Vancouver Again!!

Vancouver, British Columbia. Wow. I love this place. Loved it when I first came here five years ago, loved it ever since. There really is something special about this city.

So many of the parts about this city I remember loving are the same. Commercial Drive remains the coolest stretch of storefronts, restaurants, bars and cafes that I've seen in North America. Hands down. East Hastings (yes the dangerous part) remains a place of need, but, a place filled with people I am comfortable with and love to help whenever I get the chance. The transit system works great and on a clear day, like today, there are mountains visible in every direction. SO COOL.

Upon first arriving at "the Drive" down near Broadview Station my mind was awakened with memories and stories from all kinds of places as I and my gracious host walked North to the comfy little bachelor I've been provided since Monday. Starting with Uncle Fatih's Pizza where I'd enjoyed many a slice as suggested by the local YWAMers who would regularly order from there and told stories of the quality and service provided. There was also Addis Cafe, a spectacular Ethiopian restaurant which was a frequent stop for the teams hosted by YWAM's "Mission Adventures" program which I was helping to facilitate that summer. On top of the restaurants were the many cafes of which I remember Continental Cafe the best because we once used it as a place to brief one of our Mission Adventures teams on why we love Vancouver.

Loving Vancouver was easy being surrounded by these people. They were ripe with excitement about the city they lived in. I learned from them the importance of loving our place, wherever that is and when I left to return to Toronto after that summer I was excited about learning how to love Toronto. 

Since returning to TO there's been lots of bumps and bruises. I've come to call Toronto home and have all sorts of places, stories and people who root me there, but also a lot of pain. The difficulties of having to quickly leave both YWAM and the Church I worked in after YWAM under "messy" circumstances has, with the many difficulties faced by my present community (Jeremiah Community) been draining on every level. Additionally, even with everything we've come through I look ahead and see a daunting task for those of us left in the JC as in some facets we seem to be back at square one of planting the community.  

So I've needed a break, and what a great place for a break. Sharing lunches with old friends and making new friends in the "Servants Vancouver" community has really been a beautiful compliment to the lonely wandering I've otherwise been doing here. A lonely wandering that has me thinking more clearly than I have in months and is getting me more excited for the hockey to start and more excited to return and make another go of finding and establishing home in Toronto. A home that is Christ centered, justice focused, loving and life giving. A home that is a catalyst for the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom coming yes but more importantly a Kingdom available now if only we would love God and love EVERYONE as he has loved us. 

Thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to come here. Thanks especially Mom, you are the best!

God Bless. 

Spontanious Saturday

It's been a while since I've had a lot of routine. You know I missed it for a long time. These days my weeks are pretty full and only getting fuller. Saturday is one of those days that has had a section fill up lately. Our church has recently begun a morning program for kids in the area that includes cartoons and games.

!!Saturday Morning Cartoons!!

Today I was all set up and ready for everyone to show up. As often happens with new programs we've had up and down numbers to start. This week was a down. We had one of our regular families come in but they didn't come until late. While I was waiting spontaneity struck!!

Spontaneity has a certain genius about it. 11 times out of 10 it is enjoyable but you know you've struck gold when it is an activity worth repeating. Today was one of those days. A day that will be mimicked in the future.

So it is 9:45 and myself and a coworker from Germany named Salome are chatting and we come to the false realization that none of the children will be coming this morning. We decide to wait until 10:00 before commencing any tear down and as we are chatting the topic turns to our plans for the day.

Salome came to our Church as a volunteer from a German missions agency called Liebenzell. Since she's come she helped us host a YWAM team from Australia, she has helped with all our programs like Woman's Art Drop In, both Bible studies in the week, Sunday Service, Wednesday Community Dinner and Youth on Fridays. She is fluent in English but still learning more and more. Everyone in the church has appreciated having her around.

Somehow between our two working minds we decided to call some of the Youth up and see who was interested in going out for a day on the town. So I waited till around 10 and did just that. As one might guess many of the Youth were busy, but, a few were interested. A few minutes after I made the call a family showed up to the church and we had a good time watctching part of Shrek and playing blindfolded hide and go seek in a section of our Church.

12:30 rolled around and we had a plan. Two students decided they would like to come and once they arrived we went to the Subway, grabbed ourselves a daypass (unlimited travel for us all!) and were off to Little Italy.

South down Dufferin then East on College we cut our way through the city in hopes of finding Gelato, or something like that. The real plan was to find a good Italien restaurant where we would dine on our next adventure because by this time we'd already established that this was to be a recurring event.

If I was given the chance to do it again we would definately have got out and walked through Little Italy. Hindsight is 20/20 and this day worked out none the less. Things as they were we only saw the side of College our window was facing so some locals suggested we go the the "Diplimatico" or the "Dip". I'll tell you about that next month.

After Little Italy it wasn't long to get to Augusta where we got out and cut through Kensington Market for our lunches. This "cut" was interrupted by a lengthy stop at the Blue Banana (a very large and awesome import store) and a brief stop at a Candy Store. At the Banana we were all eyes but no buys, but it was our discoveries there that prompted an efficient trip to the Candy Store. There between us all some Fudge, a lolly pop and a bag of Jelly Bellies was purchased.

After finally getting out of Kensington Market (an unplanned stop that ate our clock- but was awesome none the less) we quickly proceeded to the Ding Dong Pasteries the Chinese bakery I currently favour in TO. Between the 4 of us we paid $5.2o and had a feasts worth of goodies as the team soon found out.

From Ding Dong we headed back to College and ventured across town to Allen Gardens for a picnic. Given the rain that day many people questioned by idea of a picnic but Allen Gardens is probably the most charming place for a picninc in the whole city on a rainy day. We had our picnic in Texas with the Cacti. That is we ate inside the Greenhouse (I hope that is allowed) in the Cactus section. It was a marvelous time. We tried some new goodies from the Bakery that I hadn't yet tried. My favourite being the coconut puff thing that one of my students picked out.

After this we walked for a while and ended up at the Eaton Center where we got some bubble tea and ate our fudge at a McDonalds overlooking Queen Street. It was pretty cool and we still were late coming home. After such a long day I was pretty tired on the ride home. We almost missed Lansdowne Station (our home station).

All in all it was an epic day and I hope to soon be venturing again for more Sponanious Saturdays.