Tracy's Blog

As a parent of a 3 year old, I am regularly encouraging my son, Timmy, to say "please" and "thank-you" as well as teaching him how to say "sorry" when he has hurt another child. Teaching these three simple phrases is a time consuming but worthwhile endeavour for every parent and caregiver as they lay the foundation for good relationships throughout our life. Recently I considered how we need to learn to say these things to God not just to people. Please : Saying "please" to God is the essence of petition. We ask God for what we want, for what we need, for what we believe others want or need, and we are always aware that God is free to do His will. I remember when I finally clued in that "please" was NOT some magic word to make someone do something but quite the opposite. Saying please means "if you please". It respects the other persons freedom to act according to their choice. God is the Lord of all and we can freely bring ou...

"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchman for the morning, more than watchman for the morning." Psalm 130: 5-6 I'm in the middle of an overnight work shift and thought of these verses. I've always loved this passage because it shows us the intensity of waiting for the Lord in the image of a night watchman. I can just imagine the longing for the sun that is in the heart of someone whose job it is to see danger approaching. But along with the longing, is also the certainty. The sun will come up. The night will pass. And the example assures us that the Lord will "show up" and we have the promise of His word to put our hope in. In some ways, it is strange to talk about waiting for the Lord when we just celebrated Pentecost last week. The Holy Spirit is here. The Lord is with us. Christ dwells in us by faith. So what are we waiting for? and How do we wait? We are waiting for many things including an...

Earlier this evening I went for a walk with our dog to get the mail. There were dark clouds above me and flashes of lightening off in the distance but I thought I had some time before the rain came. I was wrong. As soon as I closed the mailbox, the drops began to fall. Pepsi and I ran to our house, only a couple of hundred of meters away, as the rain poured down on us. We were soaked. Now I'm here over an hour later and I can still hear rain pounding on our roof. If I walk outside, even for a second, I will get wet. Yesterday was Pentecost: the day we celebrate God pouring out His Spirit on the followers of Jesus. The story of what happened on the day of Pentecost the year Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven is found in Acts 2:1-41 . The phrase that caught my attention is found in the prophecy from Joel that Peter preaches: " In the last days, God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people ."" (Acts 2:17a) When I think of God pouring His Spirit o...

Did you know that Jesus never talks about grace? At least not in the NASB translation of the Bible. The word "grace" is only used 5 times in the gospels in the NASB. First is in Luke 2:40 when Jesus' childhood is described: " and the grace of God was upon him ". The other four times are in John 1 verses 14, 16, and 17. Jesus is " full of grace and truth " (vs 14) and " grace and truth " came through Him (vs. 17). Verse 16 talks of receiving " grace upon grace ". And yet we see grace so clearly throughout the gospels - in the words Jesus speaks, the miracles He does, and most poignantly in the unmerited favor He granted us in laying down His life for our sins. " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ " is a phrase repeated in Paul's letters* and I think it is striking that the word is used so much in the New Testament after Jesus' death and resurrection. God's grace is given to us in many ways but most fully in the ...