Last Visitor

Ian Nicholson is here at the moment, Ian heads up 24-7 prayer in Europe and has been overseeing Tracy and myself since we came here in March 2005. He has been a faithful friend and encouragement throughout that whole time. He normally gets off a plane and listens to me moan about all sorts of random stuff for about 3 hours then it all settles down and he brings wisdom, friendship and love.

Ian is one of the people who helped us stay the course, he has been an encouragement to us as a family and a real strength to the work here.

So last night we toasted our time with Ian and enjoyed a lovely little glass of champagne and gave God the glory for allowing us all to have been on this journey together.

What is lovely is that I will continue to work with Ian in my new role within the UK.

We were not meant to be comfortable

It's funny isn't it how we get so stressed. I was driving along in the car the other day thinking about all that is going on in our lives right now, having a little moment. A moment of frustration and worry which in the end boils down to a little discomfort! Then a thought struck, "this is how it was meant to be!" 

We were not meant to be comfortable, who really wants comfort. I read about it, hear about it, how God wants it all to be okay, how he wants to me to have the pie, have the car, enjoy the prosperity, enjoy the good health, all the riches he has in store for me, the kingdom of comfort is preached all over the show. Maybe I have bought into that. This is a kingdom that is advancing moving forward, growing, changing, growth and change aren't always comfortable. Moving forward means leaving stuff behind, thats natural, growth means stretching, change, well change, means what it says on the label.

You can hide from it but it's all around us, our children force change on us, the years force change on us, our health changes us, what we eat, where we go, who we know they all change. Thats beautiful, thats life, I am not going to fight it. I'm going to embrace transience the fact that change is all around, sometimes minor sometimes minor but it is definitely unavoidable.

Here's a beautiful thought, once we stop fighting it, stop trying to manage it, give in to the the wind of the spirit allow him to blow us, embrace change, go with it move with the kingdom; forwards, we find comfort and riches that we never imagined.

My life has been enriched beyond belief since I opted for discomfort, I have found comfort like never before as I have embraced change and movement. Weird how I have moments where I lose sight of that.

We were not meant to be comfortable.

Making People Safe

Yesterday we where out on the streets until 3 in the morning. Two of our girls were walking the streets when they bumped into a soldier who had been on leave from Afghanistan for just 3 days. He was unwinding and had a fair bit to drink.

He was pretty uninhibited and clumsy walking into stuff and generally stumbling about, he walked down to the port and nearly fell into the sea. In fact as he walked off a prostitute grabbed him and told him to wait for our two girls.

When they eventually got him calm and sat down he couldn't remember his hotel, which can always prove to be a bit of a nightmare! Poppy and I then went to help them, we do this tag teaming because it can get wearing for the original people just to sit there for over an hour going "where's your hotel mate?" over and over.

Eventually the police showed up and we had a detective moment, we got his camera out of his pocket and checked his photos and one of the police recognised the bar where he was staying. By this time he had woken up and sobered up especially with the police about. They offered to take him to the hotel in their car but he nervously refused! So we walked him back. It ended well, a little hug which was slightly messy as he had puke down his front, and then he trundled off to his room.

he could have drowned, he could have got robbed, he could have stepped out into traffic, but in the end, with the help of a prostitute, the police and ourselves we all got him to safety.

Thats what it is all about, making people safe.

We build Altars

I didn't write what is below and I have changed a few names and locations, but you will get the idea, this is such a beautiful prayer:

Exodus 20: 24 (nlt)

"Build my altar wherever I cause my name to be remembered, and I will come to you and bless you"

I've never built a physical altar! But as I read this I have a picture of altars being built before God all over different parts of San Antonio, especially in and around the vicinity of the west end. These are altars that have been built everywhere God's name has been remembered.

There's an altar out side Godfathers's where I talked with Natalie. There's an altar on the bench near the bus stop where Timmy and I talked, read the bible and sat with Robert; another on the steps of the hotel Pacific where he fell to his knees as we prayed for him.

There's an altar in the hotel apollo where Adam and I prayed for the friend of a soldier who carried a load of guilt over the death of that friend in Afghanistan.

There's an altar outside Hush where Kera and I sat on the floor talking to two guys who believed that our presence there was a sign to them that God is real!

There's an altar in 2 separate doorways near Can Toni where Becky and I listened as a prostitute told us her tragic story and of her continued faith in God in spite of it all.

There's an altar outside La Noche where I hugged Martin and told him that God values his life that he created, even though he believes he should be dead

And there are so many more...... altars built night after night, year after year as God has caused His name to remembered in a multitude of random locations. Altars outside bars and clubs; altars inside bars and clubs. Altars by the port, on beaches, in hotel rooms. Altars strewn throughout the bustling streets of the west end; altars in dark doorways and car parks. Altars in strip clubs and lap dancing bars; altars in apartments and homes.

Lord, see these altars; altars built because you have caused your name to be remembered. See these altars Lord and come, come and bless them.

Stressful insight

Our car is in the garage this week, just getting sorted before we try to sell it! Another challenge, they are coming thick and fast at the moment and we are still leaning into God as we go along.

There are days when I feel my head is going to explode, but if I break it down and compartmentalise everything I find it easier to deal with. For me stress is not one thing, when you take one thing on it's own it never appears stressful. It's always a culmination of a whole load of smaller things all positioning for space and vying for attention, trying to force themselves to the front of my thought processes queue, that, for me, is when stress happens.

Some of these stresses I suppress, others I ignore, some I tell to go to the back of the queue, others I deal with. Generally I keep them in an orderly line and when I watch them they are under control and pretty well behaved. However when I get physically tired or let my guard down spiritually, its like I turn my back on them. In that moment they all make a mad dash, like a group of travellers getting on a ryan air flight,  to try to get to the front of the queue. I turn around and there they all are waving their boarding cards at me and demanding they get seen to first! At first the sight of them all rushing, fighting and pushing can overwhelm me, the thought that flies into my head is "where will I start?". It then takes me a little while to get them all back in order, slap a few, boot a few out, tell a couple to calm down generally bring a bit of control.

It's a constant battle, not depressing or distressing, just a constant battle. Most of the time I am winning but as we get nearer to the end of our time here and our life gets busier, the different stresses seems to jostle harder for position. They are cheeky inconsiderate little blighters, popping up, trying to push in and generally very demanding.

Anyway today I have the queue in order, I have had a good nights sleep, been to the gym, prayed and am about to read my bible.

Hope that gives you a little insight into my stress. No different to anyone else's although this has helped me get a bit of perspective by writing about it.

Totes Emosh

I must admit I had never heard this phrase before, until Kez who is out here serving the work for a few months said it in the car the other night. It has it's origins in Essex two x-factor contestants used it, although Kez is not from Essex! Anyway I looked it up, it's a phrase when someone or something is very emotional.

Now from time to time I can be a little emotional but I am starting to feel a little stronger with regards going back to the UK. But last night we had our first summer service and we had 4 prostitutes in attendance it was so lovely to see them, I find myself more emotional about these girls and their plight than I do about my temporary discomfort around change.

We also had a guy turn up last night who used to be an usher at his church in Nigeria, he asked if he could be our usher. I think they come early, tidy up and set up we said obviously said "Yes".

It's weird I always thought emerging missional communities would somehow look different perhaps be a little trendier, I am not sure what I expected but I didn't expect that we would be having an usher!

But then isn't that the essence of missional?

I don't really care what we look like or what people want to do as long as we are reaching out.

Anyway last night was a great first night, Kez led worship for the first time, I gave a little talk, we got to pray with some people and the summer has started to take shape.

Now I might get totes emosh when I have to leave all of that!

Vomit Van Driver needed!

I know thats not the sexiest of requests I have put up on my blog, but we have a little problem around drivers of the vomit van from about 20th August through until the end of September.

We could really do with someone who is 25 plus to come and volunteer for 6 weeks who would be willing to do a bit of driving. Confident and comfortable with using a manual left hand drive people carrier! That doesn't mean you have to have driven one before you just need to be up for it!

It can be a little messy and a little hectic, you will be up from 12 - 5 in the morning about 3 nights a week, you'll need to do a few airport runs collecting and dropping off our team members and we would also love you to get involved in the other aspects of the work, but at this point if all you could do was driving we would be happy with that!

Calm under pressure, not too worried about messiness, able to focus,  you need to be a christian and you would need to raise your own support for being here for 6 weeks! If you could do longer we would be happy to have you for 3 weeks in October but this is not as essential!

I know it's a big ask but we really need your help, I can give you more info if you are up for it. Remember you really do need to be over 25.

Speak to me, leave a comment with your email I won't publish it. Or if you know my email just send me one.