Surreal, having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic. If I could put my Tuesday in to one word, that would be it surreal.
Tuesday, I had the opportunity to be apart of a real " exodus " story. My dear friend, Gail invited me along on a journey that would take Vicki and Daniel up island to Parksville. Vicki has been apart of the Victoria street community and Mustard Seed for around 4 years. She has struggled with all of it; abuse, prostitution, drugs, alcohol, hunger, poverty and homelessness...a slave to all the injustices of life. But for the past four years or so, Vicki and Gail have kindled and nurtured a relationship. And it goes beyond pastoral, it's more akin to real family. They are sisters.
Daniel is a big guy, shining eyes and a toothless big smile, who struggles with alcohol, and crack. He battles the demons that seek to steal his life everyday. But in the midst of his own hell, and slavery he has and is discovering Jesus. He's not finding him in church, although Daniel took Vicki for their first time last Sunday...he's finding him in his own life. The good, the bad, and the ugly, Daniel is slowly discovering Jesus can be found in all of it.
Over the last while, Vicki and Daniel have kindled a relationship. As Vicki puts it, in one of her venomous moments of spewing out rage, Daniel was the first person that was able to confront her with out resorting to the same tactics. She said she knew then, that Daniel was the guy for her. With each others help they try and walk the straight and narrow. They love each other. You can not spend time in their presence and not feel its depth.
For a few months now, both have been substance free. They don't brag, they know all to well the fragility of living with addiction. They've seen friends fall into the gutter, just to get up and walk across the road and fall into the other gutter...and many who have died on the street. They live life on a prayer, and are coming to find the strength, and power of prayer.
The other night Daniel said He and Vicki had a brake through. They had an argument, usually it would have escalated to the point where they would have parted and both would have found solace in alcohol or drugs. This time they talked and worked it out. They had never done that before. Daniel said, it felt good...really good.
I don't want to call Victoria Sodom and Gomorrah, but for Daniel and Vicki it was. They knew their only hope was a fresh start some where else. So after camping on the beach down at Beacon Hill on a wet cold Sunday evening, come Monday morning they packed everything up...a few garbage bags, a couple of back packs, 2 bikes, and a food hamper from The Seed.
As on lookers we easily slough off the idea of community at street level. At The Seed that morning there was the reminiscing of old stories, talk of loss, tears, laughs, hugs...and their was hope. Everyone new the reality of an exodus from a place like Sodom and Gomorrah, the challenge isn't to look back...it is not to come back. The old life always seems to be standing on your departing shore looking, and watching, waving you back.
So we loaded into Gail's van and made a stop at the welfare office to get some paper work. An interesting side note was the fact that homeless people living rough, if they are relocating somewhere in the province they can stay in any provincial park for up to two weeks. So, now, Vicki and Daniel have a fixed address for at least two weeks.
Off we went...
We didn't know that Vicki had phoned her youngest son (15 ) living in Naniamo and had made arrangements to pop in for a quick visit. Vicki hadn't seen any of her kids for a few years, and desperately wanted to reconnect. She has three sons, 2 are older and live on their own. But the youngest lives with his grandparents just outside of Nanaimo. You could feel the anxiety in the air as we drove. We talked about relationships, and we prayed...it helped.
The grandparents did not want Vicki to visit, she didn't have to tell us...expressions on peoples faces say far more than words. The grandparents both " christians " were ice cold, the looks they gave Vicki were enough to turn most to stone. Both Daniel and Vicki were humbling and gracious, they gave love in return. I was especially impressed with Daniel, being in the situation he was in and held it all together. But more than that he held Vicki together.
But what really stuck in my mind was the love her youngest son( Jesse ) had for his mom. Despite his moms' life, mom's past, her appearance, and her boy friend. He hugged her, held her hand, gave her a Christmas present he had bought her. Love does conquer all...absolutely nothing. In my mind, and heart as we sat there talking... a prayer. A prayer that this moment would be an altar for Vicki to keep coming back to, that this would give fer the strength to conquer the old life. The youngest son decided he would try to phone his older brother who lives about 20 minutes away. As luck ( GOD ), would have it ( Chris ) was home, and was on his way. There is a bond between mom and kids that is divine, a reflection of God's love. Like a say it was surreal, I was watching something fantastic unfold...I was blessed just to watch.
After an hour we packed up again, said our goodbyes...but in our hearts knew the spark that had been set here would be kindled and grow. So we drove into Rathtrevor both Daniel and Vicki wanted a site close to the water. We had no problem, not many campers...and no campers tenting it. While they were setting up Gail and I headed into Parksville to se what resources we could find for them. We got information on NA and AA meetings, counseling, where the food bank is, what churches had soup kitchens, and a stop at the Salvation Army. We got all the info and organized it, and then stopped at Domino's to pick up a Pizza...almost 2 and some dip ( but, that's a funny story Gail will have to tell ).
We got back to the campsite it was all set up and they were sitting at the picnic table. Gave them the pizza and info, and said goodbye. But before we left we prayed...
If you could do me a favor, please keep Vicki and Daniel in your prayers. At night, in the morning or where ever there is a moment, pray for them. Even for the short prayer that Daniel always seems to pray, " What ever it takes Lord...what ever it takes."
Surreal, having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic. That was Tuesday for sure.
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