Wednesday, August 9, 2006

It’s 6:00pm here and today’s been a pretty lazy day.  We flew all night from Washington DC to London’s Heathrow airport.  The flight was only about 60% full and the seats were comfortable.  We were on a Boeing 777 which has a video screen and movies at each seat.  Since we didn’t leave until almost 10pm last night most everyone went to sleep as soon as they fed us (beef, potatoes, creamed spinach, roll, fruit cup and chocolate cake).  We arrived at about 9:30 this morning shortly after eating a breakfast of a roll, butter, jelly and fruit cup.  What a life, all I do is eat and sleep.

Arrival began my “fun” as I have a 36 hour layover here in London before flying to Lagos, Nigeria and then Monrovia.  As disappointing as the United folks were in Nashville (I’m being a little unfair I guess but they made a significant mistake right away and never were able to recover), the United folks in London were just that good.  They put me up tonight in the Marriott – Heathrow, also paid for a day room since my flight leaves late tomorrow night, provided bus passes to get me back and forth and also provided for 4 meals at the hotel.  It took about 2 hours to clear customs, pick up my heavy luggage, find United and get to the hotel.  But it was all very low stress with everyone being very helpful.

I’ve worked some today, answered some emails, updated the website (twice), eaten lunch (not sure if I’ll be able to hold supper tonight) and took a walk around the block just to get outside.  My daughter, Rebekah, spend 3 weeks over hear on a college study course earlier this summer and she wishes she were here to show me around.  So do I.  During my walk today I saw the widest variety of cars you can imagine.  Maybe half we have in the U.S. (Mercedes, BMW, VW, etc.) but there are several brands that I’ve not seen before.  Many of the cars are manual shift and all of them have the steering wheel on the “wrong” side of the car.  They drive funny here too.  I had no desire to try driving as it would take some time to get used to driving on the left side of the road.  I think I could pick that up okay but the turns into and off of the roadways would be tricky.

I’ve been reading Spiritual Leadership by Henry & Richard Blackaby today.  In the dedication section Richard Blackaby says, “I dedicate this book to the emerging generation of spiritual leaders… who want their lives to make a difference in God’s kingdom and who are willing to adjust their lives to God’s agenda in order for that to happen.”  I’m seeing more and more people who are making huge adjustments in their lives so that they can live on God’s agenda rather than the world’s.

Pray for Kimberly Forder.  She and her husband, Bob, recently sold out and moved to Liberia with their 7 children to serve God there.  Kimberly has come down with some type of infection that would likely be easily treated in the U.S. but can’t be cured in Liberia (think about that for a few minutes).  She is flying back to the U.S. just to get that taken care of which is very expensive and time consuming.  I was sent some things to bring over for the Forder’s by two separate families in the U.S.  I hope to have a chance to meet Bob while there.

Nothing else big has happened today.  It was actually nice to make this stop halfway and bath, sleep and eat before continuing to Liberia.  I hate to give up the day and one-half of time in Monrovia but am grateful to be on my way again tomorrow night.

Thank you for your prayers.  Pray especially that I will be given favor with the proper people during my time in Monrovia so that the Crown event can have the maximum possible impact in November.