End of a Fruitful Trip

My friend Vincent lent me a head
covering during meetings in Grasse.
Never mind that it is PLO colors!

I am sitting at Heathrow Airport waiting for a flight from here to Washington Dulles and onto Denver. It has been a fruitful, exhilarating, and tiring trip and I am ready to go home and to see Susy and Steven.
       I spent 5 days in France with a community in Grasse which is led by our friends Vincent and Nicole. 12 of us gathered to consider ministry to and with "the others." It was a rich and intimate time in many ways, as we had the privilege of walking alongside a community of "others" there.
       After our time in Grasse a group of us headed to England and the Christian Associates leadership summit. Susy and I have journeyed with CA for many years now, these folk are "the tribe of our youth" as it were.
       CA is a group in transition and is changing in many ways from what it once was. That has its plusses and minuses, its ups and downs. Overall I think CA is on a good path, and I am grateful that its leaders have allowed us space to form and incubate the Isaac-Ishmael Initiative.
       Here is my major takeaway from the past couple of weeks in Europe: I have a greater sensitivity to the need for PRESCENCE and PROXIMITY for ministry amongst the "other."
       This was so evident to me when I decided to go from London to Amsterdam on Wednesday to visit a long-time friend who is battling cancer. She is not well and I felt that it was right to be present in her home with she and her husband and kids. We sat around the table for several hours eating American pancakes and sipping good Dutch coffee. It was a precious time, but it took me getting on a plane and spending the day traveling to do it. It required INTENTION.