Faithful Father’s Day
May 22, 2012
By Rev Ed Hird 
It is too easy to take our fathers for granted. My Dad continues to impress me more and more each year. It is so encouraging to see people age well rather than end up grumpy and negative.
In 1910, Father’s Day was invented in Spokane Washington by Arkansas-born Sonora Smart Dodd. It is not without significance that her dad William Jackson Smart, was a civil war veteran who singlehandedly raised his six children. When Sonora was only sixteen, her mother died in childbirth. This left Sonora the only daughter helping her dad raising her brothers. While listening to a sermon about mothers, Sonora was very excited by Miss Anne Jarvis’ invention of Mother’s Day. June 5th, her dad’s birthday, was the original intended date for Father’s Day, but it was delayed to the third Sunday of June in order to have time to make arrangements. Like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is celebrated on a Sunday because of its original connection to Sunday morning worship.
I thank God for my wonderful father, Ted Hird who, with my mom Lorna, will soon be celebrating their 62nd wedding anniversary. It fills me with gratitude to have a loving father that believes in me. My dad is such an encourager; he is often sending me e-mails and notes telling me how pleased he is with my work, my family and my life. I want to be like my father in his remarkable gift of encouragement. It is so easy to be someone who sees what is wrong with other people. My dad looks for that which is working and builds on it.
When my dad became an electrical engineer in 1950, they were still using test-tubes for radio communication. Over sixty-two years later, my dad is still growing and learning. I want to be the kind of father who never stops learning, never stops changing, never stops expanding my horizons. Technology is always changing, but my dad has never been left behind. My father is a passionate reader who consumes books in a way that keeps his mind active and fresh. I want to be a father that always keeps reading, and inspires my own children to read for the very pleasure of reading.
My father is a born leader. He rose from very humble circumstances to become the President of Lenkurt Electric, at that time the largest secondary industry in BC. I have seen my father make wise decisions again and again in very difficult leadership situations. As a trained leadership coach, I want to lead like my father, with wisdom and patience. My father has raised up many younger leaders who have made a lasting difference in the world. Like my father, I have a passion for raising up the emerging generation of leaders.
Through my father, God passed on to me my gift and passion for writing. Writing for me is like breathing. That is why I have invested the past twenty-four years communicating with you as a Deep Cove Crier columnist. When my father writes, he is sharp, crisp and clear. I love to receive from him new chapters every couple of months about his ever unfolding autobiography.
I often wish that I had my father’s carpentry skills. It is remarkable how many gifts that he has built through love for various members of our family, including my book shelves and my wife’s dining room cabinet. My dad is always willing to help whenever he can.
My father has developed a strong faith over the years that is a great encouragement to me. As a former agnostic, my father has become very interested in understanding the bible for himself. It is great that I can openly chat with my father about our common faith in Jesus Christ. Taking the Alpha Course was a major step in my father’s spiritual pilgrimage. My prayer for those reading this article is that each of us will discover fresh ways to honour our fathers for all the good that they have done in our lives.
Reverend Ed Hird, Rector
St. Simon’s Church North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada)
http://stsimonschurch.ca
-an article for the June 2012 Deep Cove Crier
-award-winning author of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’
http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com
p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mailed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99 CDN/USD.
-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada
You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide
Strengthening Marriage workshop
April 18, 2012
Strengthening Marriage: Beyond Emotional Cutoff 
Workshop
- a complimentary workshop spread over four sessions with married couples who have been separated, divorced or widowed, and either live or have lived on the North Shore.
-This Strengthening Marriage Workshop is part of a Doctor of Ministry Thesis Project, supervised by Dr. Paddy Ducklow of Carey Theological College. The workshop will be held on Wednesday evenings 7pm to 9:30pm (May 16th, 23rd, May 30th & June 6th). The location of the workshop is Cedarbook Village Clubhouse (555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, just north off the #1 Westview exit) . To register, contact Rev Ed and Janice Hird at 604-929-5350 or ed_hird@telus.net
Course Overview for the four sessions
Session 1: Strengthening Your Marriage through rediscovering your mutual strengths
Session 2: Strengthening Your Marriage through Celebrating Your Differences
Session 3: Strengthening Your Marriage through working on your conflicts
Session 4: Strengthening Your Marriage through balancing closeness and personal space
(NO CHARGE)
BJ McHugh: Mother’s Day Marathoner
April 15, 2012
By Rev. Ed Hird
While working out at a local weight room, I had the privilege of getting to know Betty Jean McHugh, the world’s fastest 83-year old long-distance runner. Interviewed on TV and newspaper, she has been called the flying granny. Jack Taunton, Chief Medical Officer for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, called her one of the most remarkable senior runners we have seen. Betty Jean is so positive and energetic that she inspires the rest of us to not give up on our health goals. Recently I met her at the Parkgate Village right next to the Bean Around the World coffee shop. She told me of her tri-generational plans to run in the December 2012 Hawaiian Marathon, along with her son Brent and her grandchild.
After reading her new book My Road to Rome, I knew that I needed to celebrate BJ’s achievements as a Mother’s Day marathoner. One of her great lifetime highlights which she talked about extensively throughout her book was an all-expense-paid trip to run in the Rome 2009 Marathon. There are now five million North American women running, compared to less than one million in the 1980s. Women, many of whom are mothers, now outnumber men at running events. BJ has run in 14 marathons and over 300 road races. Running four times a week at 5:45am, BJ has broken a dozen Canadian and world records. She started running at age 55, a time when many others were hanging up their running shoes. While BJ has been injured many times over the years, she never gave up, saying that she ‘was not going to accept the ravages of time without a fight.’ Running has become for her as much part of her life as ‘brushing her teeth’.
BJ’s determination is an inspiration to watch. She not only runs and works out at the gym, but also has been an avid North Shore skier since the early 1950s. BJ even climbs the Grouse Grind with her grandchild. Such athletic involvement helped condition her to become a leading octogenarian runner. She acknowledges that there are thousands of times when she felt like not bothering. “Excuses are easy; commitment is hard”, says BJ. But she just keeps putting one foot in front of the other and goes for it regardless. Every marathon, says BJ, is a journey into the unknown. You train and train and train again, and think that you are ready. But you never really know how your body is going to fare over 42 kilometres of running.
One thing that keeps her going are her running partners to whom she is committed. “How can I sleep through an early-morning downpour”, says BJ, “when I know that my friends will be waiting for me at our meeting place in ten minutes?” Running, says BJ, has given her friendships that are powerful and lasting. Through her running with her partners, they experience ‘the elation of reaching the top of a hill, the pain when (they) increase the distance on a training run, the slogging through rain and dancing through a sunlit forest.’
In BJ’s book, she talks about being raised in the poverty of the Great Depression in Stanwood Ontario. The local church was the centre of the community. BJ comments that ‘as a child she liked everything about church but the Sunday service…The minister droned on about subjects I never understood, and I had to sit in the pew with my hands folded politely.’
Once while running in a Vancouver marathon, she became more and more concerned about finishing well: ‘I feared hitting the dreaded ‘wall’, that point at which the body has used up all its reserves.’ Finishing well is a challenge for all of us, whether in a marathon, in our business, or in our family. It is about ultimately facing the question: will my life have made a difference? BJ is an example of someone who is finishing well, whose life is making a difference. She has chosen to give her best into what she believes in and is passionate about. BJ is leaving a legacy that other younger people will be able to tap into.
One of my mentors, Paul, said that he fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7). Even though Paul was tragically killed, he finished well. Paul also recognized that physical exercise was of real value, but he pointed us to the even greater significance of spiritual exercise (1 Timothy 4:8). Part of finishing well is a commitment to being healthy in body, mind and spirit. If we neglect any of those three, we are the poorer for it. Life is a marathon. Life is about discipline. Life is about finishing well. My Mother’s Day prayer for those reading this article is that BJ McHugh’s example will inspire all of us to discipline ourselves in body, mind and spirit so that we may truly finish well.
Rev. Ed Hird, Rector
St. Simon’s Church North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada)
http://stsimonschurch.ca
-an article for the May 2012 Deep Cove Crier
-award-winning author of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’
http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com
p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mailed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99 CDN/USD.
-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada
You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide
Join us in Bishop Silas Ng’s Prayer Campaign
March 19, 2012
Dear friends in Christ,
Please sign up for an hour of Bishop Silas Ng ‘s Prayer campaign. Prayer is the engine room of God’s family. Just click on http://bit.ly/zKqYcT
Thanks for your support.
Blessings,
Ed Hird+
http://edhird.wordpress.com
Bishop Silas Ng leading a devotional prayer workshop at the 25th Annual Renewal Mission.
More than Just Chocolate…
March 10, 2012
By Rev Ed Hird
Once every year, billions of people around the world pause to remember the mystery of Easter. Most people love Easter: bunnies, chocolate, eggs, bonnets, lilies, flower crosses, and joyful singing. In the air, you can sense victory and resurrection and new life. No wonder that churches have many visitors on Easter Sunday.
For sixty-six years, the St. Simon’s NV family has been celebrating Easter. I have always enjoyed Easter, especially for the chocolate. Just like Christmas, Easter has its food connection and its spiritual connection. Most people love to eat. Easter family gatherings invariably involve lots of delicious food, especially those wonderful hot cross buns.
Good Friday is a traditional fast day where many choose not to eat in order to remember Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. Easter Sunday is a traditional feast day where families celebrate with delicious feasts. Without Good Friday, Easter Sunday makes no sense. Without Easter Sunday, Good Friday is just a terrible tragedy. Good Friday shows that God can turn everything that is against us to our advantage. God transformed Good Friday (the most evil day in history) into Easter Sunday (the most beautiful day in history).
Many of us steer clear of Good Friday because it reminds us of death, of pain, and of our own personal mortality. Sometimes we may question: what on earth is Good about Good Friday? What’s so good about someone going through the worst suffering and most excruciating death ever imagined? Good Friday seems too morbid, too deadly, too bloody.
Modern medical science is wonderful in the way that it can prolong life that would often otherwise be over. But medicine can only postpone the inevitable facing all of us. We are mortals here on earth. In my mid-teen period, I lost sight of the power of Easter, and concluded that there was no life after death. Death was final, and that was the end of it. Nothing was waiting for me but the grave. What was it all about, I wondered? Was life really worth the effort? I began to fear the power of death and the meaninglessness and emptiness of life. I even secretly wondered if life itself was worth living.
In the midst of my teenage self-doubt, I still loved Easter, but I didn’t get it. The 
flowers, the food, the fun and even Easter worship were enjoyable, but somehow I missed the message. It is funny how you can celebrate something that you grow up with, and yet the real meaning can be missed. When the penny finally dropped, when the light came on, it was like waking up from the dead. I finally understood that Jesus solved the unsolvable death problem, and that by faith in him, the future is bright and unstoppable.
My prayer for those of you who love the Easter season is that you may realize that at the end of the day, love is stronger than death, and love has the final word.
Rev. Ed Hird, Rector
St Simon’s North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada)
http://stsimonschurch.ca
-an article for the April 2012 Deep Cove Crier
-award-winning author of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’
http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com
p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mailed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99 CDN/USD.
-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada
You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide
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edhird
