At home that title word means something quite different, just as the word "football" does. But I am glad that I've finally "touched down" here in England.
After starting out from home around 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, we got to JFK in record time, and then boarded my flight on schedule around 5:40 p.m. Although weather delayed our departure about two hours, we made up time and arrived here only an hour late.
I had a connecting flight to Newcastle International which left late, but again, arrived almost on time. There I was met by Robin Greenwood who brought me to his home, by way of Durham where he picked up some items he needed after becoming a "fellow" at St. John's College in Durham. We lunched at the Cathedral restaurant and visited the gift shop where I picked up a small communion set we can use for our Tuesday evening summer services.
By the time we arrived at St. Mary's Vicarage it was around 5 p.m. My inner clock read that it was "32 hours" since I had slept normally.
From there, after a shower and a brief nap, we walked over to St. Edward's Church (R.C.) for a meeting of "Churches Together," a group of churches in the Whitley Bay-Monkseaton area. Robin chairs the group. About 20 leaders from a dozen or so churches were present for the Annual General Meeting.
They discussed a full agenda including some joint projects, special services, and invitations to individual events the churches were planning. For example, they are launching a "Street Pastors" ministry geared at sending trained people to minister to people who never go to churches. They are also starting to plan a "More than Gold" emphasis aimed at reaching people with the gospel while the 2012 Olympics is underway next July (yes, it is being held here in London).
Eventually, after we walked back to St. Mary's Vicarage, I got to bed around 11 p.m. here. (It had just become dark outside around 10 p.m.) Inner clock read: "38 hours."
It's cool here—today's high will be a breezy, seaside 59 degrees F, but now that we've had breakfast, I'm raring to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment