Advent Thinking

I'm thoroughly enjoying the on-line Advent Calendar at 24-7 Prayer.

I like focusing my thoughts a little toward Christmas daily and I love the creative ways I'm led to do that by each day's opened "door." The entries come from all around the globe and each one has brought me good. Big thanks to Scot Bower and all who contributed an advent piece to this lovely countdown. (I also contributed a piece but I have no idea which door it's hidden behind!)

Enjoy the calendar here HERE

We Gather (to dance?)

It's still dark in Edinburgh but my body thinks it's a couple of hours ahead of Scotland. Arusha time... I like that Africa wakes me up and says, "You may be somewhere else, but this continent is still in you."

I like seasons and rhythms. For the last 7 years, a significant happening in our autumn has been the global gathering of 24-7 Prayer. We've collected ourselves in some great places- Barcelona, Dresden, Seville, London and Amsterdam, to name a few.

But it's not where we are. It's who we're with. We're with friends who believe that prayer can change the world. And after prayer (or with prayer, or during prayer) these same folks roll up their sleeves and jump in to the crazy, messy world around them and start trying to be the answer to the prayers. Last night we heard from a man who has helped see 300 victims rescued out of human trafficking in the last 2 years. They've prayed and worked hard to liberate each one and they continue a supportive relationship with these who are now recovering.

And if when I say "people who pray" you get a drab image in your mind, allow me to burst your wee bubble. There's too much creativity, life and mischief in these hearts for drabness . Even with a grave awareness of the awful pain so much of the world lives with, there is unstoppable joy.

So imagine us here: Scottish men in handsome kilts playing fiddles like their lives depend on it while we, gathered from all over the globe, dance like madmen into the night.

Joy spills out because there is One who hears our prayers and responds.

A good Scottish caleigh seemed the only proper response :-)

MAGNIFY! (Edinburgh 2010)

I love 24-7 Prayer! I love the people and the passion. I love the way they believe that the world can be changed and throw themselves into what they do.

And what do they do? Prayer, mission and justice. They're all about changing the world by praying like mad and living like crazy. That means they talk to God about the condition of the world around them, they love people actively and reach out practically. So whether it's helping drunk revelers get home after losing it on the streets of Ibiza, offering to pray with a homeless person they are serving a meal to or encouraging each other toward spiritual depth, these friends of mine are not fakin' it.

Byron and Heather and I are very much looking forward to the big 10th anniversary gathering in Edinburgh come September. For the first time ever, there's lots of room at the event because it's in a bigger venue this year. That means tickets are still available!

Join us at Magnify. It's going to be good.

Find all the information you need here.

Seriously. You should come.

(And let me just say it's a little funny to talk about 24-7 as THEY cuz it's US. I am 24-7 Prayer!)

Skinny Jeans (or Thoughts from the Train)

I’m sitting on the train on a grey and cold English day. Wonderful, isn’t it? How has this happened?

Heather and I took the midnight flight out of Nairobi to Heathrow on Monday and, next thing we knew, we were standing in the pre-dawn rain outside of Terminal 5, waiting for my dear friend, Anna. Anna got up far too early, collected us and welcomed us to her kitchen fire with cups of hot tea while her sleepy family finished a proper night of rest before appearing, one by one, for breakfast.

We’re here for the triple purpose of my participation on the International Council of 24-7 Prayer, my sharing a bit with the Transit folks who are preparing for the adventures of service that lie ahead, and my meetings with my publishers, the good folks at Lion Hudson/Monarch.

Jumping worlds will probably always jar me, but I do think my infrequent slipping back and forth has smoothed some over time. Last week Heather and I were bartering for second hand boots in the dusty expanse of Arusha’s used clothes market. Yesterday we were standing in Trafalgar Square.

The richness of our experience is not lost on me. I am stunned by it. This morning, as I rode the train to Oxford, all I could think was, “Am I really a writer headed to Oxford to meet with my editor.” Writer? Editor? Oxford? Good grief! I couldn’t have scripted this scene had I tried.

The most wonderful part of this whole trip is that Heather is with me. Her ticket was an extremely generous gift from an extremely generous friend. Heather and I are enjoying the treat of museums and shops and friends and Cadbury’s. And last night, I had the pleasure of buying her a new pair of jeans... Skinny jeans.

I suppose it seems a small thing, but it made me really happy. Heather is 11 and she is blessed much more than she knows to live far away from the pressures of fashion and the Western emphasis on trendy appearance. I suppose that’s why it felt so completely, luxuriously fun to me to buy her something that seems so stylish and practical all at once. It was a treat, and not in the least bit scary because I knew the whole shopping thing would be nicely contained in a couple of short days.

Skinny jeans for my baby girl and the very pleased look on her face they produced. And next week we'll escape back to the land where no one cares. As the mother of an adolescent girl, I am keenly aware that this is called Having My Cake and Eating it Too!

Welcoming Jesus

I happily agreed to write a piece for 24-7 Prayer's website. Having been given the freedom to write anything that reflects how we experience Christmas here in Tanzania, I ended up writing about my frustrations over silly things and how they've helped give me back a needed perspective.

You can find my piece, "Welcoming Jesus," HERE
It doesn't say "By Lisa Borden" at the top but you'll know it by the title.

Enjoy :-)

We Heart Europe (so we pray)

We live in Africa but we have major feelings for Europe. And Europe needs our prayers. Our amazing extended family in the 24-7 Prayer movement is virally spreading the word that this is a brilliant time to be praying.

Catch the daily video casts HERE this week from the likes of Pete Greig and Andy Freeman and join in the avalanche of prayer. It's going to make a world of difference :-)

Beige--the Color of My Adventure

"Oh, Lisa, why so beige?"

I'm standing in the bathroom at the hotel in town where I'll catch my shuttle to Nairobi and OH MY GOODNESS, I'm totally beige! I'm wearing a light brown t-shirt and skirt, which both kind of weirdly match my hair and skin. I've never noticed before that i look all one color. I glance down and see my black sandals. Phew! I've broken up the beigeness with a bold and daring... black? Boring. I am one big blob of medium bland. But maybe that's not so bad. As my dear Mindy has famously said before, "Might as well start out with khaki in Africa because it will all be khaki soon enough."

Well, the bus ride unfolds into 6 hours of travel, alternating between a few scenarios. We have bumps and potholes. We have crazy lorries that we have to swerve away from. We have the counter-swerve to keep us on the road after we miss the lorry. We have the clouds of dust that are billowing through the bus, and the tourists who are yelling at people to close their windows. We have the stifling heat when the windows are closed too long and the tourists who are now instructing people to open their windows. Bossy tourists, I note. We have the shady characters who want to change my money at the border. We have the tired looking customs officials whom I don't want to cross.

We have quite a lot going on.

Besides all this, we have the growing panic in my chest that this might finally be the trip when I do actually miss my plane because the shuttle is taking longer and longer these days. We have my desperate repetitive and somewhat ridiculous prayers asking the Lord to get me there and to chill me out.

I would have liked to listen to music but ha ha! I can't see what's written on the tiny screen of my iPod when I can't hold the thing anywhere close to still. I opt to just observe my fellow travelers and fret a little.

Did I already mention it was 6 hours of this?

So, we get there... The lovely Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. In time, too. I pull off my dusty sandals and change into proper closed toe shoes for (cold) England. I stuff the Chacos into my case as I wait to check in.

Through security and upstairs, I make my way to the cafe. A large cup of hot Kenyan tea soothes and comforts and I feel better, even in the crowded and stuffy departure area. I'm here.

OK, we're going to have to clean up a little. In the ladies room, I find that my comb can't actually get through my (beige) hair. It's crusted over... Become crunchy with the sweat and frequent powderings of dust. I kind of scrape the comb around a little and clip my hair up again. Crunch, crunch. I pull on jeans and shove my skirt in my carry-on.

I'll wash my face--even though the signs tell me to only wash my hands. The attendant is there, annoyed with some women in long burkhas who don't know how to flush the loos. It's not their fault. It's not her fault. And we don't need to be annoyed. I wash my face anyway, figuring it's pretty obvious I'm not preparing for prayers and I'm not going to splash everywhere.

I also wash my sunglasses which are black, but are covered in a thick coat of beige. However did that happen?

I'm finally on-board and we're taking off around midnight. I usually like the chance to watch some films I haven't seen. I like to clean out my in-box and maybe read. But no, not tonight.

I'm out. I wake up for a few mins to eat dinner and then again for my breakfast. The nice steward is serving me tea and it's not as good or as hot as my Kenyan brew last night, but that's ok. I've got Houston's Three Feet From Gold on my headphones and I'm soon going to land in London. I'll have time to shower and pop round to the shops before making some final notes for my teaching time that night.

I come to a pleasant little realization. I really love my friends in 24-7. Why else would I put myself through this? :-)

Saying Goodbye

I've never been a big fan of goodbyes so leaving everyone tonight, as this crazy and full-tilt week with 24-7 Prayer came to a close, was a big drag.

I wanted to just take Susanna and Scott and Misty and Andrea and Helen and Valentine and Veronika and Risa and Krister (sp?) and just about most everyone else with me. Yea, that would be cool.

But then they wouldn't be doing the great stuff they are doing in the places where they are doing them.

I am fully exhausted and duly exhilarated and I really have to go to bed. We have a few short hours to sleep and 2 long days of travel still ahead of us.

Home--the gathering. Yes, it was great.

Home--my house. Yes, I can't wait.

Waking Up in London

Byron and I took a long, bumpy, wild, dusty, sweaty and somewhat terrifying shuttle ride from Arusha to Nairobi yesterday. We took a 11:40pm overnight flight to England and woke up, kind of rested, to the rain in London as we landed at Heathrow.

I'm so excited to be here for the global gathering of 24-7 Prayer! I'm so excited to get together and hear the stories of what's going on all over the place as people press into prayer. As the lovely Carla Harding said when she reported that we've had nearly 1,000 registered prayer rooms over the last year, bringing our nation total to 87, "It's great to know God still wants to talk to us."

I'll be speaking 3 times in this next week, and facilitating 3 other sessions. Your prayers are much appreciated!

And God bless Peter and Tammy for folding Colin and Heather into their family for this time that we are away. Since we have 3 sets of meetings in a row (leadership team, followed by Round Table with core leaders, followed by global gathering called HOME,) we're away 10 days. Your prayers for our kids and the Russell family also much appreciated.

Love and Love!

24-7 Prayer and The Global Gathering

Yes! We're getting together again!

"Last year we gathered to Feast; this year we're inviting you HOME...

If you’ve ever prayed in a 24-7 Prayer Room, visited a Boiler Room or 24-7 Community, read Red Moon Rising or simply wondered what this insane prayer experiment is all about, then this gathering is for you.

‘Home’ Southampton, England
Friday 12th – Sunday 14th September 2008
www.24-7prayer.com

Each year the international 24-7 Prayer community gathers to hear from God, pray and celebrate all He’s done. This year we have more than ever to be thankful for with over 5000 prayer rooms spread over every continent but Antarctica, contributing to a wave of prayer that is breaking out into fresh expressions of mission, mercy and transformation.

Nine years after our accidental beginnings, people are traveling from across Europe, Africa and the Americas to meet together again and consider what the words of Isaiah the prophet mean for us today:

“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”
Isaiah 57:6

Home is where our Father is…

Home is where we belong…

Home is where the lost are found…"

For everything you need to know to register etc go to 24-7prayer

PS Byron and I will be leading some of the seminars at this gathering. Hoping to see you there!

Happy Birthday 24-7!!

Yesterday was 24-7 Prayer's 8th birthday!

It's hard to believe that it has really been 8 years since the prayer movement was launched from a nightclub in Guilford. Carla Harding sent us all birthday greetings yesterday evening, celebrating the four and half thousand prayer rooms, the 2,922 days, or 70,080 hours, or 4,204,800 minutes of non-stop prayer!

I looked out my window here in East Africa and saw a big pale moon rising. Pete Greig looked up at the night sky in England and saw a pale RED MOON rising. Now, I would have just thought it was Pete's enthusiastic imagination that colored the moon except that Markus in Germany confirmed for us that yes, in fact, there was a lunar eclipse last night. He also noted that it's supposed to be the last total eclipse of the moon seen in Europe for the next 7 years.

If you've read Red Moon Rising, the story of 24-7 Prayer, you'll understand why the red moon on our birthday made us smile.

Getting Here

Up at 3am on Saturday morning and out we headed to Kilimanjaro International Airport. We had to stand outside with the other passengers from that flight as the airport wasn't open yet :-) That was a first.

Our one hour flight to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi was easy. Above the clouds, we saw beautiful close- ups of Kili. The lady at check-in didn't allow us to take our carry on bags on this first small flight. Byron had to cajole her to book them through only to Nairobi so that we could collect them there. She didn't really like sending one all the way to Madrid and letting us collect our other two little ones, but she did it.

In Nairobi we saw a fearsome sight! As we walked from the plane to the terminal, across the black top, we saw hundreds of bags being sorted by hand and carted off toward the aiport buildings. It didn't look any too organized or promising.

We had to clear immigration and go down to baggage claim to get our bags. Byron's came through fine.... Then finally mine MUCH later. Believe me, I had been praying hard to see that little blue bag appear through the rubber strip curtain!

We checked ourselves back in, stopping to point out to the counter lady that on the next leg we were seated in two middle seats away from each other. She was very kind and scrambled around and got us two together at the bulk head. An aisle, a middle, lots of leg room and togetherness. Much better!

Next stop was Schiphol in Amsterdam. No problems. No hassles. We even had time for a quick dinner.

We landed in Madrid at close to midnight and found that our one checked bag had not made it with us through the 4 airports that day. I was thankful that Byron pressed for us to get our hand luggage in Nairobi as that had almost all my stuff.

Two metro stops later, and we were in the heart of Madrid. It was a warm Saturday night and the narrow little cobbled streets in this old section of the city were filled with groovy young people "going out." It felt so much like an area of Lisbon we used to frequent!

We walked just a few blocks to Kelly and April's, finding Kelly up at 1:30am to welcome us. By the time we climbed into our bed in their very sweet little apartment, we had been up for 24 hours.

So we slept!

We had one quick morning to catch-up with Kelly and April and meet their cute little Alleke. Too short! After our very Madridian breakfast of toasted bread with blended fresh tomato, olive oil and salt on top at a local cafe, we hustled off to catch our speed train to Sevilla.

The train was a very pleasant experience. Jonah met us in Sevilla and we were soon sitting in another very neat little Spanish cafe eating tapas for a late lunch.

All in all, it's been a good time getting here. Our meetings start tomorrow. This is a long post because it was a long trip! We are happy to be here and all is well :-)

Countdown to Spain

This Saturday, before dawn, Byron and I will head out to Spain for a week of 24-7Prayer events.

I'm getting excited! I always look forward to seeing the rest of the leadership team and I love what goes on at the Round Table and the annual gathering, the Feast.

We fly from Kilimanjaro International Airport to Schipol in Amsterdam. Then we go Schipol to Madrid, where we will arrive close to midnight and find our way to Kelly and April's for a little sleep :-) (Can't wait to see those guys!) Next day we'll train from Madrid to Seville, where we join the rest of the team.

After the initial days of leadership meetings and Round Table times, the real fun will begin. From around the world, they will come, lovely people who have taken the call to Prayer, Mission and Justice quite literally and who are praying and mission-ing and justice-ing all over the place! It's always a big JOY to be together, hear the stories, celebrate and get filled up.

AND BARBARA IS COMING TO SPAIN TO SEE US!! Woohoooooooooooooo!!

The Russell family have 4 home schooling kids, and 4 puppies that lost their mama and need to be bottle-fed every few hours. We thought it would just add to their happy hub bub to throw Colin and Heather into the mix for the days we are away :-) Ha! We are so thankful for a home that really feels like our second home for our kids to be folded into it.

I'll be leading two seminars at the Feast. Oh!

Good Gifts

Being in England with the 24-7 team was a good gift to me.
Sure, it felt kind of odd to turn up in London just three weeks after landing in Tanzania but I adjusted :-)

Walking along the High Street in Guilford I thought about how the shops are going to be a problem after I've been in Africa longer. Yea, the lovely displays of attractive things will be causing me to stumble when I return after a much longer stay in TZ. There are book and stationary stores, a Lush, a Body Shop, a Marks and Spencers, a nice kitchen shop etc etc. And I don't even like shopping!

The real gift of the time, though, was just being with Pete Greig, Carla Harding, Billy Kennedy, Brian Heasley, Andy Freeman, Jon Peterson and Ian Nicholson.

Then there was the cute little hat that Brian Heasley bought for Heather. We were poking around in the charity shops (thrift stores) with Billy at a lunch break and he found this cute hat and had to buy it. Heather loves it :-)

When I arrived home I found that Jesse (who was just in Portugal) had brought me olive oil from Barbara. I have a jar of oil pressed from olives harvested at the peaceful plot of the Shanti Pilgrim ! I think it's cool and wildly prophetic to have olive oil from there as we pursue community and look to settle a piece of land together here.

Well, the hurdles and hassles of moving, shipping and settling linger on but that's normal. Last night our family gathered to pray and Byron listed a bunch of the stressors before the Lord. "We don't know what to do about these but we do know this," he said. "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

We sat and sang that over and over for a little while. Ups and downs, stressors and times of joy... In it all there is that Jesus love. Now there's a good gift.

Where Am I?

Well, I'm in London, that's where!

It's so weird to be here because it seems we just got to Tanzania.

But here I am.

I have the very good pleasure of serving on a leadership team with the
24-7 Prayer movement and we meet three times a year. So on Monday afternoon I took a five and a half hour bustrip from Arusha to Nairobi. The open plains of Africa were quite lovely, even if the road was quite bumpy, as we traveled.

At the airport I checked my little bag (a great mistake as I could have carried it on and it's now lagging behind somewhere) and went up to the transit area where I had a cup of tea before my 9pm flight.

There was a couple of large groups of people in matching outfits and one such group was on our plane. Maybe 75 people? It looked like one group made up of smaller groups, each smaller group being an African family. I wondered if they were refugees being relocated? They had a couple of people traveling with them to help them understand what to do. Anyway, I liked them.

We stopped at Entebbe and then on to Brussels. That's where the bag went missing. In fact, the plane from Brussels apparently landed in London with an empty hold. No one got their bags! Crazy.

Then I trained across to Guilford from Gatwick. Beautiful English hills and pastures and paddocks and fields in the morning sun. I thought about how cool it was that I was watching Africa out my window yesterday and England today.

Now I'm "resting" and doing computer work and getting excited to meet with our team tomorrow through Friday. I am honored off my rocker to serve on this team. I love these people!

PS I told Heather that Trevor would be me while I was gone. I said he could do her hair and help her make toast and call Talhia if she wanted to go up and play. When I told Trevor that he had to be me he said, "OK, but do I have to blog?" Ha ha!

And PSS Today is my wonderful dad's 75th Birthday!! Happy Birthday, Dad!! Of all the places in the world I could be, I wish I could transport myself for the day to be with you!

24-7 Prayer: The World on a Shoestring

I'm trying to think of the words I need to describe the 24-7 prayer movement.

You know how some things get under your skin, into your blood and then become a part of who you are? When you try to speak about them it's so difficult ! How do you explain this thing that is so integral to your breathing?

24-7 is a movement, a passion, a people... A family devoted to Christ centered, mission minded prayer--commited to encouraging Christ communities all over the world. It's a family woven together across thousands of miles through something much bigger than the internet that connects us. It's the heart of God pulsating, bringing dead ones back to life, inspiring passionate prayers that change the world, prayers that undo our hearts in the presence of our Maker, prayers that allow His heart to impact ours.

And as we are impacted and moved, prayers as we go!

Go. Yes! Go and do . Go be the church. Be the Body. Be the answer to His prayers, our prayers, His heart for the world.

Not because He needs us so very much. Just because He has chosen this mysterious way of spreading His love... through us, His followers. Nevermind that we are frail and broken.

A band of friends in England were inspired by the Moravians who prayed non-stop for a hundred years. This little band of friends wondered if they might try praying non-stop for a month.

8 years later and the prayers keep on. Prayer room to prayer room, week to week, 8 years of constant prayer! The idea of setting aside a space and consecrating it to prayer, then dividing the week into hour slots and getting friends to cover every hour was and is contagious and irresistable. Not because a prayer room is a magic place. No. Just because it seems that God is ready and available to those who set aside time with Him and when they turn up, He does too.

So here we are, 8 years later with reports of prayer rooms happening in over 65 nations. And those are just the ones we can track! An 8 year prayer meeting :-)

What makes me so excited about people praying? Well, for one thing, most of these prayer people are young. Far and away, the majority of people seeking God in 24-7prayer rooms around the world are teenagers and folks in their twenties. Of course I've seen little children entering into the experience as well, and grandparents. But there is something going on that has captivated the longing of young people all over the globe.

If you're my age, ask yourself how many teenagers you know who love and long to pray. How many speak of freedom in His presence, joy, tears, and communication like they've never known?

Here's a scenario I've experienced over and over...

We empty a room of most of its furnishings. We cover the walls entirely in huge sheets of paper. We set up a few prayer stations or prompts to help people. There might be a globe, a cast iron cooking pot where we can burn our confessions that we have scribbled on scraps of paper. There is plenty of art supplies: markers, paints, pastels, pencils, glue, paper, clay... whatever. There's always music. A cd player and some speakers and lots of music to choose from. Soft stuff. Wild stuff. Dancing, crying, intercession stuff. There might be a guitar, a djembe. It doesn't really matter.

The common thread is that we set this space aside to meet with God and we invite others to join us in covering the week. After the first few hours, the prayers are spilling all over the walls. They have poured out of hearts and now adorn the walls. You walk in and find yourself invited into the hearts of others, the heart of God.

How many times have I heard people say, "As soon as I walked in I just started to cry" ? I see it again and again, God blessing the week, the hours, the room.

People are changed.

And changed people change the world.

Brian and his family moved far from England. Among other things, they host the summer teams who walk the streets of Ibiza caring for the the party crowd. Scores of young Europeans who traveled there to blow their minds on drugs and sex and clubs find something so raw and real in these people who voluntarily clean the vomit off their faces and help them safely back to their hotels. They find love in the realest, truest sense. Much to their surprise, they find Jesus.

All over the globe, this subversive love that serves others is being lived out. The 24-7 family has given their lives over to three simple things, (the vows of the Moravians.) Let us be: True to Christ, Kind to People and Take Good News to the Nations.

I guess I could just go on and on and on but I'd rather send you to the 24-7 website and ask you to take some time to look around. As you do, please consider this: God is using 24-7prayer in crazy, huge, amazing ways all over the globe.

Incredibly, it operates in a threadbare little shoestring of a budget.

Please, this has no impact on me because we don't receive any kind of funding from the 24-7 movement, would you consider giving a gift to this group that has young people falling in love with God and reaching out to change the world? It's so easy. Just push the donate button on their site. (FYI: There's about 2 dollars to every English pound right now.)

And go check out what Nelly (former Young Life staff, current youth pastor and always wonderful friend) is saying about the movement too!

Boys Home and Prayer Room Begins

Byron, Jesse and Trevor got back from Phoenix at about 1am last night. They were pumped, a little hyper in fact.

The road trip to the conference was a great success. Pete Greig opened his Friday night talk with his naked in the elevator story, a truly great tale. Go buy The Vision and The Vow and read it for yourself :-)

I am happy, happy that they had such a good time, that the sessions were so good, that they had such a sweet time with Jason and Linda and fam, that the boys finally got to meet Pete, that they traveled safely and made good time coming home, and generally just had fun together.

Jesse was here briefly. In at 1am and out the door at 6:30am. He took an early train back to Santa Barbara so that he could spend the day getting the prayer room ready. Tonight they open their 24-7prayer week on the Wesmont campus and there's a definite buzz building. Byron and I will each take a couple of days up there to help host the thing.

God bless their week as students tag team day and night in the presence of their King.

Rostrevor

Here I am in the "place of Trevor" :-)
(click on the image for a larger view!)

My 24-7prayer friend, Carla, posted this photo of the center we're staying at for our meetings so I thought I'd do the same.

This is the Christian Renewal Center and they've been lovely hosts to us these last few days. It was sunny like this on the afternoon that we arrived but it's just been storming like mad since then. Makes us feel extra cozy inside. We've been looking out on the Irish Sea and watching the effect of the wind on the waves and trees along the shoreline.

The cool thing about this place is that it's a prayer center that has for many, many years been focused on praying healing for Ireland.

There is palpable peace here even in the storm.