One Year Ago Today

Exactly one year ago today I packed up the last of our belongs to get ready for the movers. Then on September 21st, 2006 we left Montreal for our new lives here in Elmira, Ontario.

So hard to believe that it's a already been a year! And what an INCREDIBLE years it's been! As I think back on all that has been going on in our family and work this past year I'm just amazed on how it has all played out. Let's face it. A complete career change can be a scary thing... especially when you have a young family that you're supporting. But God has been so good in all of this and I can't even imaging doing life any differently!

Here are a few of this past year's highlights:
  • I sure don't miss paying Quebec taxes!! I took quite a big pay cut going from computer consulting into ministry and my actual bi-weekly pay is identical to before! I make a lot less but my cash in hand is the same. All that extra money went straight to taxes... and I find that our public services are actually better here in Ontario then in Quebec. Explain that one??
  • I love our neighbourhood. We have such a great house and live near some wonderful people! In our last house we NEVER talked with our neighbours... everyone was always hidden away in their houses. Here people are outside and chatting at the park and it's just great! I love that sense of community.
  • I so LOVE my job here at the church. Sure, sometimes I look frazzled and frustrated, but that's just occasionally and doesn't change my absolute love for what I'm doing :) I can't even imagine how my life would be if I was still in the computer industry.
  • Having my mother-in-law live with us is great. Sometimes I miss walking around the house in my boxer shorts but that's a small price to pay for having her with us :)
  • I love going to seminary. I just love the courses that I've been taking and really learning so much!
  • I've been eating a lot less junk food and exercising a lot more! Gotta love getting into a healthier lifestyle.

This has been such a great year for us. I'm totally pumped and excited for the years to come as we serve here at Woodside!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Practical Atheist

Image
Over the past few weeks our church has been doing a preaching series called Practical Atheist. This is based on the book The Christian Atheist by Pastor Craig Groeschel. I've been blown away by how God has worked in the hearts of so many people over the past few weeks. Mind you, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Pastor Craig's ministry has had such a huge influence on my personal walk with Jesus so just is just a continuation of that blessing. This week we're probably going to hit the hardest topic for me to preach on, I Believe in God but I Pursue Happiness at All Costs. I'm going to be using Jesus' parable of the sower and look at how our pursuit of happiness causes us to miss out on truly how God wants from our lives. This topic hits me right between the eyes as I'm being open and honest with God about what allow to be entertainment or how I go about trying to be happy. Do I allow myself to be entertained by sin? Do I pursue the world's view
Read more

Revitalized Pastors and Leaders

Image
On March 15, 2023, the Barna Research Group released the "The Resilient Pastor Initiative". Its goal was to explore and share the state of pastors in America in the post-COVID climate we find ourselves in. According to the data, the state of pastors may not be as good as it appears from behind the pulpit. From 2015 to 2022 Barna notes the following where pastors responded "Excellent" in a number of categories: Spiritual well-being dropped from 37% to 14% Physical well-being fell from 24% to 9% Mental and emotional health plummeted from 39% to 11% The overall quality of life dipped from 42% to 18% The level of respect they felt from the community tanked from 22% to 10% Level of ‘true friends’ dropped by 50% from 34% to 17% The data also showed that this drop in wellness was more prevalent in younger pastors! Older pastors are riding it out to retirement. Now, before anyone from my church begins to panic, I'm OK. As shared in a blog post from January 2023 entitled
Read more

The Worship of our Worship

Image
  Every once and a while an idea pops into my head that I just can't shake. It keeps me up at night. It consumes my waking hours. It turns around and around in my head. It shows up in my dreams. It starts coming up in more and more conversations. I pray that God would just get rid of this idea because I know a lot of church people are not going to like what I have to say. This doesn't happen to me often. When it does, it's usually because I need to get this out of my head and into the world. Because I always find that I'm never alone. Others have been wrestling with the exact same idea.  I don't put this out to be confrontational or to cause division. I write this as a simple man who loves Jesus, who trusts in the teachings of Scripture, who tries hard to listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance, and who has been pastoring a local church for 14 years. What Started It Recently I heard the current COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the Christian Church compared to the Ba
Read more