Welcome to Not In Vain!
My name is Tim Strickland. I am married to Carol and we have three kids, Jacob, Jessica & Chloe. We live in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada, where I serve as Senior Pastor of the Prairie Tabernacle.
This blog contains reflections on theology, preaching, and whatever else happens to be on my mind!
The name “Not In Vain” is taken from 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV) “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Hope it is a blessing to you.
Tim
PS:
The CP Steam Engine photo header was taken at Revelstoke, BC in the summer of 2006 on our family vacation. It is a classic 4-6-4 Canadian Pacific steam engine that runs through a section of the Rocky Mountains as a tourist train (between Revelstoke and Banff, I think, possibly all the way to Calgary(?) ). We later saw it again steaming through the famous Spiral Tunnels (see photo below) If you look closely you can see that the train had diesel locomotives between the steam engine and the passenger cars, I would assume for safety, in case the steam engine had trouble.
Not In Vain - Tim Strickland's Blog 
Hey Tim,
I appreciated your review of the novel “the Shack,” and just wanted to say Thank You! I have only ever heard the title and what a great book it is, yet no one had ever mentioned the un-biblical truths. As I have quite a busy schedule, I tend to rely on the judgment of my local Christian bookstore when making a purchase, this just saves me time and energy that I could be putting into something else. This was a book that was on my “to buy” list, and I had planned to read it in between school semesters, my mistake to rely purely on the Christian markets judgement has been noted. Once again, a sincere thank you for this insight, I think I will find myself another novel for the Christmas break.
Kyle
By: Kyle may on October 21, 2008
at 1:34 pm
Hey Kyle,
Glad the review was a help to you, and I hope you find a good read for the Christmas holidays.
Tim
By: Tim on October 27, 2008
at 12:09 am
Hey there Pastor Tim, have had a wonderful hour reading some of your blog!
I must express how grateful I am to have a pastor who is theologically sound, and full of grace. Thanks for your thoughts. I’m trying to figure out how to add you to my blog on the blogs I follow – can you help me? I’m a little new to this world, you are so organized and all and my blog is pretty simple (will probably stay that way).
By the way, I used to ride the train on that rail line a couple times a year from Vancouver to Calgary while I attended Prairie. Those tunnels are quite amazing. They intrigued me every time.
Joanna
By: joanna on October 27, 2010
at 2:46 pm
Hi Joanna,
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your kind words. There is a link on my ‘dashboard’ called ‘links’ where you can add links other blogs. It took me a few minutes of searching around to find it so don’t feel badly!
That would have been neat riding the trains through the mountains and through those tunnels. I’ve always liked trains, and I like seeing the long trains snake across the prairies around Three Hills.
Blessings,
Tim
By: Tim on October 27, 2010
at 10:11 pm
Thanks Tim. My life has finally settled down long enough for me to visit again. Here is a link to my blog if you ever have time to check it out. http://joannacarter.blogspot.com/
By: joanna on November 15, 2010
at 3:24 pm