Banquet in the Sky

There is still the small matter of the result of the Banquet in The Sky competition induced by KLM Royal Dutch guess-the-grub Airlines. The results will be in no particular order- much like the meals- and will be posted to your inbox - that's if I survive the "salad"; spicy beef and olive rice dinner with "vegetables"; and iced cake with a dewy piece if pineapple on it! So watch out - you might be the lucky winner!
Oh but before I go, two hours before landing I had the following conversation with the stewardess:
Stewardess: Would you like a snack before we land, Sir?
Graham: Why not?
Stewardess: I could give you several reasons - the healthiest people are those who never say yes
Graham: I'm running a competition on my blog of "Guess the dish"
Stewardess: Someone deserves a prize for guessing what this one is - I have NO idea!
Out of the mouths....

So what?

So a great trip to a far away land, meeting far away people and entering their far away world for two short weeks. For sure messages have been preached, meals shared, tears cried and laughter enjoyed. God has opened eyes and ears to what He is doing, but my question to John and myself is the title of today's post - so what? God sent us on this trip - has all he intended been fulfilled? Have the obvious and the hidden purposes and desires of God, Cesar and us been woven together, the warp and woof of a beautiful new fabric? In a few hours we will be back home, back to safe, secure,comfortable life, ministry and church - so what? We can share the story more fully than in a blog. We can be used of God to stir fresh prayer and support of what he is doing in Zamboanga. All that is good. But are we different men for having been here? In what ways have we been changed forever? In what ways will our lives and ministries take on a differnet hue? What are we bringing back in our bags which will need to be unpacked, examined, meditated and acted upon? If these questions are not addressed then we will just have been spiritual tourists seeing amazing things, capturing souvenir photos and coming home with the feeling of having "had a great time".
It would be wonderful if as you read these thoughts, you could reflect on these questions with us and for us. We invite your thoughts, perceptions and insights. Write, speak, however is good for you, we actually need your help on this.
But as a reader, you have been on a journey too. As the more or less daily email hit your inbox and you have clicked and read, has it just been an interesting journey to spectate, or are you too faced with a "so what?" deeper within? What has stirred in me as I have read? What radical thoughts have come in the moment? What fears or faith have burst forth and been quickly stifled? Are you any different from having been on the journey with us in reading, in praying?
So as we all take off our travel shoes and stand still and reflect, we are back where we started, on holy ground before God. What is he saying? The answer comes from the lips of the Teacher in Ecclesiastes 12:13 "Fear God. Do what he tells you" - (The Message) - are you up for that?

Final Fling

Manila airport does not sleep and hence nor do I! The farewells are a flight away, the tears dried and the experiences God has allowed us to share have ceased to flow. They gather now in a pool of memories. To round off we gathered with the believers in Ayala for one last time to worship the Lord who is the One who has brought us together. It was my turn to preach and there seemed no better place to explore than the reality of heaven in the face of persecution, weakness and struggle, portrayed by John in Revelation 4. The open door; the throne of heaven; the fact that the throne is occupied; the dynamic of worship and the confidence of prayer. It's brilliant stuff although others will need to judge if the sermon was although its a start that I was gripped and moved by the Spirit - always good if the preacher is engaged! Suffice to say it felt and looked like the Lord was encouraging, strengthening and comforting his people.
What better way to celebrate than to sit down after all the formal farewells and photos to a whole barbecued tuna fish? Sorry to have to resort to an Americanism but it was AWESOME!
As the afternoon unfolded we were treated to some more moving stories of how the gospel is spreading underground right in the heart of Muslim strongholds; of a baptism in mud because the tide was out and one where a young man being baptised in a dirty river swam away underwater when he was dunked and popped up on the other side - so to speak!
In a bid to stave off the farewells - not to mention necessary diets - Cesar, Ludima and the girls took us for pizza and in order to get there John and I had to ride in a motorised tricycle - now that was an experience!
There is no doubt we have been treated to a whole spectrum of experiences of God, his people, moving stories and food. We are utterly grateful. Hope you've enjoyed what we've been able to share courtesy of email and this blog. To God be the Glory!

Daring to Imagine

Two older men, one bunch of yellow-tee-shirted young people and the Lord - a heady mix indeed! That was this morning's setting in Ayala. We need not have worried, because they were such a delightful group from several churches. As John explored David and Goliath and Christian warfare with them it became clear that God was indeed present and on the move. Hearts were being touched by the Spirit. It became very obvious to me as I spoke on the call of Jeremiah as could see visible impact in their lives. One of their leaders called them forward for prayer and we had the privilege of praying for them and blessing them as they grow up in Christ. There may be gum gnashing and hand wringing in many churches over the lack of young people or grumps and groans because they don't easily conform to the old ways but where young people are seen as living works of God's grace, all we can do is marvel and delight in seeing the next generation burn with love for Jesus, love for each other and a compassion for the world. The challenge the Lord set me is to stand up and encourage young people to be who God has made them to be and to personally nurture them in their faith, their struggles and triumphs so that they grow to bear the likeness to Christ more clearly than my generation has ever done. It was such a joy to pray over them and to sense that the call of God is on their lives for the flourishing of the Church of Jesus in this area in coming months and years. Fantastic! Or more spiritually, Hallelujah!

No church event is complete without food so we headed through the house to a feast set for the youth pastors and ourselves in Ludima's kitchen. Conversation came to an abrupt end as the corrugated steel roof was battered by deafening torrential rain - it just gave space to eat! Joking apart, it was so good just to have fellowship with these youth pastors and to know their hearts for their young people - very moving.
Equally moving was a short time with two of the Ayala elders. The one on the RHS is the first man in Ayala to become a Christian through Cesar's ministry. His whole family became believers a la Book of Acts and have been part of the church ever since. The one on the LHS is youth pastor. The "meeting" was more an opportunity to present John and I each with a ship in a bottle as a reminder of our visit. Those of you with sharp eyes will notice a couple of interesting photos on the wall behind, reminding of past and present bonds of love. These bonds have been strong over more than 16 years and in this visit have been strengthened all the more.
Going back to these young folk, Cesar has a real vision to see a Bible School established in Zamboanga as he senses that there is a time of real harvest coming and he wants leaders and pastors to be made ready for what God will do. I love that! What shape will it have? The potential is huge. I am daring to imagine God's future here...are you too?

Heaven's Delight

There is an ancient song which says " how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity". These lyrics reveal something much deeper than the words of a gifted songwriter, they expose the desires of the heart of God. It is good to God and pleasant to Him - a delight, a pleasure when his children get along. Well once more we were at Jollibee - different branch - for a gathering of city pastors and their wives. In many ways my heart was beating fast for this gathering as I had a sense of real anticipation about it. I was not disappointed.

About fifteen gathered from various churches and denominations, and clearly they were already in good relationship with each other. Pastor Cesar is this year's chair of this group who meet once a month in each other's churches for food and fellowship - so it was an exception being in Jollibee! John shared a little about the shape of church life in Aberdeen and in particular the weekly prayer time at our church. This really connected them into the idea that we actually participate in their life and ministry through prayer despite being separated by thousands of miles. Then I was asked to share a word. So I taught on the Trinity in a thoroughly interactive way, drawing out the implications of Trinity-Centred life for prayer and for mission. There were some fun moments in the midst of the magnitude of the subject.

Over lunch John and I had the opportunity to listen to some of the stories of grace in these pastors' lives.That is after one of them had shared that in July they had had a visit from and Indonesian preacher who had prophesied that two foreign men would come to Zamboanga and that their visit would be highly significant. There was no doubt in their minds that John and I were these two! No pressure - but rather humbling. So our prayer together was simply to ask the Lord to fulfil whatever that significance is in his heart through our time here.

I was chatting to one lady pastor who was brought up in a 90% Muslim community. Her family did not know Jesus, but she became a Christian and subsequently her family has been converted. She and her husband started a church in this community back in March 2011 in the little piece of ground at the side of their home. They have draped sheeting over a wooden frame to form a shelter from the sun and there a small but growing congregation gather every week for worship. Another tiny little church of a handful of people establishing a bulwark of praise and worship in this community which although Muslim, is friendly and accepting of them as believers. However she has a job in a very dangerous militant Muslim enclave which is controlled by crime syndicates where she teaches in the school. She has chosen to be there as a Christian and to show the love of Jesus to the Muslim children and to share her faith as appropriate.

Other pastors shared some deeply personal stories with me and I felt honoured to be entrusted with their stories. Here was I sitting on three years of theological education plus thirty years of ministry experience listening to a brother who had six months of Bible School and has been ministering wonderfully and fruitfully for twenty years - his wife being one of the early fruits of his ministry. Yet I felt he was teaching me and pointing me to the Lord far more than I to him.

One of Cesar's desires is to see a small Bible School established in Zamboanga which would help train young pastors for the growth of the church in this area. My heart chimes with that, but only God knows the how and the wherefore of it.

I believe by the time we moved from the side-room out into the bustle of the fast food restaurant, there was a good dose of heavenly delight going on - there certainly were new friendships and relationships formed and  now the question is where do we go from here?

Holy Ground

There are moments when the only thing to do is stand still, take your shoes off and take in what you see, let it soak into your very being. Yesterday was such a time. On the face of it is was a trip up country, an opportunity to get away from city and experience rural Philippines. It was all that, but even as we drove up through the hills on concrete roads with coconut and banana trees near, sheltering fragile coconut wood houses, often built on stilts, and coconut and bananas tree as far as the eye could see, we knew we were embarking on a day in another world. 

We were jolted back to corporate life when we stopped after almost three hours.A fast food lunch, courtesy of Jollibee. However as we drove through the bustling town of Ipil and out on to the road heading to Cesar's home village of Dawadawa we witnessed one of the many rapes of the land and its people by international business. There was a huge rubber plantation planted on cleared ground, employing many people for a pittance, but the rubber going to make the billions of Good Year tyres which are the shoes of our vehicles. Our minivan was treated to two motorbiked pastors acting as outriders as we wove over poor roads on to our destination.

Finally we arrived and were welcomed with great warmth and of course lovely snacks. The opportunity to drink coconut juice from a coconut picked as we talked was of course memorable but these are trivialities. Here in Dawadawa there is a church, a people of God who for decades have worshipped God in this place and given Jesus the honour of their lives and prayed for many, not least for our home church in Aberdeen. This is Cesar's home church,Gospel light Fellowship, and through Cesar and Ludima has become the "mother" church to so many small churches like it all over the Zamboangan Peninsula. There are two on a nearby island and we were honoured by the pastors joining us a for a few minutes. 

Pastor Ian is twenty one and yet has answered the call of God to minister on this difficult Island in a town called Florida! His bride-to-be is a Bible Woman on the Island and they will marry in January 2012. You can see that life is hard, eking it from coconuts and rice, yet these believers have it all. They have faith that is radiant, and quiet joy in the face of hardship and struggle. This my friends is the real McCoy! This is holy ground, because God has walked and is walking this land through the feet of these followers of Jesus, bringing his Gospel to the villages around. 

Tears of profound worship are welling up as I write, forgive me, but here I caught a glimpse of the glory of God in the face of his people. After going to send Ian and his colleague back to the Island, we headed to another village, and another little church before heading back up the road to Imelda. Our motorcycle outriders took us to their church which is  clearly well organised and has various levels of programmes charted on the wall. yet even this one has birthed another down the road in the town centre behind the bus station. 

Prayer, proclamation of the Word of God and the Spirit of God bringing new life in Christ leads to such expressions of missionary heart. There in that church we stood still, gave thanks to God, blessed the pastors and left clutching "barbecued" bananas - better known as deep fried bananas! Fine. That set s up for the long drive in the dark avoiding dogs, pigs, oxen, children, tricycles ,cars and buses, all the way back to our hotel. What a day, what an experience, what a genuine people of God, what a God! That warrants a Hallelujah! - do I hear an Amen?

Fruitful Plants

My Bananas

It's now Monday morning and I am sitting writing this and eating the most delicious small banana - quite different from our supermarket variety. These can be seen growing on the plants by the side of the road but this particular "hand" was a gift from a church we visited yesterday evening - clearly a very fruitful visit! Actually this was a fairly last minute addition to our programme for yesterday. Pastor Baya had been at the Church Leaders' Conference on Saturday and as Cesar is a great friend of his, he pressed him to allow us to come to his church. What a blessing it turned out to be. The church has the use of a middle floor in a building in downtown Zamboanga City. The ground floor is a funeral parlour; the first floor, where the church meets and the top floor is the home of the millionaire lady who owns the whole block. We joked that death is on the ground floor, life on the next floor and she is close to heaven on the top!

Worship was full of life; exuberant, whole-hearted and free - such a joy for us both to be able to participate in. I was preaching what God had laid on my heart; the naming of David and Bathsheba's second son and how they ignored the name by which he was known by God from before the dawn of time - Jedidiah - Beloved of God - and instead chose their own name for him by which we know him - Solomon.

I felt huge freedom and joy especially as this led to the scene of the Baptism of Jesus; the falling of the Spirit;  and the voice from heaven declaring " you are my beloved Son, in whom I delight". I won't treat you to the whole sermon but if you ever fancy exploring it with me, I am open!

Pastor Baya & his daughter

Worship was followed by food. About seventy families were there and everyone was fed a hot meal of rice, pork and chicken.This church clearly has some rich members, but the majority of the children looked poor and we suspect this might have been the best meal they would eat for a number of days.

What was most thrilling of all was to hear Pastor Baya share their plans to plant another three churches in the next two years. He is training three Assistant Pastors for this ministry and at the right time the church will split and multiply.Their vision is that the new churches will begin as house churches and grow to point when they too need to split and multiply. They could easily settle into a pattern of church life as they have it and they would be effective in building up the people of God, but their hearts are to reach more and more people for Jesus by daring to step out with God and plant new churches in other areas round about the city. He is a big man, with a big vision and a big view of what is possible as God leads and directs.

Having been involved in planting a church and having attended church planting conferences I recognise the beauty and simplicity of such a heart and purpose.It raises issues in my mind about comfortable church, intentional living in areas of the city as missional communities and dare I say it, what we in the west think of as church and what it could/might be. Oh dear something has stirred in me, something radical and disturbing. I wonder what that is about?

God's Desires Obeyed

GLF Ayala

Sunday worship in Ayala was a real highpoint in our journey so far. What an incredible joy it was to be amongst the people of God. Every single one has been drawn by God, not just to the Church, but far more importantly to know Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Each one is a beautiful  new creation in Christ. Cesar and Ludima originally sensed the call to plant a church in Zamboanga City, but God directed them to this area of Ayala. In obedience to the Spirit, they went and began Gospel Light Fellowship. Through the prayers of so many this fellowship has grown as they have been faithful and courageous in God.
John and I were received with such love and genuine warmth, it was at times very moving. As we worshipped God with these brothers and sisters we had a powerful sense of God's heart for the nations to come and bow down with one heart and mind in worship of him - a foretaste of heaven indeed!
John, or should be call him Pastor John? - was the preacher. As I indicated on the last blog he preached on the healing of the official's son in John 4:43-54, Cesar giving a simultaneous translation, but done so as if he was preaching Filipino style! No-one could slumber or sleep. No snores from the back staid Presbyterian pews! Apart from anything the pews are backless benches or plastic garden seats so there isn't much chance of comfort.

My Friends

As I sat in the front row while John was preaching, a group of three little boys joined me with their Gideon New Testament. They could not read but they wanted to see where I was reading from. As I shared my Bible with them, they became my friends and friends means photos - so here they are.
Here is a vibrant church, with a passion to see families come to know Jesus. It is not easy. The dominant religious atmosphere is Catholic or Muslim. There are powerful forces of land and money at work to make breaking from either to follow Jesus in the simplicity of the Gospel, extremely costly. The work goes on with quiet, prayerful, courageous faith - a truly beautiful quality I suspect is only produced in the face of adversity.

Come let us worship and bow down!

The great news is that two families are leaving the GLF! Most pastors would be devastated by that statement, but not Cesar. He is thrilled! They are not troublesome malcontents, the exact opposite. They are faithful families whom God is calling and drawing back to Zamboanga City to plant a new church. They have a vision to plant near the Airport, as one of the families will be living there. They have asked Cesar to remain as their Pastor and he has not only agreed, but agreed with great delight. From December he will pastor both GLF in Ayala and this new little congregation in Zamboanga City. Who will God gather round these two families? What lives will be touched by the reality of the Risen Christ in these people? Only God knows that bit of the story. But for now, they know they are going; Cesar knows what he must do and they are joining in what God is up to. Full Circle for Cesar - a church plant in Zamboanga City - just a different timing form expected. Yet that's how God so often works. Does it get much better than that?

Spiritual Leadership

I thought a wee report on how things went today would be in order! It was an early start to get out to the church in Ayala ready to share with the various leaders. The first thing to say is that it was great to see so many young leaders. Their sense of faith and life and commitment is very strong. It was great because one of the aspects of John's talk was highlighting the ministry of Timothy who was a young, shy leader entrusted with looking after a whole group of house churches in Ephesus and how Paul encouraged him not to let anyone despise his youth but to set them an example. Most definitely a word from God for them.
Prior to John speaking from a "helper's" view of ministry, I had shared the prophetic ministry of Barnabas as he encouraged the newly converted Saul in his embryonic ministry and then bringing his cousin John Mark into the team as a helper so that he could experience what Gospel ministry was all about. The fact that he blew it and chickened out gave Barnabas the opportunity to give him a second chance, much to Paul's annoyance! That second chance was to ultimately lead to John Mark being used of God to write the Gospel of Mark - no mean legacy of life and ministry for John Mark, or for Barnabas!
All in all, it was a great morning and these talks seemed to be greatly appreciated as was the lunch Ludima and Cesar's Mum had prepared for everyone! More food! This time it was mainly vegetable dishes - young bamboo; mung beans; some unpronounceable dish and noodles, oh and a free range chicken brought especially for us from one of the pastor's yards!

Tomorrow is Sunday so we will head back to Ayala for morning worship and John is going to preach on John 4:43-54 - the Official's son. I get a break in the morning but we are so much in demand (!) that we have been asked to fit in another church here in town in the early evening, so I will preach at that one and John will have a rest! Division of labour.
 We are looking forward with anticipation, aware that in ourselves we are not up to much, but by the Spirit he can accomplish wonderful and untold things. So our prayer is that - " accomplish wonderful and untold things in the hearts and lives of your people."

Productive Rest

A couple of days of rest...lots of chatting, walking round and round the car park and of course sampling more Filipino delights in the restaurant. This down time has enabled us to prepare for sharing with the various leaders in the Gospel Light Fellowship tomorrow. Thanks for helping out by prayer on this! As we have thought, prayed, talked, we have put together a good outline for the morning. I will open up the subject of spiritual leadership emerging from Barnabas. Then John will look at the role, spiritual qualifications and effectiveness of helpers in the local church - fancy coming to our conference? Maybe someone should tell God TV! All joking apart one of the things we are looking forward to is the time to really engage with these believers and hear their hearts as they seek to serve God effectively in Ayala.
Our daily rhythm is continuing as we read through Ephesians. This morning were were bowled over by the grace of God in Ephesians 2:1-10. It is a staggering passage which culminates in the amazing assertion that we are God's masterpiece, creation, workmanship. He is the beginning and the end of all we are and all we do. Fantastic!
Cesar and Ludima came in to spend time with us today which was lovely. They treated us to various delicacies and great chat, then we headed off to Greenwich Pizza and Pasta House for lunch, meeting up with their daughters Shilomei and Sheenne to make a family outing of it. What a lovely and generous treat. We had such a great time. As the sun sets and evening falls we are ready and waiting for a wonderful day tomorrow - so until next time...

Thank you Lord!

What a brilliant day it has been. We joined the congregation of Gospel Light Fellowship for their Annual Thanksgiving service as you will see - and both John and I were guest speakers! 

It was primarily a time of worship and celebration of all God's goodness to this people throughout the last year and it was clear that preparations had been going on for most of the past year for today.There were a couple of testimonies of how God had blessed lives; reading from Scripture; these delightful boys and girls singing "How great is our God" - albeit with some judicious prompting! - and all held together in an atmosphere of worship and exuberant praise led by the youth worship team. By the time John came to preach there was an anticipation and expectation which burst open in vocal agreement with the Word and at times, applause of the Truth. Soon nerves dissolved and the joy of declaring the Word from Psalm 100 broke through.

I had decided to preach on Romans.12:1,2 and had prepared accordingly however in the course of the sung worship the Spirit redirected me to focus on "God is good and his love endures for ever" as it is sung in various places of celebration and warfare in the OT. It was certainly not what I planned, but it was clear it was the Word of the Lord for us all. What a wonderful God we have - Hallelujah!

The time of worship then gave way to a time of fellowship - snapshots and hugs, and laughter and enjoyment before we shared food together. I am sorry this subject has occurred again, but really how often do you get a whole roast pig for lunch? I don't include the picture to offend anyone, but merely to illustrate the lavish kindness and blessing prepared and shared with us from a people with so very little. It was simple, beautiful food and the conversations which flowed were rich and deep. If the trip was only about today, it was worth it, but I have a real sense that this is only the beginning! God has even more in store for us all - it will be so exciting to see how it flows from now on.

We have a couple of rest days now, but are giving some thought and prayer to what we share with the church elders and ministry leaders on Saturday when we spend the morning together. We invite you to pray with us on this.

Shoes

I confess my huge ignorance of the Philippines prior to this adventure. The name I had heard of was the disgraced former President Marcos and of course his wife Imelda Marcos -the mysterious IM! She spelled her name S-H-O-E-S. Many women have a penchant for shoes, but she was addicted to collecting, and wearing, an outrageously lavish array of shoes.
But shoes are a luxury and apparently more than a third of the world's population cannot afford shoes. That is the stark reality of rich and poor - of vast wealth and such painful poverty.

That contrast was immediately highlighted in conversation today - church members who are very very poor and are ministered to by the giving out of monthly supplies of rice, and extremely rich big business. Many ordinary Philippinos feel like slaves in their own land - owned and exploited by economic empire-builders.
Today has been a day of  R & R in the hotel. We barely ventured beyond the car park - as seen from our room. However we had good time to begin a saunter through Ephesians together and were struck with the powerful knowledge that we have been "sent" by God and Gilcomston Church to the faithful people of God in Zamboanga. That turned into a time of praying and interceding together which was rich.
Later in the afternoon Cesar and Ludima joined us and brought a feast with them. Now this far-surpassed previous food discussion. They brought freshly boiled monkey-nuts; orange juice; the most fabulous fresh mangoes and the gateaux. It is Ubi cake and contains no artificial colouring! And it was delicious - giving carrot cake a real run for its money!
However the richest thing about the day has been spending time with Cesar and Ludima and just chatting, getting to know each other and beginning to hear their story. It is humbling and stirring to hear the depths of their desires to share Jesus and see men and women find the Truth of Christ. They have spent much of today preparing for the Thanksgiving Fiesta tomorrow when the church members are on holiday and come to celebrate God's goodness in worship, fellowship and food. That will be when we go deeper, experience more and enjoy the story of Grace in the lives of the people of God. Bring it on!

Enjoy your Sunday Lunch?

Well I quipped about the Royal Dutch Airlines Menu, so here is the little competition....guess what delights are represented on the tray for Sunday lunch or dinner - lost track of time as you do when you are enjoying yourself. Answers on a postcard please...Oh I must have that wrong as I am the one away and I am therefore the one who should be sending pcs!
Clue - the left pic or of the main course and the right one is of the dessert. I think the woman next to me was wondering why I kept taking photos of the food - maybe she thought I was Egg On Ronny - sadly the one of the breakfast rubbermaid omelette is a bit blurred although that could just have been my eyesight, having slept little. Still it fuelled us until we landed in Zamboanga to be treated to bright orange brollies on disembarkation - to protect us from the sun. Here is John sporting that little number.They even laid on a dance in the baggage hall.

So we have arrived and were met by Pastor Cesar and his wife Ludima and then joined by two of their three daughters.
A short excursion to the supermarket for supplies of water was quite an experience as we dodged heavy traffic on overcrowded streets - traffic mainly of motor-bike tricycle taxis. Fun and fumes.
It is clearly going to be quite an experience and in a through it all God is leading and opening up the opportunities.

It's a long way...to Zamboanga!

Well today's the day! The cases are packed and the check-in is done. It's a long way to...is it Tipperary? - No, Zamboanga! Our flight leaves Aberdeen at 11.00 just as lots of you will be in worship services. We touch down in Amsterdam for a mere 55mins then head off on one flight direct to Manila. From there we take a direct internal flight to Zamboanga City and arrive there about 13.25 on Monday 10th.
For anyone interested in the "where" the following maps give the whole journey and then the short internal flight.
The next post will be from Zamboanga - different land, different culture,different language - and probably written through a mist of jet-lag. Till next time....


View Zamboanga in a larger map
View Philippines in a larger map

Pencil Sketch

When I was learning to write, I was schooled in shaping my letters in pencil and the once the pencil version was completed, I learned to go over it in ink - making the alterable unalterable, the temporary permanent.
That method largely describes much of my life - there is much that is provisional and therefore has great flexibility to alteration, much that is sketched in pencil which can be adjusted, erased or made more definite and settled - what I call "pencil living". Ideas, possibilities, plans are written in pencil so that the Spirit can have free reign in adjusting and re-writing them as the Father desires.
Pastor Cesar has drawn up a pencil sketch of our programme, however I suspect it will be, and needs to be flexible as we enter into all that God wants to do, accomplish and shape, in us and through us during this trip.
Here is the pencil sketch:
10th-11th Oct            Hotel
12th Oct                      Thanksgiving service (Morning ) - both speaking
13th-14th Oct            Hotel
15th Oct                      United churches fellowship (semi conference morning one session)
16th Oct                      Sunday morning worship
17th-18th                   Visiting churches.               
19th Oct                     Hotel
20th Oct                     Pastors and church leaders conference 
                                    (for 20 people only for 2 hours from 10am to 12noon with lunch)
21th Oct                     Hotel
22th Oct                     Youth conference ( only one session in the morning)
23th Oct                     Sunday morning worship
24th Oct                     Departure (Byeeeeeee)

In this midst of this pencil sketch, the Lord will fill in shadows and highlights in conversations, prayer, sights, sounds, food, good and bad experiences. The result will be a picture made certain, inked over and thoroughly pleasing to the Lord.


P.S. I get a daily delivery to my inbox from http://www.moravian.org/daily_texts/ and this is today's offering. Interesting......

"Abraham's servant remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not. Genesis 24:21 (NKJV)
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. Acts 16:9-10
As your still small voice calls us to your ministry, Lord, open our ears
to hear and guide us to the places that we are needed to do your work.
Restore in our church the zeal to spread your word to the farthest
corners of the earth for your honor and glory. Amen."

Divine Pricing

The third block was the price of flights from Aberdeen to Manila. Once the decision to go had been made I started tracking the cost of flights. There were several "cheap" deals with Middle East airlines involving 10 hour sight-seeing tours of airport transit lounges. I was not happy!
I identified the specific flights which were the shortest flights with the shortest layover - in Amsterdam. However these flights were £820 return for the dates we wanted. Oh dear far more than my adopted Aberdonian desire-for-more-for-less spirit was content with.
I prayed. I asked God to deal with KLM and to get the flights reduced. They stuck at that price for about three weeks. Then one day I noticed they had dropped to £706. I decided that was more like it so went to book that evening, only to discover it had fallen to £701. I was all set to book but discovered I didn't have all John's details so I had to stall. The next day I received notification that the fare for the specific flight had fallen to £539.95. I asked the Lord if I should delay in the hope of a further fall. My friend and I had a blast searching all sites to see if it would go any lower. By the time I came to finally book, I secured the flights for £523.95 - a drop of just under £300!
While the cost had not been an insurmountable block, the Lord has given us a great price and I believe all the glory is His. Two Happy Aberdonians!

Blocks

Paul and his entourage had clear instructions from God to go to two specific regions. However one after the other they encountered blocks. The Holy Spirit got in their way and redirected them despite having told them to go there! Now there is a mystery. Was their spiritual GPS wrong? Did God change his mind? All a bit of a mystery...until we read that Paul had a vision which was an invitation to bring the Good News of Jesus to Europe. Right place, right time. Divine choreography delightfully creative.
Once the decision to go was made three substantial circumstantial blocks popped up.

The first was the issue of immunisation. I am blessed by being the recipient of a wonder drug which keeps my joints supple. However it suppresses my immune system which means that live vaccine is a definite no-no. Could I get the necessary immunisation? The enquiry from my nurse didn't clarify , it merely identified what I needed. 
I happened to have a family lunch and my brother-in-law was present. He is a Consultant in Infectious Diseases. I asked him for advice. "No problem", he said very quickly. "Are you sure?" I retorted."I have just attended the World Congress on Immunology where we spent a morning session studying the issues of vaccinating immunosuppressant patients - there is no problem". The clear advice I needed! Block no1 - cleared!
The second issue was travel insurance. As the Foreign and Commonwealth Office want to discourage travel to The Philippines, no High Street travel insurance will be effective. Yet clearly such insurance is vital.
A call to OMF soon pointed us in the direction of an insurance company which specialises in travel insurance to areas of the world not on the FCO most popular list. A quick phone call  and Block no2 was removed too.