Today I went prayer walking in the Falby Court area.
This is the area that we are looking to relocate our services at Crossroads.
Its south of the 401, Harwood and Bayly.
At first it was nothing deep or profound… until I asked the Spirit to pray through me [Romans 8:26].
I really had no clear thoughts about what to pray for.
So I asked the Spirit to pray for me.
And what came from that was the Names of Christ.
I prayed the Names of Jesus over the apartments, the school, the vehicles, as well as the people that I saw.
That was cool, it left me with a deeper sense of how this community needs Jesus, and the ways that they need Jesus.
And also me, a deeper sense of how I need Jesus!!!
Care to join me in prayer walking?

OK, this just goes to show that Jesus can use anyone.

I am sorry, this was very serious and sincere at the time.
But I could not resist… look at that hair!
The one looks like the Great Gazoo’s wife.
I know, I know, one day someone will post a picture of me and my hair (what’s left of it), and laugh.
But… look at that hair!

Thankfully, Jesus does not judge us by our hair.
He judges us by our heart.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. [1 Samuel 16:7]

And if these ladies were sincere, which I’ve no reason to doubt, then the Lord did use them…
Hair and all!

When Texas pastor Jim Denison was in college, he served as a summer missionary in East Malaysia. While there he attended a small church. At one of the church’s worship services, a teenage girl came forward to announce her decision to follow Christ and be baptized. During the service, Denison noticed some worn-out luggage leaning against the wall of the church building. He asked the pastor about it. The pastor pointed to the girl who had just been baptized and told Denison, ‘Her father said that if she was baptized as a Christian she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage.’ (Raymond McHenry, Stories for the Soul (Hendrickson, 2001), p. 48)

This story shows the seriousness of the decision to follow Jesus. For me it was easy, my family encouraged me to follow Jesus. But would I have made this decision if I had faced rejection like this? I wonder whether the ‘ease’ with which my decision was made makes me less serious in following it through. I wonder whether an ‘easy’ decision to follow Jesus can actually lack depth and conviction. I wonder whether the relatively small cost of following Jesus for me makes it less passionate, less intense. I can drift through my walk with Jesus, not much is at stake. The idea of ‘packing my bags’ makes me think about how much of myself I am investing in following Jesus. Have I packed my bags? Is my whole heart and life invested in being a Jesus-follower?

With Valerie, Tim and Nathan, in Juarez, and Tim staying there for the next few months, I am especially aware of when Juarez makes the news…
Pray, pray, pray!

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, Feb 26 (Reuters) – Mexico is sending up to 5,000 new troops and federal police to the country’s most violent city, where law and order is on the brink of collapse in a war between gangs supplying drugs to the United States. Continue reading Juarez in the news

So this morning at Crossroads I talked about God moments.
I also talked about giving up our snow blower when we moved “south” to Ajax.
And meanwhile the snow keeps falling, and falling, and falling.
After spending the afternoon socializing, we came home to shovel the driveway.
And guess what we found in our backyard…
Today, God prompted my brother Rick to make the drive from Ancaster to Ajax to deliver our old snowblower – without being asked.
Today, when I mentioned the snowblower in our service, and talked about God moments.
This was a God-moment!
Thank You God, and thank you Rick!!!!

Today I had a visitor at the ministry centre, a lady named Prima who came in out of the cold, waiting for a neighbouring office unit to open.
We enjoyed a coffee together, and a fascinating conversation.
Prima is a practicing Hindu, and she was very open to talking about her faith, and answering my questions.
One discovery was that Hinduism teaches that the one God manifests Himself in three forms – Brahma who is the Creator, Vishnu who incarnates himself in the world (often), and Shiba, who is also known as the destroyer, who contemplates us (broods over) us.
Sounds like a echo of what Christians teach about the triune nature of God. Continue reading a lesson in hinduism

Yesterday Kelly, Pablo and I were trying to play baseball and some girl kept asking us for our full names on a piece of paper. Anyways we didn’t give them to her. Later on ‘Tequila’ came by and she asked her for her full name. She asked why and the girl said so that her mom could put a curse on the Tapias. Anyways we told Tim and Matt and it turns out that her mom is actually a witch and she was probably serious. So there is a little bit of unrest and we are getting ready for some real spiritual warfare. Continue reading update from Tim in Mexico

Often when I speak about trusting God through suffering, I assume that others are thinking, easy for you to say, you’re not going through what I’m going through.
I can’t dispute that, it is easier for me to say, given my circumstances compared to others.
But that does not mean that what I said is not true.
Fortunately others have spoken about this, people who have gone through suffering.
Here is a story of one person who has experienced God’s goodness through suffering.

Continue reading easy for you to say?

God has laid it on my heart that we need to continue to pray for people who suffer for their hope in Jesus.
Can we imagine what it would be like to live in a place where believing in Jesus meant that we would be ridiculed, harassed, beaten or even killed.
Imagine if believing in Jesus was a life or death matter…
For many it is!

The Voice of the Martyrs contacts working to assist believers affected by attacks in Orissa state report that more than 70,000 Christians have been displaced and forced to live in refugee camps. “At the Peyton Sahi relief camp which houses 35 families and 130 distraught tribals, Chabila Naik, a man who ran an orphanage for 50 children in Sarangada spent three days in the forest after their houses and churches were razed [with fire]. He has not been reunited with the children,” VOM sources said. Continue reading >>

At crossroads, we are committed to demonstrating the love of Jesus.
As I read this article from Mission Network News, it made me think about what demonstrating the love of Jesus would be like in a place where Jesus-followers will be persecuted.