the drum|rob fairbanks

5 People I Want to Meet In Heaven

Ok, I know that heaven is a debated topic – eternal “floaty” place or New Creation or blah, blah, blah.  This post really isn’t about the theological place, but more of longing and musing. I was simply thinking about Christian people I have respected from history I would love to meet, to have a coffee or pint with and chat. 

Ok, here is my list (drum roll please):

1)    C.S. Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963)

Special Question for Clive: How did you like how Anthony Hopkins portrayed you in Shadowlands?  Seriously, I have a hard time thinking of Lewis now without connecting him to Hopkins. Weird, huh?

2)    Martin Luther King (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

Special Question: Did you realize the colossal proportion of what was going on around you, or was it just; I am doing the next thing I can do?

3)    Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910 – 5 September 5, 1997)

Special Question: What sustained you when you recognized that even though you were helping scores of incredibly needy people, you were barely denting the need?

4)    Dietrich Bonhoeffer (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945)

Special Question for DB: How did you coalesce the needed courage to act in the middle of one of the greatest tragedies in human history?

5)    Author of the “So Called Letter to Diognetus” (2^nd Century)

Special Question for our mystery guest:  Who are you? Many presumed that the person who penned this letter was Justin Martyr, but…anyway. Here is a short excerpt from the letter. Take a read - you'll love it!

Honorable mentions (any of these could've easily made it into the top five): Lessile Newbigin, William Wilberforce, Soren Kierkegaard, David Bosch, Jim Elliot, Karl Barth, Athanasius, Aelred of Rievaulx, and Francis of Assisi.

I know, history often portrays folks in a certain light and in reality, each of these people might not be the most enjoyable to hang out with (probably because of their intensity), but it’s just for fun.  Questions I wonder about would be like, did they like sports, did they ever struggle with depression, how did they experience God, did they struggle with cynicism…stuff like that.

Who would you like to chat with from the past? 

What would you want to ask them?

A Fine Day in Dublin

I had a wonderful time in Dublin today. Kevin Johnson and myself were on our feet most of the day going from one place to another.  I am quite exhausted, but thrilled by the experience.  Here’s where we went and what we did.

We first made our way down to the city center and along Grafton Street to St. Stephen's Green – a lovely park. We hung out along Grafton Street for some time talking and for me, reminiscing of a trip I took some 15 years ago with Robi.   That time we toured with a group of high school all-star basketball players. This time was more focused. It was a fantastic time of chatting and dreaming about Christian Associates.

 From there we headed over to Trinity University where we got a chance to actually see the Book of Kells along with several other ancient early Christian documents. It was a fabulous time. The intricacies and the labor of work that went into these ancient “illuminated” writings were profound. It is estimated that the Book of Kells was written around 800 by Celtic monks.

We then made our way to a traditional Irish pub to have lunch with the missions pastor from Crossroads Raleigh, Doug Gamble and his wife Kathy. It was an amazing time talking about our mutual history with Christian Associates and dreaming about what might happen in the future as we seek to do mission in Europe together. With them we went over to see Christ Church.
  It is a beautiful old church building dated around sometime after 1023. I seem to never grow weary of looking at the architecture of old buildings. What is it about old things? They enchant me.  The time inspired me because I love learning about the history of the Christian church, yet discouraged me because at one time faith in Christ was much more deeply held in this land.

One of the things that both Kevin and I wanted to accomplish in Dublin was to visit the Peterson pipe store. It is a semi-famous pipe company (actually, I am not really sure if they are famous – some of the CA folk rave about them though).  Both of us splurged and bought lovely pipes. Afterwards, we found some chairs along the Liffey River and enjoyed a bowl.

We also got a chance to have dinner at another typical Irish pub where I had 
 the traditional Bangers and Mash (I was a bit leery of ordering it because I had tried Blood pudding for breakfast and my taste buds went into all-out insurgency). The “Sausage” and “Mashed potato’s” weren’t on my diet, but I couldn’t resist. I am a weak man!  The order was not a disappointment. We enjoyed the company of Eva and Chris. They’re a delightful young couple who were both bright and encouraging to us as we talked about life and faith in Jesus.

It was a truly full day and I got to see almost everything I wanted to see in Dublin. The only other thing was the Guinness factory. I hear that it’s a place that everyone should see when they come to Dublin.

Off to Belfast tomorrow. A place I’ve never been before. It should be exciting!