Greyfriars and the birthplace of Harry Potter

     One of the the most historic spots in Edinburgh (pronounced 'Edinborough', heavy on the burrrrro) is Greyfriars.  The name comes from the Franciscan monks, who wore grey cloaks (the Dominicans wore black cloaks and were called Blackfriars).  It is a church in a spot that originally belonged to the Franciscans but after the Scottish Reformation—led by John Knox—became a Church of Scotland parish—or what we call "Presbyterian".  In 1638 many leading Scots signed a covenant there pledging to defend Presbyterian faith when it seemed to be threatened, especially by Charles I who wanted the Scottish church brought in line with the Church of England, under bishops chosen by the king.  A few years later support of these 'Covenanters' helped swing the victory of Parliament in the English Civil War, costing Charles his head.  When his son was restored to the throne as Charles II, he was even more determined to force compliance and many of the Covenanters rebelled, only to eventually be defeated (partly because of their disunity brought about by theological bickering).  After the final battle 1200 of them were imprisoned in part of the Greyfriars churchyard, and eventually most were shipped overseas into slavery.  Several hundred died in the prison, and several hundred more when the ship transporting them sank while they were locked in its hold.
   They took church rather seriously in those days.  I mean, I've heard people say "I'd rather die or be sold into slavery than be an Episcopalian," but still...
At the same time this was going on, adjacent to the churchyard and the area where they were imprisoned a school for orphans built as the bequest of a generous believer name George Heriot was built.  The school has four corner towers built around a central turret and subsequently became one of the finest schools in Edinburgh.  Its students are traditionally divided into 4 houses... starting to sound familiar?  Just outside the churchyard, with a view of the school and nearby Edinburgh Castle which sits on a spur of rock, is the Pink Elephant Cafe—one of the cafes a single mother named Joanne Rowley used to sit in and write a book about a boy wizard.  Take the school and sit it on the spur of rock and you have something much more like the description in the book than the image used in the movies...  That's the school in the background below—

Live (but footsore) from the British Open

    St. Andrews is a place I have wanted to visit ever since I first saw it during a British Open broadcast many years ago.  I knew of it as the birthplace of golf long before I discovered it was the birthplace of Presbyterianism.  So this post I will talk about golf.
   My friend Loren Roberts is playing here this week for the 150th Open Championship.   He was kind enough to procure a pass for me, and another friend found housing—with Dave Reinhardt while his wife and daughter are back in the US visiting family.  Dave is a PhD student at the University of St. Andrews, 3rd oldest university in the English-speaking world and his wife was on IV staff at Davidson.  Dave is someone I probably have bumped into without knowing it in the past—for instance, he attended our Following Christ conference in Chicago a year-and-a-half ago.  He is in a program called the "Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts".  Let's start one of those at the MIT Media Lab!

   But back to golf.  Did you know that the Apostle Paul played golf?  He talked about his problems with his swing in Romans 7:  "I don't understand what I do.   What I wish to do I do not do, and what I do not wish to do I do."  I have experienced that many times on the golf course... but off the course as well.  Loren experienced some of that today.  Putts—his bread and butter—would not drop, and he found himself in one of the nasty pot bunkers that sit right in the middle of the fairway...  He played in the second group out this morning, at 6:40 AM and with a bit of jet lag did not get much sleep.  I didn't either (I hate being up that early without jet lag!) but I did not have to play in the grand-daddy of all golf tournaments.  The weather was mostly drizzle with occasional rain, and in the end he shot a one-over on his round.  Which is not good, as the weather improved by mid morning and with soft greens and fairways the scores have been very good.  Ah, well.

   Last night Dave and I ate dinner and while he went to his small group I walked in the rain to the course, in the vain hope the "Ticket Collection office" (what we call WillCall) would still be open.  I stumbled upon the 18th fairway, which ends right in the town, and is a famous and iconic view.  I took the picture above of the bridge over Swilken Burn at 8:30 pm in the fog and rain, and when I passed by the 17th green a few minutes later was startled to see some of the players still out on the course practicing...

Some signs to arouse your curiousity...

  It is very late here and I have a long day...  I tramped around Edinburgh for about 9 hours today and still saw just a fraction—I'll answer the questions these picture raise tomorrow.

Sitting beneath Arthur's Seat

Made it to Edinburgh tonight... the train was very full—as full as the conductor had ever seen it, he said—because of the Open.  I walked around the part of town where my dorm is located before finding a nice little Chinese place.  An interesting/disconcerting lesson:  Take-out food is much cheaper than eat-in food, I think because of the VAT.  The same dish I paid about $12 for was only about $8 to go...

  There are many disconnects for me like that in pricing, all driven by VAT.
   As I walked out of my room for dinner about 9:30 pm I could look behind the dorm and see The Crags and Arthur's Seat, which dominates the Edinburgh skyline.  First picture below is the Crags and the dorm, then Arthur's Seat and the dorm.  Arthur's Seat is where the famous scene in Chariots of Fire ("I feel God's pleasure when I run!) took place.  As I took the picture I notice a lone silhouette on top... but as the minutes went by more and more appeared; people who made the 3 hour hike to see the sunset. [if you click on the second picture it will expand, and you can see him]  I watched with some envy, but continued on.  Tuesday I will explore Edinburgh and will get plenty of climbing.

They shoot tennis shoes, don't they?

    My 3 days back in Cambridge coincided with a hot spell on the east coast, an interesting contrast to LA where everyone was apologizing for the 'cold' weather (it was in the 70's, which is perfect for me).  I had a lot of errands to run:  Got a haircut, my car got an oil change,  I made a trip to Costco to restock my vitamins… I am, if there is such a word, a vitaminaholic.  I also had to buy a new pair of sneakers.  My old ones were pretty worn out and I knew I would have to replace them soon, but they came to an abrupt end in Santa Monica.  When I got out of my car outside the building where Ji-Jon and Felicity live, I stepped into a pile of the stuff dog owners are supposed to take care of when they walk their critters in the city…  My hosts were from Singapore, and like many Asian homes they don't even wear clean shoes in their apartment.  It just so happened that as I was trying to figure out how to fit everything in my small suitcase I also was trying to think of how to clean my shoes so they wouldn't send the various X-sniffing dogs working around airports into a frenzy, in addition to permanently stinking up the suitcase.
   The logical conclusion was to treat them like they used to treat horses with broken legs.  I shot them.  Well, figuratively, anyway.
   They were good shoes and we covered a lot of miles together.  I'm hoping their replacements—almost identical—will serve me as well  (notice I'm experimenting with lace locks?  I hope never to tie—and retie—them again).  Tonight I will stay near Heathrow and tomorrow I have a 1+ hour ride in the Tube to King's Cross Station, then a 4+ hour train ride to Edinburgh, where I will be staying in the dorms of the University of Edinburgh (having read How the Scots Invented the Modern World:  The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It, in which the U of E figures very prominently, I'm looking forward to my stay).  Unfortunately, all my UCCF colleagues (British InterVarsity) appear to be out of town on vacation or mission projects.  Anyone have some friends in Edinburgh?

It's not the end of the world if I'm not posting...

It rained early this morning in Los Angeles. Rain in Southern California in July! Followed by an earthquake—In the face of such a clear sign of the impending apocalypse, it is no wonder there have been no posts to this blog in the last week…
Actually, it is more that I have been spending a lot of time catching up with old friends. Not necessarily friends that are old (although one is in her 90’s) but those for whom there is a certain, let us say, ‘depth’ to the relationship. Pictured below is Tony Sbrana. Tony and I have known each other since high school, although we were in different years at different schools. We met through Young Life, and the real friendship began later when we worked together in Young Life at Monterey High. Over the years Tony has given much laughter and shared many of his creative talents with me, but what I appreciate most is the gift of presence he gave during several of my family’s times of loss. You know your true friends when they show up for you… “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Prov. 17:17)

I’ve also spent time with another colleague from that period, and 2 of the high school students we worked with (some of those former students have children who have graduated from high school now!)
My family also had a big family holiday weekend. Friday was my sister’s birthday, so my brother-in-law fired up the grill… then did it again for July 4th. We had the type of family meal I remember from the 4th of July when I was a boy: BBQ, corn-on-the-cob, home-made ice cream with strawberries. Unfortunately Monterey has banned all fireworks and there were no public displays within 50 miles. We could see and hear the occasional illegal one down toward the beach, though.

   On Monday I said good-bye and drove through the holiday traffic to LA (20 mph on I-5 over the whole Grapevine!) and spent a great 20 hours with Prof. Yann Schrodi and his wife Janet. I intended to post something then, but we watched the World Cup semifinal (Yann is from Alsace-Lorraine and of course a big soccer fan) and then walked across campus to his office. I then hopped on the freeway to downtown, driving partway in rush-hour traffic on some famous streets including Rodeo Drive, Wilshire Blvd., and Santa Monica Blvd. to meet the son of my college roommate who is an aspiring screenwriter. Then on to Santa Monica and its famous beach for an evening with Dr. Ji-Jon Sit and his wife Felicity. We walked through the downtown for some frozen yogurt and talked past midnight. I had really, really planned to post something then, but I can’t trade a conversation with friends I have not seen for too long with writing about missing the chance to have a conversation with friends I have not seen for too long! As I have commented about all social media, they are great for keeping up with absent friends, but no substitute for present ones.
So now I am on a plane bound for Boston, and a brief stopover to pick up my mail, restock my vitamins, get my hair cut, check-in with my spiritual director, and head back to the airport for another long flight on Sunday morning.
  Below:  Yann (MIT PhD 2001 Chemstry) in his office (the bumper sticker with the ??? is great!);
then Felicity, me, Ji-Jon

Just some funny stuff I saw this week...

   Nothing profound here... but 3 pictures of stuff that I found amusing.  First is Lexus being displayed at the US Open that was dimpled like a golf ball.  They put dimples on a ball to help it 'tunnel' through the air better—so I wonder, did they test it in a wind tunnel?  Maybe all cars should have these!

  Next is a gift my sister gave my brother-in-law for Fathers' Day.  He has a mustache... and this is a tissue holder.  Lastly is a sign from a local restaurant.  I suppose it could engender a profound remark about the state of our  voyeuristic culture, but I've got nothing here.  I was laughing too hard.