How would you feel if God said, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’ (Genesis 12:1)?  To be told to leave without a clear destination can’t surely be God?  To follow would surely be reckless?  No parent would give their consent to begin such a carefree journey without their child leaving them the most basic schedule.  Yet, Abraham started that journey, in faith, believing that he did not need to see the destination, because he had faith in the One who could see the finish line.  The Apostle Paul set out on at least three missionary trips in pursuit of spreading the gospel and often found the timing and the destinations changed a long the way.  As Christians we are called to be people of faith, trusting in the One we cannot see as if He was walking beside us.  Trusting that all He has told us is true and living according to His promises and not by our limited understanding or the partial picture that we can see.  We are called to be followers, before we are called to be leaders (Matthew 4:19).

As a church we are trying to be good at following, in faith we know God is leading, but we don’t know the final destination.  We trust in the One who has our
future in His eye sight and will safely lead us there.  He leads us one step at a time.  This is not a natural or comfortable place to be, we all like to have a map in front of us, clear directions for us to follow and know our destination so we can properly pack and take all that we need.  But God promises to provide everything we need (Philippians 4:19, Matthew 6:25-33), we do not need to pack, we need to follow.  We need to
continue as people of faith and not let the uncertainty unsettle us or pressurise us into make rash decisions.  Our most important task is to listen and obey one step at a time.

As we listen we will hear His voice.  At the end of June we wrote to everyone giving more information about our plans for Hope Central.  We were unable to give a final destination or time line but in the midst of that we have asked you to take a step of faith.  We have asked everyone to consider what they would pledge as a one off gift toward a new building and a monthly mount towards the repayments of a mortgage and running costs.  It would be much easier if we had more answers and a clear picture of the destination, but we don’t yet I believe God is asking us, ‘what do you have in your house?’ (2 Kings 4:2).  In the account of the Widow and her oil, Elisha the man of God was preparing for a miracle but the widow did not know that.  The widow didn’t have the privilege of seeing the end of the story; she had to present what she had in faith.  The widow gave all that she had knowing that trusting Elisha was her only hope.  If Elisha did not come through her two boys were certainly going to be sold into slavery.  The destiny of her whole family was at stake! 
However, she gave what she had, she took a step of faith and Elisha responded by providing a miracle that she and her two sons could live on for the rest of their lives.

As you consider what you have in your house, trust in the One who sees around the corner, who sees the destination and promises to provide all that you need.

Another month has flown by and, I can hardly believe, there are only two months of training left before we set out on our mission to raise £3000 for Compassion UK.  You'll have all seen the sponsorship forms by now, (I hope,) so please get them out there to wherever you go and do your best to fill them with pledges.  There have been a number of pledges already and word seems to be getting around so the team has high hopes of reaching our target.  It would be fantastic to reach our target amount but it would be so much better if we could go beyond £3000.  That's a part we can all play and it's so encouraging to learn Bethany Camps has managed to get her school to give their support to the mission.  We've been given a mention in the school bulletin and they have kindly published the web link for donating on-line.  Well done Bethany; a fantastic effort!!!

As for the training... last month we published a schedule which we managed to stick to, so we're on target so far.  It would have been good to have a few extra bodies along with but there's still time so I'll list a schedule for the coming month of July.  Feel free to join us!!!

So how did we do in June?  On the 6^th we set off for an introductory 30 mile run.  I wouldn't say it was a baptism of fire... more a baptism of water... in the form of rain – lots of rain!  It started out as a drizzly afternoon and just got worse with each mile.  I discovered a few shortcomings of using a poncho for defence against the downpour; among other things, it was good at keeping off the water that was coming down, but useless at keeping off water coming up from the road.  It was also like dragging a parachute around too.  Mark and Carlos faired little better with their rain proofing so all in all, 33 miles and 2.5 hours later, we arrived back in Malton like drowned rats!  We are achieving in excess of our target average speed of 10mph, though not fully loaded up with kit.

June 13^th: We had about 60 miles to look forward to and the weather was somewhat better than the
previous week.  It was refreshingly cool to begin with, though it did get a little wetter later on so we took shelter under a big tree and had a little pit stop.  I had a minor problem with my bike's crank arm coming loose but thanks to gadget man Mark Camps, a
suitable tool was produced to remedy the situation.  Somehow, due to a navigational error, we only ended up doing 55 of the 60 miles in a little over 4.5 hours.  Again, we bettered our minimum average mph, but again, unladen.

June 20^th: It was warm and muggy, and at times quite sunny; nice for sitting in the garden and admiring your shrubbery, but extremely strength sapping for cycling, especially up a series of hills that make you perspire profusely!  I think we learned a lot about hydration on this day.  It was a good ride and some valuable
experience gained.  Total distance, according to one of Mark's gadgets, was 32 miles, again in about 2.5 hours.  Still very much on target!!!

June 27^th: We'll quite possibly be riding as many of you read this so please pray!!!  The forecast is for sunny weather and we'll be on the moors road to Whitby and back.  It's going to be the toughest 56 miles we'll have ever travelled, that's for sure.  There are some big hills for us to master.  We'll let you know how we got on next month... if we're still alive!!!

Training schedule for July is as follows:

July 4^th:  Malton to Kirbymoorside via Amotherby, to Pickering, Thornton le Dale and home – 31 miles.

July 11^th:  Malton to Dalby forest – do the Red Run cycle course then home - about 45 hard miles altogether.

July 18^th:  Malton to Stamford Bridge, Fridaythorpe and back to Malton - 35 miles.

July 25^th:  Malton the Whitby and back... Again - 56 miles.

Come join us on some of these runs, especially the Red Run, that will be great fun, especially for mountain bike enthusiasts.

Keep praying and supporting, we need it and appreciate it very much, and keep those pledges coming in!! God bless!!