To explain my ridiculously long absence:
1) I have been spending sooooooo much (perhaps foolish amounts) of time on the street, which has left little time for anything or anyone else
2) My computer has died! ressurection postponned indefinately.

The fact that I have been spending so much time on the streets though, has given me a lot of material. I'm convinced I'll enver be able to write on here all of the stories and reflections that I wish to write about, but I will reflect on the most profound. And the most major thing that has happened in the last few weeks is just that - major!

It all started about a month ago now - after work on a monday night I felt an intense urge to instead of hop on the subway take another walk around through yorkville. It was already late by now.. around ten I think but I stopped upon a drunk guy I knew just barely, named Louie. He was a little drunk and panning so I sat down with him. Now is when I wish I were more disciplines in keeping this up, becuase I really forget the topic of our conversation that night. I think he shared with me some of his stories.. affirming how tough a guy he was.

Two days later, I again found myself with a strong urge to walk around the city some more after work. I found my dear friend G. rocking back and forth on the ground ionfront of the bay street subway entrance. I sat down with him and for the next hour or so sat teary eyed, being informed over and over again of the gruesome details of his childhood sexual abuse. Then Louie came strolling along, also pretty intoxicated and he sat down and him and the three of us just chilled for a bit, then i decided it was probably time to head home. Louie offered to walk me to the subway so off we went. We ended up stopping in an alcove at yonge and wellesley and talking there until about 4 in the morning. He kept asking me why I was there and what I was doing on the street and why I talk to a piece of shit like him. I continued to try to tell him he wasn;t a piece of shit, that he was beautifully and wonderfully made. He wouldn't let up on asking me why I spent so much time on the street with the boys until finally I said something along the lines of "I think God has asked me to be here" and he was... astonished. We talked for a while about how God loves him, and he kept telling me things like "I'm a bad guy... you don't know.." and to make a looooooong conversation short, he had a conversion of sorts out on the street that night. At some point I brought up Jesus and he just went quiet.. and I told him a bit of my story, and at a certain point he just began saying " I believe you... I really believe what you're saying is true..." I should mention that this is hours later, and he had sobered up alot by this point. He then began pointing to the street lamp and talking about how he wanted to shine brighter than the light. I was really nervous throughout a lot of the conversation only because of his desperation. "This Jesus guy better be able to help me out because im f-ing sick of this", or he would look up with a growl-esque (is that a word?) look on his face as if to challenge God to a fight, and say something like "you think you can help me out? well, lets see... bring it on big guy"... So I just prayed and prayed that God would show up in power and glory and overwhelm his spirit. It was a very long and beautiful and difficult conversation to try to write out and sum up. But it was absolutely astonishing to me. The spirit was moving in remarkable ways. He prayed a simple and beautiful prayer, asking Jesus to help him out... that he was sick of the life he was leading and wanted a way out.

The story continues... but it is close to midnight and I have to be in the park early tomorrow morning. stay tuned... dun dun dun