January 14th 2025

Hi Friends, 

The first time it struck me was when I sat in a rented house in Navrongo, in northern Ghana.  Scattered around me in the living room were a short-term missionary team from our church.  We had trained for months. I had gone ahead of them to do some teaching, experienced being  robbed of almost everything, picked them up at the airport in Tamale and now, at last, we were  together in the place that would be our home base for the next couple of weeks, preparing to  both minister to, and learn from, our Ghanaian brothers and sisters. It was mid-January and I  had begun another year of a bible reading plan. Thus, the verse was fresh in my mind. I  quoted Jacob to the group as I began: “To see your face is to see the face of God.” 

All the planning, all the hopes, all the challenges, were coming together and this thing that God  had laid on our hearts, individually and collectively, was now taking shape. I was overcome  with emotion and could barely get the words out that night. 

Now, some twenty-two years later, I read those words and they still have a huge impact on me.  I think of that night in Navrongo but it is only one night in a tapestry of God’s faithfulness to me. 

I came into this world with nothing. I was given opportunities by my parents — to play and to  work (okay, I didn’t see that as much of an opportunity!!), skills to develop, character qualities  that had been instilled and modelled for me. God saw fit to give me an education, then a wife,  

then a calling, then children, then a house. In his grace, through trials and challenges of many  kinds, along with much of my own failings and inadequacies, God used a group of people to  bring a good church into being — a church which continues to impact lives both locally and  further afield. 

I have two wonderful daughters-in-law, three amazing children, (all who seem to love me),  seven delightful grandchildren, a ‘granddog’, and, now two ‘grand guinea pigs’. As I write this,  I’m sitting at a desk in a beautiful home that is debt free and a delight to us. My life is, literally,  rich with God’s blessings. To see the face of God, indeed! 

As this new year gets underway, let me encourage you to reflect. To quote the apostle, Paul,  “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”  The blind hymn writer, Fanny Crosby, wrote, “Jesus led me all the way.” 

So, my friends, do two things this week. First, reflect on how God has led you and blessed you.  Second, apply that understanding to the road that lies, untraveled and unknown, in front of  you. 

Blessings! 

Doug