Well, Folks, I am in Santiago once again, but this time in Cuba! I booked my flight on the internet and didn´t realize that to go from Havana to Santiago and then to fly to Toronto I needed alot more than the one hour the system gave me. I was effectively taking an international flight that required I be there 3 hours ahead of time. Sigh. However that is not why I am writing.

You will hear more about this from me in future posts. However I wanted to give you insight into the quality of people I engaged during my time here. As I leave, Coba and Conchi are preparing for their weekend activity. And what an activity!

They have a Havana Wide Marriage Encounter with 18 churches participating. Their goal is to help them all, eacn and every one of them, with their marriage, glorify God, and impact their communities.

Not only that! They are also preparing these couples to be agents of God´s Blessing and inspiration into the churches where they attend and that they are representing by attending this seminar!

Wow!

All of this after looking after this Gringo for a week!

So, please pray for them! Ask God to bless their time!

And pray that I will be able to get back to Canada tomorrow!

Irv.

PS  Next post I will send you a couple of pictures I think you might enjoy!  I think they are a 1955 Chevy and a 1961! No charge to take the picture!

As we engage in world missions

We are thoughtful about our engagement in world missions. We desire clarity and seek to have insight intellectually, spiritually and be directed by the Holy Spirit himself.

There are many different postures we can adopt. Here are a few:

• The world is a mess and it is our job to clean it up
• We live in a superior society and it is our job to help others not so fortunate.
• I feel survivor guilt that I was not born poor, had little or no educational opportunities and must try to balance the equation
• We have more money, technology and expertise and must therefore help others.

As we look at our involvement in world mission, we seek to be thoughtful, balanced and strategic. Of course, we also allow the Spirit of God to lead us and direct us and make the contribution He has for us to make! Look at this verse from Isaiah 30:21:

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

I had a profound conversation with two great colleagues earlier in the week. The following is what we came up with as we debriefed her recent trip to Asia and wondered about how to communicate the results of her trip and ministry.

We see three key areas of work and Kingdom Contribution:

1. A Professional as well as Practical Contribution – Through my profession I am able to make a unique contribution. This includes best practices from my training, knowledge from my education and work experience, and insights from working with my colleagues.

2. A Spiritual Contribution – In the context of working together with my hosts, I am free to speak the truth of the Gospel and increasingly of the application and implementation of faith in my own life and how that can spill into their lives. We all pray before, during and after our ministry trips and trust God to prepare the way for these conversations. Because this contribution happens in the context of conversation, the likelihood of spiritual insights and illumination is high!

3. A Personal Connection – Dawson Trotman, the founder of the Navigators, often said that the truth and impact of the Gospel goes from lip to ear and heart to heart. We esteem one another by seeing and knowing one another, by taking one another seriously. We then honour each other through the give and take of conversation and engagement of each other’s joys, pains and life issues, and the miracle of spiritual ministry is carried forward.

This is an awesome and somewhat overwhelming task, and we engage it because of our hope, faith and spiritual perspective that brings us into this ministry. Our work demands all that we have, and we have full confidence God will lead us and use us to accomplish his kingdom work.

2 Corinthians 5:14a For Christ’s love compels us

Standing Against!

Today is our last day at the centre. What a great group! We have covered some excellent material with solid engagement of the content in people’s minds and in their hearts. People who work with women in prison, couples dealing with domestic violence, divorce, division over religious legalism.

These folks stand against evil, woundedness, aggression and in relationships, distance, resentment, resistance to good, and enmity between family members.

Yesterday during our session we asked about female heros and looked at Queen Esther. In this difficult area of domestic violence, we really need both female AND male heroes!

Will you pray for them? I will give you a fuller report once we finish up.

All the best,

Irv.

Today is day 3. We have had a good start, great group of people, in a great venue.

People working hard at making a difference, becoming equipped and skilled at counselling, coaching and supporting others who want to do a good job on their lives. All of this in a very unsupportive social environment.

We had a fun moment yesterday. We talked about seeing and being seen. I cited the movie Avatar and how the phrase “I see you” was used so powerfully. And how in the Serengedi Savannah there is a tribe that greets one another by the first saying “I see you!” and the second replying “I am here!” and then they reverse. Try it with your good friend or spouse. Then we got out these huge play sunglasses and declared them to be an amazing scientific instrument that allows us to do this.

Really, what allows us to do this is to greet one another with care and kindness, paying attention to the other, and allowing the other to see into myself. This creates some great moments of connection!

I feel privileged to be here, sometimes thrilled with what goes on between us, other times feeling like I am not quite delivering where and what they need.

It’s great to have Laura with me and have her feedback and encouragement.

More to come.

Irv.

Addictions - Argh

We are off today. I am sitting at the kitchen table thinking about our time coming up. Seeking to support addictions counsellors, learning from their work, their investment, compassion, courage.

We are so strongly influenced by how we feel on the inside. When we are aware of these, we can be thoughtful and reflective and filter out what is good to respond to, not so good, what to give free reign to (think of a horse that just got spooked!). Like giving free reign to loving Laura, or Jon and Jenn, or Crista. Not so good - the driver who gave me less space than I wanted. Or more.

Many times addictions are expressions of strong emotions associated with our hits and hurts and holes in our lives. If we are unaware of these, they still demand attention, but it comes out in strange ways.

When we connect with God, He brings healing, balance, creative tensions as we allow Him access to these areas.

When not connected with Him, these internal demands are like Hungry Ghosts, to quote one of my favourite secular authors in this area, Gabor Mate. It's a great read.

So, your prayers are welcome! Thanks for your kindnesses extended.

MayGod bring healing to all our hits, hurts and holes, and increasingly joy and abandon fill our lives and flow out to others!

Irv.

Saturday Night Alive! No, really Communites of Grace!

It was our last night in Lubango.

The four cell groups, led by Piries, Pedro, Tanino and Jojo were all meeting together. In our honour, and to be able to be together, they held a BBQ and a lengthy evening of conversation, teaching, preaching and interaction.

I found myself surprisingly frustrated. They were all playing this game where you close your eyes, and the leader appoints 5 people - two assasins, two  police, and an angel. The appointed people know who they are, but no one else. And they the group has to figure out "who dunnit"! All in Portuguese. It dragged on and on. Sigh.

Finally it was time for me to preach and teach. I went to the front where the whiteboard was, did my intro, and the markers didn't work. Sigh.

So, Piries translated for me and all gave me their rapt attention. I talked of my great upbringing, my frustration in my mid-teen years of having my life defined by milking cows when what I really wanted was to become that close to girls rather than bovines (some good laughs). Also how I needed to create some distance between my Father and I and how I did so creating pain, distance and isolation between us.

Further we worked through 2Corinthians 5:21 where it says:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.


He took upon and up-into Himself, our sin, embodied this, and took it to the cross and the grave. When I put my faith in Him, He takes His Righteousness, Perfection, and moral excellence and places that into us! What a Great Exchange!

So, as I spoke, and saw the Grace of God blossom into this group, I became frustrated once again, only now with myself. What I experienced as slowness, boring, silly before, was really part of creating an environment where people were attended to, cared for, and enjoyed.

How did I know? 8 persons of the 50 raised their hands, indicating they wanted Christ to be Lord of their Lives. And Crystal, along with Pedro as interpreted, prayed to receive Christ with me right then and there.

So, what's the big deal? Irv's message? Somewhat. A funny game about justice? Moreso. People who know how to love God and People and do so lavishly? YOU BET! This is the fuel the Holy Spirit uses to advance His Kingdom!

Just like a BBQ brings people together, the fragances wafting to sniffing palates, the Love, Acceptance, Enjoyment, Anticipation and Grace extended brought this group of people together for four hours!

My frustration? It melted away and became joy, celebration and thanksgiving!

May our lives emulate this great group of people in Lubango, Angola!

Great conversation over the breakfast table.

How do we provide a good context for spiritual growth for others?

How can we set the tone and atmosphere that is soooo good that they cannot bear to think of not joining in?

I can remember clearly communicating judgement and criticism for arriving late, not arriving, or arriving without enthusiasm or desire.

But look at this miracle from 2Corinthians 4!

5  For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6  For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.


It has been said that the heart of man's problem is his heart! And when Christ enters the heart, an amazing transformation ocurrs! Where there once was darkness, and dark deeds emanated from that place, now Light Shines out of that Dark Place! Amazing!

As we keep this miracle at the fore, we can rejoice with every tiny little step people bring forward!

And I set a table of  grace, acceptance, joy and delight.

Today is Friday. We head back on Sunday, arriving Monday afternoon.

Really looking forward to seeing Laura and Crista, Jon and Jenn! And the rest of you.

God's best,

Irv.