Crystal's Story

A few weeks ago a young woman walked into our building. A friend had given her a Bible, and she was trying to read it but wanted to know more about God and faith - that was the beginning of Crystal's journey with us here at Preston Salvos.

Crystal's story could be a movie script. Fighting addictions and 'demons' from her past she is a survivor and through her regular involvement with The Salvos and the mentoring of local leaders she has become a vibrant part of our family.

Crystal listened to the stories of need in countries far away during our recent 6 week Self Denial Appeal and at the invitation to bring a sacrificial gift of money she was the first one to walk down the aisle and place her envelope on the altar. This was new to her, she said, never before had she thought about the poverty and the need in her world.

Three days later Crystal was at church again, talking with a mentor; she looked pale and drawn; just a little melancholy, not the usual bubbly, excited person we have come to know. On questioning (and insisting) Crystal explained that she had not eaten for three days because she had put all of her money in the self-denial envelope. She explained: "I listened to the stories and saw the need; and after all, I was asked to deny myself, I was asked if I would give a gift that was self-sacrificing!"

CLIMBING MOUNTAIN DEO

Once all the people of the world were one, they lived, they cried, they laughed and they died together - all in the shadow of Mount Deo. But when selfish ambition and greed were released from their prison people became suspicious of one another, they sought division rather than communion, and they ignored the shadow of Mount Deo.

Humanity planted new villages and towns in the valleys and plains surrounding Mount Deo. In all directions they dispersed around the Mount: to the East, the West, the South and the North they fought and claimed land as their own. They developed new rules of living, new laws of life and they sought to find new paths to climb the mountain.

For many years suspicion fed jealousy and people allowed xenophobic hedges to grow. Every now and then the people would attack one another - accusing each other of cultural, moral and religious superiority. Tolerance and acceptance in the face of diversity are hard won today, in the shadow of Mount Deo.

But, despite the inherent distrust and suspicion of all others, there existed a kernel of hope. Suspicion and greed could not completely destroy the power of friend - and from the villages in the shadow of Mount Deo four friends met: they ate, they laughed, they cried - and they hoped.

They hoped for a time when once again, the people in the shadow of Mount Deo would honour and respect one another; they prayed for a time when diversity would not divide but unite; and they longed for an era that would be defined by acceptance in the face of difference.

From the vantage point in their villages, Hameed, Isaac, Daryl and Yun stared with eyes of hope at the summit of Mount Deo. Hameed looked east and saw the sun rise above the peak, Isaac looked north and watched the shadow slowly shrink, Daryl gazed west as the side of the mountain was lost in darkness and Yun stared to the south as the shadow cast by the rising sun changed the shapes on the face of the slope.

The friends stared in awe at the same Mountain - and yet, as each of them had named it differently, so too the summit and the path to it, appeared different. Each of them imagined a different journey. Each of them plotted a unique path to the summit - yet each of them longed for the same goal - the Summit of Mount Deo.
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Is it possible that the Cartographer has mapped multiple paths to Summit Deo and that humanity, in its division and diversity has named them in their own language? Is there a hope that the climb, though by different paths, and the reaching of the summit, though by different light are more important than the name, the language, the division, the dispersal and the past?