Anniversaries and After Dinner Speeches

Recently I (Cj) was asked to speak at the end of term Talbot dinner, it's been almost a year now since we first visited to figure out this whole
America thing...I thought that it might be fun to share it for those who didn't catch the live version! Enjoy :o)

The journey
Long before sunrise, 276 days ago, we bundled our sleepy children into a taxi, waved goodbye to our city, our families, our friends and everything we knew. We arrived at the British Airways desk and checked in 12 bags with our hopes, expectations and our future. Then sat down and waited for boarding. Like so many of you sitting here tonight, we were well past the point of no return. But we knew that God was good. We had no home to run back to, no job, our children had been taken out of their schools and clubs, our ministry responsibilities were being carried out by someone else. It was terrifying, exhilarating all at once. But we knew that God was good. What I expected was that after 14 hours of flying I would land safely in a different country and begin a new chapter of life that would be challenging but at some level quite familiar, after all, it was God that had clearly lead us here, I was with my family, and knew the language. But… during the flight, we somehow got diverted, everyone who has ever moved here will know this, because when we landed at what looked like LAX we discovered that we had ended up, not just on another continent, but on a completely different planet!

The reality
In the last two semesters my adjustment to living in Southern California has come in layers, at first my overarching priority was simply to bless the people of California by driving on the appropriate side of the road! Next came trying to understand the language, and working on being understood. There were words I had to substitute, sometimes entire phrases. Jelly was not jelly anymore, but jello, and jam was not jam, but jelly. I’ve learnt that when folks talked about the need for the baby to be pacified they did not mean that they were about to use a Tazer on it. That was really reassuring! The academic vocabulary was just as mind boggling, University was now school, Lecturer’s were Professors, Professors were Chairs, essays were papers, terms were semesters, marks were grades and so much more! WebReg with its funny little acronyms and numbers and all the unwritten rules - though now second nature - were a horrible nightmare for a non-American, non-Biolan, non-Talbot first-timer.

Oh, and then I got to class, my first class, my very first class, after never having taken theology, being out of education for 12 years and having 5 years at home squidging play dough and smearing paint, was Theo 3 with Dr Robert Saucy. Oh yes! Let me just say that, I thank the Lord for dictionary.com, because while everyone around me was grappling intelligently with the theological implications of the hypostatic union, I was online just trying to figure out how to spell it!

Community
I knew I’d miss stuff, like friends and family, but I had no idea I would miss things like a great British curry, or the simple need for touch or a hug. What was odd was the dislocation of identity, I was simply another face, no history, no connection in anyway to any other person. Those first few months were uncomfortable, I had to confront what I valued, was I actually able to bear real spiritual fruit without the trappings of ministry to shore up my worth? I also had to face the ugliness of my European prejudice against Americans. I like you all a whole lot better now! What made a difference? Three significant things; Prayer on the Patio, Talbot Wives, and those wonderfully friendly people who were willing to say hi and connect when they arrived for class. This large amorphous organization that is Talbot, became a handful of familiar faces, real relationships, people at prayer.

Blessing God
I understand that Orthodox Jews have a particular saying to bless God when entering or leaving a house of study, so when I walk through the door of Meyers … I can bless God for the real unadulterated joy of this gift of time to study him. I can bless him for the stripping down, restoration, intense challenges - and thanks lately to Hermeneutics – I can bless him for the discovery of the depth of my own ignorance. I can bless him for the growing friendships, authenticity, faith, the godly wisdom and evidential faith of the staff as they pour out their knowledge and experience. I can bless him even for the tears, the silence, unexpected deliverance and simply his grace in providing in every need for our little family, so that we can be where he wants us to be. And finally, like so many of you of you, I can bless him that this year he has walked us a few more steps to the next point of no return. And I know that he is good.