Thursday, March 30, 2006
Okay, so as usual it is far too long since I updated this thing. This time I do have valid grounds though. Since Margaret, Eva and I moved home we have lived the nomadic lifestyle spending two or three das here and a week there and basically moving between three bases. One of the three has internet access and so it has been hard to get good quality time and concentration to sit down and write. But now I have a wee bit of both and I shall write - still no pictures though. I am sorry about that - I have worked out a way to do it but it involves my mum finding the USB cable to attache to this computer from her camera. It's complicated but I think I should be able to do it. Hold on Mum has just arrived back in the house and I shall ask her. Success in one sense. The pictures are available for upload. but now is gone my free time and concentration!!! I will work through anyways and see what I can do.
Firstly, this must be stated. We miss everyone in America terribly. We have managed to catch some of you on the phone in the last few weeks and it has been great to talk. Some of you we have tried to catch but it would appear Bellsouth have offered some kind of call filtering system so you don't get all those nasty sales calls, and thus you don't know our international code and number and refuse the call. Persistence seems to work though. For those of you who we might call but have not got round to yet - please be patient, we are at our parent's houses and thus on their dollar so we are trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to keep the bill low.
Life here is going okay - as I said we are like nomads and it is frustrating not to be in our own house with our own strange little ways, but this will all end next Monday when we get our own house back. The excitement is starting as we get think about colours for the painter to paint the walls with. Though with the excitement comes a little anxiety as we think about what state the house might be left in. Who knows? But whatever state it is in, it will not take long to make it our home again and that we are looking forward to.
Eva continues to grow, getting stronger and more independent by the minute. She really can go pretty fast on all fours - especially when she has something she wants to get to and we are chasing behind. With our parents now being on their own, their houses are littered with little ornaments and keepsakes that Eva thinks are hers to play with and they all seems to be right at her level. She really takes a lot of watching. It is cool though, because just as much as we spend time running after her, we spend the same amount of time just laughing at her and with her. She seems able to pull the funniest of faces and expressions. There was a time a couple of months ago when we would catch her going towards something she was not supposed to be going towards and would be able to say "No Eva" and she would stop. That does not happen anymore. We caught her standing up right beside the television last week when we were staying at Marge's Mum and Dad's apartment. "No Eva", we cried and she just turned to look at us and cheekily grinned before turning back to the television. Margaret and I could do nothing but try and hide the fact that we were just laughing at her.
She is also still extremely well behaved in all situations. We had her out to dinner with us last night and she was great. There was another child in the resturaunt, a 20 month old ( who Eva was the same size as!!!!) and he was screaming the place down. Eva was great by comparison, but I could not help but wonder if this was a sign of things to come. It seems though that she is genuinely like her dad - when there is food around, there really is nothing else to think about except eating it!!! By the way - this was a chinese resturaunt and Eva was able to eat anything we were eating - last night she enjoyed special fried rice with curry sauce from my plate and from her mum's plate she got some shredded chicken with sweet chilli sauce. Yum, yum, yum. Last we we had her eating some Indian delicacies which she could not get enough of. It seems that she will have fairly eclectic tastes when it comes to food.
Yesterday we had to take Eva to visit the Health visitor. Ironic that the job title is Health Visitor and we are the ones that visit eh? Anywho, we took Eva to see her and she is in good shape. We also noticed yesterday as we were visiting with some other folks that her two front teeth and starting to come through - she will have an even prettier smile with those teeth gleeming.
My application to Queens is still in limbo. Please, please pray about this situation. As I have said, I am happy to go whenever God opens that path for me - but in terms of personal preference, I really want to go this year. It is one of the main reasons that we came home and I do not like the idea of tredding water in a random job for a year. Please pray about this and any wisdom or word that you receive I will be happy to hear. At the minute it is a faith thing and I just have to hold on to what I know is the call of God on my life to be ordained, and so pray that in moments of worry and anxiety over this I would be still and know that God is God.
We are going back to East Melfast Mission for church. It has changed so much since we left three years ago. There seems to have been a massive influx of people in their mid to late twenties and their worship team has grown and evolved immensely since we left. Other churches that we have been to or talked about with friends, seem to be stuck and refuse to try to move on from where they are at, and so it really is good that we are able to connect at the Mission where things ain't so bad.
We miss Ron and Jen and Kate - weekends are not the same without our usual Friday or Saturday night gathering and we don't go out for lunch after church any more. Ron and Jen and Kate - we love you and we miss you. We talked on the phone this week and I was so excited to hear that Ron was playing in the band on Sunday - go Ron and make sure everyone knows that your lovely 12 string has a story of sacrifice and pain behind it!!!!! Jen knows 5 chords now (or was it six) soon they'll be up there like Jonny Cash and June Carter!!!!!!!
Okay - I am going to try and upload these pictures for you.
Blessings
Firstly, this must be stated. We miss everyone in America terribly. We have managed to catch some of you on the phone in the last few weeks and it has been great to talk. Some of you we have tried to catch but it would appear Bellsouth have offered some kind of call filtering system so you don't get all those nasty sales calls, and thus you don't know our international code and number and refuse the call. Persistence seems to work though. For those of you who we might call but have not got round to yet - please be patient, we are at our parent's houses and thus on their dollar so we are trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to keep the bill low.
Life here is going okay - as I said we are like nomads and it is frustrating not to be in our own house with our own strange little ways, but this will all end next Monday when we get our own house back. The excitement is starting as we get think about colours for the painter to paint the walls with. Though with the excitement comes a little anxiety as we think about what state the house might be left in. Who knows? But whatever state it is in, it will not take long to make it our home again and that we are looking forward to.
Eva continues to grow, getting stronger and more independent by the minute. She really can go pretty fast on all fours - especially when she has something she wants to get to and we are chasing behind. With our parents now being on their own, their houses are littered with little ornaments and keepsakes that Eva thinks are hers to play with and they all seems to be right at her level. She really takes a lot of watching. It is cool though, because just as much as we spend time running after her, we spend the same amount of time just laughing at her and with her. She seems able to pull the funniest of faces and expressions. There was a time a couple of months ago when we would catch her going towards something she was not supposed to be going towards and would be able to say "No Eva" and she would stop. That does not happen anymore. We caught her standing up right beside the television last week when we were staying at Marge's Mum and Dad's apartment. "No Eva", we cried and she just turned to look at us and cheekily grinned before turning back to the television. Margaret and I could do nothing but try and hide the fact that we were just laughing at her.
She is also still extremely well behaved in all situations. We had her out to dinner with us last night and she was great. There was another child in the resturaunt, a 20 month old ( who Eva was the same size as!!!!) and he was screaming the place down. Eva was great by comparison, but I could not help but wonder if this was a sign of things to come. It seems though that she is genuinely like her dad - when there is food around, there really is nothing else to think about except eating it!!! By the way - this was a chinese resturaunt and Eva was able to eat anything we were eating - last night she enjoyed special fried rice with curry sauce from my plate and from her mum's plate she got some shredded chicken with sweet chilli sauce. Yum, yum, yum. Last we we had her eating some Indian delicacies which she could not get enough of. It seems that she will have fairly eclectic tastes when it comes to food.
Yesterday we had to take Eva to visit the Health visitor. Ironic that the job title is Health Visitor and we are the ones that visit eh? Anywho, we took Eva to see her and she is in good shape. We also noticed yesterday as we were visiting with some other folks that her two front teeth and starting to come through - she will have an even prettier smile with those teeth gleeming.
My application to Queens is still in limbo. Please, please pray about this situation. As I have said, I am happy to go whenever God opens that path for me - but in terms of personal preference, I really want to go this year. It is one of the main reasons that we came home and I do not like the idea of tredding water in a random job for a year. Please pray about this and any wisdom or word that you receive I will be happy to hear. At the minute it is a faith thing and I just have to hold on to what I know is the call of God on my life to be ordained, and so pray that in moments of worry and anxiety over this I would be still and know that God is God.
We are going back to East Melfast Mission for church. It has changed so much since we left three years ago. There seems to have been a massive influx of people in their mid to late twenties and their worship team has grown and evolved immensely since we left. Other churches that we have been to or talked about with friends, seem to be stuck and refuse to try to move on from where they are at, and so it really is good that we are able to connect at the Mission where things ain't so bad.
We miss Ron and Jen and Kate - weekends are not the same without our usual Friday or Saturday night gathering and we don't go out for lunch after church any more. Ron and Jen and Kate - we love you and we miss you. We talked on the phone this week and I was so excited to hear that Ron was playing in the band on Sunday - go Ron and make sure everyone knows that your lovely 12 string has a story of sacrifice and pain behind it!!!!! Jen knows 5 chords now (or was it six) soon they'll be up there like Jonny Cash and June Carter!!!!!!!
Okay - I am going to try and upload these pictures for you.
Blessings
Monday, February 20, 2006
Good-byes and Moving
Some of this was written two weeks ago before we moved. Sorry there are no pictures this time - we have not got our camera cable out of its box yet!!!!
Today has been one of the most emotional days of my life. Today was the day that we had to have our official leaving thing at church. It was a lovely time with some of the most lovely people we know - I guess that's why it was so hard. The Staff Parish committee had arranged a pot luck for us. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is basically when everyone is invited to a mean and they have to bring with them a dish and we basically enjoy a wee bit of everything. I have to say it is one of my most favourite things in the world to do - food is good!!!! We also had a good turn out and thus had lots of delicasies to try out. After the eating Renee MC'd the rest of the proceedings. She started out by inviting Juni Scott to the front. he had something that he had made for me and she wanted to present it to me. I was extremely surprised as Juni is a man that I only know a little bit. He is an artist and he had done a portrait of me for us to take home. The guy has not even done a portrait of his wife - I suppose it just touched me a lot that he would take the time and go to the expense to do that for me. After this Renee had a couple of presentations to make to me - someone had stolen my name from my office door through the week and today it turned up. They had taken it and put it on a presentation plaque - it is beautiful. We were also given a couple of prayer shawls - one for us and one for Eva. The prayer shawl ministry is where some people of our church knit these shawls and pray for the people they will be given to and as we hand them to people and they wear it, they can know that they are loved and being prayed for. Now we can know that we are always loved and always prayed for by the friends and family we have at First United Methodist Church. After these things were given, Renee opened the floor for people to come and say something. Over the next few minutes Margaret and I were moved beyond measure as people young and old came forward to say something cool to us. I am sure that I have said something about this before in the blog, but I am unashamed to repeat it. First UMC has shown us what it means to live in a community that is rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. Wherever we go and whatever happens in our lives we will always carry the lessons of love that they have shared with us.
It was not just today that was emotional - the weekend has been full of moving stuff. We were given another party byt our youth on Frriday night. This was a cool time for just us and the youth group and we spent the evening dancing and singing karaoke - they totally organised it and arranged the coolest meal for us. We requested that it be semi formal and so all of us were dressed up and looked well hot!!!!! Everyone looked so cool and we had a great time.
This week we had memorial services (funerals) for the two people that whose passing I mentioned in the last update. Last Monday we had the service for Gus Garcia and then yesterday morning we had the service for Dr Dee Morgan. Both services in their own right were absolutely fantastic. They both intentionally acknowledged the neccessity for grieving and the fact that we experience pain and sadness when we lose people. But (and there is always a big hairy butt!!!!), as Christian people we have hope in that death is not the end, and these services were full of that hope. We really did celebrate this hope and though we miss Gus and Dee immensely, we know beyond doubt that they are suffering no more and that we will see them again. I was really touched by the services and was given a glimpse of what our funeral services should be. We have a hope that needs to be celebrated at these services and of that I am convinced that we should do just that.
All of the above was written just a couple of weeks ago. how things have changed since then. When I wrote it all I was telling you about all our good byes and now, it is almost a week since we started our journey home. It is now March 7th. We touched down in Belfast last Thursday. We flew in to some of the coldest weather that Northern ireland has had all summer. Flying over the west coast of Ireland looked more like flying over the North Pole, all we could see was very snow covered mountains that looked like ice burgs. In a way it was quite cool (no pun intended), I mean living in Florida it always feels like there is just one season and so returning to snow reminded me that there is more than one season. However, that is where the romantic view of it stops. It was bloody freezing as we walked out of the airport.
We travelled back to Margaret's home and spent a couple of days there with ehr parents. They live deep in the countryside in Northern Ireland and it was nice to be in a very quiet place for a couple of days. Jet lag wise, i don't know how we made it through that Thursday, it seems like we slept and then did some errands and then slept some more and then slept some more. In between we ate very well of course. margaret's mum is excellent in the kitchen and is also excellent at spoiling us by cooking us everything we wanted. Margaret's parents were so pleased to meet Eva - it was the first time they had seen her in real life.
After a couple of days there we have come back to Ballynahinch (pronounced Bal-na-hinch) to stop with my parents for a day or two. Again, the grandparents are just over the moon to get to spend quality time with Eva and we are still being extremely well fed by my mum - though I did cook last night!!! Since coming here we have not done much really. My brother and his family came up for dinner on Sunday. they were all a bit sick and they passed their illness onto Eva and myself. As a result, Sunday night was one of the most horrible nights of my life. I was up on the hour every hour from 11pm through 3am throwing up. I felt miserable. Thankfully it was only a 24hr bug and I am over it now, but truly I have never felt worse in all my life than I did on Sunday night and Monday morning. Eva also took the bug and was throwing up all over Margaret. Last night I was gave Eva to Margaret after holding her for a while and feeding her. literally just as I gave her to Margaret, Eva chucked everything she had eaten yesterday over Marge. It was funny in a 'she was not sick over me' kind of way.
On Sunday we went to my old church for worship. I love my home church. It was the first place I worked as a Youth Pastor, I had grown up there and many of the folks that still attend were the ones that taught me much of what I know about Jesus. But - and there is always a big hairy butt - it seems that their worshipping habits have not changed or moved on in 20 years since I was a boy. Everything was done at such a slow and pedestrian pace that the hour that it took seemed like three. Unfortunately it seems like a lot of the Methodist churches here in Ireland are like this. Now in saying that I could be forgiven for wondering why I want to answer the call to minister in Irish Methodism. But while the thought of the current trend of worship within Irish methodism is less than inspiring in terms of my engagement with it; the thought of being an agent and leader of something fresh and new in that context is extremely inspiring and exciting. as I said in a sermon a couple of months ago, there is always hope in every situation. There is much hope in the Irish Methodist church and I cannot wait to see how that hope is worked out.
Today we spent some time in Belfast running some errands and meeting some old friends. It was a good time all round and Eva behaved impeccibly as we dragged her around the city. Tonight we went to Stevie's house. Since the last time we were in northern ireland he has converted one of the rooms in his place to a prayer room. It is literally a mess with pictures, notes, maps, candles, bibles, books and much, much more. I have to confess that I was truly inspred by it. Evidently, Stevie spends much time in there praying and thinking things trough. We had also been to East Belfast Mission, where the congregation have taken out some of their pews in order to create a prayer room. Do you think that God is trying to say something to me here? Basically, I have been overwhelmed today with the call of the christian to prayer - the call on my life to pray. If there is something that any of us who call ourselves Christians is called to, it is to be prayerful in everything. Today I am challenged by my church and by my best friend to be prayerful, to take more time to listen to God. As Stevie spoke to me he kept saying that God was speaking this to him or giving him a message for a talk that was coming up. I am convinced that God is always speaking to us and I am convinced that Stevie is hearing with clarity because he is taking time to listen (though you are still too busy mate - slow down!!!) Next time you e-mail or talk to me ask me how my prayer life is and I hope that I will be able to tell you that since this day it has been changed.
I think that you have read enough for now. I will be back in the coming days with more. For those of you that pray, please pray regarding my application to Queens University. My beginning studies in September lies in their hands. please pray for God's will to be done and for Margaret and I to humbly walk in that.
Blessings
Today has been one of the most emotional days of my life. Today was the day that we had to have our official leaving thing at church. It was a lovely time with some of the most lovely people we know - I guess that's why it was so hard. The Staff Parish committee had arranged a pot luck for us. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is basically when everyone is invited to a mean and they have to bring with them a dish and we basically enjoy a wee bit of everything. I have to say it is one of my most favourite things in the world to do - food is good!!!! We also had a good turn out and thus had lots of delicasies to try out. After the eating Renee MC'd the rest of the proceedings. She started out by inviting Juni Scott to the front. he had something that he had made for me and she wanted to present it to me. I was extremely surprised as Juni is a man that I only know a little bit. He is an artist and he had done a portrait of me for us to take home. The guy has not even done a portrait of his wife - I suppose it just touched me a lot that he would take the time and go to the expense to do that for me. After this Renee had a couple of presentations to make to me - someone had stolen my name from my office door through the week and today it turned up. They had taken it and put it on a presentation plaque - it is beautiful. We were also given a couple of prayer shawls - one for us and one for Eva. The prayer shawl ministry is where some people of our church knit these shawls and pray for the people they will be given to and as we hand them to people and they wear it, they can know that they are loved and being prayed for. Now we can know that we are always loved and always prayed for by the friends and family we have at First United Methodist Church. After these things were given, Renee opened the floor for people to come and say something. Over the next few minutes Margaret and I were moved beyond measure as people young and old came forward to say something cool to us. I am sure that I have said something about this before in the blog, but I am unashamed to repeat it. First UMC has shown us what it means to live in a community that is rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. Wherever we go and whatever happens in our lives we will always carry the lessons of love that they have shared with us.
It was not just today that was emotional - the weekend has been full of moving stuff. We were given another party byt our youth on Frriday night. This was a cool time for just us and the youth group and we spent the evening dancing and singing karaoke - they totally organised it and arranged the coolest meal for us. We requested that it be semi formal and so all of us were dressed up and looked well hot!!!!! Everyone looked so cool and we had a great time.
This week we had memorial services (funerals) for the two people that whose passing I mentioned in the last update. Last Monday we had the service for Gus Garcia and then yesterday morning we had the service for Dr Dee Morgan. Both services in their own right were absolutely fantastic. They both intentionally acknowledged the neccessity for grieving and the fact that we experience pain and sadness when we lose people. But (and there is always a big hairy butt!!!!), as Christian people we have hope in that death is not the end, and these services were full of that hope. We really did celebrate this hope and though we miss Gus and Dee immensely, we know beyond doubt that they are suffering no more and that we will see them again. I was really touched by the services and was given a glimpse of what our funeral services should be. We have a hope that needs to be celebrated at these services and of that I am convinced that we should do just that.
All of the above was written just a couple of weeks ago. how things have changed since then. When I wrote it all I was telling you about all our good byes and now, it is almost a week since we started our journey home. It is now March 7th. We touched down in Belfast last Thursday. We flew in to some of the coldest weather that Northern ireland has had all summer. Flying over the west coast of Ireland looked more like flying over the North Pole, all we could see was very snow covered mountains that looked like ice burgs. In a way it was quite cool (no pun intended), I mean living in Florida it always feels like there is just one season and so returning to snow reminded me that there is more than one season. However, that is where the romantic view of it stops. It was bloody freezing as we walked out of the airport.
We travelled back to Margaret's home and spent a couple of days there with ehr parents. They live deep in the countryside in Northern Ireland and it was nice to be in a very quiet place for a couple of days. Jet lag wise, i don't know how we made it through that Thursday, it seems like we slept and then did some errands and then slept some more and then slept some more. In between we ate very well of course. margaret's mum is excellent in the kitchen and is also excellent at spoiling us by cooking us everything we wanted. Margaret's parents were so pleased to meet Eva - it was the first time they had seen her in real life.
After a couple of days there we have come back to Ballynahinch (pronounced Bal-na-hinch) to stop with my parents for a day or two. Again, the grandparents are just over the moon to get to spend quality time with Eva and we are still being extremely well fed by my mum - though I did cook last night!!! Since coming here we have not done much really. My brother and his family came up for dinner on Sunday. they were all a bit sick and they passed their illness onto Eva and myself. As a result, Sunday night was one of the most horrible nights of my life. I was up on the hour every hour from 11pm through 3am throwing up. I felt miserable. Thankfully it was only a 24hr bug and I am over it now, but truly I have never felt worse in all my life than I did on Sunday night and Monday morning. Eva also took the bug and was throwing up all over Margaret. Last night I was gave Eva to Margaret after holding her for a while and feeding her. literally just as I gave her to Margaret, Eva chucked everything she had eaten yesterday over Marge. It was funny in a 'she was not sick over me' kind of way.
On Sunday we went to my old church for worship. I love my home church. It was the first place I worked as a Youth Pastor, I had grown up there and many of the folks that still attend were the ones that taught me much of what I know about Jesus. But - and there is always a big hairy butt - it seems that their worshipping habits have not changed or moved on in 20 years since I was a boy. Everything was done at such a slow and pedestrian pace that the hour that it took seemed like three. Unfortunately it seems like a lot of the Methodist churches here in Ireland are like this. Now in saying that I could be forgiven for wondering why I want to answer the call to minister in Irish Methodism. But while the thought of the current trend of worship within Irish methodism is less than inspiring in terms of my engagement with it; the thought of being an agent and leader of something fresh and new in that context is extremely inspiring and exciting. as I said in a sermon a couple of months ago, there is always hope in every situation. There is much hope in the Irish Methodist church and I cannot wait to see how that hope is worked out.
Today we spent some time in Belfast running some errands and meeting some old friends. It was a good time all round and Eva behaved impeccibly as we dragged her around the city. Tonight we went to Stevie's house. Since the last time we were in northern ireland he has converted one of the rooms in his place to a prayer room. It is literally a mess with pictures, notes, maps, candles, bibles, books and much, much more. I have to confess that I was truly inspred by it. Evidently, Stevie spends much time in there praying and thinking things trough. We had also been to East Belfast Mission, where the congregation have taken out some of their pews in order to create a prayer room. Do you think that God is trying to say something to me here? Basically, I have been overwhelmed today with the call of the christian to prayer - the call on my life to pray. If there is something that any of us who call ourselves Christians is called to, it is to be prayerful in everything. Today I am challenged by my church and by my best friend to be prayerful, to take more time to listen to God. As Stevie spoke to me he kept saying that God was speaking this to him or giving him a message for a talk that was coming up. I am convinced that God is always speaking to us and I am convinced that Stevie is hearing with clarity because he is taking time to listen (though you are still too busy mate - slow down!!!) Next time you e-mail or talk to me ask me how my prayer life is and I hope that I will be able to tell you that since this day it has been changed.
I think that you have read enough for now. I will be back in the coming days with more. For those of you that pray, please pray regarding my application to Queens University. My beginning studies in September lies in their hands. please pray for God's will to be done and for Margaret and I to humbly walk in that.
Blessings
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
Okay, it is waaaaaaayyyyyyy too long since i did this for you but believe me things are not slowing down at all in our lives. The new year has brought along with it a sense of the lack of time we have left in USA and the amount of things we both have to do and want to do before we leave. Into this we add the continued joy of being parents to Eva.
This is in fact the greatest honour an individual could have - to be the parent of such a wonderful gift as a wee baby girl - especially one who sleeps through every night!~!!!!!!!! Since I last updated, Eva has learned to crawl. I have likened this to a 16/17 year old getting their drivers license in that now we no longer have control of absolutely everywhere that Eva goes. She now has the ability to crawl to her desired destination. If we leave her in her room to play with toys while we sort something out in the kitchen, we will soon see her crawling out towards us. It is a very cool thing alongside being a very scary thing. Being a parent is all about protecting, caring for, looking out for and knowing about your child, but it is also about helping the child become an independent individual - whatever that means at whatever age. For Eva, we now have to learn to let her crawl and be independent in that way, in some weird God-given way it is maybe her first expression of independence- though you just try and stop us looking out for her wherever she crawls.
This makes me mindful of how God must feel with us. We read in the bible all the time and hear from preachers often about how God is our Father and protector, constantly looking out for us and helping to take care of our real needs in life. I am sure he giggles at me in the same way I giggle at Eva as she crawls around in her mini journies of discovery. To continue to meet God in this parental form is the revelation of my life right now. Jools asked me what the biggest change in my life was in becoming a parent - I thought for a moment and then said this, "I never knew what love was until we had Eva". It is so true - I cannot express to you in words how much I love that wee girl. And the good news is this - I am incapable of loving as God does and so his love for us as his children is infinitely more than what we can imagine it to be. That is something to be embraced and enjoyed.
What has also been happening in the last number of weeks is that we been watching a couple of our good church friends enter their last days here on earth with us. Gus Garcia had been in Intensive Care since Christmas evening and just last week was taken from their to a ward in the local hospital where he would spend his final days. Gus went home last night. He was 31 and leaves Jodi, his wife, and Jordan and Austin his two great kids. Our other friend was Dr Dee Dorgan. She was a remarkable lady in her 70's who had fought hard over the last 30 years against many forms of cancer in her body. It came back to haunt her again this last year with some other problems. Dee had a stroke yesterday and then died last night. Both of these individuals had deep faith in and relationship with Jesus and both of them had the most amazing fighting spirit. I will miss them both deeply. Death is hard for those of us that are left here without our loved ones, but I can't help be reminded of the hope that Christ offers in the face of death. Hope is always there - never to be diminished.
The thought of moving home is getting harder and harder. It is almost surreal to think that in three weeks from this day we will be on a one way flight to Belfast. We have become so attached to this place and all our family here that it is difficult to imagine life without them all being so close. It is also getting to the point where others are realizing this reality also. It is not just hard for us, but it is hard for that family that I have mentioned. I cannot imagine that we will be in membership of a church like this one again - the love and sheer sense of community that we have here is hard to describe with my limited vocabulary - suffice to say that from the very moment of our arrival we have been loved like one of their own and that expression has only grown.
I don't know how to talk to people about it - especially our youth. I really am stuck for words everytime it comes up. It is easy to say that this is what is right for Margaret and I and that this is the direction that God is prodding us in - but even if you get that, it is still hard to accept. I wish that I had magic words to comfort people or magic prayers to help them understand that God really does work in all things for the good. I know this though - whatever we feel now, God is always faithful and never let's us down. he knows us better than we know ourselves and he knows the plans he has for this place and for Margaret, Eva and I. In that I trust - in that only can I trust.
The call to go home got a lot more meaningful for me and Margaret over the new year. Something amazing happened on New Years Day at church. I was asked to help serve communion with Rich at our service that day and as I did it, I was faced with an amazing realization that being able to offer communion to people is one of the highest privileges a person can have. As I spoke the words of grace to people, not knowing what it was they were bringing to the table, I had a profound sense that I was being involved in one the most intimate experiences a human can have and I knew that I wanted to be involved in this way for people as many times as I can. A day or two later, I was browsing the Irish Methodist website and found myself reading up on what it would take to become a Methodist minister back home. To cut a long story short, I was very moved as I read it and knew that something was calling me to ordination. I have known that this would happen in my life for quite some time but not until now did I feel that it was the right time. If all goes according to plan, I hope to begin studies at Edgehill Theological College next September and from there move towards ordination. It's a huge step in our life but the right one. The call is there for me to preach and it is time to face that and do it.
I have run out of time for now. There will be more to follow though it will probably be from northern Ireland the next time I get to this.
Blessings
This is in fact the greatest honour an individual could have - to be the parent of such a wonderful gift as a wee baby girl - especially one who sleeps through every night!~!!!!!!!! Since I last updated, Eva has learned to crawl. I have likened this to a 16/17 year old getting their drivers license in that now we no longer have control of absolutely everywhere that Eva goes. She now has the ability to crawl to her desired destination. If we leave her in her room to play with toys while we sort something out in the kitchen, we will soon see her crawling out towards us. It is a very cool thing alongside being a very scary thing. Being a parent is all about protecting, caring for, looking out for and knowing about your child, but it is also about helping the child become an independent individual - whatever that means at whatever age. For Eva, we now have to learn to let her crawl and be independent in that way, in some weird God-given way it is maybe her first expression of independence- though you just try and stop us looking out for her wherever she crawls.
This makes me mindful of how God must feel with us. We read in the bible all the time and hear from preachers often about how God is our Father and protector, constantly looking out for us and helping to take care of our real needs in life. I am sure he giggles at me in the same way I giggle at Eva as she crawls around in her mini journies of discovery. To continue to meet God in this parental form is the revelation of my life right now. Jools asked me what the biggest change in my life was in becoming a parent - I thought for a moment and then said this, "I never knew what love was until we had Eva". It is so true - I cannot express to you in words how much I love that wee girl. And the good news is this - I am incapable of loving as God does and so his love for us as his children is infinitely more than what we can imagine it to be. That is something to be embraced and enjoyed.
What has also been happening in the last number of weeks is that we been watching a couple of our good church friends enter their last days here on earth with us. Gus Garcia had been in Intensive Care since Christmas evening and just last week was taken from their to a ward in the local hospital where he would spend his final days. Gus went home last night. He was 31 and leaves Jodi, his wife, and Jordan and Austin his two great kids. Our other friend was Dr Dee Dorgan. She was a remarkable lady in her 70's who had fought hard over the last 30 years against many forms of cancer in her body. It came back to haunt her again this last year with some other problems. Dee had a stroke yesterday and then died last night. Both of these individuals had deep faith in and relationship with Jesus and both of them had the most amazing fighting spirit. I will miss them both deeply. Death is hard for those of us that are left here without our loved ones, but I can't help be reminded of the hope that Christ offers in the face of death. Hope is always there - never to be diminished.
The thought of moving home is getting harder and harder. It is almost surreal to think that in three weeks from this day we will be on a one way flight to Belfast. We have become so attached to this place and all our family here that it is difficult to imagine life without them all being so close. It is also getting to the point where others are realizing this reality also. It is not just hard for us, but it is hard for that family that I have mentioned. I cannot imagine that we will be in membership of a church like this one again - the love and sheer sense of community that we have here is hard to describe with my limited vocabulary - suffice to say that from the very moment of our arrival we have been loved like one of their own and that expression has only grown.
I don't know how to talk to people about it - especially our youth. I really am stuck for words everytime it comes up. It is easy to say that this is what is right for Margaret and I and that this is the direction that God is prodding us in - but even if you get that, it is still hard to accept. I wish that I had magic words to comfort people or magic prayers to help them understand that God really does work in all things for the good. I know this though - whatever we feel now, God is always faithful and never let's us down. he knows us better than we know ourselves and he knows the plans he has for this place and for Margaret, Eva and I. In that I trust - in that only can I trust.
The call to go home got a lot more meaningful for me and Margaret over the new year. Something amazing happened on New Years Day at church. I was asked to help serve communion with Rich at our service that day and as I did it, I was faced with an amazing realization that being able to offer communion to people is one of the highest privileges a person can have. As I spoke the words of grace to people, not knowing what it was they were bringing to the table, I had a profound sense that I was being involved in one the most intimate experiences a human can have and I knew that I wanted to be involved in this way for people as many times as I can. A day or two later, I was browsing the Irish Methodist website and found myself reading up on what it would take to become a Methodist minister back home. To cut a long story short, I was very moved as I read it and knew that something was calling me to ordination. I have known that this would happen in my life for quite some time but not until now did I feel that it was the right time. If all goes according to plan, I hope to begin studies at Edgehill Theological College next September and from there move towards ordination. It's a huge step in our life but the right one. The call is there for me to preach and it is time to face that and do it.
I have run out of time for now. There will be more to follow though it will probably be from northern Ireland the next time I get to this.
Blessings
Friday, December 30, 2005
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