I am getting worse at this...

Hello friends, once again I start with an apology, I'm not very good at this lark of updating am I? I'm so sorry! On this occasion I realised how bad it was when I couldn't manage to log into my blog because I'd forgotten all the details and I had to do a bunch of playing and changing to get myself in. That alone shows that it's been far too long!

Things have been busy, moving and travelling and here I am, in the middle of July staring out of the window in Birmingham at incessant rain. What happened to summer, I've been gone a year and here in the UK we've lost it? I'm not sure what to make of the weather but I am slowly getting used to be back in England, it's far from easy but I know it's what God is having me do.

Moving back into Birmingham has been interesting, back where I was before, same house, same office desk, same people, same, same, same. In some ways it feels like I have never been away which is a little hard to deal with but I know that God has done great things this past year and is working on me back here for His reasons.

So what has been going on? Well other than a great number of flights and boxes and moves there hasn't been a great deal to report other than my trip out to Korea to CM2007, Campus Crusade for Christ's global student missions conference. What an awesome time seeing what God is doing all over the world, meeting people from many countries, including dangerous places closed down to the gospel, and worshipping the Lord with people from 127 countries in a little glimpse of heaven. Envisioning for the Great Commission and going to the still sizeable number of unreached people's and universities across the globe. Wow! Amazing!

God has really been hitting me about my heart and what my attitude is to the importance of the gospel...I am so happy to be a part of fulfilling the GC when it is easy and comfortable for me in the west but what about the not so comfortable places? Am I willing to go? What's most important in my life the advancement of the Kingdom of God or my own safety? Tough questions which are hard to face because the answers often aren't pretty. What about you? Is God causing any discomfort in your heart thinking about those kind of issues?This picture is of people milling around at the conference.

Being around so many Koreans was inspiring, they have infectious faith and an incredible desire to pray, again that's something I look at in my life and notice that I'm not really hitting the mark and yet seeing this in action is so inspiring. The faith of the Koreans for their brothers and sisters in the North is incredible. On the opening night of CM2007 we had a parade of nations and where most people cheered like crazy for their nations the Koreans cheered more for the announcement of North Korea than themselves in the South! Thinking about that moment still moves my heart. They truly believe that the Lord is moving to unity and that the gospel will break out in the North, it's not a western "hopeful" belief it's a cast iron God is going to do this reality. I felt challenged about how often I really act and think that way.
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I'll leave you with a photo which you might not be able to see, it is taken in the missionary graveyard in Seoul which I visited before I left for home. It is the gravestone of Ruby Kendrick an American missionary who sailed to Korea but on arrival before she'd even had chance to do any "ministry" she sadly died. This tombstone reads "If I had a thousand lives to give, Korea should have them all." What a deep challenge to each of us...who has your life? Who has mine?