Duck and Run

It was a normal “Double Blessing Friday”. We went to the pool and had a blast. Anthony and I did fifty push-ups. We relaxed until Shabbat time. We invited Rob and Javi over to our house for a Shabbat meal and it was good. When we had all our ice cream set up and when we were just about to dig in we heard several gun shots just outside our house. I ran to the window (not a smart idea by the way) to see what was going on and I just saw five or six people ducking down and running away. The barbecue that our next door neighbor's were enjoying was done in a matter of seconds and everybody had bolted inside the house or were ducking behind a car. I heard six more shots and a pause then four more. Then I saw a man running away with a rifle in his hand. Once I saw him leave we opened the door to see what was going on a few people jumped in there cars and took off (understandable)and everybody else slowly came out out of their hiding spots. I thought it was a drug related thing because there has been a huge increase of drug trafficking going on here in the past few weeks and a few people were shot at a few days ago over some drug stuff. We talked to a few of the neighbors and found out that this guy was just shooting at random. No one knew him or knew why he was shooting or what he was shooting at, he just decide to shoot because he could. The only person that was injured was a 15 month old baby. She wasn't shot but something hit her on the back of the head and she started bleeding quite a bit. After the police, paramedics, and News crew came and went everything seemed to go back to normal. We ate our ice cream, the barbecue continued and kids went outside playing duck behind the car. THAT”S NOT NORMAL!!!!! Most kids during a barbecue play regular games like Frisbee or pretend school or tag or maybe even cops and robbers. That's not the case here. Kids here reenact what they see happening because that's life for them and they don't know anything different. They think this is normal but it shouldn't be. Kids should never feel like playing that game because it's what they see in any setting, but that's their reality. Reality needs a makeover.
We don't even really know why the guys started shooting. Was he angry, did he not like to see people enjoying themselves, did he hate barbecues, was he testing his new rifle, was the enemy just being a punk and wanting to stir something up while most people in the area we having fun? There doesn't seem to be any rational reason for someone to do that and I don't think many people in our neighborhood care. Someone if not most should care right??

Christians and Monopoly

A good idea or a recipe for disaster?
If anyone reading this is planning, at anytime in the near future, on playing a game of Monopoly with a group of friends. You may be in for a long long long long long game. I realized last night that when Christian's (or just good friends) play Monopoly unless they understand that the point is to not give someone a second chance that game could last a lot longer than it should. Andrea, Anthony and Javi (one of our friends here in Charlotte) and I all started to play and as the game progressed we were buying properties and making money and making deals and it was fun. Then we started building houses and hotels on those properties and people started to lose money and make money at the same time. Eventually some of us got to the point where we we couldn't pay the rent. That is the point of the game isn't it? to bankrupt the other players? We totally forgot about that and started to lend money and help each other out. We made deals and cut rent in half for each other and we said you can have immunity form rent this time, and it was good. We were enjoying it, until we looked at the clock and the time was 11:30 at nigh; we started playing at 7:00. We couldn't figure out why this game was taking so long, until I realized we were Christians playing a cut throat game in which you needed to be mean and deceiving and show no mercy. We weren't doing that. We were living out Acts 2:44-45 “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need”. I said we're living out scripture in this game. Jesus sad if we have two coats we're supposed to give one to a person that doesn't have a coat. Javi looked at all his money and said, “bro, I got eight coats here”. So at about 11:45 we said okay no more mercy. If you can't pay we can't be helping each other out by handing out $500 bills like they're candy. You have to deal with bankruptcy, and we played until 1:30am. The game still hadn't ended. Only one of us had gone bankrupt (Javi). So we finally we had a genius idea. No one in the history of the world had thought of it before; it was brilliant. I couldn't believe how great of idea this was I'm getting excited just thinking about it. We decided to end the game, count up our money and assets and whoever had the most was the winner. Ba ha ha ha ha. I came in third. I only had half the money Andrea had and about $3,000 less than Anthony. The only person I beat was Javi and he was bankrupt. So learn from our mistakes. If your playing Monopoly with friends they can't be your friends for the next four hours (give or take nine hours).

Hitting Rock Bottom

Rock Bottom, The end of you rope, taking a hard fall. Choose which term you like best to describe the situation.
I've seen what it is like to hit rock bottom (when there's no where to go but up) in the DTES and I've seen what it looks like here. I think here it is much worse and it effects so many more people. The first family I met when I got here was a family of six; four kids and two adults. I love the kids. They are awesome to hang out with and if they were the only four people that I saw a change in at all during the time here it will have been worth it (I am pushing for more though). There dad hits the youngest son some times and neither parents work and the only income they get is from the government. That money isn't enough to support a family with four kids. So they couldn't pay rent and were evicted. They went to stay at a hotel for a few weeks but that won't last long because it also costs money and after that is over they have to go live in a shelter which means the four kids will be put into foster care and we would never see them again. The boys would have to go to a shelter in Gastonia and the girls would go...well, I don't know; but it wouldn't be here, and their mom is okay with this. I'm sure she would have loved it if she hadn't been evicted, but she is okay with the kids being taken away for a while then she would have to try to get them back after a year or two. How is that an okay way for things to happen. Fortunately, Rob and Heather are a couple of genius' and have taken in the two boys to live with them, and they can live in a house and experience a family like it should be. Rob came by this morning and Juan and Javi were surprised when they were eating waffles for breakfast, because they usually didn't eat breakfast. I never thought anyone could be okay with living in such a terrible place both physically and spiritually. I drove them to the hotel that they are staying at and it was just like our neighborhood except it was just a little place off the side of the interstate. There were guys walking around wearing simple black shirts that said security and they asked everyone where they were going, but I don't know which would be scarier: not having or security guards or knowing that the place is a bad enough area that they need a security guard there all the time. What does it take to get someone to realize that they are not living a normal life?

The Last Stand...or is it????

I saw “X-men 3 The Last Stand”. I was a little disappointed when I saw reviews of the movie saying that it was terrible and it needed more depth to the characters and a better story, but I really enjoyed it. Before I saw it I knew what the story would be about (Jean Grey isn't really dead but she comes back as the Phoenix and almost destroys the world and people are racist and want to either kill all the humans or kill all the mutants) but there were knew characters introduced and stuff that I didn't expect so it was still very exciting.
After the movie I decided that I want to die like professor X did. I don't (for those of you that haven't seen it this won't really make a whole lot of sense) want to be torn to tiny pieces and have every molecule of my body torn apart little by little. He died in a fight. He died trying to stop something that had more evil inside than anything we could have imagined (although since it was a movie it wasn't more terrible than anything we could have imagined because someone did imagine it to put it in the movie...wow imagine that). He died trying to stop a force that he knew was more powerful than he was but he still rose to the challenge. He didn't back down, and when he saw that he would inevitably be destroyed he took his last moment and used it to pass on wisdom to the person he was trying to stop. He spoke to the actual person rather than her other personality. He spoke to Jean saying don't let it (her power) control you. Good wisdom, unfortunately she didn't have ears to hear. It was the same advice Spider-mans uncle gave him “with great power comes great responsibility”. It's true. If we can't control ourselves and our own abilities and use them for the work they were intended for than who is? Who will be controlling us if we aren't in control? Thats a scary thought. I would love to be able to spend my last dying moments passing on wisdom to people I know and people that are fighting alongside of me. I don't want o be in a hospitable bed doing it I want to be up and around I want to be in a fight. I want the last days of my life to be spent fighting ,as strong as ever, the dark forces of this world. I want to be taking down enemy strongholds till there's nothing left of them but a pile of dust. I want to be stabbing the enemy in the eye still when I'm ready to kick the bucket. And with my dying breath shout HALLELUYHWH!!!
Does anyone think it's strange that I'm twenty years old and already talking about dying??

I'm amazed...well...not really

"Everyone it's okay come out of your bomb shelter's the world is still here." Okay the world is not ending. I'm thrilled can't you hear the excitement in my voice...or in my typing...never mind. I'm glad the world didn't end today because Heather made this wonderful tuna melt dinner and banana bread for dessert and it was delectable. It would have been a shame if I had missed that just because the world was ending.

We all have twenty four hours...hurry

This made me laugh. I hope everyone enjoys it...or maybe not...

Enjoy your Monday. Because tomorrow, the world could end.

That's if you believe that June 6, 2006 -- or 06/06/06 -- has anything to do with the so-called
"Mark of the Beast." Religious scholars place the idea in the same category as "The Da Vinci Code." The Bible's "666" referred to a person, not a date, says Davidson College religion professor Greg Snyder. His best guess: The Antichrist was supposed to be Nero, a nasty Roman ruler who persecuted first-century Christians. Recently discovered fragments of Old Testament texts suggest the number's all wrong anyway, and should have been "616." Today's marketers can't resist the lure of the triple six. A remake of "The Omen" opens tomorrow, and the latest volume in the "Left Behind" series hits the shelves. So do albums by several heavy metal bands, and conservative commentator Ann Coulter's new book. (She calls the release date a "tribute to liberals.")

And folks of Hell, Mich., are throwing a big party. Not everybody is happy. "Here I am living in Hell, taking my kids to church and trying to teach them the right things," resident Jason LeTeff said, "and the town where we live is having a 6/6/6 party."

God's way is sometimes an unexpected hole

Does anyone recall a time in the Bible when God used a hole in a wall or in a gate or something like that as a plan or startegy or for anything? I know Ezekiel saw a hole in the wall and dug and found an entrance to a room(Ezekiel8:7), but Ezekiel saw things a little differently then we did. this is coming form a guy who ate bread baked over human feces. Do you really want to trust that guy? He always had weird things happening to him anyway. I don't think he knew when he was in the world and when he was in the spiritual realm most of his life. So that one doesn't count. The reason I ask is because when I first arrived here in Charlotte Rob took me around to see the neighborhood and after I saw all the housing areas he took me by the middle school that's in our neighborhood. Past the school there is the entrance to an over pass for the highway that separates this community from the other. It's not a vehicle over pass; it's an over pass for people to walk on. Namely for kids to cross the road safely and get to school without playing russian roulette with the cars or taking a bus; it's a genius idea I think. Unfortunately, it also provided a great connecting spot for suppliers and addicts. The gate has been closed, chanined and locked since we got here and we haven't been able to open it. A few days after that I was playing Man Hunt (Hide-and-seek) with the kids in the neighborhood. I had a difficult time figuring out how they were getting form one spot to another faster than I was. I was running as fast as I could and had a hard time keeping up until I was able to follow one of them when he was running to a gate and in that gate there was a huge hole. They don't know why it's there or how it got there. They just know that it's there and it is an easy fast was to move around from one area to another in this game. A few weeks later Anthony and Andrea Castle arrive. Rob and I are taking them on the same tour of the neighborhood that he took me on, and we went to the same closed Highway over pass and Rob is speaking in tounges and commanding that the gate be opened in Jesus name and I look at the sides and see a hole in the gate. I'm guessing it was cut it the gate by drug suppliers and/or desperate addicts. We slip though the hole and walk to the other side where we find the gate locked as well but this time the hole was in the top of the gate and no one else was up for climbing up and through it so we saved it for a differnt day, but we now have a way to get into another neighborhood without driving for twenty minutes to get there. It puts a whole new spin on incarnational ministry. Not only are we living with the people we're ministering to, but we are moving form one community to another the same way drug users and dealers are. I love the way God works. When he does something he's not always miraculous; sometimes he's practical, which is why I asked the previous question. Has God ever used a hole in a wall before? Bueller...anyone Bueller...

Men's camp

So, the last time I left you guys, I had left to pick up Anthony and Andrea Castle from the airport. Well, I lied…actually no I didn’t. We did pick them up and they are here in the house right now. Right now as I’m typing this blog. They have been an absolute blessing to us here. They have moved in to a town house not far from where we are living and are building relationships in that neighborhood. So our forces are taking on two neighborhoods at once.

Rob, Anthony, and I went to Men’s Camp a few days ago. What an experience. We are Men after God’s own heart. That was the theme of the camp. The thing that amazed me the most was that they willing put gun’s into our hands. Pistols, rifles, and shotguns. I didn’t get to shoot the rifles or pistols but I did get to shoot the shot gun. I almost fell over as well when I shot it. We were doing trap shooting. These guys were in a box and we say “pull” and these clay discs shot out and we had to shoot them. I only hit three out of the ten, but I would say that’s good for a first time. Anthony and Rob slept while this was going on. I wanted to get us signed up for the Tug-of-war tournament, but no one else was up for it. So I took my chances at Dominoes (I was knocked out in the first round) washers (I don’t remember my score but it wasn’t good) darts (I got 94 points) and a marathon (2 miles). This is what I was hoping to bring home a first place trophy in. I figured if nothing else I would win the marathon. There were a bunch of old guys and so I was one of the youngest and I think I’m pretty fast so I thought I had this one in the bag. When I realized we had to run at 8:00 in the morning I was less than thrilled, but I was not going to give up because I’m a shoe in for first. So after a breakfast consisting of biscuits and gravy and sausage I was set. I arrived at the flagpole and I start stretching. Then a few old guys show up and then a young guy shows up (he’s working at camp) and he looked like a track star so I figured this would be a close race. Then another young guy shows up and he looks very fit as well, so I’m thinking this is going to be a very tight race. And were off and running. And four of us started out a pretty good pace then one man fell behind. I kept going and pushing and running until after the first mile. We got by the first mile and I couldn’t kept up and I slowly started to fall behind, but I kept going and with a third place finish (12:53); I was three minutes behind these other two guys, three minutes! That’s a lot of time. They came in with a nine minute time that’s fast. I talked to the officer in charge, after I was back to breathing normally, and he said that Tim (the guy in first place) is like an entire track team all in one person. So there was no chance for me to get first place. Later that day I was talked to Rick (2nd place man) and I found out that he was a track star form Africa who runs in all sorts of meets in Kenya and South Africa so there was no chance of me getting second place, so I had to settle for third. I was happy with that. It was a great camp though. We put up a prayer tent and built a cross for people to nail names or requests to. We also got a chance to meet the new TC and we heard an amazing band from Austin, Texas “The Gospel Silvertones” and they were anointed by God. Now we are back home and playing with kids and sweating and getting them juice and having a blast.

I also just want to point out that i am 22 years and 2 months old. In case anyone is wondering.

Con men at age eight

I realized that my duties here in Charlotte involve being illegal for a just cause. A few days ago one of our next door neighbors was arrested. Her brother came to her house to get money to bail her out of jail but the house was all locked up (why wouldn’t it be). So he asked me to help him check the windows to open them. Unfortunately they were all locked. The locks on the windows in this neighborhood aren’t real great so when we found one that seemed to be the “weak link” we decided that was the target and with a little help form a screwdriver and a butter knife (reminds me of 705 in the Empress) we were able to pry the window open and I crawled through. This is better known as “breaking and entering”. So I unlocked the front door to let her brother in and that was the end…or so I thought. He constantly forgot things in the house so I constantly had to go to a different window (he left this one unlocked) open it and reach in to unlock the door for him. So I am guilty of performing a “b and e” four times within a one hour time period. Later on I was off to pick-up Mason (Cory Harrison’s son) form school. Jeremy anted to ride with me. Jeremy is a very interesting character. Like most of the kids around here he’s always doing things and trying to get out of trouble and treating everything as a joke. He’s a very manipulative person. He asked me to stop by a fireworks shop on our way back. That’s fine no harm in that. He started joking and saying that he was going to steal boxes of fireworks and he’s got big pockets and all that stuff and I laughed at him because he was joking, the only problem was I soon realized we wasn’t joking at all. I pulled a package of M-80 from his pocket and when he realized I wasn’t going to be leaving him out of my sight the rest of the time we were there he just got angry. He tried to scam free stuff form the cashier and ask for free fireworks because he bought something for a dollar. He’s a very manipulative person and will always press the envelope as far as he can to get his way. The strangest part is that he doesn’t feel the least bit guilty for anything he’s done. We got back in the car and a few miles down the road he pulled some other things out of his pocket that he didn’t pay for. I knew that I couldn’t make him take it back to the store because he would just sit in the car and I can’t force him to walk. It’s strange that someone who is fifteen years old can steal like he’s been doing it his whole life. All I could do was let him know that stealing wasn’t cool and not acceptable and I would punish him by not taking him for a ride anymore (he loves riding in a car for some reason). It sometimes makes me feel like these kids are too far gone, there hearts are too hard and no matter what we say or do we can’t change them, but I do know that love conquers all and never fails and there is power in prayer and we are commanded to pray continuously. That is my battle strategy. Now I am going to band and songsters practice and then I’m off to pick up a couple Australians from the airport. Hallelujah.

Here's a rundown

Here is what has been happening for the past few days. I play with kids, I stop fights, I watch kids throw rocks, stop them form throwing more rocks, and get them snacks and drinks. I am a camp counselor and I have no DYS.
Things that have been out of the ordinary: We finally have a picture of the man with a shot gun on the 614 Charlotte blog. Look and be amazed. Last Saturday I woke up at around ten in the morning and walked over to the Dolby house to get some breakfast, like I do every morning, and Heather asked me if I heard the gunshots this morning. I said, “No” and Heather just stared at me with disbelief. She said, “The house they came from is closer to you than it is to mine and the shots woke me up. It was practically right behind you and you slept through it?” So I currently hold the record of sleeping through the most gunshots. The record stands at six. On Wednesday night this past week I was laying in bed and I heard a man not far from the window yelling for someone I know so I sat up and took a peek to see who it was. Bad idea on my part. The man was urinating in my front yard. I thought of yelling something strange and slightly offensive but he was drunk and I was tried. If I had a camera I would have considered it a photo opportunity and bloggable. I don’t think the blogging world would be too thrilled with it though. Needless to say I tried to go back to sleep as soon as my mind would let me. Today after church and after CiCi’s and after playing with kids and laughing and then putting away all the toys and while everyone was winding down, only then did it decide to rain. It had been looking like it would all day, but it didn’t start until seven thirtyish. All the kids started running home except three. Then the all Hail broke loose. We had hail the size of peas coming down. My response was oh course “OH HAIL NO!!” Then one little girl (Lele she’s 4) decided that would be a good time to run home. She ran out the back door and when we noticed she was gone I looked out and saw her stopped about a third of the way home standing in the rain/hail crying. I guess that’s when she realized that hail hurts. So I ran picked her up and carried/sprinting her the rest of the way home. I felt a bit like a superhero. Then the hails stopped and the rain stopped and everyone else went home. Now the Liquor House (the house next door to mine) is open for business and there are thirty four cars parked in my front yard and I don’t drive a single one of them.

R&R

This weekend was very relaxing. In a couple of ways I was able to relax without expecting to. On Saturday Heather and I went with Cory Harrison and his family to a drive-in movie theater. I had never been to a drive-in movie before so this was a very new experience for me and it was a double feature which made it even more exciting. First feature was for the kids the movie was “The Wild” very much like Madagascar. It seemed to be a mix of Madagascar, Finding Nemo, and The Lion King all in one. It wasn’t as funny as I had expected, but it was worth seeing. Then we saw Mission Impossible III. It was a thriller. At the beginning of the movie all I could think about was what Cory had told us about Tom Cruise wanting to eat his baby’s placenta. So for two minutes straight I saw Tom Cruise+ placenta. Placenta kept popping into my head; it wouldn’t stop (placenta, placenta, and placenta). Eventually I was captivated by the booms and explosions and fire and shooting and I forgot all about the placenta (I’ve seriously typed that word more in this blog than I ever thought I would in my entire life). I go to be very unhealthy for dinner (not that I have been healthy recently) it consisted of Nachos with Cheese and Jalapenos, and Twizzlers, popcorn and Sierra Mist. It was wonderful. The movies ended at around one o’clock and Heather and I didn’t get home until about 2:30. I slept. I awoke to a knock at my door. It was Heather. Word of advice; always remember to turn on your alarm after you set the time. If you don’t it doesn’t work. All the kids were in the van and ready and I hadn’t gotten out of bed yet so I went into hyper mode and was ready to go in record time. I would doubt that I spent any longer than seven minutes getting ready. The kids thought it was hilarious. So we were off to church and then to CiCi’s Pizza. The Captain preached a very good message on marriage. He emphasized that a marriage should be based on covenant rather than feelings and love. It was a good word. Then we went to lunch (God bless CiCi’s Pizza). Then we went home and all the kids went to there homes and I went to my home and I definitely laid on my bed and was listening to music but I think I fell asleep with my eyes open because I don’t recall closing or opening my eyes at all, but I don’t remember thinking about anything either for a long gap of time. So I’m currently missing two hours of my life and I don’t know where they went. I think I can live without them though. Now I will sleep more.

He's Lost

I lost Rob and I don't know where to find him. Has anyone seen Rob Dolby I can't find him anywhere, ROB...ROB...where are you?

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)