Day 4. The Earth is His.

Today, we practiced the posture of Remembering as worship during our spiritual formation time. We went over about 10 old testament passages that demonstrate God's people worshipping Him for all He's done or passages that call God's people into a posture where they acknowledge His faithfulness in their lives.

As a group, we went around and shared moments we remembered as an act of worship. The one that immediately came to mind was 4-year-old Megan (who's a big girl now!) at the church I grew up in. When my grandmother passed away, she came up to me one Sunday, tugged on my shirt and said, "lizzy, i'm praying for you." One day she'll know how much that impacted me. Until then, I can only share with others how much of the Lord's love and favor I was able to experience at that very moment. As the group share, we all realized and acknowledged how powerful it can be to worship in remembrance. It calls us to be vulnerable and to lay ourselves bare. Sometimes, remembering takes us back to dark places, but often times, those dark places only lead do the deliverance that the Lord is.

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

Lord, thank you for being directional, personal and just. Thank you for your faithfulness. I ask that you would teach in me these things.





The earth's is the Lord's, and everthing in it; the world, and all who live in it. Psalm 24:1

We headed out to A'Rocha after our conversation time. A'Rocha is an " international, Christian organization working to care for God's world" (arocha.org). At this location, we delved further into the idea of creation care, what it looks to be stewards of God's creation, the world we live in. This challenged all of us radically. Most of us were from Southern California, and we live pretty wastefully. Now, you may be thinking ," I don't live wastefully." But let's break it down. How many of us recycle? Do you drive everywhere you go? Is it fuel efficient? I am so guilty of using paper towels like a crazy person! (i've adopted the usage of cloth napkins at my apt. now :)) As a nation, the United States average cost of living is higher than it is anywhere in the world. We use more than we produce. This in mind, many take a political stance at some point. Ah! Liberals, the Greens, etc. I truly was able to embrace the freedom that is so beyond the parties we put ourselves in, to embrace the freedom that we are the Lord's people. And if you need some theological proof, it is everywhere. We are given dominion, responsibility as we live in creation, as creation. It says we have rule, and in the original context, to have rule means we are to work, to serve, to cultivate the land-to care for, to guard and to keep. People in Vancouver are really bing on purchasing produce/goods from local growers. Not only does this support the community they are in, they know exactly where there food is coming from. When God gave Adam the duty of naming creation, He was inviting Adam into something very intimate and personal. He was inviting Adam into a relationship of stewardship-stewardship of God's handiwork. Picture the world we live in as God's artwork in a museum. You don't go into a museum and destroy, disrespect and deface the things that you see. Rather, you take care of, respect, and are in awe of the things you see. We are the image-bearers of Christ, and as such, we need to tend to this earth the way God did when He created it-with care, with thought, and with great love.

Not taking care of the earth affects everyone, especially the poor. As a resource, we need to use wisely. Rather than use up all the goods of the world, how to be sustain and cultivate what's already around us?

According to David Suzuki, here are ways to conserve
1. Reduce Home Energy
2. Energy efficient home appliances
3. Eat a meat-free meal once a day
4. Eat locally grown stuff (Farmer's market)
5. Replace dangerous pesticides
6. Use fuel efficient vehicles
7. Learn more and share with friends and family
8. Cloth napkins instead of paper ones.
9. Avoid buying things that are individually wrapped in large packages.
10. Rather than buying new clothes, exchange clothes w/ friends.

I hope to gain more knowledge in this area of creation care. I don't feel like i have a tight enough grasp yet to spur others on. For now, I plan on implementing what i learned, and through that, gain a deeper undertanding that affects those around me.





After we discussed the realities of the correlation between "deficit financing" and how many of us use the world's resources, we split up into teams, and helped the A'Rocha team with whatever they needed done with the land and with the plants. A few of us split off for some major weeding in a vast area of land as we spoke to a new friend we made who was interning there from South Africa.

After we left A'Rocha, we went home to the Gravely house and had dinner. I got to play w/ Tessa and her friends for a bit. Now, tiredness consumes me, and i'll continue next time.

Day 3. Fall afresh on me.

August 12, 2007

I found myself waking up engulfed by my ever-deflating air mattress. After swimming my way out, we headed out for our Sunday in Vancouver. (We found a startbucks on Commercial Drive. It opens @ 5:30. From here on out, we went here each morning, we started to see the same faces. Keep that in mind. This, to be continued :) )

My paraphrase for that morning (the end of of Psalm 84):

God-you give me life and protection. You give grace and glory.
You don't keep any good from your children that have said "yes" to the life you have for them.
My God. How blessed I am to know you!

The night before, we had all signed up for which church we wanted to go to. There were three options, and I chose 10th avenue. To me, this was the combination of the Vietnamese church I grew up in and Rock Harbor, the church that i'm attending now. It was a beautiful picture to me of unity, something that i struggled with, still do, in fact. I remember growing up and just wanting to see a body serving in one accord rather than being discordant and self-seeking. As I sat in 10th avenue, a lot of healing happened for me. An image of unity permeated me in a place where the idea of my two experiences were rather dichotomous.

The speaker, David Wood, spoke on "A Well-Ordered Life." The reason why it wasn't called a "Well-balanced Life" is pretty awesome. The idea of balance is the manifestation of the myth that we can somehow control our lives. The phrase actually connotes the divided life: work/school/family, and the attempt at controlling each aspect completely separate from the other.) St. Augustine said to "cultivate a well-ordered life"... to love the right things, in the right ways, to the right degree.







After we had lunch at Stephos, this Greek restaurant that just gives you mounds and mounds of amazing food, we were headed to Stanley Park. Our whole team was going to bike around the island. As we got into the car, we noticed these two people standing side-by-side, holding a sign that said they wanted money for food. At the bottom of the sign, it said, "And if you want to give us a smile, that'd be great also." We all got out of the van and asked if we could take them to the grocery store for their needs. On the way, Rachel and _______ shared their story. They had lost all their money through some bad interactions and were now force to live in a crack hotel, where Rachel was getting fiercely attacked by bedbugs. They fear leaving the complex-the fear for their lives. We slowly got to see their guards come down, smiles take over their faces, and laughter escape into the loud bustling of the busy street. In one accord, we lifted these two new friends up in prayer. We were blessed by having spent time w/ them and even more blessed when, as we drove away, we saw them share what we had bought for them with a few other of their street friends.

We biked around Stanley Park Island and ended up at one of the beaches for dinner. Gorgeous creation, amazing people. It was really a sight. Over and over again, God speaking so loudly through nature and all His handiwork....and kentucky friend chicken...haha.










After we rode our bikes back into the city, we headed towards another conversation, formation time. We, as individuals, used props/craft materials provided to make something that represented something that has spoken to us in our lives or during the time that we had spent in Vancouver thus far. When we were done doing that in our smaller groups, we all drew timelines of significant points in ourl lives that have made us who we are today. The stories were powerful, and i'm continually reminded that in each story I hear, i see another glimpse, another facet of God's faithfulness.







And in the same words that caught my attention that morning:
God-you give me life and protection. You give grace and glory.
You don't keep any good from your children that have said "yes" to the life you have for them.
My God. How blessed I am to know you!

Day 2. When the city wakes up.

Coffee shops in California. Opening time is probably around 5AM. We're used to having that luxury. Here, in Vancouver, the city mostly wakes up around 10AM. In search for coffee, Deb and I walked around and finally found a place that was open. Sitting here, we did our quiet time for that day and people watched. A few people in the homeless community began to emerge. And in their exchange of dialogue, transactions were made. Phone call-drug deal. I sat there wondering, where is God in all this? And I was led to reading John 5. This came alive as i compared the story of the crippled man at the pool of Bethseda to the city of Vancouver and its broken, homeless and drug addicted. As we, in our brokeness as well, consider the others, we realize that we are all "waiting for the moving of the waters." The man at the pool of Bethseda had been there for years, and his response to the healing that was being offered was a simple, yet incredibly somber truth that there had been no one to lead him to the place of healing. This just screams out the need for community and for the need to come alongside and know someone well enough to know where the Lord is leading us to serve in whatever capacity we're called to. As I sat there, my heart broke and just had this heavy sense of whether or not this man had ever seen love-if he had ever seen the Lord. I looked up in my frustration and saw a sign across the street-a restaurant sign. It was called "arriva!" And in that, the still small voice reminded me that He has already arrived-His kingdom has come...already. It is at hand. Lord, break the destructive patterns in our lives. May we find freedom in Your name.



In our team's discussion time, we just went over the 5 points that exemplify mission being lived out (Example used: Peter and the disciples seeing Jesus walk on water): 1) the Call from God. God calls us to something. We don't make it up 2)The call is risky; there is fear involved. It the call is big enough where it requires God. When Peter saw the Lord walking on the water, he asked for an opportunity, not a guarantee. 3)There is always reassurance: He is present, and he is I AM. We're not doing things for God, but we're doing things with God. 4) There is a decision to be made. (Do you stay on the boat or do you get in the water?) 5) There is always a changed life.

In communion, we reflected: "May you hear God's voice and feel his presence."

The day's main focus was to help out at the community garden down the street from Grandview (one of the local churches). A huge emphasis with NieuCommunities is Creation Care-to be stewards ofthe land the Lord has given us. A while back, the church bought this lot of land where a house used to stand. They've cleaned and cleaned and begun a community garden there. Often times, those that walk by will stop to see what's going on. Others will see the progress being made, and many conversations are sparked this way. Some families bring their little kids and let them play at the garden. Our job for that day was to take up rocks, pieces of foundation, and laid in soil from which new life will emerge.









Then, to close off the night, we went 5-pin bowling. The balls were the size of...shotput balls... Good talk with Becks and Carl.







Community. Responsibility. Life. Love.
On our walk home, it rained. =)

"He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful." Isaiah 30:22a