San Francisco - 23 March 2011

It was an early start today - 3.15 am wakeup call so that we could leave for the airport at 4.00 am to fly to San Francisco (via Houston at 6 am).

Our time in Jacksonville ended on a great note last night. Before departing South Africa I had been contacted by a member of the 'Sister Cities' organization to say that Jacksonville is a sister city to Port Elizabeth (also known as the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan). Since we (The Power Group) have offices in Port Elizabeth they wanted to host a reception where Graham was to speak, share some greetings, and we were to hear of the work that the sister cities project are doing. I say that it was a highlight since I left the reception with such a sense of encouragement at the goodness of people - we were met by a group of about 10 persons (about a third of the Jacksonville sister city committee). They told us of the work they are doing in establishing a primary health care clinic in a township of Port Elizabeth. I thought to my self how magnificent it is that ordinary persons would give up their time, energy, and finance, to create awareness and raise funds to better then lives of others half way across the world!

Indeed, God has created humanity to be good - these kind people were a wonderful reminder of that fact! I spoke very briefly at the reception about the suffering that is experienced by persons who are HIV+, and the high infection and mortality rate that is a reality in the Eastern Cape. As you would know I have such a passion for raising awareness of our global responsibility to care for persons who are infected, or affected, by HIV and AIDS. I shared some statistics from my book "Christians and Positive: Reflections on Christianity in an HIV+ world", and encouraged the Sister Cities in their great work.

I have been living for Micah 6.8 for some days: "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God". In particular the injunction to "love mercy" (and I guess that would extend to acts of mercy and merciful people) has resonated strongly in my heart.

Jacksonville is blessed with many people who are committed to tangible expressions of the good news of God's Kingdom! Fr Peter Church, Charley Christie, Jim Young, Bp Vaughan Mclaughlin, the members of the Sister Cities project...

I am looking forward to being back here in June this year! If you would like to join us in the Global Day of Prayer celebration and conference please visit http://www.fcgdop.org for details.

Today we change gears as we join our friend Brett Johnson from 'Repurpose' in San Francisco. The next two days will be spent mainly with business people who are seeking to find ways of repurposing their influence, income and work life for Kingdom directed social and structural transformation. For the Christian business should not be only about making money! There is so much that we can do through our network of relationships, our influence, and even our products or services to see justice, mercy and God's love established in society!

I am particularly excited to visit San Francisco - I have often admired the unique beauty of that city!