Typical Day in the work of Jay

It was brought to my attention that my supporters might want to know what I do on an average day. Well step aboard and I'll give you a tour. Seeing that Tuesday is my busiest day, I'll make it a Tuesday. I wake up in a stupor and at first look to see if Mark is across from me to see whether I'm up too early or not. Good it's 8:30! That leaves me enough time for a quick shower and bite to eat before going to Bible study. At quarter after 9, I'm rearing to go, so I grab the keys to one of the vans. Before I leave, I make sure that Sonja and Jenny are in the van and then it's off to Andrea's apartment. Andrea's the Intern director for Urban Promise who makes sure we're well fed, well read, well prayed for, volunteering and well challenged in our teaching and leadership abilities. At 9:30 sharp we arrive at her apartment. After we fill up with tea and muffins (usually) we jump into our discussion on the gospel of John. The discussion is usually very thorough and and Andrea always ends it by asking how the discussion will help us during the week. By 11 o'clock were back at the Up house and I have two hours to prepare for the day and eat lunch. At quarter to one, I'm usually running out the door with my guitar because I am heading for the Grandview Baptist Church. Before I arrive at church I slip into a garage just down the road. This garage is owned by the Church and used by the street mission group Crossroads. Karl, the director of Crossroads, greets me and usually has a task for me to complete involving sorting files, clothes or getting me to research. This is just one of the opportunity that Karl and I have to reach out to the street people of Vancouver. The computer room is only open for three hours on Tuesday and Thursday but it's usually well attended. Usually I can only stay for an hour or so because Tanya needs me to help set up for Camp Grace. Set-up for Camp takes usually 45 minutes, involving cutting fruit, getting games, binders, mats, music, and reading material ready. At 2:50 Tanya advises me that she is leaving so I finish up what I'm doing and jog to the school. When the bell rings at 3:05 I walk over to the kindergarten class to pick up Nancy. We proceed outside and there waiting is the Urban Promise van with Hilena or Bruce driving. After I round up the first van load I am on Patrol until the second van load arrives. On the second ride I jump in the van and are driven to the park(depending on the weather). Tanya, a bunch of street leaders and I play with the kids for an hour or so (usually involving me playing tag or pushing the kids on the swings). next we walk to the church where snack is waiting. This is usually the most exciting part for most kids. After singing grace with the kids the table captains hand out the snack. Before February I would teach the kids a new song on guitar and read a book for the kids but now I lead the grade 7s. After snack I take the grade seveners to the classroom three or the Library. Tuesdays and Thursday it's an interactive bible study. Lately I've been teaching on Jesus and finding how much the kids know about him. Its about Slim to none at the moment. After bible I find out what they would like to eat for dinner on Friday. It usually involves something ethnic and something on the side (Felicia usually doesn't eat anything other than chicken, pasta or rice). Next the kids either tutor the younger kid in reading or I get them to set goals for the week and plan a game for snack the following day. Once completed they work on their own homework or reading. At grade 7 we try and prepare them for being a street leader so at the end of the day we walk each one of them through one of the cleanup tasks. That could mean organizing the storage closet to cleaning the bathrooms. When 6 comes its home time and my day is almost done. Except for Tuesdays I usually prepare supper for the UP house. Last week it was Pad Thai and this week it will be bbq Bratwurst and vegetables. So now that your tired from reading this I hope you enjoyed the tour, if you like what you heard today you can always join me for a real tour.