Monday has arrived and after a good nights sleep the practicalities of being home - catching up with the post, the news, the washing - began to crowd in. But it is good to be home and as I move through the last part of my Sabbatical I have a few things I want to do to finish well. Having been away for almost 7 weeks of the 9 so far it will be great to be here and get ready for the Autumn term at church.
There are many dangers to this next few weeks so I will still be listening to God and learning what this period of time has to teach me. There are a couple of key things that I want to think through.
The first thing is FAITH.
The plane was late leaving Hong Kong yesterday, almost an hour, and as we finally boarded and sat ready for take off, the pilot's voice came over the speakers. I was flying with Qantas the Australian airline and certainly on the flight to Hong King it was a very relaxed flight. Unlike with Virgin to the US and BA to Ukraine, when we encountered some turbulence, the Fasten Seat-Belt sign didn't come on at all. Who cares? Well, as we waited to take off from Hong Kong, the Pilot gave us the following announcement - 'We'll be taking off in a few minutes. After we've taken off we'll be making a few turns, then we'll be travelling through several different countries before we land at Heathrow.' At least he knew where we were due to end up, but the vagueness of the flight plan did worry me a little! Was that a little too relaxed?
I'm a pretty comfortable flyer so it didn't worry me but it did make me think about the faith I had as I sat in my seat - 68C.
Was the Pilot trained or just a joyrider? I hadn't seen his license or certificate, in fact I hadn't seen him. Did he look like I could trust him? Then I got to thinking about the plane. It is ridiculous how the Jumbo Jet, which when loaded weighs 875,000 pounds - that's three blue whales, and I've never seen one blue whale fly let alone three strapped together - gets off the ground. Did the Wright brothers really know what they were doing? And what about the Qantas safety record? Well, they have never lost a jet plane to an accident - impressive.
So was my faith justified? Well, we landed safely after the 13 hour flight. What went up, came down safely and I didn't see the pilot afterwards. Faith is after all, 'being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.' (Hebrews 11:1)
That is something I have seen in the lives of many people on my adventure. Pure, simple, powerful, life-changing faith. Hoping with certainty in a God we cannot see. Faith has driven people to take risks in business and ministry (Blake Mycowski at the GLS) and motivates the Brothers' in House 4 to worship with passion. It is an attractive quality that impacts the people around them and helps others to believe as well. Things can be different, lives can be changed.
In a world that continues to create God in man's image there isn't much to believe in. But for people who realise that they have been created in God's image there is something to reach for, something to believe in, someone to believe in that will enable others to be changed.
I want the sort of faith that can move mountains, it only has to be as small as a mustard seed (and that is pretty small) yet that is enough to ask and then receive, to pray and it make a difference, to see lives changed and set free.
I trusted my pilot yesterday. The flight plan seemed pretty vague, but he kept to his word, we did make a few turns and travel through a few different countries and he landed us safely where he said he would. I couldn't see him, but I believed and that makes all the difference.
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