Category Archives: Travel

When I was in Melbourne in February, Robert – an ultra-marathon runner as you might remember (ultra, I understand, is any race double and more an ordinary marathon – mad fools!) – asked if we could go and pray for a running friend of his, Michelle. Michelle is super-fit, like me, of course(!), and as well as being a long-distance runner, is an avid cyclist – a fast one, not the sort that make me want to drive at them! It would be impolite of me to hazard a guess at Michelle’s age – but I’d imagine, at least Robert’s age (37), so not a ‘teenager’ who might ‘mend’ quicker….if mending quickly from the astonishing list of injuries she had, was possible anyway.

Michelle had been in a really serious accident. On a major road in Melbourne, at a busy time, she was on her bike when a car pulled out of a side-street in front of her. She went over the bonnet (hood) and landed very badly, breaking her neck. Doctors had said her recovery would be extremely long, and gave all sorts of other prognoses that many people, Christians included, would have taken ‘on board’, and – when you take diagnoses and prognoses as ‘gospel truth’ (because they’re spoken by doctors), invariably they become self-fulfilling.

I don’t think I’d be doing Michelle a disservice to say that she wasn’t then a ‘believer’ in God, BUT was very open to have Robert (whom she knew of course) and the unknown fat bald Pom, go to the house she shares with her great partner, to pray for her. She was out of hospital much quicker than the docs expected (!), with a very strong collar, plus one of those ‘funnel-like’ collars…. much pain because of the neck, and also because of lots of cuts and bruises. The prognosis, if I remember, was the collar for some months, then a load of traction, physio: likely scenario, a very long time before ultra-marathons again…. but even when we went, she was walking around, albeit slowly….

I’d hoped I might get to see her and Graham (I think? is her partner…) when I was in Melbourne in September, but it didn’t work out (next March will have to do!).

BUT….on October 3, Robert & I got this amazing letter from Michelle, via Facebook:

• • Conversation started Thursday
  • 
    03/10/2013 07:41

    Michelle Jones

    Hi Rob and Paul,

    
  • 03/10/2013 07:59

    Robert Hall

    Hi Ducky

     
  • 03/10/2013 08:13
    Michelle Jones

    Hi Rob and Paul,

    I’ve been meaning to write to you both for ages to let you know what your visit did for me. But I don’t think I realised until today the true impact on my life of the accident and your visit.

    Things have been happening in the last 7 months since the accident.

    I apologise if Im rambling but I’ve just been out for a run, had a major breakthrough and my thoughts are running all over the place.

    Firstly let me say I’m so very sorry to have missed seeing you this time Paul. Things just didn’t align for me.

    But let me go back to when I first went back to work after the accident. I don’t think I’d ever really dwelt on how close to dying I was, nor had I thought much about why I might have been saved. However, after being back at work for about 2 weeks and finding I had a renewed love and appreciation for my job, I had a beautiful experience where a man who I had been looking after for a couple of days was going home the next day. He spoke hardly any English at all but we had muddled through. I went in to say goodbye to him as I was leaving for the night and he grabbed my hand with both of his and said thank you…..it was at that point I felt this overwhelming thought like someone was telling me “this is what I was saved for, to help make my patient’s lives just that little bit easier.’ It was a truly amazing feeling and I have carried that with me ever since. Without bragging, I seem to have a gift for being able to develop a rapport with my patients.

    As time as gone by I’ve found every day that I might ask God, the universe, I don’t know who, for small things……a shift change that I need, help to understand a problem, to find something lost…..whatever it is, I seem to be recieving divine help on a daily basis. Am I making sense? (Paul – too right you are, Michelle!!!). Probably not, but what I’m trying to say is that I think you both, with your prayers and touch, opened up a whole new spiritual world for me and for that I thank you.

    I find myself thanking God/the universe every day and for every small request that is granted, I make an effort to thank and acknowledge that I am being blessed.

    I have to tell you a funny story……last weekend I was running in Adelaide, (7 months after a broken neck!), an event that was my goal from the time of my accident. I was having a ball, I felt great, running well and loving being alive. As I was belting down a particularly rocky descent I realised how good I felt and I thought it was a great time to tell God about my thankfulness. So I’m belting down thanking God for keeping me alive, for making me feel so good and for allowing me to comeback and run as well as I was…..when bang….over I went on my ankle….so now I’m yelling at God saying WTF, I was being grateful!!! But my anger was short lived and I was back smiling in no time.

    Anyway, this is quite long winded so I’ll just finish by telling you the latest in this saga that is my life.

    Yesterday I was with a solicitor who has seen 100’s of injuries like mine, and he essentially told me that he had never seen anybody who had recovered like I had. I didn’t really think much of it until today when I was out running and thinking about what he said and I realised that I have been truly blessed and saved, it was a very emotional feeling, I can’t explain it but the feeling of peace that settled on me was beautiful.

    I truly believe that you both set me on a spiritual path that is a daily inspiration to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from perfect, moody, grumpy, depressed sometimes, but slowly learning how much good there is in my life.

    Before my accident I had been through some pretty tough times and some really dark places…….I now see the accident and broken neck, as a break with my previous life…….and a new beginning.

    I have you two to thank for this. So thank you.

    Michelle. xx

     

    Wonderful…. Michelle, thank you so much for letting me put your story here. It’ll be on the ‘testimony’ tab, too (it gets lost very quickly as the blog keeps getting added to!

    This Sunday, (I think it’s Sunday), Michelle is doing the Great ocean walk 100km trail race. the road Robert drove me down when I was in Melbourne. We drove, she’s doing it the hard way…. she’s nervous but exciting, right Michelle(??) and wondering if she’s ‘still got it’. I wrote a message to her today to say that God – when He’s involved (and he so clearly is in Michelle’s brilliant story), renews our strength (Isaiah 40:31) AND our youth (Psalm 103:5) – so, go flat out Michelle, YOU CAN DO IT!
    

    Actually, Robert’s reply was brilliant, too: I’ve put his – and mine – here:

    • Robert Hall

      Thanks so much for sharing that. it was wonderful to read.

      The universe/god has a name, Jesus. Talk to him what you’re saying is not at all crazy. When I am out running I share everything with him. Thanks, anger, joy, disappointment and hope. Also the darkest places of my mind. What’s even more crazy is he talks back. Forget everything you ever learned about god and religion and keep developing your relationship with him. He is so wonderful, he can’t be manipulated or flattered but he just loves so deeply and bypasses all my iniquities. I know he longs for you to call him your lord and saviour, but he will never force it, never manipulate you or trick you. He will just keep loving you as much as you will let him and hopes you will trust him with your life.

      I think you have a far closer relationship with Jesus than most Christians do.
    • 

      03/10/2013 10:27

      Paul Bennison

      So totally NOT crazy, Michelle – and not rambling, either! I’m sorry we didn’t get to hook up – all being well if the Hall’s will have me (!!) I will be back in March, so maybe then. And Rob’s right – whatever that ‘entity’ is that you feel to talk to, thank, shout at (God/Jesus don’t mind being shouted at either!), and which is taking you on a pretty fast track to recognising that your life was saved for a purpose – is Jesus… he’ll talk back to you, believe me (and if that sounds crazy, ask Robert – he hears from Jesus a lot!)… Also I agree with Rob that you’re in a much deeper relationship with Jesus already than most ‘striving’ churchians get to in 60 years of pew-sitting religion. KISS….keep it simple stupid – most christians DON’T – and what you’ve got is both simple, profound, and far far deeper than you know! Stuff religion! Stuff many forms of ‘liturgy’ that people try and use as a formula to ‘get to God’ – you’re there, Michelle, and it’s brilliant, and it is a priliege to be part of it! Thank you so, so much for writing! Love, Paul

Been a really good couple of days here, including some very valuable and important time spent with Pastors, building and extending our friendships and relationships, a trip for Alan & Barbara to the Children’s Foundation run by Pastor Wilmar’s church, El Abrigo. It’s an amazing ministry, totally ‘faith’ funded, and they look after around 100 kids a day, for 9 hours, feeding them, teaching them, and training them, giving them medical and dental care – in fact, today the dentist was there! It’s a wonderful place, filled with the Presence of God, despite the presence of 100 kids!

Spent a lot of time with Wilmar, and, today, with Pastor William Castaño. William is one of the loveliest, most humble men you could meet, one of the most respected pastors in the city, and such a blessing to have had him involved in organising things for me here over the past year. William is going to be looking after my programme here from now on, along with one or two long-time pastor friends of 16-17 years. William has a wonderful teaching ministry, a theology doctor (so he’s good for people like me to have around!), and seems delighted to take over this – for me and those with me – very important role.

One of the great blessings about William is that he seems to work on ‘western time’ – that is, he’s not late! Previous pastors I’ve worked with don’t seem to worry about time (which also means they don’t worry about honour), so if a meeting is due to start at 6 pm, an hour away, our pick up time would (notionally!) be 5.30 pm, rush hour, and often it seemed to happen more on Friday’s, the busiest rush hour…. one church, which was a turning point for me in moving in William’s direction, was a church pastored by a man I know, his church a good hour away on a good day: 6 pm start, a ‘5.30 pm pick-up’ which I insisted had to be 4.30, and which, in the end, turned out to be an ‘8.15 pm pick-up’. We got to the church 3½ hours late: I just can’t dishonour people like that. Bless ’em, the congregation were still there, singing, as they had been for over 200 minutes…. There was a lot more besides that, but to have a couple of hours with William today, and for him to fill in any ‘blanks’ we had left for this week, is such a refreshing blessing!

Tonight, we;re at a Vineyard church, ‘La Vinia’ (unsurprisingly!), pastored by great friend Oskar Muñoz: it’s the church where the miracle ‘scar’ healing occurred for the translator, Omar, last time, so we’re looking forward to it immensely. Tomorrow, is another lunchtime appointment, followed by cell group meetings for a church, and the rest of the week is roller-coaster, with Barbara speaking at a women’s meeting Thursday morning (but they Alan & me there! – apparently there’s an 18 year old son with autism, so we can handle that!), the drug rehab centre (Reconocer), more meetings, possibly the maximum security prison in Palmira on Friday, more church cell groups, more meetings right up (almost) until Alan & Barbara head back north on Sunday morning, and me on Monday….

Salvation, Miracle, and healing stories to follow….

Ana Beiba has featured quite regularly in blogs, stories, fund-raising, over the last couple of years. When I was there in April, with Lee & Katie Collier, Chris Spark, and Benjamin Osorio, Lee was equipped to shoot some good video, and an interview with Ana, unlike the last one I posted, which was really Ana Beiba shrieking with delight and amazement, and me going more and more purple as she hugged me, suffocated me, and then broke my neck…. 🙂

You’ll never be WITHOUT background noise in Cali, least of all in Alfonso Aragon Bonilla, the barrio where Ana lives, so bear with the video, it IS easy to listen to. My long-time and very dear friend, Benny Osorio, from Mexico City, translated.

With your help, in the last year, she has been able to buy a second house, though you’ll hear in the video that soon after the purchase, an earthquake (very common in Cali – well, it IS in the Andes and on a fault line…) brought down the roof: also you can see the transformation of the kitchen, with refrigerators, also (not seen) a washing machine, and a newly fitted out kitchen (Lee shows the comparison with last year).

It was amazing to be there a day after one of her ‘babies’ (she won’t call them old people) died: the first thing she did when I arrived was show me his death certificate – on a day when, impromptu as usual, an ambulance arrived, honked loudly, and ‘offloaded’ a replacement ‘new’ baby, much to Ana’s utter delight and joy. The police and hospitals just deliver people to her, unannounced, and the second house is now almost full…. You’ll hear that she has no help from the state, her only help is a handful of poor churches, and yours truly….it is SUCH a privilege to be able to serve her.

There are still countless needs, a few of which I hope to be able to meet when I go back to Cali – and her barrio in Agua Blanca (‘White Water’ – I don’t think there IS any white water in Agua Blanca!! – plenty of highly polluted, probably toxic brown water though (that would be ‘Agua Marron’, which doesn’t sound QUITE so appealing: very little about the barrio IS appealing: and it IS very dangerous). I am hoping to buy for the house a much larger stove (she does have one now, but it is small), and more refrigeration, as well as a much larger washing machine. Waiting on the Lord for some of that, though….

If you are in a position to help, then please let me know, and I’ll tell you how!

Here’s the video….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP-zaWbZUxI