A new year begins...

Yes, it's already 2019. We're already almost two decades into the "new" millennium. Whenever a new year begins, I take time in prayer to evaluate the year that has just ended and to set goals with the Lord for the year that lies ahead. One of my goals for 2019 is about discovering or creating community, here where I live. With the closing of our leadership retreat centre last year, my local team of missionaries dispersed to different parts of the world, and so I need to invest in new relationships and create life-giving Christian community for this new season. Another of my desires for the new year is that I would have  wisdom in making decisions about travel. The closing of our local centre has meant that I receive a lot more invitations to travel and teach in other parts of the world, so I need wisdom to get the right balance between staying at home and being "on the road."

I love this photo, above, taken by a Spanish photographer and border collie owner in the early hours of the new year. She calls it, "The first sunrise of 2019." I love the way the cross rises up above the clouds and mist, and the sun appears to light up the day and allow a clearer vision into the distance. So often we enter a new year without really knowing all that lies ahead, but it's good to remember that the future is in God's hands and He is always there to show us the way.

I'll be turning sixty this year, and the photo reminds me that one of my longstanding dreams was to get a dog again, a border collie, before my 60th birthday. Now that the time is drawing closer, however, I realise that it's probably going to be an unfulfilled dream; I still have quite a few ministry trips in the diary, and this wouldn't be a good time to have to think of caring for a puppy. I guess I'll have to content myself with walking various neighbours' dogs, as I've done for the past few years. 

I just arrived back in Spain today, after spending Christmas and New Year with my family and local church in Scotland. I had also been in Scotland for just a few days at the beginning of December, as we all gathered to celebrate my Dad's 90th birthday (see photo below.) If you were reading this blog back at the end of 2011, you'll recall that he had many brushes with death during an extended hospital stay, and it's truly a miracle that he is still with us to celebrate this milestone birthday.

You may be wondering why this blog has been silent since mid-November. Well, it's because the last few weeks of 2018 were a bit of a roller coaster ride in terms of my health. Having come down with bronchitis in early November, I really thought I was okay again and I set off for a ministry commitment in Belarus... only to discover after I got there that my lungs weren't really improving and that I actually had pneumonia. It dragged on for around six weeks, and I was only finally feeling okay again as Christmas approached. So you can imagine my disappointment, after a healthy Christmas, to be struck down with bronchitis again as the new year approached. I (and my parents) coughed our way through the first week of the new year and had to keep a low profile while church friends were getting together for hogmanay.

I'm gradually beginning to feel better again now, and the doctor says my lungs are infection free, but there's a horrible lingering cough and I'm using a couple of inhalers to help my breathing recover and return to normal. I'd value your prayers for better lung health in 2019.

As we enter the second week of 2019, let me wish you God's richest blessings and encouragements, as well as His guidance in this new year.