Dreams Unlocked

Felicia and I at a waterfall outside Ithaca New York. Homer's epic poem Odyssey is about Odysseus' journey home to Ithaca. In a few months I will be taking a journey to Ithaca as well. Ithaca New york for me. And my journey will include 4 other sojourners. And it also started before today. Here's what happened: In the spring of 2011, I stepped down from my position as lead pastor of Heritage Mountain Community Church. It wasn't something I wanted to do - but a perfect storm of circumstances led to this untimely departure. This placed me in a season of life I had never been before. Set adrift, free from the mooring of steady employment and a ministry placement. Our family had to restructure according to this new change. In the fall of 2011, Felicia went back to work full time and I assumed the role of a stay at home Dad. I also began a job search for a new ministry placement. Felicia and I discussed the possibilities before us. We both no longer felt tied ...

These 3 make today great. I have been a Father for almost 8 years. Adam was born in 2004 in St. Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver. A medical resident that was there used to be in a Bible Study with my brother at the University of Western Ontario in London. He also knew my Father through the Urbana conference. Interesting connections. Sophia was born 3 years later in the same hospital. A wife of a pastor at the church I was working at was the nurse assigned to Felicia. And James... James showed them all up by taking the initiative of being born in the entry way of our home. A 911 operator and 5 firemen helped him make his dramatic entrance into the world. As I was tucking Adam and Sophia in tonight, I asked them what makes a good father. Sophia said it was playing games with her. Adam said going on hikes was a sign of a good father. Later on, I thought about my own father: Dr. Abraham Ninan. 3 years after I was born, my family immigrated to Canada so that my dad co...

Your problems don't define you. Your achievements don't define you. Only God defines you... and He loves you. I tweeted this earlier tonight. This is the first tweet I have ever written of the over 5000 that almost made me cry. People build their identities on a variety of things. Some define themselves by their work. Or their role in a family: mother, father. Some define themselves by some sort of brokeness in their life. An addict, a drunk, divorced. But, these identities are only surface. There is a deeper identity that we all have - this identity is drawn from the One who Created us. God created you. Only He has the power and authority to define you. God is love. His very being is love. So when he chooses to define you - he defines you as an object of His love. You are the beloved of God. You are a child of God. In the book of 1 John, John writes, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God!  And t...