Something new for an old blog...

For those of you that know me and have followed this blog (there aren't that many, but I know I've seen a few in the last week that I didn't think were following on facebook), many of you know that my father passed away last Wednesday, on August 24th, 2011. It has been a few days of rather intense emotion, and activity, and even some real soul-searching, laregly because of my relationship with my dad. To be honest, it wasn't always rosy, and sometimes it was abusive and violent, but it ended in reconciliation, and love between a father and a son. But it left me with a need - something I saw in him - a need to make a difference in things that I do.

This is one of the reasons I became a fianancial planner. According to Statistics Canada, 85% of Canadians know nothing about money, how it works, how to use it to make more money, or even how to draw up a basic budget. These are things I've learned the hard way, and thus I can make a real difference in peoples' lives. A more mundane example? Yesterday, CTV.ca had a news article about how people don't really understand how to use Tax Free Savings Accounts, and as a result, the Canada Revenue Agency has had to send out letters explaining why people will have to pay more tax because of over-contributions. After I shared that article on Facebook, I fellow I knew from school (and I mean GRADE SCHOOL, and he's a pretty intelligent sort) responded, and said HE didn't know anything about some of that, and how it would change what he is doing. To me, that is a task well done, and I made a difference.

Many of that do know me also know that I am a committed Christian. Oh, I don't stand up on soap boxes down in market squares shouting at the top of my lungs (tried that, doesn't work) how Jesus saves, but I share it as often as I can in whatever way I can so that people can see the difference Jesus has made in my own life. Oh, I hear you out there snickering and cat-calling. Go ahead, make fun of it Him and me for following Him. Never mind the fact that He has made all the difference in my life. I know that he can make all the difference in your life if you'll give him the opportunity. He said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3:20) That's the biggest difference that anyone could ever make - a true friend, to be beside you when times are good, and especially when times are bad. I can personally attest to that in the last week.

Essentially, what I am trying to say is that I want to use this blog as a way to make a difference for people. I can do that in more than one way on more than one topic, but to show you things that God shows me about life is one really great place to start. I draw your attention to my signature line. Consider it one of a number of new mottos that will grace this blog.


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"Preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching."
-2 Timothy 4:2 (NASB)