As some of you will know (from the post on Nov 12) we are returning to Dunedin. How did this come about? When we left Dunedin we were fully expecting to "emigrate" to Christchurch and we were willing to say, "good bye", to a wonderful home. with a self contained flat. A flat that we had hoped we could make available to those from out of town who have relatives in hospital. Our thinking was that, "perhaps we could pursue this dream in CHCH in the future?"
The time came when, if we were to stay in CHCH, we needed to put our house on the market. As we came to sell the house we needed to set a reserve and we prayed about this gaining a real peace about where we were to set it. We knew this was going to be a fleece as far as we were concerned in terms of God's will for us: if he wanted us to stay in CHCH then the house would need to sell (no problem for him) and if he wanted us back in Dunedin then the house would not sell.
All was fine until I (Blair) heard a message at Spreydon Baptist Church by Mike Duncan (some of you may know him from his time with Servants). His message was summed up for me by the comment he made, "Live the dream - are you living the dream?" The context of this would take too long to explain here. As I considered this in the context of his whole message, I believed strongly his message was clearly for us, so I got the CD and left it for Ann, "listen to this and tell me what you think." To cut a long story short we both agreed that God could be saying return to Dunedin even before the auction. What to do? We agreed it was important that we follow through on the auction.
In the mean time we began to think about the flat as a ministry and a business. You can imagine our excitement when we noticed that the speaker for the coming week at Spreydon was speaking on, "Business as Mission" not just business for mission. I was amazed at the timing of all of this and how things were dovetailing together. What nailed it for me was when the speaker, Peter Shaukat Business As Mission finished by asking, "will you serve God wherever, whenever and however?"
Why was Peter Shaukat's closing statement so significant for me? Just before I left Galmi Hospital in West Africa, back in 1990, God asked a very specific question of me as plain as day - "Will you serve me wherever, whenever, however and with whomever?" In all the years I have been back I have never once heard a message where the same phrase has been used. When I head these words I was stunned. For me this was conclusive that our return was of God: God saying that our thoughts re the flat is not just of Ann (it has been a long term dream for Ann to be able to do this) but that this is clearly of God and is for both of us.
We have no regrets about coming to CHCH and believe it was God's leading that brought us here. We have loved our time in this family friendly city and will find it hard to leave, especially the neighbourhood of Gilders Grove, it is like none other. The kids have so much freedom to roam safely and have such good friends in the street. But, we also have a real peace and in fact a sense of excitement, about returning. In our time here we have learned much and done heaps. We have also had the time and space to think. As one friend put it to us, "perhaps this time was meant as a sabbatical for you?" This is how we now see it.
December 2007
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