David David David

Ok, so Jesus said that whatever we did for the least of these, his children, that we did for him. Well I'm pretty excited, because today I got to do something for Jesus.... Imagine the scene: I'm biking quite hard to go and hang out with my friends before a Math Provincial, you know to chill out a little and get my mind a little more relaxed. I was already a bit late as I had to wait for some underwear to dry in the dryer (I'm pretty sure now that God wanted my underwear to take extra long to dry cause I'm serious it must have been in there for a good hour and a half!!!). Anyway, I'm biking hard, I can't wait for a little bit of relaxation when I drive past North Surrey Sr. Secondary. That's when Jesus presented one of his kids for me to help. I sort of glanced over into the school's parking lot and I saw a man clearly struggling to get back into his motorized cart from where he was lying on the ground. Despite the clarity of the matter I tried to tell myself that he was simply having a break on the nice pavement... right. I kept biking until I got to the lights just passed the school where I had to stop due to a red light. I took another glance over my shoulder just in time to watch the man feebley attempt to hoist himself back into his seat.
Well my conscience could take no more. I turned my bike around and flew over to offer my assistance. The man gladly accepted, offering me every blessing that he could come up with until I hauled him up off the ground and helped him sit back on his seat. At this he began making the most simple and hilarious puns that I've ever witnessed coming out of a 65 year old man's mouth! The man sat there and told me stories about his Allstar athletic past and all of his almost-get-rich-quick schemes as well as his children's life stories and all the stories of all the hardships that he had endured. He told me that his name was David David David and that he was paid 35 dollars a week by the school's student council to pick up garbage around their campus. "Isn't that nice of them?" he asked me genuinely, "Thirty-five dollars a week for something that I'd gladly do for free!". He asked me if I could see the noise in the trees, to which I replied that I couldn't. He said, "You can't see the bark?" and then gave a bashful chuckle as though he had just made a very modest joke. Very clever, very clever indeed.
I don't think that I'll ever forget David David David.

R A Y A H

A while ago I recieved a letter. It made my day/week/month/year. In essence it was the first written communication that I've had with this friend. You see we used to be adversaries, both holding worldviews that would be fairly far apart no matter which spectrum one might use. When I saw him the first thing that would pop into my head was, "Man, we're so different and as much as I might respect him, I don't really like being around him... and I think I might be a little better than him. I mean after all I do much better than him in school!". Now, please understand that although I have summed it up fairly bluntly here, I would never be that much of a pompous prick even in my head all at once. But I'm not making excuses, that was the gist of it. Carrying on... Some time during the course of my Grade 12 year, (I'm very confident of this fact now) the Holy Spirit changed me... What I really mean is, He showed me the power of love. You see after that point I came at this guy from a new perspective: I loved him. Genuinely and honestly. He was a child of God as was I. I loved him like a brother, with the Greek Phileos and with the Hebrew Rayah: the love of a friend. He noticed this. I was amazed at his response because one whom I had treated so poorly in my head and apparently with my body language (although generally I try to hide any ill feeling, which is not good), he loved me back. It was forgiveness and it was powerful and it brought us together with the power of love. He is my friend and he sent me a letter that made my year. If you're reading this pal, I love ya like a brother. For anyone others reading this I sincerely hope you can learn from my mistake. Peace.

Salt Water

Today was weird. I tried something that I've never really had the pleasure of trying before. I sat down and I cried for what seemed like 15 minutes at least. It was weird. I felt kind of stupid but brave at the same time. I felt what almost seemed like rebellion. It was rebellion against everything that people tell you you should be. I was exposed and vulnerable and humbled. It was very unprideful... I think I may have liked it. This was all far from me at the time, but in retrospect I'm fairly confident that this is how I felt. I didn't cry because I wanted to though, I cried because I let my emotion show instead of keeping it stuffed in a box where I ususally keep it. It stays there closely monitored so that my emotions are never shown when they should be. It was an experiment I guess... but definitely not planned. It was passion of a moment that moved me to become as a sobbing little boy in the arms of a friend. That IS friendship I think. Sharing honest emotion, not hiding from eachother. I encourage you to try it. I think you'll be surprised at how you find it.