I have come to realize that living incarnationally in itself will automatically throw in a number of other incarnatonal aspects. One of the major problems faced by people in the DTES (downtown east side) is lonliness. It is in fact one of the root causes for many addicts here. It should not have come as a surprise then, when I was overcome with a deep, aching lonliness last night during my prayer room shift. It did, however, take me entirely off guard, an it took alot of prayer and a bit of frustration before I realized that the feelings I was experiencing were not infact my own. I am still learning slowly about a number of my spiritual giftings, and intercession is one that is very foreign to me.
However, I praise God even now for this feeling of lonliness and emptyness, because it is through this that I will be better equipped to minister to those experiencing the same things (by that I mean 99% of the DTES' population). Just a thought, and perhaps something you can pray if you remember me in yoru prayers: for me to have the strength not to let emotions or feelings get in the way of me doing God's work.
Grace,
Jordan
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Life in the Geto... an introduction my life...
It's Saturday, praise God, and I have nothing terribly pressing that I have to do. I've already gotten used to my new home. Oh yes, perhaps I should let you know what "new home" actally implies. Well, I live on the 7th floor of the Empress Hotel. If the name "Empress Hotel" brings visions of the grand hotel in Victoria, with the queen sitting quaintly sipping tea... think again. The Empress Hotel I am livng in is far, far from the Victoria one. It is placed almost exactly on the corner of Maine an Hastings street, Vancouver. Honestly, I am in no position to complain, and I haven't yet. Though late at night, I have wished that they would get the elivator working, so I wouldn't have to climb the 7 flights of stairs. And I have infact wished that the toilet in my room actually worked, so I wouldn't have to go down the two flights to the otehr girls' room. But no matter, this is what incarnational living is all about, isn't it? Not to mention I am going to have amazing calf muscles after this year ha ha.
What else can I tell you? I'm afraid people keep asking, "How is it going there", which is infact a hard question. Honestly, if we are asking about the DTES, its terrible. I walk by hundreds of people every day who are binded with chains of addiction, lonliness, and mental/physical disibilities. It sucks. But what is worse is this: I'm getting used to it. I walk down the street and forget that this isn't normal. That you don't usually see people sleeping in doorways, or injecting heroine, or walking down the street completely whacked out. And yet, I myself am doing fine. I'm getting a bit of a cold, but other than that I am healthy. I'm not in dire need of anything right now other than laundry detergent, so I should probably go on a little shopping adventure to Army and Navy for that.
I've been meeting alot of people, (over 50 locals), and am actually very excited that we got a 22 year old kid outa here and back to Seashelt (his hometown). He'd only been down here for 4 or 5 days and hated it. It was awesome to watch as the 614 community accepted him and mentored him for the couple days before they took him back to Seashelt (the guys were going that way for a mens conference anyways, so it worked out perfectly).
We actually had an assignment to meet 50 people, which was alot easier than I expected! It also got us to step out and be friendly. The girls living in the Empress went around door to door with cookies to "meet our new neighbors". It was really good. We met a bunch of very friendly people, including a woman named Darcy, and her very fat, very nice cat named Tom.
As far as classes are conerned, I am very excited. We are taking classes on a number of different things such as Biblical interpretation, Greek (that's an extra I am takng just cause I want to haha), School of Justice (we do a major semester long project on justice, attacking some sort of injustice we see around us), Basic spiritual warfare with a crazy world famous speaker, Evangelizm, Drill (aka PE), and Spiritual Basics. I'm very excited about all of them.
A bit on me, hmm. WEll lately I have been very very convicted to read the Bible, and memorize the Bible alot more. I realized that I have wanted so long to do missions as a life long "career", and yet I have not even read the entire Bible! Pathetic, isn't it? God's also been working on some major things I have always dealt with, including understanding his Fatherly heart, and dealing with my struggle with fear (something I have dealth with my entire life). Along with that, He is continually reminding of who I am in him.
Well, I have a nuber of other things I've got todo before I loose this internet connection (its extremely weak).
God bless you all! Email me if you have any prayer requests etc.
Love in Christ Jesus,
Jordan
What else can I tell you? I'm afraid people keep asking, "How is it going there", which is infact a hard question. Honestly, if we are asking about the DTES, its terrible. I walk by hundreds of people every day who are binded with chains of addiction, lonliness, and mental/physical disibilities. It sucks. But what is worse is this: I'm getting used to it. I walk down the street and forget that this isn't normal. That you don't usually see people sleeping in doorways, or injecting heroine, or walking down the street completely whacked out. And yet, I myself am doing fine. I'm getting a bit of a cold, but other than that I am healthy. I'm not in dire need of anything right now other than laundry detergent, so I should probably go on a little shopping adventure to Army and Navy for that.
I've been meeting alot of people, (over 50 locals), and am actually very excited that we got a 22 year old kid outa here and back to Seashelt (his hometown). He'd only been down here for 4 or 5 days and hated it. It was awesome to watch as the 614 community accepted him and mentored him for the couple days before they took him back to Seashelt (the guys were going that way for a mens conference anyways, so it worked out perfectly).
We actually had an assignment to meet 50 people, which was alot easier than I expected! It also got us to step out and be friendly. The girls living in the Empress went around door to door with cookies to "meet our new neighbors". It was really good. We met a bunch of very friendly people, including a woman named Darcy, and her very fat, very nice cat named Tom.
As far as classes are conerned, I am very excited. We are taking classes on a number of different things such as Biblical interpretation, Greek (that's an extra I am takng just cause I want to haha), School of Justice (we do a major semester long project on justice, attacking some sort of injustice we see around us), Basic spiritual warfare with a crazy world famous speaker, Evangelizm, Drill (aka PE), and Spiritual Basics. I'm very excited about all of them.
A bit on me, hmm. WEll lately I have been very very convicted to read the Bible, and memorize the Bible alot more. I realized that I have wanted so long to do missions as a life long "career", and yet I have not even read the entire Bible! Pathetic, isn't it? God's also been working on some major things I have always dealt with, including understanding his Fatherly heart, and dealing with my struggle with fear (something I have dealth with my entire life). Along with that, He is continually reminding of who I am in him.
Well, I have a nuber of other things I've got todo before I loose this internet connection (its extremely weak).
God bless you all! Email me if you have any prayer requests etc.
Love in Christ Jesus,
Jordan
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