A Sunday Blessing
[Our prayer for this trip]
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, [Selah]
that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!
Let the nations be glad and shout for joy, for You judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. [Selah]
Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!
The earth has yielded its increase; God our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him!
Psalm 67
Blessings upon you today…
Week's end with thanks
- Napping in the grass outside Buckingham Palace (above), sunshine spilling over us, resting our weary feet, soaking up God’s grace.
- Blessed {Single-Minded} singles, eager for the gospel, warm and inviting toward us. Finally getting used to their accents and being able to carry on a conversation.
- Having the honor of teaching Expectancy without Expectation to the group on Sunday.
- A sweet time with the ladies, talking about beauty.
- Jill sharing her heart, letting me peak into her journal. A brave, beautiful soul. Blessed because she let me in to see.
- Many many English meals.
- Plenty of “refreshments.”
- A barefoot walk in the sunshine through the breath-taking High Leigh grounds. The weight of speaking responsibility lifted, my heart soaking up the goodness of God.
- Instant coffee packets. It might not taste that great but it sure is convenient!
- Electric tea kettles.
- Crammed in the backseat of mini-cars … several times.
- Re-Hope church plant in Glasgow. Singing Revival in Belfast worship songs at the top of our lungs with dear Scottish saints. Church full of arms stretched out to our Lord. Overcome. Wow.
- Singing Matt Redman and Tim Hughes worship songs … they sound so beautiful sung with the right accent!
- Late-night tour of University of Glasgow. Looking out over the city. 10pm home and collapsing into bed, exhausted.
- Sleeping in until 10! Twelve hours of sleep. We needed it. Waking refreshed and excited for the day.
- Day spent with church-planters Scotty & Monica Burns. Hearing their amazing stories of God’s provision. Built up in my faith, amazed at God’s grace.
- Indian food.
- Brian Luse at the Glasgow airport with the biggest smile you can imagine. HE, in himself, was a gift. Though we hardly knew him before, you can’t not love this guy.
- Five beautiful Luse children all winning my heart. Caileen snuggled on my lap within 5 minutes. Four of them reciting the Shema (Deut 6) in Hebrew and English after dinner. Wow! [I’m applauding them above]
- Playing Snakes & Ladders.
- Personalized plastic letter necklaces for Jeff and me.
- Scottish dinner! Sausages and fresh fish BBQ’d on the grill donated by Willamette Christian Church.
- Butterscotch-chip cookies.
- Late night with Brian & Shauna. What a gift they are.
- Recounting the story of why we’re attempting to sell our house. It helps so much to tell the story. Helps us believe again, reminds our own hearts why we do what we do. Dear dear saints who cheer us on and encourage us. So thankful.
- Playing soccer in the yard.
- Loch Lamond — beautiful. Day walking the Scottish countryside and enjoying the park.
- Eating haggis. (It was disgusting … but it’s still a gift that we got to try it!)
- Skype every night with the kids. Crying afterwards … I love those little monkeys more than life itself.
- Arriving back in London after an hour delay and miraculous (no really, miraculously) catching our bus into the city. Collapsing into our seats, exhausted and ready for an adventure.
- Finally arriving at our hotel late Tuesday night…. the sketchiest, dingiest hotel I’ve ever seen. BUT, we were together and that’s all that matters, yes? Happy Anniversary!
- Day in Oxford with Dale Gibson’s daughters and their families. A true gift.
- Climbing to the top of Magdelan tower. Overlooking all of Oxford. Breathtaking.
- Homemade curry chicken and a ride back to the bus station — a HUGE gift!
- Discovering a food-coop store. A bag of apples and bottled water for the morning — a gift!
- Instant coffee in our hotel room. Nothing’s ever tasted better.
- The trek up several flights of stairs to the only shower in the hotel. I’ve never appreciated a hot shower so much in my life. Oh the amazing wonder of a hot shower!
- Seeing everything new, through the eyes of KP Yohannen and his fellow missionaries. No shoes, no spare clothes, no food, no money, traveling to hundreds of villages to preach the gospel. I pray to remember this always … keeps life in perspective.
- First (and only) day on our own in London, seeing MANY sights in one day. Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathdral, the church of the holy sepulchre, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, walking across the Thames, London Eye, Hyde Park, Buckingham palace, the Old Bailey (Rumpole’s stomping grounds!). Full full day. Good and tired.
- Attending Evensong worship at Westminster Abbey. Wow.
- Resting under a tree when it started to rain.
- The tube.
- Double-decker buses. Wishing Dutch were with us.
- Being so tired our dingy and stingy hotel room looked gloriously comfortable!
- Yakisoba.
- Sleeping great every single night despite our tiny, dilapidated bed. Another miracle — so thankful!
- Amazing day together on Friday. Long morning spent at Starbucks outside the British Museum (nothing like some Pike Place coffee to make me feel at home!). Rest, no rush, able to see, refocus, correct our compass, plan for the future, pray, get in God’s Word. Ahhhhh…. just what we needed. Thank you Lord!
- Venti coffee with real cream.
- Day spent at the British Museum. Unhurried.
- Amazing statues from China in the first century AD, when the idea of hell was introduced to their culture (wonder where that might have come from in the first century AD?!). Two sculptures, one holding a book of “good works” (TINY) and one holding a book of “evil works” (HUGE). Wow. Amazing to see that every culture, at the heart, knows that humanity needs a Savior. More on this later…
- Pad Thai and Curry. Delicious!
- Super fun “blind double-date” with blog-reader Brie and her fabulous fiance Jamie. Drinks overlooking the Thames, walk along the pier, sweet fellowship and encouragement in Christ. A sweet fresh reminder of the fellowship we share in God’s Spirit.
- Feet up, laptops out, logging in to record the sweet events of our trip. Three more days here, out to south, where Jeff will preach at Calvary Chapel Leatherhead. A quiet end to a busy and blessed trip. So thankful for every moment of it. And so thankful to return home.
- Anticipating the taste of Oregon water. Nothing so delicious in all the world …
- Times of refreshing.
F is for a Free book for you
I’ve mentioned before that on a trip I love to take one book and just read it cover to cover, as it creates a sort of literary soundtrack for the journey. It sets the theme. Hawaii’s was The Same Kind of Different As Me, and though I packed several books on this trip, one in particular has clearly surfaced as the primary theme.
Actually, truth be told, I didn’t even pack it, or choose to bring it along, it just hopped its way into my bag along the way.
KP Yohannan’s Revolution in World Missions. I know, I know, I should have read it by now. We’ve had it for years but it just never made its way to the top of my nightstand stack. But at the conference in London they were giving out free copies and it beckoned me. No better place to read it than outside the United States because it makes all the revealing truths twice as clear (and convicting) when you can stand off from afar and take a look at your life.
I’m only halfway through but it sings the same song that has been ringing in my ears this whole trip — the urgency and primacy of the gospel, and our apathy and acaedia when it comes to spreading the truth of Jesus Christ to the billions of people on this planet who do not know Him.
All ten fingers are pointing at myself, by the way.
We all desperately need a dose of reality and a heart for the lost. Amen? Anyone else asking God to crack open their heart, just a tad? Help us see, Lord. We’re desperate for you to wake us up!
So, the book is phenomenal and has sold 2 million copies and I’d love to give you one. Will you read it?
Just leave a comment and let me know if you’re willing to read it, if you’d be so kind, and at the end of the day I’ll send you a book! OR… you ALL can have a free book by going here and signing up for one yourself. Either way, just read it!
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Happy Friday to you! Jeff and I are thrilled to be meeting a dear blog-reader tonight in London. I’ve never met the sister, but just cooresponded through here. Isn’t it amazing how God connects us? So thankful. Have a wonderful weekend, and thank you, as always, for reading.
The best sight-seeing, the kind that needs no camera
Yes, there’s Big Ben. Crown Jewels. Tower of London.
The Glasgow Cathedral was breath-taking (pictured above).
But by far the best sight-seeing we’ve done has been seeing the fingerprints of God on the lives of His people.
We knew this would be. Before we came I prayed that God would give us more than experiences but that He would give us encounters. Encounters with Him and encounters with people. But in every conversation about our trip it seemed to focus on the sights. What would we see, where would we tour, what attractions of London would we make sure and not miss. But right away on this trip God reminded us very clearly that the most spectacular sight we’d see would be His people.
He reminded us in a funny way.
At 30,000 feet above sea level, somewhere over the Atlantic ocean, we looked at each other and realized,
“We forgot the camera.”
Yes, laugh if you will. We traveled to Europe and left our camera sitting on the kitchen counter, because we’d been taking video of our kids right before we left for the airport. So we shrugged our shoulders and decided we better just live every moment. We better just enter in to every moment and live it.
So that’s what we’re doing.
After sleeping in until 10am on Monday (we had been running nonstop since we left the US on Thursday), we then sat for hours with our missionary friends Scotty & Monica Burns over breakfast. Hearing stories, testimonies, amazing tales of God’s hand on their church-planting work in Glasgow. I had tears in my eyes, amazed all over again at the greatness of our God. Knowing that God brought me here, across the Atlantic ocean to build my faith. Just to remind me how big He is.
Then we came out to Renfrew to stay with different missionary friends, Brian & Shauna Luse, and were floored all over again, in a completely different way, of seeing God’s hand and grace all over their lives. After their children (five of them who were deilghtful and won my heart) were in bed, we too sat up for hours, laughing, sharing, built up in our faith and amazed at our great God who works in Renfrew, Scotland and West Linn, Oregon all at the same time.
Then we came to London and it continued.
Yesterday we slated the entire day for touring Oxford University, then found out that our Business Pastor’s two daughters and sons-in-law would be there as well, two of whom we’d never met. We wound up spending the entire day with them and their three kids, touring this historic and stunning campus, climbing towers and hiking miles and meandoring along CS Lewis’ contemplative path and even going to their home to share dinner together. Again, an entire day spent with these people we didn’t even know turned out remarkable. Amazing “small world” connections (turns out we lived in the same dorms at the same time in college!), beautiful shared moments, laughter, generosity, kindness. Miles spent holding their children’s hands down narrow cobblestone roads. Even a bit carrying their newborn daughter in a front-pack. Fellowship and enouragment. Joy and generosity.
You can’t capture that with a camera.
Yes, we took a few pictures with their cameras and we’ll print them at home and tuck away so we can reminisce down the road, but those kind of encounters cannot be contained in a picture. It made me ask myself,
How often have I tried to capture something instead of just living it?
You know me, I’m all for memorial stones, for remembering, for looking back. What I mean, though, is maybe we’re so quick to document it (or tweet it or post it to facebook) that the encounter is premature. Not even fully experienced, or encountered.
Of course it’s a beautiful balance, right? The art and skill living. Many times our experiences are what enable encounters to happen. And our documenting and capturing things can actually enhance the moment, sometimes. But I’m thankful for the chance to just live this time in Europe and focus on the most spectacular sight of all –– God’s beauty shown through the life of His people.
You likely have the same spectacular sights …
Right where you are.
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Thanks for reading, friends. And thank you for your prayers … it’s been a glorious time.