Bio
My work as a spiritual director is rooted in the Commercial Drive neighbourhood of East Vancouver, Canada, which has been home for over 30 years. My wife, two kids and I are an integral part of the Grandview Church faith community. An avid swimmer, fisher, and general outdoors hands-on guy, I love to notice the opportunities for spiritual formation and contemplation in the active and everyday places of life.
In my adult years, I have worked in teaching as well as educational and non-profit administration. Having traveled and worked internationally, I value the ethnic diversity of my neighbourhood and family. I have sat on a number of community and faith-based non-profit boards.
Credentials
My formal training in spiritual formation and theology involved graduate studies at Regent College (DipCS) and Carey Theological College (MASF), with specific core and practicum training in spiritual direction through Soulstream. I have been certified to offer the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises through the Jesuit Insitute of South Africa. My undergraduate degree in sociology and languages was from Western University, with a subsequent Certificate in Community Economic Development from Simon Fraser University.
The Fit
A significant part of my journey has been about finding my own voice and more freedom from the box(es) I find I put myself in. I have discovered the wonder and intimacy of a God who offers a freer way in life and a more authentic love. Those parts of myself that are untrue and a poor version of myself are met with deep grace and compassion, whereas my truest colours are a gift to myself, to others, to the world I live in, and to the One who gave me breath. And in the midst of all those parts of myself, what I live out and bring to bear in the world is the concrete material and context in which God, very specifically, shows up. God draws me deeper into and beyond myself.
I seek to make space for others to notice where God may be initiating and where God might be apparent in the humdrum, difficult or enlivening seasons of their journeys. I seek to pay attention to detail, to notice the subtle clues for where God might be made known.
This kind of language reflects the convictions I hold as guided by the way of Christ. At the same time, I am drawn to journey with others whose starting points, stories and convictions may be different, doing my best to not have my own journey get in the way.
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage:
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.
(From Richard Lovelace’s ‘to Althea, from Prison’)
