Praise the Lord! Janice P Hird’s luggage just arrived in Kigali Rwanda from Beijing China where it was misdirected four days ago.

“Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.” Click to read my article on CSLewis’ view of the beauty of nature inspiring humble gratitude and thankful joy. #MereChristianity #CSLewis

Please keep us in your prayers as we fly again today to Rwanda to teach on marriage.

Watch the BC Christian Ashram online https://www.facebook.com/ed.hird.5/videos/10155319830312186/

By Rev Dr Ed and Janice Hird

While recently teaching on marriage in East Africa to tens of thousands, we asked many Africans what they thought about Dr David Livingstone. It was encouraging to learn how fondly he is remembered in Africa. Some other westerners may have come to exploit, but Livingstone came to bless and set free people free from their chains.  Livingstone prayed: “God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me, and sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds mine to yours.”

Dr Livingstone was one of the world’s greatest medical missionaries, explorers and abolitionists. He originally trained as a doctor in order to reach China with the gospel.  When that door closed because of the opium wars, God opened another door to Africa, starting in Cape Town. Having received the Royal Geographic Society’s highest golden medal, Livingstone lived in an era where no occupation was more admired than that of an African explorer. It had the mystique of a modern-day astronaut boldly going into unchartered territory. Travelling, said Livingstone, made one more self-reliant and confident. He only wanted companions who would go where there were no roads. His books were bestsellers and his lectures standing room only. Crowds mobbed him in the streets and even in church. One poll showed that only Queen Victoria was more popular than the beloved Livingstone.

Many chiefs heard through Livingstone for the very first time of Jesus’ amazing love.  One chief Sekelutu was drawn to Livingstone, but afraid to read the bible in case it might change his heart and make him content with just one wife.

Livingstone literally filled in the map of Africa, exploring all of its main rivers, covering 29,000 miles, greater than the circumference of the earth. One of his most famous discoveries was the Victoria Falls, named after Queen Victoria, on the Zambezi river.  During his extensive travels, he suffered over twenty-seven times from attacks of malaria, being reduced at one point to ‘a mere skeleton’.  His dear wife Mary tragically died from malaria while traveling with her husband in Mozambique.

Livingstone had been lost for five years in Africa and presumed dead by many. An American journalist Morton Stanley was sent by the New York Herald in 1871 to Africa to rescue Livingstone. 236 days later, after a seemingly hopeless search, Stanley found him, uttering the immortal words “Dr Livingstone, I Presume.” His discovery was voted the greatest 19th century newspaper story. Stanley called Livingstone “…an embodiment of warm good fellowship, of everything that is noble and right, of sound common sense, of everything practical and right/minded…”  Speaking to the 57 men carrying supplies to Livingstone, Stanley said: “He is a good man and has a kind heart. He is different from me; he will not beat you as I have done.” Queen Victoria went out of her way to thank Stanley for discovering Livingstone, said that she had been very anxious about his safety.

Livingstone called the Slave trade the open sore of the world, believing that opening up trade routes would eliminate the Slave trade. His on-location report of 400 slaves massacred by slave traders at Nyangwe was key in ending the slave trade. He mistakenly thought that discovering the source of the Nile would open up trade routes for Africans, ending their dependence on the slave trade.

Livingstone was passionate about the Kingdom, praying:  “I place no value in anything that I may possess except in relation to the Kingdom of Christ. I shall promote the glory of Him to whom I owe all my hopes in time and eternity.” Though his body was buried at Westminster Abbey in London, his heart was buried in Africa, because his heart was full of Jesus’ love for the African people.  My prayer is that we too in Canada may have Jesus’ heart of love for Africa.

Rev. Dr. Ed and Janice Hird, co-author of For Better, For Worse: discovering the keys to a lasting relationship.

-published in the August 2018 Light Magazine

-Click to check out our newest marriage book For Better For Worse: discovering the keys to a lasting relationship on Amazon. You can even read the first two chapters for free to see if the book speaks to you.

“Why are You So Afraid?” from Mark 4:35-41. The winds and waves come to all of us, often unexpectedly. Does Jesus seem asleep to you? Do you ever wonder if he cares? Are you like the disciples in a time of transition & uncertainty?

This is Rev. Dr. Ed Hird’s last video sermon at St. Simon’s North Vancouver after 31 years. Ed’s new focus is writing books and speaking at conferences on marriage and renewal.

-Click to check out our newest marriage book For Better For Worse: discovering the keys to a lasting relationship on Amazon. You can even read the first two chapters for free to see if the book speaks to you.

So Long, Farewell

By Rev. Dr. Ed Hird

One of my favorite songs in a favorite movie is Oscar Hammerstein’s So Long, Farewell from the Sound of Music.  The beauty of Deep Cove can leave all of us singing like Marta, “I hate to go and leave this pretty sight”. It is amazing how farewell comments are often so spiritual that we don’t even hear them.  The phrase ‘so long’ is  New York slang for the Hebrew ‘Shalom’ which is used for both hello and goodbye.  To sing like Fredrick ‘Adieu, adieu, adieu to you and you and you’ actually means in French to go with God.  Likewise Adios in Spanish commends us to God, to Dios.  For the past thirty years of the Deep Cove Crier, I have been commending you each month to God.  He loves you more than you might ever imagine.

Kurt in the Von Trapp Family singers sang, “I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye, goodbye.” Goodbye literally means ‘God be with you.’ Leaving involves grieving. I will miss you.  One local politician complimented me by saying that I was more visible than they were at community events. Over decades, I have gotten to know many of you, even if you have never darkened the door of a church.  Some of you have asked me to take your weddings, baptisms, or funerals.  Over several decades, I sometimes had the privilege of being there for all three, sometimes even marrying the parents and then later taking the wedding of their adult child.  How many remember the original Boal Chapel?  I will never forget when a couple asked me to take their son’s funeral, saying that he was a diamond in the rough.  When half the congregation turned up at Boal Chapel on Harley Davidsons, I found myself paraphrasing Jesus, saying “Blessed are those who are tough enough to mourn for they shall be comforted”.  One person heard me and had the courage to grieve.

In this current culture, some people’s connection to church is reflected by the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral.  Many people no longer attend church but will still attend wedding and funerals/celebrations of life.  At weddings, they are often so distracted by the beautiful bride that the spiritual message may be missed.  At funerals/celebrations of life, people are often reflecting and listening at a heart level.  Some of you may have only met me in person at one of the many weddings and funerals that I have taken since 1987. I had the privilege of taking both Wayne and Marsia Hunter’s funerals at Seymour Golf & Country Club and at Boal Chapel.  Because they were so politically involved, half the people at their services were politicians.  “Can politicians make it to heaven?”, I asked at the funeral. < >  Yes, I said, but it is not easy because they are often so covered over because of endless criticism.  Jesus knows the hearts of politicians even if they do not know themselves. Jesus loves the least, the lost, and the last, including politicians.

It has been a privilege to share over 360 monthly spiritual messages with you that have been viewed online by 755,000 people so far on my blog.   Many of these articles turned up in chapters of my books Battle for the Soul of Canada, Restoring Health, andFor Better For Worse. Every year I have shared with you insights about New Year Resolutions, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Remembrance Day, and Christmas.  Through personally visiting all 10,000 homes  (some two or three times) in the Seymour/Deep Cove community, I received many new ideas for articles, including on tolerance and judgmentalism.

Thank you, Wilf Fawcett, Bruce Coney, Mark Hood and Maria Spitale-Leisk for believing in me and giving me a chance to share good news in the Deep Cove Crier.  My new focus in this transition will be on writing books and speaking at conferences, particularly on marriage and renewal as we did to tens of thousands recently in Africa.  You will enjoy Pastor Craig Thiessen who will be taking over this column next month.  Never forget that Jesus loves you. So long, farewell, goodbye.

Rev. Dr. Ed Hird

-published in the July 2018 Deep Cove Crier.

-Click to check out our newest marriage book For Better For Worse: discovering the keys to a lasting relationship on Amazon. You can even read the first two chapters for free to see if the book speaks to you.