September 4 -- Alone

Good Morning Beloved Ones !  I started writing this about 24 hours ago in my dormitory room in Kara.  I am now back in the Hotel dining room in Lomé.  Of those 24 hours, 6 long ones were spent riding in the back seat of a hot humid car.  The Togolaise "inter-state" makes for fascinating driving.  At times it was raining so hard the driver could only see one or two car-lengths ahead.  During those times we had to roll up the windows of this un-air conditioned metal box.  Sauna is a much too civilized word for the experience.  At other times were moving along at 100 to 120 kph (60 to 75 mph).  But this inter-state had only 2 paved lanes and no paved shoulders along the edges.  Thus any broken down truck was simply stopped in the travel lane.  Usually it had some men crawling under it or walking around it.  In addition, there were frequent holes in the pavement.  Pot-holes is much too puny a word to describe them.  Many were large enough to break an axle if we hit them too fast.  Some were large enough to hide the casket which you would need if you hit them.  Our driver was  OUTSTANDING !  But, even he had to stomp on the brakes hard from time to time.  To say the least it was not a restful drive.  Of those 24 hours, 8 which seemed much shorter, were spent sleeping here in Lomé.

Although the sleeping and driving seem like they should be enough to completely fill the day, they were the easy parts of the day.  When  I interrupted writing yesterday morning it was to get into the car with all our luggage, check out of the dormitory, and drive to our usual breakfast restaurant.  We knew we would have no time to eat lunch so we each had a hearty breakfast.  After eating we dashed to the meeting.  There the team shared about being connected in relationships in the Bride of Christ.  We also shared about getting our minds renewed.  And finally we shared about our freedom in Christ.  For the last hour we shared prophetic words with each of the people who desired to receive. Then we dashed for the car to drive south.

After we arrived in Lomé we had time for a quick shower before leaving to go out for dinner with a lovely local family.  The father, our host, asked us to explain the concept of having someone watching over our souls.  He, and his lovely daughter Stephanie, were marvelous dinner companions and a great time was had by all.

There is a great classic American movie starring Tim Robbins called The Shawshank Redemption.  Shawshank is the name of a prison where the Tim Robbins character is incarcerated.  During his imprisonment he is frequently punished for offenses by being placed in a dark cell where he is completely alone, "the hole".  And yet, it appears that his time alone, at worst has not affected him, and often he appears to emerge from "the hole" stronger and more confident than before.  Every person goes through periods in life when he feels like he is completely alone.  During these times we feel like no one understands what we are going through. We feel alone, imprisoned, and cut-off from any real contact with love or empathy.

When Jesus went out into the desert to be tested he appeared to be alone.  But we only believe that if we forget that it was just before he went the Holy Spirit came upon Him like a dove. Whenever you are feeling alone.  When you look around yourself and see no one standing with you.  Pause a moment and look within yourself.  That is where God chooses to live when we invite Him.  His commitment is that He NEVER leaves us.  NEVER !  Simply believe Him.

His, thus Yours,

 Stuart