This week we wandered to Oxford. Strange you say, why Oxford, England? Simply put, its cooler here, we like it here and finally, but most importantly, some Very Dear Friends live here.

It has been several months since Andrew's mom slipped into the next life, and this long months have been hard, and difficult and painful and poignant in so many ways. There have been tears and laughter, moments of its so hard to talk you choke up, and lots of moments for me personally, sitting in church, in prayer meeting, in worship practice, in church service, where I soaked it all up like a sponge and squeezed it all dry by the time I came back a few minutes later.

Never have I so dreadfully needed my own faith in the Next Life. And so wandering onward to Oxford, we have been with friends, no, really, family, that have reinforced our desire and faith for the next life.

We have needed desperately this step away from Granada, even though we love and miss our church family in that incredible, passion town when we are gone, we needed for our own sakes and their own sakes to step away, to recharge and refresh, so that when we returned, we would be better, healthier and encouraged people again.

Oxford is delightfully green, and surrounded by beautiful rolling hills and lots of farms and villages that feel like you've stepped back into time unless you run across a Bentley or BMW that whizzes past you instead of a horse drawn cart that you somehow fully expected to see.

The city and its awe inspiring spires, its bustling streets and anxious and worried professors and students are soothing to our harried souls. Its warm and comforting coffeeshops, meat pie shops (YES!) and bookshops remind us the world is much, much bigger and scarier and welcoming and rejecting and desperately needy for salt and light. We leave the city wanting more and hoping to return.

And after countless cups of coffee and tea, fruit and vegetables along with wonderful cooked meals...after learning what roasted marrow was, and enjoying it full, and long, rambling walks and some very wonderful and enlightening conversations and processing through the laughter and pain of this last year, we are ready to go back to the dusty, still rather hot streets of Granada, continue onward in the Sacred and Secular, and hope yet again this year as we pray..."May Your Kingdom come....you Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."

For those of you who find this blog per chance, and wish to know more, write me a comment, and I'll happy return it as soon as I can. I hope this year as I wander, you can wander with me, and see God's Kingdom come to our little corner of the earth.