Through Smoke

Coincidentally, the weekend that the large amount of us bible school students were in Edinburgh also happened to be Halloween weekend. I had never seen Halloween celebrated in such an intense and openly spiritual fashion. I have always understood that the basis of this celebration is quite paganistic, but it is very easy to ignore that fact in North America, as the effects of that are not regularly witnessed, at least on my part.

It started off 'normal' enough, in the sense that all weekend the streets were covered with people in costume. Just like every year, the costumes ranged from cute kid's characters, to creepy zombies, to costumes that nobody could quite distinguish. The night of Halloween itself, however, became much more out of the ordinary.

As seen in the picture below, there was a group of 'pagan spiritualists' of sorts who held a parade down the Royal Mile. It is difficult to put the details of their parade and 'presentation' into writing, but I will admit I found it all quite ominous.

It began quite innocently, as they marched to the beat of drums from the Castle to in front of the Anglican Church down the street. As soon as the drums began, the skies opened up and it began to rain, and the rain continued until they stopped in front of the church, at which point it ceased.

With the drums continuing, the painted pagan people gathered in a circle for a period of time, individually breathing deeply from a smoking bowl and then passing the bowl to the next member of their group. This went on for a number of minutes, with eerie screams being let out by persons in the circle at different times, until all of them had had a turn with the bowl.

Following this, with the rhythmic beating of the drums continuing, they began to dance and scream and shoot fire. They continued to draw an ever growing crowd as they performed in front of the old church.

With the smoke hanging in the air, the people with the painted bodies writhed around each other and danced to the drums unremittingly for hours on end.

What is even more difficult to explain, is the extreme sense of evil that was in the air. It was noticed not just by me, not just by the Capernwray students, but also by others on the street who do not believe in Jesus. Even one of the local cops was expressing to me how dark the night felt.

 

I cannot say that I had any bright moments in this time; that I stood up boldly against the powers of evil in the middle of the streets of Edinburgh or even that I tried to discuss my faith any further with the cop.. However, this situation did cause many of us to go to our Lord in prayer for the city, and played a part in opening our eyes to the seriousness and reality of the opposing beliefs and spirits that are active around the world today.

I can't help but wonder... What if it wasn't a common coincidence that over one hundred Capernwray students were in Edinburgh on the darkest night of the year? What if we were placed there in order to bring the light of Christ to a city and a people who have strayed so far away from Him?

We have been placed on the earth for such a time as this. 

As the world grows darker and stronger, it is our time to stand up in boldness and live as warriors against the evil that is around us. It is time to throw off our attitude of indifference, to no longer be average, and to begin living passionately and purposefully every single day in order that those around us begin to notice and CRAVE the difference that they see in us. It is time to get serious about our commitment and consistency in Christ, in order that when the time comes, our familiarity with His character will allow us to see through the smoke.

We are the generation God has prepared to change the world. Our time is now.

Before the Earth was Round

 The other weekend we had a much needed four day weekend to give us a break from studies, and an opportunity to get some local travel under our belts. The hot spot of the weekend was Edinburgh, Scotland, where about 100 of us Capers overtook the local hostels and bed and breakfasts. It was amazing to walk through the incredibly historic architecture, and to experience some Scottish culture first hand. 

The picture below is of the Castle in the center of the city, propped on a jutting out hill with cliff-like edges. As we toured, our minds couldn't help but  wander back to the days that the castle was in use. From the canons used for defending the Castle from oncoming ships in the bay ahead, to experiencing the dungeon-like tunnels below, my imagination had a very active day.

Traveler's tip, if you ever have the desire to try Haggis (sheep intestines wrapped in stomach - Scottish specialty), it would be wisest to get a free sample from right outside the castle, rather than pay 7 pounds at the surrounding pubs.. Believe me, you really don't need to try it in full meal form..

The Anglican church below held a small symphony style concert while we were in the area. Not only did we enjoy the building's intricate architectural design, we were also able to listen in awe to the amazing acoustics within.

Despite the incredible sights and atmosphere of this old city, one of the highlights of the weekend away was actually climbing up Arthur's Seat. It is a great (medium level) hike up the cliffs at the edge of the city that allows for some very rewarding views - of which cameras do not do justice.

Overall, Edinburgh is a great city to visit for a weekend. You don't need much longer than that to see all the major sights. I would highly recommend Budget Backpackers hostel, as it is cheap, but unexpectedly clean and welcoming. The co-ed bathrooms are definitely a highlight

Burberry, Busking, and British Ale

Saturday night took Karsten and I to Carnforth train station, just to realize that there were no trains to Manchester until the next morning. Neither of us had much experience in train travel, so we were unaware as to the system, but we decided to risk it and head to a bigger city called Preston. As hoped, we found a train five minutes after our arrival to Preston that would call at Manchester Piccadilly. Perfect.

Sunday was spent with Karsten and my cousins Kristin and Carmen, walking along the canal and owning downtown Manchester. Check out Kristin's great travel blog here for her take on our time in Manchester!

Top fashion - black umbrellas for only 125 pounds

I now have a sharp black umbrella... But unfortunately not Burberry.

  

Taxi please

Old Wellington Inn - One of Manchester's oldest buildings. Home to some of the finest fish and chips, and a daily varying selection of local ales.

Rory Charles. Best busker I've heard, with a great CD for sale.

Public Foothpath

The other day a few of us capers went on a walk up a hill. It looks pretty small in the pic, but it had an amazing view of the ocean and rolling hills.
For pedestrians to be able to get to "points of interest" in England, there are often 'public footpaths' set up for them to follow. The strange thing is, these often go through people's property. The path to get to the top of this hill literally took us right up a rancher's driveway and in between their house and garage. The owners of the house were actually outside at the time, and they just smiled and told us where to go. We literally had to jump the fence into their field of horses and cows and hike through there.

Myself, Alyssa and Kaitlyn with castle in the background

Walking towards the hill from the Capernwray loop

Ruins of some sort at the top of the hill

 

Nice and green, eh? 

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The Manor

I have finally gotten access to a strong enough Wi-Fi connection that I can upload some pics for you! These pics are from our initial arrival at the manor house and grounds.

Carla and I leaving

The Manor side view

The courtyard

The front of the Manor

The runners loop

I live in one of the rooms overlooking the courtyard (the pic with the clock tower and picnic tables), as do the rest of the guys. The ladies rooms are in the rest of the castle/manor house and under the conference hall (which I don't have a picture of).

Groin

You are privileged to know, that I am writing this as I ice my groin.


Have you ever heard of P90X? It's a hardcore 90 day workout video series. My fave is 'Ab-ripperX', it's super intense. A couple people have different selections of it on their laptops, so I've been joining up with them every once in a while to get sexy. yesterday however, I'm pretty sure we were doing one called 'Groin-ripperX'; because somehow I pulled the muscles in my crotchial region like you wouldn't believe.


This of course makes it painful to walk.. or sit.. or dance. But even worse than that, I couldn't get my pants on. As my roommates watched in amusement, I kept struggling and cringing (making numerous attempts) before I finally let out a Tarzan yell and jumped into the pants.


It's funny, last night a few of us guys were discussing James chapter one together, and one of the verses we talked about for the majority of it was verse 2. It says "My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various trials...". I don't know what the point of this trial is, but now every time I move, the pain reminds me to "have joy", so I smile.. a pain-filled, cringy smile.

Westend Impact

Okay, so I have about six blog posts that I've already written but just have not had the internet power to be able to load them yet.. I still don't have the power to upload any of the ones that include pictures, so those still have to wait. I am going to try and get into town tomorrow, though, so hopefully I can get those posted asap.


Just a quick bit about one of the exciting things I get to be involved in here:


We are all split up into teams that do various types of outreach through the nearby towns, and I am in a group of three students that will be working at a homeless shelter throughout the semester.


The lectures and seminars here at the castle are fantastic, but I'm still very excited to be getting OUT in the world and doing some more hands on (both practical and evangelistic) work. Our first go at it was on Thursday, and we will be going to the same place until March I believe. So it'll be awesome to be able to go consistently and hopefully we will have opportunities to share love with the guests at the shelter in its deepest form, as we slowly build up trust with them.


The shelter reminded me a lot of the Bridge on 20th in Saskatoon, so it wasn't too uncomfortable. We have already had the chance to meet some amazing people there, and I can't wait to continue getting to know them, hearing their stories, praying for them, and in all of it just being a witness. What an awesome privilege.