Pacific Garden Mission...

Editor's Preamble:
I'm going to make an exception to my strict blog policy... I'm going to attempt to share our group's personal experiences at the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago Illinois. Unfortunately, we were in a great rush to leave on time, and in the great haste, I completely forgot my precious camera... Can you imagine? I packed it up carefully, charged the battery-packs, put everything into the case, and............ I was pretty bummed. So that obviously means no pictures. I will try my best to create mind pictures, though. Now for the real story:


The kitchen clock ticked steadily onward, as a brother in Christ and I shared our personal struggles, lofty goals, and the many desires we had for our lives. We shared about our recent trips to other countries, and of our desire to do more for the Lord. We also talked about the fact that life seemed pretty dry for both of us as we sat, waiting for the Lord to lead us in His way.
"Why does God create zeal in young people, if we are called to wait while grow up?" I asked, getting a little more agitated. "Here I am, full of life, vim, and vigor, and I am wasting it all by sitting here in America, pulling in a paycheck. If God wants labourers in his vineyard, WHAT AM I DOING SITTING HERE!?!?!"
"I'm not sure," he replied cautiously, "I am struggling with some of the very same issues. But God has a purpose in having us wait."
I struggled a little with his answer, knowing full well that it was the truth. In fact, I had preached the very same to others before, and many brothers and sisters had shared about the same struggles. What I was going through was not a 'private' struggle, and I knew it; I was just at the end of my rope.

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Plopping onto my faded computer chair, I let out a long sigh... Just another day's work ahead of me; purposeless, and futile. I was beginning to think along the same lines of Solomon the wise in Ecclesiastes:

“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” –Ecclesiastes 1:2-9

What was I to do? Face the day as a man, and wait on the Lord. As I started working, my mind slid from the things of God into the world of graphics, html, and css. HTML divs, XHTML validity, and CSS pseudo-class selectors started floating around in the intangible abyss of my mind, temporarily stuffing most spiritual thoughts into the background.
Beep! The 'new mail' alarm on my computer snapped me back to reality. I switched mental gears from programming back into the human realm, expecting something important to show up in my inbox. It was from a recent client of mine, and with the subject "Let's Hit the Streets!" I figured that he was ready for me to publish his website as completed. Great was my surprise when I opened up the email, and read that this guy and a few of his employees were planning on going into Madison, WI to do some evangelism. "Sure!" I thought, as a briefly re-scanned the email, trotted over to my parent's bedroom, and showed them the exciting news. "Finally," I thought, "I can get out of this cramped little house, and do something, however little it might be, for the Lord!" I was getting charged up now!

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"Hello?" the other end of the telephone spoke out. "Hi, Wayne, this is Ryan! How are you doing?" I asked cheerily. "I'm just fine," my boss replied. "What can I do for you today?"
"Well, I responded," a little more hesitantly now, "I was wondering if I could come in early Friday morning, and get all the chores done by 2:00pm or so... I'm planning on going to Madison for some street witnessing."
"Yes, I suppose that would work out," he replied, making sure that all the details would work out with him. "That'll be fine then! Thanks for letting me know!" "No problem!" I said. "Thank YOU!!!!"

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"2:00PM," I typed into the time-clock spreadsheet at work. I jumped into the car and drove home, diving into the shower, and grabbing a bite to eat. Then I drove to the end of the road, and waited for the brother that I was riding with. After a profitable discourse, we arrived at the specified meeting-place, loaded up the tracts, CDs, and the prayer-station tent. I was beginning to feel a little trepidation, as they explained what we were about to do.
"First off, we put up the Prayer-Station booth." they instructed, "Then we put these little red aprons on to identify ourselves with the station." "What?" I thought, incredulously; "I'm going to stand on the streets of Madison wearing this dumb red apron?!?"
We all jumped into the van, and then one of the brothers suggested listening to this tape on the way to Madison. Mel agreed to play it, and we started listening to the man's testimony of mission-work in northern Canada.
As we approached Madison, my heart was full. The tape was almost finished, and I was replaying over in my mind the trials that the man had gone through at the hands of 'christian' people. In his love for these people, he had been beaten, slapped, punched, ridiculed, and almost killed by Russian Mennonites up north. Suddenly the small amount of embarrassment that I was going to feel by putting this little red apron on looked pretty puny. "What a chicken I am!" I thought. "Here these people suffered this persecution patiently from 'christians.'"

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"Ma'am, would you like a Gospel Tract?" I would ask, sometimes receiving a yes for an answer, and many times a no. "You have a good evening!" I'd say, as instructed by the leader. "Make them feel like you are blessing them even if they refuse." He had told us.
Suddenly, this short elderly woman came up to me with a look of disgust on her face. "And who do you think you are!?" she said angrily, announcing her presence. "What makes you think that you are good enough to be the mouthpiece of God? Boy, aren't you arrogant!"
"Tell me;" she demanded; "Tell me what makes you think that you are good enough to speak for God?" I tried to calmly reason with her, telling her that I wasn't good enough... And that God has commanded us to go out and tell the world the good news of the Gospel. After a few more words with her, she walked off, convinced that we were the most arrogant young men on the face of the earth. "It's boys like you that are shaping the demise of America!" she spat, as she turned on her heel, and took off down the street.
"You know, I don't know how I would have handled that situation if I hadn't heard that tape on the drive down here." I commented to the leader. "God's timing is so perfect!"

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"OK, boys!" the leader called out, "It's getting dark. Let's pack up, and clear out!" As we made our way back home, we all discussed our various meetings with people, and the blessings that we had received... Then I got a TXT on my phone from Mom. "Please call as soon as you are able" it read.
"Hello?" I asked. "Hi, Ry!" my mom said. "How'd your evening go?"
"Great," I replied. "What did you need? You wrote a TXT that said to call you."
"Oh, yes! I was wondering about tomorrow... I know that you already asked to have this evening off from work, but could you get tomorrow off too???"
"Oh, my!" I thought aloud. "What'll Wayne think of that?!? Yes, I'll call and ask! The worst answer I can get is no!" Mom could hear the smile in my voice. "You want to know what we are planning on?" she asked.
"Sure!" I replied, not having a clue of what I was about to hear.
"Well, we were invited to go this Saturday to the Pacific Garden Mission down in Chicago. Does that sound like a good idea?"
"Sure!" I said, not trying to hide my excitement. "I'll see if Wayne will let me off!"

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......to be continued......