Google Earth

Wow! I have just played with Google Earth for the first time. I have to admit that this is one of the most amazing pieces of technology that I have played with in a long time (and I play with amazing technology for a living). When the program opened up for the first time after downloading, it was centered on the US. There is a little box in the upper left where you type in your destination. "Let's see what this thing can do", I thought to myself. I typed in our post code in London and hit enter. Suddenly the display was animated, it zoomed out of the US, across the ocean and over to England, then it proceeded to zoom in on our house in London. When it was finished, I could clearly see our new home in London. I was stunned, it was like something from a sci-fi movie. (click on image for full size view)




Then I tried to find my parents home in Idaho and I was equally impressed. A few seconds later, I was zoomed in on my parent's acreage, "Evermore Farm". Things are a little more spread out in Northern Idaho than they are in Southeast London. (click on image for full size view)





I could play with this thing for hours, but I'm at work, and I have a ton to get done before I finish this week. I am such a slacker!

JE

Finding a New Church

Now that everything is well under way for the move, I have started to think about finding a new church. It is a process that really brings out the worst in me. You never know what you are getting into when you go to a church for the first time. Usually, people are excited to see a new face, and they hope you liked it. Then the uncomfortable time comes when they ask you what you thought about the service. What do you say if you really didn't like it? It's hard to tell someone that you won't be back for whatever reason.

I do have a list of criteria that I look for in a church, some items are important others not so important. Off the top of my head, here are some things I look for (kind of in order of importance):

Bible Based - The service is centered around and based on God's word
Prayer - Time and commitment is given to speaking with God
Community - There is a genuine love and caring for one another
Outreach - There is a focus on reaching out to the community and the world in general
Worship - There is an importance placed on praising and worshiping God through song, dance, anything really. The more creative the better.
Communion - The church regularly practices the sacrament of communion
Freedom - The service is relaxed and encourages people to worship in their own way.

I could go on and on to the point that I rule out every potential church in the country. Obviously, you have to be a bit flexible. Ideally, God will provide some direction as to where he wants us to serve. Sometimes you get this, other times you just have to pray and go with what seems best.

I know that there are a lot of great churches in London, and I expect that it will be easier to find something there than it was here in the Midlands. It's always nice to attend a church that is close to your home. It provides an opportunity to reach out to the community that you live in and it means that you don't spend so much time travelling back and forth. With that in mind, here are a few churches in South East London that we might be trying out once we get settled...

http://www.restore-peckham.org/

http://www.kingscentre.org.uk/

http://www.newcommunitychurch.org.uk/

http://www.cityhope.co.uk/

Miscellaneous Thoughts after Christmas

Well I hope you all had a good Christmas. Mine was really good. Lots of sitting around, eating and sleeping in. I got some great gifts including an antique Bulova watch from Heather and 3 pounds of Twizzlers from my sister (you can't get Twizzlers in England).

The biggest bonus of the break was that we were able to find a place to rent in London. It is a nice two bedroom ground floor flat in a converted Victorian house. It has a good sized private garden for the dogs and a garage. I think we will actually have a bit more room there than we do in our current house. It is a five minute walk to the nearest train station, and then the train ride is only ten minutes to work. The rent is £765 a month ($1315 a month) which is actually less than I thought we would be paying. It is in a decent neighborhood too, with several restaurants and other useful shops near by.

Now that we have found a place, I am really looking forward to the move. The hard part is working for the last 3 weeks at my current job. It is really hard to be motivated to get work done when I am looking ahead to new challenges.

I don't really make new years resolutions, but I do tend to start the new year with a renewed commitment to things that are important to me. The big one this year is that I want to do a new recording project and do more performing. I have done some good song writing over the last year and a half, but I have done no real recording or performing. I am hoping that the big city will really help to motivate and inspire me to pursue my music a little more.

JE