Back home

It's great to be back home at TCNN although it did take a few days to get back into the swing of life in Nigeria with no electricity, supermarkets or decent roads.
Since I returned we've had the Mission Africa retreat in Miango.  It was humbling to meet Rufus and Iris Ogbonna who've been serving in the south of Nigeria for over thirty years.  Iris was actually a nursery nurse with Fraser's mother in Glasgow fifty-three years ago.  They'd been friends but had lost touch until we joined Mission Africa so it was amazing that Fraser could set up a meeting on skype for them.
Paul Bailie our chief executive and Norman MacAuley, his minister from Belfast came over for the week of the retreat.  Norman provided some most welcome teaching focussed on Jesus.  Jesus didn't come just to show us God's love (although it was God's love that sent him) but he had the specific purpose of saving his people, not "from" anything but to enable us to be cleansed, our sins paid for and ourselves made holy enough to enter the presence of God.  Such an act of grace "demands my soul, my life, my all".
Paul and Norman were staying in Jos for most of their short visit and I had the privilege of accompanying them to see Rev Dr Obed Dashan, General Secretary of COCIN, the denomination which provides us with the visa to remain in Nigeria.  Many COCIN congregations in the north have been attacked with many Christians killed.  The COCIN officials have the hard task of deciding whether to withdraw their staff or encourage them to stay and show Christ's love to those murdering their friends and relations.  As Dr Dashan said, he tells his pastors to stay and not get involved in the fighting but what would he do if armed men broke into his house or church intent on killing anyone they could find?  We pray for God's protection on them all, for wisdom and the courage to love.

This post isn't actually coming from Jos as I've been back in England for a while to attend my cousin's wedding (and work my way through the long shopping list I was given in Jos - my bags are full of school uniform, shoes, cereal and chocolate).

The wedding of Becky and Jonny was in Aylesbury on Saturday.  It didn't rain but I was so glad of all four layers of clothing.  I was able to shed them gradually but England at the beginning of June is nowhere near as balmy as Jos.  The ceremony was lovely as my Uncle David delighted in handing over his final daughter - no more father of the bride speeches to come up with (although he's done a good job).  The minister explained how Christian marriage displays the character of God in its loving, forgiving and bringing out of potential.  It's an awesome thing to know that just by the way we are married we can point others towards or away from the love of God.

On Sunday morning I went back to the church.  The visiting speaker was from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity, an organisation set up by John Stott, a great pastor and teacher who was concerned to relate being a Christian to the whole of life, not just to the holy huddle on Sundays.  I completely agreed with what was said.  People talk about "full time Christian work" and they mean becoming a vicar or going abroad to the mission field.  Everybody who follows Jesus is in full time Christian work whether that's teaching at school, nursing, building, working in an office, going to the supermarket or just being alive.  A lot of the time the way we show who Jesus is and how he's impacted our lives is in the way we live - our attitudes and actions on the bus or in the shops can display the hope that lives inside sometimes more clearly than the words that explain it.

The speaker went through the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples.  As he pointed out, left to our own devices our prayers often become somewhat narrow in focus.  If all your last week's prayers were granted would anyone other than yourself and your family benefit?  It's a useful thought to remember.  He put up some photos.  One was of a demonstration with people holding banners, "The people demand regime change".  That is what we're asking when we pray "Your kingdom come".  We want regime change, no more of the greed, cruelty, hopelessness and injustice of this world but for the love and power of God to shine into the darkness.  God's Holy Spirit lives within every Christian in power and wherever we go he is with us and nothing can overcome that light, whether we go abroad or to the local supermarket.  Christians are dangerous as dictatorships from the Romans to the Communists have realised.  Go out wherever you are and be subversive (in a peaceful, Spirit-filled and Jesus-like way of course).

Mangoes

In 2010 when Fraser and I first realised God was calling us to Africa I said I didn't mind where he sent us although I'd rather it wasn't Nigeria and I did ask that he'd give me mango trees in the garden.  Now we've been in Nigeria for almost a year and despite there being quite a few challenges to living here I wouldn't live anywhere else (who says God doesn't have a sense of humour?).  Not only have I found that Nigeria isn't half as scary as most people in the UK think but we have been abundantly blessed with mango trees in our garden at TCNN. 



Last week I made about a dozen jars of mango chutney and the same of jam.  I've frozen mangoes, made mango cakes and desserts and given bags of them away but there are still dozens left on the tree and this is only the first that's ripening - there are three more trees with fruit that's not so advanced.  When God answers a prayer he's never stingy.

We're having a bit of building work done and the builders needed a ladder to replace a leaky roof.  It wasn't a problem that we didn't have one, they simply took leftover wood and made their own so now we can get at even more of our mangoes.
The work at BRICC continues although I haven't managed to go into the office much recently.  Ruth managed to pick up protozoa and had a bad case of fever and dysentry.  As her brother helpfully pointed out, lots of people throughout history have died of dysentry and I was very grateful to have the resources to get the right treatment for Ruth when so many people out here can't do the same for their children.  I'm not surprised at the spread of such diseases as every day I see children from the police barracks behind our house going to the field, crouching down and doing their business.  The field is now being cultivated, perhaps with food for the police horses but perhaps for people.  Either way, the spread of parasites and viruses is made all too easy.

 The blossom didn't last long but now the tree's full of miniature oranges.