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Photography by Phil Kenyon, Mitchell, ON (2026)

07/01/2026

Happy Canada Day!

Our country of Canada certainly is a beautiful place. I have been thankful to view many beautiful scenes, and yet the country is so large and diverse, that I have really only scene a small fraction of them. I am thankful for God's beautiful creation to remind me each day of His goodness.

I pray for our nation, for Canada, that God's truth may go forth in this coming year. That leaders may seek His face, and see Him. I have lament and sorrow over the ways Canada has fallen away from Him. I Pray that Christians may stay true to God's Word in this land, and shine the light of Christ's love to those around us in this great land.

If you live in southern Ontario today, then have a wonderful, hot and humid day!

06/23/2026

Trimming the ditches

Clearly after spending awhile trimming last evening, I must have had vivid dreams about the joys of running a weed-eater, as I awoke this morning with desire to write about it and glean a Christian life lesson from it.

I'm currently writing while sitting on our back porch in the cool morning air. Ashley and I have been blessed with a beautiful home providing beautiful scenes in the morning light. The stretches of lawn dotted with many beautiful trees is surrounded by bush and along one side there is a pond currently providing crystal clear reflection of the morning light.

Now, back to trimming... What comes with a beautiful property, is also a lot of maintenance work. I like to joke that at our place "I could trim for days if I wanted to" Thankfully, I love spending time outside, and enjoy keeping up the lawn maintenance. With my shift work, I have time and opportunity to do these, for that I am thankful. (having some slick machines from my in-laws at Pic's Motor Clinic, certainly helps the enjoyment factor haha).

If anyone has run a string trimmer for an extended period, you know, the pleasure of becoming coated in grass clippings, lawn particles, and all that. Running a trimmer for a few hours, and guaranteed your arms will ache a bit. Last night I worked on the 500 foot ditch along the road. The weeds in al types, creep high fast; the grape vines in the one section, the reeds in the base, all become difficult to manage if left for too long. I have been trying to keep on top of them at least once a month so the weeds size doesn't get out of hand.

Now one might ask, how does can a Stihl weed-eater relate to my faith life? Open your bible to the new testament, especially to Paul's epistles and you quickly find repeatedly, a call for Christians to be active in their work against sin in their lives, and active in their promotion of the beauty of Christ in their hearts.

God wants us to shine, and be beautiful in this world that is so often choked out by the weeds of sin. He wants us to be like a well manicured lawn that people drive by and notice its beauty. In John 15:1-8 talks of how Christ is the Vine, and we are the branches. In Christ, when drinking from His goodness and power, we can bear much beautiful fruit for Him.

Colossians 3:1 says "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above" The chapter goes on to tell us in the theme of trimming, that we need to trim and cut off the sinful, broken areas of our lives, and make our spiritual lawn beautiful with the ways of Christ. He gives us the strength to do so and will bless our efforts, even when the trimming process is painful and hard.

Anyways, that's enough of me trying to connect my random thoughts to paper, back to trimming the lawn.

06/12/2026

Foggy Companion

Down the boardwalk, off on the slippery path
I head to unknowns, mist awash
The clouds are heavy, faces brushed by the moist air.

Foggy days are uncertain, oft times their sad
But in the mysterious distance, I still see great beauty
The mist rolls, it makes life's colors dance

Walking with you, I am not alone
Sharing together, the uncertain path, not alone
Each step forward, we go hand in hand

Life together is so deep
I love the journey, searching the days ahead
together walking, onwards, upwards up ahead

When mist rolls over, and you can't see
I'll remind you of the Third one, no actually the First one!
He's up ahead

Always with us, He keeps our feet secure
He holds our hands, reminding us of our future
His path is greatest, oh it's beautiful to tread

Reminded we walk, down foggy days ahead
Always knowing He loves us, and walked the difficult way
Home is in the future, a life with Him ahead.

Ps 23: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want"

05/27/2026

Lessons in the buds

There something beautiful about how you can travel or not and regardless, if you stop and appreciate it, you will see beautiful thing's all around you in God's creation. Sometimes we think we have to get on a plane and travel to a distant place to see beautiful things, but we forget that God's creative hand is on display right in our own backyards.

This picture may have come about after I got on a plane and drove to a distant place on the Bonavista peninsula of Newfoundland, yet I could have captured this same photograph amidst the new spring growth in my own backyard and no one would have known the difference.

We forget in our day to day life at home to stop and appreciate the good and beautiful graces and reminders God has placed in our lives each day. This photograph of the raindrops on the new budding branch remind me that God shows his faithfulness in new growth each year, and that he created these living things in nature to work together so beautifully.

In Job 38, God reminded Job in His terrible situation of His greatness and control over this world. This picture of drops of water reminded me of vs 28 "Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?" Don't forget who God is, and be amazed that in His greatness He still comes to us and wants to know us individually in love.

05/25/2026

Many steps to a great conclusion

Well, here is a final post for our trip before we hop on our flight from St John's back to Pearson. Historically the last day we usually feel pretty tired and usually don't have much drive to sight see to much. However, this day proved to not disappoint.

When we flew into St. John's we faced freezing cold wind and rain as we headed out to our rental car. We did a quick walk in the rain around jelly bean row in St John's and remember that we couldn't see across the harbor due to the foggy rainy mess. We had hopes that our final day would be clearer weather so we could drive into St. John's and enjoy some sightseeing there. We awoke to clear sunny skies, and it quickly warmed up to around 15-16 Celsius.

We were able to hike at Cape Spear Lighthouse, Signal hill and the Battery and spend time walking around the historical section of St John's and the harbor front (All included many stairways, steps, and steep paths). It was cool to see several big ships come and go through the narrows. Up on Signal Hill we were able look down and see an beautiful iceberg planted near the shoreline.

The picture below shows the trail route we took, which led to a walk through these old, colorful houses along the base of Signal Hill. It proved a beautiful sight up close, and afar later with a picture from across the harbor.

Looking back at the trip, it's hard to say what part was best. My brother had told me when recommending places in Newfoundland "Oh but anywhere in Newfoundland is great" and this proved true. We look forward to heading back home, getting planting our big garden (Ashley is especially excited), and continuing to plug away at day to day life.

05/24/2026

Reflections by the Sea

As we nearly wind our trip to a close, I am pretty happy with myself for keeping up on posting something about the trip every day. It has been enjoyable to share some of the highlight moments. We fly out of St John's tomorrow evening, so I am sure there will be one more post while we wait at the airport.

Today being a day of rest we took a slower pace hiking some easy coastal trails, checking out a beautiful lighthouse and even seeing some harbor seals (you can see a row of 6 of them along the rock in the water picture if you look close). We took time of enjoying the beauty of God's creation, appreciating starting his day in the word, and singing some praise songs in the car. One song, hit me harder as we drove Draw Me Close to You by Michael W. Smith:

Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear you say that I'm your friend
You are my desire
No one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take your place
To feel the warmth of your embrace
Help me find the way
Bring me back to you

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know you are near

I have wanted to be a dad and have a family with my loving wife Ashley for what feels like so long. We believe God has a plan for us and is working through us, including us in His family. These trips can be times we can refresh and refocus together, however, sometimes it can be hard to go back into our day to day... into seeing so many families around us.

A song like the one above, reminds me that God wants me to know, he is always there for me, always there to embrace me, and show me He is all I need.

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:25-26

05/24/2026

A new home and hope

This morning, I finished up reading through 1&2 Peter. There are truly many rich words within. Closing 2 books that have dwelt so richly on walking with Christ with the final verse is beautiful. "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him, be the glory both now and forever. Amen" 2 Peter 3:18. Christ has all grace and beauty that we can possibly imagine, and He invites us into it.

The final few chapters of 2 Peter (especially ch.2) talk of the reality of wickedness in this world encroaching around, calling God's word false, and trying to pull us into the dark brokenness of sin. I like this photograph of a dilapidated old house I took last week and how it is so visually appealing to the eye. Sometimes, I want to go and explore these abandoned structures as they seem exciting and interesting. Sin can be like that too, it can draw us in, invite us to see what's inside, promising better, but ultimately it can swallow us up, we can fall through the proverbial broken floorboards, the false promises of sin, and fall to our demise.

Now imagine you drive just up the road past this beat up home, you find a shiny new cottage, brilliant red color, a mighty fishing boat sits at its dock. This fisherman one day realized he couldn't keep living in his run down shack, He needed a place of hope and confidence, so he found himself a new home.

We get caught up in ourselves which naturally are broken like this run down shack. We forget the promises of God towards us in Christ. He offers hope as we are reminded in 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" Christ went the distance at the cross, in His perfection he has cleaned up our broken house of our hearts, so we can have a new beautiful home and future with Him.

Look forward, to your loving God. See the Father's arms of love open because of what Christ has done, He wants to make a home in your heart, by His Spirit.

Have a blessed Sunday.

05/24/2026

Out on the plains

What I thought would be just a long driving day when we got up this morning, certainly proved to be much more. We hit the road out of Twillingate this morning amidst misty, rainy weather. It was nice to know we got to spend the prior day in much nicer weather while visiting the area. We were off at 8 am with plans to drive over to the southeastern most point of Newfoundland, our next and final Airbnb in Portugal Bay South.

We stopped at in Terra Nova National Park just off the highway, the Ochre Point viewpoint proved to reveal some stunning scenes looking down on the park. I was able to climb 3/4 up an observatory tower staircase, before there was a gate preventing further access. Man, this was a cold, windy climb up the staircase, but was exhilarating. Ashley decided to remain at the bottom, a bit to windy

We carried on down the highway and stopped in at a trail at Chance Cove that Ashley found for us to hike. It proved to be some pleasant views of the rugged coast and some beautiful purple stones on the beaches and shorelines mixing well with the light blue tint to the water. We met a couple visiting from Revelstoke BC.

As we worked our way into the Avalon Peninsula, we ended up in what felt like the middle of nowhere on some gravel roads through tundra like lands. Hitting the coast again around St Vincent, some spectacular blue ocean colors met our eyes, what a sight! However, exiting St Vincent we climbed onto what was a fairly level, treeless, tundra like, flat plain stretching on into the distance. Reddish hues from the moss captivated the eyes. We read a sign that said caribou packs sometimes wander the plains, we jokingly commented to each other wouldn't that be a sight.

What really became exciting was when we were up on the plains we then spotted 5 caribou feeding alongside a rough gravel path. A local had stopped and through his thick accent I learned that he hadn't seen caribou in several years, so this was not a common sight here for him. We watched for awhile and I was able to capture some photographs although I must say I had to crop them a bit to captivate the eye a bit more.

Around suppertime we arrived at our oceanside cottage and were privileged to witness an incredibly red sunset to end the day. God put on a show in His creation around us today and for that, I am thankful See less

05/22/2026

Iceberg hunting

This morning we awoke early, and hit the road for a 4 hour drive northeast to Twillingate, a coastal island laden area known as being the "iceberg capital of the world". We first stopped and hiked to a viewpoint looking off in the waters around the area and quickly were able to point out 4 icebergs in distance.

We hit the Island running hiking just over 13km today on a variety of trails, spotting icebergs along the way, probably 5-7 throughout the day. We hiked several coastal trails, amidst sunshine, strong winds, and cool air!

After leaving the lighthouse viewpoint, we visualized a larger iceberg peaking through the hills as we drove down the hill - the picture surrounded by trees captures this moment. We ended up finding another viewpoint of it off in the distance, still a bit offshore.

We returned to see if the iceberg had moved after our supper and much to our surprise it appeared the iceberg tipped/rotated somewhat as now it had a flat top and stood much higher in the water as reflected in the other two photographs below. I figure looking at the surrounding rocks, it must be hitting the ocean bottom here and with all the waves, been twisted around.

Albeit cold and windy, the clouds were cool, so we decided to do a little coastal trail here. Ashley was hyped up on too much sugar from a coke at suppertime, so we ended up half running the trail which was fun, turns out the trail took us much much closer to the iceberg making the closest picture possible. There were seagulls thronging about at the shore so I tried to get one in focus with the iceberg in the background.

All in all even with the crazy winds, it was a pretty incredible, beautiful day Newfoundlandesque day in Twillingate, now ready for bed!

05/21/2026

Tales of wind, shipwreck, and more

This morning after a breakfast consisting omelet and toast and a makeshift pour over coffee (as the coffee machine doesn't make coffee to my liking here haha), we started off in the direction of Corner Brook. When planning our trip we had planned for three days in Gros Morne, but after two we found we covered much of what we had hoped to, so we decided to explore the coastal section on the southwest side of Corner Brook area.

The drive along the coast out of Corner Brooke proved a slow meandering drive past many small coastal homes and a few fishing ports. The picture of the factory below is of a pulp and paper mill we passed by on the edge of Corner Brook. We had to pass two log trucks full loaded who were slowly meandering their way away from the mill (I'm not sure why full loads were heading off away from civilization, maybe low grade logs for firewood?).

Anyways, we reached our first hike to Cedar Cove. This hike proved interesting as we did some last minute research the night before, as we learned that in February 2025 a container ship the MSC Baltic 3 on its way from Montreal to Corner Brook, lost power and ran aground in a severe storm in small Capelin Cove. The 20 crewmembers were all rescued by the coast guard successfully. Gradually since workers have been in the process of removing the containers from the ship, cleaning up oil and fuels with plans to eventually take the ship apart piece by piece.

Back to the point, we hiked over to this cove and were able to witness this massive ship beached alongside a mountain. It proved to be an incredibly windy day, standing on a cliff looking off at the ship was a interesting endeavor, trying not to get blown away by the wind. It became quite obvious in these intense winds how a ship with total power loss could get blown ashore. We met up with a gentleman from Germany who had visited this cove before a few years back on a much calmer day before the shipwreck. It was enjoyable talking about places visited in Newfoundland with him (as we tried not to get blown away).

After this hike, we stopped in for a hike by bottle cove, which albeit windy was a beautiful hike with stunning views of the frothy sea amidst some rough shorelines. We then worked our way back up the coast stopping for brief hikes to view some waterfalls in the mountainsides. I like the picture below from our last hike of Ashley making her way across a more open plain area with the mountains and ocean scene off in the distance.

We arrived back to Deer Lake late afternoon and tried some new Timbit flavors while we planned our day heading to Twillingate tomorrow!

Seeing such a mighty boat washed ashore is a reminder to me that our lives and our endeavors may fail as this boat did in the hands of the mighty sea. We may design and fashion our lives to do mighty things, but all lie in God's hands, the great Creator and overseer of His world. Be humbled before the power of the mighty winds and waves of the see, but know that He is the creator of these mighty acts. He has power over even the wind and the waves as on display in the gospels.

"Then He (that is Jesus) arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm" Mark 4:39

Photography by Phil Kenyon

07/01/2026

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06/12/2026

05/27/2026

05/25/2026

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05/21/2026

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