Markchop's Blog

1 year already? oh my. how it flies. happy day lit...

2011-01-24T14:00:27.083-08:00

1 year already? oh my. how it flies. happy day little man!

Dave- first thanks for commenting! It is soo hard ...

2010-07-14T06:32:13.195-07:00

Dave- first thanks for commenting! It is soo hard to do what we know is right, now rather than later. On that note we should hang out soon!!

My Love- It's you who inspires and reminds me that God is always with us and always directing our steps!! You remind me that God loves me too!! Thank you for your first comment ever!! I love you very much!

Hey Baby, You inspire me. You remind me constantl...

2010-07-12T10:56:45.445-07:00

Hey Baby,

You inspire me. You remind me constantly that God looks out for us and loves us. I think I forget that too easily sometimes. I love you.

Thanks Mark. I might need to check this book out....

2010-07-12T08:07:54.735-07:00

Thanks Mark. I might need to check this book out. The key is now. I always find myself saying "tomorrow".

Well, Mark I know your spirit is close to Him but ...

2009-12-04T20:33:41.099-08:00

Well, Mark I know your spirit is close to Him but now, surely in the words you so wonderfully wrote, I see He blessed you with a wonderful lady and she has likewise been blessed with you.

Congratulations on your Anniversary. My wife and I are coming up to our 37th anniversary (but we was only 2 years old so, we are just 39, right?(Not)

We are growing happily and gracefully into our 4th decade of marriage. That does seem we are getting old? Actually I am old, she is forever youthful!

May you gather as many wonderful memories as we have been blessed with.

J-M

beautiful

2009-12-04T19:46:15.859-08:00

beautiful

J-M, Thank you sir! That's so cool! Thank you...

2009-10-13T00:04:20.776-07:00

J-M,

Thank you sir! That's so cool! Thank you for your prayer as well and hope you had a GREAT ThanksGiving!! His Peace!

So, Mark I now have a photo of a Joshua Tree for m...

2009-10-10T10:36:07.278-07:00

So, Mark I now have a photo of a Joshua Tree for my profile as I so loved that place when I visited Joshua Tree Nat'l Park.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving weekend in Canada we know He is blessing you and yours wherever you reside.

With Love and the following prayer
J-M

We Give Thanks

Our Father in Heaven,
We give thanks for the pleasure
Of gathering together for this occasion.
We give thanks for this food
Prepared by loving hands.
We give thanks for life,
The freedom to enjoy it all
And all other blessings.
As we partake of this food,
We pray for health and strength
To carry on and try to live as You would have us.

This we ask in the name of Jesus.

AMEN

Jose- I never commented back! I'm sorry! and ...

2009-09-20T23:03:53.589-07:00

Jose-

I never commented back! I'm sorry! and it's been like a year!! Thank you very much for your comment! I really do appreciate it!

Hahaha awesome! You're welcome! And thank you...

2009-09-17T10:41:54.919-07:00

Hahaha awesome!

You're welcome! And thank you for sharing!! :-D

I love Joshua Tree even more now! thanks for shari...

2009-09-16T20:21:38.852-07:00

I love Joshua Tree even more now! thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the comment!! It took me back to a plac...

2009-09-15T00:54:01.158-07:00

Thanks for the comment!! It took me back to a place i used to go growing up called Joshua Tree...thin place for me to be sure!! I wrote a blog about it :-)

I live near a place called Scarborough Bluffs whic...

2009-09-14T13:09:07.116-07:00

I live near a place called Scarborough Bluffs which is about 250 feet above Lake Ontario. I used to climb from the top of the Bluffs along a grassy hill to where a meadow bloomed and there I would sit and have my packed lunch and look down and over the water.

A stronger than ever sense of His presence overwhelmed me at this spot. The meadow, the bluffs, the lake all beside and below me!

This is the month Monarch butterflies rest at the same meadow with thousands of them landing here for a few days, the meadow covered in Milkweed that the Monarchs love.

And that is one of my "Thin places". Thanks for bringing it to my thoughts.

His peace and blessings
J-M

Jan-Micheal, thank you for your honesty and your c...

2009-09-12T02:19:15.985-07:00

Jan-Micheal, thank you for your honesty and your compliments! I agree that showing love doesn't have to be monumental but chances are if it comes across as loving it'll be monumental regardless. I'm glad you get something from my ramblings! :-)

hahha so true! Thanks for the pointing that out! i...

2009-09-12T01:27:16.245-07:00

hahha so true! Thanks for the pointing that out! i think I was a little tired when I wrote this :-) I forgot! I'll be making the change now! Thanks for the reminder bro!! Though I don't remember the disciple James meeting his Maker so soon. The book is said to be the earliest of the New Testament (Between 40 and 50AD) but then again...I don't think I remember that being discussed in my bible classes, I was probably tired then too :-)

So, what about the questions at the end of the blog?

Hi Mark...I see you have been blogging away while ...

2009-09-11T21:20:38.543-07:00

Hi Mark...I see you have been blogging away while I was caught up in celebrations of 2 family weddings so firstly, great to read your thoughts and really good to read this blog right after watching The Gathering entitled The Priesthood. The sermon and your blog mesh well together and compliment eachother!

So, I guess I would immediately say that Love and Works of Love are to me not defined in their magnitude for me>Meaning Faith in Action or Works of Love are not measurable by how intense or hard they were to accomplish. In fact, the easier accomplished, the more the expression of Love, I believe.

I like to think of all this like great music or a good book, to draw on 2 subjects you have mentioned a few times. I believe most composers will tell you the song is mostly in their head before they scratch the notes down. Similarly, great storytellers find the feeling and then the words flow out of them.

So, I think Love and Faith and faith in action are intertwined.
Sincere Love is demonstrated by expressing that Love in actions. But the action does not have to be monumental, just sincere and though whatever it is may seem trivial to one person it may be huge to someone else!

Musicians and artists are very often never entirely plesed with the piece while others are in awe of it!

It is a bit late here when I came across your blog and had to toss in my two cents worth if only to thank you for your blog and making me think. Now I will toddle off to bed and God will add some new words to me that I will wish I had posted but He will have let me know that you inspired me, Mark and He will be pleased!

Blessing and I will be looking for your new posts as they come out.

Jan-Michael (Toronto, Canada)

PS Is there a way I can get an alert for new posts like I do with The Gathering Videos? Or maybe I just need to check back every couple of weeks.

PPS Hope I got a point or 2 across. If not, you did write a great piece and it got me thinking so thanks!

Hey Mark I don't think i have seen you since t...

2009-09-10T16:36:16.109-07:00

Hey Mark I don't think i have seen you since the Sakamoto wedding, I hope all is well. it's my first time checking out your blog so I thought I would comment. That is one of my favorite passages of scripture, James is an incredible book. However, I don't think it was James (the son of Thunder) who wrote it. Most people would say it was James the half-brother of Jesus because the other James was most likely dead at the time. But, I could be wrong too. Thanks, take care.

Jan-Michael, thank you sir! I appreciate your comm...

2009-08-19T10:51:10.610-07:00

Jan-Michael, thank you sir! I appreciate your comments and insight!

His Peace!

Hi Mark and all the followers of this site. Yeah,...

2009-08-16T08:25:51.126-07:00

Hi Mark and all the followers of this site.

Yeah, these are fun and ironically, anyone listening are likely to be drawn to the bible stories and thereby find a soul filling story!

My soul has been replenishes to overflowing with the new Robert Anthony Schuller sermon at

http://ocgathering.blogspot.com/

The video of RAS preaching on Pain and The Sermon on the Mount, I hope as many as possible see it, so I have posted the site above.

How wonderful to see Robert so easily step in to cover for his son Bobby who was not there to preach a recent Sunday. And the message was so inspiring!

For anyone who is suffering emotional or physical pain RAS certainly offered a soothing balm that was so well delivered!

It is drawing viewers from CCM OneCommunity and it has answered the patient prayers of many across the world to see and hear Robert preach again.

Thank you for all you do Mark to get the Videos and podcasrs on-line.

Looking forward to your next post but I guess in the meantime, with you, Donna, The Gathering, St Patrick Project, we can all thank the Lord for filling our cups and spirits to overflowing!

With Love and a prayer of thanks to He who is healing us through any difficult times,

Jan-Michael (Canada)

Read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell as he says &qu...

2009-06-18T11:25:32.364-07:00

Read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell as he says

"My wish with Outliers is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is. When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances".

I loved the book and now am into his other books Blink and The Tipping Point which I understand are as good as Outliers.

Jan-Michael

Little Reminders I read again Just re-reading yo...

2009-06-05T19:49:13.009-07:00

Little Reminders I read again

Just re-reading your blogs and I came across this one I had posted a thought on, but I never commented or expected you had put up a picture of the notes and drawings of others for us to actually read! Or maybe I think I saw it and blamed my poor eyes for not being able to read it? Duh! Click the picture, maybe?

Mark didn't say anything about how to make it bigger/but let's click and...

There we go. Awesome full screen and a real feeling of connection to all who wrote and put notes up about such nice positive things in their lives!

Be patient with me Mark as I learn to use the new technologies
just as God has for sure been patient with me and brings me along into His grace.

Never think you are blog is read just for a short time as someone like me will return and catch something new that was there all along!

God is blessing you Mark and all those reading your blogs.

Jan-Michael
Scarborough, Toronto, Canada

I guess we all have a time to just absorb books an...

2009-06-03T14:21:32.061-07:00

I guess we all have a time to just absorb books and I too hated reading at school, falling asleep studying but surprisingly now read a lot!

Good words of yours 'prefer to be what you read not what you eat'!

I just ordered Fathered By God: Learning What Your Dad Could Never Teach You (John Eldredge)
Read a few pages on Amazon.com and I know I am going to get something out of this book.

Saw on your list Mark, PARENTING WITH LOVE AND LOGIC by Cline and Fay! I don't know if you have kids or are planning on a family or just using it so you can help others with kids. Whatever, it is good to read about parenting!
My 2 daughters, one married last weekend and the other is getting married at end of August.

There never used to be much info to learn about parenting and it is good that the books are out there now.

Saw StarTrek 2009 and I guess Leonard Nimoy has a number of spots on FRINGE show also. A whole new career restarting at 78! Wow, good for him!

God is Blessing You
Jan-Michael

i'd rather be what i read than what i eat!! ni...

2009-06-03T10:36:38.277-07:00

i'd rather be what i read than what i eat!! nice variety of books you've got there. And though i've always loved to read I never wanted to read what i was told, even in the honors classes. Perhaps it's the rebel in us?

I am reading Laurie R King The Language of Bees (...

2009-06-01T17:41:13.729-07:00

I am reading Laurie R King The Language of Bees
(2009)..Sherlock Holmes series which began with The Beekeeper's Apprentice... a great book!

Also read this year the Father Tim Books by Jan Karon and I highly recommend these!
At Home In Mitford is book one/

I read The Bible as Prayer by Stephen Hough on-going as it is praying through short phrases of the Bible which I love to do.

Lastly, just finished 2nd reading of Walking in Your Own Shoes by R A Schuller.

That's about it for me apart from reading MarkChop which is great!

Jan-Michael in Toronto, Canada

Mel- Thanks for the laughs!! The guy who introduc...

2009-05-27T11:41:12.250-07:00

Mel-

Thanks for the laughs!! The guy who introduced me is our pastor. He's actually younger than me (27) if you can believe it. I still sound like me then huh!?! Tell your daughter thanks a lot! I sound like Steve Carrel..i'll take that as a compliment :-D