MONDAY MARCH26TH REFUSING TO SLEEP IN SEATTLE

Today was a rest day for us.

We are staying in a hotel in Lynnwood close to the offices of the Sentinel Group (George Otis organization). There were no plans for today so after breakfast Ian and I wandered over to the local Starbucks and spent nearly two hours pouring over many of the issues that are part of the reason we are here. I am so grateful for the friendship of this terrific bloke. I can’t think of another person on the planet who helps me think like Ian does. It isn’t that we think the same way on every subject. We definitely don’t, but the open exchange of perspectives and ideas and passions stirs my mind and more importantly my heart for the purposes of God.

We didn’t quite solve all the world’s problems in the couple of hours, but stirred things up enough so that we would be tossing the ideas around for the rest of the day at least. Seb is a great contributor to this process simply because the wisdom he brings from the practicalities of doing the stuff in the villages around Fiji makes us realize that you can’t think your way into a revival.

I don’t think I have mentioned the fact that when the decision made that Seb’s dad, Vuniani should not come it proved to be what could well have been a life saving decision. It turned out that Vunni had a very large blood clot. When the doctors in Toowoomba found out about it they said that it was such that he could have just died on the plane. They have been working with him get the right levels of medication to clear it. He hasn’t been allowed to walk until yesterday. They will monitor his situation and connect with a doctor in Suva so that when he is well enough to fly he will be able to return and continue his convalescence there. This has all been a matter of grace from heaven for him. He has been doing a lot of traveling in recent years, but that will have to stop for quite a while. I don’t know the way it works but long distance air travel is risky for someone with his condition.

After extended coffee I decided to tackle the local bus system and find my way to the Boeing factory. They have a tour of the plant and being a frustrated fly boy I thought it would be aeronautically sacrilegious to be so close and not attend. After some negotiations with the booth operator at the nearby transit depot I was on a bus that took me within a kilometer or so of the facility.

I won’t bore you with the details. It was impressive to say the least. The Boeing factory is the largest building in the world by volume. It is a single building that covers more ground area than Disneyland. The construction process for these large jets is mind boggling. To see them at all the different stages of construction was equally impressive. The bus ride was quite an around and about journey. I would have been lost anywhere along the route had I been on the sidewalk rather than inside the bus. It finally drove into the interchange and I was able to walk back to the hotel.

Later in the afternoon some arrangements were made for me to go down to Tacoma tomorrow and be there for a day with some pastors and leaders from that city. Ruth Ruibal is also going to be there and we are sharing some speaking commitments. Ruth Ruibal is the one you would know from Cali in Columbia. Her husband was a pastor and was shot by someone outside his church. His death was the catalyst for the transformation experience you would have seen in the second of the now famous videos. She has been to Canberra for some meetings in our church. They were mid week meetings – perhaps there was just one evening meeting. She is a great person and I am looking forward to meeting with her again. When she and her daughter came to Canberra her plane was delayed leaving the next day and we had a long time to talk.

So tomorrow morning I will leave for Lynnwood and we will go to the Consultation from there. The place where they are holding it is in the south anyway, so we will be closer. Tacoma is about an hour south of the Seattle CBD.

I’ll talk to you next time from Tacoma