A Barely Beard

I thought this article on beards that appeared in yesterday's Irish Times was interesting. Among other interesting uses of the beard, it notes that Celtic warriors used the beard to incite fear in the enemy:

In fact, the country's fascination with Tyrone's beards may have something to do with a cultural collective memory of the hirsute and snarling Celtic warriors described by quivering Roman legionnaires. Or perhaps they just remind us of watching Braveheart.

But what struck me most is the author's colorful description of the current trend of wearing stubble, or something just beyond:

The beard is actually something of a fashion on the street at the moment. A city stroll confirms this, although it's clear that the trend is towards a barely beard, only a couple of days' growth ahead of a George Michael. They are trimmed, neat, tight to the face. They do not look as if you could lose your lunch in there.

A "barely beard"! Gotta love the Irish way with words.

Misc.

Autumn is quickly seizing us here in Northern Ireland, which is okay with me because autumn is my favorite time of year. By night fall temperatures are dropping into the forties and the leaves are turning beautiful colors (some are already falling).

Sunday school is absolutely rippin' under the direction of Farrah, Ashley, and Shawna. Today they had 20 kids. I don't know why it took the area kids all summer to realize Caleb was back home, but he has finally registered on their radar and they are packing the place out. They are all around 10-12 years old and each one is absolutely precious. Pray for them.

We are happy to welcome the Riley March family from Doniphan, Missouri. This young family of five has joined us in Northern Ireland and are kindred spirits. God has assembled a strategic team and we are all bubbling with excitement over the potential of the near future.

Here are a few pictures that I'd like to share.



A puppet show during Sunday School. Notice all the kids!



Sunday School is fun




I guess she was praying and got caught away in the Spirit! She was actually being much more closely guarded than this picture makes it seem.



You walk out the front doors of the church and this is the view - yes, it is a rural area. And not all of the trees have changed colors yet, so don't think I was exaggerating about Autumn. Some trees are still very green!

Anniversary Services

What an incredible weekend we have had in celebration of the McFarland's 10th anniversary. That means they've been in Northern Ireland 10 years, and consequently Greater Life UPC has been in existence for 10 great years.

We had a fantastic banquet last night - the entire sanctuary was re-arranged and re-decorated and became a beautiful banquet hall. Of course, that meant it had to be converted back to a church by this morning, but we made it happen!

Today we had a great service in which Bro Robert Rodenbush ministered and conducted the ordination of Pastor McFarland. After a great time around the altar after the ministry of the Word, Kyle played his bagpipes as a kind of Irish tribute to the McFarlands. He ended with a stirring version of Amazing Grace and I'm telling you the Holy Spirit came into the place in a mighty way.

We enjoyed fellowshipping with Bro Rodenbush and Bro Francis (General Superintendent of the UPCI of Great Britain and Ireland) over lunch at Diamond's restaurant in Warrenpoint (just on the border).

An exhausting yet exhilarating day!






A full house!






Besides yours truly, there is Rev. Joe Cooney, Rev. Robert Rodenbush, Pastor Terry McFarland, Bishop Francis, and Rev. Riley March.

Three Have Been Baptized!

Where has this week gone? We were busy this week getting ready for anniversary services and now that those are in the rearview mirror we're taking a few minutes to recompose ourselves and our blog!

It's late on a Sunday night here in Northern Ireland, but I am so excited about what God is doing that I told Farrah I was going to stay up and post blogs on everything tonight. We want all of you to share in the joy of the harvest.

Last Sunday Kyle, Gillaine, and Kirsty were all baptized in Jesus Name! Wow! We've been working with this family all summer and they are the ones that had us over for a Bible Study just a couple of weeks ago. Look what God is doing:



Kyle



Gillaine



Kirsty



Dawson, Micah, Faith - 3 future baptism candidates!

Thank you Jesus for changing lives and families in Northern Ireland.

Riding in a Porsche

Our neighbour, Jonny, took Dawson and me out for a spin in his father's Porsche Carrerra! We really had a nice time in this baby. I've always admired Porsches from afar, but never had the chance to be on the inside of the machine. Dawson said the engine noise and vibration hurt his ears, but otherwise we were loving it! Thanks Jonny!

Check in, Check up

Well, it has been a long time since I've posted a blog. Not intentional of course. Life just has a way of revving up and moving ahead at a fast pace.

I do want to take a minute to tell you that God is definitely working and our church is poised for some great things.

We began a Bible Study class at Lynn and Kyle's house last Friday and we had eight people in attendance. Lynn and Kyle are ready to be baptized in Jesus Name! Lynn told me the Bible Study (which was on the infilling of the Holy Spirit - the New Birth) was music to her ears.

This past Sunday Pastor Mac gave his testimony and there were numerous visitors in attendance. So the word is out about Greater Life Church and people are coming to see what it is all about!

God is blessing the Bunch family! One really fantastic couple, Geoffrey and Rita, brought us a stand alone freezer which they were not using. Geoffrey said that he was going to come the next evening to check on it and make sure it worked, which I thought was kind of strange. The next evening, he and Rita showed up with two large grocery bags filled with frozen foods. Geoffrey said, "You've got a freezer now so you need something to put in it"!

They also brought flowers for Farrah and sweeties (candy) for the kids. I told them that I've heard about stuff like that but had never been on the receiving end. But being on the receiving end sure felt good! Thank God for unexpected blessings!

Cheers, Cheerio, All the best.

Upon Request...And Shame On Me

I'm writing this blog upon request and shame on me for not writing one sooner (thanks for the nudge Jaime I really needed that).

We have been busy. Doing what? Hmmm? Oh yes, the Macs kitchen has been completely torn out. They found that there was mold under all of the cabinets. Come to find out the sink wasn't draining properly (I think). Their washroom has also been pulled apart. Do you know what that means? It means that none of us has been able to do laundry there. So, we are back to using our small washer (which can't keep up). It literally takes 2 hours to wash a small load of maybe 15 items. But, I don't want to complain. At least we have something!

Today, David and Caleb worked on painting the brick wall outside and spraying the weeds in the parking lot. Hard at work!

Kristen and Ashley used their manly muscles to move monster tables into the church for the anniversary services that are not this weekend but next. Whew! That was hard work. Good going girls! They demanded the rest of the day off, but we just had too much to do.
(Kristen says "Hello world.")

Shawna pressure washed the outside of the church while dodging spiders. That was not a fun job, but she sure looked cute!

I worked on cleaning the church while chasing Elayna and Dawson. I also started getting the AIM quarters ready for the March's to stay in when they first arrive. Thanks again to the ladies from Indiana who were here this summer and cleaned that place up! Dawson was sure to "take a nap" in Aunt Shawna's (Mansfield) bed.

The Macs are slowly making their house their home again. Brother Mac and Ashley installed a new fixture in Ashley's room.

We really could have used Than's help today!

Well, that is a real quick update on the Martha things that we have been doing. I'll let David blog about the Mary things when he gets a chance. :)

Peace out girl scout! - (from Kristen)

Macs

The McFarland family is finally back...all of them! After 3 years of being away, they are all back together. We are celebrating tomorrow night.

Tara and Riley March and family are due to arrive on Sept. 23rd! We are so excited for them. They are AIMers like we are.

We are $10,000 away from having our container shipped. The container holds our building supplies for the church addition and personal items for all 3 families on it. The container is completely loaded and ready to go. We are praying that we'll be able to have it shipped soon.

I hope that our Louisiana folks didn't have too much damage during the hurricane. We have heard a lot of reports about trees being down on houses. We are keeping you all in our prayers. We are also praying that hurricane Ike stays away!

Here are a few recent pictures.

Elayna 8 months old.

David & Dawson Sunday before church. It was a beautiful day.
Below: Me and Elayna in Newcastle.

Ashley and Kristen in Newcastle last Thursday.