Grey Hairs

as part of my school program I had to attend a missions conference this weekend. i arrive and i say to myself...oh no...there are a lot of grey hairs here.

but my opinions of elder missionaries changed so much this weekend. i was thinking, as all the missionary representatives at their booths were old, that they need to retire and get some fresh bodies to attract young adults to missions, otherwise missions will die.

i will not go into detail of what the speakers said, yet i can honestly tell you that i was more challenged by a 75 year old then Shane Claiborne could ever do...and despite my judgments of older Albertans being ultra-conservative (and war mongers) and interested only in the proclamation of the gospel, i heard testimonies that shook my boat of 70 year olds living in slum communities along side whom they were ministering to.

the most precious moment was a conversation with a man (likely 85) in a justice session. upon realizing that a hot dog at an nfl football game costs more than what over a billion people live on in a week, he said that he was going to talk to his wife about selling his house and moving to a trailer park since he could likely make 200,000 to give to the poor in Africa.

wow. i always talk about selling my shit and giving it to the poor and haven't (and i barely own anything so it really wouldn't even be a sacrifice), yet he was moved even at his age to sacrifice for the poor (at the expense of his childrens inheritance). i cannot disregard the elders. my heart has been moved.