Something a bit lighter?

I promised on the last blog to come up with something just a bit lighter than the last few posts. This is not to say that our KBC experience has been lightening up, that isn't the case. That's not to say that it has been to heavy to handle either, the Lord doesn't give us more than we can handle through His power. Switching gears dramatically I am very happy because the W on our keyboard is working again, last night and earlier today typing the W was like giving my ring finger an extreme workout. If a single finger could feel tired, this one would feel just that. Something else quite random that I have noticed lately is the joy of Mexican food, it's not that I didn't already love the stuff, it's just that we did not eat much of it here. That has begun to change, our housemates love it as well; black beans and rice, fajitas and grande nachos. If I had the money to start a Taco Bell here that would be an amazing business opportunity, this culture is busting at the seems for Mexican fare. Other than the last couple of days I woke up to absolutely pristine, clear, cloudless mornings, one after the other. I know it's England it's not suppose to be nice weather, well that is true as every afternoon when walking home from school it was either rainy, windy, both or drizzle. Today it was foggy which is the second time this year, the other was when my parents visited and we couldn't even see the roundabout in front of our house. I don't know if the movie "Amazing Grace" is out in America, it may only be an English film. We went to see it tonight, it is the story of William Wilberforce who was the man who spearheaded the abolition of the slave trade in England. The movie is astounding and will have you thinking far into the night after watching, that is what I suspect tonight as my head will hit the pillow soon. Speaking of hitting the pillow soon, why don't Americans use duvets? They are so much better than standards blankets and such. The other object that we need to introduce to America is the kettle, water boils so quickly, no wonder they drink so much tea and coffee here, it is so easy to get the boiled water. I would like to remind my readers that my pick for the NCAA Tournament is still alive - Florida. My rooting efforts will go towards Ohio St. many reasons, some of them being Larry, Jill and Big Ten allegiances, in this case Go Bucks. Thanks for letting me let you inside my head for just a brief time. later
earl

I know, it has been a week since I last wrote on the blog, I have thought about it each day this week, but now have sat down to write. Does that mean that I don't want to chronicle my thoughts, or stay in touch with a whole load of people, NO, but it does mean that the energy it takes to write after one's mind is tired is more than I have had for the most part over this last week. Been doing a bunch of reading about heaven/hell, to be honest most of the reading has been on hell, there is a seminar tomorrow that I am chairing. I thought it would be good to have some background on the topic, I already understand some, but having a deeper Biblical basis is wise, especially when dealing with a topic that could get dicey. I have mostly settled in my mind what I think about heaven/hell, but many people that are reading, searching a digging in have questions, I'm sure that they will come out tomorrow. This week the focus was upon John's gospel, it is one of believing, salvation, eternal life and feeling as though you were right there with Jesus as He shared with the disciples. I totally appreciate the gospel of John but also appreciate the other gospels as well, I think that they get the short end of the stick sometimes as we tend to focus upon eternal life and salvation, not how then shall we live. This might sound a bit controversial, I'm not saying to stop preaching salvation, I am saying the Kingdom of God is so much more, and when a person has entered that Kingdom they are then to move forward with God, not just stay complacent. This is one of the main ideas that I have been dealing with this term, it all continues to become clearer and clearer as I study, listen, read and talk with others about the Kingdom. I think that it is the forgotten message of Jesus, here in the UK there is a popular book called the Lost Message of Christ, and I think that the Kingdom is the forgotten message of Jesus. It has not been lost, we (the church) seemingly have forgotten to preach and consequently live the Kingdom out. I trust that my thinking is continuing to line up with the Word and with Christ, and that my life is lining up with the Word and with being in Christ. Please comment if you would like to, I would like to hear what others have to say about these thoughts, by the way the next entry is going to be incredibly light so be aware:)
earl

Another week already finished?

It is hard to believe that we have already reached the end of this week, because we have quite packed Sundays, Friday night and Saturday is really the end, in all reality Sunday is the first day of the week anyway. We have been looking at the Gospels this week, they are not as straightforward as you might expect. So much of how we read the Bible is through our lenses, rather than the lenses of the culture of that day. I have been trying to read more about the culture of that day, but have not been able to find too much yet. With that being said I also many other books to be reading for an upcoming seminar on heaven/hell next week, a paper that I am going to be doing on poverty and writing a paper about Paul and the Law. This is a busy time, but we're still having a great time along the way. Last night Jazz, one of our housemates, and Tash a Canadian girl from Hungarian heritage had a party here for her birthday, it was a half Indian half Hungarian themed party. We had a large crowd, much Indian cuisine, henna painting, punjabi music and Hungarian decor. Rebecca is in London today and tomorrow to be with a friend, so in her absence I will have to watch some of the NCAA tournament. Can't say that I'm too distraught about watching some roundball, my pick to win it all is Florida by the way, not going too far out on the limb, but why go there if you don't need to? Continue to pray for us, we are learning much, thinking and praying about what God wants us to be giving ourselves to, and we have a considerable amount of time here to grow and build here as well. Talk to you later, mom and dad, don't shovel too much. Good luck to the Fairfield Falcons in the semi-state. later
earl

Heading up North

I have not been able to write about life here in Oxford for quite sometime since undertaking a clear review of our Prague holiday. So much has been going on here that it is hard to chronicle, how difficult must it have been for scribes in Biblical times? Think about Jeremiah's scribe who had to rewrite part of the book because it was lost? We have been going through the Psalms, Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. The Lord has been doing much in people here at KBC, the Psalms week was a time of looking into ourselves and having God transform from the inside. The Psalms are so realistic in that there is ranting, happiness, chillin, scared and all other gammot of emotions. It is safe to say that most of those were seen during the week by the students. God is up to alot, so if you are a prayer warrior get out your battle implements. It is great to think about the students here being prepared to lead others in the future in the workplace, society, church setting and in the family. Like I said it is too much to go into on this forum, but we are enjoying our time and being stretched. This weekend we are headed up to the Salt and Light Leaders Conference in the North of England, our dear friends Steve and Barb Flora are with us and we are traveling together. We'll see many friends up there along with the teaching, ministry and input from the speakers. I assume that this trip up north will not be quite as adventurous as our other one, we are not planning on going out to Holy Island. Later
earl

Prague - Thursday

A glimpse into the busyness of life is seen in this blog as I am writing about our holiday that is a full two weeks ago, although I can still picture it all, how lovely. After eating one more knockout breakfast at the Step we found our way back to the city centre, how picturesqe it is, especially with the beautiful weather that we encountered. The goal of the day was to stroll through the Jewish section, visit a Salvador Dali exhibition and finish at the Communism Museum. Maybe some of that itinerary is not what you would choose for a cosmopolitan city like Prague, but alas we are into other culture, and I am really into history, the Dali part sounded unique, and it was. The Jewish section comprises some very affluent shopping areas, what looked to be incredibly old narrow streets, upper crust flats and seven synagogues that have been used for many years. We did not go into all, instead we chose to go into the New-Old Synagogue. After visiting it, I realized it is Old, not so much New, but it is called New because when built it was new, then after others being built after it was old. It has been in continual use since the 13th century, so ya it is old, and I have no pics they are not allowed. It was an impressive site to sit in, to observe and learn about, I feel better about myself after hanging in there for a while. After perusing the shops, getting a coffee, and walking around somewhat tiredly (word?) we swung into the Dali exhibit. It was not the norm, some of the artwork was fabulous, some played with your mind, some was offending, some was just flat out there. I really enjoyed the carvings of rhinos that were normal bodies with incredibly long spindly legs, and elephants like that as well were great too. We found some culture there in the Old Square, and wandererd around some more unfound streets until we came to the Communism Museum. I was worn out at this point, but new that I had to go on, so I perverbially buckled my belt and went in. I find amazing that the city of Prague after being occupied by Nazi, going through two World Wars and an intense Soviet influence and occupation that the city is in such nice shape. Very little of the impressive architecture has been ruined throughout the tumultuous time of the city. The museum was an eye into life in communist Czechoslovakia (still can spell it Mom and Dad:) and I would not want to have lived there, a bleakness and a worry seemed to be the words that popped into my head. After visiting the museum our work was done in Prague and we headed back to the hotel to then head to Ruyzne Airport outside of town. There was nothing of note during the rest of the trip except to say that there was nothing of note, so nothing went wrong. Our housemate Jazz picked us up at East Midlands airport, and she had sandwiches and Coke, that was music to my ears. Go to Prague if you can, later

earl How do you not take a pic of this cute police car?

Here is one of the synagogues in the Jewish section

Check out the narrow streets lined by baroque, it is quite unique

Prague - Wednesday

I'm going into the recesess of my mind to think about a time that was a little over a week ago, but at KBC a lot (correct spelling:) happens, so for me Prague is like a world away. It is actually an hour and 45 minute flight, but it seems like it should be further or is it farther? Anyway we got up, enjoyed our feast in the morning and took the tram down to the city centre where we proceeded to wander some back streets in search of an easy way to Narodni St. so that we could catch tram 18 across the river to the Lesser Town area of Prague. It is called Lesser Town not because it isn't amazing but because there is less there, not as much tourism, population, and it doesn't feel like a major city. We walked up a back alley type of street and came out a the square of St. Nicholas Church, this is one of those buildings that words and pics don't do a lick of good describing. It was ornate, beautiful, antique, confusing, picturesqe and frustrating all at the same time. The architecture was wow, there was more gold on the statues than in a mine in the old west, the place is from the 14oo's so it was antique like. There were many paintings, including the whole of the ceiling and two different domes as it was a double nave structure as well. I found it confusing because there was so much going on I don't know how someone could hone in on one aspect and frustrating because to be there during a meeting I think I would be frustrated with all the ornateness, my eyes would be elsewhere than where they should be while worshipping. We left this grand structure and slowly plodded up a hill to the top where the Castle of Prague sits grandly. It is more of palace type area than a proper castle, but impressive none the less, some of it was from 900. We wandered around there, mailed some postcards, I ate breadstick, we saw some marching soldiers and then left through gate C which was at the far end of where we had come in. After having some coffee and ice cream we went back across the river by foot via the Charles Bridge, a gorgeous towered bridge that is used only for pedestrians. Rebecca and I had decided that we wouldn't worry about eating a big supper and rather we would settle for something from a street vendor. I bought a sausage as one would, walked over to where we were going to sit and somehow managed to dislodge the sausage from the bun, into the air it hurled, twisting as I volleyed it back into the air while holding onto the bun, I didn't want to lose the whole thing. After tapping it twice once right toward Rebecca I snatched it like it was a fish just caught from the lake, people must have thought I'd cut my hand it was covered in ketchup, somehow only one drop hit Rebecca and I enjoyed eating the sausage along with the bun. We were hungry later which proved that our supper wasn't enough, so we enjoyed a pizza while watching the Liverpool vs. Barcelona match sorry Anthony better luck on Tuesday. Tune in later for the journeys of Thursday
earl

Inside of St. Nicklaus Church

Part of the Castle complex that overlooks the city

Rebecca and I on Charles Bridge with the city in the background