earl in oxford

Christmas video

2007-12-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas,
i couldn't get it to work on YouTube, but I did get it to be on the blog so do enjoy. earl and rebecca

100

2007-09-02T20:49:00.001-07:00

This is #100, unfortunately I don't have the energy to make a big deal of it. I could go on and on about what this blog has beheld over the last year, in fact it is almost one year to the day of when this blog started. Hard to believe that we have been back in the states for almost 6 weeks, my how time flies, it does seem like yesterday we were in Oxford enjoying all that England offers. Today we were talking with our friend Tash who is visiting from Burlington, Ontario and I stated that each day here in Goshen is like a carnival. There is so much interesting stuff that we do ( high school sports, great restaurants, old friends, etc...) and each day seems to be a blast. We are attempting to live one day at a time, it is easy to look toward the future, but we are attempting to live day by day. Today we heard a message by one Rob Bell about living in the present and having the focus of a child in a good way. Realizing that children don't worry about the future, are focused upon what they do, and enjoy opportunities of the day. That is where we are at presently, enjoying what each day brings, the trials of each student in class, how to get a couple of them on task, what to do with the extra five minutes before lunch, etc... There is so much that happens daily that I think I take for granted, my how I could invite the Lord to step into each of those situations, this is certainly something to work on. I can now feel myself starting to drone on, not interested in doing that so I'm going to sign off, and revel in the fact that the blog has reached #100 later

Closing in on 100

2007-08-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

Blog entries that is, I know the blog has slowed in the last week, that's what the first week on the job will do to ya. Last week was the first full week of school, I feel as though I am off and running like a gazelle in the brush. That means moving quickly but having to dodge potential pitfalls like fallen branches, predators or other gazelles. What this has to do with school, not sure but I'm sure if you search you'll find an analogy there somewhere. The 6th grade is a blast, the students I have are a wonderful brood, at times I can't get them to talk. That's not usually a problem in the classroom, but in 6A as my room is known it can be. Especially in the mornings when they are somewhat asleep and not into yet, although this morning I had them dancing, singing and boxing their spelling words. Does it sound like a place you'd want to hang out. We started science as well, that is always a blast, the first lab of the year is on Wednesday. We are making Ooblik, if you know about it you know that the lab will be fun. Nick is bringing in a couple of toads and frog, there will be exotic fruits, eggs and who knows what else. My creativity has started to kick in as well, I have the thinking clubs (table groups, we don't do rows of chairs) working on a big social studies project, and many other activities that are not in the regular textbook. So ya school is great, so is the remainder of life.
Broadcasting football has been wonderful, I will try to put a link on my blog but if I can't get it to work try www.broadcastsport.net and go to Jimtown football games. There you'll find myself along with Luke Miller as we do the Jimmies games. The first game of the year has terrible quality, the second is much better. We'll see as the year goes on if the whole broadcasting gig gets better. Led music at church for the first time since being back, that was great, it was good to be back in the saddle once again. It has been since grad when last I led, so I was grateful for the opportunity. Am leading this week as well so no rest for the weary. We are still enjoying the whole role reversal that I wrote about in the last blog, and attempting to keep up with people. Do take care all, and watch for the big 100 coming up next, maybe a best of or something like that. later
earl

5 Miller's

2007-08-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

I've got to tell you a bit about my 6th grade class at Westview Elementary. Out of 24 students I have 5 pupils with the last name Miller, all of them are girls. There are 3 Yoder's as well, which makes 1/3 of my class either the classical Northern Indiana surname of Miller or Yoder. Some of you reading this will be like "so what's the big deal Earl happens all the time" others of you might say "what is the deal with everyone having the same name" still others of you might respond with "why I am wasting my time reading about surnames in Earl's new classroom" if you are in the last camp sorry, I think it is quite interesting. The school I teach at is in Amish country, for those of you unfamiliar with the Amish they are a small religious minority who choose to live life without modern conveniences such as electricity, cars, phones, computers etc... Many come from farms, and all of the fathers are incredible workers. Out of my class 1/2 are Amish, I have always seen their buggies driving around this area, now I see many more each day. More than 3/4 of the class have horses that they ride so today when I found an incredibly old and tattered "How to draw horses" drawing book I was quite excited. At some level it is like driving into a new world, and of course kids are kids and still love to have a laugh and then be ready to learn the next moment. I look forward to learning all about their culture I know that will happen, just yesterday I had handed out a classmate bingo sheet to fill out. They were to write their favorite food, color, birthday month and so on. One of the categories was favorite TV show, this sounds easy enough except for half of my class doesn't have a TV and consequently don't have a favorite TV show. This is just a small piece of the learning curve ahead this year for me as I get educated by twenty-four 12 and 13 year olds. Let's get started class
earl

Role reversal

2007-08-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

About 6 years ago Rebecca and I decided that I would go back to university to get a teaching certificate. This was a huge decision as it booked us into life for about a 5 year stretch, we called it our 5 year plan. At that point she was the main breadwinner, I subbed when I could but she was the one who really brought home the bacon. We did this arrangement until I landed my job at Ox Bow, at that point we both taught, had the same schedule and roughly did the same thing. During my time of going back to university there would be days where I would be home, maybe working on a paper or project, or I might be doing some youth ministry stuff, or I might be running errands etc... This worked out great, although there were many times when I would get to sleep in and Rebecca would be off to West Side to work with her little 5 and 6 olds. Now that we are back from Oxford the roles have reversed from their position of the past many years. I am getting up earlier than ever, driving a half hour one-way into the heart of Amish country, whilst Rebecca sleeps in or has an opportunity to sub in the Concord system. We are really enjoying this new setup to life, in fact today she went into my classroom and we worked together on organizing and making it more like home away from home. She now is doing more of the errands, projects around the house, etc... Roles have reversed in our home, but we are more than glad for the opportunity.

coming stories

2007-08-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

There is much coming up on the blog, just not alot right now. All you faithful readers do check back in, I'll be scribing about; role-reversal, Glenda, hoodies, 5 Millers, testifyin (spelling?), Panthers and Jimmies, Jambo, books and crates, and oh ya it's almost college football season:) later all
earl

Shots in the dark

2007-08-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

It seems as though everyday a new opportunity comes up in our lives. Rebecca and I returned from Oxford not sure what the next steps are, knowing that wherever we are we want to be ourselves. The openings for our old teaching jobs were not available, but others have come up, some of which without looking for them. As with many job positions they are usually shots in the dark, but once in a while you hit something. Since being home we have been looked into 2 different long term maternity leaves, 1 middle school science teaching position, 1 high school science position, a possible lower elementary position, and have declined other offers for assistants or langauge professionals. I write all of this to speak to the goodness of God, we did not know what to expect here but so far it has been one thing after another. Are any of these going to work out, maybe not, some probably will, I'll let you know once we have further clarity. School starts next week so time is running short, and it could be back to the classroom for us.

Another shot in the dark that I took was calling around to different radio stations to see if they needed any sports broadcasters for the upcoming high school football season. Of course they didn't but I was directed to an internet site that did games and maybe they needed someone. Lo and behold they did, I received an email from them on Tuesday stating that I would be doing a couple of games for one Jimtown, and then transferring over to the Concord team for the remainder of the team. This means that you'll be able to hear me anytime you want provided you want to listen to high school football being broadcast. The site is broadcastsport.net, each friday night for the season I'll be out at the stadium watching either the Jimmies or the Minutemen tear up the gridiron. As you can tell I'm quite excited about this opportunity, I've always wanted to do football or basketball in a broadcast type situation.

By the way today ran into a lady at a garage sale who is looking for a male vocal for some recording and to work with their band. Who knows maybe another shot in the dark? later
earl

A new understanding

2007-08-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this post and wonder why I am writing about a new understanding of the Abraham and Isaac story it is because we were at Mars Hill church on Sunday and the speaker spoke about this topic. I briefly mentioned it in the previous post but wanted to give a bit more space to it as I was somewhat blown away by the faith of Abraham. Here goes

Most readers of Genesis 22 assume that Isaac was probably a young lad or even a little child. According to data in genealogies he was in his upper 30's probably about 37. Don't you think that he could have taken Abraham if he wanted to, and not gotten strapped to an altar to be chopped alive? Also I have always thought that Abraham expected God to speak before sacrificing Isaac, so that in his mind he would go through the song and dance of getting him ready for sacrifice knowing full well that we wouldn't have to do it. The speaker on Sunday then reminded us of the faith chapter in Hebrews 11 and verse 19 it says that "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead" This hit me like a ton of bricks, Abraham thought through the fact that God could raise his only son from the dead, I take this as he knew that when he sacrificed Isaac God could then raise him back again. Not that God would spare Isaac before sacrificing, Abraham had reasoned that the sacrifice was going to happen. As had 37 year old Isaac, the faith the two of them had is astounding. One that is willing to sacrifice his only son, and one who is willing to be sacrificed. God spoke before it took place, not the answer that either were expecting. This is a new understanding for me, I had always given all the credit to the ram in the thicket for showing up ( I know that God provided him) but really the credit goes to both Abraham and Isaac who were expecting to go through with it and then see the miraculous hand of God. I must ask the question am I ready to go through it ( whatever circumstance that is) then see the hand of God, or do I only have faith to see the hand of God without the hard times? Tough question to answer, I'll let you ponder the story a bit more
Thanks Ed Dobson for your teaching and insight on Sunday morning
earl
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the weekend

2007-08-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Since last I've written we have; sold a bunch of stuff at a garage sale, went out for ice cream on our anniversary, gone to Grand Rapids to celebrate our anniversary, went to the church Rob Bell leads, heard about a few more teaching opportunities, enjoyed having my parents in our house as they arrived yesterday. It has been a busy few days, I thought that not having a job meant you didn't work, while I suppose this is true we have "worked" in the last week. Garage sales are huge in this area, and we love to gather stuff, price it, present it and sell it. We made $250 at last weekend's sale, not bad considering it is stuff that we didn't need whilst in England, why would we need it now? So we sold a bunch of it, a great feeling to drive two full car loads to Susie's mom's and come back with one car load. As mentioned before we went up to Grand Rapids, and ended up in Baker Book House which has the best selection of Christian books I've ever seen this side of amazon.com There are many that are on our wish list right now: This Beautiful Mess, Blessed are the Uncool, They Like Jesus but not the Church, The Secret Message of Jesus, Peppermints in Pinatas and The Gospel According to Starbucks. These are a few that have made our list, now if only money would drop from the sky so that I could rush out to the bookstore or to amazon and get a few. Did I mention that I also want the new Lifehouse album that has just come out? I don't usually want to get much but lately the spending bug has been biting, I've done ok so far:) Sunday we went to Mars Hill Church, we have been there now 4 times. Each time I have walked out challenged, thinking about the message, enthused about the faith and saying "I don't feel dissappointed when we make the effort to come here" I think I say those exact words each time. Anyway Rob Bell's mentor was speaking about Abraham and Isaac, and he opened up a new understanding to me of the text in Genesis 22. I'm going to write a different blog to explain what I mean. The music was rockin it was by a group called the Michael Gungor Band, they are a new sign on the Worshiptogether label and they really led well. Now I am enjoying some time with Mom and Dad, it is hot so they are taking a nice afternoon nap whilst Rebecca chats with Rachael on the phone, we do miss our Sycamore girls. later
earl

Pepsi and the Bell

2007-08-01T12:53:00.001-07:00

I know the title of this blogspot is earlinoxford but as you know I'm not in Oxford. Not sure what to do with the blog at this point, whether to start with a new address, or keep this one and not have a focus of being in Oxford, or not have a blog at all, obviously you can tell that I am quite unclear about future blogging. As for this blog I want to comment on a couple of purchases that we have made since being back in America. The other day we were walking around Meijier (for those of who have been there you know what I'm talking about) google eyed at the choice, colors and size of the store. I did miss Meijer whilst in Oxford, there is not a store that big, sorry Tesco doesn't size up, anyway we went down the pop aisle. There were 24 packs of Pepsi, not generic brand but actual Pepsi for 4.99. This meant that for our purchase of 24 cans we paid a bit more than we would for a Pepsi at the pub, and we get 24 cans for this price. It may not sound like much to you, but I was astounded, and am enjoying this reverse currency game of "that was 3 pounds in England, that's 6 bucks" to now saying "We get that much for only 1.50 that would be at least 3 pounds in England" again you may not be nearly as excited as I am, truly a stark reality of life on this side of the pond. I must comment on Taco Bell, as some of you know I think a Taco Bell franchise in the UK would be an instant hit, we stopped by there the other night. The prices are downright reasonable, I forgot the glory that is the Bell, and expect to make a run for the border a few more times in the near future. Thanks for letting me get this off my mind, most people would be bored hearing about it, I figure, if you don't want to read, then don't if you do then enjoy. later
earl

life here - sort of

2007-07-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

We were driving around the other day on CR 45 when Rebecca stated that it was much easier living here than living in Oxford. There are many reasons for this statement, some of which have to do with the fact we have access to our SL1 Saturn vehicle, others of which have to do with the shops and restaurants being so accessible and close to our apartment. If we need to get vanilla extract, no problem, magnetic strips again no problem, how about a hand towel to match the faded maroon colored one we have, again many choices right at our finger tips. Imagine if life in third world countries were this "easy" doing the everyday chores of cooking, shopping and cleaning would not take most of the day, rather it would be a part of the day just like we are experiencing. As we came back we found items that we forgot we had, have never opened, haven't really used etc... My theory; if we haven't missed it, haven't used it and if we aren't going to then lets sell it. We heard of a garage sale going on in with our friend's mom, so we are taking loads of stuff to sell next Friday and Saturday. Not the way that expected to spend part of our 11th anniversary but we will still go out for ice cream that night, after hopefully getting rid of a bunch of stuff. Will continue to muse about life here as it is different from the Motherland, do keep on reading and keep in touch if you can later
earl

New colours

2007-07-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

In my mind and body it feels like 2 in the afternoon, reality of the clock states that it is indeed 9 AM. I must confess that last night we hit the sack at 9 PM, probably could have at 7 PM except we were at Chili's enjoying fajitas and refills on ice-cold Coke:) what a pleasure that was! Anyway we are back in Goshen in our lovely apartment, it doesn't look like it used to. It is bigger, I think, and it has more color- a soft bluish-green on some walls, pale yellow in the bedroom and more of a sunflower yellow in the bathroom. This is an upgrade to the off white we've had for the last 7 years. I am quite convinced it is bigger, ya we have more space than we used to. I have unpacked all of one piece of luggage, not much for being home for 30 some hours. Our flight out of Heathrow was delayed 3 hours, and then after boarding we sat another 2 without moving. This put us 5 hours behind so when we landed at O'Hare field in Chicago it was already 12:30 England time, and once we arrived home it was 5:30 England time because of losing one hour to another time change. We fell into bed to say the least. Yesterday is basically a vapor except for our slow stroll through Meijier, I probably looked as though I had never been a supermarket before. Mouth gaping open, wandering somewhat aimlessly through aisle after aisle of choice after choice. We found a small British foods spot in the store, PG Tips were 7 dollars, a tiny Marmite was 5.29 and my favorite Jacob's Cream Crackers that are .50 at Iceland were 2.50 here. Just a small taste of Oxford, one that we probably won't make at that price. I know that there will be much adjusting to get used to, but for now I will sit back and enjoy reading the local newspaper, looking out over the beautiful landscape and staring at the beautifully colored walls of our "bigger" apartment.

We're off

2007-07-19T23:10:00.000-07:00

We leave our humble abode at 21 Sycamore in just over an hour:( Today at 1 or so we board a BA flight for Chicago O'Hare where we will be on American soil for the first time in close to a year. What a year it has been, if you have been with this blog during that time you have walked with us through some of that year. Of course most of it has to be experienced and to be honest most of it is in our memory, but what memories they are. Last night we had our leaving duu, we put a pub quiz about America together, it was a real blast. There was a huge crowd here, and way more food than we could ever have expected. For the intermission of the quiz we went outside and spelled TASH on the ground with our bodies since there was note from her saying that she missed everyone. We'll then place those photos on facebook for all to see. I know I'm rambling and I still have a fare amount of stuff to do so I must skadaddle. Do take care and see some of you soon, others of you I won't see for a while but blessings to all.
PS - I'm not sure if this blog will stay functional or if I will start another one, I will continue writing on this for at least a little while so please keep on logging in. later
earl

Holiday at home

2007-07-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

This is a wierd concept for some, to have holiday at home. This is what the last week and part of this week is like. Not huge plans, enough to keep one interested, and lots of time simply hanging with people. We have really caught up with many friends, and have much significant time planned to spend with others until we jet back to the states on Friday. today is a day for only the Sycamore house, breakfast, a picnic, fajitas for supper and then a vid to finish it all off. Tomorrow holds a trip to London, maybe the London Eye, lunch with our dear friend Greta who happens to be passing through on the way back from Israel to Pennsylvania. Then strolling through Covent Garden, Picadilly Circus, maybe a walk along the Thames with a nightcap of STOMP. I am jacked up, I've always wanted to see the production and the night is tomorrow, can't wait. Wednesday is a day of work:( although I like to hoover and we have a brand new one that was just delivered last week. Thursday night is a party that we are planning it our leaving do. Rebecca and I are putting together a pub quiz about America and us, just to see how much American culture our brit friends may or may not have picked up. Then down to the pub one last time to bid goodbye to many, oh what a sad day that will be. Yesterday after judging the annual battle of the bands said goodbye to Doctor Mark and Tash, do plan on seeing them soon so that is all cool. Remember us as we say goodbye and pack, not the easiest of times:) later
earl

the end is near

2007-07-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

Not the end of the blog, maybe but the end of our time at KBC and in Oxford. It has been an amazing year, today was somewhat of a clean-up and get ready to go type of day. The garden looks so different from what it did even a few hours ago. My arms feel more like jelly than normal, the strimmer that I used whilst cutting the very pinnacle of the highest vegetation became quite heavy as I swung it back and forth without falling off of the ladder. The trees that bent over to the ground due to excess leaves and branches now look almost bald as we cut and hacked away at them. The bushes are nicely rounded or squared and the front garden is totally weeded thanks to Jazzy. We also planted some begonias in our neighbours front garden, she was so touched by that expression of goodwill and friendship. They look really lovely along side of the new turf that was placed there about 3 weeks ago. Totally off subject of leaving has been the many games of Settlers that we have been playing, it is a fun game one that we really didn't play until the very end of the year. Looking back I think that is OK because we didn't have the time to get together and play during the rest of the year, so it has been quite special at the end. Saying goodbye to friends has not been easy, although because it has been a slow draw of people sort of day by day is going quite well. Tomorrow night I am judging at a battle of the bands contest at OCC youth, that should be a fun time, I have never done that kind of thing, I hope that I'm not too easy or too hard on the bands. Much going on next week in our final hurrah's, will tell about that in my next entry. later for now
earl

Continuing to work backward

2007-07-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

I have already covered the happenings on Friday and Saturday, now on to Wednesday and Monday. The final banquet was on Wednesday night, it was a very nice meal at a quite posh hotel. The whole college was there, we took one big photo together for the upstairs near the library and then many other photos as well, some of these you will see at the end of this blog. After eating Simon took the mic and handed out some awards, he is a real comedian and left hardly any stone unturned as he made mention of most students and got a laugh very routinely. Once he was done he forked the mic over to Rebecca and I to host the remainder of the proceedings. We had arranged for the tutor group leaders to be thanked, and then Paul impersonated Simon by delivering a monologue that turned into a spoof like preach about a topic that Simon talks about all the time at college. He wore his sweater, stood like him, paused like him and garnered a bunch of laughs. After that we had poetry which was written for each staff member, these brought a chuckle, and then the finale of the evening was a sketch that Rach and Ian had put together to give an example of what a Monday morning staff meeting is really like. All staff members were had during this sketch, laughter and tears rolled during this time, hilarious to be truthful, it is the kind of the thing that you had to be there. I was there and it was amazing, the staff felt oddly blessed through this skit. I felt good about it all, the jokes were great, nobody felt taken advantage of yet everyone had a laugh at each others expense. Monday night was a superhero party that you'll see pics from also at the end. Some of the costumes were quite outlandish, I went as Big Dog whilst Rebecca went as the Super Bee. Janson calls me Big Dog and many of the girls call her Bee, so that was a good time, even while the rain fell on the BBQ. Do enjoy the pics. later,
earl
the best tutor group ever

Gaynor, Simon and Us

Us and friend Little Beth

Ben as a Sheik and Michelle as a Gypsy

Dan and Tony, oh the lycra

Super Bee, Amy and the Big Dog

No weeks to go :) and :(

2007-07-08T01:28:00.000-07:00

I'm typing at the dining room table preparing to go to a celebration gathering at OCC today, this means that our time at East Basingstoke is finished, for that matter all other KBC related activities are offically over. This past week has been a whirlwind of parties, formal gatherings, celebrations, laughing, crying, chatting, writing and hanging out. I'll work back from yesterday. The graduation or commissioning service was yesterday, it was a packed day full of meeting people and for me much music. I was given the opportunity to put together a band for the service, we were able to play with a full drum set. Mike Bilson was on drums (he's very good), Mark Coghlan on piano (he's amazing), Dan Lucas on bass (he's going to be studying music in university), Dave Latham on acoustic (he's as good as they come), Abi Jonas on violin (she plays piano, violin, sings classical, etc...) Anna Walker on BGV (killer rock voice), and Ellen Miles on BGV (someday you'll have her CD, she's that good) and me, probably the weakest musical link of the group. Anyway we fit in a short practice and then took the stage and played our proverbial socks off. Beth T gave a great commencement speech on behalf of the students, and diplomas etc... were handed out as well, it was a glorious time. After times of prayer for the students our band played one last song "Happy Day" by Tim Hughes, it was a happy day in a sad type of way. It was a blast, I felt that we rocked, it was a high point to go out on for sure. Then we chatted with the masses who were there, met some parents of our friends, said goodbye to some (Little Beth, Anna and Eric) and remembered we would see many of our friends today as well. The principal of KBC Simon and his family are leaving today for France so we had to say goodbye to them as well, that was a bittersweet time, they have been so gracious and friendly to Rebecca and I. Working backward Friday night we hosted an all KBC BBQ at our place, we counted 70 people that were here for at least some of that. If you have been to our place it is not that big, but the rain held off and 40 or so could hang in the back garden and enjoy the rare sunshine. It was great to host one last, huge party, I think that we'll continue to do so no matter what our next steps are, we have realized even more that we are socialites and love having a full house whenever possible. I think that for now I'll hold off writing about earlier in the week, rather I'll do a photo montage thing to cover the banquet, it was fab as well. Do take care,
earl

What is God like?

2007-07-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

What is God like is a question that we were given to grapple with today at college. It is part of our end of the course reflection time. This was an encouragement to review in our minds what we had learned about God and to attempt to put on paper what we thought He is like. I thought that I would share my thoughts with you, I trust that you will join me as I reflect, maybe you'll learn something new or see God in a new light...
A mystery that can partially be solved, a father who generously pours out his love and wrath on his children, a king who chooses us peasents as heirs in his kingdom, a being who is somehow everywhere all at the same time, a judge who does not show partiality who exhibits righteous justice, a potter who models us his clay into his image, an artist who paints the horizon daily and has since the foundation of the world.
The word indescribable comes to mind, adjectives don't do the trick, neither do adverbs. To attempt to explain eternity, omniscience, love, justice, omnipresence, in words is a tas too difficult for mere humans. This can only be expressed in awe and wonder. The kind you sense when standing next to Niagara Falls, watching a fire burn, listening to waves crash over the rocks, counting seconds between the claps of thunder and crashes of lightning, gazing into the deep night sky, the aroma of freshly baked bread, attempting to imagine what forever really is... indescribable, full of mystery, robes of glory and bringing me to my knees.

One Week to go :) and :(

2007-06-29T02:44:00.001-07:00

It is a "both and" as we say at Kings. This means that something is not just either or, it is both of them, or one and the other. We have one to go in lecturing, although next week is mostly review and wiping tears. It will be quite intense from a perspective of saying goodbye and happy memories, not so intense from a perspective of heavy lecturing. This weekend we have a BBQ tonight, a huge party at Pinnocks Social Club on Saturday, a leaving BBQ on Sunday at church, 2 girls in our community group are getting baptized on Sunday night, another fancy dress (costume for all you American readers) party on Monday, a final tutor group meal on Tuesday, the end of the year formal banquet on Wednesday (I'm emceeing, sort of glad, sort of not), final chapel and community group lunch on Thursday, all class BBQ at our house on Friday and Graduation on Saturday. So that is the next week, it is quite packed and we will have some space to share with our friends. The end of the term is bittersweet, to some extent we are ready to move on in life but some extent we are not ready to. I think that saying goodbye to close friends will be the most difficult piece of the finishing puzzle, that and getting used to not being with the same group day after day. We realize that being with the same close knit group is not ultimate reality, rather it has been a great chunk of 10 months of reality for us. Processing the end is not easy, but we are up to it and continue plugging on. Do keep us in your prayers as we seek God's will for our next steps in life. As for now we'll continue going to BBQ's, parties and celebrations, and enjoy Wimbledon whilst it is on the tele. later
earl

Another Saturday, with rain

2007-06-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

Here I am sitting at the computer, it's raining outside, this is not a surprise. Lately it vascilates (spelling?) between rain and not rain, but it seems to be humid quite consistently. Earlier today I walked into the city centre to buy materials for the church meeting tomorrow. We are sharing about our trip to North Africa, and also doing the kids work for the day. After some music we are going to do stations of having the kids and teens doing artwork, seeing God in the everyday objects, and lighting candles for friends that they want to pray for. After some time together doing that we'll have them all go outside and play a couple of games to round off the morning. We did the kids work earlier in the year and it didn't go great, I think that our plan for tomorrow sounds better than the previous one that we had, looking forward to it. Our time at East Basingstoke is quickly coming to an end, it has been fantastic. They are a lovely group of talented people that have so much to offer the community around them, and each other. We have learned tons there and will really miss the people and the gatherings. Rebecca and I are team teaching on July 1st our last Sunday there, it is going to be Revelation 8 - 11, not the easiest topic in the world to preach on, but we are up for it nonetheless. Hopefully tonight will work for a game of Settlers, looking forward to playing that some when back in Indiana, I think that a friend of mine has the game. There are some aspects of home that we are really excited about, basically they are the things that we don't get here that we do at home. I'm not going to go into all that now, a later blog will be on that particular topic, once I wrap my head around it. As for now I am going to work on music for tomorrow so that we are prepared and see God move among the kids and teens of East. Talk to you all later,
earl

Happy Father's Day

2007-06-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

Today is June 17th that means that it is Father's Day both here in the UK and at home in the US. So with that I say to my Dad happy Dad's Day! My Dad has been so supportive of us coming to Kings this year, and for that matter has always been supportive of our decisions. He is very interested in our steps and always has been interested. I have gleaned from him the importance of spending time with God, being a friendly face consistently, and being willing to serve no matter the situation or who is being served. I trust that you are having a great day today, and that you will continue enjoy the season that you are in presently. Have a great time with some time off, don't work too hard, but also don't stop working either, I have learned that from you as well. So in closing Happy Dad's Day, looking forward to seeing you in August. Enjoy the pics

deeder
Here he is the man of the day

At my home in New York, Dad, Mom myself and Mandy Sue

Dad feeding swans at a park in Oxford

Some thoughts

2007-06-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

I suppose I must be in a writing mood as I continue to write and think through the day. Being back at KBC for the last couple of weeks has not been the easiest weeks of my life. Extreme culture change, and then the itching for the culture I have known for the my whole life - America. England is not that different, but it is somewhat different and I am looking to be in that culture. The last week we have had a chance to reflect upon all that God has been up to in our lives over the last month. I have seen Him be so consistent in speaking into situations on the trip, in prayer since then and in insight from the Word. When God speaks I have seen that He opens doors as well, this is incredibly comforting and scary all at the same time. Our goal is to live full on for God for the whole of life, where and what that looks like has not been revealed as of yet. I am seeing life much like a wooded path and I'm holding a small flashlight that gives enough to go on, but not really enough to see everything that is coming up. I suppose I don't see all that could be too scary and to cause me to want to turn around, so God's plan is better isn't it? I don't see this path as an inadequate path, sure they might be logs that have fallen across, maybe some muddy patches, the occasional hole or wet spot that has to be navigated through. Does that mean that the path is not then traveled? While dark the God given flashlight of the Holy Spirit does lend illumination into where to walk, how to tread and what to watch out for. So I guess you would say that we are on that path, the path doesn't end either, and I don't expect that it gets any easier or less difficult to navigate. We'll keep walking, hiking if you will, much like our trip we'll keep on going, and learn from the journey not just the finish line. Thanks for listening as I get some thoughts on paper, you happened to join in my thoughts this time. later
earl

Pics from the end of the trip

2007-06-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

This is what the mountains sort of looked like

The tallest mountain that we were to climb is somewhere behind those clouds rolling in

Our humble base camp while in the mountains is being taken down and packed up

A nice pic of our housemates Jazz and Rachel

Back home

2007-06-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

My how time flies when you are busy and somehow it still flies when you are not. It has been almost a week since last I wrote, hard to believe because it doesn't seem that long ago. Continuing on with the story from the mountains we had another early start. This was needed so that we could get everyone and everything back to base by 1:00 on that Tuesday. This sounds relatively easy but in reality getting 57 people back "home" with all stuff, all cleaned, all put away, was not any easy task, but rather a difficult one. This required extra effort from people who walked a couple of hours, some who walked for 4 hours and then the crew who returned without walking only to clean for hours. Either way it was tough, there was no way of getting around it, by the time we all returned (all did return safely!) we were spent, physically and emotionally. The debriefing time was as good as can be when you are spent, and to be honest the reality of flying home the next didn't sound so bad at that point. Sure we had had a beautiful time, life changing, life giving and blow your socks off, but coming back to Oxford was not a bad deal either. After settling in for the evening at about 1:00 I was up again at 6 ready to go to the airport. Waiting, flying, waiting, walking, riding, riding (you know the drill) and then we were home. Getting all the home seems like a big deal, once you arrive at the airport you say "we're here" whilst that has some truth the reality you are at the airport. For us that meant a 2 1/2 hour bus ride and the hailing a taxi, dealing with our rucksacks and then unloading once home. I might sound melodramadic about the whole thing, it really isn't that bad, its just when you are tired that the whole travel experience seems compounded. To say the least we enjoyed a couple of days of next to nothing here in Oxford. Relaxation, catching up some, sleeping, etc... and then life was back to somewhat normal, if one can call it that. later
earl

Up the mountain you go

2007-06-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

Getting up at an hour earlier than the sun is the not the norm for me, but alas I was up at 4:00 at the latest on that Monday morning. No I hadn't slept that well, with my sleeping bag seemingly sliding downhill all night, I thought I might end up like Dan, outside of the tent looking at the stars. It was not warm when I arose, the semolina and egg was though, in a wierd way it was somewhat tasty, maybe because I was hungry so anything sounded ok at the time. Adrenaline kicked in quickly as Tim, Rach and I made sure that the expedition leaders were ready to roll for the day. The extreme group was prepping to climb a rather large summit, the next group was going to climb another rather large summit and the small summit people were going to climb a smaller summit. If you know me well I'm not a climber, camper, earlybird, hiker or outdoorsman hardly at all. I enjoy the outdoors but to an extent, a quite minute extent to be honest. Anyway we were off on a day long journey headed to a town and then up a mountain and back to the base. When arriving at the town an older gentleman invited us into his home, as you do in that area. We enjoyed some sweet tea, biscuits, more sweet tea, more biscuits and then thought that we should get hiking again. After attempting to leave he called us back to the living room because they were preparing lunch for us, 9:30 and we were going to eat a full meal, not bad for a hike. So there we were eating buttered noodles and drinking more tea, we were ready for the remainder of the hike.
The summit loomed ahead of our group, it wasn't ridicuously high, but to inexperienced climbers like most of us were it was a heck of a long way up a slippery slope of rock and sand. After much traversing we all made it to what we thought was the summit, it wasn't but in reality the actual summit was not that much more. We all made it officially to the top and then enjoyed a smallish lunch while enjoying the amazing view over the valley. Getting down was next on the agenda, to be honest I was worried about that part, if getting up was that hard how would we get down. Dave our trusty leader found a great path down a different face of the mountain and we all arrived safely at the bottom in all one piece. From there I had in my head that we were close to base camp, I was wrong by probably 4-5 miles since we walked for another 2-3 hours after I thought that we were close. You know how that is when you think that you are almost there, in reality we weren't even a few stones throw from the camp, as the crow flies we were miles away. The rest of the hike is not glamorous, just long, mostly uphill, across water at times, over rocks, and mentally battling being tired and wanting to relax. We made it and all crashed waiting for the other groups to arrive from their respective hikes. I was glad to be back, Rebecca and I had made it to the top, that was something for those of you who know how much of climbers and backpackers we are. I'll write more later about the remainder of the adventure to the mountains. later
earl

You've gotten up, now get outta here - everybody that is

2007-06-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

As stated in the last posting the remainder of the day did not go extremely smooth, at least not exactly as our leadership team had planned. That is reality isn't it? Since when does everything go as planned? Anyway I went down into town to see how the shopping was going for the trip, we had to purchase all of our food and then make it all on site, so that was not an easy task. It took many people to buy the food, bring it back to base and attempt to get a decent price on all of it. Whilst I was gone we had a notice that came through stating that the road had troubles, hence the vehicles traveling had trouble as did the time table for our plan. All of a sudden we had to shift our method of getting people and material to the site, this took everyone having to prepare quickly and before we knew we were off, all of us, all of our stuff, that's a lot of people and stuff! There were some complications with the road, some local people had poured cement that day to cover some irrigation canals, you really shouldn't drive on wet cement that's not good for it. So we needed to build little bridges across, the cement was not so wide that we could not do this, with some effort of course. Once getting to those spots we meticuously placed the rocks, planks, metal strips etc... and drove 3 vehicles over 4 different crossings, meaning 12 times we built the bridges. This caused the trip to be much longer than planned and eventually the whole troup of 36 people arrived at camp around the same time, 6 hours after the first group. We were all there, and a hot meal somehow (thank you Lottie, Jo and Steve) was served to us only 8 minutes after the deadline. Not bad for the complications of the road that we had to deal with. After eating we were all quite keen to get to bed, plus when it is dark you can't really see to do much, and when it is freezing cold you don't want to do much, and when the curfew is strictly 10:00 you can't do much. The whole camp was quiet by 10:20 so that we could have an alpine start in the morning, ready to climb our various mountains. later
earl

Get up get outta here

2007-06-06T00:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning arrived after a relaxing Saturday that included much reading, some playing games, and a couple of nice meals. The morning started early as we were up about an hour earlier to start the final three days of the trip. After rallying us all around for the start of the day the brief was read aloud as to the objectives our group needed to meet in the next 3 days. The objectives were to have 8 people from our group climb three different mountains on Monday, for the campsite to be set up and a meal by 8:00 P.M. and then for everyone and everything to get back to our homebase by 1:00 P.M. on the last day. We as a group were also then to nominate leaders among us for this excercise. My name was nominated to lead the group, a little surprising to me since I have never proper camped and if I have it was not with 50 some people in a rugged area. My camping has existed of Angie taking care of everything or of us being soaked in lame tents at youth weekends, certainly not the kind of camping that we were looking at in this location. After some more discussion by the group then the leaders came back and stated stated that I was the leader, Rach and Tim were the assistants with other people on the leadership team as well. The morning was filled with decisions, ideas, discussions, questions, answers, packing, planning, shopping, a bit of relaxation, traveling and attempting to catch my breath. Our group was amazing in that they did all that they could to help, worked together as a team, were self starters, and did all tasks asked of them. To be honest there was much that we had to do in order to get ready to camp with 57 people in the mountains. If you have ever done that kind of thing you know how much planning and effort there is that goes into that type of adventure. The difference here was that we had a couple of hours to make decisions, had to start packing, and had to think of all the details needed to be thought of for that venture. For the most part the morning went smooth and the first load of people were off to the campsite by about 10:30, the remainder of the day did not go quite as smooth, you'll find out soon with the next couple of posts. later
earl

Not quite holiday - Part three

2007-06-04T13:33:00.001-07:00

Honestly this will be the final report of the not quite holiday aspect of the trip. At times I wonder if I am too meticulously attached to detail because I don't leave stones unturned. For those of you who enjoy detail you probably have liked the blog, if you are not into detail then you have proabably enjoyed the pictures. Back to the story, it was 9 and we wanted to get back to the main city to do some shopping. We met yet another English teacher who joined us for the walk to the taxi rank, on the way we ran into the headmaster of the school once again. He was happy to see us once again, he is a very friendly man, and doing a fine job in my humble opinion. The guys helped us land a taxi with a decent price and we were off. It sort of felt like we were leaving our home away from home that we had for a couple of days. The taxi ride back was uneventful as we were quite tired and ready to chill before heading back to our homebase. While in the main city we ate some ice cream and did some shopping. The girls and Tony made some purchases, it was great fun walking through the streets and observing people. I was able to land a couple of drums for about 10 pounds total, I was pleased with that price for the drums that I was able to find. The orange juice was wonderful as were the cashews, and then we headed to the next taxi rank to get a taxi to our final destination. They remembered us from hailing one from previous days, and after another hour and a half or so we were back to the homebase. We had decided to stroll back around 4:30 which was the time that we were supposed to be back. We arrived right on time, sunglasses on and shopping bags in hand, all in all an amazing short trip where we saw God at work and had a great time building relationship with each other and our new friends.

Pics from city 2

2007-06-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here we are walking down the street of our destination

Number 18 classroom after the end of our class, it was a real blast

Here we are hanging out in Hamid's bedroom, it was our bedroom for the two nights

Jamar preparing the meal for the first night that we were there, very tasty noodles in sauce

Not quite holiday - part two

2007-06-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

At some point during the day we were looking to have some time to ourselves as a group, we needed to chat, pray and recover from the amazingness of the first 24 hours in the city. After going back to Adbul's for a while we headed with him and Jamar (another teacher) to their favorite restaurant, I don't remember the name something with lamb in it. It was all in Arabic so we didn't have a clue what was being ordered, we assumed that it would be all good anyway, the food on the trip so far had been killer so why not then? Once it was all said and done Abi had counted 23 plates of food on the table, this was salad, chips, and many different meats including; beef patty like things, beef, half chicken, sheep stomach, liver, chicken stomach, and not sure what the other meat was, it was for the most part quite tasty. After stuffing ourselves we were keen to go off and search for the food we needed to prepare an English meal. We didn't know how we were going to make the English meal, seeing that we had no ingredients, 2 sauce pans and cooking over a propane fire with nothing else, it sure wasn't like home. After some discussion and wandering we found the market and purchased rice, coffee, sugar and other bits. Then we found the fresh veggies and bought a bunch of them. The meat portion of our meal was concerning, would it be chicken, lamb or beef? We went with lamb for whatever reason I'm not sure and so we stopped by the butcher and I baaaa'ed to show that we wanted sheep. They knew what we meant and after attempting to communicate we noticed that the lady standing next to us spoke enough English that we could get by with what she knew, yet again God's provision in a time of need. We were then off to the cafe to catch some time with God and with each other praying. Sitting in the middle of a cafe reading the Bible and praying was a great catch up time and energizing as we knew that the remainder of the night might not be the easiest from a spiritual perspective.
After arriving back Abi started cooking at about 7:30 or so, to let you know how the evening went we ate at about 10:30. The three hours between were great, we cut veggies, chatted and had a blast and welcomed yet another visitor into the house. Abdul had invited the Islamic thought teacher from his school to join us, he was a very nice man who brought fresh bread that his wife had made. Conversation turned quickly to spiritual ideas, and the discussion about what we thought of Muslims, what they thought of Christians, what the view of the media was and so on. Honest discussion was the recipe of the evening, everyone involved except for Tony who was lying down, he was nackered and not feeling well. The Lamb a la International was tasty, we were somewhat surprised that it worked out, Abi did a great job of whipping it up from scratch. After supper they guys had us watch a short television program, and then we all remembered that they wanted to watch us pray much like we watched them pray the evening before. It was quite amazing as we prayed, worshipped, sang, read the Bible and had observers the whole time. We met with the Lord there in Jamar's bedroom and then all of sudden the 9 of us were dancing and taking pictures of each other. What a great way to end the time there, because we were shattered and off to bed we went.

Not quite holiday - part one

2007-06-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

Buckle your seat belt, this could be a long ride. Picking up where we left off last time, we were all of a sudden in front of a classroom of students in room 18. The English teacher Abdul was surpised that there were English speakers in his class, and right off the bat he started to ask questions and have the students ask them as well. I answered a couple, Tony did as well and then Tash was up next. They asked her what she was studying and she said the Bible. Let's just say that we were off from there into the world of spiritual interest, questions, religion and so on. Picture it, five westerners in a city, in a public school classroom answering questions about Jesus, spiritual things, Islam, Muhammed, the Bible etc... Another prayer of ours that God heard as He set apart this teacher, school and city for us to arrive in. After about an hour and a half of interacting the students the class was over and we were invited back to Abdul's place to spend the night. He shared a flat with a couple of other guys and we saw the place. He stated that there was a surprise planned for supper, we would be meeting another English teacher we'll call him Jarid, a friend of his who lived with the computer teacher Hamed, another guy that we had met. We all headed off for the other flat where three more teachers lived together, and after chatting, laughing and settling in we enjoyed what we thought was supper around 8:00. Turned out that we didn't eat until 11:30, to say the least we were spent at that point. In the hours between food the 9 of us chatted about life, culture, teaching and spiritual things. Being devout Muslims the guys went into a bedroom to pray, and they invited us to watch and ask them questions if we would like to. I have used the term surreal before and I will again as we observed their reverance and faith.
There was some confusion around this time, one does not expect to be ushered into a room and watch men of other faith pray and worship, but it was eye-opening definitely. The noodles were ready at 11:30 and we ate some, most of us were too tired to dig right in. We were off to bed by 1:00, our friends still chatting, laughing and having a great time, us being bumps on logs who had traveled and expended much emotional energy. I don't think it is the norm to have time constraints on mini expeds, but we did. Abdul had invited us back to his classroom for 10:00 the next day, hence we all got up, got ready and were out the door by 9:50. Upon arrival to the school there was some discussion as to whether we would be allowed back in. We heard the word Christian in the discussion but also know that part of the chat was because we did not have any paperwork allowing us to waltz into a public school and speak. Out of nowhere Abdul showed up, said it was OK and we were off once again to room 18 for another English class experience. This time after talking in Arabic for 30 seconds or so he said he was going to hand it over to us to teach the remainder of the lesson on 5 sentence paragraphs. Being the primary teacher that I am my head immediately turned to hamburgers and was their colored chalk?
There was so I had Abi (an amazing artist) draw a hamburger on the board and I started talking slowly about what a hamburger was, they didn't get it until I used the universal McDonalds. Then we were all on the same page, and off we went into the Ox Bow renowned hamburger writing method of paragraphs. About an hour later after doing an example, making mental pictures, listening to our group examples and pounding home the elements of 5 sentences the students were off writing their own this time. They did a fantastic job, everyone of them gave a great effort, I knew because Abdul was so excited about how they were performing. Many read their paragraphs out and we all clapped after each one. Following a rendition of the Hokey-Pokey and a monologue by one of the girls the class was over. I had just taught 20 Arabic speaking middle schoolers a lesson that I used with my own students in the U.S. it was an exhillirating time for a teacher like myself. later
earl

Off ya go

2007-06-02T02:57:00.000-07:00

Whilst my group and Rebecca's group were toiling in the school 4 of the other groups were out and about in the country. These outings were termed mini-expeditions, and they could consist of anything that the group wanted to do, within distance and financial reason. Of course we were on pins and needles to hear how the other groups did, because we knew the next day we were off as well, free as birds for 3 days to traverse the country and see what God was up to. All the other groups returned, some interesting stories of course; sleeping outside, not being able to find shelter in a downpour, hospitality from people who offered their home for the evening, camping out on top of a mountain and staying in a nicer hotel in the main city. The essence of this exercise was to hear from God where to go, what to do there and then go in faith, much like the disciples in Jesus's day. My little group had a couple of meetings, heard some specific ideas - a city on the map, working with children and schools, a busy commerce area, power lines, English speakers. All of these were what we were going when we set off to find our destination. (I'll call it City 2) We found the bus to city 2, it was not terribly crowded, hence most of us fell asleep until Tony woke me up right before we arrived, the first thing I saw was a large power station with many power lines coming out of it. Then we all remembered the picture that Tony had seen whilst praying about me looking at power lines, we thought that we were on the right track. Next as we passed through the city it looked and felt like what Tash and myself had envisioned while praying for the excursion. We eventually got off the bus, and decided to pray, we were there, with no further plans, no ability to communicate in their language, and nowhere to rest our heads. Five Westerners, an American, Canadian, Norwegian, and two British in a city that we found out later never saw tourists or English speakers. We saw a couple of kids coming out from a side street and decided to amble that way, realizing that many more were streaming out, it must have been a school. Lo and behold there was a school at the end of the lane, many middle schoolers were coming out, staring at us as though we were from Mars. We started to pray for the school and a couple of girls came up to Abi and started trying to talk with her, before we knew we were in a sea of students, probably 50 - 60 all around us trying to talk in English, French, Spanish and Arabic, really whatever language they knew and thought we might have a clue in. Details are sketchy but within 10 minutes were ushered into the school, standing in the office area, waiting to be taken to the English class that was happening upstairs. It was all quite surreal, within 30 minutes of arriving in city 2 we had seen power lines, commerce like area, been in a school, talked with many kids, and were about to meet some real English speakers, wow God was blowing us away right off the bat. later
earl

Pics from the walk around

2007-06-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Just looking out at the mountains and countryside as we walked

From atop a village

Our Sycamore family looking out over a valley

Most of our group coming back down from the top of the mountain, quite a view

A circumcision party and paint

2007-06-01T12:52:00.001-07:00

You wouldn't expect those two things to go together but alas they do. My small team was sent to a local high school to do some cleaning, scraping, sanding, washing, disenfecting, priming, and eventually painting. The area of the school that we were eager to attack was a part of the school that has not been used for quite sometime, and now there was funding to make that area into a sick bed for the high school that has some students as full time residency. We arrived there ready to work and as customary we were immediately sat down to a second breakfast, there was no way around it, not that I was looking for a way around it. The breakfast included bread, jam, honey, cheese, olive oil, boiled eggs, cumin, salt and of course tea. We feasted and enjoyed the time, knowing that we had a full day ahead of us in the school. After being in the sick bed for a just a short while we realized that this job was bigger than us, we would not be able to come anywhere near finishing in the three days that we had to work. Like good workers we started in, 9 of our group plus 6 local students all sanding the walls in one chorus. It was loud, dusty, sandy and difficult to breathe, this lasted until lunchtime when we heard that the plans had changed. TIA (This is Africa) so plans constantly change, you roll with them, and learn to enjoy the change. Our group had been invited to an official party, that was all that we knew, of course we accepted the invitation. Come to find out there was a government type building that was the site of an area wide circumcision event, doctors from all around had come, people from all over the area had come with their sons. We arrived and they asked us if we wanted to go in or stay outside, thinking that meant lunch we said "sure we'll go in". This didn't mean lunch, before you knew it we were in a room with 10-15 doctors, babies screaming, mothers watching, and you know what happening. After a short visit we were ushered back out of the building to the back garden where a live band was waiting, dancers and many nicely decorated tables. Then about 15 minutes later we were escorted to the front of the building to the tent where the dignitaries were sitting, and we sat in the next tent over from them ready to eat lunch. Two chickens, a tagine with beef and prunes followed by alot of melon. We feasted yet again, not sure why were invited to join in the festivities. Then the dancing began by a local troupe, they were great drummers, along the same lines as STOMP, but not near as expensive. From that surreal happening we went back to the job site and sanded till our hands were rougher than a tree trunk. To wrap up this portion of the trip, we ended up working two more days, no more parties, did have a second breakfast and worked our tails off. By the time that we were finished with our portion we had gotten at least one coat and a bit more in every room and hallway of the sick bed area. Our group had accomplished much, and had a great time doing it as well, but ya we were ready for the next part of our adventure. later
earl

A Walk Around

2007-06-01T02:35:00.000-07:00

To begin with our college group was split up to travel, 20 here and 18 there. That was quite wierd because usually groups travel totally together. After a decent day of travel our first job at our destination was to get our small group (Ellen, Abi, Tash, Tony and me) to our final destination in our little town. So off we were hailing taxis, haggling for prices for taxis, verifying prices, arranging more taxis for others, and then piling 6 people into taxis that only had 5 spots. If you have ever traveled in Africa you know that as many that can get into a car get in, so we did. About an hour later our groups all arrived together, spending about the amount that we were supposed to spend, a little haggling but that is expected. The first day was lazily spent, in all reality the second day was lazily spent as well. A little tour into the town, a shot at Arabic (Salaam Elaykoum) (spelling?) but not much other language beyond that based on only speaking English. English is not universal, as I met very few speakers on this trip. Anyway the next day the plan was to go for a walk, to some it was just that but to others it was a full-on hike. The views were astounding (pics later on) the little villages nestled in the mountains, olive groves, cacti type vegetation, little paths and so on. Our group had a great time looking over the valley as far as the eye could see and it as far. The hike back down the mountain was not easy, Rebecca and I took it slow, that was fine there was no rush. In the evening after resting a while our group enjoyed a great worship service and tagine (traditional dish). That evening 4 of the little groups found out about the mini-expedition which I will tell you all about in later blogs. We found out that we were going to work our tails off on different work projects, again I will tell you about those on a later blog. Again sorry about the ambiguousness (spelling, word?) of this blog but I have been instructed as such. The walk around was great, the view was amazing, the opportunities were astounding. later
earl

Back from North Africa

2007-05-31T04:06:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

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

Love is in the Air! by:Rebecca

2007-04-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

Out of our forty or so KBC students 10 of our birthdays were in the month of April! Earl happened to be one of of them. We found ourselves celebrating all of the birthdays together at the same social club that my party was held. It wasn't a costume party like before but still a dress up event with lots of fun. We had an open mic, karoke, and dancing. The main reason I am writing this blog is because of the karoke aspect. It seems that my dear Earl after 10 years of marriage decided that he would surprise me by dedicating and singing a song to me. He sang, "Everything I do, I do it for you." by Brian Adams. It was quite sweet but as you can tell from the picture of me quite embarassing as well. He really played it up and every eye in the place seemed to be on me. It is something I will not soon forget. I am blessed to be married to Earl!

Another wednesday night

2007-04-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

It's 10:30 at night here, it has been a long day, actually every day is a long day. This is not that we have bad days, but we do have long days. This week we have been studying Romans, I would deem it one of the richest books of the Bible. Paul has so much to say about our human condition and then the response of God being willing to redeem us. I think that I understood some of the gist of the book, but now I have a much deeper understanding. This is also due to writing a seminar paper on Paul and the Law, of course much of the text about the Law is from Romans. For that paper I did a lot of reading, and really attempted to dig through the first 8 chapters of Romans, not an easy endeavor but a revelatory one. I have also been reading "for fun" if you can believe it the History of Israel as a Nation. There is so much reference to Israel throughout the Bible and we can so easily gloss over it and not get the real meaning behind the stories. There were so many occasions of battle, takeover, diplomacy, intrigue etc... during the history of God's chosen people. My next conquest after doing a power point on that topic is to read a book about Jewish customs during the time of Jesus, so I understand the context surrounding stories of Jesus better. My major paper is due on Tuesday, I am writing about the parable of the mustard seed and how it is like the Kingdom of Heaven. Maybe I'll have more about that on the next blog entry. It probably sounds as though it is all work and no play, that is not accurate. On Saturday night there was a gala celebration for April b-days. We had it at the Social club where Rebecca's party was, there were many people there. Dancing, Karaoke, give aways and just a really fun time. I sang a song to Rebecca during Karaoke, I think that she is going to blog about that at some point as well, so I won't steal her thunder. i'm following baseball aware that the Rangers are doing ok, they are getting some pitching, now if only a couple of their hitters would hit that would be great. My fantasy team is not so hot, I can't get anything consistent from my "top 3 players" they certainly haven't played like it yet. i should get rolling have a meeting for our trip to Africa and then I'm playing during chapel. Take care everyone
earl

2007-04-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

It is yet another sunny day, hard to believe since my Mom was off school yesterday for the Nor'easter that was swirling around. Anyway the weather here has been quite unEngland like, at least from what I was expecting. I think that I was expecting rain every day, only gray skies, windy conditions that would yield no opportunity to be outside. This has not been true especially this spring, it has been day after day of 60's and sun, yes we are blessed here in this land. We are back at it this week, our lecturer this week was Phil Norris. He is the leader of the church that we attend in East Basingstoke, it has been a fantastic time of learning about Paul, who he was, what he taught and about his mission. It seems as though our KBC community has picked up after the break, everyone seems refreshed, ready to roll, and excited for this last term. That is somewhat hard to type since we are already in the last term, that is hard to believe. It's not like we haven't gone through alot or learned a ton, we have so I guess it does seem as though we have been here for quite a while. This morning I was responsible for devotions, I was excited as I had not had that opportunity for a couple of months. We looked at Colossians 3 about putting off the old man and putting on the new man. I had a couple of friends get dressed as the "old man" not looking like they were ready to go to a banquet or ball, then I had them leave the room and come back in dressed as the "new man". Mike had put on a suit, done his hair, while Anna had put on a nice looking dress and fancy shoes. It was a great visual for the text. Then I had some talented people in our group come forward to help with music. I had a violinist, clarinet player and a flutist. We had a little orchestra there, it was fantastic, or so I heard. It has been a while since I had the chance to play with that many other instruments. It was a great morning, tomorrow we have chapel and prep for our trip coming up in a month or so. By the way tonight we're going to go for a walk and enjoy the beautiful sun that is out until about 8:30 or so. Talk to you all later
earl

Wednesday afternoon, it feels like a Friday though

2007-04-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick hello, I was sitting at the computer and thought what the heck I'll write a short blog entry. We have been enjoying this little break, it was a revert back to what life was like before we lived with other people. To say the least we have been reading quite a bit, we both have a paper to write about Paul and the Law. This is our last seminar paper, after this we have our major paper to read about and to write, we are closing in on the end of the written work here at KBC. I would say that we both have learned so much from the reading for this paper, I feel quite prepared to write the paper and talk about the topic in the seminar. Rebecca and I have also been playing a few games of Boggle, it is much like old times. The only difference this time is that she has either gotten way better, or I have decreased in my ability as she beat me 3 times this week. I have found this hard to stomach, but I must drink the medicine of defeat once in a while. May I point out that one of those W's was a 53-52 squeaker where she won with the word gilt. I then posted a 40 in one round which is probably a record in the annuls of Boggle.
Here we are, the girls have their new ISU jumpers on, Rach on the left and Jazz on the right

Still holiday?

2007-04-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Yes is it, we have a full two weeks off from KBC, we are still reading, writing and working on papers though. Presently I am reading a number of different books including; The History of Israel, Assumptions, books on Paul and Law, The Gospel of the Kingdom and we have been enjoying some DVD's given to us by friends from home. As you know the last blog was about our travels with Hop and Cindy and this one is going to pick up with our day in London on Wednesday. After driving to Ickenham and parking for a mere 2 pounds we jumped aboard the Picadilly line and rode the tube into the heart of town. There we left them as they did the double decker bus tour trek, while Rebecca and I headed to the National Gallery. Whilst there we saw works by Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Rembrandt and countless others. It is a beautiful building and unlike most of the UK it is inexpensive, the cost is nothing to get in! From there we decided even though it was a clear day that we'd forfit the London Eye for now, and instead use our all day tube pass to go into parts of town that are not touristy. London is expansive, the touristy area is huge by itself, the city itself seems to go on and on, so we jumped aboard the BakerLoo line and started north. Then on to the Northern Line, then the Picadilly line and ended up on the Victoria line in the area of Finsbury Park. After getting off and walking just a little way we realized that we were not in a touristy area, there was commerce, much traffic and nary did I see anyone carrying a camera around their neck. While Rebecca was trying on a top I talked with a shopkeeper and found out that the neighbourhood has been known for materials, textiles and fashion. The street we walked up was one shop of dresses and woman's clothing after another, this wasn't like a mall where I could dip into a store that had stuff I liked, it was dress store after dress store. We did get a mocha and enjoy some chat. Unfortunately time waned as we ran out before I could find Emirates Stadium home of Arsenal one of England's premier football clubs. The plan was to catch Hop and Cindy at Picadilly Circus so that we could find Prince Edward's Theatre and pick up our will call tickets for Mary Poppins. All went well and after eating at a Vietnamese Noodle Bar we went to the theatre. To attempt to describe a London production of Mary Poppins is an undaunting task. I'm not going to undertake that here, suffice it so say that at one point Bert danced up the wall across the ceiling and down the other side, and Mary Poppins ended the show by flying over the audience. It was exhillarating (spelling?) and a memory to last a lifetime. The ride back was uneventful, except to say that usually people here don't drive to London, but I would say do it, it is not that bad (some day I might eat my words:) I'm going to sign off for now, just wanted to say to all of the Indiana readers sorry about your weather, we have been basking in day after day of clear, and relatively warm days with crisp evenings. Later
earl

holiday once again

2007-04-03T02:14:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody I trust that you are having a wonderful holiday time, some of you are off of work now, but others of you are probably still working. This week we are enjoying having Hop and Cindy with us, she is the secretary at Rebecca's school and Hop works on the railroad, and sadly I don't totally understand what he does there, but I know that he is a hard worker. Speaking of working hard we have been working hard at being tourists. There is a wealth of sites and towns to see just within an hour or twos drive from our house. On Saturday we went to Blenheim Palace which is the old residence of Winston Churchill. While walking to the site of the Palace we happened across an old church and outside of it was the tomb of Churchill, it is the family plot. The walk that we had was fabulous, once reaching the Palace there was a wedding, so we strolled in through that gate and enjoyed the grounds, the fancy dress, and a Churchill exhibit. Earlier in the morning we flitted around Woodstock, it is a little market town full of antiques, tea rooms and quaint shops. The scones with clotted cream are worth the price, the homemade jam was ace as well. Sunday Rebecca and I went to church in East Basingstoke as normal, Hop and Cindy went out on their own to navigate the countryside. They ended up at Stonehenge, which we have not been to yet, I would like to go at some point. They also went to Salisbury, the cathedral there is magnificent and humongous, another site that I would like to visit whilst here. This leaves yesterday, yesterday cannot be explained in one fell swoop, we traversed the Cotswolds, a hilly, many pastured, sheep dotted area about an hour west. Hop and Cindy are here again, so I need to get going, we are heading into town to "do" Oxford, will write about that later.
earl

Something a bit lighter?

2007-03-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-03-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-08T01:45:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-08T01:18:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-02T07:20:00.000-08:00

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

Prague - Tuesday

2007-02-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

Our goal in going away was just that, to get away. We thought that whatever we did in this foriegn city would be great, so with that in mind we decided to actually go into buildings and museums not just view them from the street like we do in Oxford. But before we could jump on tram 3 at Balebenka we enjoyed a hearty breakfast. Our hotel had the following offerings: Eggs, sausage, another kind of sausage, cheese, ham, salami, yoghurt, granolas, many breads, juice and some very strong coffee. All of that added up to a great start to the day, in fact we eliminated the need for lunch, of course we didn't leave the hotel till 10:30 anyway. So we rode the tram about 20 minutes into the city center and got off right in the heart of the action, near Wenceslass Square (more on that on Thursday) Since we were not in charge of anyone and had but one small deadline of a 1:45 tour to meet we simply wandered around, up and down streets, into a McDonalds to use the toilet (it cost 5 kc or about 15 cents, but you get it back if you bring a little reciept back to McDonalds in a week) and while in McD's I noticed that they sell beer with their value meals and I picked up a free map of Prague which proved to be quite helpful. After strolling through shops and backstreets we came upon the Old Town Square which is beautiful, old, and quite crowded by locals and tourists. We met Tom our guide who then showed us and 4 others some other famous buildings, talked about the difference between baroque, renaissance, and other period architechture. Prague has many periods of architechture because it has been around for so long. He led us down to the Vlatava river where we boarded a little boat which took us out for a ride and a look at the city from a river's view. This was great as you could see both sides of the river, and all of the different buildings, and sites of each side. By the time that we finished the boat ride we were starting to get tired, it doesn't sound like much walking took place but don't be fooled, you don't go to a large city and not walk your feet off. All of this walking made us hungry so we set out to find a traditional Czech restaurant. We ended up at one I think, it was very tasty, not goulash and dumplings but traditional none the less. We split a meal of huge potato pancake stuffed with meat and vegatables. The best way to describe it is to say a mix between a fajita, stir fry and stew all mixed up in a pancake, it was quite tasty. To the say the least we were full, and after riding back to our hotel we crashed by 10:00, I even took a nap at 8:00 and then could only make it till 10:00. Part of going away is relaxing and part of it is seeing the sites, we did both in a way, looking forward to Wednesday when we would go to a different part of the city.

Prague Blog - in words - arrival

2007-02-23T08:55:00.000-08:00

We have been transported back from another land, in this case one of a feel of being in a fairy tale, rich culture, baroque architecture and a midweek excursion to the Czech Republic. Prague is a very historically deep city, a castle dating back to the 900's, cathedrals from 1400's, a synagogue that has been active since the 1300's and all of the governmental history from the 20th century. Picture it, we get off the subway at 10:00 P.M. walk up the stairs of Palmovka station and find ourselves in a city where we don't know the language, don't understand the culture, and don't know where Spojavaci street is at, or how to get to it. Sure there was plenty of graffiti on the walls, a number of seedy establishments, and an eeriness of not much traffic, but in the end we knew that we would find the Hotel Step, it was somewhere in Praha 9. After a jaunt down Sokolovska street we saw a sign for the hotel and pointed to it, then a couple across the street said "Looking for Hotel Step?" we said yep (rhyme not intentional) and we followed them under a bridge, down the street and up 69 steps to the Hotel Step, it is appropriately named. I attempted to chat with the couple but they did not understand even "how are you?" so we did not get too far. Anyway we checked in, found #228, realized there was only two english speaking stations on TV, and decided to call it an evening, looking forward to the next three days of sightseeing and being on holiday.

Prague Blog - Pic version

2007-02-23T05:01:00.000-08:00

This blog for all of you who are visual learners, do enjoy, much more writing for the rest of you later. If you can do go to Prague it is worth the effort

Tourists, most of which from the Czech Republic, we heard hardly any English being spoke at all. If it was your capital you'd visit as well.
Looking out from near the castle across the roofs, St. Nicklaus Church and the Old Town in the background on the other side of the Vlatava River.
Public transport is huge in Prague, it is estimated that 2/3 of residents
use the transport system, it is very easy to use and cheap

Whilst walking next to the river we saw swans, ducks and these nice older folks who were feeding them, the town in the background is quite nice

Architecture is a huge deal in Prague, it is old, varied and amazing, just a little sample for you

Houses that are next to a canal that runs through the Lesser town area near the river

Not brighteyed and bushytailed?

2007-02-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

That is quite accurate, last night KBC had an all night of prayer. Now before you assume that 40 of us sat in a circle and prayed out requests for 12 hours that was certainly not the case. Each chuch placement group was in charge of an hour, and there was such variety to the evening. We started with an intro and then reflected back upon our time so far at KBC. After some singing, we moved into a time of taking communion together, this too was very special. Following that we went into another part of the Kings Centre and prayed for all the various nations represented this year at Kings (England, US, Norway, Canada, Northern Ireland, Iran, Australia, France, Belgium) and then stood in a very cold hall and lit candles to place on a map made out of blue tape on the floor. At that point we reached a break around midnight and had a little snack, this was a precursor to the feast at 1:30. Our group prayed for KBC, its future, present, and vision, this was a time of much prophetic input, and we also prayed for the staff as well. We feasted and then people started to drop off a bit more, but not before reading through the whole of the book of Hebrews. We had actions to some of it, some read in unison, some read in a loud voice, soft voice, pairs, etc... it reminded me of my reading class, always trying to do something new and fresh. Next was back into the cold hall to pray and walk, I think this was to keep some people awake, it worked for me, I thought that I was able to focus quite well during that time. Our ministry trip to Morocco is coming up so we learned some about the land, people and customs, ate some food, drank tea and smelled spices, it was a great way to start building up to the trip. I took my one hour slot of sleeping next, it was not comfortable but it worked, and I felt refreshed following. We closed with some upbeat music and prayer, this was well done by some students who were quite sleepy. The morning came and we ate breakfast together, and then people went home to crash, a wonderful night and morning, but it's true I'm not feeling to brighteyed or bushytailed at the moment. later
earl

Let it snow?

2007-02-08T14:17:00.000-08:00

Who would have thought that we would wake up on a Thursday morning in February to as much as 5 inches of snow, no joking it was and is that deep. The walk to school this morning was absolutely amazing, there will be pics soon on this blog. In fact later in the day after being at KBC a group of us walked for what seemed like forever in the snow to one of the houses and made a snowman/statue of one of the guys on our course. It is a very long story but there are a group of us who wanted to create a statue of Mike, so the snow was a perfect medium for that. Then to top it off today, I was home working on papers, reading and cleaning, then lo and behold there were flurries in the air most of the time, it is quite remarkable, just a little reminder of Indiana, although not nearly as cold. My head is swimming somewhat from reading alot lately, mostly about the Kingdom of God and for a paper that I am doing about gender. Maybe on a later blog I will share some of my views, at this point I am all gendered out as it has been a long day working on that topic. This weekend we do not have too much on, so I plan on watching some more rugby ( I did watch the Super Bowl, thanks Charles Hippsley for the DVD) and attempt to keep up with basketball back at home. I'm going to sign off for now, will have pics up soon Rebecca has the camera so I can't upload the shots from yesterday. later

earl

Shots on the way to school, it is very pretty Rebecca and Jazz in the snow

Rugby?

2007-02-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

I know that is a wierd title, but today was a bit wierd from a sports perspective. Tomorrow in America is the Super Bowl, and the two teams closest to where I live are playing in it. With that being said today we had about 10 people at our house at 4:00 to watch England vs. Scotland in the opening round of the 6 Nations Cup (I know that you all know what I am talking about) Anyway I knew that I was not in Indiana as one person stated "What is the Super Bowl?" Next week I'm sure that we'll watch the second weekend of the 6 Nations Cup. I want to give you an update on where our life is at here in Oxford. This past Monday we were able to meet with our neighbors who we have dealt with about the wall. They accepted our offer to pay for the wall, we did not expect that so quickly, so last Monday we paid them, and now that part of the process is over. Thank you to all who prayed for us, I can say that we felt those prayers. This term is a busy one, we have to write 2 papers for seminars, both Rebecca and I are writing about gender and Paul and the law. Last week I attended a seminar on creation, it was very interesting, most of the discussion centered around caring for God's creation. In addition to those papers, we also have a paper on a minor prophet, I'm doing a paper on being a Christian in education, and then our major paper is due at the end of the term. In addition to all of this we also are traveling this term, we leave for Prague in a couple of weeks, we also attend the Salt and Light England conference in Teeside (north of England). There also a number of people coming to visit us, so ya that will be great. Our church placement is starting to kick in a bit more, we are in charge tomorrow, the 25th, doing a kids service in March and I am working with the music there some as well. I know that it might sound busy, and while it is, we are absolutely loving it, I mean when was the last time you a full house at 4:00 watching rugby at your house? I'll sign off for now,
earl

Rebecca's 21st Birthday?

2007-01-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

Allison, Ellen & Rebecca with their cake!
I am blessed! I was able to turn 21 for the 14th time in my life. I had a party like I have never had before. They party slightly different across the pond. In England a costume party is called a fancy dress party. Everyone was meant to dress up in costumes beginning with A, E, or R in honor of the birthday girls, Allison, Ellen, and Rebecca. The night was amazing. Everyone put real effort into the costume portion as you can see from the photos. We played games, had a bit of talent, and then danced the night away. It will definitely be a significant memory of my Bible college experience! Enjoy the photos! I am Ronald Mcdonald in case you couldn't tell. Earl is an American footballer, thanks Jeremy Mac for the jersey, my housemate Jazz is the Easter bunny, and my other housemate Rachel is dressed as the infamous Earl!

Mary, the academic dean and Simon, the principal

Blondy Lookin Vain, a.k.a. Amy Hippsley and Mark Eley

Rockers: James Allen and Janson Gunn

Above: Rebecca, Jazz, and Rachel

To the Right: Us

Below: Me with Tash Bita and Beth Young

A day off again?

2007-01-26T00:48:00.000-08:00

Whilst here in Oxford it seems as though the number of days off has not been many, but this week because of scheduling we have Friday and Saturday with no commitments to KBC. This is very exciting as the norm is having Saturday, but all other days filled, and usually to the brim with activities, lectures etc... So get this, today in a couple of hours some friends are coming over for breakfast, then we are going to Blenheim Palace (pics coming up later) to walk around the grounds and enjoy the beautiful, crisp English afternoon. We had snow the other day, it was the first time it has snowed here in quite a while and since then it has gotten quite chilly, and crisp is the word that best described it. After going to the grounds of the palace we are then going to a little town to have a cream tea, this is another way of saying scones with jam, cream and then a cup of tea on the side. Evidently it is a very English thing to do, especially after a walk in the countryside. Following that outing we are going to stay overnight with friends at their house, and simply enjoy being in someone else's home and seeing their village as well. Not everyday at KBC is tightly packed, for this I am grateful, because as I look at next weeks diary it is very full compared to this week. By the way last week was Rebecca's birthday party, she is dying to write about it and show oodles of pics, when we get some batteries for the camera she will be able to download the pics and write the blog, so please hold on. later

earl

Sleepy Sunday

2007-01-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

I know that Sunday is usually a day of rest, here at KBC it is sort of that, and sort of not that. We drive to Basingstoke (an hour drive) to help set up for the church meeting, then we participate in the gathering, talk with people and drink some coffee. They have a rota that someone from the church has the three of us come over for lunch and usually we end up staying until about 6:00. So we are there for around 5 hours, it is a great time, today we helped put together a puzzle, one week we played a game, went to a soft play area, chatted and of course we always get a great Sunday meal. I write sleepy Sunday because for many Sundays have been reserved for sleep in the afternoon, but now that is not the case. I'm not ranting or anything, just realizing that I am sleepy, maybe tonight while people watch Ice Age at our house I might take a nap. Is that ok if there is a group downstairs for me to go take a nap? i think that it is, not being antisocial just being sleepy, so for now I am going to sign off, by the way the party last night for Rebecca, Ellen and Allison's birthday was a blast, Rebecca is going to write about it, and have a myriad of pics as well, maybe that is why I am tired, or because we went to Basingstoke yesterday also, I'm sleepy by for now
earl

Still having fun?

2007-01-15T15:30:00.000-08:00

The answer to the title is yes!!! Life here at KBC is not easy, there is much study, reading, writing, talking and thinking but it is a lot of fun as well. We have been learning about spiritual formation last week, actually it has been one of the most important themes that has run throughout the year. Everyone gets "formed" their thinking, ways they do life, and reactions to culture, the question is how is life formed. We are looking at that from a perspective of spiritual transformation, trans meaning change, so changing the formation we have to a more spiritual focus. This applies to the whole of life, one of the main understandings that I have walked away with lately is the idea of there not being a divide between sacred and secular. This divide is usually evident but it should not be, we are whole beings that live life, not separated out beings that are spiritual sometimes and human others. I have asked the question to some friends how is it that the church has missed out on one of the most important teachings of Jesus - the Kingdom of God. He taught the Kingdom when talking about what you do and why you do it, yet it seems like what I have heard and still do is getting saved. That is a piece, but that is by no means anywhere near the end point, that begins the process which then leads into a life transformed to be the best usherer of the Kingdom as possible. It seems as though much of what I have heard and do hear is about a personal relationship, and personal quietime, when much of the Word was written for community, to be lived out by the church in the world, ushering the Kingdom of God into the earth as much as possible. This is where I am at lately, thanks for letting me "preach" it has felt good to get at least a piece of my thoughts into writing. do comment back if you would like to and have a great day. later
earl

Hello to students

2007-01-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hello all you elementary students,

I have been meaning to write a blog just for you for a while, but it has been Christmas break and now you are back in school. You would be surprised to know how often I think about Ox Bow, especially my students from last year ( a special hello to any of you :). My wife and I are really enjoying our time here in England, below you will see some great pictures from some travel that we did over the holiday. I am reading alot, writing papers, and even taking some tests. I'll bet that you are doing the same, although you are in school for 7 hours per day, and I am there for 4 hours per day. Each morning though I walk a half hour to school, and then another half hour home. That does not sound too bad but it is a HUGE hill so going home is hard, and you wouldn't believe how much it rains here! It is worse weather than Indiana or New York where I used to live. I really enjoy all that I am learning about God, He is amazing and everyday I learn something new. The people in the house that I live talk quite often and you wouldn't believe how often we have big groups of friends over to our house, one night we had 31 people to watch a movie. For those of you who like fantasy books you will enjoy knowing that C.S. Lewis lived in the city I am in, and J.R.R. Tolkien lived here too. For those of you who don't recognize the names Lewis wrote the Narnia stories and Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings stories. By the way I have written this in just a little harder language than might be used to, that is to push you just a little bit even from England. Enjoy the pictures and enjoy school!

Mr. Robinson

This is a barn that was bulit out of the original Mayflower Boat

Here I am in Trafalgar Square in London, if you look behind me you will see Big Ben in the distance, and lots of traffic and people

Here is a street in Oxford, look how thin it is compared to a regular street in America

Back at the grind?

2007-01-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

So I'm sitting here at the computer, it is raining outside, somewhat windy, I'm feeling sleepy (had a very tasty lasagna) but hey the house is empty. Today was the first full day (other than last Friday) without any guests, to say the least we have been somewhat of a hotel. With that being said our guests have been anything but unwanted or unhospitable. Kristine, my parents, Anthony and Julli have been wonderful guests and we saw many great sites, people and parts of England that we have not seen before. So now the break is officially over, we are getting back into the swing of things, next Monday I give a message to a small group, the following Monday a paper is due, we are going to be having more responsibility at our church placement, and I continue to read like a worm. It has been a little difficult getting used to sit in the lecture room for the morning, but I'll bet after another morning of listening, praying and thinking I'll be ready to go for the next term. During this term we are going to be covering many books of the Bible, and quite specifically at that. Also during this term we are going to Prague, Czech Republic for a little get away, Teeside in the North of England for the Salt and Light Leadership Conference, potentially Spain to visit Anthony and we have some guests coming to see us a couple of times as well. So ya we are back in the saddle again, and ready to ride, do drop an email if you would like, I'll do what I can to get back with ya. later
earl

pics from up north

2006-12-29T15:43:00.000-08:00

We did make it up north after some trouble here in Oxford, but we hired a car, a very nice automatic Skoda. After traveling on Friday we spent the day sightseeing near the Scottish border. Do enjoy the shots that we took, it is a beautiful place to visit.

This is a street in Berwick on Tweed, it is a city that is situated right on the border of England and Scotland. It is one of 3 walled cities in England today

You just don't see this kind of building in the US or anywhere else that I have been for that matter. This castle is literally right on the North Sea, it is from the 12th century and we had the opportunity to walk up to it the evening that we were "stranded" on Holy Island. If you are interested in more info about Holy Island check out www.lindisfarne.org or look up Lindisfarne on Wikipedia, it is an amazing place on this earth.

This is a picture of a priory, that is a former monastic dwelling, this has been a site of worship since the 7th century, and this structure was built in the 1100's it has been through quite a bit of trouble as you can see, it is a beautiful sight to behold.

Lost at sea?

2006-12-25T14:23:00.000-08:00

Yes we made it to the North, we stayed in a beautiful Victorian home (thanx Beth, Ann and Terry) in Middlesbrough and went to two great Christmas church gatherings while there. On Saturday we decided to go to Berwick-upon-Tweed, one of the three walled cities in England, it is an amazing town near the border of Scotland, in fact it has changed hands about 10 times in its history. Presently it is in England so being good tourists we drove the 4 miles to the border, took some pics and drove to the next exit, so now we can say that we did in fact reach Scotland in our travels. The real fun began as we were going home, I thought that it would be really exciting to drive out to Lindisfarne (Holy Island) and see a castle that is literally on the North Sea. While we were on Holy Island we looked at the castle, walked around an old monastery from the 1100's, went into an extremely old church, and while on the island there were not many other people there. In fact Rebecca stated that it was so nice and peaceful, that is because there was not any other people around. After using using the toilet I read the the tide timetable and realized that we had missed the low tide to cross back to the mainline. As I pondered the events of those hours the classic TV program "Gilligan's Island" came to mind, so please sing along in your head if you know the theme song to the new lyrics of "Robinson's Island", some further explanation will follow:
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip
That started from a North England port aboard a tiny car
The mate was a mighty riding gal, the skipper quite unsure
Two other passengers rode along that day
For about a 1 hour tour, about a one hour tour
The weather was anything but rough, the car drove across just fine
Because of the cluelessness of the crew,
The car would be drowned, the car would be drowned
The family set ground on the shore of this ancient northern isle
With Rebecca, Earl too, Cliff and his wife, no movie star, no professor or Mary Ann there on Holy Isle
So this is the tale of the castaways they’re here 5 or more hours
They’ll have to make the best of things, by playing cards and drinking tea
The first mate and the skipper too, will do their very best
To make the others comfortable in the northern island nest
No food, no boats, no one around
Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Crusoe, as stranded as can be
So join us here on this blog my friends
You’re sure to get a smile
From 4 stranded castaways there on Holy Isle
Ya so we were stuck there for quite some time, we did eventually cross back over to the mainland after enjoying much tea, cards, some very good fish-n-chips, some amazing scenery and a somewhat nervous drive across the causeway that still had a remnant of the tide going back out. We are safe and sound in Oxford again, but the last few days have had some memories, some of which we don't want to replay again, except for in our mind. continue having a Happy Christmas
earl

Is God good? by: Rebecca

2006-12-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

Today has been a very interesting day to say the least. All plans were laid out for us to take Dave Perry's (our wonderful Canadian theologian friend) car on our trip to north England and Scotland with Earl's parents. The time with the insurance company was set for 2:00 p.m. Dave was ready early so I took the car on a test drive around 1:30. All went well and we didn't think about the fact that I had gone out uninsured. So, Cliff, Della, and I piled in the car around 1:45 with me behind the wheel while Earl ran back into the house. We figured we were close enough to the time. I sat down, put the car in reverse, mistook the brake pedal for the gas pedal and all of a sudden the car was out of control! We went careening backwards in a wild frenzy, through the brick wall in front of our neighbor's house, and came to a screeching halt inches before crashing through their house! My immediate reaction bordered on hysteria as I was immediately plagued with guilt and remorse feeling as if I had ruined everything! So, the facts are that, the car is drivable but scraped in the back. The brick wall is broken and in need of repair. We are now leaving tomorrow in a rental car driven by Earl that we were able to secure for 99 pounds at extremely late notice. We were not insured so the damage is our responsibility.
You may wonder why I labeled this blog, "Is God good?" Well, one of the big lessons I have learned over the past few months is that being perfect doesn't mean you never make mistakes. Being perfect means mature. So, after I calmed down I had to ask myself, "How do I choose to respond to what just happened?" We could of easily gone crashing through our neighbor's home. If they had been around, who knows what would of happened. Not to mention, I am quite sure there would have been serious injuries to the three of us if the car had hit the house. The neighbors were gracious with my mistake. I am with friends and family this Christmas. I have family and a community that love me very much. Most importantly, I have a God who loves me unconditionally. He will sort out the details and take care of me, even when I make mistakes. My prayer is that God uses this somehow for His glory and continues to help me develop into who He has called me to be. Praise the Lord!
P.S. Earl is working on developing his masonry skills to repair the brick wall! :)

Merry Christmas to all

2006-12-20T02:33:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that the holiday season is here, but alas it is. My parents arrived yesterday afternoon, let me tell you a short story of their arrival. Rebecca and I were sitting in Harvey's coffee shop waiting for the X80 bus from Gatwick, it finally arrived and two people slowly waddled off the bus, but they were not my parents. So like transplanted Americans we decided to go to McDonalds for lunch, and after waiting for a table we finally sat down with our meager meal, meant to satisfy and burn an hour until the next X80 bus arrival. Rebecca pulled out our mobile to see that we had missed two calls through all of the buzz of the city centre, and both of the calls were unidentfied numbers. In my mind this could only mean bad news, and as she listened to the message she said "Oh no", this is not what you want to hear when you are expecting your parents from an ocean crossing flight, customs and a two hour bus ride. All that we could understand from my Mom's confusing message was "We are not sure what to do, we don't know where we are, we don't know where to go, but I do see that we are near Queensway" This was enough for us to quickly set off from McDonalds with my milkshake in hand (the coldest day since being in Oxford) and we went out to Queens St. and started walking toward somewhere, not sure if that somewhere was where my parents would be standing by themselves with their luggage. We knew we had two messages on the mobile but we could only access one of them, so in a brilliant move we memorized as much of the first message as possible before deleting it, then we could access the second one, this one said the street intersection they were at. Within 10 minutes there they were looking somewhat lost, somewhat happy, and quite cold as they stood on High St. across from All Souls College and next to University College. It was a nice place to be dropped off if that was the plan, they and we thought that they would be deposited at the bus station, but alas that didn't happen. Anyway they are here, and we have some great plans planned, going to the North, Edinburgh, back to Oxford, London along with some great people to meet while here. So merry Christmas to all, we are enjoying the sites here for the holidays, even this morning there was a hard frost that resembled snow. later
earl

Here are some pictures

2006-12-16T10:51:00.000-08:00

I promised some pics from the last while, these are of the "Son room" for Trinity week, some artwork and some friends from school

This is from the "Son room"

This is a triquetra that our school made to symbolize the Trinity

This is from another part of the Son room

This is the four of us from Sycamore at our Christmas banquet

This is a group of students visiting Blenhiem palace

This is my tutor group (The best tutor group around) Janson, me, Rach, Rebecca and Mark

Losing steam?

2006-12-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

I'm going to guess that some of you think that I have been losing steam on this blog, to some extent you are correct. Life here at KBC has gotten incredibly busy and I have had many deadlines, unfortunately with that process the blog has suffered some. This is not a longterm illness that the blog is facing, more like a head cold that you get in the summer, you know it will go away but wow is it frustrating while you have it. It is not that my creative juices have been zapped by any measure, if anything they have been flowing at a quicker pace than normal, it is just that they have not been flowing into the blog, to you and the blog my deepest apologies. With all of that formality out of the way let me share with you some of what I have been working on lately. This week is Trinity week here at school, this means that we are learning about the Trinity (God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) from a lecturer named Robin Parry who is the author of a book that I have read called Worshipping Trinity. This week is an interactive week with painting, music, poetry, dance etc... We were asked to put together a holy space about the Son, this entailed taking two parts of rooms and decorating them to help people interact witht the Son, and have an area that they could contemplate about God the Son. I will have pictures of these rooms tomorrow, as I am quite excited about how they worked out, my juices were really flowing on Sunday night. Also as of tonight I am putting the finishing touches on a 10 minute video about the Trinity, we have to do a creative project showing what we have learned, interacted with, thought about the Trinity, so in my best Rob Bell impersonation I have put together a video called "A Beautiful Concert". We are going to watch it as a college on Thursday, I am excited about that, Rebecca has written a monologue that she is going to perform. Also I have been very involved with our Advent themed chapels that have run for the last month on Thursday, this week is the first without a major part to play, I am excited for the short time off. Tonight I host the Songwriters Guild here at my place as we are going to meet with Robin Parry about and chat about encorporating the Trinity more into our songs. Friday night is the annual Christmas party for KBC, also on that date our good friend Kristine Detweiler is coming from Uganda to spend a couple of days, then next week my mom and dad, we and them are very excited. I am learning, enjoying and being stretched through all of this, and now Rebecca wants to check her email, so I am going to sign off. Later
earl

Understanding?

2006-12-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

This post is called understanding? That's because we are learning so many new things about God, the universe, creation, history, the Bible, community, etc.. and the reality is that understanding all of that is impossible. I have come to realize that not understanding it all (life and faith) is exactly what we are in this life for, let me explain that. It is as though we are searching for a treasure that we know exists, but the catch is that we know that we can't find it, it is not that we question the existence but the possibility to find the treasure. With that being said we are also drawn into the search, looking for clues, peeking around corners, digging in the sand and all the time knowing that the full understanding of exactly where and what the treasure is will escape us. Do we stop looking for the treasure, no way! As a result of not understanding it all we continue to search. This is sort of where I am at, my mind has been expanded, my view of God has and is getting bigger, my understanding of the world around me continues to change, grow, and be formed. I am on that search, I love finding the clues, I love being a hunter with others in my community and I won't stop looking. If we could figure it all out then how big would God be? If we understood it all then He would be able to be figured out, this is not the God that we follow and believe, He is so much more than we can express or comprehend. Thanks for letting me think aloud and with the keyboard during this post, maybe something a little bit lighter next time. For now chew on these statements and do get back with me if you want to dialogue about the post. Later
earl

Another Birthday?

2006-11-30T01:01:00.000-08:00

Now we begin another tribute to another fine man on his special day! This man is one of the unique individuals who tries to beat me at word games. His attempts to win at Dig, our famous Scrabble game, are often futile, but yet we keep playing! Maybe that is where I got my play till you win philosophy. He is the champion of the universe though when it comes to our other word game, Quiddler! ...unless of course, Earl has a say in the contest. Growing up, my grammer was corrected continually but today I can say I am very thankful for that blessing? My dad is the word master. He can take any subject and turn it into a delightful poem. His sense of humor is amazing and he is always telling a new joke or story. I love how he laughs at his own jokes and stories! I also find his desire for things to be done right refreshing. He has little patience for a presentation or experience that is not striving for excellence. So, unfortunately, this holiday I will not be able to see my fine father, but my prayer is that he will be blessed abundantly on this day and in the year to come! Have a great birthday Dad! Love ya, Bec

Happy Birthday? sure

2006-11-29T07:22:00.000-08:00

There is a picture of my dad, he doesn't look a day over 79 does he? Today we celebrate his birthday (not the 27th of November) although there has been some debate over the actual date, but I won't go into that here. He is a hardworking, retired, volunteering, candy making, door opening, decoration applying, fixer uppper, dad, husband, friend and an all around nice bloak. I had trouble coming up with all the descriptions because whilst he is retired he is quite busy, although I did hear that he is home today with Mandy Sue, I think that is ok to sleep in and hang around the house for a day:) I have not been able to celebrate his birthday with him for about 16 years, but like the last 16 we'll celebrate when we are together next which happens to be in about 3 weeks, my parents are coming to Oxford to see the sights, and they'll hang out with us as well. If I could bottle the excitement they have for the trip and sell it, it might be as popular as Coke Classic, certainly more than New Coke. Anyway have a happy birthday dad, enjoy the virtual cake at the end of this blog, and eat a piece for me as well. later and love ya

earl (deeder)

P.S. Dad if you are reading this part don't... if you are not my dad and you are reading this part and you would like to wish him a happy birthday please do so on the comments area of this blog, thanx

Turkey Day?

2006-11-24T09:44:00.003-08:00

All of you Americans know that yesterday was Thanksgiving Day, the day that we all get up with nothing to do except eat, do the washing up, watch some football, sleep and make plans for the Christmas season. That is when you are in the U.S. Here in Oxford it is a little bit different. If I didn't know that Thanksgiving was a holiday being here I wouldn't have known that yesterday was a holiday. Turkey Day is not a big deal, last night late in the evening one person said happy Thanksgiving and then another girl said "Is it Thanksgiving" It's not that they aren't thankful, it's not that they don't like to eat (although they're not into pumpkin pie) it's just that they don't know about our little holiday. So anyway Rebecca and I had pizza twice on Thanksgiving, the second one having turkey on it. I savoured the bite of turkey off of her pizza, mine had ham, mushrooms and olives, not exactly late November material. But anyway we had a great time, the Pizza Express is a wonderful option (thanks Katherine), Oxford on a non-weekend night is managble, and now that we understand when the 4C bus comes to the bus stop we can get home without having to walk the whole 45 minutes home. After all of this moaning I now can tell you that I am leaving in about an hour to celebrate Thanksgiving of all things. Mary who is a teacher at our school is originally from Pennsylvania, and Dave another teacher is also from Pennsylvania, and then there are a couple of Canadians that are going to join us as we give thanks. Maybe they don't disregard Thanksgiving as much as I thought, I'm sure I'll be thinking that after the turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, etc... I better get going the food is going to get cold. later
earl

Staying Busy?

2006-11-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

This should not really be a question, there is plenty to keep us busy here in Oxford. I would walk you through a normal week, but alas that would be difficult, there is no such thing as a normal week. Sure some of the elements are the same, class in the morning, lunch after that, and from there it is a pot pourri (spelling?) of seeing people, meetings, meals, relaxation, reading, going out to the pub, birthday parties, church meetings, working on papers, shopping, etc... Today I arrived home at 5 minutes till 3 it was still light outside, that is great feeling to get home before it is dark, it starts getting dark around 4:20 or so. Last week we had a normal week in that it was different than any other week. We had lecturing on Monday and Wednesday and the other days were devoted to practical outworking of the Holy Spirit that we had been learning about. We did some prophetic singing, gave prophecies aloud, prayed for each other, prayed for healing and had a generally wonderful time together as a community. Saturday we usually have off but that day we were together in groups of guys and girls for an Encounter day. i think that we did Encounter God that day, it was wonderful teaching and more praying and blessing each other. It is amazing how much people are blessed by a kind and thoughtful word. Then that evening there was a birthday party, it was a blast, there was an open mic, I sang a new song that I had just finished the previous day, I'll finish this post with the lyrics to the song, I was quite nervous because it was an atmosphere sort of a party and then everyone stopped to listen. I did get to watch a bit of the Ohio St. Michigan game, not surprised about the outcome, the Bucks are the best in the land. Sunday our church placement began and the church that we are going to is quite lively, and so far the people that we have met are nice, I think that it will be a great experience there, although it is an hour drive. Anyway I should get back to writing my paper about martyrs for church history, but the blog is a great little step away. Enjoy the words to the song, it was born out of a time of singing prophetic (from God) songs last Thursday. Later
earl

How lovely are You, the lamb who was slain

How lovely are You the Lion of Judah

How lovely are You the Shepherd of my soul

How lovely are You the King of all creation

And You are alive forevermore

Your majesty reigning for eternity

The robe of Your glory draped across the throne

The crown of thorns You wore exchanged for a precious stone

The blood and water that poured down from Your side

May it flow like a mighty river through me

How lovely are You the Bread of Life

How lovely are You the Light of the world

How lovely are You the Rock of the Ages

How lovely are You the Son who died for me

Why were we singing in the streets?

2006-11-14T08:51:00.000-08:00

On friday night myself and Mike, Anna, Beth, Tash, Ellen and Rach went out to Broad Street in Oxford, it was sort of raining, sort of windy. I had my guitar, Mike had his bongos and all of us had our voices, guts and interest in singing music to the Lord on the streets of Oxford. We stood underneath an overhang of an old building and behind us was a plaque that informed visitors of the spot where 3 famous reformers of England were burned at the stake in the mid 1500's. The x in the middle of the street was where the stakes were placed, and where Ridley, Lattimer and then one year later Cranmer were martyred. It was quite an experience to be standing there singing praise songs, and talking with people on the street. Then after we had sung for a while we went back to the bus station and Ellen and I sang some of our songs, at that point we had quite a crowd that were "listening", who knows if they were:) We do plan on going out some more times, maybe asking people if they would like a song sung over them, or a song from the Lord for them. There is also this thing of busking where people sing on the streets and have their case out for change for people to throw money into, we might do that. We batted around the idea of going to an open mic night, that would be cool to share God's word in that way. I guess we'll see, either way it was an experience that I have not tried before and look forward to trying again. Enjoy the pics from where we were. Later

Here are 4 of the girls that were out singing, yes they are dressed up, and no that is not how they looked that evening:)

This is the plaque I talked about earlier.

Who is Guy Fawkes?

2006-11-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

All of you British readers who have read the title are like "I know that guy" but in reality the rest of the world needs to be enlightened. November 5th in the UK is a special day, with celebration, fireworks, bonfires, revelry, and renewed togetherness (word?) of the society. A holiday has been celebrated since 1605 when 13 young men thought that they would blow up the Parliment building in London by setting 36 barrels of gun powder underneath the House of Lords. While this sounded like a full proof plan, all but one of them ended up not being there and they were thinking twice about actually going through with it except for Guy, he was the one bloak caught with the 36 barrels in the cellar. He was then tried, found guilty of much, and excecuted. So that evening bonfires were set to celebrate that the King was still alive, and they placed effigies of Guy on the top as the bonfires burn. Sometime later fireworks were added to the celebration along with food, carnivals, and an overall great time. We went to the gala in Oxford, a few thousand people, carvinal rides, the silhouette of a man on top of a huge pile of stacked wood, colorful fireworks, the best tasting donuts I have ever consumed and two bites of a hamburger later meant that I had experienced Guy Fawkes night. It was somewhat surreal standing in the middle of a field watching fireworks and being bundled up like I was going Christmas caroling, last time I checked I usually watch fireworks on a hot, steamy July night. In all reality they are quite fun when you can see your breath, and my how the bonfire was toasty when it was lit after the fireworks show. I'll leave you with a quote that I didn't pen but found when Googling Guy Fawkes " Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes' execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government" I thought that was a compelling way to put it. later
earl

Who is Tony Blair?

2006-11-03T09:50:00.001-08:00

I had been planning to write about the competitive games of table tennis I have enjoyed with Mike, Dan, Jack and Dave, but I don't think that I will. I had been planning on writing about the crisp autumn/winter type feel outside, it reminds me of a crystal clear cold day in Indiana, but I won't write about that. I had also been planning on writing about our church placements, for those of you who know or care we are in East Baskingstoke (Phil Norris is pastor) with Mark Eley, a youth pastor from Middlesbrough, he is a good friend of both of ours. But I am not going to write about that. Who knows who Tony Blair is, if you do that means you are either British, up on world politics, or happened to read the paper lately. If you don't he is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This means that he might be one of the 3 most influential governmental people on earth today, and in Europe the most influential person in government. When his Jaguar pulled up to the Kings Centre today we realized that the hush-hush, the sniffing dogs, the numerous police, the many black coated men hanging around meant that Tony Blair was arriving for a speech he was giving today. People that were invited to this gathering found out yesterday, they were told where the speech was at late yesterday and found out that Mr. Blair was going to be giving an address late yesterday, or this morning when they arrived. With all that being said, we as a KBC group was giddy, interested, excited, surprised and galking as he showed up, shook hands with Dave Perry, Beth, Abi, Amy, Lisa and others. Somehow Rebecca was ushered over to the Press area (I think because she had a camera) that was cool, there she was smiling, and standing next to all of these huge cameras reporters. I thought that was really cools! Then the BBC reporters came over and asked some scientific questions to some students (you can watch some of this on the link to the BBC news report) http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi?redirect=st.stm&news=1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;
bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&nol_storyid=6112666 > (This site does not work totally, after clicking go to the BBC news link, then politics and look for Blair talks with young scientists link)Then after his address was over a few of us wandered out just in time to see him leaving, I along with others shook hands with him, he had a nice tie on. That's who Tony Blair is,enjoy pics

What is church history?

2006-11-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, I am not going to attempt to cover 2000 years worth of church history in this blog. This is the topic that we are learning about this week and next here at Kings. It is a compelling topic, I like it especially because studying history has always been a favorite subject. So far this week we worked up to the Reformation, next week will carry on with the Reformation and up to the present day. Some quick reflections upon the first 1500 years are:

The church has made a number of mistakes, but it has also grown, attempted to listen to God and been a beacon of light for many people
The church during the Roman Empire had much faith, not like what we see today in the West, but more of what we see in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia
The persecution that the church went through before Constantine took over was brutal, and the early church fathers were incredibly strong.
There is much value to liturgy and stating what you believe, even though we do not use that type of worship much in our stream of churches
The monastic (monk) movement that sprung up as a revolt to the established church was probably needed to give people another point of view, I am glad that I have not been called to be a monk
The Celtic tradition is quite compelling, if you have the internet do some searching on their history, I am going to

I could go on and on, but I alas I won't, don't worry faithful readers, not all posts will be this meaty, maybe next time I can write about the joy of table tennis, our booked travel to Prague in February, the simplicity of a nice walk on a cool autumn day, etc... later

earl

What is reading week?

2006-10-27T03:27:00.000-07:00

This week is one of this little treasures in life, it is a week without deadlines, meetings, classes, or anything that you have to do type stuff. In England all the schools have a week off after 6 weeks on, so this is week to catch up on reading, writing our papers, seeing people and enjoying our time here. During this week we have spent a day in Oxford, we talked to a drunk man who questioned us about Rebecca's North Alabama sweatshirt he couldn't believe how many univeristies there were in America and wanted to know where North Alabama was at. After chatting with him for a while we continued on past some buildings that have housed learning since 1300 and proceeded walking next to the River Cherwell where a family of swans, dad then 6 babies and mom swam near us, then dad got out of the river stood in the path and signaled for the rest of family to come across the road to a little swamp area, this whole procession took about 10-15 minutes, but again it is reading week so why not take in that show? We then hung at Starbucks for a while, again it is reading so why hang for a while? Yes we have worked on a paper that we have due on Tuesday, and I have read quite a bit as well. I have also walked my feet off it seems, two days ago I figured it to be about 6 miles, maybe more than that even I was counting conservatily (spelling?) and then yesterday probably another 6 miles maybe not that much but who cares that is alot anyway. A question that I brought up yesterday while my feet ached was why there could not be more moss covering blacktop. There are a couple of spots on our walk to school where moss liberally covers the walk and as Rebecca put it "moss is like nature's carpet" to which I responded then why hasn't more been laid down. Anyway I will continue to walk, read, and hang out this week, and then get back to the day to day next week. Take care, and if you see moss on the walk, due take the time to stroll on it, and think of a plush natural carpet

From Daughter # 1(Who is Rachel?)

2006-10-21T04:59:00.000-07:00

Howdy, American cousins! This is Earl and Rebecca's eldest daughter Rachel. Just wanted to thank you guys for sending us such lovely house mates! We are having such a great time living with these two and already it is hard to imagine what it will be like when we all have to say goodbye next July. We are learning loads about the US and I can't wait to visit and see all the places Earl and Rebecca have told us about.
Bible college is sooooo cool! Am loving every minute of it! God is teaching me way more than I imagined and he is exploding out of the little, convenient box I seem to have put him in over the past few years. To anyone thinking of doing this year at KBC, I can only recommend it.
I hope to meet some of you when you visit us in Oxford. I can try and convert some more of you Americans to drink tea and love Monty Python (Rebecca now drinks up to 6 cups of English tea a day!).
Bye for now!
Rach x

A British/American Family?

2006-10-21T03:54:00.000-07:00

Rebecca's Ramblings:
Although long overdue I felt it was time that I contribute to the blog now that we finally after 6 weeks have internet in our own home! This community living idea brings an interesting concept to my mind. Just as you cannot choose your own family neither could we choose the people we would be meshed with this year. It is really an intereting concept when you think about it, put 4 people together in a house, expect them to get along, have Christian community, and learn to love each other. What could be a potential "disaster" in the world's sense, has been a huge blessing! Above you will see a little picture of our family, Earl, Rebecca, Jazz on the left, and Rachel on the right! Earl and I are sometimes referred to as dad and mum but always in a lighthearted, loving way! We have truly bonded and are enjoying our home at 21 Sycamore Rd. Jazz brings so much with her curry making ability and morning concerts from 7:45 a.m. until 8:15 a.m. as she gets ready in the morning. Rachel adds her touch with her fixation on British tea and her new demand to watch more of our Seinfeld dvds. We are blessed here knowing that our home is a place to relax and hash out all God is doing in each one of us, pray together on a regular basis, laugh until our sides hurt, and also be a place where we gather others into our home. The other photo above is from a movie night we had at our house where we had 32 people in our living area. One of the students loves to come to our house for what he calls some "Sycamore loving"! We hope that element continues all year. And finally...a quote I have been working on all year:
I am turning into a tea drinking, biscuit eating, trouser wearing, tin opening, rubbish throwing, stone dropping, mick loving, post sending, box ticking, lorrie dodging, boot storing, garden mowing, queen loving, mobile using, Brit and I'm loving every minute of it!

Not here?

2006-10-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

After being here I have realized that there are some differences in this culture, ya I already knew that but what I mean is there are some things that they don't have here that we do have at home. I'll attempt to keep this listing somewhat short, as I could expand it later if the need arises. First of all I have not seen a pickup truck anywhere, not even ones that tradesmen use for their job, it is definitely not like states where everyone including grandmas drive them just because they are cool. On the transport front there are no school buses, we walk near two schools on our way to school, I see many city buses, privately owned buses but no large, yellowish school buses, I have to admit that I do sort of miss that. They do not have much if any customer service, I am not ranting although we did finally get our internet connection on the 17th of October, we are writing them a letter, although why would that really matter? This is not just a view that I keep, the Dean of Theological Studies also takes the same view, so it must be right:) They don't have much ice here, not in drinks, not in freezers, not on lakes, just not alot of ice, I am not a huge fan of ice on the road but some rocks with my coke, that ain't bad. They don't have near the number of electrical outlets that a modernized country should have. For example we have an outlet in our bedroom, this is used for lights, an iron, my razor, mobile phone charging, hair dryer etc... Presently we have our computer plugged in, but the printer, light and other light aren't because of our lack of outlets, it really is something that we are not used to. They do not have big phone bills here because they don't use them, it is mobile or nothing and to that it is text or nothing, why talk when you can text your thoughts and not have to interact? By the way we have a mobile, we text and hardly use the landline also, and we don't use much ice, we don't drive a pickup, and we are used to the lack of customer service, I guess we are fitting in quite well. Later
earl
PS - They do not have college football here, but I am finding ways to keep up, looking forward to the OSU-Michigan game as much as the rest of the nation.

2006-10-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Abi, Rebecca, Tash and Mike Our little group Fajitas at the Robinson's

What is community?

2006-10-14T04:11:00.000-07:00

This is a question that comes up quite often here at KBC and in church situations I have been around. I'm not talking what area of town do you live in or how do you get together with you neighborhood, but rather who do you share your ideas, heart and feeligs with, and who do you get on with (British way of saying you enjoy their company) on a consisent basis. One of the goals of our time here is to experience Christian community, to somewhat understand how it is formed, to further understand how to foster community with others around us. We were put in charge of a community outreach group at KBC, basically there are 5 groups of 8 people, ours like the others is made up of a group of people that usually would not hang out or get on with each other much. I had hardly talked to some of them before our first time praying together. With that being said we knew that we had to get to know each other before any serious opening up, ministry and working together would really take place consistently. So we had them all over on Thursday night for fajitas (my can Rebecca cook) and we had the best time. We played a game or two that got everyone out of their comfort zone (for those of you who have played our games, you probably know what I mean:), we laughed, we ate some pudding, we laughed, we prayed, we laughed and talked and at about 10:45 they slowly, somewhat wishing they didn't have to leave, they left. We didn't expect this type of evening, but now that our COG has gotten off to a good start hopefully this will be another example of God bringing together a 'motley crue' to accomplish His mission, not unlike the 12 disciples or the first leaders in the church of Acts. Our outreach will probably be something to do with children, possibly art or music related, with a slant on the creative, I along with the group are quite tickled by the possibilities. So I started this post with the question of what is community and hopefully I and you are understanding it more, it is the way that Christ lived with his followers, open, vulnerable, on the cutting edge, taking up each others concerns, watching out for each other, and being friends. Do enjoy the pictures of our new community group, if they are not here yet, look back in a few hours and they should be up. Take care and God bless
earl

Sitting in a blue hall?

2006-10-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

Right in now I am against the wall in a blue hall at our college, we are done with meetings for today, and tonight we have our community group coming to our house for supper. Days here at KBC can get long, today happens to be one of them, I had a hand in chapel, which as a result of unforseen circumstances I ended up leading chapel and playing music as well. It was a wonderful in the Lord, although now what we were expecting. Life here at school is busy, actually Rebecca and I keep ourselves quite busy, by choice of course, we do love hanging out with people. I do promise a load of pictures on this very blog site very soon, then you can see some of the people that I write about. Last night we had a chance to serve hors derves (spelling) last night at a conference here at the Kings Centre, we were so happy to get an opportuntiy to make a little bit of pocket change, we are going to work tomorrow as well. So ya we are staying busy, having a blast, being stretched and yada, yada, yada. So Beth is sitting next to us, she is annoying us, and being herself all at the same time. This is the same Beth who yesterday threw Rebecca into a dark toilet, and wrestled her to the ground as well. Now she is running in neon green wellies and throwing candy bars while a conference is going on. She really is a great gal, we have totally enjoyed getting to know her. (This was all true and certainly quite unrelevant) Talk to you all later
earl

How awesome is God?

2006-10-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

That question of how awesome is God cannot be answered with mere words. As we were in Derby this past weekend were allowed to have a glimpse of the glory of praising, praying and relating to others in the Kingdom while convening with God. If that does not make sense lets say that we had a kick butt prayer meeting, incredible praise and worship and a sense of God's presence that was prevelant as we gathered. In addition to the prayer days we also stayed with our friends the Rooks, they have a 17 month old daughter named Molly who really took a liking to Rebecca, they hung out quite a bit together. If you are in Derby do visit them, they are then nicest people:) We attended a Kidz Klub gathering at a local school that a girl in the church started, it has been going 3 weeks, the first week there were 120 kids that came, it was a great time. On Saturday I attended the best conference I've been to on praise and worship. To sum it up the speaker asked "Where is our praise?" and then had a bunch of questions surrounding that about songwriting, prophecy, exaltation, etc... he was very provoking to say the least. I think that many of you have been praying for me, I had some wonderful emotional release with God during the closing songs, and feel renewed, rejuvenated and ready to go! So ya it as an impactful (word?) weekend, now we are studying the New Testament, so far it has been quite good, and I can't wait for the remainder of these 2 weeks so that I can learn more. By the way if this blog sounds all good it has been, don't assume that life here is just a bowl of cherries, there are some hard times and some trying times, but overall God's grace has been given to us. I promise there will be pictures soon on the blog, it has been a while. take care
earl

Ready for the weekend?

2006-10-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

We have been learning all about the Old Testament for the last two weeks. The Bible is quite a long book hence there has been much information to wade through, while interesting it has been alot to get through. Anyway that series of lectures concludes tomorrow, then at lunch time we are off to Derby as a class. There is a Salt and Light leaders prayer conference that we are attending, it should be a great time of listening to the Lord, seeking His word, and praying with many others from around the UK. I am excited as we have been in lecture mode for 4 weeks straight, and this will be a total change of venue, and style of learning. We are going to be staying with Ben and Esther Rook, they are former KBC students who attended 4 years ago, and we have gotten to know them over the years, so that will be great staying with them. Then on Saturday there is a worship conference that Salt and Light is hosting, I am very happy about that, I hope to learn a whole lot more about leading, singing, playing prophetically, and singing spontaneously. There is so much to learn and experience while we are here, and this weekend should be a great time of being with others, hearing from the Lord, and learning more about Him and His ways. By the way we fast tomorrow, so that is not easy, if you read this please pray as we are praying. Do take care,
earl

Snack Food?

2006-10-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

Food is an interesting facet of living in another culture, and while they speak English here, it is really quite different. I am going to focus this piece on snack foods mostly, maybe with a reference to custard here and there. I realize that mint sauce/gravy is often put on lamb, I don’t get it but I understand it happens. I also don’t get the idea of taking a meat/mint mixture and putting them into crisp (chips) form, that means you taste some lamb and mostly a mint aftertaste in crisp form, do try if you are willing when in the UK. Baked beans made the list not because they are weird or odd, they are on the list based on their propensity to be served on anything with much consistency. Beans on toast, bread, jacket potatoes, hamburgers, and whatever else one wants to put them on. Everywhere I look I see them, and they are not as tasty as the beans at home, not that I eat much of it there either. I am not going to go into depth of Marmite, if you are interested go to www.marmite.com it is a fascinating look at the fanatacism surrounding a yeast based, dark brown, gooey spread that is put onto bread and crackers. People love it, it has remained unchanged since 1920’s I don’t get it. Prawn styrofoam is the best way I can explain these white, foam like, shrimp flavored, dissolve in your mouth treats. They are served at Asian places and are used like spoons instead of forks or chopsticks. They are not too bad taste wise although quite salty. As far as Nobby’s Nuts are going I haven’t had them, I think they are like Beer Nuts in America, but with a name like Nobby’s Nuts how can I exclude them from this list (if interested go to www.smiths.com) Just some ideas about food here, do try if you’re on the island.

Building too many relationships?

2006-09-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

Another dreary day here in Oxford, actually one might think that would be the case, but this is really only the second day of unpleasant weather:) I am seated at the Botley library using the internet, no we do not have it at Sycamore yet, no I'm not going to go into the reasons or the lack of ability, interest, caring, service or pulse of our supposed phone provider that will remain nameless in case they use this rant against me. Anyway we will be travel on the info highway sometime, just maybe not for another fortnight or so. Speaking of pleasant weather brings me to thinking of pleasant people. One of the aspects of KBC that sets it apart from just a seminary is the community of students that truly enjoy, want to, and are encouraged to hang out together. Tonight Rebecca is going to a friends to have a girl movie night type deal, meanwhile I'm having some bloaks over to play poker. Tomorrow night we are hosting a showing of Napolean Dynamite complete with a planned discussion afterward to help those who don't get it to hopefully get it. So ya it sounds like I'm not studying or focused on the Word, or on God, or on prayer, oh contrare (rhyme not planned) (spelling?) I am on all of those in addition to building with people from all over that have an incredible heart for the Lord and doing His will in their lives. I firmly believe that this year is all about being given to God, part of that is in the wonderful relationships that he has set up. On a later post I will put some pictures so you can put faces with names like Jansen, Dave, Ian, Mike and Mike, Ellen, Beth, Anna, Amy, Katherine and so on, there are so many people with a focus in the right place that it makes me somewhat giddy if you will. Enough rambling for today, I plan on writing again tomorrow, maybe about some of the odd snack foods they have available, we'll see if I've got it in me. Later
Here are some of the girls at the party talked about above.

What is Kings Bible College?

2006-09-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

The reality is that now I am a student again, that seems weird since I just graduated from IUSB only 3 years ago, but that is the way it is now. Along with being a student comes certain responsibilities including; writing papers, reading books, reading articles, discussion, lectures, projects, seminars, actually it sounds a lot like being a teacher without the 22 little ones looking for your attention. Of course this material is much more difficult than 3rd grade stuff, but the theory is the same, learn all that you can, do your personal best and work together as a community of learners as best we can. Many of you have asked what is KBC like, so if that was you, eat your heart out, if not at least you’ll have a clue what Kings is like. It is not your typical college or seminary, rather it is an interactive, highly relational (friendship based including lecturers), academic yet laidback, practical, push out of your comfort zone training ground. There are 40 students this year, that means we are quite cramped in our lecture room, but the good news is that we might get to have a couch or two soon in another room:) The lecturers come from mostly England, but there are ones from New Zealand, Canada, France and just this week a speaker from South Africa was in our chapel time. They speak on many different topics, for example the next two weeks are an Old Testament survey, which basically means going through the Old Testament book by book, looking at themes, characters, backgrounds, and the story of the Bible. In addition to lectures daily, we also have community groups (small groups of students) that meet on Thursdays, an extra lecture on Monday afternoon, and much interaction with other students during the week. As time goes on there is more of a workload, but for now we have a large paper due at the end of October, and a timeline of the Old Testament due in the middle of October. That is just a taste of what life is like here at KBC, it is a vibrant, creative, fun to be with group of people, who are immensely talented.

A view of what our lecture room looks like and the hall that we have tea in daily

Home?

2006-09-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

We have been in Oxford for over two weeks now; wow it seems like forever since we have seen familiar soil. By now it has seeped in that our home for the next while is 21 Sycamore Road Botley, Oxford. By American standards we dwell in a small house, but to us it is about the size we are used to, hence it is not as difficult to deem this home. Our garden by comparison to American yards is quite small, but here there has not been one visitor to our house that has not commented almost immediately on the immenseness of our garden. With that being said, not one of those people has walked out into the garden and for that matter neither have we except to see what is in the old shed. Maybe at some point we will host a big garden party but soon the weather will turn foul and all hope for our garden will be lost for the season. Our flat on the other hand is able to hold visitors, and has already hosted a large gathering of girls, and numerous other guests. We are blessed with a good size living area, again not huge by American standards but for here, we are in the penthouse, while other college houses are in the proverbial outhouse. We can seat quite a few as you can see by the picture, and all 4 of us can have our own couch if we so choose to use the uncomfortable wicker seat in the corner. It is home here in England, and we are quite happy to call it our own, at least for a while.

Hello from Mr. Robinson

2006-09-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

While all can read this it is written more for elementary students than normal, so as they say in England, have a go!
Hello all of you Ox Bow Eagles, I am writing to you from jolly old England. England is the country that used to “own” America, but then the Revolutionary War happened and in 1776 the USA was formed separate from England. As a result you don’t drink tea all the time, drive on the other side of the road, wear trousers and jumpers or have a funny accent like my English friendsJ My wife Rebecca and I are in Oxford, a city famous for learning, writing, church steeples and it is where Harry Potter movies have been filmed. It is really pretty here, you can look at the pictures when finished reading. We are studying the Bible, learning more about Jesus, the church and how to work with people better. We live with two young ladies from Derby their names are Jazz (short for Jaskiran) and Rachel, they are both lovely and a lot of fun to live with. We only go to school for 3 and a half hours per day, and only 4 days per week, but we have quite a bit more homework than you do! Each day we walk to school, our walk is about 35 minutes long, and then home it is uphill and is about 45 minutes, we are tired once we reach our flat (British for apartment). There is no football, baseball or basketball on TV here, just soccer, it is the most loved sport in this country, so I am missing watching Purdue, Florida State and what is that school from South Bend, is it Notre Dame? I trust that you are having a great school year, learning a ton, and having a wonderful time while learning and pushing yourself hard. Read all that you can, write creatively, sing beautifully and don’t settle for less than your personal best. For now cheers,
Mr. Robinson

Enjoy the pictures they are
Our apartment
Our housemates
Part of our walk to school
The city of Oxford

English?

2006-09-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

This might be the post that you all have been waiting for. Some of you might care less, others of you might refer back to this post, I'm not sure, hopefully what I share will be worthy of this specific introduction. I speak English, you all speak English, whether you know it or not, there are many terms that are British, not American English, to be honest it is one of the greatest parts of being in the UK, along with the stupendous accents, especially the ones from Middlesbourough, I can't understand half of what they say. Anyway following is going to be a beginning list of terms that I and Rebecca have been willing to accept to use here, so that people have a clue of what we are talking about. For the sake of clarity (the British love clarity) I will commence with the British term and henceforth shall be the American word.
biscuit = cookie
boot = trunk
hoover = vacuum
tin = can
crisp = potato chip
chips = french fries
trousers = pants
braces = suspenders
tea = supper
pudding = dessert
prawn = shrimp
tap = faucet
toilet = bathroom
rubbish = garbage
bin = wastepaper basket
mobile = cell phone
subway = underpass
car park = parking lot
uni = college or university
petrol = gasoline
squash = unsweetened kool aid or some other wierd mutated juice
faggots = meatballs
jelly = jello or gelatin
garden = backyard
pitch = field
football = soccer
ring = call or add up numbers
tick = check off
and so the list goes on and on, surely with the differences there will be an ammendment to this short dictionary, but from now on in my world I am going to enjoy a biscuit with some pudding, whilst wearing my beige trousers. Love you all
earl

Go for a walk?

2006-09-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

“Ya let’s walk down to the shops, we’ll then pray that we can hitch a ride back home” This is a statement or thought that we have all the time, the hill we climb after going to town puts most to shame. It is not so much the grade of the hill, more the length as it extends for about 5 blocks, all the while going up, up, up. It is pretty at the top, but I would trade the half view we have for a house further down. When we walk to school we don’t go down this hill, rather we traverse more across the hill going a combination of down and across, this means that the walk home is not quite as bad. When we walk to friends’ houses it is only down a little ways, and then back up a little ways. When we walk to the city centre (British and Canadian spelling) it is mostly flat, one must watch out for buses, bikes, cars on the wrong side of the road and other pedestrians, at least it is even plane. In case you have not noticed as of yet WE WALK EVERYWHERE! Let’s just say that we have walked more in the weekend in the UK than we did in the last month and half in Indiana. That is good and bad, probably more good than bad, although after today’s travels our dogs are barking. Thank the Lord that Jazz (one of our housemates) has a VW Golf and we all went to Sainsbury’s to buy groceries, it was wonderful to ride in the car and think about tomorrows walk.

what's this internet access?

2006-09-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here in McDonald's on Cornmarket ST in downtown Oxford typing this blog, not the normal spot for access but the golden arches sell a half hour for a pound. We have not had much access for many reasons, but hopefully that will change soon. I have never typed on a metal key pad, let's just say it is not very easily done, I can't count the number of letters that have been incorrect, but with the grammar check on this blog (you know who you are:) ) I don't dare mispell (spelling?) words or not use write grammar. There is so much I have planned to write, so many great pictures to show, so many interesting tidbits to share, much English culture to disuss, unfortunately now is not the time based on my explanation of the difficulty of typing. A huge shoutout to you faithful readers and responders, your faithfulness will be rewarded, if you enjoy the blog and the virtual interaction. I must roll, the little clock up at the top of my screen says under 10 minutes, and I've much to do online in those minutes. Tell your friends and neighbors hello for us, later
earl

Getting acclamated?

2006-09-02T03:50:00.000-07:00

We have arrived successfully, the trip was quite uneventful, actually everything ran as clockwork. Made it through customs, met another student of Kings at Heathrow, then found our rides to Oxford within 2 minutes of looking for them, that was cool, the airport is large and we had a great deal of stuff with us. Our house is typical for the area, a decent sized living room, smallish kitchen, 2 bedrooms upstairs and then a little room that is being treated as a bedroom for our housemate Rachel, hopefully when she sees it she'll be cool with, she has not arrived yet. We are tired, that is normal we understand it, but that does not mean that we are not dragging somewhat. You know that kind of tired when you don't want to do anything but sit, gaze or daydream while you attempt to do something as menial as put away a shirt or fold a pair of trousers (English translation for pants), anyway the pace I did those tasks yesterday would make a snail proud. I expect we'll get over this sleepyness soon but until life has slowed down for a period of time. Are we getting acclamated (spelling ?) I think so, next post will explain and show pictures of the hill that we traverse daily:)

Embark or Disembark?

2006-09-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

The day that we have been planning for, thinking about, anticipating in a dreadful type of way is here, and as we wait at the international terminal of O’Hare we are realizing that we are indeed not going to be waking up in the US for quite sometime. That is an interesting feeling, all of you who have lived abroad probably understand what I am not understanding yet, and this is the shift of lifestyle that improbably takes place. I found out that our flight is actually just under 7 hours, not the 8 hours that I was anticipating, that means I have one less hour to sort of watch a movie, fade in and out of sleep to 16 channels of music that I don’t care to listen to, or I could try to fill in the complementary crossword at the back of the Flights magazine. I have had a discussion/argument with a friend as to whether we are embarking on a trip or disembarking from home/US on the trip. I argue that it could be looked as either, he sort of agreed, we never did figure it out totally, either way the plane is in the air now and as they say “There ain’t no turning back now” The stewards are almost here with that half glass of ginger ale and tiniest bag of pretzels ever, so I must log off for now.