Only in Nigeria

Running water and reliable electricity are two of things that make daily life a lot easier. We haven't had mains water since August 28th. For a while we were in a state of hopefulness that work was being done on pipes and that soon the water would flow again. Today we've been told that the reason the water has stopped is that the water board hasn't paid its electricity bill, has been cut off and therefore has no power for its pumps. As we've received only one water bill since we moved to TCNN two years ago this is hardly surprising but it does mean we've lost hope of anything happening soon.  Thankfully the rains at this time of year fill our water butts fairly regularly.  However, the schools are scheduled to reopen on Monday after being closed as a precaution against ebola and an avoidable water shortage will not help. The first line of defence is hygiene - disinfectant soap and clean water to wash hands: it doesn't look as if this'll come easily.


On a happier note we have additions to our family. In the spirit of community relationships I bought three hens from the man who brings them to the BRICC office on a tray on his head. They now have a donated rabbit hutch and live in a corner of our garden. The dogs think they're the new in-garden entertainment and we've had a couple of eggs already.
 

 InReach is progressing well.  As we were waiting to start a new group in Miango we were entertained by the skilful tyre-running of the local children.
  That is until they noticed we had cameras and crowded round to get their  photos taken. 

Extreme pruning

 Ever since last March when a tree crashed down and narrowly missed our car and house I've been slightly concerned when the wind blows strongly in the regular storms we experience this time of year.  Now I don't need to worry as the tree fellers have done their work, drastically pruning the eucalyptus which threatened to do damage to life and property.  There were no hard hats, no ladders, no harnesses and thankfully no accidents.  As we're out in Nigeria under the auspices of an Irish mission it also provided some harmless amusement when the tree fellers turned out to be "tree fellas".

We've been back here a month now and InReach groups are starting up.  Every Friday Toby and I go to the ECWA Bible seminary at Kagoro, an hour's drive from TCNN, to lead InReach conversations.  It's been very encouraging to see some of the students who went through the sessions last year and hear them tell new participants how Inreach has affected their thinking, attitudes and actions.  As Nathan said, "I started InReach thinking it would teach me stategies for evangelism. I found it first taught me about myself."
Another encouraging thing is knowing that we're in step with what God's doing in many places throughout the world.  At the Keswick Convention this year I came across Rebecca Manley Pippert for the first time.  She's been teaching about reaching people by living out Jesus' love to them where they are for many years; exposing non-believers to Jesus rather than insensitively/aggressively imposing our arguments and beliefs on them.  What she's written books about is what Toby and I feel God's been leading us to do with InReach around Jos over the past year, separately yet together within God's great plan. The wonderful thing is that wherever you are, whatever you do, you can still live Jesus love to your neighbours in simple yet efective ways.
Have a look at our website to find out more: www.inreachministry.wix.com/inreach.

Like all the houses on the TCNN campus we get our water from storage tanks which are filled at the whim of the person who operates the mains switch. Sometimes they get worryingly low as mains water doesn't come.  That was the case for us at the beginning of the week so we did what we've learned to do during our time in Nigeria, we included it in our weekly email of prayer requests on Tuesday.  It might seem a small thing but our God is faithful in the small as well as the large.  Only our lower tank receives the water which we then have to pump up to the higher one which supplies the house.  A full lower tank and electricity to power the pump do not always coincide but this morning we woke up to find the lower tank full and the electricity on.  You can't hang around to use electrical things at your convenience here so before breakfast I was pumping the water.
It was a bit of a concern that the low tank was almost emptied as the higher one filled but at least we'd have water through the taps.  As soon as the pump was turned off I heard the welcome sound of running water - the lower tank was being filled up again.  Coincidence or answered prayer from a loving God?

Back at TCNN

We've been back at TCNN for a week now.  School started on Thursday complete with anti-ebola handwashing stations and anti-terrorist car checks and security measures.
Mosque and preachers in Bukuru are still very keen on the 4-6am slot and unfortunately their loudspeakers are working fine.
Jos is still overrun by serious roadworks with roads closed without warning (you don't know until you get to the barrier and have to u-turn). On the positive side though, if you get confused and end up driving the wrong way down a dual carriageway no one bats an eyelid and the road workers, instead of telling you off, greet you most warmly and stop traffic on the other side to let you get through.  Getting a new sim card requires photographs, fingerprints and passport numbers (think of that when you pick up your next one at Tesco checkout).
Our dogs are settling back in and so are we, although it might take a little time to get fully back into the swing of things.

Keswick

For well over 100 years the Keswick Convention has been bringing good Bible teaching and uplifting worship to people all over the world.  It was at Keswick in 2010 that Fraser and I heard God telling us he wanted us to go out to Africa and now we're coming to the end of another week of encouragement.  James and Ruth have been having a great time in the Youth Programme, not getting home until after 10:30pm on some nights but raring to go back at 10:45am for the next morning's sessions.

I'm feeling a little homesick as the preacher in the morning Bible studies is Vaughan Roberts, rector of St Ebbe's in Oxford, who joined the church staff when I was attending as a student.  It's great to hear him again as he goes through Romans 1-8.  Yesterday he gave a very useful illustration of justification and sanctification.  Imagine God can only accept purple people into his presence but the human race is green and doomed to destruction because rebellion has changed its God-given colour.  By his willing death on the cross for us Jesus has slipped a sheet of purple cellophane in front of those who believe and God now accepts them as purple: they have been justified, the consequences of their rebellion paid for.  However, too often they only know how to behave as green people.  That's when the Holy Spirit goes behind the purple cellophane and starts to paint them so the green truly becomes purple - sanctification which is a life-long process.

It's not all meetings. There are plenty of ice cream shops to sample and this afternoon we hired kayaks for James and Ruth and a double canoe for Fraser and me and headed onto Lake Derwentwater.  James and Ruth were like ducks on the water. As for the canoers: if negotiating a double canoe was part of a pre-marriage course the numbers of weddings would plummet.  Thankfully Fraser and I have been married for 19 years so eventually managed to work out an amicable system!

England can be beautiful too.

Scotland

For the past five weeks we've had the privilege of visiting many different places where God's people meet in the highlands.  From the more traditional to the more modern, the welcome and interest in what God's doing in Nigeria has been great and we feel honoured to have the chance to get to know so many of our extended Christian family.
On Friday we head south for a week at the Keswick Convention then three weeks seeing family and friends in England before returning to Nigeria on August 8th but I couldn't resist posting some photos of Scotland before we leave.

Bruar

Lenticular clouds

Ullapool

Isle of Lewis

Blackhouse Village

Broch on Lewis

Wanderers and sojourners

As humans we get attached to things. We want to hold onto our memories, helped by objects with sentimental value, we want to save things "just in case" we'll need them in the future.

I was relieved when our house in Scotland sold last year.  Being in Nigeria whilst having responsibility for a 100 year old house in Scotland was not always a happy situation.  It felt great to be free of the responsibility for council tax, mortgage, boiler repairs, frozen pipes etc.  Friends cleared the place for us and stored many boxes in their attic until we came back to go through them.

Reducing your worldly possessions to a few boxes is a painful process.  There are many times I've thought "What if we have to set up home in the UK again? Perhaps I'll need that."  I really don't want to get rid of all the examples of the children's early artwork or of my own past.  Think about all the memories in your attics; imagine having to reduce them to a small fraction of what they were.

There's a spiritual dimension to my feelings.  We like the comfort blanket of the possessions that remind us of who we are, who we were and where we came from.  At church on Sunday we read Paul the prisoner's letter to Philemon.  Not only did the theme of reconciliation tie well with the account I gave later of the work I'm doing in Jos but it struck me that Paul probably didn't have a load of boxes in a friend's attic.  He travelled light, relying on God to provide and retain the memories that should be kept.

It's a hard step on the road to sanctification. I mustn't be like the rich young ruler who was so attached to his possessions that he wouldn't let go of them to follow when Jesus called.  It's things with sentimental value I'm wanting to keep rather than riches, but what is important? For the future I trust God to provide as he always has so abundantly.  Logically I shouldn't find it so hard to let some things go.  Perhaps the lesson that's being especially brought home to me now is that we are strangers and sojourners in this world.  I've felt it to some degree in my travels but it becomes particularly real when you're having drastically to cull the things that you've lived with.  In some respects having them all destroyed in a fire would've been easier.  It feels slightly similar to the scene in Voyage of the Dawn Treader when Eustace turns from dragon back to boy.  He feebly pulls away the first layer of scales but the real transformation requires a deep and painful stripping of all that's extraneous.  Many people go through this in a far more violent fashion as war and famine force them from their homes.  Many people don't have places to keep even the few things they've managed to save.  I'm very conscious of all the things I still have. I do have places to keep the "essential" boxes and even if they were all destroyed I would still have everything I need.  I pray that I'll be content to travel light through life. Philippians 3:8.