Blessings and Love

Fire-thanks for the reminders of our oaths it was a needed and welcome reminder to connect with the promises we've made also thanks for the wise words a post or two ago.

Everyone-Sorry we didn't catch you guys on the phone the other day. I had a complete brain malfunction and spaced out on the 3 hour time difference. I hope that your guys night was a sweet time of fellowship though, we would have loved to have been with you guys.

How things have been-Things here are going well. Christmas was an incredible season of God pouring out some amazing blessings. Just before Christmas sometime in November I think, Jacqui and I finally decided to start tithing regularly. We thought it was important and just something we really wanted to be committed to. At the same time we were starting to struggle financially. Our apprentice stipends only take us so far each month and as we were planning a rough budget for the new year it became painfully obvious that important payments (goceries, car payments rent) would be in danger of not being paid. We prayed about it a lot. And the long and short of it is that God came through in some amazing ways. In ways that you can only shake your head at and smile. Random annonymous donations to support the apprentices from people in the Pacific Theatre community, friends offering groceries out of the blue (we hadn't really had a chance to tell anyone that we needed help yet-amazing!) cheques from family and friends for the holidays. It all added up to us being incredibly taken care of. We were completely overwhelmed each new blessing felt more amazing and more undeserved and we could only point to our Father. It was pretty great.

Other than that things here are going well. Right now we're right in the middle of working on our big artistic project for the theatre. It's the play we're writing compiled from interviews. It's tedious work at times but we're praying that end product will be something that the Lord is happy with and that people can connect with.

Prayer-Please pray for us in the middle of getting everything done. Specifically pray that we can use our time wisely and that we can find people to help with the technical aspects of the show (lights, sound, props, etc.) we need these people to make it happen and right now we don't have all of them.

Also please pray for Jacqui and my communication and relationship with each other while we're working on this. It can be a tense and frusterating process to create something with a definite deadline and we'll need all the prayers you can offer up for grace, forgivenss and understanding in our communication and time with each other as we press forward.

We love all you guys so much and we're going to try and get in touch with each of you by phone soon to talk more in depth. We long, no thirst...no HUNGER : ) for your presences and for words about where God is bringing and has brought you since we last talked. We look forward to it.

In the Spirit!

Barnabas

Words from Vancouver

Hey everyone,

I just thought I'd share some God reports. Some sweet things have been happening lately here.

Community

Since we’ve been here God has been amazing about bringing people into our lives. When we first got here we basically knew two people in Vancouver. After about a month here God led us into a Bible study. It’s basically made up of 4 different young couples including us. The group make-up is really interesting too. Two of the women in the group were new to coming to Christ and one of their husbands wasn't a believer. It started out as sort of a normal Bible study, good discussions, lots of questions, fun times getting to know each other. It was good, but we were a little frustrated that we weren’t really going too deep with each other. Honestly we really were longing for a taste of the transparency and brutal love we have with all of you. It was tough going from a community like we had back in GR and then having to start over from the beginning.

However over the past month or so we’ve seen God move in some incredible ways with our group. Just around Halloween we finally had a huge discussion about spiritual warfare which is something that we didn’t really know how to talk about with everyone and that has lead to some amazing times of discussion and prayer. Also about two weeks ago Chris made the choice to follow Christ. Amazing! Such a victory because he has so many amazing gifts and is such an incredible guy. It was so encouraging and special to celebrate with him as he made this leap. Seriously, at times when you’ve believed for so long it’s easy to forget what an amazing energy and beauty and enthusiasm there is in new belief—it’s been so cool to look back with him at where he’s come from, and to see the ways the God has always been pursuing him.

Also recently we had the chance to really enter in and fight against some specific attacks together at a group and spend some time praying into a deep bout of depression that our new believer friend’s wife was going through. It was the first time that someone in the group had to be really transparent about something that was difficult to share. It was so tough, but God brought her through in a pretty amazing way and really used her husband’s new faith to help both him and her through it. It’s still coming but it was great to have a taste of that true community. That sense of “this is what we’ve supposed be doing for each other.” It was there and we’re praying for more of those moments.

There’ve also been so many small and beautiful answers to prayer in the group. Everything combined has introduced us on a whole new level of intimacy and hopefully we can continue to grow and go deeper with each other. Last week we one of the other couples Phil and Corina were married! When we were there I really got the sense that it wasn’t just a celebration of their relationship, but God’s way of celebrating some of the things that he’s been doing in the larger community. So yeah God had been pretty faithful in surrounding us with new joys, victories, challenges and it’s been great because they’ve been those types of moments that are so perfectly timed and accomplished that you know that it’s the hand of the Father at work.

Prayer

Adjusting to life as apprentices has been difficult at times. Financially we’re always on the edge but God has answered some prayers for us lately brining unexpected gifts just when we were at our breaking point. We’ve been starting to tithe regularly and it’s felt good to get into that discipline. Please pray that God will continue to provide and that we can stay faithful in giving even when we can’t see how we’re going to make it.

The apprenticeships have also been difficult in different ways especially for Jacqui. Before we came out here we thought that along with the less fulfilling hours spent in the box office and in house managing duties we’d really have a chance to act and use some of our skills on stage. This has been a mixed bag of expectations. I got to start the season off with a show and have been kept busy with artistic projects of our own. I’ll probably be in the last show of the season too.
Jacqui has had a tougher time. She was turned down for a role in a play called The Hungry Season, and mostly likely won’t be in a show until May which seems a long way off. Also, the May show while still being a great show is going to be cast mostly from University students and all the apprentices will be in it—which sort of feels like “Oh well everyone’s in this one so you are too.” With this she feels like there’s nothing special for her to own for herself.

This has been a blow to Jacqui’s confidence. It’s not that she’s really ego driven and only wants to be on stage. Not at all, it’s just been difficult dealing with the disappointment of not being able to use her gifts. And along with that there have been many attacks of: “They didn’t choose you because you’re not good enough.”, “You aren’t talented.” and “You don’t have a place here.” It’s so hard to battle through this. I can’t really describe in writing what it’s been like for her: discouraging, disappointing, emotional are all adequate words. We know we’ve been called here to Vancouver for a reason, but lately for her there’s been some struggling to understand what that is exactly. This has been on her heart for about a month or two now, but she didn’t really want to say anything to the people at Pacific Theatre about the direction her apprenticeship is going.

However, just last week she and I finally had a big truth talk with Rebecca, our sister-in-law and head administrator at the theatre. It was a difficult talk to have, but in the end it was good to be honest and trust the people we work with and to receive our honesty. So now things are more out in the open, but the reality of the situation still remains for Jacqui. So please pray that God will give us perspective and that God might give us creative opportunities in other areas and also that we’d be protected from the attacks and the lies that come out of something like this.

Well those are the major things going on right now. We miss you all so much and will be thinking about all of you interceding for you in the coming days, weeks and months. You are always close to our hearts!

Love,

Ryan and Jacqui

Love to the Bowens!

Fire-

What you've been going through sounds amazing! I don't even know where to start...We will pray my friend, and rejoice at the places the Father HAS brought and IS bringing you.

Questions and thoughts:

Property- Woah. This is incredible. I can picture it now. Remember when you and I talked before my wedding and you said that God had given you some words about the plans you had already drawn for your future home. You were feeling discouraged, as though perhaps those plans would never be realized, and He told you not to forget them and that He would bring them to fruition.Well here we are brother-looking those words full in the face-Praise God!

So tell me a bit about the property... What is the area like? Is it pretty remote? How much land do you get to live on? Do you have any pictures of the property? I would love to see anything you've got...Keep us updated as building plans move forward.

24/7 Prayer-Hearing about the victories, the God appointments and the glory that is coming and has come makes my heart so happy! I love that an old abortion clinic is being redeemed. How are things since your post any new developments. What is the time line on actually inhabiting a place and making it a home for 24/7? Hearing Ryan's words about 100 locations for prayer makes my heart beat faster. Jacqui and I miss GR a lot and it really is comforting to hear about the movement of the spirit in what we still think of in a lot of ways as "our city"

Home Church: I just want to say good for you guys. It takes a lot of courage to leave a place that you've know and actually listen to the voice of the Father when it means RISK. And risk you have, and it sound like you're being lead in amazing directions since the dusting off of sandals. How did the break actually go? Do you have any contact with people at the vineyard still or was it pretty much a clean, clear break? What you've been experiencing with Jim and Karen sounds so great--and that it's connected to 24/7 comes as no great surprise. Coincidence? I think not!

So we miss the Bowen clan a lot. Seriously. It's so good to hear about what is going on back at "home". How are the girls? How's work going? I'm hungry for info : ).

Things here are alright. We're pretty busy right now and there's a lot going on-but we'll sit down and be more specific some time soon!

Love

Ryan and Jacqui

This Week in Vancouver

Whew! This week has been such a mix of things so far.

First the God reports:

As part of our apprenticeships Jacqui and I are writing a play based on interviews. We'll interview a bunch of people record their stories and then basically perform them It's exactly like the thing I interviewed you guys for last advent. This project is shaping up to be about healing. That's a pretty amazing story in itself, so I better tell it.

So there we were trying in vain to latch onto a good topic for our play and interviews to revolve around. Originally it was just going to be about people in Vancouver, but that felt sort of generic and didn't really have the right amount of story to hold it together. So we prayed about it a lot. We really wanted this project to be something we were passionate about and something that reflected God's heart too. Soon after this prayer was lifted something sweet fell right in our lap. It had been there the whole time actually but we hadn't really been able to see it for what it was. Basically Mike and Rebecca (my in-laws) have these two friends, Jonathan and Won. Earlier this August in a span of about two weeks Jonathan, who has suffered from crippling arthritis since he was young, went in for DOUBLE hip replacement surgery (he's 27 so this is totally unusual) and Won who has been deaf since she was 7 went in for the first half of cochlear implant surgery to restore her hearing. So there we were faced with this amazing story of healing happening in two incredibly young people who were friends and both undergoing unique surgeries so close together. We thought there's got to be something here and so we've started. We're guessing that our interviews will probably bring out the themes of prayer, healing, God's relationship to medical science and miracles. We're really excited about it and we might even call on some of you guys for you thoughts an input as we're putting it together.

Anyway skip to last Sunday night. We're interviewing Jonathan and his wife Lauren for the first time. It took weeks to set up a good time and finally we made it happen. The interview went great. We asked them just about who they are and it was amazing to hear some of their story. That's what I love about this kind of theatre-basically you just get to engage people and honor their experiences by listening. It's a community sort of process and it was great to hear about the places God has brought them. The interview was only enhanced by the fact that they brought their 1 and half year old daughter Maddie who is amazing and cute.

So first part of the God report: We are so thankful for the answered prayer of a great subject we can be passionate about and also thought the process we're getting to know two (well, 3 counting Maddie) amazing people.

Part two: During the interview we started off with more general questions and then finally towards the end moved on to more specific things about the surgery and what it was like to live with arthritis for so long. Jonathan was really giving us some amazing thoughts on things, things that were totally hoping to that our piece might be about. Really eloquent and heartfelt stuff. We were excited. Then our hearts dropped into our stomach when we realized that our video tapes were only 60 minutes long, and we had been recording for about 80 or 90. So we had for sure missed everything he had said that we were so excited about. We tried to hide our disappointment, replaced the tape and moved on. They stayed for a few more minutes and then had to go. Jacqui felt horrible, because she had been the one manning the camera and I felt bad to because I we had missed the really good parts. Then we watched the tape to see where exactly it had cut off and how much we had missed. It was basically a race to the finish. The counter on the camera ended almost exactly when Jonathan finished his last train of thought. It was incredible. It's sort of hard to describe how much relief we felt. God totally protected the tape and allowed this man's story to be recorded. It was pretty sweet. It seems such a weird thing to recognize God's hand even in technical things like video camera, but it was pretty amazing.

Things to be in prayer for:

1-This week is huge and stressful for Jacqui and I. I'm working all day everyday this week and have a run of the Elephant Man every night from here on out. On top of this AFTER The Elephant Man each night Jacqui and I are performing our FIRST apprentice project of the season (the interview play will come later this Spring). Our night is called Gathering Wood | Drawing Water and it's a collection of short plays by women playwrights. We've been working hard on it and there's still a lot to do. We're excited to finally have a chance to some of our gifts and to be performing for an audience. Please pray that people might be moved to come see the show and that it would engaged them in the way we hope it will. Basically just pray that whatever happens the work that we're doing will honor the Father and that we can have peace during the process.

2- I'm applying to do kids ministry at the church we've been attending. As part of the application process I have to fill out lengthy application and back ground check thing. Some back story: I don't know if I ever told you guys this, but about a year and a half ago when I was at CLC I was called into my directors office and was told that a girl in the class I used to teach before I moved to the 3 and 4 year old room was telling her parents that she was scared of me. When she was pressed by her mom as to why her mom asked if it was because I touched her inappropriately. She said yes. This just took a sledge hammer to my heart. I totally felt accused and guilty in a weird way because this is the last thing I would ever do and yet there I was being questioned anyway. It was a huge hit to my identity, I felt horrible. Eventually it just sort of resolved itself, the center vouched for me and for several reasons the girl and her family ended up deciding to leave the center. I hadn't thought about it in years until the other day when I was talking with the lady in charge of the children's ministry and was looking at the form to fill out. The enemy just totally brought back all of those feelings of accusation and guilt. It really was hard and fast and it took some heavy fighting to get past the lies that were being thrown at me and hear the voice of the Father. So I'm alright, but I still need to fill out the form and there's a question on it saying something like "Have you ever been disciplined or investigated by an organization or place of employment." I honestly don't know how to answer this. I was never really disciplined and there was no real investigation or anything. However, I want to have integrity and trust God with my reputation, but I also really don't want to have to go into the whole thing with people. So yeah please pray that the enemies at my gate would be silenced and that my heart would be protected in the middle of this and that I can know how to be truthful and trusting when doing the forms.

Anyway that's all for now. We miss all of you SO much and we long to hear news about what God is doing where you are and how we can be loving and fighting for you guys. Talk to you more soon.

In Parallel Streams,

~Ryan

Posted by Ryan 11/08/05

Words from the Front

Hey everyone. So I was talking with Fire about a week ago and he was saying how much he missed hearing God reports from Jacqui and I. It made me realize that I really miss them too. There are so many moments when I desperately long for all of your company, your words of encouragement, your fellowship, your presence. I think it's something I need as we each face our own parts of fighting the battle in the places we've been called. Recently I was again inspired by a vision Fire had a few months ago...


"I saw a vision last night of a war timescene. It was a base type setting; an outpost on the edge of the front lines. There were a lot of people heavily armed, there was artillery and positioned fire power, and there were medics, nurses, privates, corporals and higher ranking soldiers. There was a lot of commotion as the time of this scene wasn't restful; there was a war going on. But, the people weren'’t surprised or caught off guard. This was life as they knew it. They were prepared, equipped, trained and disciplined. Effective. There was a constant ebb and flow of people going out to fight and those returning; it was so cyclical that they blurred together; seemed to happen at once.

Everyone had a job to do. They knew it without being told and did it with precision. The presence of leadership was in place, things were being orchestrated and chaos and panic did not exist. Fear was not there either. Commitment and sacrifice was in fear's stead.

In the midst of all this, there was a place; a tent, a house where people were going to rest, to eat, to have a drink, to hang out and talk. Catch up and share exploits, setbacks, victories and the celebrations of the life of a soldier."


It has been revealed again and again: There are parallel streams running deep and strong in the Spirit! To take this idea and run with it, it would be such a blessing to be able to hear more clearly the rumble of all your currents; to hear if your water is running swiftly or flowing evenly, to know about the river's temperature and color. I long for it! In his vision Fire mentioned a tent, a meeting place to share ourselves with each other. I love this picture! So, I thought we could start a blog as a tent of sorts. It can be whatever we need it to be. A place to share the victories of the battle, to be renewed and encouraged by each other. A space to talk about how we can be fighting for each other in prayer, to share all the God reports, basically just a place we can stay connected to each other while we're apart and a place where God will be recognized for the awesome things He's accomplishing for His glory.

So yeah, that's all for now. But there's definitely more to come. We have some amazing God moments to tell you all about and recently there's been some new attacks that we could use your swords against. I'll try and write more as soon as I can!

We love you all.

Ryan and Jacqui