Sometimes You Have to Knife Your Way Out

Last year was a year of death. This year was a year of birth. Healthiest financial year since 2005. I took on zero new debt and I paid some of my debts off. 2008, to sum it up, started out nasty and frustrating. It’s ending sweet and fairly collective, all things considered. I mean I have a long way to go, and tough times ahead, very tough times, but I’m smiling. I’ve signed on 30 new clients this year. If their businesses succeed then I’ll get a share of that.

I grew more in my faith this year than any other year I can remember. Sundays at church, Mondays at church, Tuesdays doing homeless outreach, Wednesdays at small groups (or the movies), Thursdays doing outreach, Fridays at the movies. And of course Saturday is laundry day.

Let’s not forget many many outreach nights where we fed the homeless, chatted with young and elderly people and won over people for Jesus in downtown Toronto. We reached over 6,000 people with the gospel this year on a very personal one on one level. Think about that number for a moment. We talked to 6,000 people about Jesus. Gave out 2,000 meals. Remember that giant thanksgiving day outreach for the community? 650 meals at least, many children. Many smiles.

Christmas evening David, Ryan and Kendra came with me to downtown Toronto and we brought Christmas presents to a teen homeless shelter.

2008 was a year of new things for me. New horizons and new visions and sharp correction.

I lost 3” off my waist! I read lots and lots of books. Is there a way to get paid for reading books? I remember running like mad to catch the bus in blizzards and rainstorms. Many of them would be late or out of service or completely packed. I remember being frustrated and biting down on my teeth. I remember amazing times of peace and tranquillity, praying silently when I had no words. I remember my tears. My many many tears.

A thought about myself. I know people who have grown up in the faith. With parents, grandparents, extended family, family gatherings, Christmas’s, a home, money, wisdom that comes from knowing Jesus, a church, faithful friends. They didn’t have the troubles that come from not knowing Jesus. They have what I call the perfect life. No I don’t mean they don’t have troubles. I mean they just have so much more than everyone else right from the start while people like me have to spend the first half of our lives trying to catch up.

I often wonder about those people, so well adjusted and with a smile on their face. I didn’t really have any of those things but I sure do want it for my children. If my kids can’t have it then at least many thousands of other kids will through the missions work I’ve been doing since 1997.

Mr. Chong has a good home now. He came out to visit us on December 25th 2008, our Christmas evening outreach. He knew just where to find us as and opened up his winter parka to show me my (I mean his) fall jacket. He gave me a pat on the shoulder and a big smile. He’s still in my prayers and close to my heart. I have more than 20 positive updates like this from this year alone. Hundreds more positive updates like this since 1997.

Back in grade 4 or 5 my teacher Mr. Wood got frustrated with me, my performance was poor. I was receiving hard daily beatings at home while still earning money to support my family. 5 days a week was school plus work (delivering papers, babysitting, door to door candy sales etc) then the weekends was work work work. On weekends my parents would have the wildest and noisiest parties on the block, making it hard to sleep, and let’s not forget the weekly police visits. Because of this my reading was way behind, not to mention spelling, writing, etc, etc.

I guess the school didn’t know what to do with me so they placed me into the special needs class. I’m not talking about ESL (English as a second language) because I did that when I came to Canada and finished in grade 3. Even though my first and only language was English. I’m talking about the actual special needs class for people with severe mental or physical disabilities. It was very uncomfortable for me. There was a large black girl who wore a helmet and would bang her head against the concrete block wall all day. The other classes in the school could clearly hear the banging. Another boy would be completely silent and then break out in violent fits. That kid would get me into all kinds of trouble, I would be by myself in a corner of the room and he would walk over to me and start screaming or making noise, implicating me in his crazy behaviour. Other children were sweet and friendly. Some were in wheelchairs, others I think should have been in institutions for the violently insane. Maybe I myself should have been in one of those institutions. After a while of this class I decided it was time to gather up my strength and get the hell out of there for good, my main fear being that the black girl with the helmet would one day go crazy and kill us all. She was enormous and very frightening. I begged and begged for them to put me back in the normal class with my friends, I promised to work harder than ever but my pleas fell on deaf ears.

I felt absolutely defeated while walking home every day. To this day I don’t think my parents know or care that this ever happened.

One day during class I was playing at the water bin. It was a white plastic bin, shaped like a deep pool table, child sized. It was filled with water and different objects. I called over the boy who was always getting me in trouble, and waited till the class was fairly quiet. I pinched his arm so hard I thought flesh would come off it. He screamed so loud and started going so crazy that the teacher couldn’t contain him. She had to call emergency help from our principal, who heard him scream from downstairs. He grabbed him kicking and screaming and took him out of the class (the entire class went wild, think of a zoo gone wild or a prison riot). When the teachers talked about it they knew very well that I planned my escape from the class and agreed that I was smart enough to be in the regular school program.

So that was it for me. They kicked me out of the special needs class and I was placed back into normal classes. I learned a lesson: Sometimes you have to nice your way out of a situation, and sometimes you have to knife your way out of a situation.

That day I walked home, smiling the entire way.

Limited Power Supply

Last night I got a boost of energy and I drove around trying to do my errands. It doesn’t matter how early I wake up or how late I go to do my errands, there’s always been a problem during this month of December. The line ups are insurmountable. Wal Mart must be making record revenues because there isn’t even walking room in the stores during some hours. I called around many different stores and a Wal Mart in Square One had tires in stock. Not winter tires mind you but whatever, I don’t care anymore, I just need any kind of tires on my car. The ones I have are paper thin and it’s been an amazing miracle from Jesus that they’ve lasted this long.

I had to save up for 10 months to actually get these tires, so glad to mark it off my to do list.

Unfortunately wal mart wasn’t taking anymore appointments for the day so I had to drive (in nasty traffic) to other wal marts and tire places, all that were not taking anymore clients.

So early this morning I woke up and I thought “TODAY I WILL GET THESE BLOODY ERRANDS DONE FINALLY”. But no, the power instantly went out across the neighbourhood and so I was limited in what I could do at home. You know laundry, cleaning, even making myself a cup of coffee. SO I got into the car and head out to do some outside errands.

Now all the snow, and we had lots the last week – was melted. Today we are having strong wind storms, with 60km winds and wind gusts of 80km according to CityTV.

Luckily Wal Mart had power, and they installed my tires. I ate some breakfast, did some errands, not all mind you, because again – the line ups are simply silly. Is there really a recession? People are spending like their money grows on trees. Or maybe everyone is like me, trying to get their piled up errands done.

Anyway, it took about 3.5 hours to do like 2 errands, I’m not kidding. I couldn’t even put the windshield washer in the car because the wind would simply spray it away instantly.

Anyway, I’m back home now with a cup of coffee and the power is back on and I’m sure I can do a lot more.

Anyway, I’m just really thankful to have new tires on the car. I still can’t believe how long it took to save up, and they aren’t winter tires like I wanted, but they are new, and I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I still have to do an oil change, breaks, fix the antenna, secure the stereo, but that can wait till next year.

An Asif Zamir Christmas

Best Christmas ever. No, I didn’t get any ‘presents’ like you’d think. I didn’t have a tree or decorations or even Christmas dinner. I rarely ever do. I just don’t care about those things.

Yesterday, aka Christmas day of 2008 I woke up, drank my coffee, prepped my schedule and went out to do my Christmas day prayers. It took me about an hour to pack up all the gifts my friends, family and church donated, about 200+ fantastic gifts in all. Clothing, books, personal items, toys, stuffed animals, nic nacs, video games, board games, you name it, really nice stuff.

I drove to David’s house first. I haven’t had a conversation with David in over 6 months. Time flies by and we haven’t had those Wednesday night bible studies like we used to. We drove up and picked up Ryan, who had even more presents, even though we didn’t have the room to hold them. Finally we picked up Kendra and went to the church. You should have seen the car, I should have taken a picture. We all had presents piled on us and around us, even around our feet. If you were just passing by you wouldn’t know there were people in the car, just beautifully wrapped presents.

We had some good conversations in the car. Kendra was thankful that she still lives with her parents, things are well for her. She’s job hunting for an office job and I told her that it would be in her best interests to hit the library and start reading up about business, office work, administrative assistant type work. Ryan is looking for an apartment because where he lives right now is dampening his spirit.

We left for downtown around 7pm, and got to the Covenant House around 7:45pm. We spent time there with the staff members chatting with them and finding out about what we can do in the future. One suggestion was we could perform a church service for their 100 youths (not that they can promise that anyone would show up). I think it’s a great idea and I’ve begun to pray about it. Taking the church service right to the people, instead of expecting the people to show up, I like this idea. The staffs eyes lit up and they told us how their care closet was empty (they showed it to us, it was really empty) and because of that some of their youths would go without this Christmas – but not anymore. Nothing brings me more joy than to do something like this every Christmas.

Around 8:30 we left to go park in our ‘normal’ spot. We walked around the square and stopped at Timothy’s coffee house to get some beverages and to warm up. We walked back to the car and then met another church group and started our trek to minister to the homeless at Toronto City Hall. Richard was our only regular homeless friend that night, we didn’t see Billy or Cubby or anyone else. We saw new people though. Richard (who has no legs and lives on his wheelchair in the brutal cold) told us how a family picked him up and he had Christmas at their house. He showed us the presents he received from them including a portable dvd player.

I drove everyone home, and then I drove home, actually, first I drove around town for about an hour, got some pizza even. I turned off my stereo because I was happy about the best Christmas ever.

I Do It Because

On Sunday Leslie asked me a question I couldn’t answer due to time constraints, she asked how I got such a heart for serving. I think there are a few reasons. First of all when I was growing up my parents raised me that way. I was always in the habit of giving away all (I mean all) of my possessions to others (not always by choice). If some other child was in need, mom or gramma would take my things and give them away. Be it a toy, or clothing or my most prized possessions such as my transformers wrist watch. Many times my bedroom would be empty and I knew that whatever little I had was being enjoyed by people who had nothing. Not that we had much, we were pretty poor ourselves.

All of my money always went to my family for our expenses and these days to missions work – so serving became natural. Mom would volunteer me many times to help other people, even when I needed help myself.

As I grew older mom would ask me to help people as much as possible. One time we were in the car driving down Goreway drive and a man in a wheelchair at Westwood Mall couldn’t get onto the sidewalk because it wasn’t wheelchair accessible. Everyone was just walking right by him giving him no acknowledgement. I ran across the street and helped him across the road onto the sidewalk. I can’t remember his name but he said he would never forget me. Mom was the one who ordered me to help him, yet I feel that I was the one who got the benefit.

When I got saved I just jumped right into serving. Children’s church, youth, young adults, food bank, outreach, evangelism, missions, general church you name it. Shovelling snow, cleaning the building, errands, volunteering a day here and there, volunteering a day a week, 2 days a week, 4 days a week, and now 5 to 6 days a week.

My mom got saved, sis got saved, different family members got saved. God gave me a heart for ministry, really caring about getting people saved and delivered. I wanted everyone to know Jesus. I still do. When I go to a church, even a new church for the first time, people are usually drawn to talk to me, vent to me and tell me all of their problems. Even just doing my day to day errands it’s not unusual for strangers to chat me up and tell me their life story. (It’s a good thing, just makes me late for almost every appointment I have). But it makes me think God built me this way.

Today my passion burns stronger than ever and I have experience and a little more wisdom on the subject of giving and serving. I’ve given many times when I had nothing to give. I’ve given out of my rent money, food money, vacation money. I’ve given more than I had. I’ve borrowed to give. I’ve given of my time, my energy, sometimes of my sanity. I’m always keeping my ears open to see if someone needs help and I always think “maybe I can do something.” Of course sometimes all I can do is offer my prayers and encouragement.

It’s still a difficult question to answer though – how did I get such a heart for service. I do it because it makes me feel good. I do it because God says it’s the right thing to do. I do it because it’s natural for me to do. I do it because I can’t help but to not do it. I do it because it makes me feel like I’m showing love to God. I do it to show God that His work in me is not for nothing.

40 People For Dinner

These past few weekends I’ve rested. I mean rested from work. I still do a lot of chores and errands. Endless endless errands.

Last night 3 of my guests cancelled out on dinner so I drove up to Kendra’s and we started our trip down to the restaurant. I asked her how come she can come to all the dinners but not always the community service and she laughed as if I was joking. Any way it was raining and I like that.

We got to the restaurant, there were about 40 of us in all. I sat beside Leslie who lives in Aurora. She works at a Christian company that takes care of the disabled. She earns a decent salary. Has a big family. Does a gift exchange for Christmas instead of buying hundreds of gifts. She tried some of my fish and chips and I tried some of her steak and I realized I should have ordered the steak. Dinner was super delicious.

Anyway, we did a gift exchange, you know that game where you choose a gift or steal a gift from someone else. I hate the game but whatever. Well I brought a bamboo plant, in a very nicely decorated pot. A small child, a girl asked for it at the end of the evening and of course it was given to her. I got a bag of gum and a coffee mug, I gave it to Kendra, I would never use it.

It was fun to have fun time with everyone. You know we weren’t talking business or ministry or anything like that (for the most part) I mean we mentioned stuff here and there but we were really just having a good time. For the last few years we’ve just been feeding the homeless and talking to people about Jesus and we haven’t had much time to just be friends.

Of course today it’s back to work. I’m prepping to chat with the young adults about outreach opportunities tonight and try to get the lazy bums motivated for something other than free food. Have I mentioned I hate young adults?

Endurance

I worked during the day, got a good amount done. I got downtown early, heading out to do some errands, which I hate to do downtown because the city makes little sense. Canada Post’s website said the Canada post at Eaton Centre would be open until 9pm, but I got there at 735pm to learn that they closed at 730, so I had to go to money mart to make a money order, then a different place for an ATM, and then walked around the city looking for a Canada post – of course couldn’t find one and nobody I asked knew where there was one, not even a worker at the Closed Canada post location in Eaton Centre. Frustrating.

I walked back to the cars, we met our team (which seems to be getting smaller and smaller each week as it gets colder) and we started our mission. We chatted with Richard, our friend in the wheelchair. He lost his wife and daughter a few months ago, and then a few weeks after that lost his legs. We met Billy, a tall and slender young man who is always grateful for the supplies and food we give him. We promised him socks for next time. I’ve put it on my calendar so I won’t forget. Mr. Chong was nice and full, Cubby was drunk out of his mind and didn’t even notice us despite my calls to him. And that was it. It looks like we brought way too much food in-fact. That’s a first. We walked over to our evangelism spot to meet our Mennonite friends. It’s so delightful to have them there with us while we evangelize. It was a good night, we handed out probably 500 gospel flyers and we talked to some people about Jesus.

It’s Amy’s last Thursday with us until March of next year. How sad. I’ll see her once more for dinner on Sunday and then that’s it, she’ll fly out. First Manitoba then an orphanage in the Philippines. It’s nice to have your friends close by while you do ministry. On the way back home I stopped at Macdonalds, cheating on my diet. I regretted it afterwards because I’ve been eating so healthy and putting all that trash in my tummy made me feel awful. It’s like eating crap.

Saturdays

I like Saturdays. I wake up, jog, pray, read the paper (yes, I read the paper), eat a good breakfast. Some Saturdays I do volunteer work, sometimes I work, sometimes I rest. Today I’ll be working until about 5pm then having some recoup time.

Canada Shouldn’t Have Homeless People

So yesterday I drove to downtown early, hoping to visit some shelters but instead I walked around praying that we would have a successful night for God.

Mr. Chong isn’t doing very well, he doesn’t look good. Sad, sick and just looking like he has no hope. I wish there was more we could do. I am trying to hook him up with a home as best I can. Cubby was drunk, actually I had seen him much earlier in the evening coming out of the LCBO, but by this time he was really out of it. We got them all hot drinks from Tim Hortons.

Amy is leaving soon for her missions trip. We evangelized on the corner of Yonge and Dundas, I spoke to an old man who told me he was going to hell when he died, and I spoke to a young man who also told me he would go straight to hell when he died. It’s a big change from the masses who automatically feel everyone goes to heaven after they die. The old man really struck me though, you could see the sadness in his face. When I gave him a gospel flyer and told him that he could go to heaven, his friend asked for one as well.

Robert spent the whole time talking to a young lady who used to be a Muslim but now was more of a Hindu, talking about nirvana and how we could all be gods. I always like to remind our Hindu friends that they came to Canada because the Christian God makes better countries than the Hindu gods.

Around 10:20pm we walked back to our cars and left for home. It was a good night, and I pray the people we talked to that night would end up in heaven with us.

Hmm

Wisdom is knowing when to keep your mouth shut.

I Keep Trying

Last night at young adults we did another Rob Bell video, very good stuff and it leads to challenging discussions. You always learn things about people that you never would have thought of when you stick them in a circle and encourage them to talk. The quiet people have a lot to say, amazing stories to tell.

This year, more ministry than ever before. I mean really life impacting ministry, not just in-church stuff, but street ministry, outreach ministry. Not just paying for missionaries to go overseas (I did that as well) but all the local stuff. Soul winning, life saving work.

Stuck In A Rut

I usually always have something to say after Thursday’s homeless outreach and evangelism night. Some nights are difficult, bitter weather, displaced team members and just an overall feeling of blueness can sour the evening.

We got to chat with some of the regulars. Mr. Chong, told me that he receives about $211 per month in government assistance and that some of his friends pretend to be disabled and receive $500 or more but he refuses. I feel bad for him, and he is one person of whom I would put in an apartment asap if I could. He’s such an honest person. He always pulls out his wallet and shows me paperwork to prove his story. He doesn’t have to because I believe him. He never has anything crazy to say. He’s very accurate. He also rarely complains, if ever actually. Last night I saw a look on his face that I haven’t seen in a while. A look of concern. This would be his first winter homeless. I wonder if there’s anything else I can do. Just 2 years ago I could have immediately put him into a home for 6 months but I’m stuck in a rut myself.

After we took care of our homeless friends we headed to Dundas Square where we evangelized for a good hour. It was a good night.

I got to speak to a man of Russian decent. He was waiting for a bus. I asked him “would you like to answer the million dollar question?”. At first he walked away, but later came back asking me how much it would cost. I should have mentioned it was free.

He told me his view, that he didn’t believe in God, or that if there was a God that He would have no care to reach out to people. I pray that God does reach out to him. He said he would be very interested in knowing God, but how?

You Gotta Do What God Tells You To Do

I still don’t like using the microphone when I speak in public.

At church we watched an amazing 15 minute video from Rob Bell about the spirit of God and breathing and the name of God. I lead a short study after. After service I got to finally sit down and chat with Joe, Ashton, Erica and Brittany. Ashton, Brittany and Gerrald are all going to Australia for God in 2009. Meanwhile Caroline comes back next week from 12 months there. What is about Christian people leaving Canada? Please stay! We have a shortage of good Christians here.

It makes me happy that they are going to do that for God, I feel bad that people like Ashton feels she might stay there forever, or at least not come back to Canada and do missions forever. I guess as a young person I could have done the same. Sometimes I feel that I still can. I support a bunch of full time missionaries and part time missionaries and I’m always sad to see them leave Canada. But you’ve got to do what God wants you to do.

Finally The Youngest One In The Room

Last night I went to church for the evening service, a mens choir was performing some hymns for us which was ultra boring. All of the men were seniors, and thus most of the people in the audience were seniors, I was the youngest there which was a nice change.

Please Interpret This Dream!

Lastnight I had a dream that this guy came to town who had super powers, and he demolished buildings for a living and he could take down a house in just a few seconds and clean up the mess as well. Well anyway I was working in a grocery store and I asked the guy how he could do such things, but at the time he was giving his girlfriend a massage so he got angry that I disrupted them. So he forced me to eat a pig. This was all happening at 3525 Brandongate drive, the townhouses where I used to live. Definitely one of the most bizarre dreams I’ve ever had.

Yesterday I worked, and then headed out to church to pickup my pals for a night of homeless outreach and evangelism. James, Ryan and Rebecca came. Shayvon couldn’t make it but she brought lot’s of delicious foods for us to give out. We got downtown at 8:30 and fed the homeless. One man, named Mike asked us for prayer – but he said he couldn’t pray himself because he didn’t know any of the words. It was heartwarming and I could see the conern in his eyes. He works full time but it’s not easy getting an apartment, I know what that’s like.

We met some of our usuals including Cubby and Mr. Chong. I’m concerned about Mr. Chong because he doesn’t seem to have the wherewithal to actually get into housing. But I’m still hopeful.

Anyway, last night we met a large group that drives all the way from Kingston every week. It’s 6 hours round trip but God has called them to minister to people in Toronto and they’ve been helping the community a lot. A Christian group of course.

After we met up with the rest of the group Amie was there, and she was super hyper! At first I thought maybe something was wrong. We evangelized on Yonge and Dundas for a good while, it was very cold but after a while we didn’t notice. It’s very easy to talk to people – “where will you go after you die” I ask them. It’s a hard question for even the most aggressive athiest to ignore. Each person’s soul cries out evidence of Jesus Christ, regardless of what that person believes.

I got home around 12:45am. Ouch. But well worth it. I was scared that I wouldn’t make it through the night because I’m fighting off the flu. Today I have a moderate fever, nothing major.

A Bit Groggy

I’m groggy. I didn’t sleep well last night. I tried to but it was really hard, so many things kept making noise. My cell phone battery was dying and kept beeping, the carbon monoxide battery started dying and thus it was beeping (even though the stupid thing is plugged into the wall). Saturday was good, I went to a African missions fund raising BBQ to help out and found out they didn’t get many supporters.

Of Course

Doh. This happens every year, my internet has been down for about 3 days, causing me such a headache, I can’t get much of my work done and I’ve had to compromise on which work actually gets done. When I call tech support, I only get people with heavy foreign accents, English isn’t even their second language it’s like their 4th.

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

Penny wise and pound foolish. That’s how to describe people who pinch their pennies while they let million dollar opportunities fly by.

Last night when I showed up at the church I expected to see 75 people for homeless outreach. I saw 4 people. I was pissed. I was really pissed. It’s always the same people who do all the work. I go from church to church and pastors tell me that it’s the same handful who do all the work while the other 99% do nothing and complain.

I waited over an hour hoping and praying that more people would show up. Nobody showed else showed up.

We went downtown and met with hundreds of homeless people. We ran out of food and supplies quickly. There were a lot more families on the streets this time around as the economy has turned sour. One man didn’t even have shoes. Someone stole them them at the shelter. At least we had fresh socks to give him. One man didn’t have teeth and so he couldn’t eat much of the food we had for him, we’ll remember to bring softer things for next time.

Last time we were out some people requested peanut butter and jelly so we REMEMBERED that and brought it around for them this time. Thank you team!

These same people who never ever show up for volunteer work are always the ones crying out that God doesn’t answer their prayers, that they are always suffering, that they need a miracle from God. Gee I wonder why they never get their blessings. These are the same people who always remember that there is a dinner meeting after church. They always remember the free BBQ’s and the free pizza parties. They are never absent from free food nights, they never forget those. The bible says that these people will be cast into hell. That’s all I have to say in the matter.

Helping Sarah Move

Happy birthday Canada!

Last week I was worried. My cellphone was not on for 5 full days because I hadn’t loaded money on it (it’s prepaid) and I was waiting for Sarah to call me regarding helping her move. Also I had no money for gas and the gas light was on. Saturday afternoon I paid the cell phone and got it turned on, filled the gas tank ($57 LOL) and paid my self-storage fees which were overdue. I was hopeful that I didn’t miss out on an opportunity to help a new friend. I was more upset about missing out on that opportunity than I was about not having money.

I worked till around 1, then I left to do my errands. At 2pm I was at Sarah’s. Paul was there also. I figured it would take about 2 hours. It took 8.

I got there and we started loading things into the car. I figured 2 or 3 trips. It took about 6 trips to Sarah’s, 2 to Paul’s, 1 to Sarah’s dad’s. Moving is always hard work, and I know how hard it is so that’s why I’m helping a near stranger move. It’s important for me to do this.

The first trip we met Sarah’s landlord. We moved in some stuff then went back to load more stuff into my car, which is a compact car but really has a lot of space. We had some good conversations, but an especially good one when we took a break for about 30 minutes while waiting for the new landlord to come back home from running some errands. We talked about some of our favourite hobbies including film making. Sarah and Paul like Anime and I’m not certain what that is.

Actually, before I forgot – I only just met Paul and Sara like 2 weeks ago. Also I found out that Paul used to go to my old church and we were both scammed by the same person and I told him that even though he lost more money than I did, I was screwed over just as much because I was left with a bad reputation.

We went to Paul’s house to deliver a gecko lizard, which I held in my hands. Yes, I Asif held a lizard in my hand. Paul has an awesome bedroom with drums and a computer and a tv with video games. He used to clean out houses and some of the things he’s found from the abandoned ones include ammunition, a sniper scope and a spent rocket, I won’t lie, seeing shotgun shells in his room didn’t bother me but I was a bit taken aback by the rocket even though it was disarmed.

Sarah and I drove to her dad’s house, even though it was a short drive away (and it was now dark) it felt like we were up north in cottage country. We lugged the bed and another (much nicer) desk up a what seemed like endless stairs.

We were all so exhausted!

We drove back, picked up Paul and then I dropped them off at Paul’s house. I drove straight to Lick’s but they were closed as soon as I walked in so I settled for Macdonalds.

I thanked God for giving me such an opportunity to help my new friends and I consider it good will to help someone who would have otherwise struggled really hard to move on their own. I know what that’s like. I really know what’s that like.

Today I’m just back to work as normal, actually it’s a holiday but yeah – I feel better doing at least a few hours of work.

I slept really well last night. Like, really well.

Plain Truths

Have I said this before? If I invite everyone to a pizza party, everyone will show up. If I invite everyone to do volunteer work, just a handful of people will show up. People will rearrange their schedules for free pizza, but they won’t for ministry work. People will lie to their bosses and say they are sick for a party, but they won’t to do God’s work. This is why TV Evangelists use gimmicks, people are bored with plain truths.

Finally

This week, I made more progress at my work projects than I did in all of 2007 and 2006 combined.

There

Tipping point, that’s what I said last time isn’t it? I’m still there, closer and closer each day.

My Old Friend Gabriel

We had about 300+ people for service and I know some of them made decisions to serve God in a greater way. We usually have about 75 but this was a special event. Saturday and Sunday I did lots and lots and lots of chores. Yesterday I cleaned up the car, made it shiny and new looking, it took hours to clean the interior but I also fixed up some broken items and replaced things that needed to be. It really looks good on the inside now.

Gabriel and I had a chance to talk yesterday after about 8 years. LOL. He just walked right up to me. I met Gabriel not long after I gave my life to Christ and we went camping together with our church group back in like 1999 or something in Bancroft. We had to drag him kicking and screaming but he had a good time, I still have photos of the trip. He moved back to Newfoundland and spent many months in the hospital because he had tumours growing on his spine. It’s so odd to know people and then have them disappear for years only to see them again and then hear their extraordinary stories of survival and faith. Because there were so many people I couldn’t talk to him for very long and I’m afraid I didn’t get his contact information properly so I hope to see him again soon.

The Sun Is Shining In My Eyes

Last night I was fighting off the flu (I think) so I slept for 12 hours. This morning around 7:30am one of my annoying roommates was banging on my bedroom door. Instead of telling them to get lost I just chuckled and got up. I have a sore throat. My moustache is too bushy. The sun is shining in my eyes. It’s chilly. I have intermittent fevers. I’m covered in bedbug bites. My life is sucky right now.

The Car Will Start When It Wants To So Buzz Off!

It’s been one week with the car, now granted it wouldn’t start on Saturday, Sunday I needed to get a boost, Tuesday it wouldn’t start, Wednesday I needed to get a boost, and now the weather is warmer and it starts most of the time. My neighbour’s car wouldn’t start and he asked me for a boost and I told him I need someone to give me a boost first lol.

Even with the dying battery (I’ll replace it as soon as I can afford it) it’s been uplifting to have a car, even if its simply parked. I even hooked up the stereo properly (there’s a stereo in the dash that hasn’t been hooked up properly), but not the radio cause the antenna wire is destroyed.

Now If I had some more money I could go somewhere, lol!

Continuing

Sheesh. So much stress my eyes are constantly twitching. I think it’s just too much all at one time, and nothing working at all. Nothing. On another note I’m already in the 6th or I think 7th book of the Anne of Green Gables series (Anne of Ingleside). She has 6 children and the story has become darker compared to the light hearted comedic original. I read that Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote the books after her own life and she struggled a lot in her latter years. Sheesh.