It’s January 1st 2014, the
weather outside is absolutely foul, the fire has been lit already, the house is
quiet – what better time to sit and reflect on the past few months as well as
look forward to the next few!
2013 allowed me trips to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda,
Ethiopia and India with CRED – some places more than once, and mostly with
teams. In total there were about 130 on the teams, plus another 40 who went on
teams that I organized but accompany.
What a privilege to be involved in helping
170 people travel overseas and experience God’s Kingdom being worked out in
various corners of the world. And the fact that many of those team members
don’t really have much if any contact with church at home means that the trips
are also an opportunity for them to explore life from a faith perspective in
new and powerful ways.
Those teams visited numerous projects that
are linked with CRED partners, and brought smiles laughter fun and games to
hundreds of children. They also brought resources, finances and professional
support to the staff of the projects, primarily through the avenue of
education, but it did go wider than that.
From street kids and displaced tribes in
Uganda and Rwanda, to school children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Kenya
and India, to community projects and ex-prostitutes in Ethiopia – we’ve been
honoured to work with some incredible people running some inspirational
projects, all with the prime aim of reaching out with God’s love to the broken,
downtrodden, marginalized and vulnerable
And when I consider the team members – well
that again makes me pinch myself, as I feel so blessed to be involved in so
many life transforming experiences. The ages ranged from 10year old to over
70year old, and included young people from foster care, or with history of
ASBOs, or from families known to the police, or who are young carers, or who
are from ‘average middle-class families’, or who live on deprived estates, or
who are at University, or are NEETs….ie a real cross-section of society. And
yet for each person, their participation in the trip made a massive difference
to them, their perspective on life, their view of themselves, their thoughts
about the future. As I said – I feel so blessed to be involved in all this
through the work that I do with CRED.
And then outside of CRED there are a couple
of key moments in 2013 worthy of a big thank you to God (as opposed to all the
other moments worthy of a big thank you to God!)
The main one has to be the transition that
has taken place in the Harrison household with Roz going to University (and
totally sussing how to hold in balance being a Christian and being a student),
Natalie going off to India / Thailand / Cambodia for her YWAM DTS course (thank
you Lord for Skype!), and Tim and I having some really special times together
as we revert to being just the two of us for term-times: thank you Lord that it
has gone so much smoother than I dared dream of, and that life feels even
richer now than ever before.
And the other key moment that blew me away
was the winter coat collection just in the past few weeks. The small town of
Thornbury, with a bit of help from Portishead,
in a very random and unplanned way, pulled together and gathered about
500 winter coats that I have taken down to the Kids company centre in Bristol.
As a result 500 children and young people are warmer now than they thought they
were going to be this year and all their parents have one less thing to worry
about as they try to work out how to make not enough money go as far as
possible. A fabulous example of a community coming together and making a
difference – I wonder what could happen in 2014 if I actually put a bit of
planning into it all?
So, that’s a very brief look back at 2013.
So much more I could include but I’m not going to push my luck!
Instead, here’s a glimpse into 2014 of what
is on the horizon thus far:
CRED team trips to: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda,
Ethiopia, India and Uganda 360; I also have reccy trips to Uganda, Kenya,
Zambia and Mexico lined up – so that will fill my passport up!
Some of the teams are return visits to
projects already visited, but others are to new projects, bringing blessings to
new people.
Most of the team members are first-timers,
so approx. 170 new people getting out on the ‘mission field’.
We are in conversation with two UK
organisations regarding possible partnerships for 360 trips which could be
really exciting if they come off – please pray for these conversations, even
though I don’t feel ready to name the org’s quite so publicly!
And lots more ongoing development of CRED,
as well as Natalie coming home in August, Rozzie continuing with her new life
in Durham, Tim and I fitting in some dates amongst the various travels on both
our schedules, and all 4 of us having a holiday together in Uganda in March.
Only God knows how it will all work out,
and what else will fit into the year; and I’m happy to leave it at that. I’m
sure there will be some tough times as well as happy times, but for now
ignorance is bliss, and so long as it is in God’s hands, there is no need for
it to be anywhere else.
My verses for the coming year: Proverbs 3;5
– 6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He
will make your paths straight.
Well-known verses, but they came to me the
other day again, and as one who can get a bit too absorbed in analysis and
trying to second-guess or anticipate, or spend too much time worrying about
what might not happen, a year of following those verses seems like a good move!
So, here’s to 2014. May it be a good one
for you, and all your loved ones. Thank you for journeying along with me, and
CRED – I hope that you enjoy the coming year of exploits.
God bless
And happy New Year!
Helen
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