Thursday, March 30, 2006

Urgent Prayer Request

No, not for us, although we are beginning the process of moving to Bristol this evening.

The prayer request is for Kenny's little buddy baby Zac, 10 months old, who fell down the stairs with his Mom this morning. Zac is the nephew of Grace Church pastor Nathan Smith and grandson of Neil & Sandra Smith, who graciously offered us hospitality when our accommodations in Crumlin proved impossible transportation-wise. Please pray that our sovereign God would heal Zac's fractured skull and release his mom Emma from any feelings of guilt.

For your information, here is our new information:

2 Broadfield Court
478 Soundwell Road
Kingswood, Bristol
BS15 1JU

Tel: 0117 324 0134 (011 44 117 324 0134 from North America)

Thank you again for your prayers.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Strange Day in Newport

Apologies for yet another text-dominated entry, but today was a bit weird. Nice, but weird.

It all started yesterday when the Head Teacher of the school hosting my primary placement informed my that Tuesday was a one-off day of industrial action. Then last night BBC News announced that today was the biggest general strike seen in the UK since the 1920s. So there we are, an impromptu day off. No complaints.

Kenny was up at 6:15 this morning, screaming his little blond head off. Not a usual occurrence but these things happen. I confess I needed much of God's grace to respond sympathetically to my wailing infant. I brewed a tea for Cheri, who was sleeping in (usually it's her that gets up with Kenny) at 7:37 and she came down around 8am. Shortly after Cheri got up I went back to bed to lay down. I should mention here that despite scads of sleep I haven't been able to catch up on sleep. It's probably something to do with our training + commute + moving phase of life. I got up perhaps an hour later and we all played together until Kenny started showing signs of obvious hunger, namely tugging on the child-safe cupboard door saying "nummy, nummy." A grilled cheese sarny (slang for 'sandwich' in the UK) for Cheri, and Beans & Eggs on Toast for Kenny and I. Imagine Kenny droning on non-stop for ten minutes while Cheri prepares lunch: "beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans..."

Then Kenny went down for what turned out to be a three-hour nap, and Cheri and I joined him. So very tired! After his nap we went down to the shops in Newport we had only discovered earlier this week, when we found Kenny a brand-name pair of walking shoes for only £6.99! By this time the wind was kicking up something fierce, a regular occurrence around here in Wales.

On the way home we pulled to the side of the road to let a police cruiser, lights flashing and sirens blaring, make a five-point turn to return the way it had come. A paddy wagon followed shortly after. Then we passed an ambulance parked on the curbside where a paramedic was hunched over a body covered by a white sheet. Now I don't know paramedical procedures, but I'm quite sure that paramedics usually load injured people into waiting ambulances. We were waiting for traffic lights to change while watching the scene unfold, but no move was ever made towards the ambulance. Anybody care to venture a guess why not? Maybe one of you readers who work for the emergency services?

We stopped at Sainsbury's (supermarket) for groceries and had just gone through checkout when a store security officer hared off into the parking lot followed by lanky cashier. They ran towards the petrol pumps and disappeared inside the station. As an isolated incident, we would have just scratched our heads and carried on. But after the police car and the ambulance and the body on the curb, it was just another strange thing to add to the list.

This has been Tuesday from Newport. Stay tuned for a book review and other exciting entries in the days ahead. Again, apologies to our viewers for the boring slice-of-life post.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Commute No More

Last Friday was a momentous day in our UK journey - no more commuting from Newport to Bristol! For some perspective on the commute, log on to www.theaa.com, find the Directions page, and type NP44 3GB to BS30 8TS. And those postcodes aren't simply Newport proper to Bristol proper; no, they're from Llantarnam (north and west of Newport) to Oldland Common (north and east of Bristol). For all you Lower Mainlanders who might be reading this, that's essentially saying you're commuting from Surrey to North Van, when in reality it's from White Rock to Capilano.

The first leg of my daily commute was driving 10-15 minutes through Newport in our little borrowed green Fiat Cinquecento (pronounced Chinky-Chento in the UK - I know, it sounds racist) to our carpool pickup spot. Then another 45-60 minutes down the M4 to the school. Half the time we commute in a comfy Vauxhall Astra sedan, while the other half we ride a Peugeot I-don't-know-what that lacks backseat headrests. I've spent many hours commuting nodding off in the head-down position (for all you CrossWay people, the same way I used to nod off during Tony's Sunday morning messages when I was doing the Sun/Province paper route in the wee hours of the morning).

Knowing I would be commuting this way for a good 2 1/2 months, I resolved to challenge myself two ways: 1) to redeem the commute somehow by meditating on "whatever is true...honorable...just...pure...lovely...commendable" (Philippians 4:8); and 2) to take the opportunity to "incarnate Christ" (Paul David Tripp's words, not mine) to the teaching colleagues I was commuting with.

Redeeming the commute (C.J. Mahaney's phrase) was far more difficult in the first month, when I was faced with the over-the-top comedic stylings of Chris Moiles & Co. on BBC Radio 1. He is a very funny man but much of his humour is very crude and cutting. On most mornings the radio was turned up full blast, which negated any communication. Thankfully my birthday saw a card arrive from my parents which contained enough birthday ££ to invest in the low-end Apple iPod. I was able to download many messages from C.J., Joshua Harris, Mark Dever, Randy Alcorn and John Piper - and did it ever make a difference! I was able to revel in the truth of God's Word and tune out Chris Moiles.

The second prong of my personal challenge was to evangelize where and when possible. It was much more difficult from the backseat but I was able to comment here and there. At one point one of the girls asked what I was listening to and was able to share that I had biblical 'lectures' saved on my iPod (I didn't think she knew what a sermon was). Also, on the day that the other girl drove home by herself I was able to share briefly with her my beliefs on heaven. That door had been opened because of a fatal accident on the M4 that morning. So while there haven't been any dramatic drop-to-the-knees conversion moments, there have been opportunties to season the commute with the truth, and it will not return empty (Isaiah 55:11).

While I am thankful that God allowed me to undertake these challenges, I am overwhelmingly thankful that the end of that commute means 3-4 more hours with Cheri & Kenny everyday. I should add that after school I was waiting at least another hour to leave the school. During those extra hours I had to check my heart countless times, for while my desire to go home to my family was so strong, it was impure in that I was resenting my carpool partners for taking so long to leave the school. Confession over!

This next week brings four days of a primary school placement just five minutes from where we are living, followed by a weekend move to Bristol. It's been a long time in coming, but God has given us the grace and patience to see it through. I will attempt a couple of posts before we move, but as ever, please hold lightly to that pledge...

Monday, March 20, 2006

Why Blog?

Many might answer, "why not blog?" It's a fun thing to do, and if it's fun it must be good. That's a logical fallacy, of course - not that I'm against fun, but I am against bad logic...

To return to the question at hand: the answer bears many factors in mind. Firstly, there's the distance between family and friends in Canada and where we are currently living in the UK. This blog, therefore, acts as a personal journey of "Kenny & Family," as my sister Julie once referred to us. Secondly, because I've always believed there should be a 'redemptive' purpose to blogs (to lovingly exhort people to growth and wisdom), this blog acts as a tool by which to sharpen iron with iron (Proverbs 27:17). Thirdly, seeing as virtually all my leisure time not dedicated to family and friends is devoted to reading and writing and listening to music, it's a forum to comment on books and music that I read and listen to, respectively (couldn't end that sentence with a proposition now, could I?). When I figure out how to add links - I'm painfully new to HTML, as you can tell - I will no doubt be linking ad nauseum.

It wouldn't be wise to go on at length about blogging, because wiser men than I have blogged their thoughts on blogging already: see blogs by Tim Challies, Bob Kauflin, and Mark Dever, just to name a few. I appreciate and commend these men's insights regarding the blogosphere. As I said, I'll add links when I learn how.

So sit back, scroll down, and enjoy God on the journey (1 Chronicles 29:15)...

Saturday, March 18, 2006

A SMILE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS...


Sippy cup: $5. Bib: $3. Stripey Sweater: $9. Booster Seat: $14. Pure Joy: Priceless.