Tender Heart

I hope it is not taken as prideful when I title this post "tender heart." These past few months have been very difficult for me. God grabbed my attention and turned my world upside down. The result has been a broken and tender heart.

Being here in the UK, I have continued to learn so much, and yet I have so many questions. When I first arrived here, I noticed that all the pedestrians walked incredibly fast. "They all walk quickly," said Neil, "if they don't, you know they aren't from London!" Consequently, whenever I go out, I speed walk. When I was lost in London I was speed walking with my umbrella overhead, and rudely bustled (and bumped) past two women. "That's London for you," one remarked. In my head I paused. Did I really want to be known like that? Aren't Christians called to stand out from culture?

I am reading Francis Chan's book, "Forgotten God," which is about the Holy Spirit. He invites readers to examine God's Word without any presuppositions (at least, as objectively as is humanly possible), to see the Holy Spirit for who He is. I am looking forward to the journey.

God is really here for me. I see Him more visibly now; feel his presence with me. The peace He gives--it really is beyond understanding, you see? Deep within me, in the center of my very being, I know that God is guiding me, and everything is in His hands. I may not understand why things happen as they do, and transformation may be painful, but I know whom I have believed in. I am getting to know Him better every day. Daily Bible reading and prayer are so very important (not to sound legalistic, it is just so true). You cannot grow closer to someone if you do not speak with them and listen to them.

Please pray with me that God will continue to woo and win my heart.

Planes, Trains, and Buses

Well, it has been four days, and I now find myself in the UK. I am five hours ahead of my family and friends in the United States, but the dreaded jet lag has finally departed!

It seems like the trip has resulted in one blunder after another...the list goes like this:

• My loft is absolutely wonderful--it is furnished with two chairs, a coffee table, desk, dresser, wardrobe, bed, wicker loveseat, and wicker chair. The kitchenette came with milk, ham, cheese, butter, and bread, and all the cleaning supplies I could desire. The toilet is down a few steps from my main living space, but that is no big deal. And lastly, my shower/tub and sink are off of my room. When I first arrived, it had been a long day and I needed a shower. The water heater for the bathroom is actually in the back half of the shower, but a shower is a shower, right? Apparently not! For the life of me I could not get hot water out of the shower! I twisted and turned, lifted and lowered just about every knob in sight, but the water was always ice cold. So I turned to the tub--much easier to operate, and quite complicatedly washed myself and my hair. Upon getting out of the bath I tried the shower one more time, and realized if I had turned the water pressure up more, the heater would turn on.
• My first supper in my loft was a ham and cheese sandwich with coffee to drink. Being a newly self-declared "clean" person, I decided to wash the dishes right away. Low and behold, I snapped the handle right off the mug! Oops!
• The next morning, my first day at work, a coworker took me down the route to our bookshop. I asked her about the British way and CLC. We talked about her life and my internship. "Wait. Did you bring a lunch?" she asked. We had been walking ten minutes, and were almost to the train station. Uh...nope.
• My first day continued with introductions, a worker prayer meeting, and my first task: re-pricing! Some items needed their old price tags removed and new ones added. After working on the ground floor for a while, the store manager took me to the main office and began going over paperwork. There were agreements to sign, rules to go over, and goals to discuss. It was not too dry of material, but by the time she got to my volunteer contract, I had fallen asleep right in front of her!
• When I got back to the flat I was excited to get on my computer and tell everyone about my adventures. Unfortunately, the only wireless internet available was locked, and I did not have a password.
• My store manager, upon hearing my troubles with the internet, said she had a "doggle" or "dongle" or something like that. It is a USB stick with the internet on it. What a blessing! I put it in my computer and it worked marvelously--until I turned my computer off. When I tried to start my computer again it would not turn on! It was stuck on the loading sundial page, and no matter how many times I restarted it or left it running, it would not work!
• My store manager is really an angel in disguise. The next day at the shop she allowed me to call to get my computer fixed. Well, you know who left the installation CD in the US? Yep, me. So, over-the-phone diagnostics did not work...it was time to head to the Apple Store in downtown London.
• As I left the bookshop, it began to rain. It was not too difficult to find the Apple Store: one long bus ride, a ten minute walk, and just look for the store bursting with people who want to buy the new iPad. Luckily I had the foresight to place an appointment, which only left my wait time at 30 minutes. And, it only took about 8 minutes for the "Genius" to figure out what was wrong. When the "dongle" downloaded its software onto my computer, it loaded a slightly corrupted file. That file caused my whole computer to freak out, as it were. But now it was fixed and I could still use the internet--hurray!
• The excitement continued to build as I walked up and down the damp Oxford Circus street for about an hour, looking for the correct bus. I became so turned around, I had to call the bookshop about four times. After getting on a bus that went in the right direction, my store manager came and met me at the station. She guided me back to the store--like I said, she is an angel! (Note to self: when going on a journey, make plans on how to get back.)

My "being lost in London" story is really the best I have. And I share all these stories, not to complain, but to hopefully share in a good laugh. It has been one grand adventure after another in this land of small streets and busy people. I am daily meeting new people and learning new aspects of British culture. This is a long post, so thats all for now.

Summer Internship

It is summer once again, and this year I have the fantastic opportunity to complete an internship overseas. I hope through this blog to keep my family and friends updated on my activities, or any interesting experiences I have along the way. Thats all for now, but I will hopefully edit this again tonight.

Here is a brief overview of the past three days:

On Sunday my Dad and I woke up at the crack of dawn so I could fly out of Atlanta into Philly, PA. There I met a friend and toured downtown Philadelphia. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Ben Franklin's grave. There is a lot of history in Philadelphia, and a lot of blocks to walk in flip flops. I was exhausted by the time we made it CLC (the organization I'm going to the UK with) Headquarters.

Monday proved to be an early start as breakfast was served at 7:15 with a prayer meeting at 8. It was refreshing to see the staff gathered together, worshiping God in song, prayer, and a short devotional. The rest of the day was spent learning the history of CLC, understanding its business structure, and touring its headquarters.

Yesterday our group of 9 interns toured Philly--this time I wisely donned tennis shoes--and visited the nearby CLC bookstores. Again, a high active and very exhausting day!

And today, Wednesday, marks my last few hours in the USA for two months!! We had another prayer meeting at 8 today (another early start). Once again the time proved to be extremely encouraging. We were besought to spend time daily reading God's Word and praying--experiencing a relationship with God, knowing Him. The staff offered prayers for all of us interns, and we were left to breakfast and our last few hours in America.

I am both excited and anxious. What will God teach me while I'm in the UK? How will He change me? How will these next two months impact the rest of my life?