there's no place like home

Just in case anyone saw this article on FoxNews, I did NOT steal the ruby slippers.

Yes, I firmly believe that there's no place like home, and I did watch the Wizard of Oz every year when I was growing up, and I CAN sing every line of every song in the movie, and I AM aware that I'll be homesick at some point...but it REALLY WASN'T ME.

excel envy

If computers are alive (and I sometimes think they are), and as they are persnickety in nature, I think it's fair to assume that computers are girls. Further to that, I also think most software is of the female persuasion.

Limiting our subject to the standard-issue Microsoft Office Suite of products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access), I'd have to say every girl on the block has Excel envy.

Let's face it...Word is a helpful girl. She can get the job done reasonably well, but she gets a little hard to work with when you ask her to do things she wasn't really made to do.

PowerPoint is the popular girl on the street. Everybody wants to work with her, but her beauty really is only skin-deep. She tries...and she can really put out the charts and graphs...but when they get too complicated, she can't cut it.

Access is your girl for out-of-control productivity, but you've got to spend a LOT of quality time with her to get there.

In the end, Excel is the one everybody wants to be. She can be very simple, but if you treat her right, she can handle some of the work even Access could do.

She is all things to all people. And all the other girls know it.

john stott - a living legacy

The life of John Stott (and that of other legends of the faith) represents much more than a well-lived life. It represents the legacy of Christ. John Stott is who he is because of God's intervention in his life, and the indwelling of Christ...which extends and spreads Christ's legacy. Christ is the only thing that makes him special. Christ is the only thing that makes me special.

But I'm still quite the giddy school girl about having had my picture taken with him today. I was so excited to get to shake his hand and say hello that I don't even care that my eyes are closed.

oh, the anticipation!

This Sunday, I'll be attending All Souls Church in London with my boss and his wife, and we'll be sitting under the preaching of John Stott.

This is very exciting to me for two reasons:

1. I'm going to church with my boss and his wife! How many people have the opportunity to do that these days?


2. I'm going to be hearing John Stott...live!

Some may say "What's the big deal?". Well...I'll tell you. Several years ago, when God was growing in me a desire to learn more about Him, I was feeling very overwhelmed and was paralyzed by lack of a clear starting place.

A very good friend (Jay Bruce) was living in London at the time, working at All Souls. I asked Jay for some advice, and he mentioned it to Stott during one of their meetings. Mr. Stott recommended a book from his own shelf, called Understanding the Bible, which he gave to Jay for delivery to me. This book became instrumental in creating a framework for understanding the major themes and movements of God throughout Scripture, and it is one I often recommend and refer back to myself.

John Stott is one of my heroes. He's the rector emeritus* at All Souls, and doesn't preach regularly these days, but I'm going to get to hear him preach in two days.


* Retired but retaining an honorary title corresponding to that held immediately before retirement.

my current living quarters

I can't imagine anyone is really interested, but I'm working out the new digital camera, and all I've got so far are a few shots of my temporary housing.

It's nice...but it's an apartment...these pictures aren't going to win any awards or anything!

They're on my .mac homepage, .mac homepage.

the King's Table

I visited a London church this weekend with a couple (Ian and Christine) I met through a friend in Houston. I had agreed on Saturday to come along with them after church to their weekly homeless ministry called “King’s Table”. The ministry has been feeding homeless people on Sundays under Waterloo Bridge for 14 years.

The system is so regular that the guys are queued up in line before the van even arrives. When we pulled up, a few of them jumped out of line to help set up the tables and food…someone said it’s one of the few chances they have to ‘earn’ anything, so they’re happy to help. One of the guys even walked around with a trash-grabber and bag to clean up after his fellow (less tidy) homeless friends as they were finishing their meals.

I served coffee and tea (“Would you like milk and sugar? One spoon or two?”) to homeless people for 2 hours. I’ve never done any ministry with the homeless before. They were not scary. Most were kind. Lots of ‘Thank you’ and ‘Thanks, Texas’ all day. One was strange (he was schooling me on the difference between angels and demons) and one was angry (because we were out of food...despite the fact that he arrived at 4:15 when EVERYONE knows we regularly arrive at 2:30 and the food ALWAYS goes quickly).

The thing that was most striking was that many of those guys and ladies looked like someone who could sit down the hall from me at the office.

In one afternoon…my heart melted. In Houston, I view every person on the street with suspicion, and walk with my cell phone to my ear when I think I might be coming up on an approach or request for money. And to be fair, a lot of them have been drunk out of their minds. And some of these guys on Sunday were drunk…but most weren’t. I just kept hearing the words of Jesus…”whatever you have done for the least of these you have done for me”.

What I think I like best is that the King's Table group is all about developing relationships with these people…they’re in it for the long run. There wasn’t one single reported “significant” spiritual discussion. But these guys know their names, and vice versa…and most of the Vineyard group know the homeless guys names. And people’s lives are being changed one step at a time.

A further testimony to the ministry - Bob, a guy that they used to feed on Sundays, passed away on Christmas Eve. They (and by ‘they’ I assume ‘the British government’ is meant) have been looking for a relative since then, with his body stored at the morgue. Apparently, they haven’t been able to find any. The King's Table ministry is going to sponsor and conduct Bob’s funeral, next week…and they’ve made up invitations and are going to provide bus fare to all those who want to come.

I’m floored by the real love these people have for those they are serving.