September 11th revisited...

Today we bow our heads to remember the tragedy on September 11th. Since this is the first time September 11th has fallen on a Sunday since the incident I thought I would simply repost the article from last year:

Why did God allow Sept 11th to happen?


Here's the way I look at September 11th:

1. God looked down and saw a mighty and rebellious nation (U.S.A.) and wondered if there was a way to humble it and bring it back to Him.
2. God also saw a little country called Afghanistan, which was ruled by the Taliban and had restricted His gospel. He needed a way to get rid of the Taliban and open up that country to the gospel.
3. With that in mind, God looked down and saw a guy named Osama Bin Laden who was scheming to blow up the trade center.
4. God "allowed" Bin Laden's plans to prosper, so that both of His objectives could be accomplished and people in both countries would repent, and cry out to Him........

More here

The streak has ended

Well folks it is with sorrow in my heart that I am reporting the end of the Sylas toilet streak. Last night we were out with Jason & Joy. I was talking with Jason when he got a concerned look on his face and said "Is something wrong with Sylas"? Turning to the young lad I noticed a familiar scene. Face Red. Grunting sounds. Distressed complexion. Jason thought he was choking. I knew better. One whiff of the child told me that this was the end of the potty training for now. He had soiled his drawers for the first time in 5 days!

So there you have it folks, Sylas' toilet streak has ended at 5. We'll see what the future has in store. Let's see if we can potty train this child by 2 year old!

Brethren helping

Shawn Abigail, who runs www.saved.com and writes for Uplook occasionally has set up a website to update folks on how brethren assemblies in the Gulf Coast area are dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The site is located at http://brethrenhelping.blogspot.com/

The boyz are back

Well it was with a bit of uncertainty that Hayley and I went to the chapel last night to kick off our weekly friday night basketball outreach. I had sent out emails to the guys, seen them at their highschools, told them on MSN and called them, but I wasn't sure if they would show up this week, seeing as it was the first week of school.

I'm very happy to report that we had a good turnout and more importantly a good response to the message. Over 20 guys that we know showed up, which means the Lord has helped us to maintain contact with these guys. Last year at this time an entire "wave" of kids disappeared because their "leader" had run away from home and so they just stopped showing up. Over the past year we had put alot of time and effort into the new "wave" and I was afraid that we might have the scenario of a complete turnover this year. Thankfully God has answered our prayers and continues to work in the lives of these teens! Thank you Lord for drawing people to yourself!

It was just like old times as Clayon, Kevin, Deshawn, Jamoy, Kellz, Cookie, Jordie, Sebastian and others poured through the doors. Katherine after that with her Ipod shuffle. Kyle, Dominique and Sabrina after that. A few other late stragglers got to hear the message.

I preached through Revelation 8,9 & 10 talking comparing this warning from scripture with the warning the folks in New Orleans had. I challenged the guys to not ignore the warning but to repent, trust Jesus, start coming to church and reading the Bible. 3 of the guys immediately wanted Bibles, or said that they would bring their own Bible from home next week. This was very encouraging as we had talked about increasing the Bible study, but weren't sure how that would go over with the guys. The community kids were keen to not only study with us on the Friday, but come to our home to study with us, and hopefully we'll see them on Sunday.

It just goes to show you that prayer and love works. We pray for these guys, love them despite their challenges and God continues to bring them out. I'm looking forward to big things this year. Please pray with us, as I can see a breakthrough coming! The soil is good. The teens are interested and keep coming back. The Word is the focus. Christ is lifted up. Please pray for our first youth rally Saturday, September 24th that it would be a turning point for some of these guys and that we would be able to hook them up in discipleship relationships with older believers.

The sayings of Sylas v2

Today at the dinner table I was reading bible stories to Lukas. Turning to the picture of Moses and the red sea I asked Lukas "Do you remember the story of Moses? What did he do". From the corner of the room Sylas answered

...let people go...no

. It's encouraging to know that a 1.7 year old can understand and enjoy the Bible stories too!

The sayings of Sylas V1

Well folks, you've enjoyed the first 7 installments of "The sayings of Lukas", but today we present to you a new feature on the blog "The sayings of Sylas"!! That's right, our second little boy is having so much fun learning to speak that we had to share the joy with all of you! Here's the first installment:

Today we were going out the door to take the kids to the zoo. I buckled Sylas in his car seat and he gave me his award-winning smile. I gave him a kiss and started a brief conversation:

Daddy: Sylas, where are we going?
Sylas: ...Poop
Daddy: (thinking uh-oh dirty diaper) Oh no, Sylas did you poop?
Sylas: No, animal poop

And the winner is...

On the discussion forum, Rob Jones of South Africa registered post # 10,000 recently - here!! Rob runs a site called "South African Bible Believers" - here which has a similar discussion forum for brethren in Africa! Great to see how God is working all over the world! Congratulations Rob!

September loggin in

30Sept05 - fri - cross movement concert (with 12 & Dave Burridge) Jesse, Josh, Sebastian, Clayon, Kyle, Jamoy, Kellz, Cookie, Kevin, Frank, Noah, Davian
29Sept05 - thurs - read to daycare kids, tracts @ MAC, speak at Awana
28Sept05 - wed - prayer
27Sept05 - tues - Zoo with bondts, 7PM Hayley@hospital for course
26Sept05 - mon, tues, wed - bondts stay over
25Sept05 - sun - BofB, FBH with Clayon, Kevin, Jamoy, Akeem, Kellz, Lunch at Evalines
24Sept05 - sat - Open House, Hayley at McMaster conference 9-3, CRUX -> 200 kids from 16 churches
23Sept05 - fri - youth
22Sept05 - thurs - read to daycare, lunch steve vance, highschools, awana,
21Sept05 - wed - prayer with elders, hayley at doctor, lunch with BY, tracts @ highschools, Takish install wires, prayer meeting
20Sept05 - tues - office, Hayley speaks at Ladies fellowship meeting
18Sept05 - sun - BofB, FBH (9 youth - 4 below plus josh, quentin, novella, kelisha), 8 over for lunch (kellz, cookie, clayon, josh, quentin, alpha, jordan, nabil), dinner at Derek & Maggies in Mississaugua.
17Sept05 - sat - Leaside Feast with 4 youth (kellz, jamoy, kevin, cookie)
16Sept05 - fri - office, 32 @ youth, tony hamilton speaker
15Sept05- thurs - office, videos@highschools with Nigel, awana
14Sept05- Wed - Pumpkin hunt planning meeting
11Sept05- sun - BofB, FBH,
10Sept05- sat - Prayer n share, Day of Prayer! Jason & Joy's
09Sept05- fri - First B-unit basketball (over 20), ESL teachers meet upstairs
08Sept05 - thurs - Lukas sick
07Sept05- wed - prayer meeting
06Sept05- tues - first day of school, tracts @ HS
05Sept05- mon - Mark Jenkinson rooftop labour day party
04Sept05- sun - BofB, FBH (2 new families, Lukas' friend Kelsie comes to church with her mom)
03Sept05- Sat - zoo
02Sept05- fri -
01Sept05- thurs- read to daycare kids, filming downtown with Nigel, dinner at Jason & Eders

Saul has posted his thousands, David has posted his tens of thousands!

Well folks the discussion forum is set to go over the 10,000 post mark in the next few days! Thanks to everyone who has made the forum such a success! Currently it's sitting at 9972 posts and, like every other good thing here on the athensBlog, we're going to celebrate with a contest! Whoever registers post nubmer 10,000 gets a special rank of their choosing. Ranks are those little titles next to your name that change as your total posts increase. If you're the lucky winner you get to choose a custom rank like "Grand-daddy", "Master & Commander", or just plain "Emporer", whatever you want!

The contest is open to everyone who is registered on the forum...so, if you haven't registered, just go to the discussion forum - here - register and start posting! Good luck everyone! We'll let you know who the winner is soon!

Thank you to John Doe

Just wanted to say thank you to the person who gave us an anonymous donation through MSC during the month of July. We really appreciate your generosity :) If you're reading this we wanted you to know that your donation covered all our expenses for the trip to PEI, for the Seed Sowers campaign! You enabled us to do more for the Lord, by your obedience to him. So God bless you..whoever you are...for your cheerful giving! God knows and will reward you :)

God's judgement weather service reporting

Thanks to Black Domina for the link to the US National Weather Service - here - warning for Hurrican Katrina.

Here is the text of the New Orleans warning

URGENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA......

DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.

DO NOT VENTURE OUTDOORS!

Reading over this warning of certain destruction made me think of the judgement in Noah's day, and the judgement still to come. Unavoidable. "Certain death". "Will be destroyed". Imagine the warnings Noah would have given before the flood came, or if they had forecasts back then what the weatherman would have said if he knew the flood was coming! "Do not venture outdoors. Leave all your belongings behind. Go inside the ark or certain death awaits you"

It's also sobering reminder that God will judge this world eventually. Final judgement is coming, and it will be alot worse than this hurricane. The Bible states that Jesus will return with "in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don't know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction, forever separated from the Lord". That's alot of people. That's some serious destruction. If you're reading this and you aren't a Christian, it's time to listen to God's warning. All of us have sinned. Judgement is coming. Trusting Jesus is the only way to be saved from God's everlasting wrath. More info here

Another day, another shooting

Driving home tonight and heard those familiar words on the radio..."a man has been shot in the Victoria Park & Morecambe area" - click here. Seems a 19 year old was shot, but his injuries aren't life threatening. We drove by and saw that familiar scene. Police tape, police cars, CTV news. Now we'll just wait to find out from our youth group kids who it was that was shot. Please pray for this area. Since the last shooting (3 weeks ago) CityTV has posted a good video about the incident with a clip of the area - here

Back in the swamp

We're back. Lots to catch up on. Pray for the new "season" of ministry. Lots of exciting things and great helpers so pray and let's watch God do his thing (as David Fisher says :) More tomorrow

Jabe Nicholson's "Good News on the move" initiative

For a few weeks now there's been some chatter on the discussion forum - here about a new initiative by Jabe Nicholson. I'm not sure if it's called "Good news now" or "Christian field training" but whatever it's called, it's about time! Jabe has proposed a travelling team of about 12 men, starting in September. This team will rome around North America doing evangelism and helping struggling assemblies! Sounds good to me. The article isn't online on the Uplook site yet, but when it is I'll let you know.

But I'm wondering how this will go over in most assemblies? Will elders be open to "help"? Would yours? Would your assemby admit it's "struggling"? What would this travelling team accomplish? Is this what the assemblies need? More on the discussion forum - here

Quick update from PEI

Well folks we're just back here in Charlottetown. First a picture of Matt's head:. Things are healing well. Thanks for the prayer.
As for the Seed-sowers we're all done! Over 50,000 texts! It's been loads of work, but it was good to know that the seed has been sown. Pray now for the assemblies here, and for labourers on the island to "water" this seed! We wouldn't want the mormons to "get the increase" of our sowing :) As for us, we're here at MacLeods fixing the brakes on our van. More soon.

Pray for Matt

Just on a dial-up connection here. Hayley's brother Matthew had a serious accident at the camp here in PEI yesterday. He went down the water slide and hit his head on a concrete block. They rushed him to the hospital but pray that he'll have no long-term damage. More soon.

*Update* We saw Matt today and he is doing better. We took this picture, but it ain't pretty

Very quick update from summerside

Hi everyone, I found a wireless connection so I have a very little update.
Everyone is doing great, thanks for your prayers. We've completed the city of summerside, so pray that people would come out to the "bible expo" in the city's main market. Yesterday we covered Tignish, had a great chat with a lady named Carmen, who's dad used to run the lighthouse on North Cape. We went up and saw the very western point of PEI. More soon! :) Thanks again for your prayers

Hi from PEI

Well it's Saturday morning and we're here on "the island". No major issues with the drive so we thank God for keeping us safe! Here's how the trip went:

- Thursday night we picked up Linda Peric (athensblog team member) from the aiport. She's in town for "Upward bound", the Sandy Macheachern camping/bible trip in Waterloo. We had a great time catching up with her about the past year where she was teaching in Cyprus.
- Veronica got dropped of as well for the trip and so the three girls chatted till the wee hours while I tried to get some sleep
- We got up at 3AM and loaded up the car. To my shagrin, gas had gone up to 99.1 and we filled up before we left. The highest we got gas for on the trip was 107.9. I was hoping to see *this* meteor shower, but the sky was overcast.
- The trip was pretty uneventful, we had the laptop set up for the kids to watch Dora and Bob the builder so they were pretty good.
- We stopped for lunch in Rimouski, where Sidney Crosby played Jr hockey. It was seriously french and we had a burger at a "poulet frit" chip stand by some beautiful scenery. Hopefully I'll get a picture or video up but don't hold your breath.
- The rest of the trip through New Brunswick was good and when we got to the PEI confederation bridge we let Veronica drive over, since she has her G1. We figured that it was a bridge, and not a major highway so she'd be OK if the cops pulled her over. Well, the funny thing was that right on the other side was a police check!! :) But they were just checking for seat-belts & registration and let us keep going :) So Veronica can now say she has driven across the bridge!

All for now, we're at Hayley's parents in Charlottetown and we should get into Emmanuel Bible Camp tonight where everyone is staying (and where I doubt they'll have internet access). Thanks for your prayers! We'll try to keep you updated.

Fulfilling the great commission on PEI

Tomorrow we leave for PEI to take part in the "Seed Sowers" campaign. Seed Sowers is a group that prints 8.5 x 11 John 3:16 texts in little packets. These packets can be distributed personally or by a group. The assemblies in PEI got together and decided that every single person on the island should get one of these and so next week we will attempt to put one packet in every home in all of PEI! Over 50,000 packets! Pray for this effort and everyone who will be helping!

Clayon's mom in the paper

If you remember a few days ago, there was a shooting on the street where Clayon lives. Today on the front page of our local Scarborough paper there was an article about the shooting along with an interview from Clayon's mom, Glenda! She was the one who came to church for the first time on Sunday.

Click here for the entire article from the Scarborough Mirror

Local resident Glenda Seymour suggested many youths in the neighbourhood are afraid of the police.

"As they see the police come, they start to run away," she said. "This is a senseless killing...the police have to work with the community so that we all can work together to bring justice."