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Back on the Road

Back on the Road

31 January 2006

Through 13 years of itinerant preaching, I've never quite tuned in to those who romanticise this particular ministry. It just isn't glamorous in any way, shape or form. And yet (perhaps surprisingly after all this time) I believe in this way of serving God and His People as much as ever.

So at the beginning of 2006, we are renewing our determination to be His servants, by going "back on the road again". Just in the past month Penny and I have given up our home of 9 years, packed and stored most of our worldly possessions, and "set sail" with a suitcase each. Our hope is that this move will free us up to a greater abandonment and availability to the Lord...here and overseas.

We plan to trust Him day-by-day for divine appointments, a roof over our heads, and the wherewithal to live. Making and acting on this decision has by no means been a breeze. Our very ordinary humanity has been stretched by this change. But at a point where it felt as if we might shrink back, these Scriptures have imparted new life and strength,

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do, and He will show you the right way." (Proverbs 3.5-6)

"Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest." (Matthew 8.20)

And because prophetic responsibility is so much more than uttering words, what we are doing might be more than personal obedience. It may be portentious! Sometimes in the Old Testament, prophets' activities spoke volumes...Jeremiah's purchase of real estate, Ezekiel's cooking fuel. Perhaps the assumption that it'll be "business as usual" and that we can have "all this and Heaven too" in the Last Days, is about to be disturbed and shaken by God and history?

"The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into His harvest. Go your ways; behold I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way...and whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The Kingdom of God has come near to you.' " (Luke 10.2-9)

Hoping to see you out there...somewhere.