A Life of Adventure!

 As I look back to the early days of my Christian life, my “faith journey” actually began many months prior to meeting God for the first time.  Questions like “Who am I?” and “What is the real purpose to life?” started to soften my heart and prepare the way for an encounter with God.  There was something about those questions and others like them seemed to suggest there was more to life than what I was experiencing.  My challenge though, was that I didn’t know where the answers could be found.  But this changed when the Lord met me in a very dramatic and personal way many years ago.  I deliberately choose the word “dramatic” because in looking back, I see now that I didn’t really have any choice as to whether I would serve God, for it was as if He just walked into the room where I was sitting and I knew He had come for me.

Over the years I have grown in my relationship with the Lord, which eventually led me into full-time ministry.  In my early days, this began in the United Church of Canada where I served as a student minister.  Later, in my university days, I became involved in various nondenominational churches where there was not only a greater freedom to worship God, but also a commitment to tell others about the wonderful things God could do in a person’s life who yielded to His plans and purpose.   As a pastor, it has been my great privilege and honour to serve in three congregations over the years – one in Belleville, Ontario, and two in Peterborough, Ontario.   Serving the Lord and His people has been one of the greatest joys of my life, as together with my wife, Margaret, and our family, we have endeavored to not only care for God’s people, but also to teach them what we have learned of the ways of God.

During my years of ministry in the local church I have spent a great deal of time writing about my experiences, and also setting down in book form those things that help define our gospel.  Some of this material has been used in our Bible School in Ottawa and also by the churches that work with Ministries Without Borders here in Ontario and Quebec.  Along with this, I have enjoyed writing for church newsletters, an online Blog, and also various booklets that have allowed me to express some of the things I have learned in my own journey of faith.  One of my convictions about writing comes from the words of C.S. Lewis who once said, “We read to know we are not alone.”  From this statement I have taken great comfort and hope, for in the writings of others, I have discovered that we all share many of the same experiences and challenges in life.  It is with this knowledge that I have endeavored to write honestly and openly about my own journey and the things I have learned about God and life along the way.