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
