More quit smoking!

The Roma mother's steely determination to quit smoking and be baptised has had just the effect I have prayed for.  Two others have now quit and another is lined up to follow.  This will mean three families will have become smoke free within a week or so.  This means 10 children will now be in a smoke free environment.  I got my calculator out.  The total saving for one year will be £4,810.  This blew them all away. But all that is nothing compared to the spiritual power that is being released as a result.   Smoking is understood as sin and a real blockage to knowing God.  Remove the blockage and faith is born.  With the birth of faith comes a growth in confidence and vitality.  Against all the odds, hope is being kindled that maybe things might just get better for a people who have known nothing but misery and marginalization.  At our weekly prayer meeting I told the story of Jesus' resurrection appearance at the lake side on the morning after the disciples had fished in vain all night.  The message: Jesus actively chooses to show up when the chips are down and all hope has been shattered.  The people can be so broken that they are blinded to recognising him when he appears.   Rather that dazzle them, he slips into their lives at first without them noticing.  He weaves his presence into the fabric of lives that have been torn apart.  A new garment of praise replaces a garment of mourning.  Luton Roma Church is coming to birth in the same way that a living organism takes shape - seemingly random events conspire to bring something out of nothing.  There's nothing to shout from the rooftops.  But there's a story emerging in the gutter.  My role?  To try to make connections and point to what might be missed.  "O Del si amensa. Tu dikes?"  "God is with us.  Do you see?"