Cybersalt News

Sunday greetings, everyone.

I am Gregg - at least for about half an hour this morning. Pastor Gregg is the community life pastor at the church we attend. He is a really great pastor with an amazing heart for people. He also has a lot of little jobs to do on a Sunday morning. For instance, he arrives to the church early and puts out traffic cones on the street to keep church people from parking near the fire hydrants and getting tickets. This Sunday, pastor Gregg is away with his kids and grandkids, so I am on pylon duty, setting out tables, turning on lights, starting announcements scrolling on the TVs in the hallway and Fireside Room, and other similarly exciting things.

Like Gregg I will also have to endure some funny comment I will make as I carry out his duties. For instance, I once (OK, maybe a couple of times) have quipped that Gregg and I booth have three letters in our name. It's OK if that makes you feel sorry for Gregg, but don't feel too bad because unlike when Gregg is Gregg, when I am Gregg I also have to hear everything that comes to mind that I don't say!

Today's video share is a reminder that we all have more in common than we think.
You can watch the video here.

Enjoy the rest of today's semi-abbreviated digest!

~ Pastor Tim 

Oh look, Chicken Thursday!

I am pretty happy that the process of migrating the older Cybersalt servers to newer servers with up to date software is complete. There are still little things that pop up now and then that I have to adjust, but it is satisfying to know that the big stuff is all settled and taken care off. Best of all, the Cybersalt Site has never run faster - except for that one time it was being chased by a bear (BTW, never run away from a bear - it's how you tell them you are tasty!)

I chose today's video share because there is a moment in it that reminds us all that inside of every man there is a boy who still has dreams and thinks some things are really cool!
You can watch the video here.

 Enjoy the rest of today's mailing.

~ Pastor Tim 

Sunday greetings, everyone - and Happy Mother's Day to everyone who celebrates it!

There was a lot of excitement on Friday night when the Aurora Borealis (aka Northern Lights) made a very, very rare appearance at Cybersalt World Headquarters (as can be seen by today's news picture which Grandma Cybersalt took with her phone just before midnight when she turned into a pumpkin and had to get some sleep.) Neither Susan nor I have ever seen the Northern Lights. They are amazing!  That said, I want those of you who have never seen them to know that to the naked eye, they do not look like they appear in pictures or move as they do in time lapse photography: they are not as bright and they do not dance in real time.

Don't get me wrong, the colours of the AB are beautiful to the eye beholding them, but their greatest beauty is what they say to the ears of the soul listening to them. The first 4 verses of Psalm 19 read, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. Without speech or language, without a sound to be heard, their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

The fact that nature is saying something to us is a reality that the Apostle Paul, well known for his poor eyesight, clearly saw. In the first chapter of his letter to the Romans, he said that what may be known about God is plain because God has made it plain, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse." 

The sun, the moon, the stars and everything else that "happens by" in our skies are more than just things to be wowed by. They are an orchestrated message from our Creator, for us to be wooed by, into a deeper life changing relationship with Him.  

Today's video share is from off the coast of my province: "Mother octopus defends her eggs for four years off B.C. coast" 
You can watch the video here.

Enjoy the rest of today's semi-abbreviated digest!

~ Pastor Tim 

Oh look, Chicken Thursday! Remember me? 

There have been no Cybersalt Digest mailings for the past week because Grandma Cybersalt and I have been doing some travelling. On April 25th, we both flew to Calgary and then drove 30 minutes south to take part in the Western Conference of the association of churches whom we help to sponsor refugees (more on that conference below.)

I flew home on the 28th, while Susan stayed on in Calgary to spend some time with her sister, who's husband passed away earlier in the month. I returned to Calgary on May 2 for my brother-in-law's funeral on the 3rd, and then Susan and I flew home on the 4th. As you can imagine, this cut into our time to be able to get the regular mailings out.

The conference we attended began with some sessions focused on rest and renewal for ministry leaders, lead by Pastor Steve Witmer. At lunch Steve and I ended up in the food line together, where I took the opportunity to poke some fun about Surrey, the city in which he lives. Surrey is a ferry ride and drive away from Victoria, where Susan and I live, so it was nice to meet another British Columbian while away in the province of Alberta.

As we continued to get our food, Steve wondered if he had seen me very recently and after a bit of discussion we discovered that not only is he Pastor Steve Witmer, he is also Cybersaltine Steve Witmer, a Cybersalt Digest subscriber for the past 20 years! What followed was a wonderful lunch spent talking and sharing about about ministry experiences, our families (especially grandchildren), and many other things. It was so much fun and such a blessing that I hope we get to do it again soon some time when Steve is on a trip to Vancouver Island.

So here is something I'd like to ask you. Does your pastor and spouse need some time away for retreat of rest, renewal? If your answer is, "No" I humbly suggest (from past ministry experience) that some of you have answered incorrectly. Your pastor and spouse may be putting on brave faces because they don't think they can stop for a rest or feel they can't risk showing or admitting they need a rest. Regardless of how you answered, I recommend that you gift your pastor and their spouse a week long retreat with Kerith Retreats, a Focus on the Family Ministry that Steve is a part of. What's good for your pastor is good for your church and is good for you - www.kerithretreats.ca 

Today's video share is an early video of the star of the Christmas carol, "Little Drummer Boy."
You can watch the video here.

 Enjoy the rest of today's mailing.

~ Pastor Tim