Eddy

Eddy is my new friend at work. Well, he is not so new in the picture and he’s not even an employee. Eddy is a customer and he just celebrated his 72nd birthday a few weeks ago. He’s very quiet and likes to come and sit on a couch or a chair in the furniture section of the store. He sits there and watches people, look at different things like walkman’s, lamps or things like that, not so interested into buying anything. But when he does, he most of the time doesn’t even use what he bought. He gives it away. Eddy has no friends or family around. I think he’s never been married.

We met for the first time when I was putting an extension cord away, but couldn’t find where it belonged. Eddy was sitting on a chair and told me where extension cords were. We started chatting.

Ever since that day, everytime he comes by and I’m there, we chat for a few minutes. The interesting thing is that he has a keen memory. Eddy always picks up the conversation on Thursday the way we left it on Tuesday. He remembers my age and calculated that if he’d be 25 years younger and I, 25 years older, we’d be pretty much the same age. We’ve had some little good conversations. He keeps telling me that retired men like him don’t have much to do, so he spends time at the store. I don’t know why but it seems that regularly, he talks about heaven, or at lest, death and going somewhere. At one point he told me that he had a big (bad) file and so, when he gets before God, he didn’t know, but it probably wouldn’t go very well. He seemed to be okay with it, “what can I do about it anyways?” was the feeling that I got from him. He said he believed in God but didn’t go to church. I told him that people were not acceptable before God on the basis of the good they had done on earth. Going to church, praying and being a good person… these things are things we can “boast” about, but God’s standards are way too high and there is no way for us, mere sinners to meet God’s perfect requirements. That’s pretty much all I was able to tell him. I hope I can talk to him about God’s solution He gave us; Jesus Christ.

You can pray for Eddy, that God would open his heart, make him more sensitive to his spiritual state and the words he heard from me, that works and good deeds can never satisfy God’s requirements.

—

Lord Jesus, I sin. Grant that I may never cease grieving because of it, never be content with myself, never think I can reach a point of perfection. Kill my envy, command my tongue, trample down self. Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable, to live for Thee and not for self, to copy Thy words, acts, spirit, to be transformed into Thy likeness, to be consecrated wholly to Thee, to live entirely to Thy glory.

Deliver me from attachment to things unclean, from wrong associations, from the predominance of evil passions, from the sugar of sin as well as its gap; that with self-loathing, deep contrition, earnest heart searching I may come to Thee, cast myself on Thee, trust Thee, cry to Thee, be delivered by Thee.

O God, the Eternal All, help me to know that all things are shadows, but Thou art substance, all things are quicksands, but Thou art mountain, all things are shifting, but Thou art anchor, all things are ignorance, but Thou art wisdom.

If my life is to be a crucible amid burning heat, so be it, but do Thou sit at the furnace mouth to watch the ore that nothing be lost. If I sin wilfully, grievously, tormentedly, in grace take away my mourning and give me music; remove my sackcloth and clothe me with beauty; still my sighs and fill mu mouth with song, then give me summer weather as a Christian.

- a Puritan prayer -

Look what I found… this is truly my little sister! I think she’s pretty!

Soon I will be Done

Oh the troubles of the world! I know very little about hardship, suffering, illness, hurt and sorrow, but (sigh) Oh the troubles of the world! Maybe that’s what they are, “The world’s troubles” but it seems that often, they are my troubles. I get down because of them and I feel as if besieged by an army.

I feel like giving up. But oh, how foolish I am.

+++

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Apocalypse // aTTwkaliTTus

For those of you who’d be interested, my older sister is presently, currently, actually, pregnant with their third child. Since the very start family and friends in general hoped for a girl since they “already” had two little boys. Today was the big day. Marianne had an … échographie/sonogram/ultrasound/sonography (which one do you guys use for this type of scan?). So finally I got the long-awaited phone call this afternoon (well, I am exagerating a lot here). And the truth was APOCALYPTUS (uncovered / unveiled).

IT’S A GIRL!

I’m really joyous! First of all because I know that my sister is really happy about it, her hopes are becoming real. And I’ll be happy to have a … nephew girl. I can’t remember the word for… I don’t even remember the French word for it. (So I got up and asked my roomie this question, “C’est quoi un neveu fille?” and she answered, “Nièce” which reminded me of the English word, niece - thanks Rachel) so yeah It’ll be fun to have a little niece. I’ll make sure she plays sports and dislikes pink and girly stuff. No I am joking Jason. She shall be just the way God is making her to be.

Exciting!

Teddy Bear & Corinne some… 18 years ago.

22 bday

Tonight was Rachel’s 22nd birthday rememberance day… Since I was not working today I spent most of it preparing for the celebration. I think I’m using too big words here. Anyways. We had bought corn (on the cob) - they were 10 for .97$, pretty amazing eh… I guess the season is coming to an end so corn is cheap. The kitchen was decorated in a pretty cheesy way for the ”event” and we had a good time, even if the cake was SO sweet and had a … soap taste somehow, somewhere.

After our little friendly supper we when to Bubble Tea, situated in China Town. I don’t particularly like to go there simply because I don’t like bubble teas and there’s an unpleasant little smell in the retaurant that I seem to be alone to notice, but anyways, Rachel likes going there and I’m learning to like other types of beverages they have. We played Dutch Blitz and kept our scores on the very wall of the restaurant. Sounds pretty wrong to write on a wall that doesn’t belong to us eh? Right. But the thing is that the wall we were sitting by was full of writing, signatures and etc.

Rachel -again- won. I’m not really quick at any games, especially not card games. We finally left around 9:30 and headed home.

I hope you have a good day too.

Happiness

I remember realizing that it’s important to look at people and their circumstances before letting myself being hurt by what someone can say to me. People may be rude or upset or frustrated, but very often the circomstances really push them to be like that. That’s why I don’t need to take any bad comment or pressure from people who are in the middle of an “upsetting” situation or a rush hour.

Now it’s gone deeper - I think. Sometimes people around me aren’t nice. They seem upset or frustrated and they make me feel as if I’m not doing things properly, as if I’m not good enough for them. When I look at their circumstances, I find people who are under pressure. People who’d need six hands instead of two. People who are not understood. What I realize now is that these people, no matter the wrong they do, the lies they tell, the compromises they make, or the comfort they take from me… they’re simply, desperately looking for happiness. They just want to be happy and comfortable so they use whatever means they can to accomplish their goal. And for some people, it doesn’t matter if they use people, people’s hapiness even, in order to get their own happiness. If they lie and aren’t nice, it’s because there’s something that makes them uncomfortable, something’s wrong, they’re looking for more. They want to get out of that state so they do whatever they can sometimes.

 When people aren’t nice to me or seem to be upset, instead of feeling little and a failure, I stand there and think, “poor him”, “poor her”. They might not be nice and it’s wrong to trade people’s happiness for your bitterness, but serious, those people just want to be happy. Isn’t it most people’s goal in life: be happy?

 So what’s the point of me writing this here? Hmm… Well, maybe just to encourage you and me to be encouraged: people may not be nice all the time, but they’re actually sad, they have little hope on this earth. They live for this life and try to get all they can out of it. I realize that there is no need for me to feel down, stressed because of things around me. I have a hope that is not of this earth and my God is greater and bigger than anything and, any boss or any threat. And, I’ve got real happiness, so I don’t need to be jealous, upset, impatient or under pressure. 

Reality ?

I looked in over a dozen different versions of the Bible (in English) to find the word “reality”. I was surprised that the word usually did not exist in most versions and when it did, it was used once or twice in the entire book. Why did I look for “reality”? Well, there’s a verse I always liked that is found in Colossians 2:17 that says: “These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (NIV) I particularly like the second part of it “reality, however, is found in Christ”. This is not a verse to back up my thoughts about reality, because of the context, but still I believe that THE reality is found in Christ.

I’ve been learning about reality this past week. Some of you might know how I get down and frustrated when I what I do isn’t fulfilling. You see, right now, people might look at my life and routine and say, “Gabrielle’s reality is simple: she works” and when I start university again in September, people might look at my life and say, “Gabrielle’s reality is this: she is a student”. And that’s the way I feel too. Well, that’s the way I FELT. I thought that that was it: my work runs my life, and in the fall, school will. Why? Because I spend so much time at work! Because I build my schedule around my work, not the other way around for the most part. So it feels as if, my reality, right now, is work.

The thing though is that this is no truth. The time that I spend somewhere, the responsibilities that are laid on my shoulders, the titles that are given me or whatever seems to consume my life are small characteristics of my life, but my “real” reality is clearly way above all these things.

My reality is this: I am God’s child. My greatest ambition in life is to glorify Him and to help people know Him so that they can worship Him as the only true God. And this, everyday of my life. That’s my reality. It’s more real and more important than anything else, that’s why I live. I don’t work solely because I need money, I work because I want to share the Gospel there, that’s my motivation. I go to school because I believe that God calls me there and that He wants to use me bring His Good News there and later on when I get my bachelors. It’s all about God being glorified and loved and worshiped.

The purpose of evangelization is not merely to call people to come to peace with God so they go to heaven instead of hell (although this is one of the good things that the Gospel brings to those who believe). But the purpose of spreading the Good News is to bring more people to bow down in adoration before the throne of God, it’s to bring more glory to our Redeemer. It’s to savor and treasure the only Worthy One. And I believe that that’s the reality of all who come to know Christ Jesus as their Savior.

It’s easy to get into the routine and be blinded by the so-called “realities” of our lives; work, school, family, friends, etc. But, oh! How liberating it is to realize that our reality is found in Christ and that we are above our little realities, that God wants to use us for greater purposes, that He’s put us into certain circumstances and places so we’d shine His glory, lift up His standards and help people know Him and become true worshipers of God.   

Jog

The air is refreshing but humid and the sky is dark as a bunch of co-workers and I leave the store. We’re are heading to the same direction: the métro. As we walk on the sidewalk, I keep looking for a clearing on the 4 lanes street. When no car is coming on either side, I jump into the street and start running toward the first light that stands as a halfway point between work and métro. I’m glad I can get to the station ahead of everybody else and maybe catch the métro before them all so I can read more of the story of the Wycliffe first Bible translators.

I’m known as the girl who runs. What I find interesting is that now, people run with me. Tonight a girl crossed the busy street before me and then I followed because it was not dangerous anymore. Then two other co-workers followed and we all ran up to the light. As I walked from the light to the métro station, I thought that it was neat that just by running every time we were done working, people actually started running with me. It’s a very little thing I know. But I thought that it would be glorious that people would look at me and want to “run with me” to know and love Jesus. That God would use me to influence them.

I’m spending time praying for them and my supervisors while working. It’s been refreshing and opening my eyes to a greater reality to pray while working and leaving Gospel tracks here and there and pray about them. I encourage you to find ways to make the Gospel message and its sharing the center of your life. You have ideas.

Apartment Tour

This is for those of you who have been asking for pictures of our apartement. I offer you a live TOUR. I didn’t talk much, on purpose, simply because my voice sounds shhhhhhhhh ish, don’t know why.

 

12:40

Good morning, it’s 12:40am. Should I go to bed? Of course. But I’m scared to turn off the music that is playing on my laptop. I came back from work it was 11:46pm and the only way to keep the Rock’n Roll music I was listening to at work, is to listen to something else. If I turn ths music off, then Rock’n Roll will be back in my head. I need batteries for my cd player I think.

Update on our Open House - We had a great time. Family and friends hung around from 2pm till… 12am on Sunday. We had lots of good food, good music, fellowship and Dutch Blitz. Thank you all for coming and even for bringing us presents! A special thanks to my the Barkers and the Frys who gave me a fish! Hopefully, it’ll live long long long.

Work - I’ve been looking for ways toshare the Gospel at work. It’s sort of difficult since I rarely spend time with other co-workers. I usually work alone and when I am with someone else, we have little time to get to anything very deep in our discussions. I had the idea of putting Gospel tracks in the bathrooms. So today I went to a Christian book store and got some tracks. It’s a delight to see the Gospel tracks disappear from the bathroom. I pray that God will use them somehow. Recently I’ve been thinking about how I entertain my thoughts, especially when I don’t need to think. I could go about my work without thinking about anything. But is it what should fill my mind? Emptiness? I decided that I wanted God to fill my thoughts at all times and be thinking about good things or reciting verses or… while I work. It’s hard. I tried to do that before in a different job and I always went astray. Today, as I was cleaning up after customers, I noticed a little Muslim boy and felt that I could pray for him and his mom. I started praying for all the people around me, all the customers that I could see, asking God to give them a desire to know the Truth, to bring Christian people around them, praying that they’d get to know the Gospel and finally worship and glorify the only God and Creator. I think I should keep this practice. It’s better than to think about nothing. I don’t know but the Muslims are always heavy on my heart.