Once more from Lima
It’s late again. Didn’t leave the church until almost midnight. That’s late even in this nocturnal town. This trip has been a whirlwind, but I don’t tell you that to gain sympathy – though I’ll take all I can get!
It’s hard to put this into words even if I weren’t so tired. Suffice it to say that this has simply been one of those times when God has been at work in a visible, tangible way. From the beginning, when Beto wrote to me months ago and I immediately sensed the need to encourage him, this has been something God-initiated. Then, for a small window in my schedule to open up like this – doesn’t happen very often. Honestly, I wanted to stay home. I fought this. I discussed this with several confidants and we all sensed that this was something that I needed to do. They were right.
Each night there have been around 350 present. About 150 of them are pastors. The rest are other church leaders and some church members. That’s a pretty high percentage of pastors in a meeting like this. The receptivity and interest have been striking. Just about everyone has had a sense that this is something that God is doing and that it is just beginning.
I really don’t know what else to say right now except that the host church, Beto’s church, is enthusiastically ready to join up with the BKA. As in the other Latin American churches I have visited concerning the alliance, the burden for the K people arrived before I did, and not knowing that I was going talk about the Ks. This has happened several times now and simply underscores that this is something much bigger than I am, or even all of us together.
Tomorrow the morning will be a bit more relaxed. We need that. Tomorrow night I take the overnight flight home. I’m not looking forward to spending the night in coach class on a jam-packed airplane, but that is the price of admission I guess. One bright spot is that my longtime close friend Ruben is going to pick me up and take me to the airport. Ruben and I have worked together on many occasions and there are few people in whom I have more confidence. I’m excited to spend that time with him. What a great friend he has been. Fighting Lima rush hour traffic will probably be a two hour or more trip, so we should have some time to catch up.