The infamous Tar Ponds, one of Canada’s most notorious industrial blights, was a toxic mess left behind after almost a century of steelmaking at the Sydney Steel plant in Cape Breton. But four years ago, the task of transforming one million tons of raw sewage, heavy metals, dioxins, PCBs and other toxins into a green space was begun. Today, the tar ponds are gone. The space they once occupied is now known as Open Hearth Park, a green area of about 96 acres of beautiful trees, green grass and public art and sports fields. It has been called “quite a transformation.” It beautifully illustrates God’s ability to transform people characterized by failure, wrong-doing, defeat and despair , if they’re willing to ask. Paul said, “…if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature, old things have passed away, , …all things have become new.” And Jesus described this transformed life , saying, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell