Travelog

We left London via Heathrow Airport on Sunday evening and arrived in Abu Dhabi in the early part of the morning. Colin and I decided to leave the airport to see a little of the city since we had about seven hours between flights. To make things simple we grabbed a cab to drive through the city to one of the beaches on the Persian Gulf.

Our driver was a Muslim man who had left his family in Pakistan to work for the past four years in the UAE. Seems to be a popular thing to do since the cab we took back to the airport later was driven by a Nepali man who had done the same thing. He too was a Muslim, and so with both drivers we attempted to engage them to lead to some sort of gospel conversation. I say “some sort” because I recognized that we would not have much time with them. I tried to focus on sowing some “seeds of doubt” and cause them to have to question their own faith in “Allah and Muhammad, his prophet” in the face of Jesus who proved that He was truly God. We had a couple of pleasant, but I hope challenging conversations. Pray for each of those men – I sadly don’t remember their names… maybe Colin does..

It was already really hot at about 8:00 am, so we found a shady place to sit at the beach under the awning of a restaurant that was preparing to open. We had a nice rest, with a beautiful view, for about an hour, during which one of us might have napped a little. When the employees began rearranging the furniture we were sitting on, we decided to move.

Sadly, the hour we sat sweating in the heat of the Arabian sun was lost before we realized that, right next door, there was a cool, welcoming coffee shop with some fun, helpful and energetic employees.

Not understanding the value of a UAE Dirham, we ordered and enjoyed a cup of really good, but overpriced, coffee and some local baked goods for breakfast.

https://www.thecoffeearchitecture.com

After some pleasantries and photos with the employees, we decided it was time to start heading back to the airport, just to be safe and comfortable.

It’s a relatively short hop to India from Abu Dhabi, just under four hours. We got boarded onto the uncomfortable packed plane and got ready to take off… then we didn’t. There was some delay, and we sat on the ground in the plane for most of an hour. But don’t worry about us… by the next post, we will have safely landed in Hyderabad, India and we’ll be standing at the immigration check stand.

Sunday morning we got up, cleaned up, and headed out to church.

In London, that involves walking, a bus or two, and the Underground/Overground trains.

When we arrived at the church, we were quickly greeted by an usher and shown our seats. There was a very nice time of worship in music and prayer which was of course quite different from our regular Sundays with a wonderful organ and hymns from their revised Spurgeon hymn book.

Dr. Masters was present, and not long after he began preaching, a gentleman just in front of us began to show signs of distress. He wobbled as if he was going to faint, and his wife sat him down. I paid little attention to the service as I watched to see if I could help. He was sweating profusely and quite pale.

I really thought a deacon or usher would come to him since we were at the front of the church and since people could surely see the slight activity of his wife caring for him.

After a few minutes of this, I wrote a note to ask the wife if I could help somehow. She wrote back that a cup of water would be helpful, so I got up to find an usher. I found a man standing in the back and he told me he would bring some water, which he did.

Longer story short, he soon recovered somewhat and began to sit more upright.

I felt bad that I essentially missed the sermon, but thankful that I could help this couple in some small way. Following the service was a celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Being visitors, we were instructed to see an usher to receive a card to allow us to partake. He asked us if we were members of a church, and quickly “approved” us. The communion was quite different, but beautiful. Ask Colin or myself about the service and we’d be glad to share more.

After church, Colin and I visited the church bookstore where we met the couple who had trouble in church. The man was fine, and said that it was likely a low blood pressure situation.

As we left the church, we found a nearby pub, had some lunch, and headed back to the hotel to pack up and get to the airport.

London provided a helpfully restful prelude to the remaining travel and the week that followed.

I was especially grateful to meet up with Colin’s friend Adam for a wonderful meal of fish and chips at the historic, and very old Mayflower Pub at the original site of the launch of the Mayflower. It was a bit sad to see some drunk revellers, but also nice to think about those original godly folks setting out to do God’s work in a new country.

In some ways, India is a similar for Christian pilgrims, and a godless country that needs the light of the Gospel. I pray that the pilgrims that we are partnering with will continue in the same sort of zeal that moves them to take the gospel out from their homes and villages into the land of pagan worship around them.

Stay tuned!