Play Time!

It's official!

Some of you may have received a letter, but we figure that if you are following posts on this blog you should also know what is going on in our lives. As of May 18th Bobby will be stepping down from his role as Director of Middle School Ministries at Calvary to create space in life in order to prepare for a move to Ireland. This seems to be an appropriate next step as we seek to intentionally follow God's call to our family.

We ask that you pray for us as we surrender income and in some sense security to move towards what we believe to be the next step.

Our roomie, Di

Many of you know that we live with our best friend, Diana Spencer.  She is the coolest, and we are so thankful to live with her.  There are some potential tensions in living with friends, but she makes it easy.

She is compassionate, funny, selfless and beautiful.  Anyone who has the opportunity to meet her is lucky, and as her roommates, we are the luckiest of all!

Di has been around since day one of our little boy, Padraig.  She loves him very much, and he is crazy about her.  As soon as she walks into the room, he breaks into a smile.  He just can't get enough of his Aunt Di.

There are some friends that are more like family, and Di is one of those friends.

When Hearts Break Open

My heart is sad...my mind is stilled...my soul is weeping.

My mom's cousin and his wife are in a state of shock and grieving as she lost her youngest daughter, her husband and their unborn grandchild as victims in an accident with a drunk driver. Even in this short moment to write a request for prayer that their family would know the peace and grace of our Lord during one of the most devastating moments of life my brow furrows and my eyes tear.

In honor of our dear family members please hold your children a little tighter and a moment longer.  Life is fleeting whether it is a day or eighty years...but the present is the only time we have to express how much we love those that are near to us.

The Tale of Two Cathedrals

We headed south today and stopped by the city of Armagh.

It is a small and beautiful town.  Di wanted to stop due to the remarkable people and events that have occurred in this town throughout Irish history.  

St. Patrick named this town the ecclesiastical city in the mid-400's.  This reality seems to have taken over the people of the town as it has two different yet equally magnificent cathedrals bearing his name.  The catholic version is ornate and around 160 years old.  The anglican version is less magnificent in physicality, but carries nearly 1600 years of history.

I was blown away by the distance between the two.  The proximity, as you will see is nearly nothing.  Relationally it seems to be as if the city is a great chasm and once you climb a hill you have chosen a team for life.  David, the caretaker at one of the sites shared that he had never been to the other. "Not for any other reason than, I haven't found the time."

The disparity between Catholic and Protestant seems to be less one based on hatred and more on an apathy or neglect to actively engage and pursue relationship with the other.  I did not leave judging the people of Armagh, but feeling convicted of the chasms in my own life and the apathy that I show towards crossing over them.

I appreciate that when we come to Ireland we do not feel as if we have arrived.  Both times we have returned home with a greater desire to live well in the present rather than quit life and hold out for the hope of a perfect future.

Why Ireland?

It has been good to travel with Di and Eisha.  One of the greatest additions from our last trip is their ability to ask questions and process through discussions and meetings with another set of ears and equally prayerful hearts.

One of our better discussions and bigger questions occurred around the fire during our last night in Belfast. Why Ireland?

Is it the beauty...the green hills are amazing, the water is refreshing and the country as a whole seems to carry a mystique as you leave Swords and start driving north into the country on the M1.

-but last night we were struck more with the similarities than differences.  The hills were covered with snow and they inspired thoughts of the beauty of Boulder (home). We have come to terms with the fact that a want for beauty is not what draws us to Ireland.

Is it the need...the nation has struggled to find peace throughout it's history.  Belfast almost always brings thoughts of bombs and unrest.  Reports of the increasing numbers of people in Europe who no longer belong to a church or believe in what the church stands for gives credence towards mission.

-but it was our uncertainty and lack of desire to fix something, start something, or claim ancestry that encouraged our N. Irish counterparts.  Whereas the cultural norm of U.S. success standards requires answers and a profitable agenda it was the desire for relationship and need to surrender that we are not sure of how we fit that seemed to excite those we met with.

Is it a calling...hmmm, ask us when we get back.

Antrim Coast

Antrim Coast