Visit to Grenoble

A while ago I visited Lausanne to preach at the church there and to attend some preaching seminars given by Stuart Olyott, who has since become the pastor of our 'home church'. The Lausanne church is part of the nascent francophone reformed baptist movement, and it's been a great blessing to be in touch with these guys.

This led to a visit to Grenoble to meet up with the church there and to preach on Sunday. Grenoble is a beautiful city, set at the confluence of two alpine valleys. The valley floor is at about 200 metres (or so I am told) but the mountains around rise to over 2000 metres, so you can imagine how dramatic the scenery is. I saw my first glacier from afar and was generally captivated by the beauty of it all. So that's why people fall in love with the Alps !

It was great to meet with the church, which dates back a little more than ten years and was planted by David Vaughn. David's is a name I have known for many years - he's well-known in RB circles - but it was my first time to meet him. The church folk are very talented, energetic and well-taught.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit about music exams in UK and France

They're really different. I think I have already mentioned that while in the UK people generally find a private teacher for their instrument, or do it through a school scheme, here there are municipal music school, conservatoires and so on. The situation is a little more complex than I had first understood, because the schools vary in the rigidity of their organisation: the most, the conservatoires, next the municipals, then the associations. Our music school is an association, but it tends to apply the standards of the municipal schools with its programme of cycles, etc. Britain - grade 1 to 8, grade 8 being roughly equivalent to A-level, pre university/conservatoire. France - 3 cycles, each taking about 4 years, with 3ème cycle being roughly equivalent to grade 8. Theory of music - UK to take grade 8 you need theory grade 5. In France you study theory alongside your instrumental studies, very slowly. Catrin's flute music is MUCH more difficult than the stuff she does in theor
Read more

The Kitchen

 Our new apartment will be equipped with toilet and bathroom etc. but not with anything at all in the kitchen. Not even a sink. So we need to purchase a kitchen and engage a kitchen fitter. A friend who knows how to fit kitchens suggested buying an Ikea kitchen. "They're guaranteed twenty years and they honour their guarantee", he said. "I've proved it". Well I don't know any other kitchen laces in France, and I can't imagine there's much that's cheaper than Ikea, so I was happy to accept his advice. So it was that on Monday I booked an appointment with the Ikea Kitchen Planning Service in the centre of Bordeaux. The woman was friendly. "You've already started the process", she said, (have we?) "so that will save us lots of time". "What are you aiming for?" Something not too country, something discreet, something that can adapt to whatever colours we put in the rest of the room. She understood our dislike of
Read more