Calgary Trip (1)

The picture is of Bonavista Baptist, the results of last week's early snow in Calgary, and I'll get back to it in a minute.

I had quite a productive trip to Calgary. You will note that on my last post I was hoping that new appointments would firm up as I embarked on my visit there. Well, things did.

Parenthetically, I remember another of our Alpha Regional Directors wondering if anyone else had trouble getting churches to return calls. I smiled. I don't know if it was an honest question or tongue-in-cheek, but I think we all have the same problem.

So I committed to the trip in faith, having three firm appointments with church and/or Alpha leaders. Then came a last-minute appointment - a lunch date with a key Alpha coach in downtown Calgary at 11:00. I left the house at around 8 AM, certain I had plenty of time. Before I left I double-checked everything I had or needed and was satisfied I had everything, but a half-hour south I realized I had left my map of Calgary in my other briefcase, so I Googled the AMA location in Red Deer and zipped in off the highway to get one. (Maps are free to members) That cost me 15 minutes.

Calgary is in interesting (read; almost impossible) city to find downtown parking. I found a spot in the vicinity of my lunch appointment after about 5 or 10 minutes of driving around in circles. They have done away with parking meters, and gone to a system of pay stations where you have to enter your parking area and your licence plate number. I realized later that I was one letter off on my plate number, so I hope I didn't get a ticket. If I do, I hope they'll understand my mistake and let me off.

My next appointment was at 2:00 PM, also downtown, but I had a couple of hours to kill, so I got on my phone. I had prepared a list of churches I had not yet had personal contact with and got through to the very first one. We discussed when it would be convenient for me to drop in, and I blurted out, "How about now? I can be there in 15 or 20 minutes."

"OK," was the answer. So off I went to the northeast section of the city. I met with the pastor of a church with two campuses, one in Calgary and one in Airdrie, a suburb. They are very happy with the experience they've had with Alpha, so we went over some of the things current and upcoming in Alpha's world.

From there it was back downtown to meet with a woman who had presented Alpha during lunch at the Shell tower. I suppose a plug might be in order here for Shell, who was quite willing to allow her to do so on their premises. I'm sure there are other companies who might not be so cooperative. More parking adventures but a good meeting.

Some time during all this I was cc'd on a reply from Alpha Canada to a young girl who is wanting to run the Alpha Youth Film Series in her school and looking for help. So there was a three-way series of  e-mails including Amy Croy, our Youth Alpha coach who was also heading down from Edmonton to Calgary and was hoping to drop in to see her on her way. I haven't yet heard whether they were able to get together.

After this last downtown meeting I spent time on the phone, lining up appointments or leaving messages for Wednesday. I will make Wednesday a separate post, but let me say that highest among the encouraging events of this Tuesday was hearing from this young girl who felt called by God to reach out to her schoolmates through Alpha, not having the slightest clue how she was going to do it. She just answered God's call, then set about figuring out how. I am confident that with our help, but mostly God's, it is going to happen. Pray for her if you would. I haven't mentioned her name or any details, but God knows who and where she is.

So that was my first day in Calgary. I just realized I didn't address the subject of the picture, but I will do that in my next post.

Blessings,
John