Palm Sunday...

After my customary Saturday morning shop, I had been invited to join some friends on Mount Immitos. As you can see it was a beautiful day, and the mountain certainly offers the most quiet of locations for those hoping to withdraw from the surrounding city below. For me it provided the ideal opportunity to reflect on a week that has been somewhat challenging. Not in terms of ministry or school, but in terms of future considerations. There has been much sadness as I communicate with friends and colleagues my decision to return to England at the end of July. The question now is - what's next? I'm thankful that over the coming week, I will have a number of opportunities to talk to people, think and most importantly pray about all this.

I would value your prayer support in this too. I'm beginning to piece together some ideas about the future, but it does feel like a confusing time. Praise God I have found great comfort in His word. Alongside this comfort, there has been much convicting as I reflect on the following verses:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." Luke 9:23-24

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ... Philippians 3:7-8

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Last night, the Albanian fellowship invited a number of people for a time of worship, through song, prayer and the Bible. It was a joyful occasion and a blessing to be involved. We heard the testimony of a lady who had become a Christian at the age of nine in Germany during the war. After this, there was a second testimony from a man who was visiting from Switzerland. It was encouraging to hear how God had worked in their lives to bring to them to know Jesus Christ.

You may or may not know that today is Palm Sunday. This is a day when we look back to the week before Jesus death on the cross, and specifically remember his entrance into Jerusalem (see Luke 19:28-40). A time filled with much anticipation over the awaited King of Israel, although the people welcoming Jesus, probably couldn't have imagined what would be taking place on the following Friday. Yet, Jesus knew.

And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spat upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”  Luke 18:31-34

As I sat in church this morning, I couldn't help but imagine what must have been going through the mind of the Lord Jesus during that ride on a colt. I am also humbled to think that during that very journey, he had me in mind. Not that I deserve saving, not that I deserve to know God, yet Jesus knew that in five or so days time he would be crucified, and he would do this for me. He would die so that I might live. And so in view of this, my hope over the coming week is that my mind would be firmly fixed upon the One who gave himself for me, and that in response to this, I might wholly give myself to Him.

Moving forward...

As the end of term approaches, there has been much to think about over the past week. I use the phrase 'end of term' loosely for I will still be teaching around the Easter holidays. The only difference is that my lessons will be in the morning. In many ways, this will be a welcome change from my usual teaching schedule of afternoon into evening.

Over these past days, my mind has been very much pondering the future and the big question of - what's next? I will be speaking with my school owner about my future, and will be sharing with her my decision to return to England. There has been some hesitation over this decision, mostly due to the fact that over these last seven months I have made many friendships. I also know that it will be sad for my classes. One class last week even asked me if I would get the school owner to refresh my contract!

I still have around four months in Greece, and there are many things I God-willing plan to do. I will look forward to sharing more of these plans in the coming weeks - one involves a mission trip in early July. Please pray for me as I seek to communicate my decision with friends and colleagues. Above all, pray that I would trust in God! He really does have a perfect plan. I'm beginning to see how it is one thing to know this truth, another thing to live it out!

In his book, 'Broken-Down House', Paul Tripp writes:

We simply need to accept that the reasons God does what he does in our lives, or how our life fits into the whole of his grand redemptive plan, will never be completely clear in this life. This is why real rest and peace is not found in knowing and understanding. It is only found in trust. Only when you have a quiet confidence in the Lord behind the plan and have come to know his love, wisdom, power, and grace, will you be able to rest in hope - even when you do not understand what God is doing in a particular moment in your life.

Looking back over the last few years, I can truly testify to the faithfulness of God. At times life can feel like you are driving in thick fog, you know your moving forward, you've just got no idea what's up ahead. I'm starting to see that this is not only a common experience, but is actually the way God has chosen for us to live - by faith. Sure he could show up and tell us everything now about the future, sure he could provide a detailed itinerary of the next 5 years, but if we really stop to think about it, would any of this actually produce in us wisdom and spiritual growth?

I often think of the experience of Joseph in the latter chapters of Genesis, a man who endured intense suffering, and at times must have wandered what God was doing. Yet in the end, he was able to look back and say with confidence, that all the events of the past were not only permitted by God, but were intended for his good. No doubt young arrogant Joseph had done much growing up during those painful years, and in many ways is the wiser for them. He learnt that real rest and true peace is only found in the sovereign and wise Creator.

And so, as I journey on, fog-lights at full beam, I leave you with some reflections on the question of identity. So often when we are seeking clarification on the future, we can be tempted to look to earthly things to define us, to say this is who I am. Yet... 

If I continually search for my identity in the creation I will forever be dissatisfied, for the creation was never purposed for such a task. My search must go deeper, beyond the creation to the Creator Himself. My journey of self-discovery was never meant to end in the things around me, but it is in the very things around me where I see the fingerprints of the One who is above me. Only as I come to Him will I finally find the true answer to the question of my identity.

Multi-national helping hands...

 

This week at helping hands, we had a team of staff and volunteers from nine countries! Greece, America, England, Canada, Albania, Afghanistan, Finland, Norway and Sweden. It really was a multi-national team. It is normally a varied team, however today with visiting volunteers from a Bible college in Sweden, it felt particularly mixed. As always it was a pleasure to serve alongside fellow believers and reach out to the Afghan refugees. At times the need in Greece can seem overwhelming, but we trust and know that the Sovereign Lord is at work, bringing people to Christ through the many ministries around the city of Athens.


Lots of tasty cabbage salad!

At helping hands there is always a gospel message after the meal. Those who hear the talk then have an opportunity to ask questions and find out more. It is inevitable that people only stay for the food, yet we can never truly know how God is working in the hearts of those we see each week.

As you can see from the picture on the right, there is plenty of food prepared for the refugees. One of my favourites is the cabbage salad. We are thankful that we can provide a tasty meal for all those who come to the centre. All in all, we probably serve in the region of 130 refugees from Afghanistan. Please do pray for the ministry and that through all that the team do, people would come to know the Lord Jesus - it is all for Him and His glory!

I am continually amazed at how quickly my time in Greece is going. I have now been living in Athens for seven months and since arriving in August 2013 it has been a most valuable time. I trust that the coming months will prove just as valuable as I continue to live and work in a foreign land. As I talk to people who have made the switch from home to foreign soil, they all say the same thing. It changes you. I'm still figuring out how, but I do echo that sentiment.   

Waiting at the metro

One of the many crossings


 

 

The Albanian church meets every Saturday evening to worship God
through the Bible, prayer, praise and fellowship.

In the courtroom...

As another week draws to a close, with it come many lessons learnt. Lessons which at the time seem far from easy, yet they are lessons none the less, lessons which are important and valuable if progress is to made in the classroom of life. Thankfully, knowing that there is a teacher of the highest credentials behind the scenes, the Omnipotent Lord of the universe, makes the lessons that little bit easier to fathom. From my limited experience of teaching, the students rarely enjoy the more challenging lessons. If they had there way, they would opt for games every time! However, when you think about it, if they played games every week, would they make any progress in their English? Probably not. More often than not, if progress is to made, hard work is required.

The lesson I have been learning is that of 'decision resting'. Making a decision about something and then resting in that decision. Not wriggling it around in my head, thinking should I have done this, or should I have done that, but resting with the decision made. What is this decision I hear you ask?

The context involves classroom discipline. One of my classes, lovely though they are, do require a little bit more control when it comes to the classroom. I've been rocking my brain thinking how to do this as past attempts have proven futile.

Over the weekend, it seemed I had created the ideal behaviour strategy and so there I was cometh the hour ready to implement my new found tactics. Things were going well, and the strategy not only seemed to be helping the students manage their behaviour, but also gave me clearer control in policing my classroom expectations. Until 15 minutes to the end that is. One student stepped over the mark and so I made the decision to implement the consequence of such an action. Thinking this fair and reasonable, it was very clear however that his response to my decision was emotional. As I explained post-lesson my reason for issuing him a warning, his tears made it quite evident that he felt hard done by. I then heard his side of the story and found myself beginning to question my decision. Yet, upon reflection, regardless of tears, regardless of my wavering popularity with this child, he must learn that he is responsible for his actions. Every choice brings with it a consequence.

Coincidently, I am currently watching the TV series Judge John Deed. I say coincidently because I really find it amazing how the High Court Judge finds rest in his decisions (far more weightier than mine). His reasoning is that there is a law to uphold, and he is just as subject to this law as anyone else. Perhaps in some ways there is a comparison to be found. In my classroom there is a law to uphold, expectations I have set on how the students must behave. I am just as subject to this as the students. More so, because when they fail and fall short of these expectations, I am the one who passes judgement. As soon as I allow my concern for self-preservation, popularity and desire to please direct these judgements, the whole process collapses. Fairness and consistency is key!

In light of my personality type (INFJ) such incidents of conflict in decision making is something that intuitively puts me at unease. However, I am thankful for opportunities to grow in this area, and learn how to above all be an instrument of change in the lives of my students. Yes, they may feel hard done by, yes, they may prefer to just have it there own way, but my prayer is that in the future they will thank me for staying the course, and holding the line. Time will only tell.

I am reminded of how in the gospel we see another courtroom at work. Our sin means that we do not and cannot follow the expectations God has laid before us in His Law. All of us fall short of God's standards, unable to fulfil the Law set before us. Thanks be to God that there is one who has obeyed the Law perfectly - Jesus Christ.   

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
                                                                                                        Colossians 2:13-14    

We were dead because of the record of debt that stood against us due to our failure to meet the expectations of God's Law. Jesus - not only met these expectations by living a perfect life, he took upon himself our record of debt, accepting the consequence we deserve - death. And now, the verdict is in - not guilty! Our debt has been paid, we are free!

In an article by Paul Blackham, he comments on the cross of Christ saying:

The Cross shows us how Divine sovereignty and human responsibility collide.  Whereas the human wicked intention was to destroy the Author of Life, yet our Gracious Father’s intention was to freely save humanity… even the very people who nailed Jesus to the Cross.

The sovereign power of God, then, did not over-rule the injustice of the Cross.  Rather, precisely through the injustice of the Cross, another work of injustice was accomplished… the salvation of people who deserve only Hell.

Hallelujah what a Saviour!

Nes... I mean yes...

After completing my weekly supermarket trip with a record breaking basket total of 20 euros, I decided that a short visit to Lykavittos was needed to again seek more peaceful surroundings. As you can seek from the picture above, it is an ideal location for the three R's of - reading, resting and relaxing. I was thankful for a much better end to the week, and had a particularly fun time with my final class on Friday. I have some delightful classes which thankfully make up for the more trickier ones. However, I remain determined as ever to persevere with the students. There have been notable improvements in some of the children I teach which is very encouraging.

Tonight, I again joined the Albanian fellowship for another service. Over the weeks I have enjoyed getting to know some of the people at the church, and although there are a few language difficulties, we seem to get by. I am thankful that my Greek is now at the level that I can at least attempt to engage in conversation. I found myself tonight learning a few Albanian words which I have now totally forgotten of course.

I have found that when you are learning another language, bits of other languages (and even your native language) gets squeezed out or jumbled up. On many occasions I find myself saying - "nes" - a combination of - yes and nai (Greek). The other day I tried to remember some of my GCSE French, completely failed - δεν πειράζει - I mean, never mind!

It has been very encouraging to visit and even participate in the services of the Albanian church. I am discovering the wonderful and glorious truth that Jesus is indeed Lord of all!




Music practice before the service

After service meal!

Crossing cultures - and roads...

As another week passes and a new one begins, I thought I'd write a blog-entry that best sums up the past 7 or so days. It has been a fairly 'normal' week although there have been one or two testing moments which as always, prove fertile ground in the field of every day life. It is of course what you sow in those moments that determines what you reap. In short, I appear to be moving in and out of one of the many phases of culture shock. This particular phase is not a good one, but it is an important one to go through in the movement towards accepting the surrounding culture (which probably never happens). At the moment I experience days when the prevailing culture around me grinds a little harder than it did when I first arrived in Greece. Since arriving in Athens, I've always noticed the differences between the British culture I so happened to be immersed in, and the Greek culture which is, well, to put it plainly, as un-British as you can get.

One of the many orange trees that line
the streets of Athens.

There are lots of things about the Greek culture that are worth celebrating, for instance the openness and expression of emotion that my stiff-upper lip finds a little unnerving from time to time. Although if I'm honest, my upper lip has never really been that stiff. On occasion, I've been rather concerned that an argument is about to break out only to discover that the couple in question are simply having a conversation. One of the most valuable things I am learning from all this can be summed up in four words - it's not about you.

In fact, these four words probably sum up what I've been learning these past six months and no doubt will continue to be the lesson God impresses upon my heart. I think that when you've become so used to a particular way of doing things, you begin to think that it is the only way to do it. An inevitable consequence of crossing cultures is coming face to face with the reality that this just isn't true. For instance, take crossing the road. Cars are meant to stop at zebra crossings right? Not in Greece. No, you have to wait for an opportune moment and then make a break for it.

And I'm sure someone said to me once "Wait for the little green man and then it's safe to cross" - not in Greece. OK these are trivial examples and partly in jest but you're beginning to see the picture. As my inherent British-ness is increasingly brought to the surface, I am gifted with an ideal opportunity to engage more intensely with the differing surrounding culture. I'm learning that I can respond to these moments in one of two ways - separation or embrace. The former is a much more natural response and one that I definitely sway towards when feeling culturally overloaded. Like a hermit crab, the only thing you feel like doing is retreating back into the shell of familiarity. Comfortable yes, but productive no. The other option is to embrace the culturally clashing moment and in doing so open up not only opportunities to learn from that moment, but opportunities to grow.   

To offer some kind of summary, the key I think that is needed if the culturally challenged person is to have any success in unlocking something positive from their experience, is the key of humility. I was reading this morning from Ephesians 5:1-2 when Paul writes a challenging exhortation to the Christians in Ephesus saying:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Be imitators of God! You sometimes hear people say of a child 'He's just like his father' or words to that effect. As beloved children of God what a high calling it is to be like God. How can we do it?How does someone imitate God? They walk in love, and the model for such love is Christ himself. And so I was comforted this morning and reminded that when testing moments arise, which undoubtedly they will, by God's grace I can look to Christ. Who humbled himself becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Such self sacrificial love must be the seed sown if anything good is to be reaped. I heard it once put like this - my desire to love must outweigh my desire to be loved.

The giant jigsaw puzzle of life...

It has been an up and down week mostly due to tiredness, however in all of this there are, as always, many things to be thankful for. I enjoyed another joyful time with the Albanian fellowship last night. A group of about 20 or so meet every Saturday evening to worship God through prayer, song and the word. Last night, I felt quite at home behind the piano joining in with the Albanian style songs. It was great fun and there was a real sense of joy as we sang praise to God. The evening ended with a meal and I hope to be able to join them most Saturday's God-willing. I have found a picture which is not recent (early Feb) but will give you an idea of the fellowship and the place we meet.

Give thanks for how the Lord has brought this group of people together and pray for their pastor Artur as he teaches them and seeks to lead them in following Christ.

One of the most humbling things I am experiencing at the moment is the realisation that God's plans are vast and mighty. So often I become overly preoccupied with questioning God saying - what are you doing in my life? In this, I am forgetting that God is never working in just one person's life. Earlier today I listened to a sermon by Sinclair Ferguson on the subject of the providence of God. He mentions that more often than not, what God is doing in our life is far more significant for the lives of others.

He likens life to that of a giant jigsaw puzzle. We just cannot make sense of all the little pieces. How true it is that in the majority of our circumstances we simply do not know what God is doing. I don't do many jigsaw puzzles, but as Ferguson points out, a helpful starting point in an attempt to complete the puzzle is to put in place the corner pieces. So it is with the jigsaw of life. Although we cannot see the final picture, the corner pieces help to frame the picture God is piecing together in our lives.

The four corner pieces he mentions are:

1. God is constantly working together a variety of circumstances.

2. God is simultaneously working in a variety of people.

3. God is persistently working towards a variety of goals.

4. God is working unfailingly to bring glory to His Son.

Without hearing the sermon these four points may seem hard to apply so if you're interested in listening to it you can find it at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CcPc1Q0mYY