Exile

We need to give ourselves permission to admit that this pandemic season we are in is hard!  Considering stay at home orders, shut downs, changing rules, quarantines, vaccines, financial concerns, and health concerns… pack them all into a ten month window, and then add a fiercely divisive election year as the cherry on top! In some ways it is a miracle we are still standing at all.  Exile is to expel someone from their home and keep them from returning.  The Old Testament prophets who ministered during these difficult periods tell us one reassuring thing - even when you are not home, and desperately wish that you were, God is still speaking if you will only listen!


** Click on the graphic to watch the video **

  • survival kit

    JANUARY 31, 2021

    In the final week of the series, Pastor Rob sends us off with a few essentials needed while in exile.


    There are two ways to think about survival.  The first is the one we see in the movies where a plane crashes in some snow covered mountain range, and against all odds people survive the crash, nature, and even bad guys, just barely making it out alive.  This kind of survival is all about not dying no matter what the other costs may be.  Then there is the kind of survival that is more like going to the gym.  One that is difficult, but where we are able to use the challenge in order to grow and become stronger.  As we wrap up our exile series, if you would like to know how to approach the challenges of this season in ways that make you better, check out this message!

  • we have to go back!

    JANUARY 24, 2021

    This week Pastor Rob talks about when exile starts to feel like home.


    What is the first thing we all think when we are taken to a place we don’t want to be? We have to go back! But the longer we remain in that new place, the more it becomes familiar, and at some point even exile can become like home. At times nostalgia drives us to return to the past, but have you ever stepped in that direction only to realize that the meaning a location once had was no longer there? We know that God uses everything, so even at times when we are in strange places, it is better to stop resisting and start asking God what He desires for us! If we allow God to work no matter where we find ourselves, we can take those things back or carry them forward!

  • one more thing...

    JANUARY 17, 2021

    Pastor Rob continues this week with the idea of things getting worse, even in exile.


    There is a famous line that Apple founder Steve Jobs used to say at the end of a big, public, product launch.  "One more thing…"  And it was always in that moment when the best brand new product was introduced.  One more thing can also have a negative connotation.  In the middle of difficult moments in life, one more thing can feel like, and even be, the straw that broke the camel’s back.  What happens when we are already living in exile, and then life hands us… one more thing?

  • trapped at summer camp

    JANUARY 10, 2021

    This week Pastor Rob continues our new series.


    I grew up going to summer camp.  I even spent summers working as a camp counsellor.  I had some of the best weeks of my life at camp, but there were also some that were very challenging.  But no matter how great the experience, there is still nothing quite like home.  The longer we are kept away from “our homes” and “our normal” the more challenges we face.  This week we are going to explore some biblical and modern day consequences of exile.  If you are a little tired, worn out, or at the end of your rope, this week may shed some light on your weariness and give you a path to move forward!

  • Surviving in an ice age

    january 3, 2021

    Pastor Rob kicks off the new year with an appropriate Message about how we're all feeling after 2020.


    Have you ever experienced something that started out like a beautiful snow guaranteeing a white Christmas, but then turned into a days-long blizzard, the impact of which extended out for weeks or even months?  We usually overestimate positive things, and underestimate the negative ones.  We like how our normal feels.  We appreciate the ease of being at home, and like the comfort of sleeping in our own bed.  Today and this series is all about surviving the times in life when we are far from home and have no idea when we will get to return.