Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers!! George, Gabe, Rachel and I had a really amazing time in the beautiful Lake District last week. it was so evident every day that God was leading us specifically to be in places and to meet some wonderful people who were open to the Gospel, as well as meeting many who are already walking with God who we could encourage and be encouraged by. One thing which struck me was that people were more open to the things of God than I had imagined they would be, and that conversations about knowing God through Jesus would often come quite naturally. It felt that everyone we met was somewhere on the journey towards getting to know God.
Our team: For people who had really only just met (Only George and I know each other well), we were a very united and joyful team, and it was amazing to see just how ONE we were in mind and purpose, each bringing different and special gifts to the trip and being able to naturally share the JOY of living with people! We named the trip 'Random Tandem' because of the way we could see God working in and through us, as a group and as individuals, and just the wonderful randomness of everything we did, and seeing God working through it all! It was awesome to see how God often brought across our path the same people more than once so that we could more easily build a friendship with them and have further opportunity to share with them something of the Kingdom of God.
Our most wonderful divine appointment of all was when my car broke down on Honister Pass on way back from Buttermere (broken drive shaft which could not be fixed in the Lakes and had to be towed back down to London at the end of the week!) and while George and I went for help, Rachel met a guy in a car in the layby who is having a very hard time in his life and who's sister is a Christian and has been praying for him for many years! He gladly accepted our offer of supper that night and helped us move hostels the next day and spent the day with us. We were able to offer real encouragement, hope and prayer to this dear man who desperately needed real friendship at that moment.
God is amazing!!!!
One way we were able to build friendships with people was by being able to cook for some folk in the hostels. One couple - Lizzie and Rupert- we kept meeting, since our journey through the Lakes happened to be a very similar route to theirs, and we ended up having supper in the pub on the last night together and sharing deeper things and being able to give a 'backpacker's New Testament' to Rupert who accepted with great enthusiasm. Lizzie is a Christian but not part of a Christian community at the moment but she is now wanting to find a church!...One evening in the hostel in Grasmere, we met a bunch of German guys and girls who offered to take us in their big van over 2 of the most remote passes in the Lake District that night. It was a beautiful clear night and at the top of the Hardknott Pass with no sign of civilisation for miles and only a few sheep to watch our antics, we ran, danced and sang (and quoted poetry- thank you Rachel!) at the top of our voices! On the way home in the van Rachel and I sang songs, and, while trying to find a song we all knew, I remembered a German worship song, and on singing that discovered that one of the girls, Louisa, was a Christian! The next day I had the opportunity of giving her and her friend Anna Marie, a backpackers New Testament and to pray for them...such a privilege!
Another reason for our trip was to see what possibility there is of facilitating larger scale backpacker friendship evangelism events in the future. We visited the inspiring Bassenfell Christian Outdoor Pursuits centre in Bassenthwaite, and George and Gabe just came across Rydal Hall while walking, a beautiful stately home run for Christian holidays, conferences and retreats. Plenty of possibilities and with George's great commitment and vision, it is quite possible it will take off, so watch this space!
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Friday, December 22, 2017
Saturday, April 9, 2011
New Journey, New Adventures
Greetings from the UK. I have arrived just in time to experience brilliant spring weather. Trees and flowers in full bloom,, clear, cloudless, sunny days, with temperatures near 20C. Truly, unbelievable weather for here at this time of the year.
Phase 1 of this journey is a follow up of some things that happened last year while I was in the UK. At that time, there were some very interesting leadings with a Christian group which i was able to connect briefly with, but wanted to learn more about. So, to start this new European journey, arrangements were made to stay in one of their Christian community houses in the London area (http://www.newcreation.org.uk/nccc/)
As a follow of Jesus, I am also part of the larger, global community of God's family. In essence, I have 'brothers and sisters' everywhere, and it has been encouraging to live and share lives with these people here where they live. I have been given a small bedroom to sleep in, but share meals and the house with everyone, share in some of the house chores and participate in the various meetings.
I spent one morning helping in the church's ministry to homeless people in central London as well.
My friend with whom I and a couple of others traveled with and hostelled around in the UK lives in the same neighborhood. Interesting thing that has just happened: she has been asked to house sit for friends from her church family, which happens to be a 5 minute walk away from where I am staying. The cross street opposite that house 'happens' to be called 'Grasmere'. Grasmere happens to be one of the towns in the Lake district where we stayed at last year for a few days. The couple who live in the house 'happen' to be going away for a holiday to the Lake District. And it just 'happened' that R., one of the others who were part of our group of 4 last year, was coming to spend the night, on her way through to start a holiday of her own.
So, there seems to be that continuation from things that happened last year.
I've been challenged these past few days reading from a small booklet called: The Revival We Need by Oswald J. Smith. The first three chapters can be found on this site: http://www.revival-library.org/catalogues/miscellanies/theology/smith_o.html
That's it for now. Still have a few days here in the City.
Phase 1 of this journey is a follow up of some things that happened last year while I was in the UK. At that time, there were some very interesting leadings with a Christian group which i was able to connect briefly with, but wanted to learn more about. So, to start this new European journey, arrangements were made to stay in one of their Christian community houses in the London area (http://www.newcreation.org.uk/nccc/)
As a follow of Jesus, I am also part of the larger, global community of God's family. In essence, I have 'brothers and sisters' everywhere, and it has been encouraging to live and share lives with these people here where they live. I have been given a small bedroom to sleep in, but share meals and the house with everyone, share in some of the house chores and participate in the various meetings.
I spent one morning helping in the church's ministry to homeless people in central London as well.
My friend with whom I and a couple of others traveled with and hostelled around in the UK lives in the same neighborhood. Interesting thing that has just happened: she has been asked to house sit for friends from her church family, which happens to be a 5 minute walk away from where I am staying. The cross street opposite that house 'happens' to be called 'Grasmere'. Grasmere happens to be one of the towns in the Lake district where we stayed at last year for a few days. The couple who live in the house 'happen' to be going away for a holiday to the Lake District. And it just 'happened' that R., one of the others who were part of our group of 4 last year, was coming to spend the night, on her way through to start a holiday of her own.
So, there seems to be that continuation from things that happened last year.
I've been challenged these past few days reading from a small booklet called: The Revival We Need by Oswald J. Smith. The first three chapters can be found on this site: http://www.revival-library.org/catalogues/miscellanies/theology/smith_o.html
That's it for now. Still have a few days here in the City.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Here we go again
Blog apr 3
Just starting out on another adventure after a quiet winter at home. It is off to Europe again, with what could be a continuation of what was experienced and happened last year.
Admittedly, I really struggled about going traveling again, but if God is the one calling me to go, then his promise to lead and guide will be there.
I start off in the UK intending to stay in a Christian community I connected with last year for about one week. My hope is to learn from this part of God's family and how they live, work and serve together in caring for each other and those in their neighborhood.
This is another faith journey, trusting that as I make plans that God will provide His direction and allow me to be part of His plans.
I may have my ideas of what may happen but no doubt time will reveal what this first part of the journey is all about and how it may help shape some other parts of the trip
Just starting out on another adventure after a quiet winter at home. It is off to Europe again, with what could be a continuation of what was experienced and happened last year.
Admittedly, I really struggled about going traveling again, but if God is the one calling me to go, then his promise to lead and guide will be there.
I start off in the UK intending to stay in a Christian community I connected with last year for about one week. My hope is to learn from this part of God's family and how they live, work and serve together in caring for each other and those in their neighborhood.
This is another faith journey, trusting that as I make plans that God will provide His direction and allow me to be part of His plans.
I may have my ideas of what may happen but no doubt time will reveal what this first part of the journey is all about and how it may help shape some other parts of the trip
Friday, September 17, 2010
JOURNEYING WITH A PURPOSE OR TOURING AS A TOURIST?
Hello. It has been a long while since I have updated this blog. So much has happened and I am realizing it would have been much easier to do quick blogs a couple of times a week rather than allowing things to get backlogged. So many things have happened since the last update.
I am blogging to share my journey. I am not a tourist who just goes out and does what everyone else does like sightseeing, visiting museums or doing what all the travel guide books recommend doing. Rather, each time I go on these extended trips, usually lasting several weeks or months, there has always been a strong sense of destiny and purpose into something where I can 'see' over time that I may be part of a bigger story. God's Story? His Story? (his-tory). I love reading biographies of people. Their stories inspire me. After a few hours I am able to catch a glimpse of an overview of one person's life that lasts 50 or 60 years. One of my desires is that I will live a life that is worth reading about, that others will be encouraged from it and will desire to seek and discover God.
Most tourists generally are on a very limited time - perhaps one or two weeks - and then they need to return back home for work or their budget only allows them to be gone for so long. They may have a pretty planned and fixed itinerary and a travel return date. This is not my case. My journeys are pretty open ended and very flexible - as a seeker, a faith traveler and a follower of the God of the Bible, I have come to trust in Him for His guidance and to look for His activity.
I seem to have been given a role to network and encourage others who have a similar passion to get to discover, know and experience (the real) God through cross-cultural travel and adventure. My life is like a spiritual pilgrim, on a journey desiring to understand the purpose and life and if/how God is part of this and truly real. Throughout history there have been and continue to be spiritual pilgrims and spiritual seekers, ones who sense there has got to be something more in life than just the physical - working, eating, raising a family, paying bills, surviving, etc.
So here are a few examples from the past two months here in Europe of what this pilgrimage life of mine looks like. Honestly, it seems like I have been here a lot longer, life has been so 'full'.
Please first review my previous blog posts on this European Journey of 2010.
*LAKES DISTRICT UK -
**Meeting a young couple backpacking while we were on a day hike from our hostel - Just a quick casual greeting to them as fellow hikers. A couple of days later when we relocated to another hostel in the region, this couple happened to be staying there. We shared a meal together and connected, and then discovered they were heading over towards another part of the area, the same area we were booked to stay at in a couple of days. We arranged to meet each other again then and were able to build on our relationship with each other and share some of our God-experiences with them.
**At the same hostel, we connected with a group of 6 Germans and also shared a meal together. Late in the evening four of them and our group of four piled into their van and we drove up to some of the passes in the area and just had plain fun and enjoyed some of nature and the sunset. On the way driving back, a couple in our group were singing some songs. My friend C. said she knew one song in German, which happened to be a Christian chorus and sang it. One of the German girls said she knew the song as she happened to be part of a church youth group in
Germany. This opened things up for us to share more about our faith in God as Christians then and the next morning. We still had some Backpacker New Testaments with us (New Testaments from the Bible especially designed with some extra inserts in it to help backpacker travelers to learn about God) which C was able to pass on to two of the German girls
The morning we parted paths, we said our farewells. The Germans were to start driving north that day towards Scotland while we were moving on to the next hostel. As a group of four, we initially had two small cars between the four of us but one of them had broken down a few days before and was still sitting at the mechanics in another town. As a result, C and R packed the car and took all of our gear over to the next hostel we were booked in and G and I hiked 4 km from Grasmere to Ambleside, where we were to then connect with C and R.
Shortly after G and I arrived in Ambleside and were walking around, we heard someone call out to us from the road - it was the Germans in their van! They happened to be driving by us at that very moment! It had been several hours since we had said our goodbyes to them at Grasmere and we had no idea of what their plans were for that day except to start driving north but here they were south! Later when C and R came to pick G and I up from Ambleside, we discovered that after the Germans had left us, they also ran into C and R in another area!
**FRANCE - see July 16, 2010 Posting First - Signs of God's Spirit Leading
It has been two months since the July posting and in it I shared how G and I had discovered that we had a mutual contact whom I have initialled as A. When G and I first arrived in the UK we had no clear idea of when we were to leave the country and where to head to next. After the New Wine Christian conference (see Wonderful Week blog posting) we actually had to stop back in London and stay with my friends with whom we stayed with when we first arrived on July 21. As a result of that 2 day stopover, we were asked to consider if we would be available to 'nanny' for mom and the three children for a week on a holiday trip....over the coming days while we were in Lake District, G and I decided we would commit to the nanny offer and a couple of weeks later were in Normandy, France, staying in a country house in a tiny village in the countryside.
We were not that great in forward planning and were very limited in internet access - only able to connect briefly at MacDonald's restaurants which in France all seem to offer free wifi. As our time grew to an end and after exploring bus/train/hitchiking/rideshare options to travel, we wound up renting a car for a week which gave us time to explore some parts of France as we drove in across the country to the Germany border. We decided to visit our mutual friend A and things were arranged to do so. This was in early September.
A. arranged for us to stay with her fiance in his apartment and we were in the city for four days. As we reconnected with A. we heard how God was beginning to lead and guide her into some 'travel' ahead, and how she was beginning to sell off her possessions in preparation to go on an extended 'journey'. As she shared with us, we discovered that she had about 2 weeks ago, while google searching on the internet, had come across an article about some Christian hippies trying to help 'hippy' travelers on their journey in finding God. She mentioned the name of the group and asked us if we knew anything about them! Had We? YES! Both G and I know the key people involved with it - I have known them for a few years and I actually met with them personally in my hometown a couple of weeks before heading over to the UK as they are connected with a church I have been part of. G met them earlier this year while leading a group of travelers in India, as these people base themselves there for half of the year. I networked G to them at that time. So, all this was all very remarkable, connecting with A. at this time. It will be interesting to see what happens as A. steps forward in faith in God and begins her journey.
**WHAT IS NEXT? SCANDINAVIA!
There is so much more to share. I am currently in Central Europe, and have been here since leaving France, and about to move off again. I've been visiting contacts who have set up a Christian hostel and retreat guesthouse to help people on their spiritual journey toward and with God. I've been in touch with them for over five years, but finally have met them face to face. However, this story will have to be written up later.
For now, going back a couple of months again (Wonderful Week blog). Prior to leaving for the UK and doing a bit of research for the trip, I discovered that a Christian leaders conference for those living in northern Europe was being planned in Scandinavia with an international Christian organization that I have been part of off and on for 20 years. I felt that this might be a good time to connect and network with leaders from the organization with respect to 'faith travels'.
At the New Wine Conference I first discovered that my friend C was planning on being part of a small team from her church in the UK heading to the same Scandinavian country where the leaders conference is scheduled and on similar dates!! Also, as a result of being 'international' Christian leaders, G and I were invited the one day to attend a meeting at the conference for such leaders. Though there were only about a half dozen of us present, one of the ladies there happened to be the New Wine administrator within the same country and living in the city which is closest to where the conference is being held.
Fast forward about 7 weeks and a bit - while on the bus from France to where I am now in Central Europe - the lady seated beside me - had just been to that same country just recently - and I at that time was still seeking God if I should really head up to the conference in Scandinavia! It does happen that the nearest international airport to where I am has a direct flight to the city where I need to get to in Scandinavia and to make it from there to the conference.
So, things are booked and this is where I head to next. It has been 25 years since I have been in this Scandinavian country, where I began my first backpacker journey and worked for a summer in my profession. I wonder what God has planned as I head this way in Faith.
Hello. It has been a long while since I have updated this blog. So much has happened and I am realizing it would have been much easier to do quick blogs a couple of times a week rather than allowing things to get backlogged. So many things have happened since the last update.
I am blogging to share my journey. I am not a tourist who just goes out and does what everyone else does like sightseeing, visiting museums or doing what all the travel guide books recommend doing. Rather, each time I go on these extended trips, usually lasting several weeks or months, there has always been a strong sense of destiny and purpose into something where I can 'see' over time that I may be part of a bigger story. God's Story? His Story? (his-tory). I love reading biographies of people. Their stories inspire me. After a few hours I am able to catch a glimpse of an overview of one person's life that lasts 50 or 60 years. One of my desires is that I will live a life that is worth reading about, that others will be encouraged from it and will desire to seek and discover God.
Most tourists generally are on a very limited time - perhaps one or two weeks - and then they need to return back home for work or their budget only allows them to be gone for so long. They may have a pretty planned and fixed itinerary and a travel return date. This is not my case. My journeys are pretty open ended and very flexible - as a seeker, a faith traveler and a follower of the God of the Bible, I have come to trust in Him for His guidance and to look for His activity.
I seem to have been given a role to network and encourage others who have a similar passion to get to discover, know and experience (the real) God through cross-cultural travel and adventure. My life is like a spiritual pilgrim, on a journey desiring to understand the purpose and life and if/how God is part of this and truly real. Throughout history there have been and continue to be spiritual pilgrims and spiritual seekers, ones who sense there has got to be something more in life than just the physical - working, eating, raising a family, paying bills, surviving, etc.
So here are a few examples from the past two months here in Europe of what this pilgrimage life of mine looks like. Honestly, it seems like I have been here a lot longer, life has been so 'full'.
Please first review my previous blog posts on this European Journey of 2010.
*LAKES DISTRICT UK -
**Meeting a young couple backpacking while we were on a day hike from our hostel - Just a quick casual greeting to them as fellow hikers. A couple of days later when we relocated to another hostel in the region, this couple happened to be staying there. We shared a meal together and connected, and then discovered they were heading over towards another part of the area, the same area we were booked to stay at in a couple of days. We arranged to meet each other again then and were able to build on our relationship with each other and share some of our God-experiences with them.
**At the same hostel, we connected with a group of 6 Germans and also shared a meal together. Late in the evening four of them and our group of four piled into their van and we drove up to some of the passes in the area and just had plain fun and enjoyed some of nature and the sunset. On the way driving back, a couple in our group were singing some songs. My friend C. said she knew one song in German, which happened to be a Christian chorus and sang it. One of the German girls said she knew the song as she happened to be part of a church youth group in
Germany. This opened things up for us to share more about our faith in God as Christians then and the next morning. We still had some Backpacker New Testaments with us (New Testaments from the Bible especially designed with some extra inserts in it to help backpacker travelers to learn about God) which C was able to pass on to two of the German girls
The morning we parted paths, we said our farewells. The Germans were to start driving north that day towards Scotland while we were moving on to the next hostel. As a group of four, we initially had two small cars between the four of us but one of them had broken down a few days before and was still sitting at the mechanics in another town. As a result, C and R packed the car and took all of our gear over to the next hostel we were booked in and G and I hiked 4 km from Grasmere to Ambleside, where we were to then connect with C and R.
Shortly after G and I arrived in Ambleside and were walking around, we heard someone call out to us from the road - it was the Germans in their van! They happened to be driving by us at that very moment! It had been several hours since we had said our goodbyes to them at Grasmere and we had no idea of what their plans were for that day except to start driving north but here they were south! Later when C and R came to pick G and I up from Ambleside, we discovered that after the Germans had left us, they also ran into C and R in another area!
**FRANCE - see July 16, 2010 Posting First - Signs of God's Spirit Leading
It has been two months since the July posting and in it I shared how G and I had discovered that we had a mutual contact whom I have initialled as A. When G and I first arrived in the UK we had no clear idea of when we were to leave the country and where to head to next. After the New Wine Christian conference (see Wonderful Week blog posting) we actually had to stop back in London and stay with my friends with whom we stayed with when we first arrived on July 21. As a result of that 2 day stopover, we were asked to consider if we would be available to 'nanny' for mom and the three children for a week on a holiday trip....over the coming days while we were in Lake District, G and I decided we would commit to the nanny offer and a couple of weeks later were in Normandy, France, staying in a country house in a tiny village in the countryside.
We were not that great in forward planning and were very limited in internet access - only able to connect briefly at MacDonald's restaurants which in France all seem to offer free wifi. As our time grew to an end and after exploring bus/train/hitchiking/rideshare options to travel, we wound up renting a car for a week which gave us time to explore some parts of France as we drove in across the country to the Germany border. We decided to visit our mutual friend A and things were arranged to do so. This was in early September.
A. arranged for us to stay with her fiance in his apartment and we were in the city for four days. As we reconnected with A. we heard how God was beginning to lead and guide her into some 'travel' ahead, and how she was beginning to sell off her possessions in preparation to go on an extended 'journey'. As she shared with us, we discovered that she had about 2 weeks ago, while google searching on the internet, had come across an article about some Christian hippies trying to help 'hippy' travelers on their journey in finding God. She mentioned the name of the group and asked us if we knew anything about them! Had We? YES! Both G and I know the key people involved with it - I have known them for a few years and I actually met with them personally in my hometown a couple of weeks before heading over to the UK as they are connected with a church I have been part of. G met them earlier this year while leading a group of travelers in India, as these people base themselves there for half of the year. I networked G to them at that time. So, all this was all very remarkable, connecting with A. at this time. It will be interesting to see what happens as A. steps forward in faith in God and begins her journey.
**WHAT IS NEXT? SCANDINAVIA!
There is so much more to share. I am currently in Central Europe, and have been here since leaving France, and about to move off again. I've been visiting contacts who have set up a Christian hostel and retreat guesthouse to help people on their spiritual journey toward and with God. I've been in touch with them for over five years, but finally have met them face to face. However, this story will have to be written up later.
For now, going back a couple of months again (Wonderful Week blog). Prior to leaving for the UK and doing a bit of research for the trip, I discovered that a Christian leaders conference for those living in northern Europe was being planned in Scandinavia with an international Christian organization that I have been part of off and on for 20 years. I felt that this might be a good time to connect and network with leaders from the organization with respect to 'faith travels'.
At the New Wine Conference I first discovered that my friend C was planning on being part of a small team from her church in the UK heading to the same Scandinavian country where the leaders conference is scheduled and on similar dates!! Also, as a result of being 'international' Christian leaders, G and I were invited the one day to attend a meeting at the conference for such leaders. Though there were only about a half dozen of us present, one of the ladies there happened to be the New Wine administrator within the same country and living in the city which is closest to where the conference is being held.
Fast forward about 7 weeks and a bit - while on the bus from France to where I am now in Central Europe - the lady seated beside me - had just been to that same country just recently - and I at that time was still seeking God if I should really head up to the conference in Scandinavia! It does happen that the nearest international airport to where I am has a direct flight to the city where I need to get to in Scandinavia and to make it from there to the conference.
So, things are booked and this is where I head to next. It has been 25 years since I have been in this Scandinavian country, where I began my first backpacker journey and worked for a summer in my profession. I wonder what God has planned as I head this way in Faith.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Lost Sheep in Grasmere
On Saturday August 7 all four of us did a short hike together to Easedale Tarn above town. I wanted some time alone and was eager to hike cross country and explore. Yet I did not quite get away people and found myself near another trail that continued to go further up. A solo British woman named J walked by and I called out something in jest to her and we connected. She asked me what I was doing here in the UK and I gave her the spiritual reason. She happened to be Buddhist in belief but was asking me some pretty deep questions. I wanted to spend more time with her but was committed to meet C and R at 3pm to join them on another hike and had no mobile phone connection right where I was to try and change plans. I shared later with my three friends c, r and g about my encounter with and my burden for her and how I would have loved to have spent more time with her.
I really had no choice but to leave J and was burdened to pray for her for the rest of the day and then the next morning (a Sunday). We drove 10 miles or so to Keswick for a church service then back to Grasmere where we were staying. We as a group of four really had no clear plans for the rest of the day. In the end R and C decided to stay in town and do their own thing. G and I decided to go on a walk without a map, looking for the first footpath sign off the road. Such sign posts are everywhere here. We of course found one, and soon met a couple who had a map and asked them where the trail went. Not that it mattered much. But it went up hill. As we got near the small pass, we could see that possibly we could go higher and loop back through the sheep pastures back to Grasmere rather than going back the sane way we came. We had no map, just sheep trails now and no sign posts, just a good sense of direction. We met another group of three as a trail became more defined, and got details of where the trail led - almost right to where we had started from.
As we descended and came near to Grasmere, I noticed a solo lady walking up the trail towards us. As we got nearer to each other, I realized it was J, the same lady from yesterday! How amazing! We were able to talk a bit more with her about each others beliefs. G, my friend has just recently finished reading a biography about a lady who had once been a Buddhist nun but then became a Christian.
We marvelled at the way God had allowed His burden to come on me for this lady yesterday after meeting her. The odds of meeting her the next day in a place that has dozens of foot path routes and the fact she was not even staying in the same town as ourselves and that she already had walked for many hours that day, and that we net again - cannot simply be mere coincidence.
I had met her yesterday on a hilly sheep pasture where sheep are scattered about as solo sheep or in very small groups. I was reminded about the parable of the lost sheep that Jesus shared from the book of Luke, chapter 15, verses 3-7 in the New testament of the Bible. The shepherd leaves his hundred sheep looking for the lost one and finds it and brings it back home and rejoices. J seemed 'lost' and though she talked as if Buddhism was her answer to life, I sensed a sadness over her. To have met her the second time under the situation and really praying for her and wanting to have spent more time with her the first time, but could not, them amazingly meeting her the next day wandering trails and hillsides of scattered sheep without a map and running into her again, was 'WOW'. The living God knows she is searching for the Truth. Jesus, as the Good Shepherd is looking for her. He knows she is lost but has His ways of making himself known to her. Please Pray that God will continue to put Christians in her path in amazing ways and that she will come to know and follow Jesus.
I really had no choice but to leave J and was burdened to pray for her for the rest of the day and then the next morning (a Sunday). We drove 10 miles or so to Keswick for a church service then back to Grasmere where we were staying. We as a group of four really had no clear plans for the rest of the day. In the end R and C decided to stay in town and do their own thing. G and I decided to go on a walk without a map, looking for the first footpath sign off the road. Such sign posts are everywhere here. We of course found one, and soon met a couple who had a map and asked them where the trail went. Not that it mattered much. But it went up hill. As we got near the small pass, we could see that possibly we could go higher and loop back through the sheep pastures back to Grasmere rather than going back the sane way we came. We had no map, just sheep trails now and no sign posts, just a good sense of direction. We met another group of three as a trail became more defined, and got details of where the trail led - almost right to where we had started from.
As we descended and came near to Grasmere, I noticed a solo lady walking up the trail towards us. As we got nearer to each other, I realized it was J, the same lady from yesterday! How amazing! We were able to talk a bit more with her about each others beliefs. G, my friend has just recently finished reading a biography about a lady who had once been a Buddhist nun but then became a Christian.
We marvelled at the way God had allowed His burden to come on me for this lady yesterday after meeting her. The odds of meeting her the next day in a place that has dozens of foot path routes and the fact she was not even staying in the same town as ourselves and that she already had walked for many hours that day, and that we net again - cannot simply be mere coincidence.
I had met her yesterday on a hilly sheep pasture where sheep are scattered about as solo sheep or in very small groups. I was reminded about the parable of the lost sheep that Jesus shared from the book of Luke, chapter 15, verses 3-7 in the New testament of the Bible. The shepherd leaves his hundred sheep looking for the lost one and finds it and brings it back home and rejoices. J seemed 'lost' and though she talked as if Buddhism was her answer to life, I sensed a sadness over her. To have met her the second time under the situation and really praying for her and wanting to have spent more time with her the first time, but could not, them amazingly meeting her the next day wandering trails and hillsides of scattered sheep without a map and running into her again, was 'WOW'. The living God knows she is searching for the Truth. Jesus, as the Good Shepherd is looking for her. He knows she is lost but has His ways of making himself known to her. Please Pray that God will continue to put Christians in her path in amazing ways and that she will come to know and follow Jesus.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Forward to Lake district Adventures
LAKES DISTRICT. Not our will but your will, O God. There is so much to share from this time in the area. We arrived as a threesome on August 2 and then R arrived the next day with her car to make us a group of four.
A few days back, on the last day of the New Wine conference, from the closing session, the theme to us was: Do we have enough of the love of Jesus to tell others about Him? Some notes:
People are looking for lives that have been profoundly changed by Jesus. We need to love people into God's
Kingdom. Let us look for what God is doing in the lives of other people and look at the way Jesus related to and connected with people. From the story of the blind man Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52, New Testament:
1. Jesus connected with people through interruptions that came his way. He was not on a fixed agenda for the day.
2. Jesus listened to people. Listening to others helps in their healing. It values them. People want to be heard.
3. Jesus was ready to stop and gave His time to others, to talk with them.
4. Jesus was ready to pray for and with the people he met and connected
with, to pray into their broken lives and ask for God's healing.
5. Jesus was ready to include people. People are looking for connection and relationship with others. Be ready to stop and greet people. Create a community that others want to be part of.
So, this was the foundation and desire that we had as plans were committed to spend time in the Lake district, staying in youth hostels and taking time to enjoy God's creation. Some stories to be posted soon as a result of this time. The days are passing by quickly and just in the past 2 hours another amazing connection has been started and the journey into this should be continuing tomorrow.
****
A few days back, on the last day of the New Wine conference, from the closing session, the theme to us was: Do we have enough of the love of Jesus to tell others about Him? Some notes:
People are looking for lives that have been profoundly changed by Jesus. We need to love people into God's
Kingdom. Let us look for what God is doing in the lives of other people and look at the way Jesus related to and connected with people. From the story of the blind man Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52, New Testament:
1. Jesus connected with people through interruptions that came his way. He was not on a fixed agenda for the day.
2. Jesus listened to people. Listening to others helps in their healing. It values them. People want to be heard.
3. Jesus was ready to stop and gave His time to others, to talk with them.
4. Jesus was ready to pray for and with the people he met and connected
with, to pray into their broken lives and ask for God's healing.
5. Jesus was ready to include people. People are looking for connection and relationship with others. Be ready to stop and greet people. Create a community that others want to be part of.
So, this was the foundation and desire that we had as plans were committed to spend time in the Lake district, staying in youth hostels and taking time to enjoy God's creation. Some stories to be posted soon as a result of this time. The days are passing by quickly and just in the past 2 hours another amazing connection has been started and the journey into this should be continuing tomorrow.
****
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