London Calling...

London is definitely one of my favorite cities. It is so full of life and around every corner there is such a unique mix of past & present. I was able to explore quite a bit again while I was there this past week, and of course being Christmas time, I had to hit some of my favorites to check out the decorations - Portobello Road, Covent Gardens, Trafalgar Square, Bond Street, Oxford Street, Harrod's, and an evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Some of my other favorite things:

• The Underground & Minding the Gap
• Pret a Manger sandwiches - on every corner and very yummy
• The Red Phone Booths
• The diversity of cultures and languages
• British accents
• The crazy fashion culture
• Coffee shops all around
• The Black Cabs & VERY knowledgeable drivers - I hear they spend years in training to know all of the streets in London.

The highlight this trip for me was that I was able to visit the British Library and the British Museum for the first time. The British Library has an amazing collection of old bibles, other religious writings, literature classics, and historical documents. At the British Museum, there is a massive domed reading room and multiple floors containing endless treasures from throughout time and across the world. They say it takes the security guards two years to get to know the extent of the museum collection. I ended up running into the tail end of a bible tour being led through biblically-significant museum artifacts. I only caught the end, but then also ran across this really interesting book in the bookshop later, The Bible in the British Museum, which details out the archeological evidence found in the British Museum for events in scripture. Fascinating...

I visited both the British Library and the British Museum in the same day, and the whole experience was such a humbling reminder of the great story God has authored through time and across the cultures of the world. Our part in the story might fill only a page, or maybe even just a paragraph; but even still, He chose each of us to play a part. Through His sovereign grace, the ending is clear! And best of all, He has already read us the last page! I can't wait to see how the story unfolds along the way! :)