Dazzling..!

This weekend, Dubai is in the headlines. Its amazing rise to fame with all its staggering buildings – the Burj Dubai, the highest building in the world having just been completed – looks like it is stalling, as the government fails to cover its bad debts. Angie & I arrived in Dubai last Wednesday evening on perhaps our last visit to Gateway Church after almost 5 years, in which we have worked closely together with Clive & Heather Cernik and the church.

On Thursday Clive & Heather took us to see ‘Atlantis on the Palm – Where wonder meets water’ as the website puts it, and it was quite spectacular: an amazing complex at the top of the famous palm-shaped development in Dubai that is visible from space, reaching out into the blue waters of the Gulf.

On Friday I got to see a spectacle even more marvellous – the wonderful sight of many nations worship as one. ‘Jesus I put you first, you above all else.. You are Number 1’. Evan Rogers was leading worship, and it was special. Here and there, a line in a different language underlining the beautiful mix of people present from very different backgrounds and nations united in Jesus. A touch of heaven!
This is what we live, work and pray for – and that Jesus is coming back for – the church, a company of people, a family, a bride, made up of people from every nation and made one in Him. And as I looked out over Gateway Church last Friday morning I saw just a little of the dazzling beauty of what Jesus is doing in our day; He is gathering and building His church and it is very special. The words prophesied by Isaiah concerning the Church came to mind:
"O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children..” Isaiah 54:11

In a couple of weeks, after approaching 5 years in Dubai, Clive and Heather will be returning to the UK, awaiting God’s direction as to where they should go next! Meanwhile they leave behind in Dubai a very special church now numbering close to 400 people, that we at Kings have had the privilege to serve and support. Please do pray for them, and for Steve & Heather Oliver and family as they leave Clarens, South Africa to pick up where Clive & Heather left off.

Goff