The first thing I must say is “thank you” to all of you who have supported me during the past weeks which have been devastating, through phone calls, texts, and emails. But especially through your prayers.

This week, I want to take a moment to introduce myself and share a little about what’s happening at Rural Missions. But first, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your ongoing support and prayers.

The Bible is packed with examples of older people living purposefully for God, being respected in their communities, and sharing wisdom with future generations. Abraham was 99 when God promised to make him the father of many nations. Moses was 80 when he spoke to Pharaoh, and the prophet Anna at 84 was worshipping God with fasting and prayer in the temple day and night. Abraham, Moses, and Anna are just some of those who honoured God well into old age and are now held up as wonderful examples to us.

The world of the Old Testament was based on agriculture. Many of the Old Testament scriptures were written not to people who lived in urban settings, but those who lived in rural settings. Wealth for example, was seen to be situated around land ownership. The book of Joshua has vast lists of families’ ownership of parts of the promised land - it was central to the covenant that defined the spiritual life of the nation.

When I was on a mission placement at Bible college, I had a conversion experience. Growing up in a village I used to assume that poverty was something that people overseas experienced. We were encouraged in Sunday School to put our pennies in a money box for the “poor” children in Africa. In my early twenties I was on placement for three months in Toxteth in Liverpool and I came across real poverty for the first time. I found a common theme of...

Long ago in ancient China, there lived an elderly farmer. One day his son came home excited. He had found a wonderful wild stallion in the forest, and he was going to keep it and train it. The farmer's friends said to him what a good thing that his son has found this wild stallion.

An old ancient sign hung above the door of a rural church. It read, “Those who wish to meet with God - enter in.”

The disciples were terrified! The Sea of Tiberias had been calm as a millpond when they set out for Capernaum, but now it was like a millrace. A storm had brewed up suddenly as it often did. From a calm sail from one side of the lake to the other they were now in the middle of a terrifying life threatening, tempest.