Mind you, it's usually in a good way -- letting me see moments of despair, and then slapping me on the back and saying, "see? It's all going to be OK!"
The construction going on outside Gospel Mission / The Lord's Rain has been particularly trying. Some could look at it the same way certain businesspeople on Cambie Street looked at the construction of the Canada Line: a major pain in the bottom and anathema to business. Or ... consider the way the Carrall Street Greenway is going to look when it's finished. More about that in a sec'.
We've had some internal difficulties lately. People who we've seen make giant strides in their lives thanks to being touched by the Word of God have "weirded-out" on us. Others have run into serious health problems. Finances have gotten hard to come by. In the Spirit realm, one would say we're under attack.
Well, a former colleague of mine at the BC Electric Railway Company (for those of you unfamiliar with my sense of humour, that's TransLink - the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, where I work) once said, "if you're not taking flak, you're not over the target". In Biblical terms, the apostles were told to rejoice when such things happened, because they were under attack for the sake of the Gospel.
And to put it in terms that relate to us ... we're poking someone with a sharp stick and he doesn't like it. If we weren't getting through to people with the Gospel and liable to lead people to Christ, the devil would leave us alone.
(There's an inspiring story, used as an analogy for salvation and newness in Christ, about Roy "Wrong Way" Reigels, who ran the wrong way in a Rose Bowl game, leading to the safety touch which made the difference in the final score. The amazing thing about his tragically flawed end-to-end run was that no one from the opposing team tried to stop him. That's the devil for you: if he lets us run untouched, it probably means we're not a threat to him.)
And indeed we are, because through all that have come shining moments to remind us that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing.
- Mario - a 40-something man who's been seeking God for some time. I met him at Rainbow Mission almost 5 years ago now. Then didn't see him much until two weeks ago, when he came to Gospel Mission. He had caught fire for God, brought a flash-disk filled with Worship songs, and talked about Scripture and how it applied to Vancouver.
- Kim - a fellow who I'd also first met at Rainbow, and who "migrated" to Gospel Mission around the same time I did. He actually preached a short sermon (which I'll post later) on "Salt and Light". And then, he stopped coming. Someone told me that somebody had said the wrong thing to him. We prayed for him, hoping he'd come back. Last week, he did -- with the message for my wife: "I'm Baaaack!" He'd been studying, learning trades, had new teeth, and a great new positive attitude.
- a woman -- a clothing designer and former drug addict -- who followed up on our list of "needs" in Operation Phoenix in The Province newspaper: eager to help with Ladies' Day and anything else we need
- one of our "community" who had come a long way in the past two years and then weirded-out on us (see above), made a personal, face-to-face apology to Pastor Barry, after almost blowing up every bridge he'd built
Much of this has come after I'd sent an email circular to a group of men and women of God, asking for prayer for the Mission and its assignment. 
God is obviously listening.
He's also showing. I had a lovely vision the other night. I was praying about the situation at the Mission, and a photo of the front of the Mission came into view. But then, I started to see the streetscape of the Carrall Street Greenway, superimposed on the photo. The rest of Carrall Street has been turned into the Greenway, so it wasn't hard to imagine. And I started thinking, "wow! Our little Mission ... on that brand-new, beautifully designed street! Thank you, Lord!"
A moment of joy, indeed.
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