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?