HumanLifeMatters

FEAR HAS BEEN A TERRIBLE MOTIVATION IN MY LIFE

2026-02-28T14:50:17.239-08:00

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EVERYONE IS AFRAID

2026-02-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

I read about a young man paralyzed in a freak accident. The story gave a glimpse of his grief and sorrow. The terrible prospect of permanent disability is beginning to sink in and it's breaking his heart. He told the reporter, "It's really, really hard." And so it is. Life with catastrophic disability is a hard journey. I know, I've lived with degenerative multiple sclerosis for over 40 years. Unexpectedly, yet wonderfully God lifted my paralysis in 2018 and I stood and walked away from my electric wheelchair. The Holy Spirit told me not to forget how deep my sorrow, fears, and sense of isolation became in my grieving physical loss.

At the deepest point of grieving, life can seem like an endless series of disappointments, accommodations and compromises, lost opportunities, and inexpressible sorrow. One can feel totally alone, even in a crowded room.

Such a loneliness

Disability is a lonesome journey. It's not that friends are unkind - just hard to find. Then there are those dreaded moments at the end of each evening and one must make his way to the terror of the bedroom. It's in there that the darkness awaits to engulf a grieving person in fitful sleep-wake torture.

A chorus of despair, self-doubts and fear whisper, "You are alone. Nobody understands."

It is there, in the middle of an endless night, lying wide-awake staring into darkness, that a bed can become a rack. The horrible truth of life's misfortune can seem too great to bear. A human soul lays open like a gaping wound. Whimpers break into sobs of raw, pulsating grief.

Grievers beware! Emotions are unreliable, they are apt to intensify the feeling of isolation out of all proportion. Tears obscure vision and grief distorts perceptions of reality.

There is no such thing as an endless night. It only seems that way. The longest night must eventually give way to dawn. It is only fear and grief that tell us otherwise. Even the pitch black of arctic winter days will, in due course, transform into a peculiar summer midnight sun.

Many people with profound disabilities have risen above their predicaments and abyss of intense grief to incredible spiritual heights and human achievements-sometimes in spite of their disabilities and sometimes because of them.

Transcending disability

Perhaps the most famous example is Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827). Most of his vast contribution to the world of music were written in either partial or complete deafness.

George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) suffered from manic depression. His beloved Messiah was written at the end of a depressive bout.

John Milton (1608-74) was blind when he wrote Paradise Lost (1667). Paradise Lost is generally considered to be the greatest epic in the English language. (Remember that John Milton also wrote Paradise Regained.)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an "invalid and a recluse" to use the phrasing of one biographer. There was nothing invalid about her - her gift for lyric poetry is with us to this day.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was physically crippled from polio at the age of 39, yet as America's 32nd president he led an entire nation through most of the Great Depression and the Second World War.

Grief, sorrow and fear are not unique to people with disabilities: they are common to the human experience. Everybody is acquainted with sorrow. Everyone is afraid.

With the exception of babies and small children, everyone has fears from the past and fears of the future.

Most people are afraid of serious self-examination lest they come face to face with inner demons, character flaws and emotional handicaps. They might be challenged to go through a difficult process of change. Some people fear being forgotten while others fear being remembered.

We are afraid of committing ourselves wholly to love yet afraid of being unloved. Many people are afraid of committing themselves to lives with purpose - yet despise those who do.

Some people are afraid of dying outside God's grace yet they are afraid to truly live within it. We may be afraid being seen as extreme yet afraid to venture outside mediocrity.

But there is a question that has always been deep within you that must be asked. What is within you and I that can help us to transcend ourselves from fear to live a life of purpose and serve God?

Mark Davis Pickup

THEIR BABY WAS CONCEIVED IN LOVE, ... OR SO SHE THOUGHT

2025-12-30T16:51:00.000-08:00

She laid in her bedroom stunned at what her boyfriend said. He had told her he loved her and now she was carrying their baby inside her. She didn’t understand his coldness. Their baby was conceived in love ... or so she thought. Although they were only eighteen, she wanted to get married and raise their child. He wanted her to have an abortion so he could party with his friends. Alone, unsupported and emotionally abandoned by her boyfriend, condemned by his mother, and her grandmother pushing her toward the abortionist, she gave in and aborted their baby. Six months later they broke up and she moved back east. Little did they know that was not the end of their story—not by a long shot!

Mark Davis Pickup

(A scene depicted from my screenplay TRANSCEND: A Journey Toward Love. See the screenplay website here )

CHRISTMAS WITH AN EMPTY MANGER

2025-12-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

Years ago, my town held a community church Christmas concert at the local catholic church. Outside in the chilly winter weather was a nativity scene. Inside was garland, ribbons, another nativity scene, poinsettia’s, candles and a general reverence for the Advent Season. I specifically remember a young woman from the Pentecostal church singing a beautiful rendition of “O Holy Night.”

O Holy night! The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth

Then we were in for a real treat! A hefty woman from the apostate United Church of Canada (UCC) came sliding across the front of the church, snapping her finger to the beat of the music, and delivered an off-key version of “Rockin’ around The Christmas Tree.”

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

At the Christmas party hop

Mistletoe hung where you can see, Every couple tries to stop.

When Rotunda finished, she took a bow and scampered away whispered to herself, “Nailed it!” The over-crowded church sat in stunned silence at the spectacle they just witnessed. What was that? A comedy routine? I whispered to my wife, “United Church theology.”

SAD LEGACY

There was a time when the United Church of Canada was the largest Protestant denomination in Canada. But beginning in the heady 1960s, they decided to try and be relevant and hip, abandoning the uncompromising Gospel of Jesus Christ for liberal trendy tolerant worldviews. They became tolerant to the point of tolerating sin, then accepting it, then celebrating it. The pews emptied.

Now the UCC is just a sad relic; they are little more than a secular organization—like a social club cloaked in religious vestments. Ironically, they sought to be relevant and became irrelevant.

The fact is that people do not need soft soap and the tasteless gruel of a liberal social gospel devoid of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is God made man, fully human yet fully divine, the only Messiah and Redeemer of the human race. When individuals surrender their lives to God’s will, repent of their sins through faith in Jesus Christ and cleansed by His blood shed at Calvary, they find unspeakable peace, joy and purpose.

DOESN'T FIT THE NARRATIVE

But this doesn’t fit with liberal woke narratives dating back to the 1960s. The United Church of Canada (and other liberal denomination) abandoned crucial tenets of Christianity such as the biblical creation account, the miracles, the Virgin birth, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (except in some metaphorical sense) and the inerrancy of scripture as our final authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

Their clergy have even denied our Lord’s unequivocal words: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14.6). This is so offensive to the United Church of Canada (and many other liberal Protestant churches)! It offends because of the exclusivity of Christ’s claim. In the Book of Acts, Saint Peter says the same thing about Jesus: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12.)

Jesus is the only way to God, not a way. This is untenable to liberals—there must be many ways to heaven. Christ and the Apostle were not inclusive according to post-modern liberal sensibilities and that is utterly unacceptable.

Now they come to Christmas. How do liberal churches, like the United Church of Canada, face the truth that the timeless One entered time when they have denied Him, His power over life and death and the foundations of Christianity? Over the past 70 years they have chosen comfort over the Truth. Their manger is empty.

Pray the blinders be removed from those who have compromised the Christian faith or abandoned it completely and come back to Christ and His holiness and seek to become more like Him.

MDP

“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with, and in the end, despair.” — C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

CANADA'S WAR ON CHRISTIANS

2025-11-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

I am old enough to remember a previous Christian moral consensus that governed western culture for hundreds of years. It was the foundation of the family and the community. It was a time when most people knew the 10 commandments. They may not have followed them, but they knew they should have. That has all been swept away. We are entering the cruel rock-hard edge of a New Dark Age.

That former Christian ethos can still be reclaimed and restored against its enemies, whether it be in the halls of power, on the streets of our nation, or standing against unbiblical leaders in our churches seduced by the spirit of the age.

My country of Canada is anti-Christian. What are Christ’s followers to do? Remain faithful to Him and the holy Scriptures, even in the face of withering opposition. Ultimately, there is no neutral ground between truth and falsehood, right or wrong, good and evil. Christ IS the Truth (John 14.6). Remember, He warned His followers, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” (John 15.18.) The servant is not greater than the Master (John 13.16).

The Truth of Jesus Christ and the previous Christian moral ethos is being actively and intentionally swept away from the public square and public discourse. Civil society is not civil when it comes to Christians. The common good is not common. Christians are decried and despised in politics and the media.

Canada has replaced the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob with a brutal liberal God of nihilism, perversion and corruption. A grotesque and secular new entity has emerged that pays to kill unborn children, the sick, the disabled, denies natural sexual order, natural law and burns down Christian churches.

Christians of various denominations must come together to stop this new and deviant version of Canada that has emerged. It is no time to be docile or timid! Stand up for all that sacred and good, beautiful and true. What is source of goodness, beauty and truth? Jesus Christ!

Mark

ANTI-DISABILITY BIAS IN CANADA

2025-10-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

Krista Carr is the Executive Vice President and CEO of Inclusion Canada. Inclusion Canada is a national federation of 300 local and 13 Provincial/Territorial Associations working on behalf of approximately 1 million Canadians with a developmental disability and their families. Ms. Carr recently appeared before a parliamentary committee on The Status of Persons with Disabilities. Committee member and MP Garnett Genuis asked Ms. Carr about disabled Canadians’ fear of seeking ordinary medical treatment. They fear (and quite rightfully) Canada's assisted suicide law (euphemistically referred to as Medical Assistance in Dying MAiD). Carr informed the committee of health care providers suggesting MAiD, under track 2 of the legislation.[1] Genuis asked how often she encounters this? She said “weekly.”

More than 90,000 people have been killed under MAiD. It now accounts for 1 in 20 deaths in Canada.

This is just the natural of post-Hippocratic medicine. That ancient Oath (dating back to the fifth Century BC) forbade assisted suicide (and abortion). It said:

“I will do no harm or injustice to them [patients]. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion.”

Awkward …! Modern medicine does all of this stuff—so they revised the wisdom of antiquity for a new revised version. The new revised Hippocratic Oath was removed any reference to helping people killing themselves or abortion. It's name should be the Hypocritical Oath.

I witnessed this anti-disability bigotry amongst Canadian medical professionals more than 30 years ago when I was a member of the ethics committee for the University of Alberta Hospital. When I joined the committee in 1992, as their community/disability representative, I was in an electric wheelchair (multiple sclerosis). My chair stuck out like a sore thumb for other members of the ethics committee. My wheelchair was my credential. In the early years, medical professionals sitting around the table were very good at treating patients with disabilities with the same respect and protocols that everyone else received.

In 1995, a case came before the committee about a young man, Terry Urquhart. He had Down Syndrome. He was denied admission on to the lung transplant list because of a hospital policy that only persons of “reasonable intelligence” could be considered for transplantation. transplant list.

His tenacious parents would not accept that answer, but the hospital was firm. They did exactly what any good parent would do: They took the story to the media. They got friends to protest outside the hospital. Disability organizations lobbied on Terry’s behalf. The Chair on the ethics committee was visibly agitated. Reporters wanted to talk to him. I asked if the hospital really had a policy excluding people with Down Syndrome from receiving organ transplantation. They admitted it. My response was blunt: “Then we deserve every lump of bad publicity and public scorn we get.” Eventually the hospital caved to the embarrassment of such a discriminatory policy and public pressure that Terry got his lung transplant.[2]

The hospital eventually caved and Terry got his much needed lung transplant. I was shocked at how many Albertans the transplant.

A number of Albertans felt that Terry’s transplant was a “waste” and organs should go to more “productive” members of society. Some radio phone-in callers said they were considering tearing up their organ donor cards because of the hospital’s decision. It was yet another indication how low people with disabilities are held in certain quarters.

During my twelve years on the university hospital ethics committee, I noticed a hardening of medical professionals on the committee toward care of severely disabled patients. Things that previous went unspoken or whispered just out of my earshot were openly said to my face. Hostility toward the disabled was overtly expressed. Parents of a little boy born with a severe disability who required a major procedure (I can’t remember the details) was an example. The background information about the case indicated the child was happy and came from a supportive and loving family. A senior doctor on the committee objected to this assertion and said the parents were actually abusive! I asked her where she got such an idea. She glared at with eyes cold as ice, and said, “They are abusive because they agreed to treatment when he was born.” Despite the report stating the child was happy and had a good family, the doctor rejected it because of her own anti-disability bias.

Fast forward to 2025. Euthanasia/assisted suicide have been legal in Canada since 2016. What was sold as an option for dying people whose deaths were “reasonably foreseeable” was just the beginning—the thin edge of a deadly wedge. In 2021, a second phase began that removed the criteria of death being “reasonably foreseeable.” The cross-hairs shifted to Canada’s disabled in what is known as track 2 of MAiD. We are waiting for the jaws of MAiD to widen widely again in 2027 to include people whose sole condition is mentally ill and suicidal. Barbarism!

[1] Track 2 of MAiD is specifically targeted at people with disabilities that are not terminal. This is the distinguishing factor between track 1 and track 2. Track 1 requires a person’s illness or disability to have a death in the foreseeable future. Track 2 is for non-terminable people with disabilities. An AI search of track 2 MAiD states that individual eligibility criteria is for:

“… [I]ndividuals whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable: They must be at least 18, eligible for Canadian public healthcare, and have a grievous and irremediable medical condition. This includes having a serious and incurable illness, disease, or disability that is in an advanced state of irreversible decline and causes unbearable suffering. A voluntary, informed request is required, and two independent practitioners must perform the assessments, which includes consultation with a specialist if needed. While the eligibility assessment period is typically at least 90 days, it can be shortened if the person's capacity is at risk of being lost.”

In 2027, MAiD will be offered to mentally ill Canadians who are suicidal. That’s how stone-hearted Canada’s governing Liberal Party has become.

[2] “Disabled boy gets transplant, The Interim magazine, 29 April 1995.

MARK CARNEY & A 2-STATE SOLUTION

2025-09-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has stated Canada recognizes a Palestinian state to exist beside Israel. His “envisions” this yet to be state of Palestine that will living harmoniously with Israel, “building its future in peace and security alongside the State of Israel.” Didn’t we go down a similar path with the Oslo accords of 1993 and 1995?

The idea of a two-state solution or land-for-peace has been proposed for decades, without success. The idea is as deeply flawed as land-for-peace efforts of the Clinton Administration in the 1990s. The Oslo Peace Accord eventually collapsed with both Israel and the Palestinians blaming each other. I predict (and I hope I am wrong) that the latest attempt at a two-state solution will have as much of a chance to succeed as the Oslo Accord.

Nearly 30 years ago (June of 1996) I wrote to then Secretary of State Warren Christopher about the unstable Middle East and the proposed land-for-peace solution. As noble as the idea was, many people suspected it wouldn’t work. There was no desire of either party for it to work. How could it? Both parties claimed historic ownership of the same land dating back to antiquity. There have been oceans of blood shed over historic grievances. But the central ingredient for a two-state solution or land-for-peace is missing. What was the missing ingredient? A desire by both parties—an authentic wholehearted desire for peaceful coexistence. It didn’t exist 30 years ago, and it doesn’t exist now! The foundation of a two-state solution is too shaky and fragile.

In my correspondence to US Secretary of State Warren, I stated:

“Any peace worth having must be based on peace for the sake of peace. That is a peace of substance. It’s rather like love motivated by money versus love motivated for love’s sake. The first is counterfeit, the second is genuine. Love based on pecuniary motives is not love at all. Peace motivated by securing land is a counterfeit peace. The real question arises: What happens after the land swap? Will the memory of land for peace be steadfast when the next grievance is on the table? (Desiring is a strong motivation until the object is attained, then often the desire for more raises its ugly head. It’s human nature.) Deep-seated, historical hatred between peoples will remain—not to mention wild variables like Hezbollah and Hamas. … Land for peace can be a motivation, not the motivation. Peace for the sake of peace is the only peace worth having.”

Fast forward to 2025. What makes Mark Carney think it will work now? It may well be that the Palestinian authority gets will get sidelined again by Hamas. Will Hamas willingly step aside from power when their goal to wipe Israel off the map is still unattained (and hopefully never will be attained)? They will regroup. They may combine forces with other terrorist groups in the area such as Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Resistance Committeesand/or the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade to seize power in a newly establish Palestinian state?

Remember how ineffective the PA was after the Oslo Accords of the mid-1990s? Why wouldn’t they be equally ineffectual now? The central ingredient for peace is still missing: A desire to achieve peace for the sake of peace and a willingness of both sides to sacrifice something to achieve such a worthy goal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has emphatically vowed to prevent a Palestinian state. His first priority is protecting Israel and its people and eliminating Hamas. That’s his job. He has no other choice. And so the impasse to a two-state solution will continue as long as Hamas is part of the equation. Prime Minister Netanyahu has clearly stated that he will not stop hunting down Hunting down Hamas until they are completely eliminated and all hostages released. So why haven’t the Palestinians cooperated with Israel to eliminate Hamas from their midst? The war will be over. Could it be that the Palestinians actually support Hamas? If that is true, how can there be any peaceful two-state solution?

Carney’s regurgitated two-state solution remains an unstable vision for Israelis and Palestinians as two independent states living peacefully side by side. Why would Israel agree to live side-by-side with a state in which an entity remains embedded that has vowed for their destruction and will likely continue campaigns of terror against them? Hamas wants Israel’s destruction and Israel may rightly believe they are in Gaza. There is still no overwhelming desire in for peace from those who surround it Israel. Israel cannot allow itself to be next to a state that poses a clear and ever-present danger to very existence.

Until Hamas is eliminated there can be no two-state solution, no land for peace. The risk is simply too high and unstable regardless of what Prime Minister Carney wants to envision. Desiring is not having. Until peace is wanted for the sake of peace there will be no peace.

President Trump can provide a critical stabilizing role in finding a solution for the Palestinians and Israels. I think it begins with the complete elimination of Hamas by whatever tough or brutal means are required short of nuclear. This may create deterrence for other terrorist groups who threaten the security of Israel. They must understand that President Trump is resolute in protecting Israel (surrounded by hostile nations). If that means Israel’s allies must assist them in rooting out and neutralizing Hamas, then so be it. Once Israel feels safer, a path forward for peace and economic renewal for all can begin.

CHARLIE KIRK'S ASSASSINATION AND AMERICA'S FUTURE

2025-09-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

Did Charlie Kirk die in vain? He was such a good man with wisdom beyond his young years. Charlie Kirk was a husband, a father and a Patriot, but he was first a lover of Jesus Christ. He openly proclaimed his faith to the world. For the sake of goodness and Truth, he willingly took the poison darts and arrows of the woke left. Millions of people across America (and at least one old man in western Canada) are tearfully asking the question: Why? Vision is blurred when clouded by tears. Charlie Kirk has become a Christian martyr.

Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Saint Paul said that all things work together for good to those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose. That describes the life of Charlie Kirk.

God can use what has happened for good. God can use conservative America’s pain to accomplish wonderful things far beyond what we can imagine.

Let me illustrate this with an example from my own life. Early in my career I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). It was very aggressive.The upward trajectory of my career stalled. Eventually I was put out to pasture at the age of thirty-eight. I sank into a clinical depression as MS ravaged my body and a creeping paralysis became apparent. I asked God ‘Why?’ My life seemed over.

It was in the dark shadows of depression and defeat that God gave me a task: Be willing to go with my canes, or crutches or wheelchair anywhere I was given the opportunity to proclaim a simple message. What was that message? Every human life has incalculable value and worth for no other reason than they bear the indelible image of God. America and many jurisdictions were contemplating legalizing euthanasia. Jack Kevorkian was leading the charge. I said Yes, thinking God would only send me around the Canadian province where I live. Nope. He sent me across Canada and the United States—from Victoria on Canada’s west coast to Nova Scotia on Canada’s east coast, from Los Angeles to Boston, Whitehorse in the Canada’s Yukon to Louisiana and Alabama on the Gulf of America and countless small towns and big cities between those points. My last speaking engagement was Dubuque, Iowa in 2018. Travel had become too difficult.

What seems like a tragedy or defeat can be the beginning of something much larger, like using Charlie’s martyrdom as a turning point for America to return to being one nation under God? I believe with all my heart that being one nation under God was what raised America’s economic prowess for unprecedented prosperity, and a colossal military for the forces of good, and human liberty (not licence) to heights never known before in history. God blessed America.

Now that is threatened because half of America has forgotten they were one nation under God. America is at a crisis point. You can either crack apart and make a mockery of your noble experiment that thrived for more than two centuries; or will this hour of crisis be an opportunity for America’s renewal. Take Charlie Kirk’s example.

Reject the evil of the woke far left who seek to destroy America as we know it and replace it with communism or some grotesque entity concocted in their own image.They and their Democratic friends (with a compliant media) fan the flames of American against American. Christ said: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand".

I don’t want that for America! I love America! Take the love of Christ to Americans who are so lost they don’t even know if they are male of female, take it to women in crisis pregnancies to choose life not death for their babies, Make killing old and disabled people—who have sunk beneath the waves of their circumstances—anathema. Remove gender ideology from schools, encourage faith and family and pray for God’s guidance in the coming dark days of crisis that will either lead to America’s demise, or America’s renewal. Understand that free speech must have its limits. It stops with the espousing the killing of fellow American, or the destruction of the nation: its institutions, its laws and constitution, its mores and long-established Christian ethos that has been a blessing to America. The left is trying to bring all that down.

Their treacherous and treasonous ideas cannot be tolerated. They must be rooted out by whatever means necessary to preserve the American Union and the integrity established from the nation’s beginning. Granted, there were dark chapters, but the journey toward a more perfect union has always been the goal within the Founder’s original vision. They had a vision of what America could be but was yet unattained. Do not lose sight of their great vision and stay the course toward it.

Reflecting on the 1787 Signing of the American Constitution in Philadelphia, one of the nation’s Founding Fathers, James Madison (1751-1836), remembered words Benjamin Franklin spoke at the Constitutional Convention. He wrote:

“Whilst the last members were signing, Doctor Franklin, looking toward the President’s chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members around him, that the painters had failed to distinguish in their art, a rising from a setting sun. I have, said he, often and often, in the course of the sessions, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President’s chair, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now at length, I have the happiness to know. That it is a rising, and not a setting sun.”^[1]

Now, 238 years after the great man spoke those immortal words, Americans must again determine whether the sun is still rising or is it setting on the United States. If the sun is setting on your great nation, understand that darkness always follows sun sets. If the sun is still rising on the sacred uplands of America, there will be a light of a renewed and hope-filled future. American’s must decide which it will be. I pray you will follow Charlie Kirk's example, choose to a rising sun, and Make America Great Again.

MDP

Alberta, Canada.

_____________

[1] Lefton S. Stavrianos, ed., Reading in World History (Boston: Allyn and Bacon Inc.), p. 258.

SEVEN WONDERFUL YEARS

2025-08-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between envy and jealousy? The Mirriam-Webster online dictionary defines it this way:

“While many people believe that jealous means fearing someone will take what you have, and envious means desiring what someone else has, historical usage shows that both mean "covetous" and are interchangeable when describing desiring someone else's possessions.”

And again:

““Envy means discontented longing for someone else’s advantages. Jealousy means unpleasant suspicion, or apprehension of rivalship.””[1]

Envy can fester inside a person like a boil that needs to be lanced. It can bring the worst out in a person. Envy is corrosive to the soul. Jealousy sets the human heart on fire. Covetousness. It is the Tenth Commandments: Exodus 20:17. It tells us not to covet any of our neighbours’ possessions.

At a personal level, I am not guilty of coveting other people’s cars or large houses, exotic vacations or business success. I have, however, been guilty of coveting other people’s health. For over 40 years, I have struggled with multiple sclerosis (MS). Large swaths of my adult life have been in wide-eyed fear of aggressive MS, as paralysis gradually spread. It put me in an electric wheelchair. Often, I wished I could walk like other men do. That’s envy.

My Canadian community has a hill at its center. One crisp Canadian winter day, I took my three-year-old grandson for a ride on my electric wheelchair. The fresh air was cold and clean. My little guy was toasty warm in his snowsuit and touque under a wool blank on my lap. We headed up the hill (my house its at he bottom of the hill). About halfway up, I stopped to watch another grandfather sliding down the hill on a toboggin with his small grandson about the same age as mine. His child squealed with delight. They tumbled off the toboggin into a cloud of snow and laughed more.

My grandson simply watched them from my lap. I was envious. I wished I could do that with my grandson! I wanted the health that that other grandfather enjoyed; there was no desire to take his health from him. I was envious not jealous. But as the good folks at Mirriam-Webster said, “…historical usage of both [envy and jealousy] shows that both mean “covetous” and are interchangeable when describing someone else’s possessions.” That other grandfather possessed health I did not have. I felt swindled by life.

To covet is a sin. That wintry day, covetousness gripped my heart and stripped me of my joy of being with my grandchild. Envy robs joy and contentment.

Saint Paul said:

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”[2]

I needed to confess my sin and be content with what I do have: life and love. With time I learned to stop looking back at the normal body I once had. After many years of paralysis and in an electric wheelchair, something unexpected but marvelous happened one day when I prayed to Christ before me in the Blessed Sacrament:

“Lord, if it be possible, raise me from this wheelchair, even for a short time, even if I must use a walker, crutches or canes. Let me dance with my wife, even if it’s only once. Make my atrophied legs bear my weight.”

I didn’t ask for a cure, only time.

And then over the next few days, it happened! God did raise me (an old man) to walk again in late-stage MS. That was over seven years ago. We had been convinced my next address would be a nursing home or a cemetery! Everything turned around.

On a cold winter’s night, with the dim light of a fire's embers in our fireplace, my wife and I danced once again, just the two of us. I played the last song we danced to so many decades before: Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady, by the Commodores. I have walked for seven years. My wheelchair has been in a spare room gathering dust, and my wife and I still dance.

Now, my legs are growing weaker and tire walking more than short distances. I've developed a serious limp. Is it time to go back into my wheelchair? I don't know. If so, then let it be. I was given seven wonderful years. I prayed for time, not a cure. God gave me that. Thank you Lord.

[1] Mirriam-Webster, ”Jealous versus Envy” https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/jealous-vs-envious

[2] Philippians 4:12-13.

A MORE PERFECT LOVE

2025-07-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

I read an excellent rather old but thought provoking article by Gilbert Meilaender in the February 2022 edition of First Things magazine, under the title “Reunion of the Far Shore.” He addressed the desire Christians have to be with love-ones who have died. He wrote:

“What should be apparent is that thinking about our desire for reunion on the far shore directs us to add a problem at the heart of Christian life. How are we to hold together—to live together—the two great commands, to love both God and our neighbor? Clearly, if we think of God chiefly exists to satisfy our desires and make us happy, we are hardly loving him above all else. Moreover, it is hard to deny much in our loves and desires are misshapen and distorted, and that they often need not to be satisfied but to be redirected and perfected.”

He's right. What are Christ’s two great commandments. We find them in in Matthew 22:37-40, when Jesus responds to a pharisee who tested Him by asking what is the greatest commandment? Jesus responded, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Out of our love for God should pour gigantic love for our neighbour and ourselves. Only in having a healthy self-love or self-concept, are we capable of properly loving others. I’m not talking about having inflated egos or conceit or a deluded sense of self grandeur; I’m referring to a self-awareness that we have being endowed with since our beginning with the indelible image of God, and that we are loved with unfathomable love by Him.

The closer a person draws to God, the more he becomes aware of his own inadequacies and sin and distorted state of being. Like Peter falling at Jesus’ feet, we are tempted to ask the Lord to depart from us because the blazing holy light of His presence exposes our darkness and sin, our unholiness. He is perfect as we should be.[1] The light of His perfection, makes us turn away in shame.

I dare not delude myself to think that becoming perfect is possible in this life, only the next, even though Jesus said to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5.48). The Apostle James wrote “We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect and able to keep their whole body in check."2 Church tradition holds that James was the half-brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3; Galatians 1:19).

I’ve fallen short of the mark so often, it could fill volumes to chronicle my failings. One of my faults—sins, has been misplaced love that has focussed of my family, at the expense of my love for God. I am guilty of breaking the 1st Commandment, for that I have confessed my sin.

Mark

[1] Cf. Leviticus 19:2, Deuteronomy 18:13, 2Samuel 22:31, 2Corinthians 7:1, Philippians 3:12.

[2] James 3:2.

SHOULD I START A PODCAST EXPLORING ISSUES OF DISABILITY?

2025-07-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

Earlier in my life, numerous people tried to lure me to central Canada and away from my little French town in the hinterland of western Canada. Perhaps the most tempting offer that I remember (it was a very long time ago) was being offered a job to host a national TV series the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was planning in 1990 (I told you it was a long time ago). The series was going to deal with issues surrounding disabilities and showcase the lives of Canadians with physical and mental challenges.

The CBC flew me to Ottawa to meet with a senior producer at an elegant restaurant who presented me with the idea. There was only one catch: I would have to uproot my family and move to Toronto or Ottawa (I can't remember which city) and leave our small town life. It was an extraordinary opportunity—to be sure—one of the best I was ever offered during my short career. I must admit that I was tempted.

But the timing was wrong: My children were young and settled. Uprooting them would have been too disruptive to their lives. Besides, we had extended family near who needed us. I looked out the restaurant window while the executive producer for the series sat across the table waiting for my response to her offer to host the show. That still small voice inside me said, "Let it pass." Reluctantly I turned down the opportunity.

Dreams of grandeur were not mine to have. God planned something else for me: Quiet contemplation in the midst of physical struggle rather than a television show. To the world, God's plan might have seemed laughable compared to the lights and glamour of television.
Just over a year later my disability forced me to retire and live on a modest disability pension. My disease kept ravaging my body and forcing my type A personality into stillness and contemplation. Days, months and years, then decades, were spent convalescing while looking out my window as seasons passed. Successive generations of blue jays flew to the bird feeder in the backyard. My hair turned white. Grandchildren were born. That still small voice whispered, “Be open to love for in love you will find God.” I discovered it is true. The meaning of my life did not come in a thunder-clap of glory rather in a breeze and ordinary rhythms of life. Sometimes we see most clearly through eyes blurred with tears.

Looking back now, as a 72 year old man, I think God wanted to use my disability and paralysis with aggressive MS to teach me something critically important that can only be learned in quietude: The art of true love (both human and divine). God wanted me to stay put and wait on Him.

_________________

Now, 35 years after the turning down my chance to host a national television program about disabilities where I could have taken my advocacy to Canadians across the nation, new technologies and new ways of communicating have emerged, I’ve decided to try and take a next step and try podcasting to complement the blog. What do you think?

Mark

IS THERE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?

2025-07-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

The belief that Jesus Christ alone is the saviour of humanity and the only way to salvation has been a foundational tenet of Christianity from its beginning. At the Last Supper, Jesus spoke to his disciples about the way to heaven. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14.6.)

Jesus went on to promise “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept.” (verse 16-17) After Christ’s Ascension, Peter was filled with the holy Spirit (as promised) and proclaimed this about Jesus: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” (Acts 4.12) Pretty clear, pretty exclusive. The Apostle Timothy was equally clear: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2.5)

Unpopular message

This sort of message is not generally welcome to our age of pseudo-pluralism where truth is relative and people want to hear about many paths to God. But if the testimony of Jesus, Peter and Timothy are to be believed, this is not true. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ. Should I believe those who espouse that all religions are basically the same and there are many paths to God, or should I believe Jesus, Saints Peter and Timothy. Hmmm, I wonder who it will be ?

Truth is rarely fashionable—but it is knowable. The truth is knowable because Jesus Christ is truth and the He is the saviour of the world, and we can know Him.

21^st century relativism

Many people in the 21^st Century no longer accept that there is such a thing as truth, and certainly no such thing as absolute truth. To them, the only absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth—there’s no right and wrong, only opinions. All ethics are situational. (Actually, if there’s no such thing as right and wrong then the concept of ethics is meaningless.) Everybody is tolerant of everything; the only thing not to be tolerated is intolerance. What we are experience is the liberal left's emerging as intolerance of any views except their own. And as we see with the left's intolerance of even laws that don't meet with their approval. We witness that with violence such the riots in Minneapolis and Los Angeles in open defiance of law and order.

People must rely on laws as the only recourse for moral direction. But even laws can be changed with a simple majority vote and a stroke of a legislative pen. In a world of relativism, there is no higher Truth that exists apart from what legislatures declare and enforce. The final arbiter of truth is power. Change the government and what was right and true yesterday is replaced by a different government and a new set of standards and a different set of lawmakers. What was previously unthinkable can becomes the law of the land. Germany showed us that in the last century.

Without a higher moral Law or standard for people to agree upon and follow (or an author and giver of that higher Law or standard), all that’s left is consensus of those who are most powerful and cunning. If there’s no lawgiver, no Messiah to save us from ourselves, then ultimately most people will find no meaning or purpose to life, no truth, life will have no intrinsic value.

Society may have to hunt down and jail criminals like Paul Bernardo or John Wayne Gacy to protect itself. But if we seriously believe there is no such thing a right and wrong, no truth, then it’s pointless condemning what they did. After all, when they committed their sexual abductions, tortures and murders, their personal definition of truth may have been dominance and self-gratification. Somebody may interject to say, “They had no right to impose their views on others or kill those women!” Why not? If there is no right or wrong, then there’s no basis to make such a claim.

What is truth?

Now, if there is such a thing as objective truth, where does it come from? Christianity says Jesus is the Truth. His crucifixion and Resurrection gave rise to a tidal wave of love and hope for millions of people for more than two thousand years.

Each person must decide if Jesus is the only saviour of the world. Personally, I’ve concluded the answer is Yes. Christ has utterly changed my life for forty-five years.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: AN ALL-PERVADING PRESENCE?

2025-05-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

They say artificial intelligence (AI) knows all about everyone who has an Internet footprint: It knows who you are, where you live, what you do. Really? Out of curiosity I asked AI about myself. Its response is below. Hmmm. The only thing it got wrong was the number of my grandchildren (7 not 5). Very quick.

AI Overview

Learn more

Mark Davis Pickup is a Canadian Christian author and advocate. He is known for his work on issues related to disability, human life, and assisted suicide. He has written extensively and given numerous speeches on these topics. He currently resides in Beaumont, AB, with his wife and family.

Here's a more detailed look at his work and background:

· Advocate for Life and Disability:

Mark Pickup is a prominent voice in the pro-life movement and a strong advocate for the rights and dignity of people with disabilities.

· Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis:

He was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 30, which significantly impacted his life and career path.

· Writer and Speaker:

After leaving the workforce due to his condition, he dedicated himself to writing, speaking, and advocating on issues he felt strongly about.

· Author of "To be, or not to be...":

He wrote a documentary, "To be, or not to be... the Human Family. (A disabled man's plea)," which focused on the issue of assisted suicide and the dignity of human life.

· HumanLifeMatters.org:

He runs a blog called HumanLifeMatters.org where he writes about Christian faith, ethics, and his views on various issues.

· Multiple Awards:

He has received several awards for his work, including a Governor General's Medal for community service and the Monsignor Bill Irwin Award for Ethical Excellence.

· Family:

He lives in Beaumont, AB, with his wife LaRee, and they have two children and five grandchildren.

IS THERE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?

2025-05-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Unpopular message

Truth is rarely fashionable—but it is knowable. The truth is knowable because Jesus Christ is truth and the He is the saviour of the world, and we can know Him.

21^st century relativism

People must rely on laws as the only recourse for moral direction. But even laws can be changed with a simple majority vote and a stroke of a legislative pen. In a world of relativism, there is no higher Truth that exists apart from what legislatures declare and enforce. The final arbiter of truth is power. Change the government and what was right and true yesterday is usurped by a new set of standards and a different set of lawmakers. What was previously unthinkable can becomes the law of the land. Germany showed us that in the last century.

Society may have to hunt down and jail criminals like Paul Bernardo or John Wayne Gacy to protect itself. But if we seriously believe there is no such thing a right and wrong, no truth, then it’s pointless condemning what they did. After all, when they committed their sexual abductions, tortures and murders, their personal definition of truth may have been dominance and self-gratification. Somebody may interject to say, “They had no right to impose their views on others or kill those women!” Why not? If there is no right and wrong, then there’s no basis to make such a claim.

What is truth?

That’s why I find 21^st Century relativists suspect. In one breath they maintain there is no objective right and wrong, no absolute Truth. In the next breath they’re decrying the destruction of the rain forests, or using animals in medical experimentation, or they’re marching in the streets against globalization or lawful deportation of illegal aliens. Methinks the relativist believes in objective truth more than he’s letting on and he expects the rest of us to agree (or at least acquiesce). Why? Well, according to the relativist, each person has his personal truth, his own standard of right and wrong, and he must not inflict his standards or morals on others. But that is exactly what relativists are doing when they march in the streets shouting and waving banners and destroying property. Even politicians like the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, are defying legal enforce under federal law which supersedes state and local laws. If politicians can pick and choose which they will obey and which law they will ignore or defy, what's to stop people under their authority denying or defying state or municipal laws? What good for the goose is good for the gander.

Each person must decide if Jesus is the only saviour of the world. Personally, I’ve concluded the answer is Yes. Christ has utterly changed my life for forty-five years.

TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS

2025-05-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

Turn Your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full upon His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

The hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus was written by Helen Howarth Lemmel in 1922. Helen went blind in her mid-forties. Her husband left her destitute. She was blind when she wrote the beloved hymn Turn Your eyes Upon Jesus.

What she lacked in earthly possessions was made up by her blazing living faith in Christ. She continued in Christian serve well into her 90s. She could not see with the eyes of her body, but she had 20/20 vision when it came to seeing with the eyes of her heart and soul. Hymnologist Bill Cottrill wrote this about Helen Lemmel:

“The frail old woman sits at a table in her tiny room in Seattle, Washington. Before her is a small plastic organ–one such as a child might have. But, as she fingers the keys and sings, her poor surroundings seem to fade from view, her face shines with the light of heaven, and tears trickle down her time-lined cheeks. Perhaps in her mind she is seated at a majestic pipe organ in some ornate cathedral. But the place doesn’t matter. She is intent on worshiping her Saviour.

The woman’s name is Helen. In her nineties at the time described, and with little of this world’s goods, her faith sustained her.”[2]

Adult acquired disability is a terrible shock. What was is no more. For Helen Lemmel it was blindness beginning in her 40s. For me it was progressive disability of multiple sclerosis beginning at the age of 30.

I am a witness to the truth of Helen’s beautiful hymn. In my wide-eyed terror of serious neurological disease and a creeping paralysis that took me from being healthy and able bodied to triplegic (paralysis in three limbs). Her hymn strikes a full chord. The things of earth did grow strangely dim—like catastrophic disability—when I kept my eyes on that wonderful face of Jesus.

When I was at a certain point of disability when legs no longer worked and I had serious paralysis in my right arm, my artist son drew a picture of Jesus portrayed by Robert Powell in the 1977 TV series Jesus of Nazareth. It was my favourite portrayal of Jesus until Passion of the Christ (2004).

I’m 72 now. Most of my adult life has been battling aggressive MS. Christ has been with me (and my wife) every step of that journey. I’ll keep your eyes upon Jesus. It won’t be long before I stand before His wonderful face.

“Now we see a poor reflection as in a mirror; Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” —1 Corinthians 13.12

[1] Inspired by Hebrews 12:1-2.

[2] Robert Cottril, Today in 1864 — Hellen Lemmel Born, (Wordwise: With Robert Cottrill, 14 November 2022 https://wordwisebiblestudies.com/today-in-1864-helen-lemmel-born/

FELLOWSHIP FOR PERFORMING ARTS: GOSPEL OF MARK 16

2025-04-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Max Mclean is a talented actor. He is the founder and artistic director of Christian Fellowship for Performing Arts. I invite you to watch his 3:56-minute rendition of the Gospel of Mark Chapter 16.

Click the link below and enjoy!

Mark 16

PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN SWINDOLL THOMPSON (Chuck Swindoll's daughter)

2025-04-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Colleen Swindoll Thompson has a wonderful podcast called Reframing Ministries. It’s part of the radio ministry of her father, Chuck Swindoll, called Insight For Living. What is Reframing Ministries? See a short 3:44 YouTube clip explaining it. Click here.

I was interviewed by Colleen on her podcast in 2019, shortly after the Lord raised me from years in an electric wheelchair and paralysis as an old man, after more than 30 years with aggressive MS and paralysis.

It has been 6 years since the interview. I am still walking! To listen to that interview, click here — Mark

CURRENCY OF MY SOUL

2025-03-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

Decades of suffering with aggressive degenerative disability (MS) caused me to deal in the currency of my soul. It has been tough slugging because it deals with the essence of my being and how I saw myself in the world and how I acted and reacted in and to the world. My first 30 years were healthy and athletic, and then I was disabled using cane(s), crutches and wheelchairs. Who was I? What had I become? Why? How was I to deal with the sorrow and grief that coursed through my veins, breaking my heart and the hearts of those who loved me.

With God's help, I was able to cross my river of grief at my adult-acquired disability to discover a new self. The old self was gone as surely as if I had died. I needed to grieve my loss, then search for a new self and a new self-identity. A new Mark emerged—different to be sure—but no less alive or vital than the previous Mark. My soul answered Yes to the fundamental question: Is life worth living, even if it seems to be in hopeless circumstances? Victor Frankel was a survivor of Nazi death camps. In his remarkable book Man's Search For Meaning, he wrote:

"In the consciousness of one's inner value is anchored in higher more spiritual things and cannot be shaken by camp life. But how many free men, let alone prisoners possess it?"

I could relate to this. My wheelchair was a prison for my broken body, but it also liberated me spiritually by driving me inward to deal with my inner brokenness. I had to deal with the darkness of sin. Frankel also wrote: "If there is to be any meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering."

This struck a full chord. My journey with the neurological degeneration of MS served as a purifying fire. Some men are guilty of sins of the flesh, gluttony, jealousy or envy, fits of anger, alcohol or drug abuse. I am guilty of the worst sin: Pride. Pride was what made the devil the devil!

I needed to be brought low and have that infernal pride crushed. I think MS was God's tool. There were times when I could not dress myself or tie my own shoes, times when I needed to be propped up in my electric wheelchair to keep me from sagging to one side or the other, times when I needed to be diapered, times when I couldn't speak and my hearing was affected. Times when my vision was impaired so much I couldn't read, times when my hands were too weak to cut the meat on my dish at meals. Someone else had to do it for me. Creeping paralysis made me triplegic (the loss of use of three limbs). We had to build a wheelchair-accessible home. There were times when I was virtually bedridden and needed a hoist to get me out of bed. I needed to come to a necessary point where I was dependent on others to do many basic daily things. I needed humiliation and shame to understand that I was not in charge of my life and that my pride and independence needed to give way to humility of interdependence. My health was gone. My career was over at the age of thirty-eight then put out to pasture. The only thing left to me was love (both human and divine). I needed to surrender every shard of my life to Christ and be willing to accept whatever His will might be. I needed to become content in whatever state I found myself in because the Holy Spirit was with me and in me. It was in surrender that I found freedom.

Then God released me from my wheelchair, seven years ago, to walk again as an old man.

I will be 72 in May. I've been married to the love of my life for 52
years. My wife and I love Christ. We have contentment and peace. If I had to go back into that electric wheelchair gathering dust in an unused bedroom, for whatever years I have left, I will still praise God. My every 'Why' has been answered in Christ.

MDP

AN UPDATE ABOUT A LITTLE ORPHAN WHO IS AN ORPHAN NO MORE

2025-03-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

This is an update to my previous blog post, "An Orphan Gets a Second Chance at a Forever Family."

Our little one is here in Canada with us. She is absolutely enthralled with snow. She has made her first snow angel.

Her first seven years were tumultuous and traumatic. It's going to be a long hard journey for her to heal. But with psychological help, a stable loving home, and God's healing touch, I pray she will be able to reconcile her broken heart with the past and move ahead to reach her full potential. Thank you Lord for answered prayers.

With all the frenzy of raising two seven-year-old ex-orphans, it is such a blessing but also exhausting for my daughter and her husband. They must take time for themselves. I've encouraged them to make time for themselves. They mustn't burn the candle at both ends. Rest is important to be at one's best as a parent (and grandparent).

MDP

AFTER A FALSE START AN ORPHAN GETS A SECOND CHANCE TO HAVE A FOREVER FAMILY

2025-02-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

My daughter, Ronaele, is in the process of trying to take legal guardianship of another Haitian orphan whose American adoption failed. She has written that little girl's story and appeal below. (That would make both children in the photo my grandchildren!) My daughter has a heart for orphaned kids and I have a heart for grandchildren. Like arrows, I have a quiver full (to use a Biblical phrase. Psalm 127:3-5)

They were orphans from Haiti, who were torn apart by international adoption. Sophie (our daughter) lives in Canada, Alicha (her best friend & crib-mate from the orphanage), is in Texas.

The last time they saw each other was May 16, 2023 – in Haiti at their orphanage. We took a harrowing flight, to pick up our daughter (Sophie) as kidnappings and killings overtook Port-au-Prince. Once we were handed Sophie, we boarded our plane and white-knuckled it out of Haiti, hoping bullets didn’t pepper the plane.

What was to come for Sophie’s best friend just 11 months later was another story altogether. She was evacuated in a now historic rescue of a few of Haiti’s orphans by a US military evacuation. Alicha was among six orphans who endured this particular life & death evacuation, however, her real fight would start once she reached US soil. Six days after her arrival, her adoptive parents were suddenly dealing with a family crisis that threatened the future of her life in Texas. We fought to bring her to Canada last May, but the process was too overwhelming for the parents and complications that forced us to back off. By August, it was clear that it was not meant to be (yet) and we tried to pick up the pieces of my daughter's broken heart. We lost contact with the family to preserve our hearts from further heartbreak. They would have to find each other later in life ... but God wasn't done.

THE BACK STORY:

SOPHIE-our daughter, was brought home to Canada in 2023 after an 8 1/2 year adoption process. To say the adoption program in Haiti is broken, is an understatement. Born in the slums of Cite Soleil, her mother somehow managed safe passage of newborn Sophie to a nearby hospital. Cite Soleil is a place that people go to, but they usually don’t make it out. When she had gained weight, she was brought to an orphanage in the hills above Port-au-Prince, where she remained until she was six.

ALICHA: Sophie’s crib and soul-mate, arrived at the orphanage two months after Sophie in 2017. She too, was abandoned by a similar fate.

Sophie’s happy ending was supposed to end in Alberta, Canada. Alicha would settle in Texas, USA after her evacuation last Easter. It was supposed to be a happy ending.

It was not.

What was really strange was that Sophie AND Alicha’s story was unusually long. Almost a decade passed (our paperwork started before for Sophie's adoption before she was born!). The same was true for Alicha's original adoptive family in Texas. Both girls' files were persistently delayed…and almost simultaneously in how the central authority was processing their files. The other families matched to children at the same orphanage had left with their kids after four or five years in the process, so how these two best friends managed to “wait for each other” was a baffling phenomenon since the Central Authority is not involved in the friendships of kids, nor do they care. But this was not a friendship; they were crib-mates since birth—sisters in every sense, except genetics. It wasn’t long before I was able to track down the adoptive family for Alicha (the little girl that was always in on Sophie’s zoom calls in Haiti).

All hell broke loose in February 2024, trapping orphans from freedom & throwing their adoptive families into mental anguish.

I know … I was on a chat with Alicha’s adoptive mom. As the US Embassy was trying (after multiple failed attempts) to land the helicopter in the night— bullets were flying. Would any of these kids have to take one? Alicia’s evacuation could have easily been our reality, it was luck of the draw who you were matched to. Alicha could have just as easily been ours—but, our little angel, Sophie, was fast asleep in her bed, while Alicha was fighting for her freedom and life. I assure you, with every word, I tried to console the mother. It futile. An adopted home-bound orphan is a valuable asset to Haiti’s gangs. We were acutely aware of this and the dangers the child was facing. It meant foreign money was attached to that child. And so is love.

What price do you put on love? And what about the price of freedom? What would you pay for that? What’s it worth? Angels were perched on each tiny shoulder that night. Whisked away after the helicopter’s third attempt—bullets flying like skittles. Critical documents, however, were left behind in the ordeal—which would prove to be a major hurdle for us. MAJOR.

February 11, 2025: “The Text”. The day life changed for us. The adoptive family was once again in an impossible situation. Plus Alicha's trauma of losing her old life in Haiti, her loss of Sophie, her nannies, plus whatever she saw in the 3-day evacuation, had spiralled into the reality we have now! It was clear the girls couldn't do life apart. We are scrambling to pick up the baton, ANY baton to get her reunited with Sophie before we lose her forever to the re-adoption program in the USA. This must not happen! I will fight till the end to not let this happen.

The girls are lost without each other. like peanut-butter-and-jam. I cannot fill the hole in my daughter’s heart from the loss of Alicha either. This seems to be an impossible situation, with many wheels turning; we are working with four lawyers to find a resolution to this tragic circumstance. The GoFundMe funds raised will be used for legal fees, agency fees, medical expenses and trauma therapy. (To help click HERE).

Simply put, we do not want to have to ask the former adoptive parents for any further financial assistance once Alicha is here. They have been through enough. We will pick up the pieces as best we can for all involved, God willing.

The path ahead is a heavy one, but this will be Alicha's chance at healing—together with Sophie. We’re humbly asking our global Christian village to assist so we can concentrate on Alicha and not the costs that we and her adoptive family are facing to pull this off. We are honoured that their story has touched so many hearts across (at least) three countries and we beg that you please share, far and wide. These girls are living a testament to the power of love, loyalty, and friendship.

There are still miracles playing out in the land most have given up on. Haiti's children, with their futures lying in the balance between gunshots and lullabies. If you listen carefully, the children have lessons for us all. Hope is never lost. And we need our Christian village in 2025. Despite our fear and worry, we brace for the fight of a lifetime, to reunite two orphans after a very VERY long & broken road back to each other.

“ I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.”

—John 14:18

Help us be the Lord's vehicle for Him to come to them, now and forever. Thank you and God bless. — Ronaele Pound

MY CHRISTIAN PRO-LIFE MOVIE SCREENPLAY HAS A NEW WEBSITE

2025-02-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

The website for my screenplay TRANSCEND is up and running. I still have some tweaking to do, but it's up. To view it, click here. You can also link to the website by Googling "Transcend to love movie" (or www.transcendtolovemovie.com)". Click my name on the cover page of the website for some background about me.

Please send this link to fellow Christians in your circle of influence. Thank you. (Click on my name on the cover page to see the second page.)

TRANSCEND has an evangelistic mission. Not only will this movie speak to women considering abortion, but it will also speak to people whose marriages are impacted by a catastrophic disability. It concludes with an actual miracle experienced as an old man! Here's a story synopsis. It's loosely autobiographical.

Logline: A young couple experiences a devastating degenerative disease that teaches them to trust God even when the stakes are horribly high.

Genre: Christian romance.

Story Synopsis: Mark Davis is a senior high school student in the fictional city of Leedsborough, Colorado. He is the pampered only child of George and Betty Davis who are prominent citizens in their small city. George is a gentle adoring father who indulges Mark too much. Betty is a domineering, strong-willed mother. She’s also a snob. Betty thinks Mark spends too much time with his new high school girlfriend from “across the tracks,” LaRee Picton. This causes family friction. After an acrimonious exchange between Mark and Betty, his father suggests he and Mark go downhill skiing. (His father is the peacemaker of the family.) While Mark and George are skiing, George has a massive heart attack and dies in Mark’s arms.

After the funeral, LaRee tells Mark she is pregnant with their baby. Betty is very angry and provides no support, only condemnation. Mark feels trapped and pressures LaRee to have an abortion. LaRee comes from a broken home and has few resources. Feeling alone and abandoned by Mark, LaRee sadly and reluctantly has an abortion, after which they break up.

A few years later, LaRee and Mark meet at college and fall in love again. They decide to marry but Mark’s mother is adamantly opposed—especially if her son is going to marry LaRee Picton! Mark and LaRee elope. Betty is infuriated and stops talking to them. After 6 months, Mark finally makes overtures to his mother, and they visit Betty at her home in Leedsborough. Unfortunately, the attempt at reconciliation goes badly. Mark and LaRee get into a bitter argument with Betty over the abortion and abruptly leave.

Mark finishes his college course and begins working for The Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis Research and Client Services. LaRee begins sidewalk counselling outside an abortion clinic to try and assuage her guilt about her own abortion. Mark and LaRee become Christians and reconcile with Betty. Things could not be better! They start a family and buy a house in the suburbs.

Suddenly and without warning, Mark develops aggressive multiple sclerosis and descends into severe disability. Mark and LaRee grieve the onset of an incurable disease. Their hearts are broken. They feel abandoned by Betty and abandoned by their church. Mark and LaRee nearly break up!

Mark finds a new purpose to his life advocating across North America for disability rights, inclusion, and life with dignity. But his disease progresses to the point where he is eventually placed in a nursing home. Mark prays—just as he has done so often before—that God would allow him to walk again. He does not care if it's only for a short time and with crutches, a walker, or canes. He thinks that his prayer is too late: His brain is riddled with plaque, and his legs are useless, withered from years of paralysis. Then something unexpected, inexplicable, and wonderful happens. Long-lost function returns! God raises Mark out of his electric wheelchair to walk again!

LaRee and Mark learn another lesson. Never presume the future. That is for God alone to know. Nobody knows what lies beyond the present. All they know is that God’s love is there too! Mark and LaRee discover that the only thing that really matters in life is love. They are finally at peace with God and themselves.

Mark

AN UPLIFTING CHRISTIAN AUTISM STORY: (suitable for family-friendly TV or streaming series)

2025-01-23T14:56:00.000-08:00

President Donald Trump recently cited that autism rates have been dramatically rising since the 1970s, From 1 in 10,000 births to 1 in 31 children born n 2025 (1 in 45 adults). My autistic grandson has developed a film story idea called Stephen's Redemption. It explores the challenging and lonely world of an autistic teen. It is a timely and powerful Christian story that focuses a spotlight on issues many autistic people face and holds up a candle of Christ's hope and love for those dealing with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Logline: After his mother's untimely death, autistic teen Stephen Pierce flees his alcoholic father's Montana ranch with nothing but a bag of clothes and his rusty old truck (leaving behind his dog ). Homeless, friendless and jobless, everything seems to go wrong for Stephen, until he meets a pastor's daughter who helps him find faith, purpose, meaning and a place where he and his dog belong.

My grandson, Carson Pound (23) has Asperger's syndrome (high-functioning autism). Despite this, God has given him an exceptional talent: Acting. (see his IMDb here). He has been in the acting industry since the age of 10, and is a graduate of the Vancouver Film School. Carson recently developed an excellent story idea for a Christian, family-friendly 3-part series for TV or streaming service, called Stephen's Redemption. He made a short video about his story idea. See here

HumanLifeMatters is looking for someone to produce Stephen's Redemption. Investors are needed. I can be contacted at HumanLifeMatters@shaw.ca or by telephone: (780) 929-9230.

Carson can be contacted by email at carsonpound100@gmail.com or by telephone: 1-403-470-2226.

Respectfully,

Mark Davis Pickup

HumanLifeMatters

Blog: www.HumanLifeMatters.org*

*HumanLifeMatters is dedicated to the sanctity of marriage and all human life within a Christian worldview.

SOME GRIEFS FROM WHICH WE NEVER TRULY RECOVER

2025-01-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

I want to share a short testimony by Dr. Sheila Harding to the Catholic Health Association of Saskatchewan about Canada's descent into euthanasia acceptance. Her desire to see medicine return to its Hippocratic tradition reflects her optimism for the future. I am proud to call Sheila and her husband Terry personal friends. She refers to their son Ross whom I knew.

A couple of years after Ross died at the age of ten, Dr. Harding met another Canadian stalwart against assisted suicide and euthanasia, palliative care nurse Jean Echlin. Jean was a beautiful old woman who lost a son decades earlier in 1962. Sheila asked the white-haired old woman when the grief subsided. Jean replied, "I'll tell you when it happens."

There are some griefs in life from which we never truly recover.

Click the link below.

Dr. Harding testimony

KNOW THAT YOU ARE LOVED!

2025-01-04T17:01:00.001-08:00

My family has been unduly impacted by physical and mental disabilities. Multiple sclerosis, cancer, heart disease,
schizophrenia, bipolar and autism. Why? Why must we be brought so low, Lord? Maybe we are not “unduly” impacted by disabilities; perhaps they are necessary. God is not cruel. All I know is “that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8.28)

I tell myself, "Look for the good in life. It’s all around you. Look for the purpose of the heartache and heartbreak." It's one thing to say and accept it for myself, and my physical disability, but what about those I love who are being hurt and excluded due to mental disability?

In some ways, non-visible disabilities can be worse than visible disabilities. See a man in a wheelchair and it’s apparent his legs don’t work and so allowances are made for him. See someone acting odd, or bizarrely and people pull back and distance themselves from the odd person who suffers from a mental disability. My long history of physical disability does not carry the same stigma as the mental disabilities of my child or grandchild. They are like two solitudes made apparent by level of visibility.

That is the bad news, now for the good news. It is love (human and divine) that can build a bridge between the two. It is always love (divine and human) that genuinely builds bridges between people regardless of their state.

It is love (human and divine) that desires to make room for others. It is love (human and divine) that builds human connection and solidarity despite heartaches and heartbreaks—especially then. It is love (divine and human) that makes it possible to find purpose and meaning despite suffering (perhaps because of it).

I know there is an epidemic of mental illness and depression amongst young people. The world can seem bleak. I know. We may not be able to change our circumstances but we can control how we respond to them. Imagine how things could be and may yet be. Assume an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude for what?

Even with all our warts and blemishes, you live in the greatest countries in the world. Millions of people want to be in America or Canada. They risk their lives to be here. You have access to clean drinking water, education, health care and education. Millions of people do not.

If you think you are unloved, I want you to understand it’s not true. You are loved by the author of love and life. You have been loved since you were only a thought in the mind of God. He knit you together in your mother's womb and endowed you with His image and likeness because of His desire to love and be loved by you and spend eternity with you through His Son Jesus Christ!

Put a smile on your face, and in your heart. Assume an attitude of gratitude. Look outward not inward. Who can you bless, even if your own heart is breaking? Make the warm sun shine on someone else even if you are in the shade.

I know it doesn’t seem to make sense. At 72 years of age and more than 50 years of my own suffering I have discovered that helping a fellow sufferer not sink beneath the waves of their circumstances was my best therapy. I discovered my pain paled compared to someone who had given up on life.

With God’s grace, your heart can still smile again even in fear and sorrow. Clear your tears and put that internal smile on your face. Share it with those whose tears cloud their way forward. Help somebody see that the same sun that sets also rises for a new tomorrow.

Life is worth living, regardless of age or stage. Look for life's sweetness. If you look, you will find it. As Josh Groban said in his song: "You are Loved (Don't Give Up)." If you do not feel loved or even wanted by anyone, you are loved by God. Click the link below.

Mark

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD FROM CHRISTMASES PAST

2024-12-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

An excerpt from my upcoming book TRANSCEND: A Journey Toward Love

_____________________________

My father & I in

his store, Christmas 1958

My early childhood was idyllic. My parents loved me, my father indulged in us all and I worshipped the ground he walked on. My life was perfect ... until 1967. The photo below was taken in September 1967.

Two months after the above photo was taken, my father had a major heart attack. He was urgently transferred by ambulance to the immediate care of the nearest heart specialist 100 miles away. A local doctor accompanied the ambulance to try to prevent him from dying en route.

The storm

When my siblings and I arrived at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, we were sent to the intensive care unit (ICU). We found Mom crying in the ICU waiting room. She told us that Dad’s doctors informed her that he could die at any time! It was like somebody kicked me in the head! Perhaps I had been listening too much to Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band album because I thought I heard the last prolonged piano dischord of A Day in the Life. Everything began spinning out of control. It's impossible to describe the fear. That long night, Dad’s heart stopped and was revived three times.

Visitation protocols for the Intensive Care Unit were restricted to immediate family members and only one visitor per hour for ten minutes. That meant I could see the hero of my life for ten minutes every fourth hour. My first journey through the forbidding greenish-white metal doors with that terrible ICU sign above them was like entering Dante’s inferno. As far as I was concerned, the sign above the doors may as well have said, “Dying Room.” It was like an anteroom for the half-dead to twist and struggle against the clutches of their yawning graves.

In the middle of the large Intensive Care Unit was a raised observation center for a proficient and aloof cadre of nurses and doctors to peer out over their subjects. They watched beeping monitors, examined charts and fanned out across the room to various patient’s beds. One side of the unit was for cardiac care. Other assorted life-threatening conditions lined the other walls. The atmosphere was sterile in more ways than hygiene. It was like something out of a Robin Cook novel.[1] I walked past numerous beds, separated only by curtains and medical equipment until I reached my father. I was stunned at the sight of him! His skin was waxy grey! Electric cardio shock must have been in its infancy because he had numerous marks on his chest as though hot stove elements had been held against his skin.

Even in that very sick state, he kept up a brave and cheerful front, smiling at the sight of me. I had ten minutes in four hours to see Dad so I cut through the possibility of small talk. In four hours, he could be dead. I blurted, “I thought you were going to die!” He became serious but with his usual unflappable way he said, “I thought so too, Mark.” His candour startled me.

“Weren’t you afraid?” I asked.

“Yes. I was afraid of dying before you kids are raised. I was afraid of leaving your mother to finish the job alone.”

“Your heart stopped beating three times, Dad! How can you be so calm?!”

He looked at me intently and said,

“I want you to understand that Christ was with me. Mark. We all must die. You can either die with Christ or without Him, but we all must eventually die. This has been the point of everything I’ve tried to teach you, son. How you respond to Jesus Christ and His sacrifice at Calvary is all that matters when you die. I want you to give your life to Jesus and live for Him.”

Silence, then tears.

Growing up in a Christian home, surrounded by Christians, I had often heard the familiar refrain, “Have you given your life to Jesus?” As a child, I made a commitment to the Lord, but it was a cultural commitment of a boy who worshipped his father and wanted to please him, more than God. Now my father was dying.

The sickly quiet of the ICU was suddenly broken by a gurney bursting through the doors with an entourage of medical people frantically working on someone. A nurse unceremoniously ushered me out of the unit. I found myself standing outside the doors looking at some poor wretch’s wife with soggy cheeks. She had a lost, terrified expression on her face. I knew exactly how she felt.

Dad remained in the intensive for weeks (it seemed like an eternity). We watched other cardiac patients come and either recover enough to be moved to the wards or die. My family remained in limbo meandering in a shadowy nether land that swayed back and forth between life and death, alternating toward hope then despair, as doctors tried to stop the downward spiral of my father’s heart failure, and various related crises that befell him.[2]

The heart specialists worked valiantly to save Dad and their medical skills were spectacular: But I detested their detachment from the humanity of his suffering. Damn it! It was not the patient in bed four. It was my father! His name was Howard and he had a wife and a family who loved him. Our hearts were breaking! He wasn’t the sum total of his electro-cardiograms, blood tests and whatever else was on his chart. He was my father!

Heart transplant history

I should mention that the late 1960s was a revolutionary time in medical treatment of cardiovascular disease. Open heart surgery was making major advances, the first coronary arterial bypass surgery was conducted in Cleveland, pacemaker technology was developing quickly, and on December 3^rd 1967, South African surgeon Dr. Christiaan Bernard performed the world’s first heart transplantation on Louis Washkansky. It was front-page news around the world! Sadly, Washkansky died eighteen days later just before Christmas.

Not to be deterred, Dr. Bernard performed the world’s 2^nd heart transplant in early January of 1968, on a retired dentist by the name of Philip Blaiberg. Again the daring of Dr. Bernard was front-page news.

Back in Canada, the head of the cardiac team at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandria Hospital was a man I shall refer to as Dr. T. He called a meeting with the families of all the cardiac patients in the Intensive Care Unit and forbade newspapers or discussion of the Philip Blaiberg case because he didn’t want to see false hopes raised in his patients. Dr T believed that Dr. Bernard’s sensational transplant operations in South Africa were premature and doomed to failure because anti-rejection drugs were still in their infancy.

Dad’s case was remarkably similar to Dr. Bernard’s first patient, Louis Washkansky. Although we were warned not to get our hopes up for transplantation possibilities for our loved ones, it was impossible. Desperate people grasp at any hope.

My father’s heart specialist had a god-complex. His colossal ego was fed by an extraordinary skill of saving patients other doctors were losing. Dr. T was a blunt, egotistical rude man with an audacious bushy moustache. When he entered a room he expected its occupants to shrink back in awe and genuflection of his gigantic, superior intellect. His patients were a series of sustained arrhythmias, myocardial infarctions and faulty ventricles; I’m not even sure he actually knew his patients’ names. They were specimens—challenges to help build his formidable reputation and prestige in the medical community.

Dr. T showed my mother Dad’s electro-cardiogram. Instead of explaining the medical problem, he announced, “That’s the heartbeat of a dying man.” Good explanation. My mother broke down and cried like a mere mortal.

The first man I saw die

One day while visiting Dad, a man three beds away went into full cardiac arrest. Within seconds nurses and doctors pounced on him. The scene reminded me of wolves attacking a crippled prey—except this pack was trying to save a life not take it. It all happened so quickly that nobody had time to throw me out of the ICU. A nurse made a haphazard attempt to close the curtain, but the patient’s feet were still visible. I could hear shouts of medical lingo between doctors and nurses jostling around the bed, then the rude sound of electro-cardio shock paddles being applied to the man’s chest. His body convulsed! There was a pause, then, the paddles were put to him again, again and again! With each shock, his feet moved less. Finally, the medical team stopped their frantic work. Somebody closed the curtain around his bed and they walked away. I watched the whole thing unfold with wide eyes and my jaw on my chest.

It was the first time I ever saw a man die! I slowly turned to look at my father. I don’t remember what he said – or if he said anything at all – but we held each other knowing the next feet to bounce up off the bed might be his. Perhaps we said nothing because we were at that stage of emotion when one dares not speak for fear of weeping. Besides, my ten-minute visitation was over. At the double doors of the ICU, I stopped and turned to look at him again, wondering if he would still be alive in four hours so I could see him one more time. He gave me a sheepish wave and smiled. Such a terrible moment!

It was one of those inscrutable moments in which we live a lifetime; a lifetime’s worth of love and sorrow – much of it still unlived – simultaneously flood our hearts. Our souls cry out in primal anguish, our pain throbs like a raw, gaping wound. Such moments are stark and terrible, yet to leave our souls unstirred would be a crime against our individual humanity.

I longed to be far away in a boat bobbing on a lake with Dad in a cool morning mist like we used to do. I think that moment was the only time I’ve ever heard the lonely call of a loon in a hospital.

My dad recovered enough to live another two years. He died in front of me shortly after Christmas in 1970, as we were downhill skiing. I held him in my arms as he left this world for the next.

That summer the Beatles Let It Be album was released. It had Paul McCartney’s song Long and Winding Road. The first time I heard it I broke down and wept.

I’m an old man now. It’s been nearly 55 years since I saw my father’s face. Yes, it has been a long and winding road since Christmas 1967. It won’t be long now before I see my father again.

__________________________________

To hear The Beatles, Long and Winding Road click here

Mark Davis Pickup

[1] Robin Cook writes medical thriller books. His first published book was Year of the Intern (1972). At the time of my father’s heart failure ICU treatment (1968), Robin Cook was unknown.

[2] When I was writing this portion of the book I consulted my mother, brother and sister to get their recollection of those terrible days. I encountered a curious response: They railed against being asked to drag up those terrible memories. My sister refused to revisit that time while my mother had distinct mental blocks. My brother had memories but was guarded and only offered clarification on one or two specific points. It was as though I asked them to recall a nightmare too horrible to contemplate again.