Roadshow — end of week one

I’m in the Vancouver airport MLL (one of my favourite third places in the world), reflecting now on this past week’s western roadshow for my work with Bridgeway.  We’re halfway there, with eastern Canada coming next week.

This past week took Brent and I to snowy Winnipeg, windy Calgary, and sunny Vancouver.  We met for 2+ hours with six groups of 8-12 charity leaders in these locations.  Our viewpoint: we think it was not only an efficient way to communicate our new partnership priorities, but it was intimate and inspiring too.  We heard stories of transformational impact from around the world, of organizations that are reaching out beyond themselves to generously serve and offer hope in our world.

As I write, the stories from Gwen McVicker and Linwood House are ringing in my head, of a young woman who lives on the ragged edges of existence in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (Canada’s poorest postal code).  The story is a story of painful, hungry journey towards hope, and not of triumphal cross-the-finish-line delight.  The story of a woman who prostitutes herself, who now recognizes the ugly attachments that are a part of her life, as fixed and hopeless as barnacles on sea stones.   And yet what she realizes is that she – despite those appendages – is a person who is loved.  A child esteemed highly by God.