the lowly canadian

Heaven might be hell

2012-01-25T04:48:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been wondering if there might not be a little bit of hell when we get to heaven. How will we feel when we find out that a parent, a child, a sibling, a friend, or an acquaintance of ours never made it into heaven? How will we feel knowing that these people are suffering the horrors of hell?

Yes we can blame it on the individual and say that they never accepted Christ so they have themselves to blame! Is this true though? When I look at my witness I see that there might have been many things that I did or didn't do that hindered this person:

Maybe the witness I gave was the result of me trying to bring this person to Christ because it was the right thing to do. It is only by being obedient to God and witnessing as the spirit leadeth that anyone can come to accept Christ.
Maybe these people took a look at my life and found that I was not true to God's calling. Maybe I allowed things in my life that hindered the gospel being furthered.
Maybe these people saw that I didn't have a passion to see God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Was my prayer life such that I prayed fervently for these people that God would reach them and change them.
Was my walk with God characterized by love
Maybe the person showed an interest in learning more about God but I didn't followup or encourage the person to continue

As you can see I have a major part to play in whether they end up in heaven or hell.

When I look at my own life I see that I don't have a passion to seek God so that these people get saved. I could say "I'm not an evangelist so its not really my job." This is a lie, all of God's people are called to seek the lost.

My prayer for today is "Lord allow me to be a faithful witness to those around me. Send your holy spirit in my life so that I can be faithful to you and all that you ask of me. Cause me to walk fully in your ways. Give me a love and passion for the same things that you love."

My question for you today is, how is your walk with God and will you allow God to affect those around you?

Love,
Evert

Biographies of Men of God

2012-01-23T21:25:00.000-05:00

I really enjoy reading biographies of men of God who had really powerful ministries and made a big impact in the cities and countries where they ministered. One of the things that really stand out for most of them is that they forsook all to follow Christ and to run the race that was set before them.

How I would love to read the biographies of godly men who seemingly were not used in any great way to further the kingdom of God. Men like John Vredenburgh mentioned in the following paragraph. All I could find further to this paragraph was that he preached in only one church for twenty one years till his death along with some of his genealogy.

Rev. T. De Witt Talmage relates the following story "In the church at Somerville, New Jersey, where I was afterwards pastor, John Vredenburgh preached for a great many years. He felt that his ministry was a failure, and others felt so, although he was a faithful minister preaching the Gospel all the time. He died, and died amid some discouragements, and went home to God; for no one ever doubted that John Vredenburgh was a good Christian minister. A little while after his death there came a great awakening in Somerville, and one Sabbath two hundred souls stood up at the Christian altar espousing the cause of Christ, among them my own father and mother. And what was peculiar in regard to nearly all of those two hundred souls was that they dated their religious impressions from the ministry of John Vredenburgh."

From this paragraph we see that John was:

preaching for a great many years
a faithful minister preaching the Gospel all the time
a failure in his own eyes
a failure in others eyes
discouraged
a good Christian minister

One other thing we see is that though he didn't seem to lead many to Christ (he might not have lead any), it does say "And what was peculiar in regard to nearly all of those two hundred souls was that they dated their religious impressions from the ministry of John Vredenburgh." In other words John was a sower. In John 4:37 it says And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

I am looking forward to meeting John some day and being a witness when God shows John all that he accomplished because of his faithful witness. What joy there will be in heaven. Who knows maybe I am a christian because John preached to an individual who preached to another individual who preached to another individual etc., to he who had a hand in my own conversion.

My hope is that my own walk with Jesus will be fruitful in Gods eyes. Pray for me, that I continue my walk with Christ and to set aside anything that will hinder that walk.

Blessings,
Evert

Continuation on who is Evert Heskes?

2012-01-22T04:16:00.001-05:00

I got to thinking about the list I previously posted as "Who is Evert Heskes?" and got to thinking that this is only half of whom I am.

I am the person:

who has to prove everything for myself
who believes he's always right
who can be very stubborn
who if told to do something in the wrong way, will rebel and resist
who can procrastinate when it comes to having to do something I don't want to do
who wants to do things right, but often does the opposite
who often looks to my own understanding instead of trusting God
who often looks at things logically and ends up judging others
who seems to have an answer for everything
who desires to be honest, but often isn't honest with myself
who can be a bit of a pack rat (hate throwing still good items out)
who can be stingy at times
who usually can be found with two feet stuck in my mouth
who hates to exercise even though I need to
who loves to eat unhealthy food
who hates losing (so much that I won't usually play)
who sometimes is afraid of man
who doesn't like to look bad
who has a hard time with small talk
who doesn't care much for public speaking

This list or my previous list is in no way exhaustive.

I hope this gives you a more balanced picture of who I really am. I am a work in progress, who wants to be changed by God's grace to become the person God created me to be.

God Bless,
Evert

Who is Evert Heskes?

2012-01-10T10:50:00.000-05:00

I was having a bit of a quiet time yesterday and a question came up for me. The question was "Who is Evert Heskes"?

First of all I am not the person I became. I am not my occupation. I am not someones father, son or brother. I am not my gifting. I am not what sin has made me to become. I am not the things that happened to me and my responses to them. These are all things that make me the person I am today, but it is not the real me. For that I need to look at the things that I love and hate.

David says in Psalms 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

This is me also. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I am the person:

who loved running everywhere as fast as I could
who loved hearing fairy tales and the stories in the bible
who loved climbing the highest trees
who resisted reading, but when I discovered science fiction and fantasy I read as much as I could to the exclusion of all else
who loves being in a plane
who loves hearing and reading anything to do with outer space
who loves taking chances on hikes
who loved traveling with his father who was a salesman
who loves taking nature pictures
who loves music, especially songs with good melodies and fast driving songs
who discovered programming and loved the logic in it
who God called, redeemed and kept
who loves seeing whats over the next hill
who loves spending time with his wife
who loves traveling with his wife
who loves camping with his wife
who loves spending time with his kids
who loves discovering new things
who loves hearing and reading about people
who's favorite movie is Mary Poppins
who loves meeting and learning about people
who loves seeing people get blessed by God
who loves to encourage people in all areas of life
who loves to learn new things
who loves it when God reveals things to me

I am also the person:

who hates seeing all the crooks and power hungry people
who hates unfairness
who hates seeing what man has made of this world
who hates injustice

I look at this list and I can only praise God for making me the way I am.

Who are you? Ask this of yourself and see what a wonderful person you are. Sin has always been in my life and I am thankful to Jesus for dieing on the cross and taking my sins away

Love,
Evert

How does your light shine?

2012-01-09T00:17:00.001-05:00

Jesus is the light as we can see from the following verses in John's first letter.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
John 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
John 1:8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
John 1:16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ

Luke 8:16 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.

Jesus is the light and when we look at Luke 8:16 we see three ways that we can display the light that has been given to us:
1. It can be hidden. We are not to hide the light which we might do if we are ashamed of the gospel or have sin in our life.

2. We can allow it to just shine. I believe this is how most christians (myself included) have displayed the light. I only speak up when other people bring up the gospel and being honest I would have to say that I've done a poor job of it.

3. We put the light on a candlestick and make it visible to all. This is what God wants us to do. How do we do this? We can do this by seizing any and every situation to present the gospel to everyone we meet. First to the unbeliever who needs to hear about what Jesus did when he went to the cross for us. Secondly to the believers who can be encouraged by us and because of this their faith and love can increase.

Let all glory be to God our Father and to his son Jesus the Christ.

Love,
Evert

Loving the Brethren

2012-01-03T07:31:00.001-05:00

1Jn 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
1Jn 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1Jn 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

John goes out of his way to emphasize that fact that we are to love our brothers and sisters (brethren) in Christ, in fact he goes as far as to say that we to must lay down our lives for the brethren. What does this really mean? I believe that there may come a time where we will be put in a position to actually lay down our lives for the brethren much like Jesus did for us.

In a greater sense, I believe it means that we need to consider the brother or sister and see how they are doing. Are they hurting or sick? We can help them by praying for them and also by just being with them to let them know that they are not alone. Are they lonely? Can we not just be a friend to them and spend some time with them. Are they in need? We can help them financially if we are able, or we can share what we have with them. Are they feeling down and sad? We can encourage them.

You will likely have noticed in the last paragraph that I keep saying "we". The reason for this is that I find this to be the hardest thing to do for people. No, its not that I don't like these people. In fact I would love to see them all prosper in all the things that God has laid up for them. Its the fact that I never know what to do or say to people. I know that in the past I have shared something personal with friends and family and they have responded in a manner that hurt me. The result of this is that I don't very often share with others in case it happens again. I also have a habit of putting my foot in my mouth and because of this problems can occur (I think this is the result of watching every word I say and trying not to say the wrong thing). My answer to this was to be quiet around people and let them do the talking. The end result is that people find it hard to talk to me and at times I end up on the sidelines and not in the game.

Are you in the same boat that I am in this regard? In Mat 16:24 Jesus unto his disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." To take up your cross and follow Jesus is to die to yourself. What God is asking here is for me to look to him in my weakness and to ask him for the Holy Spirit to guide me in what I say and do. Lets do this together, lets get out of the boat and have faith in our heavenly father to turn this weakness to his glory. We can have faith in God because John tells us in 1Jn 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

The local church

2011-12-07T05:37:00.001-05:00

I was reading in 1 Corinthians the following verses:
1Co 12:22 But much rather, the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;
1Co 12:23 and those parts of the body which we esteem to be the more void of honour, these we clothe with more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness;
1Co 12:24 but our comely parts have not need. But God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to the part that lacked;
1Co 12:25 that there might be no division in the body, but that the members might have the same concern one for another.

To put these verses into context we see that Paul is speaking about the local church which he is comparing to a body. Just as a body has many parts, the church has many parts. In the case of the church we have apostles, prophets, teachers, miraculous powers, gifts of healings, helps, governments, and kinds of tongues. Basically these parts are distinctions of gifts, distinctions of service and distinctions of operations.

You would think that the those people that operate in these roles should be the ones receiving the most honour but we see from the above scripture that the opposite is true.

To use the body analogy a bit further, let us take the apostles, prophets, teachers, miraculous powers, gifts of healing, helps, governments, and kinds of tongues a bit further and see these as being parts of the exterior of the body. For the most part they don't have many needs except to be cleaned, trimmed and clipped. Occasionally different parts might also get cuts or bruised and we need to look after those also.

What then of the rest of the body, the parts that we can't see? The stomach, liver, kidneys, etc., these are extremely needy parts. I sure know that my stomach growls when I'm hungry and that I need to feed it. And because I feed myself, I know that the rest of my internal organs do their job to make sure that I am healthy. From what I see here, I can state that the internal organs are actually the most important and that we need to honour them by making sure that we look after their needs.

Who then are these hidden people who are parts of the inner body and need to be helped? Now I don't want you to think that these people are any less then others. In fact I believe that God has given them less grace now so that the body is made stronger. Just because they have has less grace does not mean that he loves them less. In fact I believe that he loves them more then those who have few needs. In fact in Luke 14:21 Jesus said "And the servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and maimed and blind and lame." He said this because the others where not worthy to come to the supper.

These are the hidden often overlooked people that we need to honour and love:

the poor
the sick
the orphans
the mentally handicapped
the handicapped
those with Alzheimer's
the prisoner
the stranger

I know for my part I have not done my part in helping to strengthen the church. How about you?

Let all glory be to God our Father and to his son Jesus the Christ.

Love,
Evert

Heaven or Hell - my choice

2011-12-05T09:36:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking on some of the things that happened to me around the time of my second birth.

Both my mother and father are Christians and I was raised in the Christian Reformed Church. As a small boy I was a ferocious reader and I remember borrowing our family bible (it was a children's bible that my mother read to us after supper), and reading it from cover to cover multiple times. I just loved the stories and seeing what God did for his people in the old testament and what Jesus did in the new testament.

I attended both catechism and young peoples as I grew up but I really hated them. There was a real heaviness and no life in either. At seventeen or eighteen I had to do confession of faith and I was interviewed by two elders of the church. The session did not go well.We talked a bit and I must have been resistant or I started questioning what they were saying to me. At this point the elder doing most of the talking got really angry and started yelling at me and telling me that I was the worst person in the whole world and I was going to hell for it. Now I don't know about you, but when this happens to me, my rebellious streak kicks into overdrive and I told him "if going to heaven means that I will be spending eternity with people like you, I'd rather go to hell" and I left the church.

Even though I left the church, I still believed that God existed and I started looking for him. Strange things happened to me during this time.

One day I was sitting in my apartment and a knock came to the door. I opened the door and a large book was shoved into my hands, the person then walked away without saying anything. I sat down and started looking at the book. It had to be the most beautiful book I've ever seen, every page was a high glossy finish. The pictures where some of the most vibrantly colourful and well done pictures I'd ever seen. As I looked at the book I realized that it was a book associated with hari krishna. As I looked at the book it was almost like God was saying to me "This book is not the way, you need to get rid of it". I resisted somewhat (I hate to throw expense things away) just because the book was so beautiful, but I did toss it down the garbage chute.

Another time I went hiking with a friend and his family. Now I have a habit of getting restless when things are going slow and since I was in the forest and there where all kinds of things to see and do, I took off on my own. Needless to say I got thoroughly lost and I knew it. I called out to God and asked him to help me get back to my friend. Right after I said this, I came across a path which I followed a bit and there was my friend and his family. They never did find out that I got lost.

At the time I worked the night shift in a grocery store with two other people. One of these guys was a friend of mine called Steve and the other one a rough type of guy called Glenn who was always getting drunk, getting high and in fights. This was the guy that got saved and started talking to everyone he met (especially Steve) about the love of God and Jesus. I remember Glenn talking to Steve about the bible and me chuckling a bit to myself because I knew the bible better then Glen. What I remember most though was the change that I saw in Glenn. There was such a marked change from what he had been to what he had become. What he preached seemed real and he really believed what he was preaching. I was actually a little jealous that Glen was talking to Steve so much and not me.

It wasn't till about a month after Glen got saved that he started to talk to me. At the time we were both standing on a silver cart facing up the top shelf of the aisle. When he asked me if I wanted to receive Jesus as my personal saviour I said yes but I was also thinking what took you so long, I would have accepted weeks earlier. Glen then wheeled his cart over to mine and while standing on those carts, Glen prayed for me and I accepted Jesus as my saviour.

This happened over thirty years ago and was the best decision I ever made.

What was the point of this blog? I just wanted you to know me a bit better. Also to tell you that if you are witnessing to someone, always do so in love. I have forgiven those elders earlier who tried to get me to take confession of faith. I obviously was not ready at that time. I sincerely hope that I will see them when we all get to heaven.

I just want to exhort all of you who read this article that you are unique and wonderfully made by God. If you don't know God yet, I suggest that you ask God to show himself to you and when he does (he will, like he did for me), I ask that you ask him into your heart and to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. God has a calling on your life and when we are obedient to God, we through Jesus will be able to perform it.

Let all glory be to God our Father and to his son Jesus the Christ.

Love,
Evert

Be not discouraged by the work that God is doing in you.

2011-12-04T08:03:00.001-05:00

Recently I read a blog entry by a Pastor Prentis titled "When is a ministry a failure?" The article kind of stuck in the back of my mind. I recommend that you read it for yourself. The main thing that stuck in my mind was that many godly ministers see themselves as failures.

Prentis goes on to state three points of how success should not be measured:

Success is not measured by comparison.
Success is not measured by desire.
Success is not measured by complaints.

He then states three points on how a ministry should be evaluated:

A ministry should be measured by calling.
A ministry should be measured by obedience.
A ministry should be measured by changed lives.

Lately I have been reading the biography of the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage. In it I came across this paragraph on a pastor John Vredenburgh that reminded me of Prentis's blog entry. This is what the paragraph stated:

"In the church at Somerville, New Jersey, where I was afterwards pastor, John Vredenburgh preached for a great many years. He felt that his ministry was a failure, and others felt so, although he was a faithful minister preaching the Gospel all the time. He died, and died amid some discouragements, and went home to God; for no one ever doubted that John Vredenburgh was a good Christian minister. A little while after his death there came a great awakening in Somerville, and one Sabbath two hundred souls stood up at the Christian altar espousing the cause of Christ, among them my own father and mother. And what was peculiar in regard to nearly all of those two hundred souls was that they dated their religious impressions from the ministry of John Vredenburgh."

Its going to be so exciting when we get to heaven and God shows us the results of actions that we made. I can just see God's excitement when he calls every one over to meet John Vredenburgh! What joy there will be on John's face as he see's for the first time the difference he made. How some of these two hundred people went on and literally saw tens of thousands of people saved and millions impacted for the kingdom and glory of God.

I just want to exhort all of you who read this article that you are unique and wonderfully made by God. If you don't know God yet, I suggest that you ask God to show himself to you and when he does (he will), I ask that you ask him into your heart and to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. God has a calling on your life and when we are obedient to God, we through Jesus will be able to perform it. We may not in this life see results for the kingdom (I hope you do though), but it will be a glorious day in heaven when God reveals the plan he had for your life and how all the things that we suffered in this world led to the completion of those plans.

My friends, be obedient and faithful to the Holy Spirits prompting.

Let all glory be to God our Father.

Love.
Evert

This Present Darkness

2011-11-14T08:26:00.001-05:00

I just finished re-reading "This Present Darkness" by Frank Peretti published in 1986. Again I found it a fascinatingread which not only kept me entertained but it gave me food for thought on the battle that rages between heaven and hell and the importance of prayer.

The book revolves around a town called Ashton and what happens when a New age movement tries to take over.

I highly recommend it.

Evert

Take Time to Smell the Roses

2011-11-05T05:47:00.003-05:00

One thing I notice in the life of Jesus is that He is never in a hurry.

My own life is characterized by hurrying from one thing to another without appreciating what God is trying to show at the time. I love seeing new places and my idea of a vacation is to go as far and fast as I can in the time I have available. I just can't wait to see whats over the next hill. The result is that yes I do see some things even beautiful things, but I miss out on the details that God wants to show me.

The above is a panoramic of a glacier I took in June 2008 between Banff and Jasper. Yes the scenery is beautiful but I missed so much. What was the texture of this ancient ice? Was it even old ice or leftovers from the previous winter? Was the glacier growing or shrinking? How big was the ice field? Does any life exist on the ice or the surrounding mountains? etc.

What could I have learned if I had of taken the time and allowed the Holy Spirit to show me what he wanted me to see. Would he have shown me that whole areas of my life were cold, frozen and barren? Would he have shown me that even my frozen life could be made new by the grace of God? I'll never know for this missed opportunity.

I do know that my God is a faithful and patient God who in his own time will change me to be the person he created me to be.

Tommy Thompson Park - Leslie Street Spit

2007-06-10T09:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday June 9, 2007, I decided that it might be nice to go to the Tommy Thompson Park on the Leslie Street Spit for a hike and a chance to take some photos. The day proved to be gorgeous around 22 degrees celsius (just over 70 degrees fahrenheit for my american readership). All in all we had a very tiring day but also a very enjoyable day.

We started the day off by going to our favorite restaurant (Frans).

On our way to the streetcar we noticed this humorous sign.

This sign also was funny. How do you make a stop without standing?

This van was a real life saver. When we started the trip I had no idea the distances we had to cover. Luckly we came across this free shuttle that saved us time and distance

This was the view of downtown that could be obtained from the park

When I read the write up on the park it mentioned that it was a world reknown bird sanctuary and that it was famous for the number of nesting birds as well as the variety of birds that could be seen here throughout the year.

This was our first evidence that birds might actually reside here.

You should have seen this bird join its mates. It came in at 500 miles an hour. It actually left a contrail behind. (just kidding)

Sandra found this egg on the trail. We don't know if it was laid there or if it fell out of a tree. We left it alone anyway and we hope it hatchs.

Here's a picture of Sandra taking a picture. We ended up taking about 300 pictures.

We took a lot of pictures of this monarch butterfly. We also saw yellow and really tiny light blue butterflies.

This was the second place that the shuttle dropped us off at. The first being near where Sandra found the bird egg.

This duck was just swimming beside the above bridge

This was the most colourful bird that we saw during the day. Its not the best shot, but it never provided us a clear shot.

Its neat how all these birds made their nests in the one tree.

My lovely wife Sandra.

Talk about handsome. This guy takes first prize.

Another shot of the city

This is the lighthouse at the end of the trail.

Somebody was creative and made all kinds of brick sculptures made from old bricks that abound near the light house.

Seagull

Cute bird surveying the world from its front door.

Bird on a branch.

Just a nice photo.

The one and only Me.

Here's a panorama of some islands and the city. If you look closely, you'll see thousands of Birds.

We recommend this park to everyone. Its great walking (take the shuttle when you can) and lots of good photos can be taken here. You might also want to take a bike. The park really caters to them.

Geo Cacheing

2007-05-06T07:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Saturday May 5th all our kids living in Canada spent the afternoon and evening with us. We had a great time doing a Geo Cache run and having supper afterwards at Frans restaurant.

The Geo Cache was called the Bit Bucket and it was geared towards a cache where you could exchange computer parts. Not the most exciting items, but the site was within a half mile of our apartment within the Don Valley Gorge.

The walk to get there was much more rugged then I expected. We ended up doing a lot of up hill climbing and fighting our way through the brush as the trail wasn't the greatest. Sandra in particular had a hard time as her toe was still hurting her a lot, but she was a real trooper and did it all with a smile on her face.

Ashley found the cache. We spent an hour or two searching for it. The cache itself was fairly difficult to find and we probably wouldn't have found it with out the hint that our directions gave us. I found that the GPS didn't help that much as it just didn't seem accurate enough. In hind sight I wish I had taken a reading at the spot where we found the cache to determine the accuracy of our GPS or the accuracy of the GPS of the person who created the cache.

Here is a pictorial view of our day:

Here we are descending into the gorge

Ashley fighting her way through the trees

A view of the Danforth/Bloor bridge extending over the Don Valley

Scott reading the instructions on where the cache was

Sandra and Ashley reading the instructions on where the cache was

This is the cache. It was originally covered with lots of branches. We put the branches back when we left

This is a view of the interior of the cache. The cache itself contained old computer hardware, an old radio, a rubic cube type of puzzle with two indian heads back to back (8 pieces), a Michael Moore book, and a log book.

We all signed the log book. This is me signing it

Here is Cat signing the book. He's grimacing because he hates having his picture taken

The walk home

A panorama of the Don Valley

On our way home through Cabbage Town the kids noticed this sign. They all thought it was a hoot and got me to take a picture of it.

Our Day April 22, 2007

2007-04-22T19:39:00.000-05:00

Started off the morning really good (slept in) as opposed to Sandra who got up early and had to face this exercise bike.

Both of us are planning to do this for about an hour each day. She is actually back at it as I write this blog.

After a quick shower we decided to treat ourselves to breakfast at a local restaurant. Don't know as I can call it a treat as we do it a couple of times a week at least. We ended up here. I had a calorie laden meal of bacon, eggs, potatoes and toast while Sandra went the healthy route and had fruit and toast.

Off to Queens Quay next. On the way there we passed the Skydome (I'll never call this the Rogers Center) and a monument to the Chinese who did most of the work building Canada's national railroad across Canada.

Here are some pictures that we took at Queens Quay.

Sandra fell in love with this car and she wants to buy it (wait,that was me)!

The rest of the day we recooperated from our walk with a nap, supper and some TV. Its now my turn on the exercise bike (woe is me).

A Champion in the Making

2007-04-16T17:21:00.000-05:00

A little over a week ago I had the pleasure of watching my grandson Christian play baseball with their team the Giants. Christian plays exceptionally well. He is an excellent batter, catcher and thrower. Here are some photo's of him in action.

Click on the photo's to see larger images (there much clearer then these small images).

Our Day - April 13, 2007

2007-04-13T20:42:00.000-05:00

A Day In The Life of Evert/Sandra

Woke up, got out of bed dragged a comb across my head (at least I can still do this.)

Breakfast at Frans (across the road from Massey Hall). The sign on the front door seemed to welcome us back home.

This next photo struck a real familiar chord as we just witnessed this fantastic show at the Mirage in Las Vegas a week and a half ago.

Next I went and got some Subway tokens and Sandra took this photo as I came up the escalator.

Our next stop was a short walk to Henry's Camera's at Queen and Church St. We wanted to find out why Sandra's camera was taking so long to take a picture after the button was pressed. Found out that when you put on the red eye removal option it makes four passes of the lens before it takes the picture. We quickly removed this option and it seems a lot better now. Here's Henry's

Our last stop was grocery shopping at our local Loblaws store near Queens Quay.

The rest of the day we spent quietly at home. I worked on my latest photo's and Sandra caught up on some of the shows that she missed.

Geo Caching

2006-08-13T19:54:00.000-05:00

Geo Caching is probably a term that your not familiar with. Well today for the first time we tried to find our first cache. It was fun and we enjoyed it immensely, though we were not able to find the cache.

Geo Caching is a relatively new sport originating around the year 2000. It is basically a scavenger hunt with some rules in place so that it is enjoyable even for those who come to a cache that many other people have already found. You will require some kind of GPS (Global Positioning Device) and using longitude and latitude bearings you can find a cache.

It starts off when some person decides to create a cache. They do this by gathering together a note book for logging in and a few simple prizes. Prizes can be anything from a coin to computer parts, basically anything you don't need that someone else might like. The person then puts these items in a container and hides them in a place of their choice (under rocks, in trees, on the side of hills or mountains even underwater, whatever their imagination comes up with). Once at the site they use their GPS to get the coordinates of the site. They will then go to the www.geocaching.com website and register a description of the contents of the cache along with the co-ordinates of the site. There are literally millions of caches around the whole world. These sites can be in cities, towns, villages, parks and even in desolate areas that takes days to hike into.

The person who wants to find these sites gets the co-ordinates from the web site and tries to find the site. When they find it they log their visit in the log book, take one of the items in the cache for themselves and leave an item of their own to replace it. They also then go back to the web site and log there that they found the site, what they took and what they left for the next person, and possibly the condition of the site (if it was in poor condition).

The hunt we went on was a two parter the first part was to find a plaque at the co-ordinates that were supplied. Using the dates on this plaque a mathematical problem was given and this was used for the completion of new co-ordinates for the next search. The next search site was about a quarter mile from this site (also on the waterfront). We know we we're close because the log entries on the site gave hints to it and there was also a sculpture that was near the site(complete with picture).

This sport is actually getting more and more popular as more and more people get GPS's of their own. You also get the benefit of walking and hiking to the sites, plus seeing new places that you've never seen before. They say that sometimes a rich person will leave a substantial prize in place for the first person to find it.

All in all we had a great time and look forward to our next hunt. Also people who aren't into Geo Cashing are called muggles.

Biased News

2006-08-04T17:27:00.000-05:00

I have concluded that TV news in Canada is extremely biased. Images on the tube are all about the hardships faced by the Lebanese people. First it was about the 50,000 Canadian citizens living in Lebanon and now it’s about the hardships faced by the common citizen there as the Israeli army sends its missiles and bombs into the homes of these innocents.

First I will talk on these Canadians living in Lebanon. The majority of these Canadian citizens are themselves Lebanese. Why, if they are such patriotic Canadians are they living here and not in Canada, their supposedly new homeland? Another beef of mine is why they expected the government of Canada to rescue them and on top of that, paying all costs along the way. Yes I could see these people being anxious to get out of this war zone and being upset a little with the speed of the Canada’s government in getting them out. But did they have to lambaste the government as being inept and extremely slow and being extremely vocal about it. This is actually the first time I have ever heard of the government taking its citizens out of a danger zone. There have been multiple hurricanes where Canadian vacationers have been left in situations without places to sleep, eatable food and clean waters. Where they rescued? No their travel agencies send planes down and then charge them for it. I say to these people “Be happy you were rescued”

The second item where they focus is on the plight of these innocent citizens. Yes it is bad when missiles go astray and destroy people and their property. But the fact of the matter is that Hezbollah plants their missiles in these areas just so that the people will blame Israel when things go wrong. The have absolutely no regard for those around them.

Does the news say anything about the missiles and bombs fired directly into Israel towns and villages? These are shot there just so that innocent Israeli citizens are killed. This is much like the suicide bombers who will get in the middle of a crowd of people and detonate themselves killing themselves and others in the process. All that the news reports is that some people were killed but no condemnation of their actions are ever spoken.

These Hezbollah are inhumane terrorists and killers with no other agenda then to wipe Israel off the face of the map. The world should unite in a common front and render them and other similar groups impotent. All these groups do is create misery for others. In many cases the misery they create is within their own people. If their Islamic brethren speak out against their actions, they are threatened and even killed.

I hope that Israel, the United States, Canada and some other countries stay firm in their convictions that these people need to be held accountable for their actions.

Some More Sunsets from Balcony

2006-07-31T20:32:00.000-05:00

I really liked the sunset we got today. It wasn't the bold reds of my other photos, but a more muted coloring of purples and mauves. In some ways I like this type of sunset more.

Here is another from tonight taken a few minutes after the first.

Sights around Toronto

2006-07-23T18:50:00.000-05:00

Sandra and I took some time today to go down to Queens Quay. We got there just before a thunderstorm struck. Still we had a good time taking photos and having a coffee and donut at Tim's (Tim Hortons for you who don't know Canada's coffee shop).

Here is some of the better photographs.

This is actually a new shot from last night. The sky seemed to be on fire.

This picture was taken from the corner of King St. and Bay St. I love the way these buildings reach to the sky and because of the way the picture was taken, it actually seems like some of the buildings are leaning towards us.

Same place.

This picture is looking north up Bay St.

I love the reflective properties of glass when the light strikes it at exactly the right angle. At a quick glance you wouldn't even know, the clarity of the glass is so clear. It's only when you take a good look that you see that it is a reflection.

This reflection of the CN Tower was taken at Queens Quay.

I love the sky over the CN Tower here. Its in a zone of lighter clouds that really offsets it from the rest of the clouds

We really liked this picture of unusual cloud formations. The formation on the middle right reminds me of pictures I have seen of the Crab Nebula.

I liked the picture of this old ship just waiting for the downpour from the ominous clouds hovering above.

This is where we took refuge from the rain and thunderstorm. It's a nice building with quite a few unique shops including Tims.

Another Fantastic Sunset!

2006-07-21T16:07:00.000-05:00

We sure get some beautiful sunsets from our Toronto balcony.

2006-06-22T20:48:00.000-05:00

Fantastic sunset tonight!

Pictures of Toronto

2005-12-02T15:49:00.000-05:00

Here are the pictures I said I would put on my site. The last picture is a stitched together picture using the three previous pictures. Our apartment faces the west and downtown Toronto is in the south-west.

Life in Toronto

2005-11-29T23:12:00.000-05:00

I guess it’s been about three weeks since I last wrote a blog. Its taken a little while to settle into our new place, but I think were finally there. The picture below is the view from our balcony without the CN Tower . I’ll post some daytime photo’s later with it in it.

City life sure is vastly different then I expected. Here’s a list of the differences and how things have changed:

Everything is close, so we tend to walk more

Roads can be real busy so we end up taking the TTC, which is much faster

More to do so we are trying to go to some of these things. An example is that we heard that there was a real Ice Lounge built in Toronto so we have decided to seek it out and experience a martini in a ice goblet that was advertised as a highlight. This is something that Sandra’s always wanted to try but never got around to it

Grocery shopping is now a daily occurrence instead of a weekly one

There is so much more noise coming from outside. People yelling, Cars honking their horns, ambulances and fire trucks screeching their sirens.

Depending on the time of day you don’t want to be walking in certain areas. I decided on Monday morning (6:15 AM) to walk some distance to King St. At first it was ok but by the time I got to College St. I was feeling uncomfortable. The houses were a bit run down; People were just standing at the side of the road doing nothing. I noticed one guy who was yelling and screaming at a woman because she answered for the guy she was with. He had been asking for money and she said no for her friend. It looked bad for a while, but he eventually calmed down.

The view is spectacular

The commute to work is now about 1 hour opposed to the 4 to 5 hour Barrie trip

It’s harder to recycle. (Nice that we don’t have to do it any more)

Laundry is a chore and much more expensive

People seem to be awfully messy. They never clean up after themselves, especially in the laundry room

The apartment is more cramped compared to our old place

There are probably a lot more differences that we haven’t even become aware of. Hopefully, like Myke and Dara we’ll come to really appreciate city life.

Big Brother: Alive and Well

2005-11-12T23:43:00.000-05:00

I read this news article today, and I began thinking how much Governments and Corporations have infiltrated our lives. Here we see an example of a corporation who’s gone too far. Yes, I can see that they would want to stop illegal reproduction of their music CDs, but here we see a corporation that’s gone too far by sending itself information that it finds on our computers. This is a flagrant invasion of our privacy.

Cell phones also invade our privacy. A lot of phones send out unencrypted information that can easily be picked up with the right set of monitoring equipment. Cell phones can be located using the latest GPS technology thus giving police and governments a clear picture of where the phone is at anytime. Using the same GPS technology they can estimate how fast a phone in a vehicle is traveling, thus opening a possible new ticketing system. (How they can differentiate between a driver or passenger on the phone is a mystery.)

The same GPS technology is used in our vehicles.

Monitoring of the internet is another common occurrence. Governments are constantly on the lookout for specific key words that will raise an alert when found. Not that this is a bad thing but it could be used for other purposes also that we aren’t aware of.

This article describes how printers can print invisible marks on paper that will tell those with the right equipment what printer it was printed from. You could end up in trouble for information printed on your printer.

Here's an interesting article on Blogging. Blogs are supposed to be your thoughts, ideas, pet peeves, dislikes, anything you feel like writing. Now you will need to watch what you’re writing in case somebody doesn’t like it. Here is information collected by google for a blog created by Larry my son in law. (I would have used my blog, but it’s only been up for a short time and not much has been collected on it yet.) Interesting isn’t it, any one viewing this information could infer what Larry is like.

In conclusion Big Brother is watching you more then you expect.

Two Faced People

2005-11-08T23:45:00.000-05:00

I was watching the news tonight and a woman came on wanting clemency for her teenage son who is in prison for taking part in terrorist act. If he is convicted he faces the death penalty.

Whether or son is guilty or not, I leave to the judicial system. The part that got me upset is that at one point in her life she said that 9/11 was a good thing. Her husband killed in a shot out with US policemen was a close and personal friend of bin Laden.

Why does this woman expect mercy, when those killed and injured in 9/11, were never given a chance. Don’t these people believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? Thank God that Christianity has replaced this with Grace.

In conclusion, the courts will decide her son’s fate. Hopefully for her sake he is innocent and will be freed in time. But if found guilty, he will reap what he sowed.

A Good Laugh

2005-10-24T10:30:00.000-05:00

I wonder if there is any significance to this: Go to Google, Type Failure and instead of doing the search click on “I’m Feeling Lucky”. I don’t know how long this will stay up as it is.

This is the website that came up: The Whitehouse

Does someone at google have a beef with George Bush or is it just a joke? Its pretty offensive when you really think about.

Good News

2005-10-19T20:37:00.000-05:00

Well we got some good news today. The house is finally sold with a sold sticker on the sign.

Frankly we were beginning to wonder. The last person put in a conditional offer, the condition was that the offer would not be final till a home inspector looked at the house. Basically that inspector said everything needed fixing or replacing. Result the buyer got cold feet and pulled out of the deal.

This buyer had the same condition. It was a good thing that he was a contractor who did the inspection himself (took him over two hours). I guess he was satisfied because he signed the waiver on the condition.

Now we have to get rid of a lot of furniture, pack every thing left and find a place to live. Its going to be quite different moving from a large four bedroom house to a smaller two bedroom place.

I’m not looking forward to this as it involves a lot of work in a short time. Oh well, its got to be done.

Sandra has mixed feelings about moving. She loves the house we are in now and she doesn’t ever expect to get a place as nice as this one is. Maybe the Lord will be gracious and bless us with her dream house later on.

Got to go! Please pray for us that we get the place that God wants for us and that every thing goes smoothly.

The Judgment Boomerang

2005-10-18T19:31:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed that the things you were vehemently opposed to in the past, have come to pass. No! I’m not talking about bad things like seeing a murder on a movie and saying I’ll never murder anyone. These would just be things that don’t appeal to me.

I remember seeing a business where everyone was in these tiny little cubicles. I thought to myself how anybody can work here day in and day out is beyond me. I had visions of claustrophobia with the tiny work area and no windows. My first reaction was ‘I’ll never work in an office like this!’ That was thirty five years ago, the last 10 years finds me in just this type of environment. Its not all bad, there are people near by you can talk to, the works interesting, and you don’t even notice the small places or lack of windows (your to busy working).

When I was in my early twenties I occasionally used a bus to visit my parents. I found the ride uncomfortable and boring. My reaction was, ‘as soon as I get a car, I’ll never go onto another bus again’. For the last 3 years, that’s just what I’ve been doing for three years. As a side note its probably still uncomfortable now (my size seems to have increased somehow), then it ever was. On the bright side I don’t have to sit there in the traffic jams, I can sleep through them. I can also read or enjoy the scenery

I also made judgments on fat people. I would never be one of them. I’m sure starting to look like one of these people now. There is no real bright side to this unless you count the fact that I now can emphasize with large people.

What brought me to this topic is that it looks another of my judgments is going to come back and bite me. I have always hated city life, the crowded streets, the horrible smells in some places, the dirt and grime and the lousy air. We recently put up our house for sale and because of some financial mismanagement by me (to many vacations and to many gadgets) , we have decided to rent a place nearer work possibly in the heart of Toronto.

I wonder if God uses our judgments to enlarge us (hey no fat jokes, ok). I think God wants us to experience those things that we wouldn’t naturally gravitate to. Often it will show us that those things aren’t bad at all.

Sandra and I have already talked about walking more, everything will be closer (no more 10 or 15 minute drives to get to a shopping plaza). Also there will be more going on entertainment wise. Toronto might just be fun. (Sandra put the emphasize on might)

The Persecuted Minority in Our Midst

2005-10-16T05:42:00.000-05:00

Not for a long time has western civilization taken away the rights and privileges of so many people. These people are forced to stand in driving rains, storms, and blizzards by a select group of individuals who feel they have a right to lord it over others. They are also forced from those places where they were welcomed in the past with facilities that catered to their needs. They are also forced to pay higher taxes then any one else.

Who might you ask are these people who are so wrongfully maligned? They are your everyday smokers. Why are they so vilified? Why, because they might cause others to be harmed by second hand smoke. But I ask you, is not the exhaust from a running vehicle just as dangerous in the long run? Are not as many people injured and killed by those who consume alcohol? Why are not those who use these products targeted? (probably these same individuals use these products).

What got me going on this rant was an item on CTV where a Toronto alderman is suggesting that legislation be passed that all those who throw their cigarette butts on the ground be fined. Why is this man only targeting smokers and not those who litter? Is it ok to litter trash but not butts? Many times I have walked through Toronto streets and seen and smelled the garbage that gets left behind. My apologies to the street cleaners there, as they do as good a job as they possibly can (there is no way they can keep up to the pigs that use our streets as a dump). This would only be a very minor problem, if the anti smoking lobby had not forced these people out of the buildings and onto the streets. Companies, restaurants and bars up to that time had been trying out their own solutions by providing facilities that a smoker could use without impacting those who want to stay away from the second hand smoke. Smokers then had a place to dump their butts.

Why target the individual smoker anyways? Should not they be going after the manufactures of these products by forcing them to reduce the chemicals that cause the smokers addictions in the first place? Who knows that if the chemicals where reduced to zero over a five year period, we might not have any smokers left. Most smokers hate the fact that they smoked and that they are spending money that could be used elsewhere. How does the anti smoking lobbies try to help the smoker quit? They get the drug companies involved by getting them to create products that will supposedly cure the addiction. Note that these products are as expensive as the cigarettes are. Wouldn’t it be better if they were provided at reasonable price as an incentive to cause the smoker to quit?

If smoking is such a big health risk why isn’t the government doing more? I’ll tell you, smoking is a cash cow. If there was no one smoking those who are now in the anti smoking lobbies would be complaining about ‘Why isn’t there enough money to do this or this’.

To the anti smoking lobby I say, Get rid of your prejudices, stop harassing smokers and treat them as real people. By the way, love works better then a big stick.

By the way, I am not a smoker.