Giving Devotions

One of the things that I get called upon to do on these student mission trips is to give a few talks. Last year I was able to come up with a few last-minute devotions, but I will be more intently connected with the students this year, and anticipate more opportunities.  When the pressure is off, the ideas are manifold.  When the pressure is on, G^d comes through, but it can be a bit nerve-wracking.

Well, it turns out that I had NO opportunities to share, for a variety of reasons, but I had some GREAT small-group conversations.  These students were a sharp bunch with some sharp questions.  They asked, and commented about all sorts of things.  

So, although I gave no formal talks, I got to talk one-on-one and in small groups with a bunch of them.  Some of the topics I had prepared came in handy in these chats. 

And, I learned a lot…which really is the point.

I like to speak, because I like to learn.  I learn the most in prepping to teach someone else. I hear from G^d in these instances, as I have mentioned herein.

So thanks to students for asking good questions and for indulging the perspectives of this old, old professor.

Rome!

Roma, Italy is one of the most interesting places I have ever visited, and that covers some ground!  Rome is, along with Athens and Jerusalem, one of the cultural centers of modern mankind.  When we are talking about seeing something old in Rome, it really is old.  The Coliseum, the Forum, the prison that might have housed Peter and Paul, the Circus Maximus, where so many Christians were killed merely for entertainment of the populace, the ancient cathedrals and basilicas, are tributes to the longevity of Rome as a center of government and culture.

I tried to think back to what it might have been like to walk the streets of Rome 2000 years ago, or  even further back.  My mind starts to go there, but soon gives up.  The people of that day had the same needs and desires, I suppose, of today’s Romanos. They ate and drank, they took care of children.  They repaired their houses and their shoes.  They shopped for the groceries and sat around and complained about the government, no doubt.

I am guessing that those ancient Romans wrestled with envy, lust, bitterness, grief, just as we do today.  Some of them had little recourse- few options.  Some of them had a special approach to life that gave them a wonderful resiliency and happiness, even in the midst of suffering.

You see, some of those ancient Romanos were… Christians!  Some of them had first perceived the need to be saved from their own fallen sinfulness, and had received the pardon from G^d through their reliance on the shed blood of the Christ.  They faced the persecution, the loss, the suffering with the hope that, though they had little reward in this world, one day they would see Jesus face to face, and there would be an eternity of fellowship and rejoicing.

As I walk the crowded streets of Rome, perhaps I retraced a few of the steps of the Apostles Peter and Paul.  Certainly I retraced the steps of some of those thousands of unknown Christians.  I might not be able to see, to feel, to smell, to taste the things they did, 2000 years back, but that’s okay. We still have a Great deal in common.

And one of these days, we will meet one another, and together we will see Jesus face to face, and there would be an eternity of fellowship and rejoicing.

Hmm, better than Rome, better than Rome by far!!

My Lost Camera

On two international trips, I have had cameras stolen.  In one instance I was in Aswan, Egypt and had  some great picts I didn’t want to lose.  I left my camera in a church building along with a half dozen much better cameras belonging to other people.  When we came back from break, mine was gone.  Mine may have been the WORST camera, but it turns out that it was closest to the outside door!

So, imagine my disappointment when I pay by pocket and find the camera missing.  I recalled taking a picture of the scores of bikes here at Oxford, and then we went into a tourism shop and bought some tickets for the walking tour starting in about 5 minutes.  I ran, literally, back to the tourism shop and asked if I had left it there. 

“No”, they said. 

So then I ran all the way up to our room and searched frantically.  NO camera.  I grabbed my phone and ran to rejoin the tour, now in progress.

The whole 105 minutes of the tour I listened and asked my usual score of questions, but in the back of my mind were those missing pictures, which I deemed irreplaceable.

After the tour ended, we happened to be near the tourism office where I might have left the camera.  I needed to ask another question, go figure, so we went back in.  After I had asked my question, Brenda asked the new person behind the desk whether they might have found a camera.

“Would you describe it?” came the reply.

My heart leapt.  IF they needed a description, perhaps my lost sheep of a camera had been found.

Here is what I described:

“I think we have, back here, something that was found.”

My heart rejoiced only slightly less than the woman who had found the lost coin, or the shepherd who had left the 99 sheep in search of the missing one.

My old, beat up, $40 camera I had carried almost every day in Africa, had been found.

I immediately took it back to our hotel and down-loaded the new picts to my computer.  No use taking any chances!  I went ahead and posted the photos to Facebook, in case anything happened to my computer.

Thanks be to G^d that what was lost has been found.

Think of the rejoicing in heaven, when one lost soul is found!

Extravert’s Delight

I am in a laundromat in London.  I hear a young man speak to someone.  I catch his eye. 

“New York?” I ask.

He gives a bit of a shocked grin, and says, “That’s right!”

In fact he is Matt S, a writer for New Yorker Magazine here in London on a 2-week assignment.  Whilst my clothes are washing, and his finish washing and start drying, we have quite a nice conversation.  He is covering Islam in England and the recent speech restrictions enacted there.  We chat a bit about magazine writing, families, his college (Swarthmore), a colleague who is also an alumnus.  He is very friendly and the conversation is very, very easy.

As he is folding up his last bit of clothing, I tell him, “My friends are in the British Museum, but I believe I have had the better time!”  He seems humbly incredulous, but I am sincere.

G^d indeed made all the many, many marvels of the British museum which is ranked among the top 5 natural history museums in the world.  But G^d’s supreme creation is NOT nature, but Matt S.

And as Bob Cratchit’s son Tim once said, “May G^d Bless us, everyone (Matt S)!”

On the Road Again!

This blog started on our sabbatical to Sweden. We are on the road again, and by the time you read this, back home again.  We have a bit of a different trip this time. Phillip started off the trip taking the train to ATL, spending the night with friends, then meeting up with the CRU students and staff at the ATL airport. He flew with them to Frankfurt, then on to Rome. You will read more about that a bit later.

Brenda left a week later and met up with me in London. After a brief stay we trekked to Newcastle, then to Oxford, then to the Cotswolds up NW of London not far from Wales.

Will be posting blogs w photos soon!

Once again we are working with Cru, known as Agape in England and Italy. We have some specific tasks, but a lot of it is just what occurs as we go along the way. We will meet new friends, see some old ones, and try to hear from G^d as clearly and often as possible. We know not what we may encounter. International travel is generally quite safe, but there are never any guarantees.

We think it is time well spent, at any rate. As we have marveled on many occasions, G^d has made it possible to experience things that most people of our income level only imagine. And the great joy is to be doing this in relationship. We are moving in relationship with fellow believers, in relationship with new acquaintances, and most importantly, in relationship with the G^D of the Universe.

It just doesn’t get any better than that!