Preschool in a Suitcase

As July draws to a close, we're also coming to the end of our "preschool in a suitcase" seminar. The workshop, which is being attended this year by ladies from as far afield as Indonesia and the Ukraine, aims to equip people to set up Biblically based preschools in developing nations or situations of poverty such as refugee camps. That's why it's called preschool in a suitcase: the goal is that people could go into a needy situation, taking very few resources with them, in order to train teachers and help people create an environment for early childhood education using the simple resources that are available right there in that location. The photo shows me with a couple of puppets that we made this week, using old rags and those sponge wipes that you can buy for washing dishes.

This year we have a slightly smaller group than usual, but it includes some people who already have long years of experience in preschool teaching and whose heart is to be able to offer simple training in field-based situations in Africa and Asia.

Because of the smaller group, I haven't been so involved in teaching this year, but have served the group by doing all the registration work with the University, so that these students can gain credits towards a Bachelor's Degree in early childhood education, if they don't already have one. I've also sometimes been able to help out practically by preparing snack breaks, or by participating in the listening prayer times.

In just a few days' time, the seminar will be over again for this year. Many thanks to those of you who have been standing with us in prayer.

Deception and presumption

Every time I read Joshua chapter 9, I'm struck by what a sad episode it is in the history of the nation of Israel. It's the story of the Gibeonite deception, and the decisions made that day had far-reaching consequences for centuries afterwards.

If you remember the context, the Israelites have just won resounding victories over the cities of Jericho and Ai, and the surrounding peoples are starting to become afraid. Which city or people will be conquered next, as these Hebrews continue their advance into the Promised Land that their God is giving them?

For this reason, a tribe of people called the Gibeonites plan an elaborate scam. Knowing that the Israelites will not make a treaty with any of the Canaanite tribes, the Gibeonites dress up in ragged clothes and worn sandals; they carry mouldy bread, weathered saddle bags and patched wineskins. " We've come from a distant land," they say, "We've heard of the power of your God, and we want to ask you to make a peace treaty with us."

Before agreeing to a treaty, the Israelites inspect the dry bread and old wineskins BUT (vs 14) they did not consult the Lord. They end up guaranteeing the safety of people that actually live nearby and should have been conquered in order for Israel to fully possess the land.

Should we feel sorry for the Israelites? Should we see them as the innocent victims of a clever deception? Or should we groan in dismay as we watch them sow problems for themselves because of their sin of presumption? They trusted in their own understanding of the situation, instead of truly hearing what God had to say about it.

It could be easy for us to make the same sort of mistake today. There are countless issues in our modern world where the enemy is seeking to deceive us and pull the wool over our eyes. Our biggest danger is that we would form our opinion based on what the media, the scientists or the politicians are telling us, instead of stopping and taking time to consult the Lord.

Whether it's a personal choice (Should I accept this new job offer?) a moral question in society (What should I think about transgenderism or same-sex marriage?) or some kind of decision facing us in the church, it is so important that we don't simply rely on what our own eyes and ears, thoughts and feelings tell us, but that we take time to check in with our Father: "What do you think about this, Lord? What's the right way forward for me?"

Joshua learned a hard lesson that day. It was the second time that he had put his leadership on "automatic pilot" instead of diligently seeking the Lord in every decision. As we read on in the following chapters, we read of the Israelites winning one victory after another... and certainly a key to their success was the heart attitude we read of in Joshua 11 vs 15: Joshua did as he was told, carefully obeying all the commands that the Lord had given.

Dog days

It's the end of July and we're in that season of the year where you're already sweating within a hour of your last shower. Why, I wondered, are these hot, sweltering days known in various countries as the "dog days of summer"? It's certainly not because it's weather conducive to dog walking. The photo above shows Buba and me, collapsed in the park, when the 30 degree heat of our early evening walk proved a bit much for someone in a fur coat. It started out as a walk and it ended up as a siesta!

In fact, I discovered, these hot summer days don't take their name from overheated canines, but were given that name because, historically, the hottest time of year came just after the rising of Sirius, the dog star, the brightest star we can see from earth.

Even so, Buba and I have been finding ways of getting our exercise. Discovering that our usual walk across the fields offers no shade at all from the heat of the day, we've been finding shadier alternatives for these summer days. Our only option in the afternoon or early evening is to stroll through the park close to my house, which is full of large shady jacaranda trees and offers free entertainment in the form of the green Amazon parrots that flock there. In the morning, however, we can walk up the quarry road from my house, towards the hills, and still find plenty of shady spots until the sun begins to rise higher at around 9 am.

If we're early enough, and are feeling energetic enough, we might even do our "over the hill" walk, which meanders through old olive groves before descending steeply again on the other side. (I call it our "over the hill" walk because it literally does take us up and over the hill, and not because it makes my old lungs tell me that I'm getting over the hill!) It's only 3 km in total (the green S, starting point, on the map is my house) but it takes plenty of energy because it's uphill for much of the way. Today was the first time we took that route since my being on crutches earlier in the year. (Thankfully my foot has healed well, or I'd never have managed the many kilometres we walked while praying around cities like Geneva, Wittenberg and Rome on the Reformation Tour. More about that in the posts below.)

We made a new friend while returning home this morning: an enthusiastic young border collie who almost jumped the fence in his eagerness to join us on our walk. That reminded me of my border collies in Cape Town, and made me very thankful that, even in these dogless days here in Spain, I can borrow a neighbour's dog and still enjoy walking in our beautiful countryside. (I'm not someone who's very motivated to walk alone.) I'm also extremely thankful that I'm able to walk like this. Back in 2014, arthritis in my feet was making it difficult for me to walk more than a few minutes at a time. I'm grateful that I'm now able to walk a reasonable distance, as long as I have some kind of soft, spongy footwear. It means I can enjoy these dog days of summer.

Challenging the new generation of reformers...

After months of planning and weeks of travelling, our "Reformation Tour" outreach is behind us now. If you were one of our prayer partners over these past 20 days, let me say a big thank you for your faithfulness in standing with us. God too was faithful and your prayers have been answered in encouraging ways.

You can read more about the tour in my August newsletter, which should reach you about a week from now. However, if you'd like to read more stories and testimonies in the meantime, you can keep scrolling down and read the 11 blog posts previous to this one.  (If you want to read them in chronological order, you'll need to begin with the one written in Switzerland, then Germany, followed by Austria, and finally some posts about our time in Rome.)

As we reflect back on the tour, perhaps the most important thing of all is that we challenged a group of 21st Century young people to be wholehearted in their commitment to God, and to be willing to pay the price to be world changers in their generation. That can make all the difference, both now and in the future.

With a thankful heart...

There are many reasons to say thank you. I am thankful to people who prayed for us during the Reformation Tour. I am thankful to people who looked after my pets while I was gone. I am thankful to God for His faithfulness and for many answered prayers.

On the last day of the tour, I led a time of debriefing, helping the children and teens to reflect on what they had experienced, what they had learned, and how they wanted to keep growing in God in the future.

One of the activities involved presenting a "bouquet" of thankfulness to the Lord, praying out our gratitude and proclaiming that He is good.

Expect the unexpected

The Reformation Tour was a different kind of "outreach." In fact, God had warned us in advance that our assignment was not so much to do with reaching out to unbelievers, but rather to do with hearing His voice and obeying the things He asked us to do from day to day. He told us that the fruit of the outreach would be seen more in the spiritual realm and in the lives of the participants, than in large numbers of people giving their lives to the Lord.

During one of our daily prayer times, eleven year old Noham felt God warning us to expect the unexpected. "As you make your plans," He said, "Be aware that sometimes I'll override them and you need to be sensitive and quick to obey." This happened several times, but perhaps the most memorable was the day we went to the "church of the martyrs."

After a time of worship in the garden of our accommodation, we had caught the bus into the city centre that day and walked quite some distance along the shady river bank until we came to Saint Bartholomew's, a church on a small island in the Tiber River - a church dedicated to the memory of modern martyrs.  In our study of the Reformation, we had learned that many people in those days had given their lives for their faith and for the right to have the Bible in the language of the people. If we want to be world-changers in the 21st Century, there is every possibility that some of us will pay for it with our lives. Small displays in the church of the martyrs tell the stories of men and women who have died for their Christian faith over the past hundred years - some of them in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, some in the Spanish Civil War, and some more recently in terrorist attacks perpetrated on churches and chapels. St. Bartholomew's seemed an appropriate setting for us to reflect with our young people on this modern reality, and that's why we took such a longish walk along the river bank to get there.

But a frustrating surprise awaited us on our arrival: just as we wanted to enter the church, two ladies appeared and told us that we would have to leave, because the church was about to be closed for one hour for cleaning. We tried pleading for permission to enter, we even offered to help with the cleaning, but all to no avail. We were unceremoniously shown to the door. This left us with a predicament, as our next appointment was at Radio Vatican. If we waited too long at the church of the martyrs, we would be late in arriving at the radio station. Unsure of what to do next, we decided to take some more time to pray; Noham remembered his impression about our plans being messed up, and we needed to take time to hear what God had on His heart for us. In order to escape the blazing heat of the midday sun, we sought refuge next door to the church, in a shady doorway that was shared by the police station and the Jewish hospital.

It was an inauspicious setting for the special moments that took place next. As we waited on the Lord, we were reminded that martyrs are people who are rejected by their society, and in the Reformation days were even put out of the church. Our slight inconvenience in being ushered out of St. Bartholomew's was nothing compared to the cost of being rejected or persecuted for our faith in Jesus. As the Lord began to work among us, young people started to pray out their prayers of total commitment to God's plans and purposes for their lives, no matter what the cost. Parents wept as they recommitted their children to the Lord. Small groups began to pray together, while others began to worship quietly, recognising that God is worthy of our whole lives.

"Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad," we sang. "May the Lord bless you and keep you... and give you peace." Our song, taken from scriptures in Deuteronomy and Numbers, echoed in that shady portico and out into the sunlit square. It seemed an appropriate song choice for our unexpected place of refuge in front of the Jewish hospital, where people kept coming in to go upstairs in the lift and visit their loved ones.

Finally, the church opened its doors again, and we were able to go in for a brief visit. But the team that walked around the silent church was not the same group of people that had walked along the river bank only hours earlier. Lives had been touched by God, and some of them had been changed for ever.

Read on below for news of our later visit to Radio Vatican.

Visiting the Vatican Radio

While in Rome, we had the opportunity to visit the Vatican Radio station, which broadcasts in around 40 languages to countries all over the world. Unlike internet, radio waves are a technology that cannot be blocked and so Christian radio is one of the few ways that people in "closed" countries can hear worship music and Biblical teaching.

Looking at the photos, where I'm sitting behind the microphone, you might think I was making a broadcast. In fact, I'm simply translating for the man on the far left, who was giving us a guided tour and explaining how the radio station works. We also had an opportunity to pray for him and sing a blessing song for him (click here to hear the song) before heading on to our last two commitments of the day: a joint worship service in a local church (I was translating the preaching there, too) and a meal in an Italian pizza restaurant.We had booked out the whole upper floor in the restaurant, which allowed us to have a time of testimonies and thanksgiving to mark the end of our tour and the last day spent together with the Kisi team.