A farewell tour

I am in Northern Ireland at the moment visiting lots of relatives on a farewell tour before we head off to NZ. In 4 weeks time we will be in the air somewhere over Asia!

Ian, Ethan and I went to church with my Dad on Sunday. He is a member of CFC in Belfast. We have only been a few times but have always enjoyed the services. Each time God speaks to us in a really relevant way. This time was amazing!

As our departure date gets closer we have been having some doubts and second thoughts and all the usual worries and anxieties that come with moving to the other side of the world with no jobs to go to and no tenants to take ont he mortgage at home. Anyway, at CFC they had a dedication of a little boy called Finlay. He is 8 months old and his parents are New Zealanders! They have been living in Belfast for a couple of years and plan to be there for at aleast a few more years. The pastor, Paul Reid, felt that God wanted him to share some thoughts, scripture and prayers for the parents, Jonny and Amy. Those words may as well have been directed at Ian and I. It was one of those times when i really felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

It all centred around Jeremiah 29 and the verses surrounding the famous verse 11 of that chapter. Jeremiah talks about the Israelites having been kept in captivity for 70 years but being brought out of Babylon becuase of the Lord's plans to give them a hope and a future, plans to prosper them and not to harm them. Paul siad that for Jonny and Amy God was saying that they were not brought to N Ireland for captivity but for freedom and to be released into the full promise that God had for them for their service and ministry and that Ireland would not be their final resting place. For their son Finlay, he said that it was no mistake that he had been born in Northern Ireland, on an island on the opposite side of the world to NZ but that he would be a man of God who would have a worldwide vision.

I never cease to be amazed by the way God chooses to speak to us. I have felt God's blessing on our plans while i have been here. It may be arrogant to suppose that God sorts out the weather system just for me, but the weather here has been truly glorious. We went for a couple of lovely walks along the coast of north Down, my favourite places by Bangor sea front and along the beach at Crawfordsburn. Today, up on the north coast in Coleraine, i was able to go for a run along the river again in glorious sunshine. I will have great memories of here to leave with. For some reason it reminds me of our wedding. We were really blessed getting married in Christ Church the week after Easter. The church was full of beautiful flowers, the whole up the aisle, and a cross of lilies (which were the same as the ones in my bouquet!) at the altar and more flowers at the front and back of the church. We didn't pay for any of it and rightly or wrongly i saw it as God smiling down on us that day.

I've finished rambling now. Tonight we are having dinner with my uncle and cousins. Their family is kind of a cross between the Waltons and the Osbornes.