Hi, all. Long time, no see. Contrary to what the last few months would indicate, I have not abandoned this blog. There really just hasn’t been that much to report. Winter has brought a lot of colds, working during the week, and staying home on weekends.

We have had a few significant “wins” this winter, though. Primarily, Kyla and I are now fully licensed drivers in the U.K.! The law here allows for up to one year of driving on an international license, but after that you have to take both the theory and practical exams to get your U.K. license. We took the theory exam back in December, after a few months of studying hard. We both passed it easily, but it was the practical exam that had us worried. We were advised to take driving lessons, even though we’ve been driving for 20+ years. We signed up for an instructor to give us a few sessions with constructive criticism. We then had to drive with an evaluator who, thankfully, passed us both.

In other news, back at the end of December I achieved recognition of my credentials in the United Reformed Church. This month, I started the search process. In the URC, this is kind of a weird hybrid between the appointment system in the Methodist Church and the call system used by congregational churches.

At the beginning of February, I met with two of the moderators (Methodist friends, think “District Superintendent”) of the URC. The moderator of the area we live in already had spoken to me at length, so they made sure there were at least 3 people who “knew” me would be able to speak on my behalf. They learned all about my theological leanings, my preferred worship style, what kind of church I was looking for, etc. Then, at their monthly meeting, they looked at the churches that are currently searching for ministers and sent me four profiles to look at. I then chose one that I want to talk to, and politely said “no, thank you” to the rest. Whenever I give the “go-ahead”, they will then send my Profile to the church and see if they want to have an introduction. If so, we’ll set up a weekend for us to visit the church, see their programs and facilities, and Preach With a View, basically preaching their Sunday service, but as an audition. The church will then vote, I’ll hear the exact results of the vote, and if both parties are happy, the match is made.

My situation has been complicated a bit by the fact that we’ve been going around for my fill-in duties. We’ve had a few churches ask me to consider them, but, for various reasons, I wasn’t able to receive the profile of one of them in February, so I’m waiting until after the March meeting (first week of the month) and then I’ll make proceed from there. My hope would be to be in a church this Fall or Winter.

In the meantime, the coming Spring means more traveling and exploring the country, so look for more frequent blog posts in the months to come!