I slept in a little today. I did not really have much to do besides really get serious about scheduling some stuff and to keep reading through the stuff Graham gave me. So, I woke up and had some brunch and then got straight to reading one of the books I now have about fresh expressions/emerging church.
I read for a little while then decided to answer some emails I got last night about when I can meet with people. It is really starting to work out. I now have plenty of things to do in the upcoming weeks (maybe even too much, I might not be able to get to it all). So I sat down with my itinerary and really thought about how all this will fit together. It is kind of like the 3D puzzle of the Millennium Falcon that I tried to put together at random times over several years and finally gave up on indefinitely. I have not given up yet, but it seems that things are trying their hardest to not fit together. Maybe it is just that I really want to spend a lot of time with each church, which I simply can’t do. But, I finally got something together and made a list of all the train tickets I may need for the next month or so and a list of everywhere I will (hopefully) be staying in the next month or so. It is as if I am finally at the place (organizationally) that I should have been before I left to come over here. Haha – sort of kidding on that one.
I got tired of planning again so I took a break and walked around the neighborhood some. I noticed on my way to the store that there is a nice wooded area with some trails right outside of the housing complex. So I went and checked it out. Graham mentioned the first day that the community was only about 8 years old, and before they started building here, it was all natural forest and pasture area. I guess this little bit that I explored is all that is left. But it was nice and there were a lot of really tall trees and beautiful flowers. I took lots of pictures of this area and then walked back around the neighborhood some more.
Then I came back to work a little more on planning and scheduling. I think it will work out without me having to travel too much more, and with only having to book a couple more hotels. Anyway, I worked on all that for a while then went back to reading some. I ate
dinner with both my host and hostess again, which was nice and learned that they had a house group coming over for a little study of a book they are working through and some prayer. I was invited to join them so I did.Two other couples came over who were both very nice and funny. We had some tea and coffee then talked for a couple of hours. It was great, and I really enjoyed the time. It has been really good to pray corporately through Sanctuary and this time, although this time was especially nice because we shared concerns and people prayed for each other and there was a lot more vocalized prayer. I think we kind of take that for granted when we do it a lot (at school, church, families, etc.), but in doing it after really just praying by myself for several weeks now I really realized how meaningful it is.
After everyone left, the night was pretty much over. I am now sitting watching a lava lamp in its early/prime stages of blobbing up and it really is fascinating (and I promise it is not because of boredom). Also, I just heard the Proclaimers “I would walk 500 hundred miles” coming from the tv downstairs. Lol.
What I learned:
The whole bit about prayer that I mentioned above.
The film Princess Mononoke came to my mind a lot while walking through the nature-y area today. But at the same time I did not really feel total tension in the land here. This is hard for me to describe. I did get the feeling that it was violated, mainly because it had been littered, but I felt there was still some harmony between the land and the houses. It was mainly the large unused and blocked off parking lot that seemed completely out of place. Anyway, whatever that’s worth.
Apparently there is a nice pond and nature center that I did not come across yet.
If I don’t set an alarm I have a 100% chance of sleeping in. (With an alarm, only about a 60% chance depending how you define sleeping in).
I have to catch a 5:10am train on Saturday. Let’s hope I make that 60% that day…
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