A New Life

Did you miss me?

Well, it's been a while since my last post, so I don't know where to start. I think I'll do a series of "flashbacks" these next few weeks...

In the meantime, I'll go ahead and congratulate Anne-Lise and Daniel, two friends from the young adults group, on their marriage Saturday! The Chorale Harmonie was honored to be able to sing at the ceremony. The wedding reception was great, and we celebrated until early this morning.

May the Lord bless you in your new life together!

rest

I got home last night after three very busy weeks of exams, travel, concerts and BAFA (French camp counselor) training. I now have a week of vacation to spend time with my family and friends. And rest.

Antiquity

Well, I just finished exams for the second trimester of CEM. It's been a pretty hectic week, but now that that's done, I can focus on our choir concert tour, which starts with a concert here in Marseilles... tomorrow!

On Tuesday, the CEMists went with Max and Prisca Dauner for an "educational outing" to some of the archaeological sites in the area. We went to see the Flavian Bridge, an Roman bridge over 2'000 years old that's still standing, with it's arches and everything! We also went to the ruins of the town of Glanum, where we saw vestiges from from the Celtic, Greek and Roman periods. We finished our outing with a visit to the archaeological museum, the Roman theater and amphitheater in Arles. All in all, a fantastic day!

Here are some pictures from the outing:

Visite archéologique

Trouble in Algeria

We learned earlier this month that the Algerian government has started enforcing the anti-proselytism law that it passed in March 2006. Since then, many churches have been forced to close, foreign ministers are facing expulsion from the country and several Christians have been tried and condemned "proselytizing".

So Saturday afternoon a few young people from church and I went into town join a protest against the oppression of Algerian Christians by their government

We were met with much sympathy, but also with hate.

Please pray for Algeria.

Snow and Ardèche

I got back last night from the Bonnefoi retreat center in Ardèche, France. I went up for two days with Craig, Garth and Lucas to get some work done in preparation for the French-speaking Churches' retreat we have at Ascension. We also picked up thirty beds at another center that was closing.

There was a lot of snow up there, so Lucas and I went ahead and built a big snowman. It was fun.

I took a few pictures, you can see them by clicking on the photo below.

Au centre Bonnefoi

Easter

When Perter and John arrived at the tomb that Sunday morning, they found it empty. Peter went in and saw the linen bandages lying there, and was perplexed. But John, seeing the cloths, believed.

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed". We were reminded of Jesus' words this morning as we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. Jesus desires hearts that believe in him based on who he is and the promises he has made, not inescapable proof. He desires faith.

This morning we were over ninety assembled to share our faith and the joy of the resurrection together. We were able to witness one of our young members, Claire, act on this faith and be baptized into Christ. After service, we had a big meal together.

Worship, a new life in Christ, fellowship, good food, and the celebration of our risen King. What a wonderful day!

Foot

I just got back from our monthly football (soccer in the US) match. The church has a team that plays in the Marseilles inter-church soccer league. It's lots of fun and a good way for friends to meet the Church in a fun, informal way. We're also excited about the European Church of Christ soccer tournament in Schaffausen, Switzerland, that we'll play in in April.

But back to the here and now. Tonight's match was a bit special because:

a) It was our first game played with our brand-new team uniforms, complete with numbers and FCCF (Fuveau Chapel Football Club) written on the back!

b) Today is also the eighteenth birthday of two of our star players, Constantin and Saïd!

c) The other team didn't show, so we split up into two teams and played each other instead. The blue team won, but just barely.

We then went to the nearby KFC to have ice cream and celebrate Constantin and Saïd's birthdays. Good times.