As I sit here to write you this morning, I have a hot chocolate sitting beside me (mornings are getting cooler), Sophie has just returned from walking Pollux, the boys are still “cocooning” (after a week of a 6:30 “rise-&-shine time”), Liz is doing the same and the chickens are emerging from their coop to spend the day roaming about the yard. Let’s see what the Lord holds in this new day.

 

Where to begin?

There are days when posts come more easily than others. A lot of times, the photos on my phone are the starting points of what I share with you, because they record the highlights of the week and jog my memory. This week, however has primarily been about getting used to the new rhythm associated with the boys’ going to school.

Having always homeschooled, we’ve never dealt with the regular schedule that many of you know very well. It has been a change…

5 Facts about school:

1. Classes go from 8am to 5pm everyday except Wednesday, when school ends at noon. (so although most days are much longer than at home in Canada, the short day on Wednesday makes up for it).
2. They have a two-week schedule rotation, so their timetable on ‘week A’ is different than on ‘week B’. (They can also have 1-2 hours/day with no classes, during which time they go to study hall… depends on the day.)
3. Students and staff have a 2-hour lunch break, typical here as even many businesses close for 1.5-2h over the lunch hour.
4. Lunch at the cafeteria costs 4€80 (<$6 USD) and they get a 4 course meal including
   • Salad (strict nutritional guidelines govern school cafeterias)
   • Main dish (could be salmon, sausage, chicken etc… no pizza in sight)
   • Cheese (we are, after all, in France!)
   • Dessert (Timo said he had the “best chocolate mousse EVER” this week)
5. Students are taught to stand when an adult enters the room as an expression of respect.

School has been very, very positive for the boys. Thank you for your prayers, we are very relieved! On a “That’s just not right” note however… Timo starts Monday mornings with 2 hours of Phys-Ed…. remember… Monday. 8:00AM. 2 hours of gym…. That’s just not right!  🙂

 

Early Morning Stroll

Though classes begin at 8, we’re in the habit of dropping them off around 7:30. For now we drive them back & forth although they’ll eventually take the city bus (the long yellow school buses that we’re so familiar with in North America don’t exist here).

I took advantage of one such early drop-off to walk the dog around downtown, pray over the city and snap a few pictures along the way. (Click images for a larger version)

 

Isaiah 61

My reading this week took me to Isaiah 61. If this chapter is well known, it’s because Jesus quoted it when reading in the synagogue at Nazareth in Luke 4. You know it….

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken hearted…

This is a prophecy about the ministry of the yet-to-come Messiah. In Luke 4, Jesus proclaimed that the prophecy was fulfilled, that day, in their hearing; it was, of course, in his person.

What struck me was a detail in verse 9:

And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed
   – In French… “seed” is replaced with “race” (NIV = “descendants”).

I was intrigued with the use of the word “race” as there was no identifiable people group in the context of the passage. It wasn’t talking about the Israelites, the Babylonians, etc. so who was this race?

Rather than an people group whose identity was established by geography, by collective history, etc., Isaiah was talking about a people who’s only commonality was an experience of the Messiah. Initially, they were poor, brokenhearted, prisoners, captives, and in mourning. But they would all experience the ministry of the Messiah who would exchange their mourning for a reason to celebrate (verse 3).

For France & Wherever You Are…

This race is still being built up. As more people experience the hand of Jesus, those around them will notice that “they are a [race] that the Lord has blessed.”

This is why we are in France… and that is why God has placed you where you are: First to experience him, then to be an example to others of what he can do.

 

God bless you today and thank you for stopping by!

 

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