Winter warmth

A strange kind of 'flu has been going around, knocking people out for four or five days at a time. Nicole, Gabriela and I all had it over the weekend, making us feel rather sorry for ourselves, and very thankful that we could make a roaring fire in the fireplace. I have to confess that we turn into scavengers at this time of year.... taking advantage of every opportunity to add to our stock of firewood - or leña, as it's called in Spanish. So it was a nice blessing when the town council decided to cut down some straggly little trees in the park in front of our house. Ada and I headed out there this afternoon with a saw and secateurs to cut off all the leafy branches and salvage a huge pile of thicker stems for our woodpile.

We felt quite worn out after chopping trees for an hour or more, so it was a nice bonus when our neighbours then came to throw out some old broken chairs. We promptly scooped them up and added them to our plunder. A chair's not quite as easy to chop up as a bush; all you can do is unscrew the arms and then feed the rest of it into the fire a little at a time. It always looks a bit dramatic at first - and the fire gives off an incredible heat - but within an hour it has settled down into a nice blaze that keeps the thicker logs burning throughout the evening. We're enjoying our fireplace on these chilly winter evenings (but thankful that the sunny afternoons make it pleasant work for us to gather or chop wood outdoors.)

Coaching competencies...

Our coaching workshop is drawing to a close and the trainees have had lots of opportunities to work in small groups, practising the skills that they have been learning this week. We were fortunate to have sunny weather for most of the week, which meant that the groups could work outdoors. Today the torrential rain - so typical of January in Malaga - started up, forcing us all to stay indoors for the final day. As they go from here, each of these trainees will practise their developing skills by beginning to coach other missionaries in their part of their world.

The coaching workshop...

Everyone has arrived now and we're already in the second day of our intensive coaching workshop. The trainees have been learning how to help other people grow and be more effective by asking them great questions that help them process their options and decisions. Among the trainees are a couple of people that I knew when I worked in Cape Town, and a couple of others that I've worked with since returning to Europe. 
Sadly, one of the trainees had to leave us this morning; a lady who had come all the way from Thailand for the seminar got news that her Mum had died and she had to make plans to travel back and be with family in Canada. This means that I'll be helping out more in the workshop, making up the numbers where the trainees need to do practice activities in groups of three.

Coaching and cake...

Today sees the start of another intensive coaching seminar here in Malaga, so we're heading back and forward to the airport five or six times today to pick up the fifteen trainees from all over Europe. We're thankful that this week's weather forecast is dry and sunny, as this means that we will be able to eat some of the meals and hold some of the workshop practice sessions outdoors. It'll be a pretty full schedule - beginning at 9 am every day and only finishing in the evening.
Meanwhile, back at home, Ada baked me a cake today. My house mates had been baking pumpkin roll (sort of a Swiss-roll-shaped pumpkin cake with cream cheese filling) for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I wasn't in Spain for either of those, and so she wanted to bake one for me to say that it's good to have me home again.

When the system seems to fail you...

During the two weeks I've been back in Spain, my Dad has had two changes of hospital in Scotland. First he was moved to a rehab unit at the hospital in Falkirk, which seemed like a good and encouraging move. Unfortunately, he became quite ill with an infection and had to be moved back to the larger hospital in Larbert again. He's not really able to feed himself yet, and so it's hard to see that staff often simply leave some food in front of him, but don't stay to help him reach it or eat it. So it just gets cold and then they come and take it away again. It also seems like they're trying to reduce his pain medication so that he can be moved back to Falkirk again, but this means that he's experiencing more pain now and doesn't get a good night's sleep. I can only imagine how hard it must be to be totally dependent on the system and on the kind attentions of others.... and to feel that somehow the system is failing you at your point of need. I pray for a lessening of my Dad's pain, for compassionate staff who will help him with his food, and for decisions to be made that will put or keep him in the hospital that is best suited to his particular needs at this point in his recovery.

Old dogs, new tricks...

They say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and I think that's true unless your dog happens to be a border collie. As I discovered with my Kylie, collies are so clever that they thoroughly enjoy learning new things, even when puppyhood is a distant memory. This week, however, I'm trying to find out if you can teach old cats new tricks! Somewhere along the line, although my cats have a round-the-clock supply of dry pet food, I began giving them a sachet of moist cat food at breakfast time. The result of this habit over the years has been that all three cats come into my bedroom very early in the morning and either purr or miaow and march around on the bed to wake me up and make me aware that it's time for me to get out of bed and go downstairs to give them breakfast. As no one has been giving them this customary breakfast over the past ten weeks that I spent in Scotland, I decided that this was the ideal time for them to learn new habits. Despite their indignant miaowing while I'm preparing my morning coffee, I'm not giving them their "meaty chunks in gravy" at breakfast time any more, but am making them wait until some other time later in the day - sometimes at lunchtime or sometimes at bedtime. It seems to be working and I'm slowly seeing them change their habit and their expectation.

It made me think, though, about how we as human beings are also creatures of habit. Sometimes we've had our set ways of doing things for a whole lifetime and it can be really costly for us to embark upon transformation. We've got stuck in our old ways of thinking, speaking and acting, and it can be difficult to change these - especially as we get older in life. But knowing and following God is a continuous learning curve; He is constantly showing us attitudes and habits that need to be adjusted in order for us to become more like Jesus. This morning in my personal time with God, I was reading in Acts chapter 13. Speaking about King David, it says that he was a man who was pleasing to God and who was always willing to do what God wanted. My prayer for 2012 is that I would be just as willing to obey God in every situation, even when that means embracing change and breaking with my old ways of thinking and acting.

What "new tricks" is God challenging you to embrace in this new year?

Updates about Ernie...

Please note that future updates about my Dad's progress will be on my parents' blog: (click here to go there)
Thanks so much to those who have been praying over the past two or three months.

The naked house, the Mexican meal, and the happy cats...

I travelled back to Spain yesterday, catching a morning flight from Glasgow and arriving in Malaga in the early afternoon. Friends met me at the airport and drove me home to Alhaurín. When we reached the house, it looked strangely unfamiliar to me and, after a few moments, I realised it was because our jasmine was gone. We usually have a jasmine plant growing across our doorway and it has such a beautiful perfume that we joke about our home "sweet" home. Well, despite our own somewhat delayed pruning efforts this year, (see here) it seems that the plant was beginning to grow out in all directions and threatening to take over the doorway. Ada asked a gardener friend for advice and he showed her that the plant had been growing in spirals because of years of not being pruned correctly. He said that if we pruned it right back, we could give it a fresh start and it could grow more healthy again. So our house is "naked" at the moment, but hopefully we'll have sweet smelling jasmine blossoms again by next summer. 

Ten weeks ago, on the day I left to fly back to Scotland, my housemates (Ada, Gabriela and Nicole) took me out for ice cream to say goodbye. Yesterday, they welcomed me home again by cooking a special Mexican meal for me. The cats also seem pleased to have me home. Teddi keeps coming to be brushed and purrs so loudly that the other two come to see what's happening; they don't want to miss out if Teddi's being given a tasty treat.

Meanwhile, back in Scotland, Dad's doing not too badly. They're still waiting for the results of tests that will show whether he needs an antibiotic to combat an infection. Nutrition and mobility (see post for 7th January) continue to be his two main challenges. Thanks for your prayers.

Ernie talks about faith...

This morning at church, I was preaching a message about how our faith needs to be built upon knowing and hearing God. So, this afternoon when we arrived at the hospital, it was a surprise to hear Dad begin to talk about his own faith amidst the trials he's been through over the past eleven weeks. "I wasn't much of a Christian before I came in here," he said, "although I was always sincere in my relationship with God. But when you have good health, you take a lot of things for granted and you don't always depend on God. When you've been through what I've been through since the operation, you realise that you just can't make it without God. I know that I wouldn't be here now if God hadn't brought me this far, and I think that my faith is stronger now because of it."

In fact, after more than a week of pain-free progress, Dad has had a couple of not so good days this weekend. He began to have pain yesterday, and it wasn't clear whether it was because they had reduced his pain medication or whether it was because he had tried some lactose-free milk for breakfast. But he began to be a little confused in the afternoon, thinking that he'd been moved to another ward, and having some strange dreams. It looks as if he might have an infection somewhere, so some tests are being done, and he might need to go on antibiotics again from tomorrow. He wasn't looking good yesterday, but he was feeling a little better and brighter today, as they were giving him some buscopan for tummy pain. He's decided to avoid all kinds of milk in future, and they're going to put his meds back to what they were a couple of days ago. Hopefully this infection will clear up soon and he can begin to feel a little better again.

As for me, I prayed for him tonight and said my goodbyes, because I'll be flying back to Spain very early tomorrow morning. I'm continuing to compile some pages of best wishes from those of you who have emailed or left comments to say that you've been praying for him. It will be a huge encouragement for him to see how many people all around the world have been standing with him during this time. You can continue to email, or can leave a note by clicking below (where it says "comments.")

It's that Sunday again...

I usually preach in my home church on the first Sunday of every new year. It's become kind of a "fixture" and it's a time when I check in with God to ask Him for a challenge, encouragement or "thought for the year" to pass on to the folks in Falkirk. With last Sunday being New Year's Day, I've been given the second Sunday of the new year this time. Today my message to the adults was about faith: the fact that faith comes from hearing and not from seeing. And my message to the children was a jungle doctor story about a hippo: a reminder that the Bible, like a mirror, shows us what we are really like and how we can change for the better.

Praying for Ernie?

I'll be heading back to Spain in just a couple of days' time but, for those of you who've been praying regularly for my Dad, I'll continue to give an update now and then as the weeks go by. He's doing fine, even though progress is quite slow. His main obstacles on the road to recovery, and the things we're focusing our prayers on now are:
a) nutrition: Eating food is the hardest thing for him at the moment, as he has no appetite and still finds everything a bit "tasteless." But he knows that he can't go home from hospital with a feeding tube up his nose, and that he needs to make a lot of progress in terms of eating for himself. He tries his best to eat a little every day, but it's a struggle as many weeks of illness and medication seem to have badly affected his taste buds and things have a horrible metallic taste.
b) mobility: Dad's keen to work hard at his physiotherapy, as he's tired of lying in bed and would love to start getting more mobile again. He sits up a little every day (most days; it depends which nurses are on duty) and physiotherapists help him with exercises and get him standing up with the aid of a hoist (see photo.)

Despite these sizeable challenges, it is truly amazing that Dad is still with us in 2012. There were so many times in November when we were told that he had only days or hours to live, and even in December the ICU doctors were telling us that they didn't believe he could make it. We know, however, that people all over the world have been praying for Dad: in different parts of Europe and Asia, down south in Australia and South Africa, across the ocean in the U.S. and Canada...

Before I go back to Spain, I would like to compile a list to let Dad know about the many people who have been standing with him in prayer. If you are one of the people who have been following this blog and praying with us, then you have also been part of the miracle. Would you mind sending me a short email, or leaving a short comment on this blog,  so that I let Dad know about the many around the world who have been praying for him during this difficult time. Thank you, and God bless you.

Felines in the family...

One of Kasey's cats had kittens back in October and my brother, whose cat had died earlier in the year, was persuaded to adopt two of them. Gizmo and Pepsi (middle picture) are almost three months old now and are very cute. Meanwhile, back in Spain, my own three - Tamba, Tobi and Teddi - have been looked after by friends during my absence. I've never been away this long before; hope they recognise me when I get home on Monday!

Twelve weeks and three days

I can hardly believe it's only three days until I head back to Spain; I fly on Monday, the date originally planned when I booked my ticket to come home for three weeks at Christmas. In fact, it'll have been ten weeks since I made my emergency flight home when Dad lay "dying" in intensive care.  
Monday, the day of my flight back to Malaga, will mark the beginning of the twelfth week in hospital for Dad. We had a meeting yesterday with the "pain doctor" who simply told us that they think the medication is working now and won't need to be reviewed so often. Physiotherapists told us that he's trying hard to stand on his own, but his muscles are very weak and the exertion sometimes makes him feel nauseous. Rehabilitation could take quite a long time.
In order to make up for two computer-less days earlier in the week, I'll be working hard today and tomorrow to finish my presentations for Sunday morning. (This involves going into the attic to work on an old PC and edit the slides in Powerpoint.) And I'm slowly beginning to pack my suitcase with stuff that I'll be taking back to Spain with me on Monday.

Empowered!

Our electricity is back to normal now.... and the Apple Store have replaced my defective power lead... so tomorrow will see me able to get on with all my computer work again. Dad was doing fine again today, and it's encouraging that he's been pain free for several days now.

When you're completely powerless...

I got up bright and early this morning, because I had lots of work to do on the computer. I have a couple of powerpoint presentations to prepare for speaking at a church service on Sunday morning and, with hospital visits in the afternoon and evening, and other ministry work to catch up on in the mornings, I'm beginning to be aware that time is getting short if I've to complete the slides before the weekend.

When I switched on my laptop, I got a surprise to see a message telling me the battery was low; I thought I was running on electricity. You can imagine my dismay when I looked down and realised that my power adaptor wasn't working any more and that I would be computerless in only half an hour. I would need to make a trip to Glasgow to get a new power lead. So I switched on my Mum's computer and went on the internet to find the phone number of the computer store. Just as I was writing it down, the computer screen went blank and suddenly the whole house was plunged into darkness. It was a power cut, and that not only meant no computer and no internet, but also no heating, no lights and no telephone. Looking out the window into the early morning gloom, I realised that the gale force winds (around 160 kph) had probably felled a tree and damaged a power line.
The tall trees in the lane behind our house were swaying and groaning precariously: rather scary when you considered that our house and the greenhouse would be right in its path if one of them were to topple over. Some smaller, thinner trees were blowing almost horizontal, and I was amazed that they weren't simply uprooted and blown away. It shows that even the weakest tree can withstand the storm if its root system is strong and deeply anchored.

The electricity still hadn't come back on by the time we left for the hospital, and all my calls from a cellphone to the computer store were met with an answering machine. Whether the store was really closed or whether their phones were down like ours, I'm not sure, but I couldn't have got to Glasgow anyway, as the electricity failure meant that many trains were cancelled. As we drove to the hospital, we counted almost twenty fallen trees - all along the road at Callendar Park Road and then again in front of Dollar Park. In fact, we had to take a detour in Falkirk because one road was closed due to a huge fallen tree lying right across it. I noticed that the fallen trees were either huge ones with old roots that had gone rotten, or they were new plantings where the roots had not been anchored deep enough. No wonder the Bible tells us that we need to let Christ dwell in our hearts through faith, so that we can be deeply rooted and anchored in God's love. If our faith is superficial or our love has grown "old," we may not have the resilience needed to weather life's storms.

Dad was doing well again today, beginning to eat just a little more, and pleased to report that he didn't have any pain today. His nurse told us that his protein level is slowly improving and he's now at the top of the waiting list for a bed in the rehabilitation ward.

When we got back home this afternoon, we discovered that we finally had electricity again. However, I'm still without a computer to prepare my messages for Sunday, and will need to catch a train into Glasgow tomorrow. Fortunately, the wind seems to have subsided again and so there shouldn't be any more power or public transport disruptions.

Happy New Year

On the first day of 2012, we're pleased to report that Dad had a comfortable, almost pain-free day. It may have been a public holiday, but it was quite a busy day for Dad: sitting up in his armchair this morning, welcoming some visitors in the afternoon, continuing to work on his physiotherapy exercises in the evening... Small wonder that he told us he was feeling quite tired, and that he also spent part of the day just catching up on his beauty sleep.

A song and a prayer for the New Year

As the old year ends and the new year begins, they say that "Auld Lang Syne" is the most sung song in the world. On this video clip (click here) it's performed by Norwegian singer, Sissel, to a backdrop of beautiful scenes from God's creation, with a prayer, a poem and a challenge for the new year. Hope you enjoy it.