. We're getting quite a collection for the littlest Hardy, what with the stuff that Beth's mum has already gotten us at home.

Well, it's amazing here. The weather wasn't so good at first, but it's all got rather nice the last few days. It was particularly hot the day we went to North Yorkshire's Heritage Coast; visiting Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay (where the pictures were taken) and Scarborough.
Whitby was beautiful as always, but I haven't been there in the height of summer for years, and I'd forgotten how crowded it all gets. You could barely move. We did, however, escape from the hustle and bustle by popping into Sander's Yard for delicious cakes. I also enjoyed a tasty bottle of cider. Oh, the joys of England.
We moved on to Robin Hood's Bay, an old fishing village once very popular with smugglers, now very popular with families. The beach is clean, and full of rock pools, of the sort that you can find small crabs in. There's also a good amount of slate to be found, and within this slate, fossils. We hunted for the preserved remains of ancient creatures for a little while, and came away with a few good examples of shells, and some average ammonites. I haven't been fossil hunting with my dad for a long time, and it was rather fun.

Finally, our journey took us to Scarborough, where we were surrounded by chavs, scallies, pikeys and the likes. Lovely stuff. We took Marine Drive down to the town, and marvelled at the beautiful water, looking more like the Mediteranean than the North Sea. Like I say, I haven't been in the summer for a long time. We parked under the castle at the foot of the cliffs, and wandered past the fairground towards the sea front. Oh, man. It was rough. But it's all good fun, and you have to have the dirt and grime for it to be a real English seaside town, don't you? We ate fish and chips from Winking Willy's, where they still fry everything in beef dripping (it's terribly bad for you, but it tastes so much better that way). We spent ages in an amusement arcade, putting plenty of small change into the 2p pushers in an attempt to win a fortune (it never happens). Our last port of call was to be the Harbour Bar; an ice cream parlour on the seafront, but it was closed by the time we got there, so we returned to the car, tired and happy.

And that was that. We've been having a great time. We went out in Worksop with some old friends last night, and enjoyed the bank holiday weekend. James (my best man) is coming over today, and it's going to be great to see him. We went to Nottingham, and saw Rob Littler at a frisbee tournament, spent some time in the peak district, conquering Mam Tor, and headed to Leeds to see some old friends from my days in that wonderful city. We shopped in York, and enjoyed a cream tea at The Crossing in Worksop. The girls are off to Manchester tomorrow to do some shopping, while me and the boys enjoy a lovely game of football at Hillsborough (very stereotypical, I know).

I'm sure there'll be more to fill you in on by the end of the trip. It's fantastic being on vacation, and really exciting getting ready for Laura and Brett's wedding. No doubt Beth will be itching to fill you in on this stuff in a few days. Until next time, ta ta.

a bun in the oven

Have you heard????

In May we were suprised, pleased, amazed, and overwhelmed to find out that we're going to have a wee little baby! Yep, there is a real person inside my belly and it has a spirit, a brain, a heart beat, a nervous system, arms, wrists, legs, toes and more.

As hard as it is, we're leaving the gender a secret and finding out when we meet the little guy or gal. That should be some time around the 29th of January, 2008. I wonder who he/she will look like...

How do we feel about it? Good question. We're over the moon.
We found out first by three at home pregnancy tests, and then got the news confirmed at North York General Hospital.
While there are many decisions, changes, and plans to make, we are learning as we go. We have so many questions...as you can imagine.

I'm slowly getting over the sicky/exhaustion phase and not showing at all yet. But as time goes on it will all become more real and more close I guess. Mark is being a legend as usual, and reading constantly about what the baby is experiencing and doing. You might have had him enthusiastically educate you already.

What a busy time. We are starting the Leaders School at TACF next week, which will be oh so timely and amazing (I miss school so much I'm el desperado to take notes!). We also just recently found an excellent apartment for the fall which is within walking distance to Ryerson Uni- my new place of study and second home.
The countdown is on until we leave for Miss Laura Hardy's wedding in England this August and maybe after aaaaall that the baby will start kicking.

More updates to come...

Revelations...

As part of my internship, I went to a Prophetic Equipping School this week.

I've always been fascinated by the prophetic, and my dad is clearly a prophet, so it was incredible to have the chance to spend a couple of days dedicated to learning more about this incredible gift.

There's way too much to write here about prophecy and the prophetic, so I'll stick to a few key points that I've picked up, both this week, and in the past few years.
When we accept Christ as our saviour, and receive Him into our hearts, we become able to prophesy. The way that I understand this is that it doesn't mean that we have a particular prophetic anointing, but that if we open ourselves up to it, and God speaks to us, we have the ability to prophesy. I also believe that we can receive a prophetic anointing that marks the anointed as a Prophet, and there are several things that come with that.

God's heart is to reveal his love for his people. If you look at the Old Testament, there is a string of prophets, whose job it was to reveal God's love for the people. Sometimes this wasn't quite what they wanted to hear, because they had strayed so far from His plan for them that they needed disciplining. God never disciplines out of hate, but always out of love, so if a prophet brought a word that appeared discouraging to the Israelites, it was only so that they could be brought back into line with His perfect plan.

We have for several years now seen a revival of the post of prophet in the Church. This excites me, because I want to know God's heart for his people. Prophecy takes various forms. God's word can be revealed through pictures, visions, dreams, interpretation of dreams, the scriptures, impressions, words popping into the head, and sometimes the audible voice of God, to name but a few of the most common ones.

Why is prophecy coming to the forefront of God's people again? I don't know. All I know is that when a prophetic word is brought, it's used for the encouragement of the Church, and for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. It's for God's glory, and it's to reveal his heart for his people.

Hmmm. Some stuff to think about.