3,2,8 and Joy

3 weeks in Calgary. I love this city, and life is good.
I have 2 classes a week, Pentateuch and Hermeneutics. And it's good to wake my brain up a bit, shake off my thinking skills, find out if they're still there. I've gotta say I'm a little afraid for my 2 academic papers.
I managed to snag the job I was hoping for, and am finishing up paperwork and then orientation and I should begin sometime next week. The job: working as a nanny, taking either on call - one off jobs or short term contracts. Working with kids, lots of change, and hopefully not getting bored! I am so grateful, this is the only job I applied for and it's one I think I'll really like.
I want to say something about Haiti. But haven't we all heard so much, the papers, radio, tv, emails, everywhere. It's so heavy and makes me think about the tsunami, and being there and so far away, and feeling helpless. Usually I feel the farthest thing from the apostle Paul, when he spoke of how he wanted to go and be with Christ. I confess; I want this life, and I want Heaven and God too, but I want to go when I'm old. Right or wrong, that's where I am. But with Haiti, when I consider the depth of this kind of suffering, it's the only time I can really desire and ask God to come soon if that would be better. To stop the groaning of creation, of His people. Because I can't comprehend.
The stories these last few days, of people being rescued, more than a week later. They have been such a source of joy for me, of relief. People I know are finally going to have their adopted son. These are small glimmers of beauty and the faithfulness of God. I may not know how to deal with all the other questions about all the other people. But I will trust, pray and rejoice in what is good.
This week a very small "something good" in my life, has been the 8 tiny little sprouts of Basil plants that have made their appearance in a small pot in my house! They bring me joy everytime I see them. To increase my joy I planted Rosemary, Thyme and Oregano just yesterday and am looking forward to their appearance in a few weeks!
What is bringing you joy lately?

Dear Anybody

I was trying to explain to Shye what this blogging thing was all about and she thought that the greeting above was best way to start. And so dear Anybody, I am moving. And how am I ever going to survive living in Calgary without this little girl and all her hugs, and a certain young boy and his attempts to dominate in wrestling.
I haven't moved in a very long time, moving is so much bigger than traveling or wandering. Living nowhere in particular doesn't scare me. Living by some loose and open-ended version of a plan suits me just fine. Not knowing, always new. Great. Staying put? I hardly know how. This week, moving to Calgary seems like the continuation of my wandering adventure, but at some point new is going to become old, normal, and ordinary. And I'm afraid that I don't know how to do that.
At this point ordinary seems a long way off, while I am moving tomorrow, I know that one month from now I should be 'moving' my things across the city again into some sort of apartment that may be home for some time. For now I will be living with a handful of new people, and then I will be living with more new people. I am going to have to learn what it looks like to love my neighbour and teammates in a place I don't even know about yet. I am starting school on Tuesday, and it has been 3.5 years since I was in school, what have I got myself into? And while for the next few weeks I am a bit of my own boss, I am also looking for a new job. There's plenty of uncertainty and newness on the horizon.
For now I am excited and ready for the challenge, but certainly sad to leave. The weight of leaving is heavy. I am not just traveling, I am moving. I am making the choice to be somewhere else, a choice to leave my family. I feel as though the decision was made too easily, and I feel as though it was birthed in me so slowly and with prayer. Both.
I am moving tomorrow.
From,
Kim

Christmas 09

Hope you've all had a Merry Christmas! We enjoyed a pretty great day together.

And so this is Christmas...

I am home, for a small stint, a window as wide as many of my other stays this fall. But it's home, and that always feels more stable. I have been here a week and will stay put for one more. Enough time to enjoy Christmas Day with everyone, before I hurry off on Boxing Day to my next location!
After 3 years of considering attending Urbana, and having finally ruled it out, I am now actually going. My connection with MoveIn had them urging me to attend with them, to assist with their exhibit, to see what God has for me and if perhaps He would use my presence there. I had been feeling pretty funny about the idea of going, my discomfort with the Christian-mega conference and celebrity-ism, added to my experience of having received direction from God this fall, had helped me to rule it out. I am not going overseas now or in the next few years, I am not looking to make a connection with a missions agency, I am not wondering how God may use me and my skills for His kingdom. At least for now I have direction. I feel some amount of wonder at how God has knit together good things for my life, and I am excited about these new things!
But after all that, I am going, I made the very last minute decision, and have been surprised to see my going almost completely covered by other's generosity. Without me ever asking. Maybe God does indeed have reasons for me to be there. So on Boxing Day, I'll fly to St. Louis and spend the week with 20,000 others in worshiping God and considering His mission.
And promptly after my return I will pack my things into some sort of vehicle and head south to Calgary, where I am moving in with a friend in her busy community of many. I have a place to stay for the month of January, with the hopes that a team will be ready to MoveIn as early as February!
And that isn't an entirely crazy hope either. Already there are 3 or 4 of us interested in moving in by that date. And I really believe that more people are coming, perhaps even because of Urbana, that we will have 3-8 people, maybe even 2 teams, ready to MoveIn. Part of my work in January is going to be doing the neighbourhood research for these future teams. We are looking to identify "patches" of socio-economic need, high density living and large percentages of unreached peoples.
Other than that, I have enrolled at ABC in two courses, I am working slowly towards finishing my degree with them, and mostly I just like the studying. I continue to wait for news about a midwifery program at Mount Royal, the media is publishing multiple articles about the great need and the lack of midwives - come on, let's at least get started at changing things! And I am looking for permanent full time work, which is kind of fun. Just what do I want to do? Time to try something new?
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, in whatever corner of the globe that you find yourself in! I am looking forward to another holiday with my dear family. My father managed to win a gift basket of wine etc, from his work party that should make the holidays a little merrier, if you know what I mean... And I have been appreciating as always, this season of Advent. I feel in this season, of the calendar and of my life, that I hear the voice of one shouting in the desert, "prepare the way for the LORD."

How Many Kings?

Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger
Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliest hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for?

Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior
All that we have whether costly or meek
Because we believe
Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer
Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?
It’s who we’ve waited for

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Only one did that for me

- Downhere

The Word Became Flesh

"The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish." - John 1:14 (MSG)

Here's an article about how God is leading many people in Toronto, in this thing I'm checking out called MoveIn. He seems to be getting ready to birth the first teams into needy and unreached patches in Calgary, where I hope to be apart of the initial research and teams moving in, starting this New Year! Click here to read the full article.

"It isn't some program or a project," says Paul, MoveIn's founder, "It's not some experience, then you back to your normal lives. MoveIn is our new lives."
"MoveIn is about prayer and obedience to the voice of God. It's about more than just meeting your neighbours; it's about reaching those who are getting missed."

"It's a kingdom experiment, there's no template," says Dean, a career man and a leader in the Flemingdon Park multi-team network. MoveIn is contextualized to
particular buildings and there are no rules to follow. There's freedom to fail and no point to playing it safe. He says it's exciting to see, "nominal Christians wake up from their slumber, open their eyes and say, 'so this is what Christianity is supposed to be about'."