Notes from the Road - in TO
Well, made it successfully to Toronto(TO). Kind of a long trip... slept (more or less) on the flight from Calgary to Winnipeg & then decided to stay the night in the airport instead of trying to find a hotel & stuff. Went not bad. Watched 4 episodes of '24:season 2' & then went to watch more, but the DVD playre on my laptop was acting all finnicky & wouldn't play the next disc (does that sometimes). So watched "the Heist" a movie my dad recommended which was pretty good. Chatted with Basil the janitor & read a bit & then caught the flight to Toronto at 6:50AM (winnipeg one was in at 10:30). Slept solid on that flight (the stewardess had to keep bugging me to tilt my chair up & I thought it was up in my half asleep zone).
So made it into Toronto, took a long time to debate what to do. Finally decided to head to the hostel down town & get a room....not exactly the best. What I really wanted was a nice cozy room to myself with a tub & secure place to store my gear & a place where I could be alone & watch DVD's & read & stuff... but I cheaped out & went for the hostel in which I get bunk 'C' in a room of 6 & have to lock up my stuff in lockers that look like the pictures you see on TV of how they store people in the morgue.... but it's just for one night.... Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. Sharon (Zacharias) doesn't get in town until 6:40 & I have to be out of the hostel at 11AM. So, will be lugging my gear around Toronto looking for some place to just sit & do nothing.... maybe will have to get out of the downtown - it's all busy & dirty & way too rich/professional... I feel uncomfortable down here 'cause it's so not the world I'm confortable with. Noisy, people full of polish, Stock tickers flashing across the electronic billboards on the street.. Money & poverty, greed & despair, people caught up in the illusions of the corporate world... yeah, just as soon be not in that... it's not that it's that bad, it's just not as comfortable for me.
So, got into the hostel at 1 something & then slept until 5:15 & then sort of showered & changed clothes (the bathroom is a bit sketchy - water all over the floor, the facet into the tub has hot & cold water, though it seems that only cold gets redirected into the shower head & the water doesn't drain out of the tub properly. That & it's a tiny room with a toilet without a full toilet seat cover, so I'm trying to balance all my clothes & stuff on the back of the toilet/the walls & make sure nothing falls in....
Spent the evening wandering around.... looking for food & an internet cafe. Finally found a place that wasn't noisy/dark & was selling ribs - they claimed the were the "best in the world", but they weren't - they were good, just not THAT good... & now found the internet cafe & can sit & jot down some notes.
Started reading Deitrich Boenhoffer's "the cost of discipleship"... not bad so far... the introduction kind of voices the things I'm struggling with at present - watching the church become some place that is very much limited to the spiritual 'elite' - having a Christianity geared so that only the super spiritual can acheive 'closeness' with God & I keep thinking that if this faith thing is real (which I believe that it is), then it should 'work' for basically anyone.... & not be limited to the 'really dedicated' or something.... but yeah, we'll see.....
So lesson 1 from my trip so far (every journey has it's share of lessons): Sometimes it's worth it to spend the extra to get what you really want.... Getting the cheapest may not always be getting what you are really longing for... it may help the bank account, but the bank account of the soul may find it's short a few 'dollars'
& yeah, it's nice with this trip so far 'cause I'm not pressuring myself into having to 'see' a bunch of stuff. I'm here killing time until Sharon arrives.... no agenda, just rest & do stuff that I think is fun....
posted by Kirk Holloway | 6:13 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Kirk,
I was thinking about what you said about the church being geared for the so-called spiritually elite and I wonder is it really? Or is it our own funny perceptions that tell us that? I have felt the same way on and off, but found that the times when I feel as you do now, that it is because I am at that moment comparing myself, my "spirituality" to others and I think that I am lacking and I think that others think I am lacking and the end results in me feeling left out in some way. I think it has something to do with our own definitions of the word spiritual as well. We, as the church have at times resorted to the definition of 'spiritual' as being active in some sort of publicly seen spiritual giftedness. This opposed to seeing that since we are created as both physical and SPIRITUAL beings, that our entire life, every moment of everyday is spiritual because we are spiritual. But we often go by what we can see, what we define as "evidence" that we are in fact spiritual...does so and so hear God? do they dream dreams, see visions, speak in tongues, manifest God in some way?? We have given higher value to things in comparison to others. The work of the enemy to cause dissent and strife among God's people. Compare yourselves to one another and find yourself to be better than some and not the equal of others. Neither of these a Godly perspective of self. Nor Godly perspective of others. These are the things I have been thinking about lately. That's enough of my rant. Love to hear back from you on this.
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