Once again, welcome Bronte Church family as we approach the second Sabbath of September. It is a privilege to meet weekly, as if it were like yesterday! The academic school year is back in motion and it’s a busy season for many. Last night when I went to bed and woke up in the morning I thanked God that the floor my bed rests on, my feet touches and I walk on was in one piece; everything seemed normal. The truth is, it all seems routine and normal in our lives until something happens and it jolts our reality. Yesterday, people in Mexico in the southern coastal state of Chiapas went to bed and got up in the epicentre of an 8.1 magnitude earthquake; their homes were severely damaged, their floors and foundations cracked, broken up and some got sunken and swallowed into the ground. The tremors and after effects were felt in Mexico City about 650 miles away knocking out electricity for over 1 million people. According to the U.S. Geological survey the depth of the earthquake was 43 miles and the Mexican president called it the strongest they have seen in a century. When I hear reports like this, I think about how life can change without warning and upset or disrupt our normal life.  It seems that our foundations get shaken to the core and we are often left displaced. Does life seem that way for us sometimes? Do we feel like we are displaced by circumstances, conditions, people, and life? If the truth be told, I am sure we can all say that, at one point or another, if not yet, it will come. That is why we need a steady, sure, and stable foundation which should be derived from our faith. I am reminded about the parable of the two builders who chose different foundations, one on the rock and the other in the sand. The inevitable result of building on sand is that it shifts whereas; building on rock remains firm. The storms will come and when they do, may we build on the solid rock which cannot move.  May Jesus be the “epicentre” of our lives and faith and may no other foundation do, but our Lord Himself (2 Corinthians 3:11). With Jesus as our sure foundation, we can weather all the storms and situations in this life!

– Pastor D. Saugh

Welcome to God’s house at Bronte as we gather to study, worship, and fellowship. The saying is that April showers bring May flowers, and given that we have had a steady season of rain, hopefully this rainfall will produce the budding and blossoming of flowers for the coming month. How about our lives? Would you like to see it flower? Would you like to see your life bud and blossom into something more than it is? Well, it can as we continue to explore how we can be kept by God through grace. God’s grace is like a fragrant flower, a power, an experience, a force and favour, merit, and mercy which we need in our lives. If it were not for grace, we would not be here or have what we do. If I am speeding and I get a ticket because I broke the law and it gets dropped by the judge, that’s grace. I don’t deserve it; I should get the ticket, but I received pardon. It does not give me the liberty or license to speed or break the law, but rather allows me to have a new slate again, learn from my mistakes, and I am indebted to grace. God’s grace works to forgive, heal, and restore. We often use the term as well to describe something beautiful, ergo, graceful – “a graceful flower or a graceful person”. We must receive God’s gift of grace (Jesus and Salvation) by faith and allow it to accomplish its purpose (Ephesians 2:8-10). We are created by God, for God, and grace helps to restore God’s image in us. All things we have and become are because of the power of God’s grace. May our prayer be, “God give me more grace today and everyday and work to make your beautiful creation out of my life”. I need more grace in my life, how about you?

Welcome to Bronte! We are launching our new monthly theme on exploring the character of God. The more we focus on something or someone we are drawn to, we somehow begin to take on characteristics that may resemble that object or person. The question is, “what is our focus for 2017?” What consumes the best of our time, energy, efforts, and attention? I am hoping that we will “with open face beholding” become more changed by Him into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18). If we were to summarize the character of God in one word it would simply, but profoundly, be “love.” The Bible makes it clear that “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). As we continue in this year, may our eyes be fixed, our minds be focused, our steps be ordered, and our lives stay on God, as we are changed by Him.