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.

The three girls are enjoying a day in London today with a good OM friend. Melanie (and Joel) will spend the day with Melanie’s good friend Michelle. I will spend the day with the Bible on CD as I drive 333 miles on perhaps the busiest day of the summer. I’m off to Keswick for the first time. Although the timing is not good (we move two days after I get back), I have been looking forward to this for a while. I will be helping to lead and speak in the K2 stream – young adults track run during week 2. This involves three morning speaking sessions, helping to lead and present the evening sessions, and leading a small group every afternoon. I make the return trek on Friday.

Please pray for the time at Keswick to be fruitful, and for us not to overlook anything as we pull details together for the move. Please also pray for us all with the emotions of leaving so many good friends here. We are really looking forward to getting to Chippenham, but not to saying goodbye at this end – we’ve been very blessed here.

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!

The weekend went really well.  It was a blessing to be with friends in Bishop’s Stortford, and it was great to get home last night too.  I was amused to hear about my Dad in a church in the summer heat of Italy yesterday – he was the only man in a shirt, but no jacket.  One elderly brother asked if he’d left it in the car.  “No, in England.”  Nice.

This week I have to finish preparing for Keswick next week, as well as whatever preparations I need to make for our move two days after I get back. Meanwhile, I have posted a weekly discussion post on the Cor Deo blog.  It is concerned with missions and whether it is possible to love “the lost.”  Here’s the link to the article -just click here

I always seem to write a post at the beginning of the weekend.  Not sure what original title to use.  We’ve been clearing out in anticipation of our move (2 weeks from Monday).  I won’t let Melanie near my books, but she’s done a great job of reducing the inventory of toys and children’s clothes.  Tonight we have friends coming over, then tomorrow we are long overdue for dates with the little Meads (i.e. they are needing some one-on-one attention – parental code for something relating to lack of structure due to being out of school season!)

Tomorrow evening I will be up in Bishop’s Stortford to lead a theology study group.  I was delighted to discover the chapter they have read is on Church Government.  That should be a fun discussion, then on Sunday I preach twice there.  Please pray for this to go well, and for us to stay sane as we approach the move.  I’ve said several times our goal is to move by faith rather than by stress.  Not exactly moving to Canaan, but it is west of the starting point.

On Wednesday I took Ron over to Chippenham to look around, check out what’s available to rent in the town for accommodation possibilities and see the church.  It was great to spend some time with friends there and he thoroughly enjoyed the visit to the future home town of Cor Deo.  Thanks for praying for us.  Our prayer letter and new prayer card should be coming to you in the last couple of days (UK) and in the next few days (US).  Please let us know if you didn’t get it and would like it – just send an email with your address and we’ll make sure it is on the way!

Our glorious sunny (and hot!) weather is continuing here in our part of the United Kingdom.  It is a little too hot for my liking but we aren’t complaining . . . just soaking up as much vitamin D as possible to make up for the rest of the year when it is so rainy.  In preparation for our upcoming move, we have been having a HUGE clearout and de-clutter.  My friend Michelle came over yesterday and helped me do most of the playroom yesterday and today the older girls and I did their room.  Much, much rubbish taken out and many bags for charity shop, etc.  We are thinking of having a sale out front of our house soon and giving the proceeds to Open Doors.  The charity shop would be easier but the kids are very keen to have the sale.    The Lord has blessed us and friends have given us money to pay for us to use a moving company.  So I guess in reality we wouldn’t  have to be doing all this decluttering as the movers will be packing us but it sure will be nice to start fresh in our new house.  I can’t believe just the sheer amount of rubbish that has been living in our house!  This morning’s message at church was from Colossians 3 and included the verses about putting to death the deeds of the sinful nature and getting rid of sins of the tongue, etc.  The “rubbish” we harbor in our lives is far more serious than the rubbish hanging around in our houses . . . very convicting for me . . . maybe its time for a spiritual clear-out.

So, three weeks from tomorrow the big move happens.  I have a long list of people to arrange to get together with before we go.  Thankfully, since we don’t have to pack, we should have plenty of time to spend with friends.   I am feeling good physically so that is helping immensely with all the busyness.  Peter has had a marathon day, well a marathon weekend actually.  He left yesterday at 5:30am and got home at 3:30 pm.  Then he left at 9am this morning for the church he preached at and came back at 6pm (after spending hours in traffic) just in time to get to the Oakhall evening service to preach there.  Then he went off to some friends’ house to watch the World Cup final which was recorded.  The kids and I went to some other friends’ house late this afternoon and the children had a blast playing in the paddling pool and having water fights.  There are so many people we will miss so much.

A few more tidbits from life around here . . . Joel’s precious bear-bear went missing for 2 days but was found this morning on our windowsill behind the lace curtain.  I think Peter and I stressed about it even more than Joel did! . . . Our baby bunnies are growing like crazy.  They are the cutest things.  The girls have named them (uh-oh!) . . . Sunny, Daffodil, Patches and Sleepy (the runt).  We are hoping Daffodil is a girl because we would like to keep her.  The rest need to find good homes!  They will be moving with us to Chippenham because they won’t be old enough to leave their mum in 3 weeks time.  OK, it is late and I need to clean up the kitchen before I sleep.  Thank you for praying for us in this busy time.  I am really feeling relaxed (I think especially due to us having a moving company AND all the prayer that I am sure is going up for us).  We are very thankful for God’s amazing goodness in our lives.

The sun is shining and the green view out of the window in front of me is great . . . and will be missed when we move (my office window view will be another house, nevertheless, at least it’s an office, that’s a very positive thing to look forward to!)  I have about an hour to finish the handouts for tomorrow, then I’m off to town to get them copied.  We’re looking forward to spending the evening with good friends.  Tomorrow morning I need to leave about the time the birds have their ten minutes of orality, for a morning seminar up in Letchworth.  How to help new Christians grow . . . what a great subject!  Then I come home to hang out with the family for the rest of the day.  Sunday I’m back in Letchworth in the morning, then speaking at Oakhall in the evening (finishing off a 3-part Micah series).  A busy weekend, but should be a good one (despite the lack of teams of interest from our perspective in the world cup final!)

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!