Moving on the river in a noisy tin bath of a boat makes me aware of the contrast between nature’s engineering and our man-made engineering. A fish swims silently and graceful in the water while our boat moves like an angry noisy monster, cumbersomely up river. You know, I’m thinking to myself what I would give just to feel the peace and serenity of my surroundings. But the boat droans on.

Ideas turn over in my head like cash in a bank. If only we could keep in mind the irreplacable withdrawls we are taking from this planet. It makes me think about the contribution to the pollution of these rivers we’re making with our boats and visits.

The engine drones on. My mind keeps ticking over in time to the song of the boat. I eventually interject ” Willie we need to think green in the Vine Trust . Willie looks listens and says ” Amazon Hope 3 can be painted green.” he turns his lip down – “Celtic will sponsor it”

We laugh but we both know this a big issue. The truth is we have already started on this topic. Yesterday we were hearing about strategies that could save us fuel, when using the boats. We need to take it further and find strategies in all we do that will contribute to us playing our part in saving the planet.

The thing is, ecology is a pursuit of the rich western world. When you’re poor, you’re poor. You use what is at your hand.

We arrived at Puerto Allegria and we are welcomed by 43 children. This reminds me of a film I saw years ago “Inn of the Sixth Happiness”. The boys in turn give their names along with their number. As we are introduced. It’s a bit like the BBs numbering sessions. Finally a small voice shouts a name and then 43. This isthe latest recruit. He spells out his name. All laugh, a kind of protective brotherly smile. The little 5 year old places his head against the legs of Gene the house father. At last he now has a place to belong.

He was brought to the home by his mother – she had her reasons. She loved him no doubt so much she gave him away. We don’t compute such action. In our society we just encourage abortion. So which is worse?

A few minutes later we tour the home. This is a jungle community, wooden walkways link the various boys’ dormitories. This is the peace I’ve been looking for. I stop and listen to the sounds on the wind, an exotic bird makes a gurgling noise. I think to myself. ” peace at last” I stoop down and take a picture of a parrot on a cage and a wee monkey locked inside it. Oh to be a boy again! No doubt this is one of the boys pets.

A wee boy runs past m with two fish in his hands, he’s got them for bait.
A slight breeze is in the air, another boy is fishing from a wooden walkway. Two more join him with little fish in their hands also. This is a million miles from Belen but only forty minutes up the river. A safe haven for these little ones.

I know now why so many work parties go to Puerto Allegria. To find peace. Moments later Willie’s on the scene, Paul and Lewis not far behind. It’s time to return to reality and hear about the refurbishment issues facing Amazon Hope 1. Within seconds we’re back on the river, adding our contribution of noise pollution to the scenic world of Amazonia.

You know what before I knew it I was part of the Ben Hur races. There’s something about motor bikes that brings out the boy racer even among the most holy of us. My travelling companion Paul reveals to me that he just loves riding these ponies. Before long I’m standing on the. Bank of the Atya River. We’re off to Peurto Allegria. Gene the boys house father in the distance he is preparing the alluminium boat in which we will take the forty minute ride. Paul seems very proud of his tin bath especially because the woman who bought it had won the lottery. I joke with him. Is this the best you can come up with. Surely the lottery winner would have donated a wee but more. Paul had told me the night before that he had no moral issues about taking such money. “it’s how you use it that truly makes us all accountable.

In a few moments we’re on the Atya River heading for Peurto Allegria. Before the day would end we’ll have met some amazing people

I’m up early this morning to see if I can tune into the service being streamed out live from St Andrew’s Bo’ness.The truth is I can’t sleep, the continual drone of motor bike engines become a lulla bye giving you false hope of sleep, only to find the backfire of a motor bike wakens you up thinking was that a gun?

I make my way down stairs  to the computer in the reception area. However I find I  have  to face the disappointment that I’m in the Jungle city of Iquitos and that the Union Biblica computer is really old and doesn’t support the software needed to stream the service.

My fellow companions are still asleep in their rooms. I could attempt to downloaded software but its not my computer, so I’ve decided  to catch up with you all on the blog.

How do you describe Inquitos to someone who has never ventured into this territory.  It reminds me of the wild west. Its a city that never goes to sleep. The roads are crowded with motorised rickshaws each racing the other like chariots in a Roman theatre. Each one is looking to make a pick up and earn a few soles. People walk on the broken and cracked pavements, children are trying to sell you all kinds of trinkets, men  with bundles of soles approach you looking to buy your dollars. The shop fronts open out onto the streets, all kinds of goods are available  most will be last year’s models.

We are staying in a house Vine Trust built for the medical teams that come to work on Amazon Hope. It is a well constructed building which was funded by the Lloyds TSB Foundation. The only thing is there is no double glacing so the noise of the Charioteers racing each other continually non stop  requires ear plugs for sleeping.

I’m writing in a reception room with glaced panels that looks out into a courtyard. A cat sits quietly on its own the daylight has just arrived. I guess the cat has been out on the town all night and its coming home for a sleep. I bet it could tell you a tale or two?

Yesterday I visit Belen. It is a shanty town that I’ve visited many times. It is still a shocking place for me to visit. Over 78,000 people live in a mass of wooden huts on stilts in the lower regions of Iquitos. The sewage water from Iquitos’s main sewer  flows into their area and the people live on the water using boats or canoes during the rainy season. Many of the children die of water borne  disease.

I had gone to hear about the changes that Union Biblica are proposing regarding their medical outreach work from their clinic. If their plans come about I believe they will be setting in place a programme that will influence the way the next generation think about their health. The need is still great but one came away feeling that in a small way perhaps the Vine Trust is influencing the health of the people in Belen and that our advocacy work has not been falling on deaf ears completely.  One thing is for certain If I lived hear too long I’d be deaf.

Well I think I’ll go back to my room for a shower and get ready for my trip to Puerto Allegria.

I had breakfast with Paul Clark the Director of Union Biblica. He is a commanding figure even at the age of seventy five. His white hair neatly combed in place he looks cool. I think he probably has always been cool. We started a conversation about multi tasking. Paul believes that woman can do this better than men. We then moved to the idea of thinking. Marty his wife joins in. “Men are like waffles when they think, as for women, well we’re spaghetti.”

Well I was doing a bit of thinking this afternoon on the plane from Lima to Iquitos. I must admit I was a bit nervous. The last time I was on this flight I thought my number was up. I’m sure the plane fell a few hundred feet in the sky as we went through a tropical storm. I remember thinking at the time. Your going to die here. Brave it out be a good Christian make sure you help the people either side of you. Anyway we lived to tell the tale. But it got me thinking this afternoon.

Strangers travellers in space

No one speaks

Everyone thinks

The same thoughts

Strange?

Companions moving through time.

Hemmed in

confined

to 3×3.

Strapped in like cattle on a production line

Each one a risk taker

Lives pent up in a tube

That could explode.

Suspended moments of living

Waiting

Hoping

Believing

Time will flow again.

All are still strangers

Eating

Drinking

Descending

Pretending

Landing is normal.

When nothing is normal in the sky

It happens in seconds

Rubber hits the runway

Life begins again

In a different place

Lockers open

Mobiles chatter

Travellers remain strangers

And no one remembers

thinking

Flying is an act of faith.

The first thing you notice when you get off the plane in Lima is the heat. It must have been at least 75 degrees. There was a smell of stale fish in the air and the traffic horns were noisy. This is a city of some eleven million people stretched out over a desert coastal strip surrounded by huge sand dunes. I’m told it hasn’t really rained here since the 1970s. This is a city of many contrasts. I had lunch in a coastal restaurant called the Costa Verde. It was really quite an excellent eating place. The chef is world famous.I felt a bit on edge as I moved to the buffet. All the staff were like doctors dressed up for the operating room. Masks covered the servers faces. It was a bit scary looking at the chef’s eyes staring back.

I was meeting up with the new Chairman of Union Biblica Guillermo Yoshikawa, he tells me an amazing story of his life as a young boy living in poverty struggling to make his life better. Today he is a man in his sixties,an academic who has taught in Universities in Japan and America. He had oiw returned to his native Lima to be the head teacher at the prestigious Colegio America.

Guillermo speaks with passion for the work he has undertaken with Union Biblica. He tells me he is just in the post four months, he says  he has much to learn and there is much he doesn’t know about the work. His role at the moment is to listen and try to get a grasp of the varied work that the Union Biblica is involved in. However one got the distinct impression that he was a man with a mission but also a man with great experience and wisdom.

After lunch we visited his school and saw the man in his working environment. He has just been back in Lima for a year as the Head of this College but already he had been able to bring about a number of interesting changes.In particular I was interested in his Multimedia Department in the School and his plan to launch a new evening University from the building by the end of the year.

As I started this post about the city of contrasts on the way back to Union Biblica Headquarters we stopped at traffic lights. Within minutes we were faced with a blind man and his daughter begging for some coins. This was a reminder to me that this was the reason I had flown all these miles. We want to see the day come when no one has to beg on street corners in order to live. We have much to do. The world is a place of great injustice we have an opportunity to begin to make changes. Even small ones are the beginning of hope for some. It is my hope that the partnership between Vine Trust and Union Biblica will be able to bring about sustained support and help to the poor of South America.

Well in a few hours I’ll be off on the flight to Peru. thanks for your comment Gordon. I well remember your visit to AH1 that was a day and a half. You were overcome with sun stroke and  I felt so sorry for you. Your a big guy and you looked as white as a sheet. we’ve had some exciting experiences in the Amazon.  travelling back in the dark to Iquitos is no joke. Especially when your passengers aren’t 100%.  It can be dangerous because of the material that might be drifting on the surface. you never know if you’ll bang into a log or even a croc.

Anyway keep looking at the blog and I’ll do my best to keep you up to date with posts and photographs. I’ll also have a look for Paddington  I usually take him with me but I can’t find him. Anyway there is much to do and little time to do it.

We here I am once again getting ready to do the long haul across the Atlantic to South America.  I’ll be visiting Peru for the next nine days. Catching up with our partners SUPeru and meeting the new Chairman of their board. Meanwhile I’m just back from a Kirk Session meeting tonight.We talked about a lot of things.

I think there is a great frustration that we can’t get the accommodation we need right now. Its been the same old story for years. We see growth, new families coming around the church but we feel so limited by our accomodation. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to put some interim measures in place while we raise the cash for our major refurbishment.

This is a time of challenge and also opportunity when it comes to raising cash and redeveloping buildings. Its also time to reach out and take God at his word and take the risks that become non existent when we are obeying God. So once the congegation see the plans it will be over to the Presbytery and God willing we’ll start fund raising in earnest. Anyway meanwhile I’m off to bed, I’m up first thing in the morning to take the school Assembly then I’m in and out of meetings all day before its time to pack a small bag and head for Lima. Bo’ness to Lima is a long road.

I guess I’m fortunate to be minister of St Andrew’s  Bo’ness we’ve got a great team of folk that just move into place when I go on one of these trips.

We’ve been thinking about the call to be obedient in all of our housegroups this week. I think it is obedience in the small things that often leads to great things happening in our lives.

A few years ago I met a New York pastor who told me this story. About two or three weeks before the 9/11 disaster a friend of his told him he should buy a clerical collar. The minister came from a non conformist tradition and simply discarded his friend’s suggestion.  A few days later the man was met by his friend  and again he suggested that he buy a clerical collar. He added ” I’m sure you’ll need it one day”  This time the pastor found a clerical outfitters and purchased the item. He told me he took it home and placed it in a drawer thinking to himself. “I’ll never wear this”

Two or three weks later it was 9/11 he heard the story on the news and he immediately went to the site to offer help. His church building was very close to the scene of the crime. When he arrived down town every street was cordoned off. He approached the police to get through barracades, to be told it was only uniformed personnel who were allowed through.

He immediately went home put on his clerical collar and was allowed to pass into the area. The clerical collar was a pass that allowed hime to be a pastor to many people that day. During the following weeks and months his congregation played a vital role in offering help and support to thousands of people.

So what would have happened if the pastor hadn’t been obedient on the small simple thing of buying a clerical collar.

Well the doughnuts seemed to go down well, as did the morning coffee before church. I do believe there is something in eating and drinking together that releases a feeling of friendship and acceptance. There was a great feeling in church this morning. Maybe it was all the worhippers getting their sugar rush. I do know that a number of people spoke to me about their coffee as they came in. It seemed to be just what they needed.

Church has to become more than simply a place to meet on a Sunday. Church has to be understood in terms of  people who are on a journey with Jesus. We need to be able to make space in the group for others to journey with us , so that they too can  encounter the presence and power of Christ. I think the opportunity hat the small groups offer around the tables on a Sunday night has quite a lot to commend it. If you were at church tonight what did you think?

This week w=ill see us beginning to make the final preparations for Holy Week and Easter and I hope we at Sanctus Media will finish our latest commission this week. Its a new promotional video for the Vine Trust. Anyway I’ll value your prayers as i begin to prepare for my forth coming visit to Peru near the end of the month.

Tomorrow at church there will be doughnuts and coffee and tea as you come in through the front door. I’m trying to get us all to think about Lent in a different way this year. Now I’m not saying that fasting and depriving yourself of a luxury is a bad thing. I’m just saying perhaps its an easy way out of facing the real things that God wants to deal with in our lives.  So I’m debunking a wee bit of our tradition this Lent, hence the coffee and doughnuts.

What I’m really saying is perhaps its not about giving things up, its about taking things up. I mean taking up a cross. Its not about s much about denying one’s self chocolate or doughnuts. Its denying our old narure our sinful ambitions and taking on a new idenity of service and obedience. Keith Greene wrote a wonderfully challenging song about this whole issue its worth listening to and reflecting upon.