Christmas Eve is an important time for children to touch into something deeper than Santa.

Canada Day, which the country observed yesterday, raises all sorts of troubling questions, some of them quite divisive....I want to run with a question about culture today, but it is a bit of a spin off from the usual culture questions that are raised by Canada Day. I want to ask whether the basic message that Jesus preached in fact raises some even more fundamental challenges to the ways culture is celebrated.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." There are probably fewer words in the Scriptures that have had a more profound effect on our common history as the men and women of the Christian faith in that simple phrase: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." 

“Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you? But when the leaves hang trembling, the wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I. But when the leaves bow down their heads, the Wind is passing by.”

I believe God has instilled in us a craving, a deep desire to run with him on a fantastic adventure, yet many of us crawl along in life without even a glimpse of our hidden passion. There has to be a reason for living. There must be a Camelot, a hidden Utopia where we can rest from our personal campaigns. Fantasy opens our eyes to a better place, a shining city we do not yet know. And these stories provide a mental bridge to that city as we pursue horizons we could never distinguish with our physical eyes. ~ Bryan Davis

The biblical stories about mothers share some interesting insights.  Oprah Winfrey once said that biology is the least of what makes one a mother.  The biblical witness reaffirms this notion.

When someone mentions an eagle, what do you think of in your mind?  Would you rather be a chicken in the folk or an eagle catching thermals in the heavens? What is the church being called to do?

Pancake Day, also known as Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday, is the day before the first day of Lent, known as Ash Wednesday.  Shrove Tuesday is always 47 days before Easter Sunday so Pancake Day falls sometime between February and March every year.  Pancake Day is also known as Mardi Gras, a French name meaning Fat Tuesday.  This year Pancake Day is on Tuesday, February 28.