Fish, Bread and a Family

Two weeks in a row I split with the main group and brought some people to a new location. It is under full renovation and we spent most of the time just cleaning and sweeping up. The electrical had not been done nor was the plumbing properly installed. We worked under low light and had to bring water from Potters. A lot of missional work requires bringing order out of chaos. I think whether you are on a foreign mission, or renovating a DTES loft with little money you have to find creative ways of working with what you have. It’s very easy to say this can’t be done because I don’t have essential tools, or manpower. What is hard, and what must be done to succeed some times, is to ask what do I have, and how am I going to get it done with that? Jesus once asked that question as he prepared to feed 4000. Never the less, I left discouraged the second time and I haven’t had the chance to return. The blessing of this work is the relationships, whether that is fellow volunteers or the people of the community. While it is good work we are doing, I certainly missed some of the relational aspect.

On Oct 14^th I spent some time in the back of Potters cutting onions with friends. It was kind of cute looking around and seeing everyone all teary eyed and sniffing. It kind of made me think that that is how we should be, lamenting over the broken situation we see all around us.

The service was good. Solid music a la Brett, Mike, and Kyle and Cam was our speaker. He was so comfortable delivering the word. Cam never ceases to preach the gospel. Every time he speaks he never misses that core of our faith - Jesus Crucified.

While the food was being brought out a native man with long gray hair down to his shoulders named Lorain stumbled up to the serving table. It seemed to follow the alter call so I asked him if he wanted me to pray for him and he said yes. We headed near the back of Potters to sit down and I asked what he would like me to pray for. He said his legs were very bad, something about his muscles tightening up. He was very difficult to understand and I couldn’t be sure what the cause was. He said he was taking medication but he thought the doctors were testing things on him. It was funny because as he said this as thick drop of drool fell from his lower lip like one who is drugged to the gills. He also said that many of his family members had died recently.

It’s so hard to know what to say? I wonder if some of the poverty stricken in the community are so used to running into evangelizing Christians that they spit out all their suffering as procedure. I asked if his heart is heavy because of all those who died who were close to him. I told you it’s really hard to know what to say! I decided to just pray for him. I prayed for healing, proper medical care, and protection of the heart. When I finished, Lorain said that prayer got him thinking. If God really cared why would he not heal him? That’s what he asked me. I was wise enough just to nod at his good question.

I have seen Loraine many times before. He usually appears under the influence of something. He has many friends. I remember one his friends, Tim, combing his hair and preening over Loraine like a mother. As people begin to leave Loraine is acknowledged by many of them and most strike up a conversation. Apparently Loraine has seizures and had one in the park recently and had to be taken to the hospital after banging his head off the pavement. Through Loraine I was able to meet a lot of people I had never talked to before. Many of them appeared to be kind and loving. Maybe God isn’t going to heal Lorain’s leg but he’s going to provide a community that loves and cares for him?

Never underestimate the community here. I imagine living in the DTES is a lot like living with a big family. You’re all exposed to each other and it’s very hard to hide your “issues”. A lot of time you’re just frustrated with the family because they are such a mess. You wish you could have your own place so you wouldn’t have to deal with them anymore. On the other side, you know them intimately; you know what they want, what they are striving for. You know their history and you know when they are really hurting. When you know that much about someone it’s easier to be compassionate toward them.