Why I go to Canada so much

I just spent a month in Sylvan Lake Alberta. I drove up with a friend Richard Smith for Jonny Nash's wedding. Because it's such a long drive, some 27 hours, we decided to make it an extended trip. This is my third drive up to Sylvan, and we took my favorite route through Moosejaw Saskatchewan, staying at the Howes' family farm, which is absolutely delightful, and a great way to begin and end our journey.

People always ask me why I like going to Canada so much, and ask me if I'm moving. I was there 3 months out of the year last year and see myself visiting regularly in the future. I love helping with the short-term internships and worship leading at church. I love just being a part of a real church again, the kind with women's groups that pray and prophecy over you, and eccentric conferences that require the excercise of grace, and just having a church family. I love having someone I respect over the age of 28 that I can sit down with over coffee and get some wisdom from. I love the service meet and greet moment that lasts forever and results in a plethora of hugs and someone always drunk in the spirit. And I love the community of my friends.

Every evening for hours, all of my friends in Canada usually get together at a house, eat food, talk, and hang out for hours. Maybe a lot of time is wasted playing Call of Duty, maybe it will all make sense later. Many of us met through IHOP, then did an internship with Shawn Bolz and Whitedove ministries. Others have joined in from various internship programs and ministries. We seem to spend our time listening to Chuck Missler and Neville Johnson sermons and comparing iPod contents. We can sit around and talk about mysteries together, like Quantum Physics and the nature of light and sound, or chat about whether or not Enoch built the pyramids, or whether there's a case for the gap theory, right along with BMW superiority and the upcoming Oilers game, or what we're going to do with our lives, or how we should start our own mafia. I always seem to take intense ribbing about women wearing head coverings. Sometimes we hang out and worship and get blasted by the Holy Spirit.

These are people in whose presence I've had heavenly encounters, been drunk in the Spirit, with whom I've lived in intern housing, driven across the country and travelled around the world. People who have encouraged me to not give up, prophecied over me, rebuked me, and loved me even when I'm stupid. These are the people I call when something's going on, people I want to know for years.

Feeding my Heart Stuff