I once was found

... but now I'm lost

Sandy was about 3 months old when I first saw her. Born to a Thai street dog, she'd done well to get that far. Her mum had made herself at home in someone's field, a kind someone, who put leftovers out the back for the homeless puppies. I decided she was mine and I took her home, not realising she was covered in fleas and ticks. None of that mattered. I learned fast, showered her with TLC and pretty soon she was looking healthy and strong, gorgeous. "What breed is your dog?", they'd ask me. "Bitza," I'd laugh, "Bits of everything". 

I never thought I'd have to leave her so soon. She was a friend to me, that year of alone-ness. She was my treasure. I rocked her in my arms when I cried, and took selfies with her when I laughed. She'd cuddle up to me in my garden hammock. Sit at the doorstep of my kitchen while I fried bacon, keeping her boundaries. Barked away strangers I didn't like, lingering outside my house looking in - she knew which ones. Anyone would think she was ferocious. Fiercely protective, Sandy. 

This treasure I found in the rubble is now lost. "She ran away", is all I know. If leaving Thailand was one of the hardest decisions I'd made, leaving her was one of my biggest losses. I grieve for her, not knowing the circumstances that led to her getting lost, wishing I could help. Longing to find her again. 

Looking at my country with fresh eyes, I find myself grieving too. Britain is the nation blessed with revival after revival - outpourings of the Holy Spirit where God chose to reveal Himself in power and inspired great passion. In 1784, there had been growing desperation in prayer for a revival which would lead to the spread of the gospel 'to the most distant parts of the habitable globe'. Revivals rocked England (1500, 1739), Northern Ireland (1859), Wales (1904) and the Scottish Hebrides (1935) and brought millions to their knees in repentance and awe of God. Passionate men like George Whitefield, John Wesley and Evan Roberts lit fires in our nation, which sparked fires of the gospel as far as South Korea and America, India and Africa - the most distant parts of the habitable globe.

Yet now, this nation that was so found, so awakened to God's kingdom, seems to be running hard in the opposite direction. America tells a similar story. Where Christian revivals birthed milestones in education, science and medicine, inspired some of our greatest music and the arts, brought an end to slavery and other social evils, Christian witness is now either seen as a threat, or worse, a joke.

The modern missionary movement was birthed through William Carey, a shoemaker from Northamptonshire, who pioneered missions in India. Now for the first time in history, the balance of the world is changing. Where in the past, the political, economic, military centre and the centre of Christianity has been in the Global North, one demographic has now shifted. The Global South is now the centre of Christianity. Missions is no longer the preserve of 'the West to the rest', but as it should be, from the Global Church to the ends of the earth.*

How can the lost be found again? I'm sure Sandy could be found and won back by love. Love that goes looking for her. Love that gives extravagantly, nurtures her back to health. It doesn't have to be me, it could be anyone. The yearning of every human heart is not so different. We long to be found again. We were made for love. And the Lover who made us has many feet to go looking. Some are just out of practice. Others are asleep. But while you’re listening, He asks you, “Will you go? Love my lost ones back to found-ness.”

* "Southern Christianity was formed with and still retains many Northern trappings, so that it often appears foreign to non-Christians (and even, at times, to Southern Christians). In addition, Southern Christians have yet to assume the leadership (in areas as diverse as international Christian organizations and articulating theology) that their global numbers would seem to suggest. Southern Christians also hold a disproportionately small share of global Christian income and wealth, which can inhibit their ability to fund ministry where Christianity is growing most rapidly. Christianity’s shift to the South is not without opportunity, however. In many ways, Southern Christians’ cultures and ways of thinking resemble those of the biblical era more closely than do Northerners’, creating the potential for vibrant new theologies and ways of being the Church. Pentecostal and Charismatic spirituality also energizes many Southern Christians, although this is not without controversy. Finally, Southern Christians tend to live in closer proximity to adherents of other religions than do Northern Christians, opening doors for dialog and mission that the North often resists or avoids." (Hickman, 2014)