Three years.
At least, nearly that.
Three years since something incredible.
Three years and I still do not know the words to show you.
Three years since a journey that saw 17 people - once strangers but now joined as brothers and sisters - board a plane bound for India...
That journey changed my life. That journey is still changing my life; still forming, shaping, moulding the way I see...the way that I look at prayer.
Three years ago I did not know their faces, I did not know their names. I had never heard their voices, or seen the light within their eyes. Such a blessing it has been, now three years later, to say all that is different.
To those of you who know, and those of you who don't, I am thinking of the children whom we met along the way. Along a path so steep at times it made you question "what's the point?" But then you enter in, into another world. You enter the places where they live, you see a village spread out along the hills. They come running from all directions, smiling, laughing, speaking...
They are the reason we came.
Brothers and sisters, those who were with me - who know the same faces, heard the same voices and learned the same names - and those who were not there. Remember with me now, the things that were once so strong and clear. Remember them. And remember the one who took us to them.
Dream with me now. Revive a dormant passion. Imagine, those same communities so changed, so powerfully and completely transformed. Imagine a generation, different from all the rest. Imagine those who grew up knowing group after group coming into their homes, speaking a brand new language. Not a language conveyed by the mouths of man, but one carried on through faithful hearts. Imagine a generation growing up knowing, somehow, there is a different norm. Imagine visions, dreams, a voice calling through the valley. Young children growing up, taking the place of leaders before them, with a new and altered understanding, backed by the prayers of so many who have been blessed by them throughout the years. Imagine joining together, now, with many, in praying once again.
He said "two or more," but imagine hundreds! Come back with me a moment, and recall the wondrous things. So much accomplished through prayer, through joining together in seeking a Will much greater than our own. Dare to ask for amazing things, and know that it can be!
Dear brothers and sisters, let me paint for you a picture. A vision. Capture again the faces and the places. Hold them tight within your heart. Think of them and wonder, what has happened since we left? Picture all those children, sitting in the village centre, for a time only playing games, but in a far more subtle way, being shaped and challenged to take another look. Another look at how community is done, another look and what it means to love. Those hearts and minds, from the moment they are able to remember, being affected bit by bit through those who followed some call. Imagine now, they are grown, suddenly it's up to them. What a glorious opportunity! Think how different things might be! You know the changes that took place while we were with them there, imagine now how that could be a place with freedom to ask new things, to change somehow. Just picture what could happen there!
See how those faces begin to shine, see it with your heart. There is a picture I recall, the sun was going down beyond the distant mountains. And as it started to disappear, such radiance it left behind...traces of what could await. Traces such radiant joy, matched by those small, smiling faces.
Let us not forget that time, the places or the people. Join with me again in prayer! He said "Two or more," but imagine hundreds!
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