Well, after two and a half weeks of daily visits to hospitals, I ended up at hospital myself last Sunday morning. Turned out I had tracheitis and bronchitis, and the doctor gave me antibiotics to take during my first ten days back in Spain.
I flew back here on Monday and this week has been our LDC staff retreat - a time of "retreating" in order to be able to keep "advancing" effectively in what God is calling us to do in the area of leadership development within the mission. We were a group of around fifteen people this week - some who had just been working with a Leadership Development Course in South America, some who were preparing to work with the LDC in Asia next month, and some of us who will be working with the LDC in Europe this spring. The week was a time of praying for these different training courses around the world, as well as taking time to share from our own lives and pray for each other.
As I look ahead at 2009, much of my ministry focus for the next nine months will be on equipping and developing leaders for Christian ministry. On the one hand I will be helping to pioneer this first LDC in Alhaurín: a course that will be attended by 20 - 30 leaders from different parts of the world. And at other times of the year, I will be working with a special Child and Youth Ministry school (PCYM): a course that will train around 20 youth ministry leaders from different parts of Europe.
Now that I'm back in Alhaurín de la Torre, where I regularly walk past the tower that gives the town its name, I am reminded often of the scripture in Proverbs 18 verse 10: "The name of the Lord is a Strong Tower: the righteous run to it and are safe." My prayer for 2009 is that I will regularly "retreat" to the strong tower of God's presence, so that I can "advance" in knowing Him and making Him known to others this year.
