Magazine, Past Issue
Mar/Apr 2026 issue
WHAT'S INSIDE:
- We’re excited to share the winners of this year’s brick building contest. Once again, we received hundreds of entries, and once again we hope that what’s featured here in the magazine will motivate you to go online to watch the contestants’ videos, which are a must-see! Check them out at ReformedPerspective.ca/bricks2026.
- Reformed Perspective’s Bucket List Book Club (the RPBLBC for short!) had its first two Zoom call meetings of the year (with 100+ participants) and it is never too late to join in. Go to ReformedPerspective.ca/BLBC to find out how to join our next Zoom call, and get more information on other books we’ll be reading this year.
- We have two feature articles this issue – the cover article on putting sports in its proper place, and "Blessed are the caregivers" on a role most of us will take on at some point in our lives, but, as with the Hoogerdyks, it may come when we aren't expecting.
We have three options for you to read the magazine. First up is the flipbook edition, with its turning pages. Below that, you can click the cover to view the pdf in your browser, or click here to download the PDF (14 mb)
INDEX: A business tithe on sales / Blessed are the caregivers / Can you build it better? Yes, you can! / Retirement: What are you retiring from? What are you retiring to? / The case against the draft / The beauty of 52 Sundays, or why we gave two years to bringing the Heidelberg Catechism to video / Carried / When sports is an idol / Life skills every high school graduate needs to know / Come and Explore: made in God's Image / In a nutshell / Proverbs: a different sort of devotional / Good, great, and gift: RP's 3 levels of best books / Why Reformed theology writes better fantasy / Great books for boys 10-13 / Business success channeled into kingdom growth / Anne deJong is taking a palette knife to the Rockies / When there is smoke... / Crossword / A theology of cleaning / How to catch Ice Age man using digital reindeer / More than the magazine / In Christ
News
Health-adjusted life expectancy plummets
Canadians can expect 3.5 fewer years of good health compared to a decade ago, according to recent data published by Statistics Canada.
Life expectancy has increased steadily in Canada and throughout the world for many decades, though with a noticeable dip around the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. But it is one thing to live longer, and another to live healthier. The Statistics Canada report examined health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE), a measure of the number of years in good health an individual is expected to live.
Comparing the period of 2000-2002 to 2010-2012, HALE increased by nearly two years, to 70.4. But fast-forward a decade later to 2023, and HALE has dropped to 66.9 years, erasing the gains from the previous decades. Factors that contribute to the drop include the thousands of annual deaths from drug overdoses, increased mental health challenges, increased obesity, more misuse of drugs and alcohol, and a strained healthcare system.
Although other countries also experienced a drop, it wasn’t as significant. The World Health Organization reported a 1.6 year decrease for HALE during and after the pandemic internationally.
And although Canada ranked 5th in the world in life expectancy in 1990, our ranking has plummeted to 25th today. The Statistics Canada study noted that Canadian females have a life expectancy of 84 years and a HALE of 67.7 years, while males have a life expectancy of 79.6 years and a HALE of 66.4 years.
Scripture makes it evident that God sovereignly determines how many days we live (Ps. 139:16) and is the One who gives us health or takes it away (Jer. 30:17, Ps. 103:3). We also learn from passages like Proverbs 3:1-2 (“keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity”) that walking in line with God’s Word is good not just for our spiritual health but also our mental and physical health. This correlates with studies that find that those who regularly attend religious services live about four years longer than average and have a much lower (up to 33 percent less) risk of death at any given moment.
Today's Devotional
March 22 - The land of Canaan and the new heaven and the new earth
“For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” - Hebrews 11:10
Scripture reading: Hebrews 11:8-16
God is on a mission for His glory to make all things new in a world where His people and His world will once again dwell in His loving presence and be people and places where heaven and earth meet. This means >
Today's Manna Podcast
A King of Peace
Serving #1153 of Manna, prepared by J. deGelder, is called "A King of Peace".
