L'Abri Journal Entry

The Fellows home at English L'Abri




March 23, 2006



With a reluctant anticipation I boarded the twilight train at Warrington Bank Quay, en route to London, on my way to English L'Abri in Greatham, Hampshire. I will spare the reader every detail of my journey...



Right now I have "survived" the crossing of London via the Tube, 9 months after the Tube bombing. Things are mostly back to normal; just more guards I think. I am uncomfortably ensconced in a doorway of a train bound for Liss.



I am looking forward to being at L'Abri for a week of learning about my calling and the exploration of how we would best serve God as a family in the future.

to be continued

Hi,

I'm heading out to Louisville, Kentucky next week Monday night for a conference called "Together for the Gospel". It's a meeting of 7000 church pastors and other leaders who come from a diverse range of backgrounds (i.e. Baptist, charismatic, Presbyterian) but they all have one common passion: to see God and His gospel glorified. I am really excited about this. I am hoping and praying that God will use it to deepen my faith in Christ (which has been pathetic lately) and to give me direction for the future in ministry in some way.

Together for the Gospel: T4G 2010 Conference from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

In March of 2006 I took the train from Warrington, England, south to London, then changed trains to the little village of Liss in Hampshire. At the end of the day, I had arrived at English L'Abri (a network of study centers founded by the late Francis Schaeffer). I was there to explore truth, God, and my future. I will be writing posts about it in the next few days.

An Opportunity to Share with NASA

See my recent cameo on NASA's website here:
http://www.nwcs.org/upload/File/News%20&%20Events%20Bulletins/Feb%202010%20News%20Release%20-NASA%20Website%20features%20NWC%20Teacher%20(2).pdf

US Figure Skating Championships

It was fun to take J on a date this week to the US Figure Skating Championships here in Spokane. Sasha Cohen, Mirai Nagasu, and Rachael Flatt (above) all skated well at the Women's Short Program Thursday night. Did anyone else watch them on TV?

Denzel Washington: The Book of Eli

"The Book of Eli is, perhaps, the most explicitly Christian film I've seen come out of the secular film industry since The Passion of the Christ... The Bible—what it is and what it says—lies at the heart of this cinematic Book." (from Plugged In)


This weekend I went to the cinema to see The Book of Eli (Directed by Albert & Allen Hughes, Warner Bros, 2010), a futuristic post-nuclear story starring Denzel Washington.


There are several fine online reviews of this film already, but I think that this film is significant for thoughtful Christians in three ways:

1. It underscores the value of the Bible to our world, by contrasting our present literacy (& abundance of Bibles in our language) vs. an impoverished future world in which only one copy of the Bible exists, and few know how to even read. This movie made me want to read my Bible more, and learn more of it by heart.

2. It critiques the materialism of our time, by contrasting our present wastefulness vs. future scarcity.

3. It shows the pervasive depravity of human beings, by contrasting the kind of brutal world that follows the breakdown of morality in the absence of law vs. the enduring morality that flows from a Biblical worldview.

Be warned that the violence and language are disturbing... but I am encouraged that a film like this suggests the significance of the Bible to a new generation. We may hope that God may use stories like The Book of Eli to make people curious about the Word of God, and read it themselves.

Finally, Denzel Washington's presence as an actor is masterful. As people this week consider black Americans, I suggest we take a renewed look at Washington for his talent, his moral integrity on screen and off screen, and his Christian faith. Christianity Today interviewed him last week about his faith and his acting here.

Brian Huseland

Happy New Year!

I just read a great essay on New Year's Resolutions that I would recommend. Do you make too many resolutions? None at all? Or a careful few?

You can read the article on Justin Taylor's blog here. (which also mentions on December 30 several Bible reading plans ... my personal fave is the Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers.)