SKATING - MARCH 25

Hi everyone! The Whatcom County GEMS Roller Skating Party has been rescheduled for TUESDAY, MARCH 25. We hope you can all make it from 6:30 - 8:30 at Lynden Skateway!!

SKATING PARTY CANCELLED

The Whatcom County GEMS Skating Party that was scheduled for tonight has been CANCELLED due to the wind & snow. Please pass the word on. We will reschedule for a later date. Watch here for details. Stay safe & warm at home tonight!

NEXT EVENT!!

Our next event is the All-Whatcom-County-GEMS Rollerskating party at Lynden Skateway! Please join us (& invite your friends!) on February 24 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. The cost is $5/skater or $7 for inline skates. This is also a fundraiser to help us pay for use of the NEW POOL at GEMS Camp in June! Woo-hoo! Watch for details on camp coming SOON!!

Last interview with We Walk speaker!

Book one, Shadows in Tenebray Forest, is dedicated to your grandfather. The dedication includes a photograph of him as a young man in a World War II uniform and reads “In memory of my grandpa. He gave me so much straw.” What are you referring to here?

The straw is referencing a Russian proverb that appears in the book, “Would I know where I’d fall, I’d lay some straw there ahead of time.” In other words, if I knew what parts of life were going to be hard I’d do something in advance to make it a little easier. At one point a character refers to this and says, “But that isn’t possible is it? To know what will happen, and even if we did, I doubt we’d have enough straw. It brings out the theme in the book that perhaps our lives are intertwining and intersecting all the time and even though we don’t know what will happen, and even though it seems as though we’d never have enough straw, perhaps we provide straw for one another in the way our lives intersect.

I was very close to my grandfather. He was a WWII vet, but I never heard him talk about it. When I was in middle school he became very sick with cancer and was given a very short time to live. His sickness prompted my entire family to go with him to Europe and retrace his steps during the War.

My grandfather was in the second wave of soldiers who landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day. I will never quite comprehend the horror he saw that day. It must have been like walking into the very pits of hell. And standing there with him as a kid I remember thinking it was crazy. I mean why run across that beach? Why run into all that danger? A smart person would have run the other way.

A few days later we visited Dachau Concentration Camp. I saw for myself the effects of evil unchecked, unstopped, unopposed. My grandfather’s dying lesson to me was that there are reasons to run across a beach, there are things worth fighting for, there are times to run into battle. That lesson changed who I was. The books I have written are due in part to the fact that as a young man, my grandfather ran across a beach. So in many ways, he is my straw.

In book one, Shadows in Tenebray Forest the main characters connect with a woman who was a child during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The woman tells the girls of a brave and courageous thing she did as a child to oppose the Nazi regime. Why is it important to teach kids about World War II and the holocaust?

Let me preface this by saying that it has to be age appropriate. The goal isn’t to destroy the innocence of children by presenting them with the most gruesomeness of human history. That is why for instance the Holocaust Museum in DC has both a main exhibit and an exhibit for children. Some things are not appropriate for kids. That being said, we aren’t doing our kids any favors by pretending or teaching them that evil doesn’t exist and bad things never happen.

History, both the dark side and light side of history are important because it gives kids a framework for understanding that evil is real. It isn’t just an idea or a metaphor. We have to stand up against it. I read a quote at the United States Holocaust Museum about how the Holocaust wasn’t an accident and I think this is important for kids to know. It is important to understand that bad things don’t happen by accident. Rather they happen because of choices, both the direct choices to inflict hurt or injustice on another person, but also because of the indirect choices of silence, indifference, apathy.

I tell kids that on a smaller scale, what happened in history happens every day in their schools, on the bus, on the playground.  We always face choices of how we are going to treat another human being or how we are going to respond to how someone else treats another person. What history shows us and can illustrate for kids is how those choices and their actions are bigger than themselves. We see this repeatedly throughout history—how someone’s small act explodes into something bigger. And an understanding of this, that our actions reach beyond ourselves and have bigger consequences is valuable for a child to learn.

It also gives kids a framework for heroism. A hero isn’t simply a gorgeous movie star, but to learn about normal, everyday people, even other kids who made a difference, who made a crack in that machine of evil that looms so large opens up what is possible in their lives.

So certainly, the goal is not to destroy innocence, but rather to give kids the tools to navigate the realities of life.

Tell us about the We Walk Tour coming to Abbotsford on February 8.

The We Walk Tour is a three-hour mother daughter event. The tour is hosted by GEMS Girls’ Clubs, which is a dynamic international club program for young girls. For years GEMS has encouraged girls to find their voices and to become activists for Christ no matter their age. The tour is an extension of this. It’s really a call for girls to avoid the lure of indifference and apathy and silence.

The We Walk Tour challenges girls to stand up for what they believe in, even when the world does not value their voices. The event will open with great praise and worship, I’ll be speaking, we’ll have videos, and interactive object lessons. There is a mom-only session led by two amazing women and I’ll be leading a girl-only session. There is a craft, a snack, more praise and worship, prizes and giveaways. It’s a fun and meaningful morning where girls can better understand that their small acts, in the hands of Jesus, can be the catalyst for huge change in the world.

The event is on February 8 at Gateway Community Church in Abbotsford. Tickets are $15 per ticket and can be purchased through House of James, Blessings Christian Marketplace, Tourism Abbotsford or through at itickets.com http://www.itickets.com

You can also find information on my website. gemsgc.org/mrm.