Tracy's Blog

Three days ago I was driving in Winnipeg.  It was mid-afternoon and the traffic was starting to increase.  I was on a road that is technically one lane but near a main intersection becomes two lanes.  As I approached the intersection, someone beeped at me.  I thought, "Oh no, I didn't move over enough to give them room in their lane!"  I looked at them and smiled and the woman driving the vehicle (which was now beside me) indicated that she wanted me to roll down the window so she could say something.  I did it.... unsure what she would say. What she told me surprised me. "You don't have any brake lights," she said.  "There is the one on the top but the two on the sides are burnt out," she continued.  "Thank you!" was my reply and off we went as the stop light turned green. I drove home a little more cautiously than normal and then the next day dropped off the vehicle at Canadian Tire to fix the problem.  As I waited for my father-in-...

Happy New Year!!!   I hope you had a meaningful Advent and joyful Christmas Season! This past week I was listening to a podcast by Pete Scazzero ( Goals Most Leaders Overlook Part 1 at Emotionally Healthy Discipleship ) and he was talking about the need to have mentors.  Christian mentors are people who we are in relationship with who counsel, advise, and model following God to us.  I don't have one mentor but rather many different people who fulfill this role in my life.  This past week, I discovered models for following God through both the Word and stone. First, God's Word:  One of my habits that I am implementing in 2019 is reading a One Year Bible.  As I was reading Genesis, a surprising model stood out to me: Isaac.  Isaac is the patriarch who I know the least about.  Yes, he is mentioned when we talk of "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" but Scripture says so much less about him than about his father, Abraham, or son, Jacob....

This summer I had the joy of leading the Bible Discovery time at a VBS in Selkirk.  We did the Group Curriculum and the theme was " Shipwrecked: Rescued by Jesus ".  Everyday was a particular theme that went like this, "When I (some emotion or situation we find ourselves in)..... Jesus rescues!" Tuesday's theme was "When I worry, Jesus rescues!"  Now, I've had my battles with worry so I was interested in seeing what Gospel story would be told on this day.  It was Luke 10:38-42 - the story of Martha and Mary when Martha invites Jesus over for a meal.  The focus is on Martha's worry and Jesus' teaching that " only one thing is needed " which is to attend to Jesus.  What caught my attention is the power of worry and the impact it had on Martha's relationship with Jesus.  Specifically, worry caused Martha to 1) question Jesus' heart toward her and 2) tell Jesus (who is God) what to do.  Yikes!!! Let's look at Martha...

Hi!  I know it has been a loooong time.... almost 6 months.  Life was full but now has shifted with my contract at Nova House being completed.  I am still on the casual staff list there plus working a small job with Children's Ministry at St. Margaret's Anglican Church and about to start a training program for Spiritual Direction.  That's my quick update! I have no plan of how much I will blog in this new season of my life or on what themes or topics but I thought I'd tell you about my current (like, in the last 15 minutes) thoughts. It's about garbage cans and litter.  Yes, I was walking Pepsi and saw a garbage can pushed over and thought, "do I put it back up straight or walk by?" Can you guess what I did?  I put it back up.  This got me thinking about life and our positive actions - how they can fall into three categories. 1) not making things worse 2) making things right 3) making things better With litter, it means 1) not littering ourse...

Christ is Risen! I had a very meaningful Holy Week this year.  Because of my work with the children's ministry at St. Margaret's, all the services I attended had some sort of children's focus.  The Good Friday Walk through the Passion gave children an opportunity to wave palms, eat together, have their feet washed and journey with Jesus to the cross and finally ended in the tomb.  The Easter Vigil on Saturday had readings from Scripture illuminated for children to experience and understand.  They also had a front row seat to watch the baptisms of two babies.  The Easter Sunday service started with a procession of children holding helium balloons.  Here are the balloons before we handed them out. Once the children reached the front of the church, the balloons were then gathered into bunches and secured (or.... spoiler alert .... they were suppose to be secured) to a railing on the chancel as the children went to sit with their parents. BUT... 2018 w...

We are in Holy Week.  It is the most intense time of the Christian year.  In the days we are living through as we journey towards the cross with Jesus, we cover a large portion of the Gospels.  There is too much to keep track of!  Then we go through the most radical and drastic transition possible: from death to life!  The difference between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is what gives us hope, power, and salvation: Jesus is alive!  Death is conquered!  But I'm jumping ahead. Back to the story before the cross.  A particular passage from John stood out to me this year.  It comes from John 12 .  After teaching that in order to multiply a seed must die and " anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life ", Jesus says in verse 27: "Now My soul is troubles, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'?" I love Jesus' honesty.  I love that He admits His discomfort with what is going on.  I l...

NOT AGAIN!!!!  Another morning where I didn't wake up or get out of bed at the time I had planned to.  This has been a chronic issue in my life (see my first ever blog post here ) and while I am better at it more times than not, it is still an issue because of my tendency to indulge my fleshly desires and avoid challenging things.  But today when I didn't get up on time, I didn't know which path to choose.  I could think of a few options: - take time to analyze why I keep doing this - berate myself - don't worry about it The option I choose is very in keeping with the message that I sense the Holy Spirit is repeating to me over and over: remember grace.  I choose to be gracious towards myself.  What does this mean? According to Google, grace (in Christian belief) is the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings . The Epistle in this Sunday's lectionary expresses it wonderfully. Ephesia...