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Jamie writes ….
In the spring of 1998, shortly after making the decision to move down to Greece with Dave, Lynn and the family, the Lord spoke a word to me (Jamie) from the life of Abraham: “Leave your country, the people you have known and your father's household and go the land I will show you.” It was a great confirming word. The implications of such a word, however, would only be worked out in reality over the following years. What does it mean to move away from all that is familiar and safe and be re-shaped by the Lord in a foreign land?
Today, that pilgrimage continues. We three - Rachel, Oliver and I - will head to England in the autumn of this year, where I will embark on a 4-year PhD in anthropology. After eleven years in Greece, England itself has become a foreign land to us. Once again the challenge will go, I believe, to the root of who we are. Anthropology, as a discipline, takes nothing for granted, bringing into question assumptions that we have about life, what appears as 'natural' and culture. In these ways it is a continuation of the working out of the call of Abraham – an embarking into the unknown. I am looking forward to it being both a challenging and transformational time.
My chosen area of study is to look at issues of identity in the Balkans. I am especially interested in looking at how individuals' perceptions and world-views are changed and transformed through entering different relationships. As such, my study will take us back and forth between the UK and Greece over the next four years; with research training and thesis-writing taking place primarily in the UK, broken up by an extended period of fieldwork to take place down here in Greece.
We are all excited about this next stage in our lives. Rachel has already packed half our house away in boxes. Oliver doesn't stop talking about it (in his own way).
Travel light. Live in tents. Enjoy the journey!
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katerina & dimitris
07:47 AM on April 29, 2011
Hello Jamie. I am katerina. Were are you ? Please send me a mail or a email.
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