Christmas, Causeway, Krakow, and Charis

Full, life has been very very full of late. January, normally a busy month has (to grab a phrase from Space Balls) gone plaid. Somewhere two weeks ago or so I thought to myself “self” (or perhaps it was “Laba” I often speak to myself familiarly while inner monologue-ing) “if you don’t write an update for that blog of yours soon no one outside of your parents, and probably not even both of them, is going to be able to read though your entry.” You see I knew what had already happened, and that there was much more to come. Alas, there was room for no more then this fleeting thought, and a fortnight has flown by since. Now some of you might have thought while reading previous entries that I have a lot to say, perhaps too much even. Please feel no compulsion to read any further, or if you want to get a wee taste then I’ll give you a geographical synopsis here: Belfast to Norfolk England, to London, back to Belfast (briefly), to Bushmills (the north coast of Ireland is stunning), to Belfast (slight less briefly), to Poland, to Luton (overnight, not nearly brief enough), Ballantoi (north coast again), and finally settled back into Belfast. If you still intend to read on I recommend grabbing a wee cup (strike that, big cup) of tea or coffee and enjoy this longish grammatically suspect missive.

The year of aught six ended and that of aught seven began as I have come to expect years to begin and end over the last several years, while on retreat with the brothers. On the 27^th the whole house hopped onto an easyJet flight to London. Throughout our travel we worked through the final rounds of our picks for the FA cup (English football craziness, sort of like March madness, sort of). Surprisingly enough I currently find myself leading the house, having managed to pick a couple of big upsets, but that’s off topic. We arrived in London and were met at the airport by a hired mini bus driven by Jamie Treadwell. From there we made our way through the English countryside to All Hallows Anglican Convent just outside of Norwich (Anglican nuns are brilliant). With the London brothers and gappers we were fourteen for the week. The retreat’s focus was on the Seven Pillars of our Ideal, the foundational aspects of Servants of the Word Life. Each morning one pillar was presented as a focus for the day. It was good to meditate on these core aspects of the life I am choosing for. Most of each morning was spent in prayer, spiritual reading, and meditation. I also took some time most mornings to brush up on my Christmas Carol playing. This is the first year I’ve played guitar in our prayer rooms, so this was the first time I played Christmas Carols for any but my own forgiving ears. Twas very good experience for me, perhaps slightly less so for the brothers subjected to my playing. The afternoons included space to catch up with some of the other guys and play some football or basketball together. It was especially good going on some walks through the country side. The area is quite flat, and beautiful in a subdued sort of way, with ancient stone churches rising up in the middle of fields where hundreds of years ago a town must have been located. One evening was set aside for cell groups, so me and the young guys headed off to a local pub with a cheery fire. After enjoying a pint of the local bitter and sharing about the retreat some we occupied the pool table. An intense, madly ricocheting (mostly to no positive effect) game ensued. When the local sharks showed up (lads with personal cues in monogrammed crushed velvet cases) we tried to hurry things along, and managed to sink the last three balls at the breakneck pace of fifteen minutes. Several nights after our night prayers I got together with Andy Pettman, my night sharing partner for the week. It was a great chance to know him better. He was well prepared, remembering to bring along binoculars for some star gazing on one particularly clear night walk.

On the back end of retreat I had the chance to stay for about a day at our brotherhood house in London. I was able to visit there once previously back in the summer of 03. Since I visited a classy addition was put in back, expanding the kitchen and creating a nice sitting room on the first (American second) floor. The younger guys went into town, but not fancying a long tube ride myself I took the opportunity to get a couple visits in. Our house in Acton (a London suburb) is situated in the midst of a cluster of families involved in Antioch, the community in London. Just a three minute stroll down the road sufficed to bring me to Andrew and Angie Bull’s place. I got to be friends with Angie when she was doing a Gap year of service in Ann Arbor back in 98-99. I’ve only seen her a couple times since then, so it was delightful to catch up with here and Andrew on several years of news while enjoying a cup of tea and the wonderful chance to meet for the first time their three year old daughter and nearly two year old son. After the Bulls I walked down to Bob Bell’s for a tasty dinner and a movie. Bob is truly one of the most encouraging persons I’ve ever met. He has been living single for the Lord for twenty to thirty year. Sharing a meal and some fellowship with Bob and seeing written on his face the joy he has in serving and loving others left my spirit buoyant.

After London I had a couple days back in Belfast to try and get on my feet for the new year. That process was slightly hampered by the demon that lives inside my computer. It had begun to act up around Christmas and started causing more trouble then. Nevertheless I did what I could, and then headed off to Bushmills (a town on the north coast, and home of the whiskey distillery). This was for a Q brain child, a joint retreat between our London and Belfast Gap program and a few other groups, the YWAM teams from Dublin and Belfast, and EQUIP. YWAM is Youth with a Mission. The group in Belfast is focusing on forgiveness and reconciliation. They’re working with school kids in Belfast and will split into two teams and do the same forgiveness workshops in Lebanon and Rwanda. Too many acronyms, so I can’t keep straight what EQUIP stands for, but it’s an internship program sponsored by a Belfast church and includes folks from Northern Ireland and North America. Between the different programs we had about sixty present and at least fifteen countries represented. Trent from YWAM gave most of the input. During the first session he used a passage from Second Samuel about David’s mighty men fighting through the Philistines to get a drink of water from the well at Bethlehem for David, and David refusing to drink it but instead offering it as a sacrifice to God. This really caught my attention as I had read it the night before for the first time in years. It was one of several passages that Josh Rock wrote in a Christmas card for me from him and Yvette. I experienced the Lord saying something immensely personal to me in the midst of this talk, and the whole retreat, about being valiant for him and the justice he desires on Earth along with sacrificing that which is most dear to God simply out of love for him. This is somewhat easier to get inspired about for a weekend, but I think it’s a fundamental part of what the Lord is calling me to in life, and a reminder of that as this retreat was a tremendous blessing. Another highlight of the weekend was getting a chance to see the Giant’s Causeway. It’s a completely bizarre rock formation of columns and pillars that is mirrored across the channel in Scotland. The legend is that it was once a part of a giant’s bridge between Scotland and Ireland, with only the ends exposed and the rest submerged now. It’s on a beautiful stretch of the north coast. This is definitely a weird and amazing enough place to deserve a good folk explanation.

Monday the 8^th in the afternoon it was back to Belfast, and a stretch of several days at home. I was still scrambling to get things set for the new term, as well as prepare for Friday when I would leave for Poland for a week. This attempt was seriously hampered by the fact that my computer decided to take this week to make itself off limits, I couldn’t get to anything on it at all until Thursday, and then it was still temperamental. Q and I have been talking about a chance for me to travel somewhere in Europe where there’s another SOS community since I arrived in the autumn. Martin visits the community in Bielsko-Biala several times a year (the L in Biala has a hatch mark meaning it has a W sound). The community, City on a Hill or Miasto na Gorze in Polish, is incredibly hospitable. Originally I thought I was going to tag along, see a new place, and connect in with whatever Martin was doing. As it turned out I ended up having a whole set of things that I did on my own. I gave a sharing/presentation to both Harambee (16-19 year olds, Polish High school age) and their Student group (20+, equivalent to UCO and TEC). I also ran a half-day workshop on the roll of a youth or university worker and the need to balance confidentiality and seeking help beyond ourselves when certain issues arise. I also gave a sharing on joy and hope at the community’s movement meeting (a prayer meeting of a couple hundred) and met with the leaders of Harambee and CDW (11-15 year olds) for their staff meetings. All of this was done though translation, a completely new experience for me. Sometimes the translation gave me a good chance to think more about my words and speak more clearly then I normally do. At other times I found myself listening to how the translation sounded and forgetting what I was talking about. The first sharing (at Harambee) was a little rough. It was the first thing I did at about 7:30pm on Friday after arriving from the airport, having been up since 3:15am to catch all my connections. This coupled with a first time experience of being translated made it less then my most lucid sharing ever. All these things meetings had a slightly surreal aspect. Suddenly I was related to as an expert in all sorts of areas, some of which I have actually very slim experience in. Strangely enough I experienced that when called upon I was actually able to positively contribute. It was also important to just laugh at some of the situations I found myself in, regularly thinking “If they only knew who they had here … but I’m the one here so I might as well get on with it and let the Lord do what he wants.”

Other Polish activities included teaching English lessons three mornings in Polish schools, a day in Krakow, and eating (lots and lots of eating). The English classes were a riot. I talked about some of the differences between UK and US usage (one man’s pants …) told a few jokes in English (not very funny even to native speakers) and shared some slang. The day in Krakow was wonderful. It’s a stunning city, beautiful architecture and some opulent churches (full of stunning treasures and priceless artifacts in guide book-ese). There’s enough there for a week of sightseeing, so it was a full day. We hiked up to the belfry of the cathedral on Wawel Hill (Krakow’s royal palace/castle from centuries of Polish kings) to see the four hundred year old Big Sigzmund (Poland’s Big Ben). I had to laugh climbing the crazy stairs, having to crouch down to squeeze under and between ancient timbers. This place would have been closed to the public (for their own safety of course) in the US long ago. Another highlight of Krakow was perogies. An absolute favorite of mine that I’d normally only get on Christmas Eve when grandma makes them. We picked one wee restaurant from the hundreds of potentials to get a steaming plate of this ultimate comfort food. There was no lack of food while in Poland. I was hosted for different meals at a half dozen different families. Every one of these was a feast. The hardship came when I had to go to several of these in a row (I think Sunday might have included the most food I have ever seen in any single day).

The Witeks were my hosts during my stay. Piotr and Wanda both help to lead some of the youth and university work in Miaso na Gorze. They have four great kids – Teresa, Pawel, Jan, and Michal. Plugging into family life and playing with the kids for a week was a real treat. It highlighted how beautiful loving family life is, and strangely enough strengthened my conviction that I personally am supposed to forgo this amazing gift for the sake of the Lord and his service. A final revelation during my time was Polish music. I had many opportunities to pray with different groups in Bielsko. Each time I was struck at how beautiful Polish in song and praise is. I certainly wasn’t expecting to find Polish music so moving. Some of the songs are translated from English so I know what they are about, and many others were written by members of the community. All told it was a tremendous chance to connect with some of my Polish heritage (it also gives me a lot to talk about with Grandma and Grandpa).

The trip home was more adventurous then I expected. Gale force winds in the UK delayed my flight from Krakow to Luton for three and a half hours. I ended up having to spend the night in lovely Luton airport as my connection cushion completely evaporated. After getting there I met up with a Polish couple who I found out was immigrating to Belfast. We got a coffee together and spent much of the night getting to know each other. It turns out they are from the same area in Poland my family on Grandpa’s side is. We got to pass the time together, play cards, lament our situation, and talk a bit about what’s most important in life. We had some significant spiritual conversations, and I was again amazed. Here is a crappy situation I find myself in that God turns around and leads me to make some new friends and share what he’s done in my life.

I got back to Belfast Friday morning the 19^th. The good news was Bruce had resurrected my computer without having to wipe all the files. After madly catching up on things for a few hours I crashed for much of the day and tried to catch up in a more pressing way. Saturday morning it was off to Ballantoi for the Charis weekend. Nearly the entire community, from babies to retirees, stayed together at a hostel. Once again I was on the beautiful north coast of Ireland. The whole time was a mix of lots of fellowship and some very good teaching by Anton and Angela Collela from the community in Glasgow. They shared about hope (that seems to come up a lot lately) and dreams. There were several relational and spiritual pinnacles, but my personal nadir had to be attempting to sing a song (I’ve blissfully forgotten which) during Party Karaoke time I thought I knew much better then is actually the case. More could be said, but in order to prevent the length of this entry moving from absurd to completely ridiculous I really should stop. I’ll be getting some pictures from Poland from Wanda so I’ll add those when I get them.