busy season

We talk a lot about joy, peace and family during the Christmas season but sometimes I think more about the "busy" season. Do you find yourself caught up in the hustle and bustle of it all? Trying to remember if you forgot anyone's Christmas card? And then there's the travel... going to extended family gatherings, going to the in-laws or out-laws or whatever, sleeping in spare rooms on the floor... fun, but hectic. Now throw in 2 or 3 big snow storms, fun for some I guess but remember I drive truck as my day job and the snow certainly doesn't help my day go by any faster! Add to that all the last minute planning and rehearsing for our Christmas program at Hope Fellowship and you can see how I can think of this as the busy season. However, I do look forward to taking time this Christmas to enjoy my family, to find some peace and joy. I will remember the greatest gift too, Christ the Lord was born! Peace on earth and goodwill toward all mankind! m

moving day

Greetings all, we have finally moved into our new church building! We first met in the school we were renting, sang a couple of songs together then took the stones from an altar of thanks we had built the week before and moved on down the road to our new building. We then rebuilt our altar of praise there! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

farewell to MacGillivray

movin' down the road

almost there!

Our 1st service

Praise the Lord!

Peace! m

new home

Anyone who has moved into a new home or an apartment knows that it takes some time to get used to a new place. Of course there is the initial excitement and anticipation of making it your own and dreaming of all the things you can do there. So when you first move in not all the boxes get fully unpacked right away, and you’re not sure where to hang the pictures, or what goes in what closet, or which piece of furniture goes better in the corner etc… And if there are children you know too that it takes some time for everyone to work out personal space issues, like who gets which bedroom, who gets to use the TV room for the play station, where’s the best place to hang out… can you relate? My family at Hope Fellowship is experiencing this very thing as we move in to a new home this week. We too have to figure out where everything goes and how we're going to fit in and use the space to its full potential, exciting times for us tho. And we do look forward to worshipping our God there but we also want our home to be welcoming. Our doors are open and we love to have visitors. They say that a house is just a house but a family makes it a home. Well a church is just a building, it's the people that make it a community. So as we get the final details together we'll be sure not to forget a very important item; the welcome mat. peace, m

merge lane

When I'm not coordinating stuff for the worship zone of Hope Fellowship I drive a truck for my day job. While driving I see a lot things that defy reason... there really are a lot of incompetent drivers out there! One of the issues I have is the mis-use of the merge lane. The merge lane is supposed to allow traffic to smoothly enter a major highway, the key phrase being "supposed to". Sometimes I think it would be more aptly referred to as the "interruption lane" or the "merge lane? I don't need no stinking merge lane" lane... (sigh). Generally the speed on a highway is 100/kph+ but so often some nit-wit comes down the on-ramp and doesn't bother using the merge lane but immediately enters the highway at half the speed causing kayos and mayhem for the drivers on the highway... especially truck drivers! This drives me nuts. The word merge means to unite or blend two or more things together. Sometimes we don't use the merge lanes in life too well either do we? We enter conversations with opinionated minds and force our views and too bad for everyone else. Ever had a conversation with someone like this? It's hard to get a word in edge wise and certainly there is no merging going on, no uniting, no blending of ideas. Now I'm writing this as a Christian but I'm not talking about watering down the gospel of Christ or debating the truth of the Bible but sometimes I think we need to listen a little more to each other before jumping all over the conversation. The little things we squabble over are often just that... little things. So be kind to those around you as you merge into conversations and for goodness sake be kind to the truckers around you as you merge onto the highway! Peace, m.

too many mics

Greetings world, my name is Mike. There are a lot of us out there, guys named Mike I mean, I dare say that there isn't a person out there that doesn't knows at least 1 Mike... am I right? I also happen to be the worship coordinator for my church and I'm involved with bands and singers and often am surrounded by a lot of mics (the proper short form for microphone is mic, not mike... just so you know). So there are a lot of mics in my life, which is fine. But have you ever been at a wedding or some public function where different folks come up and take the microphone to give a toast or something? ANd there's that one person you just hope doesn't get the mic cuz you know they'll go on forever about nothing? Whenever that happens I'll say there are too many mics. There are alot of people with wacky ideas out there... ever listen to talk radio? I love it but sometimes there really are too many mics. And now the blogger world, which is new to me, opens up a whole new realm of "mics" with a lot of different voices. I think it's great, people sharing ideas and what not but sometimes it's difficult to decipher what the truth is. For me Jesus is the way, the truth. I'm not some right-wing freaky preacher dude... ok I lean a little to the right and am a little freaky i guess but don't hold that against me ok? I believe what I believe and I'm glad there are enough mics for everyone. I'll try not to be that guy rambling on at the wedding, but stay tuned for a glimpse of what's going on in the worship zone (that's really why I'm writing this, my Pastor encouraged me to post something so here we are!)
Peace!