'Before they call, I will answer.' (Isaiah 65:24)

This beautiful story was written by a doctor who worked in Central Africa

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities..

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates)..


'And it is our last hot water bottle!' she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

'All right,' I said, 'put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.'


The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.


During prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. 'Please, God' she prayed, 'Send us a hot water bottle today. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.'

While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, 'And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?'


As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say 'Amen'? I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.
Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door.. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the porch was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly... Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.



From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.

Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the..... could it really be?

I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.

Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, 'If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!

'Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully- dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, 'Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?'

'Of course,' I replied!

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it 'that afternoon'.

'Before they call, I will answer.' (Isaiah 65:24)

Let's all party - there should be one going on in heaven right now!

This from George...

"Sometimes we are asked what is Outside Light all about, what are its aims, what are we trying to do? I am hoping that today's blog will give a flavour of the impact we think God makes in people's lives and our aims as a group.

I work for an organisation called Avanti Ministries and one of my friends there has written a book about his life and his journey to finding God and the dramatic way in which that changed his life. I gave a copy of this book to a young lad we have been speaking to on Monday nights. Imagine my surprise when this morning I received an email from the author of the book who didn't know I knew this lad, read on....

"dear tony my name is xxxxx. I am 15 and your book was giving to me by a man called george prehaps in the hope of changing me. Although im young god has been playing a key part of my life even if untill now i have not noticed or believed in him i have proberly abused the greatest gift from god the gift of life.Beer Vodka smoking and drugs had been a key part of my life i had allways looked for love from girls and never found any i thought by replacing them with these killers i would be satisfied untill i was told maybe the love i needed was from jesus. I have liead cheated sworn used the lords name in vane i have never seeked god for guidence and have only blamed him when ive had difficult times.

Thanks to your book i now know how mistaken i have been i understand jesus christ diead for me and am very! greatfull. i thank you agian for writing your book as your book told me about your youth i can understand the anger and rage and i can relate alot to that my younger life was full of anger rage and evil. i also have grown on a sport like you have but i truly belieave god has blessed me with talent as he blessed my idol ricardo kaka threw listening to how gratefull ricardo is and of how in a matter of 2 days that i read all your book i now allways feel that there is a presance with me and that i am now i different person that god has touched me i have not felt the need to somke drink or smoke canibis since and for that tony i am truly thankfull and greatfull ......"

I am not sure where you stand on whether you believe there is a God, I know for me I turned away from that notion for many years, I also can now testify to God being very real and dramatically changing my life but more than that to saving me. Our prayer is that God would change many more lives so that his name may be praised. We really need to reach more people and for that we need more people, will you join us?

Thanks John

George"

I hope you read George's previous blog first, because you'll detect from that, perhaps, that George had been feeling a slight disappointment that the fish keep moving away from the bait. I was a very poor fisherman when I was a kid and I remember watching my float bobble around, and constantly pulling it out of the water with nothing on the hook. This led me to my new strategy of ignoring the float bobbling because I didn't believe it - I just enjoyed the sunshine and my egg and tomato sandwiches. And when I was ready to go home pulling out a half-dead tiddler that had probably hung there for hours. Fishing for fish isn't easy, there's real skill in it. But fishing for men is a different ball-game. All we have to do as Christians is put the ground bait out there, it's for Him to reel in the catch - we don't have to do any arm-twisting/beating people over the head. We just need to tell.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed a tear this morning when George read the email to me - George admitted to doing as much too. I know you'll join my in praying for this lad that what he's discovered will continue to grow in him and that what he's feeling right now will become a positive force in the rest of his life. But please add to that a reinforcing prayer that if/when he starts to fall by the wayside again, the Holy Spirit will catch him and pull him back up.

Much love to you all

John

Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." - Matthew 4:19

My apologies for our brief absence. I'm afraid work has taken over recently, and although George wrote the following passage a week ago I've not been very faithful in putting it up. All that said, I had a call from George just now about an email he's just received this morning, and it's not sunny today so I'm not out working - I take photos of really nice houses for a living, most of this work has to happen when it's sunny. I really do make hay while the sun shines - but it's a limitation that I have as a human being. Thank God, then, that He has no such limitations. He makes hay 24/7 and hopefully in the next posting you'll get a sense of exactly what I mean by that. Before you read the next blog though, this from George - should have been added last week - sorry. It's particularly poignant because - with the next blog - it shows how, when we think the hay isn't being harvested, there's more happening than immediately meets the eye!

"I don't know if you have ever been fishing, I actually quite like it and I go about once every half decade and get really annoyed trying to untangle the line that I get caught in the trees. I can never balance the float and generally make a hash of everything and catch very little. 

It feels a bit like that going out on a Monday night sometimes. 

I remember fishing before in a river and I could see a huge fish sunbathing. So I thought, "Right I'll put my bait right there in front of him and surely he will bite." But, nothing! 

It can feel like that sometimes when we're out talking to young people, too! There were young people everywhere last night, some playing football, some sitting down, some wandering. We tried to get amongst some of them and it was a bit like being spotted by a group of fish as they move out from the splash you've just created. 

I decided in the end to try and be a fish, I kicked a ball around, missed about 10 goals and never got passed the ball again. It was encouraging to look around, though, and see a couple of others with their lines in the water; Helen seemed to be in a boat moving around over the lake, big John was getting a few bites over by the goal; Mary was straight in with a big group. 

When all is said and done, when we looked back on the night there were some healthy bites out there, meeting up with a chap on Friday to talk some more, couple of lads have taken some books and will let me know what they think; explained the amazing news of Jesus to one lad; Helen got some good links with a few others; John challenged another lad to follow through on some commitment. 

Those of you that are Christians and not with us might be thinking, "I don't like fishing". You might not have the patience, most likely as with ALL the Outside Light team you won't have a clue how to do it. But, all Jesus asks is that you follow him, he will make you fishers, just follow him. I wonder is he calling you? It's a big lake and we need some more rods out there..."

for his glory

George

Encouragement

I just wanted to update you regarding the lad of 19 from last week who hasn't had a great existence to date and frequently looks at life via the bottom of a bottle.

Mary, Malcolm and George had a good chat with him, and George gave him a Christian tract. Yesterday, George sent me this copy of a text he’d received from the lad. ‘Yea, I’m good mate ive read it takin it to poole with me today you have made me have faith an I cant thank you enough.”

I hoped that you would feel encouraged by this message. I’ve no idea how things will pan out, but I hope you’ll join me in prayer for this chap. God loves him, just as he loves each of us – He loves us enough to have sent His son to die on the cross for our sins.

Much love

JD

More Ketchup, Please

Photo - Vyne Field Last Monday

Last Night
I had ten minutes' good chatter with a group of lads (14/15yrs) last night. Just Phil and I went out from New Life Church; Nancy, Nick and Richard all needed to be elsewhere.

The two of us arrived at St Peter's Rec; in minutes Phil had organised a game of football while I chatted to the other youngsters who were watching/playing with the Frisbee.

Phil finished playing and was chatting to some girls, whilst I overheard some lads talking about Jesus and arguing whether he was a Jew, or not. I figured that was a signal for me to step their way and we had a good ten minutes' chat, with them denying everything I suggested - but the encouraging thing was that they were thinking about spiritual stuff before I got there - perhaps prompted by Phil's presence and mine?

I said to one lad that the next time I see him I'll try to be better prepared to respond to some of his questions - many of which amounted to the same old stuff, 'Why should I believe in God?' 'I'm not bothered about going to Hell. If I go to Heaven I'll have to follow the rules, so Hell sounds like more fun'. 'Who made God? Nyer! (smug smile)'. 'Wasn't Jesus just mental for getting himself crucified? I felt desperately in need of Holy Spirit Power - a Jesus-style one-liner wouldn't have gone amiss - it's almost impossible to have a sane conversation about stuff that's as serious as life itself when several others are interjecting their thoughts mid-way through your own sentences.

Despite my failure to make a real impression with my infinite wisdom about life, God and the Universe, I take comfort from the fact that they were prepared to listen to my feeble attempts at encouraging their own freedom of thought - so that they might be prompted to question what they're taught/hear about the origins of life, and how the variety of answers they'll hear might be relevant to their own lives if they bother to disect them. If kids are encouraged to THINK and to not take everything on face value, then there will be hope for us all yet - and my biggest prayer is that there will be hope for them!

Moving to earlier in the week

The Vyne continues to be popular with the young. There must have been 30+ kids there again this week and the relationships there are becoming easier and easier as we move forward. Malcolm, Mary and George had a long chat with a young lad who has had a dreadful life - he's 19 and seems permanently drunk, but if you knew half of the things that had gone on in his life then possibly you might understand why/how that is. Meeting with young people like him has been an education for me: it's taught me to try to look at the man behind the bottle.

Last Week

Was our first week where we weren't able to use The Vyne, because another group has pre-booked the premises on a permanent once-monthly basis. But we were were blessed with glorious sunshine, and the boys loved playing football - courtesy of the Knaphill club lending us the goalposts. (See the photo above). It has to be said that Eileen has done a brilliant job organising/liasing/cajolling people into providing for these young people. BUT - it's a lot of work, especially for someone who is busy doing lots of other things for the community as well - MORE HELP IS NEEDED, PLEASE!!!!!

Ketchup

A lot has been happening at OL these past few weeks – all good news.

Our meeting place at The King’s House has moved to The Vyne, where Knaphill Residents’ Association (Eileen) has secured the larger space for a trial 10-week period. Outside Light leaders are supporting this initiative by providing one volunteer each week, while others of us go out onto the field.

I was unwell the first week, but in on Monday and welcomed by ‘the usual suspects’ who were in good spirits – some were watching the tv security monitor, which they said wasn’t “so much Sky as Car Park”. They seemed genuinely happy – not the ‘rabble’ that’s said to cause destruction and despair outside. I suppose there were about 30 or so. Taking turns playing Pool, chatting, playing Jenga and proving themselves to be really pleasant young people.

I chatted to one young lad about the effect they have on adults and older people when they’re outside in large groups. I told him that they can look intimidating. ‘I don’t know why’, he said, ‘we respect our elders’; said without even a hint of irony.

It would be good to be able to put my finger on why there are perceived problems with young people when they’re outside in groups; on the one hand, as individuals, they’re charming – I’ve only met one in Knaphill, so far, who isn’t. On the other hand, in groups when it’s dark outside of houses, they’re often noisy and thoughtless. I must admit, that when I first witnessed their behaviour in those circumstances I wondered if they saw themselves as a part of the wider community – or had they formed their own community, with their own rules? For me, it seemed important that if that was the case, there should be found a way to re-involve them with the wider community, for their sakes’ and ours’.

Maybe there is a tipping point where schisms can occur – but I really don’t think that’s been reached as yet in Knaphill - it's more a minor dislocation. I suspect that a part of the reason for their bad behaviour is that the only facility they had when it’s dark – before Outside Light and Eileen - was the car park and its lights. It’s not rocket science, is it, that when someone’s in a poor environment, they might think it’s ok to act there in a negative fashion. Maybe by finding space for them first at The King’s House, then at The Vyne, that tipping point won’t be reached. It could be essential for our village, therefore, that this work continues.

Funding

And that was the message that I tried to give out again yesterday to Inspector Shanks, who has secured for us £1,000 funding from the Police Property Fund – this is the money made from goods confiscated as the result of criminal activity. We had a good chat about other projects around, such as Street Pastors and Street Angels – Inspector Shanks says there is an initiative to introduce Street Angels into Woking, and she hoped that Outside Light might be interested. Inspector Shanks knows that it’s important for Outside Light to have the freedom to share the Gospel with people, but she still intends to invite us to the first meeting.

Inspector Shanks also wondered whether a Community Fun Day might be worth planning, so that the young people and residents at Alexandra Gardens might get to meet each other and thus reconnect.

Our grateful thanks to Inspector Shanks for her support and affirmation of the work we're doing.

More Funding

A couple of weeks ago we were given another funding gift out of the blue by a charitable trust – which enabled us to buy T-shirts so that we’re now easily able to be identified by the young people we meet. We’re also hoping to build a website so that other churches can more easily catch the vision, and so that we can share our written policies more easily with them if they want to set up an Outside Light team in their own area. One of the advantages of developing a number of Outside Light cells should be that there will be inter-cell support – especially for smaller churches where perhaps there might only be a couple of people who have had the call to work with young people.

Thanks too, to The Ratclif Trust for their generous gift - which was God-timed to happen the day after we were turned down by two other charity funders 'because you share the Gospel' - as if it's wrong to offer people with a gap in their lives, something that's infinitely better and more positive than a bottle of cider!

Tuesdays in Old Woking

Tuesday nights have been a real struggle, it has to be said. At one point there were just two of us available on one of the evenings. Most often there have been three but that’s nowhere near enough to be effective. In Old Woking there is so much opportunity – relationships have already been built to the point that we can go to certain houses, knock on the door and know that we’ll be invited in for a cup of tea and a chat. But we can’t do that, and be out on the field chatting to the kids.

All that said, this last Tuesday we went from Zero to Hero because we were joined by New Life’s youth group and by two people from The Vineyard Church who were sussing us out, and Malcolm from my church. There were enough to make a football team against the local lads, which I believe the church team won – in large part because of Richard (Vineyard) and, of course, the guys from the youth group. George and Phil also played but the less said... :o)

I don't know if there are any other Christians in New Life Church who have a heart for outreach into the local community - perhaps you're nervous, perhaps you think you don't have the time. I'm sure the other Outside Light volunteers would join me in saying that every week we have the same fears anxieties and concerns. None of us has the time, we're all a bit anxious because we don't know what's going to happen - but we all do it nevertheless and there's not been an evening to date when we haven't felt God's presence and blessing. 

This has been a long, hard winter for Outside Light in Old Woking. What we really need for the coming winter is somewhere to get the kids into. We also need to rebuild our volunteer base there. So, my major prayer request this blog is for your prayers for our Old Woking group. Please will you pray for premises and also for more people to volunteer their time. It’s a LOT better doing this stuff than staying in watching TV – with the exception of The Apprentice, of course.

Much Love

JD X

George's Email - haven't changed a word

Hi John, 
 
Got the urge to do some words for the blog if that is ok....
 
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts - Isaiah 55 :8-9
 
You know those times when you have to cook something, you are really hungry and you fancy something really good to eat, however you are cooking for one and laziness wins the day and you end up cutting corners or ordering pizza. 
 
I think sometimes we are like that with the way we reach out to those around us. We really want the end result of a great meal, lots of people being saved, but do we really want to get all the utensils out, make the sacrifice of all that washing up, go out of our way to make that meal. 
 
Now lets imagine that we are cooking for someone we really love, we are besotted with them, in fact we cannot think of anyone else. We would do anything for this person, we get the best plates out, we put a table cloth on, we buy the best food, we spend a good few hours preparing it, a bottle of good wine, our teeth are brushed, we are excited and cannot wait to meet our love. 
 
You see that person is Christ isn't it? The person we love more than anything in the whole world? The one we go the extra mile for? Like that wonderful meal we cook, when it all happens it is no chore or hard work, it is a complete joy to do that for the one we love. Honestly, I think sometimes I give Jesus my leftovers, He knocks on the door and I tell him I forgot can we order a take away, do you mind I say? He says my ways are not like your ways...
 
Sorry, went into one there, the point I am making is this that God keeps pouring out his grace upon us. You don't have to step out and serve, you don't have to share the gospel, you don't have to cook the one you love a great meal, but when you love someone you want to don't you?
 
Outside Light tonight was one of those meals, God cooked for us tonight. He brought many ingredients together, they were expensive, he paid an enormous amount for them more than we can imagine. 
 
John set out our stall tonight, explained a bit about why we are doing what we are doing, who we are. There was so much respect in the room, they treat it as precious. Telling one another they cannot swear in here or behave badly (we've never said that). One chap has agreed to come to church on Sunday, another lad wants to meet up for a beer and talk. Another girl opened up and shared some of her hurts, another lad listened to the gospel being explained and took some information. John, Richard and George all got beaten at football, Helen almost broke the world record for Jenga height, Michelle won 4 sets of cards in a row. Isn't this what life is all about as a Christian, going out and speaking of Christ, sharing him, receiving from him. 
 
Just imagine if there was another group going out to an old folks home down the road doing the same, what if there was another group in the Working Mens club around the corner chatting and sharing, a Christian sat on the bench with the local outcast, another group popping into the shops and meeting.....................
 
I don't know what your thinking as you read this, maybe your thinking I am being self-indulgent, a dreamer, not in the real world. I don't know about you but I don't want to be in this world, my home isn't here, I want to kit out my future place with the best treasure in the whole universe - people. The reason I am going on is because it saddens me so much that there aren't more people coming outside of Church, we could reach more, we could reach so much more and our lives would be so much richer, vibrant, exciting. It is not our way, it is God's way and his way is so much higher than ours...will you cook a meal for Jesus this week?
 
Don't have to use this John? People are missing out though. 
 
Keep going, really want to share my testimony and gospel next week.
 
In Christ
George

For His Glory