Day 58: A Day On the Streets

The title of today's blog is pretty much correct. Allow me to explain:

The morning. A beautiful morning. A Street Teams morning. We got to visit the Towers again, and it was a blast. If there's one thing I learned about Australia from visiting the Towers, it's this: the land of Australia has the ability to slow down the aging process physically. Every person we met was considerably younger than they looked; like 81 year-old Mary, who looks half that age, Daniella, an 80 year-old woman who has absolutely NO white hair and NO attitude of an old person, and Joseph, who is 65 but looks well in his early forties. It's amazing; kind of makes me want to consider the possibility of living here...... anyways, we got to chat with them, and it was wonderful. I got the Extermination of the Day award for vanquishing a giant cockroach that's been "bugging" poor Mary for weeks; felt just like home, when I was dispatched to slay spiders and cockroaches form my sister's presence. Overall, an excellent way to start the day.
During the afternoon, I was invited by Anders to join him for a little barbecue being prepared by some people from the church. We brought some lean steaks to add to the choices, and I gotta say this barbecue was one of the best meals I've had this whole time. Excellently grilled pieces of chicken, cooked on and off the bone and marinated with herbs and spices. Accompanied by a fresh salad, potatoes, aloe vera drinks, and some Cadbury chocolate, it was one incredible eating experience; all we were missing were the Aussie sausages and prawns (the day I get to finally have 'shrimp on the barbie' will be a day to remember). One of the girls that came, Lindsey, joined us on the walk back home, and she's a pretty cool person; we all got along very well.
The evening was a bit awkward. Let me tell you why: the Sydney Gay/Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. Yes. You read correctly. Anders wanted to see what it was like, so we visited. And all I can say is that these people are amongst the most creative minds in the world. No joke. It made me think heavily on one idea: how can these people be SO energetic and passionate about their pride in being gay/lesbian, completely unashamed and straightforward, and WE Christians can't even profess God's name publicly because of fear? We're gonna face persecution; that's the most obvious fact. We just can't submit to the world so we can fit in and be accepted; there was a section starring the Catholic Gays group, basically saying that all are accepted in the church. While that may be true, the way it's said is completely out of context; and yet, we can't be as passionate about the faith we have in Jesus. The only reason I give gay people some credibility is because they don't care what others say; they are who they are, so they take pride in it. How about we do the same? Why don't we be unashamed of the amazing gift that was Christ's blood shed on the cross so we could live? Come on, guys and girls; let's be just as passionate about the glory of God. We don't need parades for our voices to be heard; we just need to courage to speak out.

I'm going to sleep; got an early call time tomorrow.

God bless,
Steven