Monthly Archive

We have been overwhelmed by the wonderful expressions of care, appreciation and encouragement in our final weeks in New Zealand. It has been humbly and we leave feeling incredibly loved. There is some anxious in starting a new chapter of life, but we find ourselves resting in God's plan for us. We leave in a few hours from Auckland, leaving on a beautiful summer day (75 degrees and sunny). We anticipate spending the weekend with Ben and then continue on to Dallas on Monday.

Tiger Woods offered an apology today.  http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/02/19/art.of.apology/index.html?hpt=C1 It was direct, candid, with the owning of behaviors. As his wife pointed out to him, the true apology will be living with integrity over time. Woods speaks of his religious faith, Buddhism, and the principles that he drifted from. Buddhism teaches the denial of external cravings. To his credit, he has been in 45 days of in-patient therapy and will continue in therapy. He stated that the most important things to him are his wife and children.

Sunday Naomi and I spent the afternoon with a new faculty couple . . . church, then picnic in the park with a jazz concert. Monday and Tuesday I led a retreat with 11 ministry leaders from around New Zealand. Our conversation flowed around different topics related to the spiritual context of New Zealand and how the gospel is communicated and lived out. It was a really rich time and forged new friendships and future partnerships.

Last Sunday, Naomi and I took our friends the Keels (Tim was pastor of Jacob's Well in Kansas City) to church at St. Paul's and then for a picnic and walk. We went to our favorite park in Auckland, Cornwall Park with its amazing trees, volcano, flowers, sheep, olive grove, historic home, coffee shop and great trails. The couple on the right, Melinda and Brenden, are in from Canada with Brenden starting the Masters program at Laidlaw.