I didn't start drinking Starbucks until my third year of university. I tried to avoid it, firstly because I had no idea what to order since the names of the drinks are 15 words long, but mostly because I wanted to continue to support the wonderful invention that is Tim Hortons. Then I studied in France and we went to Starbucks a couple times. With no Timmies in sight, I didn't feel like such a traitor. My friend suggested I get a chai tea latte, which is what she always got. I loved it! I have never ordered a different drink since (partially because I still don't know the names and meanings of all the various options).
When I came back from France, having a chai tea latte became a moment of nostalgia, bringing the memories of bustling Parisian streets, smoky smells and francophone culture flooding to mind. Since that first chai tea latte on Canadian soil, I've had countless cups and I've sat for hours at their tables talking with friends and mentors, both in person and on the phone. I've used up many gigabytes worth of their wifi and I've worked on sermons, papers, projects and random Internet surfing. I've written blog posts, I am right now, sitting on a bar stool by the window, looking out at parking lots of the BMW dealership and the Dollarama store. I've cried here; I've laughed here; Starbucks has been the place of chaos and comfort around the world.
I'm about to embark on a three week placement in Honduras. I'll be completing part of my final teaching practicum in a grade 5-6 class at a Christian school in Honduras, immersing myself yet once again in another culture and another language. It's been over a year since I was on a plane and I am eager to feel the power of the jets beneath me, pushing me back into my seat as the plane takes off down the runway towards the open sky. I don't think there will be Starbucks in Honduras, but who knows, I may be surprised. If there isn't, the next time I sit in this prestigious coffee shop, I will be tanned from the sun, knowledgeable of the education system in another part of the world and seasoned yet once again in the wondrous pursuit that is traveling. To see another part of the world, knowing that it can become just as much home there as it is here in this snowy corner of the world. To have the opportunity to eat different food, sing different songs, enjoy different culture, struggle through different language and challenge myself with different lifestyles if truly a blessing, an eye-opening experience that makes me feel small and insignificant in the best way possible.
Until then, I'll sit here sipping on my chai tea latte, dreaming of the music that will play in the lives of another country and another people.
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
'Twas the night before Christmas
The tree is lit with hundreds upon hundreds of lights. The familiar Christmas CDs are playing through the stereo. The turkey dinner is done, dishes washed and put away, family gone and candlelit church service ended. All that is left to do is to have family devotions, sing some Christmas carols, hang our stockings and crawl between the sheets.
Christmas is riddled with traditions; it's famous for them. Here in my 20s, I'm faced with the challenge of keeping Christmas and all of it's traditions fresh, new and full of meaning, rather than mundane, old and dull. Pastor Steve spoke of this on Sunday, explaining how it can be challenging to present the Christmas story in such a way that it will strike the congregation with fresh force.
Tonight, he spoke of the indescribable gift. Indescribable. In. describ. able. No words. Nothing but a glimpse, a brief overview, a slight thought at the immensity, the extreme power, the soul-shaking awe and the earth-shattering truth of God, Elohim, Yahweh, Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Lord of Angel Armies, Emmanuel, taking on the form of a human baby and being born in a smelly, old stable. Indescribable.
I'm a nostalgic soul and I try to live more in the past than the present. With the aid of the ever-extensive internet, I found a YouTube video of a man reading the children's story, "The Legend of the Candy Cane", tonight. It tells the story of the symbolism found within this seasonal peppermint candy - how it's in the shape of a J for Jesus, or a shepherd's staff to remember the lowly shepherds who first heard the glorious news of God's birth from a band of singing angels in the dead of night. It tells of the colours of the candy cane - the red and the white - relating the horror of Jesus' blood that was brutally beaten from Him when He sacrificed Himself and took on the death penalty that was meant for us - for you -, and the complete cleanliness of the soul that is wiped of all sinful stains when we believe in Him.
Indescribable - how the King of the universe, the One who holds the galaxies in balance and causes the instinct of marching ants, abandoned the glory of heaven's magnificent throne room and lived amongst us. Indescribable - how Jesus would give His life for humans...no more than maggots in our sin. Indescribable - the power and victory, glory and rejoicing of His resurrection! Indescribable!
Indescribable - how it can somehow become so ordinary, with every word memorized and every meaningful tradition simply lived through. Indescribable. HE is truly indescribable. The magic of this night, of tomorrow's Christmas Day, is truly indescribable.
Christmas is riddled with traditions; it's famous for them. Here in my 20s, I'm faced with the challenge of keeping Christmas and all of it's traditions fresh, new and full of meaning, rather than mundane, old and dull. Pastor Steve spoke of this on Sunday, explaining how it can be challenging to present the Christmas story in such a way that it will strike the congregation with fresh force.
Tonight, he spoke of the indescribable gift. Indescribable. In. describ. able. No words. Nothing but a glimpse, a brief overview, a slight thought at the immensity, the extreme power, the soul-shaking awe and the earth-shattering truth of God, Elohim, Yahweh, Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Lord of Angel Armies, Emmanuel, taking on the form of a human baby and being born in a smelly, old stable. Indescribable.
I'm a nostalgic soul and I try to live more in the past than the present. With the aid of the ever-extensive internet, I found a YouTube video of a man reading the children's story, "The Legend of the Candy Cane", tonight. It tells the story of the symbolism found within this seasonal peppermint candy - how it's in the shape of a J for Jesus, or a shepherd's staff to remember the lowly shepherds who first heard the glorious news of God's birth from a band of singing angels in the dead of night. It tells of the colours of the candy cane - the red and the white - relating the horror of Jesus' blood that was brutally beaten from Him when He sacrificed Himself and took on the death penalty that was meant for us - for you -, and the complete cleanliness of the soul that is wiped of all sinful stains when we believe in Him.
Indescribable - how the King of the universe, the One who holds the galaxies in balance and causes the instinct of marching ants, abandoned the glory of heaven's magnificent throne room and lived amongst us. Indescribable - how Jesus would give His life for humans...no more than maggots in our sin. Indescribable - the power and victory, glory and rejoicing of His resurrection! Indescribable!
Indescribable - how it can somehow become so ordinary, with every word memorized and every meaningful tradition simply lived through. Indescribable. HE is truly indescribable. The magic of this night, of tomorrow's Christmas Day, is truly indescribable.
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