Heading to Paris

July 14, 2013

Lessons: God is working out some deep and good lessons into my life at this time. He is telling me to be present in this moment, fully seeking to love and serve Him. It does not matter what the circumstances are or the location I am in - I always have a choice, in the moment, about where my heart will be. AJ, a friend from Roosevelt Community Church (in Phoenix), gave me a great book; “A Holy Ambition” by John Piper. This book is so relevant to this time in my life and I am savoring the messages from this book. Another book that I have been reading from every day is Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost for His Highest”. Today what I read from both Chambers and Piper was about the intimate relationship between suffering and serving God. The way that we suffer, as Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, provides us with a great opportunity to shine God’s character into a world of darkness. If I were stripped of all my possessions, of respect, of receiving kindness and understanding, of receiving justice, of health would I still have a grateful heart and a heart filled just as full of love for God as when my life has an abundance of these things? Was not Jesus Christ stripped of all of these Himself? And though in paucity by these measures, His love for His Father never wavered.    

Observations: Some additional observations that I have made about people in London: they are very fast walkers, and as drivers they always stop for people in crosswalks. I continue to find myself pleasantly surprised by that second fact and when I cross the street I wave to the drivers who usually give me a confused look in return.

Fun: Today I didn’t venture out much except to go to the most beautiful train station I have ever been to: St. Pancras. It is only one train stop away from where I am staying and it houses the Eurostar train that goes from London to Paris in less than 2 hours (much of it underwater in the English Channel). I got a great package at a very reasonable price for 3 days and two nights in Paris. I have wanted to visit Paris for a long time and have a long list of places there that I want to visit. So, to be able to do so with such ease is really nice. From Paris I will go to Oxford, then to Perpignan (South of France), then back to Oxford, and then to Cambodia.