Spring

 

Spring is finally here, or at least it is coming. In the last few weeks the weather would not stick to one type of weather. It would snow one day, then rain, and melt the snow, and then snow and rain and freeze. And then it would all start to melt and then snow again. Needless to say, it has been confusing, for me at least. But the last week has included a lot of rain and warmer weather above the freezing point. I haven't worn my winter coat in a few weeks now and that feels really good.

 

But today was special.

It was a crisp cool day of 50F/ 10C,

But you could feel something different in the air.

The birds were singing,

Many people were walking about,

And some trees have started to bloom.

There is a freshness in the air that cannot be described;

That feeling of new life.

Rebirth has come to the city

In the form of Spring.

 

Kid's Days

For the last two months I have been doing a program for kids to learn a little English through Bible stories. We only did it for a couple hours in the afternoon every other weekend with four sessions in total. Even that was a lot of work. I was in charge of the program. I came up with lessons, crafts, games, snacks, songs, bible stories, and volunteers to help me. I did get a lot of help and tips from people who had done some of this before, but it was still a little stressful for me and in the end a good learning experience.

The first week we had 17 kids. I was not prepared for that many kids. We did end up running out of papers for every kid. So I planned ahead hoping to have the same numbers, or similar numbers for the next three sessions.  The second session had 14 kids, the third had 10, and at the fourth and final session we had 5 kids. That was a little disappointing for me, watching the numbers going down every week. But, from what I could tell, I think most of the kids had fun. And I still had a few continue coming back, even if it was only 5 in the end.

I have learned that I am somewhat of a perfectionist. I am not an OCD type of perfectionist, at least not all the time. I have learned that I don't like it when things don't turn out the way I expected them to. And when things go wrong, I tend to panic before coming up with a plan. I worry a lot and stress out over tiny details, like the fact that my sample cross craft was not a perfect cross. And if I leave things to get done at the last minute, then I really am a big mess.

But through this, I have been reminded of what God has already told me:
- He tells us not to worry. "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." Matthew 6:29
- We are not perfect. "As it is written: 'No one is righteous, no, not one.'" Romans 3:10
- Yet God still loves us. "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - thought perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8
- And nothing can separate us from that love. "Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:39

I hope you will be as encouraged by this as I am. We are not perfect and we are not in control, but we should not fret or worry about it because God is in control. And even though we are not perfect, we have been made perfect through Jesus who died for us.
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ... For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:4-9
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the word might be saved through him." John 3:16-17

Happy Easter! He has risen! He has risen indeed!


And here are a few pictures from my Kid's Day events.

The Man Who Prays to Mickey Mouse

The other day, I was on the bus on my way to my French lesson and I ended up having a very interesting conversation with a man on the bus. It started with small talk in French about my reusable bag that folds into a pocket. (It's pretty handy, never knew it would be a conversation starter!) He was curious about where I got this bag because he had never seen anything like it. I offered my answers as best I could, then he realized that French wasn't my first language. He asked me "what's your language?" and I told him English and he switched to English just like that.

He asked me where I was from. He got a little excited when I said I was from San Diego. He said that was his favorite city that he had been to in California. He said he had visited San Francisco and Los Angeles as well and still called San Diego the best. (I was a little proud of that) So then the conversation goes along the normal questions that I get: Why are you here? Why Quebec? Do you like the city? Do you want to stay? Good luck with learning French!

It was all good harmless talk until I said what I do. I told him "I work for a church that creates English programs for people to practice their English." "A church?!" he asks me, cringing a little at the word "church." He goes on to explain how he doesn't believe in God and continues into his own monologue filled with hate about why he doesn't believe in God.

This is a paraphrase of our conversation:

"I don't believe in God. I tried all that religious stuff once, being good and going to church all the time. But it doesn't work. What the church teaches you is crap and doesn't work. How can a god who is all good and perfect let all the bad things that happen in world happen? I think he just likes to watch us sit here and be tormented and punished by all the bad things that happen to us. He doesn't want to listen to us. I used to pray to God, but now I pray to Mickey Mouse."

"Really?" I ask in disbelief

"Yeah! Because I have the same chance of getting my prayers answered when praying to Mickey Mouse as I do when praying to God. Its a 50-50 chance. I have a 50% chance of getting my prayers answered or not no matter who I pray to. The church is wrong. The church will tell you that God loves you and that he will answer your prayers. No, that is wrong! God only loves you if you obey everything he tells you. You need to follow all of his ten laws and keep them perfect. But if you slip and mess just one - BAM! You are in trouble. He will beat you and torment you and send you to that fire they call Hell. So he really doesn't love you. He doesn't love us and the church is wrong."

My stop was coming up and I was about to get off, but I had to say one more thing before leaving him. So I said to him, "I believe God does love you because he sent his Son to die for us and to take that punishment for us."

"B.S.! Religion is full of crap and wrong!"

And that was the end of our conversation because I had to get off the bus at that moment. The only thing I could do was pray for him on that short walk to my tutor's house.

I have been told that this is the common response to religion here in Quebec: blind hatred. My tutor told me that some people have their reasons or rational thinking behind it, but most often people don't. They don't have a good reason other than they just hate it, the church, Christianity, religion, all of it. This man had obviously been through something to make him hate God that much. These people have been through a lot to get them where they are now. The best thing we can do for them now is to pray.

Please pray for that man. Please pray for the people of Quebec, that God will change their hearts and turn them toward Him. Pray and be thankful knowing that we do have a God that listens to our prayers.
Psalm 86:7 "In the day of trouble I will call upon you, for you answer me."
Matthew 21:22 "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."
1 John 5:14-15 "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him."