Sunday, July 17, 2005
Vancouver, eh?
Got back from my mission trip yesterday around 6-ish. It was an intense week both in the city and in my life. Needless to say, God is tricky, as Luke likes to say- And I suppose it's true in a sense. I was totally unprepared for everything that I did last week because I was not in my comfort zone for most of the time.
In the mornings I went to the local Union Gospel Mission building that was a drug and alcohol rehab center. Me working with adults? Men who are trying to recover from their past? What was God thinking? Well He was- and I wasn't. In the afternoons we did VBS- and I tried hard, but it had seemed that the morning had sucked all the energy from me. All week it seemed like I was running as fast as I could, but wasn't going anywhere. That frustrated me and wore me out.
Wednesday night when I would be usually going to Traffic at home, the whole group (a church from Denver and Calgary) went on a prayer walk and then went to Street Church. The prayer walk was intense to say the least. It was heart-breaking to see all the needles, needle packages and alcohol lying freely around the street. Let alone all the people who were saturated by it. We walked around the poorest part of Vancouver- and saw things that most people never see in their lifetime. I remember walking past a woman with a needle in her arm, wondering what had happened for her to be in such a place...
That's what last week brought out- thoughts about people's past. As we all heard the homeless' stories, we soon learned that our preconceived sterotypes were dead wrong. These people have stories all their own and lives that are totally different from the next person. That just because they're currently in the same spot now doesn't mean that they all lived the same life. It makes so much sense now, I don't know why I didn't realize it before.
This trip was difficult in the sense that I was dealing with things that I never had before. Luke and I were working some grey areas in our relationship, I was in a place I wasn't really sure that I would be..successful at, the countless homeless filled me with hopelessness and the drugs smoothered everything. It was harder than last year, but yet, just as fruitful.
In the mornings I went to the local Union Gospel Mission building that was a drug and alcohol rehab center. Me working with adults? Men who are trying to recover from their past? What was God thinking? Well He was- and I wasn't. In the afternoons we did VBS- and I tried hard, but it had seemed that the morning had sucked all the energy from me. All week it seemed like I was running as fast as I could, but wasn't going anywhere. That frustrated me and wore me out.
Wednesday night when I would be usually going to Traffic at home, the whole group (a church from Denver and Calgary) went on a prayer walk and then went to Street Church. The prayer walk was intense to say the least. It was heart-breaking to see all the needles, needle packages and alcohol lying freely around the street. Let alone all the people who were saturated by it. We walked around the poorest part of Vancouver- and saw things that most people never see in their lifetime. I remember walking past a woman with a needle in her arm, wondering what had happened for her to be in such a place...
That's what last week brought out- thoughts about people's past. As we all heard the homeless' stories, we soon learned that our preconceived sterotypes were dead wrong. These people have stories all their own and lives that are totally different from the next person. That just because they're currently in the same spot now doesn't mean that they all lived the same life. It makes so much sense now, I don't know why I didn't realize it before.
This trip was difficult in the sense that I was dealing with things that I never had before. Luke and I were working some grey areas in our relationship, I was in a place I wasn't really sure that I would be..successful at, the countless homeless filled me with hopelessness and the drugs smoothered everything. It was harder than last year, but yet, just as fruitful.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Not Sure if This is Good...
You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.
What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com |
Friday, July 01, 2005
ahrikabamboo...
The youth group went out to the Gray's on Wednesday- and played a totally complicated game...involving flour and communists. It seems everything in our youth group has something to do with communism. I aquired 20 misquitoe bites and one spider bite (i think) that has grown to the size of a walnut without me stratching it...
Anyways-
I had almost forgotten how the trees sound in the wind and how calm water looks at night when you can see the stars and you can hear the wild animals you may or may not want coming near you. I had almost forgotten how beuatiful voices sound in the warm night air even after you were screaming at the top of your lungs- I almost forgot how much I love being outdoors- minus bugs with teeth.
That simple little trip to Millersburg now has caused me to have a yearn for Mayfield- to be so secluded and just plain AWAY. Away from my parents, my sister, finding a job, TV, Radio- from it all...and to feel so close to God.
This however always brings up the point, why don't I take away the distractions here? If I yearn to be so close to God, then why don't I make something happen?
It's a good question. I'm a slacker is the only excuse I can come up with- Just another thing I need to work on...
It was fun nonetheless though- anything that causes me to think and to evalute my life is never a lost cause.
Anyways-
I had almost forgotten how the trees sound in the wind and how calm water looks at night when you can see the stars and you can hear the wild animals you may or may not want coming near you. I had almost forgotten how beuatiful voices sound in the warm night air even after you were screaming at the top of your lungs- I almost forgot how much I love being outdoors- minus bugs with teeth.
That simple little trip to Millersburg now has caused me to have a yearn for Mayfield- to be so secluded and just plain AWAY. Away from my parents, my sister, finding a job, TV, Radio- from it all...and to feel so close to God.
This however always brings up the point, why don't I take away the distractions here? If I yearn to be so close to God, then why don't I make something happen?
It's a good question. I'm a slacker is the only excuse I can come up with- Just another thing I need to work on...
It was fun nonetheless though- anything that causes me to think and to evalute my life is never a lost cause.
