I had a wonderful time in Dublin today. Kevin Johnson
and myself were on our feet most of the day going from one place to another.  I am quite exhausted, but thrilled by
the experience.  Here’s where we
went and what we did.

We first made our way down to the city center and along
Grafton Street to St. Stephen's Green – a
lovely park. We hung out along Grafton Street for some time
talking and for me, reminiscing of a trip I took some 15 years ago with Robi.   That time we toured with a group
of high school all-star basketball players. This time was more focused. It was
a fantastic time of chatting and dreaming about Christian Associates.

 From there we headed over to Trinity University where
we got a chance to actually see the Book of Kells along with several other
ancient early Christian documents. It was a fabulous time. The intricacies and
the labor of work that went into these ancient “illuminated” writings were profound.
It is estimated that the Book of Kells was written around 800 by Celtic monks.

We then made our way to a traditional Irish pub to
have lunch with the missions pastor from Crossroads Raleigh, Doug Gamble and
his wife Kathy. It was an amazing time talking about our mutual history with
Christian Associates and dreaming about what might happen in the future as we
seek to do mission in Europe together. With them we went over to see Christ
Church.

  It is a beautiful old church building dated around sometime after 1023.
I seem to never grow weary of looking at the architecture of old buildings.
What is it about old things? They enchant me.  The time inspired me because I love learning about the
history of the Christian church, yet discouraged me because at one time faith
in Christ was much more deeply held in this land.

One of the things that both Kevin and I wanted to
accomplish in Dublin was to visit the Peterson pipe store. It is a semi-famous
pipe company (actually, I am not really sure if they are famous – some of the
CA folk rave about them though).  Both
of us splurged and bought lovely pipes. Afterwards, we found some chairs along
the Liffey River and enjoyed a bowl.

We also got a chance to have dinner at another typical
Irish pub where I had 

 the traditional Bangers and Mash (I was a bit leery of
ordering it because I had tried Blood pudding for breakfast and my taste buds
went into all-out insurgency). The “Sausage” and “Mashed potato’s” weren’t on
my diet, but I couldn’t resist. I am a weak man!  The order was not a disappointment. We enjoyed the company
of Eva and Chris. They’re a delightful young couple who were both bright and
encouraging to us as we talked about life and faith in Jesus.

It was a truly full day and I got to see almost
everything I wanted to see in Dublin. The only other thing was the Guinness factory.
I hear that it’s a place that everyone should see when they come to Dublin.

Off to Belfast tomorrow. A place I’ve never been
before. It should be exciting!