Logan, me, Wes, and Rachel
This weekend I did “field ed,” which is part of being in Millar. Everyone is designated to different teams to do service outside of the school. My main field ed is Chorale, where we will do a tour at the end of the year, performing a musical in different towns. I got to also be a part of the “Healing Hearts” team. I went for the first time this weekend. We went to Healing Hearts church in Regina. We swept, mopped and buffed their floors, and tried to clean their chairs with a funny kind of vacuum with a squirty bit and a suction bit and a scrubby bit. The best part of the weekend for me was Saturday night, though, where four of us got to ride on the Love Bus. The Love Bus is a school-bus made over into a sandwich room that goes out to the streets and gives people sandwiches, donuts, chips, coffee, hot chocolate, and water. There’s also jackets and blankets available to give away, as well as teddies for the kids, and a little booklet with the churches that support the Bus listed on it. In the back of the bus there is worship going on, and we were to ask the people after we were done talking with them if they would like us to pray for them. Sometimes they would burst onto the bus and announce, “I’m DRUNK! Please pray for me!” The situations varied from extremely silly to extremely profound and spiritual. One guy, dubbed ‘super dave,’ immediately after sitting down threw his hand up to reveal silver-painted fingernails. He looked at us incredulously and asked us, “who would do this to me? How is anyone going to take me seriously?” with a gleam in his eye. I wonder if he actually didn’t remember who did that to him. It was very skillfully applied, though. The cutest thing that happened on the bus was when Olivia, a darling little girl, received a teddy bear. She had been very shy, unwilling to talk to the bus worker beside her. But when she saw the bear her eyes grew wide and she gasped in delight. It was precious. After we gave the teddy we asked her mum if we could pray for her. This changed the tenor of the conversation, and her mum proceeded to inform us of her own mother who was in detox, and how hard that was. Olivia, apparently, was the one who encouraged her to pray at home. I was inspired by that little girl, with her innocent face and sombre situation. I pray that she will grow up a beautiful flower, despite her sad situation. We just don’t see this when we drive through a city. We see the commercialism and the advertisements. We see the nice buildings on the main streets. We forget that there are hells in every city, where people live. How are we going to remember them? How are we going to love them like God does? How are we going to care if we drive through, oblivious to the world that exists outside our commute from work to home? I really like the Love Bus because it literally Goes to where people are and shows Christ’s love to them. The church’s strategy most times is to draw people onto our own turf. This isn’t bad, per se. However, we forget that what we think is Normal is very hard for other people to adjust to. I would imagine that if someone were trying to get me to join their club I would be a bit miffed if they were unwilling to come to my home and meet my friends but very excited about taking me and transplanting me into their friendship circles. Again, I would like to point out that bringing people to church or inviting them over for supper is very good! However I would like to challenge you to love boldly, and Go! Our greatest commandment is to love God, and to love others. How are we going to show love to the people of the world if we’re so comfortable in our christian bubbles? We don’t even KNOW about the need! We settle for praying for the nebulous immaterial masses of the unsaved, and serving each other in the church. (also a good thing, but insufficient in completing our call to love) I was challenged with this this weekend. I want to become a person who goes out and loves. I want to show God how much I love Him by loving my neighbours. This is hard to be willing to do. Before I left to go on the bus I was filled with stubborn unwillingness. I muscled past it, though, and it was so worth it! I look forward to the next hard thing that God asks me to do, because in doing it I show God with my actions that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to fall madly in love with Him.
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