In India, a few years ago, a high-caste Brahmin came to believe in Jesus. He believed that he was created differently to those of lower castes. He had never shared any utensil with anyone from a lower caste. One day as he joined in communion, he became acutely aware of the fact that just next to him was a dalit, an ‘untouchable’. The Brahmin realised that he would have to drink from the same cup as this ‘polluting’ dalit. He broke out in sweat as an intense internal battle took place between his loyalty to the caste system and his new-found loyalty to Jesus. As the cup came to him after his dalit Christian brother had already drunk from it, he took a decision – & drank too. As he did so, the thick line of prejudice & division drawn in his heart was erased by the blood of Jesus.
One of the key words to come out of International Council during the last 8 days has been the word “disciple”. The more we progress in the Christian life, the more we realise the depths of sinfulness lodged in our hearts. We were challenged to look at “respectable sins” – discontent, pride, selfishness, impatience, irritability, sins of the tongue. We were reminded that the tired, sad rhythm of our sin has been interrupted by the rhythm of grace. It is not that we are rescued by God & then He scratches his head & wonders what to do with us! Rather we move from being objects of wrath to being objects of mercy to being objects of God’s creative workmanship – doing good deeds that God has prepared in advance for us to do. Our choice is between obedience & superficiality.
Anna & I presented various issues concerning OMFers at International Council. OMF has hundreds of men – it’s just that they are almost all married. Of the 315 single OMFers, just 22 are men. One of those listening to our presentation put this fact on his blog – within hours he had over 40 comments, speculating on why this gap between single men & women exists!
In contrast to trends towards short-term mission reported by many agencies, we have seen a dramatic increase in those joining us for long-term service. Since the 1990’s there has been a rise in the number of Asians in OMF – now around 40%. One field team is 70 strong but has 17 different mother tongues represented! We are very culturally & linguistically diverse. Now, we see more joining us from neither Asia nor the West – Maori, black South African, Peruvian, Brasilian & Argentinian, reflecting the move of world Christianity south & east. Will this current trickle become a flood?
Anna swam close inshore in choppy water. Scanning what was going on beneath the surface of the sea, she raised her head & called a word which I never expected to hear from her while in the sea - “shark!” I quickly swam towards her, & then watched in wonder as the sleek, powerful body of a black-tipped reef shark shot between us & headed into the open ocean. It was an amazing moment! 
Rich, Zoe and toddler Jude are friends working in South-east Asia who joined us for two weeks holiday on Tioman Island off Malaysia. Rich is a marine biologist & Zoe is a full-time mum in a culture not her own – which is even more demanding than the regular mum job (if possible!) We enjoyed our stay in wooden huts perched above the sea in a bay – no air conditioning, no hot water, no television, no fridge, no Internet, no computer. We fell asleep to the sound of the sea each night & spent our days in & out of the water. To have Rich’s enthusiastic expertise meant that we saw & understood much more than we would have on our own. We saw the beauty of Vermiculated Butterflyfish & Copperbanded Angelfish, gawped with amazement at the vast bulk of a Napoleon Wrasse & enjoyed the courage of False Anemonefish as these tiny, fiercely territorial creatures swam threateningly at us as we approached their host anemones. Diving at night was an eerie experience with the long plunge off the jetty into dark water especially unnerving. We explored the seabed & coral reefs, finding octopus, scorpionfish, stingrays, coral cat sharks & even a green sea turtle asleep under a reef. Darting about near the surface we saw multicoloured, brightly reflective squid – with their strange body shape & rippling mantles they looked like tiny UFOs. It was refreshment & blessing to enjoy God’s sometimes strange, incredibly varied, occasionally frightening but good creation. We were reminded that God blessed animals & fish before blessing humanity & has his own relationship with them independent of man – we remain not owners but stewards of the world.
