Travelling onwards...

It's almost time for the second leg of my journey: I'll be flying overnight from Zürich to Bangkok, and then onwards from Bangkok to Singapore.

A day in Switzerland...

My trip to Australia has already begun: I got up bright and early in order to fly from Málaga airport this morning. Because there was a chance, though, that the transfer time would be too short in Switzerland, I am having to spend 24 hours in Zürich. Imagine my surprise when I came out of the airport and discovered that it was even hotter in Zürich than it had been in Málaga. It was a beautiful sunny day - perfect for playing tourist. 

After leaving my luggage at the airport hotel, I bought a 9-hour travel pass for Zürich's public transport system and caught a train into the city. The pass allowed me to travel on trains, buses, trams and even the so called Limmat River Boats that ferry people to various drop off points along the shores of the lake. That was the highlight of the day for me; I took a short boat trip and it was very relaxing to sit on deck for an hour and a half, watching the beautiful scenery, the quaint lakeside communities, the swimmers and the swans… This video clip shows just a few seconds of the view from the boat.

Then I took a leisurely walk around the old town of Zürich, enjoying a picnic lunch of Swiss bread and delicious Gruyère cheese. (Yes, my stomach is slowly recovering from its recent drama, when a midnight trip to the hospital led to a diagnosis of a small stomach ulcer caused by medication I'd been taking for a shoulder injury. I'm still being a little careful what I eat, but the pain is getting less all the time, and I was glad to be able to enjoy my favourite Swiss cheese today.)
Now I'll spend the night in Zürich, and tomorrow my long trip will continue. I'll fly from Zürich to Bangkok, then on to Singapore. The next day's flights will be from Singapore to Brisbane, and finally from Brisbane to Townsville, arriving early on Wednesday morning. Before taking so many fights, it was fun to have this short interlude in Switzerland today.

A quick turnaround...

Even while I was busy with B2b, the painters were coming to my house to finish painting the living room and the outside patios. I would get home in the evening and have to take time to clean up the dust and debris, hang curtains, and start putting all my books back onto the bookshelves again. This made it seem like a very quick turnaround, as I only had  Saturday to iron my laundry and start packing a suitcase for my trip to Australia.

As well as painting the outside of the house, the men also put up new "privacy shading" on my upstairs balcony. During the two days with no shading, the cats discovered a whole new world beyond our home. Tobi in particular became quite an intrepid explorer, wandering over the rooftops and looking down at the dogs in my neighbours' patios. I have to confess that I was rather relieved when my new hedging went up and my felines were restricted to my own house again. I would not have liked to think of them wandering all over the neighbours' rooftops while I'm in Australia for two weeks!

The cats weren't the only ones to discover a whole new world recently. When the police told us that dogs were no longer to be allowed off leash in our local park, I needed to find a new solution for exercising  Buba, my neighbour's very energetic, 8-month old English setter puppy. We wandered further up the hill from the park and, to my amazement, I discovered a lovely wooded area with mountain paths along the foot of the hills. I can't believe I've lived in my house for five years and not realised that access to the "campo" (countryside) was close enough to reach on foot. Buba is loving the freedom of running around on the hillside behind my house. It's good exercise for me, too, and I look forward to taking her for more walks when I get back from my trip to Australia.

B2b

click to enlarge photo

Last week saw the last of our summer seminars at the leadership retreat centre in Málaga. It was one of my favourite weeks of the year: the so called B2b. That stands for, "Be the leader God wants you to be," and it's an interactive workshop aimed at equipping young and emerging leaders. This year's group ranged in age from 18 - 35, and came from places as diverse as New Zealand, Sweden, Scotland, Spain and the Republic of Georgia.

We ended up with rather a small group of participants in the end. Six of the original applicants (from places like Egypt and the Ukraine) cancelled a couple of weeks before it started. Several late applications came in to take their places but, strangely enough, one or two of those people didn't turn up on the day.

Despite the smaller group size, it turned out to be an amazing and encouraging week: the young leaders were very engaged and enthusiastic, asking lots of questions and responding with sincerity to the topics we covered. B2b takes some of the LDC topics and presents them in a way that is relevant for younger leaders with less experience behind them. I taught, for example, on topics such as vision, mentoring, conflict resolution, and the importance of godly character.

We also had encouraging times of prayer, worship and hearing God's voice… and a number of the participants also requested "one to one" meetings where we could coach and counsel them more personally. At the end of the week, when they gave feedback about what they'd learned, it was so encouraging to hear what God had done in their lives in just a few short days.

We'll offer B2b again in 2016, but first we'll take time to pray about the best timing; we're wondering if June or July would be a better time frame than August for the young leaders who want to attend.

Holding on to Him...

Reading in the book of Deuteronomy the other day, I came to a part where, in just one sentence, Moses gave the people of Israel a wealth of instructions for being the people of God. In Deuteronomy 13 vs 4, he tells them to: 

• follow the Lord your God and Him alone
• revere (honour and respect) Him
• obey Him (and keep His commands)
• serve Him
• and hold fast to Him

I think it's that last factor on the list that really places us in the realm of relationship, rather than religion. Anyone can follow rules; we can obey and serve an employer that we have no friendship with; we can revere and admire a celebrity that we've never even met. But we can only "hold fast" to someone that we care about and whose friendship we don't want to let go of.

I remember, when I was leaving South Africa in 2007, that Song of Songs 3:4 was very meaningful to me. When the girl speaks of her Beloved, she calls him, "the one my heart loves" and when she searches for him and finds him, she says, "I held on to him and would not let him go." I was in a season of transition where I had lost many things, and was recognising that there were others I would need to let go of. But the one thing I could never lose, the one thing that would go with me wherever I went, and the one thing that I wanted to hold on to more than anything else in the world was my love relationship with Jesus.

Amidst good times and bad, how firmly are we holding on to Him? Is He more precious to us than work, than other people, than things… ? As true Christians, it's second best for us simply to obey His commands (even though Jesus did say, "If you love me, you will obey my teaching." John 14:23) As Moses told the  Israelites thousands of years ago, we also need to "hold on" to God. The Hebrew verb in Songs 3: 4 is áchaz - which translates the idea of clinging tightly to someone or something. In Deuteronomy 13:4, it's even more active: the verb dábaq is not only about holding on to what you already have, but also has the sense of "to pursue hard" and to grasp hold of even more. I want to pursue God in that sort of way, and hold on tightly to my relationship with Him.

In the previous post (see below) I was reflecting on the importance of holding on to joy. Surely the most important aspect of this is our holding on to God Himself, because the Bible tells us that there is fullness of joy in His presence and that His joy will be our strength.

Holding on to joy...

It was still dark when I woke up this morning - perhaps because I was eager to get to my early morning doctor's appointment and finally find out the reason for the terrible shoulder and upper arm pain that's been plaguing me for the past seven weeks. Or perhaps it was because my throbbing shoulder had already disturbed me several times in the night, and this was just another wake up call.

For some reason, this got me thinking about the importance of waking up to joy, and finding all the reasons for laughter in our day to day lives.  I think I've been conscious for some time now, probably for a number of years, that I wake up in the morning and often my first thought of the day is how much pain I'm in. It's been twelve years now since I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, and I've got used to the fact that the pain and stiffness are usually at their worst in the morning. But whenever I catch myself waking up to pain, I can't help thinking what a contrast this is to my earlier years in Cape Town, when I was more conscious of waking up to joy. I'd wake up with a sense of anticipation for the day, of thankfulness for the beauty of our setting, or just a smile because one of the dogs had nudged me awake with her nose.  It's not that I'm not thankful for life in Spain, for the warm climate and the beauty of the setting…. I'm just aware of the danger that the physical pain could eclipse everything else and begin to steal my joy.

So that's what prompted my early morning Bible reading today in a variety of passages that speak about laughter and joy. Often what brings back our lost joy is the awareness that God has intervened and done something big for us. In Genesis 21:6, when her son was born, the elderly Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." In Psalm 126, the returning exiles say, "Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy."

Joy and laughter are often the product of a breakthrough or a turnaround, an awareness that God has done great things for us. Of course, who of us cannot say that the Lord has done great things for us? He loves us and showers us with blessings every day. But what happens when a breakthrough hasn't come and the longed for "great things" haven't happened yet? How do we hold on to joy and laughter, even in those sorts of circumstances? Psalm 126 also contains promises for the "waiting times." Verses five and six tell us that those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

There are times in life, though, when our painful circumstance is one that might not change at all. What is our response when life seems full of "sowing in tears" and we don't particularly have a guarantee that a miracle or a breakthrough is around the corner? I think that what we are sowing is still important, and is a key to whether we maintain joy in our lives. Am I sowing thankfulness, for example, and expressing my thanks to God for his many blessings in my life? Am I sowing encouragement, and speaking uplifting things into the lives of others?

It's ironic that physical pain can be one of the things that steals our joy, because the Bible tells us that laughter and joy can have a positive effect on our physical wellbeing. See, for example, Proverbs 17:22, which tells us that a joyful heart works good healing like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. So when pain threatens to break our spirit, we need to be vigilant and surround ourselves with things that bring joy and laughter. It might be family or friends; it might be a hobby or something else we enjoy doing.

Strange as it sounds, I've realised that pets are one of those things for me. Yes, it can be a hassle to have to find pet sitters when you travel for ministry or outreach, but my cats do bring joy and laughter into my life. That's why I joke with friends that one of my dreams is to have a dog again by my sixtieth birthday. Some respond by saying, "When you're sixty; how could you possibly wait that long?" while others say, "How could you possibly have a dog? It doesn't fit with your lifestyle or your travels." The occasional smart guy will joke, "I hear they train assistant dogs to help physically decrepit people!" But when I think about the joy factor involved, I realise that having a dog again one day might not be just an indulgence, but could very well turn out to be a weapon of spiritual warfare.

Friendships are another thing that brings joy into my life, as are nature, the beauty of creation and being in a climate with lots of warm, sunny days. Travel was always something I enjoyed too… although in recent years I've been aware that this has turned into something that also brings physical challenges with it.

So, on a day like today when, eager to find out what's wrong with my shoulder, I sat in the doctor's waiting area for more than half an hour before realising that I'd actually been too eager and my appointment is only for tomorrow…. I can either laugh at myself, or I can allow the throbbing pain to make me cry. I think I have a renewed understanding of why people say it's possible to choose joy… because joy isn't the same as happiness, isn't the same as an easy life, isn't the same as freedom from pain or difficulty. Joy is something deeper; it's a deep sense of security that comes from knowing that "God has done great things for us," from a heart attitude of thankfulness, from an ability to strengthen ourselves in the Lord, and from learning to surround ourselves with the people and things that brighten our day.

If it's true that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10) then the only way we can stay strong for the long haul is if we have learned to draw on God's help, especially in the challenging times of life, to choose joy and to major on the things that bring laughter, strength and positivity into our lives.

An encouraging experiment...

Our house was the setting for an interesting experiment last weekend. My Peruvian friend and former housemate asked me if I would be able to look after her two 3-month old puppies for four days while she made a short trip to Madrid. Of course, my house has been a dog-free zone since the kittens were born six years ago, and all three cats have been known to make a variety of strange sound effects whenever I bring a dog into the house, even if only briefly. Even though Ada and Gabriela's puppies were still smaller than the cats, I was interested to see what the reaction would be to having canines in the home around the clock. (cont'd below)

Well, the good news is that the experiment was quite successful. Yes, there was some hissing at the beginning; yes, the puppies took a couple of days to learn that you need to respect cats and watch from a distance, rather than jumping all over them….  But by the fourth day, a new tolerance had set in, and my canines and felines were co-existing in relative harmony. Glimmers of hope that one day, several years from now, my by then elderly cats might accept a new puppy as part of the family. Until then, they seem pretty happy that our home is a canine-free zone again.

Finishing well...

With twenty one years of LDC (leadership development courses) behind us, the term "finishing well" is a very familiar one to us, a phrase that we use regularly. One of the main goals of LDC is to help slightly older leaders to finish the race well, and not burn out on the way or fall into some of the pitfalls that can so easily trip up Christian leaders. It's amazing to think that, back when LDCs started, there was relatively little literature written about this topic. Many books had been written about getting started with God and growing as a disciple…. but few writers had tackled the topic of "growing old in God" and continuing to be fruitful to the end. 

That has changed in recent years. A spate of scandals in the 1990s - with TV evangelists embezzling finances or running off with their secretary - made the whole world aware that how you finish is even more important than how you were at the start, and who you are on the inside is even more important than how you or your ministry look on the outside. 

My attention was caught recently by the title of a book: “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.” I haven’t read the book, so I can’t tell you what it’s about, but the title sums up for me much of what our journey with God is like: we keep doing the last thing that God said, irrespective of whether it is glamorous or exciting or full of variety. A lot of life is simply about being obedient, day after day; doing the same things, making the same right choices and continuing on the lifelong journey to finishing well.

My teenage journals contain insights from my early years of  Bible reading. Things like, “Delayed obedience is disobedience,” and “Partial obedience is disobedience.” Today I’m wondering about a new principle for that list: "Short obedience... interrupted obedience.... abandoned obedience is disobedience." Some people walk away from obedience because of temptation or because it’s proving to be too costly. Others don’t deliberately turn their backs on obedience, but simply drift slowly from it or stop somewhere along the wayside.

So it's not surprising that the Bible is full of principles for finishing well. The topic was always an important one in God's eyes, even before it caught the attention of modern authors. Yet a short study of well known Bible characters reveals the shocking statistic that fewer than a third of them actually finished well and served God faithfully to the very end.

I wonder if that statistic is higher or lower in the 21st Century. When you look at our modern world, you'll quickly see that the prevailing attitude is one of giving up when things get tough, and generally opting to choose the easiest and most comfortable path in life. Exercise requires discipline and so we allow ourselves to get unfit. Dieting is hard work and so we remain overweight. Working through conflicts is tiring and so we change church, opt for divorce or back off from a friendship. Learning a new skill (a language, a musical instrument, a craft....) calls for hours of practice and so we give up before we really become proficient. Following a dream or vision requires courage and perseverance, and so we prefer to remain on the safe ground of wishful thinking.

Giving up sewing or saxophone may not have a huge impact on our life in the long term (other than adding to a track record of not finishing well) but walking away from our marriage, becoming passive about our diet and exercise, or not being intentional enough in our “long obedience” to God can completely alter the course of our destiny.

The Bible writers never pretended that running the race of life would be easy. Instead they left us with encouragements like these ones:
Galatians 6: 9 Let us not lose heart and become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Hebrews 12: 1 - 3 Let's run the race with our eyes fixed on Jesus, so that we don't become weary and give up. 

At the end of his life, the apostle Paul was able to say, “I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” 2 Tim 4:7  Finishing well doesn’t start when we’re old (although it’s never too late to begin.) More usually, it’s the result of a whole lifetime of obedience in the same direction.