Seeing and Hearing

"You are the God who sees me" Gen 16:13

We don't know how they did it. There never seemed to be much in the way of organisation, but somehow it did happen. On Saturday 10th, 40 students descended on our house for a leaving do / party for the final years organised by CMDF. The chairs and brai turned up. An army of cooks took over the kitchen, and a college vehicle was commandeered to get everyone to Smythe Rd. The food was good - as the photo shows, food is always a good draw for students! Events included an interview panel with 7 of the finalists. This was in turns embarrassing (previous relationships, unrequited love etc!), funny (tales of strange goings on in the back of lecture theatres) and poignant (friendships forged, support from CMF).

I found out an hour before the event I was to speak at it (I suppose there was some organisation). We looked together at the great verbs used to describe the Lord in Genesis and Exodus - how he hears and sees those who are in trouble; in particular, how he hears and sees the most unexpected or 'unimportant' people - Hagar, Ishmael, Leah, Rachel, the Israelites in Egypt e.g. Gen 21:17. Likewise he sees us in our work, hears our cries for our patients, hears their cries for healing and comfort, sees the poorest when the wealthy and powerful ignore them. It's great to know that our seeing and hearing God goes with us each day onto the wards!