New Home

Like a thousand students tapping their pencils on their desk anxiously, so the rain poured around me. It wasn't dark, but it certainly wasn't bright and the wind was a strong sort of gusty; strong enough to create chills in my soaked body but rather infrequently. The clock had trickled past seven when I left and when I finally set foot on my doorstep it was eight-thirty. I was in such rain for at least half the time, somewhere between 45 minutes an hour and an hour. I loved every second of it!

I have found a new home. Peculiar and foreign as it still may be it definitely is home and I hope it will be for a LONG time. Since I moved to Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship two weeks ago there has been much to laugh about, enjoy and tell about. I'll never get it all out here, but, I find it necessary to try because I anticipate this next season to be a very important staple in my life.

I must start with the people. After all, the people make the place. At least in my mind anyway. And if you ever come and find this community rather peculiar you probably need to look no further than the people to find out why. First off there's my house mates Jenn and Michelle. The three of us live in a church so it can be assumed we are a peculiar bunch. We are a pretty wacky trio that has enjoyed many community centered meals together that usually includes at least one item that Michelle or her boyfriend Jared has scooped from a nearby dumpster.

Speak of Jared how about his loft of "Lost Boys"!? The lost boys are generally an eclectic, friendly, gangly, bunch of boys living two subway stations up Bloor from me. It is a beautiful mix of food, laughter, conversation, games, silliness and fellowship every time I've been lucky enough to frequent the place. Every Tuesday they host a pot luck where a variety of friends from the area get together and cook for each other's company. It is a beautiful thing.

Random story time!!
So one time at pot luck I was on my way to the kitchen when I overheard an interesting piece of conversation. "I cook rice in water" said one of the group at the table as I passed. "Awesome I cook rice in milk" I quickly quipped as I strolled by. Waiting in the kitchen was a hairy sexy beast of a man named Nate who is one of many one time pot luck visitors I've met since I started going. "Rice with milk" he pondered, "yeah chocolate milk" I added. His eyes lit up "we should do it!!" he exclaimed excitedly.
The venture to the local 7/11 was brief. Forty steps to be exact (we counted steps on the way back). There we bought a carton of chocolate milk as well as a few other goodies. We spent the next 45 minutes split between the living room and the kitchen excitedly preparing our chocolate rice creation. I give most the credit to Nate for the cooking and presentation. I stirred and stuff but it was mostly his genius leading the way. The finished product was garnished with a yummy chocolate crisp cereal and some Milk Chocolate graded over top. The first serving was received doubtfully by our crowd who were pleasantly surprised that it didn't actually taste so bad. I admit the first serving was a little bland, but, the second serving we flavoured up and was actually pretty good. Both dishes were eaten clean by night's end. Cheers to a successful venture in random sarcasm...

Other intensely cool people down here include Pastor Joe, the new Youth intern Matt, Anoja who has been helping me paint the church and Sophie. Pastor Joe is doing an amazing job here and I am excited to learn from him and work under him for the next year or (hopefully) more. Matt was referred to Joe by the same guy as me and from there we share many other similarities and more intriguingly some major differences. Anoja is a Tamil (people group in Sri Lanka) who has lived most her life in Canada. She is finishing her first year in University and is tons of fun to hang out with. Sophie is on the board, an amazing Mother, one of the church's primary volunteers and all this while going through a round of chemotherapy. We believe she is in the clear now thanks to God's mercy, but, keep her continued health in prayer. Sophie always seems to make me laugh. So yeah, people, I love them!

Soaking wet, a little cold, carrying a soggy Pizza and humoured by the whole experience I set my foot inside the door with a wet squish. I slip slopped up the stairs, stripped and toweled off to the chorus of car horns honked by the local Portuguese or Turkish most recently victor in the Euro Cup. The whole time all I could think was of how good it felt to be home.