In their August newsletter, White Cross Canada shared an interview with Alfred Krinke, the former shipment coordinator. We wanted to re-share it here to celebrate his decades of local ministry at White Cross Canada in this role, as well as spread the word that they are on the lookout for the next shipment coordinator.
What is your history with White Cross? What did you enjoy during that time? What have you learned through your years of service?
White Cross before 2010
I became involved with White Cross at the national level when I retired in 1997, although I was already involved at a local church level. Back then, things were not well organized. Groups were sending boxes to Chicago individually. So I decided to buy a trailer and arranged to store it at Rainbow Transport with the owner Mr. Schneider. That was how it started. People phoned me, then I said, okay, you can meet me at Rainbow Transport. And they delivered boxes there, and we accepted and stacked them there.
And then every May and October, as we do now, we built pallets at Rainbow Transport. He gave us his dock so we had power, and we made pallets with four-by-fours. And we would then just take the boxes as they came from the different churches. We didn’t sort anything, just the boxes, and we packed them in there. And then we had another transport company, called Reimer from Winnipeg, and the owner said, “I like what you guys are doing, I’ll deliver this stuff for you free of charge, twice a year to Chicago.” He delivered the boxes to Chicago, and the White Cross warehouse there repacked them as we do here now.
That went quite well, except for one time a border officer decided that all the boxes needed to stay at the border. Reimer Transport unloaded everything once, left it there, and kindly came to pick it up to carry them to Chicago again.
Next phase: Building a Shipping Centre in Edmonton . . . .
After a short break due to the busyness of Triennial and planning the next cohort of Blue Ocean and Year of Equipping, the newest edition of the Missional Initiatives newsletter is out! Not only can you find out about the upcoming Blue Ocean and Year of Equipping cohorts, you will also learn about a couple of exciting opportunities coming up in the near future:
- Reframe – A four-week webinar training on equipping your congregation for evangelism
- Blue Ocean Israel – A unique study tour incorporating Blue Ocean training throughout the Holy Land
You can read the full September newsletter at the link below.
To love is to be vulnerable; not only is there the potential for pain (see Hosea), but it has the ability to form us into a new kind of people (see Matthew 5:43–48). When we truly love others like ourselves, we allow them access to our hearts, giving them the unique ability to hurt us even when their actions don’t expressly impact us. When we truly love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we open ourselves to allowing him to shape us in his image, which involves the death of ourselves.
This vulnerability is not territory unknown to God. As Love embodied, he knows intimately what it feels like (see John 11:35). The Sovereign King over all creation set aside his position of power to become a baby born to parents with little to no social standing. God Almighty chose to confine himself into the fragile human form so we might truly know him and call him friend.
If we are to love like Christ in our everyday lives – a love Scot McKnight describes as “a rugged, affective commitment of presence, advocacy, and direction” – we must allow ourselves to be vulnerable like Christ. This Advent season, let’s dive into what it looks like when the God of the universe shows us how to love – a vulnerable, irrepressive, and potent love – and how we in turn should respond. You can sign up to receiving daily devotionals through the entire season of Advent, which starts December 1, by clicking on the link below.
Sign Up for Advent Devotionals
If you are planning to go through the devotionals with your church or small group and would like resources once they become available (the full series of devotionals in a print-ready file, graphics, flyers, etc.), please reach out to us at the link below.