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Now that Kristy and I are finally headed for Ireland, we've been getting to work on airfare, hiring a moving/shipping company, consolidating bank accounts, renting out the townhome, etc. Before we leave, we also want to try and get in as many hiking trails as we can, just to take advantage of the beautiful Colorado outdoors as much as we can.
My heart is already anticipating the change of cultures and looking forward to seeing firsthand what God is up to in Ireland and how his Kingdom is breaking into the Irish world. Some newly appointed missionaries with GEM recently came across an article in the Chicago Tribune about the religious environment in Ireland. (Here’s the LINK.) I haven’t had a chance to read it completely through yet, but it looks to be quite revealing.
I was also sent a copy of a letter (by an Irish academic maybe? Anyone heard of Fergus Ryan?) that someone in Dublin sent to the author of the Chicago Tribune article. I have a feeling we can probably learn more from Irish reaction to an American perspective on Ireland than anything else. If you’re at all interested in that letter, let me know.
Recently I came across some quotes from a little booklet published by one of my old college professors. It’s entitled “Faith is . . .” and the pages of the booklet provide some rather profound ways of finishing the statement, oftentimes in a very no-holes-barred way. As I was looking through some of the quotes, a few of them really seemed to apply to our current circumstances.
Faith is:
. . . confidence in God’s faithfulness to me in an uncertain world, on an uncharted course, through an unknown future.
. . . realizing that what God is going to do through me will be on the basis of miracle, not man power, on His promise, not my goodness.
. . . recognizing that God is the Lord of time when my idea of timing doesn’t agree with His.
. . . confidence in God’s faithfulness to me in an uncertain world, on an uncharted course, through an unknown future.
Glad you enjoyed the Trib article (the series is valuable too) and Fergus's response. Fergus is the founding pastor/leader/architecht of Trinity Church Network (www.trinity.ie) and one of the Irish leader's that GEM has served along side of the longest. Cheryl and I have known him since 1975 when he was still a pilot with Aer Lingus (now retired) and we were serving on the first GEM summer team. A few years ago Evangelical Alliance Europe asked me to send them names of Irish theologians who were impacting the churches of the nation. Fergus was one of only three people I could think of..and certainly he is in my view the most influential. But while he is brilliant and widely read..and able to interact with and analyze ideas and teach better than most people I've ever met..he never took the time to go to university... Until now. I think he's now in his third year doing Theology at Trinity College, Dublin. He wrote a key chapter in the newly published book, "Evangelicals In Ireland" and he was one of the founding members of Evangelical Alliance Ireland. You'll find other valuable articles by him on the Trinity web site.
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