An Englishman in North London

Pining for the fjords

2009-01-28T11:08:00.001Z

Pining for the fjords!? It’s not pining! It’s passed on. This blog is no more. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. It’s a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If it wasn’t nailed to this website it’d be pushing up the daisies. It’s kicked the bucket, it’s shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-blog!

After three years it’s time to draw this to a close. Feel free to keep my RSS feed in your reader on the off-chance that the blog comes back to life in the future. Farewell and thanks for reading...

Letter from Zimbabwe

2008-12-21T22:21:00.002Z

The following letter was posted on the ConservativeHome blog today. Reposted here without permission but I doubt that's too important given the subject matter. At Christmas it's good to remind ourselves that millions of people live in the squalor into which Jesus was born 2000 years ago.

-----

I reckon that these are the last days of TKM and ZPF. The darkest hour is always before dawn.

We are all terrified at what they are going to destroy next........I mean they are actually ploughing down brick and mortar houses and one family with twin boys of 10 had no chance of salvaging anything when 100 riot police came in with AK47's and bulldozers and demolished their beautiful house - 5 bedrooms and pine ceilings - because it was 'too close to the airport', so we are feeling extremely insecure right now.

You know - I am aware that this does not help you sleep at night, but if you do not know - how can you help? Even if you put us in your own mental ring of light and send your guardian angels to be with us - that is a help -but I feel so cut off from you all knowing I cannot tell you what's going on here simply because you will feel uncomfortable. There is no ways we can leave here so that is not an option.

I ask that you all pray for us in the way that you know how, and let me know that you are thinking of us and sending out positive vibes... that's all. You can't just be in denial and pretend/believe it's not going on.

To be frank with you, it's genocide in the making and if you do not believe me, read the Genocide Report by Amnesty International which says we are - IN level 7 - (level 8 is after it's happened and everyone is in denial).

If you don't want me to tell you these things-how bad it is-then it means you have not dealt with your own fear, but it does not help me to think you are turning your back on our situation. We need you, please, to get the news OUT that we are all in a fearfully dangerous situation here. Too many people turn their backs and say - oh well, that's what happens in Africa

This Government has GONE MAD and you need to help us publicize our plight---or how can we be rescued? It's a reality! The petrol queues are a reality, the pall of smoke all around our city is a reality, the thousands of homeless people sleeping outside in 0 Celsius with no food, water, shelter and bedding are a reality. Today a family approached me, brother of the gardener's wife with two small children. Their home was trashed and they will have to sleep outside. We already support 8 adult people and a child on this property, and electricity is going up next month by 250% as is water.

How can I take on another family of 4 -----and yet how can I turn them away to sleep out in the open?

I am not asking you for money or a ticket out of here - I am asking you to FACE the fact that we are in deep and terrible danger and want you please to pass on our news and pictures. So PLEASE don't just press the delete button! Help best in the way that you know how.

Do face the reality of what is going on here and help us SEND OUT THE WORD.. The more people who know about it, the more chance we have of the United Nations coming to our aid. Please don't ignore or deny what's happening. Some would like to be protected from the truth BUT then, if we are eliminated, how would you feel? 'If only we knew how bad it really was we could have helped in some way'.

[I know we chose to stay here and that some feel we deserve what's coming to us]

For now,--- we ourselves have food, shelter, a little fuel and a bit of money for the next meal - but what is going to happen next? Will they start on our houses? All property is going to belong to the State now. I want to send out my Title Deeds to one of you because if they get a hold of those, I can't fight for my rights.

Censorship!----We no longer have SW radio [which told us everything that was happening] because the Government jammed it out of existence
- we don't have any reporters, and no one is allowed to photograph. If we had reporters here, they would have an absolute field day. Even the pro-Government Herald has written that people are shocked, stunned, bewildered and blown mindless by the wanton destruction of many folks homes, which are supposed to be 'illegal' but for which a huge percentage actually do have licenses.

Please! - do have some compassion and HELP by sending out the articles and personal reports so that something can/may be done.

'I am one. I cannot do everything, ---but I can do something.. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do.'

Edward Everett Hale

Please send this on to everyone in your address book. We send jokes out without blinking an eyelid. We don't get told this on the news in South Africa , we only get told what they want us to hear. We all have a chance to do something, even though the something is by pressing forward to as many people as possible. Let's stop talking and let's start doing! There is power in prayer, there is also power in more people knowing about this than you in my address book. This is going to America , Dubai , Australia , France , South Africans all over South Africa , the UK . By forwarding this to all in my address book I have done something. The world needs to know what is going on.

From John Winter in Zimbabwe

Cool Africa

2008-12-07T22:25:00.002Z

Casablanca, Morocco

It's been a great experience to visit Morocco this week. Actually it's been a range of experiences rather than just one - this is a very varied country and it's difficult to get under its skin and see what the culture is truly like. To that end it's been very helpful to visit with two people who live in the country and have more of an idea of how things work.

We had a good taste of African efficiency on Thursday when we came to leave Chefchaouen and get to Fes. It's a 4 hour bus journey, or about 200kms by road. We got to the bus station at 8am to buy tickets, but were told that all the buses were 'complet' (full) so we'd have to try another way. First some 'helpful' bystanders told us to go to Ouezzane, a town on the main road, then get a bus to Fes from there. So we waited an hour for that bus, only to be told that it too was 'complet'. So the next helpful suggestion was to go back to Tetouan, 2 hours the wrong way, to get on a bus to Fes that wouldn't be full. So that's what we had to do. It was a little dispiriting to pass by the Chefchaouen junction on the main road at about 4:30pm, about 7 hours after last seeing it going the other way. Never mind...

We had a good taste of Moroccan culture when we got to Fes. We'd rung ahead and reserved a triple room in the Grand Hotel de Fes for 600dh per night - 15 pounds each. What a bargain! It turned out to be a fantastic bargain. When we arrived at the bus station it was about 9pm. The bus driver took me aside and explained briefly (in French) where we were in relation to the city centre and how to get there. Top marks for helpfulness - this is what Moroccans are like usually. As we were walking to the taxi rank a hotel tout came up to us, started harassing one of the Aussie girls with us and the two Asian guys. Suffice to say he didn't win us over to staying at his hotel.

In the medina we had the ultimate experience of being 'Fezzed'. My optimism and enthusiasm for seeing it lasted about 20 minutes past the first tour guide offer from a 'faux guide' whose job is to take you to his uncle's carpet shop and hard sell you. We ended up at the tannery, where they make leather goods in an 800-year old environment preserved thanks to UNESCO (apparently; I haven't confirmed it yet). Our guide there said to take our time, look around and reassured us that there would be no hard sell. I picked up a satchel to have a look and then spent 30 minutes in battle with first the salesman - who insulted me, swore at me and eventually QUIT HIS JOB - then the general manager who was very charming and persuasive. I was as slippery as I could be and kept dropping my maximum price to what I actually wanted to pay. After a few close calls I finally walked out with the bag I wanted at a price I could deal with. But the experience was so traumatic I don't think I could do it again!

On Saturday we headed back to Casablanca where my friends live and work. It's a big ugly city for the most part, but seems to be the hub of the country economically. We had dinner at Rick's Cafe on Saturday night: not the original, but recreated to resemble the film version. Today we went to church, and I went to visit the Hassan II Mosque, one of the biggest in the world and quite impressive. Not a patch on St Paul's though.

It's been a bit of a whirlwind tour of Morocco, and there's lots I haven't had time to see. Hopefully there'll be time in the future to come back and experience more of the country. But for now I have a flight to catch to Madrid tomorrow afternoon, and then to London in the evening. Travel blog closed once again.

Cold Africa

2008-12-03T21:12:00.003Z

Chefchaouen, Morocco

This is my first holiday paid for from a salary and taken from a finite amount of paid leave (albeit a large finite amount). I'm visiting a friend who works for an NGO in Morocco and is on holiday with me, and another of his co-workers, for this week.

I flew into Gibraltar on Sunday afternoon and stayed there one night. On Monday morning I had just enough time to scoot up to the top of the Rock, see some monkeys, and walk back down. Meanwhile Andrew and Sid had been to Mark's and Spencer... one of the advantages of a British territory in Spain! We took the ferry from Algeciras to Tangier on Monday afternoon, which was a very rough crossing. I had to take a hurried visit to the toilet but felt much better afterwards.

This is my first time in Africa and so far it has been not at all what I expected! Tangier is a city much like ones in southern Spain or Italy: quite well organised but slightly chaotic, full of traffic driving to and from the port, and with a naval feel. We found a cheap hotel to stay in - 100 dirhams per person, which is 10 euros or 7 pounds - which promised hot water but did not deliver. On all other counts it was fine, and on Tuesday morning we shipped out to the bus station and caught the bus up here to the mountains.

Chefchaouen means "look at the peaks!" in Arabic, and that is what we've been doing. It is COLD here, dropping to near freezing at night and peaking at 12 degrees or so in the daytime. Moreover, the Moroccans haven't mastered indoor heating so it is COLD inside as well. Blankets and thermal underwear are a must to sleep! To be fair we are paying only 70 dirhams a night here in our hotel, so I can't really complain.

Today my friend and I attempted to hike up one of the peaks overlooking the town. It's a 1600m mountain, meaning about 800 vertical metres of climb. We set off quite early, but got waylaid when we took a wrong turning and had to clamber up, and then down, some rocks that we thought were the path. After wasting an hour on that we headed up, and after rising above the snowline quickly had to slow our pace. Snow was at first in the bushes, then at the side of the path, then on the path, and it got deeper and deeper until eventually we were slogging through about 6 inches of wet snow in jeans and hiking trainers!

We called it a day at 1400m when two Moroccans told us we were still 2 hours from the peak - this was at 1.30pm, and we thought it unlikely we'd make it up and back without any problems. Coming downhill on the snow was wonderful, much easier than even on a hard path, and we got back to town at 4pm and promptly crashed out for a couple of hours. Unfortunately both my pairs of shoes and my only pair of trousers are now wet, and the hostel is too cold for them to dry out! So tomorrow we're off to Fes and will be staying somewhere more expensive but warmer, which seems like a good compromise.

After 2 days in Fes we're off to Casablanca where my friends work, and I fly home on Monday. It's a quick trip (already halfway done) but I'm really enjoying Morocco so far, and seeing it with people who know their way around is very valuable. We've bumped into the backpacker circuit here, and it's reminded me what a bizarre existence it is to be a 'traveller' - always seeing new places but only ever experiencing your own culture, with other people who are exactly like you. Not quite as eye-opening as some people will tell you...

Trouble brewing

2008-11-28T14:00:00.003Z

Seven years ago on 9/11, spin doctor Jo Moore sent an email around her department saying that it was "a good day to bury bad news". Yesterday seems to have been another episode of the same behaviour by the government.

The brutal attacks in Mumbai have rightly captured the public attention and will no doubt continue to do so. Yesterday was also Sir Ian Blair's last day in office as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London. He has been in cahoots with the New Labour government for years, backing them on 42 days and the Jean Charles de Menezes killing in 2005.

Yet we are supposed to believe that the government knew nothing of the arrest of an MP - a member of the Shadow Cabinet - until after it happened? An arrest that involved nine anti-terrorist police officers and resulted in Damian Green's offices being searched and him being held for nine hours? An operation that Boris Johnson and David Cameron were informed of but powerless to prevent?

Ian Blair, Jacqui Smith and Gordon Brown are all complicit in this, and it stinks. Damian Green was acting in the public interest by exposing dangerous flaws in government policy, such as the number of illegal immigrants being allowed to work without security clearance in airports and Parliament. For them to have him arrested is a desecration of our democracy and I dearly hope that this is the beginning of the end for the lot of them.

24

2008-11-23T22:07:00.003Z

Another year, another birthday. Tomorrow I will definitely be in my mid-20s (!) which seems quite old compared to where I've come from. (I suppose it also seems quite young compared to where I'm going.) It's a good chance to reflect on the year that's passed, and also for more years in the past. Here are one or two things that have happened in each of the last 9 years.

15: became a Christian
16: passed GCSEs, got baptised
17: passed driving test, started final year of school
18: passed A Levels, started gap year
19: travelled the world for 4 months, started university
20: finished first year of university, fell in love
21: lived in Canada for a few months, started final year of uni
22: graduated, moved to London
23: got a Master's degree, started my first job
24: ?

Note the upward trend and slightly worrying lack of failure or suffering in that list. Behind it is God's grace and faithfulness: saving me, teaching me about trust, prayer, faith, grace, godliness, evangelism, maturity, leadership, discipleship and teaching. I am thankful for the past year and pray that the next may bring more of the same - spiritual growth, that is. As for worldly success, I could take it or leave it.

I do have one or two things in mind for the near future though... :)

American geopolitics

2008-11-21T10:57:00.004Z

Given that over a fifth of 18-24 year old Americans are unable to locate the Pacific Ocean on a map, and that only a third of Americans are taught geography in school (!!!) it's easy to question the geographic literacy in Washington. After the complete cock-up of the Iraq war I had been wondering if anyone in the US was aware of the importance of place, culture and nation vs. state. A "political map" of the world in which countries are neatly delineated doesn't reflect the reality of life in a lot of countries: look at this map of Somalia for instance, where the 'government' controls less than 1/3 of the country.

All is not lost! The National Intelligence Council has published a comprehensive, detailed and nuanced document analysing geographic trends to the year 2025. I've been dipping into it this morning and am pleased to note an acknowledgement of the differences between Sunni and Shi'a populations in Iraq, the potential conflict between North and South in India (driven by religion and culture) and the emergence of an Islamic discourse in European politics. Well, I'm not happy to read about that but it's good that it hasn't escaped people's attention anyway.

Change has come

2008-11-06T17:05:00.002Z

I stayed up to watch the election results on Tuesday night, but I couldn't take Wednesday off work so went to bed at 2:30, after most of the states' votes had started coming in. So I missed the concession of McCain and the acceptance of Obama.

Watching Obama's speech does make you appreciate the qualities of oration and presentation he has. I can't imagine a book of "Obamaisms" being published any time soon! He has echoes of JFK in his vision of America, and I almost expected him to say "ask not what this country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country".

All that remains is to see whether he can actually provide any change. Hopefully he is not Tony Blair in disguise.

How to lie with statistics

2008-10-30T14:36:00.000Z

Heart in mouth

2008-10-20T15:45:00.003+01:00

The report about a Christian aid worker being shot dead in Kabul was very sad news, and a sobering reminder about the real crises in the world which are unconnected to the 'credit crunch' (or recession, as we should really call it). It should drive us to prayer for the family of Gayle Williams, and for the country of Afghanistan which is slipping back into the hands of the Taliban, despite the military and political intervention of the West.

My heart was in my mouth for a while this morning between the initial story being published and Gayle's name being put on the story. A friend from university has just moved to Kabul to work for a similar organisation. She is the least likely person you'd imagine to do such tough missionary work but is committed to serving God wherever that means - even in Afghanistan. She is fine, but it's time to start praying for her...

Equality and inclusion

2008-10-03T15:43:00.004+01:00

I went on a full-day course yesterday called "Valuing People through Fairness and Inclusion", which every employee here goes to. Other than an interesting use of 140,000 taxpayer-funded man-hours, it was a good insight into the world of 'personal correctness' (political correctness is very passé).

In the course of the day we looked at a number of case-studies of non-inclusive behaviour, and were asked how we would deal with each. This one caused a particular stir! It was a real event, but obviously names have been changed...

James is an employee who often covers the customer services desk, reception and
telephones. He is a devout Christian and reads from the Bible during quiet times. He often engages staff in discussions about biblical texts.

James has a very fixed and disapproving view of homosexuality and regularly quotes from the bible the passages to demonstrate that such activity is against the
will of God.

There are several gay men on the team and they have learned to avoid such discussions with James. One of the team has suggested to him that he finds these discussions unwelcome and is concerned at the impact on any client who might overhear. He has asked James to stop.

James has said that though he doesn't wish to cause offence at work he cannot deny the will and guidance of God.

I found myself agreeing with both the employee's colleagues, and my colleagues on this course. I am on the lookout for chances to share the gospel at work; but giving the impression to gay people that they are worse sinners than the rest of us is not a great way to go about it. Our witness should be characterised by flawless conduct, love and genuine concern and friendship. That's the way to win an audience.

Time machine

2008-10-01T10:53:00.004+01:00

It's Google's 10th birthday this month. Who remembers searching the internet using Yahoo! and Altavista before Google became hegemonic?

Google have found a complete web index from January 2001 and you can search it here. Stare down the telescope of history and read this webpage on Al Qaeda, which was written in a very different age.

And finally...

2008-09-29T20:31:00.003+01:00

In the midst of the economic crisis, catastrophes on a local scale are being reported daily. This story is certainly one of them.

A Tyneside pub has called time on one of its regular visitors after the premises were refurbished.
Peggy, a 12-year-old mare, used to enjoy a pint of beer and a packet of crisps alongside her owner at the Alexandra Hotel in Jarrow.
However, she is no longer allowed to prop up the bar following a refit which included new carpets.
The horse still accompanies her owner, Peter Dolan, on his trip to the pub but has to stay tethered outside.
Landlady Jackie Gray said: "Although she is probably cleaner than some of my customers, I had to put my foot down and show her the door."
Mr Dolan, a 62-year-old retired oil rigger, said: "People come into the pub and the first thing they say is 'Where's Peggy?'
"I tell them she's kicked the habit and is teetotal now."

Pop

2008-09-17T16:36:00.003+01:00

Another day, another bank going bust. The bubble has well and truly burst, hasn't it? I don't pretend to be an economist but I'm amazed that so many people have been living - even working in the financial industry - and not preparing for the inevitable. The Lehman employees who kept their entire wealth in Lehman shares, and have now lost millions, are a classic example. What went wrong? We seem to have massively over-extended ourselves as a (global) society; nothing shows this more than the ridiculous over-valuing of housing in London.

One prediction I read yesterday said that average house prices might fall by 50% in this recession. Ouch! But from a personal point of view... it would be nice if houses were priced at 3-4x salary rather than the current 10x.

End of an era

2008-09-07T22:25:00.004+01:00

London

This is the last blog post I will ever write as a student! Tomorrow morning I start work for TfL as a transport planner on their graduate scheme. It will be a big change, and one that I haven't really come to terms with yet. I'm actually starting my career - this could be the direction I take for the next 40 years, so it's not an insignificant occasion! It's also one that's been a while in the making; I left school 5 years ago and actually still have one last fling of education before wrapping up my Master's: to edit, print and hand in my dissertation.

Once that's done then it really is onwards and upwards, and I need to avoid the mistake of looking back on my life as a student and thinking that the best has already gone. I'm convinced that greater things are still to come... whether that's as a transport planner or perhaps in a more directly 'Christian' occupation; in London or somewhere further afield.

This has all come quite suddenly, not least because I was away on holiday until Thursday night. 2 weeks in France was a welcome break and if I'm honest it was nice to go abroad without a Christian agenda for a change! Photos here, or more on facebook.

I'd better get an early night. Wish me luck/pray for me...

Token blog post

2008-08-27T16:59:00.004+01:00

Chatel, France

My predictions for the Olympics were about as wrong as they could be. Not only was there no disaster (pollution, protests, Tibet, terrorism etc.) but it all passed off very smoothly indeed. I suppose with the number of volunteers and soldiers around you'd expect nothing less, but it was an impressive spectacle nonetheless. GB's haul of 19 gold medals helped, of course, and may have masked any protests that did take place. The media are usually quick to jump on bad news, but maybe our gold-tinted specacles covered that up?

Anyway. On holiday in France at the moment, staying in the very beautiful and sunny Alps (pictured here with a very large fork in Vevey). I don't get back to England until the 4th September, then I start work on the 8th. A real job! How about that.

The day before, the 7th, I'm due to speak at All Souls' 8am service on the Passover from Exodus 12. As a lead-in to taking communion it's a perfect passage. I think I understand the thrust of the passage well enough, but one question is nagging me. Why was the passover lamb roasted, not boiled like other sacrifices once the Law had been given? I doubt this is the crux of the chapter somehow but it would be good to know. Answers on a postcard...

Georgia

2008-08-11T23:06:00.005+01:00

The war between Russia and Georgia is very worrying. It's tempting to write it off as a spat between two countries far away that have no bearing on us. But that would be wrong.

Georgia is one of the most pro-Western of the ex-Soviet states. It has a democratic government, has troops in Iraq, wants to join NATO and sees itself as European, rather than Russian. On the 8th, they moved troops into South Ossetia, a breakaway province that was autonomous under the Soviet Union but made part of Georgia in 1991. Presumably Georgia chose the 8th because they wanted to do it quietly while everyone was watching the Olympics. The South Ossetians want independence and reunification with their brothers in North Ossetia - part of Russia - but Georgia wants them to be part of Georgia.

Why does it matter? When it first kicked off over the weekend it would be easy to say "it doesn't". What's a couple of air-raids between friends? Since then, Russia has air-striked Georgian military facilities and civilian areas, sunk a ship in the Black Sea, landed troops on Georgian soil and reconquered South Ossetia. Obviously, the Georgian military doesn't stand a chance, which is why they've requested help from the West.

The Russians say they're defending Russian citizens in South Ossetia. The Georgians say they were fighting terrorism in South Ossetia. Who's right? Probably both of them, but at this stage that's immaterial.

Will any help come? It should. 1% of the world's oil passes through a pipeline in Georgia (the one featured in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, incidentally). More pressingly, our response to Georgia's request belies our attitude to the whole region. If Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan are thinking about realigning themselves to the west and away from Russia then they'll have to think long and hard about it, if they'll be fighting Russia alone. You shouldn't provoke a bear unless you have either a weapon or a getaway vehicle.

Olympic fun

2008-08-08T22:25:00.003+01:00

Well, the Chinese certainly know how to put on a show don't they? 5 or 6 major performances, each with more than 1000 people in and perfectly choreographed. The opening ceremony was absolutely phenomenal. Watching the athletes parade in was fun... for a while. The vexillologist* in me enjoyed working out which country was which before they were announced. I can't imagine it was fun for the first countries to stand around for 2 hours while the rest came in!

The bar has certainly been set high for London in 2012. Somehow I don't think we'll be employing 10,000 people for 2 years just for the opening ceremony. The transformation of the city also seems very impressive: Beijing has spent £20bn on the Games; we're planning on £9bn with rather more modest redevelopment, but hopefully better legacy after the Games are over.

One piece of Olympic trivia for you: Great Britain is the only country to have won a gold medal at every Summer Olympic Games, since their reformation in 1896.

* Today's word of the day on iGoogle. It means a studier of flags!

Today's video

2008-08-01T15:47:00.003+01:00

This song has been written and recorded by a couple of friends from my home church. It's packed with great doctrine and has a very singable melody.

Son of God, you left your royal throne,
Where angel voices named you Lord of all
In Bethlehem's bleak stable you were born,
The King of Kings, a baby frail and small.

Son of God rejected by the world
Derided as a madman or a fraud
By those who should have bowed the knee before
The King of Kings, the Sovereign Lord of Lords

Son of God, impaled upon a cross,
In agony I see my Saviour bleed,
Your arms outstretched, ironic thorns your crown,
The King of Kings, your last breath breathed for me

Son of God, within a borrowed tomb,
The slaughtered Prince of Peace in silence lies,
But night could never hold the Morning Star,
The King of Kings, in victory you arise.

Son of God, in splendour you'll return,
Angelic voice cries 'Jesus, Lord of all!'
The skies aflame with Heaven's glorious praise,
The King of Kings, before your throne I'll fall.

Pethick/Widgery 2008

Quantum of Solace

2008-07-31T20:00:00.003+01:00

The next James Bond film comes out in 3 months, and its trailer was released while I was away. It looks fantastic!

Home at last

2008-07-25T15:34:00.006+01:00

London

(Internet access where I was in Russia was very sparse, which is why this post is appearing now. Sorry for any delay.)

The last fortnight has been an incredible experience. The last post came from Moscow when I'd just arrived. The next morning I navigated my way through the Metro again to meet our guide and link, Dima, at Kazan station. He'd travelled 36 hours from Chelyabinsk on the train. Together we then met up with the rest of the Wetfoot team at Sheremetyevo airport outside the city, who were all rather dazed and confused following a night at Heathrow and then 5 hours' flying.

After the world's slowest bus journey (2 hours for about 5 miles) we all made it back to Kazan station in time to catch our 36 hour train to Chelyabinsk. For Dima it was all a bit déja-vu but he took it all in his stride.

The train journey was a good time. I'd done longer journeys in the past, but the Russian trains add a bit of character to any trip, especially in platzkart (3rd class). 54 people slept in each carriage, on open bunks with no compartment walls. There was nothing approaching air-conditioning to take the edge off the 30º heat, but at least there were no chickens running down the corridor, as some had predicted...

What was most interesting was looking out of the window and seeing how incredibly empty Russia is. Even in the western provinces, which are more populated, there were huge tracts of land lying fallow, with the occasional village or road breaking the monotony. A lot of the farming that was going on seemed to be more subsistence than industrial, and many of the buildings were little more than shacks. A few times, the train stopped for 10 minutes, which allowed us to get out and breathe some fresh air for a while. We passed through Samara in a thunderstorm and drenched ourselves with rain to cool off.

Eventually we arrived in the city of Chelyabinsk, and everyone was more than happy to get off the train! After a shower and a rest in Dima's and another's flats, we boarded a bus out to our campsite, 2 hours north of the city. The Friday afternoon rush hour and hot weather meant Ladas were breaking down every 100m, which only made the congestion worse.

The campsite is being used all summer by various camps. We arrived at the tail end of a church camp, attended by 7 different churches around Chelyabinsk. Given the fractured state of the church in Russia it's a big deal to get so many people together - even on holiday. Some of the people there stayed on for our camp as cooks or helpers.

The site is simply stunning in its beauty. It's right by a lake with warm water to swim in, and it's mostly shaded by trees so it doesn't get too hot during the day. Staying there for 9 days was a blessing in itself. The beauty was mitigated by a few little niggles:

poisonous snakes have been spotted in the long grass around the campsite
the toilet facilities are located in the long grass around the campsite
the snakes like to swim in the lake
other snakes swim underwater in the lake
each of us had our own personal swarm of mosquitoes which thinks DEET tastes like ketchup (I was bitten 50 times on the first day... then wised up)
a bout of food poisoning struck 10 of the 12 on our team
one member of our team, Alex from Korea/Uzbekistan, was bitten by an underwater snake, struck by food poisoning and hit with allergies all at once, which left him unconscious and struggling to breathe. Fortunately a day in the local hospital sorted him out, but for a while we were not at all sure he'd pull through.

Last but not least...

the site is on the edge of the "medium-contamination" zone from some of the 7 nuclear accidents in nearby Mayak, and is 10km from a lake that was used as a nuclear waste dump for decades, before being concreted over. We were there for 1 week, so aren't in danger.

The camp was open to university students from the whole province. Dima and the team from CCX invited 2500 to come; of whom 75 expressed an interest. Of these 75, only 8 actually came, all of whom were girls. So it was quite disappointing for the Russian team and us to have such a low attendance. Conversely, it meant we had more time to spend with those who did come, as well as with the Russian team and ourselves. CCX are working in a really tough field: evangelism in Russia is difficult and slow, as the culture continues to change out of the Soviet era and aftermath.

The theme of the camp was Lord of the Rings, which affected the discussions, games, evening activities and dramas. In the UK it would have been a flop, but the Russians take these things very seriously (as we discovered to our cost when we prepared farcical dramas while they were completely straight-faced) so the camp worked well.

Each day we started with breakfast at 10 (great decision) followed by a discussion of spiritual themes seen in LotR, such as mortality, relationships, sacrifice or evil. After some free time we had lunch at 2, followed by more free time until 5, when the camp's small groups met (and we had our team devotions). After supper at 7, we had evening games which often took the form of wide games or quests, then a campfire at sunset (the sun sets after 10pm) where we were responsible for leading some seminars or giving testimonies. Rinse and repeat for a week and you have a camp!

We had some great input with our evening seminars and were able to preach the gospel clearly and show how it affects everyone's lives. I had the opportunity to speak on the incarnation of God, which was a good reminder of the importance of Jesus' human nature.

The other task we had was more informal: building relationships and having conversations. This was more difficult, especially for those of us who aren't girls and don't speak Russian! Nevertheless, quite a few significant conversations took place and several of our team members really connected with a student or two. A disappointment for me was that I didn't connect in that way, which limited my impact at the camp. As a team, our devotions and prayer meetings were a real encouragement, and the friendships we built there are a significant part of the trip's success.

The camp finished on Sunday, and although I was sorry to leave the natural beauty and lake-swimming behind, it was good to have an opportunity to see the city of Chelyabinsk. We stayed in Dima's and Lyosha's typically Russian 2-room flats again and explored the city with the team and the students on Monday, as a final opportunity to speak with them.

The city is one of the largest in Russia (1 million+) but to be honest has little to recommend it. The air pollution and dust is pretty bad, there's a lot of poverty still around (especially out of the centre) and it feels quite isolated, being 1000 miles east of Moscow. Some of the older buildings in the centre give the place some character though, and the statues of Lenin still standing are a bit retro chic. We saw the city best from the rusty Ferris wheel in the main city park, and had a couple of nice meals in restaurants in the centre. Late on our last evening in Chelyabinsk, Dima took us ice-skating in an enormous and deserted ice rink.

On Tuesday morning we piled into a minibus with bags up to our shoulders to get to the airport. Chelyabinsk airport is not exactly an international hub, and the Aeroflot flight to Moscow was just as expected. At least it didn't crash.

That concluded our official ministry on the trip. All that remained were two days in the Russian capital to wind down, sightsee and say goodbye. As I said in my last post, it's an impressive city with a lot of impressive sights. Standing in Red Square, shopping in GUM, exploring the Kremlin and St Basil's Cathedral (a house of God in the home of communism?) and seeing the incredible wealth that's been concentrated in the city. There are more limos than Ladas in Moscow - and not Zils carrying Party officials either. The famous Metro really does have chandeliers in its stations, and it's only 19 rubles per trip (£0.40).

The prices of many things in the city are eye-watering: on our last night, we met with one of Alex's friends who showed us a traditional Russian restaurant. We shared a bottle of vodka (when in Rome...) and the bottle came to a cool 3000 rubles - £60! Compared to the rest of Russia it's a completely different league, and even London seems cheap for some things in comparison.

Russia had one last sting in its tail yesterday as we flew home. The cheapest flights were with KD Avia through Kaliningrad. Our flight from Moscow arrived 10 minutes late after the pilot botched his approach and had to go around. That left us with only 40 minutes to transfer planes. The enormous queues at immigration didn't fill our hearts with confidence, and when the agent saw my unstamped Russian visa it all kicked off. She spoke no English and my 10 words of Russian weren't helping much.

I tried to explain that because I entered Russia on the train from Belarus there was no stamp, because there's no border control on that frontier. If you work for a corpulent bureaucracy shouldn't you at least know how it works? (OK, I didn't try to explain that). Various people looked at my passport, each expressing the same amazement that I had an unstamped visa. Eventually it was approved, but I ran through the security channel, threw my bag into the x-ray machine and was reunited with our group. The flight was delayed 30 minutes.

So now it's back to London life. I've never enjoyed drinking tap water so much, or being able to understand announcements in train stations. The last 5 weeks have been a very intense period, and transitioning back to life at home will be difficult - especially as my main task is sitting at a computer writing my dissertation. Of course it's all work for God so I have to remember that I'm serving Jesus by crunching numbers in my spreadsheet as much as in camping in Poland or Russia.

If you've read this far then you deserve some kind of reward. I have nothing to offer except a few photos:

Privet

2008-07-08T17:40:00.002+01:00

Moscow

Just checking in quickly. Moscow is a cool city; I've just seen a glimpse of it today since arriving in the afternoon. I'm staying in an amazing hostel near Red Square for one night, then meeting the rest of the Wetfoot team tomorrow afternoon at the airport.

After that it's another 36 hours on the train... thankfully the last for a while! Train travel is fun but there comes a limit even to my enjoyment of it.

Poland update (2)

2008-07-05T22:02:00.003+01:00

Warsaw

It turns out that internet access was sparser at camp than I'd anticipated. I snuck online a few times in the past two weeks, but never for long enough to write anything. Apologies for that...

Since the last post, the young kids stayed around for another 3 days, and then we had a week with teenagers which finished this morning. The first camp finished well, mainly because we were a big enough team to share out the energy needed to give the kids a good time. Our prayer for them is that (1) they saw something of Jesus in our lives and interactions with them, and (2) they'll remember what they learned so that in the future when their English improves, songs like "Jesus loves me, this I know" will make sense.

This time last week, a coachload of teenagers had arrived in the mountains at the hotel where the camps are taking place. Many of them were familiar faces, having been before. Others had heard about the camp through various channels and had come from all over the place. This year we had kids at Camp Arka who live in Warsaw, Bydogoszcz, Denmark and the Netherlands! Some of them were going cross-cultural just to attend camp.

For me, the week was very encouraging. I taught a group of 5 young guys (15-17 years old), all of whom spoke very good English, and all of whom are believers. So after a couple of days I was able to abandon traditional lessons and dive into some Bible study to help them in their Christian walk. Other kids are in need of your prayers, because in the past year or two they've started to slip into rebellion, emulating gang culture and turning away from their parents. The other male native speakers did a great job in starting to mentor them and hopefully it will bear fruit in the months and years to come.

It was fun today to travel up to Warsaw on the train with the 5 kids who live here and came to camp - 2 of whom were in my group and the other 3 sat on the dinner table with David and me. Seeing what the post-camp atmosphere is like for the kids was interesting, and it was great to hear them singing "Mighty to Save" and "Open the Eyes of my Heart" to themselves on the train, which we sang through the week with them.

So now I'm in Warsaw after 12 hours of travelling. I'll be here until Monday afternoon when I board the next train, bound for Moscow.

Poland update (1)

2008-06-25T10:40:00.006+01:00

Szklarska Poręba, Poland

I've now been in Poland for a week, and up here in the mountains since Saturday. Most of the team of native speakers arrived on Wednesday and Thursday so we had some time to meet and orient ourselves before the camps began.

We're staying in actually quite a nice place, which is probably used as a skiing hotel in the winter. The facilities are good and the food is, mercifully, varied and well cooked (not to be taken for granted!). With 60 kids this week we need lots of energy and enthusiasm to keep up with them, and the Polish staff on the camp are doing a good job of keeping them occupied when they're not studying English.

The last time I spent any time with kids was this time last year, so it took me a few days to remember how to relate. I'd also forgotten that kids are really fun! (Some would say that I've found my vocation...)

I'd hoped to preserve my energy right through my time in Poland and into Russia, but as it happened I burned through my initial stock of energy in two days and since then have been reliant on coffee and naps to get through the days.

The schedule seems to change from day to day, but generally we are responsible for two 30 minute English lessons per day, and some craft activities. Last night we put on the traditional British/American cultural evening, although with 12 Americans and 1 of me it was a bit one-sided!

Still to come this week: a carnival night (basically an excuse to give out lots of prizes), treasure hunt, find the leader, and of course the cricket masterclass. The photos here are of a trip to the local waterfall, and the church in the town.

I'll hopefully update again on Saturday. Cześć until then!

Camp Arka 2008

2008-06-20T11:32:00.003+01:00

Wroclaw, Poland

It's time to kick off some summer mission once again. I've come back to Poland to partner with the Christian educational organisation "Arka" in running summer camps for kids and teenagers. As in previous years (this is year 5 for me) I, along with the team of native English speakers, will be teaching conversational English for an hour or two every day of the camps. The aim is to make these lessons not just useful but actually fun, so that they realise the value of learning languages and are motivated to continue their studies the next year.

We haven't come just for English teaching: the aim is to introduce Jesus to the kids through our words, actions and attitudes; which is especially important for the younger kids who won't understand what we say. The challenge is to help them understand that we're not just friendly because we're westerners; we're interested in the kids because Jesus loves them too.

Mission in this context is quite nuanced and contextual, so please pray that we will all have wisdom in our approach, and especially that we won't turn them off through any inadvertent (or deliberate) mistakes.

It's very encouraging, and great fun, to see so many of last year's team of native speakers return. There are about 14 of us here this year, of whom only 5 are new. Unfortunately I am the only British team member in a sea of Americans which brings its own cultural challenges...

Today is an orientation day before we leave for the hills tomorrow. Week 1 is for 7-9s ; week 2 is 13-19s; week 3 (for which I'm not here) is 10-12s. Please pray also for energy and enthusiasm to be maintained throughout the time we're in Poland. Pray also for the Polish staff who have the responsibility of running the camp, and for Rebecca who co-ordinates us as a team of native speakers. We're enormously grateful to God for his provision this year: 176 kids are coming to camp! In a country like Poland that is a huge blessing and one that we definitely don't take for granted.

I should be able to get online fairly frequently during the camps so I will try to give updates on how they're going. For now: peace out.

Battling bureaucracy

2008-06-12T16:03:00.004+01:00

London

On Tuesday evening I'll jump on the Piccadilly Line, and after a few changes of train will end up in Asian Russia. What can I say? It seemed like a good idea at the time... before I learnt about the mountain of faff that needs to be climbed in order to make this journey. Seven trains, each of which I've purchased a separate ticket for. Seven countries, most of which are now in the Schengen zone meaning I don't have to show my passport. The other two - Belarus and Russia - deserve to be shown up for the one-eyed bureaucratic monsters that they are.

I've nothing against buying a visa to enter a country; it so happens that I've never needed to until this year. Russia's system is fairly bizarre: receive an invitation from a Russian organisation, fill in an electronic form on the embassy's website which you then print out, go and queue outside in the rain for an hour and a half, hand over £45, and a week later you have a shiny visa in your passport.

Belarus requires a very similar process. Have a read of their form and feel your life draining away. It's two full pages long and requires a photo, work and home addresses, purpose of visit, information on all previous visits to Belarus, blood type and inside leg measurement. All that, and all I'm doing is sitting on a train for 8 hours passing through the country. At night. Not exactly a borderless society - and at £79 for the "express service" an unmitigated rip-off.

I hate faff.

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Injections

2008-05-23T12:52:00.003+01:00

After locking my bike to a lamppost outside 99 Harley Street, I rang the big brass bell and was immediately let in to the clinic. The receptionist asked me to fill in a health questionnaire while I waited for the doctor and ushered me in to the "waiting room", which wouldn't look out of place in the Times Luxx magazine. Rather than a tatty copy of Hello magazine or yesterday's London Lite, she gave me an artwork catalogue to lean on while I completed the questionnaire.

Where are you travelling to?
Poland
Russia

How long will you be there?
3 weeks
2 weeks

What is the purpose of your trip?
Teaching English
Discipleship and evangelism

What type of travel is it?
Hostel
Camping

The doctor's office was suitably impressive, and she made a few notes while talking about my trip. And then gave me the first of two TicoVac injections to vaccinate me against tick-borne encephalitis, a disease that is as dangerous as it is hard to say. In southern Russia it's all the rage apparently.

The best part about all of this? For some reason this clinic offers the cheapest TBE vaccinations in London - 30% cheaper than my local clinic in Holloway, which has letters hanging off its sign and safety-glass windows. Unless I need botox treatment it's doubtful I'll be back in Harley Street after the second shot of vaccine in 4 weeks, but in mission one has to learn to take the rough with the smooth...

I backed Boris

2008-05-03T14:30:00.003+01:00

Ken out; Boris in. As predicted by YouGov, backed by the Evening Standard (who were pretty ruthless towards Ken) and voted for by 1.1 million Londoners - including me.

What were we thinking? Isn't Boris just a gaffe-prone buffoon with a line in funny TV appearances? The BBC has an interesting bio this morning, and includes this quote from a friend of Boris's:

"The bumbling quiz-show host isn't the real Boris at all. I suspect he's tired of that clownish persona and wants to show us the real Boris - orator, leader, heavyweight thinker. Those qualities are there in his personality; they just don't come across on telly" - journalist friend Lloyd Evans

It is of course true that Boris might mess up. Given that he's a human being it's inevitable; and as a politician the halcyon glow will not last more than a few months. It does feel good to have backed the winning man in an election, and I look forward to London's success being built on the three core values of economic freedom, justice and comedy for all. Go on Boris!

Boris wins!

2008-05-03T00:30:00.001+01:00

Boris Johnson is the Mayor of London.

Let me come back to this in the morning...

Great news

2008-04-30T14:53:00.003+01:00

Bring on the house price crash I say. The average house price in London is £350,000 (11 times the average London salary). Just think: in 3 years or so, I might even be able to get on the housing ladder!

Album review: Come Weary Saints

2008-04-17T18:10:00.005+01:00

Sovereign Grace Music have released their latest album, Come Weary Saints. If you're a Christian who never struggles with trusting God in difficult circumstances or develops your deepest knowledge of God through your prosperous sunshine-and-lollipops life, then (a) this album isn't for you; (b) go and read the Bible some more.

For the rest of us, this is a very welcome addition to the pantheon of worship music available to the church. With some notable exceptions (such as "Jesus, draw me ever nearer" by Keith & Kristyn Getty) most of the new music being written and sung is appealing to the concept that joyful = happy, which is of course only true when you're happy.

The album has some cracking songs on it, from the beautiful opening track "Hide Away in the Love of Jesus" to the retuned and chorused "Oh the Deep, Deep Love" to the haunting "Every Day".

I'm sure this album will be flying up my iTunes' "most played" list from now on. It's one to listen to when things are going well; and when your nine MSc exams are coming up in little over a week and your revision feels turgid and purposeless.

Ahem. The best thing is you can download it right now for only $9 (£4.50!) from the Sovereign Grace Music store. Get it now!

Digesting the Word (Alive)

2008-04-14T23:24:00.001+01:00

It was a real blessing to go to Wales with 4000 others - including 2000 students - to attend the first New Word Alive conference: a conference founded on the truth of penal substitution at the Cross and distancing itself from previous colleagues at Spring Harvest.

It was apparent while we were there that the effect of the "schism" has been a lot greater than simply tightening the theological drawbridge of evangelicalism. You've probably seen the Political Compass, which plots people according to their economic and authoritarian views. It would be possible to do a similar exercise in the church, with Christians plotted according to their theological views and "stylistic" modernity. Spring Harvest's target audience was drawn from across the theological spectrum but from only one end of the style axis; New Word Alive has re-oriented the audience completely by founding itself on doctrine: it accepts people from all over the Church in terms of style, but only those who accept the truth of penal substitution.

The broad church of style was demonstrated by having Soul Survivor along to lead worship in the student celebrations. They did a rocking job, as did Stuart Townend, Phatfish and the Gettys in the other meetings. So it was very accessible, and helpful in demonstrating different ways of doing church which still focus on Jesus.

The highlight for me was definitely hearing John Piper speak on "Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer" over 2 nights. We are to value Christ infinitely and not simply to see him as 'useful' to get us into heaven. Using Romans 8, Piper demonstrated that everyone God called, he justified, and everyone he justified, he will glorify; and that everyone who will be glorified will suffer first. So the question is not "will I suffer?" but "how will I respond to suffering"?

I was given an early opportunity to respond to suffering when I had to spend 17 hours in bed with a stomach virus at the end of the conference. Somehow I doubt that's all God has in store for my future, but tomorrow has enough worries of its own.

John Piper's talks are available to download from the Desiring God website: Part 1 Part 2

Under the weather

2008-04-07T09:41:00.003+01:00

Reading

It was rather weird to wake up yesterday morning to see 3 inches of snow on the ground! Last April we were basking in 25ºC sunshine, today it's closer to 25ºF.

It doesn't bode too well for the next week at Word Alive in west Wales, hardly a region famed for its good weather... but quite frankly with DAC Attack, John Piper and Terry Virgo teaching the Word it doesn't really matter. Keith/Kristyn Getty and the Soul Survivor band ought to take care of the music as well I would think.

Edit: looks like I'm right about the weather. Check the forecast!

Reflections on Israel

2008-03-27T14:47:00.005Z

For about 15 minutes on Tuesday afternoon I wondered whether we'd make it back home at all. Stu and I stood a few metres apart, each being ~~interviewed~~ ~~questioned~~ interrogated by a shaven EL AL security agent who seemed to consider us very much guilty until proven innocent. Where did you stay? How did you get there? What did you do? Do you have a guidebook? Show me where you went in Bethlehem. Did you talk to anyone in Bethlehem? When did you buy the guidebook? But you only booked the flights 3 weeks ago. How are you paying for this trip? Why did you decide to come to Israel? How do you know each other? What does your brother do? Do you know anyone who's been to Israel? What are their names?

After 20 minutes of that, 10 minutes of bag-swabbing and then the check-in queue, we were good and ready to come home.

As the last post may have made clear, Israel is an extraordinary country. If it weren't for the fact that they get attacked quite regularly, the security they - or the Americans, $3bn a year - pay for would be paranoid and ridiculous. You can't enter a bar, shopping centre, museum or bus station without having your bag searched or x-rayed and walking through an x-ray machine. Everyone who does these searches is packing heat - in fact, we saw a young man out for a date with his girlfriend with one arm round her and one round his M16!

Graffiti at Bethlehem

The Palestinians have it rather different, of course. Faced with an 8m high wall through their territory, economic sanctions, limited power and water and even airstrikes, it's perhaps not surprising that they feel aggrieved. In saying this I'm not by any means justifying the jihad posters we saw in Bethlehem. After 6 days I'd hardly consider myself an expert on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but it seems to me that the answer lies in reconciliation, not retribution. Who was that guy who said he was the Prince of Peace...?

Anyway, back to the travelogue. Photos from the trip are here and here.

In the pools at En Gedi

At 6:30 on Easter Day, we joined thousands of other believers at the Garden Tomb to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. That is going to be hard to top until the Second Coming! By 9:00 we'd hired a car for two days and had hit the road to Galilee. We wandered around Capernaum, ate broiled fish in Tiberias, watched the sunset from Mt Tabor and had a drink on Mt Carmel (now part of Haifa). That was one long day, but the next was slightly shorter: hiking around and swimming in the pools of En Gedi, floating in the Dead Sea, and wandering around Herod's fortress at Masada.

On Tuesday we had just enough time to get the bus to Tel Aviv, find the beach and swim in the Mediterranean for an hour or so, before heading to the airport for the ordeal described above.

This has been one of the most interesting trips I've ever taken. Quite apart from the awesome experience of seeing the places where Jesus walked and the Bible was written, experiencing a culture that is a mixture of the Middle East, Western Europe, the USA and the Second Temple Period was a blast. Thankfully not literally.

The Holy Land

2008-03-22T19:31:00.003Z

Jerusalem

Who'd have thought that all those Bible stories actually happened? More than that, who'd have imagined that 2000+ years later, Jerusalem is still here, alive and kicking? Stu and I are living it up over here.

On Thursday we visited the Temple - or what's left of it - and saw Jews with phylacteries praying against the Western Wall. Apparently the Shechina glory never left the place, so it's still "a house of prayer for all the nations". Appropriately, there are still people buying and selling souvenirs in the courtyard as well. We went to Caiaphas' house, where Jesus would have been held on the Thursday night; and where Peter and John would have been imprisoned in Acts 4. On Good Friday we walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Golgotha could have been. We walked across the Kidron Valley to Gethsemane, and climbed the Mount of Olives. And we hopped on a bus to Bethlehem to check out the oldest church in the world. Today we saw the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Israel Museum, which include a complete copy of Isaiah from 100AD. Tomorrow morning we'll be at the Garden Tomb at sunrise to celebrate the resurrection. Wow!

There's more to Israel than history of course. Among the more notable cultural sights, we had a Palestinian boy throw stones at us in East Jerusalem, we almost got shot crossing back from the West Bank to Israel (something that 2m Palestinians aren't allowed to do) and had Orthodox Jews rebuke us for carrying a bag on the Sabbath. (They were walking up the street, but never mind.) And who could forget the Palestinian man on the bus back to Jerusalem who was screaming with pain the whole journey - so much so the bus driver took him straight to hospital.

We've had some great chats as well. A Russian Jew called Sergei who's in the army (everyone is, for 3 years) as a bomb disposal expert told us he had to be ready - with his M16 - every second of the day for an attack. A Palestinian boy in Bethlehem called Ahmed who has to sell postcards to tourists to support his family, while also going to school. Not to mention our friend Nathaniel from All Souls who we ran into twice on Friday - once on the Via Dolorosa and once in a restaurant at night.

I think I've forgotten more than I've put down. The internet access here is too expensive and slow to write more or upload photos so more to come later... meanwhile we hope to rent a car tomorrow and Monday to go to Galilee, the Mount of Transfiguration etc. and down to the Dead Sea. Sweet!

You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs

2008-03-11T11:46:00.002Z

Following the "Double Delia" recipe, we made 3 omelettes from the following ingredients:

6 medium potatoes
2 large onions
2 peppers
8 rashers of bacon
1 block of cheddar cheese
1 small chilli
15 eggs

I don't even like eggs, but in the company of such co-ingredients it was a meal to remember.

Holy sites

2008-03-04T12:53:00.002Z

2008's travel season is set to begin in 2 weeks when a friend, a flatmate and I fly off to Israel for 6 days over Easter! It should be an incredible trip, and I even took the radical step of buying a guidebook to help us. As I read it last night it struck me how bizarre some of the recommendations are.

For Jews, the Western wall (which was part of the foundations of Herod's temple) is a holy site: they started praying there after AD70 because they were afraid of accidentally stepping on the site of the Holy of Holies. Fair enough.

But why is there a long list of sites in Jerusalem and elsewhere, each of which is a "holy place for Christians"? Is that not missing the point ever so slightly...?

1 Peter 2:

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
"The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone,"
and,
"A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall."
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Christians are the holiest sites in Christianity. And that's because we have God's Holy Spirit living inside us, not because we go on a pilgrimage to the "Holy Land" (ahem).

Peace talk

2008-02-22T14:26:00.002Z

I've been thrown in at the deep end and am giving my first ever talk on Sunday morning... at All Souls. Thankfully I'm only speaking for 5 minutes rather than 30 but it's a daunting challenge preparing to speak God's word. The passage I've been given is Romans 5:1-11, which begins "since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Great passage. Hopefully I can do it some sort of justice:

Introduction
• Everyone’s looking for peace, humans are designed for it and struggle without it
• Peace with family, friends, between nations
True peace
• Our greatest need is peace with God
• Because we’re sinful, we’re under his wrath (Ephesians 2:3)
• We can only be at peace if God turns away his wrath from us – v9
Peace with God through Jesus’ death
• Jesus’ death demonstrated God’s great love for us, v8
• Jesus’ death achieved reconciliation for us, v10
• “Therefore since we have been justified… peace with God”, v1
Peace of God through Jesus’ life
• Inner peace and a certain hope for our future, we’re his children
• God loves you and has forgiven you, no matter what you’ve done
• He will upset your plans and your life to change you for good
Rejoicing always
• v3, we rejoice in our sufferings etc.
• We should always be joyful (Philippians 4:4)
• Joyful doesn’t always mean happy
• If God is blessing you, then rejoice
• Perseverance produces Christ-like character, so rejoice in sufferings
Future hope
• v10, how much more shall we be saved!
• More than peace with God because of Jesus’ death, we have peace about our future because of Jesus’ resurrection
• God raised Jesus in glory and power and he’s waiting for us as his people
Conclusion
• God loves us very dearly
• We have peace with God and the peace of God
• We have a certain future

On being evangelised

2008-02-19T13:12:00.003Z

The global Christian missionary movement has begun to turn on its head in the last 20 years. Whereas Britain was the first modern missionary nation (thanks to the 18th century revival, the vision of William Carey et al., and of course our cultural hegemony), we now send many fewer missionaries abroad than some other countries.

This is, I must remember, a Good Thing. The more international mission-sending becomes, the more mission reflects the church, especially her final reality - when we will be gathered from every tribe, language and nation.

The shift also means that the West's missions have been successful, to an extent. Nigeria has the world's largest Christian student community, from a much smaller university population. There are 50 times more Christians in China than in the UK. Of the five countries with the most Christians, none are in Europe - I believe they are China, the USA, Brazil, Nigeria and Korea.

Today, despite the fact that our nation is leading the charge towards post-Christian society where the mass religion is atheism, my national/cultural/religious pride is challenged when, for example, a group of Canadian students spend $thousands and fly across the ocean to help student evangelism here. What's wrong with the CUs' mission weeks? Can we possibly have anything to learn from foreigners!?

The answer is clearly YES. Thanks for your dedication to mission. Thanks for coming over here. Please keep praying for our nation and your own.

Obsolete

2008-02-18T16:35:00.002Z

I bought a new world map for my room on Saturday. 48 hours later, Kosovo has finally declared independence, after 9 years of UN administration. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for them and all... but I wonder how long I can hold out before replacing my map!

Internet addiction

2008-02-11T17:07:00.000Z

UCL computer rooms

Not having an internet connection at home yet makes for one less distraction while I'm there. "Great", I thought. "I'll spend less time online!" I'm coming into university most days to use the internet for an hour or two, which is hardly skimping. Using a public computer also means I can't watch videos, play games... or look at 'unhelpful' websites.

Clearly the internet is a useful medium: it's where I get most of my news, and it's great for keeping in contact with people - especially those I can't easily see or speak to. There are also great resources for Christians on the web that should be promoted, like the new Theology Network (great wallpaper!).

Other sites exist to alleviate boredom. The vacuosity of Facebook really becomes obvious when you log on for the first time in 3 days and see that nothing remotely important has happened.

The truth is that I spend an unhealthy amount of time online, flicking from one site or forum to the next, always with an eye on my inbox: I've turned it from a tool into an idol. Even this blog (not that I spend vast amounts of time writing for it!) has probably outlived its usefulness by about 18 months. I won't be deleting it but perhaps I need to spend more time with real people and be deliberate about spending time online for a defined purpose.

Time to go home and read a book. Or, more likely, play on the Wii!

Moved

2008-02-01T15:48:00.000Z

It's been a pretty busy week what with moving across London and making our "furnished flat" into somewhere to live... highlights include:

spending £400 at IKEA with the inevitable flurry of flat-pack construction that follows
hassling our new landlord to replace beds that are just a pile of springs inside a cover
persuading BT that we do indeed have a phone line (which we're calling them on) and no, we don't want to pay £125 to "activate" it.

Nevertheless, there's light at the end of the tunnel! The TV/Wii combo is set up, and once we get Sky installed it'll be le bachelor pad par excellence.

I changed the name of the blog (again) in honour of its new location.

Plus ça change

2008-01-25T13:43:00.000Z

As of tomorrow I will be an Englishman in N7, living with two other English guys from All Souls and setting up an awesome flat: the TV's been ordered, the hi-fi is ready to go, the living room is big enough to have people round and we're 5 minutes from the Tube. I'm pretty excited! Should probably start packing at some point today...

A reading chronicle

2008-01-22T20:17:00.000Z

I started reading the Bible straight through on December 1, and as of today have read 353 chapters, 30% of the total, at a mean rate of 6.7 chapters per day (yes, I made a spreadsheet to keep track of my Bible reading). I'm finding it a very helpful exercise, for several reasons:

By reading from start to finish, the overarching narrative of the Bible is more clear - God is good and glorious and always accomplishes His will; humans' obedience is fleeting at best; there is a real groaning for ultimate salvation that doesn't depend on human achievements.
There are still portions of Scripture I know I've never read, and probably lots more I've missed - reading the whole Bible means that I know I will have read all of God's word at least once (is this legalistic?).
Keeping up a good pace means that I don't get bogged down - obviously this means I'm not doing in-depth study, but for a temporary period it seems to work.

If you do the addition you'll see that I'm currently in 1 Chronicles. To be honest, I've struggled to see the purpose of this book and its sequel. Having read through the Books of Moses and the history of Israel from Johsua to Zedekiah it seems incredible that there should be two books of mostly repetition, especially given the cost of publishing in the Iron Age.

A reliable commentary says that Chronicles was probably written by the same man who wrote Ezra and Nehemiah, aptly known as "the Chronicler". Obviously they date from later than Samuel & Kings, because the historical narrative goes further. If he wrote Chronicles at the end of the exile, there would have been much wooping and cheering by the rivers of Babylon as the remnant returned home. This must be the explanation for the TEN CHAPTERS of genealogy at the start of the book... they really knew how to have fun back then eh!

(Yes, genealogy for the Jews was crucial to their culture, history, politics, religion, geography, anthropology and faith. In all honesty though it's not the most inspiring portion of the Bible.)

False economy

2008-01-19T19:24:00.000Z

Two of my flatmates are on a trip to Brussels this weekend. Unfortunately they didn't ask me (or anyone) what would be the best way of travelling there, which meant they left the flat at 3am today to catch a taxi to Baker St, where they'd take a bus to "London" Stansted Airport, over an hour away. After getting there, standing in the security queue and eventually catching a flight of less than an hour, they will have arrived at "Brussels" Charleroi Airport, which is just as far from Brussels as Stansted is from London. Check the map below to see what I mean.

The alternative? Take the Tube to St Pancras station, arrive 30 minutes before the Eurostar's scheduled departure, grab a coffee and enjoy the scenery on the journey, which takes less than 2h and gets you to central Brussels. Once you take into account all the buses, I bet it would work out cheaper as well. Oops!

As of next week, I'll be living literally 10 minutes from St Pancras (and with new flatmates), which will make decisions like this even more of a no-brainer.

View Larger Map

Eyewitness accounts

2008-01-17T22:40:00.001Z

The crash landing at Heathrow airport today was a field day for journalists. BBC News 24 cleared its schedules for over 2 hours to talk about the incident; and the event was even sweeter for them because (a) nobody was killed, so there are no awkward arguments about morbid intrusion, (b) it emerged that British grit and stiff-upper-lip prevailed and resulted in the efficient evacuation of the plane.

What I thought was most interesting was the selection of eyewitness accounts that emerged. Some passengers phoned up the BBC, others were interviewed later, and a page of their descriptions is on the BBC website, here. There is considerable variation in the reports: some say the plane landed on the tarmac, others that it swerved 90 degrees, some that the pilot was clearly struggling, others that it all happened suddenly. Yet despite this variation, the storyline is clear. Everyone is agreed that a plane made a crash landing on Runway 27L at Heathrow and that nobody was seriously hurt. The different angles actually add to the story, especially those inside and outside the plane.

It is reminiscent of another set of eyewitness accounts about a surprising and unexpected event in history, isn't it?

The power of the atom

2008-01-10T12:39:00.000Z

The UK government has given the "go-ahead" for a new generation of nuclear power plants in Britain. Given that our electricity currently comes from a mix of North Sea oil/gas, oil/gas from Russia and the Middle East, and a number of hamsters running around in wheels connected to 9V batteries, the decision is a good one.

It's especially important given that the North Sea oil is about 95% used up and all of our current nuclear plants will have to shut over the next 30 years. Until nuclear fusion is developed to more than an option in Sim City, we're going to need a reliable, cheap and low-carbon option for a lot of our power. Wind and solar power are fine for micro-generation and supplements, but what happens when it's cloudy and raining? (It does happen occasionally.) Tidal power has potential - and it's certainly reliable - but only for 10% of our power at the most. Or we could reopen the coal mines and get burning, but that's not exactly the most sustainable choice.

You might have noted the inverted commas around "go-ahead" above. The government is excellent at "approving" major projects (Crossrail springs to mind) but doesn't have such a glowing record at actually getting stuff built. The government paper can be downloaded here. Let's hope we see some nuclear power plants online before the brownouts begin.

Vote Boris

2008-01-07T18:22:00.000Z

Ken Livingstone has done a good job as London mayor - but Boris Johnson will do a much better job. In a traditional political ranking (appearances on Have I Got News For You), Boris beats Ken 7-0. What a result!

Catching up

2008-01-04T11:08:00.001Z

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I had my Google account hijacked in mid-December which meant I couldn't access Gmail, Blogger or indeed any of the things I'd just written about. Not sure if that was irony or just providence; but in any case Google gave me back the keys this morning. Normal service has been resumed... ie. a post every two weeks or something equally lame.

Surveillance

2007-12-14T11:17:00.000Z

Apparently the average Londoner is captured around 300 times a day on CCTV. I don't think my figure would be that high, since (a) I don't work in the City, and (b) I don't use public transport very much. It's still quite an interesting statistic though, and thinking about organisations knowing who I am, what I look like and where I live is a bit worrying.

But really, anyone who wants to know about me should go to Google. Since September 2005 I have made 1,615 Google searches which have been tracked to my account. This doesn't include the searches I've made using other people's computers, at uni, internet cafés, hostels, and so on. I have 4,590 Gmails in my inbox, which Google have indexed and provide relevant advertising next to. Why delete emails when you have 5GB of storage? Picasa (Google's photo application) has 13,500 travel photos taken by me all over the world. Not to mention the raft of personal information you could harvest on facebook!

For the moment I'm not too worried about all this, but it could be a very real problem in the future if I need to go somewhere 'under the radar'. Governments, organisations or even people I've never met could quite easily find out a lot about who I am without my knowing.

Ironically, I have chosen to voice my concern on my Google-hosted blog, which will be indexed and searchable for decades to come.

Rejoicing

2007-12-06T22:12:00.000Z

The past week has been one of those fantastic ones where everything seemingly goes well. After a stressful interview for a graduate scheme last Wednesday, I suddenly had plenty of free time, and started to up my daily Bible reading, starting in Genesis 1 and aiming to finish Revelation in something like 6 months. I got through Genesis in 6 days (how ironic) and am ready to hit Exodus tomorrow morning. The word seems vibrant, living and powerful, and praying is a joy - praise God!

One stress leading up to my interview was not being able to find my A-Level certificates, which could have thrown a spanner in the application process. Thankfully the recruiters were happy to see them at some point later, and I was getting resigned to paying £106 for replacements.

Yesterday I'd booked a dentist appointment back in Reading (for which I'd paid £225), so headed back on the train and turned up. After an x-ray and a poke around, he said that I didn't need the root canal after all! Walking back from there, I thought that this was one of those situations where I see options A and B (finding my certificates or paying for new ones) but God plans option Q - returning £225 so I could afford the £106 for replacements. I got home and started filling in the forms to send off, and then thought I'd just check with my old school. There was, I thought, no reason for the school to have them... but they did! So in the space of a few hours I recouped £331. It's almost enough to believe in the prosperity gospel...

Well, not really. Then I had a call from a recruitment agency, asking me what I was planning to do after I finish my course next year. He said that I would have a multitude of options for jobs across the country and indeed abroad. Reassuring stuff for a geography graduate...

And then today, over a week after the interview, I had an email saying I'm through to the last stage of recruitment! Rejoice.

More new translation

2007-12-03T10:56:00.000Z

Here's another exclusive preview of the upcoming PHV; this section is the rendering of Acts 2.

"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

When the people heard this, they were largely unmoved, and said "Brothers, it's great that you feel so strongly about your faith - we really respect that aspect of your character."

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."

At this, the people were struck with apathy, and muttered "well, it's a little awkward to be preaching like that. We're pretty happy with how Roman religion is panning out, to tell the truth. Imposing your religion on us is not going to happen."

With many other words Peter warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who were interested in his message filled out response cards, and three signed up for an Alpha course.

23

2007-11-24T23:34:00.000Z

Another year closer to Jesus! To help me on my way I received an iPod which will play Mark Driscoll's sermon videos (mp3s are so 2004) and 80GB more; and a wee little book of uncommon prayer. Not to mention good times with family and friends.

Announcing a new Bible translation

2007-11-23T15:23:00.000Z

The PHV* takes some of Scripture's most clichéd evangelical passages and re-renders them in a form more suitable to today's post-Christian age. An exclusive preview is presented below, with more to follow.

John 1:29ff:

The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" Jesus, hearing these words, replied, "Sorry, what? I think you must have me confused with someone else."

Slightly nonplussed, John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One." Jesus said, "Be that as it may (although I'm not convinced) I just have some relevant life experiences to share. I wouldn't like to claim any sort of exclusivity for my beliefs, but wouldn't it be nice if we could all learn to love each other a bit more?"

* Profoundly Heretical Version

Top Gear Motorhome Racing

2007-11-19T21:52:00.001Z

This week's classic video!

Re:cycling

2007-11-19T20:35:00.000Z

London

When I moved here last month, I found the Tube to be a good method of getting around. Sure, it was pretty expensive (£2 single journey during the day, into Zone 1) but it was fast, there were plenty of used freepapers to read and the opportunity to see someone really strange. The main downside was (and is) that my flat is 10 minutes' walk from the nearest station. Even given this, I thought that 35 minutes to All Souls and 45 minutes to UCL was pretty reasonable. Imagine my surprise when my trusty Dawes 500 (which I bought for £35 after my last bike was stolen) beat the Central Line every time!

All seemed ideal - saving time and money, and getting fit to boot, with only the 20x greater fatality rate than car drivers to worry about. I had also started to notice that I spend about £3 a day more on food when I cycle, just to recover the energy I spent getting to uni... but there's no such thing as a free lunch after all. Today, however, after cycling for 30 minutes in pouring rain through central London (it started raining just after I set off) I had the inestimable joy of spending 7 hours in an underground, air-conditioned lecture theatre, giving my clothes that still-damp feel as I cycled home again in the drizzle. Hmm... at least the Tube is undercover!

Here's a video I made with some friends the other week.*

* This is a lie.

Lifehouse's Everything

2007-11-14T13:23:00.001Z

This video is fantastic.

Template

2007-10-31T16:51:00.001Z

I couldn't stand that pink stripe either. Begone!

Effecting change through reformation

2007-10-31T15:13:00.000Z

Today is Reformation Day, when in 1517 Martin Luther pinned his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. Countering the Roman Catholic hegemony of justification by works, Luther had rediscovered the glorious truth of grace and faith, as found in Romans 1:

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last"

For the emerging protestants, this was great news! Salvation is not in our hands, and even if it was we would be totally unable to grasp it because of our sinfulness. God took all the necessary steps to reconcile us to him through Jesus Christ.

The good news doesn't spread itself, yet its message is universal (Acts 4:12, John 1:4). The new technology of the printing press found a use in disseminating the Scriptures, as well as Luther's theses. Faithful Christians like Wycliffe translated the Bible into their own languages and suffered persecution and even death because of their work.

Some 250 years later, the western missionary movement kicked off with William Carey producing a convincing geography of the world's population, showing that the vast majority of people had never heard the name of Jesus. He himself dedicated his life to mission in India, and thousands more have followed his path since then.

This summer I came across a huge organisation that I'd never heard of before: Gospel for Asia. They argue that the most effective missionaries are intra-cultural not cross-cultural - although of course foreign missionaries must be sent if there is no indigenous church in a culture. They support thousands of native missionaries who between them plant 10 churches every day. Furthermore, because of the economics of the globalised society, it is hugely cheaper to support a native missionary than a western counterpart. A monthly donation of £20/$30 - which is what most of us spend on coffee or our mobile phone - covers around 30% of the total cost of a missionary family in India, Laos, Bangladesh, China, Thailand or other Asian nations with millions of unreached souls. The truth of the gospel, rediscovered nearly 500 years ago in Europe, has yet to reach nearly half the world's population. Let's get serious and get it sorted!

Moved in

2007-10-19T13:08:00.000+01:00

London

I'm now posting, as promised, from my flat in west London. This being London, I am the only English person in our flat of 5 - there are two Australian girls and two French guys sharing the flat as well. Better not talk too much about the Rugby World Cup..! The internationality of the city makes me as an Englishman feel out of place - hence the new name of this blog.

I love London so far. It sucks you in and makes everywhere outside the M25 seem incredibly provincial and the buzz and the constant noise and activity just runs on and on - like this sentence, in fact. In honour of this move (and because the old one was broken) I've refreshed the blog template. I have to say I didn't know that pink stripe doesn't scroll out of the way as you read down, and it does look rather a lot like First Great Western's logo, but I'm jolly well not changing it all again.

On a separate note I am now the king of Ikea, having spent about 4 hours putting together a huge desk and chair with nothing but a small screwdriver, a hammer and a cup of coffee.

Sucked in

2007-10-12T22:09:00.000+01:00

Reading

As of Wednesday I will be blogging (ha! the Royal Mail is more reliable than my blogging) from Shepherd's Bush in west London. Last Friday I went to look at a flat, which involves a 90 minute cycle/train/tube/walk journey from Reading. I arrived at the flat at the appointed time, only to be told that the room had just been let. The landlady suggested I come back into town the next day to look at a different room. "Great," I thought. "I could have found that out on gumtree without wasting a whole afternoon." Nevertheless, and because I have a lot of free time, I went back in on Saturday and saw the room. It's really nice. Several other people were there at the same time, with about 20 more coming later on to see the one room, and Lori, the landlady, said that the first person to give her £250 as a 'security deposit' would get the room. Where's the nearest cash machine!?

I'll be glad to move into London, not least because commuting sucks. How do people do it all year round? Mine isn't even too bad, at between 65 and 85 minutes each way, and usually a nice walk through the park. Cutting that down from £92 a week to £0 and 80 minutes to 25 minutes will be a result. I have three days a week of lectures from 9-6 or so, studying five transporty topics: engineering, economics, statistics, modelling and policy. I know nothing about any of them so it'll be a busy term.

My church-crawl ended before it began as I agreed to join the student team at All Souls after one midweek meeting and one Sunday. Pretending to be an Anglican might be a little tricky but it's very low-Anglican and a lot sounder than some nonconformist churches I could think of...

Brown mauled in parliament

2007-10-12T13:38:00.001+01:00

Had to post this video. Bye bye Brown...

Busy busy busy

2007-09-29T19:35:00.001+01:00

Reading, UK

I made it back home on Tuesday without incident and as predicted have been incredibly busy since then. (I did find time to watch 4 Doctor Who episodes this afternoon though...) I haven't found anywhere to live in London so will be commuting for a few weeks. I finally managed to register for my course and also made it to the student welcome evening at All Souls which is probably my church in London.

History repeating

2007-09-25T09:55:00.000+01:00

Maribor, Slovenia

Apologies for the slothful posting of late. I am still on the continent, but flying home this afternoon. I could of course wait until then to blog, but I have a to-do list as long as my arm before starting my MSc next Monday and hopefully moving to London around the same time!

Since the last post I've been to Novi Sad, the capital of Vojvodina (never heard of it? Not surprising - it's an autonomous republic within Serbia) for a day trip which gave an impression of what life in non-capital cities in the Balkans is like. The day after, I left Belgrade on the bus to Sarajevo in Bosnia. Both of these trips reinforced my frustration with public transport in eastern Europe: timetables are usually a work of fiction - as are the price lists - and the most surly employees are deployed to the ticket desks in order to baffle non-Slav speakers as much as possible. I don't by any means expect everyone to speak English, but in order to communicate a bit of facial expression, body language or even plain pen-and-paper go a long way to making sense!

Anyway. Travelling through Bosnia was an eye-opening experience. Even on the bus journey through the countryside the destruction of the country was apparent with many houses in ruins, or being reconstructed from bare breezeblocks. Litter carpeted the sides of the road, but I guess there are more important things to worry about: such as the thousands of landmines still carpeting the countryside and maiming civilians 15 years after the war.

As the bus came over the hill into Sarajevo hundreds of slender minarets showed up against the sky. Signs welcoming visitors to the 1984 Olympics were still erected on some major roads. And ruined buildings showed up every few blocks. This was going to be something new.

I hadn't booked anywhere to stay so hunted out the tourist information office, who suggested I stay in a 3* hotel for 15 euros a night! I've paid more for hostel beds so decided to give it a go. Although the location wasn't great, having my own double bed, ensuite bathroom and satellite TV - as well as free breakfast - was a pretty sweet deal.

Sarajevo has hundreds of cafes providing espresso for 1KM (that's konvertible mark, not kilometre) and an old town built by the Ottomans, who made European inroads this far in the 16th century. As well as the old mosques, there are metalworking shops and streets of one-storey buildings with tiled roofs, in contrast to the Austrian architecture in the rest of the city.

On Saturday I took a daytrip to the city of Mostar in the south of Bosnia. This city suffered terribly in the war and has not recovered yet by any means. The symbolic bridge was rebuilt a few years ago after being shelled and destroyed by the Serbs, but much of the city still lies in ruins. It was surprising (and depressing) how quickly I got used to seeing hollow shells with blown out windows and crumbling masonry in Bosnia. I suppose that travelling around most of Europe 50 years ago would have been similar. Sarajevo's history museum gives a chilling account of what happened 1992-95 when the city was under siege. For over a year the only communication with the outside world was one satellite phone in the governer's office. Over 1500 children were killed by snipers, mortars and landmines during the war, and much of the housing and food stock was rendered useless. Nothing like a spot of nationalism, is there?

Yesterday I jumped on the train to Zagreb, and a mere 9.5 hours later arrived in the Croatian capital after a rather unhurried journey. I found a hostel near the station and stayed there for about 10 hours, before getting the 07:25 to Maribor here in Slovenia, where I have 2 hours (well, 30 minutes now) until catching the bus to the airport and flying home. I should get back to Reading by 7pm where some good food, a hot shower and my own bed will be found. This trip has been a lot of fun, if frustrating at times (travelling isn't all sunshine and lollipops, although I guess it beats being at work) and I've just begun to start understanding some of the history, politics and geography of a very influential part of Europe. But the summer is over, the trees are turning autumnal and real life has to resume. Hvala i ciao!

From Black Mountain to White City

2007-09-18T15:57:00.000+01:00

Belgrade, ~~SFR Yugoslavia~~ ~~Yugoslavia~~ ~~Serbia and Montenegro~~ Serbia

Jenny, Dan and I went out for a meal again on our last night in Montenegro. We ended up in the restaurant next to the one we'd gone to the previous night (which was very good). It turned out that this restaurant was hilariously awful in comparison:

A moustachioed pianist who was clearly in love with high octaves, runs and trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrills played muzak on an electric piano all night
The restaurant had no toilet, so we had to pay 50 cents to use the public conveniences next door
We had to wait over half an hour for a pizza and two spaghetti carbonaras
And oh boy, when the food came was it an experience. The menu had mentioned that the carbonara had some sour cream in, and we imagined that a taste of sour cream wouldn't go amiss. But the spaghetti was COVERED in sour cream. It was impossible even to slurp the spaghetti properly, and we couldn't come close to finishing the meal
To be fair, we did get our money back, and a funny story to remember

In Podgorica I found everything I would expect from a city formerly known as Titograd and less than 50 years old. Around the Trg Republike in the centre the atmosphere was nice for a Saturday night, but walking back to the station for my overnight train to Belgrade involved unlit streets, mangy dogs and dirt pavements - all the usuals. Waiting at the monolithic train station, the wooden bench under the flat concrete canopy offered little comfort except the promise of what was to come. Across the tracks, rust and grime raced to cover the stencilled cyrillic letters on the abandoned freight wagons, whilst passengers' cigarette smoke was doing a good job of further polluting the station.

The train, for which I'd paid a hefty 22 euros including couchette, was due to arrive in Belgrade at 6am. Mercifully it was an hour and a half late, which gave me a bit more sleep. Three hours later, after finding the Star Hostel and having breakfast, I turned up at church. Last week there had been a Synod meeting in Belgrade which had brought lots of Anglican missionaries to the city, and in true Christian style there was a big lunch provided afterwards to celebrate. I was of course only too happy to rekindle my dormant Anglican affiliation.

Belgrade is a funky city and I'm glad to have 3 days to explore it. Ten times bigger than any other city I've been to on this trip, it was the capital of the Yugoslav federation and now of Serbia. Its history is very much on display and in your face than most cities. Walking down one of the main streets you pass this building which was bombed only 8 years ago by NATO.

Given this raw history it is incredible how friendly the people are. Most young people speak superb English and are very open and chatty, whether in a bar, asked for directions or asking for directions (again). Another unique thing is the food on offer. For about 50 dinars (50p) you can buy any of the following:

a pack of chewing gum (for reference)
a can of beer from a convenience store
a roasted corn on the cob, sold by a guy on the street with a portable corn-roaster
a pack of popcorn, again made on the street in a portable corn-popper
an ice-cream, sold by an old lady with a portable freezer - she'll also peel off the wrapper for you to eat it straight away

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Sarajevo in Bosnia for a few days' exploration. The trip is beginning to draw to a close - just time to squeeze in one more country!

Travelogue

2007-09-14T15:08:00.000+01:00

still in Budva, Montenegro

(The problem with blogging on the road is that inevitably there is a shortage of time. Either you're paying for the internet by the minute, in which case you get to the point where there are 8 minutes left and a hostel still to book; or the internet is free but there's a queue of people waiting to use it after you. Compounding this problem in my case is the fact that I never draft my posts beforehand so what gets written is rarely what I actually wanted to include.

Today I went to Kotor for a few hours and while sitting in a cafe in the centre decided to write down all the blog-worthy things that have happened since I arrived in Dubrovnik on Tuesday. The list runs to 19 items, so now sit back and watch (or rather read) as I attempt to weave together a cohesive narrative that will win me a Lonely Planet commission.)

Travelling alone can be a lonely business. One of the fun things about backpacking is the people you meet in hostels, but on this trip there have not been hostels in several of the places I've stayed. It is an interesting experience staying with a local family, one of whom touted for your business at the bus station with a small folder of photos of their house, along with dozens of others. This was my experience in Dubrovnik, and it landed me in a shared room in a nice house about a mile from the old centre.

Finding the house again after going into the centre was a tricky business. The city is riddled with alleyways and stepped streets, many of which are dead ends but not signed as such. On one occasion I walked uphill for about five minutes before reaching a locked gate. The next alleyway I tried was guarded at the top by a threatening guard-dog who obviously wasn't expecting me and gave me every encouragement to leave his patch very quickly indeed.

I thought I would be alone for my time in Dubrovnik but at 11pm on the first night a very drunk but friendly Irishman called Ken and his new friend Min from Korea came in. Chatting to them was quite the experience: the conversation ranged across all sorts of topics from travel to religion to history and back to travel again. In the morning before he left I gave Ken a little something to read on the train. He called himself a Catholic but the substances he was putting into his body suggested otherwise.

Leaving Dubrovnik, and Croatia, for the brand-new country of Montenegro involved a drive along some pretty treacherous mountain roads. The bus driver clearly wasn't as intimidated as me however, and spent most of the journey talking on his mobile phone and sending text messages. It seems to me that mobile phones and buses are both good things, but in the same manner as taking a shower and reading a book they don't make for a great combination. The driver profited further from his job that day by stopping off at the duty free for a huge box of cigarettes at the border.

The border signified the transition from westernised Croatia to an eastern Europe I had been expecting, complete with dusty concrete bus stations, dilapidated coaches spewing diesel fumes into the air and piecemeal development leaving cracked pavements next to shiny new buildings. As I mentioned yesterday, there has been a price drop to match the other drops, which is making my budget feel a little less strained.

Staying at the Hippo Hostel in Budva is great fun - everything that a youth hostel should be, with a great vibe and lots of like-minded travellers staying here. Two of them who I met soon after I arrived are Dan and Jenny from Macclesfield. We had a good time out exploring Budva last night in a seaside restaurant where the other two had Sex on the Beach (that's a cocktail, in case you were wondering!) and the bill came to only 10 euros each. Result. When we got back to the hostel it transpired we had more in common than I'd thought: my copy of God is the Gospel provocatively left on my bed led to a conversation where it turned out Jenny is a Christian too. Hurrah! So travelling doesn't have to be lonely, even if you are on your own.

New country

2007-09-13T17:40:00.000+01:00

Budva, Montenegro

I boarded the ferry in Rijeka armed with a bagful of food (biscuits, crackers, juice etc.) to sustain me on the 20 hour journey down to Dubrovnik. I was extremely glad to have paid an extra 120Kn for a couchette, because it turns out the normal deck seats were just whatever you could find, inside or outside! As it was I slept well on the narrow bunk, sharing the couchette with a Kiwi and a Frog. For most of Tuesday the scenery of the mountains and islands along the Dalmatian coastline were entertainment enough, although I did also finish the book I'd taken with me.

Dubrovnik is at the very southern end of Croatia. It's called the "Pearl of the Adriatic" because of its beautiful Old Town, with narrow streets and steep hills leading away from the sea. The first time I went in to the centre it was raining, which put a dampener on the enjoyment of the city. The next day I tried again, only to discover that I was sharing the city with the passengers of THREE cruise ships which had turned up for the day! It was hard to move in the centre for people in the day, but when I returned in the evening sans tourists with stickers on the Old Town was very enjoyable. It is certainly scenic, but the rest of the city was also photogenic, especially where it hugs the coastline.

This morning I caught a bus to the border town of Herceg Novi, in Montenegro. The new border controls (sponsored by the EU, of course) were pretty stringent but once over the frontier, costs dropped significantly. A 1 hour bus journey including a ferry across the Kotor Fjord cost just 3.5 euros, and the hostel here in Budva is 16 euros a night with plenty of stuff included - such as a book exchange for my copy of "Rough Crossings". The city seems nice, although the cars are from Serbia and Russia rather than Germany and California (!) as in Croatia.

The Bourne Comparison

2007-09-10T16:40:00.000+01:00

Rijeka, Croatia

Just about to board the ferry down to Dubrovnik, which will apparently take about 22 hours. The supermarket came in handy for supplies for that long - although there is a restaurant etc. on board, Croatia is proving surprisingly expensive so I'm having to budget tightly.

It strikes me that the reason Jason Bourne travels around Europe by ship and train is that it's very easy to stay under the radar: if I was paying for my tickets in cash and not leaving this IP trail all over eastern Europe it would be pretty difficult to find out where I am. Thankfully I'm not running away from the CIA so am taking things a little more easily.

It was about a week ago when I mentioned that I had no idea where I'd be in a week's time. I hadn't planned on taking this ferry until somebody mentioned it a few days ago. It should be a lot more pleasant and scenic than taking the bus all the way down the coast.

Now that's something you don't see every day

2007-09-09T19:37:00.000+01:00

Pula, Croatia

It turns out that Ljubljana is about the size of Reading, but is a capital city. In fact the whole of Slovenia has a population of 2 million, and is probably about the size of Toronto + suburbs + exurbs. What I hadn't reckoned on was the paucity of things to see in Ljubljana: one day there was plenty to cover the points of interest.

The hostel I was in was right by the river Ljubljanica and in the Old Town. It was also right below the castle hill. The castle at the top of the hill was free to enter and walk around, even though it had obviously gone through a lot of regeneration and had smart wooden floors and fancy restaurants inside. The tower provided a good view of the city - actually most of the country too, I imagine...

After wandering around the rest of the Old Town, and going to the train and bus stations to figure out where to go next, my day was done. The next morning I left town at 06:20 (apparently there is such a time) on the train to Rijeka, a port in Croatia. The journey there took about three hours, including a very rigorous customs check which consisted of two people having a brief look at my passport. After some breakfast and a trip to the bus station I headed towards Pula, 100km to the west and on the coast. For some reason the bus was pretty unstable: a little girl behind me lost her breakfast and I wasn't too far behind. So when we arrived at Pula after three hours I was in no mood to walk to the hostel, in a village 4km out of town. Taxi!

After Ljubljana, which seemed to be a hub of British backpackers going 'off the beaten track' (like me) Pješčana Uvala seems to be a world away. There are SUVs here from Germany, Austria, Holland, Russia and Slovenia, taking advantage of the big marina and big houses in the village. I feel a little out of place paying €18 a night for a room...

After chillaxing on the beach yesterday, this afternoon I walked into Pula and had a good look around. Pula is apparently 3000 years old, and has several reminders of that dotted around: viz. figure 2, left. There is also a Roman temple in the forum (different buildings, same shape) as well as lots of younger memorials and buildings. Apparently the Venetians tried several times to deconstruct the amphitheatre and take it to Venice as a sign of the power of their empire. Can you imagine an imperial power doing something like that? (Hmm...)

So anyway, tomorrow I'm trucking out of town back to Rijeka on the Vomit Comet. What's most distressing is that there's actually a motorway between the two places, but the bus just doesn't take it! Then tomorrow night I'll board a ferry down to Dubrovnik at the other end of Croatia. See you there.

Spontaneous travel

2007-09-06T23:35:00.000+01:00

Ljubljana

So... this is Slovenia, eh? No, I'm not really sure what I'm doing here either. The flights out here were extremely cheap a few months ago (20 pounds return) so I booked them as a final fling of the summer. Last month when I was househunting I was resigned to not taking this trip if I had nowhere to live, but then I thought "naah, there'll be plenty of time to find a house". And so here I am.

Until this afternoon when I caught the train from Maribor to Ljubljana I wasn't sure this was where I'd be tonight. Even when I got here I ended up in a different hostel to the one I was expecting (one where the Olympic Snoring Team have come to practice, apparently) and in 2 days I'll be somewhere else new. You know what they say about the best laid plans, so this time there are no plans!

Well, alright. There are SOME plans. I plan to go to Croatia, down the coast, across Bosnia to Serbia and back up to Croatia and Slovenia. Maybe Montenegro while I'm down there. And maybe Albania if I really get a move on.

Slovenia seems like a nice place. It's definitely the most modern ex-communist state in Europe: they use the euro, have a decent transport system and their own language which sounds like Polish spoken with an Italian accent. Eno piwo, prosim! Ljubljana has a nice old town which I'll explore tomorrow when hopefully it'll be more than 11 degrees...

British Government in 'Big Brother' Shocker

2007-09-05T15:18:00.000+01:00

BBC report:

"The whole population and every UK visitor should be added to the national DNA database, a senior judge has said.

The present database in England and Wales holds details of 4m people who are guilty or cleared of a crime.

Lord Justice Sedley said this was indefensible and biased against ethnic minorities, and it would be fairer to include everyone, guilty or innocent."

Umm... right.

Good morning

2007-09-04T14:54:00.001+01:00

Sunday night: 0 hours sleep
Monday night: 16 hours sleep

Goat $4

2007-09-03T21:32:00.000+01:00

Reading

I landed back in England this morning after my 10-day trip to Toronto. Apparently I haven't blogged since Wednesday, which is a shame because a lot has been going on: more than I can remember even a few days after the fact!

Niagara Falls

To display my blogging forgetfulness, even in my smorgasbord of a post last Wednesday I completely forgot to mention Nick's, James' and my trip to Niagara Falls for an evening. We took photos, went on the Maid of the Mist (only $14!) and spent a bit of time and money in the casino. All in all a fun day out - even the tacky tourist street was enjoyable in its own way.

Last week I was still at AMac's house in Scarborough. Unlike its English namesake, the only accents you're likely to hear are Chinese, and there is no fishing port (there is a DVP though). Like the Yorkshire version, however, Ontario's Scarborough is way out to the north-east, has a slightly optimistic regional identity and cheap-as-chips housing. While he made some phone calls on Wednesday night, he suggested that I go for a walk... along the railway line at the back of his garden. Walking on a railway line? I mean, who does that? Evidently it's not a social taboo in Canada, but then GO trains don't GO at 125mph every five minutes like my local railway here.

Getting to the Robinsons' for Sunday lunch is always popular

It was fun on Thursday night to see Shakespeare in the Park. Nearly 1000 people squeezed into the amphitheatre to see the play - a very modern rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream - including quite a few Yorkies. Josh and the Robinsons took me in from Thursday night, which was nice as otherwise I'd have had to trek back to Scarborough like a putz.

Saturday was AMac's farewell barbeque before he goes off to North Africa, so it was only right that we ate lots of pork and had some beer. Apparently that's not too popular where he's going. Weston, where the Robinsons live, is popular with Somalis. For them pork is also a no-no, but they get around it by having their own cuisine, such as the eponymous fast food.

Is it OK to eat pork if you cut the feet off first?

Going to Grace church these past two Sundays has been great. I timed my visit to conveniently coincide with a two-part whopper on Romans 5 and the difference between Adam and Christ. You can listen to them online, but I nabbed a CD of both to bring back with me.

Mélange

2007-08-29T17:36:00.000+01:00

Toronto

During the past week or so I think I've seen more of Toronto than I did in an average month at York last year. It has certainly been interesting.

On Thursday a group of us ate at Big Fat Burrito downtown in Kensington Market. As a result my yam prejudice has decreased markedly. After that we went to the Bier Markt, where over 100 beers are sold on tap or in bottles. When you can get so many good foreign beers it's a wonder anyone drinks filth like Lakeport or Moosehead.

Speaking of beer, Nick took me to the LCBO, which is the government's idea of reducing alcohol consumption: this is done by licensing huge shops every few blocks that are filled with cheap, untaxed alcohol. With stringent measures like this, it's no wonder that drunken antics are down 18% since 2003.

My SUV prejudice has also decreased markedly. To think that I used to scoff at people with DVD players in the back of their cars. Until I'd cruised the highways stretched out in the back of a Ford Exploder watching the Simpsons I was ignorant of the wonders of in-car TV.

On Sunday it was great to get back to GFC for the first time in over a year. I'd also arrived just in time for Paul's reprise of the Romans sermon series I caught some of last year. It's good to be reminded that "you're not a sinner because you sin, you sin because you're a sinner". It'll be even better to be reminded of Christ's advocacy for us this Sunday! In the afternoon a group of us were evangelising in the local neighbourhood and ran across some Somali Muslims. In a step up from the last time Nick and I tried this together, our lives were not threatened... but it was extremely hard to make any progress.

On Monday I finally left Nick and his family in peace and moved to amac's place in Scarborough. Yesterday we spent 8 hours at Starbucks with Silas reading the Gospels and made it through Matthew, Mark, John and 2/3rds of Luke. I'd never done anything like this before and several themes came through:

Matthew:
lots of parables, Jesus' wisdom really shines through
allusion to many OT passages and prophecies with some repeated, ie. "I desire mercy, not sacrifice"
Jesus' death and resurrection are squashed in at the end of the book in only 2 chapters; the only thing he says after his resurrection is the Great Commission

Mark:
punchy, short, straight to the point
interspersion of teaching and miracles
events not in the same order as other Gospels

Luke:
for some reason the chapters are much longer than in other books
lots of parables and teaching

John:
focused on Jesus' identity as the Son of God
much more philosophical in style than the Synoptic Gospels
begins and ends in a slightly obtuse fashion
uses characters repeatedly: several people are introduced, not mentioned for several chapters and then brought back as a key part of the plot (eg. Malchus, Nicodemus)
All the Gospels:
a recurring focus on John the Baptist and his identity. Was he Elijah in the flesh? Was he the spirit of Elijah? Was he the last of the prophets, preceding as he does the Messiah?

Last night a group of us went up to YorkU to put up posters for the new school year. It was strange to go back to my alma mater, the student centre and several familiar buildings but then drive home afterwards.

Back in town

2007-08-25T17:00:00.000+01:00

Toronto

It is pretty weird to come back here to Toronto after 18 months away. When Josh and Nick picked me up on Wednesday night it felt like no time had passed since I'd left. Since then I've been staying at Nick's house but have seen lots of people from church and YorkU already.

Yesterday Nick and I went to the Pacific Mall, which is the heart of Toronto's suburban Chinatown. It's a massive place but it seemed to be full of places to buy green tea, big swords and illegal DVDs. We could have bought the Bourne Ultimatum for $5, less than a week after it came out in the cinema! Now that's Oriental efficiency for you.

Inauguration

2007-08-18T14:42:00.000+01:00

Last week a group of us from Carey were at the first Cheltenham Bible Festival, held at the town's racecourse. It was a great week, helped by unseasonably sunny weather (well, seasonal weather for any year but this one!), great fellowship and fun times with friends - and of course the inestimable Don Carson. Not that I'm idolising a Christian over Christ, but he is a clever chap and manages to get away with preaching for over an hour with 40 minutes of introduction! I'm hoping to get hold of MP3s of the messages he and others preached as I didn't take notes during the festival. Phatfish and Stuart Townend were also there and made a God-exalting noise in the arena.

On the whole, the festival was very well organised and apart from the lack of a bar or café to chill out in was pretty much ideal. Roll on 2008 with Piper!

Zoom zoom

2007-07-31T21:29:00.000+01:00

Paris

Took my first trip on Eurostar this afternoon. Boy is it fast! 300km/h feels like the train is constantly plummeting downhill or about to take off. Going alongside the motorways the traffic looked as if it was barely moving, even at the speed of French motorists...

I'll be in the Alps for the next 5 days and probably offline in case you desperately want to contact me! Staying in Paris is primarily a cost-saving measure.

Education

2007-07-28T16:07:00.001+01:00

I officially graduated on Thursday and got to wear a silly cape and hood as well as a suit in order to shake the hands of the Pro-Chancellor of the University (who?) and collect a certificate. I was pretty excited as you can imagine. In case you missed the self-deprecation there, here's a video of me riding a horse for the first time.

An Englishman in England

2007-07-22T15:10:00.000+01:00

Reading

I made it back home after a reassuringly non-eventful journey on Friday. The sense of relief when the train conductor looked at my ticket, stamped it and gave it back to me was palpable. (Note to self: never catch train in wrong direction again.)

Anyway, I now have a room full of stuff to sort out and 10 days to sort it out before I'm off... again.

What a mistake-a to make-a

2007-07-17T22:13:00.000+01:00

Krakow (finally)

An interesting weekend, all told. Eight modes of transportation, one wrong turn, one small-world moment and several goodbyes.

On Sunday I was staying with a Polish couple in Wrocław who put Josh and me up after Camp Arka. We went for a cycle ride in the afternoon and were alongside the river Odra when Andrzej spotted a boat. "I have a friend who owns a boat like that," he said, and led us down to the bank to have a closer look. Sure enough, it was his friend's boat - imported from Florida - with his friend's family on board for a Sunday afternoon cruise. Andrzej waved them over to the side and we put our bikes on board to go for a spin. The man's wife, Ula, is an English teacher so we were able to have a good conversation. She asked me where in England I'm from and when I said "Reading", looked amazed. Did I know a man she and her husband had met 20 years ago in Poland and stayed with in Reading 16 years ago? Well... as it turns out, yes I do. Small world eh?

Rode a horse for the first time ever on Monday while taking Rachel to her horse camp near Opole. They're bigger than they look, or maybe I've just not been paying attention.

Today I went to the dentist in Wrocław in the morning for a check-up. That cost a whopping 20zl ($6) and then I went straight to Głowny to catch my train down here. Unfortunately I had a slight mix-up between Departures (wyjazd?) and Arrivals (odjazd?) which led to my catching a train from Krakow heading north. The Polish countryside all looks the same so I was as surprised as the conductor to discover I'd been on the wrong train for nearly an hour! I just missed the train back to Wrocław, then just missed the train to Krakow, then the 15:00 train was 30 minutes late... all told the 4-hour journey took over 8 and cost an extra 70zl in tickets and bribes. Oops!

I'm in Krakow until Friday. The weather is going to be scorchio so I'll scoot down the 15º salt mines for a day and find shade the other day. Needless to say, neither the trains nor the hostel have air-conditioning...

O co chodzi?

2007-07-14T22:13:00.000+01:00

Wrocław

Well, camps are over for another year. We arrived back from Kudowa this afternoon on a beautiful day - ironically much better weather than we've had during the camps. This was a frustration especially last week with younger kids who could get antsy without enough activity. Thankfully all the camps' kids were great and there was very little whining about the weather or anything else.

My blessings from the camps are mainly developing friendships and deepening relationships: with the other 11 native speakers - 8 of whom were here for the first time, with the Polish staff, most of whom I knew from previous years, and of course with the kids, especially the older ones. (You guys rock!) It is wonderful to return every year and see the growth in some of their lives and my biggest prayer request is for them, that they might find good fellowship and solid friendships based on Christ, and grow together as a community of young believers in Wrocław. Some of the Polish staff have this on their heart too so hopefully in the next year a program might get off the ground which takes root and which the churches support (traditionally they hold on to their youth and don't like to see them leave).

I'm staying with a Polish couple tonight, and then on Tuesday will head down to Kraków for a few days, before returning to England on Friday.

Arka update

2007-07-08T22:48:00.000+01:00

Dańców, Poland

This is a very quick update using slow internet access here in the Polish mountains. The camps are going very well - we have a great team of Americans, Brits and Poles and good groups of kids. Last week the teenagers were fantastic and learnt a lot. This week the kids are younger so our teaching is less interesting and the connections are harder to make. Many of us are getting pretty worn out so please pray for energy, enthusiasm, blessing on the Bible studies and for good weather - the last week has been quite cold and rainy which is a bit oppressive for too long.

Thanks! Back in the land of internet on Saturday evening.

Camp Arka 2007

2007-07-02T10:01:00.001+01:00

Wroclaw

I'm getting a sense of deja vu here, you might recognise this blog post from others I've made in the past. I'm off to the hills of southern Poland today to teach English on summer camps again, this will be my fourth year at Camp Arka. I'll try and write a couple of posts while I'm down there but internet access is likely to be pretty sketchy. In any case please be praying for me, the other native speakers (mostly Americans again), the Polish staff on camp, and of course the campers - 50 teenagers this week, 50 10-12s next week. Gulp - I want to both improve their conversational English and build relationships with them to introduce them to Jesus. They all know who he is, but very few actually know him at all.

Crossing cultures

2007-06-27T21:08:00.001+01:00

Dublin

This is supposed to be my short trip to Ireland before going to Poland next week (and after having visited Barcelona last week), but to be honest it's all rather confusing. Everyone working in a service industry here is Polish and most of the others seem to be tourists from all over the place.

So other than brushing up my Polish (essentially it involves not using definite article) I've been chilling with Steve and Andrew on an embryonic 'Carey lads on tour'. Dublin isn't a terribly interesting city - the centre is a mishmash of tourist buildings and bars overcharging for Guinness, but today we went out to Howth, a small town on the coast north of the city. The weather was better and the scenery was great: recommended!

I'll be back in England tomorrow and starting to prepare for Poland, where I go on Sunday evening. Busy times ahead!

Summer

2007-06-15T12:04:00.000+01:00

Sorry my blog has been so sparse lately. Both my regular readers will know that I have a lot more to say when I'm actually doing things like travelling. It is therefore with both trepidation and excitement that I declare the summer blogging season open! My plans are mostly finalised as follows:

June: Barcelona

June: Dublin

July: Poland

August: Paris/Alps

August: Cheltenham Bible Festival

August/September: Toronto

September: Slovenia/Croatia/Bosnia/Serbia/who knows

I leave for "Barcelona" tomorrow on Ryanair. Some friends who are also going were on a pre-lads' trip trip this week in Marseilles and had their hire-car broken into (with a crow-bar, no less) and their passports stolen. They would be able to fly home alright but not out again, so have elected to stay in France and meet us in Spain tomorrow. Let's hope that one works out for them and French police reports are usable in Spanish airports!

Pimms o' clock

2007-06-06T14:37:00.001+01:00

And now a personal announcement: this morning I finished my degree. Huzzah!

As you were...

Neogeography

2007-05-30T10:14:00.000+01:00

I should be revising, but this is just amazing. Google Maps now has "street view" in a number of American cities. So for example here I am meandering through Times Square in New York.

Why did I have to discover this in the week of my finals!?

Anger

2007-05-26T21:44:00.000+01:00

Last night was my penultimate CU meeting at Southampton, and was undoubtedly the worst I have attended. Unfortunately the speaker had obviously signed the Doctrinal Basis of the CU without meaning it, because his talk did not even approach a proper understanding of the Gospel.

He didn't warm me to him right from the start: he first said "that was the best worship session I've ever had at this CU - sometimes when I'm here hardly anyone raises their hands". Yes, because emotional response is the mark of 'success' in worship. After that, he said "I was raised in a conservative evangelical family, but didn't get saved until I moved to Southampton and attended [a charismatic] church". Fair enough, I thought... be open-minded!

But then we were taken on a whirlwind tour of the social gospel, complete with entirely superfluous Powerpoint accompaniment. Considering that our talk series is "Jesus" and the subject of the talk was the gospel, it was amazing how he managed to preach for 30 minutes without even mentioning words like sin, righteousness, judgement or indeed the reason why Jesus came to live and die! According to this speaker, "the gospel is about more than just sneaking into heaven".

Well, I was pretty angry afterwards. A few of us were digesting and reflecting afterwards, and I missed the speaker's departure. It was probably a good thing that he got to his car before I caught up with him - and I was running after him - because at that time I would have roasted him alive. How dare he come and pervert the Gospel with wishy-washy heresy! The real tragedy is that most CU members don't have enough Bible knowledge to even know that anything was amiss. Even diligent Christians like some of my housemates who were saved recently were led astray simply through lack of experience. I had flashbacks to my flirtings with the prosperity gospel a few years ago, and am thankful for more wisdom and discernment by the Holy Spirit now.

I've calmed down a bit now (though I did have to have some brandy when I got home last night). Thankfully the usual calibre of our speakers is higher and their theology more orthodox!

PS: his 'strike-three' was referring to Steve Chalke as his friend. No wonder he didn't mention God's wrath!

Geography

2007-05-18T15:49:00.001+01:00

This morning I attended my last ever lecture at Southampton University. Afterwards, my friend Ella and I grabbed a coffee and were talking about what it is we've achieved in the last three years.

The world hasn't changed enormously since October 2004. Its population now stands at closer to 7 billion than 6 billion. It has one more country (Serbia and Montenegro split last year). An estimated 28 conflicts are ongoing across Latin America, Africa and Asia (not including the "war on terror"). The reality of anthropogenic climate change seems to have finally been established.

Locally, the July 2005 terror attacks in London were both a result of and reason for our involvement in projecting power abroad. Close to a million eastern Europeans have arrived in the UK and have made their presence felt quickly in our cities.

So what do geography students do to learn about this world? Are we merely to describe it, or can we explain and understand what happens? Ella and I agreed that the most important thing we've discovered is not the mechanisms of globalisation, the development of third way welfare or the techniques of fieldwork - it's the ability to think critically. Accepting what we're told is a learning technique from school, where if a teacher says something it should be true. University inverts that process and teaches us to question authority, to analyse sources and develop our own viewpoints. When we read opposing explanations of the same phenomenon it becomes clear that they aren't both correct, but how are we to differentiate between philosophies and theories?

The Christian geographer has extra work to do. The modern vogue of 'poststructuralist' geography is predicated on all knowledge being 'situated' or biased. This makes sense, but it is in choosing viewpoints that the Christian has an advantage. The existence of absolute truth means that we can know, not just opine. For truth is not an abstract concept, it arrived in this world in the shape of God himself: the author of creation became created in order that we might approach the Unapproachable and know the Unknowable! Now that's what I call ontology.

I'm grateful to have been able to glorify God through studying his world, even though most of the time I've not had the mindset I just outlined.

The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world and
all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. (Psalm 24:1-2)

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the
work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1)

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever. The
ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. (Psalm 19:9)

Outrageous Last Verse Harmonisation

2007-05-18T12:23:00.001+01:00

Now that's what I call organ playing!

They think it's all over...

2007-05-10T16:33:00.000+01:00

...it will be on June 27!

1997...

...2007

BBC One - Have I Got News For You Online - Episode 2

2007-05-10T09:26:00.001+01:00

Best TV show ever.

Three bicycle fortnight

2007-05-09T22:11:00.000+01:00

Two weeks ago yesterday, I was eating breakfast when a glance out of the window brought about a double-take. Our house's four bikes are locked up outside the house to a set of wooden posts. As I use mine the most, it usually lives on the closest post - but it wasn't there! I mentally checked that it hadn't been left somewhere else: in town, at uni, at church, in my room. After a deduction of Holmesian proportions, it was clear that some scoundrel had stolen my bicycle.

My lock has been "left behind"

Not only that, but it seemed I had been on the receiving end of some rather direct social democracy. Another bike had been left on the street outside my house, but it was old, small and heavy with broken gears, dodgy brakes and a saddle that couldn't be raised from its lowest position. Lance Armstrong himself would struggle uphill on my bike, but this 'new' bike was practically unrideable (I took it to a church meeting and ended up pushing it most of the way).

Every cloud has a silver lining though: in this case I received £100 from the insurance company for my stolen bike. New bike: £35, new (better) lock: £18. Cash in hand: £47.

And in three months I can claim back the rubbish bike off the police and sell it! Ah, the sweet smell of profit...

Central Eurasian Partners (CEP UK)

2007-05-03T15:19:00.000+01:00

Success! All my links to Central Eurasian Partners the other day have propelled it into 3rd place in Google's search for "central eurasian partners". Hopefully with a few more targeted links mentioning ministries in Poland, Slovakia, Central Europe and Central Asia (nudge nudge) it will reach first place.

I should point out that the organisation is actually looking for people to partner in its work of promoting national Christian witness and mission through education, culture and compassion. If you feel you would like to get involved - or to find out more - then please visit the CEP UK website at www.cepartners.org.uk and get in touch.

Na zdrowie!

(Yes, all those links do go to the same place.)

Build an arky arky

2007-04-30T14:28:00.000+01:00

In the year 2007, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in England and said, " Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated,and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans." He gave Noah the CAD drawings, saying, "You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights " Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard - but no Ark.

" Noah!" He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark ?" "Forgive me, Lord ," begged Noah, "but things have changed. I needed Building Regulations Approval because the Ark was over 30m. I've been arguing with the Fire Brigade about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbours claim that I should have obtained planning permission for building the Ark in my garden because it is development of the site even though in my view it is a temporary structure, but the roof is too high. We had to go to appeal to the Secretary of State for a decision. The Local Area Access Group complained that my ramp was going to be too steep, and the inside of the Ark wasn't fully accessible, then the Department of Transport demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.

Getting the wood was another problem. All the decent trees have Tree Preservation Orders on them and we live in a Site of Special Scientific Interest set up in order to protect the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls - but no go! When I started gathering the animals, the RSPCA sued me. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodation was too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space.

Then the County Council, the Environment Agency and the Rivers Authority ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood. The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only CSCS accredited workers with Ark-building experience. To make matters worse, Customs and Excise seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species.
So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this ark".

Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, " You mean you're not going to destroy the world?" "No," said the Lord. " The European Union beat me to it."

Link bombing

2007-04-27T18:31:00.000+01:00

There are plenty of things I could be writing about - in fact this week has been unusually eventful - but for now I shall content myself by promoting the website for Central Eurasian Partners, an organisation being set up to link supporters in the East and the West with mission partners in central Europe and central Asia. At the moment when you search Google for Central Eurasian Partners the website doesn't come up so I am linking to the CEP website from various places in order to promote mission in Poland, Slovakia, central Asia and other places.

That should do it!

Films

2007-04-16T14:29:00.000+01:00

I just signed up for a month's free trial of DVD rental from Blockbuster. Of course the subscription will mysteriously be cancelled just before the end of the month!

Anyway, there are thousands of DVDs on the website for rental - TV shows as well as movies. So, any recommendations? Anchorman and Borat are already on the list...

Little Becky

2007-04-13T22:40:00.000+01:00

Word up

2007-04-11T20:04:00.000+01:00

Word Alive was good. I didn't have a mindblowing time and haven't felt completely transformed by the conference, but I did appreciate the teaching. Two relay workers have been blogging their notes on the evening talks from Hebrews, which were great; I actually got hold of more from Charles Price's teaching on Philippians in the mornings. Unfortunately at £4.50 EACH I can't really get hold of them to listen again!

More good news: that was the last time I'll ever visit Skegness (hopefully). Next year Word Alive will be separate from Spring Harvest and in lovely Pwllheli. Hurrah!

Word Alive

2007-03-28T23:10:00.000+01:00

Skegness is calling like a siren on a treacherous river. Thankfully, hardcore Bible teaching and the opportunity to swim in the North Sea will compensate for Butlins' ~~prison~~ holiday camp accommodation. 3 days to go!