[uk update 2 // london, cambridge, edinburgh]

Hey guys! Well, this update is overdue, and I don’t have a ton of time, but I feel I should let you know what’s up with me…

Well, I arrived safely in London on the morning of Thursday, June 26. I spent the next few days being orientated by Arcadia University staff, getting to know 7 other peeps who applied for the Cambridge program through Arcadia, doing a crash course of Tube-riding London tourism (minding the gap, of course!), and catching a little Eric Clapton in Hyde Park for the Nelson Mandela birthday concert. I particularly enjoyed the architecture of Westminster Hall and Big Ben, and seeing Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey. I also snuck over to Elephant and Castle to Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle, still faithfully proclaiming the Gospel in London. I even met a couple of people there who were on a church workday, improving the facilities!

Sunday saw us boarding a 1:15 train for Cambridge at King’s Cross station (watch out, Harry Potter fans!). When we arrived at King’s College, Cambridge, I was blown away: perfectly manicured grass with a copper-green fountain running in the middle, a striking Gothic chapel, and a lovely blue sky streaked with clouds made a very picturesque greeting for us indeed. Sunday night I caught the end of the Eurocup football (that’s soccer to us!) finals in a pub down the street, and then classes started on Monday. Monday night we had a fantastic formal dinner. Tuesday I spent the afternoon reading Titus Andronicus on the grass by the River Cam, and then trekked over to the Orchard Tea Room, a place frequented by such figures as Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, Bertrand Russell, and Ludwig Wittgenstein in the 1920s, for a pot of tea and a scone! Wednesday evening I enjoyed an Anglican choral service at the King’s Chapel, complete with blasting pipe organ.

Thursday saw about 200 of us head off to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend. Friday I hiked in the Trossachs, beautiful heather-covered hills over-looking Loch Lomond where my thieving, murderous, but dashing ancestor Rob Roy MacGregor used to roam. Friday night we had a 4th of July party in the University of Edinburgh debate hall, and Saturday I saw most of downtown Edinburgh, including John Knox’s house and the cathedral where he ignited the Scottish Reformation, the Scottish Parliament building, and Edinburgh Castle. Sunday we headed back to Cambridge, stopping on the way at the ruins of Fountains Abbey, a monastery built in the twelfth century.

Today saw classes resume in rainy Cambridge, and I spent the afternoon in the library and a coffee shop across the street reading Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Phiosophicus, a short but intriguing and important text of 20th century philosophy, in one sitting. The cool thing is, he was studying under Bertrand Russell at Cambridge when he wrote it!

My time in the UK has been fantastic so far, and praise the Lord for safe travel. My heart, however, has been a battleground where temptation, anxiety, and unbelief have raged. The Lord is faithful, though, and He has preserved me for His name’s sake. Praise Him for that! He is growing me by teaching me to trust Him more everyday, and not to lean on things like my emotional state, which ultimately can’t support the weight of my need. Only the cross of Christ can. I was unfaithful in the first few days with opportunities to share the gospel, but I have repented of that, and the Lord has graciously provided more. He has also started to grow friendships, including some with brothers and sisters who are on the program, and that has been invaluable. Here’s some specifics you can pray for:

-Protection from spiritual attack. That I would be strong in the Lord to go to war everyday in the fight for faith.

-For my friends Zach, Armando, Jane, and Keshia that I’ve gotten to have spiritual conversations with.

-That I would be sensitive to opportunities to speak the truth of the gospel and trust the Holy Spirit to give me words.

-For my friend Justin, a brother that I’ve gotten to spend some quality time with.

-For church this Sunday. I’m planning to go to Eden Baptist Church, a Reformed Baptist church in Cambridge. The past two Sundays I’ve not been able to attend church. Podcasted sermons are a great resource, but they can’t match the (comm)unity of the Body!

-For my Art, Emotion, and Morality test on Thursday…it’s coming so quickly!

-Pray that I would not just have conversations about the gospel, but get involved in people’s lives while I’m over here. (1 Thess. 2:8 )

Thank you for your prayers. Grace and peace to you; our God is good and faithful.