Semana Santa

No, you English speakers, despite the "santa" in the name, this has nothing to do with Christmas! Semana Santa is the Spanish name for Holy Week - the seven days leading up to Easter Sunday - and it's a big thing in Spain. Here in Málaga province, many towns, large and small, are known for the pomp and extravagance of their Semana Santa parades. A lot of men are needed to carry the huge and heavy statues of the "Virgen" (virgin Mary) and often there are groups of masked and hooded characters (which to me are strangely reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan.) Adults and children alike dress up to be part of the procession, or to line the streets and watch it go by.

From my perception, the strangest thing of all about these semana santa celebrations is that there is sometimes no evidence at all of honouring or celebrating Jesus! After all, He is the reason that we celebrate this week in the calendar of the church around the world; we want to remember the fact that He loved us enough to die for us... and that God was strong and powerful enough to defeat death and bring Jesus back to life again. Recently I was reading in Ephesians chapter one, and was so encouraged by verses 19 - 20, which say that God's power at work in our lives - yours and mine, if we are followers of Jesus - is exactly the same power that He used when He raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in heaven. Wow! Sometimes I forget, or take for granted, that this very same resurrection power can be at work even in my ordinary, relatively unimportant life in the 21st century.

Here in Alhaurín de la Torre, our new little church congregation will be having a special communion service tonight to remember the fact that Jesus shed His blood to bring us new life. And on Sunday evening, the children and teenagers will all be part of a special Easter service when we can celebrate the resurrection together.

For many people, Jesus isn't honestly a big focus at Easter time: whether they have "religious" actitivities like here in Málaga, or whether they turn their attention mainly to Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs, many people leave Jesus pretty much in the background. I don't know what your "semana santa" is usually like... but my prayer for you, as for myself, is that Jesus will be at the centre of it, and that your Easter will be full of the joy of knowing His new life and resurrection power. May God bless you this Semana Santa... and may your Easter be a happy one!

I've been adopted!

If you receive my newsletters, or if you read any of my blog postings for last August, you’ll know that my moving from Africa to live back in Europe brought a considerable financial challenge with it. I don’t receive a salary for my work; instead I trust God to provide for all my needs. The most usual way that He does this is through financial gifts from Christian friends and family. Living in Europe is three or four times more expensive than living in Africa, and so I’ve needed to trust God for a pretty substantial increase in my monthly support.

Over the past couple of months, as I became aware that I’d been well and truly “adopted” by a stray cat, I realised that the responsible thing to do would be to have Tamba spayed, so that she wouldn’t have any more litters of kittens. But spaying a cat costs 80 - 100 euros down here, and I knew I couldn’t afford that sort of money - certainly not at a time when my monthly income was barely enough to cover the costs of rent, food and other more necessary living costs.

But even as I thought about this dilemma, I was reminded very clearly of something that happened back in the beginning of 2006, when I still lived in Cape Town. I received an email from a man I hadn’t yet met at the time (the husband of a friend) saying that he had received money for Christmas and, when he prayed, he felt that God told him to send the money for my dog. Well, this was rather mysterious, as there seemed to be no obvious reason why either of our two dogs would need such a large sum of money.

Just over a week later, we were out of town for a few days and a young friend was looking after our house and dogs. When we got home again, we discovered that one of the dogs had had an accident and that part of her beautiful collie tail had been broken off. She needed to have the infected part of the tail amputated so that the skin could be stitched over it again. And yes, you’ve guessed it: the cost of Zola’s operation was exactly the amount of money that my Scottish friend had sent “for my dog.”

Later that day, I was reading my Bible and I had to smile when I came across Psalm 36 vs 6: “You take care of both people and animals, oh Lord.” This rather unusual incident spoke to me very clearly that I have a heavenly Father who is interested in every single detail of my life - and even in providing enough money for me to take care of my animals.

Last month, as I reflected that I couldn’t justify spending money on something as unimportant and “unnecessary” as spaying a cat, I simply prayed: “Lord, you gave me a home in Cape Town and you even provided for my pets there. Now I’m transitioning to a new home in Spain and, if I’ve been permanently adopted by this cat, I know that I can trust You somehow to provide a solution for getting her spayed.”

I remembered that I had read an article in a local newspaper about an organisation that trapped, spayed and re-released feral cats, so I decided to try emailing a few animal charities in the area and asking if anyone knew anything about this group. Before very long I received an email from them, saying that they hold spaying sessions every four to six weeks and that they would be very happy to spay my cat simply for a donation. All I needed to do was wait until the kittens were weaned, and then make an appointment to take Tamba in for the operation. We’ll be doing it a couple of weeks from now, just before the LDC begins here in Spain, and around the time that the kittens will be going to their new homes.

It may seem insignificant or unimportant - after all, it’s only an animal - but this little incident reminded me yet again that I haven’t only been adopted by a cat. Like we read in several different Bible verses (Galatians 4 vs 5, for example) I have also been adopted into the family of God. I am His child and I have a heavenly Father who provides for all of my needs - even something as ordinary and unreligious as a spaying operation for a cat!

I don’t know what your needs are this week, and whether they seem big or small, important or not so important in the scheme of things. But I do know that, if we’re living our lives for God, He is faithful to take care of all kinds of practical needs that might otherwise be a concern for us. (Matthew 6: 33) You can trust Him to take good care of you and your needs too.

See how they grow...

For me, one of the most rewarding things about working with PCYM is seeing how the different students grow in their relationship with God and in the development of their ministry with young people. Since arriving back in Spain this weekend, though, I've enjoyed seeing a different kind of growth: the huge difference in Tamba's kittens during the two weeks that I've been gone. At six weeks old today, they are now incredibly cute and very lively. Sue has enjoyed being "grandma" while I was away - and seeing the kittens pass their mini-milestones of being weaned and toilet trained. In just two or three weeks' time, they'll be ready to leave mum and so we're now beginning to look for good homes for them.

Happy Mother's Day

The Norwegians had their Mothers' Day while we were there in February, and most of Europe will celebrate it in mid-May, but tomorrow is Mothers' Day in Scotland, where my Mum lives. Happy Mothers' Day to you, Mum, and to other mothers in the UK this weekend.

Meanwhile, back in Spain, Mama Tamba is being kept very busy. The kittens are four weeks old tomorrow and, having recently found their legs, are beginning to scurry and stumble around all over the place. I'm kind of sorry that I'll miss the next two weeks of cuteness, but Sue will be playing grandma while I'm away in the Netherlands for two weeks. Here's a picture of the proud Mama with one of the month-old babies. 

Of disks and diagnoses...

Well, thanks for your prayers. I saw the doctor again today, and the good news is that the disk isn't torn like it was three years ago. I won't need to spend any time in bed, and it won't prevent me from travelling to the Netherlands next weekend.

The doctor scared me at first, though. When she held my x-rays up to the light, she looked at me and just said, "Lo siento mucho," (which means "I'm really sorry.") Then she went on to tell me that I have chronic arthritis - together with a form of lumbar degenerative disc disease - and that all of the disks she could see were affected.

"Lo siento mucho," she repeated two or three times. Basically, there's nothing that can really be done at this stage, other than taking painkillers when it's unbearable, and trying to get plenty of non-weight-bearing exercise, like swimming, so that the surrounding muscles are kept as strong as possible.

Of course, I already knew that I had some form of arthritis; two doctors in South Africa had given me this diagnosis at the time when I was experiencing so much pain from an old neck injury. But I had seen a huge improvement in mobility and a considerable decrease in pain during 2007... and so it was rather disappointing to be reminded today that the condition of my spine still seems to be deteriorating. (During my last year in Cape Town, I needed to take painkillers almost every day; in contrast, I've only needed to take them a handful of times over the past eighteen months.)

The good news, however, is that I don't need to worry that I'm causing further damage by sitting too long (it often hurts when I sit) or by lifting my suitcase at the airport. I am thankful to the Lord that it isn't as much of a handicap now as it was just a few years ago, and I can only pray that it won't continue to degenerate too quickly. Thanks again for your prayers as I travel over the next few weeks.

Secrets and lies...

We watched an impacting film this week: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It's the story of a little boy, the son of a Nazi kommandant, who strikes up a friendship across the barbed wire fence with a little Jewish boy in an extermination camp. In case you haven't watched it yet, I won't give away the end of the story, but the movie is an interesting study of the nature of prejudice... and rather a graphic illustration of how keeping secrets from those closest to you can ultimately destroy them and lead to the loss of everything that you really care about.

The film-makers had made much use of vertical stripes - in the fence, on the banisters, in the trees of the forest, and in the uniforms of the camp inmates - to highlight the idea that secrets and lies can hold us prisoner just as much as prison bars can. It made me think again of the words that Jesus said in John 8 vs 32 - that if we know the truth, the truth will set us free.

Healthy Development

Thanks for your prayers while I was in Barcelona. I'm pleased to report that my disk injury didn't cause any trouble while I was there. It's still a little painful, though, so I'll try to rest it a bit more this week.

The seminar went well, and it was a privilege for me to be able to reach and influence Spanish families in this way. The short time available allowed us only to give a brief introduction to the vast area of understanding human development, and so they've asked if I could perhaps come back some time in the future to offer a longer seminar on this topic.

I've always been fascinated by the fact that God's plan for our healthy development as human beings seems to be the same, no matter what country or culture you are in. Whether you are in Africa or Asia, in Britain or in Spain, children develop in the same way and have the same needs at their different stages of growing up. As we understand these ages and stages, we can be more effective in sharing God's love and truth with them.

When I lived in Cape Town, and we got our two border collie puppies just fifteen months apart, we watched the similarities in their growing up and we used to joke that we would soon be able to give seminars on canine development too. Now, thanks to Tamba, I may soon be able to add feline development to my repertoire!! Did you know that newborn kittens double their birth weight during the first week of their life? They're typically around 3 - 4 ounces (100g) at birth, and have reached around 200g by the end of the first week. So it was kind of cute to come back home after Barcelona and see that the new babies were slowly beginning to look like cats and not just fur-balls. By next week, their eyes should be open and they will be beginning to stand up.

Recently I was reading the New Testament letter to the Hebrews. In chapter 5 vs 11-14 and chapter 6 vs 1, we see that God doesn't only have a plan for our physical development, but He cares about our healthy spiritual development too. He doesn't want us to be spiritual "babies" for our whole lives, but wants us to grow in knowing Him, understanding the Bible, hearing and obeying God's voice.  As we spend time with Him and read His Word regularly, He will help us to "grow up" in a healthy way and reach maturity in our relationship with Him.