Birmingham

So I have made it to Birmingham. It has been a little over a week and I am going strong. Jet lag starting to peel off my mind and I have done so much already and still have more to do. I so far have been given about 5 different kinds of I.D. all needed for different things; one to eat, another to ride the bus, another to get around campus and get in class rooms. It is interesting. So far I have...

-Climbed a mountain
-Gone swimming
-Played hours of ping-pong, and beat everyone (Dad and Marc will like that)
-Done a high ropes course
-Done a low ropes course
-Did some team building things
-Ridden in buses for over 24hour total.
-Plane rides for 10
-Met some great people
-Shared the faith with many as well

It has been a great time. I like it a lot. The people are fun. The Americans in my group are so funny. I have laughed so much, everyone is up beat and no one is negative, sept one kid but I called him on it and now he is good around me. I dunno what to really tell ya right now. I did all the climbing and rope stuff up in the lake district, near Scotland, I could almost smell the homeland, but I was to far off. I have even now started to use the accent a few times. Some are farther along than others. It all depends how self-conscious you are and how much you care. The conversion rate is horrendous, 2-1. The lowest it has been is $1.87-to 1 pound. And everything over he cost twice as much as well. So we all lose like 4 times over. It is something you need to just live with though. I am going out job hunting tomorrow. And I will make my bank account as well.

Birmingham is 2.8 million people. It is one hoppin place. The open air market is amazing. I felt very at home with the Scotsmen and the Englishmen yelling out there deals, and being a minority, that ones new for me. I don't mind it though. There are not any distinctions here like back home. People assume roles by the color of their skin in America, here it depends on what type of accent you have. Birmingham is where the industrial revolution started, everyone here works hard, they are (from what I have seen) honest people trying to work their buts off. As I said I am the minority here, whites take up an amazing maybe 20% in Birmingham.

We went and saw castles today, we went to Warwick Castle and Kenilworth Castles. I was reminded as I was walking the walls at Warwick of

Ezekiel 33:6, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me."

I see a generation, my generation, young ones with want written all over their faces. Darkness descends on Europe it is thick and the want so blatant. Jesus wants to break in, he has set some of us as watching at this hour to blow the trumpet. To let this place the good news, and what it means to follow Jesus. We think, some think, that when we say yes to Christ we are done. But It only begins with the choice. It means so much more. "Be perfect as the father in heaven is perfect" Jesus would not have said it if he didn't think we could do it. "Remember you did not chose me, I choose you." He knows we have it in us to do it. I guess I am frustrated with myself, all we long for in our heart of hearts is to die for something. It is called the Spirit, the image of God. He has given everything for something, and we were created to be like Him. So I sit on the wall, and I wonder. I wonder how we can hear the warning, how do we open our ears. How do we ready ourselves for the move of Jesus. Elijah sat in a cave, the earth quake came, the fire, the rumble it was not God. Then a small breeze and a whisper. Are we willing to put our hears to the ground? The whisper was God. Maybe God has been yelling your whole life. Maybe now he knows, the only way you'll hear is if you really want to hear. Listen to the whispers, they seem to prove to be more than we think. I have heard it said the silence of God is God. Ever since I heard that in 10th grade it has bothered me. Our world, our enemy has silence God enough. God doesn't want to be silenced. Life is God. God is Life. Silence is a challenge, a challenge to draw near. Song of Songs the beloved whines about getting off the bed to go the Lover. Are we whining because he is calling us off the bed, I know I am. I am venturing to say you are too.

I love you all. Ask me questions if you actually read all of this. God wants you to know He loves you. Move towards Him once today, and He will leap at you.

-Mike