June 22 -- God or Coincidence -- London

It is a beautiful morning in London.  Although the sky is cloud covered, nonetheless, the mercies of the Lord are refreshing and delightful.  I am in the kitchen at Andrze and Renata's home.  We are located in the section of London not far from Heathrow Airport called Ealing.  I have fixed a cup of coffee.  In the background I hear the ticking of a clock and the traffic sounds from the busy streets half a block away.  As you may know the rooms in European homes are usually much smaller than those in American homes.  This kitchen is no exception.  As I looked for my coffee makings, I came across something I have never seen in any other country.  Among a group of cans of soup, I noticed a can of "Cock-a-Leekie" soup.  This soup made with leeks and chicken I have never seen nor heard of any where outside the United Kingdom. 

Monday was mostly consumed with preparations for and travel from Paris to London's Gatwick Airport.  That is where the less expensive flights usually land. Tuesday was mostly consumed with making all the subway, train, and bus connections to travel from that far side of the London metropolis to this side.  But, last evening we had a delightful time with Andrze (Renata is in Poland visiting). First we went to a local pub and watched the Poland team defeat the Ukraine team in the Euro Cup match.  This moves them one step closer to a possible capture of the cup.  After the game we strolled to a different pub and had a lovely dinner.  It was so delightful to have time for Andrze to catch us up on the wonderful relationships he and Renata have been developing here in the UK.  They have been knit into a loving community of believers and are beginning to be recognized as the gifts they are to the Bride here.  It is amazing to hear their story about how the Lord orchestrated transplanting them from Kraków, Poland to London, England.  I hope each of you get to hear their story sometime.

We had a very pleasant stroll along the local canal as we returned home.  After some time to chat and pray we were all getting ready to sleep.  Suddenly Mariusz was bursting with excitement.  He had just received an email from Anne Marie in the USA forwarding an email from a friend we all had met in Brussels, Belgium.  The email told us that our friend from Brussels has moved out of Brussels.  She moved to London.  She now is living just a few blocks from where we are located right now.  She sent all of her contact information and we are looking forward to meeting with her.  Now, I suppose you could find someone with enough faith in 'chance' to say it is a mere coincidence that we received this information the very evening when we arrive in the place to use it.  I am a man of much smaller faith.  I just believe Holy Spirit is at work again.  

I find it fascinating to contemplate the radical difference in our lives when we choose to accept that it is a practical possibility to do nothing that we do not see our Father doing and to say nothing we have not heard our Father saying.  It saddens me to see the rampantly widespread unbelief.  People call themselves Christians.  And yet, they simply do not believe that God is speaking to them.  They do not believe that Father chooses to act on the Earth through them.  They live with no conscious awareness of the presence of the Creator God.  How can one say "Jesus is Lord." and at the same time say, "I do not hear Jesus speaking to me."   These are logically inconsistent statements.  

His, thus Yours,

  Stuart