Back from North Africa

We are back in the UK, it has been an exhausting trip. Obviously to wrap up this kind of experience is going to take quite a bit of reflection, writing and thought, not all of which can be attained in one little blog entry. With that being said, I will attempt to describe and explain the adventure, whilst being frustratingly ambiguous at times due to security reasons that I must adhere to. So information about the trip to North Africa might be vague at times, if you are interested in whole truth please let me know via email or via this site and I will send out more specific writings that way. I will leave you now with a list of topics that are going to be covered in the next few blog entries.
* Walk around
* A circumcision party and paint
* Off ya go
* Not quite holiday
* Get up, get outta here
* Ok people, here's what needs to happen
* Drive, fly and sleep
As stated before ambiguousness is going to be a hallmark of this blog for a while, and hopefully a touch of humour thrown in for good measure. Do be checking in, my goal is chronicle the trip in the next 3-4 days, so maybe more than one entry per day. happy reading
earl

Off to North Africa

Hello everybody,
We leave for North Africa within the next couple of hours. I thought that I would state that so it is clear that there won't be any postings for the next couple of weeks, unless there is access to the net where we'll be at. I don't expect that, but maybe there will be a surprise in that, if that is the case then I will post something from our trip, whilst on it. Don't be alarmed there will be plenty of explanation, reflection and pics when we return. By then I will know more of what we have done, that sounds quite obvious but at this point we still don't know a whole heck of a lot about the trip. This past week at KBC is unexplainable so I'm not going to try to explain it, suffice it to say that the Lord was incredibly present, and His power was quite evident. Rebecca and I are having an amazing time, the last while has been blow your socks off consistently. It is wierd that the time is 11:30 and in the morning we'll be in a hot land that will be pushing 100 degrees compared to the rain of Oxford. Much like lemmings that follow each other in a line going somewhere, that is what our KBC group is, a bunch of lemmings that happily follow along. I must keep moving, my bags are almost packed, but I am starving and have waited as long as I can to eat so that I'm not so hungry on the bus and plane. Later,
earl

This week

As I sit here tonight on the internet it dawned on me again that in a couple of days we will be in North Africa as a college. I can't really give many details about the trip, and in all reality I don't really have many details about the trip. I know that we leave on Wednesday night at 1:30 and that we get back on two weeks Thursday, but other than that we know hardly anything about the venture. With that being said we are excited and ready to roll. Life has been busier than I expected since we have been done with our major paper, but that does not mean that it has not been really great around here. The Lord has been up to a ton lately, many people at school being prayed for and being equipped to go out into the world and wreak havoc for God. That is a really cool thought, to think of 40 people more equipped and jacked up to go out and make a difference in the world around them. I just looked at my guitar sitting next to me, at some level my guitar has not seen as much of me as I expected. More of my time has been focused upon reading, study and writing, just not musical writing. With that being said I still have a huge affinity for the guitar and for music, and plan on writing more in the future. The former principal of KBC is here this week, he is presently living in New Zealand heading up a couple of church plants there. He is a fireballer who helps things happen, so it is quite wild these days in the lecture hall. We had him over for supper tonight, it was a very pleasant time of chatting and eating around the dinner table. Can I send out the plea to remember KBC in prayer, as there is much going on right now and with us leaving very soon for North Africa there is much to be in prayer for. I don't expect to have internet access for a couple of weeks so I will post some pics so that you can get some flavour for the trip and what we have been up to. Later
earl

My Bonnie lies on this side of the ocean

To rephrase the popular song "my bonnie lies over the ocean" Bonnie (Rebecca's Mom) has been visiting us since last Thursday. It is hard to believe how quickly the time has escaped us whilst she's been on this side of the pond. With that being said, it is not like we have sat on our hands and done nothing. Oh contrare (spelling?) we have gone into Oxford today to see some sights, Basingstoke yesterday for a church gathering, some Tanzanian friends were in the meeting and the place was hoppin. Went to Charles and Margaret's for a lovely dinner and drive through the countryside. Saturday night was Jo's birthday so a big bbq took place that we all went to, it was a bit chilly but none-the-less a great time was had by all. Every time I looked at where Bonnie was perched a new person was chatting with her and having a great time. Rebecca and her mom also went for a long walk, did some punting (you'll have to look up online to find out what that is) and we have played some cards as well. Overall it has been a great time, have really enjoyed having a bank holiday today, don't know what the reason was for the day off, but not a bad deal anyway. Tomorrow lectures begin on Ephesians, the lecturer is the former principal of the Bible College Aled, he is currently living in New Zealand working with fledgling churches in that country. Do remember Rebecca and I in prayer as our trip to North Africa is coming up soon, preperation, safety etc... and as our year at KBC starts to wind down that we would not loose focus of what God is saying and doing, there is still much more to happen and hear. Talk to you all later,
earl

Not as busy

Hello everyone, I am writing tonight thinking of how my major paper on how the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed is now finished. Actually I have been almost finished with it for a little while, but it was officially handed in today, so that is fantastic. Another beautiful day here, I have mowed the lawn, gone for a run/walk and read a little bit, I think this is what life is like when you don't have big deadlines facing you. I have had other times in life without stuff that is specifically being worked on, but it has been a while, so this is quite refreshing. I am pushing myself to work on reading a few books including Discipleship on the Edge by Darrell Johnson, it is an amazing book about Revelation. I'm also trying to read much about who Paul was, the history of Israel and Jewish customs. So ya quite a bit of reading, I am attempting to hang out with people a bit more now that everyone has time to do so. I'll let you know how life goes for the next couple of weeks, our college is now working up to the North Africa trip. I not only don't know much about what we are going to do on the trip, I'm also not supposed to share where we are going and what we are doing (I do know a little bit) but for the most part it is all hush-hush. I'm going to take off for now, do enjoy life as it looks as I will be for little while at least.
earl