up my tree

Psalms from the deep 3

2011-11-24T16:18:00.000Z

And our third 'Psalm from the deep' comes from Sharon McIntyre:

My 'Alphabety' Psalm

AWESOME God, You are so worthy to bepraised.
The BEAUTY youhave created through the mountains and the seas and in all creation iswonderful.
COUNSELLOR Lord who wants to and doeslisten to all our prayers and concerns - thank you.
DARKNESS may come but we haveeverlasting hope, love and joy which you offer and provide.
EVERYDAY you care and love us as yourwonderful children.
FAITHFULNESS is core to you and time andtime again we are reminded of all your Mighty works and provision.
GREAT is our God most worthy of our praise.
The HEIGHTS anddepths of your love for us is mind-blowing. We are made in yourimage.
INTRICATELY and carefully hand-made toyour specification.
JOIN our hearts together Lord for You are love.
KEEP us close Father and reveal more ofyourself for You are amazing and Your name is worthy to be praised each andevery day - all day.
LOVING God who created the stars and the sky -your handiwork is beyond belief, the flowers, the trees, the colours, thedetail, all that You have made is wonderful.
MAGNIFICENT God - Your love is neverending. You are the rock on which we stand and it is solid and un-moving.
NEVER ever Lord will You leave us or forsake usfor we are special to You.
OPEN our hearts Lord so as You can fill us upwith Your almighty love and care for us.
PROTECT us Lord. You are amazing andwe praise Your goodness and steadfastness. Praise Your Holy Name.
QUIETEN our minds so as we can bestill and hear what You want to tell us.
RELATIONSHIP is key and Father You are aGod who wants to have a relationship with each and everyone of us. You havetime for each of us.
SURRENDERING our lives and giving Youcontrol makes sense so Lord help us to do just that.
THANK you for loving us, loving us whether weare happy, sad, angry, or whatever. Thank you for being the same whether it istoday, tomorrow or yesterday.
ULTIMATELY Lord You are more amazing thanwe know. You are the amazing, awesome God who sent His one and only Son to diefor our sins. Lord you are more than enough for each of us.
VICTORIOUS are we in knowing You and wehave the ultimate victory by having You in our lives.
WORTHY is Your Precious Name - You are Holy.Holy is Your Name - You lavish us with Your love and we are truly acceptedcompletely in Your eyes.
Thank you for being the solid ground we stand on and the anchorthat keeps us here. Thank you for being with us always and for your amazinglove.

Amen

If you missed 'Psalm from the deep 1' by Hilary and the story of these Psalms, you'll find it here, and 'Psalm from the deep 2' by Chris here.

Leave a comment if these Psalms have touched your heart, and I'll make sure your comments are passed on to the authors!

Psalms from the deep 2

2011-11-21T21:54:00.000Z

Chris Wade is the author of our second 'Psalm from the deep'. I hope it blesses your heart today!

Good Company

Just when I think I know you

You surprise me yet again
And Again I am Reminded
Of how childish I have been
To think that I could comprehend you
The creator of all things
Compared to you I’m a speck of dust
How childish I have been

But If I can be your Child and You can be my Dad

We can just hang out a lot – Yeah, I’d be cool with that
I wouldn’t have to figure you out - we can just sit and be
You’re just so great to be with – real Good Company

I often hear of what you think

Or words of similar kind
But I don’t expect a speck of dust
Would know what’s on my mind
At times I’ve thought “I’ve worked you out!”
Like some puzzle I defeat
Then realize a piece is missing
And I find myself deplete

But If I can be your Child and You can be my Dad

We can just hang out a lot – Yeah, I’d be cool with that
I wouldn’t have to figure you out - we can just sit and be
You’re a lot of fun to be with – real Good Company

Am I supposed to understand you?
I’m not the only one you know
Who’s asking “Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
( long silence )
Well.................. - I guess I’ll never know
But what a funny sight this must be
For one such as you to see
Here I am and here you are
How childish I have been

But If I can be your Child and You can be my Dad
We can just hang out a lot – Yeah, I’d be cool with that
I wouldn’t have to figure you out - we can just sit and be
I can be myself with you – You’re real Good Company

If you missed 'Psalm from the deep 1' by Hilary and the story of these Psalms, you'll find it here.

Psalms from the deep 1

2011-11-19T18:51:00.000Z

I'm just home from a four-day retreat at Drumalis led by the lovely Tony Horsfall. We were plumbing the depths of spiritual darkness - those times when you know God is there but the sense of his presence has gone. Tony took us through some of the less well-known Psalms - ones that we probably avoid most of the time because they're not so 'happy' - like Psalm 88.

Some of my fellow retreaters wrote their own Psalms and shared them, and I asked them if they'd be willing for me to publish them on my blog because I thought they were just too beautiful not to share.

The first one is by Hilary McFaul. As you'll see she's called it Psalm 1 - that means there will be Psalm 2, 3, 4 etc to come - right Hilary? :)

Psalm (1!)

Abba, Father
You alone arethe source of true life
In my moments ofdarkness and despair
You hold mewithout words
You surround mewithout touch
You draw me withendless compassion

As a child, youtake my handAnd show me yoursanctuary
You place me insafety and enfold me with beauty

In stillness Iknow your presenceWhere pain ismoulded into joy
And hope breathslife and strength
I praise youAbba that your love never fails

If you've appreciated Hilary's Psalm, leave a comment and I'll make sure it gets back to her.

Life is a roller coaster

2011-11-01T21:18:00.000Z

Recently though I've been thinking a lot about life with God, and roller coasters.

I know lots of people love them, but I'm not so much a fan of roller coasters. I hate the way they take away my control and cause me completely unnecessary fear and terror. The thing is, although I feel petrified, nothing bad is actually going to happen to me. In a few minutes I'll get off it completely fine but with legs shaking, adrenalin pumping, and stomach churning.

And this is what makes me think it's a bit like life with God. When you walk with God, your soul is completely safe. You're in Christ, and he's in you. Nothing can separate you from his love. Nothing can snatch you out of his hand. But although these things are completely true, your don't always FEEL safe. Life goes up and down: there's good news and bad news, laughter and tears, health and illness, birth and death. And these experiences make our emotions go wild - joy to despair, excitement to complete terror. But ultimately, no matter what happens to your body, your mind, or your heart on the roller coaster of life, your soul is completely safe with God.

I'm wondering if I should start embracing roller coasters and learn to enjoy the ride instead of hating the fact that I'm not in control. I'm not in control of my life either, and the more I try to control it the more frustrated I get when my emotions go haywire. Could it be possible to let go a bit and allow myself to respond to the ups and downs of life, and let God show me the rails of the roller coaster and remind me he's designed them and they will hold me?

I've been looking for an actual roller coaster to experience before writing this post, but I missed Funderland in Belfast so I'll either have to go to Dublin in January or wait for Barry's to reopen!

What about you? Are you a roller-coaster-lovin' adrenalin junkie? Do you see life as a ride to enjoy, or are you like me - hanging on for dear life, most of the time wishing you could hit the brakes and get off? I love getting comments, so go on, leave me one!

(By the way, have you got that Ronan Keating song going round your head yet? No? You have now! LOL!!)

Guest blog - 'Dear-friends-who-are-already-married'

2011-10-04T21:15:00.000+01:00

I'm honoured to have one of my best and longest friends (who wants to remain anonymous) write a guest post for my blog. You know who you are - thank you for joining in this 'relationship status' conversation!

Dear friends-who-are-already-married (or who-are-heading-in-that-direction)

I am so pleased that you have found someone to share your life with and who makes you happy. It brings me so much joy my friend to see you smile; relax in the company of one who accepts you just the way you are; be looked after and taken care of, sometimes (though maybe not as often as you would like!) before you even have to ask.

There is a little part of me that is sad... I will not be the first person you turn to anymore. I will miss the times that we have supported each other spiritually in prayer because you have someone else to pray with now. We have shared so many experiences but because I remain single I might not be able to give you the empathy or advice that you need in the challenges you face in your new partnered life.

When you tell me that, “God has good things planned for you”, I know you mean well. But it sounds a little like you don’t think my life is up to much right now. That somehow God’s plan for me right now, which doesn’t seem to include a ‘special someone’, is wrong. That somehow He’s messed it up.

I believe His plan for my life is perfect. I might take some wrong turns every now and then, but I do believe, and know by His grace, that these too can be redeemed. Whether that means that He has a ‘special someone’ for me... well let’s face it, neither you nor I know that for sure. But He has promised that His grace will be sufficient for all my weaknesses, and while I often neglect Him and search for comfort elsewhere, I know He will never let me down.

Most of me isn’t sure that marriage will ever happen for me... a little tiny part of me really wishes that it would. So, just in case, rather than feel sorry for me... or imply somehow that I’m missing out... I would really love you to model it for me... how a husband could ever love his wife “just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her”... or how a wife submits to her husband as she does to the Lord... how as a ‘two’ you are able to serve God so much better than you ever could have as individuals... how you raise your family... how you continue to include those you hold dear in different aspects of your life no matter their marital status.

And perhaps we can continue to show Christ to each other, and grow together in faith, hope and love.

With love from your friend

I can't help agreeing with my friend. Singleness is so misunderstood and and mishandled, particularly by the church. I think people who have been single for a long time can appreciate to some extent the challenges of relationships and marriage, because it is something that most single people are hoping will happen for them. However people who have been married for a long time seem to forget what it was like to have been single, or maybe if they married very young, they never really experienced singleness.

If you are married and have single friends, please remember that you still need them and they still need you. They need you to be open to understand their lives, and to be open to share yours. If sometimes your single friend seems a bit prickly, please show them grace and love because their heart might be breaking. And if you are finding the going tough in your marriage, be honest with your single friend about it so they can support you and pray for you.

We live in a very broken world, and although some might argue that marriage is God's ultimate will for men and women, the truth of life here on earth is that it will not happen for some people, or it may happen but turn out to be a lot less than you dreamed it would be. God is with us here in this broken world though, and our challenge is to walk well with Him in every area of our lives, whatever our relationship status.

"In a relationship..."

2011-10-02T12:02:00.000+01:00

So, remember I wrote a post a couple of months ago called 'Dear Single-Man-Who-I-Like'? And remember the other brave man who replied?

Well, turns out we like each other! :-) This last couple of months have been the most incredible adventure in loads of different ways, but most of all in finding that this amazing guy wants to spend time with me and get to know me. And it all started from a chance meeting, and me publishing most of my various personal struggles on my blog!

And so I find myself no longer 'single' but 'in a relationship'. A friend asked me recently if I'm feeling relieved now that I'm not single any more. My answer was, "No". 'Relieved' feels like the wrong word. I'm definitely happy - REALLY happy! And yes there is a certain angst about being single that has gone - the wondering why no-one wants to be in a relationship with me - if there's something wrong with me, if I'll be single all my life, if I will ever meet someone, and if so how long will it be before that happens?

But being 'in a relationship' is definitely not a fix for all of life's problems. Don't get me wrong, it's a really good thing and I'm loving having someone to share life with, but if I let myself think being in a relationship is the only way to be really happy, I know (from experience, sadly) I'm most likely going to end up disappointed.

Although we're both followers of Jesus, we're still broken people who carry the scars of past hurts and failures, and continue to sin and struggle with this fallen world. So I can't for a minute ease up my grip on my relationship with God now that I have a man in my life. I need God just as much whether I'm single or in a relationship.

I'm learning that relationships are primarily ministry to each other. I have the awesome privilege of getting to know another human being very deeply - of being trusted with his heart and his story. And I must also learn to be known and loved, and while that seems like a wonderful thing, it is really scary to open up a heart that's been broken before and risk it on someone new. I'm not sure I could do it without faith that God is with us and in us.

I am hoping and praying for more open and honest conversation among Christians about our relationship statuses, because when you think about it every adult is somewhere on the spectrum of 'single - liking someone - dating - in a relationship - getting over a relationship - married - separated - divorced - widowed - remarried - etc', and no matter where you are on the spectrum, emotions run high.

Where are you on the relationship spectrum right now, and what are your learning about God, yourself and others through the experience? And if you're brave enough to share your thoughts, join in the conversation by leaving me a comment!

My last Wycliffe newsletter

2011-09-15T13:38:00.000+01:00

This is the last newsletter from me in my current role in Mobilisation with Wycliffe Bible Translators. If you've been kind enough to follow my newsletters and you'd like to read this one, you can download it here.

And now the job hunt begins!

Another brave man has replied...

2011-08-02T22:15:00.000+01:00

...to my previous post, Dear-Single-Man-Who-I-Like. I so appreciate these guys joining in the conversation and sharing their side of the whole muddle us single folk get ourselves into when we fancy someone who's already a good friend. This particular brave man would like to be anonymous, but I know he'll see I've posted this, and so to him I say a profound 'thank you'. Here's his reply:

Dear Girl-Who-I-Quite-Like-But-I-Think-Might-Not-Feel-The-Same,

Here we are again, having coffee. I do think you’re amazing, but I’m afraid to say it to you in case you just laugh, or it gets really weird and this will be the last time I’ll see you. What would I say anyway? I used to be confident, knew what to say, but life has squashed a bit of that out of me.

You see, it’s Northern Ireland, and I’m divorced. Most of my friends don’t care, to them it doesn’t matter, and they can’t understand why I got married in the first place. But it mattered to me, because I believe that God’s plan for marriage is the perfect plan, the best way to bring children into the world and to nurture them. Except in my case it didn’t work the way I dreamed it would, that two people would become one unit, to the exclusion of all others, I didn’t believe that so much pain and suffering could have been unleashed into my world by a person I thought I knew who turned out to be someone else, and capable of such betrayal.

But that was so long ago, and God has been so good, has healed those wounds and taught me so much about me, and about life. And about forgiveness, both mine of others, and his forgiveness for me.

I’ve been on my own for quite a while now. I tried dating again a few years ago, had a few shortish relationships, but I was too raw, too scared of being hurt again, so eventually I called out to God, asked for his guidance, and felt I needed to wait. So I stopped looking for someone, spent a lot of time doing fun blokey stuff with my mates, kept busy. The busyness didn't give me time for a relationship. And allowed me to heal, or rather God healed me. But on the odd occasion where my mates were doing stuff (like spending time with their wives. Or girlfriends. Or families), I felt so lonely, a gnawing, cold loneliness. Not often, because I like motorcycles and riding motorbikes doesn’t allow you to dwell on internal angst. But when I was lonely it hurt.

I tried to find someone who shared my beliefs, in Jesus, in his goodness to us, in his forgiveness, his grace. It being Northern Ireland, I quickly found out that as a divorcee I was damaged goods in certain circles. Nice Godly girls want brand new boys, not one who's been married before.

Despite my manly joshing with the boys about not being under the thumb and being my own man, yes I would love to be married. I'd love to have someone to share my life, and to share theirs; to have someone to love, to care for, to surprise with occasional cooking exploits. Now that making fire isn’t what it used to be, the ability to fix broken things and replace headlight bulbs must be almost as good. I'd love someone to provide for - in the same way that you tell me you want a family, why is it so awful for a guy to admit that he wants to provide for that family? When that is taken from us, it leaves us feeling emasculated and useless, and I’ve seen it many times.

So, why do I meet you for coffee? Sometimes it’s because I really value your friendship, enjoy your company, I'm eager to hear your opinions. Sometimes it’s because I really like you, love your smile, your nose, the curve of your cheek, your laugh, the sound of your voice. Sometimes it’s because I can see you’re really hurting and I know in an hour or two you’ll tell me about the stuff you can’t tell your other friends because you know I’ll never breathe a word of it to another living soul. Sometimes it’s because I need someone to listen, because the hurt or panic or fear or loneliness is there. I’ve got some really good mates, but two lads sitting together deep in conversation in a quiet restaurant isn’t conducive to either party being entirely comfortable!

So why is it that I find myself tongue tied and awkward, despite have had the best part of a couple of decades to perfect my lines since I first rushed headlong into a potential lifetime relationship? I think it’s because I care about you, value you, and I don’t want to spoil things, make you uncomfortable. I’m scared that I’ll screw things up; that you’ll think I’m some sort of desperado and never want to see me again.

That, and the fact that I obviously have no idea about what you’re thinking.

Yours,
Single-Man-Who-You-Like

PS Yes, I know about pain at church services, maybe different to yours, but sometimes I wonder, Father’s Day???? A day for the Coast Road on the motorbike methinks.

PPS Also I'm truly sorry about the times I've mysteriously disappeared from your life.

PPPS And finally, thank you to all my married friends who think I should join an online dating service to find someone "before it’s too late". I do appreciate your vote of confidence! ;)

I'm not a wife or a mother, but I still matter!

2011-08-01T13:08:00.000+01:00

I've recently blogged about singleness, and today I read this great post from Rachel Held Evans in which she has a good (polite) rant about the various expections placed on women. She says:

It’s a fact of life: Women tend to be written off as incomplete until they achieve motherhood, which means we get pestered at every point along the way:
When will you start dating?
When will you get married?
When will you have children?

It's helpful and disappointing to realise that at every stage of life there's another 'level' of womanhood to reach, most of which are not within our control! And I guess if I ever reach the stage where people are no longer asking me when I'm going to get a boyfriend/get married/have children, that means I'm considered well and truly 'on the shelf'.

Rachel is writing as an American, and I wonder if there is more pressure in the American church to be the perfect Christian wife and mother than there is here in the UK. What do you think?

Take a look at Rachel's post here, and I'd recommend you follow her blog - she's good!

A reply from a brave man!

2011-07-31T11:17:00.000+01:00

Martin, who blogs openly and honestly about all kinds of things at martinjflett.blogspot.com, has bravely replied to my last post, 'Dear Single-Man-Who-I-Like'. Thank you Martin for sharing a single man's perspective on the matter, and I hope you don't mind me turning your 'just a comment' into a whole new post! I think there's a lot of misunderstanding between single men and women about how we approach friendships and relationships, and I wonder if a bit more open conversation between guys and girls about it would help prevent some broken hearts. So here's Martin's reply:

Hi!

So, I am single, male, and I wrote something similar to this once. Unfortunately, I can't remember when or where it was. Possibly in a private email, because, believe it or not, we too find it difficult to admit to anyone that we struggle with loneliness. The most recent thing I did put ‘out there’ about this is here: http://martinjflett.blogspot.com/2011/07/staying-single.html

I hear and feel your pain about being happy for friends getting married and settling down – I actually went as far as stopping going to weddings because a) they make me sad and b) if I don’t go to any, rather than just some, no one can feel offended, right?

And I totally relate to the coming home every night to an empty flat...

I don’t have any answers for you, my friend (if I may call you that?!). All I can say is it ain’t a barrel of laughs for us either...many times I’ve been that “single guy who is nice to ‘you’”, and trust me, most of the time I (we?) are wondering the exact same thing of ‘you’: are we just friends? Do you want more than that? Is it worth risking a great friendship for? Because girls who don’t want more than friendship tend to back off too through fear of giving the wrong impression.

Anyway, as this is just a comment, I should probably close. But if you do wanna chat further, you know where to find me...

From
A-man-brave-enough-to-reply-to-this-letter!

I'd love it if more brave single people wanted to share their thoughts in a wee comment below. Would be great to hear from some separated/divorced/widowed folks too. Us singles can spend a lot of time wanting to be married without really understanding how challenging marriage can be. Can you help us lose the illusion that marriage would fix all our problems and make us blissfully happy forever more?!

Dear Single-Man-Who-I-Like

2011-07-26T12:32:00.001+01:00

I know you have no idea about this, but I fancy you. We've been friends for a while, and you're being nice to me. We've texted a bit, and even had the occasional coffee together. I've been making an effort to look nice when I see you, and I've been looking at my phone about a hundred times a day just in case you've texted.

You see, I'm a single girl, and my dream in life is to be married, have a place to call home, and some children to fill it. I want to feel rooted, to know where I belong, and to have an outlet for all the love and motherly feelings God's built into me. But my goodness I can't admit that to ANYONE except my very closest single girl-friends! And it helps so much to share with another good single friend how painful it is to be single - how hard it is to constantly be happy for your friends who are getting married while hiding the ever-increasing pain of your loneliness so you don't appear selfish or complaining. If I try to tell my married friends how much I'd love to be married they often retort that my life must be wonderful because I am free to do whatever I want without a husband wanting to know how much I've spent at the shops, a baby waking me up in the middle of the night and a toddler throwing tantrums. Believe me, I've been watching them and I can see that having a family is hard hard work, but I still want it so much because coming home EVERY night to an empty house with nothing but the TV for company is not the bliss you think it would be but usually leads to a lot of crying!

And I definitely can't tell you, Single-Man-Who-I-Like, because you might put two and two together and realise I fancy you and that I want to be married, and this will cause you to go into a complete panic and avoid me completely for the next year. In doing this you are trying to communicate to me that you are NOT READY TO SETTLE DOWN and only ever wanted me to be your friend, but that's not the message I get. No, when you vanish suddenly and mysteriously from my life with no explanation I am left feeling completely confused, hurt and mourning the loss of a good friendship. It will also leave me thinking there's something badly wrong with me and that no-one will ever want to be my husband. Not helpful!

So here I am, stamping down my heart's God-given dream, hiding my pain under a bright smile and some make-up, so that the truth of my feelings doesn't make YOU feel uncomfortable.

Why can't we be a bit more honest about all of this? I KNOW I'm not the only one who thinks like this - that's why I'm writing it in this blog! Why is it so wrong for a girl to admit to wanting a family when that's what God has designed us for? We're a confusing muddle of hormones, feelings, and emotions, but that actually makes us the exactly right design for complimenting your logical thinking, practicalities, and inability to deal with your emotions. It also makes us miraculously able to grow a baby inside us (I'd love to see you giving that a go!!), and to love and care for it and you at the same time.

I know you don't look like Brad Pitt and so you think no girl will ever fancy you, and you're struggling with your own lack of self-confidence in this modern world where us women can have jobs and drive cars and appear not to need you. That's all complete rubbish and don't believe it. I am full of admiration for your man-ness, your kindness, your faith, and the way you work hard and pursue your passion. I'd love to be your partner, to be loved by you as your equal, to share your life and to let you share mine, and to make a new life together and with God.

So, if you just want to be my friend and have no interest in the great honour it would be to be my husband, could you please just let me know early on in our friendship? I know it's cringy having to say "just friends, right?" But seriously, it will save a lot of pain and anguish later on.

With lots of love, hope, confusion and panic,
Your Single-Friend-Who-Fancies-You

PS To everyone else who's reading this too, please stop assuming us single girls have the life of Riley and are too selfish to give it up for marriage and a family. I know we might look great, and we've had a full night's sleep and there's no baby sick on our clothes, but the looking great is mostly a front because we're afraid to let anyone see our pain and loneliness. Please help us to understand the truth about marriage and family life so we don't think it's a utopia that will fix all of our problems. And please help us to be single well - encourage us to make the most of our freedom without making us feel bad about having it. If you do this, we will help you be married well. We'll babysit your kids, we'll come over for dinner and bring nice dessert and wash up afterwards. We'll meet you for coffee and listen to the grief of your struggles and pray for you, if you'll also listen to our pain and pray for us. And to our church family, please be our family rather than make us feel bad because we don't have a family. Please realise that weddings and baby baptisms/dedications break our hearts because we're scared that day will never come for us.

PPS In the interest of honesty, this letter is not directed at any particular person. I am not currently suffering from fancying someone (if I was I could NEVER write this publically for all the the reasons above), but I have suffered plenty in the past and I have plenty of lovely single friends who have and are suffering from this terrible condition. I have had so many conversations about this topic that I thought I should risk putting it on this blog in the hope of opening up some honest discussion about it. I'd welcome your comments, and if there's any man out there brave enough to write a reply to this letter, I think it could be really helpful for us to know what's going on in your head. And don't worry - I won't assume you fancy me!

Time for a newsletter!

2011-06-09T12:50:00.000+01:00

I'm one of those 'full time Christian workers', which means I have to write regular updates about my life. Now I'd like to say for the record I am fully aware that my life is generally mundane and nowhere near as exciting as other people's, but if you are interested in what's going on with me, feel free to click here and read all about it!

Followership

2011-06-02T16:21:00.001+01:00

In my current role in Mobilisation with Wycliffe Bible Translators UK I've had the privilege of participating in some leadership training, and I came up for the name for this blog at an 'Emerging Leaders' retreat in 2009. So I've done a lot of thinking about the concept of leadership over the past couple of years.

'Leadership' is a real buzz-word these days, in business, government, education, sport, and of course the church. It's the subject of many a book, blog, conference, training scheme, and some people are making serious money out of the concept of leadership.

But I've found the more I've heard about 'leadership', the more I've wondered where I'm going! After all, leadership not only implies that people are following you, but that you are going somewhere. And if the leader doesn't know where they're going, then following them is a complete waste of time and energy.

Leadership training is a good thing, but the focus of Christian leadership must be on following Christ. Donald Miller put it well in a recent blog post:

How insufficient a choice is it, then, to replace love with leadership techniques, which so often amount to worldly manipulation? And how insufficient is it for us to love as a way of leading, but not lead others to the source of that love?

Surely if we are really following Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, our lives will so reveal Him that others will be drawn to follow Him too. We may be involved in a particular ministry or project, but that is not what we lead people to. Rather we will display real 'followership', and in so doing we will influence others around us to a deeper 'followership' of Christ in whatever context God places them.

And in Jesus' own words:

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

Pruning

2011-05-05T16:36:00.000+01:00

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more." John 15v1-2

I feel that God has been taking me through a time of pruning, and it's not a fun experience.

The only plants I think of when I think about pruning are roses and fruit trees - both important plants because of what they produce - incredible beauty and delicious food. When a plant is being pruned an ignorant observer might think the plant is being destroyed. The end result is no more than a bunch of dry looking sticks. No beauty and certainly no fruit is visible, and it seems doubtful to the inexperienced eye that there will ever be flowers or fruit again from this plant.

But a wise and experienced gardener knows that pruning is vital to the health of roses and fruit trees. I did some research into pruning roses and I've learned that if you don't prune them what happens is the rose bush gets taller and taller, some of the branches die and remain all tangled at the bottom of the bush, and at best all you get is a few flowers right at the top. The flowers at the top will not be good quality because they are far from the roots and food supply, and the plant will be more susceptable to disease and infestation. See where this is going? :)

I've learned that when one branch of a rose bush is pruned, at least two new ones grow in it's place. Roses flower best on new shoots. The flowers are bigger, prettier, and there are more of them on a plant that has been pruned and the plant will be generally healthier.

What does it look like when God prunes us? Probably very different for each of us, but for me recently God has been removing personal and ministry support structures and as a result I have had a few months where I've not been very productive in terms of relationships or work. And I've hated it because the thinks I value most in life are vibrant relationships and fulfilling work. But finally I have surrendered to God's secateurs. The result is that I'm missing some branches, and I've been feeling like life will never be fun again.

John ch 15 and the humble rose bush have encouraged me. I love that it's the branches that do bear fruit that God prunes. And I love that for every branch pruned, at least two new shoots grow in it's place. I love that pruning improves the quality of the flowers because they are produced closer to the roots and food source.

So Father I'm looking forward to a closer walk with you, new opportunities, and a character that is more beautiful and fruitful for You and Your Kingdom. And I hope this might encourage someone else who feels they are losing branches. Amen

Being the same age as Jesus

2011-02-14T14:58:00.000Z

I turned 32 a couple of weeks ago, and realised I'm the same age as Jesus.

Ok, I know not actually, but what I mean is I'm the age Jesus was when he was doing his ministry and when most of the stories we read about him in the Gospels were happening. I've been reading the Gospels on the YouVersion Bible app on my Blackberry (look at me all techy!!) and it struck me that in the stories about his ministry he is my peer. He'd lived on earth the same amount of time as I have.

I don't really know where this thought is taking me, but it's certainly making me think about the way I live my life in the light of how Jesus lived his life. Last night I was tucked up warm and cozy in my bed reading Luke 21 and noticed this verse:

Every day Jesus went to the Temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives.

Jesus spent the night on the Mount of Olives?? And definitely more than one night by the sounds of it! I can't imagine he had a nice cozy cabin on the mountain, and there's no mention of a tent (except when Peter suggests building one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah in Matt 17, but God quickly points out that was not in the plan!). What must it have been like for Jesus spending nights on the Mount of Olives? Did he get much or any sleep? Did he spend time with his Father in prayer? Was he cold? Did it rain on him? I can hardly cope with spending a night camping never mind outside under the stars, although I have done it once 12 years ago on a Wycliffe camp in the South of France, but that was on a fun trip away and there were lots of other people and somehow it was different. This was an average night for Jesus.

I wonder did he spend the night out on the Mount of Olives because he knew he'd be completely alone? Because he would be surrounded by his Father's creation and above him the stars would remind him of the wonder of his birth and his purpose here on earth? Because he needed time away with his Father to be able to face the crowds with their brokeness and pain, the religious leaders with their self-rightiousness, and his disciples foolish questions?

If Jesus needed to do something fairly dramatic like spending nights on a hill to get time out with his Father, how much more do I need to radically and uncomfortably make time to be with his Father... MY Father?

That's just one example, but being 'the same age as Jesus' is making me think. Anyone else thought about this? Please comment!!

My Christmas card to you

2010-12-13T12:55:00.002Z

So, it's that time of year again when those of us in 'full time Christian work' (whatever that is!!) send out our newsletters with our Christmas cards.

So here is my blog post Christmas card to you all...

And when you open this imaginary card... inside you'll find... my latest newsletter!

(Hopefully if you click the link or image above it'll take you to a PDF version which you'll actually be able to read!)

Serving from God, not merely for Him

2010-11-13T15:20:00.000Z

"Many people work for God's attention and favour instead of learnning to work with God because of His favour. They become so exhausted working for Him that there's little strength left to work with Him when He opens the doors for significant service. At the root of this problem is ignorance about Christ's acceptance of each of us, and it has cost us dearly. We work so hard to gain favour from God that we might be accepted,, when all the while that's the opposite of how life works in the kingdom.

Because Jesus is my righteousness, I am already accepted. From that acceptance comes favour, and that favour gives birth to authentic Christlike works of service. I serve from Him, not merely for Him. This simple progression really is the key to ministry. This was the model that Jesus gave us. He only did what He saw His Father do and said what He heard His Father say."

From Face to Face with God by Bill Johnson

God's Word in my language

2010-09-16T21:45:00.001+01:00

Now that I'm working part-time, I'm loving spending more time reading the Bible. One of the ways I've been doing this creatively is to paraphrase well known and loved passages into my own words - to express them as they would sound coming from my heart. God's Word in the language of my heart.

Here's my Psalm 23:

Lord God you are to me what a shepherd is to his sheep. With you I find I have no needs because you meet them all.
You give me beautiful places of rest and refreshment for my body and my spirit.
You guide me to make good and right decisions, and so my life gives glory to your holy Name.
Even during the most painful and difficult times in life, you are with me;
Your guidance and discipline bring me comfort and security.
Right in front of the people who hate me the most, you pour blessings into my life.
You give me honour and set me apart for your service. I am so full of joy I could burst!
No matter where I go in life, your goodness and kindness and love pursue me.
Your presence is my true home, and that's where I'll live forever and ever.

This reminds me that around 300 million people worldwide still wait to have God's Word translated into their heart-language.

My latest newsletter...

2010-09-03T12:51:00.000+01:00

...is hot off the press.

I used to publish it straight into this blog but it was a hassle to do and I think I've figured out how to upload it to the web so you can download it by clicking on this link.

I hope this works! I know you'll tell me if it doesn't ;)

Back to work...

2010-08-23T15:59:00.000+01:00

Today's my first day back to work after almost 3 months off, and it's been a mixture of feeling like I was never off and struggling to find the right key on my computer!

I'm back as a part-timer indefinitely. I'll be doing the equivalent of 3 days a week and using the rest of my time to spend with God, get exercise, and do some writing. I'm so looking forward to working part-time, but there's a wee voice inside me that's telling me it's not enough, I'm young, I should be working every hour God sends. RUBBISH!!!

I'm reading a fab book by Brennan Manning - "Ruthless Trust" - and last night I came across this great story in it that has shut that wee voice in me right up! I'll tell it in my own words, and hope Brennan doesn't mind.

A water-carrier in India went to the well every day with two water pots slung from a pole to collect water for his master. One of the pots was cracked and leaked water. Each day the water-carrier would fill both pots at the well, but by the time he got back to the house, the cracked one had leaked half it's load onto the path and was only half full. The cracked pot was sad that it couldn't carry a full load, while the other pot was proud of it's ability to do it's job well. The water-carrier saw the cracked pot was sad and asked it why it was down. "I feel so bad that I can't carry my full load." The water-carrier told it to look out for the flowers beside the path on it's next trip back from the well. The pot noticed all the lovely flowers, and they cheered it up, until it got back to the house and saw that once again it was only half full. The water-carrier asked if it had seen the flowers. "Well yes, they're lovely, but I'm still only half full." The water-carrier replied, "When I saw you were leaking water I sprinkled flower seed along your side of the path. You water the seeds every time I walk back from the well. Now I bring my master water and beautiful flowers to decorate his table, and he is well pleased.

Love it!!! :)

Standing still is the best way to go forward!

2010-07-27T22:40:00.003+01:00

I've always believed my salvation is in busyness. Now before you worry about my understanding of the gospel, I do know that it's Jesus who saves me! But when I look at how I live my life, honestly, I live as though my salvation is in keeping busy. And I'm not even the busiest person I know. Compared to some of my friends I'm positively slothful!

But busyness has dramatically failed me. I ended up exhausted and drained. I've discovered that busyness is like a drug. As long as I had people to hang out with and a sense of achievement after a day's work, I felt good. But God was getting pushed out of my life. He was so far in the background I could barely discern his presence. And the awful thing is I didn't miss him until everything else failed. Until the busyness gave way to exhaustion and I had to stop everything and rest.

Being busy is considered something to be proud of in our culture, and even in the church. How often do you hear people tell you they are "busy busy" when you ask them how they are? Sometimes people ask me how I am and then before I can even speak they say, "I'm sure you're really busy." I know when I tell people I'm busy, I'm hoping they'll go away thinking how important I must be since I have so much to do. Oh, please!

And have you noticed like me that when you're feeling down, often the advice you're given is to "keep busy, get out and about, don't give youself time to think." Well I can tell you, busyness is not a cure for depression. I ended up a bit like this donkey...

I recently came across the following passage in the Bible. It comes just before God opens up the Red Sea to let the Israelites escape from the Egyptians who had them completely cornered.

Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." Ex 14v13-14

Stand firm? Be still? Really? I've been doing a lot of nothing much recently, so this passage came as a HUGE encouragement to me. But to our contemporary culture it sounds like nonsense. Stand still? Sure that'll get you nowhere. Get out and do something for goodness sake!!!

Not doing much has been a big challenge for me this past couple of months. Feeling like I haven't achieved much in a day is strange. I've had to learn a whole new way to measure my self-worth. Even though I know that God loves me, and his love is not in any way related to how much I achieve in a day, at the end of a day in which I have achieved very little I find myself desperately searching for something to hang my self-worth on. And more and more I'm turning to God and remembering that I'm already completely and utterly loved by him.

So I'm starting to prove that standing still really is the best way to go forward. Maybe not if your goal is to advance in your career, but if you want to go deeper in your relationship with God I highly recommend it! When we are still, we give God the opportunity to fight for us, and to show us his deliverance. Let's be radically different to the world around us and show them by our stillness and rest and peace that we are trusting God to fight for us and deliver us. The Israelites got to see him open up the Red Sea, and his promise to us is:

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! Eph 3v20 TM

Picture with thanks to Onesimus Online

Depression? You? You've gotta be kidding!

2010-07-05T12:41:00.000+01:00

Nope, not joking.

I'm still off work. I have another sick line from the doctor that says 'stress/depression', and I'm seeing a counsellor. Stress, depression, counsellor... words that are usually only whispered in our smiley 'i'm fine' culture where being busy is considered equal to being happy and significant.

I'm generally known to be a happy, smiley, busy Christian worker. I love my job (representing Wycliffe Bible Translators in N Ireland), I've got a lovely family, great friends, and I'm settled in my church (Holywood Christian Fellowship). So why on earth am I off work with stress/depression??

I've known that I've had mild depression since I was a teenager, but I've never believed it was something bad enough to complain about or wanted to face up to it. So I have to fight my way through the fog that surrounds me when I wake up most mornings, but surely that's no big deal? Loads of people don't like getting up in the morning. And so what if my thoughts are mostly completely irrational. I'm female, and that automatically makes me irrational, right?

Then there have been a couple of times of deeper depression in the past few years, triggered usually by the end of a relationship. But loads of people's relationships come to an end, often much more painfully than mine. Why can they pick themselves up and keep going, but I'm still in the pits?

During a particuarly deep slump I went to the doctor, determined to keep going with life no matter what. The anti-depressants he prescribed for me worked a treat! Mornings were no longer a battle to get out of bed, and my thoughts were actually rational for once! I felt 'normal'! Whoop!

So I tackled life full-pelt. Surely I can do anything now? I'm invincible now with my wee miracle tablets??! Right??

Hmmm, not so much! I've been seeing a counsellor this past few months (in the hope of coming off the tablets), and as she has gently brought to my consciousness the things I've built my life on, I've realised to my dismay that they are very different to what I thought.

I thought I was living in a close relationship with God, but I've been totally kidding myself. I'm been busting my gut 'serving' Him and other people, but not actually spending any real time with Him. This has been so painful to realise. There have been many more realisations, but this is one of the biggest.

I started to realise that I need to completely change my thinking, my belief system, and doing that while keeping up with my busy job was not going to be possible. So the job had to go. Initially I was horrified. Off work with stress??? No way! Now, a month on, I'm relieved and so grateful to God for His grace and for forcing me to take this time out. I'm sorry that it does mean more work for some folk in Wycliffe, but God in his grace is helping them cope.

Why on earth am I telling you all this? This is my soul I'm baring... on my blog, on the internet! Is that not crazy? Unwise even? Surely someone will steal my soul... or something - isn't that what happens when you put your personal details on the web? Seriously people - who's gonna want my soul after reading this??!!

I guess I'm telling you because I want you to know who I really am. That there's another side to this happy, smiley Christian. In a funny way it's easier for me to tell you this way, on my blog, than face to face with actual spoken words. I'm also sick and tired of the stigma that still surrounds depression. I think there's even more stigma in the church than in the world, and I've had enough of it. If I had a broken leg, everyone would 'ooh' and 'aah' and ask me how I got it and is it sore because I'd have a big white cast on for everyone to see. But it's my brain that's broken, and no-one can see that. And surely Christians shouldn't get depressed? What about the 'joy of the Lord' and all that? Our brains are physical, just like our legs, and they can break!

If you've read the whole of this rant, thank you! I appreciate your interest. If this makes no sense at all to you, don't worry. I don't expect you to understand. If this resonates with you, then I hope you feel you're not alone.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

2010-06-21T16:30:00.007+01:00

Hey! You've come back to visit me up my tree! I appreciate your company.

In my last blog post I talked about my recent realisation that although I thought I was living my life for God's glory and in relationship with him, I haven't really been. Since this discovery, I've been thinking a lot about what I'm actually living my life for, if it isn't God.

Basically, I've realised that I have a whole rake of idols that have taken God's place on the throne of my life. When I think of the word 'idol' I imagine some wee carved Buddah kind of thing, but that's not what the word means at all. I'm sure you already know all this - I thought I did until this past week!

An idol is anything you worship. So how do you know what you it is that you worship? Ask yourself what you cannot be happy without having in your life. What is it that, if you lost it, would make your life feel empty and not worth living?

I have discovered that for me, this is people. My friends, my co-workers and my family. If I lose any of the people closest to me, I crumble. Now, you might be thinking, but surely that's ok? Surely God made us with a desire for relationships with other people? Yes, this is true, but he didn't intend for us to live our lives for other people. He intends us to live our lives for him.

Whatever it is that we worship, we also fear, because it has power over us. I've realised I fear other people more than I fear God, because I believe that ultimately it's people who have the most power to hurt me by rejecting me. Then I read this:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt 10v28 TM)

Eek! I don't hear much about the fear of God these days. It seems more acceptable to our culture to talk about the God loves us rather than the God 'who can destroy both soul and body in hell'. But unless we have a healthy fear of God, we won't really worship him.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Prov 6v10 NIV)

Looks like I'll be off work for a wee while longer, so while I have this time I want to focus on developing a healthy fear of God that draws me to worship. He really is amazing!!

Overwhelmed by my not-very-stressful life

2010-06-17T18:50:00.003+01:00

I've had to take time out of work. It seems I've managed to let my not-very-stressful life completely overwhelm me!

So, time to get up my tree and stay there for a while, and I thought, since I'm up here, I'd like to invite you to join me on my branch from time to time. But only come if you want to. Feel free to ignore these posts if you've never felt overwhelmed or stressed in your life, or if you're just way too busy with your actually stressful life to read about me and my not-very-stressful one!

My first big discovery has been that although I thought I was living in relationship with God, I haven't really been at all for the past few months. You see if I had been, I wouldn't have got so overwhelmed by my not-very-stressful life. This discovery, for a 'Christian worker', came as a horrible shock.

"But I know so much about walking with God! I work for a Christian organisation, I'm in a 'Spirit-filled' church, I know so much more than other people..."

"Sorry, what did you just say?"

Yeah, so I think I know it all! But knowing stuff is not even close to actually living it. God has gently shown me the poverty of my soul, and it hurts. It hurts to admit I'm not what I think I am. But it hurts in a good way, like surgery. Surgery brings healing because it fixes what's wrong inside you, but in order to do that it makes you feel worse for a while. It also makes me think of old words I usually don't use much: 'conviction' and 'repentance'. Painful processes, but ones God does not hesitate to bring us through because he knows that they are the only way to get our attention and bring us to where he wants us: to a relationship with him.

Bill Johnson puts this well:

"God will pull many ministers out of ministry for a time just to learn how to be friends with him apart from working for him. All true frutifulness flows from that intimacy with him."
"Strengthen Yourself in the Lord"

Thanks for joining me on my branch. I appreciate that you'd take the time to listen. But I don't want to do all the talking, so please share your thoughts with me too. Feel free to post a comment, but remember that other people will be able to read it too!

See you again soon up this tree of mine...

God's healing Mary!

2010-06-09T12:47:00.003+01:00

Back in February I wrote a blog post about my friend Mary asking prayer for healing for her. I said:

Mary has myeloma - cancer of the bone marrow. She was diagnosed about four years ago and went through major treatment, and it went into remission. Now it has reappeared, and she has been getting more treatment. However, they have stopped the treatment because she has been suffering from infections and her body is too weak to cope with the treatment.

I spend some time with Mary on Sunday night, and I can tell you she's doing amazingly well. She's on very limited treatment, but although the cancer was said to be agressive, recent blood test are showing that it's effects are lessening gradually. Mary is looking and feeling well, though she is understandably tired. The medical staff caring for her have no explanation as to why she is doing so well.

Praise God!!

If you believe God heals, I know Mary would appreciate if you would pray for her that her healing would be complete.

My May 2010 newsletter

2010-05-28T14:58:00.012+01:00

Engage UK and Connect NI Co-ordinator

“Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found.” Psalm 119v35 (NLT)

“The Bible: the Story everybody needs”

In my last newsletter back in December I promised to tell you more about Wycliffe Bible Translators’ new corporate look and message. You’ve seen our new logo (top right), and in January our new website was launched at wycliffe.org.uk.

The tagline is “The Bible: the Story everybody needs”. I’m excited because not only does it enable us to talk about the needs of Bible translation around the world, but also to challenge the UK church to appreciate and make use of the huge number of translations of the Bible we have in English. It lets us to talk about how the Bible is the story of God’s love for us. When I speak to youth groups, I like to talk not only about the need for Bible translation, but also open up the Bible to them and inspire them to engage with God through His Word.

“Did we hear you have a new boss?”

Attila Kovacs has been Director of Wycliffe Hungary for the past 7 years, and he took over from John Hamilton as Mobilisation Director for Wycliffe UK on 10 March. He is passionate about Bible translation, and brings with him lots of experience of building up a Wycliffe presence in Hungary, as well as having worked in Ghana. Please pray for him and for us in the Mobilisation team as we learn to work together. Also pray for John, as he is still working hard for Wycliffe here in N Ireland!

John handing the Mobilisation Director role over to Attila

“Tell us about Engage teams this year”

We’re excited to have 3 teams going out for 4 weeks—Cambodia and Indonesia in July, and Cameroon in August. Our orientation weekend in April was badly disrupted by the volcanic ash from Iceland, but God is constantly teaching us to be flexible! We’ve just held a second orientation in Belfast on 22 May for those who couldn’t be at the first one.

You’ll be able to follow news from the teams on wycliffe.org.uk/engage. They will all have the opportunity to experience living cross-culturally, and to spend time with a language development and Bible translation project and other related ministries.

Pray with us that God would be able to do exactly what He wants to do in and through these teams, that they will learn and grow through the experience, and will bring encouragement and blessing to the local Christians they meet. Please also pray for safe travels and no further disruption from the volcanic ash!

At the 'market' - Engage orientation weekend

“What’s been happening in Connect NI?”

Connect has been busy and hugely encouraging. We’ve been having our ‘gatherings’ in Connect members’ homes this year which is great because it’s letting people get more involved. One of our most memorable gatherings was in March when 18 people squeezed into Marlene Beattie’s living room for banter, a cup of tea, and prayer. Great craic! In Ruth Jones’ words: “It’s good to know I’m not the only person my age who is interested in Wycliffey stuff!”

We also had 8 people in the Belfast marathon—a relay team, Gareth Davison who ran the whole thing in 3hrs 59, and a couple of us who walked the 9 mile route. We raised at least £700 for Bible translation! Some of us took a fun day trip to Dublin on 16 May for Irish Aid’s Africa Day—an opportunity to experience the culture of Africa without getting on a plane—and it brought back good memories for those of us who have lived there.

Enjoying the free Tayto crisps after the Marathon

“What’s happening for you over the summer?”

We’re going to have a Wycliffe stand at Summer Madness from 2 to 6 July, and some Connect folk are going to help me staff it. Pray for good opportunities to chat with teenagers about the importance of the Bible and about their relationship with God.

Wycliffe will also be at New Horizon helping to run the Hope Street mission zone as part of the Mission Agencies Partnership (MAP), and I’m very excited because my Connect UK colleague Kat Fairbairn is coming over for the week to help out :)

The rest of the time I will be keeping in touch with the Engage teams and updating the webpage with their news. In the event of an emergency, I am one of the first people they will contact, so I find it a bit hard to relax while they’re away!

“Anything we can pray for you personally?”

I mentioned in a previous newsletter that I’d had to seek help for depression. I’m glad to say I’m still feeling well, but I’ve decided to get some counselling over the next couple of months. I feel that God is gently doing some heart surgery on me at this time, and I want to take every opportunity available to allow him to work his healing in me. I would appreciate your prayers, that I would be protected from the enemy, and that God would be able to do what He wants to do in me so I could be even more effective for His Kingdom.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

What do Bible translation and running a marathon have in common?

2010-05-04T15:07:00.001+01:00

A bunch of us from the Wycliffe Bible Translators Connect network in N Ireland had a great day yesterday at the Belfast Marathon.

The Belfast City Marathon kicks off

Gareth Davison ran the whole 26.2 miles, a first for him, in only 4 hours. Well done Gareth!

A relay team made up of John Ferguson, Catherine Morrison, Colin Kennedy, Rita Ebbinghaus and Shirley Brown finished in a very respectable 4 hours 20 minutes.

Rita, Shirley and another Connect member Ali were delighted with the free Tayto crisps on offer at the finish line

And Nathan Conkey and I walked 9 miles in 2 hours 30 minutes and 7 seconds. We don't do running!

Walking with the message

Overtaking the Salvation Army :)

The finish line is in sight...

So, what do Bible translation and running a marathon have in common?

Bible translation is a long-haul ministry, not a sprint. It takes an average of 15 years to translate the New Testament. It takes faith, courage, commitment, focus, and training, much like a marathon runner will commit to doing it, train for it, focus on it and then keep running for the whole 26.2 miles without giving up.

Bible translation is a team effort. Even though someone may run a marathon on their own, they will have a team of supporters - those who have sponsored them, their friends who believed they could do it, and the people at the side of the road cheering them on. A Bible translation project needs people to have faith for it, to believe it can be done, to pray, to give, to encourage, to visit, and to stay involved through the whole process.

To find out more about Bible translation, visit the Wycliffe Bible Translators UK webpage and see how you can get involved.

You give and take away

2010-05-01T16:45:00.000+01:00

Erin Chapman... I've never met her, but when I first arrived in Cameroon in 2001 I heard her name mentioned quite often.

Bob and Ruth Chapman were members of Wycliffe Canada, working in Cameroon. They had three children: Erin, Ross and Timothy. In 2000, Bob and Ruth were both killed in a plane crash in the Ivory Coast a year earlier. To make things even more tragic for Erin, both her brothers had died of cerebral malaria within hours of each other, eleven years earlier in 1989. Erin was the only one left of her immediate family.

Erin is around my age, and I often thought about her while I was in Cameroon. When people who knew her and her parents spoke of them, it was always with sadness, admiration, gratitude and awe. They spoke of Bob and Ruth's contribution to Bible translation in Cameroon and throughout Africa, but I was even more impressed by how my Cameroonian friends remembered them as people who loved them. They spoke of Erin's courage, grace, and mature faith.

I wondered how it could be that a family so devoted to God and to the African people, who were clearly making such an impact for God's Kingdom even just through their daily lives and relationships, could suffer so enormously. My younger self was asking if this is really what can happen if you surrender your life to God. Now I'm a bit older, I know that God's ways are not my ways. He gives and he takes away. But I have not experienced anything like the loss Erin has. Would I be able to say 'Blessed be His name' if I was in her situation?

I always hoped to learn more about Erin's story, but didn't feel free to ask people to talk about her and her family too much. Now, thanks to a Wycliffe colleague's blog, I've just read a great article about Erin, her husband Kevin and baby daughter Alexa in the Wycliffe Canada magazine. I highly recommend you read it too.

The article is "Family Resemblance" in Word Alive Summer 2010

Christian leadership

2010-04-11T11:00:00.002+01:00

In my capacity as a 'mobiliser' for Wycliffe Bible Translators, I have had the opportunity to take part in several leadership training 'things' like courses and residentials. I feel very privileged to be considered as someone who is or is becoming a 'Christian leader', but to be honest the more leadership training I get, the more I think I need 'follower training'.

Before any of us can even think about leading anyone in a Christian manner, we need to be following Jesus. Because if we're not following Jesus, we'll only lead people away from Him and towards our own ideas.

And the more I think about being a follower of Jesus, the more I realise living and walking with Jesus is very different to how we are usually 'led' to do so by the Christian leaders around us.

Guy Muse puts this really well:

Under Religious Views on my Facebook profile, I state "Jesus follower." But, what does following Jesus actually entail? In reading the Gospels one finds a whole lot more detail and explanation than just going to church on Sunday, reading the Bible & praying, not cussing, smoking, drinking, or gambling.

One can land in just about any chapter of the Gospels and discover first hand what the twelve experienced with Jesus as they followed Him on a daily basis. It entails quite a different set of activities from what most of us modern disciples routinely experience.

confronting religious opposition for doing what is good and right
identifying with sinners and outcasts of society (the non-church folks)
going to a party, eating/drinking with non-followers of Christ
raising a dead child
driving out more demons

Read his full blog post here.

From a garden to a city

2010-04-10T10:00:00.002+01:00

I'm not long home from a trip to New York with a couple of good friends.

I enjoyed it way more than I expected too because I'm not a big fan of cities generally and I was sure that after about three days I'd be dying to get out. I usually find them stressful, exhausting, and they make me dizzy. But New York was great! There are enough tourists around to make a good holiday atmosphere, and there's so much going on all around you that it's impossible to think about anything related to your normal life back home. Total brain switch-off. Brilliant!

Well, almost total brain-switch off. It got me thinking about the City of God in Revelation. I'm not sure I've really been looking forward to this city as much as I should be because of my lack of enthusiasm for cities in general. Given the choice, I'd pick the Garden of Eden because I love natural beauty that's clearly been crafted by the hand of God with no help from us humans. But having seen how beautiful New York is, I've started to think that maybe the reason the last chapter of God's Story will take place in a city, is because He delights in redeeming and making beautiful what we have created. Cities. Now I'm looking forward to it!

I'd love to hear your thoughts - go on, leave a comment :)

African theology

2010-04-09T10:20:00.001+01:00

Onesimus writes some really thought-provoking stuff. In one of his recent posts he has published the transcript of a discussion he had with his class at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) where he is a lecturer. The discussion topic was 'Is African theology possible?'

GO: African theology is possible and it is happening/being done. But it is not written. Instead it is discussed orally and it is practiced. Western theology is primarily written.

I strongly believe we need to completely change our understanding of 'mission'. For too long we've been the ones going and doing the teaching. and be prepared to learn from our Africa, Asian and S American brothers and sisters

My colleague, Mark, picked up on this too, and I was really struck by some other comments he made in his post:

To borrow an idea from a Qom pastor from Argentina (quoted by David Smith in Mission after Christendom), there is no longer a need for westerners to go and teach the Bible to those in Africa, Asia or South America, so much as to read the Bible together with people in these places, each in his own language and culture, with each person bringing his own unique perspective on the glory of God.

I think that seeing more of God through different cultures and languages is something that should be at the heart of our theology of mission. Ultimately knowing God in our own language and culture isn’t just for our own benefit, or even for the benefit of the global church. The apostle Paul explains that God’s purpose in bringing the diversity of all the nations into his kingdom is to bear witness to his great wisdom.

God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 3:10)

Good thoughts Mark - thank you for sharing!

The 'good' Samaritan

2010-03-13T18:15:00.000Z

Some thoughts that came out of my study of the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10 for the Mission Agencies Partnership CU tour...

When I hear the word 'Samaritan', I immediately think of a good person. We've talked about the 'good Samaritan' so much, and we've got a charity called the Samaritans which offers emotional support for people in distress, that for me the word 'Samaritan' is almost inseparable from the word 'good'.

But in Jesus' day Samaritans were not thought of as good. They were people of mixed race - not pure blood Jews. They couldn't trace their whole ancestry back to Abraham, and for the Jewish people of Jesus day ancestry was everything. They so despised the Samaritans for their mixed racial heritage that they would not even speak to them.

It seems really harsh to despise Samaritans simply because they're mixed race, but even as I've written that statement I the words 'racial hatred', heard often on our news, come to mind. And in Northern Ireland we're world-famous for our hatred of others simply because of their religion, politics, and nationality.

As I thought about Jesus' story of the 'good Samaritan', I began to wonder if he chose his a Samaritan as his compassionate hero because only someone who knows what it's like to be hated, ignored, passed by, and even beaten up, can really show compassion.

We've all had our share of rejection. Whether it's the pain of a bully's words or fists. Whether it's the friend who wants you around when there's no-one else about, but turns on you in a crowd. Whether it's the end of a relationship... whatever it is, you and I live with the scars, or maybe even still the open wounds.

We have a choice. We can turn in on ourselves, build a fortress around us to make sure no-one can ever get close enough to hurt us again, and in doing so even shut God out. Or we can take the scary step out of the boat and open ourselves up to God's healing love. And as we do this, I feel sure God will give us not only compassion for others who are hurting, but the courage and strength to touch people where they're at and take them with us to a place of healing and hope.

I want to be like that Samaritan so I'm taking some scary steps to allow God's healing in my life. Will you?

Trying to walk in the dark

2010-02-27T10:00:00.003Z

I don't really like the dark. I wouldn't say I'm afraid of it, but I definitely prefer to have some light so I can see around me.

When I lived in Cameroon, I would sometimes forget to take a torch with me when I went to visit a friend and then when I'd stayed an appropriate length of time with them and eaten the required amount of food, typically it would be dark. The sun sets around 6pm all year in Cameroon, and when it's dark is really and truly dark. Not like here in N Ireland, where it's almost impossible to escape from the orange glow of the street lighting. And I really can't see in the dark (clearly not enough carrots in my diet!). I lose all sense of balance and direction. Also, the mud roads around where I lived in Mamfe were not exactly smooth. So making my way home often involved landing in a muddy puddle!

Sometimes in my walk with God, I go through times that feel just like I'm trying to find my way back home at night in Cameroon with no torch. Everything around me feels dark. I can't see where I'm going. Even decisions that should be simple seem very hard to make. It's tiring and even scary, stumbling around in the dark.

But although these times of darkness feel really hard, there's a sense in which God is very close in the darkness, and I'm aware of his presence in a deeper way than when life seems brighter. I've noticed that in the Bible, God's presence doesn't always come with light:

As the people stood in the distance, Moses entered into the deep darkness where God was. Exodus 20v21

I've been blogging a bit more than usual lately, and that's partly because following a recent 'dark' spell in life, I came across this verse in the Bible:

What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ears, shout from the housetops for all to hear! Matt 10v27

Many thanks to all of you who have been reading my ramblings - it's a privilege to share my heart with you and to read your comments.

Please pray for my friend Mary

2010-02-26T12:36:00.003Z

Mary has myeloma - cancer of the bone marrow. She was diagnosed about four years ago and went through major treatment, and it went into remission. Now it has reappeared, and she has been getting more treatment. However, they have stopped the treatment because she has been suffering from infections and her body is too weak to cope with the treatment.

Mary is an incredible woman of faith. If you met her, you'd see a quiet and humble lady, but I've no doubt she is a giant in God's Kingdom.

If you believe God both can and wants to heal, please would you pray with me for Mary? Medical treatment helped her get better last time, but this time it's going to have to be all God.

Thank you!

He must become greater, I must become less

2010-02-25T11:30:00.000Z

I came across this thanks to Guy Muse's blog and it really resonated with me. God often challenges me about dying to myself and what that means for me. It's not a very attractive prospect to my humanness - if I'm honest I want people to like and respect me. But the truth is that if I'm truly following Jesus, I'll need to be willing to die to myself to let him live through me, and that means I'm not ever going to be able to promote myself. I can only ever promote him.

If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other people or measure yourself by other Christians. At times, He will let other people do things which He will not let you do.

Other Christians who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Others may boast of themselves, their work, their successes, their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so, He will lead you into a deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or may have a legacy left to them, or may have luxuries, but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory which can only be produced in the shade.

God may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit, but He may make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and something of the value of being cloaked with His nature.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over.

So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you. But if you absolutely give yourself to be His child, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot.

Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit. He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways that He does not seem to use with others. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.

Rev. G. D. Watson
1845-1924

Another word I want to erase from my vocabulary

2010-02-22T15:30:00.000Z

As I've already said, I'd like to stop using the word 'mission'. The next problem is the word most closely related to it - the word 'missionary'. Now this is a word I REALLY want to erase from the English language!

The Cambridge online dictionary gives its definition as "a person who has been sent to a foreign country to teach their religion to the people who live there". Bleugh! Does the word 'missionary' show up in the Bible? After more extensive research on Biblegateway.com I have discovered it does not appear in the actual text of the Bible - only in section headings in Acts referring to Paul's missionary journeys, and these headings were added in by the editors of some modern translations.

What on earth is a 'missionary' anyway? The word still conjures up images in my mind of women in bad flowery dresses living in mud huts in some jungle. And I'm certain I'm not the only person who thinks this!

It has also come to imply a kind of super-Christian who is on a spiritual plane above everyone else and is more important than other 'ordinary' Christians. How many times has your church asked you to write a prayer letter about your job as a solicitor, check-out operator, hairdresser, or electrician? My job is basically recruitment, but because I do it for a Christian organisation I get to write prayer letters, whereas if I worked for a local recruitment agency writing prayer letters would not be encouraged!

Come on people. Let's call a spade a spade instead of making it sound more glamorous than it really is. We're Christians wherever we are, and there's no hierarchy. All of us who've chosen to follow Jesus are to share him with the people around us wherever we are - at home or in a country far away.

One word that does appear in the Bible is 'apostle'. This word comes from the Greek apostolos meaning 'one who is sent'. We pretty much only use this word to refer to the 'twelve apostles' and the 'apostle Paul', as if they were somehow more special than the rest of us. The Holy Spirit who was working through them is the very same Holy Spirit who works through us today.

I'm not saying we should start using the word 'apostle' instead of the word 'missionary', but why don't we just talk about people being 'sent'? To be sent, someone has to send you. Maybe your church would see you differently if you asked them to send you as a hairdresser out into your community, getting the opportunity to listen to people chat about their lives, or as a solicitor as you try to make good and honest representation on behalf of people who need your help?

Or you could be sent to another country specifically to tell people about the hope you've found in Jesus with a view to seeing a church start there. You could be sent to help people develop their own language and eventually start to translate the Bible into it. You could be sent to a country that's recently suffered a disaster to use your medical training to help save lives. To my mind, this levels out the fictional hierarchy of missionary versus ordinary Christian.

So there's another word I'm going to try to erradicate from my vocabulary. You can hold me to this one too!

Do not make idols of any kind...

2010-02-18T11:44:00.004Z

Reading Leviticus is making me think!

When Moses was up the mountain with God (Ex 20-31), the Israelites basically got bored and tired waiting for him to come back down so they asked Aaron to make them a god so that they would have something visible to worship (Ex 32). And what did Aaron make out of the melted gold they gave him? A calf.

As I've been reading about the various offerings in Leviticus it struck me that one of the animals that the Israelites were to bring as an offering to God was a bull. Same animal. God asked his people to sacrifice to him the very animal they had been worshipping.

God does ask us to sacrifice our idols to him.

Trying not to use the word 'mission'

2010-02-17T12:49:00.014Z

'Mission'

It's a word we use loads in our funny Christianese language. We know what we mean by it. It's basically an umbrella word to cover all the activities us Christians get up to in order to share our faith. I work with a 'mission agency' - Wycliffe Bible Translators - so I spend a lot of time talking about 'mission', and the more I talk about it the more frustrated I get with the word. I feel like it's been used too much to the point that it's lost any useful meaning. Maybe part of the problem for me is that I've heard so many 'mission talks' in my life, that when someone starts talking about 'mission' I almost switch off. So I started to think about what the word actually means, and whether it even shows up in the Bible.

According to the Cambridge online dictionary, the word 'mission' as a noun means "an important job, especially a military one, that someone is sent somewhere to do" and "any work that someone believes it's their duty to do". It's actually a French word - mission - and comes from the Latin verb mittere (to send). The fact that it's a word particularly used by the military worries me slightly. I'm totally convinced that we're in a spiritual battle, but not sure that automatically means we should use military terms, especially in this day and age.

And does it appear in the Bible? After some extensive(!) research on Biblegateway.com I can tell you that it does appear in modern English translations, but not very often. It's mostly used in military situations (1 Sam 15v18) or to refer to a journey with a certain purpose (eg. Acts 9v3 descibing Saul going to Damascus to arrest the Christians). What is clear is it's not used in the Bible as an umbrella term for sharing Jesus message.

Instead I see in the Bible that we are to be distinctive, different from the world around us, holy (Lev 19v2, Rom 12v2). We are to live filled with God's Spirit and displaying his character (Gal 5v22-23). We are to be known as people who are passionately in love with God and freely love the people around us (Luke 10v27).

I want to stop using the word 'mission' and instead call a spade a spade. If I'm talking about Bible translation, I'll talk about Bible translation. If I'm encouraging people to take a short trip to visit a project, I'll call it a short trip to visit a project. If I'm talking about sharing the truth about Jesus with friends, that's what I'll say. At least I'll give it a go, knowing that it's going to be a bit of a challenge never to say the word 'mission'.

And you can hold me to it!

Reading Leviticus

2010-02-17T12:47:00.005Z

I'm having a second go at reading through the Bible in a year, and since it's February, that means I'm wading through Leviticus. It's around this point that most people trying to read the Bible in a year give up, which is understandable since Leviticus is a book we find it hard to get excited about.

While I can't say I'm excited about Leviticus, I'm trying to read it creatively rather than just skimming through it to get to the more fun books!

I'm currently reading all about the sin offerings, and imagining what the tabernacle must have looked like with all the animals being brought and killed. The job of a priest wasn't probably very messy and physically demanding.

I've been wondering too what it would be like to have to bring an animal and have it put to death every time you committed a sin. I think it would make me think twice about committing a sin! I have a soft spot for animals and I know I'd feel awful seeing one die because of something I'd done.

But my goodness if I would feel bad that an animal had to die because of what I'd done, how much more amazing and awesome it is that God, in Jesus, let himself be executed because of the wrong I have done. I've been a Christian for 21 years, but I still need God to show me again what he's done for me, and not just me obviously but the whole world. Wow!

See, maybe Leviticus isn't all that boring after all!

If you'd like to try reading through the Bible in a year, I recommend the NLT 24/7 Bible because it's helped me stick at it, and trust me I'm not a great one for sticking at things!

Getting older

2010-02-01T13:47:00.004Z

I'm thirty-one years old today. I've been sheltering behind my usual survival mechanism of making a joke of things I'm finding it hard to cope with.

But this morning I had an epiphany. Really and truly, rather than being all depressed about getting older, I should be celebrating making it to this exhalted age! Many many people around the world haven't been able to live as long as I have. So instead of being all distraught about getting older, I am deeply grateful that my Father God has given me thirty-one years of life. Thirty-one years of learning and growing and falling and getting up again in His school called 'Life'.

When I look closely at my face in the mirror, there's no denying it, I can see the wrinkles starting. But actually I'm glad they're there because they prove that I've laughed a lot. My hairdresser likes to point out my grey hairs each time I visit him, but Proverbs tells me that "Grey hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life." (ch 16 v 31)

So I say bring on the getting older! No anti-aging creams or Botox for me! I'm ready to go and be with my Father at any time, but I'm also willing to stick around here for a good bit longer however grey and wrinkly I become.

The best news ever

2009-12-17T09:49:00.004Z

The word gospel that Jesus uses to name his message is a political term, used before the writing of the New Testament to refer to the good news that an emperor had won a battle and extended his reign into new lands.
Thanks to Pragmatic-Eclectic!

"The Word became a human being and lived here on earth among us." John 1 v 14

He not only came here to this world, but he won the battle and defeated evil so that right now he reigns as the Father's right hand and one day everyone everywhere will fall on their faces before him when he is revealed as King over all.

Thank you thank you thank you Father, for sending Jesus!

Bible translation - it's complex!

2009-12-16T15:03:00.018Z

A people group of around 15,000 people...
... live in a country deeply divided along religious, political and ethnic lines
... they speak a language which is closely related to the national language of the country
... but there is a desire within this people group for the Bible in their mother-tongue.

Three small translation teams have volunteered their time to this project on top of their normal work and other responsibilities. Recently the book of Luke was published in their language.

Sounds straightforward! But it's not.

There is some dispute in their own country over whether their language is actually a distinct language, or merely a dialect of the national language. Some local Christians are even asking whether time, money and effort should be 'wasted' on translating the Bible into this language when everyone who speaks it can read the Bible in the national language?

I could be describing a situation anywhere in the world, but it's actually right here in my own country, Northern Ireland. And the language or dialect is Ulster-Scots.

I guess I am technically Ulster-Scots, since my father is N Irish and my mother is Scottish. In our small family we have our own unique vernacular - a mix of the Queen's English, N Irish English, and Scottish English - although it's not the same as Ulster-Scots. The Ulster-Scots language or dialect comes from the time of the Ulster Plantation in the 17th century when many people moved from the lowlands of Scotland and settled in Ulster. Yet even though I don't speak Ulster-Scots, when I hear the Gospel of Luke read in Ulster-Scots, in a strange way my heart responds to it.

I spent just over two years with the Ejagham people of South-West Cameroon, working to encourage them to engage with God's Word in their mother-tongue. After more than thirty of years of work, the New Testament in Ejagham was dedicated in 1997. Three thousand copies were printed and went on sale at a cost of about £1 each. But when we arrived in 2001, only about a thousand had been sold, and there are around 50,000 Ejagham speakers in Cameroon.

I soon discovered that the Ejagham people as a whole did not feel a great pride in their language. When I'd talk to them about their language, sometimes they would tell me it wasn't a language, it was merely a 'dialect'. However, when the "JESUS" Film in Ejagham was shown in one of their villages, they were riveted to it, frequently laughing out loud during the screening. Sitting with them, it was obvious that they were clearly connecting emotionally with what they were hearing, in a way that they don't when the Bible is read to them in English.

When I hear the Gospel of Luke read in Ulster-Scots, I start to laugh. Not because what I'm hearing is funny, but because something 'clicks' inside me. It's hard to describe with words. Maybe it's because I imagine I'm hearing an old man from the country telling me a story. Whatever it is, it's certainly God's Word translated into the culture of certain parts of Northern Ireland, and I like it.

People are responding in many different ways to this Bible translation project. I've been surprised at the number of people who have reacted negatively when I have mentioned it to them. I am not trying to make a political point in this blog post, I'm just sharing my personal thoughts. I've really wanted to write something about this, but it's actually been difficult to put into words.

Bible translation... not infrequently it brings up complex issues, and sometimes people involved even suffer persecution as a result. I'm aware of a Bible translation project going on right now in another part of the world where the translators involved and their families are facing opposition from their community. When the Bible was first translated into English, people lost their lives over it. William Tyndale is a name that comes to mind. It's no surprise to me that the translation of the Bible into Ulster-Scots is provoking strong and surprising emotional reactions among the people of Northern Ireland.

If you're interested to see what the Gospel of Luke is like in Ulster-Scots, you can buy a copy of "Guid Wittens frae Docter Luik" from booksUlster.com or Amazon.

A wee bit of news from me...

2009-12-14T15:11:00.005Z

This is my December 2009 newsletter. Because I work with a Christian charity and rely on personal financial support rather than receiving a salary, I have to write newsletters as part of my job. Working for a Christian charity does not mean my work is harder, more important, or more deserving of having newsletters written about it than your job. I’m so grateful to all of you who take the time to read my news, and pray for me. Thank you!

Things have been going very well for me recently, both in work and personally, and I am so thankful to God for His goodness!

“Work’s been going well? Tell us more!”

Yes— it’s been busy, but in a good way!

We got great feedback from people who were at Wycliffe:Live in October . Highlights for me were hearing the Good Samaritan story read aloud in Ulster-Scots and Irish, and Marlene Beattie chatting with Mary Steele about her 50 years in Bible translation.

Wycliffe and Me is a one-day event designed to help people understand more about what’s involved in working with Wycliffe. Eleven people attended the event we held in Belfast in October. We had a great day getting to know new people and exploring together how God wants us to share His Word.

I’ve also visited Queen’s, Coleraine, Jordanstown and Stranmillis Christian Unions as part of my work with the Mission Agencies Partnership (MAP). I stepped in almost at the last minute for a friend who has been off sick and led part of the programme we presented to the CUs on the topic “Loving God, loving others”. That was a huge challenge for me, and I’m glad to say it all seemed to go well. I’m enjoying the contact with students through MAP. It’s a real privilege to chat with them about how God is leading them.

And we in the NI Wycliffe office are very excited because we have been talking to at least 10 people in the last few months who are seriously considering getting involved with Wycliffe. God’s Spirit is speaking to people!

“And what about life beyond work?”

Yes, I’ve lots more to give thanks to God for:

My church - Holywood Christian Fellowship Church - who continue to be a warm, welcoming, open, and supportive community. I’ve started going to a home group and it’s great to get to know people better.

Good friends and family - my Dad and Mum are doing great and we really enjoy time together, I have an amazing bunch of loyal, supportive, honest and loving friends, one of whom I get to share a house with :)

Good health - I usually enjoy good health but about a year ago I had to swallow my pride and seek help for depression. Last week I was reading the final chapters of 2 Corinthians, and the verses I’ve quoted below challenged me. It’s hard enough to recognise or admit to our weaknesses—but to boast in them...? I am doing really well now, and I’m very thankful to be enjoying life so much, but these verses were a reminder to me that God’s power actually works through our weaknesses. Praise God!

If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am… ‘My gracious favour is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me..
2 Cor 11v30, 12v9 (New Living Translation)

“So what’s coming up for you in 2010?”

Wycliffe has a new ‘corporate look’ which will be launched in January. This includes a new logo (left) and new website among other things. The changes are subtle, but I’m excited about how God is leading Wycliffe UK at this time, and there will be more on that in future newsletters!

We’re advertising Engage teams to Cambodia and Cameroon for summer 2010, and we’re exploring options for a third trip and seeking God’s guidance. Please pray with us about this! Details about the teams and application forms are available on the Engage webpage. We are also thinking about and praying for good team leaders and team members. We received our first two applications this week!

Connect continues to meet around once a month, and continues to grow. There are around 70 in the NI Connect network, with I’d say 30 people regularly involved in events. I’m so encouraged! One of the highlights for me recently has been seeing friendships develop between Connect members who didn’t know each other previously. Connect is about people with a shared interest in God’s Word and mission having the opportunity to get to know each other and encourage each other, and it’s happening!

During February MAP will be visiting university CUs again to be available to chat further with students about summer, gap year and longer term opportunities.

Evangelical Alliance are organising an event called Kingdom Come from 1-4 February in Belfast. This event addresses the themes of spirituality, church and leadership and is designed to encourage and refresh everyone in Church leadership in N Ireland. Wycliffe UK is one of the organisations sponsoring this event, and Eddie Arthur (UK Director) will be speaking.

I hope that somehow, through my involvement in things like Engage, Connect, MAP, Kingdom Come, God will use me to inspire young people know Him more deeply through His Word, and to follow Him more closely in their lives.

Please continue to pray for me—that God will give me wisdom as I talk with young people about how God may be leading them; creativity as I continue to develop Engage and Connect; grace to face challenges; and the humility to allow God to work out his purposes through my weaknesses.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas and huge blessings for 2010!

Seeing Bible translation first-hand

2009-11-26T15:17:00.003Z

My colleague Mark and his wife Laura led the Engage 2009 Burkina Faso team, and they've produced this lovely short video of their trip:

Application forms are available for the Engage 2010 teams - if watching this video makes you think you'd like to do something similar, then why not start by taking a look at the Engage webpage?

Wycliffe gets a make-over

2009-11-16T12:58:00.011Z

It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to our new logo! It'll be officially launched in January, so this is a sneak preview taken from the Wycliffe Bible Translators UK blog:

Chances are, if you have been to a Wycliffe UK event, or have heard someone speak at your church about Wycliffe, they will have introduced themselves as a representative of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

However, about 10 years ago, in the UK our name and logo was changed to Wycliffe UK as we tried to communicate to people that as an organisation we were involved in a lot more than translation.

10 years down the track, the decision has been taken to change back. A press release has been circulated explaining some of the reasoning behind the decision.

From January 2010, Wycliffe UK will be known publicly as Wycliffe Bible Translators with a fresh look and a new logo. The title will reinforce the aim of Wycliffe, to see a Bible translation project begun in every language that needs one by the year 2025, as well as positioning the organisation within a competitive marketplace.

Explaining the reason behind the change, Eddie Arthur, Executive Director of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the UK says, “This change is a response to frequent public confusion between ourselves and other organisations that use the Wycliffe name. By introducing Bible Translators into our title we are quickly able to establish who we are, what we do and why we exist.”

The change to our corporate look is subtle, to the point that you may be thinking why are we even bothering. Well it had become apparent that the average UK citizen thinks of 'Wycliffe', they think of a TV detective series, or the rapper Wyclef Jean!

Just to be even more confusing, Wycliffe Bible Translators UK doesn't actually DO Bible translation. On the whole, Bible translation is done by mother-tongue speakers of the target languages, with help and support from trained linguists, IT specialists, teachers, exegetes, literacy specialists, and many others. Wycliffe UK exists to present the need and vision of Bible translation to the UK church, and I just love being involved!

Hot off the 'press'

2009-09-30T15:11:00.013+01:00

If you're interested in what's going on with me in work, just now, make yourself a nice cup of tea and have a read of my Oct 09 newsletter below:

“… my word… will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”
Isaiah 55v11 (New Living Translation)

“How did the Engage teams get on?”

Really well! Teams spent a month this summer in Burkina Faso, Cambodia, and Cameroon, seeing Bible translation first hand, engaging with the local community, and helping with translation projects and other church work. I’ve put some photos and stories from the teams on the internet at www.wycliffe.org.uk/engage, so if you can, please do take a look and be inspired by their experiences.

Here are some reflections from the team members on their trips:

· "Everything we did was fantastic, and for me it was a wonderful introduction to Burkina Faso and Africa. Meeting so many different people - children, students, Pastors and Christian families, translators, even people in the marketplace - was amazing..." Jayne, Burkina Faso

· "We were delighted when the San translators told us of the joy that they had knowing that a team had come from thousands of miles away."
Mark, Burkina Faso

· “Meeting Cambodian Christians was inspiring, because of their generosity, friendliness and love for God. Meeting literacy and language workers opened our eyes to the complexities of translation, and as a linguistics student, really got me excited.” Eleanor, Cambodia

· “It was great to hear from someone currently involved in the process of Bible translation, and to realise the actual implications of dedicating your whole life to this work.” Elizabeth, Cambodia

· “Part of the team assisted in the three day teacher training workshop held in Ndop. There were 30 participants from 9 languages, and the technical and general logistical support that the team provided was invaluable. The workshop would not have been possible without them.” Jon Blackwell, Cameroon team host

Please pray that God would continue to teach the team members as they reflect on their trips. Pray that the relationships they made with the local people they met would grow. And please pray for us in the office as we begin to plan ahead for Engage 2010 - we have provisional invitations from our partners in Cambodia and Cameroon to send teams again next year, and we are exploring two other ideas, one in a new and challenging location.

“So what were you doing over the summer?”

Worrying about the teams! It’s my job to keep my mobile on at all times in case there is an emergency. Praise God for keeping them safe and that no difficult situation arose.

I also got to spend a week at New Horizon (a week-long Christian conference in Coleraine), working alongside other mission agencies’ staff to run the mission venue ‘Hope Street’. It was great that a whole bunch of Wycliffe volunteers came to help out too. I wrote a blog post about ‘Hope Street’ when I got home, and here’s an excerpt from it:

‘Hope Street’ at New Horizon gives mission agencies the opportunity to show hospitality to the church. So often I feel that as agencies we mostly spend our time asking for money, prayer and volunteers by making everyone feel guilty that here in N Ireland we have a church on every corner, more money than we need, and more versions of the Bible in English than we know what to do with. At Hope Street, people come to enjoy a reasonably-priced tea or coffee, enjoy the interactive display, find information about mission, browse the bookstall, listen to a seminar, and in the evenings enjoy some of the best young local Christian musical talent for free. Thursday night was like a party, thanks to Alistair Bennett and Band and their fun tunes.
http://upmytree.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

Other highlights of the summer included Wycliffe UK Conference in June, which was really inspiring and encouraging. The Connect Houseparty (11-13 Sept) was a great weekend. It was so good to get together with others who are really keen to be involved with Bible translation, to have fun, share and pray together.

Oh, and I had a lovely week’s holiday in August in the south of France with friends!

“And what’s coming up for you this autumn?”

It’s looking like a busy one, but I’m excited about it!

On Sat 3 Oct all the Engage 09 team members in N Ireland are getting together for a meal and a catch-up. My friend and colleague Kat is coming from England, and some others from outside NI are hoping to join us.

Wycliffe:Live09 is on Wed 14 Oct in Wellington Presbyterian in Ballymena. Mary Steele will be giving us a glimpse into her 50-year journey with the Lord in Wycliffe, and Eddie Arthur (Wycliffe UK Director) will be speaking too. Connect have a wee slot as well, which will be fun!

Wycliffe and Me is a one-day event to help people interested in Bible translation to find out how they can get involved, and we’re running one on Sat 24 Oct in Saintfield Road Presbyterian in Belfast. Please help us get the word out about this event! There’s more information about it on the web at www.wycliffe.org.uk/wam.

We have a Wycliffe Day of Prayer every year on 11 Nov, and this year we’d like to invite everyone to join us in the evening to pray for the work of Bible translation around the world. Details of this will follow, but please put it in your diary!

I’m busy during the autumn with MAP (Mission Agencies Partnership) events. We’re planning two ‘Ignition’ youth events for churches around Ballycastle and Lurgan. Then during October and November we’ll visit the University CUs, this year focussing on the importance of showing Jesus’ love in practical ways in our lives.

Please continue to pray for me—that God will give me strength, wisdom and creativity for the challenges in the months ahead, and that He will fill me with His Holy Spirit, His love, and His peace. Pray I will ‘translate’ His Word with my life in all I say and do every day.

With much love and many thanks for all your love, prayers and support, Stephanie

PS. If you'd like to receive my newsletters (as pdf with photos) regularly by email, let me know!

Rejoice with me, for I have found that which was lost!

2009-09-21T20:49:00.006+01:00

I am feeling a special empathy just now with the people in Jesus' stories in Luke 15.

When I turned 18 my Dad and Mum bought me a gold watch. One of the good things of being an only child is you get all the good presents! I haven't worn it a whole lot, I guess feeling that gold watches are for mature and sensible ladies, not for... um... people like me. But last week, I decided that I wanted to start wearing my gold watch.

So at about 11 o'clock one night I went to the place I knew I had stored it...

Hmmm... that's funny... I was sure it was there...

Oh no. Where on earth is it? If it's not there, where is it? My bedroom's very small so there aren't many places it could be. Then I remember, I recently did a big clear out of stuff. Cold sweat breaking out. Oh no, I couldn't have. If I did, it's mashed up in some landfill site or someone's struck gold (!) in the local Oxfam.

More frantic searching... No gold watch.

*%&$!!!!

What on earth am I going to say to Dad and Mum when they, as they inevitably will one day, ask me where my gold watch is... it's a long time since they've seen me wearing it... etc?

Some desperate praying... Sorry Lord, I know I haven't been talking to you as much as I should lately, and this is a really stupid thing to bother you with, but it would be so so lovely if you could show me where it is...

Sleepless night!

Fast forward two nights...

I have an epiphany... one place I hadn't thought to look...

And there it is! PHEW!!!! I wore it that whole night and have hardly taken it off since. I know now I will wear it until it wears out or I wear out.

It wasn't until I lost the watch that I realised its true worth. And as I thought about it I realised that yes, God loves me very very much, but I am not lost to him. I am His. How must he feel about the people who are still lost to him?

I know that I am called to serve the ones who are no longer 'lost' and to encourage them to step out into the joys and risks of following God's leading in a deeper way. But I hope that every time I look at my watch to find out the time, I will remember that the way I felt when I lost my watch is only a fraction of the pain God feels for His children who are lost and don't know Him yet.

Having a go at Bible translation

2009-09-14T11:32:00.003+01:00

I've just had a great weekend at the Connect Houseparty. Connect is a network of people aged 18-30ish in the UK who are passionate about God, mission, and Bible translation. There were about twenty of us, laughing, sharing, encouraging, praying, and having lots of organised fun together.

As part of the weekend, we each took one of our favourite passages from the Bible and paraphrased it into our own words. On Saturday morning we each read our paraphrased passage aloud, and it was so so lovely to hear familiar passages presented in such a fresh, personal and unique way. And in a sense, it was like we had a wee go at Bible translation!

I thought I'd share mine with you:

My Father, I turn my heart, my thoughts, all of me, to you.
I want to tell you that I am putting everything in your hands and trusting you to look after it all.
Don't let me lose face Lord,
or give the people who don't like me reason to make fun of me.
I know that when we completely depend on you, you won't let us be humiliated,
but people who deceive others will be shamed.

Lord, please would you be like my satnav for life so that I know where to go,
tell me the right roads to take in my choices.

I will try to keep your truth always before me so that I follow it and not the other voices.
Teach me like I am your apprentice, because you are the one who will save me from taking the wrong decisions.

All day, every day, I have hope because I have you.
Psalm 25v1-5 (paraphrased)

Click here to see my photos from the weekend on Facebook. And if you'd like to be invovled with Connect, contact Kat at connect_uk@wycliffe.org (England, Wales & Scotland) or me at stephanie_angus@wycliffe.org (N Ireland). We'd

Talking about mission

2009-08-25T12:09:00.003+01:00

My colleague Mark has written an excellent blog post about two different ways to talk about mission.

The first type of person realises that, in explaining his work with a language community, he is a bridge between you (the audience) and the community. But he doesn’t feel any connection with the community – instead he tries to help you to relate to him. He tells you of the large cultural divide, but he does so in order that you can understand him and the difficulties that he has in his work. He puts you in his shoes.

The second type of person also realises that he is a bridge between you (the listeners) and the community. But unlike the first person he helps you to understand and relate to the community. He tells you of the immense cultural differences, but he does in order to help you to understand and identify with people. He puts you in their shoes.

But I think it goes deeper than just the things we say. The way we talk about people ultimately shows what our perspective is – how we perceive them, and what we believe about them.
The problem for the first person is that he sees things from an ethnocentric perspective. He doesn’t seem to respect the local people, or feel that they are his equals. He has come to help them, not to understand them. He sees many differences, and naturally is impacted most by the frustrations and difficulties. He doesn’t seem to notice however, that his cultural mistakes and blindspots are equally frustrating to his hosts. Read more

I am ashamed that so often I have been the first person. I want to be like the second person. More than that even, I want to point to God every time I talk about mission and Bible translation. I think it was Bonhoeffer who said "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." Mission is not about us, it's about what God is doing in esablishing His Kingdom.

Father, help me to die to myself every day, to lay down my life and live for you and you alone, so that when I open my mouth to speak I do not seek to promote myself but You. Dying is not fun! I feel the process of death at work in me even now, and it is far from fun or easy. But Christ has shown that through death comes true life, and THAT is the life that I want to live, every moment of every day.

Hope Street on the MAP

2009-07-27T15:10:00.006+01:00

I'm just back from a week of helping staff the 'Hope Street' venue at New Horizon. Hope Street is designed and run by MAP (Mission Agencies Partnership).

Hope Street is not a traditional mission exhibition with each agency vying for space for pull-up stands and literature tables, and jostling for attention and 'recruits'. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I enjoy manning the Wycliffe stand at the many Christian events around N Ireland.

Hope Street is different, and here's why.

It's an expression of unity - mission agencies working together to present the challenge of mission as a whole to the church in N Ireland. Unity is not easy. We are many people from at least 46 different agencies of varying sizes in MAP, all different ages and with different responsibilities within the agencies, never mind all different church backgrounds. Yes, there are stresses, tensions, and misunderstandings. However, it works, and that's the most exciting thing. We work together, we pray together, and we promote our own agency and all the others too.

It gives mission agencies the opportunity to show hospitality to the church. So often I feel that as agencies we mostly spend our time asking for money, prayer and volunteers by making everyone feel guilty that here in N Ireland we have a church on every corner, more money than we need, and more versions of the Bible in English than we know what to do with. At Hope Street, people come to enjoy a reasonably-priced tea or coffee, enjoy the interactive display, find information about mission, browse the bookstall, listen to a seminar, and in the evenings enjoy some of the best young local Christian musical talent for free. Thursday night was like a party, thanks to Alistair Bennett and Band and their fun tunes.

And Hope Street is a great place for us in Wycliffe Bible Translators to continue to build on relationships with friends, supporters, members and enquirers. We probably won't be able to measure the number of people who were 'recruited' to join our cause through Hope Street 09, but surely mission is primarily a lifestyle, not a job-description. Yes, we need people to give their time and skills and resources to plant churches, teach children, bring aid and relief, and facilitate Bible translation. But more importantly we all need to participate in loving, joyful community, and Hope Street is truly a wee example of this.

So let's hear it for unity, hospitality and community! Please pray with us that God would give us strength and grace to keep working together and loving each other and sharing our resources and expertise to be better used by God as He grows His Kingdom all over His world.

Experiencing the work of Wycliffe

2009-06-24T16:24:00.007+01:00

James has been with us in the Wycliffe office in Belfast for the past three days on work experience. I asked him if he would write an article, and here it is! It's great - enjoy reading...

"If I’m honest, about all I knew of Wycliffe 3 months ago was that it existed!

In spring 2009, I found myself in the awkward position of having to do work experience and not having any organised when a friend who had come here last year and, like me, is interested in Modern Languages suggested that I try Wycliffe. Thus I sent off a tentative e-mail which was forwarded to Stephanie at the Wycliffe office in Belfast. She was quick to encourage me to come and thus, having sorted out the relevant details, I turned up in optimistic near-ignorance at the door of 342 Beersbridge Road.

What was I expecting? I had really worked out that the office staff were not a vast body of ink-spotted researchers, huddled over a combination of Kouya dictionaries and Hebrew Old Testaments – but aside from that I had no real idea.

After John and Stephanie had welcomed me, my first morning consisted largely of an extended introduction to the vocation and work of Wycliffe, through a Power Point of John’s as well as a selection of literature. That was an eye-opener; it was positively astonishing to find out that over 2,200 languages and about 200 million people worldwide do not have any of the Bible in their own language.

I find that difficult to take in, and for me it puts the importance of what God is doing through Wycliffe in Africa, Asia, the Indo-Pacific (to quote Wycliffe’s three areas of the world in which Bible translation is needed most) and elsewhere in stark perspective. It was here as well that I was introduced to Vision 2025: the vision of Wycliffe and worldwide partners to see a Bible translation begun by 2025 in every language that still needs one. It immediately struck me as being an undertaking on a massive scale but it’s true that if it is to be accomplished it can only be done by God – which must be a good way to do anything.

My Monday afternoon was largely taken up with compiling a basic Power Point presentation for October’s Wycliffe:Live! event with details of all of Wycliffe’s members who are either from or based in Ireland. This was interesting, simply from the point of view of seeing the broad spectrum of activity, countries and people who are a full-time part of God’s work through Wycliffe.

But even after I had made my way home on Monday evening, my day with Wycliffe was by no means over! Sparing no effort to make the newcomer feel at home, Stephanie had invited me to join in an informal meeting of Connect NI at her house. Again, I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but it turned out to be great. I got the chance to chat with young people from all over Northern Ireland who had spent time abroad with Wycliffe as well as just enjoying the fellowship and banter (though I was somewhat taken aback to walk in and find an RE teacher from my school present – how cool am I, hanging out with teachers in my free time…).

Tuesday saw me introduced to Evelyn, Bob and Bill in the office, in between a spot of light tidying-up and posting some passports (to anyone going on the Engage team to Cameroon: if you don’t get any passport back or you get someone else’s by mistake, it was my fault and not Stephanie’s). Monday night’s exertions meant that I was allowed to take a half-day.

And so to Wednesday, my last day in the office. Things kicked off with a “high-powered executive breakfast” (Stephanie’s words) at Gourmet Burger on the Belmont Road. Stephanie was meeting up with the university CU stream of MAP (Mission Agencies Partnership) and had agreed to take me with her. Breakfast with five girls was a novel experience (!), but also fascinating. I must confess that the sheer volume of different pressures and issues for the people ‘behind the scenes’, between doing God’s will and working in what is very much the real world, had never really occurred to me before. After that, I got the chance to browse around some of the blogs on the Wycliffe website before sitting down…to write this.

So now, as I finish up, I have some serious thanks to give, to everyone with whom I’ve come in contact – Stephanie, John, Thelma, Lynda, Evelyn, Bob, Bill and Miranda (and others – I could go on). I could not possibly have been made to feel more welcome, more at home. Everyone went out of their way to involve me and help me and nothing was ever too much trouble, and I really am grateful for that. I was happy just to have the opportunity to come along, but you all made my time here so enjoyable. My only regret is that I’m not about for a bit longer! And perhaps most of all I should thank God for bringing me here and introducing me to all of you.

As I move on (though I hope you haven’t yet seen the last of me!), you all individually and the work of Wycliffe worldwide will definitely be in my prayers. For what it’s worth, I think this is such a worthwhile work and it was a real privilege just to get a glimpse into it over the past three days.

Every blessing to you all."

Thanks, James, from us in the office for all the work you've done (tidy stationary store... many passports posted... and lots more). I certainly hope we haven't see the last of you!

Do I actually translate the Bible?

2009-06-19T11:37:00.003+01:00

"I work with Wycliffe Bible Translators."

There's no easy way to describe my job to someone who I've just met, but I have to start somewhere.

This inevitably leads to the question, "So are you actually translating the Bible into another language?"

At which point I smile to myself, and then launch into some confusing explanation of how I don't actually sit at my desk in my office in East Belfast with the Bible and a dictionary in some minority language and translate it, but rather that I work in Mobilisation, which involves sharing our vision for making God's Word available to everyone in the world in the language of their heart and encouraging people to get involved.

But it's not a completely daft question - do I actually translate the Bible? It's got me thinking, don't all of us who know and love God and the Bible have a responsibility to 'translate' it?

God loved us so much and wanted us to know him, his love for us, his character as a completely trustworthy, kind, gentle, just, forgiving, compassionate Creator and Father God, that he sent his Son Jesus to show us himself. Jesus did that, and we can find out all about his life in the Bible. Not only that, the whole Bible is the story of God reaching out to us in love.

But we know that Jesus died, then he didn't stay dead but came back to life, and now he is still alive but not here on earth any more. He is now with our Father God outside the space and time of this world as we know it. But God has not completely left us here, because now the Holy Spirit is here on earth with us, but he's not only with us, he is IN us.

So if Jesus was in effect God living and walking in this world, and now the Holy Spirit is here as God's presence in this world, and the Holy Spirit lives in and through us... surely that means that we respresent God on earth.

Which could be thought of a bit like Bible translation. Translation takes something that is in an incomprehensible language and puts it into a language that can be understood by the reader. God is beyond our comprehension, but Jesus is accessible to us. He's real, he's human, he cried, he got hungry, and thirsty. A recent poll revealed that the 'dead' person that the British public most want to meet is Jesus Christ.

So where am I going with this? If the Holy Spirit, the presence of God on earth today, lives in and through us, then we have the awesome challenge of making God accessible to the people around us by letting the Holy Spirit live through us. I have hardly begun to understand the enormity of what this means. But I want to do it. I want to be real with people. I want them to see God in me and to see God's love for them in me. I'm still human and I'm still selfish and I still want things my way, but if I can keep taking steps to give up control of my life and let the Holy Spirit take charge, then God will be able to respresent himself through me.

So do I translate the Bible? Yes, I do. And that mean you do to. So let's do it!

Oh, and if you'd like to be involved in the kind of Bible translation that actually involves taken the written Bible and helping making it available in other languages, then get in touch with us!

(I would like to acknowledge that these thoughts have not all come from my own brain - many thanks to our ED Eddie Arthur, my boss John Hamilton, and my housemate Leanne for sharing your ideas with me. Oh, and thanks to John for the cartoon!)

Something cool that God has done

2009-06-11T21:57:00.000+01:00

As part of the mobilisation team in Wycliffe Bible Translators (UK), I've been asked to speak at a commissioning on Sunday morning. A couple from Coleraine Baptist are getting ready to spend a year doing IT/teaching/admin stuff at Rainforest International School (RFIS) in Yaounde, Cameroon. Since Cameroon used to be home for me, this one is close to my heart.

I'm going to share a story of a prayer answered, and I thought I'd stick it on this blog too while I'm at it, since now that I've started a blog, I need to post on it!

My biggest prayer when I first arrived in Cameroon (2001) was that God would give me a Cameroonian friend. It wasn't long before I met Ceci. She was living with my colleagues and working for them as a house-help. Ceci helped me understand Cameroonian culture, she taught me to speak Pidgin, she encouraged me HUGELY in my faith, she taught me to pray earnestly, but most of all she was my friend. We used to hang out in her 'living room' (a couple of comfy chairs on the veranda outide the room she lived in), swatting mozzies, talking and praying.

Ceci got the opportunity to go to Douala (big port city) and study CISCO networking (computers) for a year, and I was delighted. I missed her lots though. After I left Cameroon, Ceci got a job at RFIS, helping maintain the computer network at the school. We've stayed good friends, and we still enjoy the occasional long chat on the phone or on Skype.

Ceci went through a tough time at work - things were a bit stressful and her health wasn't great. Finally, her American colleague had to return to the US sooner than expected, and she had to carry the workload on her own. I started to pray that maybe I could help 'mobilise' someone from N Ireland who could go and work with her.

Meanwhile, Clarke and Alison Rice from Coleraine had been enquiring about getting involved with Wycliffe in teaching IT and administration, and to cut a long story short, they are going to work at RFIS and Clarke will probably be working part-time with Ceci.

Whoop! Thanks, Father God!

Retreating up the tree

2009-06-10T16:17:00.000+01:00

In Feb 09, I had the privilege of going on a retreat with a bunch of sorta-youngish people like me who do Christian stuff as their main job. We talked about loads of stuff, some of it to do with our work, some of it very personal, and a lot about what it means to be a 'Christian leader'.

At some point in one of the discussions, someone described visionary leadership as being 'up a tree', looking to see where your team could go next, what dangers are out there, what opportunities, what to be preparing for in the next stage of the journey.

I have used this illustration of being 'up a tree' loads of times since that retreat, and it's really helped me understand visionary leadership better - the pros and cons! You see, when you are 'up your tree', you have to remember that your team are still down on the ground, slogging their way though whatever weeds and bushes (emails, phone calls, meetings) are on their path. Some of your team may be very tired, even sick, some may be overwhelmed by the weeds and bushes. So when you come down from your tree, all excited about the future and opportunities and possibilities, your team may not have the energy to share your excitement. You may want them to climb your tree to see what you've seen, but they may not have the time. Or you may want to be up the tree, but you've found that you've got overwhelmed by the weeds and bushes on the ground.

So the challenge is, how to balance time up the tree, while still getting the stuff done on the ground.

I've been wanting to start a blog for a while, but I've been convinced that I've really nothing useful to say. However, the more I've thought about the importance of getting time up the tree, the more I started to wonder if a blog might be one way to help me do this. So here goes...

Come and join me 'up my tree'...