The following piece was written from the perspective of a person needing care. Have you ever needed care in the way this person did? How would you like to have someone like the Samaritan looking after you? Can you imagine how good it would be to have someone like him—someone so much like Jesus—taking care […]
Read More...THROUGH HIS LOVE I woke up this morning to an extremely painful leg. But I took an Advil, with the promise that the pain should soon lessen. I also knew how good it would be to be able to share with my friends that after all the tests had been done, showing that nothing serious […]
Read More...ONE SUCH AS ME? – In my book ONE SUCH AS ME? I quote Philip Yancey, one of my favorite authors, when he said, “For a writer, nothing really counts in life until you put it on paper.” And that’s so very true for me too. I also wrote, “There are very few things that […]
Read More...CREATING A MOVEMENT When I was in the process of starting up the Living Room support ministry for people with mental health challenges, my psychiatrist at the time became quite enthused. He often told me how what I was doing was very much like how Alcoholics Anonymous had started. This doctor was so eager to […]
Read More...DON’T SET US APART In February 2018, I had the following article published by Church for Vancouver. I mentioned how Sanctuary Mental Health ministry was helping churches show God’s love to individuals with mental health challenges through Living Room. Unfortunately, later that year, Living Room was removed from its mandate and only two or three […]
Read More...FOLLOWING JESUS So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can […]
Read More...PEER SUPPORT – As most of you who read here know, I’m working on behalf of individuals who live with mental health challenges. I’m trying to help those who don’t understand what it’s like to live with stigma, to better understand how they could help heal the pain caused by stigma. It must be stated […]
Read More...MY STORY – From my journal, written in 2006, as the plans for Living Room were unfolding: My disorder had made a regular job impossible for me. I had never dreamed of doing anything like forming such a group. I had never heard of faith-based support groups addressing mental health problems. This was a brand-new […]
Read More...MY STORY – A network of faith-based support groups sprung up, starting in 2008, only a couple of years after I founded Living Room in 2006 at Brentwood Park Alliance Church in Burnaby. It had the potential to be a huge ministry, but I could not carry it forward. I was glad to have the […]
Read More...FOLLOWING A RADICAL JESUS – SPIRITUAL SUPPORT Dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus’ sermons; but this caused complaints from the Jewish religious leaders and the experts on Jewish law because he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them! Luke 15:1-2 (TLB) Jesus was a radical in the […]
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