Genesis 37:24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it I am an ice hockey fan and have faithfully followed the Toronto Maple Leafs, since I was a child. They have a storied existence but have not won the Stanley Cup in my […]
Tag Archives: christian trials
My Power is made Perfect in Weakness!
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In this letter to the church in Corinth, Paul speaks of a “thorn in [his] flesh”. It is not clear what this thorn was; […]
The Promise of Suffering
2 Corinthians 1:8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure… A friend hears you’re competing in marathons and decides that they’re going to do one. You share all your stories of the comradery […]
You Need to Persevere!
James 1: 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. We built a new home on the edge of my in-laws’ property in the countryside. We had left a city with 100,000 people and now the closest “big” town had 1,800. As our youngest son had a real interest […]
Wear your Protective Gear
Ephesians 6: 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Once a year we would take the trip with our son to the ice hockey equipment store. Pro Hockey Life was a bit of heaven on earth for our son and many other boys and girls […]
Choosing Gratefulness
2 Corinthians 11: 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Serge Ibaka is a power forward on the surging Toronto Raptors. Watching him play under the glitter of the NBA lights and the thousands of adoring fans, you would miss the humble and challenging beginnings […]
Trudging Through the Dreary Days
Luke 24: 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” It was nearing the end of a miserable late March day in Southern Ontario, Canada. Snow was falling, the wind was howling, and every voice in my head was saying […]
A Consistent Life
2 Timothy 4: 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. The Dana Foundation is a private US philanthropic organization whose goal is to advance brain research. A study, Mental Preparation of High-Level Athletes (by Kayt Sukel, July 23, 2012) interviewed key […]
Trained for Competition
Hebrews 5: 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. I have many memories of sitting in cold arenas watching my son’s ice hockey practises. These were generally elite teams so the coaches took the practises very seriously and spent significant time on a […]
Perseverance: Enduring Patiently
Revelation 3: 10a Since you have kept my command to endure patiently… Having competed in a number of endurance races in my time I can appreciate stories of perseverance of distance event competitors. Having experienced various physical and mental strains during multi hour or even multi-day competitions, I can still vividly remember the battles that raged […]