It’s difficult to imagine that this chaotic world and its cyberspace needs yet another website. So, you might ask, why create this one? My guess is that it’s for the same reason many sites get started: I went looking and I couldn’t find one like it – a site that had the combination of purpose, tone, structure and intended audience I was looking for, and hoping for. And it seemed to me a void that ought to be filled. So, along with my assistant and dear friend Julia, and within the parameters of my fulltime role at Youth Unlimited (Toronto YFC), we offer these pages, humbly and with thanksgiving. Welcome, and all the best!
Your host, Tim Huff
The purpose
This site has but two mandates, both flowing from a gentle word from Scripture, Romans 14:19 – “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” And that is the bottom line. If it doesn’t ultimately pursue peace and peace-making or work to build up and encourage others, it won’t end up here.
The tone
While straying as far as possible from either of the sad extremes of syrupy at one end and arrogant or judgmental at the other, what you will find here is meant to present and represent the Christian faith in the only manner I have ever truly understood it: warm, authentic, invitational, grace-filled and life-giving. And of course, always churned by, and “bent” on, hope.
The structure
While the site will inevitably grow to include additional resources and expand with new ideas, the focus will always be thoughtful and reflective writing. Each month a series of guest writers will contribute a creative narrative, commentary or short story that will belong under one of the following theme pages: Wisdom Now, Peace be with You, Paving the Way, Unlikely Giants, Global Giving, and Laugh Lines. Thus, at the end of each calendar year, 72 written items from 72 different writers will have been posted. Those who contribute will not only be writers, thinkers and doers who settle into the purpose and tone of the site, but they will be people who are, in their own unique way, passionate about issues of grace and justice. Some may be celebrated authors, scholars, visionaries and artists. Others may be frontline streetworkers, missional pastors and noted social-justice advocates. And still others may simply identify themselves as students, home-makers or blue collar workers. Our hope is that part of the fun and intrigue inside all of this is in sharing wide-ranging vantage points, while hearing from seasoned writers and providing an opportunity for budding writers to share their voices.
The audience
While at first glance you may think this site has been designed specifically for what some might call “streetsy” or “outreach-driven” people, this is definitely not true. While we certainly desire that it be an encouragement, inspiration and resource to them, our greatest desire is to create an encouraging and thought-provoking forum for anyone and everyone. While one might guess that many site visits will come from the broad Christian community and church goers, our intentional and wide audience is best described by scooping something I had written for another project – “What follows is extended to all for consideration, deliberation and reflection: those who believe there is no God, those who hate God, those who struggle with God, those who believe in another one, and those who believe in Him as Abba Father alike.” Ultimately, if you are reading this, the intended audience is you.
