Get to Rest!

Farming crops in the Gambia

“Rest?! We’ve got eternity to rest!”

So quipped the church worker half-jokingly, half-revealing his approach to work and rest (this was back home in England). He was serving away on his small staff team, no doubt inspiring many by his relentless hard work and wholeheartedness. Admirable zeal or misguided heading-for-a-premature-mid-life-crisis and serious exhaustion? I reckon a bit of both.

I recently read Going the Distance: How to Stay Fit for a Lifetime of Ministry by Peter Brain (2004). I was given the book 6 years ago and finally got round to reading it… It always seemed like the subject of persevering in the long-haul of ministry was a long-way off (I feel like I’ve only just crossed the start-line), but I figured that forewarned is forearmed, and generally in life challenges tend to come when one isn’t expecting them. So I thought I’d seize the moment and add it to my reading list.

It got me thinking afresh about rest.

The book is largely about “self-care” in Christian ministry. To many, that might sound indulgent. Doesn’t Jesus call us to deny ourselves and take up our cross as we follow him? Absolutely he does. And as I recently heard the inspirational Simon Guillebaud express, “God doesn’t promise us an easy journey; but he does promise us a safe arrival.” All of Jesus’ followers and particularly those in pastoral ministry, it seems from the Scriptures, are called to “Endure hardship… like a good soldier… as an athlete… [and a] hardworking farmer” (2 Timothy 2:3-6). It’s not meant to be easy.

But Peter Brain helpfully comments:

This call to self-denial refers to our “motivational self”, whereas self-care deals with our “structural self”… Self-denial does not mean denying our humanity expressed in a need for rest, friendship, strength, wisdom and support. Rather, it involves a willingness to deny self-interest. (pp.22-23)

Whilst we’re to deny any self-obsessed motivation or desires, and instead follow Christ alone, we are but frail created beings who need physical, mental, emotional and spiritual rest and refreshment in order to function.

A clear command

I’ve been re-reading the first few books of the Bible recently and the Sabbath command is manifestly not just an incidental thought - it of course makes it into the “Top Ten” in a sense, the Ten Commandments, and is oft repeated. Whilst all of God’s commands are binding and good, these ten are of special importance. Here’s the original occurrence:

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work… (Exodus 20:8-10)

I was struck by the emphasis when the command is repeated a few pages later:

Six days you shall labour, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the ploughing season and harvest you must rest. (Exodus 34:21)

God knows what he’s doing. He’s telling us to stop being productive when we could keep working. Even during times when there is a significant amount of urgent work to be done (ploughing / harvest), God still tells us to observe the Sabbath. Six days of work, then stop for a day. Rest. Even when your exam is next week, even when your annual project is reaching its climax, “you must rest.”

It’s not a wholly straightforward thing to apply Old Testament laws to the Christian life, and so there’s always been a variety of approaches to interpreting the Sabbath command for Christians today. But I should think at least the principle is unmistakable. We really are to rest regularly - even weekly. It’s undeniable how every day our bodies are even designed to remind us that we need to rest. What a very humbling thing sleep is. In order to do anything, every day I need to just lie flat for a good many hours doing absolutely nothing, hardly even conscious of my existence. If I don’t, I really struggle to function! Sleep is an uncanny precursor and reminder of our mortality - the day will come before long when I will lie flat, all my work will be over and the world will carry on just as it did. That our short life of work can achieve anything of lasting value - which God’s word says it can - is astonishing.

A substantial aim of Brain’s book seems to be to protect his readers from ‘burnout’, a sadly common reality for pastors / ministers / missionaries / whatever, as much as for anyone else. The book helpfully addresses some of the particular challenges faced in those kinds of ‘callings’.

And Brain longs for us to recognise that when we’re flagging and beginning to show signs of burnout, we must heed the warnings! When we do so, we can treat it as a friend rather than a foe:

Burnout can be devastating, a relentless foe that will keep on capturing pastors, and robbing us of joy in ministry and life in general. Though probably inevitable, its symptoms, if spotted early, can be reversed. They become an invitation to recover our perspective. Its symptoms can be likened to a caring friend who says, “It’s time to slow down, to regroup, to turn out for a while.” Far from being an invitation to be self-indulgent, the preventative strategies we put in place, like the regular servicing of our motor car, will work to keep us on track and running well for as long as possible.

Lazy or workaholic?

Most of us probably know if we’re more prone towards laziness or workaholism. I’ve been reflecting on how one particular Bible passage addresses us either way. It’s an extremely significant few words, which go right to the heart of the Christian believer’s identity, originally written regarding sexual purity, but applicable to any area of life:

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Lazy?
When I’m prone to laziness I need to remember these 3 ultimate truths:

• I am not my own: I am not at liberty to fritter away life as I choose. I have a Master. 
• I was bought at a price: Do I realise how loved I am by my Master? How treasured I am by God? He did not spare his own precious eternal Son, but gave him up for me! “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
• I’m to honour God with my body: Though weak, I am called to get on and give God glory with some hard work. 

Workaholic?
When I’m prone to workaholism (“Rest?! We’ve got eternity to rest!”), I also need to remember these same 3 ultimate truths:

• I am not my own: I am not at liberty to set the rules and ignore God’s humbling design of rest. 
• I was bought at a price: I won’t earn any extra favour with God through my hard work, and he doesn’t expect me to work beyond my capacity. He already loves me infinitely and spent his Son’s precious blood to purchase me and redeem me from the condemnation I deserve. 
• I’m to honour God with my body: Stop work and give God the glory by resting - acknowledging that he will still be working, achieving his sovereign purposes, even when I am resting, sleeping and even dead. 

Here’s the issue - will I believe God’s word and design? He says that if I am to honour him and work as he wants me to, thereby achieving the fruitful purposes that he desires from my life, that will involve rest. If I recognise the privilege of working for the Lord, and if I appreciate the mystery and wonder of my pathetic little life having any impact in God’s world, then I must take this seriously. The value you place on your rest reveals the value you place on your work.

Yes, eternity will be sweet rest. Rest is a beautiful word that is used throughout the Bible to describe our eternal enjoyment of God in all his glory, goodness and grace after this life. Oh, how wonderful that will be! But even as we labour and strive now in whatever sphere he has called us to, however urgent and important the work is, we are called to rest regularly - to refresh our weak selves and to remember that through faith in Jesus we have become God’s children in whom he delights. We are weak but our Father is strong. We are just creatures but our Father is the Creator. We are finite and small but our Father is sovereign and his loving hand is over all that we are and all that we do. 

Why not take some time to look at your schedule and consider... 

• How much sleep you’re really getting and how much you need;
• When each week you’re going to have a day of rest;
• When each term or few months you’re going to get a proper rest.

Let’s get to rest!

Why You Must Unsubscribe From Emails

You may be wondering what inspired the uncharacteristic abruptness of this post’s title. You may also be wondering what prompted a subject matter pretty different from all previous posts on this blog. Wonder no more:

1. Bold titles seem to be what bloggers do.
2. Subject prompted by a recent dramatic change in my email experience. 

Let me elaborate…

Extraordinarily ordinary

Email is extraordinary. The extraordinary thing is how it’s become ordinary for so many people in the world, yet it seems to possess an extraordinary power to dominate and frustrate our working lives or our personal lives. We recognise its usefulness, or perhaps more often we just resign ourselves to its inevitably (and sometimes uncontrollably) massive role in our lives.

That was very much my experience, but I’ve moved to Africa and a lot has changed! In my context here in the Gambia, email seems to be a much smaller part of life. I’m no expert in either information technology or global development but my impression is that this is one of those areas that people talk of in terms of “leap-frog development”, where a stage of development that the West experienced is jumped over en route to the next thing. Another example would be mobile phones - now almost universal here, yet very few ever had landlines.

In the West, computers gradually came in to business use then domestic use (oh, memories of Encarta in the 90s!), then the internet gradually became more widely used, then email became an increasingly dominant form of communication, to the extent where now we couldn’t imagine school / university / work / personal lives without it. But here in the Gambia, very few homes or schools have computers. So the level of general computer literacy is far lower. However, the mobile phone market has boomed, even quicker than it did in the West, I expect. The upshot is that people here (and I believe in many other parts of Africa too) do a huge amount on affordable smartphones with mobile data, which most of us in the West learned to do on computers. So people use mobile messaging, mobile social media, mobile banking, though they may have never used email, typed out a Word document or had a bank account. Now that WhatsApp and others don’t even require typing but can send and receive audio messages, all these functions are hugely useful when reading and writing might be more of a struggle. So it seems that emails were generally leaped over, and now it’s all about instant text or audio messages.

That’s just a little aside to explain why I now find myself in a context where email is (believe it or not) really not that big a deal for most people. That’s quite a change from my previous (ministry) job where communications and correspondence were a key element of the job. On a working day I’d normally get between 50 and 100 emails. I appreciate that many get far more. Well, I soon realised that, for me, that was enough to require a strategy for survival, if I was going to fulfil the duties of my job and ministry effectively and gladly, and not have to dread and endure every day feeling like I had massive heavy shackles round my ankles labelled, “YOU’VE GOT SO MANY EMAILS YOU NEED TO DEAL WITH!”

Seeking help

Reading some blogs was a help. And some colleagues and friends had various tips and systems, which were a help too. But I have to testify to one particular book, and the same author’s blog, being the most help.

That book is What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (2014) by Matt Perman and his blog is here. (You can read a friend of mine’s review of the book here.) I hesitated to mention it because, whilst I and many others have been immensely helped by this book, some have understandably reacted cynically to what can sound - to suspicious British ears especially - like hyped-up thoughts of one particular fallible author from a particular (American) context. But I’d urge you to give him some slack. I won’t review the book here but let me just say that it’s one of the books that has had the most significant impact on the way I live as a result of reading it. (I was surprised and interested to hear a talk from a Kenyan at a pastors’ training conference in Nairobi last year, which was a very positive endorsement and summary of the book, suggesting that its appeal and use might be wider than one initially thinks. Admittedly, Nairobi is considerably more influenced by the West than many other parts of Africa.)

The book is a distinctly Christian approach to the old “Getting Things Done” question - how can I be most productive or effective? Perman persuasively shows from the Bible that this is not just a “secular” issue but a question of central importance to the Christian believer, as God saves people not simply to be saved but to be used for his glory in his world. And his intention for his people isn’t just to be used a little bit, but to to “bear much fruit” (John 15:8) and to “devote themselves to doing what is good” (Titus 3:8,14). After some careful theological unpacking of this theme, Perman moves on to a very practical second half of the book, where he draws on a lot of secular wisdom regarding productivity and “getting things done”, but uses a biblical and thoroughly gospel-centred filter to assemble his approach.

Transforming email

There were many things, both theological and practical, that were of significant benefit to me from What’s Best Next, and one of the most nitty-gritty was about email. This was then further helped by Perman’s ambitiously titled blog post, “How to Get Your Email Inbox to Zero Every Day”. Now I know that that kind of title will lead to various responses:

1. “Whatever.” (*eye-roll*) 
2. “I despair: I’ve tried things but they never work.” 
3. “Yes please! Tell me how!” 

If you’re a 1, you’re doing well so far - will you hear me out…? If you’re a 2, please also hang in with me. If you’re a 3, hold your horses.

1s & 2s: it worked for me. Honestly. When I implemented what Perman proposes (with minor tweaks for my situation), I would reach inbox zero every day. I promise. And it wasn’t burdensome. Perman also says it works for him and I’m sure he gets a lot more email than I did. I can’t stop you saying “Whatever” if you still want to.

3s: Having read Perman’s book steadily and prayerfully, I made some substantial bigger-picture changes first: most importantly, I carefully thought about a mission and vision statement for my life (one of the things he encourages in the book), which I hadn’t done particularly prayerfully or thoughtfully before. I believe that laid the larger mental and theological foundation that I needed, on which I could then build with practical disciplines and habits such as the inbox zero thing. I would strongly urge you to do the same - zoom out and invest some time praying and thinking through the highly important theological questions about what our lives are about and what your life in particular is about (and I believe Perman’s book will help you with that), before zooming in and addressing the nuts and bolts of email systems. Otherwise the systems and disciplines will have no foundations and will soon crumble. Then read the article.

Liberating unsubscribing

If you’re still with me… what’s this all got to do with unsubscribing from emails?

Well, one of the ingredients of Perman’s system is a ruthless approach to emails you receive but never read. Rightly so! It’s such an inefficient way to function, but I’m sure we’ve all done it (I certainly have) -

1. We sign up to an email list, 
2. We regret it, 
3. We never read the emails and just delete them (or worse, ignore them) every time. 

I estimate that the average reader of this blog probably right now has at least half a dozen regular emails like that, which frequently slide into their inboxes, perhaps even with a horribly aggressive notification “ping”. (Separate point: you’ve got to turn off those notifications… Enslave your emails or they’ll enslave you!) Maybe the emails come from good causes or ministries, which we once felt drawn to but now (legitimately) can’t invest our limited time in. Or maybe they’re marketing emails that we never buy anything from or even things we honestly can’t remember what they are!

Consider how much time you’d save if the next time you receive one such email, you just click on the unsubscribe link and unsubscribe. Hooray! You’re free from ever receiving that annoying email again!

It will gain you time. Moreover, to use a classic Perman phrase, it will “reduce the drag on your life”. This is one of the recurring ideas in his book, and it’s quite compelling. Think how fast cars and planes are super smooth, to maximise aerodynamic efficiency. Little disciplines like unsubscribing from unnecessary emails similarly reduce the drag on our lives - not having frustrations or inefficiencies clogging up our limited mental and emotional capacities.

Why not have a blitz, and spend an hour (or a few…) going through your inbox and unsubscribing from all such emails (while you’re at it, turn off email notifications for things like Twitter or your calendar, if you don’t need them - colossal waste of email space) - and also resolve to do the same immediately the next time you receive any other emails like that. It’s very liberating! As they say, “tidy desk - tidy mind”. That just as much applies to our computer’s desktop or our email inbox.

Permission to ignore me

The thing that actually prompted me to write this blog post was when I was composing my last prayer email - a roughly monthly email to friends and gospel partners who like to hear some news from me and pray for me. I’m so thankful for everyone who receives it, but I can’t help but know that out of everyone on the list, I’m 100% sure that some don’t read it, don’t pray through it, and just ignore it or delete it. And that’s fine! Honestly, it is! Because I know that there are just too many emails, too many causes, and we can’t all read about and pray for everything. (Thankfully I have reason for confidence that closer family and friends do respond a bit differently and, I trust, some others too!)

So I truly wish those people would just unsubscribe. [*Braces himself for his email recipients list suddenly shrinking to 1/10th the size!*] I hate the thought of emails I’ve written being those infuriating ones that you know you should probably just unsubscribe from, but haven’t got round to / would feel bad about doing so… Please just do it! It’d be a far more efficient use of your God-given time, and I really won’t be offended.

Here’s to slightly improved email efficiency.

Surf Update - January 2016

I feel like Christopher Columbus returning from America!

As I hoped and suspected, (some of) the surf here in the Gambia is EXCELLENT! I had a week of holiday over New Year and headed down what’s called “the coastal road”, with my board in the car, stopping at various beaches along the way. Below is a summary of my findings so far, working southwards (the distances are all from Fajara where I live and work). In general, up near where I live the surf seems not to be great, but then the further south you go it seems to just get better and better…

Note on wave heights: I’m always terrible at judging wave heights; it’s always a slightly impossible task. So I’m opting for the slightly easier to gauge measure of waves against an average surfer’s height as they ride the wave - knee height / waist height / chest height / head height / over head height…

1. Cape Point (c.2km north)

This was where I hung out with Mama on Christmas Day - a big beautiful beach with a nice restaurant. I knew the surf wouldn’t be great - this beach turns the corner from all the West-facing beaches to face North-East - but I thought it’d be worth taking the board to say I surfed on Christmas Day!

I gave it a go. Most of the beach faces North-East and is quite exposed - looking out to the wide river mouth estuary, so there are few waves, but it could be really excellent for windsurfing when the wind’s up. If you wander towards the point itself though you see some waves breaking off it, coming in from the Atlantic. These were worth having a try, but were only just powerful enough to surf. I did spot some nice-looking more substantial waves further out, but being a big river estuary into the Atlantic Ocean I wasn’t surprised when I began to feel some quite strong currents… So I wasn’t going to paddle out there alone - the only surfer around, with very few people on the beach!

2. Fajara (near home)

This is the closest spot - by a nice residential area, just north of the main touristy area, so a little quieter, but still quite a few people around.

In terms of surf, the waves here are pretty constant and not small (would often be at least shoulder height if one could stand up) but they almost always seem to be very “dumpy” - that is, after building up they “close out” or crash all at once. What you want is for the wave to “peel” gradually from one side to another as it comes in, so that you can surf along the face of it. When trying to catch these waves at Fajara, at the crucial moment when you need to pop up and stand on the board, the wave suddenly builds and crashes, most likely sending you over the front of the board.

So it’s not great here.

But… just a teeny bit further north, there is a small rocky point… No one swims there therefore and I’m nervous to surf there because of all the rocks on the shallow sea bed under the waves. But there are a couple of spots with beautiful waves breaking off the point, peeling both ways. If I get to a level where I’m very confident of my ability not to be thrown off my board onto the rocks (though even the best can never guarantee!), then I might give it a go…

The rocky break at Fajara point

3. Senegambia (c. 5km south)

This is the beach by the (not pleasant) main touristy area. Crowds of topless and sunburnt overweight beer-swigging tourists… Welcome to the impression we give of the West!
 

Senegambia Beach

But it seems the waves are a bit better here than Fajara. I’ve only been to surf once, and it was my first surf here in the Gambia (was nice that I’d found a couple of other [European] surfers to go with). It was again pretty dumpy but occasionally there were some nicer waves holding up a bit longer. One of the tricky things about surfing, and particularly scouting out surf in a new area, is that every wave is different and every day is different. There are so many conditions and factors that effect what waves appear. So this spot has promise and could well be good on some days (maybe with a stronger off-shore wind holding up the waves?).

4. Tujering / Batukunku (c.25 km south)

When you reach here you’ve passed Tanji, the southernmost main town of the populous northern stretch of the coastal belt. The beach here, like all the way south down to the Senegalese border, bar the odd fishing beach, is very empty and beautifully clean. Just the occasional juice shack with the very occasional customer.
 

Batukunku Beach

Tujering and neighbouring Batukunku are very promising surf spots. The waves were frequent, a nice height (about waist height to shoulder height), and peeling nicely left-to-right and right-to-left. Absolutely beautiful. Only downside: the beaches are so deserted, safety is again a slight concern!

5. Gunjur (c.45km south)

I spent a night at a very pleasant eco-lodge (Footsteps) near Gunjur. The beach is a 10 minute drive from the lodge, over very bumpy off-road conditions. It would probably only take 15 minutes to walk. The beach is, again, empty and beautiful. (This is just 1km or so north of a fishing beach.)

This was definitely the best spot I’d found so far. Very much like Tujering but somehow it just felt even a smidge better! Ah! Was so good! Again, no one around though, except a juice presser with no customers and no swimming ability - he was captivated by the surfing, which he’d never seen before. So another idyllic spot but you’re on your own in case of emergency! 

There was a very strong off-shore wind the day I went - apparently common for this time of year (the edge of the ‘Harmattan’, massive sandstorms from the Sahara desert. That really helped hold up the waves as they came in. 

6. Boboi (c.55km south)

This has been a favourite spot in the Gambia since I first came 11 years ago in 2005. Now that I’ve discovered it also has beautiful surf, it’s unquestionably my favourite spot in the country!
 

Boboi Beach Lodge is a basic but comfortable place right by the beach, just north of the (almost) border town of Kartong. It’s got very friendly staff (and dogs), good food at a decent price, and above all the most exquisite sense of peace and quiet. I stayed in a treehouse with a stunningly beautiful view out to sea.

And the surf was good every day! Some parts of the day it calmed down, which gave me time to do some reading and get my breath back. It’s similar to the beaches above at Tujering and Gunjur, but you’ve got the added benefit of being right by your treehouse and restaurant! The dream!

—

“Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.” (1 Timothy 4:4)

I thank God so much for the amazing playground that is the sea! I find surfing so refreshing and fun and exhilarating. Surfing can be a very unforgiving activity and has taken a lot of hours in the sea to learn, with lots of frustrations, discouragements and wipe-outs… And I’ve still got a long, long way to go! (I’m at the stage of just beginning to turn into waves rather than simply riding them in straight.) But I was thankful to notice whilst surfing over new year that I’d turned a corner from only occasionally catching waves that I wanted to, to usually catching waves that I wanted to!

And nothing compares to that sensation of gliding across the face of a wave, propelled purely by the moving and rising wave underneath you. Oh, it’s beautiful! One of countless unnecessarily beautiful gifts in God’s amazing world. Thank you, Father!

2015: 100 things I'm thankful for

“Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3:22-23

A pretty great sunset to say goodbye to 2015 with on New Year's Eve.

1. A loving family sending me away from home with their blessing and support 
2. Friends who care, pray, give, write, chat, bear with and encourage
3. Enjoying beautiful England before leaving 
4. Cycling in Oxfordshire 
5. Friends getting married 
6. Friends having babies 
7. Friends getting engaged 
8. Godchildren 
9. All that my parents’ cat (Flapjack) gave 
10. Signs of God’s sovereign hand in years gone by preparing me for work in the Gambia
11. A happy send-off after 15 years at camp 
12. Bracing swims in the North Sea 
13. Swimming with stunning phosphorescence in the sea at night 
14. The wonderful staff-team I worked with for 7 years
15. Very generous and kind friends from camp giving me 2 surfboards! 
16. Beautiful and fun holidays with friends, incredible sunsets and delicious food
17. Opportunities to improve surfing in Portugal and England 
18. Painting watercolours 
19. An amazing goodbye meal with my sister and her boyfriend 
20. Crosslinks: their care and gospel clarity 
21. A very helpful Crosslinks orientation 
22. UK churches partnering with me in gospel work
23. Financial provision 
24. My church in Oxford feeding me so well and encouraging me so much over the last 7 years
25. My parents’ example of and commitment to serving the Lord 
26. Safe passage from the UK to the Gambia, via cargo ship and local buses 
27. Time on the boat to read, pray, meditate and think 
28. Seeing dolphins for the first time 
29. God’s awesome creation that is the vast oceans 
30. The privilege and joy of teaching God’s word, training people for gospel work 
31. The privilege and joy of preaching God’s word in local churches 
32. God’s everlasting love 
33. Jesus giving himself to me as my Perfect Saviour, Gracious Friend and Mighty King
34. God’s forgiveness for all my sins and failures 
35. God’s sufficient grace for every trial 
36. God’s promise never to leave or forsake me 
37. God’s Spirit given as Helper, Comforter and pledge
38. The assurance that God works for good in all things for those who love him 
39. God’s precious word, the Bible 
40. Bible translation 
41. The amazing privilege of prayer 
42. The wonder of knowing God as my Father 
43. A quiet and peaceful spot to spend focused time with God each day 
44. The astonishing wonder of the incarnation: that GOD became a HUMAN BEING, who lived, suffered and died for us
45. Jesus’ victorious resurrection and the sure hope of eternal life and assurance of forgiveness it brings
46. Beautiful beaches 
47. Finding excellent surf in the Gambia 
48. Touch rugby on the beach 
49. Beautiful birds 
50. Beautiful sunsets 
51. Strength to endure heat 
52. Fans 
53. A body that can walk, run, jump, swim and surf 
54. Sleep 
55. Plentiful and delicious food 
56. A fridge-freezer 
57. Clean water to drink 
58. A house with plumbing, toilets, electricity 
59. Candles for power cuts 
60. A freshly painted house 
61. A laptop 
62. Encouragement through recorded talks and sermons 
63. Excellent books by gifted writers that encourage, challenge, refresh and stimulate
64. The remembrance of (some!) New Testament Greek from university days 
65. The personally helpful process of blogging 
66. Opportunities to encourage others 
67. Photographs of family, friends and memories 
68. God’s presence, provision and protection in loneliness 
69. A brilliant 4x4 and a very kind friend helping to source and ship it from Germany 
70. Fresh fruit even in the garden: pineapples, coconuts, passion fruits, bananas, mangoes 
71. Fresh fruit juice 
72. Banana bread 
73. Chocolate 
74. Fresh coffee 
75. Tea 
76. Mama: her love, care, prayers, encouragement, wisdom, laughter and cooking 
77. Pastor Steven: his example, helpfulness and wisdom 
78. Examples of humility, perseverance, joy and faith from fellow believers 
79. SOW: provision for this Bible school to function as it does 
80. The privilege of working alongside faithful gospel workers 
81. A plot of land for SOW to develop in future years 
82. Lessons learned from the life of John Newton, a wretch saved by amazing and sufficient grace 
83. A dentist and healing after dental treatment 
84. Provision and safe transport of diabetes supplies 
85. Safety from accident or attack 
86. Peace 
87. The assurance that all rulers and authorities are in God’s sovereign hands 
88. Smartphones, mobile internet and WhatsApp allowing easy communication 
89. Postal service and the joy of receiving letters 
90. A friend sending me his old smartphone, even better than the one I had that was stolen 
91. DVDs that entertain and inspire 
92. The global language that is football 
93. New friends 
94. Music 
95. Encouraging, stirring and memorable Christian hymns and songs 
96. Ability to sing 
97. Ability to play musical instruments 
98. A visa to be in the Gambia 
99. The knowledge that God can be absolutely trusted for the future 
100. The certain hope of paradise which will never perish, spoil or fade, not because of anything in me but all because of Jesus 

“Count your blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

Johnson Oatman Jnr. (1856-1926)