Summer is well and truly with us now - albeit slightly later than usual. Down here, near the southern coastal region, our temperatures are varying between 20 and 32 degrees celsius, a good ten degrees lower than the scorching temperatures of the inland towns and cities like Madrid and Toledo.
Even so, it still feels just a bit too hot to take the dogs out for a walk in the afternoon; the hot air only starts to become bearable after 7 pm (which is the reason why many Spaniards head to the beach at that time, and then only eat their evening meal at 9.30 or 10.00 pm.)
So yesterday afternoon, after church, I bundled all three dogs in the car and drove up the road a bit to a forest area where we could enjoy a walk in the shade, instead of in the blazing sunshine.
Yes, we're a three-dog team this summer. Buba's little "sister," Bonnie, a chihuahua-pekinese cross, doesn't usually go on the longer walks with Buba and Nelson, choosing the lazier option of wandering round the park with her owner instead. So she kept getting rather out of breath last week when we took her with us during the two days that her owner was in hospital. Turns out the little chihuahua has gained weight over the winter months and could do with losing a couple of pounds.
So when her owner got home from the hospital, she announced that it would be a good idea for little Bonnie to come on our 3-kilometre circuits morning and evening, to help with her weight loss programme. That's why you see her in the above photo, bearing up bravely on our walk in the woods yesterday.... and also in the photo below, looking back longingly at the road to the park.
The theme of this year's leadership development course was, "Remain in Me" - taken from John's Gospel chapter 15, where it speaks of how God is like a gardener who prunes fruitful branches in order to make room for even more growth. Even so, the rather brutal pruning (by the town council) of the pretty yellow mimosa trees in a park near by house made for an ugly and sobering picture of what pruning can look like: it's always going to be painful! Our own experience of closing the leadership retreat centre in order to make way for the international multiplication of the leadership development course is a very real example of what pruning feels like.
It's been five weeks since the local authorities cut back those mimosa trees, leaving only ugly bare branches (I confess that I gathered up some of the logs to add to my firewood stock for next winter) and so this week I was amazed to see that new growth had already begun. By next spring, or maybe even before then, those trees will be covering the park in a carpet of yellow blossoms again.
In stark contrast, the jasmine plant at the entrance to my house hasn't produced many blossoms this year. I think I waited too late to prune it, and instead of cutting it right back in January, I did a less brutal pruning in March. The growth has not been nearly as lovely as in previous years. What a visual parable! If we resist God's pruning in our lives, or don't respond in a timely way, we may miss out on some of the fruitfulness and the fragrance that He wants to bring from our life.
It's been two months since my last blog post. I think that's been my longest gap since starting this blog back in 2007. The reason for my long silence was that this year's leadership development course (LDC), the last one to be held here at the Leadership Retreat Centre, seemed to monopolise all my time over the past two months. We had a wonderful international group of leaders with us for this time, and it was a joy to see God at work, encouraging, equipping and transforming lives. The above photo shows the LDC staff and delegates at the "graduation" and thanksgiving time that we held at the end of the course.
Once the LDC was over, we took a few more days to bring closure to the Leadership Retreat Centre, which will be closing this summer after ten years of very fruitful ministry. We have a sense that this local expression of the leadership development ministry needs to be put on hold for now, in order to serve the international multiplication of the LDC courses in new regions of the world.
Among those who joined us last week for the closing celebrations was my friend, Sue, who spent ten months here when the retreat centre was just beginning in 2008. She stayed on for a few days holiday afterwards and we had fun exploring some new locations: we swam in a lovely little lake called Pantano del Agujero, and we went to visit the Iberian wolf sanctuary near Antequera. Sue returned to England yesterday, and now begins my summer season of coaching missionary leaders (including four who just completed the LDC) as well as helping to pack up the retreat centre.
