Another of the things we love about the farmhouse is what we call “wildlife moments.” Those moments when all of a sudden we come face to face with wildlife we don’t often get to see.

So far this year, we’ve spotted deer three times, seen a hawk having his breakfast at the side of the road and spent a quiet morning at Crowe River with a Great Grey Heron flitting up and down the river bed.

The problem is that often these moments happen so quickly, that it’s impossible to get photos. I managed one or two of the Heron, but my phone camera isn’t strong enough for those photos to be great. Here they are anyway:

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You’ll just have to believe me about the hawk and the deer (one of the deer sightings was on a morning walk, Koski’s ears perked up, and thence fawn and it’s mama came out of the bush, took two leaps along the road and disappeared into the bush on the other side. I actually raised my phone up, but they were gone before I could swipe to camera!).

The other wildlife we love, of course, is our dogs. Who bark at random things, chase chipmunks, get the zoomies, give lots of cuddles and make us laugh (when they aren’t driving us crazy!). So for good measure, here they are enjoying themselves in this unique summer:

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Until tomorrow, dear friends, know that God’s fingerprints are to be found all round us. God cares for both people and animals.

Time, once again, to think about what it means to follow Jesus!

Bruxy Cavey is a preacher and pastor at The Meeting House, a multi-campus church in the Brethren in Christ denomination. I read his book, The end of Religion, early in my life in full-time ministry, and I was absolutely enamoured of it. It shifted my paradigm as a follower of Jesus. He explains beautifully how religion was allied with law and keeping the rules, and Jesus was allied with love (and sometimes love means breaking the rules – see Jesus healing on the Sabbath because the loving act of restoring a person’s health was more important than the rule to do no work on the Sabbath).

Bruxy writes:

Some questions for thoughtful consideration:

1. Why is it important that we go beyond the ‘morality of a stone,’ as Bruxy puts it?
2. Can you identify practical ways that you are able to “Rock On,” in your daily life?
3. In what ways has the pandemic made it harder to “Rock On?” Are there ways that the pandemic has made it more important to find ways to “Rock On?”

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep on thinking it through! This, too, is part of worship.

Anthem Lights is a group that I discovered when I was looking for some worship music to share waaaaaaaaaay back when the lockdown began. They have beautiful voices, and their style focuses on good harmony and sparse accompaniment.

This is what they say about their music: “These songs [and] this record is our anthem to the world saying, ‘Listen, we know there’s a lot of darkness in this life, but in the end, light is gonna win.’ And we wanna be the light to people and just show them who the light of the world is.”

For your edification, here are two of their medleys, “Hymns Medley | Amazing Grace / Be Thou My Vision / Come Thou Fount” and “Hymns Medley: Cross Medley (Jesus Paid it All, The Old Rugged Cross).” You can subscribe to their YouTube channel here.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep singing His praises!

On the Sunday we decided to suspend worship at Graceview, I used this prayer. In all that has happened since, I admit to you that I forgot about it. I came across it again, and it is as worth sharing now as it was then.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, be grateful for all that you have, lift up all those who have less, and trust that God is our help.

It’s time for another round of memes for edification, entertainment and the brightening of your day (I hope!):

This reminder, that I always, always, always need because I never give myself enough credit:

A 2020 joke for ya (wouldn’t be Meme Monday without one, at least!):

A couple of thoughts on church (one deep, one fun)

A deep thought about our walk of faith:

This reminder – while I often talk about finding ways to love others, and while I continue to believe that doing so is central to the Christian faith, I think it is also important to remember to be kind to ourselves, to remember that loving ourself doesn’t mean we can’t love others, and that loving others shouldn’t mean we stop loving ourselves:

This truth about me:

This cartoon that made me snort:

And finally, this blessing for your day:

Until, tomorrow, dear friends, keep loving and keep laughing!

We continue today in our series of Zoom conversational sermons with some of my beloved friends and colleagues. Today we welcome the Rev. Jenn Cameron, who ministers at St. Columba Presbyterian Church in Belleville.

Let’s being with Eric’s prelude “Andante,” by Kern:

Let me share with you this Call To Worship, which I think speaks to the times we find ourselves in:

Our Scripture today is Philippians 4:10-13:

Here is the sermon video:

And our hymn of response for today is #483 Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken:

Until tomorrow, dear friends, find your strength in Christ, and continue to learn how to be content in all circumstances.

The first time I read through the Bible, I was shocked to find how much of scripture I actually knew already. That was because of the songs and choruses that were part of my formative years as my Dad served at St. Andrew’s, New Liskeard and Amberlea Presbyterian in Pickering.

Amberlea had a little blue chorus book in the pews that we used every Sunday. Many of the choruses included in it were Maranatha praise choruses, which simply set words of Scripture to song.

Today’s Singin’ Saturday song is “Seek Ye First,” which is a Maranatha chorus that made it into the Presbyterian Book of Praise. I remember “discovering” that these were the words of Jesus, the first time I read the Gospel According to Matthew late in my teenage years.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep on seeking, asking and living by the word of God!

One of the things we love best about the farmhouse is simply the natural beauty of the place. The gravel roads lined with trees, the colors of the sky as the sun sets, the way the flowers bloom and the leaves flutter in the breeze.

The fingerprints of God are all around us and it is good for the soul.

And that is our Farmhouse Friday moment this week, the simple, natural beauty of creation that surrounds us there:

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Until tomorrow, dear friend may you hear how the trees of the forest sing for joy to their Creator!

Time to get think-y!

Today we’re turning to the first book of Erwin McManus’ I ever read. It’s called Soul Cravings, and here is an excerpt:

***phrase missing from sentence in the above extract, “you’ve said a thousand times, YOU CANT BELIEVE IN SOMETHING you can’t see” — even the best proof reading isn’t foolproof!***

Questions for thoughtful consideration:

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, I was obsessed with music videos. I loved seeing the visual representation of songs that I loved. I loved it when I learned new songs and new artists when their videos premiered. I adored watching top hit video shows. MTV and MuchMusic were the channels I tuned into to daily.

In the midst of all this pop culture, snuck Michael W. Smith with his 1990 cross-over hit, “Place in this world.” I loved that song. I remember the video. And I was thrilled when I learned that Michael W. Smith shared my faith – he was a Christian singer and songwriter. I still listen to his music, thirty years later.

So for your edification, here are two of his videos, “Revelation Song” (written by Jennie Lee Riddle with lyrics adapted from Revelation 5) and  “A New Hallelujah.” You can subscribe to his YouTube channel here.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep singing His praises!