Fathers Day Message for my Alumni

So many of you I met when you were only 13 years old when you first came to VCSS. I still hold most of you in my imagination as you were when you were those young teenagers. But when I meet you all over the Internet, at sites like Facebook, I see photo after photo of all your children. But it puzzles me because I keep thinking, "You can't be a father of a 16 year old boy, you're only 13 years old yourself ?!" Back in the "olden" days, when we attended high school, I saw the genesis of what kind of men and fathers you would become. And now as I look at you as you are are now, I know one thing very surely, you are a bunch of really proud Papas!

As many of you know, all the years I attended VCSS I was one of the very few families that didn't have a Dad at home because my parents had divorced. In the 5 years I attended Vancouver Christian Secondary School I never once set eyes on my father. I mailed him an invitation to my graduation but he never came. He didn't acknowledged my invitation or accomplishment with a phone call, a letter or even a card. Because of the type of person my fathers was, I spent my years with you always watching your fathers closely. I often heard you talk about your fathers, but mostly I heard you complain about them ("My Dad always wants to know where I am and where I'm going!"). The things you had to "endure" from your fathers were the things I longed for. A father who cared where I was, wondered what I did, asked about my grades at school, or interrogated the boys I was dating. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not stating , "Oh, poor me. I didn't have father", because it was just that fact that brought me to my Heavenly Father. But this Fathers Day, as you look to your own kids who will probably honour you with gifts, phone calls and maybe a few compliments, may I ask you for a favour? Look to your own memories of your young days, think of your fathers who made you the people and Dads you are now, and (if you are still fortunate enough to have your father around) give them a "thanks Dad" from you. And maybe say it with a little extra 'gusto' from me, who watched your fathers love you and felt the awe and privilege of being able to see it. Watching them brought me deeper understanding of what it meant to be loved by my Heavenly Father.


"Jesus, bless all the Dads who love their children enough to pass on God's love through demonstrating it and then bowing out so God can increase while they decrease. Amen."

Happy Fathers Day, my friends.


"The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less." (JOHN 3:29-30)

Vancouver Christian Secondary School Alumni Blog

MY Dad is BIGGER than YOUR Dad ...

... unless my Dad  IS your Dad too! (What am I talking about?)

I grew up with very little contact with my father. But, O how I wished I had a Daddy like the other kids. A Daddy who didn't make me afraid. Who would pay attention to me and make me feel special instead of  just invisible.

Then someone told me that I could have a father who would ALWAYS love me and ALWAYS be with me. Forever! All I had to do was ask him to come into my life and watch him change it.
The "father" that man was talking about was my Heavenly Father. I was desperate, tiny and lonely and had nothing to lose. So I asked God to come into my life. That was 34 years ago. All these years later I can tell you that He has ALWAYS loved me, was ALWAYS there for me and (the best part) is still loving me and with me. He is more than I ever hoped He would be. I didn't know love like that even existed, let alone would be dominant in my life.

If you need a Dad, if you need someone to love you, if you need someone to BE THERE for you, no matter what, why not give God a chance? Do you have so much love in your life that you can't have more? He does exist. He is literal, practical and available.

May you and God meet on this Fathers Day and you will never be fatherless again.
.
 Laura-Lee

" Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."   (JOHN 1:12-13)

Fathers Day Poem: “If a Man”

If a Man

 by Laura-Lee Rahn
  ‎June 17, 2012 Fathers Day

If a man ...
recognizes the delicate balance of the Universe,
sees the patterns of life around him,
And can appreciate beauty in a myriad of people and places and forms,
yet still says in his heart "there is no God"
                                    ... he is a foolish man.

If a man ...
does not accept his responsibility for his world and all that is in it,
And loves his "fellow-man" but not his neighbour nor his brother,
and will sell his soul to gain the fleeting and temporary pleasures of this world, while giving no thought for what is to come, 
                                             ... he is a selfish man.

If a man ...
ignores God, though he has sacrificed His only Son Jesus, in the hope that reconciliation would be planted and intimacy grow,
And then, having rejected Christ, denies himself the assurance of heaven, the confidence to approach God's throne, wisdom from God's guidance, strength from God's presence, comfort from God's touch and joy from God's unending love, 
                                          ... he is a desperate man.


BUT, if a man ...
comes to know all these things,
then chooses to follow his heart's desire to do more than merely
"CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN"
but through his humble and living faith in God
"MOVES THE MOUNTAIN"
                                              ... he is a REAL man.


" I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20)

" He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."  (Micah 6:8)

William Shatner Sings for "Fabulous" Canadians

Many people I know on the internet are from countries all over the world. They ask me what is so great about Canada. I often tell them it's due to the wonderful, talented people, with great senses of humor and also, we have a  totally "killer" national anthem. Here's William Shatner to demonstate. Tell 'em Bill !

O CANADA

O, Canada,

Our home and native land

True patriot love, in all thy sons command

With glowing hearts we see thee rise

The true north, strong and free.

From far and wide, O Canada,

We stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free

O, Canada, we stand on guard for thee

O, Canada, we stand on guard for thee

(Yeah, Canada. You're fabulous!!)

P.S. The "National Film Board" finally did something interesting. Now if we could just get William Shatner to do, "Hinterland: Who's Who".

Thomas Kinkade: The Sell-Out

(THOMAS KINKADE DIED APRIL 6, 2012)

Thomas Kinkade Official Website


Artist Thomas Kinkade

Thomas Kinkade first came to my attention in the early 1990’s when I worked for a Christian organization called, “Focus on the Family” at their Canadian offices in Vancouver, Canada.
I was immediately drawn into his use of light in his paintings and was not surprized that he became known as “The Painter of Light”. His actual paintings were a little too expensive for what I could afford, but I got a calendar for Christmas that year which featured his paintings. So as each month passed, I would tape the picture from the previous month to my bedroom walls until I had 12 copies of his paintings hanging all over the place. At the end of the year I was hoping I would get his next calendar for the following year.

As the years passed it seemed like Thomas Kinkade was EVERYWHERE! As well as his paintings adorning everything from tote-bags to coasters, he had written a myriad of books and seemed to be selling, selling, selling everything that had even the merest connection to him. I read his entire “Cape Light” series of books and watched his “products” grow and spread throughout the world. 
I read one of his books that I still have to this day and have read and re-read it several times. It is called, “Lightposts for Living: The Art of Choosing a Joyful Life”. (1999) It was titled perfectly because it  gave practical advice on how to bring joy into your daily and sometimes hum-drum life. He proposed that “joy” was not something that simply fell out of the sky into your lap, but you had to work at in order to have it part of your life. As I read the circumstances surrounding his death and the last years of his life, it seemed that he had stopped taking his own advice about joy somewhere along the line.

No doubt you will hear in the next months all the bad things that were going on in Kinkade’s life. He claimed to be a Christian which means he had a bulls-eye on his back to be aimed at by every person who has an axe to grind with Jesus. His passing will only enhance that desire in some people. Especially because he will not be here to defend himself.
Perhaps Thomas lost sight of what God wanted him to do with his talent …
Perhaps he became caught up in the money …
Perhaps it was too important to him that he become famous …
Perhaps he lost sight of how important his family is …
Perhaps he let his relationship with his wife slide until it was too difficult for him to repair …
Perhaps he wished to follow his own path more than the path that God had marked out for him …
All that may be true but I do know this: when Jesus died on the cross he paid the price for every one of Thomas Kinkade’s sins (as well as all of mine and yours too). In all the years I knew of Thomas Kinkade, I never once heard him deny that he was a Christian or that he loved Jesus. His soul was a sell-out for Jesus, regardless of the sins he committed along the way. And if he accepted Jesus, then I know Jesus accepted him!
Simply put, Thomas Kinkade is in heaven with Jesus and all the problems he had here mean nothing to him now. He is seeing God in the “splendour of his majesty” and many other things that he could probably never accurately paint, even if he had been the greatest artist to ever walk this planet.

But I wonder that, even with all the critics he had throughout his career, he still sold huge amounts of his paintings. I don’t believe all of that was just because he was clever with his use of light. He had a way of freezing a moment in time that had passed or maybe had never existed except in his mind. But in that frozen moment we found something we were drawn to. Something that we rarely or cannot find anymore. The beauty found in quietness and simple things. Each of his paintings or books had a gentleness to them. They depicted a time or place when people cared for one another and most people knew that God was watching out for them. And because of their faith in God, they had reserves of strength beyond humanity and encounters with compassion that is missing in our daily lives now-a-days.

So I thank God for the works of Thomas Kinkade which remind me WHO made me, WHY I am here, and WHAT I have to look forward to. And to Thomas Kinkade for making me pause and remember that, the way God was in the “olden days” is the way he is right now. Today.
And I won’t forget to say a prayer for his family that has been temporarily left behind and remember that the “painter of light” is now standing beside the “Creator of Light”.

“ And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.”
(GENESIS 1:3)

“ In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”
“ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.”
(JOHN 1: 4-5, 7)

“ When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘ I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ “             (JOHN 8:12)