Christmas in Alhaurín

Perhaps not quite as spectacular as the crowd that greeted the turning on of Málaga's Christmas lights…. but Alhaurín also does Christmas in style, as you can see in this video. It has some lovely aerial shots of the town that has been my home for the past seven years.

Christmas is coming….

More than a hundred thousand people turned out last night to see the switching on of Malaga's Christmas lights. I can hardly imagine that many people crowding the streets. (I, of course, was safely in bed, thanks to a bout of bronchitis.) Click here, though, if you'd like to see a video clip produced by a Malaga newspaper. (You might get an advertisement first :-)

Back in Spain..

Click to enlarge photo

Our KKI regional conference came to an end last weekend. Despite our invited speaker cancelling at short notice, the conference went well, with plenty of time for prayer and processing. People's feedback confirmed that we had succeeded in meeting our stated goals of hearing from God and hearing from the nations. In the photo, you can see the conference group, gathered just outside the youth hostel where we were staying.

I've been back in Spain for a few days, but I came down with a respiratory infection (something that happens with horrible regularity after winter travels in planes with excessive air conditioning!) and have spent the last few days in bed. I'm beginning to feel a little better now, but still coughing a bit, and on antibiotics for another few days to come.

Going up to see Jesus

We've had some full but very fruitful days meeting with KKI national leaders from all over Europe, and had an encouraging sense of God's presence in our midst as we prayed together and made decisions about future leadership and ministry initiatives.

This afternoon we've given everyone some free time, and we're welcoming another forty or fifty people before the larger conference begins this evening. As some of us gathered outside the youth hostel after lunch, someone asked me, "Are you going to the beach or are you going up to see Jesus?"  What a funny question… but, in fact, a group of us was making the half hour walk from the hostel to see the "Christ the King" statue and take the lift up to the observation deck with its amazing view across the river to the city of Lisbon. I enjoyed getting some exercise and being able to enjoy the wonderful view.

In fact, the view from our youth hostel is pretty amazing too.  From the dining room where we eat breakfast, we can see right across the river to the Belem Tower and the Monument to the Discoverers (see first two photos above.) Sometimes, in the morning, the view is obscured by thick fog around the bridge, but it clears by afternoon, and we can see right across the river. This afternoon, we also saw a huge submarine making its way under the bridge and out to sea.

Clash of continents…?

I'm up bright and early, and moving today to our KKI conference location: a youth hostel in the Almada part of Lisbon, on the south bank of the river Tagus. You'd be forgiven in Almada for wondering which continent you're in. Their "Christ the King" statue looks very much like the "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro, and their "25 April" bridge was modelled after the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. Despite these icons of North and South America, Almada is very much in Europe, and we're looking forward to hosting our European KKI gathering there.

I'm in Portugal...

I flew to Lisbon this morning in one of those little bi-prop planes that only seat around 40 people. When we landed and I went to baggage reclaim, mine was the one and only suitcase on the belt. I guess all the other passengers on my plane were travelling onward to Brazil or Africa.

I'm staying tonight with KKI friends in Sintra, Portugal. They've been married for five years, and have a 7-month old daughter… but they actually met 20 years ago on a KKI outreach when she was eight and he was twelve!! Romance only blossomed after many summer outreaches together, though. I had fun today, visiting the old city of Sintra with all its rather impressive palaces. Tomorrow morning, I'll move to the youth hostel where our conference is being held this week, and we'll  start our two days of meetings with the ELT. 

On Tuesday evening, the KKI national leaders will arrive from all over the continent. Some of them are supposed to be flying via Paris, so we're trusting that the recent terrorist activity in Paris won't cause airports to be closed, and prevent people from being able to get to Lisbon. Thanks for your prayers.

Already, completely…. and also not yet

This morning I read a paradoxical truth about the sovereignty of God. In Hebrews 2: 8, we're told - past tense - that absolutely everything has been put under the feet of Jesus. He has complete authority and there is nothing that is not subject to Him. Then, in the very next breath, we are told that "we do not yet see everything subject to Him" here on earth. God's kingdom coming to earth is not only an established fact in the past, it is also a progressive reality in the present, and an unfailing promise for the future.

I think that's why Jesus told us to pray, "May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." His life, death and resurrection established a bridgehead for the kingdom of God on earth, but Jesus knew that seeing God's rule come completely would be a progressive and ongoing process that the people of God would need to participate in. We participate by praying for God's kingdom to come on earth, and also share in making it happen when we live lives that are submitted to Him, and when we engage in other kinds of spiritual warfare as necessary.

Jesus didn't usually say, "The kingdom of God is here." He more often said, "The kingdom of God is near." And He invites us to be part of bringing it nearer!