REPOST: Restore a Town, Transform a Nation

ON THE DAY WE TRAVEL TO BULEMBU, HERE'S A RE-POST FROM JULY 2011  TO TELL YOU WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT AND WHY IT'S WORTH IT.....

You drive for 5 hours from Johannesburg, through the mountains and over the Swaziland border. What greets you is quite breathtaking. Bulembu is an old mining town. When the mines closed nearly ten years ago, the 10,000 population moved out. Bulembu became a ghost town. Until someone had a vision of what could be.

Today a Christian trust owns the whole town. All 4,000 acres. The population is back to 2,000. There are successful industries in wood production, water bottling, honey production, a bakery, a dairy, successful tourism. All from nothing.

Most of all, there are 200 orphans saved. Bulembu has become a centre for rescued children. With the worst HIV rate in the world at around 40%, and an average age expectancy of just over 30, Swaziland is slowly dying. Children die daily. Bulembu is changing the statistics.

Their aim is to be a sustainable community for 2000 children by 2020. Their shirts carry the slogan ‘experience transformation’. And they are. In restoring a town, they are transforming a nation.

What's it all about?

What's it all about?

Christ - his incarnation, life, teaching, mission, death, resurrection, ASCENSION, present rule and future return.

That's what it's about.

(With thanks to Trevor Lloyd and his Different Kingdom blog for such a great and succinct definition.)

And So It Came To Pass.....

That my latest book is fully launched.

Now on Amazon, the book is out there.

It is the heart-rending story of Linda and her journey through abuse, drink, drugs, drug trafficking, prostitution, prison…. and into a new life, a hope and a future.

It is the story of life overcoming death, prayer overcoming cancer, love overcoming abuse.

Written in the style if a thriller, it is a roller-coaster emotional ride, a story of a present day miracle-finder, a story of the power of transformation.

Here are a few of the comments from readers:

‘This really is an amazing book. You will probably read it in about 2 or 3 sittings and your heart will descend into the depths and feel some of the pain - only then for it to soar as you read of this real life tragedy come miracle.’
From an Amazon review.

‘This is a real story, not a work of fiction, but it is as every bit as gripping as a thriller.’
From an Amazon review.

‘The story draws you in and I found myself still reading at 4am...the only reason I stopped reading was my eyes decided they just had to close.’
From an Amazon review.

‘This story grips the reader from beginning to end. You just have to keep reading to find out what happens next. A roller coaster of a life from pillar to post... until it finally comes to land and the reader can breathe out at last. How can God persist with such a person? - A woman who is controlled by men, drugs and a lifestyle she’d never have chosen; she ended up with a storm whichever way she turned until God’s people met her, persisted in their contact with her and well…. readers will have to read it themselves and find the God who transforms lives! A “Nicky Cruz” style story but British and more recent!’
From Dr Anne E. Dyer,  Lecturer,  Mattersey College

Two Giant Steps

Most of our journey through life is made in small steps. What the writer Eugene Peterson calls ‘A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.’ A coffee here, a meal there. A conversation one day, a car journey the next. Small integral parts of life’s direction.

Occasionally, a giant step comes along. For us two have come at once.

The first is the start of KingsGate Community Church Leicester. Our first (amazing!) meeting was last night. As someone who had spoken often of the possibility of KingsGate planting a new church into Leicester, it is the realisation of a dream. And a giant step.

The other giant step comes as we drop our youngest child, Lois, off at Heathrow later today, as she starts her long obedience in the same direction. She is travelling out to Bulembu in Swaziland to serve as a long term missionary. For us, it means an empty house for the first time, with the other three children having already moved away.

Two giant steps. Two key moments in our lives. And fuel for the journey as we continue our own long obedience.

Life Is Short

Life is short. Live it to the full.

Here's a small reminder of how quickly the years go by.....

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For everything there is a season, and la time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to mdie;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to nweep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to odance;

5 a time to pcast away stones, and a time to qgather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to rrefrain from embracing;

6 a time to seek, and a time to slose;

a time to keep, and a time to tcast away;

7 a time to utear, and a time to sew;

a time to vkeep silence, and a time to speak;

8 a time to love, and a time to whate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

When God Says 'Hello'

Just back from my monthly Businessman’s Life Group and I was really struck by a small phrase my friend Jarek used. He talked about the times when God says ‘hello’.

In fact if you think about it, those times are frequent. He is a God who loves us and wants to say ‘hello’, even if we choose to say ‘goodbye’.

He says ‘hello’ every time the sun rises. Every time you smell the fragrance of a rose. Each time your children or grandchildren give you a hug.

He says ‘hello’ through a friend’s prayer when you are struggling to stay sane. Through the gift at the door when there is nothing left in the kitchen. Through the unexpected addition to the bank balance, the bonus and the promotion.

He says ‘hello’ through an act of kindness, the squeeze of a friends hand, the arm around the shoulder.

And he says ‘hello’ through you. Every time you reach out, pray out, show you care, send a card or give a gift.

We have a God who loves to say hello. From the beauty of the sunrise to the grandeur of its setting, He is opening up a conversation. And He loves it when we reply.

Changing Expectations: Welcome to Holland

Sometimes things don't go as we expect. But it's how we deal with those moments that make us or break us. We can choose to complain forevermore about what 'should' have happened. Or we can embrace the change.

This is a short piece of prose from Emily Kingsley, a writer who's expectations changed one day. I'll let her tell you in her own words.....

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley.
 I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.