Pilgrim Soldier

As this morning saw the start of the Prayer Warrior session at the William Booth College here in London, I am now officially a Cadet.

It feels both totally right and slightly surreal at the same time to think that I’m finally in college. I’m really looking forward to the coming two years and intend to learn as much as I can to make me as good an officer as I possibly can be. At the same time I don’t want to lose track of being the person I believe God has moulded me into over the last few years.

We’ve actually been at the college now for almost 2 1/2 weeks and have already found a corps that we want to be involved with when we’re not away leading meetings. It’s a small corps which is very much in transition and importantly both the girls seem to be really comfortable there. Watch out for more information over the coming months!

Finally, we had our Candidates’ Farewell last Saturday and travelled down to Southampton for that. Unfortunately, with the exception of the band, songsters and drama group, it wasn’t very well attended and the average age of the congregation was probably too high to be really moved to offer for full-time service. Our Divisional Commander spoke about risk-taking in faith and challenged everyone to take a few for the Kingdom’s sake.

Obviously as part of that all 3 of the candidates had to share their testimony about how we got to that place. I had really struggled to get mine down on paper, but in the end I concentrated on the fact that it was because of my willingness to obey God’s will for my life. That’s the real key in all things, that we not only seek out God’s will but also that we listen and obey when we discern what it is.

So, together with 30 other cadets that will be either training here or as distance learners, I’ve obeyed His will and find myself about to embark on the adventure!

It’s now less than a week before the Prayer Warrior Session starts here in the UK and as a member of that session I won’t get the same time to post to the blog in the same way as I have been over the last couple of years.

Because of this I suspect that there will be something of a change in focus of the blog. Rather than sharing my thoughts on different subjects, the blog is going to become more of a personal journal of my college experience.

On that note, I must admit that I really cannot wait to get stuck into college life and studying. Over the last 12 days since we arrived, we’ve been getting to know the other families who have also moved in and in the next few days the remaining cadets will arrive. It’s been great to start forming relationships with those who we’ll be sharing the next two years with.

There are days when I get so frustrated and even angry about things to do with church!

Zoe, the girls and I spent part of the day out shopping and had a really good time. It basically reminded us that for all the bad things that are reported about London the overwhelming majority of people are nice and friendly and shop staff are keen to help!

As part of our trip popped into a café connected to a fairly well known church in southeast London. We were quite impressed by the set up and how the church seemed to want to attract people into their services in a non-threatening way! Then Zoe went to the counter to let them know that Abigail had spilt some water! Unfortunately the response was not very understanding to the antics of a 16 month old child.

At the end of our coffee, Zoe took Sian to the bathroom and the person at the counter went over to clean up the table. Then, staring right at me whilst talking to a colleague sarcastically retold her comment loud enough for the whole café to hear! When she was alone I went over and quietly said how I felt her manner had not really reflected on the church very well and she response showed that she simply didn’t care and neither did the Assistant Manager who came over! She was far more worried by Health and Safety standards than the rude behaviour of her employee/volunteer.

We left, quite badly affected by the whole saga, thinking that once again the Church had been badly let down by the attitudes of people who are supposed to be reflecting the light of the world into the lives of others! All I can think of is what would be a non-Christian mother’s feeling about the way she had been treated because her two children dropped a few crumbs and spilt some water?

The saddest thing of all is that it ruined what was really a very nice day, simply because one or two people made no allowances for what is quite normal for a 4 1/2 year old and a 16 month old.

Tomorrow is moving day! We’re packed, well all except the last few small things that we need in the morning! Sometime early tomorrow afternoon we will arrive in Camberwell at the College and start our new life.

We’re really looking forward to settling in and we’ve got a week to do so before Sian starts school on 8th September!

Have no idea how quickly we’ll be back online, hopefully not too long!

Last Sunday was my last in command of Godalming Corps and we had an amazing evening meeting! As often happens on these sorts of occasions we had a few extra people in the meeting which boosted numbers a little. The meeting itself was good and led by our good friend and sponsoring officer, Adrian Allman. I didn’t even get up to preach until the meeting was an hour old, and it usually only lasts one hour!

People said nice things about our ministry and we received a few presents, all of which was great but it shouldn’t be about us and what we’ve done, but what God has done through us!

So I get up to preach and I’ve known what I should say for weeks now, so I start and soon realise that something is happening. The Spirit is there and is touching people through the words I’m delivering on the Spirit’s behalf. The words are about having a big God! They are about allowing His glory to be seen through our everyday lives! And then the Spirit challenges them and me, and out of my small congregation of 25 people 13 make their way forward to surrender themselves to our awesome God, and the meeting becomes not about Zoe, the girls and me leaving, but about the God who we serve.

The scenes on Sunday night will stay with me a long time and I am glad to have served the Lord in Godalming and will miss this small group of Christians. I know though, that He has greater things in store in the future!

Our God is great!

One of the more controversial Bishops I have ever met was the former Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Richard Holloway. If anyone hasn’t heard of him then let’s simply say that given his very liberal viewpoint it wouldn’t be that common for me to quote him. However, in the latest issue of ThirdWay which dropped through my letterbox this morning there is a transcription of a discussion between the most famous of the so-called ‘Militant Atheists’ Richard Dawkings and Richard Holloway. Whilst I can’t agree with a lot of what is said I had to agree with the former bishop when he said this:

“…Christianity is not a noun, it’s a verb. It’s not a faith that you can hold in any abstract way, it’s a journey, it’s a way of being, a way of travelling.”

Maybe if more church-goers saw Christianity in this way we would be closer to fulfilling God’s plan!

It’s strange to think that I only have two Sundays left in charge of the corps here in Godalming. We have had a challenging year in some ways, what with knowing that the appointment would most likely be for just one year and that we also had to adjust back to living in the UK after 6 years in Latvia. At times things have been difficult, in fact at times they have been quite demoralising, but God has brought me through the experience wiser and stronger in my faith.

This coming Sunday evening will be the highlight of the year for me personally. Why? Well I will be enrolling a soldier! To see the way this mature woman has grown in her faith is such an encouragement and as we shared together last night she said the following,

“The only thing now is that I have to study the Bible more. Not because I’m supposed to but because I want to!”

Says it all really, doesn’t it! I have to admit that I was almost skipping down the road as I walked home beaming with pleasure.