If the celebrations that woke me from a light sleep the night before last in the wake of Sāo Paulo s narrow victory in the first leg of the Libertadores was anything to go by one can only imagine the celebrations that would ensued had events in Germany this summer gone to form.  We had arrived back at the hotel from Santos where God s grace had once again been conspicuous amongst the people as I shared the message of freedom in Christ.  It had been a great visit. 

The new day arrived with new opportunities, new people to meet including Jefferson Ramalho, Public Relations director of the influential book distributor Vida who are a wholly owned subsidiary of Zondervan.  We had an excellent meeting Jefferson and his commercial manager Priscila showed more than a polite interest in The Bonsai Conspiracy in fact that placed an order on the spot for copies of the book to carry in their bookstores.  

We were due later that evening to speak at Cristo Salva, a church that Hayley and I had visited several years ago and had had the most wonderful evening.   Every time I had subsequently been in Brazil I had wanted to go back that we might have a second experience of grace together but it had never quite worked out.  So it was with delight that we made our way their last night.   Tonight Edwardo would translate for me allowing Phillip to have a well earned rest and an evening in with Fabinana and their daughter Sophia. 

I spoke tonight from the book of 2 Samuel and recounted the story of Mephibosheth, the last remaining survivor from the household of Saul. The story is wonderfully allegorical. David is cast in the role of a type of God the Father. Having established his Kingdom he was burdened with the need to fulfil his covenant promise and show grace to the household of Saul for the sake of Jonathan and Jonathan, is typical of Jesus Christ.  None remained from Saul s household save for one Mephibosheth, A dead dog as he described himself.   During the flight from David at the fall of Saul s dynasty Mephibosheth s nurse had literally tripped and the child had spilt out of her hands and he was crippled by the fall, making him a type of humanity.  It is a simple word but dare I say it,  a profound one.  Profound because it speaks to the very heart of the gospel: God shows covenant grace.  He seeks the outcasts to show them grace. More than that desperately seeks anyone from the household of Saul [1st Adam] that he might show grace to for the sake of His Son.  It is the unworthy, the lame, the destitute, the broken, the rejected, the fallen, the outcast that he seeks with a view to inviting them to join him at His table.

It has been a while since I have been among the Neo-Pentecostals so having finished my talk I handed over to the worship leader I returned to my seat.  I had quite forgotten that this was the paradigm of call and response.  So I was caught a little off-guard a few minutes later when I was gently roused from my reflective prayer of thanks-giving Please they need you to come and pray for the people. I looked up, to my astonishment there was a sea of people that had amassed at the front of the church and the ushers were hurriedly removing the first few rows of chairs to accommodate to others who were coming.  Some stood, many more knelt and others lay prostrate, most cried. The Mephiboseths had dragged their crippled lives to the altar to accept David s invitation.  The feelings of sadness that flooded my mind let me know served as an interesting internal commentary on how far I had journeyed.  Rather reluctantly I acquiesced. As I stood surveying the scene my heart was moved with compassion for them. I realised in a new way the difference between praying for and preying on people.

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