This and That

I have had several conversations this week with young men who are battling through different struggles in life and at certain points within each of those conversations the same topic came up which has struck a strong conviction within me. Whatever the struggle was for each individual they all got to a place in which they said something along the lines of "I am ________, I know it is a negative quality of who I am and I wish I could change it." I too have been caught saying something similar about myself and this week, through God-centered conversation, I was provided some Biblical truth about God and His creation. When we read about God's creation story in Genesis we see that once He had finished each stage of creation He said that it was "good" and when he created man and woman it was "very good". We don't see any negatives, anything that needs changing up until Adam and Eve make a decision on their own to eat from the tree of the knowledge of ...

There is a serious issue in my life and the life of many believers within the body of Christ; the Church. That issue - we are misinformed! I would like to make it very clear here that I am speaking to myself on this issue. I have been misinformed for years about the Christian faith and it has been a huge detriment to my growth in relationship with God and me effectiveness as a disciple of Christ. Okay, let's get on with it then... I don't read the Bible nearly enough. Ya, I know, that's so old school and conservative of me. NO! It really isn't. It's just plain silly. I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ and I don't know as much as I should about who God says He is and what that means for my life and the whole of Creation. That's a problem as far as I can tell. This problem has been the cause of huge amounts of hypocrisy within the Church over the years and we need to learn from it. I need to learn from it! So what's my issue? Why am I not spendi...

Truth is a, beautifully, frightful thing. You will likely have heard the saying 'The truth shall set you free' a few times in your life. I have experienced this freedom many times in my life and I cherish those moments because truth really does set you free. Free from what? Well, lets face it; we are all pretty messed up. If you've read this blog in the past then you'll know that I have some pieces from my life that I am not proud of, but revealing the truth about the ugly has in fact brought a makeover. Truth frees us from fear, doubt, feelings of inadequacy, shame, anger, the list can go on. I believe that all of those negative emotions that I just mentioned are a call back to truth. A call back to the life we were created to live. Let me speak from experience for a moment. When I conduct myself in a manner that brings forth feelings of shame and fear it is always inevitable that along with those emotions come a strong conviction to speak the truth about my own huma...

"If I can be an example of getting sober, Then I can be an example of starting over." - Macklemore The artist above who I have quoted is referring to his dependency to alcohol that he has battled against for a large portion of his life. Although my struggle has not been with alcohol, those of you who have followed this blog will know, my struggle with pornography. When I wrote "Death to Life" I had a strong feeling that my struggle with pornography was over. The Lord had freed me from that heavy burden and allowed me to move on. I received an overwhelming amount of support from friends and family and my ministry to men struggling through the same dependency grew dramatically. I received many blessings after posting "death to life" and I praise The Lord for that but today I must praise The Lord for the continued struggle that has com...

"The Bible is bananas!" Think about some of the stories that you read in the Bible. They really are bananas, as in, they blow your mind. My mind is blown pretty much every time I open the Holy Book. Today for instance, I read the story of the Transfiguration found in Luke chapter 9:28-36. This is the story of Jesus taking John, Peter and James up a mountain and proceeding to meet with Moses and Elijah. By the way, Moses and Elijah are long past dead, just an important note. It is also important to note that Jesus, Moses and Elijah are shining as bright as the sun in a moment of heavenly glorification! I'm putting myself in one of the disciples sandals and all i can think is "this is bananas!" If you don't know the story please find a Bible, google the Bible, do whatever you gotta do and read the account; it's bananas!  So, we've established that my mind was blown by this passage and after I recovered from the blow I thought to myself "what ...

I pray that those who read this would see a glimpse of the amazing love of Jesus Christ and nothing else. Yes, it is from the story of Jason Keegstra's life but this story would never have come to be without Jesus Christ at the centre. I've lived a very blessed life. I praise The Lord now because I am able to recognize his goodness that he has offered to me. I understand now that I am worthy of his gift of eternal life through Jesus death and resurrection and I can live in freedom because he has revealed that to me. What you don't yet know is that for years I lived a privileged life but it was often void of any thankfulness because I was robbing myself from living with Jesus. I was living a life of habitual sin that took me further and further away from God and deeper and deeper into death. Life was only ever about me, even though I lived out a life of service, it was done out of guilt and shame in hopes of saving myself from God's judgement against the way I was livi...

Those who know me at all know that I have a love for sneakers. They are my art. I read through various street wear websites and blogs on a weekly basis and today I came across an article about the CEO of Nike; Mark Parker. The article said something that got thinking about the way I approach ministry. It is something that I have always believed and this one sentence become very faith affirming for me today. Here is what the blog had to say about Nike... "Everything that Nike does from the top down is considered from a design perspective, not a sales, product, or marketing perspective." In the world of big business profit margins often dominate the conversations and intern dominate the end product. Not within Nike though. Nike has been committed to design and quality from the beginning and there is no doubt that they are the largest shoe company in the world. Not only in terms of sales, but more importantly, in terms of cultural influence. Nike hasn't allowed themselve...