Thankfully, I’ve recovered now from the journey home from Cali! pretty fast – even enough to be up in time for church this morning 🙂 – great to catch up with a few folk, and share some of the amazing stories.
Â
Some lovely conversations this evening, on WhatsApp, with Dario 🙂 – you all know, I’m sure, the verse in 1 Corinthians 4:15 – 7:
- Even if you had ten thousand teachers in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
Well, it’s utterly humbling when someone like Dario opens his message to me with ‘God bless you always Pool (!!) my friend, my brother, my father’… it brought tears to my eyes if I’m honest…
We talked for an hour online, and he sent me a lovely picture through the app of all the family in the car… it’s so precious….
While we were away, it was funny, because after we’d  been to Dario’s ‘finca’ last Monday, Pete decided he’d do a ‘Colombian’ Google search ‘Cali favela boss’ (!!)… I thought you might be interested in the picture that comes up when you click ‘images’ on this Google link:
- https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=google.com&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIupKIssn5xgIVqRTbCh1uSgge&biw=1920&bih=965#tbm=isch&q=Cali+favela+boss
To say I was surprised would be an understatement!! You might need to copy and paste the link into your browser…..
And a looong-time friend today responded to a post with this Scripture that God gave her for me this morning:
Â
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 Â New International Version (NIV):
- 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.
If ever I needed another confirmation that I shouldn’t ‘charge’ for preaching (anywhere!!), just rely on people’s kindness, it’s here…and the ‘aroma’ part…well, I pray that the aroma of Jesus is there in Cali every visit…
Â
A bitter-sweet piece of news, too, arriving home: a long time friend, David, (25 years) and a long-time supporter (not a small amount, to me, anyway) faithfully for many, many years, fell from the top of his ladder at the top of his stairs some months ago, and ‘reactivated’ somehow, through the damage to his back and head, a ‘latent’ lymphoma….I got his (identical twin) brother’s letter when I got home: I’ve just spoken to him, and discovered that David died a couple of weeks ago… I am (was?) so fond of these twins, and sad that his funeral was when I was still ‘in the air’ en route to Frankfurt on Friday. I’d most certainly would have been at it . Please pray for his brother, Michael, as I can’t imagine the pain of losing a brother, and a twin, I understand, is even harder. The good news is that David was a wonderful, strong, Spirit-filled Christian, and he’s a happy man now, relaxing with the Jesus he knew and loved, and doubtless loves even more now….
