looking back, looking forward

greetings all... well, when all was said and done it was a pretty good anniversary party! Great food, great entertainment (a shout out to the Great Wooden Trio, even though they have 4 members, job well done guys!) and great friends! Hope Fellowship is 10 years old now and it was fun to reminisce and share stories of packing up chairs every week, or setting the sound system over and over, and thinking back over some of the wonderful worship services or fabulous pot-luck dinners we have shared. It is good to look back sometimes, even at some of the stuff that wasn't so great... as a church community we have had some tough times too but all of it, the good the bad and the ugly as it were, has made us what we are today. I mean it's no different than your or my personal life, our past experiences help shape who we are. But we didn't really dwell on the past too much, we were challenged to focus on looking forward, and I think that's wise. Now to bring in the truck driver analogy... looking back while driving is fine to keep an eye on what's around you or what's coming up to pass BUT if you don't look forward at all you'll end up in a mess of trouble! Looking back over the past 10 years was a fun time, looking forward to the next 10+ years is exciting! peace, m

OH, here's a collage pic from the grand opening concert... featuring Peter Slofstra, Stonesthrow and the DeVries Family

post celebration let-down

greetings all, I know it's been a while since I've updated this thing... my apologies. I spent a great deal of time preparing and participating in our big grand opening event here at Hope Fellowship in early Feb, which I have to say was a blast and a great time was had by all! But have you ever noticed that after a special event you're left feeling somewhat down, especially if you put a lot of energy into it. You know after a great vacation and you come home and then you get back to routine... it's a bit depressing. Or if you're an artist or performer and you rehearse for a big event and your adrenaline is peaking and you're on an emotional high during the event but then when the lights go down and everyone goes home you start to replay things and start to focus on your mistakes (musicians and artists are by far their own worst critics... most of them anyway, although I know a few who think they can do no wrong... ever watch American Idol... but I'm getting side-tracked... sorry). Well this is the long way around to my excuse for not updating... even after our big event here at Hope I still felt a bit of the post celebration let-down... BUT a great cure is the encouragement of others and then focusing on what went really well, and a lot went really well at this past event. So if this ever happens to you, take time to look back at what went well, look at the positive and celebrate... and forget about the post let-down thing! Oh btw this coming weekend we are celebrating our 10th anniversary as Hope Fellowship... more opportunities to celebrate the positive! peace, m

rubber-neckers

Have you ever found yourself driving down the highway, everything is moving well and all of a sudden bam, you come to a dead stop and your stuck in a traffic jam. For the next 1/2 hour you inch forward, bumper to bumper and finally come up to the cause of the slow down. Why its some dude with a flat tire and Bob the tow-truck guy has stopped with his hazard lights a flashing... and for some reason all the other drivers felt compelled to hammer on the brakes so they could turn their heads to watch this road-side scene. No lanes are blocked, the road is clear, there is no reason for the highway to be backed up for miles, but it is, thanks to the rubber-neckers. And sometimes this causes a real accident, somebody crashes into the car in front that had to slam on the brakes because the rubber-necker ahead had to slow down to look at whatever... they drive me nuts! Now for the life analogy (I can find a metaphor in anything, I thought of this today actually while stuck in traffic). Sometimes there are traffic jams in our life's journey too. Sometimes we get too caught up in the things happening around us, that really aren't blocking any lanes but we stop and look anyway. We get distracted and sidetracked from our goal, from the path that God has chosen for us, from the direction we find from the Bible. The thing is when while we are rubber-necking and looking sideways we can cause mayhem behind us. The people around us, our friends and family get caught up in the traffic jam too and sometimes there is an accident and a relationship is damaged. Stay focused on what is important, stay focused on what God has called you to be, focused on your family, focus on being kind to those around you... and don't' rubber-neck! peace, m.

more pics

greetings and happy new year...

you know, posting pics is much easier than actually writing something... here are some images from the Christmas Eve drama that we did...

the caroler's scene...

our lead actress, Leona, the interviewer

the tipsy man... ya that's me, some say I wasn't much out of character either...

the indignant man... that's a pretty good look for you too Em...

it was a fun play about how we seem to loose the true joy of Christmas, whether we get caught up in our busy lives or are trying to deal with hard circumstances, the point was that sometimes we tend to look for joy in the wrong places. Christmas is remembering the birth of Jesus, remembering family and friends and remembering to be kind and compassionate to those around us. Anyway, it was a fun drama....

the singing was good too!

and the candle presentation to O Holy Night was visually stunning, hard to capture on film but believe me, it was cool...

and this is just my buddy, Rod the schmengi.... hamming it up at the new year's eve service...

new years eve was fun too... we just hung out in our new building, ate some great food, played games and watched team Canada come back to defeat USA at the world junior hockey tournament on the big screen... did I mention I really like hockey... great game! It was a good evening spent with good friends and we look to host more events like it... keep ya posted.

peace, m.

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