Update Tuesday 20/09/11

There comes a time in every new endeavor, when what is new begins to become common place; when what is exciting becomes the everyday and when the golden hue begins to shine a bit less brightly.  When this happens it seems that some of the less desirable things become more clear, when the darkness is a bit more evident.  This past week seemed to be the beginning of the next phase for us.  As school begins, routines are set in place and we settle into everyday life in the city, we have also begun to see things a bit more clearly and realistically.   We see the need around us more obvioulsy, we feel the darkness a bit more acutely and there have been a number of experiences where we have been in the trenches and been reminded of just how far things have drifted from God's heart and how large the task really is.  Add the inevitable feelings of missing friends and family and it can be a bit overwhelming.  But just as these feelings began to appear, God again proved Himself so gracious, and we had the opportunity to visit the Oakville Sanctuary, where this really all began for us, for their tenth anniversary.  It really was an amazing time to celebrate and be reminded of God's goodness and faithfulness these past ten years.  For me, there was one moment (aside from being in the dunk tank...with the fish) that stands out most.  It was during the service that morning, towards the end of the sermon when Isaiah 61 was read.  This has been an integral verse to the Sanctuary, especially in Oakville, as it speaks of oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.  We have often read those verses, and the verses leading up to them (1-3) as we reminded ourselves of what we saw our mission to be.  These were verses that Jesus himself would quote as his mission announcing his ministry in Luke 4.  What was interesting on Sunday is that Pastor Peter Roebellin of Oakville chose to continue reading past verse 3, where we would often stop, and included verse four (and perhaps beyond...but I was struck by verse 4),

"Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastation; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolation of many generations.  

Of course, it mentions cities which caught my attention, but more so than that was the parallel between the setting to which Isiah was referring and Hamilton.   Speaking of a people and a city that had drifted from God into ruins he was prophesying a time when one day they would be renewed for the glory of God.  As we live in this city, see the need around us, feel the spiritual darkness and live in the shadows of church buildings that no longer honour God,  this passage seems so appropriate.  For me personally, it had the effect of drawing me back into that vision that we shared so often in the early days and tied our new work so clearly into the vision and history of God's faithfulness that was being celebrated.  It was a clear reminder of why we are where we are and doing what we are doing.  Yes, there is darkness, yes, the task is overwhelming and yes, it can be a bit lonely sometimes (especially for my wife) but that is precisely why we are here and we are not alone.  The same God who has been there these past ten years, is right here at work presently.

As we carry on here in Hamilton there are a few things that we are excited about and for which we would like to ask you to continue to pray.   Firstly, I mentioned an upcoming trip to McMaster University in my last update.  We had a chance to visit and get reacquainted with the campus, meet some students and meet a few students involved in campus ministry.  Since that visit I have heard from a number of different colleagues about individuals who have been thinking about Mac recently.  It seems that there is something stirring so we will continue to explore how we as a local church might come along side developing efforts.

We have also met with Diane our next door neighbour, and the first to express interest in being a part of our new work, and decided that we will begin our first home church meetings next week.  This will be a great chance for us to begin to explain the vision of what we hope to be doing in much more clarity, and to, as a group, begin to pray towards this vision.  

I also forgot to mention last week that we welcomed Betty, our Korean student (obviously not her given Korean name - her real name Soogyeong which is not too hard to pronounce so we will see how long this one sticks), who will be living with us for the next 3 months to learn English.  Things seem to be going very well.  I cannot imagine heading to another country all by myself, where I spoke little of the language yet and then being thrown into my family!  One of the cool things is that Betty is not a Christian and last Sunday in Oakville was the first church service she has ever been to.  Please join us in praying that the Lord would use this time with our family, our morning Bible studies etc. to reveal Jesus to her in a real and personal way. 

Once again thanks for all the continue prayer and support!