We are fun and nice.

It was sunny, but it was cold in Bushy Park. Joanie adjusts Katie's hat to keep her warm.

Holly zips up. Like I said, it were cold.

When I got home from South Africa Joanie and I went to a coffee shop and began downloading. When we got home we began a hugfest that continues two days later. We are deliriously glad to be together again. So much so that we went to Bushy Park just because it was a sunny day and we needed to be together and walk around together. We walked all the way to Kingston. We drank milkshakes. We walked back to Bushy Park. Then we were tired and had sore feet.

But we were still crazy glad to be together again.

Serving Again In South Africa

Flying over Africa

Each time I have been to South Africa I have been like those who dream. I thought I was lucky just to be there. It has worked out that each time I have been asked to contribute, though I was not part of the official schedule. I show up, I do whatever I'm asked to do, and I think, "That was great but it'll never happen again."

So I was amazed to be asked once more to contribute to the 2010 conference. Some teachers had cancelled, leaving the organizers to ask God who they should invite. Someone suggested me. I'd just been to Mallorca as an emergency replacement. I was not crazy about repeating that. I knew that it would be cold in Cape Town, especially at night, I would have to work to get the messages together. I would have to do the Wednesday Bible study, the Friday funeral for Stefanie Sugden, Sunday at church, and then get on a plane that night and try to sleep on a rumbling jet for 14 hours to get there. I wore no rose colored glasses about being a super-hero.

But I couldn't say no. Having been challenged to pick a country to pray for on a long-term basis, I was praying for South Africa. I knew most of the pastors working there and wanted to get to know the rest. I wanted to do what I could to help the work there.

The conference messages were to be based on 1 Peter, a book I'd never taught before. I got the sections 2:1-10, and 3:1-12, the first having to do with radical transformation, and the second, lowliness of mind, two issues that have interested and gripped me. 

Somehow the Lord got me through all the work I had to do before leaving. Stefanie's funeral was filled with people sitting, standing in the aisles, on the stairs, in the balcony. I was greatly enabled to preach the gospel. Joanie and I met people we hope to stay in contact with and share the gospel. I was able to teach on Sunday, and the Lord was working in people's lives.

The plan had been to teach and come home. Then we changed it to laying over in Johannesburg on the way back and stay with Ryan and Bronwyn Parker. They had been at the church for some years before returning to South Africa. It would be a great time to check in on them and see how they were doing. It was kind of expensive to change the itinerary, but the Lord convicted me of being cheap. You don't go all that way and then sacrifice time because of being cheap. I paid the extra money to give me more time with the Parkers.

But at last I was packed, I had settled my itinerary, I was on the plane to Johannesburg, the first leg of the trip. On the plane I met a lady returning from a trip to Corfu. She introduced herself to me as Strawbs, short for her nickname Strawberry, referring to the color of her hair. As we chatted, I explained what I was doing. Amazingly, she had heard of Calvary Chapel. A friend of hers had often invited her to check out a Calvary Chapel in Durban, one of the churches we pray for weekly. I encouraged her to visit there.

The first thing that greets you in Cape Town is the Table Mountain.

Pastor Joey Buran teaches in his pajamas. His suitcase was misdirected, but eventually arrived. No one noticed his attire.

The conference was described by one of the pastors as sobering. 1 Peter is about suffering leading to glory. The men can relate to the suffering. Many were experiencing what speaker Joey Buran identified as "the beatdown", the discouragement the Lord uses to build character in a believer's life. I had amazing informal times of fellowship during the conference. The Lord had really answered prayer for several men, resulting in deep preparation for future work, and being supplied with tools to better serve the Lord.

I shared some music with Evan Williams.

After the conference I stayed at Demitri Nikiforos' place in Cape Town. I got to spend more time with musicians Michael and Golden Preciado, and Golden's parents Evan and Sherry Williams. I'm looking forward to staying in touch with these great people.

Pastor Julian baptized quite a few people. I couldn't stick around for the barbecue afterwards. Oh well...

I left early Sunday morning to teach at Calvary Chapel Kommetjie. The message was something new from Psalm 16. By God's grace it turned out to be prophetic, speaking to situations and people in the church. It's great to not know what is going on, and to know that the Lord is the one leading me what to say, so that people hear from God and not a man. After the service we went to a house with a pool in the backyard to have a baptism. Then it was off to the airport and Johannesburg.

An early morning conversation with Bronwyn.

Ryan dares it all to pet a lion cub.

Some of the trees seen on the Jacaranda joy ride. 

There I was picked up by Ryan Parker's father, André, to spend 2-1/2 days with Ryan and Bronwyn, their 1-1/2 year-old Noah. I had great conversations with the family, and even a joy ride in Pretoria, to see the jacaranda and bougainvillea blossom purple and red. All over the city, whole streets are lined on both sides with jacaranda, and it's amazing.

We drove to the airport in a storm, lightning and raining with a marvelous light. I got to say goodbye, then get in the plane for another 10 hours of rumbling no sleep. I got to give my comic book tract to a French couple who had been to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls.

I am deliriously happy to be home with Joanie, Holly, and Katie. They also share in the ministry as they give me up to do what the Lord wants me to do. There is also some talk about next year's conference. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised if I make another trip to South Africa.

Stefanie and the Mercy of God

Stefanie Sugdon at her baptism in February of this year.

Our friend with advanced Parkinson's Disease hadn't been to church in five weeks. When I got back from Mallorca I determined I would visit her and see how she was doing. She told me through her vocalizing device that she had been in Dorchester Hospital for a week with pneumonia. Harry, her friend who had been helping her come to church, was in the hospital having had emergency surgery three weeks ago. I asked her if she wanted to come to church, and she nodded with wide eyes. I arranged for our friend Alexandra to pick her up. When I left we hugged, and she cried. She did this the last time Joanie and I saw her. We didn't know why. I let her cry until she was done, and asked her, "Are you going to be okay?" She nodded. I left.

I saw her at church on Sunday, and had a chance to pray for her as Joanie was sitting with her after the service. She looked like she wasn't doing very well. Alexandra and Michael Graham helped Stefanie get back to the nursing home.

I was riding into town to drop off the girls at friends' for a sleepover when I got a phone call: the nursing home was telling me Stefanie was at Emergency at Kingston Hospital, and she wasn't expected to live long. Joanie turned around and dropped me off at Twickenham Station. I caught two trains that got me to Kingston Hospital.

I introduced myself at the desk. They brought me back to where Stefanie was. Before I saw her I was brought out front again; Stefanie had died, about forty minutes before, and they were about to inform her sister Lesley. Then they would let me back where she was.

I saw Lesley just after she was informed. Then we went back to see the body. There I was able to pray with her and offer to do anything possible to help. As she was leaving she asked me to do the funeral. That will be on Friday, October 8.

As we were there beside the body I was aware that though she was alone when she died, Jesus had been there to receive her. I also became aware of His mercy and His timing. Stefanie had seen her mother, sister, son and daughter just the night before. After not being at church for five weeks, I had come just in time to arrange that. When Alexandra had picked up Stefanie, she wondered if everything was all right, and asked her if she really wanted to go to church. Stefanie nodded her head, wide-eyed, wordless. Yes, she really wanted to go. She was able to see her family and go to church, and then she was gone.

I always had the impression that she was mentally all there, active, but imprisoned in the body that responded less and less to her active thought. It is wonderful to think that now she is with Jesus, able to freely express herself, to move, to see Jesus. All the questions are answered, all the tears are wiped away.

All I can think of is the mercy of God.

Emergency Teacher

The Mallorca Bible School students and faculty, on our day off.


Rafael Manzanares called me up Monday: "Man, I could use you on a plane here tonight."

Rafael was asking me to teach a concentrated class on Philippians at the Bible School at Santa Ponsa, Mallorca. He had lost a couple of teachers at the last minute. He also had fourteen paying students signed up for Philippians. His plan was for me to come over, teach in four hour blocks, and be done with the class in eight days. I had taught Hebrews like that before. It was not my favorite way to teach, nor the students' to learn. Not only that, at least I had taught Hebrews before.  With Hebrews I could grab four binders of notes and begin to simplify the basic themes and make it digestible. I had never taught Philippians. I had no time to even prepare anything. The only thing going for me was that I had memorized Philippians once. I had a strong sense of the red thread of logic going through the letter. 

Getting there was part of the teaching. Joanie dropped me off at Gatwick Airport early so she wouldn't get caught in rush hour traffic. The check-in desk wasn't even open. I sat down and tried to prep. When it was time to check-in, I found the desks empty, and a long line of people at the fix-it desk. All the flights to Mallorca had been cancelled by EasyJet. No flights tomorrow. I called Rafael to let him know. He worked on another flight. I trained home. All these things actually worked out for the furtherance of the gospel. I was able to share the gospel with all kinds of people around me. I was having fun.

Next morning I trained to Stansted Airport to take a Ryannair flight. When I got to Mallorca, Raf picked me up and floored his car to get to the classroom. We were half an hour late. I borrowed a Bible, opened it to Philippians, and began teaching, just like that.

The remainder of the time was pretty much organizing my thoughts, eating, sleeping, and teaching. Once I went along with the students as they had an informal "let's get to know one another" day.

I learned to turn off the student broadband before I taught, to stop facebook and video sharing during the lectures. Once I had all the students close their laptops for the duration of the lecture. That was the most successful as far as getting things across. I only had to privately talk with two students to ask why they were tuning out on me. Both told me they had ADD, but they weren't saying that's why they were tuning out. We worked on keeping the teaching to the point and ending when capacity was reached. I prepared a sheet of "fill in the blank" sentences for the students to fill in. We discussed the answers afterwards. Then we were officially done.

I was so glad to teach such a profound epistle to these students. The Lord helped me do it without killing anyone. Mallorca was sunny and warm. If I have to be an emergency teacher, it's a nice way to go.