Homeward bound...

On Friday morning, I left Gibraltar bright and early. It was time to head home again. Some of my other team mates had also been away this week and in the evening I was going to be picking two up from the airport and a third from the bus stop.  My first little side trip was to the hillside village of Casares. Over this decade of living in Spain, I've often seen it on postcards or featured in lists of the prettiest "pueblos blancos," but I'd never been there before. It had felt like a long way to drive to visit a small village that I could walk round in no time.

But I made the detour last week, and it was certainly worth it. It was a pretty little village and the drive up to it was also very scenic, with unusual rock formations a little bit like those of the Torcal national park. Once I got there, I was glad that my car is so tiny, because I had to drive downhill to enter the town, on a narrow street with a sign saying, "Warning. Narrow street. Less than 2 metres in places."

It was market day, and the locals were buying their fruit and vegetables. As for me, I headed up to the castle, of course, to see the amazing views of the surrounding countryside, visit the ruins, and see the (outside of the) old Church of the Incarnation that was destroyed in the 1930s during the Spanish civil war. It was only restored in 2005 and is now the Blas Infante cultural centre. (Blas Infante, known as the father of Andalucía, was born in Casares. He too was killed by the dictator Franco's forces in the 1930s, at the start of the civil war.)

Looking at a map, I saw what appeared to be another "wild swimming" location on the drive back down towards the coast. Read on in the post below to discover the surprise that lay in store for me.

Not so wild swimming

I spotted it in small print on the map - Baños de la Hedionda - and read that it was a bend in the Manilva River where sulphur springs bubbled up and caused the ancient Romans to build therapeutic baths to help heal skin conditions. And so I set off to find this ancient spa, expecting to find some river pools like I've seen in other locations this summer. I had to walk about half a kilometre from where I parked the car, and I knew when I was getting close - not only because I occasionally passed people walking back uphill with towels wrapped around them, but also because the sulphurous, slightly rotten-egg smell was soon noticeable.

Soon I arrived at a stretch of slightly cloudy river with shallow pools. A few people were dipping themselves in the water, and some others had smeared their bodies with thick grey mud. (But the mud fans were obviously foreigners who didn't understand Spanish and couldn't read the large sign saying that the mud had no beneficial properties whatsoever!)

I cooled off a bit in one of the pools (not deep enough for wild swimming, but okay for lying down and letting your body take in the "healing" effects of the sulphur. (The smell wasn't noticeable any more.) Then, before heading back to the car, I thought I'd look inside the old Roman bath house in case there was anything worth seeing. To my amazement, I found that ancient stone steps (as well as a set of modern metal ones) led down to deep underground pools, too deep to stand, where you could tread water in the turquoise waters beneath the archways of the old bath house. A unique experience, and one I was glad to have discovered. A touch of history combined with some pseudo wild swimming.

My last port of call, however, was going to be a well known wild swimming destination that I'd wanted to see for some time. Read on in the post below for more about that.

The gorge was gorgeous - wild swimming adventures

When I first began investigating "wild swimming" locations for this summer, one name kept cropping up in things that I read: the Guadalmina River Canyon. I wanted to make a detour and check out this activity beauty spot for myself.... and I wasn't disappointed. Just outside the little town of Benahavis, there's a spot where the Guadalmina River forms a deep gorge. At either end of the gorge are deep pools, just perfect for swimming. At the top end, the pools are surrounded by rocks, from where the more intrepid bathers can leap into the crystalline waters below.  (See video at the end of this post.) At the bottom end, although the deep pool is also formed by rocks, the river sort of comes to an end there in summer, and so the remaining river bed forms kind of a beach.

Between the upper and lower pools is a stretch of about one kilometre of river. You can navigate all the way up or down the gorge, sometimes walking in waist deep water, sometimes clambering over some rocks, and sometimes having to swim because the water gets too deep in places. Later I looked down from a high bridge and I could see people and dogs, swimming down the river. It looked like a lot of fun, and I immediately decided I need to put it on my bucket list and come back sometime to go down the canyon with a friend.

As it was, because I had my phone with me and had no way of keeping it dry, I had to content myself with swimming in the pools and staying within sight of my shorts and little bag on the rocks. Even so, the water was lovely; not as cold as you usually expect from rivers, and the surrounding scenery was stunning. What a beautiful spot and a wonderful end to my three days of adventures.

Knowing that the coastal roads would be busy on a Friday afternoon, I drove back home over the mountains to Alhaurín, where I had plenty of time to shower and have some dinner before picking up the rest of my team mates who were also returning from their travels.

With the adventures behind me now, I feel thankfulness to God for His protection on the journey and for the beauty of this country I live in.  (Spain is so much more than sunburned tourists lying on the beaches of the Costas.) It seems amazing that so much could be seen and done in only three days:

• I drove around 800 km 
• I traversed stunning mountains and beautiful coastline
• I swam in two different rivers and in the ocean
• I drove through two Spanish provinces - Málaga and Cádiz
• I crossed the Gibraltar border four times
• I visited four pueblos blancos (white medieval villages)
• I drove through three national parks
• I saw lots of beautiful and interesting things that I hadn't known before

Not bad for a three day break, a few little side trips while delivering a box to missionaries in Gibraltar.  I'm so glad I dared to live my own adventure. 

As we enter a new week, my time will be given again to coaching missionaries, preparing resources for an upcoming gathering in Thailand, and preparing teachings for an October trip to Germany. Thanks for your prayers.

 

Are you faithful to your calling?

Not long ago, I got into conversation with a new person at church. On discovering that I'm a missionary, this person commented, "It must be wonderful to have a sense of calling. I've never had a call from God."

To me, this is a sad comment, because it reveals such a complete misunderstanding of what the Bible teaches about the call, or calling, of God's people. So often, when we speak of someone being "called," we're thinking of God guiding someone to go to a particular part of the world or to get involved in a particular kind of ministry activity. But that's only part of the story. The truth is that all of us are called to know God, to reflect His character and to make Him known to others. It doesn't matter whether you do that close to home or whether you travel far away; it doesn't matter whether you're a pastor or missionary, or whether you're a mechanic or a hairdresser. We're all called to love and follow Jesus in the circumstances of our everyday lives.

This week, I was reading in the first chapter of Paul's first letter to the early Corinthian believers. In the first verse, Paul speaks of his own calling: to be an apostle and an evangelist. And then he speaks of the calling of the Corinthian Christians that he's writing to. Right there in the second verse (1 Cor 1: 2) it says, "You have been called by God to be His own holy people."

I couldn't help noticing that, first and foremost, our calling is not about what we should do or where we should go. Those things are important, but they come later. First and foremost, our calling is about who we should be and what we should be like: we are called to be holy because without holiness, other people will not be able to see the Lord through us. (Hebrews 12:14)

I believe with all my heart that, the more we focus on this primary calling of becoming more like Jesus, the more we will grow in hearing God's voice and discovering everything else that is part of His will for our lives.

Being a little wild...

In recent years, you may have heard or read about "wild swimming." It probably sounds like the latest new water sport, but in fact it's nothing more than putting a label on what everyone used to do before the existence of indoor swimming pools. Nowadays, especially in cold places like the UK, when someone says that they're going swimming, they probably mean that they're heading down to their local sports centre where the indoor pool has heated, chlorinated water. "Wild swimming," on the other hand, involves swimming outdoors - in rivers, lakes or in the sea.

Here in Southern Spain, every tourist hotel, even in the coastal resorts, has its own swimming pool. Go to any beach, however, and you'll still see that tourists are roasting in the hot sunshine and engaging in the original wild swimming: taking a dip in the sea.  Preferring to avoid the sunburned, half naked masses, I usually like to head inland to one of our "embalses" - the turquoise lakes that serve as reservoirs for much of Andalucía. When I first moved here, my friends had a border collie, and swimming with her in the El Chorro lake reminded me a lot of swimming with my border collies on the farm dam in Cape Town.

Normally my parents come to spend part of the summer here in Spain, and I plan in some holiday time to play tour guide and take them to different places around the region. It looks as if they're not going to be able to come this year, and so I've planned a different approach to "holiday" this summer. I'm continuing with my coaching appointments and other ministry commitments right through the summer months of July and August, but I'm planning in some free days now and then to visit local beauty spots and explore places I haven't been to before. And I decided it could be fun to combine my dog-walking with wild swimming on some of these half-day excursions. Nelson (the black labrador that I've been walking for the past year) is my adventure buddy of choice, as he just has the kind of personality that's always up for a new challenge. Clambering over rocks, hiking through forests and splashing in lakes are right up his street.  Our first swimming trip was to Pantano del Agujero, a small lake that I discovered only recently, just north of the city of Malaga. A river was our next choice and, as mentioned in a recent post, we found our way to the pretty Barranco Blanco, a river and waterfall area that featured in an old television shampoo advert.

Last week, we headed back to the same area, but further downstream, where we hiked down through the forest and came to a spring called the Poza de los Huevos. In centuries past, people came there to dip in the cloudy water of the pool, as it is a natural source of manganese mineral water and was effective in healing skin conditions. Right next to the spring, however, is a small waterfall and a pretty natural pond of crystal clear water. There, Nelson and I had our third experience of "wild swimming." That particular river changes its name a few times on its journey. Up at Barranco Blanco, it's the Alaminas River. Further downstream, it's the Pasadas River... and by the time it reaches the sea, it has been joined by other tributaries and is called the Fuengirola River.

This week's adventure involved a different river, though the river wasn't where we did our swimming this time. Alhaurín is one of the towns of the Guadalhorce Valley, and yesterday we headed down to the Desembocadura del Guadalhorce - the mouth of the Guadalhorce River. Although right on Malaga's doorstep, it's a wetlands area, known for its birds and wildlife, so we decided to go and check it out.

The river is fast flowing and no longer so crystal clear by this point, so it wasn't suitable for swimming, but we did have a pleasant walk all along the river bank, past a few lagoons, and finally arriving at the sea. As luck would have it, we ended up on Guadalmar beach, which is one of the few Malaga beaches that allows dogs to run and play off-leash, and to swim in the water with their owners. So Nelson and I were able to do some wild swimming after all. (Nelson swam more than I did, as the water was a bit cold for me at that time in the morning.) After walking all along the beach (and playing with plenty of other dogs) we turned back into the delta area. Dogs had to be on the lead at this point, so that they wouldn't run around and disturb the otters. Sadly, we didn't see any otters, but we did see plenty of interesting birds before completing our circuit and arriving back at the car again. We'd had a good walk, and had added a fourth wild swimming destination to our list.

Reaching both halves of the world...

Statistics show that around 80% of all responses to the gospel are made by children and teenagers. Only around 20% of people come to know the Lord when they are “older.”  Any church or mission that wants to be fruitful for God has to tailor their ministry to serve the needs of young people and families, because that’s where most of the harvest is going to be. As a well known video of the past decade expressed it, we need to think smaller and aim lower. That’s why I’ve dedicated my whole life to working with children, youth and families, as well as equipping workers to reach the emerging generations. 
(If you want to watch the whole video, you can see it by clicking here: World Congress on Great Commission )

But 2017 statistics tell us that 51% of the world’s population is under the age of 21. What hope is there for the other half of the world, the people who reached adulthood and middle age without ever making  a decision to follow Jesus? Probably most of us have family members, friends and neighbours who are in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. How realistic is it that we can keep hoping and praying for their salvation?

Well, Jesus set the example for us. While he spent much of His time with the young - the disciples, who were probably mostly teenagers (as evidenced by the fact that most of them weren't married yet) and the children and families in the crowds that came to hear Him preach  - He didn’t give up on the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the “sinners” and the religious people who were set in their ways. He kept reaching out to everyone, knowing that no one is ever beyond the reach of God’s love and grace.

This week, while reading and meditating in Colossians chapter 4 (see verses 2 and 12 - 13 in particular) I became freshly aware of the importance of fervent, discerning prayer if we are to see the non-believers around us really open their hearts and minds to the claims of God. When Paul tells the Colossians that Epaphras “wrestles in prayer” or “prays hard” for them, the Greek word is agōnizomai, which means to agonise or to engage in a battle.

In this season of living in Spain, God has brought many non-believers across my path. I chat daily with around a dozen people who are out walking their dogs; I interact regularly with half a dozen people who live in my neighbourhood. But it hasn’t escaped my notice that most of these people are in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. They’re not in the age bracket that most usually responds to the gospel.

Does that mean it isn’t worth the effort? No, it means that even more effort is needed in prayer and spiritual warfare. I want to live wisely, making the most of every opportunity (Colossians 4 vs 5) so that my conversation will be gracious and attractive, giving the right response to everyone. (Colossians 4 vs 6). I ask you, my friends and prayer partners to pray that God will give me many opportunities to speak about His amazing plan concerning Christ (vs 3) and to please pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. (vs 4) I invite you to devote yourself to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart (vs 2), not only for the people I interact with daily, but also for the friends, family members and neighbours that God has placed within your own circle of influence.

You could continue to pray for my neighbour who was recently diagnosed with cancer, that her heart will become softer towards the gospel. You could pray for the Cuban lady who’s been joining me on my early morning dog walks. Then there’s the 70 year old Spanish lady who has bad diabetes and whose husband suffers from Parkinson’s ...  I’ve been training their young German Shepherd dog to walk politely on the lead, so that they’re not afraid to venture out on walks with him. This lady, too, has been regularly coming on long walks with me this summer and this gives us plenty of opportunity for conversation.

These people are not young, but they still need Jesus. Please pray with me for God’s love and truth to touch them and to make a difference in the everyday situations that they face.

Thank you… and please know that you are also in my prayers. I pray that you too will know open doors and that God will touch the lives of the people that you know and love.

Running with the pack

A new "pupil" has joined the pack for our daily walks.  German Shepherd, Hugo, has just turned one year old, but he had never been out of his own garden. His elderly owners were afraid that he might be too strong for them and pull them off their feet; they had discovered that he barked and lunged whenever he saw other dogs.

After evaluating him, I was able to reassure them that he wasn't an aggressive dog at all, but was simply a "reactive" dog. Fear and nervousness was causing him to respond when other dogs rushed to their gates to bark at him. I offered to take him out with my gang, to get him used to meeting other dogs and to teach him to walk politely on the lead without pulling.

It's only been a week and a half, but already he has turned out to be a dream of a dog: quiet, submissive, obedient, and very polite when meeting the many other dogs we meet on our walks. His owners are absolutely thrilled. The lady, who's in her seventies, comes with us on our morning walks (which allows us to have long conversations) and in the evening I take the four dogs by myself.

With the sun beating down for most of the day, I'm having to be creative when it comes to finding places and times for us to get our exercise. The forest continues to be a good option. This morning, just after sunrise, I drove to a wooded spot not far from Villa Rehoboth, and we went for a long walk through the shady woodland. There were some stunning views across the countryside to the backdrop of the mountains (the Sierra Nevada, which is covered in snow during the winter time.)
If you know Villa Rehoboth, where we had the leadership retreat centre, you might be able to spot it here in the distance. (You can click on the photo montage to make it larger.)

The forest is an endless panorama of innumerable different shades of green until, every now and then, some oleander bushes growing up from the river gorge provide a sudden splash of a different colour.

My summer ministry commitments this year include quite a lot of coaching and fair bit of computer work as I prepare for international travels coming up in the autumn. This means that my schedule is relatively flexible for a change, so I can plan my daily exercise (dog walking and swimming) around the different work tasks that need to be completed each day.

I've discovered that Nelson enjoys swimming too, so we've gone on a couple of little hikes to places where we can swim in a lake or a river. Last week we hiked down to a beauty spot with a lovely waterfall that had featured in an old shampoo advert of the 1980s. Nelson, as you'll see in the insert, thoroughly enjoyed splashing in the water and fetching sticks.

It's unusual for me to be in Spain for the whole summer; usually I'm in West Africa for outreach, but there will be no Planting Together initiative this year, as we prepare and gear up to take a much bigger group of participants down to Senegal in 2019. My first trip this year will only be at the end of August, when I head to Thailand for an international missions gathering. In the meantime, I'm coaching missionaries on four continents, and enjoying making time for swimming and walking with the dogs.