Rough Day

Ever had one of "those days"? That was saturday for my family. It started out a great day. Mike headed off to work and I was looking forward to a day in the city to spend my husbands hard earned money on maternity clothes and pants for our daughter that would actually come to her ankles. As I was getting ready to leave I had that little itchy feeling like there was something in my eye. Well I pulled the ever so common manuever of rubbing my eye. Thats when the day started getting more interesting. Whatever happened to be in my eye did not approve of being rubbed and decided to retaliate with a scratching maneuver of its own. Instant tears and crazy amounts of pain. I figured it would subside so I attempted to carry on with my getting ready to go plans. This proved more difficult than expected when trying to keep one eye closed. Its amazing how children can instantly spot a chance to get away with something. After about an hour of fighting the pain in my eye and trying to keep a busy toddler out of trouble with my eyes closed, I knew it was time to call for back up. I called my dad who then went down to the job sight to pick up Mike. The poor guy had just barely got everything set up and had to put it all away to come to my aide. After a trip to the emergency room, freezing in my eye and a super fun eye exam I was sent home with an attractive eye patch and antibiotic goop to heal the scratch on my cornea.

Not to be put off by my new pirate appearance Mike and I decided to head off to the city together. About 25 minutes from home our car suddenly stopped accelerating and then died. It literally completely died with not even enough juice to run our hazard lights. We then became truly Stahled on the side of the highway.(get it? Im so funny) We again called my father who rounded up a truck and trailier to haul us home. To make a long story short, it turned out our coolant had leaked and poured all over the engine which completely fried the whole engine. Well if thats not enough, As mike was backing the truck off the trailer some sharp object was sticking out and punctured our tire.

So to recap, I scratched my cornea, we have to replace our entire engine and then we need to fix a flat tire. Here's the funny part. The last few weeks we have been praying that God would teach us to trust in him instead of our own strength. Well now we know without a doubt that he listens to our prayers. As stressful as it is to know we have no vehicle for weeks and not much idea how we are going to pay for it all, we are excited to see what God is going to do. Its nice to know that He has something in mind for us. I will keep you posted.

On another note, the pastor of street church that I mentioned in the previous blog, just got hit with 4 more bylaw tickets for feeding the homeless and using a loud speaker for preaching. He has been threatened with more prison time and his response went something like this "go ahead and put me in prison for feeding the poor, You cannot stop Jesus"

Jesus Freaks

This weekend held a few surprises for Mike and I and I want to share this with you all. Every once in awhile a group of us have been rounding up clothes and blankets and then driving to downtown Calgary to distribute them and hopefully share a little Jesus. I only tell you this to give a little background. I have to admit that each time I really dont feel like going. The thing is that in our small town the word has got out that we do this and now bags of clothes come in regularly and so we have to keep taking them in. Even the local thrift store puts aside bags for us. My parents have come home to find bag fulls on their doorstep because people dont necessarily know how to get ahold of Mike and I.

Well as the clothes have been piling up I have been putting off the trip. Every time we end up Going some amazing connections are made and God does some cool stuff, and yet every time, I dont want to go.

Well this saturday my mom called us up and said that she had had a dream that night and that the homeless were asking for us to come, right away. The next day happened to be her birthday and for it she wanted to go in with us and see what this was all about. I desperately didnt want to go, but its moms birthday and this is what she wanted.

We loaded up the car and the closer we got to the city the more I dreaded it. The weather was miserable, snowing, sleeting, windy. I didnt want to get out of the car. We got to our usual spot to set up and talked to a few of the homeless guys. They were good and didnt need anything so they told us of a spot in the park that we could maybe pass out a few things. When we got there, there was a group with tables set up giving out food and they had flags every where saying Jesus loves you. We had second thoughts about stopping but decided to try and team up with whoever this organization was. They were just cleaning up to leave so we got to talking with them and I have to say I dont think our lives will ever be the same.

These guys are know as Street Church. Every sunday they set up and feed as many people as come and they run a church service right there in the most dangerous part of the city. These men are a modern day Peter and Paul. They preach straight up Jesus and nothing else matters. They get knives and guns pulled on them regularly. Twice people have come to assassinate them and both times the assassins fell on there knees and chose Jesus. These men have watched people die in front of them. Just a few weeks ago there was a double homicide at one of their meetings.

The part that blows me away is that not only are they facing opposition from drug dealers who dont want them converting their clients, they are also facing down against police and the city officials who have taken away their permits and told them to stop preaching. The one fellow we met with Art, is facing prison time in May for preaching and holding these meetings without permits. Right here in Calgary!!! This isnt China or the middle east, this is our back yard!

These men are so filled with the Holy Spirit that they are fearless. They are casting out demons and baptizing people in the bow river. Their lives are on the line all the time and they just cant keep their mouths shut. They are living the book of ACTS. People are being healed, addictions are being broken, Jesus is moving. He is the same Jesus of the bible, He is the same in China as He is in Africa as He is in Canada. The same yesterday, today and forever.

Mike and I are so excited to be able to join our little clothing ministry with what has already been established. This sunday they are doing a huge Easter Celebration in which they will feed over 3000 people and be sharing Jesus with them all. There will be testimonies and preaching and major spiritual warfare.

God knew that we needed to be there yesterday so that we could connect with Street Church and get involved with next weekends celebration and battle. We are so excited to watch God moving and putting peices together in our lives.
Please cover us in prayer as we dont want to lose this fire. For more info please check out www.streetchurch.ca