Helter Celtic

I was teaching at YWAM Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, and ran into several of their staff who proudly wear kilts as part of their daily attire, despite have pretty much ZERO Celtic roots – "It's like being naked, but with pockets", said one with great dignity and an obvious sense of enlightenment.

One of the things I really enjoy about YWAM is its cross-cultural flavour and the synergy of different nations and cultures working together even before we arrive "on site" in a foreign country for short-term outreach. One of the cool things is also seeing how the cross-pollination of cultures encourages each of us to delve back into our own cultural histories – in my case, my predominantly Scottish and Irish roots.

But far more important, it was such an honour to speak to the DTS students in Vancouver, and to be trusted with the hearing of some of their painful stories of abuse and alienation, and walk with them into a new season of forgiveness and freedom.

And to have gotten to know some cultures far outside my norm – particularly the Koreans at our base in Kelowna – became an unexpected source of healing for some Vancouver students. If I hadn't gotten more familiar with Korean culture through my own base (almost half of the staff & student mix is from South Korea, as is a fair amount of our daily cuisine), I would have missed some very important clues for ministry in Vancouver. It's one of those things that make you feel full of gratitude and simultaneously very small and humbled at the same time.

It's almost numbing sometimes, hearing the levels of devastation and betrayal in some of these precious saints, but to be one of many instruments of healing in their lives… well, it just doesn’t get any better than that.

So, my apologies for the paucity of regular blogging here this past month, but the Kingdom was advancing, and that seemed a more pressing priority.

But it's also good to be back!