Yesterday was a long and tiring day.
We started by taking a trip to Liverpool. Our driver and guide, Robert, a member of Formby Baptist Church, took us to a lot of really cool spots in Liverpool. We started by visiting the Liverpool Cathedral. It was an enormous and beautiful church building. It is one of the biggest in Europe. This building was designed with very high ceilings. This is for the purpose of drawing us to look up. Similarly, when we worship, we are drawn to look up. I loved how these two ideas corresponded so beautifully here. After that, we went to the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool. Not as amazing, but cool nonetheless. From there, we walked to a place to eat our lunches after which we walked some more to The Cavern Pub. This is the sight where The Beatles played many of their concerts. It was a small dinky street that had clearly seen much traffic in its days. Next, we traveled to some huge art museum. I was rather tired by this time and just wanted to be done. Truth be told, I really wanted to see if I could go shopping for some Everton FC gear, but our guide was set on giving us the cultural experience. I am grateful for his insight and generosity. Maybe next time I go to Liverpool I can do some shopping.
When we returned, we had a team meeting. This was to get prepared for Kings Kids, the ministry for the 4-11 year olds. It was a fun evening, but this was something that I really had to have a mentality that said, "This is for these people, not necessarily for my ease, convenience, or enjoyment." God blessed me with a good attitude and I enjoyed interacting with the kids and teaching my mate, Frank, about the virgin birth. Imagine how creative I had to be explaining to an 11 year old the significance of a virgin giving birth! Jesus gave me wisdom and I think he got it without learning "too much." Haha!
Following Kings Kids, I stayed at the church to take part in the guys group that meets weekly. This is comprised of some of the guys in the church who have taken initiative to meet weekly and encourage each other in their faith. It is truly an amazing thing that God is doing in them. It was a humbling experience to say the least. They are really growing in their faith and it was cool to encourage them in that.
I was really tired when I got home, but I had a great Skype chat with Christine after everyone else here had gone to bed. I really miss her.
Today was not as busy, but still as tiring. We just had a meeting at midday. After the meeting, I went to Caffe Nero, one of the local coffee shops (I miss Joe's). I got to read my premarital counseling book for a good bit. I read a really powerful chapter on the blessing of singleness, surprisingly.
Then tonight we had Pr1me, the church's youth group. It was an energetic and impactful evening. We started off by playing some games. Unfortunately, some experienced the bruised caused by over-competitiveness. Once we had calmed down a bit, I got up to speak. As I was speaking, I did not feel confident at all. I felt like my words did not make it past my shoes. I was all spent when I said my final prayer. I felt real shaky about my sermon. But I am trusting that God moved through my foolish words. I was able to have an amazing conversation about faith and reason with a young man in the youth group who has yet to put his faith in Jesus. Please be praying for him. I have heard it said that often preachers feel like some sermons were home runs and others are strikeouts, and that this is in no way indicative of their effectiveness. I really pray that this was the case tonight. I am trusting God is working through by feeble attempt to proclaim the glories of holy living.
We started by taking a trip to Liverpool. Our driver and guide, Robert, a member of Formby Baptist Church, took us to a lot of really cool spots in Liverpool. We started by visiting the Liverpool Cathedral. It was an enormous and beautiful church building. It is one of the biggest in Europe. This building was designed with very high ceilings. This is for the purpose of drawing us to look up. Similarly, when we worship, we are drawn to look up. I loved how these two ideas corresponded so beautifully here. After that, we went to the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool. Not as amazing, but cool nonetheless. From there, we walked to a place to eat our lunches after which we walked some more to The Cavern Pub. This is the sight where The Beatles played many of their concerts. It was a small dinky street that had clearly seen much traffic in its days. Next, we traveled to some huge art museum. I was rather tired by this time and just wanted to be done. Truth be told, I really wanted to see if I could go shopping for some Everton FC gear, but our guide was set on giving us the cultural experience. I am grateful for his insight and generosity. Maybe next time I go to Liverpool I can do some shopping.
Following Kings Kids, I stayed at the church to take part in the guys group that meets weekly. This is comprised of some of the guys in the church who have taken initiative to meet weekly and encourage each other in their faith. It is truly an amazing thing that God is doing in them. It was a humbling experience to say the least. They are really growing in their faith and it was cool to encourage them in that.
I was really tired when I got home, but I had a great Skype chat with Christine after everyone else here had gone to bed. I really miss her.
Today was not as busy, but still as tiring. We just had a meeting at midday. After the meeting, I went to Caffe Nero, one of the local coffee shops (I miss Joe's). I got to read my premarital counseling book for a good bit. I read a really powerful chapter on the blessing of singleness, surprisingly.
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| God seems to shine through even the weakest attempts to reflect his glory. |
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