A stake in the ground.... literally!

Tomorrow is an anniversary: it will be exactly two years since I stopped writing my barbinafrica blog and began writing this backineurope blog instead. This one has nearly a hundred posts at the moment, and so I'll be taking some time soon to go back and "tidy up" - deleting some of the early posts from my "back to Europe" journey.

If this blog is almost two years old, that means that it's exactly two years today since I left South Africa, and so you might be surprised to hear that I still really miss Cape Town a lot! I haven't lived in Spain long enough for it to feel totally like home yet, and so I often still have a lingering sense of homesickness for Cape Town. I had lived there longer than anywhere else in the world and had embraced the South African people and culture as my own. In this "back in Europe" season of my life, I am enjoying learning Spanish and I am on a journey of getting to know the people and culture of Spain, so it's strange to sometimes still feel like a refugee whose "real home" is down in South Africa.

During May this year, I was reading the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, and it was interesting to see how God sometimes asked the prophet to do something symbolic (such as breaking a clay pot, wearing an ox yoke, or buying a field) to represent something that was going to happen. The twenty ninth chapter quotes a letter that Jeremiah wrote to the Jews who were in exile in Babylonia. These refugees were still missing their "real home" back in Jerusalem, and so Jeremiah told them to do a number of things that would symbolise their commitment to settle down and work for the good of the new nation that they were living in. Among other things, he urged them to, "Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them."

Jeremiah 29:5

Later that day, this verse kept coming back to mind, and I had the strange thought of doing something that would symbolise my commitment to making a new home here in Spain. I couldn't plant a garden, because our house doesn't have one, so I decided to buy a couple of tomato plants and plant them in a bucket up on the roof terrace. A few weeks have passed and, as you can see in the pictures, my plants have been growing a little every day. The first two tomatoes appeared recently, and so I may soon be able to "eat the fruit that you grow."

It's just two tomato plants in a bucket but, in a symbolic way, it's a stake in the ground to say that Spain is my home now. In a strange way, allowing myself to be adopted by a stray cat (see previous postings, like this one, for example) was another way of saying that this nation is becoming my home.

Some new steps in settling down and making Spain home still lie ahead. My present flatmate is returning to the UK soon, and so I'll be looking for a new house to live in when our lease on this house expires at the end of August. I'm also still looking for a suitable car (with increased funds, after receiving a number of financial gifts for my recent birthday!) Please join me in praying that I'll find the right house and car over these summer months. I know that they will be further stakes in the ground when it comes to feeling that this beautiful nation is becoming my home.

Happy Father's Day

It's Father's Day here in Europe. My Dad, who had two brain operations around Christmas time, has been slowly recovering his strength again since then. Thank you to everyone who was praying for him at the time. My parents and my eight year old niece will be coming down from Scotland to Spain for two weeks' holiday at the beginning of August, and we're looking forward to doing some fun and relaxing things then.

Back to back and B2b

PCYM finished on Friday, and that evening I travelled to Amsterdam to visit some friends who were part of this year's LDC in Spain. These two South American ladies work in the city with street people and prostitutes, so this was an opportunity for me to see their ministry and take some time to catch up with their news.

Then on Saturday I was up bright and early to head for Amsterdam airport and catch my flights back to Madrid and Málaga. The first flight was delayed by more than an hour, and I thought I wouldn't make my connection in Madrid, but fortunately - because my knee injury is playing up again - they met me at the plane and rushed me in a wheelchair from one boarding gate to the other. So I reached my second flight just in time and arrived back in Spain yesterday at dinner time.

The B2b staff had already begun meeting to pray and plan for the two-week young leaders' course that we are running here in Alhaurín. (No, B2b doesn't stand for "back to back." I wouldn't normally have planned to work with two training schools so close together, but it just happened that B2b was scheduled to begin immediately after our third PCYM block came to an end.) B2b stands for, "Be the leader that God wants you to be," and it's a foundational, inspirational course for young leaders aged around 18 - 25.

So last night we went out for "tapas" (Spanish snacks like calamari, baby octopus, roast potatoes, chorizo, chicken pieces...) and ice cream with our B2b staff team of nine people. The students are all arriving this afternoon and the course actually starts with a late afternoon welcome and orientation time.

Now that the hot summer days have arrived here in Spain, our Sunday evening church service only begins at 7.00 instead of at 6.00. This allows people to make the most of their family time on Sunday - going to the beach, or whatever - before coming together as a congregation to worship the Lord. After two weeks in the Netherlands, I'm looking forward to singing worship songs in Spanish again. Three new believers are being baptised tonight and so it will be a time of testimony and celebration.

Genuinely surprised!

I'm co-leading this Principles in Child and Youth Ministry school with a Swedish friend called Ingela. She was a student on a PCYM that I led in Scotland - back in 1991 - and it's been a lot of fun, nearly two decades later, to lead this European PCYM together.

Both of us turned 50 at the beginning of May: I on the 4th, and Ingela just one day later on May 5th. Now that more than a whole month has passed, my birthday was not at all in my mind when some of the PCYM students asked if we could come over to their place for a surprise get-together this evening. So I was genuinely surprised when it turned out to be a double 50th birthday party with snacks and gifts for Ingela and myself.

I've always imagined that surprise parties cannot really be a surprise, and that the person must surely suspect something is afoot. But my South African friends caught me totally off guard when they threw a surprise braai (barbecue) for my fortieth birthday, and now I've been surprised again with a belated 50th party. Maybe I'll not be so unsuspecting when it comes to my sixtieth!!

In some ways, the biggest surprise of all was that my 50th birthday found me back in Europe. I would never have suspected that at all at the time when I was celebrating my fortieth. But, when I had my thirtieth birthday in Europe, it's equally true that I would never have imagined I'd be living in Africa when it came to my fortieth. And so, now in 2009, I'm not sure how confident I would be to predict where this next decade might take me.  

Tonight, at the birthday party, one of the people in the group asked me if I have any dreams or desires for this next decade of my life. And, to be totally honest, the biggest desire of my heart is that I would "finish well" - that I would continue to be sensitive and obedient to God's direction and never settle for second best. Studies show that only 30% of Christian leaders finish the race well. My heart's prayer is that I would be among the 30%.

S-PCYM

Our so-called "special" child and youth ministry school is now in its third block, and we're back in the Netherlands with the same twenty students that have been part of the course since the beginning of this year. During this two-week block, we're looking at how to understand and work with children and young people of different ages.

It's been raining every day since we arrived here, and so it's quite an adjustment from the warm weather that we'd been having in Spain. I'm not used to wearing a coat or needing so many covers on my bed. But it's nonetheless good to come together again with these students and to dedicate some more weeks to encouraging and equipping them for their ministry with children and youth.

Hallo and goodbye

How time flies! The first week of the LDC is already behind us. The delegates arrived last weekend and we've had a very full first week with wonderful times of teaching, prayer, worship and personal ministry. We've also enjoyed a week of lovely weather, eating our meals outside in the sunshine. Five weeks of LDC still lie ahead of us, with teaching and application on a wide variety of subjects relating to spiritual leadership.

Meanwhile, back at the "animal adoption centre" in Generalife Street, Tamba has had her spaying operation and has recovered well. Even as we've been saying "hallo" to all the LDC delegates, we are hoping that we will soon be saying "goodbye" to all the kittens! They are particularly cute and are now at the optimal age for going to their new homes, and so we're really hoping that they will leave us very soon. We've put notices up in all the local veterinary surgeries, but the busy LDC schedule means that we're not at home very much these days and so it's not easy for people to reach us by telephone if they want to come and choose a kitten. I'm hoping that we might get a few phone calls even this weekend.

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!