Members of #AYCFrance2019 will recognize todays feature pic. It’s the twin spires of the church in Richelieu, the idealized community (in terms of civil engineering – layout & architecture) that is located just about 25 km from Châtellerault.

Even those of you who are not part of that small group of people would have an awareness of the illustrious person who gave their name to the community: Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, aka. “Cardinal Richelieu” … the dark villain of the Three Musketeers story.

Richelieu really existed and was a scourge during the reign of Louis XIV… countless atrocities were done under his reign over the Catholic church in France and is one of the reasons why France is so dissociated from God today: they threw the proverbial baby out with the bath water, so to speak.

Ouf! That feels like a low key to begin on… let’s go back a step or two…

Why “Country Roads”?

You’ll recall, last week, that I mentioned an impending car repair of a certain importance. Well… garage staff indicated that driving our car wasn’t a worry for short distances, but it might not be the best for longer trips (aka. Angers). So… we rented a small car (about the smallest you can rent), a Fiat 500 for – believe it or not – roughly 6€/day + mileage (can’t beat that!). It turns out, the one that they gave us was also a convertable (fun!).

Timo didn’t accompany me on my drive to Angers, but you can see that he did want to experience Italy’s version of the Austin Mini, so we drove out to a castle located about 6km (3mi) from our house.

For the drive to Angers, I decided that, rather than take the regular national roads back, with the heavy truck traffic that goes with it, I’d take a more genteel route. So, top down, window open, sun shining… I followed the river back from Angers for most of the way while listening to a great podcast by the good brother @MyDocJackson at Arlington United Pentecostal.

This man & his family are a gift to the Kingdom & family of God. He’s a well respected medical doctor who, along with his wife (shoutout #AYCFrance2015) is also planting a church in Arlington, TN and, just because everyone needs something else to do, is getting set to publish a book later this year. I’m sure he’s got to be one of the most well-read people I know… by far!

Anyway… I decided to take the long way home Monday and was blessed by the day, the drive, and the teaching. I may just do a separate post of that drive and some of the beautiful scenery along the way.

New School

There are three reasons to mention ‘new school’ in today’s post.

• First, I’m teaching at a new school this semester. I’m teaching nursing students at the university hospital of Poitiers. It’s nice to tackle new subject matter and it’s nice to broaden my contact base more locally than in Angers. It’s nice to do a little more teaching with a little less driving. Opportunities abound in Angers, but it would be just a bit too much driving to take on anything more up there.
• Secondly, Sophie had her first taste of the University of Poitiers this week. She had an orientation session and has a few things to do on campus even though classes won’t formally begin until the 21st. About as far away from being a wallflower as you can get, she quickly made her first new friend and they spent the afternoon together after the info session. Our prayer is always that the Lord use our kids in the arenas where he places them, to have an impact on the Kingdom of God.
• Thirdly, Dominic too is in a new school – well, new to him, it was Sophie’s high school last year. They also have post-secondary diplomas and Dominic is doing one in International Commerce. Last night we had an information session that talked about an 8-week work term that he’ll have to do, likely in Spain, next Spring (depending on how COVID progresses, of course)…. just let that set in for a minute… we may be sending out 18yo off to Spain for two months. Wow!

All for now…

Anyway… Since I overwhelmed you last week with an extra “Long” post (see what I did there), I’ll leave it here for today. It’s already been a productive day though… I’ve taught two classes for the Bible School (today was the first day of the new school year) and have gotten to “sit down” with you.

God bless you today and thank you for stopping by.
As always, let what you read inform your prayers for us and for France.