Kristin’s prayer group met this morning so I didn’t have
much time for anything before I was out the door and off to her house for a few
hours. Those women sure know how to
pray, and pray we did. Kristin said when
we were praying for revival in Norway, she saw a vision of something similar to
the Titanic, where people were dancing and partying and having themselves a gay
ol’ time, not knowing what lie ahead.
That would certainly apply to life here in Norway. They have it so good they can’t even think
that life may be any different. Oh, how
I pray for this land.
Kory was busy today getting the new curtain rods installed. Of course, he had to take down the old ones
first, and he wasn’t too happy about that since they are such high quality rods
and we are replacing them with cheapo ones from Ikea. But the problem is, the rods that we had were
for curtains that hung from the little clips on the rod and we have curtains
now with big holes in them that slide through the rod freely and don’t need to
be opened and closed with the end strings.
The other rods looked awful with these new curtains, but we couldn’t
afford to change them out until we got them so cheap in Sweden. I think they look much better but Kory was
miffed in doing the job. It took all
day, and he wore braces on his wrists so thankfully, he made it through without
incident.
Kaleb had to self motivate for the morning to get through
his schoolwork. I went with him to the
church to hear him practice piano when I got back from the prayer meeting, and
I enjoyed another rousing discussion with Liv while I waited. She told me all about the Christmas and
Easter programs the church puts on for the community. It sounded somewhat like what our church back
home does, but they had over 2,500 people attend last year’s Christmas show, so
it’s quite the deal. A big Hallelujah
for that.
I was running from one event to another today as I had to go
pick up Kaleb’s friend, Daniel, right after the piano practice was over. Daniel’s parents went hunting for reindeer this
weekend so I offered to take Daniel. As
it turns out, there was a Jr./Sr. High church retreat this weekend, so I just
had to get him from the ferry and drop him off at the next event. He just completed an overnight trip up in the
mountains, with his classmates as the schools like to train kids in all kinds
of outdoor activities, somewhat like the Boy Scouts do.
Daniel’s entire class went with their teacher up to a cabin
in the mountains. They all made a four-hour
hike yesterday to the top of a very high peak and they were graded on how well
they did. This is typical Norwegian
style education. They also take all day
long bicycle trips and other outdoor adventures throughout the year. They are very much into experiential
learning.
I checked the website for Daniel’s school to see what his
school schedule looks like and his subjects are: Religion, English, Math,
Science, Norwegian, Social Studies, Art and Handworks, music, food and health,
PE and “work” practice. In the 8th
or 9th grade (maybe both), the kids are all turned loose to work for
an entire week at a real job of their choosing.
This is part of the experiential education everyone in this country
gets. I remember last year our old
neighbor Tobias, worked out at the airport.
I think he moved luggage around or something, but they all have to do
something and many of the employers in the area participate. What a great thing.
So I sent Kaleb and Daniel off on the bus for a retreat
weekend with the Philadelphia Church.
There was a bus full of kids and I think only three girls in the midst
of all those boys. Kaleb was by far the
smallest one so I hope he survives 48 hours with the big boys. (self portrait below)
Kory and I attended an “Hour of Power” prayer meeting at
Agape tonight after dinner as they are two weeks away from a big all weekend
seminar they are hoping does mighty things in this area for people’s relationship
with God. It was a powerful time of
worship and prayer and I cried through most of it as my heart just breaks for
how the locals here think of God and the church and how much they are missing
out on. I know God’s heart must break
too, so I have to believe revival is on the way.
All the photos I took today are of various “collections” I
have going from all my thrift store finds.
There is the “vases with handles” collection in the bathroom and the
“vases without handles” collection in the bedroom, where you can see the end of
one of the new curtain rods Kory installed.
I have my “old canning jars” collection in the kitchen, nearly full of
rice and beans, lentils and popcorn, and a few things from my old handmade wood collections.
I also have collections going of soup tureens, cream and sugar sets, candlesticks and bowls, not to mention all the trays, but those are
scattered about the house. I just love
them all.
I didn’t get much done around the house today other than
cleaning the kitchen, but at least my day started and ended with prayer, so
hopefully I accomplished much in the heavenlies.
No comments:
Post a Comment