It was an honour to be there for some one today…

It was an honour to be there for some one today, they learned they lost their mother to cancer today.

Her husband is feeling the loss quite acutely, and he copes how he copes, mourning and grief is hard. She needed to give him space and for her to to have the space, time and support to take stock of reality and then get away.

I dare say when she said “pastor John can we meet?”, she called the right man.

All the what if’s, could have’s. should have’s, would have’s… A whole lifetime and history unpacked in a short amount of time.

Like a lot of families tensions are high, expectations are as well.

The family is going to bury her mother in a region of Northern BC where her husbands band lands are. Her mother is from the Yukon and has her own band and burial ceremonies and the family has received the blessing of her deceased husbands band to lay her to rest there and do it in their own band ceremonial way, It is 4 hours outside of Whitehorse in BC, the way to get there is to fly there and then drive the last 4 hours. She is the eldest daughter and traditions say she is needed. To top it all off they have been on an affordable housing list for a very long time and she has her second interview on the day they memorialize and intern her mother in some of the most remote regions in Canada.

She cannot make it. Talk about torn apart.

I am helping them in getting a religious vaxxine exemption to fly, the airline wants a week (The Fed says three weeks and a negative test) to process the “request” It requires a notary witnessed attestation and I am writing an attestation to give witness to veracity of conviction and faith, but the burial is to be done within the week. It looks lie it is a no go.

We have to contact the airline and seek a fast-tracking of this procedures for compassionate reasons due to bereavement.

There are other things that I will not repeat. It would be hard to believe if I was frank about the pathology of this mother and daughter relationship. They are both survivors. The only reason I say as much as I do in this post is because am am certain they will appreciate that I listened and even if not in name their story and our day together is a blessing.

I helped her make peace and gave a place to just listen to the confess of anger, disappointment, shock, uncertainty, as well as hope, peace, and a sacred space to exercise ones faith in the witness of another.

To get away from it all we took the scenic route on Pacific and Beach Avenue. We used some Burger King coupons, and then went to Stanley Park and ate together. I had ordered two cheeseburgers and two french fries with the meal deal coupon. I had one the other I gave to a guy with a a big backpack and a baby stroller sitting at a bench. The lady I was with gave him her fries. His name is Darren (please pray for him).

This is what this looks like…

I tell my friend after she comes back to the parking area from the washroom that I am going to quickly grab the Burger King bag that has the second burger meal left in it. She says OK I have a serving of french fries left I will give them to him. So we walk from the car to the bench and when he looks up at us my friends says Hi Darren… She has known and helped him in times past a placed called Jacobs Well.

Some times the absolute truth is that there is no coincidences just divine appointments or manifest destiny, cosmic convergences or what have you, my sister and I are taught by the Word (as all Christians are) to walk and be led in and by the Holy Spirit, please pray that we all do that more and more and with all good faith and effort.

He is a “simple” and “gentle” man. He told us about why he had chained up his possessions with metal chains and metal locks in the baby stroller. He showed us the knife slash in his tarp that covers his camping gear. Some random Lady with a knife and her boyfriend (not junkies apparently just a couple) got all up in his business and how he had to take out his baseball bat to set the record straight… He was not recounting to brag he was just unloading about what he just went through and how is he ever going to get the energy to hauls his stuff which is a ball and chain to him to get to the Dollar store on Denman to get himself another rain tarp so his gear and bedding does not get wet in the rain forest his is sleeping in.

He also told us how others who sleep in the park will charge him to sleep in the hidden camp and kick him out for any reason they think of whenever they want! He goes on to tell us that the last night they did not kick him out that there was no chance for sleep because someone had an electric generator out there and what sounded like a huge bluetooth enabled blaster speaker by the likes of it blaring until at least 5:00 AM and they where drinking, smoking weed / meth, as well as doing what “junkies” do… slamming every dope imaginable with needles.

It breaks your heart. So I am going to swing by there and see if I can get him a tarp or… An evacuation of him and his stuff out of camp “Go Nowhere”. It might be a patrol / search and rescue / life line ministry is in the making.

I thank God that I went upstairs to my apartment to pick up the Burger King Coupons, that I ordered the two Jr. Whopper meal, that my friend suggested we eat in the park, that I stopped to park where I did, that all of those and many other steps where not just my own.

This will not change; “Confession is good for the soul.”

I do not now how it works but it just does and I hope any one reading this finds those whom they can trust to hold a moment in time and a solemn, sacred place for you to be honest and truthful with yourself, a witness, and with God. We are not alone.