After September 11th many people are still numb from the shock. We wonder if the television images of the plane hitting the Twin Towers will ever go away. When was the last horrific event before September 11th that was caught on television and played over and over again, creating the same sense of horror and shock?
I remember it well because it happened on January 28th, 1986. It was the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger just after it lifted off the launch pad. These images were played over and over again around the world. It was a moment in time that the world wished had never happened. It was the exact same moment in time that the Challenger astronauts lost their lives because of human shuttle design errors and communication problems at NASA, my son was born in Canada.
If you made a list of qualities for the perfect son, you would have my son James. Polite, clean cut, good looking, gets high marks in school, sense of humour, socially responsible, plays and loves football just like his Dad. It goes without saying James has filled my wife Carol and my life with love. It was because of my deep love for my son, that I wanted to make sure James inherited the same wonderful Canada that I inherited from my father.
In 1998 I completed the To The Top Canada expedition where I challenged all Canadians to make Canada stronger by answering one question: “What will you do in your life to make Canada a better country that when you found it?” During the To The Top Canada expedition, I discovered that the people of Inuvik high in Canada’s Arctic needed our help. A temporary building that was the community Anglican church was falling down and they didn’t have the resources to build a permanent church. After the To The Top Canada expedition, I told Canadians about the first journey from the bottom of mainland Canada to the top, but also about the church in the Arctic that needed help. That was when the miracle started as thousands of dollars from Canadians started to arrive in Inuvik in the mail. The church was built and I was proud to be invited back to Inuvik to be a part of the dedication ceremony.
In my eyes this miracle started with the birth of one little boy that gave the world love at a time horror and shock. I know God’s secret.
