First, Hebrews 7:26 says describes Jesus as “separated from sinners.” How is it that when he was on earth he was described as a “friend of publicans and sinners” (Matt 11:19)? Could it be that our definition of “separated” is messed up? I realize that in Hebrews 7, the author is talking primarily about his [...]

We’re less than a week away from setting our feet on the soil of Indiana.  I can’t wait!  It’s nearly 11 months since I was home for my Dad’s birthday and almost 13 months since Mark’s been home.  Are you as excited as we are?!  Probably not.  But we’ll take mild excitement anyway. In order [...]

Ange and I were prayer walking down on the main street and promenade of Newcastle this morning. It’s something we’ve been doing on and off since we got here, and lately we’ve organized our schedule so that we’re in the town prayer walking two mornings a week. We pray for Newcastle as a town, for [...]

I’m loving the bits of fall creeping into my days here and there: the colors popping up outside, the cooler breeze (which never leaves, really, but still feels different), the sun coming up at a reasonable hour.  And we have some lovelies blooming in the back garden.  *Sigh* We’ve been without a car for most [...]

I smell like that beautiful breakfast invention, the Ulster Fry.  For those of you who’ve not had the privilege of eating one, I’ll describe it:  egg, baked beans, sausage, bacon, potato farl, soda bread, all lovingly fried in oil, eaten with salt, pepper, HP sauce and maybe red sauce.  It might be single-handedly responsible for [...]

Just got back from our prayer retreat at the Christian Renewal Centre in Rostrevor. We had such a good time. We went down on Saturday morning and joined them for an all day prayer for Ireland event, which finished around 4pm. We then went for a walk, had dinner and spent the evening reading, praying, [...]

I can’t believe another week has passed.  And then I remember September is nearly here and I’m even more amazed.  We’re quickly coming to the first anniversary of our move here and I can hardly believe that! We started (and finished, as I remember) last weekend with a good bit of studying.  Well, I spent [...]

We took Lars and Maria and the boys to the airport on Wednesday for their flight to Denmark. We loved having company but are worn out now, and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. It’s great to have people visit us though. I think with Northern Ireland being such a similar [...]

We are so excited to have the whole Kristiansen gang here with us for the week.  That is Lars, Maria, Luca, and Silas for those of you who don’t know them.  They are in the process, albeit a rather long one, of moving to Newcastle to join us in our work here.  And we get [...]

You might recognize some of these places by now, as this is one of our favorite places here – Tollymore Forest Park.  Some of our favorite spots were blocked off when we went because a movie (Your Highness, I’ve been told) was being filmed.  It was raining, so nobody out filming.  I’m looking forward to [...]