Faith & Friends March 2020

Fine-Feathered Rescue

BYE-BYE BIRDIE P.5

Gig Economy’s

DARK SIDE P.9

Salvation Army Helps

BLESSING’S STORY P.12

Faith&Friends I N S P I R AT I O N F O R L I V I N G

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MARCH 2020

Working His Magic SAWYER BULLOCK HAS SOMETHING UP HIS SLEEVE HE WANTS EVERYONE TO KNOW ABOUT: HIS FAITH. P.16

Final Destination?

Travelling on the road of life isn’t always easy. Ethical detours, moral potholes and emotional dead ends can disrupt even the best itinerary. But whatever route you take, you can’t afford to make a wrong turn at the most important fork in the road of all.

Eternal life in heaven with God or eternal separation from God? It sounds like an easy choice, but it’s a critical one, one that will haunt you forever if you lose your way.

So how do you get there from here? Forget a compass, GPS and maps. The only road map you’ll ever need is the Bible.

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track.”

—Proverbs 3:5-6 (The Message) Jesus’ plan for your life is all-encompassing, but you have to believe in His redemptive promise. If you do, He’ll make sure you’ll find your way home. To Him.

To learn more about the road to Jesus, visit our website at faithandfriends.ca or contact us at The Salvation Army Editorial Department, 2 Overlea Blvd., Toronto ON M4H 1P4

March 2020

VOLUME 23 NUMBER 3

GOD IN MY LIFE 5 For the Birds

Richard Smith’s mission: rescue 250 feathered friends in five hours.

HOT TOPICS 9 Sorry We Missed You

New movie explores the true cost of the gig economy.

FEATURES

14

COVER STORY

16

22

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SOMEONE CARES 12 “Here to Stay”

With the help of The Salvation Army, Blessing found a new home.

Pushing My Buttons

Sometimes, even the “queen of troubleshooting” needs help.

Tricks of the Trade

Sawyer Bullock has something up his sleeve he wants everyone to know about: his faith.

All in His Head

Corey Koskie thought no one understood his postconcussion syndrome. But someone did.

FAITH BUILDERS

Cover Photo: Courtesy of Sawyer Bullock

26 Onward

How far would you go for one day with a departed loved one?

LITE STUFF 28 Eating Healthy With Erin

Sudoku, Quick Quiz, Word Search.

NIFTY THRIFTY

26

31 Great Expectations

How to shop for thrifted maternity fashion.

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Faith&Friends

FROM THE EDITOR

A Bird in the Hand

N

o, that’s not me at the bottom of the page, though I have been called a birdbrain on occasion. The cockatiel’s name is Marcel, and he belongs to my friend, Mike.

Recently, when he went on vacation, Mike asked if I could “babysit” Marcel. Of course, I said yes.

Marcel and I had a riot. He’s smart, affectionate and inquisitive. A fine feathered friend.

I would go to Mike’s apartment two to three times a day to let Marcel out of his cage and stretch his wings. He loved to sit on my shoulder, pirate-fashion, while we read a book or watched TV together. Turns out that Marcel is as big a fan of professional wrestling as I am! Who knew?

And while he loves war movies such as Saving Private Ryan, his favourite movie happens to be Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. I’m not sure why.

Besides being bright, Marcel is playful. At the end of the day, he would perch on my finger while I brought him to his cage. Then, just as I was about to tuck him in, he’d fly across the room and wait for me, whereupon the process would be repeated four or five times before he deigned to retire for the evening.

Getting one bird into one cage is bad enough.

Imagine the plight of Richard Smith, his niece, Amanda, and some other Salvation Army church volunteers as they tried to corral 250 birds in five hours, before the building they were in had to be vacated. Read how they did it on page 5.

Maybe Richard and Amanda could have used the help of Sawyer Bullock, magician extraordinaire, who just also happens to be a Christian. Could he have alakazamed them into their cages? Read his story on page 16.

Ken Ramstead

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Mission Statement To show Christ at work in the lives of real people, and to provide spiritual resources for those who are new to the Christian faith.

Faith & Friends is published monthly by: The Salvation Army 2 Overlea Blvd, Toronto Ontario, M4H 1P4 International Headquarters 101 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4P 4EP, England William and Catherine Booth FOUNDERS

Brian Peddle, GENERAL Commissioner Floyd Tidd TERRITORIAL COMMANDER

Lt-Colonel John P. Murray SECRETARY FOR COMMUNICATIONS Geoff Moulton, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ken Ramstead, EDITOR

Brandon Laird SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Hannah Saley DIGITAL MEDIA SPECIALIST Pamela Richardson, COPY EDITOR, PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR

Ada Leung CIRCULATION CO-ORDINATOR

Kristin Ostensen STAFF WRITER, PROOFREADER

Giselle Randall STAFF WRITER Scripture Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are taken from New International Version Contact Us P. (416) 467-3188, F. (416) 422-6217 Websites faithandfriends.ca, salvationist.ca, salvationarmy.ca Email faithandfriends@can.salvationarmy.org Subscription for one year: Canada $17 (includes GST/HST); U.S. $22; foreign $24 P. (416) 422-6119 circulation@can.salvationarmy.org All articles are copyright The Salvation Army Canada & Bermuda and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064794 ISSN 1702-0131

Faith&Friends

GOD IN MY LIFE

For the Birds Our mission: rescue 250 airborne evaders in five hours.

by Richard Smith

Fine-Feathered Friends Richard Smith and his niece, Amanda

H

ave you ever had a budgie or cockatiel escape from its cage and tried to catch the avian escapee as it flew from perch to perch, just out of your reach?

Imagine, then, trying to catch hundreds of birds with nothing more than a butterfly net. And they all have to be retrieved by sundown.

This was the situation my niece, Amanda, and I found ourselves in recently.

“I’ll Help” It all started one evening when I was attending an Alpha session (alpha.org) at The Salvation Army’s Belleville Community Church in Ontario. These weekly introduction to Christianity meetings were something my wife, Beth, Amanda and I looked forward to.

Not only had our group grown closer as friends but we had also become stronger Christians. For

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GOD IN MY LIFE

my wife and Amanda, Alpha had brought them to God. For me, Alpha introduced a whole different perspective to my life, almost as if I was walking with Jesus.

We had just wrapped up our meeting for the night when one of our group appeared at the doorway.

She told us that her apartment was slated for renovation and that she had less than a day to vacate the premises, and that there were a “fair number” of exotic birds she needed help moving.

Before I knew it, I blurted out, “I’ll help you with your birds.”

After all, how long could it take?

Act Like a Pirate Day “Almost as soon as Amanda opened the door, a bird landed on her head. All she needed was a pirate’s hat!”

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Tight Timeline We should have realized that this task was not going to be as easy as we thought when we escorted the woman back to her car in the church parking lot, only to be met by a police cruiser.

They had followed her and planned to ticket her for distracted driving. It turned out that she had 13 dogs and a dozen birds in her little car. (She was en route to drop them off at a nearby animal hospital, which she’d already arranged.) That certainly would have been enough to distract anyone!

Fortunately, Amanda and I and a

We’d open up a cage to put one bird in and two would promptly fly out. few others managed to persuade the police not to arrest her, on condition that she not use the car until the dogs and birds had been cared for.

Early the next morning, I picked up my niece (she had volunteered to help me), and we proceeded to take the menagerie to the local animal hospital. Then, Amanda and I and a couple of Alpha volunteers borrowed a van to pick up the dozen or so birds we thought were there.

We had less than a day to do what we needed to do before the renovations would start.

Surreal Scene We quickly realized that this wasn’t going to be a simple matter of retrieving a “fair number” of birds.

Almost as soon as Amanda opened the door, a bird landed on her head—all she needed was a pirate’s hat!

The scene inside was pandemonium. Dozens of birds were careering around the house, startled by our sudden appearance. Bird feed and waste were scattered about. In the middle of the main room was a huge parrot perched serenely in a cage that was much too small for it.

All the while, dozens of birds flew around. The surreal scene reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

Mission Accomplished Armed with what looked like big butterfly nets, we started after the fluttering flock. It was hot work. The windows were shut and it was the height of summer. We were wilting, and the birds weren’t making things easy for us. We’d open up a cage to put one bird in and two would promptly fly out.

An exhausting three hours and 150 birds later, we had completed the task of corralling the birds on the first floor.

We then tackled the second floor, which took two more hours, retrieving a hundred more birds in the process.

By the end of the day, we’d captured all the birds in the house.

(Or almost all. Despite our best efforts, one lone determined bird remained uncaught, but we were allowed to go back the next day to finish the job we’d started.)

It took another four hours to deliver the birds to the animal hospital.

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GOD IN MY LIFE

Birds-a-Plenty The dozens of birds flying around reminded Richard of an Alfred Hitchcock movie

We were tired, dirty, sweaty and grungy from slip-sliding around, but we finally accomplished our task.

New Resolve Looking back, I still can’t believe that all this actually happened.

Our Salvation Army pastor, Major Wil Brown-Ratcliffe, told us that we showed “compassion in action” by helping our fellow Alpha participant on such short notice. I joked that this was God testing my resolve to my new Christian commitment!

But if there is one thing I learned in Alpha, it is that, as Christians, we are supposed to be there for one another. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2) is just one of a number of Scripture references

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in the New Testament on how I should act. I try to learn and grow in God’s Word and His expectations for my life and lifestyle every day.

When we took on the task, I thought we were just helping the woman out, but looking back, I realized we helped a lot of animals, too. I thank God for giving me a “bird’s-eye view” of ministry.

What Is Alpha?

Alpha is a course that seeks to introduce the basics of Christianity through a series of talks and discussions. Alpha courses are conducted in churches, homes, workplaces, prisons, universities and a wide variety of other locations. Contact your local Salvation Army church for a course near you.

HOT TOPICS

Photos: Courtesy of Entertainment One

Faith&Friends

Family Time The Turner family cherish moments together at the dinner table

Deliver Us From Evil Sorry We Missed You explores the true cost of the gig economy.

by Kristin Ostensen

A

new pair of jeans, a phone case, a game—these days, it seems like you can buy anything online and have it delivered right to your door.

But at what cost?

The human impact of online shopping may not be something we think about when we click “Add to Cart.” With Sorry We Missed You, a new film in theatres this month, director Ken Loach implores us to think again.

Financial Crisis Sorry We Missed You centres on one British family, Ricky (Kris Hitchen) and Abbie Turner (Debbie Honeywood), both of whom are part of the gig economy. Ricky works as a delivery driver, while Abbie is a home-care nurse.

The film is set 10 years after the 2008 financial crisis, but Ricky and Abbie are still struggling—they’ve spent years going from job to job without getting ahead. So when

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HOT TOPICS

About 1.7 million workers, representing 8.2 percent of Canada’s labour force, did some kind of gig work in 2016.

Ricky hears of an opportunity to become a self-employed delivery driver, he jumps at the chance.

However, he quickly discovers that his new job has many pitfalls and none of the protections that come with conventional employment.

First, he needs to get his own delivery van by purchasing or leasing one from the company, or renting one at an obscene rate. In order to buy the van, the Turners make the tough decision to sell the family’s car, which Abbie uses for work. Without it, Abbie must rely on spotty public transit to visit her home-care clients, making it nearly impossible for her to reach each person on time and provide the care they need.

While he makes his deliveries, Ricky’s life is dictated by a package scanner that tracks his every move.

The scanner sets strict targets for his deliveries, often forcing him to forgo proper meals and bathroom breaks.

The worst part is the “precisors,” packages that must be delivered at a specific time—or Ricky will face penalties.

Sorry We Missed You also explores how the gig economy impacts Ricky

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and Abbie’s children. As the parents are forced to work increasingly long hours, the family environment becomes more and more toxic. By the end of the film, their situation is dire—and it seems as if there’s no way out.

Cash Flow Sorry We Missed You looks at the gig economy in the United Kingdom, but the film could just as easily be set in Canada. According to a recent Statistics Canada report, the number of workers in the gig economy is increasing. About 1.7 million workers, representing 8.2 percent of Canada’s labour force, did some kind of gig work in 2016. That’s a huge jump from 2005, when about a million people did gig work.

Statistics Canada defines gig workers as “unincorporated selfemployed workers who enter into various contracts with firms or individuals to complete a specific task or to work for a specific period of time.” This includes freelancers and workers hired through apps such as Uber or Foodora.

Earnings for gig workers are usually low—the median net gig

United They Stand Ricky (right) wants only the best for his family

income was only $4,303 in 2016. That might be all right for a person who is supplementing income for a full- or part-time job, but it’s hardly enough to live on.

As Sorry We Missed You shows, companies that employ gig workers often exploit their desperation for work. They offer no benefits— no vacation time or sick leave—and punish workers financially for not meeting exacting standards.

Questioning Consumption Facts and figures such as these can be abstract. That’s why a film like Sorry We Missed You is so valuable—it puts a human face on this concerning trend and gives us an opportunity to reflect on how our behaviour may contribute to the negative impacts of the gig economy.

We can begin by rethinking our consumption. Before buying something online, ask: Do I truly need this item? And do I need two-day (or faster) shipping, or is regular mail good enough?

On a societal level, let’s consider how we can support legislation that protects workers, ensuring livable wages for all, not just those lucky enough to have secured conventional employment. And consider supporting organizations that help vulnerable workers find stable work.

The Salvation Army, for example, has many employment programs— from resumé-building workshops to job fairs to one-on-one employment counselling.

For many people, the gig economy doesn’t deliver the goods. How can we change that?

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Faith&Friends

SOMEONE CARES

“Here to Stay” With the help of The Salvation Army, Blessing and her family found a new home free from fear.

by Linda Leigh

Photo: Joel Johnson

Trauma, Hope and Survival Blessing and Samuel at The Salvation Army’s 614 Corps in Toronto, where they both volunteer

A

fter years of being hunted down by a dangerous and deadly cult in their home country of Nigeria, Blessing and her family escaped to Canada for safety and solace. Today, she is in a place better than she could have imagined—and The Salvation Army helped to get her there.

Fear and Intimidation “In Nigeria, I lived a good life, had a boyfriend and a successful career

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as a criminal lawyer,” says Blessing.

“Then everything changed when a cult wanted Samuel’s obedience, time and money.

“Samuel wanted nothing to do with having evil on his hands,” continues Blessing. “But when you refuse to co-operate with the cult, you are in immediate danger.”

Samuel went into hiding for years with only a handful of people knowing his whereabouts. When he eventually married Blessing, he

“ When you refuse to co-operate with the cult, you are in immediate danger.” BLESSING slipped back into society.

“One day, as we walked down the street, Samuel’s cellphone rang,” says Blessing. “The caller described the clothes we were wearing, my accessories and threatened to cut our throats.”

The frightening calls continued.

“We will find you. We will kill you.

We won’t stop until we know you are dead.” Blessing and Samuel were ultimately tracked down. Blessing was kidnapped and endured a brutal beating. Samuel was taken into the bush where he was attacked and left for dead.

New Life In 2017, Blessing, Samuel and their young daughter fled the country they once held dear. They came to Montreal through the United States and, soon after their arrival, their second daughter was born.

“In 2018, we moved to Toronto with

the hope that I could return to my career,” says Blessing. “For months we lived in a family shelter with a few articles of clothing and little food.”

Before long, Blessing heard that The Salvation Army could help.

“The Salvation Army gave us everything we needed—food, clothing, diapers, shelter and a listening ear,” says Blessing.

Today Blessing and her family live in an apartment in the Regent Park area of Toronto. Blessing works at a legal clinic and is waiting for accreditation to be an immigration lawyer. Samuel is a property manager. They both volunteer at The Salvation Army.

“We are not broken,” says Blessing.

“The Salvation Army gave us hope for a better future—one with new possibilities and more personal strength. We are here to stay.”

Reprinted from The Salvation Army Canada & Bermuda Annual Report 2018-19

(left) Linda Leigh is manager of communications at The Salvation Army’s territorial headquarters in Toronto.

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FEATURE

Pushing My Buttons SOMETIMES, EVEN A SELF-PROCLAIMED “QUEEN OF TROUBLESHOOTING” NEEDS HELP TO SOLVE A PROBLEM.

by Belinda Davis

J

ust over 12 months ago, my husband and I purchased one of the best things ever—a Jacuzzi. I really love having a Jacuzzi, so much so that we have used it almost every day in the past year, sitting and soaking, letting the bubbles dissolve our stresses.

Imagine our distress when our Jacuzzi pump recently stopped working.

The Missing Step My husband had a go at fixing the issue, but when it still didn’t work, 14 • MARCH 2020 I faithandfriends.ca

I decided to help. I am the selfproclaimed “queen of troubleshooting,” so my first stop was the owner’s manual. I followed the instructions to reset the unit, but no joy.

I turned to my next source of information—Google. I followed the steps online for a “hard reset.”

Nothing. I tried once more, just in case. Same result.

At this point, there was only one course of action left—contact the company. I was sure this would cost us money because our warranty had expired a few weeks earlier

Photo: Drobot Dean/stock.Adobe.com

Faith&Friends

(of course), but I took a deep breath and rang them.

I spoke to a lovely customer service representative who listened to my explanation and assurances that I had followed all the appropriate steps. He sympathized with my situation and found a reasonably cheap resolution if I could forward

And, lo and behold, what did I find?

The reset button! And what happened when I pressed it? The unit sprang to life. I was both excited and embarrassed at the same time.

Yes, the queen of troubleshooting had assumed she knew exactly what the instructions were referring to, all the while missing a vital step.

If things aren’t going well, it’s a good idea to ask for help and try something slightly different, even if we believe we know what the outcome will be. some documents via email.

I was super-pleased with myself for negotiating this good deal and sent him the requested information.

The email reply I received said something like: “Before we proceed, I just want to check that you have pressed this reset button on the unit” with a picture of where the button should be located.

Now, I had read about the reset button and had already pressed it (several times). The button I had been pushing was located on the Jacuzzi’s electrical cord, because I couldn’t see one on the unit. I was absolutely certain that our pump’s model didn’t have the button displayed in that picture, but I did the right thing and checked again. This time, though, I didn’t just look; I ran my fingers carefully along the unit, using the picture as a guide.

Finding the Reset It’s so important to follow the instructions we are given in life, and not just think we already know everything. If things aren’t going well, it’s a good idea to ask for help and try something slightly different, even if we believe we know what the outcome will be.

For me, the best source of information is the Bible, the written Word of God. May I encourage you not to assume you know what the pages may contain, but actually read it more closely and follow the instructions for living held within. Don’t be like me and miss out on things because you believe you’ve already given it a go and it didn’t work for you.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll find the reset button along the way.

Reprinted from War Cry (Australia), March 9, 2019

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COVER STORY

Photos: Courtesy of Sawyer Bullock

Faith&Friends

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Tricks of the Trade

SAWYER BULLOCK HAS SOMETHING UP HIS SLEEVE HE WANTS EVERYONE TO KNOW ABOUT: HIS FAITH.

by Ken Ramstead

THE MAIN LOBBY OF THE MOSAIC,

The Magic Touch Sawyer Bullock’s influences include Penn & Teller, Eric Mead and Derren Brown.

“I first discovered Derren when I was teetering on the edge of giving magic up, as I found it trivial compared to other things I could be spending my time on. He embodied what it meant to take the craft seriously and respectfully–though that doesn’t mean that every performance has to be solemn or heavy!”

a resort located in the Blue Mountain area north of Toronto, is packed with guests of all ages, some coming in from the slopes and others registering. But time has stopped in one area just off the front desk.

Sawyer Bullock—aka Magician Ordinaire, as it says on his business card—is holding his audience spellbound as he performs feat after feat of sleight of hand.

He astounds some youngsters with his threecard trick, where he asks them to deal a trio of cards out of the deck and hand them back to him—only when they do, they keep handing a quartet back. He withdraws the fourth and returns three. Yet despite numerous attempts, they keep giving him four cards.

“And that’s the three-card trick!” he smiles.

But the most amazing trick occurs when faithandfriends.ca I MARCH 2020

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COVER STORY

Photo: Ellen Toompuu

Faith&Friends

“How Did You Do That?”

The actual folded coin mentioned in the text

Sawyer asks one woman to take a coin out of her own purse, write her initials on it with a permanent marker and then hold it in her fist.

At no time does he touch the loonie himself.

Sawyer asks her to imagine the coin as a chocolate melting in her hand. When she opens her palm, abracadabra: the loonie is now folded over!

“I felt it move in my hand!” she says. “How did you do that?”

“Years of practice and social isolation,” Sawyer comically replies.

A Course in Faith Sawyer, 24, was born and raised in Stayner, Ont., just outside of Collingwood, Ont. “Thankfully,” he recalls, “both my parents are strong Christians, so there never was a time in my life when I didn’t know God’s love and the personal work of Jesus.”

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Growing up, Sawyer was fortunate to have good mentors and pastors in his studies right up to and including Tyndale University in Toronto, where he graduated with a degree in philosophy.

“I originally went there for a business degree because I thought I’d need one to manage my magic career,” he says. “But I had to take some required philosophy courses, and I not only enjoyed them but found they helped me with my faith.”

In the Spotlight When Sawyer was seven, he attended Muskoka Bible Centre, a Christian retreat in Ontario, where he took in a magic act.

“The magician passed out a little booklet showing a couple of easyto-do tricks. I remember reading those, then going to the local library in Stayner and borrowing all their magic books—they had two!”

He kept checking and rechecking the books out and showing the staff what he had learned until one librarian said, “Sawyer, why not do a show here?”

The youngster was ready to step into the spotlight.

“Sawyer Does Tricks” How did that first show go?

“It was awful,” Sawyer laughs now.

“I didn’t know you had to have an act or anything planned out ahead of time, and I was doing some tricks

on the fly. The audience was a social and support group for young mothers and their babies, so they were just hanging out. But they were very supportive. I couldn’t have asked for a better opening-night crowd.”

Living in a small town and being part of a faith community, word got out that “Sawyer does tricks” and he was soon asked to perform at birthday parties, barbecues and church events.

Almost by necessity, Sawyer started expanding his act to keep up with demand.

“ I don’t want to spend the rest of my life just doing birthday parties.

I think there’s more to the Christian life than that.” SAWYER BULLOCK

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COVER STORY

“I kept being invited back to the same places,” he explains. “Some locations have been booking me year after year for almost a decade now, and for 50 to 60 days a year during the season, over and above my private bookings.

“It’s like being a musician,” he explains. “You learn your first couple of songs and then you start adding more to your repertoire. The same with tricks. And you start to get a feel for what audiences prefer.”

A Restored Whole Depending on the audience, Sawyer will bring his faith to bear.

“Most of my show is fast-paced and upbeat and I interact with as many people as I can,” he explains.

But when he starts winding up the show, the house lights are dimmed and he puts things into a lower gear.

“The whole universe in a piece of yarn,” Sawyer says, holding it in his hand.

Piece by piece, he starts breaking it apart while talking about “the reality of pain, loss and suffering, tragedy and misplaced hope, which are the realities of this life on earth.”

Sawyer then rolls the separate pieces together into a ball.

“How do you fix something that’s so broken?” he asks the audience.

“This is where the gospel comes in.

“It shows us what could be, what should be and maybe what will be—the broken made whole, the shattered restored.”

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As he says these words, Sawyer opens his hand and displays what were once a dozen different lengths of yarn are one restored piece again.

“That is the Christian message of restoration and redemption.”

In His Blood Depending on if he is performing at, say, a Salvation Army function, Sawyer will also share his own faith journey and engage with the audience.

“It’s a big decision, probably the

most important thing that you can do with your life,” he’ll tell a young audience at a Christian youth outreach retreat. “Let me tell you what it’s done for me. Let me tell you why I think Jesus is worth it.”

And then he does.

Currently studying at Ryerson University in Toronto, Sawyer has no idea if magic is in his future.

“I do know that this is something I like to do but what I’ll be using these shows for is yet to be determined. I

don’t want to spend the rest of my life just doing birthday parties,” he says. “I think there’s more to the Christian life than that. So whether performing is how I’ll pay the bills or whether I simply use it to support my local church, either as a member of the congregation or in a more formal ministry capacity with some kind of campus outreach group, that’s still up in the air.

“But one way or another, magic will always be in my blood.”

Solitaire Sawyer is in the process of securing a permanent location for his magic act and hopes to have a show up and running soon

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FEATURE

All in His Head THIRD-BASEMAN COREY KOSKIE THOUGHT NO ONE UNDERSTOOD HIS BATTLE WITH POSTCONCUSSION SYNDROME. BUT SOMEONE DID.

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C

orey Koskie went all the way from hitting rocks with a wooden bat on a farm outside Winnipeg to manning third base for the Minnesota Twins. After enjoying seven years with the Twins, he played for a year with the Toronto Blue Jays and then went on to the Milwaukee Brewers.

But three months into that 2006 season, Corey went from living the

taken to the training room, where he was diagnosed with a concussion.

When Corey got home that day, he thought he could just rest it off, but he continued to feel weird sensations, such as the room spinning and the floor moving when he tried to walk.

For a week and a half, he tried to minimize what he was experiencing and push through it, and finally the symptoms went away.

Forget about a baseball comeback— Corey feared he would never get his life back. dream to a waking nightmare. It began when he tried to chase down a routine pop-up in a game against the Cincinnati Reds.

A Personal Prison “I sprinted to the spot where I thought the ball would land,” he recalls, “but when I looked up, the ball was behind me. I fell backward and got my glove underneath the ball. When my glove hit the dirt, the impact sent the ball back in the air. Our shortstop was right there to catch it. The crowd went wild.”

Unfortunately, as the game progressed, Corey began to hear all sounds as a jumbled mess, and the ground felt mushy underfoot. He tried to shake it off but couldn’t concentrate no matter how he tried. He finally told the trainer he didn’t feel well and was

“I felt great,” he remembers, “until I stepped on the field. After warming up, I felt sick.”

The team sent Corey back to the hotel to sleep it off.

“When I woke up, I had the worst head pain of my life,” he says. “My symptoms went from a zero to a 10, just like that. For the next two and a half years, I battled these symptoms.

Every day, all the time. I’d try to do little things around the house, and the room would spin. I had bouts of anxiety, depression and obsessive thoughts.”

Forget about a baseball comeback— Corey feared he would never get his life back.

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FEATURE

Reaching Out Corey catches a line drive during his playing days with the Milwaukee Brewers

“If I were to write a book about my concussion experience it would be titled If I Only Had a Cast,” he says. “It’s literally in your head, so people don’t see that. You have all these demons pounding you, and all the tools you’ve used to deal with your stuff in the past don’t work. I couldn’t read or write or even go on the computer because everything made me feel sick. I couldn’t drive, or talk on the phone. I was in my own personal prison.”

“I’m Done” Corey sought refuge in the basement of his house, where he could shut the doors and find absolute quiet.

“I would just lie there,” he says.

“On the wall, there was a framed Bible verse plaque that read, ‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10).

I would stare at that and God would give me peace, because I’d have to 24 • MARCH 2020 I faithandfriends.ca

What Is a Concussion?

A concussion is a brain injury. Any blow to the head, face or neck may cause a concussion, and it can also be caused by a blow to the body if the force of the blow causes the brain to move around inside the skull.

be still with my mind and be OK not doing anything else.”

As Corey waited on God, he went through a series of doctors until he found the right one to treat him, and he finally began to see progress in his recovery. He learned that many athletes try to return to the game too fast, which makes them susceptible to brain injuries.

“The mistake that I made was trying to rush myself back because I really wanted to play, and that cost me my career,” he says.

The day came when the doctor finally said, “Medically, you’re fine, so I will clear you. But you’ve got a great family that you love. Why would you still want to play baseball? If you get

For Services Rendered In 2018, Corey received a Diamond Award, an annual presentation that celebrates baseball and philanthropy, and is based on voting conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America

another concussion, I don’t know what will happen.”

“All I knew was that playing baseball would mean I was my view of normal,” Corey says. “So I tried again.

I got a minor league invite with the Chicago Cubs and they were incredible to me. I played a couple of games, but then in the third game I dove for a ball and kind of felt funny. I pulled myself off the field and said, ‘I’m done.

It’s not worth it.’ I walked away on my own terms.”

A Necessary Ending Now coaching his own kids’ teams, he knows that early retirement was the best thing that could have happened to him.

“It was a necessary ending at that time,” he says. “I am so glad I have been able to have these years with my boys.”

Corey hopes to encourage the next generation of kids by sharing his own

and other athletes’ stories of what God can do on his website Linklete. com. He still deals with anxiety but continues to fight it with the sword of the Spirit, the Bible, just as he did in his basement a dozen years ago.

“Everybody deals with the voice of self-doubt and what-if, and I have a few go-to verses for that,” he says.

“Philippians 4:6 says, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ ” What Is PCS? Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a set of symptoms that may continue for weeks, months or a year or more after a concussion. About 15 percent of individuals with a history of a single concussion develop persistent symptoms associated with the injury.

A diagnosis may be made when symptoms resulting from concussion last for more than three months after the injury.

Though there is no specific treatment for PCS, symptoms can be improved with medications and physical and behavioural therapy. Education about symptoms and details about expectation of recovery are important.

The majority of PCS cases resolve after a period of time.

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Faith&Friends

FAITH BUILDERS

Quest for a Miracle Photo: Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

How far would you go for one day with a departed loved one?

by Diane Stark

In Onward, elf brothers Barley (left) and Ian Lightfoot are on a quest to restore the top half of their dearly departed dad

O

nward, Disney-Pixar’s newest computer-animated film, is set in a magical world full of mythical creatures such as unicorns, cyclops and mermaids.

Except … no one believes in magic anymore.

Though their world is magic, the inhabitants are losing their belief in it. Now, flying horses board airplanes instead of using their wings and fire-breathing dragons have gas fireplaces.

Just One More Day But all of that changes for two teenaged elf brothers, Ian Lightfoot

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(voiced by Tom Holland) and his older brother, Barley (Chris Pratt).

On his 16th birthday, Ian’s mother, Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), gives him a prearranged gift left by their father who died before Ian was born—“He wanted to meet you more than anything”—and Barley was too young to remember him.

The gift is a wizard’s staff that has the power to bring their dad back to life for just one day. Ian casts a spell, and it works!

Kind of ….

It only brings back the bottom half of their dad.

Now the brothers have just 24

Ian’s birthday gift is a wizard’s staff that has the power to bring their dad back to life for just one day. hours to find a way to bring back the rest of him.

“We’re going on a quest!” says Barley.

The brothers encounter a helpful manticore (Octavia Spencer) and an entire police force made up of centaurs and fauns. They travel on The Path of Peril, following the map given to them by the manticore, searching for the magic gem she told them to find.

There’s only one thing she didn’t tell them.

“I told them about the map, I told them about the gem, I told them about the curse … oh, I forgot the curse,” the manticore tells Laurel when she goes looking for her sons.

The boys will stop at nothing to finally meet their father. But will they succeed in their quest? How far will they go for one more day together?

Magic or Miracle?

While our world is often far from magical, we do have quests to accomplish. These quests, however, are not usually as exciting as the brothers’ adventure with a magic staff and gem.

Often, our quests are simply daily tasks, mundane things such as going to work, studying for exams or running errands.

But as we go about our days, you can be sure that people are watching us, whether we are aware of it or not.

They’re watching how we handle frustrations and disappointments.

They’re watching how we treat other people. They’re watching how we spend our time and our money.

For Christians, this is especially true.

This fact increases the stakes of everything we do. Our daily “to do” lists can have an eternal significance. Does our behaviour point others to God, or away from Him? When people see our faith in action, they may ask us about God, giving us the opportunity to have the most important conversation we could ever have.

Because sharing our faith with others is the reason why we’re here.

There’s no greater quest than that.

And it doesn’t just bring someone back to life for a day.

It gives them eternal life. That’s not magic. That’s a miracle.

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Faith&Friends

LITE STUFF

Eating Healthy With Erin QUICK AND EASY GRILLED CHICKEN TIME 25 min MAKES 2 servings SERVE WITH bean salad

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 5 ml (1 tsp) garlic salt 1 ml (¼ tsp) salt 2 ml (½ tsp) paprika 2 ml (½ tsp) onion powder 5 ml (1 tsp) olive oil

1. Create crosshatch pattern on each chicken breast by cutting three lines down and three across with a sharp blade.

2. Mix spices and rub in to crosshatch side.

3. Drizzle olive oil over chicken breast and cook on crosshatch side first for 10 minutes on grill at 175 C (350 F) or pan set to medium-high heat.

4. Flip and cook other side for 10 minutes or until juices run clear.

FIVE-MINUTE BEAN SALAD

Recipe photos: Erin Stanley

TIME 5 min MAKES 3 servings SERVE WITH grilled chicken

560 ml (2¼ cups) can of mixed beans 1 celery stalk 1 small bell pepper ½ avocado 30 ml (2 tbsp) lime juice 5 ml (1 tsp) honey 1 ml (¼ tsp) paprika 2 ml (½ tsp) salt 15 ml (1 tbsp) cilantro 0.5 ml (1/8 tsp) cumin 45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil

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1. Drain and rinse can of mixed beans. Pat dry and set aside in a salad bowl.

2. Dice celery, pepper and avocado, and add to beans.

3. In small mixing bowl, add remaining ingredients except olive oil. Slowly pour in olive oil while whisking for a minute to emulsify the dressing.

4. Add dressing to bean mixture and stir until evenly coated.

The Trouble With Tribble

CATTY PROBLEMS P.5

Army Helps

MOPPING UP P.11

Road to Recovery

JASON’S STORY P.26

Faith&Friends I N S P I R AT I O N F O R L I V I N G

faithandfriends.ca

FEBRUARY 2020

Transplanted Love KEITH AND SHONA PIKE’S MARRIAGE VOWS TOOK ON DEEPER MEANING WHEN HE NEEDED A NEW KIDNEY. P.16

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Sudoku Puzzle

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3 × 3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

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QUICK QUIZ 1. Who is the prime minister of India?

2. What is the largest of the Great Lakes?

3. Who was Marion Robert Morrison better known as?

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© www.kevinfrank.net

HEAVEN’S LOVE THRIFT SHOP by Kevin Frank

Answers on next page.

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Faith&Friends

LITE STUFF

Word Search Et Tu, Brute?

K N I V E S E H C E E P S R Y Y E B S U I S S A C S A C Y L O U N K N J R S M K N I W X I O D M O O T P W T A V Y H C I L B U P E R T T N U O U B A S R R D S L S Y G N H Z I L R O D Z E R A E P S E K A H S S P P C B Y D N M W S D O A K R X A I S I A G R R U M L O E R R S T N Y S C T O C M O B U B F H A U T S X E E Z C N I P W I R Z M M T C M S A R O T C C T D S R O T A R I P S N O C A I I Q D O A T F C R O O K Z U E V F V N F B B W T G P C T N P E T I T I O N L V T B F F Q H A I N R U P L A C A O U U P U P O R T I A S D W L U N E M V Q O V E N I C M S M A T N A J E C H X T E D I C I G E R O R S L Y G S S M X V C G X D B Z A R A V Q P E S H ASSASSINS BRUTUS CAIUS CALPURNIA CAPITOL CASCA CASSIUS CICERO CINNA CIVIL WAR CONSPIRATORS CROWN

DICTATOR FORUM IDES OF MARCH JULIUS CAESAR KNIVES MARK ANTONY MOB MURDER OCTAVIUS ORATION PETITION PLAY

PLOT PORTIA REGICIDE REPUBLIC ROME SENATE SHAKESPEARE SOOTHSAYER SPEECHES SWORD TRAGEDY TRIBUNES

30 • MARCH 2020 I faithandfriends.ca

Quick Quiz Answers: 1. Narendra Modi; 2. Lake Superior; 3. John Wayne.

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Faith&Friends

NIFTY THRIFTY

Great Expectations How to shop for thrifted maternity fashion.

In pregnancy, feeling and looking good is sometimes easier said than done. As your baby bump grows, your clothes no longer fit, but new maternity pieces can be expensive.

For the mother-to-be, a Salvation Army thrift store is a great place to build a wardrobe that grows with you. Here’s how: Look for longer tops. Make sure they are a stretchy material that will expand with your belly.

Go a size up. Clothes that are slightly bigger than your normal size are often large enough to accommodate a growing belly, while fitting properly in the arms and shoulders.

Look at the jeans. Moms donate, too! Keep an eye out for jeans with an elastic waist or a maternity panel.

Alter items to fit. If you find a larger size that works with the bump but is too big in another area, a simple alteration can be an easy fix.

Don’t go overboard. Your body is

changing every day. Buy a few pieces that co-ordinate and work for the season. If you outgrow those, then invest in a few more items.

(left) Tijana Popovic is the frugalista behind A Plentiful Life, a lifestyle blog that shows readers how to live their best life on a budget. She is also a creative expert for The Salvation Army’s thrift stores. Find a thrift store near you at thriftstore.ca.

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