A Simple Disciple's Life

So I take the 11:30 bus and arrive in Toronto somewhere close to 18:30. On my way, I do some reading in Mere Christianity, from C.S. Lewis.
Then, I grab some Japanese food and I head off to meet the singles and campusians for their Friday devotional. We read a few psalms and prayed together. There is one prayer (for Canada) that freaked me out... it started as a fine thing, asking for safety and godly leadership, and turned into something really political (don't let us complain...). I should've talked to the brother about it... oh well.

I get to the place of the brother hosting me for the weekend and we chat a bit. I don't have a good night, being awoken in the middle by the guy who spoke in his sleep... we took some time to pray to let go of our worries and then things were better.

Comes in Saturday. I had to wake up very early to go to the HOPE Walkathon. I was ready by 7AM (not quite yay). I committed to participate with 2 sisters... and one was doing the run, the other was doing the walk. What is a man to do? The answer is: both.
So, I run 10 Km to encourage that first sister (litterally doing some dragging), and then did the 5 Km walk with the other (and a few other folks that were with us, mostly a Mexican sister telling us about her life over there).
So that got me tired. We drove to Scarborough to drop one sister to do some shopping, and I had a bite with another in a Thai restaurant. I had a very yummy soup (large noodles with crab and shrimp), and then went on to crash on my bed. I had to cancel a hang out with a friend.

After resting, I did some groceries with a brother and I went to deep-down-far-away-Scarborough to hang out with two sisters. I could say that they are the closest female friends I have in Toronto. I let them cook an improv meal based on what I brought while I tried improving the speed of one of the sister's laptop (please notice the gender segregation here. I'm fully expected to be hung to a high tree for such an evil treatment of women... I live in Québec, after all :P ).
She didn't want me to liberate her computer with Linux :( I guess it'll take more suffering on her part before she makes the switch.
The meal was GREAT! We had omelets as the main course. One had a mozarella + mushroom sauce and the other had a mango+tomato sauce. There were some pasta too. We were so full we didn't get to dessert. And I had brought maple syrup just for that! Snif :'(

We all had a good time, talked lots. One showed some of her travel pictures, and I showed some of mine (those on my European blog). I took the bus to get back home... and that's when things started going wrong. I did a mistake on the way there and couldn't find the place. I did not have the piece of paper with the address or the brothers' phone numbers.
I called one sister who would know... no answer (1 AM). I call the one who had me at her place, and she's not sure. I walk around the place trying to backtrack my steps from the grocery store. She calls a few folks of the church trying to get the information, and even finds me another place to stay (1:30 AM). With some more searching and finally reaching the first sister, I get to the place. My ankle started hurting in the process, as I was wearing my fancy shoes (that's what women do to men! see why women are evil :P ) and I've been limping a bit since then. Anyway, at 2 AM I was in my bed, feeling thankful for a merciful God and a really loving sister going the extra mile (if not two, or a thousand).

On Sunday, it is time to get to a house church service. We had a message about God's gentle whisper in 2 Kings 5. That is something I did not notice before in this passage. We had a BBQ afterwards and I joined my dear sisters at Pacific Mall (think of it as Scarborough's quasi-chinatown... I might have been the only white guy there). We chatted a bit. I found out that I was not a white guy, but 'beige' :P :) That means too white to be yellow, too yellow to be white. That's quite accurate. I am sorry to disapoint, but I am not gonna fake being a cowboy or something just to be more 'white'. There are many things I like about asia, mostly due to my martial arts background, and so be it!
Anyway, we went to help a couple who is getting maried to get their condo together. While the sisters were washing the floors, the brothers were assembling the doors of the cabinetery and a TV stand.
I'm so good at gender segregation! On a more serious note, I enjoyed doing something with my hands. I don't do that a lot.

In the evening, I had a meal with the brothers hosting me, and we saw Hitch, in which a brother played a scene (or at least someone looking like him). It was very typical... not gonna go farther.

On Monday, I go spend time with a brother who's building a web site for networking disciples and using affiliates to generate easy revenue for the churches. I can forward your his email if you are interested. The project is interesting and has a lot of potential. Many pitfalls too, like anything worth doing.
I took the bus and did 3 studies out of Proverbs that shook me to the core: relying on God, advising, and generosity. I read more of CS Lewis and I am surprised to see that he's buying some of modern churchianity without thinking. He's writing a lot of good stuff, but then talks about Christians going to war and the immortality of the soul and I'm frowning. The immortality of the sould is a Greek idea and there is a case against that concept to be made from the Bible. Also, as I read by Bercot, the doctrine of righteous war was drafted by Augustine, quite not in accordance of early Christian beliefs. Anyway.
I also watched a troubling/touching movie, Blind Spot. Hitler's Secretary. She tells the story of how it was to work for Hitler... its crazy how it was a real ivory tower. The anecdotes have a certain interest, but its her continual shame and unforgiveness that is the most suprising.

Back home I spent time with some brothers and then I got to bed. I think that everyone will know by tomorrow that I really really really enjoyed my time in TO.