Lakeside House

Over my life, I've lived on my own (ie - away from my family) in 4 different places. In the ghetto dorms of U of T. In the townhouse in the middle of nowhere in Ottawa. In the convienient but expensive dorms of Temple Podiatry. And now, at the Lakeside House. Sounds extravagant doesn't it? But Lakeside isn't really beside a lake - its actually a restaurant in Chinatown that I live above. I'm loving my time here - it reminds me of the tv show Friends.

We have a great community here. We all know each other from church - and living in the same building allows us to continue our fellowship throughout the week. We cook for each other, eat each other's ice cream, play games, hang out in each other's apartments (like how Joey and Chandler just hang at Rachel and Monica's apartment). Its awesome. We can walk in and out of each other's apartments - which is a very un-American thing to do (according to one of my podiatry friends). But I think we can do that because we know everyone in the building. It's kind of like what Kramer (in Seinfeld) was trying to create when he was taking everyone's pictures and posting them in the lobby. He was saying that if everyone knew everyone, there'd be less break ins and less crime because "you don't steal from someone you know". (Of course the funny thing is that Kramer takes from Jerry all the time - but that's different, because Jerry had once said: "We're neighbours - what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine") And I think that's how I feel living at the Lakeside house - what's mine is yours and what yours is mine. Sharing really is caring ;)

Warren has been talking to me about what's he's planning to do with the Lakeside House. I get excited when I talk to him cuz he has such big plans. His vision is to build a great city - a city that embodies what community in Christ is all about. His first project was "the Howard house". He and Wendy bought a townhouse (on Howard Ave. - hence the name) and a bunch of people from church moved there. It was a small group - the people there have dinner together and have small group meetings. They go through life together - what fellowship is all about. Basically Warren's making meeting up together easier. Its easier to meet up together when you don't have as far to travel. I've noticed that the relationships that I have at certain times are dictated by the distance that is between us. This is probably true for a lot of people, which makes long distance relationships so hard for most people. I'm so glad that I have Joyce, who is amazingly patient and understanding while I'm away from Toronto - our relationship has helped me to be more active in loving and caring for her. It's easy when we're in the same city, but when we're apart, there's this intentionallity that needs to be developed to maintain our relationship.

At Lakeside, Warren's planning on adding a bunch of rooms in the apartments and putting a common area in the basement where people can hang out, invite their friends, have fellowship, eat, etc. It's really cool and exciting - what he's doing is he's making the venues small communities that has the capacity to foster great relationships and ultimately, a great city.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
~Hebrews 10:25