Gonna be short & sweet again this morning as we’re about to head out to the Paris region for the national youth convention.

Mona Lisa Staircase

On our way home last weekend, Timo & I made a short stop into the city of Blois, just a little bit off the highway.

One of the major staircases in the downtown core was “dressed up” with a mural of the Mona Lisa, graphic design on the front of each step which, when seen from a distance, show the enigmatic lady.

Very cool and it was good we stopped when we did because they’ve already changed it to something new.

(I suspect that it was there in celebration of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo daVinci’s death this year. Very cool!)

Hometown Connection

This week I was at a meeting of the beekeepers’ association and got talking to one of the men that I’d not really connected with before.

When he realized I was from Canada, he asked where abouts and when I said, “Saint John” he couldn’t believe it.

“Just last week I had someone from Saint John sitting across my dining room table.” he said.

I don’t know the individual personally, but we have some common friends through the French school there, Samuel de Champlain.

He’s been there and knows the areas around Saint John, Moncton, Bouctouche, etc. How cool is that… through hobby beekeeping, I meet someone who has been to my hometown! Another cool connection!

Almost at the end….

… of our crazy driving month.

As you can see from the picture, we crossed a big number this week: the car hit 240K kilometers! Wowzahs!

This weekend we’re off to the annual youth convention and we’re very excited to have another couple from the church attending with us. It’ll be there first time to a national meeting.

We head up early today for 2 services, then another service tomorrow morning before coming back home tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Looking forward to being there & sharing this moment with Annie & Ghislain who have been incredibly faithful for the past 2 years. We’re praying that the Lord bless them extra big this weekend!

Small Space? Build up!

Very quickly, let me explain the title for today’s post.

It refers to this building on the right, that we saw in Toulouse last week. Although it’s not uncommon to see them … they never cease to draw my eye.

In today’s economy, if we came across a teeny, narrow little swatch of land in a city center, it would undoubtedly be turned into a little parc… a couple of benches, trees, etc.

At the time that this building was built, however, the approach was somewhat different and it was of greater value, in this spot, to build. While they didn’t have a large footprint though, they did have the freedom to build upwards, and today that unique building stands as a testament to their efforts.

Similarly, we are often confronted with the fear that our impact here is minimal… that we are not having a broad, ministerial impact for the Lord here.

This building served as a reminder, that something beautiful and enduring can be built on a small footprint, when the focus is vertical. Similarly… if as individual Christians, you and I maintain a strong vertical focus, then, while we may never share the gospel message on a stage before thousands… we can nonetheless have a lasting impact on the lives of those directly in our sphere of influence.

Go vertical…

So today, in closing, as I ask you to pray for our travel over the next two days, I also encourage you to build vertically this week. Focus on the Lord and allow him to use you to lift up, encourage and direct someone to look his way and move closer to Him!

God bless you this week and thank you for stopping by!