True North Missionaries Journal

Its my first time being away from home for thanksgiving. Its always been a big deal for my family. So here I am, typing away as I enjoy my fish and chip dinner in my hotel in the Middle East…Not bad.

The culture here is very different. It was hard to adjust first with the different practices and morals and you know, just everything is different here. Language barrier between me and the workers, etc etc.

Anyways, here we go again…So what’s the point?

I’ve been here for almost a week now, and I’ve been able to immerse myself into the culture, (I find it so fitting that on thanksgiving, I am able to reflect and write this for you guys) and I realize that even though there is so much of a wall between communication and what not, everyone here seems to understand the universal language of,

Being Genuinely happy…and understanding sacrifice for your family. Overall, just being able to take the next step to love.

The people here, though of different faiths, are very overwhelming with their stories of overcoming poverty and trial, and all in the end, never once did I hear, “I’m doing it for myself”.

What I’m trying to get at is, there is a universal language…or understanding even. That love does conquer all barriers.

Lord, allow me to further appreciate the blessings I have been given. Let me allow You to shine in the way I act, live, breathe, pray. I know Your plans for me is to put aside my desires and put in place prayer, love, understanding. Grant me the ability to use this time alone to further align myself with You.

Happy Thanksgiving in advance from Qatar! Its been quite the journey with no days off yet. But Praise God for employment and the opportunities seen and unseen.

When I look at the sky, or when I look at nature or anything at all, the first thing I try to look for is a heart. One of the reasons is because it affirms me of one of the greatest desires I have… But a few days ago, it led me to think, why is it that when we seek something in such pursuit and with such passion, it is because there is a deep longing for some kind of affirmation hopefully waiting ahead, or because we just want it so badly? When I look at the sky, why is it that the first thing I look for is a heart? Why is it that when I think of love, I think of God, of Mary, of my family, all my loved ones? Why is it that when we think of something, we think of the obvious?

This week, the Lord has challenged me to look deeper, and simpler. As the days passed, instead of looking at the sky, searching for hearts, I looked and saw it for its simplest beauty. I noticed how when you look at different ends when the sun is rising or setting, the colours of the sky are completely different colours. On one end, it’s a setting orange, and on another, it’s a setting deep blue and purple. Then, in the midst of it all, it is some sort of green or teal. So simple, yet so beautiful. But why is it that I only noticed this now?

When it comes to love, why is it that the first thing I think of is my family, God, my loved ones, and all of the good memories? This week, I have found myself looking at all the suffering… all the pain I’ve witnessed to and experienced, myself… The times I’ve cried… The times I’ve complained (about my food, about the weather…everything and anything) And I found myself being grateful for them all… Now, the GOOD and the BAD.

Somewhere is this world, one person doesn’t have a family…
Somewhere in this world, one person has to make do with one meal a week…
…or a day, if they’re lucky…
Somewhere in this world, someone has nothing and no one to believe in…
Somewhere in this world, someone doesn’t know what a friend is…
Somewhere in this world, someone has hardened their heart to not feel pain…
… to not feel suffering, and because of that…
Somewhere in this world, someone doesn’t know…
…what it feels like to be humbled,
…what it feels like to grow,
…what it feels like to love,
…and to be loved.

In my life, LOVE… at its finest, is when I’ve been so deeply hurt, and not only understood that pain, but accepted it… When I sincerely and wholeheartedly accepted it all (all the pain that others have caused me, and the pain I have caused others), and journey through it and grow from it with the Lord. To experience love at its finest is to not only rejoice in all the good things, but to also see the reason to rejoice in the bad. To LOVE wholeheartedly is to see God in ALL things, and to LOVE Him in all things and all people, even when it is hardest. 

Thank You, Lord, for my family,
Thank You, Lord, for all my friends,
Thank You, Lord, for giving me a house where I need to spend a day to clean because it more than just provides,
Thank You, Lord, for life,
Thank You, Lord, for health,
Thank You, Lord, for the hardships that have taught me to be simple and constantly strive to be happy to live simply,
Thank You, Lord, for all the pain that has challenged me to see that You are greater than all,
Thank You, Lord, for the people that have come and gone in my life, for they have brought great joy to me, but also great suffering that has made the victories that much more joyful,

Thank You, Lord, for You,
for You have planned it all, saw it all, and continue to CHOOSE to love ME, WANT me, and constantly PURSUE ME each and every day above all…

AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST,

Thank You, Lord, for the gift of mission… to be able to be given an opportunity each day, to show others that there will ALWAYS be something and someone to love and be grateful for, and that to love at its finest…is to do it together!


Happy Thanksgiving, Papa G!

CFC-Youth NALS 20 Day Countdown Day 12:

“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

For all the times I feel weak and helpless I am always reminded by this verse that only with Christ I am made strong.

Deo Gloria.

This was Jonah’s reply to the Lord when asked if he was angry at the castor plant. Jonah as we remember was commissioned by God to proclaim a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh, he tried to escape from it, but with storm in the sea and the big fish that brought him to the shore, he eventually found himself in Nineveh. The Ninevites repented. I will quote the reading from Jonah 4:1-11, to give us a good look at the story.

“Jonah was very indignant; he fell into a rage. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Ah, Lord, is not this just as I said would happen when I was still at home? That was why I went and fled to Tarshish: I knew that you were a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, relenting from evil. So now, Lord, please take away my life, for I might as well be dead as go on living.’ The Lord replied, ‘Are you right to be angry?’

Jonah then went out of the city and sat down to the east of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God arranged that a castor-oil plant should grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head and soothe his ill-humour; Jonah was delighted with the castor-oil plant. But at dawn the next day, God arranged that a worm should attack the castor-oil plant – and it withered.

Next, when the sun rose, God arranged that there should be a scorching east wind; the sun beat down so hard on Jonah’s head that he was overcome and begged for death, saying, ‘I might as well be dead as go on living.’ God said to Jonah, ‘Are you right to be angry about the castor-oil plant?’ He replied, ‘I have every right to be angry, to the point of death.’ The Lord replied, ‘You are only upset about a castor-oil plant which cost you no labour, which you did not make grow, which sprouted in a night and has perished in a night. And am I not to feel sorry for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, to say nothing of all the animals?’”

We always expect the wrongs we have done should have a commensurate punishment. Jonah was upset, because he thought at least God could have punish the people so that they will not do it again. In our society, we say, we must teach them a lesson. But God, knows the people of Nineveh, he knows that deep in their hearts, they don’t know fully what they are doing. “They cannot even tell their right hand from their left!”

What made God compassionate is that he knows us. He knows our human frailty that is why he understands. Thank God, He is God and not Jonah. This is actually our challenge, that when we look at the other person, we look at him or her beyond his or her actions, but actually asking what made that person do such things. We can never judge, we can only act on the things that can help make him or her a better person.

I had been confronted at times with that kind of situation, especially during the times when I was part of the YFC Council and we need to deliberate on the merits of the fulltime applicants. It is so easy to look at their exam results, reflections as well assessments from all sides. But at the end of the deliberations, the question is always, what can be the best for this person in his or her journey that He or she might be drawn more closely to Christ. Is this calling actually helping him or her? When we deliberate we don’t judge, we try as much as possible to be of help in the discernment of the brother or sister.

In our everyday life, we are challenged to go beyond the Jonah mindset and try to get to know more the other person, so we can understand his or her situation. Understanding the other will make us more compassionate. Compassion is what this wounded generation needs.

Lord, thank you for your compassion. Amen.