More on the trip to Ireland and England
Greetings from Hyde Park, London England. Here is a shot Gail took after we had done a little sightseeing in London and we were just sort of catching our breath. We went to London for a day and a night and had a great time together. One big difference we noticed - British folks are not into service in quite the same way Americans are. For example when you go into a restaurant you don’t necessarily have a waitress or waiter come to the table. You are just as likely to go up and order your food and then they bring it to you and you are sort of left to your own. Cab drivers were pretty cranky as well. I’m used to the service I get over at the State Street Diner - now that’s sweet service. I guess I’m spoiled. I love that place.
I guess I should show you a couple of cool things we saw. Remember Gail is a huge Beatles fan, and I’m not far behind. So we had to see some Beatles stuff. To the left is that crosswalk where the Abbey Road Album cover was shot. Pretty cool, eh? That’s me walking in those same footsteps that John, Paul, George and Ringo did about 40 years ago. I don’t think its going to lead to anything.
Here is the lovely Mrs. P standing in front of the Beatles Store just a few blocks off the Baker Street Exit on the London Subway, called “The Tube.” We picked up a few cool trinkets from the place. London is a pretty amazing city, really beautiful and some of the greatest buildings I have ever seen. The creativity of human beings can be pretty dazzling sometimes. There were so many really old and magnificent structures every where we laid our eyes. For a couple of Cleveland kids, who grew up in the midwest thinking the Terminal Tower (like the eighth tallest building about 75 years ago, it probably doesn’t even come in to the top 100 building now a days) was big time this was pretty heady stuff. Remember folks I’m just one generation from the hills of West Virginia, so I felt pretty humbled by standing in the shadows of Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, the Tower of London, Big Ben and a whole bunch of other really cool looking buildings.
But as much as I really enjoyed the day and a half in London it doesn’t
come close to the opportunity to build a pastoral relationship with Johnny and Sharon Caldwell in Belfast. Johnny is one of those guys who almost the instant you meet him you know this is a quality guy. This is a guy who has decided that doing what Jesus wants him to do is more important than anything else. He and Sharon have made tremendous sacrifices for the sake of reaching people for Jesus. I just can’t get enough of those kind of people. Lord willing, I hope that later this year we can bring Johnny and Sharon over to speak at the church and to help us with a conference we are planning. Please add the Rock Church and Go Kids to your prayer requests. The opportunities for “Go Kids” are staggering, but the resources are quite limited. One of the things they need to have in place is a solid year round rotation of interns who work in the “Go Kids” ministry. This is an area where I hope the ARC as well as our local affiliations with churches may help. Any way, I’m glad to be back home. I missed you all and feel energized to pursue the things God has on our plate here in Jersey. Last week before I left for Belfast the Lord spoke a scripture to me just before I woke up from sleep. It was as clear as day, and I believe its what God wants me to talk about this coming Sunday. Its a passage from 2 Corinthians that talks about the difference between true and false repentence. It blew me away - just as clear as could be I heard this passage in my mind just as I was waking up. I’m taking the chance that this was the Spirit of God stirring me and counting on Him preparing the way to have this be something we as a body need to hear right now. Pray for me. Peace
May 10th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Pictures were great. Glad everyone is back safely. Will miss your sermon May 13th but will read it when I am available.