By Neil Earle
Not so long ago my wife, Susan, and I had to chance to visit some old friends in Calgary, Alberta and to make some new ones in Oahu, Hawaii. We relearned the truth of the statement: "Treasure is not always a friend but a friend is always a treasure."
It was a wise man who coined those words.
Calgary, Alberta, is Canada's oil capital, a sort of Dallas, North. More than 850,000 people live there now, up quite a bit from the 600,000 population when we pastored there from 1978-84. Calgary is world famous for the rootin tootin Stampede Rodeo and Exhibition that comes to town every July. Yuppies lay down their curling irons to pick up branding irons as this dynamic finance and exploration centre kicks up its heels and dresses in cowboy garb for a full week to recapture its roots as a Mounted Police post and a ranching centre par excellence.
I was in town to give a talk before The Association of Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) on September 8. ACSUS is an organization of academics and scholars devoted to furthering Canadian-American understanding. Their theme title "Western Mindscapes" was bewitching. I just couldn't stay away. My wife and I have had the great opportunity to live in all the Western Canadian provinces and to serve people in Montana and the Dakotas as well. They make great people up there, they really do – from Bainville to Williston to Estevan, we have these places inscribed on the geography of our heart.
Calgary has changed a lot.
With a downtown bigger than Los Angeles and a base plugged in to the potent oil and gas sector, it is very much a city on the edge of things. When we lived there in the 1980s the joke was that the crane (the building crane) was the civic bird of Calgary. That is still true. The words of the theme song from the 1986 Winter Olympics resonate:
"There's a feeling in the air/ that you can't get anywhere/except in Calgary."
When we left the area in 1984, the Worldwide Church of God congregation numbered some 540 people. Numbers are considerably down now from the side-effects of the doctrinal reengineering the WCG went through in the 1990s but the faith and spirit of the over 100 people we met that weekend was "super," as they would say in Calgary.
Calgary is always a young city and if you visit the congregation there you will notice a thrill and an excitement in the air emanating from the youths who comprise the bulk of the Praise Band. Pastor Gordon Graham was once a schoolteacher and has an evident knack for working with young people. This shows up in the worship services. I met some of them and they seemed on fire for the WCG. Some of the teens even work the sound system.
Our personal highlight was meeting with a family headed up by a widowed friend of ours who had three sons who were basically teens when we were there 16 years ago. Teens can be beautiful! It was incredibly moving and exciting for Susan and me to see those three young men now all grown up and successes in their own right, well married to three fine wives. It made us feel a bit old but the memories we shared around the coffee table of youth activities and attending Calgary Flames hockey games were truly golden. All of us need that reassurance and confirmation about the past as we get on in years.
I try to tell my congregations that as parents and youth leaders we are basically "investing" when we spend time with young people but – we encouraged – those investments can sometimes pay off big.
In October my wife and I were off to coordinate the WCG Festival Site in Turtle Bay, Hawaii.
We had never been to the island paradise before and everything we had heard about pristine beaches, green seas and curling waves was true.
But as beautiful as the scenery was, the most impressive thing was the attitude of God's people. Along with the beautifully aromatic bougainvillea and tropical flowers we were privileged to partake of four days of peace, "the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved" (2 Corinthians 2:15).
For various reasons we only had till July to put our convention together but still 77 people showed up for the four-day event, some from as far away as England. The coming together of the local brethren and the outside guests represented a WCG strong point – "koininia" fellowship, togetherness. The four-day meeting flowed as smoothly as if we had known each other forever.
Bible teachers know that Solomon's Temple had been fashioned of stones that had not been fitted on site – yet it all came together wonderfully (1 Kings 5:13-18; Psalm 122:3). The temple was the most impressive building of antiquity but the Holy Spirit working in the minds of God's people is much more impressive. This is one reason the apostle Peter describes Christians as "living stones, built into a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2: 5).
During the festival Pastor Gary Crowell and his wife, Risa, led the local choir in special sacred dance numbers that added immensely to our enjoyment. Praise and worship can please God when the gentle motions of the participants are blended with an attitude of service and sincerity. It worked!
We made many new friends in Hawaii who will be added to our special growing list of friends from around the world. But we also got to learn about a human-interest story concerning a determined lady's battle with a major industrialist. Helemano Plantation, smack in the middle of Oahu, is a home and training center for about 90 specially challenged young people who are instructed in how to run and maintain a restaurant, a garden complex and a gift shop.
In 1997 a major Hawaiian firm wanted to buy out Helemano's strategic location to start up a restaurant. That would have devastated little Helemano. A spirited press campaign and a spirit of goodwill helped turn the tide and so, today, you can visit Helemano and be served an excellent buffet by their trained staff.
It was nice to leave Hawaii with some friends at Helemano who were not from our fellowship but who inspired us immensely. And that's what Aloha is all about.