The week that was

Well, what a week we've had, during our first days together as an LDC group! As volcanic ash continued to cause airport closures in Europe and flight cancellations around the world, only eleven of our delegates (less than half of the class) were able to arrive in time for the start of the course. As the week went on, I felt as if I was constantly sending and receiving emails.... as people got in touch to let us know when their flights had been rescheduled, re-cancelled and rescheduled yet again.

We had several creative times of prayer during the week, as we trusted God to make a way for those who had not yet been able to join us. He spoke to us about opening "corridors" for them, and we expressed our faith in this word by praying with enthusiasm and with many symbolic actions. For example, one day we all lined up and formed a corridor - with gaps in the line-up representing those who were stranded in airports around the world. We wrote the names of the missing people on pieces of card and put them outside; then, as we prayed for them by name, we carried those pieces of card along the corridor and right into our midst. Someone made a video clip of what we were praying and doing, and we emailed that to our missing delegates, together with some of the Bible verses and other impressions we had received from God when we prayed. Later, several of the delegates emailed back to say that these words and the movie clip had really helped to boost their faith.

One lady said that she had almost given up hope of being able to get to Spain for the course, and then she watched the video and saw her name being carried into the room and cheered on by those who were praying. It encouraged her not to give up or lose faith, but to keep pressing in and trusting for the "corridor" to open up. In fact, she and another delegate were able to fly out of Copenhagen airport when it opened up for just s twelve hour window the next day.

Seven others arrived in Malaga within twenty four hours of that prayer time, and all of them had their own encouraging stories and testimonies to share. A further nine people arrived on Saturday and Sunday, and our group is almost complete now. The family from Tajikistan saw God's provision when a taxi driver refused to take their money for driving them to the airport, and then they and their children were among the only seven people that the airline put up in a hotel for a day and a half. The three coming from Canada were originally re-scheduled to arrive only today, but felt that they should call the airline again, and ended up travelling three days earlier. A lady from Romania arrived at two o'clock in the morning, after travelling three days and two nights on a bus. Another passenger was making the long bus trip in order to see his girlfriend in Spain.... so our delegate was encouraged by the thought that she was making this gruelling trip because of her love for Jesus.

So we had many trips to and from the airport this week, and much rejoicing every time someone new arrived to join us. The Indian family are now the only ones who haven't managed to get here yet... and they're being told that they might not get flights until next weekend. We're praying for wisdom as to the best way forward in this situation.

Two other arrivals this week were picked up not from the airport, but from the shipping port. My parents are on a cruise ship at the moment and their first port of call last week was here in Malaga. I was able to pick them up from the harbour and bring them to Alhaurin for a few hours, so that they could meet some of the staff and delegates from the LDC and see the new house I moved into a few weeks ago.

As we move into a new week of LDC, we're looking more closely at the different processes God uses to develop Christian leaders throughout their lifetime. Challenges in life are one of the things that help us to grow, and the unexpected volcano situation has given us a very recent example of how God's faithfulness can be experienced even in difficult circumstances. Thanks once again for your prayers.

Faith and not frustration

As the day draws near for LDC to begin, one delegate after another is emailing us to say that their flight has been postponed or cancelled. We were expecting the arrival of more than 35 people this weekend, but we're not at all sure how many of them will actually be here by tomorrow evening. Some are stranded in airports around the world, waiting to hear when they can find another flight, while others have already been told that they can't be rescheduled until next weekend - which would mean missing the first week of the course. Still others have decided to try alternative ways of getting here: like by car, bus or train.

This morning we got together to pray as a staff team, and the Lord spoke to us through the passage in Romans 4 - where it says that Abraham trusted God to do the impossible, even in the face of challenging circumstances. We prayed that the delegates would be filled with faith rather than with frustration, and that they would see God at work in their situation - whether in the provision of alternative ways of getting here, or perhaps by using the delays to bless them in their own lives or in their contact with other stranded travellers.

One encouraging answer to prayer, though, is that the Indian family got their passports and visas at the eleventh hour and are now hoping to be able to start on their journey tomorrow.

Our theme for this school is from Ephesians 3: 20 - that God is able to do abundantly more than we could ask for or even imagine. Amidst all these unexpected challenges, we are trusting that these families and individuals will see God do amazing things for them, in them and through them.

Cold Turkey!

A friend of mine (I won't disclose her identity here, but some of you may have already read this news on her Facebook) bought a baby turkey this week. I think the official plan is that he'll be fed and fattened up all year, and be ready for eating when Christmas time comes around. However, I secretly suspect that she bought him because she felt sorry for him. He (or she) was all alone and didn't have many feathers. So, because he's a little threadbare and the nights are still cold here in Spain, my friend has been giving this little half-bald turkey a hot water bottle to sleep with at night. Yes, it gives a whole new meaning to "cold turkey" !

I'm not convinced that she's going to be able to be nice to him all year and then slaughter him when it's time to think about Christmas dinner. However, another friend - on hearing my misgivings - said, "Why ever not? That's what Satan does to people all the time: he appears to be giving people a good life, but all the time he's really planning to destroy them in the end." (I hasten to clarify that he was not comparing my other friend with the devil!!)

Our little turkey friend hasn't been given a name yet. Maybe we should call him something like "Roast Dinner" so that he has no illusions about his destiny. (Of course, if he turns out to be female and produces eggs that are twice the size of hens' eggs, he - I mean she - may earn herself a different future.)

Standing on the Word

This weekend, when I was reading the Old Testament book of Ezra, I was struck by a short phrase that was repeated several times in chapter 7. It's said of Ezra that "the hand of God was with him" or "the gracious hand of the Lord was upon him." That maybe sounds sort of quaint or old-fashioned, but each time it's said, it's offered as an explanation of why Ezra was successful in what he did. I found myself praying that as a prayer for my own life: Lord, please let your hand be on me , so that I can live a life that bears good fruit for your kingdom.

Then I came to verse 10, and I recognised it as a verse that I had written down in my journal when I was sixteen or seventeen years old. It says that Ezra had devoted his life to studying God's Law, to applying it first in his own life, and then to teaching it to others. I remembered, as a teenager, telling the Lord that I wanted to adopt this verse as my personal life-philosophy and that I wanted always to live a life that was firmly grounded in His Word. Re-reading that verse this weekend, it struck me that Ezra's commitment to the Word was probably a big part of the reason why God's hand was on his life.

Several decades have passed since I first noticed this verse, and hopefully I have continued to grow and mature in understanding God's Word and putting it into practice. I'm also thankful for the many times I have had the privilege of teaching the Bible to others, both young and old. (This week, for example, I'm teaching in a discipleship training school here in Spain; teaching about what it means to have a "worldview" that is based in Biblical truth.)

My prayer is that - like Ezra - I'll always be faithful not only to study and teach His Word, but also to stand firmly upon it and apply it daily in my own life.

New experiences...

Well, just like the title of this blog, I'm now back in Europe again. At the time of writing, I've been up for around 36 hours, but I'm forcing myself to stay awake until this evening, so that I can avoid getting jet lag. Yesterday seemed like a long day because we had to leave the hotel so early and had a wait of more than seven hours at Sao Paulo airport. I was with a group of friends from Switzerland, England and Paraguay, who all had children with them, so we had to find creative ways of keeping these younger ones entertained throughout the day. Someone switched on their computer to show some videos for a while, and we were quite a crowd watching cartoons in the departure lounge.

I had some work to do in preparation for the leadership development course that begins in just a few weeks time, so at one point I switched on my computer and found a nearby spot to sit and do some work. Ten year old Jordan came up to me and told me that I "looked like an angel," and when I asked why, he told me that my computer was so shiny and my face was so white against the backdrop of the "big brown nudes." I turned around and found that I had set up office in front of a huge bronze statue representing motherhood and multiplication (or something like that.) Hopefully this is prophetic of good things that God plans to do in our midst during this year's LDC.

With the King's Kids ILA behind us now, there are a number of new experiences that remain in my memory from this time in Brazil. Two of these were new taste experiences: I tried, and enjoyed, eating sweetcorn ice cream. (Yes, real sweetcorn! It was yellow ice cream with the texture of liquidised corn kernels.) It might sound disgusting to you, but it turned out to be surprisingly good. I've always enjoyed sweetcorn as a vegetable, and now I can enjoy it as ice cream too. I also noticed lots of Brazilians drinking a green coloured juice, and when I enquired what it was, they told me that it was pineapple with mint. This too sounded rather a strange combination, but when I tasted it I found it to be delicious and I'll definitely be trying it out this summer in Spain.

Perhaps my strangest new experience during the ILA was the fact that I found myself, for the first time in decades, representing Europe instead of being there as a representative of the KKI ministry in Africa. This felt very strange indeed, especially when we had a night where the Africans were inviting the rest of the world to come and partner with them in reaching their continent. Some of the Africans expected that I would be part of their group for that, and it felt strange to remind them that I no longer live in Africa (even though my heart is still very much there) but am back in Europe now.

Some years ago, I realised that I had flown into Cape Town airport more than into any other airport in the world (nearly 50 times in total.) With all my PCYM travels last year, I'm now beginning to get used to flying into Málaga airport instead. (This morning was my 13th time.) But another new experience awaited me when I got back to Málaga today. After years of building, the new airport had finally opened while I was gone. Instead of arriving in our usual, slightly old fashioned airport, I found myself in a huge, spacious terminal - just like the large modern airports in Madrid and Barcelona. Seems like they're still sorting out the logistics of it, though: the friend who picked me up from the airport found that there was no way for cars to get to the arrivals area, and I had to meet him at the departures instead. We've decided we'd better make a visit to the new airport next week and familiarise ourselves with it before we have to pick up nearly forty people who'll be arriving next month for LDC.

The Exodus begins

Our ILA finished last night and now the mass departures have begun. Transporting more than 300 people to the airport (it's more than a 2-hour drive from Caraguatatuba to Sao Paulo) is quite an undertaking, so a large group of us will be leaving on the 8 am bus this morning.... even though some of us are only flying at 5 pm. As we return to where we came from (more than 40 nations) we have been challenged to lay a strong emphasis on prayer, and to continue with a daily lifestyle of "generations living the kingdom of God."

Drop me a line and let me know if you manage to spot me in the group photo above!!

Living the Kingdom

Our international leadership assembly got off to a good start on Friday, and we're now almost half way through our time together. The theme of the ILA is about linking the generations and together living out the kingdom of God in our daily lives. So, on Saturday we looked at what it means to live the kingdom of God as an individual, yesterday we considered how we can live for God as a whole family, and today we talked about how individuals and families can live the kingdom of God in the context of their local church fellowship. Tomorrow's theme is about how we can be a demonstration of God's kingdom in our own town or neighbourhood, and on Wednesday we'll be thinking about what it means to reach out and take the kingdom of God to the nations.

One of the fun aspects of the conference for me has been the opportunity to reconnect with different ethnic groups and language groups that I've worked with in the past. One day I was invited to join the Africans as they gathered together; another day I was invited to join a meeting of all the French speakers from around the world. One morning I translated the plenary speaker (from French to English) and one evening I translated someone leading a prayer time (from Spanish to English.) It's also been fun to join in worship together with different cultures from around the world - sometimes with the Brazilians leading us in Portuguese worship songs, and sometimes with the Africans leading us in enthusiastic and energetic dance.

As well as worshipping together, praying together, and listening to the words that different speakers have prepared, we've also had lots of time to process and apply these things in smaller groups, and to take part in a wide variety of workshops on different topics relating to the overall theme. There's a sense that God is moving among us, and we look forward to walking even further in this journey over the coming days.