“Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” John 21:17
God Squad may have taken this call literally as we have been very busy lately with BBQ Outreach. We just finished cooking and serving four Stampede breakfasts! We also did the BBQ for Fr. Troy Nguyen’s first Sunday Mass. We were able to feed 400+ after the mass as we celebrated with this dynamic young priest who will touch 1000’s of lives during his ministry. Fr. Troy shares it was the 2014 God squad conference that called him back to the seminary. Some of these are sponsored by God Squad, such as the Stampede Breakfast at the Youth Jail (last 7 years) to let them know that they are still part of the community. Deacon Stephen Robinson was given the opportunity to say a blessing at this event, which he used to let them know that they are loved by God the Father no matter how far away they feel they are from him.
We are three weeks away from our 4th annual Evangelization motorcycle ride with Jeff Cavins. We have been able to bring a high caliber speaker like Jeff to small centers to share and encourage them. This year we will be joined by Bishop Scott McCaig as well for a portion of the ride. We will be speaking in Iowa, Southbend, Mississauga, attending Knights on Bikes world wide rally, and will be doing a pilgrimage to St Joseph’s Oratory & St Kateri and Canadian Martyrs Shrine. We will be stopping to visit Fr. Raymond Desouza and will also visit the leadership of CCO. We will be making an appearance on Bear Wozniak’s show the “Long Ride Home” during the trip as well.
I was remembering past speaker, Dave Durand, who used the analogy of spinning plates at the same time. Sooo . . . I would like to turn this years trip into a fundraiser to help God Squad support more initiatives and future projects. This year alone God Squad sponsored CCO Rise Up conference in Calgary, CWL National Convention, $500 Seminarian support, offering silent auction prizes, Fr. Troy’s First Mass, supplying food for Elizabeth House to have a BBQ for past and present clients, and several Stampede breakfasts including the youth jail. We will be feeding the volunteers painting St Henry’s near Twin Butte. We are looking at creating more video content and building capacity for BBQ outreach. Our equipment is 8 years old and holding up well but we have had 3 events where we are feeding over 800 people and may need to obtain a larger smoker. I am planning on getting a couple of Iron Butt designations at the start of this year’s ride (to outdo Jeff who got one last year on the way home). I will be riding from Calgary to Des Moines IA in 36 hrs, which is just over 1500 miles.
This year‘s trip will be over 8368kms, or 5200 miles. We are hoping to take prayer requests along the way and set up a map to track our progress on our website, and hopefully post prayer requests. I always ask St Joseph to provide and protect everything God Squad does, and as such we will be starting a novena for the trip on Aug 4th. I would like to encourage you to join us in praying the novena and if you can pledge an amount to help us raise funds. $.01/ per km or mile for the Iron butt challenge, or the entire trip, or a flat amount. There may be some of you that can do $1 per/km which would get us a lot closer to upgrading some of our equipment. I have always trusted Jesus with the intercession of St. Joseph to provide what we need to complete our mission.
Have a Blessed and Happy Summer!
Sean Lynn