here I am again

well people in blog world. here is a little bit of my adventure the last while.
I am taking some addictions counseling courses from a college in vancouver which have been going pretty good and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of being completed. one more left after this one i am almost done. More about what perhaps this schooling will be used for other than holding a slow sign or driving in a truck.:-)
I was going to catch the bus downtown after work one night/morning, it all runs together and I saw a poster on a pole for some addiction seminar forum thing. I emailed the contact and he told me they were talking about what to do about the addiction problem in, specifically, downtown vancouver. One of the recent assignments was to present a story of an addicted or recovered person and tell their story and tell perhaps why they fell into addiction and how they recovered. I was reading a book by a guy named Monty Lewis, (phenomenal story, short bathroom read, google it, its 5 bucks) who founded cons for christ and told a bit of his story of brokeness, addiction, violence and all the many prisons he was in all over Canada. I had 5 mins to share so I read excerpts to the group about his coming to the end of his sanity and his need for peace which God gave him through his desparate prayer. And shared how his life was changed from that prayer on. One lady asked to borrow the book, and that was one of my goals. And This next meeting we are to bring a story of a self help or spiritual methods used in the war against addiction, I am going to talk a bit about teen challenge which is a faith based organization all over the world and 12 in Canada that uses biblical principles and methods for young men and women committed to a year and God does miraculous work in the lives of these young people. So its been cool to be a part of this "seminar" and to get to share glimpse of true freedom, found in Jesus. One guy said this at the meeting to me, "I am ok with God, I just dont like his fan club" argh... its so true sometimes sometimes I go and mess up who Jesus truly is and people are turned off, but there is hope and thankfully its not me.

So we have been out out in Vancouver now for 3 months and it has flown like a bird that flies really fast, hmmm maybe a hummingbird( they actually fly backward, weird) anyway. I am currently working for a line painting company that does most of the lines and intersections in this area and beyond, so its been good. good guys i work with and some good money but definitely not a life calling and they shut down when it gets to the real rainy season. You might wonder what I do, well if we are working on a busy road I help put out cones and redirect traffic so they can put the lines down without getting hit, then I sweep the line to get rid of the grit so its smooth, sometimes I drive the truck behind the “line guys” so the traffic is directed to the other lane. Well its not really paint at all, its plastic, hot plastic that is kept hot in a propane fired kettle, it last longer than paint and dries much quicker, if you want to know more email me and I will tell you.

So its been good times, and at the end some real good lines are showing up on the pavement, and to think I had a part in that.. sniff. It’s a beautiful thing. So this rainy week I worked one day,(trusting tomorrow stays dry) needless to say I am looking for another job to prepare for the end of this job. I had an interview today at a risk youth assessment and receiving home where the kids are placed there until better arrangements are made with the goal trying to be reuniting them back with their parents if its possible and safe for them. 13-18 yr old and co-ed so like whoah is what I am thinking,( like a mini youth all nighter gone bad) there are 7 kids at a time. I am going to be doing some orientation/observation shifts this next week to see if we all fit together and then perhaps start working there on a contract basis. 8 hours a day, varying days per week.

I am excited for something more where my heart is youth and being there for them. This is where this addictions counseling courses might come in to play.
Meryl is working at a cafe in the Vancouver general hospital and enjoying it and they love her there, who wouldn’t, and old men often hit on her and tell her they would work for a pretty girl like her, but this is where trust comes into our relationship:-0 but she feels there is more for her in this life than serving coffee to doctors and nurses fulfilling their dreams. So we are waiting to see what this fall and spring hold for her. Pray for us in our search for the places we work, people we are placed with here and the seasons we are in.

peace