Evendays

Great things will be happening in Switzerland starting June 7 at 6 PM when the Swiss National Football Team (soccer) kicks off the European Cup Championship. This event happens every 4 years. Austria and Switzerland are the double hosts this time, which allows their teams automatically qualify and obligates government authorities to spend gazillions on stadiums and security.

This year, they’ll be no English speaking teams. Also, Ukraine is out, as is a former winner, Denmark.

Impossible to get tickets. There was a lottery and I have only heard of one person who won (and got to pay) and I don’t remember who that was. UBS will put up big screens all over Switzerland. You can pay $13.00 and watch a match with a drunken crowd which could be fun, except that it costs $13.00 and you’re watching a big TV with a crowd. Now, if they let me control the remote, that would be worth $13.00.

Geneva will host two of Portugal’s and two of Turkey’s games, two huge minorities here, giving them a “home field advantage” over Czech Republic, but not over the Swiss Nati (in the same group).

30 something percent of us Lausanne residents are foreigners and the unspoken rule is, foreigner or not, if your team wins, you drive around town waving a flag and honking incessantly for 3 hours, even if gas is over $8.00 a gallon. Yes, sports brings out the best in people.

If you come (call first), make sure you have your measles vaccination. There is an epidemic and all tourists are being warned. Me? I’m going to bed. I think I’ve got a fever…

Today is “new webpage day”. With each seekers’ conference in Geneva, with the new flyer and the distributions that we do, we also prepare a new web page/site. Actually, I plan it, design it, write up the text and ask for suggestions. It’s not a bad process, and it allows me to learn something new and be relatively creative.

I’ve worked on sites with titles like: whatareyoulookingfor and whathaveyoufound (in French, of course). There was one called ibelieve and another called 3encounterswithjesus (also in French). I buy (or is it rent?) the domain names for a year, and when the year is over, the site goes on to dead domain heaven (Google archives, I think).

This year Robert Mc–, French professor from Harding, will speak the first evening on buildingyourlife and the second evening on choosingyourarchitect (both in French). I’m going to use the program Sandvox webpage builder. It’s got some nice templates and is easier to export than iWeb which is not very flexible when trying to publish.

I hope the webpage is more exciting than this post. Sorry.

It’s really none of my business, and I might should just keep my mouth shut, but when my parents got married on May 10, 1958 they had but 5 dollars in their pockets and an unopened box of Bisquick on their shelf. Dad had just started a job reading meters for Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Mom had barely emptied her suitcase from her cross-country bus trip from Little Rock to Fresno when they made the trip to the Preacher and tied the knot. Grandma T, if legend is correct, paid for the marriage license and the deed was done. Or just started.

I was born 11 months later. Sister 1 was born in June of ’61. Then after a very, very long timeout (more like a hiatus) triplets entered the family at the end of 1976.

Wife’s Father used to tell of a couple at the restaurant who had just ordered champagne. Glass in hand, the husband looked his wife in the eye and said: Here’s to 45 years of happy marriage. “But we’ve been married for 50 years,” she replied. “Like I said”, he continued, “here’s to 45 years of happy marriage.”

I celebrate not only the duration of my parents’ life together, but also their consistency. They’ve showed up at the plate for the next at bat, prepared to play, trying to put the ball into play. And they’ve always had the whole team behind them.

Had we been there on that May 10, fifty years ago, we might have counseled patience, reflection, perhaps told them to save up a bit of money because you never know what will happen next. (“I mean, at least wait till you’ve got two boxes of Bisquick and $200.00 in the bank”). And perhaps we would have been wise, and they all the wiser to follow our advice.

But it really was another world back then. And the Bisquick got eaten and the 5 bucks got spent. The surprises came. But their faith never gave out. And finally, neither has their love for each other.

And that’s an event worth celebrating.

I’m reading through the Bible texts that refer to Pentecost. Yes, this coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. (Don’t miss it.) In Britain they call it Whit Sunday. In the USA, it’s just another shopping.

I went through my files to see what I’ve preached for Pentecost in previous years. (Not to preach them again, I assure you. They weren’t that good.) Here’s the list:

2000: The Spirit in Luke 24 and John 20.
2001: The Spirit in John 14-16.
2002: Acts 2 and living in the presence of God.
2003: A church that brings blessing to the world.
2004: The first days of the church.
2005: The “needed” church.
2006: The church is the temple of the Spirit.
2007: The Spirit of Christ and his work.

This year I’m leaning to Peter’s Acts 2 sermon, especially on Jesus as Messiah and Lord, glorified at the right hand of God. But I’m not there yet. I’ve got 3 more days, and I’ll make use of them.

If you want to get in the Pentecost mood, why don’t you take a look at Greg’s posts from a while back. He had some great things to say about all the Jewish holidays (though Pentecost as a celebration of the giving of the law was first referred to in 270 AD).

Till then, Merry Pentecost Sunday!

May 1 was May Day, Ascension Day, and Wife’s B-day all wrapped into one. Plus we were at the Ascension retreat with 120 Christians in Ardèche, France. Wife got cake, kisses, cards and champagne, along with praise and hugs, from the whole group. She is much loved and held in high esteem.

We came home on Saturday evening, fired up the grill, started the lawnmower, and prepared for Sunday’s events. Although it wasn’t a "car show" (check out what the College church of Christ did in Fresno), after our Sunday worship, about 60 people from the church, from Geneva and from the neighborhood gathered to celebrate Wife’s year of jubilee. It was great fun. It was instructive to see how the different "circles" tried to mix…

Son 2 is left for Tunisia today. He and two others will spend some time with contacts in Tunis and elsewhere, visit with a ministering Christian family and discover the spiritual life of the country. God willing, he’ll be back in Europe early next week.
 

Happy birthday, Wife.

Yes, It’s wife’s birthday today. How old? Can’t tell you, but check out the last chapter in Genesis, or count your U.S. states, or think "year of the biblical Jubilee".

But, sorry I can’t tell you how old she is. 

I’m off to the French Ascension (yes, Thursday is Ascension) Retreat in the Ardèche region. I’ve only got a teen class and a pre-teen class to prepare, along with KP and other duties. 

The teen class is on The Body of Christ, which leads me to John Michael Talbot’s melody of Teresa of Avila’s prayer:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

April 26: I woke up on Saturday morning at 6:45 AM. Our company had already left. Actually, this was the first time we’d had folks stay with us without us seeing them. The Marseilles church football team (soccer to USAers) arrived after midnight and left around 6:00 AM, I think. They were welcomed by Sons 1 and 2. Us old folks were in bed. I don’t know how many players came (perhaps 13?). They were as quiet as church mice.

– 

April 27:

Yep, she beat me.

Again.

Son 2 is back from Marseilles (the spiritual internship program). He leaves on Saturday. I have been unable to post as there were studies to prepare (still are) for a retreat and lessons to get ready for the weekend. Wife and I are both doing a race on Saturday. I will attempt the 20K of Lausanne, a huge event here in town, very hilly, quite tough. Wife will run 55 minutes earlier, tackling the 10K. She’s either run the 10 or 20K race every year we’ve been here, not counting “birthing” years.

Last night, Sons 1 and 2, Daughter and Wife and I all went to a restaurant in a nearby village and had a 5 or 6 course meal (I don’t know if you count the sorbet which “cleans your palette” as a course… Help me out here please) which was great fun. We were 3 hours around the table. It was a fun way for us to celebrate together 25 years of marriage.

When F. finished yesterday’s Bible study with me (he’s a teen and we meet once a week at a local cafeteria), he took out his study sheet and wrote in big letters on the bottom of the page: 16/20. I asked him what it meant, and he said that on a scale of 20, he graded the study at 16.

He told me not to worry. There was still hope I’d do better next week.