Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Well Prayed Ground

I've been on a bit of a trip this week, took my family to Southern Ontario to visit friends and hang with Sharon's mom and sister in Niagara Falls. I'm not fond of big trips, especially with so many people wanting to do so much. My kids are tired and I'm not really enjoying myself. But soon we will be with our dear friends Brad and Mary, that will be like an oasis just before we return.

But something cool happened. We were leaving Toronto and needed some food for the kids. So I suggested a mall near where I used to live in Mississauga. We got off the highway and fueled up cars and kids for the trip to Niagara Falls. Which BTW is like a giant slug chewed up all the kitsch in North America and vomited it next to one of the most beautiful falls you can imagine??? Certainly the falls shine even brighter next to all this tackiness, but it is seriously unnecessary. But back to my story.

When we were getting back on the highway we drove past what used to be a field. A field that I used to walk around in and pray. I had many intimate moments with my Creator in that field. So when I looked over what did I see? A mosque. Unexpectedly this made me very happy. How fitting that the place I found solitude for prayer would become the place of prayer for one of the prayingest religions I know. No matter what else you might think of Muslims, they pray. I think my joy also fitting considering that the days I spent there I was struggling with the theology of the Foursquare church I was helping to plant. I think that place is where I laid the groundwork for my exit from fundamentalist evangelicalism. But it would take quite a while for me to open my mind to see Christ at work beyond the evangelical church.

I think I'll pray for that mosque over the coming weeks. Pray that their times there with the Creator will be as life changing as my own.

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