Out With Friends

Sunday was such a lovely day, especially after Saturday. The fury of a winter storm blasting from the deep south. But Sunday was a ray of sunlight and it shone for Lydia and her water...ice baptism. It was a wonderful testimony to her young faith and the strong bond of friendship.

Monday night we joined with four of our street neighbours and went down to 'Altitude' a cafe come restaurant at the end of Colombo St. I had been given six free coffee tickets, so we used them. It was a great time with our friends especially as one is leaving for two weeks in the States. These are all non-believing friends enjoying each others company, no God talk on Monday but I feel God was amongst us and signed in that night.

Tonight we had an International gathering. One of our Indonesian friends is going home on Sunday so Bronwyn organised for the ladies from Cant Uni International women's group to say goodbye. Unfortunately only a few were able to come but we did have Kiwi, Maldives and Indonesian here. Apart from the Kiwis the others were all Muslim and we ended up having a discussion about what Muslims and Christian believe about 'bad luck' and superstitions. We talked about how our faiths believe in a sovereign God but also free will, that each person is responsible for their own actions, that if we do good to others we are honouring God. There's always something special, I find, when people of different faiths can sit on the floor and talk about what they believe and ask about the other persons beliefs in a non-threathening manner.Although we talked about each others faith we didn't compromise our own beliefs; dialogue doesn't mean one automatically succumbs to syncretism but one listens and expresses their faith in a friendly, natural way.