BITS and PIECES
269th Edition – November 16, 2025
A random collection of news and views compiled by Frank McClelland for the Toronto Free Presbyterian Church.
JAMAICAN UPDATE
Jamaica is a beautiful tropical isle, with an abundance of fruit and food. But the island was severely hit recently by Hurricane Melissa, with much damage that will take years to repair.
As reported earlier, the eye of the hurricane passed within about twenty miles of our church in Little London and so damage was severe. Little London is a small town made mostly from wooden houses that are no match for the fury of the storm.
Miraculously, no-one known to us was hurt, but several of the homes were badly damaged. Amazingly, the church was virtually untouched. At the height of the hurricane, in the middle of the night, Pastor Richard Craig had to move his family into the church for safety.
Much of the hydro in the island is out of action and it will take a long time to get communications restored. The North American Presbytery, augmented by the Ulster Mission Board, has set up a relief fund to help with the repairs. If you would like to help, send your donations to the Toronto church with your envelope clearly marked “Jamaican Relief Fund.”
A SPIRITUAL HOUSE
The church of Christ is looked upon not only as a growing body, [I Peter 2:2] but also as a growing house. Every safe house must rest upon a sure and steadfast foundation. There is only one foundation: “Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious” [I Peter 2:6]. Isaiah calls this cornerstone “a sure foundation” [Isaiah 28:16].
This foundation is Jesus Christ. On this rock alone the true spiritual house of God is built – that house will withstand storms and floods and cannot and will not fall. On that sure foundation Christ has promised to build His church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The cornerstone and the foundation will shape, direct, and fashion the house that is built upon them. The stones laid on this foundation follow its line and direction.
Every believer is built on Jesus. Christ is conformed to the image of His foundation. They follow His line and direction.
The stones of this house are living stones [v.5]. Once they lay in the dark quarry of nature, but God, the Holy Spirit, dug them out and quickened them for their appointed place in the house of God.
This spiritual house is, as Paul puts it, a “building fitly framed together (growing) unto an holy temple in the Lord” [Ephesians 2:21]. No other building will stand the test of the judgment day. Everything built by man will collapse [Hebrews 12:26,27]. Let us therefore make sure that we are truly built upon Christ, and not upon some movable human foundation. [Rev. Jim Beggs].
“Christ’s true church is built of living stones, not of dead wood” [Alexander Simpson]
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR!
Ontario residents awakened this week to an unexpected visitor – snow! The fluffy stuff fell all Tuesday and when it was finished there was about ten inches on the ground. “Much too soon” grumbled quite a few, while the children happily played in it. Mid- December is the normal time in Ontario for serious snow.
Let us not forget that it is God who “Saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth.” And it was God who said to Job, and to us, “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?
Here are some of these treasures:
SUPERNATURAL POWER. Each snowflake is unique, hexagonal, beautiful and demonstrates the creative power of God. Yet those flimsy little flakes in an avalanche can hurtle down a mountain and the preceding blast of air can destroy a house.
SOVEREIGN PURITY. Is anything white as snow? Beside the infinite purity of God, we are sadly stained by sin.
THE SINNER’S PLIGHT. Snow pictures the height of purity, but also the depth of depravity. It is associated with leprosy [Exodus 4:6].
THE SAINT’S PARDON. What a treasure this is! What an offer God makes to sinners!
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”
[Isaiah 1:18].
