While we have been in Dublin we attended a show and enjoyed a good meal with the Merry Plowboys. It was good value for money and we thoroughly enjoyed the show of traditional music, singing and dancing. My favorite was Tom who played on many different flutes as well as the Irish shoulder bagpipe.
The Merry Plowboy pub dates back to the 1780’s and is famous for its live music and dance. We were seated with some nice Americans with Irish roots and that made the evening even more perfect.

What an amazing book we have been looking at today! The book of Kells is probably the richest, most beautifully illuminated, manuscript version of the four Gospels in the Celto Saxon style that still survives. According to legend, St Columba was the creator of this most beautiful of books, nearly 1500 years ago. It is all written by hand and carefully illustrated in full colour. It is a masterpiece of art.
The book is a witness to the deep love of the Word of God. I was filled with wonder when I touched the pages of the book (even though I knew they were just copies). So much creative work and love were put into it.
We need creative people today with the love for the Bible to illustrate it and make it available to people in our postmodern age.

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Early this morning we left Bergen for Dublin in Ireland for one week of exploring this green island. First we will stay a few days in Dublin and then we plan to go south west to explore the coastal area. We are very excited to be here for a vacation. This summer we have been busy working at the house in the forest and now we are happy to relax and regain new strength before a busy autumn a head of us. It was a pleasant surprise to find an Internet connection at the hotel in Dublin. We are expecting more pleasant surprises from the Lord while we are here!

Since Wednesday we have been attending the Bible Week in Harstad, beyond the arctic circle in the northern part of Norway. It has been wonderful days in the presence of God and a lot of fun in the fellowship of the believers. My friend Roger Aubrey has been the main speaker, and he has been mightily used by God. His teaching of the Word has been provoking and challenging, but more than anything else it has been encouraging and faith building. One night the presence of God broke in on us in waves upon waves.

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The work on my new room that I am adding to the house in the forest is progressing day by day. The roof is on and so the inside is dry in the rainy weather we have had recently. As the carpenters are working on the new study I am working on extending the wooden terrace. The place is being enlarged and beautified all the time.
This morning I was reading the Prophet Isaiah and this sentence touched my heart: "If you want me to protect you, learn to believe what I say." (Isaiah 7:9 NLT) When we believe and obey what God says to us, our lives will be enlarged and we will enjoy his protection. As I meditate on this word I sense God speaking to me and refreshing me in my spirit. God is good.

Today there has been some progress in the work on the house in the forest. I am having a working holiday and is working from morning to evening. The carpenters have laid the beams for the floor today. Since I have had trees cut down and sawed through a friend that had just bought a saw for cutting building material, the material is not all according to the exact measurement. This is giving the carpenters extra work in getting everything straight and level.

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I am having two weeks holiday building an extension on my house in the forest. The weather is most excellent but a bit too warm! I am working from early morning to late evening and I love it. Some carpenters are helping me during day time. I have not had any internet connection earlier at the house in the forest, but today I am able to connect through my mobile phone. I am just sending a short post today, but plan to give an update with some pictures tomorrow.

This weekend I had the joy of taking part in ordaining elders in the emerging church at Stord, an island south of Bergen. This covenant community has been brought together by the ministry of Jan Sigve Hystad. On Saturday he and Jarle Vae were ordained elders of this covenant community.
It was a great time of celebration and a big meal as the people of God came together for this great event. The ordination ceremony was led by Terje Dahle in a wonderful way. Elders from the churches in the area also took part in laying on of hands. The Lord spoke to the new elders and the entire church trough prophetic words.
The local believers were excited over what was taking place. They brought flowers and many words of thanksgiving and appreciation. It was indeed a joyful time giving God the glory for what he had done.

I have spent some time recently with the students at Bergen Bibelskole looking at the church of God as a covenant community. The last day I asked them to find all the "one another exhortations" in the New Testament and choose the three most important to them and then tell me why. Finding the exhortations is quite easy today with the many Bible computer programs available. However, deciding which one is the most important and explain why is not that easy.

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Today I had the privilege of attending a  very special funeral service. The mother of my close covenant friend Noralv Askeland had gone to be with the Lord and we were gathered to bring her body to rest in the grave. There are always lots of emotions involved when your mother leaves this world, even when you know that she has gone to a better place to be with the Lord.

From beginning to end this funeral service was filled with thankfulness and hope. Noralv gave a wonderful speech in which he honoured his mother by describing how she had been a loving and caring mother, faithful spouse, a zealous intercessor, an encourager, counselor, and helper to many people. A lot of people later gave testimonies of how she had been a blessing to them in many practical ways. Her life had been a great blessing and therefore the funeral service was filled with thanksgiving and praise to God for everything he had done through the mother of my friend.