Who am I?
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I am no one special
Other than to my family, some close friends, and to God,
all of whom I love dearly. And so by that measure alone, I answer
I am greatly blessed.
My Journey of Faith
A Legacy of Faith
Looking back upon my life, I have come to realize that my testimony did not begin with me. It began many years before I was born in a small town in Ayrshire, Scotland, where my great-grandfather faithfully lived out his Christian faith.
My father was born in Ayrshire and lived there until he was about nine years old. He often spoke with great affection of his grandparents, with whom the family shared a home above the small grocery store they owned and operated. Some of my father’s fondest childhood memories were of his grandfather—my great-grandfather—a man he loved deeply and admired greatly.
I have been told that my great-grandfather was a devout Christian whose faith was not merely something he professed, but something he lived every day. He would often leave Gospel tracts at the local coffee shop, always looking for opportunities to point others toward Christ. More importantly, he continually prayed that every member of his family would one day come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
In those days, life for many working men in Scotland followed a familiar pattern. After long hours at the factory, it was customary to gather at the local pub. Sadly, many families suffered greatly because alcoholism had become an accepted part of the culture. Financial hardship, broken homes, and countless other heartaches often followed.
My great-grandfather chose a different path. Because of his devotion to Christ, he refused to participate in that lifestyle. His decision often made him the target of ridicule and mockery from his fellow workers, who could not understand why he would not join them at the pub. Yet those same men who mocked him also trusted him. Whenever one of them became ill and was unable to collect his wages, it was often my great-grandfather they asked to pick up their pay. They knew he would faithfully deliver every penny home to their family rather than spend it at the pub.
Looking back today, I see that his greatest testimony was not simply what he believed, but how faithfully he lived what he believed. I often wonder how many times he prayed for his family without ever seeing the answer. I wonder whether he realized that some of those prayers would not be answered during his lifetime, but would instead be fulfilled many years later on another continent through circumstances only God could orchestrate.
A New Beginning in Canada
My father often spoke of the deep sorrow he experienced when his grandfather passed away. The loss was especially difficult because my great-grandfather had played such an important role in his young life. Around that same period, my grandparents began considering a major change for the future of their family.
Although my grandfather was not one to spend his evenings in the pub, my grandmother was deeply concerned about the culture surrounding alcohol in Scotland and the influence it might eventually have upon her husband and, even more importantly, upon their children. She longed for something better.
Canada represented hope.
It represented opportunity.
It represented a place where hard work could provide a brighter future for their family.
With that hope in mind, my grandfather and his oldest son, my Uncle Robert, made the difficult journey to Canada first. They found work and faithfully sent every spare dollar back home—not only to support the family who remained in Scotland, but also to save enough money to bring them to Canada two years later.
It was a tremendous sacrifice, but one made out of love for their family and hope for a better future. When the family was finally reunited in Canada, they embraced their new country with gratitude. My father, my grandparents, my aunt, and my uncles often spoke of how blessed they felt to live in a land where opportunities seemed abundant compared to what they had known in Scotland.
Seeds Faithfully Sown
I cannot say with certainty how much my great-grandfather’s influence shaped each member of the family, although I believe it surely did. What I do know is that my Uncle Robert grew into a devoted born-again Christian. As far back as I can remember, his love for Christ was genuine and unmistakable.
My father, his brother John, and their sister Nan all believed in God, but none of them had yet come to understand the Gospel’s call to personal faith in Jesus Christ. Looking back, I suspect they were simply too young when my great-grandfather passed away to fully appreciate the depth of his faith.
As a young boy, I remember many Christmas gatherings and family celebrations at my grandparents’ home. Those occasions brought together the entire family, and my Uncle Robert faithfully used those opportunities to speak about Christ and the need for salvation. Unfortunately, his words were almost always rejected.
Looking back, I have often thought that some of the hardest people to reach with the Gospel are not necessarily those living openly immoral lives, but good, respectable people who sincerely believe they have given God no reason to condemn them. They believe in God, strive to live moral lives, and therefore see little need for the saving grace that Christ alone provides.
Yet Uncle Robert never stopped sharing. He faithfully planted seeds, even when he saw little evidence that they were taking root. Years later, I would come to understand that God often works in ways we cannot see. A seed faithfully planted today may not bear visible fruit until many years later.
A Backyard Mission
My own journey to Christ began on March 21, 1971. when I was nine years old. Our neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Mark, were missionaries who spent much of their lives serving in Africa. Whenever they returned home to Canada, they opened their backyard to the children of our neighbourhood and held what I can best describe as a backyard mission.
It was there that my sister and I first heard the Gospel clearly explained.
It was there that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour.
I cannot honestly say that, at nine years old, I fully understood everything that decision meant. Like most children, I understood enough to know that I was a sinner, that Jesus loved me, that He died for my sins, and that I wanted Him to be my Saviour. What I could not have understood then was just how profoundly that decision would shape the rest of my life.
Yet I remember something happened that day which I have never forgotten. There came over me an overwhelming sense that something had changed. I was excited. I was joyful. I could not wait to tell my parents. Filled with excitement, I rushed home. “I’ve been saved,” I happily announced. “I’m going to heaven because I accepted Jesus as my Saviour”. My parents smiled warmly and replied, “Well, that’s wonderful.”
Looking back now, I believe their response reflected genuine happiness for me, even though they themselves had not yet come to understand the Gospel. They believed in God. They were good people. They wanted what was best for my sister and me. Yet they had never come to understand their own need for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
What happened next would forever change our family. Only a short time later, there was a knock at our front door. It was Mrs. Mark. She introduced herself to my parents and asked if I had shared the good news with them. My parents smiled and replied, “Yes. Kevin has been telling us all about it”. Mrs. Mark then gently asked whether she might explain more fully what had happened and what it meant to become a Christian.
My parents welcomed her into our home. Then, turning to me, they simply said, “Why don’t you go outside and play?” So I did. I happily ran outside, completely unaware that while I was playing, God was doing something far greater than I could possibly have imagined. Mrs. Mark spent several hours patiently answering my parents’ questions and explaining the Gospel. Before leaving, she arranged to return the following day so they could continue their conversation.
The very next day, both my mother and my father placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Looking back now, I find myself smiling. I thought I had come home to tell my parents the greatest news I had ever heard. God had already prepared someone who could explain that same Gospel far better than a nine-year-old boy ever could.
The Answer to a Prayer
I cannot remember every detail of what happened over the months that followed, but I do remember witnessing something remarkable. The Gospel began spreading throughout our family. One by one, hearts that had politely listened for years suddenly began responding to the message of Christ.
Within that same year, my grandparents accepted Christ. My Uncle John accepted Christ. My Aunt Dorris accepted Christ. One of my cousins also placed his faith in the Lord. It was as though God had begun gathering a harvest that had quietly been growing beneath the surface for many years.
I vividly remember my father reflecting on everything that had happened. He believed his grandfather—my great-grandfather—had prayed for this very thing. For years, perhaps even decades, those prayers appeared to go unanswered. But God had not forgotten. In His perfect timing, through the faithful witness of a missionary couple who simply shared the Gospel with neighbourhood children, God graciously answered prayers that had crossed both generations and continents.
That realization has stayed with me throughout my life. Never underestimate the prayers of a faithful believer. God’s answers do not always come when we expect them. Sometimes they come long after we are gone.
Learning to Walk with Christ
Like every new believer, I began learning what it meant to follow Christ. I wish I could tell you that from that day forward I faithfully walked with Him without stumbling. I cannot. If anything, the older I become, the more aware I am of just how much I need His grace. There have been seasons when I walked closely with the Lord. There have also been seasons when I allowed work, responsibilities, distractions, and even my own pride to draw my attention away from Him.
There have been times when I neglected His Word. Times when I relied far too much upon my own understanding. Times when I knew what was right and yet failed to live as faithfully as I should have. Those failures are humbling. They have taught me something I may never have understood otherwise. The Christian life is not sustained by self-confidence. It is sustained by God’s grace.
The older I become, the less impressed I am with my own strength and the more amazed I am by Christ’s patience. Every time I have stumbled, I have found Him willing to forgive. Every time I have wandered, I have found Him faithful to restore. Every time I have come to Him in repentance, I have discovered once again that His mercy is greater than my failures. Perhaps one reason I am slow to judge others is because I know how easily I have failed myself.
I understand how sincere people can misunderstand Scripture.
I understand how easily we can convince ourselves that we are right.
I understand how pride can quietly creep into our thinking.
I understand how easy it is to become a pharisee
I understand how easy it is to fall to temptation
Because of that, I have tried never to confuse conviction with self-righteousness. Truth matters. But so does grace. Christ has shown both to me more times than I deserve. For that reason, I do not write as someone who has mastered the Christian life or as someone who deserves to be listened to. I write as someone who is still learning. Still growing. Still being corrected. Still dependent upon the grace of God every single day.
Growing in Christ
As I continued growing in my relationship with Christ, I gradually came to realize that salvation is not the end of the Christian life. It is the beginning of a lifelong journey of learning, growing, and being transformed by God’s Word. The same God who graciously saved me as a young boy also began cultivating within me an ever-deepening desire to know Him more fully.
Looking back now, I can clearly see that this was no accident. Just as my great-grandfather faithfully prayed for his family, and just as my parents faithfully nurtured my faith after coming to know Christ themselves, God used countless ordinary moments to shape my love for His Word. It was not through dramatic experiences. It was through ordinary faithfulness.
- One book.
- One conversation.
- One question.
- One lesson.
- One year after another.
Before I fully appreciated what they were doing, my parents had already begun laying a foundation that would influence the rest of my life.
A Love for God’s Word
As I grew older, my parents did far more than simply take me to church. They nurtured within me a genuine love for learning God’s Word. Every Christmas and every Easter, while many children looked forward to toys and games, I looked forward to another book that would help me better understand the Bible. Year after year my mother would give me Bible encyclopedias, Bible atlases, Bible dictionaries, historical resources, maps, and study books. At the time I simply enjoyed receiving them. Looking back now, I realize my parents were quietly investing in something far more valuable than they may ever have imagined.
Those gifts taught me that studying God’s Word was not reserved for pastors or scholars. It was something every believer could delight in. My father and mother encouraged my questions. They never discouraged me from asking difficult questions. Instead, they encouraged me to search the Scriptures and to keep learning. That love for God’s Word has remained with me throughout my life. Even today, few things bring me greater joy than opening God’s Word and discovering something I had never noticed before.
Strength Through God’s Word
One lesson I have often reflected upon comes from the life of Samson. Scripture tells us that Samson’s strength departed after his hair was cut. While I do not compare my own calling to Samson’s, I have often found his experience to be an illustration of my own spiritual life. Whenever I have allowed my time in God’s Word to be cut short, I have found my own spiritual strength weakened. Not because God’s power has diminished. Not because His promises have changed. But because I have neglected the very means through which He strengthens, corrects, encourages, and matures His children.
Looking back over my life, I can often trace my periods of greatest spiritual growth to seasons when I was deeply immersed in Scripture. Likewise, I can often trace my periods of spiritual weakness to seasons when I allowed other priorities to crowd out my time with God. God has never changed. His Word has never changed. The only thing that changed was how much time I devoted to listening to Him. His Word has continually become the place where He renews my thinking, corrects my attitudes, humbles my heart, strengthens my faith, and reminds me once again of His faithfulness.
Why I Study
People occasionally ask why I spend so much time studying Scripture. The answer is actually quite simple. I love the God who gave it. The more I have studied the Bible, the more I have come to appreciate not only the beauty of God’s plan of redemption, but also the remarkable harmony that exists throughout His Word.
My desire has never been simply to collect knowledge. Knowledge, by itself, can easily become a source of pride. Rather, I study because I want to know Christ more fully and to understand as accurately as possible what God has revealed about Himself. Throughout my life I have asked many difficult questions. Not because I doubt God’s Word. Quite the opposite. I ask questions because I believe God’s Word deserves to be understood carefully. One of the lessons I learned early in life was that I should never be satisfied simply because someone said, “This is what the Bible teaches”. I wanted to know…
Why?
Where?
How did they arrive at that conclusion?
Perhaps that desire was strengthened by my education. Growing up, I was never allowed simply to write down the answer to a mathematics problem. I had to show my work. I had to demonstrate how I reached my conclusion. Looking back, I realize that same principle has shaped the way I study Scripture. I am not satisfied merely knowing what someone believes. I want to understand how they arrived there.
- Show me the passages.
- Show me the context.
- Show me the reasoning.
- Show me where the Bible speaks explicitly.
- Show me where we are making reasonable inferences.
Help me understand why you believe what you believe. If your reasoning is sound, my faith is strengthened. If your reasoning proves weak, then I have learned something equally valuable. That philosophy has remained with me throughout my Christian life. I have no desire to win theological arguments. My desire is simply to understand God’s Word more accurately today than I did yesterday.
A New Perspective
Several years ago, I survived what physicians commonly refer to as a “Widow Maker” heart attack. Like many people who unexpectedly come face to face with their own mortality, I found myself reflecting deeply upon what truly matters. When you believe your life may be coming to an end, your priorities have a way of becoming remarkably clear.
Although I had spent many years studying God’s Word, I had not shared the Gospel with my own family as much as I could have, or as faithfully as I should have. That realization weighed heavily upon my heart. I thought often about my great-grandfather. He faithfully prayed for his family. He faithfully lived his faith before others. He never lived to see most of those prayers answered. Yet God answered them anyway. Not only through my parents. Not only through my grandparents. But through generations that followed.
I began asking myself a difficult question. What would I leave behind? Not financially or professionally, but spiritually. If the Lord chose to call me home, what would remain for my children and my grandchildren?
- Would they know what I believed?
- Would they know why I believed it?
- Would they know the God who had been so faithful throughout my own life?
That season changed me. I realized that while none of us knows how many days God has appointed for us, every one of us has the opportunity to leave behind a testimony that continues speaking after we are gone.
Why I Write
People occasionally ask why I devote so much time to writing. The answer is not that I see myself as a teacher or of any authoritative source. There are many faithful pastors, teachers, and scholars whom God has gifted in ways that I have not been. People who deserve that title and respect, where I do not.
I simply think of myself as someone who shares. Every believer has been blessed because someone else took the time to share Christ with them. My great-grandfather shared Christ through the testimony of his life and through his faithful prayers. My Uncle Robert faithfully shared the Gospel with our family for years, even when his words were rejected. Mr. and Mrs. Mark faithfully shared the Gospel with neighbourhood children and then lovingly explained that same Gospel to my parents. My parents faithfully nurtured within me a love for God’s Word.
Throughout my life many others have invested their time, wisdom, encouragement, and patience in helping me grow in my understanding of Scripture. Everything I have received has come through the faithfulness of others. Writing is simply my way of passing that gift on. I do not write because I believe I have all the answers. On the contrary!
The older I become, the more aware I am of how much I still have to learn. I do not write because I consider myself qualified to judge others. If anything, my own failures have made me far more aware of how easily sincere people—including myself—can misunderstand Scripture, make poor decisions, or allow pride to influence their thinking. Perhaps one reason I find it easier to be patient with others is because I know how patient Christ has had to be with me.
I understand how easily mistakes are made.
I understand how convincing our own reasoning can become.
I understand how difficult it is to admit when we have been wrong.
Those lessons have made me less interested in winning arguments and far more interested in helping people search the Scriptures for themselves. If I have any desire as a writer, it is simply this: To share what God has graciously allowed me to learn. Nothing more. Nothing less.
My Method
Throughout my Christian life I have tried to follow one simple principle. I never ask anyone to believe something simply because I have written it. In fact, I do not even place that kind of confidence in my own conclusions.
The Apostle Paul instructed believers: “Test everything; hold fast what is good“. Those words have become one of the guiding principles of my own life. Testing does not mean becoming cynical. Neither does it mean constantly changing one’s beliefs because a new idea comes along. Rather, it means remaining teachable.
When I reach a conclusion, I hold it with conviction because I believe it best fits what Scripture teaches. Yet I also recognize that I am a finite man studying the infinite Word of God. If someone presents evidence from Scripture that I have never considered before, I believe I have a responsibility to examine it honestly.
One of two things will happen. Either I will discover that my present understanding is strengthened. Or I will discover that I have learned something I had previously overlooked. Either outcome is a blessing.
Truth never fears honest examination. For that reason, I invite every reader to do what I continually strive to do myself. Search the Scriptures. Test every teaching. Examine every conclusion. Hold fast to what is true. Remain teachable.
- There are genuine mysteries that God has not chosen to reveal.
- There are also many truths that He has clearly revealed.
- My desire has always been to distinguish carefully between the two.
- Where Scripture speaks plainly, I want to speak plainly.
- Where Scripture requires careful reasoning, I want to reason carefully.
Where Scripture remains silent, I want to resist the temptation to build doctrines upon speculation.
A Legacy Yet to Come
Today I find myself praying prayers that sound remarkably familiar. Like my great-grandfather before me, I now pray earnestly for my children and my grandchildren.
- I pray that each of them will come to know Jesus Christ personally.
- I pray that they will grow in wisdom.
- I pray that they will love God’s Word.
- I pray that long after I am gone they will continue walking faithfully with the Lord.
Perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons my great-grandfather unknowingly taught me. Faithfulness is not measured by what we see. It is measured by trusting God with what we may never see. He never lived to witness the answer to many of his prayers. Yet God answered them. That gives me hope for my own prayers today.
When My Voice Is Silent
As I have grown older, I have become increasingly aware that none of us is promised tomorrow. One day my voice will grow silent. One day these hands will no longer write. One day every article on this website will become the work of someone who has gone home to be with the Lord.
Oddly enough, I find great comfort in that. Not because I look forward to leaving those I love, but because my confidence has never rested in how long I live. It has always rested in the One who gives life. When I survived what physicians call a “Widow Maker” heart attack, I was reminded that life is far more fragile than we often imagine. God graciously spared my life that day. Why?
Only He knows. Perhaps it was simply because there was still work He wanted me to do. Perhaps it was because there were still people He wanted me to encourage. Or perhaps it was because there were still things He wanted me to learn. Whatever His reason, I determined that if He granted me more time, I wanted to spend it more intentionally than I had before. That is why this website exists.
I do not write because I believe I am an authority. I do not write because I think I have all the answers. In truth, the older I become, the more I realize how much I still have to learn. If there is anything my life has taught me, it is that Christ has remained faithful despite my many failures.
- I have stumbled.
- I have neglected Him when I should have sought Him.
- I have relied upon my own understanding when I should have trusted His.
- I have often fallen far short of the man I desired to become.
Yet never once has Christ abandoned me. His patience has exceeded my failures. His mercy has exceeded my sins. His grace has exceeded my understanding. That is why I have hope. Not because I have lived a remarkable Christian life. But because I have a remarkable Saviour.
If there is one thing I hope you remember after reading these pages, I hope it is not my name. Names are quickly forgotten. Books eventually collect dust. Websites one day disappear. Only one Name will endure forever. Jesus Christ. If these articles have helped you understand His Word more clearly, if they have encouraged you to open your Bible again, if they have answered a question that has troubled your heart, if they have challenged you to think more carefully or if they have helped lead you to place your faith in Jesus Christ, then every hour spent writing them has been worthwhile.
Although I never met him, I often think about my great-grandfather. He probably never imagined that his prayers, offered faithfully in a small town in Scotland, would one day help shape the faith of a little boy growing up in Canada. He never saw most of the answers. Yet God answered them anyway. That thought has become one of the greatest encouragements of my life.
It reminds me that faithfulness is measured not by what we witness, but by our willingness to trust God with what we never may. Today I pray many of those same prayers. I pray for my children. I pray for my grandchildren. I pray for those whom I may never meet this side of eternity. Perhaps you are one of them. If so, then I thank God that our paths have crossed, even if only through these pages.
If there is one final thought I could leave with you, it would simply be this. Never stop seeking Christ. Never stop searching His Word. Never become so certain of your own understanding that you stop listening. Test everything. Hold fast to what is good. Remain teachable. For every one of us sees only in part.
The day is coming when faith will become sight, and every honest question will finally find its answer in the presence of our Lord. Until that day, keep walking. Keep growing. Keep trusting. Keep loving. Keep praying and above all keep your eyes upon Jesus. For He has never failed me and I know He will never fail you.
Soli Deo Gloria
If anything in these pages has encouraged your faith, strengthened your walk with Christ, or helped you understand God’s Word more clearly, then to Him alone belongs every ounce of glory. My prayer is that when my own voice is silent, His voice will continue to be heard.
Amen.