Poured Out

So after an 8-hour drive (roadworks), I got home to a plethora of smiles and hugs yesterday.  I had a great week in Keswick.  It was my first time at the convention and I am a real fan of the whole concept.  I really appreciate how they don’t have pre-registration or charges, just an indication of costs for the sake of the collections.  I really appreciated hearing some excellent preaching, including multiple references to ministry in Wiltshire – the morning Bible readings were by Paul Mallard who used to be at Ladyfield in Chippenham.

Speaking of which, we move in 48 hours.  Today I need to get stuff down from the loft, disassemble the play structure, get a few other things organised, then I am up in St Albans for a preaching seminar tonight.  Tomorrow morning the packers come in and pack and load.  Meanwhile I am preaching at Oakhall.  Monday morning we head off to Chippenham.  I’ll be taking Mariah and Joel early, as I need to meet  the agent at 9:30.  The little people will head off to my parent’s house (that is, my parents will take them there), then they’ll return later in the day, hopefully to a house filled with our things ready to unpack.

Please pray for the move to go well.  We aren’t particularly stressed about everything, but we know we need God to superintend the move – for the travel to be safe, for things to be done at the right time, for the removal company to do a good job, for everything to make it without damage, for the emotions leaving this home after more than four years, etc.  Thanks for praying for us in what should, by human expectations, be a manic weekend.  We hope it will be a blessed time as a family.

Last night we enjoyed a very special time with about 25 friends from the Getting More course at Oakhall. We’ve enjoyed 4 years of Bible study together and it has been a real blessing to me to be part of a group of people hungry for God’s Word. Several key group members were missing, but nonetheless we enjoyed a great meal and time of fellowship. The thank you card and gift voucher are very much appreciated, but the memories and the friendships will remain an ongoing blessing. Leaving those folks is one of the hardest things about moving church. Thank you to everyone involved last night and over the last four years. Thank you for letting me be part of the group!

We just heard that we have the house we applied for last week, so we’ll be moving at the start of August! This is exciting news for us. So some of our conversations relate to what will go where in respect to the various rooms in the house. This allows an overly perfect segue into the subject of this post! Last week I mentioned the new Cor Deo site which has enjoyed a successful facelift surgery in recent days. One of the things we hope will come of that is a weekly conversation prompted by posts from myself and Ron. Today I posted the first real Cor Deo post on the site (and it is about which room our spiritual life really grows in – see the connection?)

Please take a look, and if possible, please add a thoughtful comment – we would really appreciate that! Here is the link that if you click it, you’ll find yourself there, at www.cordeo.org.uk!

After quite a lot of work behind the scenes, the new look Cor Deo site is now live.  If you haven’t visited for a while, please take a look.  Actually, if you haven’t visited for two days, it is worth taking a look!  As well as the facelift, the site now has news updates integrated with the new Cor Deo blog which will start in earnest next week.  We’ll be using the site for a weekly conversation on subjects like Bible, theology, spirituality, pastoral ministry, missions, church history, preaching, the Trinity, prayer, etc.  We would love it if you followed the site and got involved in the conversation now and then.

You can follow the site (i.e. know when posts appear) via the rss feed on the site, or via facebook.com/cordeo, or twitter.com/cordeoblog, or on NetworkedBlogs if you have that app, etc.  You could even do the old fashioned thing and simply remember to visit the site regularly!  Ron and I will alternate who starts the conversation.

If you click here you will go straight to the new blog.

Last weekend was the annual memorial day retreat for our church, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  The girls all enjoyed the zipline and giant swing (i.e. in a harness and dropped from about 55 feet), and it was great to connect with folks there.  Sunday morning I left early to fly to Chicago and then drive to Dubuque, IA.  I’m at the International Training Consultation which includes about fifty folks from training programmes and institutions from all over (Britain, western Europe, eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East, SouthEast Asia, Australia, NZ, South America . . . )  We’re being very graciously hosted by Emmaus Bible College, where Melanie attended for the two years before we met.

It has been a great few days.  Although the schedule has been packed, the discussions have been helpful and encouraging.  It is great to get a better awareness of some of the things happening around the world.  It is also very encouraging, in one sense, to hear that some of the things that seem to be a challenge everywhere are actually central features of the Cor Deo design – for instance the need to get across quality content, to facilitate genuine mentoring relationships, integrating study with ministry, connecting instructors relationally to students, etc.  I look forward to attending this at some point in the future with some experience of Cor Deo to share with the folks.

Tomorrow I leave after lunch to drive back to Chicago and fly back to Portland.  Friday we “move house” from Melanie’s parents to some good friends of ours.  Please pray for Melanie, she is still struggling with far more frequent headaches than she was experiencing back home in the UK before we left.

We’ve seen improvement over the past three days, which is encouraging.  The headaches were too much, but a couple of adjustments and something seems to be working.  Yesterday Melanie and I were at the Missionary Study Class – a monthly missions institution here in Chicagoland (as they call it around these parts).  It was encouraging to be around folks passionate about missions.  Both speakers were focused on the need for and importance of training on the field – amen to that!  This morning we were all at Warrenville and really enjoyed the morning.  This is a three service Sunday morning . . . breaking of bread at 9, Sunday School with classes for all ages at 10:30, then family Bible hour at 11:30 (which lasts 50 minutes, so perhaps it is not actually called Family Bible Hour . . . forgive me Warrenville readers).  Anyway it worked out really well.  I shared about our ministry in the adult Sunday school class, then spoke on 2Tim.3 in the third service.  Afterwards we were hosted by a couple for lunch, but ate it in the church, which also was great as the children had plenty of room to run off steam!It’s Mother’s Day here in the US, so Melanie is getting her second Mother’s Day of the year.  She deserves it.  Speaking of which I should go to the kitchen and take over making dinner . . . I will also offer to do all Melanie’s planned ironing for the next 12 months.

Yesterday we were able to visit two churches – Northwest and Lansing.  We’ve only been to each one once, almost six years ago.  But time flies and it was great to catch up with old friends (not referring to age), and make some new friends.  It is such an encouragement to meet people that read this site regularly and pray for us.  Now we have a couple of days before the next meeting on Wednesday evening.  The children are loving being at Aunt Carol’s, I think she’s enjoying it too.  I think a zoo visit is on the schedule for tomorrow.  Meanwhile I have a couple of days to try and make some progress on a couple of projects that I want to move forward in these days.

I understand many have been praying for me this week and I really appreciate that.  This post will be necessarily short, but I plan on writing a more complete report for prayer partners who want to request that.  The conference went ahead almost without adjustment despite all the “normal” happenings (for some parts of the world) transpiring outside the walls.  God has protected and blessed us this week.  It was such a blessing to work with the people returning from last year and to see the progress in their lives and ministries.  It is a week that I won’t forget in a hurry for multiple reasons!

I had a long night in the airport – safe, but noisy (if only someone would press pause on the PA announcements in the middle of the night!)  Flights home today went smoothly.  My two colleagues are scheduled to fly out tonight.  Amazingly a man I spent the first flight chatting with last week had rearranged his return travel and we were on the same flight again today.  It was great to see Melanie again, and the children, of course.  Everyone in the house is extra tired tonight, so we’re hitting the hay early.  If you are going to see us in person, please ask about this week and the encouragements we’ve seen.  If you’re not going to see us, I’ll try and do something of a report to share the encouragement with you.

As always, thank you so much for praying for me while I’ve been away – it means so much and certainly makes a difference.  Melanie and I have both had a very peaceful week!

I know for you Americans, this is just a regular day, but here in England, it’s a public holiday – Easter Monday.  I was able to talk to Peter and he survived his Easter Sunday day of travel eastward and has arrived in his destination safely.  He arrived early this morning so is quite exhausted.  Tomorrow he has a very full day of teaching pastors on the subject of preaching, so pray for energy and clarity of thinking and of course empowering by the Holy Spirit.

The children and I are taking a week off school, along with the rest of England’s schoolchildren.  We have a lot of plans to see friends and do some relaxing at home too.  The children have been enjoying playing in the garden – yesterday they were playing “horses” (which are really their bikes) and today the game involved being poor, camping out in our shed and washing clothes (complete with a washing line they rigged up). Never a dull moment.  I am missing Peter quite a bit and feeling very tired but things are mostly going alright.  The kids have a cd with the old song, Day by Day and With Each Passing Moment, on it and the lyrics really touched me recently.  I decided to post them up on one of my kitchen cupboards. If you don’t know the song, you can read the lyrics and even hear the tune here:

http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/713  Precious words.

Last Friday we were all sitting in a box in the Royal Albert Hall. It was a schools matinee performance of classical music, but it lived up to its “spectacular” label.  It was fantastic.  We were in a box because of the high adult to child ratio (i.e. homeschoolers!)  Down below us were thousands of school children, many of the girls wearing head coverings, most of which probably had never been in a building bigger than their school hall.  What a show we all had!  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Welsh Guards brass band, a few stunningly impressive soloists.  When the music started, the lights were spectacular and the whole effect generated gasps and cheering from the amassed crowds of children.  Normally it would have been annoying, but actually it was very touching – an extravaganza beyond anything they’d ever experienced.  As I sat there I thought about when the musicians had rehearsed . . . that morning?  For a few weeks?  Actually, more like for a lifetime.  But compared to that, what will heaven be like?  So stunningly impressive, prepared for two millennia, creativity without limit, yet not totally alien to our experience of life here on earth.  Unlike the concert, everything will pale into insignificance compared to the central figure.  The conductor was good last week, but when we see the Lord, we’ll all worship and the gasps and sheer joy will be for Him, not just the surroundings, the effects, the lights, the music.  For now the question is probably this – who will get the gospel to these thousands of school children across London?

(I should also mention another abiding memory – Joel was sat on a raised chair next to me.  I restrained him via a belt loop in his jeans and he was sat cross-legged and contented.  With thumb in mouth and the other four fingers raised he was conducting – with those fingers, and with his other hand, all with a head-swaying motion.  Every time he noticed me watching him, he’d stop. But when he felt unobserved, he’d sway, conduct, and sometimes be singing along with the operatic pieces.  What a delight to see him totally enjoying the experience!)

After that concert I rushed across town, had a good planning meeting, then back to Cranham for the weekend of ministry.  This was a blessing, as were the two days with UCCF staff in Southampton.  Yesterday we had a family day – decluttering, swimming, and a meal out.  Today I have to get my overdue notes to the place I’m going in nine days time . . . they need to translate everything.

So thanks for praying for us.  In the extra busy times we realise how important it is to not be running in our own strength.  This weekend is the culmination of a week of outreach here and across the country.  Please pray for eternal fruit here and elsewhere.  Perhaps some of those children might even hear the gospel this weekend, somewhere, somehow.