Friends

I am truly blessed, I have once again discovered on this trip. I am now in Norway, and I’ve again been taken in by wonderful people who love God and love the church. Enough of this, and I might forget about all of the bloggers out there who think I’m the spawn of Satan.

After my engagements in Arhus, Denmark, I said a sad farewell to my friends Thomas and Henrick. I was driven by some fun-loving Americans to my next stop, a Pentecostal Bible college about an hour away. Jakob Vagner, teacher there, welcomed me with another great Danish meal (you don’t hear much good about the food in northern Europe, but lemme tell you, the Danes know how to eat!). On Thursday, I addressed the student body in four sessions in the morning and had a session exclusively with the second-year students after lunch.

I was driven to the Billung Airport by a couple of students, and I flew in a very small plane to Oslo, where I was collected by another new friend, Bente. She had an excellent Norwegian breakfast for me this morning: bread, meat, cheese, fruit, and strong coffee. She then drove us to the Norwegian School of Theology, where I held forth for the morning, and into the afternoon. Now I’ve got a bit of downtime prior to my last engagement, tonight at a Covenant Church (where I’m sure to make more friends).

Somebody said that a man is rich, who is rich in friends. These are wise words indeed. And, I’m not trying to be sappy or anything here, but I’ve been thinking a lot about this concept of friendship whilst on this trip. There’s really something to it — the theological virtue of friendship — and I’m mighty glad that we’ve made that a hallmark of Emergent Village.