Several people have commented about my Holland report. I appreciate the encouraging feedback from that post. If you appreciated the challenge at the end of that post, then you may appreciate today’s post on biblicalpreaching.net – click here to go to the site. Incidentally, this was written a couple of weeks ago and pre-loaded on the site for today. Thanks.
The annual trek to Holland for the OM new recruits’ conference was over quickly this year. I flew in on Wednesday and out on Saturday. These were almost the last days of a 12-day conference, so it was exciting to get in on the action at a key time. The conference was held in a new venue, but I think any concerns are gone – it seems to be an ideal venue!
The important number is 252. That is 252 new recruits heading to many parts of the world, to two ships and to an adventure of spiritual growth and missions. My sessions seemed to go well. In the mornings I preached from the second half of Ephesians on several OM core values – loving and valuing people, being people of grace and integrity, sacrificial service and global intercession. I was struck by how core these values are to basic biblical Christianity (and by how much we need to be reminded of them!)
The Thursday evening session on ethics in missions was especially important. Again, I decided against a complicated approach to ethics and equipping people with lists of rules and qualifiers to rules. The far greater need is for us all to have heart-driven desire to please God in every situation. The focus was on integrity in respect to some of the pressured situations many will face, with encouragement from some senior workers that it is possible to achieve God’s purposes, even in the face of great opposition, with real integrity. At the same time there was a sense of conviction in other areas too. We can preach, but only God can work in hearts. That night it seemed to be a significant time for many. I praise God for that, and pray also for the deep follow up that only He can do.
It was great to see old friends again and connect with some new ones. Now I’m sat on a train typing this (and will post it later). I’m tired. Not physically, more just drained – drained emotionally by giving in preaching, drained by the very real humanness of us all in OM (with the concerns that come from that), probably drained by being in a slightly more overt spiritual battle zone. Yet at the same time my heart is stirred by the excitement of what God is doing. The same God who has transformed lives down through the years, who has built the church despite all opposition, who has taken thousands of raw recruits into OM and through OM . . . the same God is still at work!
I’m struck again by something we can never forget in OM. It’s not primarily about missions. It’s about spiritual discipleship and spiritual reality. OM is still about people joining others in the adventure of faith and growth – missions is the natural overflow of a close and real walk with God. After all, if we become like the One we love and worship, if His values become our values, then surely the nations must loom large on all our hearts, for they do on His!
We arrived home on Saturday evening after a great week in France. The journey home was far smoother than our journey there – not that going was too bad, it just took a long time. Once we had arrived we had a great week. The speaker was stimulating, the children’s sessions were popular with the young Meads, the food was excellent (and we didn’t have to cook it), the weather was hot (34c), the pool was great every afternoon, the friends from last year were good to see again, the friends from years ago were a blessing to see . . . it was a fantastic week away. The only negative was that it simply went by too fast. When Friday arrived and it was time to leave it felt like it should be Monday or Tuesday.
We were able to stay with friends from the conference on Friday evening, which made Saturday’s journey short. We arrived home to find the house spotless thanks to our friend who had done some work around the house for us while we were away – what a difference it makes to come to a clean house!
Now we have just over twenty-four hours before Melanie and I leave again. My parents are coming today to have some days with the children. Then tomorrow I leave for Holland and Melanie leaves for Oregon. She is very excited to see her sister and especially our new niece! Meanwhile I need to get my thoughts together for four morning Bible studies, one key evening plenary session and a workshop for the new recruits in Holland.
That was the question Mariah asked me when I was putting her and Joel to bed. “Well,” I replied, “Maybe He did when he was on earth.” She then sang me one of her Mariah original songs:
Jesus is our very own God
Jesus is our very own God
Maybe he did eeeeeeat sweets
When He was on earth
He loves us (about 20x)
Some things are true
This song might be true
Jesus is very true (about 10x)
Hmmm . . . good question. Does Jesus eat sweets? I guess we’ll find out when we get to heaven. If He does, my children will be flaunting that in the face of their probably too health-conscious mother. 
We are nearly all packed for our trip to France tomorrow. The girls are anticipating the swimming nearly as much as, you guessed it . . . the sweet shop!
I know more than a few people have asked me for an explanation of when and where we are going in the next few weeks! It is a bit confusing so I’ll explain. (Also see our schedule.) All 6 of us will be leaving on Friday to drive down to a conference in the Alps in France. This is a conference for Christian workers in Europe so there will be missionaries from all over Europe, including a few very good friends of ours. There are activities for the children and the conference grounds are very nice. Our girls are extremely excited about the swimming they hope to do in the pool there. I am looking forward to time with friends and enjoying God’s beautiful creation. It will be mostly a holiday for us but Peter will also be coordinating the afternoon seminars and teaching a few himself. We will return on Saturday the 22nd. Then both Peter and I leave on Tuesday, the 25th, but we are going to different places. He is going to Holland to speak at the OM new recruits conference until the Saturday. I am going to see my sister Amy and her husband, my new baby niece, Claire and little nephew, Matthew. I am very excited, of course! Our 4 precious little people will be under the care of Grandma and Grandpa Mead who are coming to stay here with them. They will also get to spend some time with various friends that week who have offered to relieve Mum and Dad. Then of course, Peter will be back to get some concentrated Daddy time until I get back on 6th of September. Whew! I guess it will be a busy few weeks. Peter will also be leaving on 9th of September for 6 days in Romania. So, what are our prayer requests . . . for special times as a family, safety on the road (we’ll be doing many miles in Europe), and good health for all, especially for strength and no headaches for me. These last few weeks have actually been better for me so thank you to everyone who has prayed. I have felt more energetic than I have in a long time and have had less headaches. When I have had them, they have been less severe than normal so I think the medication I am on is working. Honestly, I am a bit fearful that the travelling will launch me back into feeling bad again. I really would like to be functioning well, especially when I am in Oregon with Amy, so I can really be a help and a blessing and not spending the whole time in bed. I am trusting God for His plans to be worked out. Now, it’s back to folding laundry and packing!
Here’s tonight song from Mariah:
Jesus is very good
Jesus is a very good boy
Jesus is a very good man
Jesus is a very good teller
He never terupts (interrupts)
He never erupts (interrupts)
He never erupts (interrupts)
Some day he will come off the cross
Maybe today he will come off the cross
Ummm . . . let’s just say, we had a brief little discussion after that, as Joel and Mariah lay snuggling in Mariah’s bed. Amazing what gaps there are in little people’s minds . . . things we think they know but they don’t. Then again, they sometimes know way more than we think they know! In the course of the dicussion, Joel asked, “Where is Jesus?” I told him he was up in heaven but someday he was coming back. Mariah then said, very lovingly,”You know Joel, when you get older and you love God, then when you die you can go to heaven.” Joel happily said,”OK!” and then went back to sucking his thumb and rubbing his bear-bear’s paw. Keep praying for them, that they would grow to love Jesus with all their hearts! (Mariah prayed tonight that she would do right and not wrong – great prayer for a four year old.)
Church yesterday went very well. I took Hannah and Aliyah with me in the morning and we enjoyed fellowship with one of the elders and his family over lunch. I dropped them home and then returned for the evening service. Smaller number in the evening, but a willingness to interact with questions from the speaker at the end of the service. I think it would be great to have more Q&A times with speakers – questions from speakers or questions for speakers. Obviously it depends on the speaker and the church, but it would be nice . . .
Now we’re dealing with various tasks before we can leave on Friday for a week at a conference in France. More details to follow. I’ll be leading four workshops during next week, so that’s one of the things to pull together in these days.
We enjoyed a family day out today at Port Lympne down on the English coast. It’s a wild animal park with the largest collection of black rhino outside of Africa. We also took the African Experience! That’s a 90-minute safari drive in an old army truck. Compared to Africa I would say that the roads were anything but an African experience – at their worst here they were smooooth compared to Africa! It was fun to see zebra, giraffe, elephants, rhino, ostrich, water buffalo, etc. Then we trekked around on foot to see the monkeys, gorillas, lions, tigers, etc. Excellent. A good day on safari!
Now we’re all tired, but at least there’s no jet lag. Tomorrow I’m at a new church (new for me), in Dorking. I’ll take the older two girls with me, at least for the morning. It will be great to connect with a new group of people! Thanks for praying for a good day of ministry.
Well, let’s just say, I had to write this one down last night!
Jesus doesn’t wiggle too much
God doesn’t wiggle too much
What He does is love us
He loves us through and through.
He loves us all the day, He loves you and He loves me.
He loves us (x about 15!)
He loves us all day long.
A normal Sunday afternoon. But it wasn’t. After lunch we had the children get in the car. Why? We’re going somewhere. Where are we going? We’re going to give Mum a break. An hour and a half later the guessing games were wearing thin, until Hannah finally guessed it – “We’re going to Grandma and Grandpa Mead’s?!” You probably heard the squeals coming from our car if you were in the northern hemisphere at the time! They asked if we could stay for dinner, and then squealed louder when they learned we’d stay overnight (toothbrushes and clothes and everything necessary already sneakily hidden in the car). When we arrived, the girls and Joel crept along the road to surprise Grandpa Mead. It worked. He opened the door and they burst into “Happy Birthday to You!” (You may have heard that too!) Double surprise!
We had a good time there, and headed home after dinner tonight. Meanwhile Melanie had over 24 hours to do whatever she wanted to do. Wild parties? Sleep? Learning to breakdance? No. It seems that getting herself organized for the next school year was her top priority (with some sleep thrown in too). Doesn’t matter. She had a break. Grandpa had a birthday surprise. The children enjoyed themselves (and started to learn about car badges on the motorways – VW is the easiest for them to spot). I suppose I had a day off, in a manner of speaking. It’s all good!
