Joshua's Journey

Sept 26-29

Urban Plunge!!

For these day we were in Down town Winnipeg doing the Urbane Plunge. We learned about the streets, gangs, drugs, and people who are broken. These day were hard. I saw first hand Gods broken people and loved apone them and served them in soup kitchens, talking to them and hearing their stories. A storie that i want to share is about a boy call christian.

In most city neighborhoods, the community parks is popular destination for all kind of families and kids. However, these parks are often filled with friendship groupings and family units who are there independently of one another and who generally don’t know each other very well. Pritchard Park is different. On any given day after school hours, this park is teeming with kids - many of whom spent every single afternoon, and well into the evening, playing at the park.

This past spring was one of those times when things got tough. On june 25, just after 7:00 PM, a 5 year-old boy named Kristin was riding his bike across Manitoba Street On Charles Avenue. Kristin was hit by a tow truck coming through the intersection, and was killed instantly. Someone from the community instantly covered his body with a coat and 911 was called, but many of the kids who were playing in the park, Kristin’s friend and family, saw the brutal accident.

Kristin was a fun-loving and happy kid, always looking for a hug and always happy to cuddle on his parents lap and tell them about their day. He had the incredibility to have lengthy conversation with kids and adults, asking all kinds of questions about their day and how things were going.

But the neat thing is that even when tragedy hits, God’s light still cut through the darkness and bring healing and transformation. Right after the accident, this community of kids rallied together to create a memorial of the side of the road- bringing their stuffed animals and toys, drawing pictures, and making cards.

This stories really hit home for a lot of us on this trip. Over those four day we heard lots of power, happy, sad ,painful stories. I will never forget how God loves the poor and broken of people and how he calls us to go Help, lesion, cry, lough and most of all LOVE.