The Generocity of Strangers (and Friends!)
I wanted to tell you about the generocity I’ve experienced over the past couple of days, to remind us all that people ARE awesome!
At short notice, a friend let me stay the night at thier house, despite the fact that they didn’t have a lot of room. This friend then drove me to a wedding the next day that we were both going to. I wasn’t invited to the reception of this wedding, but a family I had just been introduced too at the wedding let me stay at thier house for the afternoon, and then drove me to the barn dance in the evening. Lastly, a couple I met at the barn dance drove me to the station and then helped me get another train when I missed the one I had planned to get on.
So, there we have it. Despite what we see on the news, people ARE awesome!
An Autumn Adventure
I love the autumn. It’s my favourite time of year, what with the crispness of the air, the colours, the anticipation of winter and Christmas, it’s a season of change, and, of course, the leaves that you get to kick up!
This is the view from my living room.
In the distance there are hills (they’re actually closer than they look!). Ever since I moved here, I’ve always wanted to go up one of those hills. A few days ago, I had a free afternoon, so I thought I would finally do just that.
I headed out into the autumn with nothing but a camera. I had no idea what town the hills were in and I didn’t know how to get to them, so I set on my bike and headed in their general direction.
After getting a little lost in a housing estate, I eventually found a footpath that led up, what I hoped, was one of the hills.
I started up it and instantly began to doubt whether I should continue. Mud was everywhere! One of the downsides of autumn. The foot of the hill was one huge boggy mess and I was only wearing canvas shoes. However, I thought ‘I’ve come this far, I’m not turning back now’. So I tried to find a way through the quagmire.
I did finally get onto reasonably dry ground, but I had to take a ridiculous route. I scrambled through a thicket of bracken, had to jump over a small swamp and tread across bog like it was a mine field, looking for solid ground to step on. Unfortunatly, I didn’t make it unscaved. My shoes suffered badly. I couldn’t really tell if it was mud or cow poo covering my feet.
So I was pretty fed up, and I still wasn’t as high as I wanted to be. I looked around and I tried to go across the fields to climb a higher hill that was near by. I had to navigate several more bogs and cow pats, and finally came to the edge of the field that led up to my hill, the one I wanted to climb. Only, my way was blocked by another bog, and I could see no way around this one.
I was SO annoyed. After all I’d gone through, I’d gotten so close but couldn’t actually climb this stupid hill! With darkness closing in, I decided to turn back.
But I was still determined to climb at least one hill. So I climbed the one I was at the base of, even if it was smaller. I actually ran up it out of my frustration. I got to the summit and turned around. I was left speechless by what I saw.
I was reminded of how we can have a plan in our heads, but God always has a better way for us.
It turned out to be a great and an unexpected Autumn Adventure.
Here are some more photos from my exploits.
Home Again
At long last, I’m back home.
For the past 10 months of my life, I’ve lived and worked in Cusco, Peru and visited numerous places throughout the UK.
My team and I returened from Peru in April, and for the following two months, we were sent to our home churches and to other churches who have a connection with BMS (the chairty we worked with), talking about our experiences to churches and schools. It was the most exhausting time of the whole gap year. Yet, I learned a lot from it. It also gave the four of us a chance to get Peru out of our system. It pushed me right to my limits at times, and, as a result, I’ve grown closer to God.
Now, it’s all over, and it was definatly worth doing…but only once!
Right now, I’m attempting to proccess all that I’ve seen and done during the most random, challenging, exciting, tiring time of my life so far. Not an easy thing to do.
Thankfully, I’ve now got a lot of time on my hands in which to attempt it!
Some photos from ‘the most random, challenging, exciting tiring time of my life’:
Machu Picchu
Children’s Holiday Club
A Monkey in the Amazon Rainforest
The ‘A-Team’ About to do an Assembly in Warwick
In Deepest Darkest Peru
Recently…
I and the rest of the team visited the Amazon Rainforest, a small part of it anyway!
We were there for a few days, some of the most humid days I’ve ever experienced!. Whilst there, we worked with a local church plant by putting on some kids and youth groups. We did arts and crafts with the kids, music and testimonies with the youth and games with both.
It was vastly different from the more western Cuzco and it was a great eye opener to a different side of Peru. An example: the church floor was massively swollen and there were holes everywhere, so the balls we used for games kept disappearing!
We also got to trek into the jungle for a day. We saw a few things, but I think more animals saw us. I even swam in a piranha-infested lake (the safe part)!
The People Came In Two-By-Two
Sorry you haven’t heard from me for a while, I’ve been meaning to post this for a long time now.
I just wanted to fill you in on the holiday club as it came to an end recently.
After Christmas, the girls and I were charged with organising and running a holiday club for children and young people that last the for the entire month of February. I’d done week long holiday clubs solely for kids before, but this was something entirely different, made even more difficult by the fact that we were doing this in Peru, where we’re still getting to grips with the culture and the people don’t speak English!
I’ve already mentioned that the month of preparation was a hard one for me, so I won’t elaborate too much more, other than to say that we got so caught up in everything that we didn’t give much thought to God and His plans for this holiday club.
Leading up to the ‘Big Launch’, we were placed in charge of the church youth group that met on Saturday nights, as the usual leader was away. We did this for three weeks, and for three weeks, no-one showed up. This could have been incredibly discouraging, especially as we had to plan the sessions as wells as preparing things for the holiday club. However, it didn’t stop us!
That first morning was the start of a month long journey in which we all learned a huge amount about how futile our own plans are. Kids actually turned up! More than we expected and as February progressed, children brought their friends and some turned up simply because they saw the sign outside the church or because they received a flyer in the street! Even now, after the holiday club has finished, some of these kids are coming to the church services on Sundays and the Friday club that the church puts on for children!
(The antics with the children at the holiday club!)
With the youth, similar things happened. We saw numbers increase as the weeks wore on and one of the greatest privileges was being able to see how a few of the young people progressed from only coming for the English lessons to going deeper in their understanding of God. Some of these teenagers are now attending church on a regular basis and the weekly youth meetings.
One of the highlights was when we took the group out onto the streets of Cusco for a spot of evangelism! The youth that were shy when they first started attending boldly stepped out and began talking with members of the public about Jesus! Another moment that sticks out is the last day of the club, when we took everyone out to an open space above the city, and there we played football and talked about what we had learnt from our times together. We were touched by the journeys that some of the young people had been on. It reminded me that God does things without us realising. It was that night that it occurred to us that we had actually developed relationships with these ‘Jovenes’, the first people with which we had properly done so since arriving in Peru.
(Playing football to an Andean back-drop)
The finale came the following Sunday, when the children put on a spectacular performance of Noah and his Ark (the theme of the entire month) for the church. Organising the children and anxiously waiting for the key characters to arrive made me feel like a Sunday School teacher on the day of the Christmas Nativity!
(The animals about to enter the Ark)
The youth also stood up at the front and talked more about their ‘cardboard testimonies’ that had been put up on walls.
(A youth with her ‘cardboard testimony’)
And throughout it all, God provided us with various interpreters.
So that’s it. Thanks for your prayers!
“With God, all things are possible”.
From the Highest of Hights to the Depths of the Sea
A few weeks ago, we left Cusco and set off on our intrepid adventure to see more of Peru!
All started with Arequipa (another large city in Peru).
Arequipa is very Western. It has malls and cinemas etc. It was nice to spend some days here, as it allowed us to indulge in some things that we missed from the UK.
From here we went to the beach. We left the mountains behind and exchanged them for sea and sand…even though the foothills of the Andes led right up to the coast line! Unfortunatly, I didn´t get to surf :(.
Mollendo Beach
Then, we visited Colca Canyon. On the way, we got our first experience of snow in Peru as we travelled through the mountains.
Colca Canyon itself was quite spectacular and we caught climpeses of the gliding Condors!
Colca Canyon
After this, we moved onto Lake Titicaca. Literally, onto it.
We got a boat to the floating Uros Islands, made entirely out of reeds from the lake, houses and all! From the Uros Islands, we travelled to Amanatani Island. Here we spent the night with a local family, and they took us out for a night of traditonal dancing, dressed in the traditional get -up.
The four of us in out traditonal gear
Lake Titicaca
An Uros Boat
Now we´re back, I feel a lot more refreshed and ready for the holiday club!
Talking of the holiday club, it´s now in it´s 2nd week!
Every day the children´s group has grown in number and the young people have started to bring their friends. God has done some amazing things and answered our prayers in incredible ways! We´re so gratefull for what´s He´s done and for the prayers said on our behalf!
Lastly, I´d like to ask you to prayer for us some more.
Recently, we´ve realised how much the devil is trying to disrupt what God is doing here, by interfering with the lives of the missionaries…inculding us.
However, we get strength from the fact that noe of God´s plans can be thwarted (Job 42:2)!
So please remember us in your prayers, thanking God for His might and asking Him to help us power through whatever satan throws at us, in His strength!
A Baptism Of Thunder
So, a lots happened since I last blogged, sorry about that!
First of, there´s been Christmas and New Years.
We spent sometime, just the four of us, in the morning, opening presents and having a fry-up (a rare treat!)! We went round our supervisors house and had Christmas lunch with his family, as well as some friends from church. We had a regular sort of Western Christmas, as most of the people we were with were from the West. Our supervisor managed to fit 30 pieces of carrot into his mouth! It was like a veggie version of ´Chuby Bunnies´! It was nice to be made to feel at home, but it would have been exciting to have experienced a truly Peruvian Christmas.
New Year´s, on the other hand, was very Peruvian. We went out to the centre of Cusco, where it all happens!!!
The Plaza was FULL, over FULL, of people, fireworks were being let off amongst the crowd, even before midnight came, people were screaming, either out of excitment or out of fear as a firework exploded at thier feet. As the clock struck 12, everyone went mad! They all hugged one another, throwing me into the person in front and start an enourmous conga line!
One New Year’s Day, someone from the church got baptised. We all stood out in the garden of the pastor’s home, whilst the strom clouds gathered and thunder roared to wittness a man proclaiming his belife in Jesus!
We’ve also been working solidly for most of January, planning a holiday club for kids and teenagers, since they’re on summer hols here! Working in an office really isn’t my sort of thing and it’s been a challenge most days to stick it out, but we’ve fianlly got it done…and as a reward, we’re going to Arequipa (another large city in Peru), for a mid-term break!
Christmasy Times
Sorry for it being so long between posts.
So, what’s been going on in deepest darkest Peru?
Well, we’ve been painting the church for a start. The church has recently moved into a new building, and we were charged with decorating the kids rooms. So, we doned our painting gear, grabbed a brush and some paint and got to work. It wasn’t as straight forward as you would have thought.
On our second day of painting, Jess and I hoped to get some work done whilst Liz and Amy where in Huambotio, doing an English lesson, only, Liz and Amy didn’t realise, they still had they keys to the church. So, Jess and I got all our stuff ready and were about to head round to the church, when we found that we had no way of getting in. We rang round and we though that we had located another set of keys, we went round to the house of the owner of the keys…but they weren’t home. We waited…and waited…and waited…for about 40 minutes, and still no-one should up. Eventually, the others returned from Huambotio and we were able to get into the church and paint…two hours after Jess and I origanlly set out.
But that’s not all. Later that day, when we were back at the church, painting…we got locked out of one of the rooms. Because kids where in the church at the same time, and we didn’t want them runnning into the rooms we where working in, we started closing the door behind us, if we had to leave, and one time, the door was closed, with the lock pushed in. Consequently, we were locked out. It wasn’t until three hours later, that someone was able to come out and break into the room, which also housed most of our belongings.
However, despite the difficulties, we got the job done, and now, there is a fantastic rainbow in the sunday school room and a beautiful Noah’s Ark incthe creche room.
The Rainbow in the sunday school room.
What else has been happening?
We’ve went to Macchu Picchu!
It was really awesome to get away for a couple of days, and the scenary was incredable!
One day, we went to Huambotio and gave out hot chocolate, bread, clothes and toys (for the kids), all in the spirit of Christmas. They all seemed to really enjoy recieving these gifts, and it felt like we were genuinly blessing this community. It was also fantastic to see most of the church come out and join us in this.
Llamas, Graveyards and Church
So, let me fill you in on what’s been happening these past couple of weeks.
First-off, we went with our new church to the Sacred Valley, one of the most beautiful places on the planet, in my opinion. It was their first weekend away as a church and each morning we woke up to lush green mountains rising up on either side of us. Our main priority was to look after the kids whilst the adults attended sessions to help them in thier relationships with Jesus. We also had some free time, most which was spent playing volleyball, and these games turned out to be a good way of practicing the Spanish I’ve been learning. It was also incredibly hot!
After Halloween, there is a thing called the Day of the Dead. This is when people believe that they can talk to their dead loved ones. So, on the second of November, graveyards around Cusco are filled to bursting with friends and relatives bring food and drink for their deceased. We went along to one graveyard, where bodies are placed in walls instead of the ground, to wittness this part of Peruvian culture.
Also, the church has finally moved into a new building, which suits it’s needs a lot better than the old one. For the past few days, we’ve been publicing the church to the local residents, making ourselves known and trying to get to know the people that live near-by. We’re hoping God will use the church to bring the communtiy together.
Lastly, we’ve come to the end of out orientation, and soon, we’ll be getting involved in leading some of the projects that we’ve, so far, only observed.
Andean Weekly!
This week has been less touristy, we’ve mostly been observing some of the projects that we’ll be getting involved with. For example, Amy and I where taken to Humbotio, a small village just outside of Cusco, where BMS do some schools work. We had our first experience of riding in a combi (bus)! It was over-croweded and we had to stand up for the whole 45 minute trip, but there where no tourists, and it felt like a genuine Peruvian experience
Humbotio is surrounded by beautiful mountains, but the atmosphere was quite heavy. We went to the school and Amy and I assisted a member of BMS staff who was taking an English class. At one stage, this involved us getting on our hands and knees and pretending to be animals. The age group we were teaching was 8-9 year olds. As we were leaving, I noticed a picture of Jesus on the wall, a very sterotypical picture of Jesus. The white Jesus, with a perfect centre parting and two white children on His knee, a blonde, blue eyed girl and a boy, all of them laughing together. What message does this send to the people who aren’t white, blond or blue eyed? Does it show that Jesus came for them too?
I mentioned the atmosphere in Humbotio was heavy, I think this is because there is a lot of darkness there, hidden under the surface…but God is breaking through, with the schools work and a new clinic, which is going to open there soon!
Spanish lessons! We’ve started spanish lessons this week; I took spanish at GCSE, but I’m still finding it hard. It’s been good fun though at times, and it’s been nice to do it as a team. We’re all progressing and we’ve got another two weeks of lessons, so we should be a lot more fluent by the end…I hope!
Prayer points:
– Language learning
– Liz has been feeling ill latley, so prayer for her would be appreciated
Peruvian Adventures
So, after traveling for more than 24 hours, I finally arrived in Cusco, Peru. The journey was…interesting. We stopped over in Madrid for 5 hours and I went a little crazy and started planking on the hand rails of escalators! The 12 hour flight from Madrid to Lima was NOT fun! But we made it!
Thus far, we haven´t done much. Because we need to get used to the alttitude (3000 meters!) and get over jet lag; we´ve taken it easy, seen some of the local sights, had a tour so we know where to go for certain things and visited a llama sanctaury!
We also helped out at a local kids club where kids from all different backgrounds have a chance to be kids! This is really important as kids from as young as nine sometimes have to work on the streets and domestic violence is very high here.
But God is breaking through, we went to our first church service yesturday and the family feel was incredibly strong! God is doing things here, not massive, obvious things, but none the less, an impact is being made!
And it´s so exciting to be a part of it!!!
Endings Lead Into Beginings
So, training is over.
However, before that, I must fill you in on the last week or so of training.
So, we went back to Castle Hill Baptist church in Warwick from Friday-Monday. It was so intense! Painting solidly from 9am-3pm then working on our plan for the church service the next day and going round people’s houses and eating their foods. So, we didn’t end up getting back to our hosts until 11pm! The next day was filled with 3 church services! Firstly, the morning services at Castle Hill, which the team and I led (it seemed to go down really well!), then more socializing with church members, followed by the evening services at Castle Hill, before getting rushed off to a youth services in near-by Leamington! Monday morning, we were at the church’s pre-school, which was a lot of fun!
So, as I was saying, training is over! officially, I’m just about to get started on one of the biggest adventures of my life to date, yet already it feels like I’ve conquered mountains. All the while we were training, going to Peru seemed like a distant dream, now it suddenly seems a lot closer. For the past four weeks, I have shared the highs and lows with 14 other people who will all be going to various countries and doing similar stuff to what I’m going to be doing in Peru, and it feels weird to be starting this new chapter without them.
Yet, this is the dawn of something amazing and I’m really looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen to myself and those around me for the glory of God!
I’m back home for now and it’s also great to have some down time with the fam! 😀
Min-Y-Don
I can’t say too much here because I don’t want to spoil anything for future Action Teamers.
Min-Y-Don is a Christian outdoor adventure centre in north Wales and all the Action Teams went there this past week. We had to face a lot of challenges, all with the aim of bringing us closer as a team. I had to do things that I’ll probably never do again and some things that I shouldn’t be allowed to do again! 😛
I found that, as the only male in my team, I was volunteering myself for tasks that I knew the girls wouldn’t like to do and often being the first to try scary things, mainly because girls had told me that I need to be “the Man” of the group :P.
I also realised how close the girls were, mostly because there were able to share rooms together and spend more time together, were as I’m constantly being separated and put in different places. This was quite hard, but I’m grateful that I was able to talk to my team about this. In turn, I had to face this in-built desire that I have to impress people, because when you get into that place where all you want is for people to like you, you never feel good enough. Thankfully, God has helped me face up to this and I think I’m making progress.
However, overall, it was a good experience! 😀
Warick Weekend
So, a couple of weekends ago, I went to Warwick with my Peru Action Team; we were sent to Castle Hill Baptist church. Castle Hill is our training church, so basically, we were sent to introduce ourselves to the church, eat their food, sleep in their beds and help them occasionally with their children’s group and other things.
The church paid for us to go to Warwick Castle and it was great to spend some time together as a team and not have to do anything! We could actually relax! I acted as tour guide, as the others had never been to the Castle before and I have, on countless school trips :D. I think we bonded really and we got to encourage each other for the year ahead.
Everyone in the church was very welcoming and friendly, they opened up their homes to us, fed us and allowed us to use their homes as our own.
On the Sunday, we had about a 10 minute slot in which to introduce ourselves. We wanted to make ourselves memorable, and with the help of one of the members of the church, we managed to get the minister to dance like a chicken in front of everyone! So hopefully they won’t forget us any time soon!
A Walk With Jesus
Just got back from a walk with Jesus, literally, and I’ve just got tell someone how awesome it was. So lucky you, you’re that someone! 😀
I was walking in the wooded grounds of the IMC training centre, where I’m preparing to go to Peru, and I was completely alone. The idea came to me (I think God placed it there): I should spend this time with God; as any time alone is rare in this place. So I said out loud, to Jesus, “walk with me” (I think Jesus inspired that too). I instantly felt another presence, but not in a scary way, a calming, reassuring way, although, physically, no one was there.
Have people ever asked you “if you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be and what would you say to them?”, it was one of those moments, only, I didn’t feel the need to say anything, I was comfortable simply walking with Him, which is never how I imagined a walk with Jesus would feel like. We did talk a bit, I asked some questions, some He answered, some He didn’t. I told Him how thankful I was for how He accepts me just as I am; I got a glimpse of how Jesus sees me and the love of it brought tears to my eyes. Not sad tears or tears of laughter, more like “wow” tears. But for the most part, we just enjoyed each others presence. Jesus enjoying my presence?! How crazy is that?!
He promised He’d never leave me, that I won’t always have moments like the one I was currently having with Him, but He would ALWAYS be there.
He’s there for you too.
5 Days To Go!
After eight months of thinking and, praying and planning, my gap year is about to get under way!
It’s so weird that something that seemed so far off for so long now seems immensely real and immanent.
I’m spending these last few days at home, tying up a few loose ends and saying my good-byes, and even though I feel like I’m just waiting for Monday to arrive, I know God is still using me here.
Scared? Yes! Excited? Yes! And every step of the way I’m going with the One whose idea it was for me to do this in the first place!
See you…on the other side of the world!! 😀
Peru Anyone?
So, I’m going to Peru for my gap year, 1 months training, 6 months abroad and 2 months touring the UK, going to school and churches etc. My training starts in a few weeks, and I just thought I’d let you know what’s going through my mind in the run up.
It’s scary cause it’s such a long time away from home, but I know that it’ll be incredibly amazing. I’ll see God do some insane things, lives will be changed…including myown. Everyone tells me that the experience will change me, which isn’t exactly comforting…who will I become?! What if the whole thing turns out to be too difficult for me? And, I’m really looking forward to doing this, I think my team will be a great, but I’m the only guy… Yet, I know this is where God wants me, He’s brought my team together, He’s already provided for me in some awesome ways and I believe He will continue to look after me.
God want us to get involved with the stuff He’s doing. It’s not always going to be easy and fun, the Devil always tries and interferes with Gods work…but he never succeeds! “God is greater than the one who is in the world” and He never lets us get pushed beyond our limits. He’s faithful and will never abandon us, even in the toughest of situations.
Just thought I’d share this with you 🙂
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzlA5IDnpGhc&h=ZAQCMivV_
Going The Extra Mile
Last night, I was out with some friends, and as we all live in various parts of Oxfordshire, we agreed to meet in Oxford. It was about 11 o’clock in the evening when we decided to head back, and my friend offered to drive us all home, as buses would have stopped running. This meant that she had to go 15 miles in the opposite direction from her house to take me home, and she had to drop others off too, this, plus the fact that we got lost, meant that she didn’t get home till about 2 o’clock in the morning, on top of using a tone of fuel! Talk about going the extra mile!
I really appreciated my friends generosity, and it got me thinking, about how we take the friends and family we see everyday, for granted. I love my friends and family dearly, but how often do I show it, or tell them? I think most of my friends and family do know that I love them, and I know that they love me; but I also know that it would mean a lot more if the told me, or demonstrated, once in a while, how they felt. So, with Gods help, I’m going to try to let my friends and family know that I love, value and appreciate them; even if they know it already; I want to leave them in no doubt.
Jesus hung out with all the “low lives” of society, why? Because they were the people who needed him: “It’s the sick who need a doctor”. Jesus looked beyond what they had done, to the person inside of them; a child of God! Jesus was all about the people, He didn’t care about what people thought of Him; He just wanted the people who felt lonely, hurt and broken that they are loved!
He’s still in that business today, and He invites us to work alongside Him.
To loves others, for His glory. That’s the challenge I’ve set myself and the one I’m putting to you.
Check this song out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SExJ9od-0zQ
P.S) My friend who drove us all home, isn’t a Christian; and there are Christians, who wouldn’t do what she did!
For Zoe…
Zoe is my friend, and it turns out we’re in very similar places in life: she’s just finished school and is going onto to further education, I’ve just finished college and about to head out on my gap year. However, at the moment, we’re both waiting for these new adventures to happen and looking back on the ones we’ve already had. I wrote a song called “Between Chapters”, which is all about the tension of anticipating the future and letting go of the past. So here are the lyrics (dedicated to Zoe):
Is this the start, or is this the end?
I feel pulled in both directions;
The challenge of letting go
And the invitation to move on.
I’ve crossed the finished line,
But the race is about to begin.
Caught between the chapters
Of a book that’s still being written.
Tying up loose ends
And making new connections.
This time has a purpose, a reason:
To rest, to prepare, to be filled, to be sent out.
Where do I go from here?
Where do I go from here?
The path winds on,
But my feet won’t move.
I look over my shoulder
And all I can see…is home.
Attention Commuters!
Go a different route!
Anyone who has to travel to work, school, college or any other regular activity, will know just how dull it can be going the same way day-in-day-out. It becomes so boring! You just switch off and settle into your routine…you become numb, barely noticing what’s going on around you, or hardly caring if you do. To be honest, I hadn’t realised how much my bus journey to college and back sent me to sleep, until a couple of days ago.
The bus was late (later than normal), and my dad drove past the bus stop on his way to work. He took my brother and I as far as he could, and then we got on a DIFFERENT bus, with a DIFFERENT driver, DIFFERENT passengers and went a DIFFERENT route to college. It was so refreshing! Up to that moment, I was pretty much still asleep, but this woke me up! Seeing all these DIFFERENT places, people and things, it was like having dusty lenses taken off my eyes and new, clean ones put in. Everything seemed to be much more vibrant in colour, instead of the dull grey of the things you see every day. I was alive during my commute!
It I know it seems like I get easily amused, it’s the simple pleasures etc…but seriously, try it. Go a different route to work, school, college, I promise you, it will make a difference.
An Unintended Adventure
Three guys, three friends, on a road trip. The evening sun was shining, covering the fields and hills in a blanket of warm, golden light and tanning the faces of the travellers; Bob Marley playing on the stereo.
They were making good time, and thus, decided to stop on the shores of a reservoir that they happened to chance upon, and have their dinner. The atmosphere amongst the group was one of freedom and contentment.
Presently, the gentlemen reached their goal, where they were refreshed and encouraged.
Whilst returning home, they passed a couple of hitch-hikers; a father and daughter. Given the present, out-going, mood the men were in, they chose to turn around and pick them up.
It transpired, the father had hitched rides all the way from Poland to England, to fetch his daughter, who he hadn’t seen for nearly eighteen months, so that they could spend a few days together in Poland, before hitch-hiking their way home. It was reckoned (though never confirmed) that the father couldn’t afford flights, so hiking was the only way for them to travel.
We left Veronica and her father at some motorway services as they made their way to Dover. The love that Veronica’s dad has for his daughter is utterly inspiring, and I hope they have a safe trip and enjoy their time together!
It was awesome to be part of their journey and even our own journey was so freeing and exciting, from finding our way with the map (it’s a miracle we got to where we needed to be-we did get lost!), to taking the time to stop, have some food, and enjoy creation. I loved the spontaneity of it!
For me, our journey that night, was more incredible than the destination. I believe that, for God, the journey is just as important as the destination; and I hope, in my life, I can stop by the side of the road, have a picnic, relax, enjoy the view from time-to-time and allow time for unintended adventures (cheesie, but true!)
Life is for adventures, and adventures don’t happen in your comfort zone!
Check this out for pics and Darrel’s side of things: http://darrelhoff.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/road-trip-to-rob-bell-a-modern-day-good-samaritan-moment/
Optimisim In A Fallen World
I was walking into town the other day and I passed some kids playing out in the street. At one point, one of the kids (must have been about 4 years old) rode his bike round the corner and was out of sight of his parents, who were chatting in the door way. I didn’t see what happened, but the boy started crying…loudly! The parents then sprang into action, sprinting down the street and round the corner to their son. Neither of the parents was the athletic type, but that didn’t stop them from running to their child who was hurt.
This got me thinking (dangerous, I know ;-P), even with all the pain, suffering, injustice and all the nasty things in this world, there is still good reason to be optimistic. So these words came to my head:
“In the beginning the Earth was dark and void. Some think much hasn’t changed. They only see the half-empty glass.
Well my glass is half-full! I see a mothers love, the beauty of a purposefully built world, the forgiveness of a sinner.
There is light in the world and the darkness has not overcome it! A masterpiece can often look ugly before it becomes the beauty it was intentionally made for.”
The Game We Play 