Pressing On

So what is the final area in which we should seize the day? Carpe diem: knowing Jesus ... Taking every opportunity given to you to get to know Jesus more fully! Early in our time in Africa an older missionary took me to one side and shared something in a way that only older missionaries can: God had brought me there not because of the things I was going to do. He’d brought me because of the things He wanted to do in me, and through me. There then followed two of the most formative years that we have ever known. The thing I took most of all from this time was the need to serve God above all else, to commit our lives to doing what He wants to do, and to reap the reward that comes from serving Him and others. Ultimately, it was a period when something broke inside me and I understood for the first time that I was no longer my own and that he was Lord of my life - in a real sense, not a conceptual one. Seize the day Seizing the day is about taking every opportunity that God presents to us....

Having shared a little of my experience of my arrival in Africa as a Short term worker it might be good to explore why short term work is important ... Carpe diem: extending the Kingdom I firmly believe that the Church, who believe and proclaim a message that God lives and speaks, should be the path of least resistance through whom God might speak to communities His words of comfort, hope, truth and love.... Carpe diem! Short-term mission has an increasing and important impact on the growth of the Church across the world, and is one way in which we can "go into all the world" with our message. It is also a way in which the gifts and skills of a larger number of people can be enhance the long-term work and vision of others. In Missions as in the business world, organizations are having to re-examine their strategies to integrate a generation with a short-term or 'seasonal' pattern to life. This is is not something for Mission agencies to "tolerate", but rathe...

It is a long time since I posted anything here on my blog ... It is not that my life was on hold - in fact just the opposite! Anyway, I was recently asked to write an article for a mobilizing/recruitment magazine on the aforementioned theme. Which gives me the opportunity to 'seize the day', break the article down into four sections and post it on my blog ... So there will be a little more activity over the next few days. Of course if, reading this, you want to step out and engage with what WEC is seeking to do in the world today then either check out the website (www.wec-int.org.uk) or post a comment and I'll get back to you! Our first steps into overseas Christian work started with a short-term posting for two years in Senegal, West Africa. I was recently married, no kids, just graduated and looking for adventure ... Now, 20 years later, I'm still very happily married, with four kids/young adults, still learning and still looking for adventure! Part 1 - Arriving! Car...