Turning the corner

Well, I know this will probably cost me politically, but I just couldn't resist. :) By accident the other day, I came across a student rally for Mr. Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Québécois (the political party whose main concern is breaking out of the Canadian federation). I am no separatist, but being an extremely curious person, I thought, "Well, here's something I've never done before," and I decided to take it in. Students were given "Oui!" pins and Québec flag stickers just outside the door of the theatre, so I helped myself (Bunny was so excited - he's a big fan of Lucien Bouchard - ha) and went in. I was standing right by the door at the back when Mr. Duceppe walked in to the applause of the crowd and took his place on the podium. I stayed for about 10 minutes, then went home to have lunch. Now I can say I've done pretty much everything.

Well, today I finally got the second half of my Student Loan (yay!). Hard to believe it took from mid-July to October 12th to get everything in order, but now that beast is behind me - Dieu merci. I've decided to not talk about it anymore because it only upsets me - but I do thank God for intervening in the meantime. I came across a familiar verse today that had special meaning in light of everything that has happened for me in the financial realm this year:

Matthew 6:25-34

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I find that passage sobering. I even teared up a little in coming across it. It's funny how in life we go through certain situations that, at the time, seem 'as bad as it can get', and yet later, life's path leads us to darker recesses of the valley. Growing up in northern Saskatchewan, we didn't have a lot, but I remember never thinking we would go without - Mom and Dad were great at protecting us that way. I knew they didn't have much, but we always had a warm house and food on the table. Then, last year, when Allison and I moved into Vancouver to got to school and our student loans took till the end of September to arrive, I thought, "Man, this is going to be a benchmark for me - I don't think I'll ever be this poor again." I wouldn't say I was especially hungry - we had all the canned soup a couple of college girls could want - but we had no hot water or heat (for 8 months), mice running all over our apartment and the landlady from the dark side. On the upside, we had each other, and that helped. This semester, I have a great place to live, but there was a point last week where I had been eating spaghetti noodles twice a day for about two weeks, and all I had in my cupboard were two cans of ham, a cup of uncooked rice and about another cup of uncooked oatmeal. Yet God intervened on that day with enough money to get proper food. My faith at the moment just before the money came in was low - I didn't doubt so much that He could provide - I just never remember feeling so helpless and upset at the situation in general. It was like God was talking me to the edge of my faith in Him. Sure, it's easy to trust Him when there's food on the table, but will I trust Him when the cupboard says I have another two meagre days of food and no promise of further provision? I think I royally flunked that test of faith, but in retrospect I have learned to focus on the Giver and less on the cupboard. Anyway, like I said, enough about this topic ... on to better things!

I am starting to feel a little more comfortable with life here in la Belle Province. I've made a lot of new friends and I'm starting to get into more of a routine. Fall seems to have taken root - the leaves have all changed and the strong autumn winds have blown many of them onto the ground. It's been raining for the last few days and locals say the snow isn't far off. When my loan came in, the first things I bought were new snow boots and a new winter jacket. I realized I hadn't owned either since, well, the 20th century. ha. I'm looking forward to the snow; I think it will bring back fun memories of my childhood that haven't crossed my mind in years. It's funny - even having a significant African population here at school has brought back so many memories from my short time in Burkina Faso. Compared to Vancouver, it really is like another world here in Québec.

Well, I should get to my homework. Miss you all, and hope to hear from you soon.

KNL