Pastor Miguel and Gladis Mahecha to Hamilton with Us

Pastor Miguel and Gladis travelled to Hamilton with us this weekend to minister. These faithful servants of God fled to Canada from Colombia where their lives were threatened by organized crime. They are learning English and trying to find their place in Canada. They have a tremendous ministry of prayer and encouragement and have blessed Kim and I richly.

We wanted to honour them for their faithfulness and wanted the West Highland Church family to meet them.

They have patiently helped us with our Spanish and we have been of some help with their English.

We are so blessed to have these dear people in our lives.

Perparing Our Hearts for Christmas

Preparing our Hearts for Christmas
The following meditations are meant for quiet conversation with God. I encourage you to write preparations you might want to make in anticipation of celebrating the birth of Christ this Christmas. May the Holy Spirit use these seeds to prompt you to make personal preparation for a fresh encounter with Emmanuel.

Scripture texts incorporated in these meditations taken from Matthew 1:18 - 3:17, Luke 1:5 – 2:40, John 1:1-34, Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:14-16; 10:19-22.

Day One
Saviour, it is right to celebrate the example of Mary, your mother. She willingly complied with your sovereign choice for her to be the mother of God the Son. Young and afraid, yet trusting in your faithfulness, she willingly conceived and gave birth to the God Man, Jesus Christ, and was a faithful mother. Her song was, “the Mighty One has done great things for me – Holy is his name”. Oh that my heart would sing with Mary in praise and adoration to the Might One who is mindful of the humble and exalts them in due time, Who extends mercy to those who fear him, Who performs mighty deeds with His powerful arm, crushing His enemies and helping His people. Lord, you delight to lift up the lowly and exalt the humble. You are glorified when the poor in spirit are made rich in you and live like it. Lord, I want to be humble so that I might be filled with your presence and power. Then I can sing with the humble, “The Mighty One has done great things for me – Holy is His name!”

African Children's Choir for Sarah in 08

Just a note to share that Sarah was recently accepted to work with the African Children's Choir beginning in July 08.



She will travel to Uganda for training and to meet the children before they leave for North America. This is a year long commitment of living out of a small suitcase with vibrant children.







We are very excited for her.



By the way, she is leaving for Ireland and the south of France December 26th for 10 days. Lucky!

On Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

"Before a man can be filled with the Spirit he must be sure he wants to be...Are you willing to let your personality to be taken over by another, even if that other be the Spirit of God Himself? He will be jealous over you for good. He will take the direction of your life away from you. He will reserve the right to test you, to discipline you, to chasten you for your soul's sake...Through it all He will enfold you in a love so vast, so mighty, so all-embracing, so wondrous that your very losses will seem like gains and your small pains like pleasures."

- A. W. Tozer

Christmas Celebrations Begin

This morning Kim left with her mother for Florida. It is just a matter of driving her mom down and flying back this week. I'm hoping to pick Kim up at the Detroit airport Thursday evening.

This was the first weekend of Christmas celebrations for us. We had lunch yesterday with our nephew Kyle and his parents Gloria and Ed along with Kim's mom, Joan. Then we drove two hours west on slippery roads to Chatham. Yesterday's drive means three weekends in a row of driving on "black ice" on the 401. Today was much better as the temperature rose above zero.

This is a picture of Kim and I at our Christmas Ballroom Dance. It was an elegant evening of fun with good friends.

Kim's Trip to Mexico

Kim left me for a week of ministry in Mexico with CrossWorld in a retreat center called Metepec. In total 30 people were present. She was able to reconnect with dear friends and ministry colleagues. God used the time in Kim's life to give her courage to travel in a Spanish speaking country alone, not relying upon me to do most of the talking.

Kim continues to be the administrative assistant to the Latin America Director, Mark Hedinger, for the Puebla ministry focus. She develops ESL material for the English camps held in Los Heroes and coordinates teams and personnel visiting the field. Her contract with CrossWorld concludes in the summer of 08.

30th Anniversary & Kim's 50th Birthday

The Richness of Friendship

This morning I am preparing for the return of my sweetheart from Mexico. As I recover from a wintry weekend that kept me in Hamilton until Monday, I am thinking of my wealth in terms of friendships. I overnighted because of the storm with Bonnie and Allan Gallant in Hamilton Sunday night, having warm fellowship and a hot tub in the freezing rain. Love their kids! On the way home Monday I passed through Brantford and stopped for lunch at my dear friend, Alan Rietberg's, favourite haunt. Sure enough he was there and we had a great visit.

As I get back to normal with cleaning up from a week of being without my Kim, and hoping to surprising her with some Christmas lights, I just checked my telephone messages. There were three. My dear friend Deric Bartlett called to encourage me with the reports he is hearing about our ministry in Hamilton. Pastor Miguel Mahecha called to give greeings as they wait for Kim to come home from Mexico, in Spanish. And moments ago my dear brother from Senegal called to greet and to express a desire to get together while he is in Canada for a few weeks.

Then there is the church at West Highland that has embraced us like we could never have imagined. We envy John and Andrea Mahaffy has they begin their ministry there in January.

God has been pouring on his kindness. And this is just a taste of all he wants to show us for all of eternity.

• Ephesians 2:7 "...that in the ages to come he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

Why Newseason?

My experience and the teaching of scripture is that God leads us through seasons of life; childhood, adolescence, university, dating, marriage, parenthood, midlife freedom, and finishing years. It seems like the transition from one to the next is a kind of birthing experience. While we have become comfortable in one, we don't belong there any longer, and God is leading us into the next.



I think there are parallels in our spiritual development. Paul said, "leaving these things behind, I press on..." Following Christ is a journey, and we move from destination to destination. We cannot stay in one place spiritually. And often there is a correlation between new spiritual seasons and the seasons of life.



Recently I have been reading John Piper's book, "Future Grace". My heart has been so challenged to move into the next season of my journey with new confidence in Him and the promise that "my grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in your weakness".



God is calling us to deeper communion, a new passion for holiness, and a fresh desire for the glory of His name. I'm convinced that God is calling each of us to a newseason of experiencing Him, enjoying Him, and allowing Him to flow through our lives. May we respond with "Do it Lord, I am willing to move on."