To the nations...

This may be my last post for a while. I leave for Hawaii this morning, where I have some meetings for my work with the University of the Nations. (More information is in my August newsletter.) It may be a few weeks until I have internet access again. Thanks again for your prayers..

The second widow: a story of empty containers

Last week I told you that I had been reading the stories of two widows. The second widow's story is found in 2 Kings 4: 1 - 6. This one only has “a small jar of oil” when the story begins, but the prophet Elisha tells her to go around and borrow as many empty containers as possible from her friends and neighbours. So the woman goes around everyone she knows and gathers as many jugs and jars as she can. Then she starts to pour from her little jar of oil, and the oil miraculously just keeps flowing and flowing. I can imagine that this woman’s friends were just as excited as she was to hear about this miracle and to know that they had been part of making it possible.

As I prayed about this story, I realised that I had been feeling embarrassed to keep on asking people to pray about my financial situation - about the fact that I still don't have sufficient monthly income to cover my living costs and ministry costs when I move to Spain next month. I think I sometimes fear that speaking about finances would offend people – that they would think I want them to feel sorry for me, or that they would feel manipulated and think I’m “hinting” that I need money. But this isn’t the case at all. I haven’t felt that God is telling me to ask anyone for money, but I have felt that I’ve to keep asking for prayer. I am very dependent on people’s prayers in this time of stepping into something new, something that is just much “too big” for me financially. In the story of the second widow, she didn’t ask her neighbours to give her the oil that she needed to live on. What she actually did was to ask them for “empty containers,” and then it was God who filled the containers for her. I felt God showed me that people’s prayers are like the “empty containers” that those neighbours gave to the woman in the story. In the NIV translation, Elisha specifically tells the widow, “Don’t ask for just a few; ask for as many as you can” - because when the containers ran out, the oil ran out too.

As I read this story, I felt God put on my heart that I am not just to ask once or twice for prayer, but I am to keep on asking for as many “empty containers” as possible; I am not to feel embarrassed about asking people to pray for my financial needs - because I’m not asking them for oil, I’m asking for their empty containers - and these people will share in the miracle: the blessing of seeing answered prayer when God fills the containers.

I’m sure that the people who gave containers to this widow had their faith boosted by seeing God do a miracle and knowing that their containers had been part of it. If you are one of the people who has committed to partner with me in prayer, I'd like to say a really big thank you for that. I promise that I'll let you know the exciting story of how your empty containers get filled up by God.

The first widow: a story of flour and oil

No, the flour and oil in this story aren't in a recipe for making pancakes; they're in a recipe for an adventure in trusting God! In a recent Quiet Time, I was doing a study on the financial principles and promises that we find in the Bible, and I came across the stories of two different widows: one in 1 Kings chapter 17 and the other in 2 Kings chapter 4.

In the story of the first widow, in 1 Kings 17, this lady was facing some real needs, but I saw that she stepped out with the little that she already had (some flour and oil) even though it wasn’t nearly enough... and God caused that supply to keep flowing. When the prophet Elijah asked the widow for something to eat, she didn’t say, “Sorry, I can’t help you. I don’t have enough to live on myself.” She just stepped out with that little bit of flour and oil that she already had, and God did a miracle: her flour and oil simply never ran out, but continued flowing and were always enough.

In a sense, this was what God often did for us during the years I lived in South Africa. If you had looked at our bank statements, and seen on paper what our monthly income was, you’d never have believed it was possible for people to live on that amount and to pay the rent and electricity, run a car, buy food, etc… but the supply kept flowing, and somehow it was always enough.

I realised I’d been feeling lately as if my life was “on hold” - knowing that I couldn’t step out to rent a flat in Spain if I didn’t have even a reasonable percentage of the money needed to pay for it and furnish it. (I’ve lived my whole life with the principle of never getting into debt.) But I also knew that I couldn’t wait indefinitely and so, when I read this widow’s story, I felt challenged to “step out” with the resources that I already have - even if my “flour and oil” isn’t nearly enough yet - and to trust that God will keep the flow coming. It doesn’t sound a particularly responsible thing to do, but - as I’ve discovered over the past decades - steps of faith often don’t look the slightest bit responsible on the surface.

And so I’ve stepped out now and booked my plane ticket to Malaga: I will be moving down to Spain on Sunday 5th October. I don't yet know where I will live, or how I will pay for it, but I know that God's saying it's time now to take a new step of faith.

What about you? Are you facing any situations at the moment that just seem "too big" for you? At times when our "flour and oil" seem totally inadequate for the task ahead, that's when we need to remember that God is always bigger than any challenge we might face, and sometimes He asks us just to step out in simple trust and faith.

Endings and beginnings...

Just a few days ago, I attended the funeral of a friend who died of cancer last week. Although funerals are always a time of sadness, the service was also a celebration of this lady's life and of her faith in God. Such times always make me think about my own "legacy:" what would I like to be remembered for when my own time comes?

In a sense, a funeral is like an ending: it brings an end to someone's life on earth. This week in my quiet time, I was reading the story of a new beginning: in Nehemiah chapter 7 verses 1 -2, we read about the new season that began when the people of Israel had finished rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. "New doors" (gates) were put in place, and different kinds of people were appointed to guard the city (gatekeepers) and to keep its focus on the Lord (singers and Levites.) A man called Hananiah was appointed - because he was a person of integrity and "he feared God more than most men do." (vs 2, NIV)

In just a few weeks' time, "new doors" will be opening for me and I will be moving to live in Spain. I have no idea how long I will live there, but as I look into the future, I know that this is the legacy that I pray for. Just like Hananiah, I want to be remembered as someone who loved and honoured God "more than most people do." This is the deepest desire of my heart.

Is your heart slippery?

Deuteronomy 4 vs 9 says, "Be careful! Watch yourself closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live." There's a reason this warning appears several times in the first few books of the Bible: God knew that the reality of life is that our hearts tend to be "slippery." We too easily forget the things He has taught us through the experiences of life and through our reading of His Word.

This week I began writing in my tenth journal since leaving Cape Town and moving back to Europe. Each time I re-read these notebooks, I am reminded of the words of encouragement God has spoken to me and the lessons He has been teaching me over the past year. I am so thankful for these journals that help me hold on to all His instructions and promises so that they don't "slip from my heart" as I move into the next season of my life. If you don't already keep a personal journal, let me encourage you to get a notebook and take time to write down the things that God is speaking to you from day to day. Sometimes our hearts are just too slippery to do without one!

Blurred vision... new vision

It's June 26th. On this date last year, I boarded a plane and left South Africa to return to Europe. Leaving the place that had become my home was such a sad thing for me, that I could barely see for tears. Today, one year on, I have an appointment with the optician to get my eyes tested. It's time to get new glasses and sunglasses before I move to Spain. Although this "anniversary" brings a little sadness, I had to smile when I realised that it was also a day that was symbolised by new and sharper vision. I pray that this will be true spiritually as well as physically. May you also enjoy "clear vision" this week.

A new way, a new day, a new home...

Can you believe that it’s already the month of June? This blog began almost a year ago, when I left Southern Africa and came back to live and work in Europe again. As you know, this past year has been a time of transition for me: a time of stepping out in faith to discover the new things that God has for me here in Europe.

Leaving my home in Cape Town was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, and I’ve really missed South Africa a lot. I had been there for most of the past fourteen years. During this year back in Europe, I’ve been reaching out to embrace the new things God has for me here and, in particular, I’ve been asking God where my new home should be. Three S’s emerged as the most likely options, and I’ve been praying about whether I should settle in Scotland, Spain or Switzerland for the years ahead.

Interestingly, I’ve spent this transition year doing the very same things that I was doing back in 1998: working with FireStarters youth ministry in Glasgow, and staffing a leadership development course (LDC) in the West of Scotland. The LDC is over now; the delegates and staff – who came from around 20 different nations – are all returning home this week. I’m back in Falkirk now, and will be in Central Scotland for most of the month of June.

The theme of the leadership development course was, “a new way for a new day,” and the course leader wrote a theme song, based on Isaiah 43 vs 18 – 19:

Forget what’s before;
there’s so much more
I have to offer…
I am doing something new.

For me personally, being staff on this LDC was in some ways like returning to the “old.” Staffing an LDC was the very last thing I did in 1998, before leaving Scotland and moving down to live in Cape Town. So, in this way, my LDC involvement was a fulfilment of what God had said when He told me (through Bible verses in Isaiah 43 and 51) that He was leading me into something new, and that this new thing would involve returning initially to people I had worked with and things I had done in the past.

But this year’s LDC was also a time when God confirmed the new things that He has for me in the future. Just last week, I made a decision to move down to Spain and make my home there for the coming years. I will continue to work with LDCs and other aspects of leadership development, and I will also continue to work with King’s Kids International in the area of training leaders for ministry among children, teenagers and families.

Thanks again for praying for me during this year of transition. More details about my future plans are in my June newsletter. Just contact me by email or phone if you happened not to receive it and would like me to send it to you.