Can a detour become a destiny?

Have you ever had life deal you a hard blow, something that took the feet out from under you and seemed to rob you of the future you had been expecting or hoping for?

All kinds of life events could fall into that category: a devastating accident; a debilitating illness or handicap; divorce or death of a spouse; losing your job or facing unjust opposition that sabotages your ministry calling and makes you feel that you've been robbed of your destiny...

In the apostle Paul's case, it was the opposition and unfounded accusations of jealous Jews that put an end to his ministry as a travelling missionary and church planter. Suddenly this man, an anointed preacher and discipler, found himself in prison, at the mercy of a whole series of weak and indecisive authorities. One of those rulers was the Roman governor, Felix (see post of 24th April), who kept Paul in prison for two years, even though he knew him to be innocent of the crimes he was accused of.  

Felix was succeeded by another governor, Festus (see Acts chapter 25) who also realised that there were no grounds, no proof, for the charges being brought against Paul. But, like Pontius Pilate before him, he didn't want to risk displeasing the people... and so, instead of proclaiming Paul innocent and setting him free, he began to think of sending him back to Jerusalem to stand trial there. Paul knew that this would mean his death (that there were plans to ambush and kill him along the road) and so he appealed to the emperor. This meant that he would need to be sent to Rome, to appear before Caesar.

All of this happened sometime between 41 - 44 AD. We know this because Festus has Paul also share his testimony with Herod Agrippa, and those were years when King Agrippa reigned in Judaea. If we consider that Paul's second letter to Timothy, where he speaks of his impending death, is thought to have been written in the mid 60s, it means that Paul was kept captive for at least 20 years. His long imprisonment marked the end of his ministry calling as a missionary and church planter. In fact, this might mean that only about half of Paul's ministry life was spent as a preacher and missionary, and the other half was spent in prison. What a devastating end to a promising and fruitful missionary career!

Or was it?

Paul's situation is an example of the fact that, even if there are no tangible/provable accusations against us, the enemy can sometimes still find ways to cast doubt on our character and put an end to the ministry trajectory we were on. We can't let that make us throw in the towel and think that all is lost.  Similarly if an accident or illness places limitations upon us and makes it seem impossible for us to continue with the things we felt God was calling us to do; we can't make the mistake of thinking that our life and our destiny are over. Rather we need to find out how God plans to redeem things, so that we can engage wholeheartedly with what He has for us instead.

In Paul's case, his imprisonment at this stage probably saved his life... and it opened up decades of "prison ministry" during which he shared the gospel with those around him, including rulers and authority figures in the world at that time. He also wrote letters to the believers in the young churches, letters that form much of the New Testament as we know it today and that are still used to equip disciples in the 21st Century.

It's always hard to come to terms with a ministry death or detour, especially one that doesn't seem to be part of God's will for us.*  But we must always remember that God is bigger and that He is never defeated. He is able to take life's blows and turn them into blessings. He is able to take life's detours and turn them into destinies.

* "Wait a minute," you might say. "Can things happen are are not part of God's will for us?"
More about that in the post below.

When God's will doesn't happen... and when bad things do

We serve an omnipotent (all-powerful) God. Nothing is impossible for Him; no challenge is too big for Him. There is nothing at all that He cannot do. We also know that God is good; that He is kind and loving in everything He does. Perhaps that's why we face a dilemma when life's tragedies hit us or those we love. We can find ourselves asking, "Where was God when this bad thing happened?"

In an attenpt to explain life's trials and injustices, some people have resorted to embracing the idea that what happened must have been "God's will." So your son ends up brain damaged when a drunk driver hits his car, and some well-meaning believer tries to reassure you that, "God knows best." Or a baby is born severely handicapped and people tell the parents that this must be God's will for their family. A young woman is murdered in the park or dies of cancer, and people say it must have been "her time."

The only problem with this approach is that it makes a mockery of what the Bible teaches about the nature and character of God. James, for example, tells us in chapter one of his New Testament letter, that all good gifts come from God, and that negative things - such as sin and temptation - never have their source in Him. It simply doesn't hold water to say that it's God's will for a child to die of starvation, or a young woman to be raped, or a middle aged father to be murdered at the railway station.

So, how do we explain the bad things that happen in the world around us? Can things happen that are not God's will?

Well, yes, of course! The Bible tells us that it is God's will for everyone to be saved (2 Peter 3: 9) .... but there are millions of people around the world who don't cooperate with that and who choose to live their lives without God.  The Bible tells us that it's God's will for us to rejoice at all times, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances (read 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 - 18) but sometimes we refuse to do that, preferring instead to wallow in our own worry and self pity. Yes, plenty of things happen that aren't God's will!

Why doesn't God step in a stop those things? Because our free will is one of his most precious gifts to us; it's part of what makes us created in the image of God. If God stepped in to prevent the alcoholic from taking another drink or to prevent the mugger from robbing an old lady in the street, His justice would require Him also to step in and prevent you or me when we're unthankful or when we're about to say unkind words that hurt someone in our lives. We'd no longer be human beings in the image of God; we'd be puppets or robots, and that was never God's purpose when He created mankind.

This means, however, that we will sometimes experience bad things because of our own wrong or sinful choices...  just as we will sometimes be the victim of the sins and selfish choices of others.  Those are the times when we need to reach out for the restoring and/or redeeming power of God. 

Sometimes God restores: the leukaemia is healed; the stolen car is found; the falsely accused pastor is vindicated and has a powerful ministry again...

But some damage, some consequences, are irreversible, and that's when we need to trust God to redeem: to give a  new life purpose to the athlete whose leg was amputated; to mend the broken heart of the person devastated by divorce, or, as in Paul's situation, to open new doors of ministry for the missionary who had to spend decades in prison.

As mentioned in the post above, sometimes God redeems to the extent that the detour ends up being a destiny. God sovereignly "adjusts" His will to bring about the truth of that oft-quoted scripture: He works all things for good for those who love Him. (Romans 8: 28) All things, even the bad ones!

For example, it was never God's will for the people of Israel to have a king. He Himself wanted to be their ruler, but the people were stubborn and insisted on having a king, just like all the surrounding nations. (You can read about this in 1st Samuel chapter 8 for example, where the people are warned about all the consequences there will be to having a king.) But once that happened, God's good and loving purposes for the people of Israel were not going to be thwarted. He had to adjust His original will, and so we could say that it became His will for Saul to become king, and later for David to become king.

Was it originally God's will for Paul's missionary calling to be interrupted and for him to spend half of his life in Roman prisons? I don't know the answer to that question.... but even if it wasn't what God wanted, history has shown us how He turned that around, making Paul's prison years some of His most fruitful, with a writing legacy that impacts the Christian world even two thousand years later.

If God could do that for Paul and for Israel, He can also do it for you or for me. We live in a fallen world and it's a fact of life that bad things will happen. (We ourselves even cause some of them!) But it doesn't matter what challenges or injustices life throws at us...... we can trust in the love and power of a redeeming God and, like Paul, we just might see a detour turned into a destiny or a disaster turned into a blessing from God.

Fit to go ?

Yesterday I finished work on the French version of the participants' home preparation manual for the Planting Together outreaches this summer. The booklet aims to help the young people get ready spiritually, mentally and physically for their weeks in Africa this coming August. It includes information about the tree planting, the medical team and other planned outreach activities, there are pages with Bible meditations (on various passages about trees and fruitfulness) that participants can use in their personal quiet times, and there are suggested research activities to help them find out more about the people, languages and culture of Senegal.

The booklet already exists in English (I wrote it earlier this year) and at this point we're evaluating whether it also needs to be produced in some of the other languages of our participants - such as Spanish, German or Chinese.

Now that the home preparation materials are available to team members, I'll be turning my attention to writing the quiet time journal that they will use during the camp and outreach itself. This will be a smaller format booklet... but possibly more work to produce, as it will include about three weeks of study material that the young people can use in their personal times alone with God while they are in Africa. Thanks for your prayers as I work on writing the booklet, first of all in English, over the coming weeks.

Divine disruption...

I've been reading this month in the New Testament book of Acts, and today I came to the part where a missionary, Paul, after being arrested and falsely accused, appears before the Roman governor, a man called Felix. You can read the story in Acts chapter 24.

After hearing both sides of the case, it seems as if Felix was fairly certain of Paul's innocence, but perhaps his fear of the people made him unwilling to stick his neck out and set the prisoner free. Instead, he gave him quite a bit of freedom, but kept Paul in prison for another two years. 

During that time, Felix sent for the apostle often, so that he could speak with him about the Christian faith. It even sounds as if he was fairly close to being convinced of the truth of the gospel, and that made him frightened. On one occasion, he sent Paul away, saying that he would call for him again "when it is more convenient."

There are probably plenty of people like that in the world today. Deep down, they actually believe that God exists, and they are intellectually persuaded of the truth of His claims, but they put off the decision for later, instead of making a commitment now.

But the truth is, it is never convenient to commit to Jesus; it is always going to disrupt our lives and turn things upside down, as He changes our priorities and our value system. Perhaps the most important question we will ever answer in life is whether we are willing to embrace that divine and dynamic disruption.

Sadly, greed and self interest also played a role for Felix. The text tells us that he kept inviting Paul to dialogue, because he hoped that there would be a bribe in it for himself. Likewise, many people today are more interested in, "what's in it for me?" and so they miss out on the most desirable disruption the world has ever known.

The power of community...

If you've been reading my newsletters for some years, you might remember that, shortly after we planted a local church in Alhaurin de la Torre, some of the church members started a charity called the ABC. It celebrated its tenth anniversary this month, and over that decade it has grown into a thriving food bank and charity shop that has the support of the town council and the local community. As well as distributing food packages to more than 300 families every week, and running a second hand clothes shop in the town centre, the ABC also has regular outreach breakfasts with the staff and volunteers (who are a mixture of believers and non-believers.)

My friend, Sarah, contacted me to tell me about a woman who was receiving food packages from the ABC and also coming regularly to the breakfasts. "She has problems with her dogs," explained Sarah. "She's part of a sports team, but she can never go away on a trip because the dogs attack every other dog or person that they meet, so she can't ask anyone to look after them or even to go to her house to take them out for a walk. So I told her I had a friend that is kind of a dog whisperer and that you would probably be able to help her rehabilitate them!"

With this somewhat limited information (Sarah had no idea if the two dogs were big or small; if they were Chihuahuas or Rottweilers) I agreed to phone the woman and meet with her. On our first encounter, I arrived at the nearby park and spotted this obviously nervous woman with two Spanish water dogs - that curly haired breed that is so popular in this part of the world. I approached her slowly, being careful not to make any sudden movements. Even so, the black dog suddenly flew at me and closed her teeth around my arm, while the brown dog barked furiously!

However, when she didn't actually bite me, that happily confirmed my suspicion that the dogs were reactive (fearful) rather than aggressive, and that they just needed some socialising with other more balanced dogs. After an hour and a half of walking and working with them, first with Buba and Nelson, and later with Bonnie, the transformation was nothing short of spectacular; they were calmly greeting other dogs in the park, and paying no attention at all when children ran screaming by. 

We continued their "therapy" with Buba and Nelson over the following week, sometimes walking around the park and sometimes heading out to the countryside. The owner had told me that her dogs had never been off-lead, as she was afraid they would run away. On our second time out in the countryside, she suddenly astounded me by asking, "Do you think I could let them run off leash with Nelson and Buba?" Before we knew it, her two dogs were happily chasing sticks, running around with my two, and being totally relaxed when other people with dogs big and small passed by. "This is amazing," the owner kept saying. "It's a miracle. In four days, these dogs are transformed."

"How do they behave now when you take them out alone?" I asked, and was only a little surprised when she answered, "Oh, they're just the same as they've always been." I realised that when they were alone with their owner, they were picking up on her anxious attitude and nervousness about all the previous bad experiences she'd had with them. But when they were with us, they were picking up the relaxed attitude of the rest of the pack, and behaving just like normal, balanced dogs.

When you think about it, it's just the same with us as human beings. We are influenced more than we realise by the people we spend our time with. If we hang out with negative, complaining people, we will tend to pick up that same pessimistic attitude. If the people who surround us are positive, thankful people, their outlook on life will tend to rub off on us.

That's why the apostle Paul, in his letters to the Corinthians warns them to be careful about who they spend time with. "Bad company corrupts good character," he says, as he urges the believers to be careful about spending time with people who will influence them towards sin, doubt or unbelief. If we surround ourselves with people of faith, we will find that our own faith will tend to grow stronger. In dog terms, we're tapping into "the power of the pack."

Jesus Himself spoke of the power of community, especially when it comes to prayer. He told us that when two or three believers agree together about something, what they ask for in prayer will be given to them. That's partly because of the anointing of unity, but also because praying together with someone else will usually tend to increase our faith, just as it also increases our motivation to grow in our relationship with God. (This is probably why our enemy the devil will do all he can to make us unwilling to pray out loud with other believers.)

Where are you linked in to life-giving community? Don't be like those two Spanish water dogs, whose fears and anxiety had dominated their lives for seven years. Tap into the power of the pack, and find friends who will strengthen your faith and help you grow in your walk with God. It will make all the difference.

Where am I placing my faith?

In the post above, I mentioned that I've been working with a lady in my town, helping to rehabilitate her two very fearful and seemingly aggressive dogs. At one point, I offered to feed and walk her dogs over a four day period, so that she could travel up to Tarragona for a sports competition that she was part of. We made an arrangement for me to visit her home, see where the food was kept and pick up a key.

"I'll have to put the dogs on the lead before you arrive," she said, "so that they won't fly at you when you come in the front door. I hope the black one won't get too nervous and pee on the floor!"

"No, it's better to leave them loose, then," I said. "They're not going to bite me."

I could tell, even over the phone, that the poor woman had trouble believing this. Her nervous dogs, already seven and eight years old, had always charged, barking furiously, at anyone who came into her home. When I arrived and came into her flat, I stopped the charging dogs in their tracks, commanding them to back off and sit down. Then, once I was ready to take them out for a walk, I made them sit down politely in front of the door, instead of charging excitedly out of the house and into the street.

The woman observed this in wide-eyed amazement, as if she was watching some kind of magic show. Grabbing her camera, she snapped pictures of her obedient dogs, so that she could send them to the women at the food bank breakfast, who had prayed with her for a doggy-solution, so that she could go to her sporting event. "This is unbelievable," she kept saying. "It's an answer to prayer. It's a miracle."

Well, no doubt, it was an answer to prayer, but I knew that there was no real "miracle" about it. I was simply completely confident in the fact that if I behaved appropriately, the two dogs would learn to respond appropriately. My faith and confidence were in canine psychology and not in any miracle working power.

A few days later, I was reading in the New Testament, and came to the part in Acts chapter 5 where it says that all kinds of signs and wonders followed the apostles' testimony and these miracles convinced crowds of people to come into the kingdom of God. It got me thinking, How much faith do I have that the Holy Spirit will still do supernatural signs today if I pray for someone to be healed or for some other situation where they need a miracle?  

I walked into that home with no doubt in my mind that the dogs would respond exactly as I expected. Do I have the same sort of confident expectation that God will move supernaturally in the 21st Century, or do I have more faith in dog psychology than I do in the power of the Holy Spirit?

It was a challenging thought, and my prayer for the rest of that week became, God, may my faith in your goodness and power be as unshakeable as my confidence in those dogs' ability to change.

Sun in Sevilla

In a whirlwind of international travel, I spent the first three days of April in four different countries! Leaving the USA on March 31st, I flew overnight to Holland and then directly onwards to Scotland. You can read more about the Minnesota trip in previous posts.

When I arrived in Scotland, my Dad was still in hospital, having been rushed in to the acute assessment unit the previous week. At first it seemed he'd had a mini stroke, but it turned out to be pneumonia and other infections. Once on intra-venous antibiotics, he recovered very quickly. I spent the first day of April visiting him in hospital, then was glad to see him discharged and allowed to come home, only hours before I flew back to Spain on April 2nd.

Scottish friends, Gillian and Dorothy, had been enjoying some holiday in Spain, staying in my house and looking after the cats while I was gone. It was fun to spend a few days with them when I got back home again. We took a day trip to Sevilla (photos above and below), the capital of Andalucía, and it was a beautiful sunny day, just like summer. We strolled around the old town, seeing the cathedral and various other famous buildings, visiting a little shop where they produced "turron" and other typical sweets, walked through a lovely park, and strolled along the bank of the Guadalquivir river in the warmth of the sun. 

It was a lovely day, well worth the two and a half hour drive to get there (and another two and a half hours to get home again. I was glad to have a friend to share the homeward drive.) The last time I'd visited Sevilla, back in 2012, it had rained for most of the day (that's the reason for the waterproof jacket I'm wearing in the photo that you may have seen recently on my prayer card and fridge magnet) and I was disappointed that we hadn't really been able to see much of the city. This time, it was so nice to take a relaxed stroll around the famous sights and eat our picnic in the warm sunshine.

The next day, we stayed closer to home, enjoying the typical Spanish breakfast of chocolate and churros, and taking the dogs for a walk through the fields covered with spring flowers after the recent rains. My friends flew back to Scotland at the end of the week,  and this week has seen me return to ongoing spring ministry commitments, including coaching, and working on writing materials for our summer outreach in Africa. Four rainy days kept me indoors, catching up on computer work, but thankfully some dry sunny days are back with us again.