Lorna's Blog

May 02, 2008  - A gentle, unhurried conversation makes for breakthrough in understanding.

When I first met Violet in January, she took the time to be honest, tender, teaching and real about the tragic events that had shaped her path.  She is the same age as I am.  We both went into government care at about the same age, because of family breakdown, and I think we felt a kindred spirit, despite our racial and lifestyle differences.  I felt I understood some things in a new way, a better way, because Violet was gentle and honest with me.   When we were back in Vancouver six weeks following that original interview, my friend Di and I went to find Violet in the downtown east side where she lives.  We found her where she works, near the bottle depot, and she greeted us like long-lost friends.  Another friend, Geri, joined us and we all went for lunch together. We discovered that while Violet had not yet seen her story broadcast on our earlier show The Predicament, friends and neighbours in the east side had, and she described herself as a TV star.

We laughed and had a good talk together and we took Violet to a beautiful prayer room in the east side very close to where she lives.  In that prayer room we were able to do what women do well; tell stories and then pray.   And we also connected her with the wonderful Church 61-4 which is a small collection of young Canadians who live and work to bring the news of Isaiah 61:4 to the downtown east side. They are friends from the Salvation Army. 

What I learned was that since first sharing her story, Violet has started rehab counselling and as a result of gentle honest approach on Listen Up some very beautiful and strong people have begun to walk beside Violet.  Geri, one of those people, gave Violet her cell phone to call me and I just about fell off my chair to hear her voice - owning a cell phone is out of reach for Violet who pays her rent by collecting bottles - so to speak to her across the country is amazing.

We laughed and cried together on the phone about the hope she now feels because the telling of her gentle story helped open the door to the next steps of love God had for her to discover.  I fully expect that in the future you could hear Violet on Listen Up again and you will be amazed at her progress. Her story reminds me that a gentle, listening conversation is also the start of healing.  I thank Violet for showing me that telling someone the story that hurts you deeply is a start on the journey to healing.

April 21, 2008   Peace  

I need to be peaceful to enjoy blogging.  You’ll notice we skipped a few weeks of that. 

I was sick, travelling, busy, but  peace has returned.   I’ve thought a lot about the priceless gift of a home, of family who loves you.    That’s what we learned on this week’s broadcast as we got absorbed into a family who had 12 children, and we featured the one child, Vicki, and her remarkable journey out of trauma.  See the photos of that below, taken by my niece Karla Dueck who volunteered to help on this shoot.  We’re back on our theme of encouraging people to adopt children in need, 22,000 of them waiting for adoption in Canada.   If it’s where God wants you to be, peace will come.  I’ve handpicked the volunteers helping us on the quest of answering inquires into this adoption challenge in Canada – don’t hesitate to ask, they’d love to help you.   This week I am away with our family helping our son Adam graduate with his Bachelor of Arts in Christian Studies from Ambrose University in Calgary.   100 Huntley Street is featuring Adam’s new CD on May 5, and I will have the challenge of interviewing him on TV.   “Tell me Adam, how was your childhood??”  

April 5, 2008  Reading for Inspiration?

It was a dramatic week, every day a stretching one.  And now I'm down with a bad cold, finishing off my school homework, this is all I've got energy for, quietly putzing at homework. 

Our day in Ottawa included being fogged in on the tarmac, initially unable to make our interview with the Minister of Indian Affairs. We had an amazing prayer team covering that need, and we're delighted the interview was rescheduled to 4 pm and we made it. The reschedule meant a double booking so I missed most of Jeff's fabulous Listen Up reception in Ottawa's West Block.
The next day the Purpose at Work conference began and I was challenged to be more assertive about marketing in every way. 
Finally - there is this week's program;  followers of the show will get the picture that I do not agree with Eckhardt Tolle's New Earth theory of the road to improving self.  If it all depends on me surrendering my own "ego and pain body" to a continuous release into the universe, it simply isn't enough to repair, renew and launch me. Nor does it deal with the truth of the Saviour Jesus.  The reality of Jesus is a truth that adjusts everything about how we do life. I'd really encourage some reading about that source:  Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, or The Journey, by Billy Graham are two good books that give a great overview of the truth of Jesus Christ and what it means for your life.   
 This coming week, I'm off to Vancouver and Victoria to both fundraise, and to report on an amazing story of a girl recovered from the worst abandonment.  So stay tuned, that story is part of our search to understand why 22,000 children in Canada are waiting for adoption and where is God at work in that need.       

March 28, 2008  - BINGO

Every once in a while you have a great sense of clarity you are working close to God's heart.  We certainly feel that with the program content this week. We learned much on understanding the First Nations path toward a future of hope and healing.  On Tuesday, I'll be in Ottawa interviewing the Minister of Indian Affairs for a follow up on this program, we hope to air that program on May 4, 2008, we're calling it "The Apology".   Please check into the many resources and aboriginal communities featured on our weblinks, it's a fascinating journey into understanding each other.  

Happy Easter – March 23, 2008

“Little talks About God and You” by V. Gilbert Beers, published by Harvest House (1986) was one of our favorite family resource for learning about God when our children were young. (Click here to visit last Easter's blog entry , and you'll see a pic of those little kids reading their Easter gift – kids’ bibles)   And now, they, like us, must take their own steps to know and love God.  We are pilgrims together on this journey, like we were back in the 80’s, only the language is different, the learning a different level of back and forth, it’s good.  I was really impacted this week by the interviews at Listen Up, and by the work of Dr. Philip Wieibe on the Shroud of Turin that we featured.  I wrote further about our findings on children and God for www.globeandmail.com on Good Friday.  Later that night, alone, I watched Mel Gibson’s The Passion.  It moved me deeply, it’s the fourth time I’ve seen it.  Monday I’m speaking at Ryerson University on my views on atheism, so hopefully that will be interesting.  It’s the third University presentation I’ll have done this month, and I’m impressed how honest and inquiring these audiences are.  It all seems to fit with the Easter thoughts I’ve been mulling over, the wonderful invitation to let God interrupt our lives with His own.    

March 8, 2008       Pilgrim Paths

This week our team taped two TV programs, had three published works in The Globe, spoke at York University to present Christianity vs. atheism, and facilitated the Let A Child Have Faith in You campaign for Mission Fest Toronto.  Here’s what that was about:  Did you know that after the age of 4, children needing a home have huge trouble finding one?  In my area of central Ontario alone, there are over 8,000 children waiting for an adoption, many over the age of 4, most with huge wounds left on them by inadequate care.  Another 4,500 are waiting for foster homes in this area alone. Can you help them out?  Like, would you, could you, be called to be a parent to these vulnerable kids?   Write me and I can help you make the connection to explore this.  Let a Child Have Faith in You is an amazing campaign led by my friend Faith Goodman, and is part of the www.homesforkids.com plan to get church families taking in those children.   Kids and parents at risk was on our mind as we prepared this week’s program Tragedy in Bridgewater.  We choose the story because all of us felt sadness that a mother and daughter’s last words together were an argument.  We’ve prayed often for Karissa Boudreau’s family as we worked on the story.  We all know how lousy it feels to fight with our families. So we worked to put together some insights on how to manage the stress of parenting teens.  When I was in those days, I found it helps to remember that both you and your child are individually responsible for your actions before God.  We are both pilgrims on a journey with God, but I am the pilgrim with more experience and knowledge. So as a parent-pilgrim, there is a high call on our lives to conform our reactions to stress to Christ. The old, “what would Jesus do” question, and then DO IT!   That is a tough call when every button can be pushed by those we love most.  Colossians 3:12-17   helped me a lot.  I would pin it up on the fridge, the bathroom mirror, I prayed to respond like that.  We went for counseling, I quit my job, I had a lot of adjusting to do to handle being a better parent when my children turned into teenagers. It’s a season of parenting that requires less of our own agenda’s, and more patience.   I don’t regret one day of the adjustments.   I’m off to Calgary next week on fundraising for the show (we need help), and for some learning at conferences on evangelism, religion and politics. (don’t worry, it’s not all three at once).  Remember – check out www.homesforkids.com

Feb 29, 2008  - Taking the longer view ….

As we were working on this teen pregnancy show, someone called to remind me that God trusted a girl about 13 with the blessing of carrying baby Jesus.   I’ve thought a lot about that, about what happens when people say, as young  Mary did to her Lord, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants” (Luke 1:36-37).
Then look out – because you’ll watch the other part of God’s message to Mary happen:  “Nothing is impossible with God.” 
    Last night I had the privilege of interviewing women who are down the road of a lifetime of saying yes to “whatever God wants.”  And I concluded, wow, nothing is impossible with God.  The event was the Leading Women Conference.  My guests were 87 year old Mayor Hazel MacCallion, business leader Lynn Hazlett, parenting coach Dr. Karyn Gordan, and pastor Dr. Pat Francis.  It was a in house session of these great women letting us into their heart on what happens in your life when you say “yes” to God.   
    I also met the CEO of CAPPS, and some of her team at this conference, that is the ministry we’re featuring this week for our teen pregnancy show.  If you are pregnant, wondering about the cost of saying “Yes” to God about your crisis, call those great women we have listed on our CAPPS link on the show page, they will help you walk it out.  Or email us at listenup@listenuptv.com , Lesley who personally handles all our mail, will work with me on helping you get the connection you need.   

Feb. 22/08  -   Fitfully in your Forties? 

I promised on the program this week I’d add a few words from my many years of experience being in my 40’s.  Here’s a quick overview of my 40’s: six years ago our family stress load melted down to the point that I quit my career completely to go home and be a full time mom.  It was enormously liberating, I can remember being on a beach on Lake Erie and skipping. It was a full blown mid life crisis wonderfully underway.  I didn’t know if I’d ever return to work, certainly not in television.  My husband of 27 years went through three job changes in the 40’s, got a new degree, and opened his own business.  We put a new roof, new doors, new windows, replaced the fridge, all those boring things about being responsible.  I travelled to Africa, India, and Europe, founded a new media charity and was blessed with ten great staff recruited, I enrolled in University, and then our children left us.  They launched into their emerging adulthood with dramatic moves of independence and here we are, aging.   The 40’s have been anything but calm around here.   As I mentioned in the program, part of our human nature through all that change is to get bitter and grumpy, or self centered and fearful.  I describe that as sin, but it is also the trigger to hope.  Because when the discontentment rolls in, we are faced with moral choices.  We can choose to separate ourselves from God, and from God’s best from us.  Or, we can dig in and search for what God would have for us in this great season of change that is our 40’s.  We featured insight on this week’s program from authors that have all helped guide my 40’s, I’d recommend their books, and The Bible, highly for this decade. 

February 15,2008 – Irritated Feelings

One of the snoopy questions I usually wind up asking people I’m visiting with is, “so tell me about your religious background.”   That question has taken me through the gamut of irritating people, sometimes it was good, sometimes it was bad.  I think it really is worth exploring why questions about God make us uncomfortable.  That’s a huge question to unfold, my inbox and mind was swamped this week with freedom of expression questions around religion that our culture is wrestling with, but today’s blog is for personal reflection on that question. Why do questions about God make us uncomfortable?  

One of the earliest letters in the New Testament is called “James”, a letter which challenges us to put belief and behaviour together into good actions.  In James, we are reminded of a key principle in processing ideas, where it instructs:  “Dear Friends, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” (James 1:19)  

Take time to listen to your spiritual questions, listen to sources of truth about them, be open to explore the ideas God brings to you.  If I can paraphrase Acts 9:5,  one of the most dramatic spiritual encounters in the New Testament, Jesus asked a nasty guy named Saul, “why are you kicking against your conscious about God?”  The discovery that unfolded changed the course of the world.  Incredible, and it makes me wonder what could change in my life if I just listened more carefully to the voice of God.     


Feb. 8, 2008

 Its been a whirlwind few weeks of on location shooting, travel to Vancouver and Calgary, family birthdays, and a mountain of school work.  I am only coming up for air now.  Getting back to the gym, sweeping the floor, making real meals, oh it is so good to pause and catch your breath.  That’s one of the reasons why we are airing an important repeat broadcast this week. Aside from catching our breath so as to be able to think better around here, we think given the current debate in Parliament, the nation needs to look again at the message we brought back from Afghanistan. Most compelling are the stories of hope, and the stories of our soldiers reading letters from school kids in Montreal.  Tough guys, whose voices crack when they receive the sincere support of school kids for healing Afghanistan.  Politically our country needs to get behind that Mission!   Just 8 weeks after our producer Dave was staying at the Serena Hotel filming this week’s program, 8 people died in a bomb blast of the very hotel lobby he was at.  Pray for peace, wisdom and perseverance for what is right. 

January 30, 2008 - Lorna’s Thoughts on Money Makeover

I’ve never been wealthy, I’ve never been poor, I have always been provided for.  Isn’t that amazing?  I say that as I’m going off to a fundraising breakfast for Yonge St. Mission that works with the poor amidst wealthy Toronto—no shortage of diversity on the stress caused by money.

I’ve been helped in this area by thinking deeply on what it is that motivates me in subtle, and overt ways when it comes to money.  Is it freedom?  Is money the means to having the freedom to do what you like?  Is it security?  Do I need to feel safe and money makes me feel that?  Is it power?  Is personal success and control important to me, and do I desire the stability and protection that money sometimes provides?  Is it love?  Do I like to use my money to express love and build relationships?

Through these questions I learned that when money is stressing me out, it’s a good time to ask ‘what’s the deeper emotion behind the money?’  That question leads me to reflect on my relationship to God, my husband and children, and to the world of giving.  I do treasure Matthew 6 on this question of money.

January 10, 2008 - Christian first, broadcaster second ?

It was a challenging week trying to tackle a topic too big for our short minutes we have on air; what’s gone wrong in Kenya? I apologize to all who feel there was so much more we should have delved into, especially on corruption. We narrowed our focus onto the Church, and its response and even then could hardly begin to tap into the depth needed, but this haunting question has stayed with me: “Are we Christians first and Kenyan’s second?” Some in the Kenyan church asked that tough question in response to seeing violence break out in a country that claims 70% are believers in Christ. It’s a probing insight into how deeply will we apply our faith when it challenges our own comfort zones. I would have a chance to face the question sooner than expected.
Worn out and drained I stopped by my church for our Wednesday night prayer meeting. I never have time to go to this, but my friend had been inviting me for weeks and so finally I dropped into a pew to just be alone with God. I needed to rest in God, and I expected a quiet affair, the lights were low, the music artsy, it looked and felt suitable. Shortly the event began to unravel my agenda. Rather than rest in God, we were called to gather around some significant pain and pray. Hurting people came forward to weep and ask for help. It was dark enough that I seriously thought about slipping out quietly and going back to the car. But this is what Christians must do, love each other and pray. The evening went into over 4 hours in length on praying for people very personally. Yes, I honestly had moments I thought I should sneak out, this is too intense, my job has wiped me out, I’m tired, etc. But “Christian first, career second” just kept going through my mind. This is what Christians are called to do for each other. Still, I will need courage to return to prayer meeting again.

January 7, 2008 - Sounding the Alarm!

I had a wonderful rest and holiday, lots of visiting and family over, the only thing missed was I did not get my silent retreat of ushering in the New Year, so that will come in a few weeks. This week our production team looked at a personal approach to caring for Africa’s needs, and no sooner did the show go off to the stations than Kenya erupted in violence caused by corruption. I struggled with a sense of betrayal when I saw this happening, I thought, “come on Kenya, we’re trying to show the world your continent needs care, but no one wants to care for people whose leaders behave so badly.” My sense of betrayal is compounded because Kenya is a deeply spiritual country; it has more than three times the Christian commitment that my country, Canada, does. I’m so disappointed to see this from a nation “that should know better!” It sets compassion back, it causes us to withhold. Stay tuned, we’re going to produce a program looking into those questions next week. Meanwhile, we pray for God’s peace to overrule the sin that is threatening stability in Kenya.

Dec. 21, 2007

“If I could ask God one question this Christmas, what would it be?”

It would be this: God, why did you bother? That’s my question for God this Christmas. I mean, God, why did you create a human race and why do You keep moving in our minds and hearts?

Why? In my small understanding, I think it must be because God is hooked on love; in fact, God would have to be the creator of love. Since we’re all busy this time of year, I’m just going to leave it at that. The very best thing I can do this Christmas is to verbally say to God, “God, I need your love, God, help me to love You.” I say that often, and it truly brings Christmas to my life.

Thank you all for joining me in this online journal, have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I’m tucked at home for the holiday, my folks who are in their 80’s are flying in to spend some time with us, our two university kids are home, and I’m learning how to cook again. A most welcome time to recalibrate. “God, I need your love.”

Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Dec. 14, 2007     “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”

    It was close to midnight and I was driving from my university class in east Toronto to pick up my daughter from her last exam at the University of Guelph.  A long drive on snowy, truck laden roads and Josh Groban was serenading me in the car with his amazing rendition of  I’ll Be Home for Christmas.   Last Christmas, our daughter was in Europe studying at Capernwray Bible Schools and traveling with friends and I missed her terribly this time of year.  Our son comes home from school in Calgary next week, and I join mothers who go into overdrive on expectations of family warmth this time of year.
    Earlier in the day I had been with someone who this week will help 100 families a night hang ornaments of remembrance on a Christmas tree.  Families who will have someone come home “only in their dreams.”  Let’s remember to hug and love those around us who have to hang such ornaments.  
    I have similar emotions from this week’s broadcast where we think of all our soldiers and aid workers we featured on Afghanistan. When Dave Pascoe, our Line Producer, visited there recently he was told by the soldiers that they would really appreciate hearing from home this Christmas.  ListenupTV has contact with a chaplain in the military police division in Kandahar and he would happily pass on your letters to the troops. Send your words of encouragement to listenup@listenuptv.com and we will make sure they reach their destination.  On the show you will notice a moving segment on the CURE hospital in Kabul. Should you wish to send Christmas greetings to the hard-working staff at the hospital, feel free to use the above email address and we will forward them on to the Executive Director at the hospital.
These people are living out a very special part of Christmas: the love of God being brought to the desert of human need.   They will be away from their families and I thank them, (which seems so inadequate) but let’s all use this week’s broadcast as a reminder to pray for those families too. 
    My God With Us devotional readings reminded me this week of Isaiah 41:13:20 where “into the modern deserts we shape and inhabit, the Holy One pours out rivers and fountains.”    In Afghanistan, or here at home, let’s lift up our parched lives for His refreshing water. 

Dec. 6, 2007 - Christmas Preparations:

Give me enough years, and I finally start figuring out how to give to myself at Christmas. Here’s one way I’m doing that: Each morning, I’ve been spending time with the Bible and the book we feature on this week’s program; God with Us (The book was edited by a long time friend, Greg Pennoyer and Professor Gregory Wolfe.) It’s been a wonderful way to explore what it means to receive the gift of Jesus. Each morning I just try and get my head and heart around that, learning from both Old and New Testament passages that this devotional guide, God with Us, leads me on. Here’s a excerpt from the book’s devotional on the first day of Advent, by Richard John Neuhas:
“Faith is itself a gift, the gift of receptivity…He will not be Lord of our life without our permission. Faith is giving permission. “Lord, I am not worthy” …these are words of love surrendering to love. With these words, we make room in our hearts for the gift. With these words, faith gives permission for Christ to be in our lives.”

November 22, 2007, A Team That Matters

I know I'm supposed to write about sports on this week's blog, but I'm stuck on something our sports psychologist guest said on our program this week.

He said passion for a team is all about our need to be in relationship with people we admire.  When I asked him what it means that I don't have a team that I may be passionate about, he said it's likely I am finding that need met in another kind.  I knew instantly what that team was for me; it’s the Bible believing church.

Here's a photo of just such a "team" playing to win the game of being a church which takes its playbook from the Bible rather than culture.  It's a briefing held by the Anglican Essentials Network to announce that two Canadian bishops are being "drafted" by the Southern Cone because they have a better chance of being able to live out the calling to be a Biblical church on that "team".  This is a bold move within the 700-year-old Anglican Church to realign itself with its heritage of being Bible church people. 

At this event I interviewed my hero Dr. J.I. Packer.  Dr. Packer, Anglicanism's most well-known and conservative theologian and author, fully expects to lose his license to be an Anglican priest in Canada because of the view he holds— use the Bible to shape culture, rather than allow culture to shape your view of the Word.   He would be re-licenced under the new "team" arrangement with the churches of South America.  Watch for this story in an up-coming broadcast.

November 16, 2007 

Thoughts on this week’s program: 

“Birth is painful.  Babies are inconvenient and messy.  There is immense trouble in having children,” writes author Eugene Peterson. I agree with that, any pregnancy opens us to great risk.  But here’s another layer of the mystery Eugene Peterson summarizes so well; “Birth, any birth, is our primary access to the creative work of God.” 
I also agree with that because I’ve lived the wonder of God working through a crisis pregnancy, which is the process that put me on the earth.  We have a choice whether or not to let God in on the crisis, it’s an all or nothing deal really – to throw ourselves into the truth of God and count on it, live it and make our decisions by it.  In retrospect I can see the truth of Isaiah 40:11: “God tenderly leads those who have young”.   Around the age of 30, I spent almost a year working through the truths of Psalm 139; that was God doing His creative work in showing me I belonged to Him. It is hard for a personality like mine to pray “yes God, I accept you as Creator, Saviour and Lord of my life” – but it is a daily prayer that becomes more comfortable and comforting as you get to know God.  May that be the prayer for all of us who have the great privilege of caring for the unborn.    
Drop me an email at listenup@listenuptv.com if you need help on anything this week’s program or this blog may have surfaced for you.   We’re here to care about you.

November 10, 2007 – Remembering

I had a fascinating time working with Canada’s war veterans on this week’s program. Bottom line; these courageous men in their 80’s were reminding me with great vigor that we dare not neglect the memory of their sacrifice in Burma/Myanmar because if we do, the world only gets worse. They were wisely linking their past with today’s need, insisting Burma still needs help. Dr. Robert Farquharson, retired fighter pilot who fought over Burma in 1941-1945 said to me: “You don’t have to drop bombs to do it. In fact – that might be the worst way to do it. But voices can do it too.”
His concern fits completely with the words of theologian Karl Barth, who had to flee Germany because he would not support Adolf Hitler. Dr. Barth wrote:

"To-day everyone is a military person. Either directly or indirectly. That is to say, everyone participates in the suffering and action which war demands."

Whether it is as a soldier, or as part of the mile long column of barefoot monks in Rangoon, or the suit clad protesting lawyers this week in Pakistan, or TV programs like ours, or the church we featured who sponsored refugees fleeing Burma, or the children from this Montreal school pictured above, we “all must participate in the suffering and action that war demands.”
That is the lesson our war veterans have taught me this week; let’s remember deeply what it means to love.
Remember last entry I wrote about a security concern I could not talk about ? It was this: We sent Dave, our producer and camera man into Kabul, Afghanistan but he’s now back safely and is going to bring us a great program. This week Dave and our intern, Rikki, answered some mail from you our viewers on Afghanistan in an interesting way; after our first show on Afghanistan this season, Montreal’s Magaret Manson grade 3 and 4 classroom asked for help to get their letters to Canadian soldiers there. Here’s their welcome to Dave and Rikki, below, visiting the class and speaking on Remembrance Day, and helping with the letters - watch for this in our next Afghanistan show in early December.

October 19, 2007  


    I have been thinking so deeply on this since writing the program this week.  It was a pressure cooker to get it done in the time frame we had, there were personal and work issues swirling and I found it deeply calming to take the advice of this grandmother.   We also had what has now amounted to a security challenge at work, which I can’t even say anything about and I found myself just really needing to look up to God and gently pray, “Thy will be done.”   A Chaplain we interviewed for this week’s program told me the Amish say the Lord’s prayer, the prayer Jesus quoted as the template for prayer, six times a day.  I suspect my days would often be quite different if I followed that practice.   

Oct 13, 2007

I can't believe how casually we are talking about moderating our behaviour on a fundamental freedom in Canada; freedom of religion. As you'll see in this week's program, public hearings in Quebec are underway on the role of religious expression. In Ontario, we've just watched an election be lost over the issue of extending public funding to more religious schooling than just the Catholics who receive it now. These public exchanges are generating an atmosphere of fear and animosity towards the public expression of faith in God, and I find myself getting on the defensive. The sentiment that alarms me was best expressed in one of our streeter interviews: "no, don't speak in public about this, it is a very private matter."
This is outrageous to me, its unbelievable that we are talking about simply getting silent about our beliefs in God. You can click on my wrap on the main page, right hand corner, to read my opinions on what is to lose here, but Canada, stand on guard for the public expression of faith in Jesus Christ, because political correctness is pushing into your freedom. Do something about it this week; just turn to someone and ask, "so, have you prayed about anything lately? What are you asking God for?" Its time we publicly remind each other we're not alone in this journey through life.

In the Woods with God- Sept 28/07

I’m writing from lakeside in Minnesota where this is my annual week away to connect with nine lifelong friends. We are named the Star Fellowship, taken from the inspiration of Daniel 12:3, we are a group founded and mentored by Dr. Lon Allison, Director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. (guy with the guitar, center) We come from four different countries, and all work full time in ministry leadership in a variety of places from churches, to universities, to media.

We gather to improve our skill development, to improve our spiritual formation, and to widen our worldview. “Passionate God lovers and tenacious Kingdom builders” is our motto. We learn so much from each other about how to do life; we laugh, cry, pray, and ask each other tough questions. This is our fifth year of gathering, and this year each of our personal soul sharing times have ended in a personalized song; “Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on …..Lorna. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on her. Break her, melt her, fill her, use her. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.”

This experience is especially tender to me in light of our Season Launch this week of Listen Up’s 07/08 year: “Doubting Teresa”, the new release of the personal writings of Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. It was with shock and dismay I discovered that this great saint experienced spiritual dryness. She was plagued by a lonely, dark heart, and yet she believed deeply that God was in that darkness, still loving her even though she had seasons where she didn’t feel it. She gave those disappointments back to God, and continually prayed a prayer: “Jesus in my heart, I believe in your faithful love for me. I love you.” As I read these fantastic letters, prayers, poems and reflections from Mother Teresa, there was also a huge sentiment of how satisfied she was that she considered herself a “little spouse of Jesus.” Any suffering she did emotionally in loneliness, she felt could be a gift of suffering to give up to Jesus who had suffered for the souls of the world. Her letters also showed she was anchored in her Christian walk by a connection to community. She did not flounder alone with her emotions or doubts, she had monthly visits with a spiritual director, and annual retreats (at least), where she was away for 8 days at a time to deepen devotion in a spiritual setting.

Not unlike what I have experienced again this week with my buddies here at the retreat. I am humbled that people we don’t even know shared this gorgeous cabin they own with us, and said, “Come, use our blessings for your blessings.” Sometimes when you doubt God exists, or that God loves you, something so tangible as this experience in community reminds me that God’s love is so much bigger than how I feel at the low points. I’d wish that for each of us reading this; the ability to get into Christian community on the journey with God, to have friends who can help us process fears, doubts, dreams and joys. It’s my hope that by my 50th birthday I could duplicate this group and launch a new Star Fellowship for yet another generation that needs just that kind of encouragement. In the meantime, if you need connection for your spiritual needs, drop us a note at listenup@listenuptv.com  as one of our staff members, Lesley, is available fulltime to help you with your questions.  No topic or issue is out of bounds.  So, reach out and write to us - help is on its way

"Surprise" - Sept 21, 2007

        It was my birthday this week and this was a really cool surprise to make sure I felt loved!  Here the work gang doing and amazing pot luck lunch expressing kindness and the gift of personality amid their busy lives.  We had a great time, and the gift of their friendship is such a blessing.

        Other gifts this week:
- attending a fantastic event Heavens Rehearsal.  www.heavensrehearsal.com
- sitting in my rocker reading all 350 pages of "Mother Teresa; Come Be My Light", I could hardly put it down.  This was a deep encouragement to my mind and heart.
 http://www.motherteresa.org/layout.html

- taping our first two shows of the new season.  I thought they were amazing, watch for our launch Sept 30th.
- anticipating our daughter coming home for the weekend!

Fewer are getting married?   Sept. 14, 2007     

The Census results this week about the nature of family in Canada have surprised me.   It doesn’t feel good to know fewer people are getting married in this country.  Before I panic, read the fine print in the release of the headlines that shout “Canadians redefine the family.”  Here’s what the National Post quotes from Anne Milan, the senior analyst with Statistics Canada:  “Marriage remains the single most common foundation on which Canadians build a family.” Marriage is by no means over in this nation, but it is steadily dropping, now at 68% and common law is growing to 15.5% according to the 2006 Statistics Canada report.   

So what does the soul of our nation lose when we start marrying less?   I think we lose a connection to covenant.  Covenant is different than contract; it is not only an agreement but an ethos of commitment that invites spiritual realities into human situations.  Covenant originated from God and expresses God’s character that He has committed to forever have a relationship with humanity.  When we lose touch with the concept of covenant, I think we lose hope that we can actually access a power in relationships that is bigger, and longer lasting than what we have only in ourselves.   So we fear marriage, we fear we won’t be able to make it work, we won’t be able to endure it.  If covenant is in the discussion, we can begin to explore that God invites us to learn of His covenant power to assist us in our relationships.  So, when I need to connect with the covenant nature of my marriage of 27 years, I read things like Colossians 3:12-17, and I Corinthians 13.   And then I pray, “God, help me to live like that despite my thorny personality and stubborn self.”   And for 27 years, God’s covenant nature with me has been helping enhance my covenant nature with Vern, big time.  I honestly don’t think our marriage would have lasted without our spiritual connection to covenant.  I, more than Vern I think, have needed to almost weekly sit with my relationship with God, and access God’s help for marriage, and we really do enjoy our marriage.   

Less of God in the nation means less of marriage. Left to the smallness of our own resources of the heart, marriage is a big challenge. A prayer for the week: 

    “God, how would you like to come into this question of marriage?”  

August 17, 2007 
 
Since a picture is worth a 1000 words, here's my photo album summary from the last amazing month away:   
 
1.  Taping in Riga, Latvia with Greater Europe Mission; an agency which helps Europeans discover faith in Jesus Christ.

2.  300 missionaries gathered in Sopron, Hungary from Greater Europe Mission. www.gemission.org  It was a huge privilege to speak to these women and encourage them in the sacrificial approach to loving the world. 

3.  In Europe, I was challenged and blessed by the hospitality we experienced.  Here we are in southern France, with Baptist youth workers we know, Rike and Karsten Huttman.  They opened their friendships and their schedule to us and took us to this lovely family in southern France, the Goetz's.  It was AMAZING hospitality and it reminded me to open my door to strangers more willingly. 

4.  This is the prettiest vacation spot - Monterosso, Italy where Vern sprained his ankle and we had to just sit on the Mediterranean beach.  It was wonderful. 

5.  I arrived home from Europe to a huge blessing.  On Aug. 13, CL Ranches and the Copithorne Family from Calgary treated our media ministry to a Western BBQ on their ranch.  It was fun, and a great new adventure in hospitality, and letting people help you.  I was deeply touched, and encouraged, it was wonderful !  This beautiful gathering of 146 people put together a financial gift to our ministry that took us over the line on meeting our financial needs for our August 31 financial year end !     YAHOO !!

6.  The two cowboys at the Listen Up TV fundraiser who set their mind to making a difference in the world:  our host Marshall Copithorne, (right), and Vice President of our Media Voice Generation Board;  Preston Manning. 

7.  The Listen Up TV team gathering at a friend's home to pray and meet with God.  We were tuning our hearts to start the new TV season ahead. 

July 20, 2007

I'm going off line and away on an adventure of a lifetime. Vern and I have been invited to Europe to discover what God is doing there. Isn't that amazing? Europe has less than one percent of it's population who would claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ (That level is 12% in Canada). We're off to do some filming work with Greater Europe Mission in Riga, Latvia, and to speak at their Mission Conference in Hungary. We'll also vacation and rest ! Meeting up with friends in Frankfurt, touring faith sites with them, and then they are taking us hiking in the Swiss Alps. Vern and I will then catch a train and explore Northern Italy, we've never been to Europe before, and we're just so excited about. We return home and back to blog around August 10. Have a wonderful summer!


July 13, 2007 

Sin set a record in Canada this week as our youngest ever multiple murderer was convicted of killing her parents and younger brother.  A girl just 12 years old at the time of the crime, the horror has shocked many more than just Medicine Hat, Alberta where it occurred. Thoughts on our societal responsibility on this are can be read at my Globe and Mail commentary this week, but this post is for our personal responsibility to pray for this girl, her grandparents, her boyfriend, and their extended families.  In an April 26, 2006 letter of apology to her deceased parents, written just days after the crime, the girl wished peace upon her parents souls in “the summerland,” a pagan reference to the afterlife.    It is a reminder that spiritual sources inform all people and that the battle between good and evil takes physical hold of people and their situations. 


July 5, 2007      Building friendships   

    For 18 years Debbie and I have been building a great friendship.  Here we are in her Manitoba gravel pit finding me a rock for my garden that could fit into my suitcase. Debbie has been a deep mine of encouragement, fun, discernment, and spiritual help to me all these years.  Your soul mates should be ones that pull you closer to God, and that’s what  Debbie has been.  We would both be far less if we would have missed the journey of friendship that God led us on these past 18 years.

Here we are lighting fireworks to celebrate her birthday.  Because we’re great friends, this birthday will remain numberless, but it was recent.  As we age, it gets easier to get  more reclusive, but its not wise.  People move, our dynamics change, we have to start friendships all over again with brand new people, and the obstacles to creating friends mount.  I’m finding lots of people my age are lonely and sometimes I am too.  Last weekend Vern and I had to turn down a poker game with new friends because we were doing my math homework (he’s needed to be my tutor at this Tyndale business course – its been very tough) Busy, busy things crowd out the efforts of building friends.   I think that makes God’s heart sad because we miss joy that God created for us.   Jesus said his intention was that we would have “more and better life than we ever dreamed of.”  (John 10:10, The Message)   Watch out for the things that will steal relationships out of your life.    My advice is to keep risking (and forgiving)!  Keep trying, keep making it a priority to “love one another.”  It’s a deliberate effort. 


June 30/07    The National Dispute that marked Canada Day:   ….blog revised from earlier experience

I will not presume to understand the pain, anger, and tensions that are currently boiling on Native needs in Canada. The closest  issue I’ve looked at is in Caledonia, Ontario.  We decided to rerun this show this week given the National Day of Action held across Canada by First Nations people.  At issue is who owns the land – Six Nations native people, or the descendants of white settlers? I have been listening to great people on both sides of the debate, I have read Pulitzer Prize winning historian Alan Taylor explain the story that goes back 245 years in his excellent history book, The Divided Ground. Caledonia and its Six Nations Reserve could become an area of bloodshed and renewed divide in Canada, or it could become a place of great healing for the problems facing aboriginal Canadians.

Here’s why I think the role of Christianity matters so much in this:

In the late 1700’s, wealthy British donors paid for Christian missionaries to bring the Gospel of Christ to Indians. Those arrangements appear to have had two goals – to convert the Indians to Christianity, and to convert them so they would be open to British settlement along their land.

While that’s better than just killing the Indians so British could have the land, that legacy has forever marked a mixed motive in how the message of Jesus Christ reached the Canada’s First Nations people. Despite our political interference of mixing up thirst for land with the message of Jesus, many First Nations people still embrace the pure message of Jesus to their tribe.

When I asked Mohawk Mavis Etienne if she had a problem that this message was carried by British people, white colonialists, she replied: “I have no problem with that – it helped me meet my Lord and Savior who’s the center of my universe.”

She can say that because Mavis has done much inner work of forgiveness, and has been peeling off the garbage that got put onto the Christian message by white governments and clergy who tried to force aboriginal assimilation into Canadian life. There are many aboriginals who think like Mavis does. Their ability to forgive Canadians, to embrace what Christ intends for them is beautiful and it shows in their life.

The worst example I know of how the church erred in its sacred message is the story of what happened in residential schools between 1920 and 1996. The schools are even older than that; I encourage you to read about them at www.wherearethechildren.ca

I dare not presume a “fix” for this, rather, the picture below shows me at an old residential school near Caledonia’s land dispute. Here on behalf of our Christian ministry at Listen Up TV, I’m praying for forgiveness for the sins my people have brought to aboriginal identity in Canada.

This is why the church must now be involved. Spiritual realities have been part of this dispute since day one, and we must now bring a wiser understanding of our spiritual hope to the situation. As was done at a recent interfaith service at Six Nations, we must pray for “A:se Tyotahsawen - A New Start” . As you read history of this great dispute, it always comes down to individuals who were assigned leadership. Deception and greed over the Haldimand Tract was among others, caused by a British official, Peter Hunter, who was described in 1805 by one of his peers as, “so great a Devil.” Chief Joseph Brant, who oversaw the dispute for Indian interests, eventually gave in to excessive drinking, disrespect for younger warriors, and a lack of self leadership. Today we are still reaping the effects of both those individuals. The Bible asks us to pray for our leaders “so it will go well for us.” So let us pray for the current political leaders in this historic dispute. For government negotiator Jane Stewart, for Chief David General and the elders of the Six Nations, for Janie Jamieson, for Premier Dalton McGivney, for Mayor Marie Trainer, for the Clan Mothers and Tribal Council, for the warriors on the barricade line, for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “God keep our land, Glorious and Free.”

See Lorna’s related article in The Globe and Mail: Where The Church Might Help The State

Family Together, finally.    -  June 9, 2007 

     For the first time in 11 months, our family ate together yesterday.  In a very deliberate plan, we’ve pulled the kids, 19, 21, home for a week so our lives can reacquaint, grow and love together.  Both Vern and I got weepy as we sat around the supper meal, just listening to Adam and Elise banter, laugh and tell stories. It had been so long. We have always had enormous fun around the dinner table.  The kids are pursuing school, jobs, travels, their independence, but they are happy to be home for a week of holiday.  In a few hours we’ll be leaving for a lovely cottage right on the beach at Lake Erie. (It has already been dubbed “the cottage with no internet”????) I’ve packed a ton of food.  

Reflections from covering the Billy Graham Library Opening - June 7, 2007 

     From a journalist’s perspective, I’ve concluded that the reason the story of Christianity has endured is because it’s supernatural and true.  Stories just can’t last in popularity for millennia, and become the world’s biggest movement, if they are not true. British mystery writer Dorothy Sayers has written, “The most dramatic question in the world is “what make you of Christ?”
     Billy Graham, the world’s most famous preacher, answered that question with his entire life.  As I toured the magnificent library that captures the memories of Rev. Graham, I was deeply moved at how focused and determined Billy and his team were to tell the world about Jesus Christ.  The library, (whose only book is the Bible), is a self guided tour through several rooms of film highlights of 60 years of Billy and his workers telling as many people as possible about Jesus Christ.  There’s this great old film clip of Rev. Graham in a crusade thundering out, “Who was this man that burst onto history’s pages more than 2000 years ago and why has he affected so many?”
     Jesus, the son of God, sent to be a free gift to the human race.  One of the latest ways the Billy Graham organization explains this is the link in our spiritual guide’s portion of our website called www.nowtrygod.com

     If you’re tired of being confused about what to do about God and you, here’s my suggestion.  Talk to God (that’s called a prayer), and say “God, find me.  I’m all yours.  If Jesus is your gift to me God, I take this Jesus.  I wrap myself around this Jesus, now teach me, help me, to understand what that will mean.  I believe in you, in Jesus.  I am following you God.” 
             I’d love to hear your thoughts about this journey to God. As I’m away on holiday next week, our staffer Lesley is collecting them for me, we’ll answer every one. 
listenup@listenuptv.com   

June 2 - Opening of the Billy Graham Library

    Just leaving Charlotte, North Carolina where Vern and I were privileged to be guests at the opening of the Billy Graham Library.  I was overwhelmed by the spiritual significance in all I experienced here.  Watch for this to be our program on air next week.  A few thoughts stand above the rest; trust in an unseen God, belief in God and His salvation for us all,  God’s love, Billy Graham’s faithfulness, focus, team work, sacrifice, prayer, family, friends. The three U.S. Presidents who addressed the event were deeply personal in their thanks of a friend who cared for them through thick and thin.  Again and again we heard of the beauty and power of one simple life surrendered to God.     
 

May 27, 2007 -   The Teen Sex show thoughts: 

     No sex except in marriage?  It’s a tall order in today’s cultural messages, but it is what God asks of the human race.   The marriage bed, is what the Bible calls it, is God’gift for joy, bonding, life and comfort, and God asks that we keep it pure and undefiled.   I want to recommend some helpful books to that explain why God would give humanity this mandate for their sexuality.  The books are frank, and honest.  As I noted in a request in the viewer mailbag, yes, they do cover masturbation, secondary virginity and are most helpful. There are many of these books on the Christian market but these are two of my favorites: 

Real Sex; the naked truth about Chastity by Lauren F. Winner

I Kissed Dating Good-Bye by Joshua Harris  


Saturday, May 19, 2007

   All those wonderful plans for gardening have been dashed by a troubling phone call with a loved one in our circle who is not managing their mental illness. I am just about to get in the car, drive a few hours and try to tend to this, but I felt I should stop a moment to blog. As we were preparing this week’s show on mental illness, prompted by some new moves in mental health care and the shocking statistics that one in four struggle with this, I kept thinking of this person. The need is closer to us all then we think, and frankly, our on air guests and their emphasis on love from the human heart being such a healer, compel me to act. It’s not quite my nature to care enough to act, my human heart wrestles selfishness.
Maybe this is a good moment to reach for my journal and reread something I wrote in it yesterday from Hudson Taylor:
“Measure your life not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth.”

May 18, 2007

    Slipping into spring is an absolute delight for me, and as a long weekend stretches ahead for our Canadian calendar, I can hardly wait to get into my garden.  I find gardening very therapeutic, and I do need a lot of therapy.  (nothing unusual in that for me, it’s just how I’m wired)  I have finally recovered from the virus that knocked me out for a few weeks, and I just finished my English Literature course at Tyndale, and its wonderful to see the calendar allow for gardening.  For this past course I studied Charles Dickens novel Hard Times.  It made me wonder if someone has written a critique in story style of our Technology Age as Dickens did of his Industrial Age.  Hard Times is about what goes missing when we focus only on reason and fact, and not on the development of heart, character and mind.  Unfortunately, my next course is Business Math, and I am dreading it, but my husband is rubbing his palms with delight that he gets to be my tutor. 
    Next week I’ll post some photos of a TV taping we did in our back yard for Christian Blind Mission this week, it’s one of my favorite charities.  Unfortunately, we did the taping before I could do the gardening as they had a schedule to meet and they liked the yard in it’s raw state ….is there a lesson in that?   

May 4, 2007 -  Lessons from Cowboy Culture 

    Driving home from class last night I stopped at Harvey’s, and bought an Angus Burger.  It was amazing, and melted in my mouth.  The scale showed it this morning, but it was worth it.  (Yes, that anti beef book, Mad Cowboy, is in my house, my daughter is a vegetarian, I’ve been fully briefed on the perils of over consumption of beef.  I’d like another Angus Burger tomorrow.)
    This love for beef comes to the blog this week because of where my travels have been, discovering that real people actually had lives shaped by what it means to raise cattle. In Canada, we have 90,000 farms and ranches whose average herd is 54, and they bring the country the majority of our beef. (www.albertabeef.org)    In pulling together this week’s episode, which frankly, originated on a dare from a group of Albertans, testy lot that they are, our team was jolted by their challenge that we don’t really understand Alberta, or care what rural lives contribute to the country.  We’ve only done stories in Alberta on tragedies; the murders of our Mounties in Mayerthorpe, the school shooting in Taber, we thought it was time to do a good news look at Alberta.

     Rural values are branded in the Calgary Stampede movement, (www.calgarystampede.com)  who officially label the values as:  Western hospitality, connection to community, pride of place, and integrity.  It’s very clear the Stampede movement is not a faith organization,  but anyone looking at Alberta through a worldview that includes God, can see that those western values come right out of the heart of God for the well being of people.  So I should not have been as surprised as I was to find the vibrant Cowboy Churches, check them out at www.cowboytrailchurch.com   It was beautiful to see the authenticity of how people care for each other, both at the city cowboy church in Ranchman’s Bar on Sunday mornings at 10, or Tuesday nights at Cochrane at 7 pm, and way out in Dovercourt Hall on Thursday nights.   We thank Rancher’s John Fitz Herbert, and Lloyd and Sharon Quantz  and Tom King, (www.tomkingpoet.com)  who helped us hear the heartbeat of the soul for this story.    It’s amazing to me that amid all the challenges of keeping industry going, (Lloyd has even run for political office against the popular Ralph Klein), successful people like them, believe creating church is the most important thing they can do.  Helping people meet the God who loves them is the focus of their passion in Cowboy Church.   
    I’ll close with a quote from Cowboy preacher Bryn Thiessen: 
    “Jesus says, I’ve come to save you, but I didn’t just come to make your life a rosy easy way. You gotta follow me. And what cowboys appreciate most is you tell them the truth. You can never soft pedal the gospel and say that life’s a party. Jesus never said come and it’ll be easy. He said my burden is light. My yoke is easy. But he said you’re gonna have to carry your share of the load. And they appreciate that. So what it gives them, is a chance they’re all they’re really meant to be. And they understand all that. They understand that somebody made all this and fit it all together. They understand the fact that He was willing to die for them. Words like love and all that don’t always mean anything. But when they realize what Christ did for them, and what he asks of them is more than they can give. It appeals to them. But the important thing is, cowboys, just like anybody else – til the spirit calls them, they can’t hear. They’re no different – they’re just people the same as anybody else, they might smell a little different, dress a little different, think a little different, but once the spirit enters into them, something happens and that’s where they’re just like everybody else. When the spirit calls them, and they answer, things get turned loose. And they stay cowboys, but they’re cowboys with a new meaning.”  
Bryn Thiessen, Cowboy preacher in interview with Listen Up TV, May 2007 

April 26, 2007  -- Lessons from Sick Bay  

This day marked the start of going seven days without make up – my face was too leaky, my body too sore to notice.  On the 21st Dave and I were filming in Calgary’s indoor rodeo corral, and in mid interview Dave locked off the camera and turned to our volunteer Karen and said “take over.”  (She’s never touched a camera in her life)  We finished, and found Dave on a cot in the nurse’s station at the rodeo.  This was so unlike Dave, and now he is out with Mononucleosis and a weakened liver. (We’re praying for you Dave !!)  This was the start to the adventure of watching the rest of the team come together to care in a deeper way, to go beyond the second mile, and keep the show going, it’s been amazing.   I fell sick within a few days, and being too old to get Mono, have just been sidelined with a horrible virus, I’d never before been this sick before. Watch for our producer Patricia Paddy to host the show on Virginia Tech.   I thought much about those of you who struggle with illness and the patience it requires, and I learned again the importance of the rhythm’s of activity.    Philippians 4:13.     

April 19, 2007

I am doing this blog in an airport lounge on my wonderful Blackberry Pearl which was a gift to me from the kind people at RIM.  They hooked me on the light weight of this device. I may never travel with a laptop again!  We’re shooting 2 shows this weekend in Alberta so I will get right to the point. I am a huge advocate of positive thinking. That is what we explore on air this week with The Secret.  Here is my take on this week's program: The law of the universe is not in that book The Secret nor its companion DVD.  It is in Romans 8.  God in us equips us to move in positive, powerful energy.  Romans 8:31-39 To replace that truth with the idea that you pray to yourself or wish your way into your goals and dreams falls short of reality. Why limit yourself to yourself when the truth and power of God living in you is available?  To access that you must become a Christ follower.  A person who says yes to let Christ have ownership of your life. Romans 8:1-17   This week I was at Creativity Day at the OCAD and listened to Warren Coughlin the amazing top coach in Canada speak on The Secret. www.actioncoaching.com  It is always good to be encouraged to get your head out of “Stinkin Thinkin” that is negative talk to yourself but it is even better to realize the God of the universe wants to equip you to do that.  I recently told a very challenged and discouraged friend of mine.... The world says pray to yourself but the Lord says cast cares on Him. And do speak positive about you!  That is biblical. Bless yourself.  Say, I am smart, kind, gentle, an encourager, a bright young beauty who makes the world a better place because God lives in me!! Go for it. It’s Philippians 4:8 in action.

If you are not 100 per cent certain God lives in you and you are a follower of Christ, try this: lie on your bed and get quiet.  Then ask God to begin his work of grace in you.  Ask, believe, and receive. I would suggest further study on a Christian understanding of The Secret at this audio link...
http://www.burlingtonalliance.com/audio/index.html

John Stackhouse blog
http://stackblog.wordpress.com/
John Stackhouse http://www.regent-college.edu/about_regent/faculty/stackhouse_john.html


Easter 2007 

What if ? 
    I don’t agree that anything connecting Jesus to the Talpiot tomb has been found.  I’ve read The Jesus Family Tomb, carefully (it makes many more guesses than the documentary does) and I conclude there is too much connecting of dots that simply have no connections.   Well into the book you get the idea that “what if” is the favorite phrase of the authors.  What the Talpiot tomb controversy did help me understand is the value of the eye witness accounts of Jesus’ as found in the Gospels. 
    Our guest on the show this week, investigative journalist Simcha Jacobovici finds  Jesus’ burial ossuary and that of Mariamne and Judah, his  “wife and child” in the Talpiot tomb by connecting ideas from the Acts of Philip, which he quotes in fascinating detail. Dr. Philip Davis, Religious Studies professor at University of Prince Edward Island explains, “the Acts of Philip was written for a small deviant sect in the fourth century.  It is a literally fabulous account of the apostle Philip, his sister Mariamne, their friend Bartholomew, and some talking animals who they convert to Christianity….its a ridiculous choice as a source of information.”    But that is the source the creators of The Lost Tomb of Jesus use more than any other to explain what they think they’ve found.  They are very impressed that Harvard professor Francois Bovon translated the Acts of Philip and in that work speculated that the Mariamne is Mary Magdalene. I’ll quote from a great blog here by Duke University professor Mark Goodacre.   “For Jacobovici, it was the turning point for him to discover that Marianmne was Mary Magdalene’s “real name”.  That bad news for him is that it is only her real name if one goes with a fourth century text, the Acts of Philip, that has no chance of containing first century traditions.  Wherever she appears in first century Christian texts, she is always “Maria” as are the other several Marys in the New Testament.”     
     I read first century texts almost daily and I do ask myself “what if” a lot.  What if I take the words of these accounts of Jesus in my New Testament (first century text) seriously ?  That the claims of Easter are true (John 11:25)  What changes in my decisions, my actions that day if I answer to the first century request of Christ to “love him with all my heart, mind and strength?” (Mark 12:30)
    On a personal note:  Vern and I are retreating on a Easter break for a two day break away from the city, we miss the kids on holidays and it will be nice to get away and have some fun. 

Family Meltdown thoughts  March 30, 2007 

    What a fascinating topic we dug into this week on the statistics of how our kids are hurting because they lack authentic connection to boundaries and guidance from trusted adults.  Raising our children was a season of deepest examination of what was in my heart.  The selflessness that the job required was far beyond me, and I came face to face with a truth from Proverbs 14:1 in the Bible: a foolish woman has the power to destroy her own home. 
    So what do you do with that ?  Even now that my kids are grown and away from home, there is nothing that examines my soul better than when I have to examine how I am treating the people around me.  My husband, my colleagues, my friends; how I treat people always comes back to the school of the soul.
    We cannot change our soul until we can submit to the creator of our soul. Until we become a student of what God’s intends for us, we will not be able to care for ourselves, or those we love.    Matthew 6:33 started it for me;  “Seek first the Kingdom of God”  ….or as The Message puts it:   “…know both God and how he works.  Steep your life in God-reality, God- initiative, God –provisions. Don’t worry about missing out.  You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”
     The concerns of how to run our lives, interact with people, do our jobs, raise our children, it all comes out of asking God to rule our decisions first.  Call me high maintenance, but that means deep, daily times of reading the Bible, reflecting on it, counsel with others, prayer and meditation.  All the stuff that takes loads of time.  Time you can’t afford not to take.  That kind of time changes who I am and how I react to people, and how I parent my children.  

March 15, 2007

Where did the Blog go these last weeks?

Let’s blame it on my Science Class, which was part of my work for the Bachelor of Religious Education I’m studying for at Tyndale University College and Seminary.  It came witha load of homework and ideas that were anything but easy or natural for me to grasp. I have a huge new respect for anyone who pursues that discipline. The wonder of the world of science is stunning, and awkwardly difficult for a creative person to memorize and comprehend. But I’ve made it through the course, and now am back in the Psychology discipline, this time on Behaviour in Groups, and its fun.

What’s New?

I’m convinced I found evidence God moved slavery onto our Listen Up agenda. As you’ll see again in this week’s program, there are millions of working slaves in the world, please listen to the program online, it’s very important. The convergence of events and guests that led us to be able to cover this topic was nothing less than supernatural, it just would not have happened without spiritual realities at work. I won’t go into all the details here, but God moved on our agenda with such clarity we knew this was the topic to cover. Among the many interesting elements on this journey is Hollywood Producer Ken Wales, a guest on our program, featuring his fantastic work on the movie Amazing Grace.  It documents the abolition of slavery 200 years ago and features a historic hero of mine, William Wilberforce. As Ken Wales worked on this film, releasing March 23 in theatres in Canada, he had no awareness that slavery still existed; this movie was never intended to be a campaign against 21st century slavery. God had better ideas and the ripple effect this movie has captured speaks God’s purposes of justice. http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/amazing_change.php http://www.freetheslaves.net. 

When we started to work on this six weeks ago, I said to my fantastic producers Melinda Williams and Patricia Paddey that I doubted people were still enslaved, and Patricia almost instantly had proof; she brought us Rev. Walter Pimpong and IN Network and we cried over the truth of the Trokosi slaves he introduced us to. Its been a huge education ever since, and I recommend reading Not For Sale by David Batstone. 
Below are some photos from a wonderful event out team pulled together this week to allow a studio audience party on this topic.

If you want to be included in the next audience party, I welcome you onto our mailing list, drop us a note here at:

Listen Up TV
P.O. Box 40501
1295 North Service Road
Burlington, ON L7P 4W1
Or by email at listenup@listenuptv.com

†

What’s so Amazing about Grace ?

Grace: (definition from Webster’s dictionary)
“unmerited divine assistance given man for his regeneration or sanctification.”

If you’re reading this, God’s grace has found you. It’s golden threads will wrap around you and lift you to a higher place than you are right now. Walking into grace is a wonderful birth into what our lives were created for.
We don’t often talk about conversion, but its such a needed reality in our lives. Conversion from ourselves over to God. When you take the ideas in your head and want to put them onto screen, the computer converts them for you. When you take your mind, heart, will and want to connect it to God, Jesus Christ converts you. Jesus was God’s gift to the human race to be made right with God. It’s grace that allows us to discover the truths of that. History has labeled that process Christianity; Christ followers. It’s a huge conversion that begins with the little cry of “Jesus, I need you ……” and launches you into a daily walk of the discovery of grace; God’s help renewing your life into the beauty God designed for you. Make a very focused decision to either pray this prayer or not: “Jesus, I need you……my life is yours …….” If you want to talk more about this, drop me note at listenup@listenuptv.com.


Feb 2, 2007   Thoughts from Vancouver

Dave and I rarely have to run for cover, but on this week’s program we did.  Turning on a camera in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside attracted more attention than necessary,  but I hope we stayed long enough to bring you something important for this week’s program.  Such evil as is being revealed in the trial of Vancouver’s Missing Women demands that we push harder to see something of God’s hope for the sin humanity can create.  So that’s what we attempt to do on this week’s program.   I’m thinking about the 16,000 people living in that community that haven’t got the option to leave as readily available to them as we did.  People who desperately want a different life, but are trapped in poverty and many who are also trapped in addiction.  I think too of the people who work in the Eastside year after year, shining the love and hope of Jesus.   I really encourage you to go to the main web page and consider a gift of any size to one of the ministries we have posted there. It will make the load lighter for their much needed work.     

Jan 18, 2007

    It’s a very busy week getting ready for speaking events and it reminds me of a lesson I still haven’t learned after all these weeks in television.   One venue of communication is a full enough plate; the pulpit work is probably stretching it.   What makes it possible are the wonderful people like this team below, feeding me research, lining up guests and interviews, answering viewers, booking studios, running tape, editing, and editing again, directing, writing, shooting, administrating, booking, paying bills, searching for funding, oh the list could go on and on.  Drop the team a line at listenup@listenuptv.com and tell them they are amazing, because they are! 

    We’re having a party on Monday morning to watch their final show on 300; I just showed up for the interview, they dug up all the bad hair pics and bloopers, I’m almost afraid to see what they’ve produced.  For all of you at home that have prayed, paid, and supported us, thank you so very much.  There are now 477 people financially supporting Listen Up TV and we are deeply grateful for your support, each month is a faith walk, but miraculously, by the end of it, every bill has been paid.  Wow, thank you!
    The most vital gift I’ve received in this journey is a deeper friendship with Jesus Christ, my Savior.  After looking at all the stories there is no shortage of discovering how I and others have a nature that separated itself from God. Sin. The news is full of it. The human race needs a mediator between our hearts and God. Jesus was God’s answer for this dilemma. We need redeeming.  That daily prayer, that beginning prayer to the road that is Christianity, the road of following Jesus is; “Jesus, I need you.  I confess I am inadequate, I am short of what you intended for my life, my life that was made in your image.  Take my sin, redeem me.  Take over my life, help me to follow you.”  
       Jesus said the wind blows where it will, and although we don’t see it, we feel it.  He likened that to how His being, the Holy Spirit, enters our hearts and minds.  Jesus said He was like the wind, you can’t see it, but you do feel the change that faith makes in you.   You do feel the conviction that being open to Christ brings to you – May that wind blow through each Listen Up program, and in your heart and mine today.         John 3:3-21

Jan 5, 2007 

    Last night I finished another course toward the Bachelor of Religious Education I’m chipping away it through Tyndale College and Seminary.  It was on Human Development, a psychology course, and over the ten weeks our professor challenged me on th