Flying over from Ireland to Heathrow Thursday morning was interesting, as of course the massive winds had been forecast! Added to that, the forecast for England was that the winds would increase massively during the day, and Mark Hendley & I were due to be on a cross-channel ferry overnight, so when I got up at 4.30 on Thursday morning, it was with some interesting ‘anticipation’!
Truth is, the flight was fine – much quicker than normal as we had a 200 knot (the pilot told us that’s about 250 mph!) tail wind, so even though we left Belfast late, we landed in London early! It’s been really great spending this time with Mark, and the ‘prediction’ from our mutual (lovely!) friend Brian Louden that Mark snores louder than a chainsaw (I do, too, I think!) didn’t seem to be fulfilled in our little cabin on the ferry! We both slept well! And the ship rocked a little, but not anywhere near as much as we’d been expecting!
Staying again with lovely friends Gerard & Elisa has already been and still is a delight – their home is so filled with the Presence of Jesus: they really are a wonderful couple, and make us so at home.
Last night, I wanted Mark to ‘kick off’ the weekend, as I’ve been to the church ‘Le Gospel’ before, and he shared some very basic but essential foundational stuff about the Kingdom of Heaven, which, it seems, is exactly what the pastor, Bernard, has been preaching on the last few weeks. We ended up – unsurprisingly! – praying for quite a few people, and finally left the church at twenty past midnight! Quite a bit of the praying was to do with insecurity, fears, doubts that God could ‘use me’ – and so it was lovely to see those issues go in some people, and faces change as the dawning of truth after just years of ‘knowledge’ became the reality.
Two sessions today – 3 pm and 7.30 – so I doubt there’ll be a ‘break’ between 3 and midnight again, but this really is a church where faith and expectation exist in a real way, and are rising, so it’s going to be good!
And then, of course, there are the baguettes…. and the cheeses…. oh, suffering for the Kingdom eating both is such a terrible hardship….
