Category Archives: Blog

Papa’s kiss

2 Replies

Some days I am downright discouraged. Tired, overwhelmed and cranky. Days when I’m not even happy hanging out with myself. Yesterday was one of those days.

I admit this to Papa this morning, as if He didn’t know already, and ask Him if we could do a ‘do over’. Would He forgive me, encourage and bless me in some way today? He is most gracious, forgives, envelopes me with His Love, dusts me off and sends me out for yet another day’s assignment.

Ready for the shift? I’m sitting at our board table a few hours later when I hear the front door open. No-one is manning the front desk so I step into our reception area and encounter one of our street friends, who is having a day just like mine was yesterday.

“How you doing?” I ask gently. With tears welling up in his eyes, he responds, “I’m having a really bad day. I feel like no-one cares and everyone has abandoned me.” My heart breaks. This is a familiar feeling. I remain silent and listen. He continues, “I was walking past your NightShift door and thought if I could just come in and sit for a second, I could have a cry and no-one would see me.”

Sigh.

I invite him to sit with me. I have nothing to offer other than my listening ear. My heart understands. As he readies to leave, I reach for his hands and together we bow our heads in prayer. I ask Papa to comfort him, surround him with Love, to encourage and bless him. I ask Him for a Papa kiss!

I return to my desk and lose myself in the busyness of my morning. Two hours later, my friend reappears.

“Nothing like this has ever happened to me in my whole life! God heard me. He cares!”

He explains that after our prayer together, he walked up the road and ventured into the BC Lions training field, where the team was practicing. As he leaned against the fence to watch, he spied Wally Buono, BC Lions General Manager, standing a short distance away. My friend is thrilled – apparently he’s a HUGE football fan and has been following Wally’s career over the years.

God nudged. Wally responded. Not only did Wally speak to my friend, he called over three of my friend’s favourite players off the field to meet him.

sunsetGod cared. Wally cared! That’s a Papa kiss.

Papa answered a prayer this morning. He knew exactly what my friend needed. And He knew exactly what I needed.

Papa, thank you for the ‘shift’ – thank you for the ‘kiss’.

And Wally, thank you for caring!

Book tour launch at Angel Christian Supplies

1 Reply

I was so impacted by the people – old and now new friends – who dropped by Angel Christian Supplies to support the launch of the ‘Buy a Book – Donate a Book’ campaign, as we kicked off the official book tour on Saturday. It was overwhelming and somewhat surreal to be signing the book that not so long ago was just a thought percolating in my heart.

Our Mobile Library aboard the Care Bus has been greatly enhanced due to the generous donations from those who visited the store on Saturday and Pacific Academy students, Cloverdale Library, Surrey Libraries and all of our wonderful family and friends!

A special thank you to Serena Taylor and staff at Angel Christian Supplies for hosting the event.

It is true. Papa does so much more than we could ever imagine or hope for, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20)

Photos courtesy Ingrid Roeske Good

Have books will travel…

2 Replies

God works in mysterious ways!

I’m on the road back to Vancouver following a few restful days in Barriere, BC, pondering the upcoming launch of our mobile library and literacy program and wondering where the inspiration had come from.

My reflections carried me way back to a memory in my home town of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where my love for reading and writing was kindled by the book mobile that parked weekly in my school yard and nearby shopping mall.

Seconds later, I pull into a gas station and find myself next to the Thompson–Nicola Regional District Book Mobile, the only one of its kind in BC. I could hardly believe my eyes! Coincidence? I think not!

Book mobile exterior Curiosity got the better of me – I scrambled out of the car to pay a visit. As I stepped over the bus’s threshold, I was whizzed back to childhood familiarity. The scent of tattered pages, the thrill of countless stories and the power of words encircled me like a warm blanket!

Book mobile interiorThis was it! The inspiration! To inspire, educate, encourage and share this experience with those on the street who are either uncomfortable with the grandiose of our brand new Surrey Library or have difficulty signing out books without a fixed address or ID.

With our very own Care Bus we have started to implement a book-sharing system in our very own community. On Tuesday evenings, anyone can access our mobile library via an honour system where new and used donated books are lovingly placed in the hands of adults and children, whose eyes light up with the prospect of losing themselves in a good book.

Thank you Thompson-Nicola Regional District staff for the blessing of allowing me to snap pictures and glean new ideas for our Care Bus Library! It looks like we have a pair of mobile library busses in BC now 🙂

The tug of loneliness

Leave a reply

What a blessing. A ‘sleep over’ weekend with my two precious grand babies!  My heart grew larger from the abundance of their love.

grand babies“I never knew how much Love my heart could hold,
’til someone called me Nana.”

But today, I’m feeling empty with a deep longing for more ‘hugs and I love yous’. I don’t like this feeling. It’s called loneliness. It makes me vulnerable. I run from it. Get distracted. I wander aimlessly without purpose or direction.

It helps to write.

Many years ago, someone suggested ‘loneliness’ was simply God whispering in my ear to draw me closer to him.  What a beautiful visual!

As I roll out of bed this morning, my eyes rest on this image:

Be Still“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

So I’m still today. Just as my heart grows larger from the love flowing from my grandsons’ hearts, so it grows deeper in the knowledge of God’s love for me when I get alone with Him.

There is a difference in being alone and being alone with God. Being in the Holy presence of Papa, wipes away my tears and shifts my aching heart for human love to the Divine. I am Loved.

An act of kindness, randomly shared

2 Replies

A strange phenomenon is happening right in front of our NightShift, Sisters and The Care Centre building these days. It appears I don’t have to look far for material for my blog posts. Remember some of my past posts? The incessant rain and the dancing red Maple Leaf took place in our driveway.

Earlier this month I had another one of those God moments.

As I backed out of the office parking lot, complaining as usual about the stream of oncoming traffic along the Boulevard, I noticed a man from the street bent over the hot pavement with a NightShift garbage can by his side. He worked alone. Not a soul in sight.

Curious, I paused my car and watched.

random act of kindness_12Jul2013

Focused on his job, he picked up cigarette butts, unsightly weeds, and bits of paper and debris and deposited them in the can.

I was humbled. I can’t honestly say I’d ever stoop down to clean a random parking lot.

Some misinformed folks claim that people on the street are lazy. Takers. Not givers. I beg to differ. Here’s a shining example of someone ‘giving back’ – a random act of kindness – that blessed not only my heart but also the ministry.

This man gets it! “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:25).

One random act of kindness!

No one noticed – except Papa and me. And now you.