Hello Vancouver, Goodbye Comfortable Existence

Good evening, and consider yourselves lucky that I actually got around to doing this on the day you all expect, rather than, say, 3 days later. God is good, and I don't just say that for the present case, but really, He is good!, and He keeps throwing this on repeat in my mind lately as no matter how many times He tells me, I still manage to forget it.

And so, what to report on the past week? Essentially, Monday and Tuesday mornings were spent in Theology class, and homework consumed a majority of the rest of our time. Come Thursday, we all set off for an early ferry over to the Mainland (my first since moving out here in September). After an afternoon of shopping and bombing around in downtown Vancouver, we prepared ourselves and embarked upon the adventure that is Missions Fest. If some of you don't know, Missions Fest is basically a giant Christian conference focused strictly on missions (think YC or Breakforth but with this different emphasis). Before tackling that on Friday afternoon through Saturday night, though, we were given the opportunity on Friday morning to visit and learn about a Muslim Mosque and a Hindu temple. This was an eye-opening, informative, and heart-breaking experience, as we encountered people who lack the hopeful spark that we, as Christians, have in Christ. Please pray for those we met there: that some witness might come out of our brief presence amongst them and that the Lord would break through Satan's strongholds in those major world religions.

And now, on to Missions Fest. I feel like there's so much to say, and very little space to say, so I'll try to be brief. Essentially, this experience was OVERWHELMING. Busily rushing about, with constant noise all about you and about a million messages being screamed at you, I was in severe danger of missing the entire point of this conference. God, in His great redemption and goodness, somehow prompted me to pause, to reflect, and to seek His will for that weekend. It ended up being an incredible time of clarity, confusion, fear, and confidence. I write this realizing that every week I seem to become more of an oxymoron of character traits, but its all true. While I am beginning to feel an exciting and passionate sense of calling for the future, and a spectacular sense of security in my own ability through Him, I am also terrified and confused as I attempt to decipher the reality of what this means for my life and to recognize the truth of this call being from myself or from Christ. Most of all, I am now uncomfortable and restless and striving and seeking. He has a funny way of doing that to me this year. Pray for God's guidance and development as I wrestle through this.

Just a glimpse, so you know where I'm coming from... God has been awakening a desire in my heart to tackle the horrors of sex trafficking worldwide by making this recognized throughout society using my words. I want to challenge and burden people with this cause; to deny them the comfort of denying this need. This has yet to take a defined shape in wordly terms, and I fear its presence as a phase of passion which has no real place in my lifelong purpose, but nonetheless, it is on my heart lately. Oh, and maybe this is random, but for those of you who enjoy his work, I heard Tony Campolo speak in a session Friday night. It was a challenging message aimed straight at my heart. Hmm.. what more to say? I swear in this busyness I'm losing my mind.

So, Sunday was spent in utter chaos, as usual. This is a chaos I typically dread, and end up always enjoying. God is gracious and, again, so SO good. I helped with music in church, went to some friends' for lunch, did homework and had a nap at their house, practiced and planned the Bridge, held the Bridge, called my dad with happy birthday wishes (shout-out to you, Daddy!.. and to Momma on Saturday!) went home, handed in an assignment, visited friends, did pre-course reading for the Old Testament Literature class that started today, and went to bed by midnight. Twas a big, busy day. I must admit that I entered it feeling most overwhelmed and burdened, and quite unsure of my ability to live through it, but Christ is so faithful and sustaining. Oh, how he teaches me. He whispers to me that I need not do these things on my own.. I have the Most High God right beside me, and I merely need to rely on Him and give up my own sorry attempts at measuring up. He humbles me, and for that, I am grateful. I continue to be excited about this ministry. Though we often lack the numbers I have grown wrongfully accustomed to measuring success by, He is working in other ways that smack me in the face for putting Him in a box. For this, and so much more, I praise Him. I hope you do too.

All my love, dear ones,
Jess