JC in Durban

The second of my 2008 visitors has come and gone now. John Clevely (JC), the leader of Beulah Family Church in Thornton Heath, UK, that sent me out here, came to visit me and get acquainted with the church out here. He arrived last Friday morning, and yesterday left for Zimbabwe for the second leg of his trip to Southern Africa.

Unfortunately (or not, in some ways), JC never got to visit Hope Church on a Sunday as we were sent off to Mtubatuba where JC preached. From there we went around Hluhluwe (where I got a flat tyre and had to change it in the middle of a game park with 200 lions!) and St Lucia, where we saw hippos and crocs. Mtuba was an interesting visit though. JC preached his favourite Ephesians 1 sermon, provoking a strong response from the gathered people. I felt very much to jump out in things and not just sit back and watch, so I brought a prophetic word that seemed to be the launch pad for a whole lot more contribution in the meeting. I had a few other things I could have ministered too, but I struggle to know what would be too much for a visiting englishman to do in someone else's church that doesn't know me so well!

JC also got to meet Mandy, which was good. She gets the seal of approval, not least as a Spurgeon fan! :o)

Though I'm still busy with things here to do with students, Cato guys, publicity, preaching (now set for Mar 16th!), writing, training, etc, I did manage to get a good bit of quality time with JC. It's so vital that we maintain relational links with some real depth, not merely for our own sakes, but because that's the sort of fellowship God would have us share with one another.

One of the things we talked about a bit was what I'm going to do when I come back to the UK. As it stands I still can't see any leading of God that supercedes any direction to go back to Thornton Heath and to get into teaching. It would have its many difficulties, but I have faith in God for whatever future He, in his sovereign wisdom, calls me to. Mandy has been quoting the stories of great modern missionaries a lot recently, and it's a good reminder for us to be no less radical than they. They weren't special people except that they allowed free reign to their love for Jesus in obedience. In truth they (and not they, missionaries, only) lived the life God calls us all to to a greater extent than many of us dare to do. Along with Steven Curtis Chapman, who I listened to this morning, I say, "I wanna be a God follower, I wanna go wherever He leads; I wanna be a God follower, I wanna walk the trail He's marked for me - more than anything!"

I think that trail in the last of my months in Durban is leading some exciting places too. Watch this space! :o)

The delightful Miss Baxter

I'm sure most of you have heard the big news - I'm no longer single! A picture of my lovely woman is alongside - her name is Mandy Baxter, from Northern Ireland. She's been out in SA for 4 1/2 years, been in Durban for about 18 months, has been living by faith the whole time, is an amazing woman of God, and leads the youth work here as well as playing a big role with the students. The long and the short of it is that at first she thought I was a jerk (as they all do!), but she got to know me better, and God literally has orchestrated our coming together. It was two weeks ago today that she basically put me on the spot while I was just figuring out quite what to make of the whole situation. Since then we've gotten to know each other very well and can so see the hand of God on this whole thing. Obviously I'm a very happy man because of this, and I am daily more and more pleased with the surprises unfolding in this woman that God has blessed me with.

The difficult thing is that she goes back to Belfast on March 26th, and I'll be in Durban until June 16th. What we do after that is very interesting, because God has clearly led her to be involved in the church plant we're doing into Belfast. Even before this I wasn't totally sure what I would do when I returned, but even now I'm not entirely sure either. What I do know is that I want to do God's will, even if that means we spend a fair bit of time apart in the next months. If that's God's plan, He'll give the grace to make it a season of blessing rather than decline. Obviously my preference would be to be where Mandy is until we can both set a new direction together, but I want to know what God's will is, not mine. So please do pray for some guidance in this, as well as general wisdom to build our relationship healthily.

For two weeks in this might sound like big plans, but we're both mature people (she's actually 27 - 1 year and 4 days older than me), we haven't come this far lightly but after much consideration and prayer, and because this we've been able to cover a lot of ground quite quickly rather than messing around in learning to trust one another. Neither of us is looking for a casual relationship, so naturally we're seeking to make serious decisions.

God's been giving me a lot of wisdom and grace to be able to "do well" so far and quickly handle things that would otherwise have become very difficult. I trust he will continue to do the same as I keep looking to Him to help me lead in this relationship.

Anyway, most of all I just want you all to know, and to celebrate with me for a good thing has come to me (and Mandy would say the same thing about her too! :o) )! The Lord gives, the Lord witholds and takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Random general updates

Hi, all! Sorry to keep you all in suspense! Still lots and lots going on at this end.

• We're pretty much through O-Week at UKZN. We've built some strong momentum in promoting our Alpha course and bringing some new people into the church. We were at the societies' fair last Wednesday and speaking to a great number of people, along with the Hindus, Bahai, and all sorts of other people. We made some good contacts and went down to the beach on Saturday where we got to know them a bit better and introduce them to Durban (as many of them are new). I got mildly sunburnt on the day.... the only painful bits were across the tops of my shoulders and back of my neck. All in all I didn't get too badly burnt, but any burn is still not a good thing to have. The waves at the beach were incredible, by the way! Oh my goodness! While most weren't this bad, I tried to body surf one (which when you catch the wave right carries you so far!), and it flipped me in a double forward somersault before slamming me into the sandy ocean floor! The swell must have been about 3m above the ground - huge! So much fun though - would totally do it again!
• Things are still going well with the boys from Cato Crest. Because of O-Week we've not made too much new progress, but things are still going strong. We're going to hopefully sort some stuff out, check on Fana, and just have an afternoon of fun with the boys tomorrow. The other day when we were playing soccer with the boys I had to go back to collect some of the latecomers. I saw Xola walking home in his school uniform, so I went, alone, with him to his house. He got changed as I talked to his mum and met his dad (who spends most of his time away working in the north of the country and comes home during leave periods). It was so nice to be welcomed into their house and within minutes I was being offered some cold Sprite (which I know would be one of their luxury items) and some fresh grapes, even though I was staying for only a few minutes. The welcome was so warm, and the parents of these guys are actually so glad for some others who want to be a good influence to their kids. So many bad influences are available to them, and are especially appealing when growing up in poverty. But that was just the start. As we left we saw Menzi and waited for him to change at his house. In the meantime loads of the smaller kids had gathered around my car, especially while I was there. They literally just stared, about 15 of them. Whenever I moved my car they ran after it all across the place! It was so weird, but it was so unusual for them to see an unaccompanied white guy in a nice car in their neighbourhood who was friends with their neighbours. Eventually we left and went on from there, but it was so cool to just once again be able to rock up to the township and feel like I've got a place in its life.
• Also, for those who are wondering, I took my car for a service today and it came through all clean. While Jat was here I went to see a Christian car dealer contact in Durban who looked at it and said, "Basically you've probably done quite well for R35,000, and if you've only got a few months left you'd be just as well to just keep going with it. He said he would advertise it for sale and if any good offers came up then it might be worth considering, but on the whole, he was of the opinion that I'd not do a lot better to change and would have to go through the same teething problems with another car. Anyway, was good to have it serviced today and for even the mysterious front brake noises to be undiagnosable (they said there's nothing wrong there, so don't worry about it). So that's some pretty good news really. Since the fuel pump incident it's basically been fine. Maybe it might just be good for me after all!
• I've also been spending a bit of time recently sorting out my visa application to go to Ghana for Julian and Liz's wedding. Oh my! What a mission! Still, the application was sent off yesterday and hopefully should be complete by early next week. I leave for Accra on Monday 18th. I hope for a very good time away, and also with Julian and Liz. Please pray I stay safe and that I do more than have a holiday there - I really want to get more of a feel for Africa and to get a connection with the church there. I had yellow fever jabs, and must get malaria tablets. I hope to have no side effects from either!

Anyway, that's it on this one. But big news up next!