What the...?!

So, yesterday started out as a pretty good day.
I got a lot done in the morning.
Mike and the team arrived home safely from Australia.
A guy I know got out of prison and found a room at a sober living facility. He still needs work, but at least he's trying.
I went to lunch with Edgar and Jamie. We went had 85 cent tacos. I had 2 al pastor and 2 chorizo.
I mean a pretty good day.
There were around 50 people in line for Community Assistance and we had a bunch of volunteers.
Then all of a sudden things changed, and not for the better.
One of our volunteers came in and said "Can you talk to this woman?" "Her boyfriend beat her pretty bad." I said sure. I don't know what I was expecting. I mean I've talked to women who have been abused. Bruises, swelling, tears. I figured I would be ready. My plan was to make sure that she had called the police. If she hadn't I was going to, no matter what.
I walked into the room and sat down. I was at a total loss.
This woman had a dark purple, I mean almost black, bruise from the neckline of her shirt to her hairline. Both eyes were swollen, one almost closed. Her lip was swollen. She had scrapes all over her face. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. Then I realized that I was angry. I skipped right past compassion and flashed to anger. "for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." James 1:20
I took a deep breath and talked to her. I told her how sorry I was. I asked and she had called the police. She met with them and they had taken pictures. They assured her that he would be arrested.
I asked her if I could pray for her. She smiled at me and said "The other guy did already. But I could always use more." I prayed with her.
I told her that she could come by anytime and speak with our Woman's Pastor. She said she was given the name of the counselor who has an office here at KACC. She got up and got some food.
I walked out.
I went back to my office.
I finished my day.
I went home.
I hugged my wife.
I cried.
Ephesians 4:26 says " BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,"
Apparently I don't know how to do that. 'Cause I'm still angry. I guess I have to work on that.

Robert

Canada Eh?

Seems to be the one thing everyone says to me, "how was Canada, eh?" My family has caught me a couple of times saying "eh" in a conversation as well. However, I came back with a lot more than an accent :).

First let me say thank you so much for your prayers. We felt them at every turn, God really used us and stretched us in ways we didn't imagine. We found ourselves in the most culturally diverse city in the world (yes the world) and got to see first hand how the Christian Churches are reaching out to those around them.

We were with Churchill Meadows Christian Church (CMCC) in the Greater Toronto Area. A mega church and flagship church plant from Impact Canada. We were blessed by spending time with a Polish Church plant, sharing, listening and encouraging them. A Brazilian/Portuguese Church plant just forming - we walked thru "little Portugal" in downtown Toronto with Jose, the new Pastor and Jerry a gentleman feeling led to help them, handing out flyers, placing them in store windows, etc. Of course we stopped and had lunch in a Brazilian restaurant, so good!

We visited a Buddhist Temple, a Hindu Temple but the most memorable was our visit at a mosque with a young imam, Munir, who was very open with us and allowed us to ask any questions we had. While he explained Islam to us, we were able to ask some tough questions of him, some he admitted he did not have answers for. Please pray for him as he continues to seek the truth, as we all agreed to do as we left.

CMCC has 46 different ethnicity's/people groups represented in the congregation. We saw this as a tiny glimpse of heaven, "every tribe, tongue and nation..."

Canada has a great need for Christ. With the diversity came a huge influx of different religions and tolerance. Though the tolerance doesn't seem to extend to Christianity. We sat in a meeting with the Christian Church Pastors from the Greater Toronto area, 8 of them. (I believe 2 could not make it). 10, yes 10 Christian Churches for approximately 2.5 million people. Please do not stop praying!!

My heart remains heavy for this part of our world. As Jim Tune (pastor at CMCC and president of Impact Canada) expressed, while Canada is a first world country economically, spiritually they are a third world country.

We attended Life Groups, classes, movie night, hung close to 2000 door hangers on various homes around the church; anything we could to encourage our brothers and sisters.

Mike spoke at CMCC on our last Sunday there, and 3 people came forward to give their lives to Christ!

My life is forever changed by a small 10 day trip. My prayers are focused and numerous for the family there placing tracks in front of the train coming, as fast as they can.

My heart overflows, and there is so much more to tell. Please keep these warriors in your prayers and those they are reaching for Christ!

Liz

Time for a swim.

When you have three kids and a pool the same thing happens each year. The weather starts to warm up and they want to go swimming. This is what inevitably happens.
One kid jumps straight in, pops his head up and yells "whoa that's cold."
The second one wants to just sit near the pool minding her own business. Choosing to not even go in.
The third one puts her feet in and says it's too cold. So she says she will get in eventually, "I'm trying to get used to it first." This only serves to frustrate the dad. I say...err I mean he says, "Just go all in. You'll get used to it faster that way." "NO! It's too cold." The first kid says, "I'm fine, I'm already feeling warmer." She says, "You're lying you just want me to be cold." The dad says, "Either get in or get out." She says, "What about her? You aren't making her get in?" "That's because she never said she wanted to go swimming. Besides this is about you. You are making me cold just looking at you stand there. Seriously are you going all the way in or not?" "Yes, but not yet." "Fine." "Fine."
This goes on every year. Every stinking year. I'm getting frustrated even now. I wish she would just jump in with both feet or just sit on the side and not put me..err her dad through this.

Makes me stop and think though.
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." Revelation 3: 15&16
I think it's time we all "Jumped in with both feet." Don't you?

In Him,
Robert

Our son is engaged!!

check out Wayne and Jamie's engagement pictures from an amazing photographer! Eyefull Photography and our friend Dawniele Castellanos.

When did this become ok?

After returning from a short visit to Arizona, my head spins as I try and catch up with what we experienced. I struggle with taking it from my head and heart and putting it into words...
After arriving at 2:00am we got up later that morning so Robert could go out to the Reservation with our good friend Tory and help prep a house for a ministry team coming next week. This house, maybe 20 x 30, has 2 rooms and a tiny bathroom. It is Mary’s house, an 84 year old Apache woman living in 2 small rooms and a bathroom. But she was not living alone, no the house was also occupied by roaches. More roaches than I think you can imagine (it was more than my brain could wrap around). They had literally taken over her house, walls, floors, ceiling, etc…. along with the scorpions. This 84 year old woman had nowhere else to go, because when this is your reality, it just seems normal. It was her home, so why would she leave? Instead she slept with cotton in her ears every night so they would not crawl in. While this is graphic for some, it was her certainty, her actuality every day. Where were her family, friends? I am not sure. When did this become ok?
She was finally forced to move into a tribal run Shelter care facility, where she is clean and fed and sleeping without cotton in her ears. However, she wants to go home, it is her home. It is in the middle of a gang infested street, shoes strung over power lines, 2 doors away from a house that sells alcohol and who knows what, but it is her home. Almost all of the income she has now goes to the shelter care to provide for her, leaving her not much every month; she wants to go home. So we tore down walls, dug up floor tiles amongst the thousands (literally) of dead roaches and various “substances” they and the scorpions left behind. The smell was appalling, the dust covered us (by the way it was not “normal” dust). Yet the 7 of us worked in conditions most would consider inhumane. We had masks on and work clothing and protective eyewear, in the same place she lived and ate and watched TV in. When did this become ok? It never did! I know I do not have the answers, and perhaps it is not for me to know. What I do know is what my response should, no will be. So 2 guys and 5 girls, did things we never thought we could. Some of us terrified of a small spider or tiny fly at home, worked among bugs I cannot begin to describe and conditions that were heart-wrenching, and did so without grumbling, whining or one complaint. We did what God enabled us to do, no doubt. We never could have done this on our own. Isaiah 41:10 says: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”So my response today was to do whatever God asked of me, and tomorrow will hopefully be the same. I asked God to break my heart for what breaks His…and He did.
Liz