Culture Shock!!!!!

Today at Charlotte Temple we had an amazing meeting. Usually we go and it’s not real great. The Captain that usually speaks is not real inspiring and the worship is just going through the motions. This Sunday, however, was very much Holy Spirit led. The worship was very powerful and the band played absolutely wonderful. Captain Gainey had a very good word for the church. The service was very much focused on the youth of the corps. They had a power point presentation of the different things the youth were doing while we were in the chapel and then we had a time of prayer to bless all the people in our corps that are involved with the youth programs. Then Captain Gainey talked about why it’s hard to get children to go to church. First he talked about his time he spent in the Military and had to go over to Germany. He was told that he may lose his wife within the first few months because of the culture shock that happens when you first arrive. He related the culture shock of Germany to culture shock of being at church(they go to churchany. His joke not mine). Most kids today live in a world that is very secular. At school, in music, in homes, and there friends. Usually it doesn’t revolve around Christ. They are constantly getting different messages from music and television friends every other thing you can think of. So when we try to get kids to go to church one day a week that one day is very different from anything else that they experienced that week. We need to have church at home not just in a building on Sunday. Church one day a week isn’t going to build a strong spiritual foundation for the kids. The culture shock of church needs to happen at home. Over the years our culture has changed and Christ has slowly been pushed out of hoes and caged up in a building where he can stay but he’s not allowed to be anywhere else in our lives. He said when ever he hears people talk about the “good ol’ days” and how terrible things are now; he can’t help but think that those “good ol’ days” had a huge influence on creating these “bad new days” that we’re living in. Let’s get rid of the Sunday culture shock and let Christ out of his cage.

One year

I have had my blog up and running for one year now. So in honor of this anniversary here is one of my first blogs.

I'm sorry I have to do this, but I feel that there is a number of things that we say here at The War College that should never come form our mouths. I am guilty as well. They are as follows...
10. "My apologies." -Travis/Jo-No/Josh/Phil/Xander
9. "Hey, I got a Latte Machine donated!" -Jonathan Berkshire (AKA- JoNo)
8. "Sorry I'm late for Pray the Bible, I had to straighten my hair." -Jenn Burr, phase 2 (she said this last year while she was a student)
7. "You can break into 705 with a knife or a phone card." -Anyone
6. "Hey baby, wanna chug some gravy?" -Josh and Jamie Smith
5. "My hard-drive crashed/computer is fried/laptop broke." -Jamie Smith, JoNo, or Linsey New
4. "Make it a venti cappuccino." -Josh and Phil...well, kinda all of whenever we have money.
3. "I break your mom off in Jesus' Name." -Jaime Riefer, Xander and Travis
2. "I'm going to return my rental car." -JoNo
1. "The wireless is down...again" -Jamie Smith, JoNo, Linsey, SueAnn, Nicole, Jaime Riefer, JoNo, Xander, JoNo, Josh, Phil, and JoNo

Everyone, enjoy!

There will be blogs of the same kinda thing in the future...hollaaaaaah.
Grace,
keithg

It's Jesus or hell

Ahhh Those were the days.

I'm still suprised

After living in the DTES of Vancouver most people would think that there would be very few things that surprise me anymore. But there are so many things that still happen on a regular basis here in Charlotte that have become normal that shouldn’t be. I woke up on Wednesday and started walking across the street to Rob and Heather’s house for breakfast like I do every morning because I don’t have any way of cooking breakfast at my house even if I had food. It seemed like a normal day except for one guy slowly walking around the area with a shotgun in his had. He wasn’t bothering anyone and it didn’t look like he was looking for anyone. It was like he just decided to go for a walk with his shot gun. When I got to the house I asked Rob if he saw the guy with the gun and he thought I was joking. He laughed and said “no but that would be funny” I said he’s seriously went to the back of our house and the three of us went to the back door to see this oddity. Then I grabbed the camera and snuck into the bushes and snapped a picture of the guy. I don’t know whether to still be amazed or look at stuff like that and see it as normal stuff. Our next door neighbor (Anitavias) was talking with us last night and the ambulance came to see another man in the neighborhood who had a hernia. This was the fifth time the ambulance had been in this neighborhood this week. We could get to know the paramedics and have a cell with them because they come here so often. I asked Anitavias if it was normal for the ambulance to show up here five times in one week. Her response was “I guess so. Why?” In Vancouver I remember it was normal to hear the ambulance fifteen times in one day but Vancouver was a big city. This one area where the ambulance has come in consists of six houses. I was walking to my house on Thursday night and I heard a gun shot and it didn’t sound to far away, maybe in the neighborhood next to ours. This is one strange place.

So as we are bringing light into this dark place I realize this is going to bring to light a lot of chaos going on here. When chaos is discovered that usually brings in more confusion which could make things here much more difficult than they are now. Which means things may start to get darker before they get lighter, but I’m ready for it because God equips the called and he “has trained my hands for war and my fingers for battle”.

I'll have a picture of the amn with the gun soon.

Those southern days

I spent the last three nights in my new house with my new bed and new sheets and a familiar smell. I had the opportunity to chase a fly around my house with the tube of the vacuum cleaner. It was exciting. First I stabbed at it in the air randomly but hat didn’t work so well so I waited for him to land. He foolishly picked the window sill. Flies don’t really understand glass and window shades and all that stuff so he flew around the inside for a bit, obviously confused (OF COURSE HE WAS CONFUSED) while I tried to sneak up on he but he managed to escape. Then he went to the other window. Maybe he thought he’d have better luck there. That’s where he met his demise. My first attempt was unsuccessful, but I had more stamina and I tired him out. He started moving without thinking and going to places that weren’t helping him at all. So I took advantages of those mistakes, made A few strategic moves and victory is mine. It took me a few minutes but I sucked him up and he will never return. Ba ha ha ha. I win. I’ve been trying to turn it around and make it into an object lesson so that it has some deeper life application like Tara does on her blogs but it doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s a spiritual gift that she has.

I got some paint the other day for my room. It’s a light aqua color called country cottage. It’ll look real nice. I think once I have it painted that’ll take care of a lot of the smell. A change of smell is always good. That’s why I like candles and incense so much it can change the atmosphere of a room for however long it burns. I experienced a thunder storm today. With thunder and lightning and all that great stuff. It was just like being back in Florida at Camp Keystone again. I loved it.

I just wan to let everyone know that the Tampa bay Lightning just beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in the Playoffs. Woo Hoo!!!

Good times in Charlotte mixed with a little re-learning the southern life

It’s strange when some of the simplest of things is what I should be doing, but it really seems like I’m doing nothing. Anybody else feel that way?? My days here in Charlotte consist of me waking up and running around with the neighborhood kids all day long but at the end of the day I still don’t feel like I’ve accomplished much, but I think that may just come with the territory of moving to a different area. I haven’t gotten into my semi-permanent house yet, so it’s hard for me to have a set schedule right now. I also tend to have a habit of looking for tangible results in ministry only days after starting. It could happen; it just hasn’t yet. I maybe I’m not suppose to see the changes I’ve made maybe they won’t be evident until six or seven years down the road. Anyway, I’m going to be out of commission for a week or two when it comes to running, jumping climbing or anything that put s pressure on my foot, my left foot to be more specific. I messed up my ankle yet again. Let hopping begin. I just would like to get through one year without hurting my ankle; this is the third year in a row that I’ve had a sprain in my left ankle, and it makes number eight for my grand total. Luckily it hasn’t turned funny colors and swelled up like a basketball this time. So in a few days I should be back to digging holes and playing basketball and man-hunt again. This time I’ll be a little more observant of the ground when and if I pay man-hunt in the dark. That wasn’t the brightest idea in the first place. My ankle is a small price to pay for…uhh…I’ll think of something that sounds smart later.

I realized my Bangor and Vancouver days have taken a toll on my skin. My neck was so burnt the other day from being outside. I didn’t even think I was outside for very long. So I got to work on getting my tan back without getting burnt; that’s going to be tricky. I don’t mind the heat though; I’ll take the 89, 91, and 92 degree temps over 12 and 14 degree temperatures any day. One thing I am looking forward to (I doubt anyone else is) are some good ol’ southern thunder storms. I haven’t heard thunder in so long it might scare me at first. I never heard it in Vancouver and I rarely heard in Bangor over the summer (never in the winter). I want some noise!!!

My new house

I got to see my future house and it smells like The Empress. Great! I finally found something that is familiar to me. I spent a few hours cleaning the cabinets and walls, and cleaning the walls again and again, because I would think I had it clean (it doesn’t really look very dirty) and then I would see a spot that I missed and I would clean that spot and then I would need to clean the rest of the wall all over again because that one spot made the rest of the wall look dirty and I would see another spot that I missed and the cycle began again (another vicious cycle that I’ve noticed). But the walls will be painted so I can just wipe off the surface stuff and call it good. I am usually never happy with just doing surface work because it’s but going deeper is so hard that it just seems like it’s not worth it sometimes, but I think that going deeper in a community on a spiritual level is a little more important than cutting through the deep stuff on the walls. My bathroom has been fixed up though and that it the important part. We worked for a couple of hours and decide that would be good for the day…we don’t want to over exert ourselves while we’re…cleaning walls. The house will one day be ready and I will be living there, but for now I am content living with Rob and Heather. Earlier in the day Rob and I took a walk through the neighbor hood and we saw all the houses that are possible spots for TWC students to live. We also saw other communities that we want 614 to branch out into. We then walked through an area of houses that were all boarded up and basically condemned. No one owned them and they weren’t fit for anyone to live in. Rob and I decide to enter one of them (we didn’t break in, the press wood over the door was already broken off) as I walked into this area it was like stepping into a Vancouver alley. In the alleys of Vancouver there was drug paraphernalia and condoms and nasty clothes that no one would really want to wear and just dirt everywhere. This was all in that one house. So we have the alleys of Vancouver inside the house’s here in Charlotte. I think that might be the norm for Ghetto’s I know that this house is a house that is rundown and condemned but as for the houses who have the drug dealers in them as the father to the kids I wonder if they are essentially living in the Vancouver alley’s?

I'll have pictures soon.

A day in the life in Charlotte

My first 24 hours in Charlotte was exciting. I got the royal treatment I was greeted at the airport by eight kids that I will be chillin like a villan form the floor to the cellin with and Rob and Heather. I was taken to my home for a few days and (The Dolby residence) and I didn’t g to sleep until midnight because we just wanted to stay up and talk and have fun and just be with each other. The next day I woke up at around ten am and we talked to friends for a while then we went to find me a bed at the TSA Thrift store. Rob makes that interesting. Then we went to the Prayer Room here in Charlotte (it’s not 24-7 yet) and we just soaked it up for a half hour. We ate lunch at CiCi’s pizza (praise the lord for Ci-Ci’s. Good pizza for real cheap). We drove by some places low income housing places that have been closed up boards put over the windows and doors and they’re set for demolition. With a bunch of other places and town houses will be put in there place. The families that were there were given a chunk of cash and were told to relocate which couldn’t have been an easy thing to do. Then we headed out to Wal-Mart and bought a bunch of balls and balloons and other random toys that are going to be used by the thirty different kids that are here in the neighborhood. And then we sat in the house and talked with some more friends for a while longer and it was good. I am so ready to have some fun.

For Bangor

I am leaving Bangor, Maine. I am off to a new phase of my life in Charlotte, North Carolina. One thing I really love about leaving a place is that is when you find out how much people really love you. I know that I was (and still) loved by people in Bangor but The days leading up to my departure is when it really started to show. Now I’m not talking about all the crying and praying and hugging and all that stuff. I’m talking about the free meals! I got to eat so many meals that I didn’t have to pay for; it was wonderful! One of those meals was two Maine Lobsters (that’s a whole different blog). Out of my last seven meals in the state of Maine I only had to pay for one. I was so thrilled. I actually didn’t care about any of the food (maybe a little). The best going away present I had was on Sunday. I got to listen to two members of the Corps Mary Mackay (YPSM) and Ryan Grant (spiritual and physical soldier) tell of all the memories they have of me and letting me know how much I really blessed them during my stay. The blessing goes two ways. I was so incredibly blessed by the Bangor Corps. I got to see corps officers that didn’t make a single decision in the corps without first consulting the Holy Spirit. The local corps leaders have a passion for souls and are always striving for a more effective way of reaching them. Seeing that kind of unity in a Christian body is a beautiful thing. I love that drive and I hope that one day I will see that passion filter out into the rest of the city. I love the youth that is in the city. Ryan, Chris, Cory, Cody, Charlie, Jerrica, Sam, Alice, Brandon, Tyler, Michael, Joel and everyone else that I can’t remember. I know that one day they will be continuing everything that has been started in that corps and they are the future of the army in Bangor. I will one day be in Bangor again to see everyone there and I know I will be amazed at the Spiritual progress made in that city and I can’t wait to visit see everybody again.
So I leave you Bangor with these words form Paul:
Therefore I, beg you Bangor to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace. We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is only one God and Father, who is over us all and in us all and living through us all. However, he has given each one of us a special gift according to the generosity of Christ. Ephesians 4:1-7 (NLT)

April 1 blog

April fools!! ba ha hah a ha ha!! No blog ba ha ha ha ha. Oh man that was the best joke ever. Ha ha ha ha. Why are you still reading? Seriously I’m not blogging today it was all a joke…Go away. Jokes over go home. Hey stop looking at me.