Poured Out

We had a good day yesterday at church and are now looking forward to the week ahead.  The children are enjoying the back garden because of the sunny weather (which will get hotter this week).  They are eagerly anticipating the first of our potato harvests any day now.  Melanie’s Aunt Carol will be here until the end of the week and is being a real blessing with all sorts of help for us (with the children, washing dishes, etc.)  I have another Mini-More church history meeting on Wednesday, a Biblical Preaching Seminar on Saturday, two messages on Sunday and a visit to the Ship next week coming up.  That means lots of preparation, along with a few other projects I need to pick away at during the spare moments.  So it will be a busy week, but hopefully a good one if I can focus and make the most of the time I have.  Thanks for praying for us in all of this – for my preparation and ministry things, and for Melanie’s health concerns as well as the next Oasis book club meeting on Friday evening.

Regarding the ship visit – I’ll fly over to Cork next Tuesday and will spend the first three days speaking at the orientation for OM Ireland’s summer outreach – Impact Ireland.  Then the weekend will be focused on ship’s company.  I’m looking forward to this time of ministry.  Please pray for me as I prepare several messages on the cross, plus other subjects (including a theology of purposeful relationships).  Please pray for the ship as she is currently sailing to Ireland.  Please pray for the Impact Ireland participants as they prepare to travel there from all over the world.  Please pray for the people they will meet and witness to in the coming weeks, that God would prepare the ground before the seed is sown.  Thank you.

I know several people were wanting to know what happened today at the endocrinologist.  Thank you very much to those of you who have been praying for me.  Well, it’s good news in that all the test results came back normal. (except one abnormal blood sugar result which probably is not causing the headaches).  The flip side (bad news) is that means we still don’t really know what is going on.  The doctor was very nice and took a lot of time with us.  He ordered an MRI of my head, which I have never had done.  That will happen in maybe 3 or 4 weeks; we don’t have the date yet.  He also will be writing to my GP and recommending that I be referred to a sleep specialist and a neurologist.  He also suggested other ideas such as acupuncture – we will have a think on that one!  So those are the next steps.  I am trying to view today as one step forward, more issues eliminated.  I have been thinking on Psalm 62 quite a bit and trying to put my hope and trust in God only – not the doctors or anything else.  From GOD alone is my hope and help.  He is my refuge and stength.  Speaking of help . . . my aunt Carol has been a really big help during her stay here.  God has blessed our family through her – doing dishes, taking care of the kids, cleaning the yard, etc.  Physically, it has been a better week.  I have not had any headaches for 5 days which is positive considering I have had eight headaches already this month – not a good month. Thanks so much for continuing to pray for my health.

Tomorrow we have some friends coming to be with us for the day – people that Peter was on the Logos 2 with.  Two of the guys were in our wedding and we are excited to see them all.  One family is currently serving on OM’s new ship, the Logos Hope which is berthed right here in London at the moment.  Last Saturday, we went down to see it.  It is an amazing tool for ministry and we know God will use it greatly.  It will be officially commissioned this weekend.

Sorry for the few days delay, but we finally have our act together and some pictures to share – if you click on a pic, it gets bigger.  We stayed about 45 minutes (by train) north of Rome.  More of that in a moment, but we did get one day in Rome . . .

I think that is Constantine’s arch, or was it Titus’ arch, next to the Colisseum.  And some more recent church history – us:

Although we’ve been married a whole decade, we felt quite young next to Cornelius who doesn’t seem to be showing his age at all. . .

We didn’t really have time to do the inside tours of these places, but I was intrigued by this cross we saw through the fence inside the Colisseum.

Here’s the famous Trevi Fountain.  Very beautiful, although in the heat of Rome, it was tempting to jump in and cool off!

We arrived just in time.  As we approached, he rose to his feet and stepped toward us, then pronounced a blessing over us.  Amazing how it all worked out.

I suppose I should mention that actually it wasn’t so much our audience with the Pope as his audience of a couple of thousand, a big space, a fence, then us.  Still, it was fun to see the Pope in the flesh.

Rome is a city with an amazing amount of history, as well as typical Italian charm and beauty. . .

We stayed in the walled pedestrianized town of Casperia, up in the hills.  Very picturesque.

And a little workout for the legs too, with all the steps.  We loved the town and spent a good couple of days relaxing here.

Here are some of the local young folks chewing the fat about something or other . . .

Very attractive and unspoilt town, and purple flowers are never missed by Melanie . . .

This was the view from our bedroom window, along with hundreds of swifts enjoying their morning and evening meals as they swooped loudly within feet of our window . . .

It would be wrong to go to Italy and not eat too much.  So we didn’t.  We didn’t not eat too much, that is.  Just down the road was the local restaurant (the only real option), where we had some of the best of Italian food – including “Stringozzi Alla Paesana” – superb pasta.  Didn’t get a picture of it though, neither of us wanted to stop eating it to take the picture!

Then after a relaxed meal together, we dragged ourselves back up the hill, past the fireflies, to the gate of Casperia and the short walk up to our B&B.

It was a great few days away.  Lots of rest.  Lots of conversation.  Lots of food.  Lots of history.  Lots of memories.  What a blessing to be married to such a great wife.  10 years already . . . I feel old!

Just to say Melanie and I had a great few days away in Italy.  We arrived home yesterday evening to a house full of highly energetic and happy little Meads (thanks to Aunt Carol and friends for making the week special for them too).  Today we’re celebrating a birthday, so it’s all go . . . but in the next day or two we’ll fill you in a bit on our time in Rome, who we met there, etc.

Melanie and I are very much looking forward to a few days away for our anniversary.  We leave this morning and fly to Rome.  We return on Friday.  The children are also excited as they will get to stay here with Melanie’s Aunt Carol.  We’re actually staying up in the hills north of Rome, but hope to get into the city on at least one of the days.  The main goal is rest rather than sightseeing (the secondary goal is Italian food – always high on my list of priorities).  These weeks have been fairly busy for me, so rest will be healthy.  For Melanie the need is ten times greater – so I really hope these days can be a significant help for her.  We’ll report more when we return!

Joel cut his tongue pretty badly yesterday and so was a bit miserable.  However, he seemed back to his normal jovial self today, full of smiles and making people laugh.  What would we do without him?  He just bounced into the room, giggling, and ran over to me.  I scooped him up and said, “Joel, why are you so cheerful today?!”  He said, “My mommy . . . “  I said, “My mommy?”  Giggle . . . “My mommy loves me.” Another giggle and then,  “My mum and dad make me laugh!”  Oh my goodness – he is cuteness personified!!! (One of his favorite books these days is called, My Mum and Dad Make Me Laugh.)

A lot of people have asked how yesterday went with my tests at the hospital.  Thank you so much to everyone who prayed for me.  Overall, I felt like the day went really smoothly.  A good friend took the children so Peter could drive me in.  He was planning on staying with me for awhile but we didn’t notice that my letter said that they were unable to accommodate friends and relatives due to the small department, so he left.  In the beginning, it was unclear whether they were going to do all the tests the consultant had ordered.  They were talking about making me come back another day for the rest of them.  But in the end they decided to do them, after the fasting was done at 4:30pm.  There was some high drama in the room when one lady went into an epileptic fit and it seemed like the whole hospital staff descended on the room!  So that kept the afternoon interesting and the lady was ok in the end.  Even though I was weak, I felt better than I thought I would feel after fasting for so long.  My blood sugar stayed stable all day so it seems I don’t have a blood sugar problem??  I didn’t even get a headache until the very end and came home feeling pretty rough, but after a long night’s sleep I feel a lot better.  I won’t get the other results until the 25th when I see the consultant.  Please pray for me to be at peace and be ready to accept whatever the results are, especially between now and the appointment.  Part of me really wants them to find something to fix, but I know I need to be prepared for them to not find anything too.  God is in control and I know He loves me.  He will walk with me through this season.

One of the highlights of recent years has been the Wednesday evening group of Oakhall folk who gather for the “Getting More” Bible study.  A few weeks ago we finished our ten weeks through Isaiah.  Normally we then take the summer off and return in September for another 10 week series.  This year we’re trying something different.  We’re having a five-week “Mini-More” course starting tonight.  What’s more, we’re breaking into new territory. Church history.  Just in case you thought I only teach Bible, preaching and missions, well, that’s fairly accurate, but not tonight.  Our goal is to begin to get to grips with the first five centuries of church history over five weeks together.  While some have chosen to enjoy their summer without the extra reading, others have joined the group, so we are at about 20 participants.  It should be a continuing highlight, I’m sure.  It’s such a blessing to be around people eager to learn, not only for the sake of learning, but especially for the sake of application of lessons learned into life today.