News Archive
Day 9 (Wednesday)
Did some serious sightseeing in Chicago today; what a fabulous, magnificent city it is too. Went up the Sears tower – 3rd biggest building in the world – and the views and cityscapes are beyond spectacular. The lift takes you up 103 floors in 60 seconds; funny things happening in the ear and stomach region. On top of that this is all set beside the truly spectacular quayside of Lake Michigan. It was just a great experience to walk along the lakeside with such a dramatic set of buildings bordering the waters edge. Loved the Chicago Tribune building. Was looking out to see if Lois Lane was nipping out for her lunch break. Didn’t see her, but thought I saw a man in a funny outfit getting changed in a phone box! Or is it Spiderman that works for the Chicago Tribune? “My kind of town, Chicago is..” in the words of Francis Albert Sinatra.All systems go for the Global Leadership summit at Willow Creek tomorrow. Evidently, there are something like 7,000 delegates from across the world. It’s also being transmitted by satellite to thousands of venues across the world. It is, by some distance the largest, and possibly most significant, annual gathering of leaders on the planet, Christian or secular. So, it’s a big deal size wise. Looking forward to listening to the speakers, but also getting behind the scenes a little. Interested to hear, from our host couple, that the last year has been quite a tough one for the church and its leadership as it endeavours to stay in step with the spirit and faithful to the vision God is calling it to fulfil. All that glitters isn’t always gold.
“The Lord Almighty – he is the king of glory” (Ps 24:10). Interesting thought: 6 hours before we landed in LA last week they had their biggest earthquake in ages. The night before we land in Chicago they had an unprecedented electric storm: “In every way imaginable, that storm last night was in a league of its own” (Tom Skilling, Chicago Tribune). Don’t want to be over dramatic, but I’m getting the idea that the timing of our itinerary is in hands other than our own. My God….he is the king of glory.