Glowing!

Exodus 34: 29 says, ‘When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD’.
This week I had the privilege of seeing a modern day version of that story. I’m currently in Peru with Mike Caffull visiting areas impacted by last August’s earthquake and checking out The Salvation Army’s humanitarian response.
On Wednesday Mike and I headed south east out of Pisco to the smaller town of Ica. In a small suburb just outside of town live about 700 families whose rural homes suffered. Most of the houses suffered some damage, many were completely destroyed. SA relief teams were there very quickly and set up community feeding kitchens. Here we are 6 months later. The kitchens have all but shut but, far from being the end of the story, it seems things are just starting. People in this village didn’t know The Salvation Army before the disaster; there are no corps in this area. So officers and soldiers came in from outside. A team even came for a couple of weeks from southern USA. They used meshing and poles to construct a temporary shelter for the kitchens. It also became a base for starting worship services. Amazingly, people were drawn to the meetings because they saw in the lives of the relief workers something special.
A soldier couple have agreed to stay here for a year. They have a full SA programme going. How about this for statistics:

Adult attendance at Sunday worship – 45
Children and youth at Sunday worship – 30
Soldiers sworn in – 20
Junior soldiers enrolled – 11
Recruits for soldiership – 11

Other weekly activities:
Home League
Junior Soldiers class
Sunday school
Discipleship meeting
Prayer meeting

I quote the numbers because they quantify things, but numbers don’t tell the story. I met with Mari Lou who is the community leader. She and her grown up daughter have become soldiers. As she told me her story, her face positively glowed with a radiant smile. She's in the photo behind Major Alex Nesterenko (seated). Coming to the services has introduced her to Jesus and given her hope for the future. She’s desperate for the Army to stay – no longer giving freebie food parcels but lifting people’s spirits, introducing them to a real and living faith and giving them hope.
I wish I could bring you all to see this group – it would so inspire you. It’s Salvation Army mission at its best and I’m so proud to play a small part in it.

Within these walls

This morning I got up at 6am, showered, dressed and by 6.30am was sitting by the pool, drinking hot coffee and catching up on some overdue work in peace and quiet. What a wonderful way to start a morning, eh?
After a while my colleague Mike came and joined me (check out Mike's smiling face in the pic). We joked that we don’t often check our mail by the pool - a lovely change from normal office routine. What was most ironic was that this gloriously peaceful scene took place in the Peruvian town of Pisco, in the middle of a community not long ago devastated by an earthquake.
The hotel was pretty good, the shower had been hot and the bed comfortable. We sat protected by a high wall, completely cosseted from the destruction just a few feet away on the other side. It could have been another world. Not long after (having enjoyed a delicious ‘American Breakfast’ of fresh rolls and jam, more coffee, scrambled eggs and ham) we checked out and headed back into the chaos, dodging piles of rubble as we drove to our next port of call.
Some might say the opportunity to withdraw from reality was a welcome break. And believe me; I don’t for one moment underestimate the blessing of being able to stay somewhere comfortable when most of the population of Pisco are still living in tents, wooden huts or derelict buildings and tarpaulins.

Others might describe it as escapism, of course, and those walls got me thinking. What other walls exist in my world? Am I truly honest about the things of my life? Do people know the ‘real’ me, or do I hide the truth behind a wall of deceit? Do I put up barriers around me to shut out things I ought to face up to and deal with?
It’s nice to shut out unpleasant truth, but unless we confront reality we can’t deal with issues. What do I mean by that? Well, here are just a few of the questions that I need to confront honestly:

• How deep and genuine are my relationships?
• What do I really contribute to the church in which I worship?
• Why is it my personal devotional time gets so easily squeezed out by other things?
• Does the public image seen by others truly mirror the ‘real’ me?
• Do I actually believe in the power of prayer – if so, why don’t I spend more time praying?
• Why can’t I remember what vegetables my daughters like?

I could go on and on. Walls - worth a thought, eh?

Looking back at His leading

There’s a saying – what came first? The chicken or the egg?
A thought – does God prepare you for future service by leading you into particular areas or does He take the paths and choices you have made and use the skills you’ve developed for the outworking of His will in your life? Without getting too bogged down in a theological debate that I’ll never be able to answer, during the last weekend I found myself marvelling a the way God seems to have led us in the recent years and how the present is miraculously building upon the foundation of the past.

Last week (Valentines Day) Lyn and I went to see ‘Strictly Come Dancing Live’. It was a great night out. The day marked the 12th anniversary of my very first international deployment. It was Valentines Day 1996 when I drove off in a small Red Shield mobile canteen from Gutersloh heading for Bosnia. In so many ways I drove off into the unknown. I knew nothing of Bosnia, I knew nothing about international military procedures and I had no knowledge about the way IHQ worked and the ministry of the International Emergency Services section. Three months later I returned home having had an experience which changed my life and one which was to impact upon my whole family in a way I could never have imagined. It led to my involvement with the Emergency Services section and subsequent appointment as Coordinator of The Salvation Army’s international emergency ministry. It opened doors to places I would never have dreamed of visiting and situations I had only previously witnessed through TV news reports. It brought me to places around the world I would never have visited otherwise. In fact, I’m writing this whilst sitting in a small hotel in Lima, Peru, en route to visiting the area of Pisco which was impacted by an earthquake 6 months ago.

Last weekend we drove to Portsmouth. We recently learned that Lyn and I are to become the Commanding Officers of the Portsmouth Citadel corps. It means a move of home and a fairly drastic change of work (for me, at least). Desperate to see something of our new home we made a quick visit to suss out the lay of the land. We found the street and then the house that is to be our new home. We felt like spies as we pulled up just far enough down the road to take a peek without alerting the suspicions of the current occupants who might be inside. The girls were in the back seat with heads ducked down so as not to appear that we were looking! We then drove down to the town centre and parked up behind the Salvation Army church building. As we walked around it and took a few pictures we were conscious of trying not to appear too obvious in case someone saw us (isn’t life stupid?)

Having spied out the new land we drove to the Gunwharf Quay outlet mall, wandered around the shops and sat overlooking the bay whilst we drank coffee in the Spinaker Tower café. The winter sun warm bright and warm, taking the chill out of the air. Crowds milled around enjoying the start of the half term holidays and we had a wonderful afternoon. I confess it was idyllic. My mind wandered back just 3 years to the university open days that Lyn and I attended with Rebecca. She was looking for the best Uni at which to study. We went to a number of places and I was the proud parent who went with her to investigate Chichester Uni. This was the place she chose and during the last 3 years we have had some wonderful visits to the area. We found a lovely B&B close to the sea at Felpham and have made it ‘our place’ for weekend visits. As we’ve explored the area we have grown to love it and have often said how great it would be to live in the region. Lo and behold, farewell orders have us moving to Portsmouth. We didn’t apply for that position, we didn’t try and influence the choice, but we now find ourselves preparing to move to a place we have already fallen in love with. Did God know that when he opened the door to Chichester Uni for Rebecca? It seems too much of a coincidence otherwise.

I confess that I’ve rarely been aware of God’s leading at the time – it’s only when I have looked back and seen that a series of apparently random choices have laid foundations for future steps that I could never have anticipated. God has been good and I’m convinced He will continue to lead and guide. I look forward to discovering how this will manifest itself!

Well, I never knew that!

Often when I give presentations about the Army's humanitarian work around the world, people often say, 'I never knew we did all that'. This is particualry true about the emergency work we did in Iraq after the conflict. The security situation prevented us publicising things too widely.

Last year we produced a documentary edition of 'All the World' entirely devoted to telling the Iraq story.

If you didn't see it, the good news is that it's available to read online. Click on the link below, check it out - you might find it interesting.

www.salvationarmy.org/iraqspecial

Treading in His footsteps (in the snow???)

This morning I arrived home following a whistle-stop visit to Amman, Jordan. I've been away for 3 nights but have only slept one night in a bed. I've had enough of trying to get comfy on overnight flights - it will be nice to sleep in my own bed again in just a couple of hours.

It's easy to become a little blase about the blessings of travel when it's something done so often. Many hotels look the same and it's hard to separate one airport departure hall from another. Yet every journey has it's own special memories.

This week's journey included a few 'reality check' moments. As I headed into Amman on Monday afternoon I looked out of the taxi window to the sandstone coloured, square, flat roofed homes - typical of the Middle Eastern countries I have visited in the last few years. I imagine the rural dwellings being little changed over the centuries. Then we passed a road sign you don't see every day - 'The Dead Sea' (turn right). It made me ponder the significne of this country and it's special place in the history of the Christian church. Not only the Dead Sea, but the river Jordan where crowds winesed the baptism of Jesus and God's sealing of his earthly ministry.

The trip went well - we squeezed loads into one day and it was a very worthwhile, if hurried, visit. As we headed back to the airport less than 24 hours after setting foot in the country, we decided to stop and grab something to eat.

Our good friend and companion, Muntajab, spotted an Iraqi restaurant on the main road. We parked up and followed him into the kitchen. There we found a brick built fish tank, with walls about 4 feet high, brimming with large, fat fish, struggling to find room to swim in the tank. Taking a hand net, Muntajab scooped 2 fat fish from the tank and laid them, squirming, onto the weighing scales. A price was agreed for our dinner. The fish were split head to tail, flattened out and laid into a baking basket ready for the oven.

Just a few feet away a small team of bakers were rolling bread dough into small balls and laying them out on a tray. Another took the dough a threw it against the sides of the clay oven. A traditional bread baking method used for centuries.

We made our way into the restaurant and waited for our meal. 30 minutes later it appeared, 5 steaming, freshly baked flat bread loaves and 2 piping hot, roasted fish. We bowed our heads and prayed (2 Muslims and 2 Christians together) gaving thanks to God for blessing us with this food; then ripped and bread and shared it between us, using it to feast on the succulent white fish meat. The word 'delicious' doesn't do it justice and I don't suppose I will taste a finer meal in many years.

As we got back into the taxi and continued on our way I thought about the footsteps of another who walked these same streets 2000 years ago; One who made something much more miraculous happen with his 5 loaves and 2 fishes!

And the biggest surprise - to find the desert town deep in snow. I'm told for the first time in 100 years. Climate change? Global warming? I don't know why, but I do know I'll never sing 'In the bleak mid winter' in quite the same way again!