red letter

Well Christmas is over and Kings Day is on its way. Our kids since they have lived in Spain and the US claim both nations during the holidays. It is really a wise move on their part. They can recieve gifts on both days. King's Day is the day where Spaniards give gifts to their children. So even though we are in the states during the holidays our kids remind us that Jan. 6th is coming.

One of the presents I wanted to receive at Christmas time was a new bible. I have been using my bible that my wife gave me almost 15 years ago when we planted our first church. It was quite worn and even ducked tape together. But actually I wanted a type of bible that I had not had seen nor used in many years and that was a red letter edition. I know I will still use my old one when I speak. You can get comfortable like that. I wanted to study the words of Jesus. Now I did not want the KJVersion of it but the New Living Translation but that is another matter.

I had no idea that I already had one of those bibles. We packed most of our goods and left them here in the states five years ago when we moved to Spain. On Christmas day when we visited my parents my father told me that he had found a bible that was mine that I had left there. it was an unused red letter edition in NLT. I forgot I had that bible.

I got a renewed interest in this over the summer months when a friend of mine who is a seminary professor told me a story of how a small group of new believers were meeting once a week to study the bible but they did not know where to begin. They read about the "red letter" edition and decided if those were the words of Jesus Christ then that would be a good place to begin to study and apply to their lives what Jesus said. I liked that and quite frankly I needed that reminder.

So I have set out to start reading the red letter edition of the bible. Hopefully I will blog about some of the things that I am learning or re-learning. I need to become more like Jesus in alot of areas of my life so it should not be so hard to write out some resolutions as the new year approaches. smile

Geyser

We went to see several geysers in iceland.
Did you know....

The orginal geyser is what you are seeing. Thats right we now use the word geyser because that is how they described it many years ago. The word means to "rush forth"

church in Reykjavik, Iceland

A tribute to the vikings.at the harbor in

Reykjavik, Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland

Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland

I am blogging from Reykjavik, Iceland today.
66 degrees North is the name of the outdoor store here in Iceland but it also describes where the country sets in terms of latitude. North would be another way to describe it. You could use the word beautiful, festive, cold, dark, snow, lights, etc.. It is funny but when you get off of the plane you get a sense that you are in the north. You sort of get this artic feel when you walk outside. I do not know how to describe it but you feel you are at the top of the globe.

I think I am here at a great time of year. This afternoon I went to the town square where we heard a band and listened to an Icelandic choir sing Christmas Carols to celebrate the lighting of the Noweigen Chirstmas tree. Every year the country of Norway gives a Christmas tree to Iceland for the celebration of Christmas.

There are so many things to talk about so I may post some pictures as well as some thoughts of the city, country and culture.

Here’s an overview for this time of year

25 degrees outside
Wind gusts of 30 – 40 mph each day though today we have enjoyed the calmness of the day.
Snow
4.5 hours of daylight and the day is getting shorter everyday.
Lots of coffee to keep you warm