Once again Rob Bell leaves me inspired. I am really looking forward to seeing him live in February in Vancouver. There is something in the way he writes that names my experience. In this book I couldn’t help but find a huge connection between suffering and creativity. It may sound sad, but I am most creative when I am suffering.

Would I rate this for church planting… I can’t sorry. If I did I would feel wrong. I am not sure why. No rating today.

I recommend this book, but not in the knowledge way. I recommend you buy it, read it, dream and then give it away. Of course someone might find you a little odd giving away a coffee table book… yes its that big. But its not a book I can keep around. Someone will get this book from me this holiday season. I hope they are as inspired as I was.

I wanted to pass on a post my wife Anna posted to our churches email list this weekend after our church met at the salvation army due to little nest being occupied. I was really encouraged by it and I hope that we this might become more of a regular occurrence at the open house.

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Hi TOH,

Tonight, a fellow named George joined us at our meeting at the Salvation Army Church. Myself and others were able to listen to his story and I was very moved. His story didn’t include the drugs and the mental illness that affects so many in the downtown Eastside (I’m prepared of course to acknowledge that he could have lied but frankly I don’t care. I listened and my heart went out to him). George’s was noticeably shaken up from having no place to stay and had no desire to remain on the street. His youthfulness and shame for being in this situation stood out to me.

With Derek, Christine, Jem, Andrea and Kyle’s help, we booked him a stay at a hostel for two nights. I went into the hostel to pay for the accommodation. The hostel manager looked over George’s ID and said he couldn’t stay there because he was from Vancouver. The hostel was for international visitors only. He also felt it necessary to mention that people were having their stuff stolen while staying at the hostel. George’s native status, tall stature, and gay mannerism were all of sudden very hard to miss.

I spoke to the man and said that George was someone I trusted. The man didn’t budge. I asked George if he was OK with going elsewhere and he said he was fine with anywhere warm. Meanwhile, the phone rang and distracted the hostel manage. When he finally hung up, he saw us still standing there. Something made him change his mind and he said George could stay. The hostel was so cozy and warm, the thought of going to a downtown Eastside hotel felt scary and overwhelming (not to mention Kyle was on the street in our car that was about to breakdown with a baby that needed to get to bed).

George was given a towel and immediately treated like a normal guest. It was so touching to see George treated like all the other back-packers. You could immediately see that all he wanted to do was dive into a safe warm bed. I hugged him goodbye and gave him a number to call if he needs further help. I know he has family in Edmonton, so I said if you want to go see them, we could find a way to get him a bus ticket. He started to cry and didn’t know what to say. He will let me know what he decides to do on Wednesday of this week.

As I write this, I can feel myself getting pulled all over the place. I want to believe George, I want to forget about him, I want to protect myself from getting burned, and yet I want Christmas to be about the George’s of the world this year. So I can empathize with you if you have some similar emotions as you consider what you’ve just read.

YET, I noticed something different this time after I got home. I didn’t feel alone. I didn’t feel used or beat up. I didn’t feel jaded by “another downtown Eastside episode”. I knew that somehow all of the open house was behind me. I knew that the money spent for George’s hostel was all payed for by all of us – by project 51. I knew that offering him a bus ticket was something our church would consider using project 51 money for. So in a very profound way, we all payed for George to have a warm bed tonight, we all carried the load, and we all acted. To know and trust that as our lives intersect with real needs, we can confidently be generous and shower people with help and love (knowing project 51 is behind us) makes us a very powerful little church indeed.

love,

Anna
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UPDATE: George would like to go back home, so the open house is going to buy him a bus pass back to Edmonton this Wednesday. I hope he can reconnect with his family there and let’s pray for him as he enters this old familiar place.

I just found a free new ebook put out by Seth Godin called What Matters Now. I am excited to read it this holiday season.

Writing has lost me these days.

Nothing to say.

Exhausted.

Recently our church realized something. If we are going to continue operating (budget-wise), we need tithes to increase to $4000 a month from where they are currently as of January 2010. You may ask, “I thought your church had minimal expenses?” Well, we do. The problem is that we give too much away. 51% to be exact.

All, thanks to a conversation with Nick in the Bahamas BTW.

That means our current budget is about $1900 a month. I think that’s reasonable. But you see its not reasonable anymore. We had help, funding and few blessings here and there. But as of January 2010… our outside sources are gone. So we now have to make a choice. We asked for prayer. We asked for ideas. But the truth is I knew this was coming 4 years ago.

And I never really made an effort to change this destination.

Because I knew what was right and I know what God has asked me to do.

I still want to hear the ideas from toh. I still believe God can do big things. But the truth is, He has. It’s done. And he will continue to do it and now He is bringing about a way to enable more progress with our little powerful community called the open house. He is taking our money away. Brilliant. Beautiful. And the money he has given us… we have to give it away too. Amazing.

I knew this was coming 4 years ago. And now it’s time to embrace it. The weight is beginning to lift. The sun is rising. The potential of toh has not even begun to touch the surface.