Besa

Last night our dog Besa died.
He was only 6 months old.
We are devastated.

That evening as we listened to a message called "Why doesn't God answer my prayers" Fraser and I knew that despite asking for prayer for Besa and praying hard ourselves, he wouldn't be with us for much longer.  Why?

Craig Groeschel (pastor of www.lifechurch.tv which is well worth checking out) listed several reasons why our prayers may not be answered in the way we think they should be.

• Is there a relationship which needs repair?  We should heal our horizontal relationships as they affect our vertical one with God.
• Are our motives in asking right?  So often it is easy to deceive ourselves that we want what we want out of pure motives but the heart is deceitful above all things.  God is never deceived.
• Does the Creator of the universe know what is best for us better than we do ourselves?  God loves us enough not to give us everything we ask for.
• Does God have greater plans?  Sometimes God takes the prayers that have not been answered as we think they should and uses them to do great things, in us or through us.  In the end, when we see what he has done, we would not have had it any other way.  The very hard part is the time between the"unanswered" prayer  and seeing what God has done.  The pain is often great but the Lord gives strength enough to bear it.  Though I am weak, today I believe.

 Last night was awful.  Canine parvovirus wrecks havoc.  Three days ago Besa was lively and healthy.  Part of the shock is that he deteriorated so fast, even after the vet medicated him.  Six months was not long enough.  He was a very special dog, born on the day we left the UK, friendly, good natured and fun.  We shall miss him terribly.

In the grand scheme of things the health of a dog is not the most important issue, especially here in Nigeria where there are so many people with vital needs.  However, when you move from your own country and culture and get a dog who was born on the very day you left and rapidly becomes one of the family, when that dog becomes ill it is quite a concern.  It also brings home to me how far I am from what I know.  In the UK I know how to find out the vet's surgery hours, I can take my pet to a clean and welcoming building and feel reassured that he'll be well cared for, given whatever medicines he needs and at the correct dosages (facts by no means certain here for animals or humans).  In Nigeria on Saturday I turned up 20 minutes before the sign said surgery ended only to be told I was too late, come back on Monday.  I'm fairly competent in assessing whether my children need a doctor urgently but I've had little experience when it comes to a dog and felt so helpless in the face of all that is unfamiliar.  So many people here have tales of how their animals died suddenly from diseases they picked up from the surroundings.  When our dog hasn't eaten for 3 days, is dreadfully lethargic and bringing up yellow froth I do feel that he needs attention and probably won't get better without help.  So here I am waiting in for a well-recommended vet to do a housecall after he's been to church.  Perhaps there was  a cultural misunderstanding with the other vets and I didn't make enough of a fuss for them to take me seriously, but it's so reassuring to know there are people out there who will go the extra mile.

Hard decisions

It's so very hard to choose between two valuable activities when there are only enough resources for one.  That's the sort of decision we had to make at BRICC (Building Relationships In City Centre) last week.

The Unity Fitness Centre (UFC) is in a Muslim part of town: all the Christians left the area after the crisis of January 2010.  It had been running for a few months when BRICC got involved, helping to provide a few pieces of equipment and spreading the much needed message of peace and co-operation between Muslims and Christians.  Last February physiotherapist Fiona started going once a week for BRICC and built up strong ties with the community in that area.  The effect she had on the lives of so many who attended UFC having lost hope that anyone could help them has been amazing.  She truly brought hope to the hopeless.  One of her patients, left unable to walk after a car accident, agreed to film his story.  This can be seen on the BRICC website (www.briccjos.com)  She had to return to the UK last month and the gap she's left is huge.  We don't want to lose the relationships formed in this area, especially with Baba, a lovely Muslim gentleman who runs the centre (and has actually changed its name to BRICC Unity Fitness Centre he's so committed to pursuing peace), but the landlord is knocking at the door and the money is tight.  N70,000 is needed to pay the rent for the next twelve months. 

Often God has a way of nudging you towards a solution.  The sports programme costs N83,000 for a ten-week clinic.  We heard last week that Monday who runs it may be leaving in April when the present clinic ends which would leave us with the task of finding a replacement.  Is it justifiable to spend N83,000 on a ten-week programme to improve the football skills of a group of young men (and teach them something about peace) rather than use N70,000 to keep open a centre that changes people's lives and shows them love in action?

We decided the relationship with UFC and the openings in an area of Jos where few Christians venture was more important so, once this clinic has finished and until more funds are available, the sports programme has had to be put on hold, hopefully to be resurrected at a future date.  It is important that the young men have an outlet and experience training (in football and peace) with members of different communities but the impact of UFC on lives can be so much more profound.  In a perfect world BRICC would be able to support both projects but then in a perfect world there would be no need for BRICC to exist.  I'm rather excited about it as Ruth Beattie and I hope to go to the centre regularly to lead some informal health/fitness classes for the women.  It also gives me the incentive I need to prioritise learning Hausa as that's the language most people use in that community.

Six months

Today is our six month anniversary in Nigeria.

As usual with time it seems as if we've been here a lot longer while also being hard to believe it's only six months since we greeted our twelve pieces of luggage with relief at Abuja airport.  It's been a steep and at times very frustrating learning curve but from our very first day we've been reassured so many times that this is the place the Lord wants us to be. We've seen so much evidence of prayers answered and although it's not always been easy we know that we haven't just been dumped in a strange land to fend for ourselves.  God prepared the way and is continually sustaining us.  Really we do know that the prayers of the people supporting us are being heard.

So far today has been a good one.  Two reliable young men who live with their parents on the TCNN campus have arrived to work in the garden.  Although their parents both have jobs at the college they also farm so I am extremely hopeful that wonderful things will be produced from the garden in the next year.  As well as that, a plumber who actually knows what he's doing came to start work on raising the water tower that workmen who didn't care about doing a good job had built far too low.  By the end of the week we should have hot water when we turn on the tap instead of a sense of disappointment and an extra water storage tank to put my mind at rest during the dry season.  All we have to do in between is to survive without running water as the tanks are being installed.

As if that isn't enough, I've been introduced to another weird and wonderful fruit.  Just seeing its spikey beauty makes me happy.  It's actually a kind of cucumber, dismissed here as chicken food but worth getting just for the way it looks.

Gratuitous insect