Saturday, June 28, 2008

Canada's National Scandal


People are a bit like buildings. Sometimes they look sad and forlorn, sometimes comical and fresh. Looking from the outside doesn't say much about the inside. What strengths, surprises, costs and depravities remain hidden? Agents and friends can help to find self-identity; enemies, mis-directed friends and enviromental pests attack both foundation and structure.

In 2007 Canada finally established a Mental Health Commission to attempt to address the lack of attention given to those Canadians who suffer cracks in their foundations, that 10% of us who are likely to experience severe, debilitating distress at some point in our lives. The hope is that money will, at long last, be dedicated to research for treatment and cure for those things that afflict our minds and spirits. Canadians need to discuss realities which have been swept under the proverbial rug.

The most scandalous part of this story is that damaged people are shuffled from one government department to another as they attempt to find assistance. Specifically they are forced to travel back and forth between agencies providing 'social services' (really mainly money) and those providing health care, housing or shelter, food, clothing and sense of community.

The Ministry of Health is not set up to work together with Provincial or Municipal Social Services Ministries. There is no coordination between these agencies for people who do not fit neatly into the medical model for physical illness.
Would you accuse a person with diabetes or cancer of being responsible for his or her illness?
Would we send blind people to six different branches of the CNIB?
Why is it acceptible tell a mentally incapacitated person to 'just get a job'?

Why are our churches and other religious institutions largely silent on this issue? Thank God for the good work that is being done. Much, much more is needed.

Speak out! We, who have suffered schizophrenia, psychosis or depression need places to tell our stories. Well this is one such place. Please do so, here and elsewhere, before more of us, or our loved ones, suffer needlessly due to neglect, ignorance, or lack of awareness of the scattered but helpful resources that do exist.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Quebec City - My Portal to Canada

To mark 400 years,
Je me souviens.


Why go to Canada?
Memories of cold winters in Loughborough, England, no central heating, and having hot water bottles by our feet just to get to sleep.
Toes chilled to the point of pain in the mornings.
Dad fetching coal to start the fire in the dining room, and taking a blowtorch to the outside loo to melt the layer of ice that had formed in the bowl.

Hearing my mother tell the stories of Jesus, and even then, seeking the face of God on my bedroom wall.
My younger brother and I waiting together for my sister to be born.
Being inside a dark church, hearing, "Shush, God is here."
Playing with tops and trains and wooden hammers and an alphabet set, each block an animal picture with its letter, A for antelope, B for Buffalo. Distinct recollection of the moment I realized that letters could be put together to made words. Amazement! Reading simple nursery rhymes, long before I started school. Remembering that we were to look for police if we were threatened or lost. Being the oldest, the one to set the example. Doing jigsaw puzzles while it rained outside. Listening to the wireless (radio), not having TV, or even a fridge.

Being allowed to play records on an old manually cranked phonograph. Walking to visit my Nana, hearing the bells of the marvellous carillon in the large park near her house.


Remembering peacocks, budgies and poodles. Almost every Sunday having tea with my great-grandparents who lived in a big old house another short walk past Nana’s. The clip-clop of horse-drawn cart on cobblestones, the smells of the cattle yard and the weekly market, fair days. Being disappointed, yet excited when at seven and a half, my parents decided to bring us to Canada.

Leaving Liverpool on the Empress of Canada. Setting foot on Canadian soil, taking a whirlwind tour through the narrow streets of Old Quebec City, visiting a church decorated red and gold, getting back on the ship and on to Montreal, passing multi-coloured roof tiles on the homes which hugged the cliffs.

The cross on Mount Royal. Living in a duplex, shopping at vast supermarkets. Growing beans in a glass jar. Spelling bees. Memorizing the 23rd Psalm for a poetry recital in Grade five, and after reading only four or five words, being told by my teacher, ‘Sit down! That’s not poetry, that’s Scripture!’ In grade six, getting hold of a Gideons Centennial Edition of the New Testament, being intrigued by the book of Revelation and the Gospels. And EXPO '67; Canada, notre pays! Trips with school and family to visit the Plains of Abraham.



Being told to look to the church and God for help with spiritual struggles. Reading everything: Hardy Boys, Jules Verne, modern sci-fi, historical romance, … Recovering from chicken pox, being given a book all about ghosts, mind reading, astral travel and other strange ideas. One night I experienced a very real personal attack. I felt physically grabbed by someone or something not of this world. Childhood's End?

Throughout high school being shy and always managing to avoid speaking in class. Pulling up roots again, moving to Nova Scotia. At university, taking honors Physics and Engineering. New friends giving me copies of the Bible, strange books with titles like Bel and the Dragon, and the Wisdom of Sirach. Being challenged to seriously consider the story and claims of Jesus, attending Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, and for the first time, clearly hearing the message of the cross: the good news that Jesus had died for me; discovering that I needed to make a personal response to His sacrifice.

Asking God to reveal Himself to me if he really was there. Shortly afterward, feeling my heart being powerfully touched by His loving presence. Talking to my friends at length even in the middle of the night. Being prayed for. Experiencing a turmoil that required hospitalization. Spending two months at home with my family. Writing in my New Testament of my decision to receive the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior. Three days later, being admitted to psychiatric hospital; my baptism of fire!

On to Toronto, passing by Quebec City, and Montreal, passing again to revisit the Maritimes, pondering lingering early memories of God and church. Being born again, a new childhood: excitement!

Someone's Coming! Are You Ready?

ARE OUR CHILDREN WELL TAUGHT, CARED FOR
BY LOST YOUTHS OF YESTERYEAR?
WEAKENED, HUMBLED SOULS, PARED DOWN BY TWO THOUSAND YEARS OF ADULTEDNESS,
STRUGGLING ONES, BURIED UNDER WINTRY TRADITIONS, SERVING WITH MOCKING TOLERANCE,
WHILE LITTLE ONES WANDER IN AVENUES OF DAILY BLOOMING DISASTER, SUFFERING AND WONDERING, WHY?
REMINDERS ARE GIVEN BY BOOKISH ONES
FROM CITY LANES AND COUNTRY HOMES,
LESSONS OF INJURIES AND MARTYRDOMS,
POINTING THE WAY AHEAD
TO THOSE WHO WOULD SEE.
COME, DAY OF GOD, COME!

STAR-GOWNED SINGERS, GROWN IN SIN,
MOURN IN A MAJOR KEY,
SURROUNDED BY STONE AND WOOD AND BRASS.
IMPRESSIVE EXPRESSIONS!
AND YET THE SWEETEST SOUNDING NOTE
BE JUNK...TO HIM WHO WANTS ONLY...LOVE...CALLED...STRONG!
THE PRAISE OF GOD A MINOR THING?
SPIRIT TRULY SHRIEKS WITHIN!
BUT, O WHAT JOY!
TO FIND TRADITION SPRING TO LIFE,
BUDDING INTO MARVELOUS FLOWER,
ACTIVATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SING AFRESH
AND SHOUT THE GREAT NEWS
OF THE WORLD-MORN TO COME!
AND SO THE ULTIMATE REWARD
OF DIVINE PATIENCE
SHALL INDEED REST IN THE MAJESTIC PRESENCE OF JESUS,
COME, LORD, COME!

A Peaceful Warning: Amidst the Perils, Love!


LOVE! WHY? It’s God’s command, here and now,
besides who will if you won't?
Take some down time; Look around.

Multi channels visit the globe; NOISES BLARE!
Feel the sombre stare of SCREAMING PAGES pulled up through the web.
Burning sun and shooting stars yell and cry and warn...
Of bitter justice soon scrawled on walls and doorways!

At the guarded gate to paradise,
Mythic states jeer in defence of forged creeds.
Shadows of our past echo in prideful conflict
FORCING the children of men into a nightmare.

Green peasant's lands suffer afflicton,
as silvered rivers, damned for electric amenities,
flow wth pesticides, fungicides, wasted antibiotics.
Vigor is sterilized and rotten wealth is made.

A strange preacher leads his flock awry,
and authorities bring the fire and brimstone!
Is Love on holiday?

Kids bully and are bullied to take up arms
and little towns cry for lost minds.
Convicted killers are shut in dusk and doom,
like parched trees,
dying to be posters for deception and vengeance.

Terrible gauntlets fly;
A mighty fortress is cracked open
and the deathday dawns upon a city of liberty;
Cries of faith punch at apathy and sacrifices begin again.

Silent lamp posts hang down,
marking lonely days and nights.
Even the whole planet shudders,
leaving cities and nations swamped as by its tears.
Crystal cups of sorrow haunt the yearly festivals.

LOVE! Why? … It’s essential, required, demanded!
Seek the Face of THE HOLY ONE,
The healer of all wounds.
LOVE! AND MARCH FORTH TO ETERNITY!

LISTEN UP! Are you interested in mental health?

Is it OK to be mentally ill?
Going by the evidence most Canadians appear to believe it is.

The Globe and Mail, in its Breakdown series, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/breakdown did a fine job last week on highlighting the ongoing struggle many individuals and families face in dealing with the crushing realities of mental illness. In October, 1998, Scott Simmie wrote a similar, and award winning, series in the Toronto Star. His title 'Out of Mind' revealed the uncomfortable truth that the Canadian public has had little interest in compelling our leaders to act. In the intervening years, virtually nothing has changed on the front lines where most sufferers and helpers are fighting the battle for health and wellness.
We are still waiting for supportive housing, the crucial element in any plan to address this crisis.
The National Scandal of damaged people being shuffled from one government department to another, trying to find assistance, plays out like a tragic farce. Specifically, people are forced to travel back and forth between agencies providing 'social services' (money) and those providing health care, housing or shelter, food, clothing and sense of community, often while also dealing with more acceptable illnesses such as cancer and AIDS.

The Ministry of Health is not set up to work together with Provincial or Municipal Social Services Ministries. There is little or no coordination between these agencies for people who do not fit neatly into the medical model for physical illness.
Do we accuse a person with diabetes or epilepsy of being responsible for his or her illness?
Would we send blind people to three different branches of the CNIB?
Why is it acceptable tell a mentally incapacitated person to 'just get a job'?



People are a bit like buildings. Sometimes they look sad and forlorn, sometimes comical and fresh. Looking from the outside doesn't say much about the inside. What strengths, surprises, costs and depravities remain hidden? Agents and friends can help to find self-identity; enemies, mis-directed friends and enviromental pests attack both foundation and structure.

Last year Canada finally established a Mental Health Commission to attempt to address the lack of attention given to those Canadians who suffer cracks in their foundations, that 10% of us who are likely to experience severe, debilitating mental and spiritual distress at some point in our lives. The hope is that money will, at long last, be dedicated to research for treatment and cure for those things that afflict our minds and spirits. But throwing money around in the ivory towers of academia will not be enough. Certainly research must be done. Counselling heelps. The heart of the matter will begin to be addressed when we can discuss together and pray about the harsh realities which have been swept under the proverbial rug.

Why are our religious institutions largely silent on this issue? When have you heard a message about the spiritual resources available to bring to bear on this topic? Are there ever connections between mental illness and evil spirits? Do chaplains and medical professionals coordinate their efforts to heal? What would Jesus have Us do?
Thank God for the good work that is being done.
Much, much more is needed.

We, who have suffered schizophrenia, psychosis or depression will not tolerate society's stigma. The taboo is broken. Praise the Name of JESUS!
Lend us your ears!
Invite us to speak at your places of worship, community centers, schools, anywhere interested people will gather. Let us tell how God heals and delivers. Let us work and pray that no more of us, or our loved ones, suffer needlessly due to neglect and ignorance. Let's make good use of the quality programs that already exist and build together the healthy communities that we all need.
Let's free up funding, and other resources, and empower all Canadians to help each other!

Let us be rebuilders of the breach.
Mental illness should never be OK!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

O Canada! Watching for the Vision

Whatever projects we get up to, I'm sure our Heavenly Father has some great laughs, sometimes in derision, sometimes delight.

Whatever mischief we create or encounter, don't you think many tears from mingled sorrow and joy come easily from His eyes?

Consider Canada
Comment ça va avec lui? avec nous?

What keeps us together?
The Trans-Canada highway? Maybe.
The Federal government? Eh, say what?

But remember!
Our governors separated us into Upper and Lower Canada.
Then one day a true first-rate fellow took an act of political hubris to curb our inferiority and brought our constitution home from across the pond.
Now we can follow our dreams, if only we can agree on what they are.
Romance clashes with work ethic. In our national anthem we sing, en français,
'Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée des plus brillant exploits'...and yet...Quebec feels left out.
So do the Atlantic Provinces the Prairies and B.C.
We’ve no Grand Canyon, just a few noisy fire-crackers, dissidents who avoid responsibilities while promoting rights!
What about the privilege of duty?
What of Ontario?
The Place to Stand, Out in the cold with the North?
So what can keep us together? Simple convenience and compromise has so far.
But a little more is required:
Charity, friendship, common sense,
hope, the Word of life, hot apple cider
and sticky
maple syrup.

Mon Dieu!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Out of the Waiting Room to Write! Canada

After experiencing massive writer's block several years, Our Lord is, I believe finally helping me to begin to share some of my experiences and insights. Many ideas on paper or disk have till now remained as frustrated dreams. Early in June, I attended my first Word Guild Conference, in Guelph, Ontario, a real occasion! Along with over two hundred other believers, I enjoyed the privilege of being insired and educated by people who are actually practicing their chosen art, writers, speakers, singers, agents and publishers.

I had known about God Uses Ink and TWG for a long time and had allowed my chronic lack of both energy and funds to prevent me from going. This year I was prodded by a lady I met at work who told me she was already registered. She didn't give up on me, even offering to help pay for my fees. She didn't need to. Joy, Marcia, Albert and I decided to commute back and forth to Toronto each night. I volunteered to do most of the driving giving Albert, the Jeep's owner, a much needed break.

Friday night we stayed late so I could share at the night owl session, only the second time in ten years I found a forum to read my work aloud, outside my home, that is. For me it was a breakthrough. I shared two poems and asked to share a third before leaving at 11:30 for the city. The trip back was dramatic. We sang along to upbeat worship music as we drove through heavy rain, passing truck after truck, watching the lightning only a short distance ahead. The next morning we arrived back in Guelph about 10 o'clock and enjoyed another informative day.

The following week, after getting permission from our ED to use my office computer and e-mail, I was able to set up my blog in under ten minutes. Now for the hard part; continuity! Most writing gets done at home. My regular work is counselling and spending time with marginalized street folk and others with various addictions or other mental health issues. I'm able to teach Bible studies and assist in leading worship.

Other highlights from the conference: meeting new people, hearing the three plenary speakers, the educational and inspiring workshops and classes, and Deborah Klassen's worshipful singing. And of course Hot Apple Cider, a compilation of inspirational stories by Canadian writers.

I'm thankful that Jesus encouraged my friend Joy to drag me out of my shell. May God give His wisdom and grace in telling the stories He has given.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

A Canadian Sunrise


Sunrise, Son Rise!
O Jesus, the descending King,
Seek your own to lead and quicken!
Away with abuse, brutal and treacherous,
that attacks sound minds,
freezing their song in fear!
And yet a melting into humble power is done
by The Helping Spirit One,
and we become deeply thoughtful,
concerned ones,
really no longer divided by the evil one.
Let the educators awake in time
and wonder at His plan
to accomplish all on sounding trumpet;
Come Lord Jesus, Come.

Friday, June 20, 2008

On Spiritual vision


Are your eyes open to the Tree of Life?
Inside or outside?
Radiant light is reflected in those who decide to follow and obey The Holy One.
It's amazing to think someone could be raised from the dead, but it can happen today.
Why would anyone submit to Him and be His slave?
It's just plain foolishness if He's kept outside by stubborn bitterness or simple ignorance.
He describes Himself as the vine and says all who obey Him are the branches. When even two or three of His followers suffer, He's there with them. For whoever invites Him inside, especially those in severe poverty and pain, will enjoy wisdom, peace and great purpose.