Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

June 16th - My Father and My Faith Journey

 

When Mothers Day approached, I shared in my mid-week message how my mother played a significant role in my faith journey. My father did not attend church, but he also did not discourage my mother from taking me to church. Even though my father did not have a direct impact on my faith, he did have an indirect effect. I will always remember his response when I shared with him for the first time that God had called me to become a minister. He swore, breaking a commandment as he did so, but said, It is your life!

 

Even though he was not gushing with excitement about my call, my dad was very supportive once I started taking divinity classes at Knox College. Every week my dad would give me $50 to help cover my costs. I never asked him for this, he would just hand me $50 every Friday night when we visited the house. That money covered the cost of the three return trips I would take each week to Toronto by train. Contributing this money was one way that my father had an indirect impact on my faith journey and studies.

 

My father died from cancer after my first year at Knox College. His death also impacted my faith journey in an indirect way. My father died the day before I started my second year. I never had the chance to properly grieve his passing due to the busyness that comes from being in full time studies. During the Christmas holidays that year I had the opportunity to attend my first Blue Christmas service. It was at that service when I finally had a chance to grieve his death. I appreciated what that service did for my healing process so much that I started offering Blue Christmas services at Petrolia when I started ministering there. It became a very popular service in the community every Christmas and was actually reported on in the Sarnia Observer and by a Chatham radio station. I probably would never have offered these services if it had not been for his passing.

 

A third way my father helped my spiritual journey indirectly came as a result of his illness. Read more

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

June 8th - Let Us Get Back to Showing Compassion

 

On Saturday night Nadine saw a story appear on social media about an eight-year-old boy who was missing after swimming at Turkey Point earlier that day. This boy was last seen around 5:30 p.m. when he abandoned his floating raft and began swimming back to shore. Sadly, he did not make it. Once the parents realized their boy was missing a frantic search began. The Norfolk O.P.P. was called to look for the boy. Some people who spotted this story on social media offered their assistance and help as well. Unfortunately, late Sunday, Nadine saw on social media that the boy had indeed drowned trying to swim back to shore.

 

Saturday night saw some of the good things that can happen from social media when so many people responded by offering help when they saw the story. Sunday night however, reflected some of the bad things we see happening on social media. Several people on social media voiced their opinions judging and criticizing the parents for not watching their son more carefully. Some of these critics showed no care and compassion for what the parents were going through having lost their son.

 

My immediate response was empathy and compassion for the parents. I have not lost a child personally, but I was immediately brought back to a moment when my father did. He was married prior to meeting my mother. My dad had a daughter and a son in his first marriage. One weekend after their divorce his ex-wife took the daughter and son along with some friends to the Waterford ponds to swim. Tragedy happened that day when the five-year-old son drowned. His name was Peter. I hope people offered compassion and not judgement back then. I am glad that there was no social media back then where people could have anonymously offered up criticism. Having this happen to my father and half-brother makes me very empathetic to what this family is going through right now. Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

June 1st - So Many Questions

 

Now that the Toronto Maple Leafs have been eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night, Leafs fans, media, and sports talk radio will be asking many questions through the course of this week. Some of the questions already being asked are:

 

- Why did the Leafs blow a 3-1 series lead?

- Should the team stay the same for next year or should they rebuild?

- Do the Leafs need to trade some of their star players?

- Should the general manager and president be fired?

- Do they need more scoring up front or better defence?

- Why can't they seem to win a playoff series?

- Do they have the mental fortitude to succeed in playoff hockey?

- Why do teams less talented than the Leafs have playoff success?

 

The questions asked over the next few weeks will be endless. Some of the questions may be easily answered and others might be harder to answer. Fans and sports media always ask these types of questions whenever a team like the Leafs experiences loss and disappointment.

 

It is not only when we see sport teams lose that we see hard questions being asked. Loss and disappointment in life often raises these kinds of questions. An example where we see this happening in Scripture takes place in John 11. This is the story of the death of Lazarus. Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

May 26th - When Time Stopped

 

Just like every other Toronto Maple Leafs fan, I was excited to stop what I was doing on Thursday night and turn on the Leafs-Canadiens game. I was watching during the first period when captain John Tavares fell to the ice after a knee-on-knee hit and then was struck in the head by the knee of opposing player. Play stopped at that moment but it seemed so too did time.

 

Watching the replays and then seeing the medical staff being brought out by both teams quickly made us all realize how serious this situation was. Many minutes passed before we eventually saw John Tavares taken off the ice on a stretcher giving everybody the thumbs-up sign. Because time had stopped for a considerable period after this serious incident, players were allowed to go back on the ice and skate around before play resumed.

 

Time and play stopped at that moment in the game. Later that same night, time stopped for me again when my Toronto Maple Leafs watch stopped working. Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

May 19th - Somebody Called Me Smart

 

After filling my car with gas recently, I went inside the station to pay my bill and get a receipt. When I walked in a customer was standing in line and said, Now, here is another smart person. Being the smart person I supposedly am, I looked behind me to see if he was referring to somebody else. Seeing nobody behind me, and now realizing he was referring to me, I asked him why he thought this? He replied, Because you used your coat sleeve to open the door so not to get germs!

 

Then he showed me his keychain that had a gadget on it similar to an Allen key. He informed me that he uses this gadget to open doors and to key in his pin code on machines when paying by debit in order to avoid getting germs.

 

In this case, I did not need to let this person know that I have a Masters in Divinity, or an Honours Degree in Business Administration and was a Certified Professional Accountant to be considered smart. Using my coat sleeve to open the door in order to avoid touching unclean surfaces was all I needed to do in order to be considered smart. Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

May 12th - Best Signs

 

I saw a sign this weekend that put a smile on my face. This sign was not put up by a business but rather by a 6-year-old girl who lives two doors down from us. The sign was not done in letters on a billboard, but in chalk at the end of her driveway. The words were not elaborate but quite simple HAPPY MOTHERS DAY.

 

Four times a day I would walk by the sign done in chalk at the end of the driveway and smile each time. I envisioned the pride and joy the 6-year-old girl had doing this sign. I thought as well of the smile on the face of her mother each time she saw the sign at the end of her driveway. I thought about moms in our neighbourhood out for a walk seeing this sign and being uplifted. It was a simple sign done in chalk, but with such love. I hope this little girl does the same sign for Fathers Day as she did for her mom this weekend.

 

There are many signs to be seen around town right now due to the Sign War that is happening. Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

May 5th - All Because of a Mother

 

A teacher I know posted this message last week: FYI DADS, your children will NOT be bringing home handmade Mothers Day gifts from school. You have 9 days to get something prepared.

 

This message is a reminder of the times we find ourselves in right now due to COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, dads could count on their children bringing home gifts from their school to bless their moms with. This year dads, as opposed to teachers, will have to be the creative thinkers when it comes to gifts from the kids to moms. My dad was fortunate that there was no pandemic during his lifetime as I think he would have struggled coming up with an idea for me to make something for my mother.

 

This message did get me thinking about the only gift I can remember making my mother at school and bringing home for Mothers Day. The gift was a card I made when I was in kindergarten. Naturally my mom kept the card, and she gave it back to me as a reminder twenty years ago this week. It was an appropriate time for her to give it back to me as I used it on that Mothers Day Sunday in 2001 in my childrens story.

 

The reason why I remember that story is I was preaching for a call at Petrolia and Knox Dawn on Mothers Day Sunday in 2001. As I showed this card and did my story some of the people said to me after it was at that moment in the service when God confirmed to them, I was the minister He was sending them. When I think back, it was very fitting that it was a Mothers Day Sunday that I would preach for a call and use a gift I had given to my mother 32 years earlier as a prop. Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

April 28th - My Time When Time Failed Me

 

Time is failing me right now. More specifically, my Toronto Maple Leafs watch is failing to keep proper time right now. During the course of each day, it seems to fall 5-10 minutes behind proper time. Frequently I have to check the proper time and reset my watch. My watch obviously needs a new battery. I imagine some of you are thinking it is not the battery but the fact that it is a Toronto Maple Leafs watch which is why it is falling behind. Some of you probably have a few good comments to send to me right now like:

- Dean, your watch is just reminding you that the Leafs will fall out in the first round of the play-offs again!

- Or Dean, your watch is telling you that you have to fall back to 1967 to the last time they won a Stanley Cup.

- Or Dean your watch is telling you that your team never keeps up with expectations.

 

And if any of you are thinking about getting me a Montreal Canadiens watch right now, do not bother because I am not that desperate to know the proper time! It is the battery, not the fact that it is a Toronto Maple Leafs watch, that is failing to keep proper time. I would go to my favourite jewelry store to get the battery replaced but I cannot due to the current lockdown. I cannot believe that Doug Ford does not deem it essential that a Leafs fan like should be able to get a battery replaced in his favourite team watch! Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

April 21st - How One Family Coped

 

Neighbours of ours recently had to put down their dog after 14 years. Daisy would sometimes meet up with their dog for walks and enjoy sniffing around the neighbourhood. I would sometimes refer to this dog as her boyfriend because she was always excited to walk beside him.

 

There has been an emptiness and void in their family life since the passing of their dog. One thing that impressed me though is the efforts they have gone to in order to cope through their loss. Early into the loss they started going for walks with one of their neighbours whenever she walked her dog. The family found comfort to still being able to go out for walks even though it was not with their own dog.

 

After doing this a few times the mother and daughter began taking the dog for walks on their own. One day the two of them stopped in front of our house with the dog and you could see the smiles on their faces from being able to do this despite their own loss. Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

April 14th - Finding Food Around the House

 

By now many of you have been introduced to our dog Daisy. Last week I shared how she loves to jump on the ottoman strategically placed at our front window to chase squirrels and chipmunks away from our bird feeders. You have also learned that often it is when I am walking Daisy that God gives me inspiration for my mid-week messages. Daisy is my inspiration for this message too.

 

Our dog has a tendency to take the food from her bowl and eat it at various locations throughout the house. Sometimes she will come into the living room and chomp away at her food on the rug. Other times she will carry it upstairs jumping up on one of our beds to chew away. Other times she will take it out to the pool area and eat away at it while we are in the backyard. It would be great if she would eat the food over her bowl in the kitchen but that is not our Daisy.

 

Sometimes, however, Daisy will carry her food to different locations in our house and leave it somewhere uneaten. I do not know if she gets distracted or excited by something else, but it results in us finding some of her dog food pellets in the strangest locations. Read more

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June 6, 2021