Knowing the Way

Blog Change

2011-06-22T16:31:00.001-04:00

Did you miss my blog address change? There is a link below to my WordPress blog. And there are exciting things happening there, even if I haven't figured it all out yet!

Choose Your Own Adventure!

2011-04-03T08:13:00.004-04:00

Remember those adventure books where you come to a crossroads and you (the reader) get to choose which way to go? Well, welcome to that scenario once again.

Would you like to read the latest post? I am sure you noticed the face-lift I gave my blog, changing the background colors (but not the content!). To find the most recent entry, scroll down or search for "Overwhelmed."

Are you interested in more adventure? Then close your eyes and take the plunge! Brace yourself and go to this address: http://followtherabboni.wordpress.com/

Enjoy following the Rabboni!

Overwhelmed

2011-04-02T07:56:00.007-04:00

I told someone today that if I did not have such a good God, today would have been terrible. Still now, though the day is over, I feel funny. There is part of me that wants to cry, overwhelmed and ready to cash in, and the rest of me is saying, "This is just starting to get good! God is great, so onward, ho!"

Location: J.'s apartment in Sighisoara, Romania, the 2nd of April.

The above is a quote from Yours Truly just earlier this week. I sat down to journal about the day, got interrupted by a phone call which was cut short by the Holy Spirit overwhelming me with His power, and I ended up spending time at the feet of Jesus before going directly to bed. So the post never got written.

Yes, I know it has been quite some time since I last updated my blog. I might add that I have not made much time to write lately either. It has been difficult to keep up with emails, too. Why? After all, these are all things I enjoy!

Well, as you know, life happens. Relationship is always my priority, because I see that it is God's priority. Everything in the Bible screams "relationship!" Everything in Christianity is founded upon relationship: Relationship with Jesus, relationship between Father and Son (and Spirit), relationship between Christians (the Church), relationship between believers and non-believers (the world) . . . Thus, the Christian's life is naturally focused on relationship. And relationship cannot be scheduled, tamed, controlled, organized, pacified, or faked, which means that it tends to "interrupt" schedules and plans and life in general--in a good way!

Maybe you, too, feel overwhelmed by the relationships around you. Maybe it seems like you are needed by too many people with too complicated problems. Maybe you cannot love all the people who love you, or you cannot minister to all the people who come to you. Maybe you have too many friends, or too many enemies. Maybe you cannot reciprocate the love God gives you. Relationships can certainly be overwhelming!

That is why I have not written so much. Often, I choose to spend time at the feet of Jesus instead of writing. I spend a lot of time with my wonderful girlfriend, enjoying the friendship God has given us. Several times a week, I lend a hand to a friend that needs something, happy to help even though it costs me time. Sometimes it is just work, plain and simple, that fills up my schedule.

For example, U. (whose family has blessed and helped me so much!) has been suffering from very bad back problems lately. Yesterday I joined him and a couple of his boys in some logging work in the forest. It was the first time I did something like that, dragging felled trees with the tractor and wench and with the horse, and then cutting them into meter-long sections. I enjoyed the hard work in the beautiful spring weather except for fighting a rotten headache, and I know U. appreciated the help. It was a good investement in his son, D.'s life, too. D. is the 15-year-old boy to whom I teach French and English, and I have become a bit of a mentor to him. He does not know Jesus, but I pray that he will someday!

Speaking of D., a lot of my time of late has gone into planning a special trip to France with him this summer. Shh...it is a surprise! I bought the plane tickets now, and things are falling into place.

Planning a trip takes a lot of organization time, and not only am I planning France, but also the visits of a couple of other Christians to Romania. I will be hosting them for a good bit of their time here, and I am planning our time together in July and August. I am getting excited about it, and about visiting different places in the area where my Father is at work!

Another friend helped me this week by lending me a car (yes, a Dacia!), and then I did him a favor by taking it to town for him, to pass it on to someone else who needed it. Unfortunately, as I was on my way, the gearshift broke clean off in my hand, while I was driving! We had to tow the car (another new experience for me as I sat in the back car--without a gearshift--fixated on the brakelights of the car in front of me so I would not rear-end it!).

Sadly, I am not the only one who had a mishap this week--my brother in America broke his ankle skiing. However, that resulted in an impromptu family reunion via Skype, which was a huge blessing in my week.

So you understand why have not written; thank you for forgiving me.

Do you know what the trick is to avoid being overwhelmed by our workloads, by misfortune, burdens, pain, and deadlines? We need to be overwhelmed by God's goodness, love, grace, and mercy. His peace is wide enough to hold us all, in every situation.

You see, this morning I was tempted to be overwhelmed by the future. It feels like I have a lot of decisions to make and things to work on and plan. Some of them seem impossible, and some of them seem like hopeless jigsaw puzzles. That is why I came to town today, to work on all of this. But as I stood by the road hitchhiking, the Lord reminded me very clearly, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own. Bring me glory today."

That is right: tomorrow might never come. So how am I glorifying my Father today? How are you glorifying Him today?

You probably do not have the same mentle struggle I have: I often struggle against the idea of being a professional missionary or minister. I do not feel called to be, nor do I want to be, a professional minister or missionary. Why? It goes back to the point about relationships. While it is true that God calls some to be professional ministers and missionaries, I believe that we often are better positioned to enter into relationship with our neighbors when we have a "normal," simmple life. Think about how powerful of a testimony to God's goodness it is to have the same life as your neighbor's except for one thing--your life is overwhelmed by God's grace and goodness.

Whatever your role is today, whether it seems meaningful or not, I want you to surrender yourself once more or for the first time to the grace of Jesus Christ. Then I want you to let that grace overwhelm you so much that every person you meet will know that we have an awesome God. Maybe your emails will not get read, nor your patio swept, nor your favorite program watched on T.V., but God will be glorified. And after all, isn't that your job?

Cold Spaghetti

2011-03-19T13:20:00.003-04:00

Location: J's apartment, the 19th of March 2011 at about 7:45pm.

Probably cold spaghetti will taste about as good as it sounds, but I will have to tell you later. You see, I left it on the stove waiting for J., expecting him to walk in the door at any minute. Then I just got a call from M., who is with him leading a day-trip for the American students, and a "shortcut" put them an hour behind schedule.

Have you ever waited for something that seemed to never come? Or someone?

Today has been a productive day in the "office," but I still did not get everything done I hoped to--for instance, I never even touched my personal emails, just the work-related ones. I am planning out a bit of my summer when I will be hosting some visitors, and juggling all of our schedules and contacting people we hope to meet with takes a lot of time. In addition, I am planning a surprise trip to France for a friend of mine. I am blessed to be alone in J.'s apartment today, with a full day of internet access. Yet after a while, my eyes start to dream of yesteryear when they did not stare for hours at a computer screen!

What makes it worse is that I have come down with a cold, only days after answering my father's question with the truth that I was healthy. Still a bit tired from last week's tour to Germany and back, I guess my immune system could not withstand an invasion. So I am glad that I declined the invitation to join my friends in Hunedoara today, because I probably would have been miserable there!

You may wonder why I would not join my girlfriend and a good American buddy on a mostly-free day-trip. The main reason was the amount of work I had to do. Now before you begin to pity me, let me tell you that I pushed my workload back to today so that I could be spontaneous yesterday. I was in my village cutting wood and working on my bike and preparing to do this summer planning work when I received a call from my beautiful girlfriend saying that her neighbor had invited us out-of-the-blue to go to Odorhei, which is a Hungarian-populated area of Romania about an hour away. At first I said "no," then realized that it was from God and called back with an affirmative answer. So yesterday we visited Odorhei (my first time), and believe it or not, I found shoes in my large size (the first time I have found them in Romania!). Back in Sighisoara in the evening, I had the privilege of joining M. at a special worship service of a group of Christians who have a heart for the nation of Israel. We sang several songs in Hebrew and had a message and a prayer time.

I had a headache yesterday, but only today did the cold hit. But I count my blessings. I was able to sleep last night (and will again tonight) here at J.'s apartment, and to spend a working day alone here. I did not get to go to V. for the Bible Hour this week, for the first time in a long while, but I got to have some high-quality conversations with some of you on Wednesday instead. I am battling a cold, but people in Libya and Japan and New Zealand and other places are fighting for their lives. After my full day of computer work and a runny nose, I was looking forward to seeing my girlfriend an hour ago, and to serving my buddy J. with a meal of spaghetti I made him. But the blessing is that I have a girlfriend who calls again when she is running late so I will not worry, and that I have food that can get cold, meaning I have something to eat and something to make heat.

Life is about perspective. Today I fielded a call from a local missionary struggling with some interpersonal relationships. We talked about the idea of a rich man who has a lot of valuable property, and how he stresses himself out with fences and alarms and guards and dogs, trying to keep his property from being stolen (and not realizing that his joy and peace has been stolen!). Compare that to the poor man next door who has no fences, alarms, guards, nor dogs, but who neither has anything for someone to steal. And he does have joy and peace.

How do you look at your life? If you are a Christian, can you surrender yourself so completely to Jesus that you have nothing left for someone to steal or hurt. If so, you will have abundant joy and peace! Do you have friends who are worth waiting for, or do you always eat your spaghetti as soon as it gets hot? What is important to you?

Speaking of friends and blessings, my friend J. has been a special blessing to me. I have a key to his apartment and a standing invitation to sleep here. I have clothes here, and even my violin while I wait to find someone to repair it. He leads our Bible study, he has often served me dinner, and has gone out of his way to help me in other ways. I know I cannot repay him, and I do not want to cheapen his friendship by trying. However, I do want to bless him, and I never feel like I succeed in blessing him very well. Cold spaghetti: case in point.

So here is my idea. Will you please stop right now and pray a blessing over J. He is a single young American who serves as a long-term missionary with a discipleship focus. Sometimes he needs encouragement, rest, joy, friendship, and love. May the Lord hear our prayers and lavish His love on J., blessing him far more than I could ever do. I really do mean right now. Did you stop and pray?

Thanks!

I bless you, too, in the Name of Jesus. Pofta buna! Enjoy your cold spaghetti!

Back from Germany

2011-03-15T09:56:00.002-04:00

Location: M.'s living room in Sighisoara, Romania (4pm on the 15th of March)

It is hard to explain how it feels to be "home" after our weekend trip to Germany with our Gospel Choir. I arrived at my house at 3:30 this morning, had trouble getting the fire started for some reason, and finally went to bed at 6:00am. I woke up at 8:00am, did a load of laundry (yes, by hand), and taught French and English lessons. Then I caught the last bus to town, where I came to M.'s house (even though she is at work) to take a catnap. Soon I will head over to Bible study.

I just found out that one of my beloved mentors in Indiana had a serious heart attack and is in the hospital. He has been sending Bible study lessons to me via email, and M. and I read them together. Please pray for Pastor B. and his family. That comes on top of the news that I learned last week when I called my former small group leader in Indiana, having heard he was battling health problems: his wife had died the day before I called. Please also pray for T.

Spiritually speaking, the atmosphere seems unusual. I have faced my share of spiritual attacks lately, and I am hearing of them in the lives of other dear Christians, too. Plus, there have continued to be international crises and tragedies. To some extent, all this is normal; nevertheless, we need to be waiting upon the Lord to see what He has in mind!

Our trip to Germany and Austria resulted in many blessings; sorry I did not get to update you from there. There were many frustrating surprises, but the Lord has taught me to watch for the blessings. Some of the blessings were in the people we met, and the conversation we had. I did a lot of the driving, too. Unofficially, I served as a chaperone for the younger members of our group. We were an odd mix, singing and juggling (!) at every rest stop!

Now I am catching up on "normal"! Oh, and I have some pictures for you, I just have to figure out how to get them to you. A friend pointed out that I can purchase more space; I just hate to on principle. I will do a little research, and then I will show you life through my eyes again! Thanks for being a part of it! I pray that you are being richly blessed! I bless you in the Name of Jesus!

My Heart Broke Twice

2011-03-08T19:36:00.004-05:00

(Location: In D.'s house, sitting next to him while he takes his French test. It is Women's Day here in Romania, the 8th of March, about 9:00am.)

(Would you believe that in the evening, after I wrote this, when hitch-hiking to my men's group, I caught a ride on a horse cart? How great is that!?)

After I posted my previous blog post, a lot happened quickly. First of all, I discovered that I cannot post any more photos because I used up all of the memory space for photos. When I have time, I will figure out how to resolve the problem; sorry I cannot post pictures right now.

Sunday's sermon was powerful! A visiting American pastor told a story about loosing his five-year-old daughter in a foreign crowd for an hour, and then the three years of trauma that followed. He preached about the difference of demanding that Jesus come into our mess and fix it (i.e. Come heal my daughter!) versus Jesus inviting us to come out of the mess and come to Him (after all, He has already borne the weight of all the mess and sins and has conquered!). He gave the examples of Zacchaeus, Peter, and Lazarus, who were called to come out of the tree, the boat, and the grave to come to Jesus. In the end, during prayer, the little girl recalled that Jesus had been in the scary situation like a "cloud by day," and that she had been so busy looking for her parents that she had not come to Him. That begin the healing change that restored her to being a joyful little girl. I can attest to the power of God's Word and Spirit that reached into our lives as we worshipped on Sunday. I was so glad I had gone to church with M. that day!

After church, I ran into a former collegue on the street, and she had something for me--my blue fleece sweater that I was certain I had left on a train a couple of months ago! I had left it where I was working at the time, and someone found it and recognized it! Not only that, but I also received back a special pen I lost! I was so excited, I wanted to call my friends and have a party like the people in the Bible that celebrated finding their lost coin and lost sheep!

It has really been a great week so far, and now I am trying to ready for a day in V., and then a trip to Germany. However, my heart was broken yesterday.

I took the garbage out to the dumpster for a friend, only to find to little girls digging through the dumpster. It is always hard to know how to best love beggars on the street, how to help them in a way that really helps them and respects them. It is often tempting to just brush them off. However, I cannot tell you how many times I see the same beggars on the street digging through dumpsters for anything they can find. It shows their desparation, and it shows that they are not just living easy off of someone else's dime.

When I found these two little girls, one ran and gave me a hug and asked when I would be in her village again. I was in her village doing children's programs during the fall of the past two years. It talked to her for a bit, and then said goodbye with a broken heart, only to found out that I had been seen by a woman I know.

The woman chided me, "Why didn't you send those girls away!?" It broke my heart (again) that she could not see through their grime and poor manners to the desparate life that caused them to shamelessly dig through trash looking for scraps of food.

The woman is someone I care about, as are the little girls. But it is all too common here for people to hate and despise Gypsies, simply because they have been taught to hate for years, even for generations. Their compassion is not free to reach out, because they have believed satan's lies that "people like that" are at fault for the life they are living, so it is okay to hate them. Hardening your heart to someone else's problems is always easier than remembering how it feels to be hated.

Maybe where you live, you do not run into Gypsy beggars very often, but I am pretty sure you run into people groups that have been hated for little or no reason. The devil plays the same game all over the world. How do I know? I have been there all over the world. And I have recently been reminded through films. One was about William Wilburforce fighting the slave trade in the British Empire, and one was about Steve Biko fighting aparteid in South Africa.

Who do you hate?

Who hates you?

How does it feel?

Who does Jesus hate?

I bless you in the love of Jesus.

Another Winter's Day

2011-03-06T07:35:00.001-05:00

(Location: My house in C., Romania, on Sunday morning at 9:30, the 6th of March)

Spring-like whispers and birdsongs have been teasing me with a few days of gorgeous sunshine, but now it is snowing again. I do not mind; I like both. Nonetheless, I will not complain when it warms up enough that my house stays above 10 degrees Celsius (50 F)when I am going for a day or two.

My life is more relaxed right now in the day-to-day routine, and I like that. Cutting wood, doing laundry by hand, and preparing food take a significant amount of my time, but I am still finding some time to write and sing and dance. You never dance while doing laundry or washing dishes? Where is your joy?

However, I must say that time in general seems to be flying. Monday begins Lent in the Orthodox Church, which will catapult us forward into Easter (the same day this year as the Western Church's Easter). So it is already March, and this week we will be leaving for our special choir concert at a music festival in Bavaria, Germany. Meanwhile, teaching French and English keeps me busy, along with Bible study and church involvement. Yesterday, I helped out again with the children's program in C. Each Wednesday, I continue to go to V. where we teach the weekly Bible Hour.

What has God been teaching me? So much that I cannot do it justice here. He continues to teach me about obedience, which I know will be a life-long lesson, as it is the Christian's number one job. He teaches me again and again to trust Him more, and to surrender myself and my plans and my doubts into His loving, capable hands. He shows me how to better enjoy Him, and how to let Him delight in me. And each day I am anticipating more and more Christ's return!

Last week, I was delighted to receive emails from several people I had not heard from in quite some time. Several people also emailed me good news, which is fun to receive. Thanks!

So what am I working on for the coming months? I am going to be hosting a couple of European friends who want to know more about ministry in Romania, and together we will visit several ministry sites in the area. The preparation is fun for me, and I am particularly excited to make the visits, because it will reveal to me in increasing clarity the big picture of what God is doing in this area of the world. At the same time, I am feeling the spiritual shaking in all parts of the world right now, and I am privileged to join you in prayer as God works in your areas of the world.

So, this does not seem like a very exciting post to me, but I wanted to update you. I have been spending more time with Jesus lately, more time with M., and more time writing other things, all of which equals less time to write a blog post. But I am also laughing more, smiling more, singing more, and rejoicing more. Isn't God good?

Oh, I wanted to tell you that after being sick several times this winter, I am pleased to announce that I went through the whole month of February without being sick once!

Ok, I am off to town for church and choir rehearsal. Have a wonderful day, and even better week, and a fantastic life (if you know Jesus, it will be!). I bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

Read On!

2011-03-01T07:33:00.005-05:00

Location: M.'s apartment on the 1st of March, a little after 2:30pm.

Just a quick note to tell you there are three new posts below; enjoy!

I have been very productive this week, and this morning I even successfully changed my rear bike tire, and put it back together so everything works! When you look at my busy little one-room house, maybe you see a simple life without plumbing or electric heat. I, on the other hand, see wealth! You never know how rich you are until everything you have is in one room!

Delight in the Lord today, and give thanks to Him, for He is good!

Ready?

2011-03-01T07:25:00.003-05:00

Location: My little house in C., Romania, Sunday afternoon the 27th of February, about 4:30.

There are so many exciting things happening! I just returned from an 8-year-old's birthday party; today is also the birthday of an American missionary in our church. My computer was attacked by malware last night, but with the help of a lady from my church in Indianapolis, everything got sorted out. I had a great conversation with my parents via Skype, and I am so excited to see God at work in their lives, and in the Church in Indianapolis! I am also in conversation with a few people in Belgium and Switzerland about ministry visits this summer, as well as with some folks in Greece and France and America about working with adolescents and the fight against human trafficking. Meanwhile, the world seems to be unraveling as political riots and revolutions shake Africa, as American legislators act like toddlers, as New Zealand shakes after a devastating earthquake, and as religious violence burns through Asia.

Jesus was reminding me today to be ready. Is there any more that I need to be or do to be ready for Him to come back?

In light of that mindset and the Spirit's moving, we had a great worship service today. My buddy R. returned (I gave him his car back before I could destroy it!) and preached a powerful message on Genesis 1:1-5, God as Creator. I translated quietly in the corner of the congregation for a couple of ladies. We had several visitors in our midst today, including a group of street kids that I often encounter begging. Today when we met on the street, I did not give them anything, but I prayed with them. Then they wanted to come to church with me, and they were so well behaved! I had not planned to invite them, because we have already been challenged by people offending others by begging in our midst on Sunday mornings, but I am so glad that they came!

I am convinced that another reason worship was so powerful today was that I have been observing the Sabbath more carefully. The Lord had been convicting me about it for a while, but I wrestled with the idea, trying to figure out the freedom we have in Christ who is Lord of the Sabbath, and the idea that the day of rest is holy. But in the end, I elected to have a "date night" both of the last two Friday nights. Not with my beautiful girlfriend, but with my beautiful Lord. Each time, I turn my phone off at sundown, and just spend time with Jesus: in prayer, in the Word, in rest, in writing, in singing. I composed a simple poem the first Friday night (M. teases me that I took the main idea from one of her songs) and a song this past Friday. Then I go to bed very early and rest easy, not having anything I have to do on Saturday morning. Resting with the Lord on Saturday definitely prepares me for the Lord's Day on Sunday!

I have more to tell, but your attention span is probably about exhausted. There are some more pictures on my Picasa site (the link is to the right), but that site is almost full, so I need to look into new options. Maybe I will post the poem and song for those of you who are interested. So, I will tell the rest of my stories another time, like the one about the elderly hitchhiker who did not seem to plan to get out of my car after I prayed for her, or about helping with the children's program here in C. yesterday, about babies and orginal sin, or about February being the month of "giving." When you do have more of a desire to read, read the Book of Romans in the New Testament of the Bible. It is not about Romanians, nor Romans for that matter. It is about you.

Are you ready?

Steadfast Love (Psalm 33)

2011-03-01T07:23:00.002-05:00

Your steadfast love never fails!
I will put my hope in You!

1. Rejoice, you Righteous! Rejoice!
Praise the LORD; sing a new song!

2. For His Word is upright, His work, faithful.
The earth is full of His steadfast love!

3. With His Word He made the heavens and the deep;
Let all the earth stand in awe of Him!

4. The counsel of the LORD stands forever;
Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD!

5. God is watching over us;
We are not saved by our strength!

6. The eye of the LORD is watching to deliver
The one who hopes in His steadfast love!

7. Our soul waits for the LORD!
We gladly trust in His holy Name!

You Listen to Me (Isaiah 9:6-7)

2011-03-01T07:20:00.004-05:00

Wonderful Counselor, you are wonderful
You counsel me, you listen to me
With you I am safe

Mighty God, you are mighty
You are God, you listen to me
With you I am safe

Everlasting Father, you are everlasting
You are Father, you listen to me
With you I am safe

Prince of Peace, you are Prince
You bring peace, you listen to me
With you I am safe

Come, Lord Jesus, you are Lord,
You come, Jesus, you listen to me
By you I am loved
By you I am saved
With you I am safe

Careening into Blessings

2011-02-22T16:52:00.003-05:00

Location: J's apartment in Sighisoara, Romania, at nearly midnight on the night of February 20 (almost the 21st).

My buddy J. is on a work-related phone call with America right now in the room next door, but since it is his apartment, and I rarely stay here on Sunday nights, I cannot complain. Instead, I will make uses of the time to explain why I am town still tonight.

Today was a day full of blessings; it was one of those days when God's plans looked very different from mine, so living according to His plans was a wild ride--literally.

Yesterday found me visiting Sibiu with some of the American students. The rainy day hampered the tour a bit, but we had a nice day, especially when I got to introduce M. from Sighisoara to M. from Hunedoara--two of my friends who are very similar and whom I had been wanting to introduce for a long time. Last night though, the rain turned to snow. Last night, I thought it was pretty. This morning, I thought it was a shame I had to go pick up people for church, because it would have been a good day to stay in the village. I had no idea . . . .

I hopped in the Dacia a little later than I wanted to leave this morning, so I drove a little faster than I should have on the very snowy road. I knew it was fast, but I thought it was still a safe enough speed; after all, a lot of the rural roads in Romania get better when it snows. So I was singing a song from Deuteronomy 6:4 when the car started sliding. As usual, I stayed calm, and corrected a bit to the right. As the car continued to slide, I corrected back to the left thinking, "Don't over-correct." By the time I had to correct back to the left, I knew I was in trouble. Praying the whole time, and still calm, I realized I was headed over the embankment. I told the Lord I was ready, and hung on, thanking Him that the car did not flip when it went up on two wheels. I was surprised at how smoothly I slid down the hill; I was not whipped or thrown around at all. The car came to a stop in a muddy field with the hatch up against the bank--there would be no going backwards!

I sat in the car feeling stupid that I had crashed (I am a veteran driver with many miles under my belt, even in the snow), thankful that the Lord had been so gracious, and guilty that I was in my friend's car, who already thinks I break everything. On top of that, I had just had the brakes repaired! Figuring I had destroyed the car, I called the people I was supposed to pick up, and then called my neighbor to come help me out. Actually, I scoped out an escape route and tried getting it out myself, but to no avail. You see, I found out that not only was I not hurt in any way at all, but the car had very little damage and was still driveable.

While my Swiss neighbor, U., and his family were on the way, another car stopped, and a couple of guys helped me. We managed to get the car out of the field and back on the road, but I felt bad that one of the guys got sprayed with mud as he pushed! As I told you, I was praying the whole time, and I remained calm. After I was back on the road, I went toward home far enough to meet U. and tell him, "thanks anyway," and then turned around and headed to town. Not only did I make it in time for church, but I was hit with blessing after blessing today: God is SO good!

One highlight . . . last night, God asked M. to pray for a young couple we know who have been going through a rough spell in their marriage. We wanted to visit them today, and would you believe that I found them at my church when I got there?! They usually go to another church. So I cornered them and told them they had lunch plans; the four of us had the most amazing lunch fellowship discussing all of the good things God has done in our lives. When was the last time that you spent your time conversing with other Christians about the good things God has done in your life? Too often we spend our time whining or complaining or joking, and we do not talk about the most important Person in our lives, and all of the blessings He has given us!

That is why I am risking worrying you by telling you this story: I have to boast in the LORD! How good is God! God blessed me with a car to drive for a month. Then, not only was I able to drive the car out of the mess I got it in, but I was completely unscathed myself. (If you do not believe me, my entire church and my friends M. and J. saw me today, so they can vouch that I am not hurt in any way. Mom and Dad, this is especially for you; thanks for your prayers.) I am staying in town to have a mechanic friend look it over in the morning, but there was no serious damage because the Lord sent me between the telephone pole and the tree that I could have hit, and cushioned my two-meter descent with snow and mud. I had friends I could call to help me get unstuck, yet God even sent strangers to help me. The temperature was right about at freezing, so it was not nearly as cold as in past weeks, and my "incident" happened just before I would have lost my cell phone signal, so I was able to call for help. Then I was able to drive safely to town and to church, to bless others, and to be overwhelmed by amazing blessings in a wonderful day!

(Here is a post-script written on the 21st of February... I am very happy I had the accident! Not only was it a great reminder of God's grace, protection, provision, and power, but it also spawned bunches of blessings. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with my mechanic friend from the Baptist church and talking about life with Jesus. And would you believe it if I told you that I threw a car over a two-meter drop-off into a field, and there is nothing wrong with the car? The right side turn-signal cover had been knocked loose, but I had retrieved it from the snow and threw it in the trunk; today we were able to put it back on. Two screws was all it took to put the fender back in place, and a little bending of the hood made it close properly again. If you looked at the car not knowing what happened yesterday, you would never guess! So I had to buy no parts, and the brake repair before the accident was more costly--time and money--than the accident itself! And yet, when I arrived home today, U. told me that when he saw where I had gone over the edge, he could not believe I was still able to drive the car! What a miracle!)

We have a great God. Thanks be to God for His mercy and grace! And I want to thank you for all of your prayers. In fact, one man I was supposed to pick up for church told me that God had told him to pray for me and the car this morning, right at the time I was diving off the road! Our God is so faithful, that I cannot begin to convey the idea clearly enough!

Next time you are having a bad morning, I want you to remember that the same day that I planted a car in a field in the morning turned out to be one of the most blessed days I have had in a long time. God's plans are not ours! May your days be blessed, even without car accidents. But if bad things do happen, stay calm, trust God, and keep praying. There are people praying for you, and there are blessings to come! Best of all, Jesus loves you! Do you believe it? Live like you do!

Money Talks

2011-02-20T11:38:00.001-05:00

Location: My house in the village of C., Romania, just before noon on the 18th of February.

I have to fight to protect my quiet village life; it is hardly that! I find myself in town nearly four or five days per week, which is not typical of a villager. Lately, the blessing of my friend's car is what has been taking me there, both literally and figuratively.

Many of you did not know that I was shopping for a car last autumn. I did not write about it, because I was shopping on faith. I thought that the plan the Lord gave me required a car, and so even though I did not really have money for it, I shopped for it, praying the Lord would provide. I did not mention this endeavor, because I only tell the Lord my needs, and He then provides for them how He wants. I do not want to get in the habit of mentioning a need on my blog, and then pretend to be surprised when some generous-hearted person meets that need. Like George Muller, I take my praises and petitions only to the Lord; He knows when I have need and when I have plenty. No one else needs to know.

So, twice I found suitable cars; twice the Lord clearly prevented me from buying them. I am very thankful that He did, because I see that I did not need a car. That season of almost daily commuting is over, and God provided the transportation in a variety of ways. Now he has provided me a car on loan for a month, and it has been a great blessing, but it also reminds me why I am blessed not to own one. This car has been expensive, requiring both time and money.

Gasoline in Romania is about 5 RON per liter (a little less than $2, or a bit more than 1 Euro). For you Americans, consider that a liter is roughly comparable to a quart, with four quarts in a gallon, and we are already talking about 20 RON per gallon, which is just under $7 a gallon. And my British friend tells me that Romania's gasoline is still far cheaper than the rest of Europe's!

On top of that, I wanted to bless my friend by getting his brakes fixed, because driving without breaks is scary enough for a lone adventurer like me, but when I have his family in the car, it is just plain dangerous. To do so, I took the car to the garage where they put more brake fluid in, and then they send you to go buy parts and come back another day. I had to go buy parts at two shops, and the same part (I needed two, one for the left and one for the right) was 20 RON different in price between the two places (roughly a gallon of gas)! Surprised, I questioned the guy, but there was nothing I could do about it, so I bit the bullet and walked out--only to realize later that he had not given me my change (or I dropped it somehow, though I think not).

Then I took the car to the garage, and they told me they did not have time to fix it: come back tomorrow! They told me, though, that I had bought the right parts, and that the job would take around three hours. I rearranged my schedule accordingly, and made an appointment for nine in the morning. Actually, a date. My poor girlfriend came with me, and you know she is a blessing if two of our first dates were babysitting four kids for Valentine's Day and then hanging out at a Dacia repair garage!

So we showed up at 9:00am, and it was not long before two wheels were off the car, lying on the ground. That is when the mechanic came and told me that one of the parts was wrong (he needed the front instead of the back), and that he was not sure if he could get the car done before they close at 4:00pm. A seven hour job is a lot different than a three hour job! We had already prayed about the whole process, and I trusted the Lord to work everything out right. I was happy to learn that they had the needed part for purchase at the garage, which saved us time. Then I told the mechanic that I would wait and watch him work, and we would see how things went. Pretty amazing that he got everything done in under three hours, don't you think?

On the way home, we ran a few errands, and I ran into a village kid I know. He asked for a ride into town, so we took him with us. Meanwhile, M. reminded me that I wanted to stop at the part store to try to get my money back. She ended up running in, while I stayed in the car with R. R. and I chatted, and we talked about God's provision, and we even prayed together. We had a very nice time, and when M. came back without success, I told her not to worry about it. I had invested a few RON and some extra minutes in what resulted in quality time with a young man who needs Jesus.

Please pray for R.; he often comes to my church with several of his peers for the kids' program before service. Normally, they go home before service starts.

One time, though, one of R.'s peers sat next to me during worship, and when he saw me put money in the offering plate that was more than the 1 RON note that most Romanians drop in, he began to tell his friends. We then had a little chat about giving to the Lord, and about giving quietly.

I always try to give quietly, however much or little the Lord asks of me. I believe that giving tithes or offering to God through the Church is symbolic of us as we give ourselves completely to the Lord. Thus, sometimes when the Lord does not lead me to put cash in the offering basket, I put my hand over the basket and metaphorically give myself all over again to my God. At other times, I give generously, recognizing that all I have is my Father's, and that it came from Him, and that it is to be used for His glory. I can never pay Him back for all He has done for me, nor can I give Him what He deserves, but I can give obediently and gladly, showing Him that He is my master, not my money nor my possessions nor even my own welfare.

Yesterday, I was dismayed to learn that my giving (even the sum) had become the subject of gossip. I am neither ashamed nor sorry of how I give; in fact, I pray that others could learn to also give freely. However, it is a good reminder that people are watching us, and that they need to see Jesus in every part of our lives, including in our wallets and purses.

What if your giving suddenly became public? Would you pray for others to give like you do, or would you be embarrassed to find out if they do? Does your giving communicate to Jesus that He is First in your life? Do you feel free to give large sums, or do you just through in your spare change? Do you feel free to let the offering plate pass you by, or do you feel obligated to give, worried about what others might think or trying to pay off the debt that Jesus paid for you?

I am an American, and many people think that all American's are rich, which is a stereotype I hate. However, as much as I try not to live as a rich American, I hope I always live like a rich Christian! You see, if you know Jesus, you are rich! The fullness of God dwells in Jesus, and to those who have surrendered themselves to Him, Jesus puts His own Spirit in them to dwell. Everything in heaven and on earth belong to Him, and it pleases Him to bless us. So even if my wallet does not show it one day, I can always know that I am rich in Him! He is my provider, and He loves me! So wherever I am in the world, I will live as a rich Christian. I will give my love, my time, my money, and myself extravagantly to Him and to the people He puts in my path. Some people will think that my week has 8 days in it; others will think I am a millionaire. Some might think I am a saint; others might think I have infinite strength. The truth is, I am connected to the Vine, to the Source, to Jesus. He holds time in His hand, owns the cattle on a thousand hills, invented supernatural love, and gives me His joy as my strength.

Do you know this Jesus?

If so, do you realize how rich you are, no matter what is in your pocket?

Do others see you as rich and blessed, or do you whine pathetically because life is hard?

Christian, you are rich! May you use of your riches reflect the abundance of life we know in Jesus!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-15T17:12:00.001-05:00

Location: Sitting at the table next to D. while he takes his English test in C., Romania. It is about 9:15am on the morning of the 14th of February.

Valentine's Day is not huge in Romania, but there are a lot of people that take advantage of the occasion to make a buck or to wink at a pretty girl. In the States, I have a lot of friends who boycott the day, recognizing that it is about ninety percent sillly, nine percent tolerable, and one percent based on the truth of God's love. However, my friend M. and I decided it was a good occasion to have some fun. Choosing Sunday afternoon the day before, we volunteered to "family-sit" for our Swiss friends who have four kids, and we helped the husband arrange a secret get-away date for his wife. When they headed off to their surprise destination, we stepped in with the groceries we brought, made pizza from scratch with the kids, and watched Ice Age 2 with Romanian subtitles. We had a really fun evening, and I submit it to your analysis, guessing that no matter how you feel about Valentine's Day, you will approve of the way we chose to enjoy it!

Maybe you are in love, want to be in love, have never been in love, or hate being in love. But wherever you are on the love spectrum, whatever you think of Valentine's Day, I encourage you to settle for nothing less than God's true love. It makes Hallmark holidays fade into yesterday as it stuns you with hope for something real and fresh, something worth celebrating. God's love for you is so real, so strong, that because of it Jesus gave His life for you, to sweep you off your feet and to set you on His path, for His glory, forever. Have you ever been pursued by love? You have, even if you have not recognized it! I pray that you will allow yourself the privilege of being loved by God! God's love is not "gushy" or "girly" or "chocolates and flowers," it is like a sunrise wrapped up in victory, the grand finale of perfect peace eagerly rushing into the glory of tomorrow's adventure!

Yes, Jesus loves you . . .

Boring WITH Brakes!

2011-02-15T05:14:00.003-05:00

Location: You won't believe this--I am sitting in a gas station parking lot in R.'s Dacia with the computer on the steering wheel; it is Sunday, the 13th of February, a little after 2:30pm.

(The meat of this post is four paragraphs below, so skip there if you are in a hurry to know why I am waiting in the Dacia. Scroll down to the next post or look on the side column for a picture of a Dacia.)

I know, a laptop in a Dacia is like an oxymoron. The dash board is taped together, and I found a wire on my floorboard today, which I hope did not come off of something important. However, the steeringwheel is shaped just right for this little computer, and so here I am typing while I kill a bit of time.

I took this Dacia to the garage on Friday, and now I have brakes. I have to admit, driving with brakes is a bit more boring than driving with out, but I feel safer, especially when I have other people in the car--which is most of the time. For instance, I picked up four women who were hitchhiking out of my village together on Friday. They asked where I was going, and I mumbled something about taking the car to the garage because it needed some attention. However, they wanted to stop where I had not expected it, and when I could not stop, I had to admit that I had no breaks! As I downshifted and used my handbrake, I apologized that I could not stop right where they wanted, and that I had no brakes. I said, "I didn't want to tell you before, but now that you are getting out, I will tell you that I don't have brakes!"

There have been many surprises this week, and changes in schedules. Yesterday it poured, then snowed, and then the sun came out, all while I was cutting firewood. I was working on firewood yesterday instead of Friday, because Friday I had to go to town to get the brakes fixed. Thursday I was in town, too, because I had to pick up a package, which can only be done on Thursdays between 10am and 12pm. Now the guy at the post office has my cell phone number so he can call me when I get a package, saving us some of the trouble we have gone through. Most importantly, though, I met with my men's group on Thursday night, but please pray for us. It is going so well, but the other unofficial leader now has something at church each Thursday, and we might not be able to find a time during the week when we can all meet. That would be a great disappointment for me, because this group has been a huge blessing, but I trust the Lord; He knows what is best!

But enough about that, because I need to tell you about what just happened. I just came from A., a village in the Sighisoara area. We have a couple families from there who have been coming to our church, and it is a long way away; more than an hour's walk. These people have been coming faithfully every week, but they also beg every week, often going from one person to another. They are not bad people, but it is hard to feel welcoming to them if you know that they will ask you for something each time you talk to them.

I had run into the man earlier in the week, and I was praying for him the past few days; I could not get him out of my head. Finally, the Lord gave me a plan. I picked up groceries for them this morning--before they could ask me for anything--and volunteered to give them a ride home--again, before they could ask. Then I asked if I could come to the man's house after church for a cup of coffee, knowing that his house was in a very poor state and that he had little, if anything to offer me. He agreed, and I paid him a visit.

How wonderful it was! He is in a desperate situation, and it is true that his house is literally falling down around his ears. It is true that his wife died last year, and that he does not have much work because no one is hiring people to install new gutters at this time of year. It is true that they have almost nothing, and that they are using the second hand clothes they recently received. But it is also true that until he and his twelve-year-old daughter (who is sick and does not go to school) moved to this area, he went to church for eight years straight, never missing a Sunday! He gave up alcohol a long time again, and he trusts the Lord to provide.

I asked about his wife, and they showed me pictures. We chatted and laughed together, and then we prayed together. As we sat in their cold, fireless house, he did not offer me anything. But I was finally able to get behind the beggar to meet the man who loves Jesus, who wants to care for his daughter, and who is trying to get by best he can.

I am so glad I went. We have been praying together at church to know how to involve and help this and other families. We have several families who are coming regularly, who have enormous need, and who come from a little too far away to be very involved. Our church does not have the resources to help them much of the time, and we are trying to teach them to depend on Jesus.

So now I am killing time before I need to pick up R.'s family and take them home. Please pray for this man (G.) and his daughter (L.) Please pray for our church, as we stuggle with knowing how best to be the hands and feet, as well as mouth and heart, of our wonderful Jesus.

I bless you in His Name, in the Name of Jesus!

Save the Date!

2011-02-10T02:57:00.004-05:00

Location: Home! (My house in the village of C., Romania.) It is nearly 8pm on the evening of February 7, 2011.

Why did I put an exclamation point behind "home"? It feels good to have a place to call home, and to be there. This has been my home since last May, even if I often stay in other places, and I am so blessed to have a space to myself. Thank You, God, for all Your blessings.

Though I finished my commuting schedule a month ago--the one that required me to spend the night in town several nights per week--I still sleep one or two nights in town on a regular basis, at my second home, J's apartment. (Please continue to pray for J., not because anything is wrong, but because we all need prayer. The Lord has used him to bless me greatly, time after time, even though I have often inconvenienced him. Thanks to your prayers, his heating system finally got fixed last week, which he will celebrate the rest of the winter, but do please continue to pray for him, that He might be blessed as much as he has been a blessing. Thanks!) It works nicely for me to stay there on Tuesday nights; that way I can participate in our small group that evening, and I am already in town Wednesday morning for my weekly visit to V., where we do our Bible Hour. Add in the fact that I find myself traveling sometimes, and you can understand why it feels so nice to have a quiet evening at home in the village. This weekend was fairly "chill" as far as my agenda was concerned, but it included a lot of unexpected travel. At the last minute, I made plans to visit some friends in Brasov with M., meeting her there after a course she finished on Saturday afternoon. On my way, I stopped in the village of A. to visit my buddy I. Unfortunately, I did not get to visit with him very long during that short visit, because he also had some other plans. However, I got to spend the majority of that day with my French friend, J., who is I.'s brother-in-law. J. and E. are back from several months in the States (he was the one I was covering for last fall on the child evangelism team), and we had a lot of important things to discuss. He is also one of my favorite people to pray with, and we made sure to pray together.

After that relaxed time in A., I hopped on a second train and met M. in Brasov, where we went to meet her friends. I especially enjoyed playing with their little baby. She is less than two, and though my Romanian is better than hers, her German is better than mine, so I was able to use her kiddie books to learn a few words, too. We had a good time with them, and I especially enjoyed taking a walk downtown Brasov with them. I had been there before a couple of times, but it was fun watching the baby chase the pigeons in the square.

So, except for teaching this morning (we have a French test tomorrow!), this has been a quiet day at home. I just finished some laundry after dinner, having spent a good portion of the afternoon . . . writing! It is such a joy to be writing! I do not know if what I am writing is good or not, but at the moment, I do not care. I am one step closer to some of my dreams just by being a writer, and since I am writing, I am a writer now! The more I write, the better I will get, and the odds are that something I write will be worth reading! I have had to be very intentional about sitting down to write, because I found that my habit was to try to get everything done first (like laundry, cooking, tidying up, emails, etc.) and then to write when I got done. However, that meant it was always late before I had a chance to write, and I was usually tired by then. Now that I have made it a priority, it works! Please pray for me in this, that I would prioritize my time in a godly way, being a good steward of it, and please pray that I would only write what the Lord gives me to write. He will direct my paths!

I do have a priority that is greater than writing, and that is spending time with my Jesus. Outside of teaching, that is how I spent the majority of my morning: in prayer and Bible study. Some people think I am a missionary, simply because I moved to a foreign land and am involved in ministy. Those folks might be okay with the idea of me spending time in prayer. However, I think there are a lot of people who wander what I do, thinking I am squandering my youth chasing adventures and not working. It is those kind of thoughts I have to battle when I set aside time for prayer. The truth is that it does not matter what people think: there is no better way to spend my time than in prayer and Bible study with my Jesus.

I have a question for you. Is your time with Jesus like my writing time was? I mean, do you try to get everything done that needs to be done, and then, by the end of the day, you might manage to find a few minutes of time to open your Bible or to recite a bedtime prayer through your fatigue? Or is it a priority? Do you schedule things around your time with Jesus, or do squeeze it into blank spots in your agenda?

It helps me to think of it as a wedding--not just any wedding, but my wedding. I do not know if or when I will get married, for that is all in God's hands. However, I imagine that should I get married, there would be very little that would be able to prevent me from making it to that wedding. If I am marrying the girl of my dreams, no storm, no catastrophe, no unexpected guest, no car problem, no attack, no challenge of any kind would keep me from getting there. And when I do arrive, and I am saying my vows or listening to hers, I would not answer my phone even if it is the president of a nation or a pope or a famous person of some sort. I would not run out halfway through to grab a burger, nor would I try multi-tasking, cooking lunch or trimming my fingernails for example, while I am at the altar tying the knot. Would you?

Think of your wedding, or some other extremely important appointment with someone you care about, someone you cherish. What would you allow to keep you from that date? What would you allow you to distract you from that time, or to cut it short?

For me, that is prayer time. I have made it a priority in my life, and even a phone call from a beautiful girl can wait if I am face to face with my Savior, the Jesus who died on a cross to set me eternally free.
Maybe you think I am slacking when I spend a whole morning in prayer instead of going out to "put my hand to the plow," but I have learned that every moment of my life is more productive through prayer than it is through my own strength. I would like to challenge you to set a date like that with Jesus. A date that you would not interrupt even if your friend in Romania called you. A date that you would keep everyday, even if it meant sometimes rearranging the rest of your schedule. A date that would convey to your Lord just how much you really love Him, that nothing else on the face of this earth is more important to you than Him.

I am praying that you will do that. Valentine's Day is coming up in America: who is your First Love?

If I may borrow an idea from Francis Chan, matched with a photo I took this weekend: Is this what your walk with your Abba, your Father, your God looks like? I hope so!

Meanwhile, thank you for your prayers for your friend in Romania. He is happy and healthy, and making some important decisions about the coming months. He has the responsibility and privilege of driving his friend's Dacia for the month, and of dating a beautiful Romanian Saxon gal from Sighisoara. He is investing in the life of a fifteen-year-old boy in the village of C., and he is preaching in the village of V. while learning wisdom from his choir director/mentor who leads and translates for him there. Most importantly, he is growing in faith and the Word as he walks with Jesus. He is honored that you pray for him, and that one of the churches in Indianapolis recently took a moment to present information about his life in Romania. Thanks for your prayers, thanks for your love, and thanks for reading this blog.

I bless you in the Name of our First Love, Jesus!

In Church, In Love

2011-02-01T15:00:00.001-05:00

Location: Happy February (today's the 1st) from my little house in C., Romania

Before long I will drive my Dacia into town. No, it is not mine, it is R.'s; he had to leave town again and left it in my care again for the month. It is a blessing to have wheels, though it is even better to have him around. Please pray for him, and especially for his family while he is away. Our men's group will not be the same without him, either, and G. is also out of town this week.

Nonetheless, I am looking forward to men's group on Thursday; again last week it was a huge blessing! The Lord knew I needed something like that in my life. In fact, I have things each day of the week that I look forward to now . . . After Thursday comes Friday, my last day of language lessons for the week, often meaning my time is freer during the weekend. Saturday is my Sabbath day when I have no weekly plans, especially in the morning (and you will recall that the morning is my favorite time of day!). Sunday brings the opportunity to gather with people I love to worship our great God together. Monday represents the return to village life, a day when I can get caught up on things that need to be done, and if D. has done his homework all week, we watch a movie on Monday as a reward. Tuesday brings with it our young adult small group, and Wednesday is the day I head into the village of V. and help teach a Bible Hour there. Life is good, because God is so good, and so generous with His blessings!

Naturally, many of these days dawn on frustrations that, like weeds, need to be pulled up. But we can expect that in this life on a sin-cursed Earth, groaning until it is restored by our Creator. For instance, Sunday morning was extremely frustrating for me, and it was everything I could do to hold myself together. I wanted to fall apart, to surrender myself into God's arms and cry or sleep or sit quietly, but I could not for a variety of reasons. I had to chauffer many people to and from church, but I nearly went home in between, just wanting to isolate myself in my misery.

Do you know why I did not? Everything inside of me screamed to retreat, nurse my wounds, and recover in a peaceful place. Had I done that, though, the devil would have won that battle. Do you realize that? Do you recognize what a privilege it is and how important it is to gather with brothers and sisters in Christ to worship together? Even if you church is not perfect? Even if your frustrations are coming from your church! I remind you that the devil wants to isolate us. It is not a sin to not go to church . . . but it is unwise. When we do not fellowship with other believers, we give them no opportunity to encourage us. When we do not gather in worship with other believers, we short-change God, because we fail to bring Him blessings through corporate praise and devotion. When we do not gather as the Body of Christ, we avoid the very blessings we are praying for, the very help we are seeking, the very protection we need! So on Sunday, I went to church to scorn the devil.

It will not surprise you that the Lord blessed me. I did not enjoy service, I sat in the back and the whole time I did not want to be there. Yet because of that, I was able to pray more deeply from my heart when I was suddenly called to lead the congregation in prayer. And then the Lord blessed me through the attitude of a visiting friend who usually attends another church, one who came because another obligation had made her miss her own worship service, but her desire for Christian fellowship pushed her to come to another church to find it.

Do you ever want to go to church so badly that you will do everything in your power to get there? Or this: do you only obey God and resist the devil when you feel well, or even when your emotions assail you and your body threatens to shut down? God is always our God. Do you appreciate that fact? Do you show Him your appreciation? "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, . . . (James 1:12).
While I am preaching from the Word that God has been pouring into my heart (James 1:25), I want to say something about romance.

Some of you may know, and others of you may be shocked to learn that I am dating a beautiful young lady here in Sighisoara. She is a great blessing to me, and I pray that the Lord's will may be done in our friendship, as well as in every other aspect of each of our lives. We are leaving everything in His hands.

Meanwhile, we like to hold hands. Of course, people notice when we hold hands, and we smiled when we spent some time with the teenage girl who lives across the street from me. As soon as she got home, we learned that she ran to call her best friend, another teenager in our Gospel choir, to tell her the exciting news about M. and J. You see, everyone likes romance, or, more accurately, everyone likes someone else's romance.

Why?

Because watching a young couple with dreamy eyes and silly smiles is like watching a movie. Their happiness is contagious, and their optimism brings hope to veteran couples whose marriages have lost some of their fire, and to unmarried singles who are dreaming of their own true love! It gives gossips something to talk about, gamers something to bet on, and poets fodder for their rhymes.

Now you know as well as I do that so much of what we call "love" turns out to be fleeting infatuation, and that "true love" is not as magical as it appears to the bystander. True love is hard work! True love is a decision that involves commitment, time, and effort. It requires grace, grace, and grace, plus forgiveness. It needs more time to listen than to talk, more time to understand than to analyze, and more time to be than to do. True love is build upon Jesus Christ as the cornerstone, but the rest of the bricks in the walls are conflicts that were defeated and covered over by mortor and plaster of forgiveness and grace.

That is us, Church. Is that what our Romance looks like?

I want us as the Church to be so in love with Jesus that everyone is talking about it--that everyone is excited about it! I want the gossips and the games and the bystanders to be so awestruck by the relationship they see us in, that they forget all of their whining and scheming and criticizing and demoralizing. I want to feel like I am walking on clouds because I am constantly receiving reminders from my Lord that He loves me, and I want to hold hands with Him as I walk through the cold and darkness or dance in the sun. I want our relationship with Jesus to give hope to those who have never allowed themselves to fall in love with Him, and to revive the fire of those who are barely hanging on to the faith they once had.

Certainly, on the inside, there will still be conflicts and tension in the church. But God's grace is sufficient to cover them, and if we set them on the cornerstone of Christ, they will become even stronger walls, cemented together by grace, showing beautiful mercy and lovingkindness to all who pass by or come in.

In America, it is nearly Valentine's Day. How about it. Would you be willing to fall in love with Jesus again? Or for the first time? Forever? He is waiting at your door with a bouquet of blessings--please do not keep Him waiting!

Speaking of waiting, I should get ready to head to town. However, I have been making a conscious effort to set writing as one of my highest priorities, because otherwise this passion of mine never finds issue. Please pray for me as I write. I want to write only what God puts in my heart, only for His glory. I trust Him to make plans for me that will organize the more mundane parts of my "to do" list, and that will also give release to the gifts and godly desires He has planted in me.

Thank you for your prayers; I am praying for You, too. I am delighted to watch your romance with Jesus unfold!

Recognizing a Man of God

2011-01-22T05:14:00.004-05:00

(Below this, I just posted photos and an update called "A Free Lunch." Enjoy your meal! But I also wanted to share with you a little bit of what God has been teaching me about being a man of God. Our men's group has been talking about this, and my goal for a long while has been to be a man of God--not more, not less. Here is an excerpt from my prayer journal, as well as some research I did for our men's group. I pray that it blesses and challenges you, too! By the way, a friend of mine took this photo. Pretty amazing how beautiful a simple light in the sidewalk can look, huh? May, we, Christians, also be beautiful as the light of Christ shines from us, even when we are tread upon or cold and covered in snow!)

Here is what I wrote in a prayer before I did some Bible research:

"If I understand correctly, Abba, a godly man is one who no longer lives his own life, for his life has been crucified with Christ, and Christ's life lives in him. He is a man of integrity, living above reproach. He is humble and gentle, led by Your Spirit. He walks in the authority of Your Word, speaks with wisdom, and listens with patience. The fruits of the Spirit are manifest in him, and he encourages and edifies the people around him. He is righteous and holy; he disciplines in love but does not condemn. He exhorts with grace, using his spiritual gifts for the good of the Body of Christ. He thinks of others as better than himself, but it is the LORD who is the center of his thoughts and life. He resists the Enemy and temptation, and he blesses the people he meets. He does not envy or boast, but he is kind. He keeps no record of wrongs, but always trusts, always hopes, always protects. He cares for widows and orphans, and prays according to Your will. His life reflects Your glory; he lives in You."

Then I did some Bible research, and here are some lists I made about a godly man:

1 Timothy 3 suggests that a godly man is...
living above reproach, tested and proven blameless
the husband of one wife
temperate
sensible
respectable hospitable
an apt teacher
not a drunkard, nor indulging in much wine
not violent, but gentle
not quarrelsome
not a lover of money, nor greedy
an effective head of his household
known to have a good reputation among non-Christians
serious
not double-tongued
clinging to the mystery of faith with a clear conscience
prayerful (1 Timothy 2:8)

Titus 2 suggests that a godly man is...
prudent
sound in faith, in lvoe, and in endurance
self-controlled
a model of good works
teaches with integrity, gravity, and sound speech that cannot be censured
submissive to his authorities
giving satisfaction
not talking back
not pilfering
showing complete and perfect fidelity
an ornament to the doctrine of God

1 Corinthians 13 suggests that a godly man is...
patient
kind
not envious or boastful
not arrogant or rude
not insisting on his own way
not irritable or resentful
not rejoicing in wrongdoing, but in truth
bearing all things
believing all things
hoping all things
enduring all things
full of faith, hope, and love

And finally, Exodus 34:6 lists some of the qualities of God that a godly man must exhibit. He is...
merciful
gracious
slow to anger
abounding in steadfast love
abounding in faithfulness
keeping steadfast love for thousands
forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin
not clearing the guilty

Wow, just typing this challenges me, and makes me want to grow! I want to humble myself more so that God pours more of Him into me, making me turn out more like Him!

May you and I both allow God to make us into men (and women) of God!

A Free Lunch

2011-01-22T03:55:00.024-05:00

Location: J's Apartment, 11:00am on the 22nd of January, Sighisoara, Romania

Here is an inside look at a Romanian school. These photos are from our Christmas outreach, one of the wildest programs we did! We had permission to use a school classroom, but upon our arrival, the principal told me NO children would come. As you can see, we had to barricade the hallway until we were ready in the classroom, and then we did the entire program standing on tables in the middle of the crowd! It was the closest to stardom I will ever feel, but it was fun!

I chose these pictures because again on Thursday of this week I was in Romanian school in the Hunedoara region of Romania. You may remember that I have been a guest in their English classes a couple of other times, and we had a blast again as I participated in 8 hours of English instruction! I was asked if I was an actor, if I had thought about being a teacher, and if all teachers in America "play" with their students! I taught them songs and jokes and expressions, like "Golly!" from Gomer Pyle, USMC. I also taught some history and geography and math--you name it, we did it! It was a good day.

In fact, my whole visit to Hunedoara was nice. I got to visit with the three good friends that I particularly wanted to see, and I also met and stayed with an American missionary family there. I was shown great hospitality everywhere I went, and the Lord provided for all of my needs.

As will not surprise you, I had a bit of an adventure coming home, because there are few direct routes between Hunedoara and Sighisoara. So I rode in a car with a couple of my friends how were going to leave me in a train station halfway; from there I could catch a train sooner to Sighisoara. However, somehow we missed my stop, and I ended up going all the way to Cluj-Napoca with them, which is not at all on my way home--it is northwest of Sighisoara, where Hunedoara is southwest! The blessing was that I got to see two friends in Cluj whom I had not seen in a long while, including a Scottish friend, G., I had met last summer when I helped with their camp.

All is well that ends well! I arrived "home" to Sighisoara last night, and had a nice visit with J. I am very happy, because I am so blessed. I have particularly been counting my blessings because of some of the frustrations that assail me ("us" is more correct, because my friends and collegues are included, too). I am blessed to be healthy again, but sorry to see several of my friends battling illness and stress. I am blessed to have gracious hosts and places to stay, but J.'s heat and hot-water is not working properly, leaving us aware of the chill. I am blessed to have R.'s car in my possession for the week, but I have to get it running again today to pick up his family tomorrow. I am blessed to have the Bible as my source of wisdom (I read the book of Proverbs twice in the past few days), but I have a lot of decisions to make. I was thinking last night how life would certainly be easier if I was still living in my apartment in Indianapolis, or even in my bedroom at my parents' house.

But you know me! I do not make choices based on what is "easy," I do not counsel you to do so, either! There is little value in an easy life.

Let me tell you what I mean. I have been particularly encouraged lately by two of my friends here, one Romanian and one American.

The other day, my American friend became a bit exasperated when I replied to his query about my popcorn preferences by telling him it did not matter to me; I do not really like popcorn.

He said, "You don't like popcorn, you don't like movies, you don't like parties...!? You don't like anything!"

I calmly replied that he was exaggerating, that plenty of my likes were things that he does not like. Before I could give examples, though, he shot back, "What do you mean? I like to pray, too. I like Jesus. I like to read the Bible!"

That stopped me in my tracks. What a compliment! Some of my friends have joked about the only way to get me to a social gathering is to invite me to a "prayer meeting." But do you know what I told me friend? I said, "I could die happy right now. What more could I hope for than for people to know me as someone who loves to pray, who loves to read the Bible, and who loves Jesus?"

That is my desire--that my identity be wrapped up in the fact that Jesus is my Lord.

But it gets better. I found out last night that this friend called me a "saint," in the same sentence as he identified our humble and gentle pastor as a saint, too. I have a humble question for you. Would your friends describe you as a saint?

What an honor it is for me to hear that my friends are seeing Jesus in me, rather than just seeing me. The truth is that if you have surrendered your life to Christ, letting the Spirit of Jesus live in and through you, than you are a saint. You were a sinner, but now you are a saint. In other words, the holy life of the Most High God is living through you, to His glory. A sinner sins, and a saint is being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, everyday. The Bible calls us "saints," we who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, whose life now lives in us. I pray that the people outside the Church will look at us and see saints! I pray that your friends and family will look at you and see a saint--a son or daughter of God being made holy by the work of the LORD in you, not by your own power.

Let me tell you about another saint; her name is M., and she is my friend with whom I taught in Hunedoara on Thursday. I know many saints, but I want to tell you how this one encouraged me this week.

I already told you that the Lord provided for everything I needed this week. You probably recall that I pray every morning for Him to meet my needs; for example, each day I ask Him to provide me with my daily bread--my food for the day. On Thursday, I was not in a position to take a lunch to school, and neither did I know the plan. I left on faith, and when I met M., I found out that she had generously made me a couple of sandwiches, too. Whether we would have time to eat them or not in our busy schedule, that was another story!

Finally, between two of our classes, we pulled out the sandwiches to eat as we walked to the other building. As we entered, two small children ran up to give her big hugs, and she saw that they had no lunch with them (she told me later they come from a very poor family). She bent down and gave them my lunch! Actually, our lunch. A couple of sandwiches and some cookies. They were very happy, and started to eat them right away.

I, too, was very happy, proud to be friends with such a saint! Here she had worked hard to make sandwiches for both of us, even though she only slept ONE hour the night before and had lots of work to do for other things, and then she was bold enough to follow her heart and give away my sandwich without asking me. How I praised the LORD!

Do not worry; she had made four sandwiches, and so we still had enough to eat. But again I want to ask you--would your friends do that? Would someone who cares about you have such an enormous heart to risk disappointing you in order to give your blessing to someone in greater need of it? Would YOUbe willing to do that?

M. apologized to me, of course, but I hope she already new that there was no reason to apologize, and that I was not at all sorry she had done it. I know she is far from perfect, but I also see how beautifully the Lord reflects His mercy from this girl. There was another time in the past when a drunk street kid was getting beat up by other kids in the middle of the night; I will never forget M.'s eyes as we marched across the street to break things up, not knowing what we were getting ourselves into. Do you know why I am so thrilled to have friends like that?

Because that is the kind of friend that Jesus is, and they remind me of Him!

Jesus marches into the fray with a look of such determined love that wickness flees with a yelp. He gives boldly and abundantly to people in need, blessing them beyond their need, for their joy and His glory. He looks at His imperfect, human friends (us!), and instead of seeing our flaws, He calls us saints, because He sees His Spirit at work in us.

I have a challenge for you this week:

1., if you have never invited the Spirit of God to enter you and live His holy life through you, do it! He will make you holy, for the glory of your Father, God!

2., if the Spirit lives in you already, ask Him to make you so clearly a saint that your friends see you as a saint, that they see Jesus in you more than they see you!

Sinners, I pray that soon you will accept the grace of Jesus, so that you will experience the freedom and boldness of His great love for you. Saints, I pray that you, first of all, and then all of the world around you, will see that you are not your own, but that you are being made holy by the Living God at work in you! I bless you in the Name of Jesus the Christ!

Back in the Saddle

2011-01-18T08:27:00.001-05:00

Location: My house in C., at 11:00am on the 15th of January.

This has been an amazing week metaphysically and relationally! I moved back to my house in the village, and you know I am back when you see me doing laundry by hand again, and when I am back to hitch-hiking as a normal means of transportation! Perhaps you think, "Poor J. has to do laundry by hand and has to travel by hand (his thumb)!" Yes, but I am thankful for two skillful hands that work well, for clothes to wash, for people to meet and places to go. In fact, yesterday I was blessed when I bought another plastic bucket. Now I can get two pails of water every time I go to fetch water, and that makes life a lot easier! Yes, now we are a two-bucket household!

What do I do with all that water? Well, laundering clothes takes quite a bit, and I also use it to make tea. You see, I am thrilled to tell you that I hosted four friends for our first official men's group meeting on Thursday night! I was in my heyday, and though I did not have a lot to offer my British, German, and Romanian buddies, I was able to offer them tea, coffee, and gummy bears. I bought instant coffee knowing that someone would like some even though I do not drink coffee, I had tea out for the British blokes, and the gummy bears were from Germany. I laughed when they marveled at the selection I offered, saying how American that was! I said, normally I would only have one thing to offer, but the rest came from America, sent by my mom!

No, men's group was spectacular, and I cannot wait for the next one! Unfortunately, I think I will miss the next one, because I will be teaching English for a day in a public school in Hunedoara (as I have done in the past). Yet I already did our "homework" for next time, researching in the Bible what a "man of God" is--in other words, what does it mean to be a "godly man"? This is a topic very dear to me, for it is my greatest goal in life, and the Lord has been teaching me much about it. For example, I made my list from 1 Timothy 3, Titus 2, 1 Corinthians 13, and Exodus 34:6. This is a weighty topic, and I am sure we will continue to discuss it beyond the meeting I will miss. This week we talked about and prayed for fathers, our fathers, the impact and influence fathers have, etc. Worldwide, we need strong Christian fathers, and it is certainly no less true in this area of Romania! I am very, very thankful for the earthly father God has given me.

Speaking of fathers, I am teaching the lesson for a children's program today, here in C. Even before men's group, I had started preparing it, and the topic is "God always fulfils his promises," looking at the call of Abraham in Genesis 12 to 17. However, the Lord had impressed upon my heart that I need to teach about fathers to these kids, most of whom do not have a good paternal role model. This will be particularly difficult because I am speaking (in Romanian) to the children, not to their fathers. By the time you see this, I will have already taught, but I pray now that the Lord will call some of you to pray for me about this. It is very important, and very delicate. But God wants to be our Father, and He will see to it that His Word is spoken clearly.

Not only am I teaching today, but my friend and fellow men's-group member, R., asked me to translate his sermon into English again in church tomorrow. It is very fun and a great honor to stand side-by-side with such a passionate man of God, having prayed that the Lord would speak His Word clearly through each of us, and watching the Spirit reach into the lives of the listeners. However, it is also quite a challenge for me, as my Romanian is merely one year old, and leaves a lot to be desired. Please pray for this, too.

Thank you, by the way, for all of your prayers for me. I believe so strongly in God's habit of answering prayers, that I lean on your prayers constantly. For example, I battled what became quite a miserable cough earlier this week, but the Lord has now healed me. Thank you for your prayers. And did I mention about the powerful message that God gave me for my village of V.? I had told my mentor I would not go with him on Wednesday as normal, because I was sick. However, Tuesday night, the Lord gave me a very clear teaching for that village through a friend's advice to read Joshua 2. In the morning I was feeling much better, and I caught a couple of buses that landed me in the village just in time to have some guy-time with my friend and then to teach our weekly Bible Hour. The Lord showed me that Rahab the prositute was condemned to death along with the rest of her city by decree of the LORD Himself. Nonetheless, she clung to hope in His mercy, even defying her king's direct orders, and through this was saved, along with her family. Not only was she supernaturally spared, but she lived with God's people and became the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus the Christ! Like when the Angel of Death spared the Hebrew children at Passover upon seeing crimson lamb's blood on the doorposts, Rahab's family was spared when the destroyers saw a crimson rope hung in the window. We, too, were condemned to death along with the rest of the world because of our sins, but God spared us supernaturally when he saw the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, upon us. If we surrender to Him, we, too, have the privilege to live as part of God's people, even being adopted into the family of Jesus. Wow!

So as you can see, a lot has been happening in the spiritual realms. I have been praying a lot, too, so please do not take offense when I spend time with the Lord instead of spending it with you. Add to that eight hours of French and English instruction, wood for my fire, a visit from my buddy P., and some catching-up on rest, and you will understand why I have not yet been able to write like I hope to, or to respond to emails. I hope to start doing that now, but I decided to fill you in from the blog to encourage your patience to endure a bit longer until you hear from me personally.

And since I am "back in the saddle" in village life, I am including a few pictures of that horseback riding adventure I described a couple of weeks ago. I am praying for you, and I certainly appreciate your prayers for me as I dive into the lives of the people around me relationally, spiritually, educationally, and in any other way the Spirit leads. I bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

Answered Prayers!

2011-01-10T13:20:00.003-05:00

Location: J's apartment in Sighisoara, Romania, the 10th of January, 2011, at about 8:30pm.

What a day!

Today was the last official day of my time with the ministry group I have been helping out for the past four months; I also restarted the French and English lessons this morning. It was a busy day, especially as the cold I am battling worsened a bit, but I did manage an hour-and-a-half nap in the middle of it!

Now I am looking back on my day, realizing that I did not do a very good job of waiting in surrender upon my Lord Jesus. Probably in part because of my cold and not thinking clearly, I ran hither and thither instead of letting Him conduct me beside still waters. Now He is restoring my soul.

I just had dinner, but is was not nearly as good as my specialty pancakes that we ate a week ago with a few of the guests from the outreach that remained for a couple extra days. I also forgot to tell you about the adventure of starting a borrowed car whose frozen engine would not let us drive it from its parking space in the top of the citadel. I called my friend T., and as we pushed it, his family came around the corner in another car and all jumped out to help! Then we hopped in as it began picking up speed down a giant hill, and he helped me pop the clutch! I really appreciate his friendship and help, and it was fun to get to return to our village of V. again last Wednesday for some restoration work and our weekly "Bible hour."

The week was pretty full for a "vacation" week, but I met with several people I had been wanting to see. I spoke with two mentors asking for godly advice on some decisions I will soon have to be making, and I got to share meals with several friends. I also met 11 students newly arrived from Indiana for their January-term trip, and I successfully made a batch of bread pudding, even without a recipe! One highlight was a day with some Gypsy friends that included a great snowball fight on a frozen lake! Sadly, though, most of our snow has melted now, and we are shrouded in fog as the temperatures change.

But I have exciting news! Many of you know that I have been praying for godly support, especially from godly men in the area. Well, all of a sudden, an idea we had been chewing on for a few months became a reality: we have now formed a men's group, and our first official meeting will be this week at my house! We are five Christians from Great Britain (2), Romania, and Germany (and the USA, of course!). And as if that was not good enough, I was invited today to be part of a young adult group that is forming in my church, and which will be primarily men. Thank you for your prayers--I am so excited!

Yes, God is good! Church was special yesterday, because the Lord allowed me to be healthy enough to sing, as well as to translate (into English) for the sermon. That is the first time I have done that from the pulpit like that, and it is a huge (scary) responsibility. I would like my Romanian to be better, but it just reminds us that God uses us exactly how we are. His is the power, not ours! May He get the glory!

I am also pleased to report that I have begun to catch up on emails, and as I move back into more regular village life, I should have more time (if less internet access). Not only will I be saying goodbye to so many hours spent in town, but also to my collegue, S., who is heading back to Belgium this week; she was a great blessing for me this past semester. But she is on her way to America, and I am thankful that the Lord sends missionaries to my country, too, because my heart aches when I think about how many people in our great "Christian" nation--even those filling the church pews--who do not know Jesus!

Do you know Jesus? That is the most important question of your life. I am trying to learn how to be a godly man in all of my relationships with people, in church, at work, with girls, as a role model for children, etc., and the Lord has blessed me with many patient friends and mentors who are helping me. But at the heart of all of these relationships needs to be one person: Jesus.

I hear that there are birds dying and falling from the sky. One of my mentors is battling a rotten infection. Shootings are plaguing my motherland. Some of my friends are wrestling with tough questions about their families or their future. A fellow missionary is out of funds and unsure how to support his family and the men who work for him. My church is persevering through a rocky time of transitions. I am cursing the cold that is hounding me as I try to decide how best to love the people around me. But in all of it, we have hope, and His name is Jesus. This Hope is not just for 2011, it is for eternity. He does not want to be master of ceremonies for your religious traditions or the holy sector of your life. He wants to be your constant companion as He leads you through life, your Lord as He puts His life in you.

Will you let Him? Ask Him to be your Lord, and watch Him answer your prayers!

If Jesus Comes Back Tonight...

2011-01-03T11:51:00.005-05:00

Location: The apartment's kitchen at the ministry base in Sighisoara, Romania, on the 3rd of January, 2011, at 7pm.

Warning: this will be a long post! One of my Swiss friends was reminding me that sometimes I write very long posts. Of course, that is for a couple of reasons. First of all, I love to write. Second of all, I have a lot to tell you about! Third, you can always read less than I write, but it is very hard to read more than what is there if I do not tell you enough about what you are interested in! So I will write a lot, and you can pick and choose which parts you want to read. Oh, and enjoy the pictures. They may be the last ones for a while because my camera seems to have had a burn out. At least, it is not working, for no apparent reason. That, however, is a problem for another day!

Last you knew, I was geared up for hosting a LOT of people from Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, American, and other places in Romania, before heading to Budapest. Well, I survivied--even flourished--among the horde of visitors, and the trip to Budapest was cancelled because a snowbound flight prevented the lady needing to fly out of Budapest from ever arriving in the first place. So let me tell you about our week.

As you recall, we had a long Christmas drive home from Switzerland. I am not sure I mentioned that the police stopped us in Germany or Austria, probably simply because we had a Romanian license plate. However, they let us continue without hassle, and we arrived in Targu Mures in the afternoon on Sunday, where I helped P. unload and picked up our team's van to bring it back to Sighisoara for them. I arrived in the evening and managed to get some sleep before "Outreach Week" hit the next morning.

On Monday, a very tired me managed to get the van stuck in the beautiful fluffly snow that covered the mud left by some road construction, but after digging out the tires with the window scraper and backing down the one-lane street for about 400 meters, arrived at the base to join the newly-arrived Belgian team in kicking-off our week (they are pictured above, at the dinner table). At that point, I had no idea just how much of a blessing those folks would be to me! My collegue, S., asked me to co-lead the team, and we were both overwhelmed by how wonderful these folks were. They were ready to help at a moment's notice, and they were a united group, full of joy and peace. They enjoyed laughing and loving, and with them it was a pleasure to overcome every challenge we faced during the week!

Later that day the rest of the folks arrived, mostly from Switzerland. It was a great joy for me to be reunited with several folks I had met last year, some of whom I had visited when I traveled through Switzerland last February. By the second day, our dream team consisted of about 10 Belgians, a Swiss family of 6 (the mother of whom is actually Dutch), a German backstage expert from New York, and my Swiss buddy, P., and one of his team members from Targu Mures, and a handful of folks who were part of our team for a day or two, depending on translation and other needs. The other American who came turned out to have lived six years of his life only about 15 or 20 minutes from where I lived with my parents in Indiana, and he is my age! Our team did ten outreach programs, and the Swiss team did about the same. We had some decent challenges at the beginning of the week with trailer-light problems, a run-away van, a host who told us no kids would come, wrong turns, snowy roads and dangerous weather, etc., but by the end of the week, it was smooth sailing and LOTS of fun!

Only today did the last 10 people leave, and their prolonged stay was really a bonus because we got to visit extra with the ones that stayed for a few more days. For example, the majority of the folks left on January 1st after we counted down the New Year from the top of the hill overlooking the city, where our panorama was perfect to enjoy the fireworks shot off from the citadel. Later that afternoon, we all went to my home village of C., where I received an unexpected blessing: the team gathered in my one-room house (the most people ever in there!) and prayed for me and the house! How humbling, and how splendid! Then we rode horses and hiked in the snow, up to the hilltop meadow where we had summer camp. I had not planned to ride, but ended up riding the most spirited horse bareback! I do not think I have ever galloped so fast, and hanging on was the name of the game! One of the horses took a spill on a slick spot, sending one of my local friends skidding across the snow, but both horse and rider were fine. Mine tried to fall a couple of times, but managed to keep her footing, and I managed to stay on her back! Talk about exhilerating! What a fine afternoon we had!

Yes, I had a great time with new and old friends. Here are some of the highlights of the week. In on of our weekly neighborhoods, we were invited to do our program in the school, and five-hundred kids were invited. When we arrived amid a few transportation set-backs, the principle told me the NO children would come. I assured her they would, and agreed that that was my problem. Soon we were holding the kids back just long enough to get the too-small room set up. Because we were late getting the sound system ready, I jumped on a table-top in the midst of the group to try to get control of the situation. Never did I dream we would be up there for the whole program, but soon my collegue joined me, and we did the whole show on a runway-like table in the middle of a crowd of boys and girls! Excellent!

The last two days' programs were super, too, as by then we had really gelled as a team. Each day I was involving different people in my entertainment roles, and we used juggling, sound games, stories, songs, colored scarves, clown antics, and more to keep the kids laughing--often they did not want to leave when it was their turn to go receive presents! We had a beautiful live manger scene played by several of the team members, which really drove our message home: Jesus is the greatest gift of Christmas, and He wants to be YOUR Savior!

You know, I got to lead worship and devotions a few times, and I spent a lot of time in prayer and Bible study myself. But one of the most memorable lessons from the Lord was in the kitchen on New Year's Eve, when I was listening to a young Belgian fellow pour out his heart. He is studying video game engineering and the like, thirsting for God's call and waiting until he hears it clearly. I love his heart, and it was a real treat to listen to his fervor. At one point, I made a point about his studies, joking a bit that he could stay in Romania instead of going home, because his exams were not so important. After all, if Jesus comes back tonight, I pointed out, the exams will not matter anyway! As you can imagine, in a house with nearly 70 people in it, there is no privacy, and there were others nearby. When I made that comment, a Swiss lady I do not know started dancing and jumping around, saying, "Oh, if Jesus comes back tonight! Hallelujah! Come, Lord Jesus!"

That made me think. Am I so ready for Jesus to come back? I hope so! Are you? Are you unable to keep yourself from dancing at the mere thought of Jesus returning tonight? Let us anticipate His return with joy! What a day of rejoicing it will be! And if you are not ready, I encourage you to get on your knees right now and ask Jesus to make you ready. Give Him your whole life and ask His Spirit to dwell in You, that His holy life lives in and through you, for your good and His glory! What if Jesus comes back tonight? Yippee!

Yes, this was a great week. There were challenges, of course, tough decisions, mistakes, and more. I was very tired, slept little, and worked from dawn to dusk. I even had to help plan and lead the New Year's Eve party! You know I hate games and parties (*wink*)! But God watched out for us. Our toughest outreach was not pretty, but it was still closer to a success than a failure, and it certainly could have been a lot worse! The Lord protected us from a van whose parking break did not keep it from rolling toward a group of children, and a Belgian teacher led the way in pushing children to safety and stopping the van's momentum. He protected me when I unknowingly stepped on a rusty nail; it came up through my tennis shoe and grazed my sock before protruding out the side without injuring me. And who knows how many times He sent his angels in the midst of pushing crowds, icy streets, and more? I certainly drove quite a bit; one day I drove five different vehicles!

So now, please, continue to pray. Pray that the Lord's Word will bear fruit in the lives of the people in the communities we entered. Pray that the team members would not forget what they saw, and that they would see Jesus more clearly each day! Please pray for the rest and recovery of the folks who gave all they had and more, who are fighting colds and exhaustion and jet lag. And please pray for you, them, and us--all--to be ready when Jesus comes back! It could be tonight...

White Christmas (and back safe in Sighi)

2010-12-26T11:12:00.003-05:00

Location: In the passenger seat of P.'s VW van, right on the border of Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, about 3:30pm on Christmas Day, 2010.

We are driving pretty slow because of the snow, and we were even in a bit of a traffic jam as we went around Zurich. Can you imagine? A traffic jam on Christmas Day? Anyway, pretty is the right word as we drive through snow-covered Switzerland and toward the mountains of Germany and Austria. Peter was saying that it did not feel like Christmas because most of the snow had melted when we arrived, so he is pleased with the two days of constant snowfall we have had. I do not mind either. God made snow, and it reflects His beauty. Even if we must drive a bit slower, the roads are not too bad, and it feels good to be on the road toward home.

Let me tell you a bit about our Swiss visit. We knew from the start that it would be a short trip, and it became even shorter as we packed it full of visits. For example, we visited several persons from Peter's church, and we surprised his mom and brother who did not know he was home for Christmas! We met a ninety-plus-year-old couple who collect donations of clothing from their area for people all over the world; she is an official sock-knitting Swiss granny, and her husband created a contraption to wind wool thread into balls of yarn. We ate lunch with them at a senior center. We had tea and merengues with P.'s "boss" and dinner with his accountant, who lives in the house against which the grandstands for the ski competition have been built. Not only did we visit friends and supporters, but we also picked up donations of warm clothes and a few other items for Romania. In fact, our van is packed full of socks and sweaters and the like! Even today, we made three stops on our way out of Switzerland to pick up a few things, so only now does it seem like we are actually on the road.

Tuesday's drive from Romania was pretty uneventful. We had a Romanian friend from Munich with us, and we will probably stop for a coffee break at his house in a couple of hours as we pass through. With him along, I was freer to sleep, because he could keep P. awake at the wheel. I was thankful, because after being free of headaches for five or six weeks, I was nearly knocked flat by a terrible one that began in the wee hours of Monday and lasted all day. One of my collegues did my part of the program for me because I was so miserable, and then immediately afterward we left for our road trip. Thanks be to God, though, that after sleeping for two or three hours and taking another dose of pain killers, He healed my headache and I was eager to be a part of our Swiss adventure. We had good conversation, studied the letter of 1 Timothy together, and drove through rain instead of snow until we safely arrived at our destination 26 hours later.

In Adelboden, we stayed in the mountains with a (bio-)farm family. They have milk cows (maybe thirty or forty head) and around 500 chickens (for eggs). They were wonderful hosts, and we had fun with their three children. For example, one afternoon I buried the two boys in the snow after we had a bit of a snowball fight. A highlight was certainly Christmas Eve dinner, carefully prepared by mother and daughter, and then singing Christmas carols with a guitar around a Charlie Brown Christmas tree decked out with real candles. The six-year-old tore into the presents like my mom does on Christmas morning!

No, my vacation was not much of a vacation--three days of back-to-back rendez-vous sandwiched between two endless car trips. However, I knew it would be that way, and I do not regret it. It was good for me to get away from the timeless ministry world in Sighisoara, and the time with my friend P. is priceless. Besides, the whole trip has been full of answered prayers, such as my healed headache, or when I was indecisive about buying some second-hand ice skates, and God clearly showed me I should wait.

So now I have a yodelling Swiss man next to me telling me to "just relax" as we drive through a tunnel that will catapult us out into Germany. What does God have in store for us? Good question. I am guessing a full night and morning of open road, maybe some snow, and a week of intense Christmas outreaches as the second-in-command for my Belgian commandante. (I am exaggerating a bit, but my Belgian collegue has everything outlined for the coming week, and she emailed me my assignments yesterday. I respect her and enjoy working with her, which will make next week's circus more pleasant. Oh, and she assigned me to be the kitchen contact; I think I should have to taste the food before I can tell the team that it is ready!)

So, "Eastward, Ho!" The sun is going down somewhere in the clouds behind us, and we are following the Spirit forward. What does God have in store for you? You have followed my journey to Switzerland and back with this blog. If you are interested in following my spiritual journey a bit, take a look at God's instructions for His household, found in 1 Timothy (chapters 1 to 6). It relates very closely to God's letter to His household (via Paul) in Ephesians (which is where Timothy was when Paul wrote 1 Timothy to him), and it also relates to knowing God's will, which is outlined nicely in 1 Thessalonians 5. Isaiah 59 is a great chapter to read from a Christmas perspective, especially when you see how it is reflected in Paul's New Testament writings in Ephesians 6.

Dive into God's Word, and journey with me. I do not want to hear any complaining that God is not speaking to you, or that you are bored--now you have plenty of reading material, and I guarantee it will be instructive and edifying. As you read and journey with me, I bless you in the Name of our Jesus, the Christ. Merry Christmas from the European Front!

Merry Swissmas!

2010-12-24T03:08:00.003-05:00

Location: A home-office in Aldeboden, Switzerland, at 9:00am on Christmas Eve Day (24 December)

Merry Christmas from Switzerland's home of the World Cup Ski Competition (it will happen again in about two weeks). I have not been able to get online for about a week, and I hope to fill you in soon and to catch up on emails. But after another 24-hour drive (to Romania) and then a week of Christmas outreaches with 70 visitors, and a train trip to Budapest and back, it may be a moment before I am able to email you. Thanks for your holiday patience! Until then, I wanted to let you know that I am alive and well, eating homemade butter and Swiss cheese, meeting sock-knitting Swiss grannies, and now getting some fresh snow just in time for Christmas. I am praying for you, and I bless you in the Name of our Jesus, especially as you enter into 2011--may your life unfold according to the will of our most high God!

I'm Not Cool!

2010-12-18T15:31:00.001-05:00

Location: Homeschool classroom in the Village of C., nearly 10am on the 18th of December.

How is your French? I am sitting with my 15-year-old student who is taking his French test. To de-stress him a bit, I played him one of my favorite Christian songs: "I'm Not Cool" by Scott Krippayne. "I'm not cool, and that's okay! My God loves me anyway!" He likes it, too! In a couple of hours, my evangelism teammates will arrive from town and we will do a Christmas program here in the village. (Some of them are much cooler than I am, so we have fun working together in front of the kids!) After that, we will head back to town and do a Christmas program for our kindergarteners and their parents.

Tomorrow is looking like this: pick up village children for church using the ministry van, teach the teenagers' Sunday school class, sing in Church, get back to my village and finish preparations for my trip to Switzerland, and sing in another Christmas concert with our Gospel choir. Monday will be a bit calmer with English lessons in the morning and a Christmas program in the evening, but then I will leave immediately after that for Switzerland.

The snow is beautiful (especially in the villages and countrysides), and everyone is bustling to get ready for Christmas. Yesterday we did a Christmas program, and a Romanian fella I had never met said that the best part was the Romanian language that my Belgian collegue and I used on stage. She and I took it as a compliment that he wanted us to make a CD so that he could play it every time he needed to laugh! But humorous or not, we got the job done!

I want to wish you a merry Christmas. I assure you that by God's grace I have been able to remain quiet peaceful in the midst of the swirl of chaos around me, and I am looking forward to celebrating this holiday with Jesus. Meanwhile, with the roadtrip west and then hosting 70 guests between Christmas and New Year's and then probably a train-trip to Budapest and back, I may have very limited contact with you for a while--even my cell phone probably will not work in Switzerland. If you do not hear from me, know that I am blessed and highly favored of the Lord. May you, also, be blessed and highly favored of the Lord!

Do not worry about me; I am not too homesick. I have become fairly accustomed to celebrating holidays with whomever God gives me wherever I am; after all, for me, "home" is where God is. Of course I would like to see my family and friends, but I was blessed to visit them in October, and they know that I love them. They also understand that the Lord has led me here, and the rejoice with me in what He is doing in me. He is teaching me so much. So wherever you are, celebrate your Christmas with Jesus and the people God loves, and love them as much as He does. May the way you spend your holiday season bringing our Lord the glory He deserves!

Merry Christmas in the Name of our Jesus!

Playing Catch-Up

2010-12-15T08:13:00.000-05:00

(Location: On my bed in my warm little house in the village of C., Romania, 7:30pm on the evening of the 14th of December)

It is high time that I fill you in on the past week or two. Today and yesterday have been catch-up days anyway, so it is only fitting. Last week I could not teach because of our busy schedule, so this week we are doing double French lessons and double English lessons. I also gave myself a haircut, updated last months budget record, and caught up on writing emails. As soon as I write this post, most things will be caught up after a busy beginning to the month of December.

Two weekends ago, I visited my former coworker, I., near Sibiu. Thanks for praying for him; life is hard for him right now. He is lonely, and he was so happy to have a visitor that he asked me millions of questions but never let me more than half-answer, so finally I stopped trying! He has nearly nothing, but he bought groceries especially for me to show me royal hospitality. We talked all day Saturday after I got there, worked on adjusting a watch band that he needed to shrink, and sang together. The next morning, I got to preach (in Romanian!) at his church, and we had a nice fellowship. Outside, we had received the first real snow of the year, and it was beautiful!

Before I had to catch a train to Sighisoara, we decided to visit Sibiu. We considered hitch-hiking (after all, he taught me!), but ended up walking 8 kilometers. We stopped by the Christmas market downtown, and had hot chocolate. Then we headed to the train station to await our respective trains.

We had talked about how many people I know in Romania, because I knew one of my friends was also in Sibiu that day, though I did not get to see her. I could not remember how many people I knew in Sibiu. However, we ran into a youth group from Sighisoara we knew, so we said hello. But the real surprise came after waiting for nearly two hours in the train station. A girl came in an looked at me funny, before saying my name with surprise. I had been wondering why she was looking so intently, until I recognized her as someone with whom I volunteered this summer at the camp for people with disabilities. What a fun surprise to see her there!

That following week flew by. We finished packing our 5,000 pairs of rubber boots with 10,000 pairs of knit socks. We presented our first Christmas programs of the season, and they went really well. One was quite a distance away to the north, with my friends from Targu Mures. The next was in my village of V., which was a huge contrast in setting--a five-hundred-year old church building under construction without heat, compared to the local community center complete with chairs and stage. But toward the end of the week, winter weather chased away the warmer temperatures. We, too, were chased out of Sighisoara, heading to Hunedoara County were we did three more Christmas programs. They went well, too, though I was sorry I was unable to visit my good friends when we were so close by! It was a full two days, and I drove the whole way, making it tiring, too.

A highlight from the trip was our time with some Messianic-Jew missionaries who hosted us the first night. I got to spend some "guy time" with the husband while my team of ladies did some work with his wife. We had deep discussions about the Bible and religion, and we got to celebrate the Sabbath meal with them (Shabbat Shalom). I also got to meet his Romanian son-in-law, who is helping an American gal from Atlanta (I met her, too) record an album. I appreciated the time with people who take their faith so seriously. How many people do you know (even among church workers and missionaries) who spend their time thinking about God and His ways (Philippians 4:8)?

After we returned to Sighisoara, the snow really set in, and I enjoyed sitting by the wood stove while one of my collegues went sledding with the neighborhood kids. Then we did a candlelight march with Christians from throughout the city, singing carols and praying at each place we stopped downtown. Yesterday morning, I finally made it "home" for the first time in a week, coming by bus on slippery roads at 6:15 in the morning. There was ice in my water bucket inside my house, so I got my stove going and have not let the fire go out since.

This is transition week. The American students left town today, and others of my friends and collegues will be leaving for the holidays. Meanwhile, the end of the week will speed up again, catapulting me into a quick roadtrip to Switzerland for Christmas with P. from Targu Mures, and then back in time to host 70 people coming to help with our blitz of outreaches that happens between Christmas and New Year's. Then there may be a quick trip to Budapest and back before I settle into a slower January.

I am excited about January as I have been praying a lot about what will come. I have some decisions to make, and God has been teaching me so much about being a godly man. He has been showing me what kinds of things I tend to let distract me, and teaching me how to let my will fall to the wayside so that His will lives in my heart. I am tired of trying to juggle other people's needs with my desires and preferences mixed in, while struggling to maintain healthy relationships with God and with the people around me. Instead, I am just nestling up to my Father, having understood that I cannot go wrong if I go to Him, fixing my eyes on the Author and Perfector of my faith. I love spending time in the Word and in prayer, and I am making decisions for January and beyond that will allow me to do more of that. The greatest Christian service we do is worth very little or nothing if it causes us to neglect or forsake our relationship with our Jesus. If we can no longer wallow in the Word, if we can no longer soak in His Presence or embrace prayer time with the Holy Spirit, then we are running the race in vain.

What is important to you? What are your priorities? Are you trying to please other people? Is your every action determined by other peoples' needs and wants? Are you racing after pleasure or happiness or peace, only to find it slipping through your fingers like the wind? Are you stressed out by the service you offer others, by the ministry God has given you?

Do not forsake your first love--turn to your Father, God, and enjoy Him. Let Him bless you, and thank Him, praise Him, worship Him. Converse with Him, rest with Him, and love Him. Your life will be empty or meaningless unless you do. But when you run back to God and let Him sweep you up in His arms, everything else will fall into place. Oh, how grand it is to be caught up in the arms of God!

Maybe it is time for you, too, to get caught up!

Here and There

2010-12-12T10:00:00.002-05:00

Location: By the wood stove in our ministry base's great room, at 5pm on the 12 of December.

This is just a quick note before I run off to sing in the choir for the city's Candlelight March. We are back from Hunedoara and had a great trip, but very quick. Not only did I not get to see my friends in the area, but I also drove the whole way (with van and trailer) down and back, so I did not get one second to catch up on emails. Today was a slower day, and I caught up on several; I hope to work more on them this week.

Meanwhile, I wanted to let you know that I will be in the village most of the week, which means you may not hear from me. Then things ramp up again at the end of the week with a coupld of Christmas outreaches, and then I am probably off to Switzerland for a quick Christmas road-trip with a friend of mine before we get swamped by short-term mission projects between Christmas and New Year's. Also, it is looking like I may be in Budapest for New Year's again (like I was in college one year), but I will explain that more if it happens.

Thanks for the great emails I have received from you in the past few days, and hello to my family who is gathered without me for the wedding. I am praying for the marriage and each member of the family--may the Name of Jesus be exalted in each!

I bless you in His great Name!

It's Official

2010-12-09T13:20:00.004-05:00

Location: Kitchen of ministry base in Sighisoara, nearly 8:30pm on the evening of December 9.

This photo is a picture of a little boy who helped us set up for an outreach we did on Tuesday--in fact, it was our first of the season. (He really took me seriously when I told him he could use the floor-tile pattern to straighten the rows of chairs!) So it is official: our Christmas outreaches have begun! We did another one yesterday, in my precious village of V. Tomorrow we will leave for Hunedoara County, where we will do three more in the next two days. Oh, and one other thing is official. After a long day today, we finished preparing our 5000 pairs of rubber boots for distribution!

When we head out on our four-hour drive tomorrow, I plan to take my laptop. If I am not driving, hopefully I can catch up on emails during the car ride, as well as update you with a blog post telling about this week. Maybe I can prepare my photos for posting, too. Sorry I have fallen behind. Things are going pretty well though; as always, thank you for your prayers!

We had some snow last weekend, but the sun melted it the next day. Today and yesterday was tee-shirt whether if you were digging a ditch outside in the sun (like I was yesterday) or packing boots in a cinder-block garage (like I was today), but now the temperture plummetted drastically as wind gusts bring tomorrow's wintry weather.

I do not know if you are ready for winter, but it is coming (for those of you in the northern hemisphere). I do not know if you are ready for Christmas, but it is coming (for those of you in the Christian or Christianized culture). I do not know if you are ready for Jesus, but He is coming! If you are not ready for Him, do not wait any longer! He may come back tonight, and I hope finds you a familiar soul waiting for Him with eager expectation!

I am ready for Jesus! Maranatha, come quickly, Lord! If Jesus comes tonight, I want to be the first to sing His praises when He appears. If He does not come tonight, watch for another post, or a response to your email that you thought was rotting in my inbox.

I bless you in the Name of our coming Jesus!

"Shortcuts"

2010-12-05T16:01:00.002-05:00

Location: Train to Sibu, next to a grandmother and a little boy who is fascinated in EVERYTHING because he almost never travels by train; it is 12:45pm on the 4th of December.

I was not planning to write a blog post now, but I have to because of the past 24 hours. I am on my way to visit my I.--not the same I. with whom I spent last weekend, but my other former collegue I. So instead of going toward Brasov as I did last weekend, I am going in the opposite direction, to Sibiu.

Have you ever known someone without patience who wants to get to his destination NOW? I have met a lot of "Christians" like that; they know that God's Way is straight and narrow, and they hop on and march after Jesus as directly as possible. Sometimes I like to travel like that, too, but I must say that hitch-hiking helps to cure me of that. In fact, it is good for me to be reminded that even though the Way is narrow, it is not really so straight; neither is it a high-speed interstate highway! The Way passes through the lives and hearts of many people, stops for conversations at a well, passes through tombs where demon-possessed men wander, winds through the countryside where five thousand hungry men gather, leaves a Roman cross in the rearview mirror, and eventually meanders into eternity. If we hurry forward without taking time to speak with a stranger we encounter not far from Emaeus, we may miss the very Jesus we claim to be "following." Following goes after; it does not run ahead.

I taught French and English an extra day this week, meaning that I had an extra day of hitch-hiking. I arrived in town yesterday morning without problem, rolling in the cab of an enormous semi truck. After spending most of my day in a garage preparing boots for our winter outreach, interrupted by singing for half-an-hour in an outdoor Christmas concert in the citadel, I headed home. Yes, hitch-hiking gets harder at night, but to this day, the Lord has always provided the right ride, so I prayed and started flagging down cars. It was not long before a van driver picked me up, but when we got to the intersection outside of town, he started heading the wrong way! Quickly I stopped him and realized he had heard me incorrectly--I did not want to go to Targu Mures! Once again I was on the side of the road. I waited long enough to watch a fox trot around the roundabout without getting hit by a car, and then a friendly man going to Sibiu picked me up. Too bad I was not going directly to Sibiu then! But as I had to teach in the morning, I got out at D., my half-way point home. It was not cold yet, but by the time a waited a long hour, it started to get chilly. Finally a young man picked me up and was thrilled to practice speaking English with an American--he went out of his way to drive me home! Both men gave me their phone numbers; how is that for Romanian hospitality!

You see, that is how God's Way goes. Maybe I think waiting for an hour on the side of the road is a shame, but my Father knows with whom I need to meet. Besides, when I leave my plans in His hands, how can I complain when He does what He knows is best? But it gets better...

Morning came early after my late evening last night, building a fire and eating dinner after I finally arrived home. I taught French and English, and then prepared to leave for Sibiu. As I reached my hitch-hiking spot, the rain started to fall, and I was none too sorry that I had elected to wear my heavy winter coat. Yet as my waiting time grew, I began to be a bit concerned, knowing that I. would be expecting me to get off a certain train and that I might miss that train. My village, C., and D., the halfway point to Sighisoara are closer to Sibiu than Sighisoara, but I planned to catch the train in Sighisoara to go to Sibiu.

When I finally caught a ride, I was thankful, but I was disappointed to learn that he was not going anywhere nearer to my destination. He left me in D., and looking at the clock, I decided to hitch-hike toward Sibiu, figuring I could take the train from somewhere instead of "backtracking" to Sighisoara. So just like last night, I found myself praying and waiting for a ride in D. Suddenly, I was surprised by someone on the other side of the road honking at me and stopping--I did not recognize the car. It was the man who had just let me out of his car ten or fifteen minutes ago! He asked me what I was doing and recommended that I go to Sighisoara, that I would have more options there; he had run his errand and now was going to Sighisoara. So again I found myself in his passenger seat, this time speeding to Sighisoara. Once there, he went out of his way to take me directly to the train station. Grateful, I thanked him and lost no time marching in; I was unsure of the exact departure time of my train, but I thought I could make it.

The lady at the ticket window looked up from her desk when I asked for a ticket, and said, "I do not have time to sell you a ticket, it is leaving now--hurry!" As I thanked her and spun around, the girl cleaning the floor said, "Run!" I ran! As I was rounding the corner, the conductor's whistle sounded, and I could see the doors closing in my face. But my imagination was wrong; I jumped inside just in time! Who did I find sitting right there except my good friend, M.! I did not have an opportunity to greet her or sit down though, because I had to buy a ticket from the conductor. As I attempted to, I saw M. shaking her head "no" over his shoulder! She was trying to tell me that he was ripping me off since I am a foreigner. I hesitated, and he left me to do something else, telling me he would come back. M. asked if I needed a girlfriend so I could get charged the Romanian price, so I let her take my arm and sit down with me.

I then found out that she was going to C., where I had started from! I knew that she often goes there on Saturdays, but I thought she was already there this morning. (She had sang in the concert with me yesterday, and I figured she rode back with our friend from C., H., and had spent the night.) She also told me that H. was picking her up from the train station in D. I had not realized that this train stops in D.--I could have gone to that train station when I was hitch-hiking there, instead of having to go back to Sighisoara. Moreover, had I known that H. was driving to D., I could have ridden with her directly, saving me a damp morning of hitch-hiking in circles! But remember, we cannot take shortcuts on God's Way!

The conductor came back and took my "girlfriend's" ticket, then continued on his way. That gave me time to explain to M. where I was going--she knows my friend, I., too. Then she realized that I was not being overcharged by the conductor; she had assumed that I was going home to C. But by then, we had entered a new adventure: the Gypsy lady across the way was going to be kicked off the train because she did not have a ticket that would legally take her and her baby to the hospital they were headed toward. (She is a widow with several children who lives in one of the villages I work in, but she did not know me.) She asked M. for money, and M. turned to me to ask if I wanted to pray for them. Then she offered our services. By then the conductor came back and got involved. By the end of the ten minutes that it took to reach, everyone was happy. My girlfriend, M., hopped off the train, and I saw H. through the window; how funny that this morning when we had school together with her son, I had no idea that we would cross paths later in D.! The conductor no longer felt the need to throw E. and baby N. off the train, so they became my new best friends until we reached their destination an half-hour later. Even more exciting for me was seeing the other lady in our row transform from quietly watching everything unfold to smiling and interacting with us, wishing us all a nice day when she left.

You see, when God works, everyone notices. This morning, when I was praying about my day and giving my plans to God, I had no idea what my day would be like. I certainly did not realize I could have taken a "shortcut" directly to D. and then straight to Sibiu from there. But neither did I expect to be going in circles all morning, re-encountering helpful people I knew over and over again. Yet hear I find myself on the train I planned to take, on time, with I. waiting at the end of the line. Had I gone my way, I would have been here, too, but without all of the blessings that happened to me and the folks around me all morning. I like traveling with Jesus--going His Way! I always try to pray (usually silently) for the people who pick me up when I am hitch-hiking. Since leaving town last night, I had the opportunity to pray for four drivers, a lady and her baby, a train conductor, a fellow passenger, a grandmother and her train-happy grandson, and my good friend, M., just to name a few! Plus I got to see a fox, rendez-vous with the girlfriend I did not know I had, and catch the train I feared I might miss. It kind of makes you wonder what my Father has in store for the rest of my weekend, does it not?

As my train slows down and the Christmas season speeds up, I pray that you will take the time out of your hurry and look at the design of every snowflake that falls, that you would exchange extra smiles with the people around you, that you would lend a helping hand when you can, that you would sit at the feet of Jesus when others feel like they constantly have to be preparing, and that you would follow Jesus whichever way He winds through the crowd, through the month, or through life. Next time you are waiting in line or snowed in or have to go out of your way, thank the Lord and use the time for His glory! His Way is best!

I bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

Weakness

2010-12-02T15:03:00.004-05:00

(I wrote this a couple of nights ago. I am happy and healthy and very blessed, even though the tone of this post may be a bit blue. The problem with my Romanian bank card is being resolved, and I am sure I will resolve the other one at some point, too. If you have not read the previous post, you may find interesting the teaching the Lord gave me about dying kings. I got to preach again yesterday, December 1, in V., this time about Jepthah in Judges 11. Thanks for your prayers--we have a great God!)

Location: Ministry base in Sighisoara, Romania, nearing 11:00pm on the last night of November 2010

Tomorrow is Romania's national holiday, kind of like the USA's Independance Day. I plan to head to the village of V. again, as I often do on Wednesdays. I. is going to come with me, God-willing. He came back to my village of C. with me--my first overnight visitor survived!--and then he has been in Sighisoara with me today. It has been fun having him around.

I. is Romanian Gypsy and a good friend of mine. He is an encouragement to me, because I can see God at work in him. It is long story, but I had to borrow some money from him because the ATM ate my local debit card when I put in the wrong PIN. I did not ask, he just offered. Does that fit your stereotype of a Gypsy? Maybe you will think twice about using the term "gypped." These people are often thought of as liars, cheats, thieves, etc., so it makes me proud to tell you about my Gypsy brother-in-Christ who reflects God's glory. I was treated like a king when I visited his family Sunday night, fed sarmale (cabbage rolls) and marmaliga (corn mush), and enjoyed hiking with him in Brasov. (There is a big "hollywood" sign on the hill; it reads "Brasov." We hiked up even behind the sign, and we could see the whole city!) He has helped me out many times, and though he likes to tease me, he is trustworthy and true.

Thus, God used him to really impact me last night. You see, when he arrived at my house in C., he took one look and said, "Wow, Jeremy, I do not know if I could live like this!" You see, my humble abode and simple lifestyle are even simpler than his, though his family is by no means well-off. Plus, he was comparing his idea of America with what he was seeing, and he could imagine the gaping difference between the two cultures.

That statement affected me positively, because it reminded me that the LORD knows what he is doing. He showed me that I have come a long way, and that he is preparing me to live in an even more rustic setting. I know that most of my friends and family would be surprised by my homey living space, but for I. to be surprised . . . that is something! I thank the Lord for the humbling He is doing in me; it is very needed and far from done!

Speaking of humbling, I was very humbled tonight. I had a long-overdue talk with someone with whom I do not see eye-to-eye, though I try hard to love this collegue. I pray for this collegue, and I try to offer respect and compassion, though I frequently fail. After this talk, I was worn out. I thanked the Lord for the progress we made in the talk, though I still hope for more reconciliation and resolution. I was very honest and open which helps a lot, even though it is not comfortable.

After that, I had dinner with a friend--with a guy friend, which is refreshing when I work with so many ladies. I have been praying for more guy friends, and because of my conversation with my other collegue, I experimented with opening my heart a little more to this friend. Though I am grateful for his friendship, it did not work very well, as he made a joke, just showing me that I still need to pray for some male Christian friends who are also close-by and willing to lend an ear.

Then I opened a couple of letters I got, one from my mom with a photo from my grandmother who recently went to heaven, and another from my newly-wed sister and brother-in-law. Unexplicably, I suddenly burst into tears, thankful that I could sob alone with Jesus where I was sitting, uninterrupted by any collegues or passers-by. It felt good to cry, though I could not really say why I was; I just had a tangle of feelings inside of me that needed release.

I am only telling you this for one reason.

Anyone can be strong with other people. It is easy to be strong with friends and with strangers. It is easy to put on a strong face, a strong act, and face the problems of the world like a hero. I know, because I have done it. I know, because I have sat in my simple little house in Romania wearing a strong face when nothing seems to be going right.

However, it is harder to be weak when others are around. Do you have someone who is a good enough friend that will let you be weak in his or her presence? We need people like that. We need those with whom we can be vulnerable. We need those to whom we can talk, with whom we can cry, upon whom we can unload and release what is pent up inside.

That is what Jesus was looking for when He took Peter, James, and John further into Gethsemane with Him. He wanted some dear friends before whom He could be weak. He was looking for somewhere where it was safe to be weak; He had to be strong the rest of the time. Do you think Jesus ever wondered if He could make it? Do you think He asked Himself if He could go through with the whole crucifixion plan? I do; I think He had some doubts. I think He felt weak and worn, and that He was literally dying for support.

I have chosen to be weak and vulnerable with you. I do not want you to pity me or to feel sorry for me. In fact, I feel happy (and a little tired now because it is late). But I want you to see Jesus, and I think that you might see Him better through a humbled, weak me than through the super-missionary-man that some of you seem to think I must be. There is nothing superhuman or super-faithful about being me. The question is not about strength or skills, it is about obedience and surrender.

I am about to surrender to sleep. I like the feeling, because it reminds me that I surrendered once to Jesus, that in fact I do it again everyday. Have you ever uncovered your weaknesses and surrendered to Jesus? I promise, with Him, it is safe to be weak.

Thanks for your love and prayers. I am praying for you, too. And remember, in our weakness, He is strong!

Kidnapped! and Dying Kings

2010-11-30T15:03:00.000-05:00

(Location: Crammed into a train compartment with five Romanians and the sixth standing angrily outside because of insensitive travelers trying to fit their luggage in with the ski equipment already filling our compartment. I'm on the way to visit my friend I. in the village of A., outside of Brasov, on Sunday afternoon, just after two on the 28th of November.)

Yesterday wrapped up our normal weekly programs for the semester, and now our busy will just look different as we prepare for Christmas outreaches when we will host 70 short-term visitors from Switzerland and Belgium, with a couple of Americans thrown in. Meanwhile, I must say I am happy to have my computer back up and running. While it is not a necessity, I especially enjoy having my entire and up-to-date prayer list at my fingertips.

I had a very nice Thanksgiving, spent first with Gypsy kids in the poor villages in which we work, and then with some fellow Americans, Romanians, and a British lady for a traditional turkey-and-stuffing meal. I had to carve the turkey at our table, which was the first time for me. However, after hearing a comical story about friends beginning with a live turkey a few years ago, I was happy to only have to carve a dead one, and I succeeded!

Many of you remembered me for Thanksgiving, with prayers and emails, and I am very thankful. One friend sent to me a special Thanksgiving story, and now I want to give you one. After that, I hope to type out a message the Lord gave me and which continues to be on my heart since I preached it.

You see, in the village of our kindergarten teacher, there has been a bear coming into the village at night. But last Thursday, something worse happened: a four-and-a-half-year boy turned up missing. This comes only a couple weeks after rumors started flying about children being kidnapped and killed for their organs, which were then sold. Whether true or not, people all over have been frightened, so it is no wonder that the whole town turned out for the search when the scantily-clad boy was lost. In fact, I understand that he had fallen in a well a year or two ago, and since then he hardly talks, and often even plays alone in the cemetery; his mother has a couple of other children and does not watch him very closely.

Friday morning our team prayed for the boy, who had not been found, and a cold, rainy night had passed. After enough hours passed, the boy was officially concerned missing, and the police force turned out with dogs and motorbikes, but everyone was loosing hope. They had even searched all of the outhouses, with no sign of the boy. No one knew whether it would be better to find the boy's dead body, or to learn that he had, in fact, been kidnapped. As darkness fell, the police gave up for the night, saying they would return in the morning.

Just then, one of the last policemen out on a motorbike radioed in--he had found him! The boy was alive and unharmed! He was sitting there where the villagers cut wood, playing. He was taken to the hospital to recover from the cold and hunger, but what joy! Everyone was talking about the miracle of this boy being found.

Is that not a great Thanksgiving story? It kind of reminds you of the lost sheep and the lost coin, does it not? Rejoice! Our God is in the business of going after those who are lost! I was found by Him, and I pray that if you have not yet been, that you will be soon!

Now let me tell you quickly what God taught me about dying kings.

I had the privilege of calling a friend in America via Skype at 4:00am last week. She told me about her Bible study wading through difficult passages of scripture from Isaiah chapters 13 to 23. Intrigued, I took a look, beginning at 5:00am. After a short nap and a few moments of computer research, my day was rolling, and by the end of it I preached this in the village of V.:

Isaiah 6:1-5

"In the year King Uzziah died..."

Why would Isaiah start like this? What is significant about the death of a king?

Two things. First, a king's death marked a change in the status quo, a change in the government, in the authority. Thus, it was a significant happening that would be sure to affect the people. Secondly, because people did not have calendars on their walls or day-planners in Isaiah's day, such events were used to recall a date in time. Maybe no one could say in exactly which year the king died, but they could tell you what happened in that year; it was a reference marker.

In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, and it changed his life! Can you imagine seeing the Lord in the fullness of His glory, and remaining the same, as if nothing had happened? Of course not! So Isaiah remembers very clearly that day when his life changed, and he notes its occurrence by remembering that it happened the same year that Uzziah died.

Now Isaiah lived in the the reign of four kings (Isaiah 1:1). Three were fairly good kings, and one less good. We see as we read further, in Isaiah 14:28 to be exact, that time has passed, and it is now the year in which Ahaz died. Another significant date; what happened? Well, this chapter is in the middle of a collection of prophesies against Israel's enemies, and even a couple pertaining to Israel and Jerusalem. In chapter 14:28-32, we see a message similar to most of the rest of these prophecies. When Israel tries to make an alliance with the surrounding neighbors or powers, nothing good will come of it. Those neighbors are not trustworthy (as history proved). Instead, God says (paraphrase), "I know that you are in a hopeless situation, but I will be your salvation. I will destroy your enemies, and I will care for you, my people." If we read about these kings in 2 Chronicles chapters 26 through 32, we will see that most tried to buy help, and it backfired. History also tells us that the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, and they were later defeated by the Babylonians, who eventually conquered the southern kingdom, Judah. The other peoples mentioned (Moab, Edom, Syria, the Philistines, Tyre, etc.) were either enemies, or thought to be allies.

In Isaiah 14, we see God telling the Philistines that even though a king has died and power has changed, His people will not become more vulnerable because He is still their Protector and Refuge.

Let us look now in Acts 2. In Peter's famous Pentecost sermon, we hear him mention two more kings that have died. David, and Jesus, the latter of whom is the King of kings and Lord of lords. When King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord. When King Ahaz died, Isaiah saw the deliverance and salvation of the Lord. In the same way, when King Jesus died, the glory of the Lord was revealed, and so was His salvation. Something else significant happened "the year that King Jesus died." That is when God gave His Spirit to His people (Act 2), allowing them to come directly before His throne, which is a foundational truth of Christianity. Because Jesus interceded for us and continues to do so, we can come boldly before the Father with no other mediator. When King Jesus died, the powers of darkness thought that there would be a change in authority, like when David and the other kings died . . . but they were wrong. The difference between Jesus and the rest of the kings that died is that Jesus was raised from the dead, and now reigns forever! Just like God told the Philistines in Isaiah 14, the new reign would be even more of a threat for God's enemies than the previous! The glory of God was revealed, His enemies were defeated, and His Spirit was poured out on His people. Hallelujah!

But there is one more dying king about whom we need to speak. Me. And you. If I am king of my own life, trying to live according to my own power and my own wisdom, not only will I fail, but I ignore everything Jesus did and is doing for me. And I cannot serve two masters, so I cannot ask Jesus to be king of my life if I am still king of my life. The same is true for you. You cannot be your own king or queen while serving Jesus. You have to let that king (or queen) die; only then can Jesus be king of your life. Let your highness be crucified with Christ on that cross, and let it rot just like David's body rotted and saw corruption. At the same time, bow before the true King, and ask Jesus to be your Lord. No matter how good your life is, His is better, and He was to live His royal life through you. He wants to display His glory in you, to be your Refuge, and to fill you with His Spirit.

I was baptized as an infant, and decided I would never again be baptized, even though some persons told me that they believed adult baptism by immersion was the only true baptism. As I grew up, I eventually threw away my religion and spent several years seeking God until I finally let Him give me a faith that was my own (not my parents' or my church's or anyone else's), and I invited Him to be my king. Then, three years later, I came to understand that I was trying to still be my own king while saying that Jesus was my King, and I realized I had to let King Me die. When I did that, the Lord led me to be re-baptized, as a sign only between Him and me. Now I can look back on that day, on that event, and say, "In the year that King Me died, my life changed, because I let Jesus be my King, my Lord and my Savior."

I hope that you can say that, too. If not, let King or Queen You die today, and bow to Jesus, giving Him reign over your life. Then I can assure you that your life will change: you will see the glory of God, He will deliver you and be your Refuge, and He will give you His Holy Spirit.

I bless you in the Name of the only King who died and rose again, Jesus.

Working!

2010-11-23T14:54:00.004-05:00

Location: With my back against the heater in the kitchen of our ministry base in Sighisoara, Romania, about 10pm on the evening of the 23rd of November.

I am exhausted, but I wanted to let you know that my computer is working. I am now a little behind in some emails, and wow, do I have a lot of pictures I need to share with you! Here are a few from tonight with the teenage boys, from a visit to V. a couple of weeks ago, a hike to the village that neighbors mine, and a youth gather at our ministry base.

Yes, today was a long, rainy day. Today really started last night, because I gave a French test that lasted till after 10pm. Then I went home, started a fire, ate dinner, and eventually went to bed--just in time to wake up today, finish the test, teach some French and English and do push-ups for homework not turned in, and then hitchhike to town to work with my waiting team. When I arrived, God told me I would be slapped in the face (figuratively) when I walked through the door. Behind the first two doors, I found no one. By the third, I walked in an got slapped in the face with the day's expectations--I am thankful the Lord prepared me. Without even five minutes' break (except for our team lunch time), I worked on removing window glass all day. (I was trying to do it so carefully that I was quite surprised when the professional came and simple took the hammer to the glass, sending shards flying everywhere! I guess little boys never grow up--we all like to see and hear glass break!) I finished just in time to take 9 boys and a collegue to the village of C. where I currently live. There we did a wood project in the workshop, making picture frames. At 8:30pm, I was finally able to sit down and eat some dinner, and think about you.

That is when I read some of my emails. You all flooded my inbox yesterday, and I want to thank you for the encouragement! Especially after a fairly hard day today.

I did have a great day yesterday in Targu Mures. I got to visit my friend who helped me get my computer taken care of, and I also visited some new friends who run some group homes and other ministry areas for an organization that is a partnership between Americans and Romanians. I was impressed, and it reminded me of the work I did in that field in the States.

I cannot tell you too much about the great day yesterday, because life goes on! Tomorrow I plan to visit V. again, which I look forward to every week. And Thursday I have been invited to a large Thanksgiving dinner celebration with other Americans, so I am looking forward to my favorite holiday. The weekend might include a visit to the Brasov area, and then December will hit full-force: we already unloaded 5,000 pairs of boots last Friday. Soon we will be stuffing boots with knit socks, preparing our Christmas programs, and hosting more than 70 guests, visitors, and and short-term mission team members.

In the midst of all of this, I just want to tell you that my walk with God is getting closer and closer. Even as I am weakened by fatigue or frustration, I run to my Lord more quickly, and I spend more time in His Word. His name is always on my lips in prayer, and my heart beats only for Him. I was please when some friends wanted me to join them for an evening of fun. They first wanted to invite me to join them for "I Love Lucy" and Oreos, but one reminded them that I do not like television or chocolate. Then they wanted to have a game night, but they remembered that I am not big on games or groups of people. Finally, they suggested that they have a prayer night so that I would come! That never happened, but I praise the Lord that people see that my favorite thing is Him! Maybe you think I am an old fuddy-duddy, but I very much enjoy sitting with Him, reading in His Word, and letting His love wrap around me as His Spirit whispers within me.

May the same be true for you as you look at this Thanksgiving with heavenly eyes (see a couple of the photos above where ordinary things reminded me of my Savior). I bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

In Stride

2010-11-20T12:15:00.006-05:00

Location: Office of ministry base in Sighisoara, Romania, the 20th of November, 2010, at about 7:15pm.

If you are wondering why my posts are so far apart and photoless, please read "Technical Difficulties" in the post below.

No, I have not yet got my computer running, though I honestly do not think the problem is great. I just need a moment to get to the right places to get it taken care of. And these days, weeks, and even the month have chugged by steadily, leaving me to recover as the dust settles. I have gobs of things to tell you and write about, so which will actually get written? I honestly don't miss my computer so much, except that I cannot type stories as soon after they happen, and even more importantly, I cannot access my most up-to-date version of my daily prayer list.

But who has time to be on the computer all of the time? Our team in Sighisoara has been beset with numerous challenges during the past week or so, which makes time pass even more quickly. Yet these challenges also push me toward praise even more, for I see my feebleness and God's greatness more and more clearly. What a great God we have! I am learning to truly praise and give thanks to our Fahter in the midst of even the greatest challenges!

Meanwhile, things are not at all bad, even when they are difficult. It is hard to understand how I can feel so blessed! I got to go to "my" village of V. again this week, this time by myself for the first time. I rode my bike over the path over the hill, which I had never done. It was quite an adventure if you consider the ferocious dogs that like to maul bikers, the threatening weather, hanging on for dear life as I prayed about my brakes working while I bounced through fields and forests and a "half-pipe" of tire ruts that were more than a foot deep. But it was a successful visit. I continue to teach French and English at home in C., and we have a French test coming up now. The children's programs continue dispite a very chaotic spiritual atmosphere, and I really see God at work in our team, molding and making us as we enter our last week of regular programs before the Christmas season. And I am very healthy again, after battling that cold and cough for over a week!

Other challenges involve my church in the States and some turmoil there, as well as how to be a loving man of God to my friends and coworkers here. One good challenge was unloading 5000 pairs of rubber boots that we will distribute during our Christmas programs. Another wonderful challenge was following up a sexual education meeting we had with local teenagers last night, when I had the privilege of trying to explain the "birds and the bees" to a twelve-year-old boy in Romanian! He asked me how babies are made, and maybe he was joking at first, but he listened seriously for ten or fifteen minutes, and I'm guessing no one had ever talked to him frankly about it. He lives in a neighborhood shrouded in prostitution. No, I never dreamed that I would be giving sex talks in Romanian, but I thank the Lord that He made it possible, and I pray that He works in the life of this boy, N.

In the midst of all these challenges, I have had some great encouragement and prayer support from my sister, my parents, and many of my friends--many of you! Thank you! I also was blessed last weekend to run up to Targu-Mures to join some of my friends there in a Thanksgiving-type celebration.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving. I assure you as I watch my neighbors dig through dumpsters and run around barefoot in November and tolerate drunk family members and dream about having a job that we have many things to be thankful for. I promise you that no matter how bad you have it, you have many things to be thankful for, and I encourage you to make a list. Write it out and thank the Lord--let's praise our God! May November of 2010 be remembered as the year that the earth was shaken by the thanksgiving to and praise of the Lord God Almighty, in the Name of Jesus the Christ!

I bless you in that same Name!

Technical Difficulties

2010-11-12T00:58:00.001-05:00

Location: Ministry Base in Sighisoara; the 12th of November.

Last night I went to plug in and charge my computer, and the power pack seems to no longer work. That means you may not hear from me for a while; don't worry. I'll do my best to update you soon. I'm on my last ounce of battery now.

Everything here is great though!

I bless you in the Name of our Jesus.

Fire Fighting

2010-11-09T04:41:00.000-05:00

(Location: My house in the village of C., nearly 11:00pm on Monday the 8th of November.)

Everything took longer today.

That is why I am sitting in my smoke-filled house, finally finding a moment to write at nearly 11:00pm. You have heard me preach about the flip-side of adventure, the non-glamorous side. Well, this is it.

My day started at 5:00am so I would be ready to catch the 6:15 bus home, which I did. I then taught French and English. Though I had decided to spend a leisurely morning after that to celebrate my day off, my plans changed when I remembered I changed my schedule and would have to be back tomorrow morning to teach again. Thus, instead of waiting for the bus, I hitched a ride to town to run the errands that were waiting for me. Hitching a ride took a lot longer than usual today. The errands took a good bit of time, too. Then, I ran up to the ministry base to use the internet, and the photos I tried to send Mom at her request took eons to upload. I hurried to the train station to hop a train halfway home, and it was late, of course. Then I decided to visit a friend's family on my way home, which was wonderful, but certainly took the rest of my evening. Now, though I have yet to grade the French homework, my eyes are stinging from the billowing smoke that managed to fill my one-room house.

Maybe you think I am just bad at starting fires; that is why it took me an hour and a half to light my stove tonight. After all, I am a cityboy. The truth is, usually I am better at starting fires than putting them out; just ask my coworkers! Seriously though, I rarely have any trouble building a fire, but for some reason, tonight it would not take. I tried again and again, changing tactics, using all the paper I had . . . nothing. I had to walk away from it twice and take a break, because I was going to get very frustrated. I used a candle so I would not have to keep lighting matches, and though the candle kept burning, only the stove would put off the needed heat. Finally, I had to take out all of the fuel and put it back in, adding a bit of toilet paper, and finally it took. When it lit, it really took off!

Is that not how our faith is sometimes? We talk to someone, wanting to encourage them. We light a little spark, see the hope reflecting in their eyes, and then it dies. We try again and again, maybe for years, trying every way we know how to get the fire to take. We pray, fan the flame, add more fuel, light more matches. We give up, and come back another time. We give up again, only to come back again. Finally, we throw everything out, and start all over again. But when that fire finally starts, it sure was worth it!

I know that when the smoke clears out of my house, the fire I built will be worth it.

And it was not a bad day. Actually, it was a good day. I got almost everything done I wanted to, and that I needed to. The two highlights of my day were fellowshipping with my friend's family this evening on the way home, and finding a hardware store in town that will be great therapy to nurse the lack of male fellowship at my work. Just the other night, I had dinner with several of my collegues, and I was getting hounded for being a guy. The did not like that I like to wear white socks with my dress slacks, that I cough into my sleeve instead of on my hands, that I fold my clean clothes without turning them right-side-out, and plenty more. To make matters worse, today when I asked about employment at a place that had a "hiring" sign in the window, I was told the retail store was only hiring females. Fortunately, the Lord has blessed me with a few brothers in my life who understand that we do not need to start planning in October what we will wear to a certain December event!

Yes, actually I had a testosterone dose of fraternal fellowship this weekend that was a great blessing. On Saturday night, I ran into some British gals I had met during one of our outreaches this week. What I did not realize is that they were here with several fellows I met here last year, so we all got to have dinner together last night. It just goes to show that you never know what an impact you may have on someone. I had not forgotten these blokes by any means, but they keep recalling things we had said and did that I had completely forgotten. It was a great blessing to spend some time with them, and I do not know how I failed to take a picture!

Do not get me wrong; it is a blessing to work with my ladies on the outreach team, too. But balance is healthy.

In fact, one balance story hit me hard with the truth of God's grace. On Saturday I had a freak accident that could have happened anywhere; it had nothing to do with being in Romania. After our two outreach programs, we were cleaning up. I went to move a small table and managed to step just "wrong" and fell through the narrow crack between our fold out stage and the inside of our box truck. The crack is barely wide enough for my foot or leg, but my right leg fell all the way to the ground, folding my left leg up under me and causing me to drop what was in my hands. It happened fast, and we all thought I had maybe broken my leg. However, as soon as I was able to gather my wits, I stood up, completely uninjured. I do not even have a bruise or a pulled muscle. God is so good!

Everyone had seen my long legs on Saturday morning, because I rode on the bike seat of a young boy who gave me a lift all through town to where we were doing our first outreach. My legs were out to either side like outriggers. Tonight, as I waited for the train, some gypsy ladies came up to me. The first asked me when we would be visiting A., and I told her, "Thursday." The next asked about, V., already knowing we would be there on Saturday. She said, "Are you the guy my son gave a lift to on his bike? He was so excited about the (deflated, used) soccer ball you gave him!" We gave the beat-up soccer ball away after it had become "ruined" during our pre-opening activites. She was telling me how much her kids appreciate us and our programs, which is fun to hear, especially in another setting, like at the train station.

This was a very good week. Yesterday I had a good chat with one of the American students in town, and I have also been blessed to hear from many of you via phone or email. I have laughed a lot, like when we talked about differenced between guys and gals, or when my 15-year-old pupil fell backward out of his chair into the laundry rack when I surprised him while explaining the JAWS music! My cough and cold are mostly better, and I have appreciated your prayers.

I posted a bunch of new photos on the Picasa sight--click on the link to the right to see them.

Ok, the smoke is clearing, and it is way past bedtime. Do not let your fire die! Goodnight!

Just a Bar of Soap

2010-11-04T15:31:00.006-04:00

Location: The ministry base in Sighisoara, Romania, at about 9:35 on the evening of November 4.

A flurry of emotions.

Yes, life seems more emotional when you work with seven women. Jokingly, that is why I posted this photo of me--I'm surviving!

But no, in reality, it is a huge blessing. Sure, sometimes I wish there were more men around, but when my supervisor maternally brought me a lemon-juice-and-honey-blend to fight my cold and cough, I thanked the Lord for my compassionate coworkers. In fact, they are very patient with me, as the Lord has been using these autumn months to teach me about grace and joy, some of the very things a close friend of mine asked for in a prayer request. Not only is the Lord teaching me grace and joy, but He has also been teaching me from Hebrews 12. Mix grace and joy and Hebrews 12 together with a cough and cold, child evangelism on a team with godly women, and the challenges of culture shock and unknown future, and you get HUMILITY. Humility hurts sometimes, but the world around you is blessed when you learn it. I thank the Lord for the humility He is teaching me in this season, for the beautiful setting in which I have to live and learn, and for the faith He gives me to survive His lessons.

Today was another one. My cold symptoms pretty bad, I finally agreed to go to the outreach; we had two young men from an organization in Targu Mures as guest observers. When we arrived in what has traditionally been our toughest village, we found another missionary friend of ours already there with some short-termers from the U.K. The kids were thus overwhelmed by attention and were wild as ever. I shook my head as our two Romanian guests pulled some of the Gypsy boys aside and gently chastised them for attacking the car (as they always do), and then sending them to go wash their hands and faces; welcome to A.! These fellows had no idea what they had entered into!

But to my surprise, they were veteran youth workers, and the children listened to them. We had a great day in the outreach, and the Lord dried up my cold symptoms while we were there. All of that was humbling, but wait . . . there is more.

As usual, we played a game (this time with the velcro balls in the picture above), and the winners got to pick out prizes. One of the boys was probably about 9 years old. Do you know what he picked? Not toys or clothes. A bar of soap. A BAR OF SOAP! Can you imagine living in a situation where as a nine-year-old boy, the best prize that you can choose is a bar of soap? Imagine being that poor, that dirty, that desparate! That is how the Lord teaches me humility.

You might laugh at my marmaliga (corn mush) and peas cooking on my wood stove--that was the first successful hot meal I have made in my house since I moved there in May. I realized I did not have any utensils, so I stirred the marmaliga with a teaspoon--you know, the tiny spoons you use for suger for tea. But I am rich! I have something to eat, and wood for my stove! I am sick, but I have a bed to lay in and people to check on me and money for medication. I am far from family and friends and in another culture, but God gives me new family and friends everywhere I go.

As I was thinking about this today, I realized that "garbage" is relative. What you see as garbage might be worth an awful lot to me, or to this boy who chose the soap. For example 100 RON (a large cash bill in the local currency, worth roughly 30 American Dollars) is not worth nearly as much to me as three 1 RON bills (equal to about 1 American Dollar), because I can use the 1 RON for anything I need, but many times people do not have change for 100, rendering it useless. One of my friends offered me a refrigerator and something else, but I do not have a place for it and cannot use it, meaning it would be garbage for me. However, I save my plastic bags and bottles and glass jars, because I use them all of the time!

Some people consider these Gypsy kids to be like garbage, while they look at people like me (a "rich" foreigner) and see someone at a restaurant on Tuesday celebrating a collegue's birthday. Do you know what God taught me on Sunday? We are all made out of mud. God created the human race out of mud, according to the Bible. Yet the God of the universe chooses to reflect His glory in and from mud-beings like us! Is that not amazing?

So this week, today even, this is what a lesson in humility looks like for me.

1. Being prayed for by friends and strangers.

2. Fighting cold symptoms and trying to use a "fourth" language to buy meds in a pharmacy.

3. Having wrong perceptions about our guests.

4. Loosing in (Romanian) Hannah Montana Monopoly to an 11 year old who recreates the rules.

5. Redefining friendship with someone I care about

6. Learning that my grandmother went home to Jesus this morning

7. Being blessed by patient coworkers when I was overly negative and frustrated

8. Filling my house with smoke when I misjudged the barometric pressure as I lit my stove

9. Realizing that we are mud-creatures who reflect the glory of the Almighty God

10. And watching a young boy choose a bar of soap as his prize.

Fellow Mud-Creature, I invite you to join me in choosing humility as our bars of soap this week, that our God might be more highly exalted!

Dreading a Day

2010-11-02T04:15:00.000-04:00

(Location: My house in the village of C., Romania, at 3:00pm on November 1st. Our time changed yesterday for Daylight Savings. If yours has not changed yet, make sure you know when it does!)

Do you ever wake up in the morning dreading the day that is coming? Very rarely does that happen to me, though I know others feel that way many mornings. However, when I woke up today, I was kind of feeling that way, because I was feeling ill. A teasing sore-throat that came and went a couple of times last week almost made me lose my voice yesterday, and by this morning it had sunk into my chest and was joined by a headache.

What a blessing! Today is my day off, so all I had to do was get through a French lesson and and English lesson, and then I could rest. I have been praying all day, and the Lord pulled me through the teaching hours, and now I feel much better. Moreover, I have been able to work on the computer tasks I wanted to tackle anyway. It has been a great, relaxing day! I moved up a notch in my village survival plan, too, for I purchased a pot with which I can heat water or food on my wood stove, and I have been nursing my body with tea today. The LORD is faithful!

You see, nearly losing my voice yesterday did not stop me then either. I prayed and prayed, because I needed to preach a sermon before I lost my voice. The Lord taught me powerful things from John 6, and I needed to be able to share them. Of course, the Lord was faithful, and I was able to preach in Romanian in the Gypsy church I was visiting alone. I recently heard a great sermon on this story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, but this weekend God gave me new insights. He showed me that there are three types of people in the story: Jesus, the disciples, and the people. Since we are not Jesus, we are either disciples or people. If we are disciples, we have two choices. We can look at the world from a human perspective, like Philip did, focusing on the impossible, on what we do not have, on our need. Or, like Andrew, we can give everything we have to the Lord, small though it may be, and trust Him to do the miracle! If we are not disciples living with Jesus, then we are of the people, and we, too, have a decision to make. Either we spend all of our days begging someone to give us more bread that we eat today and is gone tomorrow, or we turn to Jesus, the Bread of Life, and live eternal life with Him. If we make the latter choice, we are choosing to become disciples.

That Gypsy worship service made my day yesterday, but it was not the only highlight in that village of V. last week. (This is not the V. where I hope to live, but the other one that our ministry team works in each week.) As we are trying to make a roster of the kids and families we work with, we have realized that V.'s layout and population is overwhelming; there are not real addresses or roads. So, last Thursday, I climbed a great hill with fifteen or twenty of the kids, and we sat together in the sinking sunlight drawing a map of the village from above. It was so much fun! The map may not be great, but it is a start, and it was fun to be with the kids. Would you believe they were sledding without snow? They had a small cart with four wheels they had built, and they were also using empty two liter bottles to sit on and slide down the grassy slope! What a great idea!

As far as the other village of V. goes (where I hope to live), I got to visit there again last Wednesday. I had thought we had agreed that I would not preach every time, however, word was out that the "pope" was coming back to preach at 5pm, so again I presented God's Word in the five-hundred-year-old church building. It was a very nice visit, with some promise for the future that I will describe more if it pans out. Please continue to pray for each of these communities. The pastor in the community above is quite ill, and in this village, not a single person could tell me that "King David" was the greatest king of Israel when I asked! There is a great need for the living Word of God!

So many blessings! I wish I could write more often so you do not get swamped with everything in one post each week. I hope to post a picture with this, showing the village of C. as I came home last night. I have not spent much time in C. since my return to Romania, which has been nice from a commuting standpoint. By the way, that is something else the Lord is working out; I will fill you in as it becomes more concrete. I do, however, enjoy my time in C., like last night when once again I went to the neighbor's to buy milk, or like when I get a good fire going in my wood stove and find embers still glowing in the morning.

Another picture I want you to imagine is the following. After our last program on Saturday, several of the children were still milling about as we waited for one of our collegues who was talking to a parent. As they were already climbing on the back of the truck, I organized an activity of trust falls, where you fall on command into the waiting arms of your peers. This became popular very quickly, and we did it with all of the kids (I would say that all the kids who remained were twelve or under; the bigger kids were all gone). Naturally, my Belgian coworked decided that she, too, wanted to fall, surely more trusting because my adult arms would be among the first to ensure that her petit frame was caught securely. After that, we convinced our other Swiss collegue to fall, and though she was much taller and thus a little heaver, we had no trouble catching her, either. By now you can imagine what the children were chanting--my name! Now most of you know that I am about 6'2'', and a formidable weight for any ten-year-old to catch. My Belgian collegue voiced her concerns about catching me, which of course did not reassure me much, but how could I not do what I had convinced everyone else to do? So yes, I, too fell . . . and they caught me! No problem at all! It just goes to show; we are stronger when we work together. Remember that, Church! If we all stand shoulder-to-shoulder, we can bear anything for the glory of God!

What else? Well, I voted by absentee ballot this weekend. Please do not forget to vote on November 2 if you are an American. I am as cynical as anyone when it comes to politics, but I promise you that your vote will have NO IMPACT WHATSOEVER if you do not vote. Pray, do some research and cast a ballot. I hated the time an energy that was required to vote from Romania, but it is my privilege and responsibility as a Christian American. This is an important election for several reasons, both on a congressional level, as well as a local level. Our prayers and our actions go hand-in-hand to create the values that shape the laws and the land of the United States of America, which in turn influences the ENTIRE world.

I hope you smile to learn that when I scanned my ballot onto the computer at my neighbor's house, the door latch broke when I went to leave, and I was trapped in his house for an half-hour or forty-five minutes before we managed to get the door open. Sure, I could have climbed out the window--he did several times to work on the door from the outside, but I was enjoying the fellowship with my friend and trying to help open the door. It reminded me of life, in fact. Do you ever have a "door" in your life that you really want to go through, but no matter how hard you try, it just will not open? I have learned that it is always better to wait until the Lord opens it for you. Forcing your way into something usually means you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, for a lot of headaches and heartaches.

Oh, and how could I forget? I had an unexpected but wonderful trip to Cluj-Napoca last weekend. Maybe I already wrote about it, but I am still enjoying the memory of it. (We took one Swiss visitor to the Targu Mures airport and then picked up another Swiss blessing from the Cluj airport.) The Lord has given me the privilege of living near several wonderful persons in a very beautiful land, and I have enjoyed high-quality conversations with several of those persons this past week. In fact, I have been blessed beyond measure since my return to Romania, and I am riding high on a wave of the joy of the Lord.

Please pray for a youth program we have started doing on Friday evenings. It is a huge challenge for us, as we are having trouble finding the time to prepare for it in the midst of all of our children's programs. Besides, several of the youth who come enjoy acting like knuckleheads, which requires extra grace from the Lord on our part. Nevertheless, there is a great need and lots of potential, so if the Lord taps you on the shoulder, come lend us a hand.

Hopefully this gives you enough to read until next time I write. I am happy to report that not only have I now caught up on my blog, but also on my emails. Soon I will try to catch up on posting my photos, and that means that everything should be accessible for you. By the way, in case you were concerned, the protests in Bucharest were a long way from me, and they were pretty normal for a European country. Please do continue to pray for me though, and for the Church in Romania and the Church in America, and for the persons and peoples I mention in my blog. I hope you can tell how regularly I pray for you, and if you have specific prayer requests, please do not hesitate to email me.

The LORD is faithful! Cling to that! Know that! Live that!

I bless you in the Name of Jesus!

I Didn't Do It!

2010-10-27T00:25:00.003-04:00

Location: Kitchen of ministry base in Sighisoara, Romania, at 7:30am on the 27th of October.

None of us did a thing! It just happened! (This is the story you have been waiting for...)

When I arrived back in Sighisoara, I met M. One of several recent visitors from Switzerland, this young lady is studying to be a nurse and came for a practicum. From a Muslim family background, she has been searching for the Lord for about a year. She was enjoying her brief time here despite the language barrier, and she was fun to have on the team.

Saturday morning, we had our team devotional time, and we studied Romans chapter four. A few of us shared and discussed a short while, and then we prayed, about what we had learned and for the day and two children's programs ahead. Toward the end of the prayer, M. abruptly left the room. Several of us guessed what one gal voiced: "Maybe it was too much for her."

After the prayer, we hesitated, and then one of our teammates went to check on her, to see if she was going to come to the preparation for the programs. She found that M. had been crying, and told her she could stay in her room and take some time to herself if she wanted. Instead, M. came out, sat down, and said something in Swiss German.

I do not speak Swiss German at all, but I understood what she said, in part because one of the other Swiss girl's faces lit up like a spring day!

"I just gave my life to Jesus!"

How cool is it that none of us did a thing--the Holy Spirit Himself touched her heart and moved her, transforming her into a new person! Praise the Lord!

After that, little else seems important, but it has been a great weekend. Saturday we did two fun children's programs, and were joined from my friends from Targu Mures. I translated for four people in church on Sunday, a powerful sermon about miracles! I also helped transport kids in and back out to one of the poorer communities, and I helped in their Sunday school class. They are from the same neighborhood as A. (see the preceding blog), but I have not yet been able to follow up with him. However, his son told me on Sunday that after we prayed for his dad, his liver/side had stopped hurting him. Praise the Lord!

I finally made it "home" to C. on Sunday evening, but I hitchhiked back out on a brisk Monday morning to take M. to the airport in Targu Mures and to go with S. to pick up a friend from the airport in Cluj-Napoca. While there, I got to meet up with some friends I had not seen in quite a while, and I also picked up my residency card for the coming year. The Lord blessed us with great conversation in the car, and I really enjoyed the long day of travel.

Yesterday the schedule was back to normal, but I managed to nearly catch up on emails. I am also trying to secure an absentee voter ballot for the coming election. I also spoke briefly with my former coworker I. by phone. And today I am off to the village of V., where I hope to soon live! Please pray about all of these things.

And it does not trouble me to remind you again: Praise the Lord! O, He is good, and His love endures forever!

Five-in-One

2010-10-22T16:23:00.005-04:00

Location: The ministry base in Sighisoara, Romania, past bedtime (11:30pm) on Friday the 22nd of October.

I need to be in bed, so I will make this quick. Yes, I made it back safely and as you can see from my train window, I did not miss autumn's Midas touch. Isn't it breathtaking?

(Actually, I am not back "home" to the village yet, but I am in Sighisoara, where I work. For more about my sister's wedding and my time in America--with several photos--see the post below. Now about my first day back...)

Neither the chilly weather nor jet-lag kept me indoors today. In fact, so far, jet lag has not been a problem, and though it was below freezing this morning, it warmed up to tee-shirt weather this afternoon with the sun. No, it was an unusual day, but I ended up visiting five of the six communities we work in today--talk about a full day!

There were ups and downs, spiritual blessings and challenges, but let me summarize. After two challenging visits, we stopped in another community, where I began playing with the children. I even let a group of the kids pick me up, kind of like a pathetic version of crowd-surfing! But the best was yet to come. A father came up to me and asked if I could pray for him and his family. I went to his house with him as he requested, and on the way he told me he was addicted to alcohol. Once we arrived, he told me he was in the last stage of cancer, what I understand to be liver cancer. I prayed for him, and then we talked a little, and then he surprised me.

"I don't want to live longer or have this body healed," he said, "I just want my soul to be saved."

I'm translating and paraphrasing as accurately as I can recall, but that was the gist of it. So I said that we could pray about that, too! So this time, we got down on our knees on the floor, and I let him pray, helping lead him in a prayer of repentance and invitation to Jesus best I could.

I did not feel adequate, especially with my language weaknesses in Romanian. We talked a little more, and I think he has trouble truly understanding what Jesus offers us in salvation, what it really means. However, I tried my best to explain, and then I found out he knows a couple of my Christian friends. I think my friend R. and I are going to go back to visit him tomorrow evening. Please pray for us, and even more for A. and his family, that he would be freed from his addictions and fully healed and fully saved, to the glory of God. He has eleven children, the last of whom was saved from abortion by the grace of our Lord through a miraculous dream.

I thank the Lord for today and for each place he put me in, the hardest as well as the most joyful. And I hope to never forget when someone became impatient with my prayers and conversation because I did not understand what he ended up stating so frankly: "I just want to be saved!"

How about you? Do you know Jesus? Don't wait for a miraculous dream or a bumbling "missionary" to ask you. Tell Him (in prayer) that you want to know Him, and invite Him to live in and through you--His holiness in place of your humanness. I bless you in the Name of our holy Jesus.

The End of the Road

2010-10-21T15:03:00.003-04:00

(Location: Gate M5 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at 2pm local time on the 20th of October.)

Once again, I am sitting in an airport. I suppose I spend as much time in airports as in any other "home." This one happens to be in Chicago, as I wait to board my plane to Amsterdam, where I will catch a flight to Bucharest. It will be a long two days of travel by the time I arrive in Sighisoara or the C., where my house is. If you are reading this, I am probably no longer in Chicago (where you have to pay for internet access), which means I may be in the Netherlands or Romania or somewhere else in the world.

You may recall that I was very excited about putting on an evangelism seminar at my church. It was fantastic and fun! There were probably 50 or 60 persons in attendance from six or eight churches, including a group from my Mexican church. My Mexican pastor translated the workshop into Spanish, and the Spirit moved powerfully among us. I was delighted to be present to see the Lord at work in the Church in Indianapolis! Thank you so much for your prayers! I apologize that it did not get recorded, but I can send you my notes if you ask.

Perhaps, though, you are more curious about the wedding--my sister's wedding. How did it go? Some people said it was the best wedding they had ever attended! I thought it was a lot of work! But I have to admit, it was very nice. My sister is beautiful, and her pretty dress and the outdoor setting accented her beauty as she married a good, godly man. The wedding included a brief ceremony, out-of-town guests, a reception under a large white tent, a surprise visit from a marching "clown" band, hay rides, dancing, and more. Not only was it a privilege to be there and to pray for them, but I was also delighted when Dad responded like this to the question, "Who gives this woman away?": "Her mother and brothers and I!"

Since the wedding there has been a lot of clean-up and several visits with friends and family before I head back overseas. Now I am trying to get back in the Romanian mindset as I let the Lord lead me where He wants me, in His perfect timing.

A great example of that supernatural leading happened today. I ate yesterday at a "torta" restaurant owned by friends of mine from the Mexican church. When they found out I was headed to Chicago today, they offered to take me along with them, so I ditched the Megabus and had a great ride up with them! They dropped me off at the airport after we had a Mexican seafood lunch--can't beat that!

There were so many special blessings during these past two weeks. They included getting to meet up with former Romanian missionary, J., and meeting her best friend, S. and family. I also got to see my cousins from Arkansas and meet the wife of one of them for the first time. My parents' church gave me the privilege of sharing a bit last Sunday morning, my Mexican church prayed for me Sunday evening, and one ministry group I belong to prayed for me on Monday night. I spent quality time with my sister and her (now) husband; I also spent quality time with some of my best Christian friends and mentors, as well as with my parents and my brother and his girlfriend. I also enjoyed listening to Moody Radio, which is one of the things I miss most about living away from the USA.

This short visit sped by quickly, but I feel rested and eager to dive back into God's blessings in Romania. Thanks for your prayers, and please do not stop praying! I made time for many of you while I was in town, and I was blessed to do so. Please forgive me if we were unable to sit down and talk during my American blitz. The one thing I did fail to do while I was in Indiana was to catch up on my nearly two hundred emails--I chose personal interactions and sleep over emailing, so please be patient as I try to catch up now. And thank you to all of you who made time for me, who sent or tried to send gifts with me for people in Romania, and even for me. You are each a blessing in my life.

I am praying for you, and I bless you in the Name of Jesus the Christ!

Lots of New . . .

2010-10-10T23:36:00.004-04:00

Location: On my bed in my parents' house, Indianapolis, Indiana, right at midnight on the 11th of October.

My apologies for not writing sooner. As you know, I happily arrived in my hometown a week ago, only to be waylaid by a rotten cold that really made me pretty miserable for the week. Thank you all of you who prayed; I am feeling better now.

I am posting photos to update you on the week that sped by. You will see photos of some of the wedding work I have been doing--I cut the grass at the wedding site, and I also helped the mothers make table decoration out of sycamore-tree logs and grass bouquets. (The wedding ceremony will take place between those two big sycamore trees.) You will note that we desperately need rain (though preferably not during the wedding ceremony!) and see a photo of a beautiful tree at the camp where I went to meet up with some friends I used to work with there--the leaves transformed this week into a medley of color. There are photos of some of my good friends I got to see, and a photo of the engaged couple (wearing their "Bride" and "Groom" sweatshirts), right after my sister's fiance accidentally beaned her in the nose. There are also some photos from my cousin's soccer game I watched.

Despite my cold, I have been so blessed, as you can tell from the photos. Today I got to visit both of my churches, the English-speaking one and the Spanish-speaking one. I am so proud of the one that had the most evangelical message I have ever heard from it! Jesus is moving powerfully in both of these groups of people, and they really made me feel welcome and loved! I also saw a childhood friend in church, which gladdened my heart!

This evening, I got to visit with neighbors of mine that I have not seen in quite a long time; I heard their passion for God's heart for our hurting world, and we had a great exchange. I got to speak to my Christian brother in Utah tonight; I have also visited by phone with dear friends in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Knoxville, and other parts of the country. I got to see one of my cousins who was briefly home from his work in Afghanistan, and I have been able to visit with several other family members as well. My biological brother should be home soon, too, and I look forward to seeing him as well.

God provides in mighty ways, and you may be envious to know that God moved someone to offer me the use of their red (Ford) Mustang convertible while I am home. Even more awesome is that God has provided so completely for me that I was able to say, "No, thank you," to it! Our Lord is a great God!

This week will slide by quickly as we prepare for the wedding; my evangelism workshop is on Tuesday, too. It is hard knowing that I will not get to see many of my friends during this short trip, but that is the way it is sometimes. I am trying to catch up on my 150 emails, and to also call some of you while I am in your time zone. Thanks for your patience and your prayers; you are important to me.

I hear that it got chilly in Romania. You friends of mine in Romania, you are on my mind constantly. I wake up dreaming about Romania, and I will soon be back. I am praying for you, and I thank the Lord for the work He is doing in and through you.

God, You are an amazing God! Thank you for revealing your powerful arm here in Indianapolis, in Romania, and in other parts of the world! Thanks for the special meetings you have ordained with old friends, with strangers, with family members and collegues, and with people who are thirsty for You. May they and I all see Jesus clearly, and may we know Him intimately, by the work of Your Spirit in us!

On a Megabus!

2010-10-04T11:50:00.002-04:00

(Location: On a bus between Chicago and Indianapolis in the USA, a quarter to seven on Sunday evening, the 3rd of October.)

Thanks for your prayers--I arrived in the United States without mishap. And if God's faithfulness continues (it will!), I will soon arrive at my parents' home.

I have two important things to tell you (at least, that I can recall).

First of all, the village of V. Last week I wrote to you about V., but I visited this village again twice this week, and I have some new stories. (This is not the village where I feel called to live, but the other V.)

When I arrived on Thursday afternoon, it was raining. Maybe you do not know, but most life in rural Romania stops in the rain. I, however, am American enough to continue with my plans, so I marched through the mud to see my dear village people. As I entered town, one boy saw me from his window and braved the weather to come out. He called his friend, and soon eight or ten boys had gathered with me. The rain was holding off temporarily, so we climbed the hill to the apple tree. The donkey tethered to a stake sounded the alarm, but I hee-hawed back at it so convincingly that it left us alone! Then we collected a few apples and munched on them until the rain started again. Then we had an apple-ball fight! Have you ever had a snow ball fight? This was exactly the same, but with apples! It was SO much fun! Maybe you can join us next time!

After that, as the rain picked up, I sprinted with those two boys to the house of one of them. We sat on the "porch" snacking on fresh pecans. Then the sister of the boy came out, interrogating me until she found out that she was my age and that I was not married. I saw where the inquiries were leading, so I scrammed before any bigger questions were "popped"! But I think it was my best visit yet!

I will try to post a picture I took of boys from this town lined up against our ministry truck, eager to help me let down the stage.

Even more glorifying to God, though, has been the trip to America. Many Romanians dream of going to America, though many of them only have a Hollywood picture of such a destination. But let me describe the journey.

Saturday morning I woke up, packed, and gave a French test. Then I hitchhiked to town, arriving in time to do two children's programs, in V. and in B. I left the latter one a tiny bit early and caught a minibus to Bucharest--a five hour trip. Concerned about some of the aspects of my trip, I prayed a lot in advance, and God sent me an angel.

You see, I needed the driver to let me off at the airport, about 40 kilometers before Bucharest. Not expecting that to be a problem, I was surprised when he told me "no"! Yet an elderly gentleman (who spoke English, no less!), took me aside later and told me I needed to ask a couple more times; the driver was just waiting for me to ask more. So I followed his culturally acurate advice, and with his help, I was left standing on the side of the road right where I needed to be! In addition, I had prayed about the pouring rain that had drummed the bus during the trip, and it stopped a little bit before I had to get out! God is good!

I walked to the airport in time to wait for another eight hours--"sleeping" in the airport would not be a very accurate word to describe my wait in the chairs there. But after being questioned by at the Passport Control about my expired residency permit, I boarded the plane which left on time. Thus, I arrived in Paris on time, and an hour-and-a-half later, also left there on time. My arrival in Chicago was also easy, and I had no trouble passing Customs as I thought I might. Amazingly, my old cell phone somehow worked--I thought it had no credit!--and a Christian brother of mine picked me up and spent two hours with me before the bus came. Those two hours were such an encouragement to me! Now, even though I am sort of sleep deprived, I am eager to dive into the blessings the Lord has prepared for me in Indiana.

Thanks for your prayers, and keep praying! I already miss Romania and keep speaking Romanian words, even in my English. I am praying for you, and I bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

Evangelism Seminar

2010-09-27T16:10:00.002-04:00

(My current location: near Sighisoara, Romania, soon to be in the USA)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Exciting news! I have an invitation for you: I will be visiting Indianapolis briefly before returning to Romania, and together with your (the local Church's) help I will host an evangelism workshop, "Painless Evangelism: A fresh look at eternal truth." For me and many of you, the idea of outreach and witnessing is a scary thought. But I have traveled all over the world with Jesus and can promise to offer you a unique perspective on this intimidating aspect of the Christian life. Please join me and folks from other local congregations in the chapel at my churh on Tuesday, October 12th from 7pm to 9pm. (I hope also to have Spanish translation.) Young and old and members and visitors, Christians and non-Christians, all are welcome! Entry is free; please pray in advance! For more details, please email me. I bless you from Romania in the Name of our Jesus!

(If you have not read the latest post, it is below, with photos.)

"V" is for my Villages

2010-09-27T15:51:00.005-04:00

(Location: My freshly-swept house in the village of C., Romania, 12:30pm on the 27th of September. There are ripe grapes on vines covering half of my open window, and there is a lingering oder of woodsmoke from last night's fire in the stove. The sunlight streaming in has mostly dried the evidence of the downpour that drenched just before sunset yesterday, but the breeze blows the clouds across the sun as though teasing it. My bike waits just outside the door for our next journey, probably in a couple of hours.)

Just add water. What I mean is, as usual, I am going to give you the "concentrate" version of what I would really like to tell you, and you will have to "just add water" to reconstitute the original contents! Ironically, that is what God did as I galloped across a meadow last night with some of my young friends. We were completely saturated with water by the time a rainbow interrupted the down pour and pulled the sunset out from behind the cloudburst. We were laughing and singing and enjoying the fact that we could enjoy getting wet, though by the time our horses finally staggered home, we were a bit cold, and I was quick to light a fire in my stove. The descent down the old farm road had literally been a mudslide. After one horse fell to his haunches forcing one girl to jump free, we dismounted and slid down on foot, leading our mounts and trying to slide faster than they were so we would not be knocked sprawling. Have I told you that I love adventure!?

No, but the best parts of this week for me were by far my days spent in V. and V. The village of V. is where I aim to live one day, and where my friend T. is working to renovate a 500-year-old church building. Despite the fact that this village has been the focal point of my return to Romania, I had been unable to get there, for a variety of reasons. Finally, last Wednesday, I went, visiting for the first time since last January! I was elated, and to make things even better, it was a gorgeous day there!

I do not have many pictures from my visit, except a few hurried shots snapped out the car window, because we were busy! I helped a few other guys laying hardwood floor in the church, and then we invited the town for a short preaching time, and I preached to a congregation of adults and children, Orthodox, Prostestant, and a Catholic. You may remember that the very first time I visited V., I preached, then on the church steps. Last Wednesday, however, we brought in benches and gathered inside! People kept coming, even after I had begun, and they all crammed on to the four large benches we had placed in the sanctuary. Afterwards, T., who had also translated for me, was kicking himself for his lack of faith. He had put four benches, and God filled them completely! Why had he not placed more? He had not expected that many people to come! Next time, we will place more benches in faith!

Many challenges greeted me each day, but Thursday afternoon was another memorable delight. I visited V., which is another village outside of Sighisoara, in an opposite direction from the more isolated village of V. where I preached Wednesday. You see, this village, V., is the one that I am responsible for visiting each week before we do our children's program there on Saturdays. It was also my village last year, so the people know me. I was back for the first time a week ago, and when I was asked to help the men building the roof, but this week's visit was even better.

I arrived in the midst of the children coming home from school, and two of the boys agreed to take me up the hill to the more remote houses. We had some good conversations with folks and laughs among ourselves, and we ate apples off the tree. In fact, I almost got a haircut from a young man giving a friend a trim, and I probably would have had I not had the responsibility to visit several more families before getting picked up by my team! Then we decided to go fishing for minnows in the creek. I straddled the creek, and they asked me if I could really catch them with my hands, especially since they had all swam away by now. I said, "Shhh...," and I leaned closer to the water as they all leaned in to see better. Splash! With one sweep of my hand, I managed to get each of them a little wet! We all laughed at my trick, and then we hopped into a horse cart and road through town, with me shouting reminders of our coming program as we passed by. Then we made a quick stop in another corner of the village where there is a small church, and they showed me inside the room where the church gathers a couple of times each week. What a fun visit!

As planned, we re-started our kids' programs, doing six last week (as we will each week). I was involved in four of them, trying to get back into the rhythm after not having done it for almost a year. In addition, my role has changed, and with my improving Romanian, I am now working on stage a lot without translation. Thursday I was shocked all over again in the village of A., which I described last year as reminding me of a savage jungle village. Indeed, naked, dirty kids came racing toward us, some cheering, some insulting us. Because I am fairly strict when necessary, they were telling me that they do not like me as well as my collegue who is in New York for four months! Friday was challenging in our "backyard" neighborhood, the community around our ministry base, and Saturday morning we arrived to find that my visit to V. had paid off and we had a large crowd ready for the program. However, again we found obstacles and had to persevere, so it was a real blessing when we regrouped and presented our last program in an area of town that is new for us--full of children living in apartment blocks (this is where I went Christmas caroling last year, if you recall). By God's grace and ingenuity, that program went very smoothly and was so much fun--after the longest sack-race in history, I had divided the children good-naturedly into (grunting) gorillas and girls, instead of boys and girls as usual, and we really enjoyed ourselves!

So thank you for your prayers. This week will be another busy week, beginning with a special choir concert tonight. Actually, yesterday found me already studying dyslexia, which may draw me into deeper study of this fascinating gift which is far more than a learning disability, and then this morning I gave a test in English and taught a French lesson. Now, after a quick haircut, I am using my day off as effectively as I can before I find myself in a calendar of children's programs, school lessons, and hopefully a visit to both V. and V. before the week is over. This schedule is particularly critical for a special reason, but if you have read this far, I will let you in on the secret...

This weekend, I will be flying to the USA for a brief visit! After all, I cannot miss my sister's wedding!

If you are in the US, and especially if you are in the Indianapolis area, keep your eyes open for an invitation to a special gathering on Tuesday the 12th of October, before I return to Romania. The invitation will be on my blog, either before or after this post... Maybe I will see you soon!

PS I am going to try to add a photo from this evening (Monday night, 27 September). I had the privilege of singing at and attending a special ceremony tonight for a local Christian charity started by a Scottish woman with an American history. It was not special because it was held in the brand new hotel, but because many key persons in the city were present, including persons from all sorts of Christian traditions. I will not try to describe it, but it was proof of God at work in this city.

Little Miss Muffin, a Damsel in Distress, and Victory!

2010-09-19T06:43:00.002-04:00

Location: My house, the village of C., Romania, at 6pm on the 18th of September, 2010.

Yes, believe it or not, I am sitting quietly in my house! The past two weeks have been hectic with the commute into town and back, and frequently I am sleeping elsewhere, either at J's apartment or my place of work. But there is nothing like home sweet home!

As I often do, I will fill you in backwards. Today proved to be interesting. It was our first day of starting up the children's program in our village after the primary leader moved elsewhere last spring. Though I had not attended this "Little Explorers" group in the past, my opinion says that it was a stunning success. We sang songs, taught about Creation, and went on a hike to bring back pieces of nature, with nearly 30 children in attendance. I will not often be involved here because I normally will be involved in another children's program with my other job, but it was good to be here today for the kickoff to encourage the leaders who were a little unsure about doing it without their fearless leader from the past!

Do you ever feel that way? Like you cannot continue something if the gifted person who began a good work eventually has to move on? Please let me remind you that our God, from whom every good thing comes, will continue to be with you and lead you as long as you let Him! Trust Him if He puts His confidence in you, and continue to press on in obedience!

Even with teaching French and English this morning, our debut program, and other work I had today, the day proved slower than I expected. Thus I caught a needed nap (during which I had more dreams--please continue to pray for my understanding of these dreams), and now I have time to write and hopefully to catch up on my huge pile of emails from the past several weeks!

Yesterday found me visiting the community of V., the dear people of whom I worked with many times last year. (This is a different village than the one I plan to live in.) It was good to see the kids there, and to be able to tell them that we will be starting up our weekly programs there next week. I visited town by myself, but I was delighted to be so easily accepted into that rough area. In fact, I had a special victory.

You see, as I walked by some men putting a roof on a house, one started challenging me, asking me to come help for half an hour. I did not understand everything he said, and wondered if he might not be drunk, and politely declined, explaining that I still had a lot of houses to visit. He persisted, and I continued to decline, eventually walking away. After about three steps, though, I knew what I had to do. I did an about-face and walked up to him, asking him how I could help. It turns out they did not really need my help, and after we conversed for a while, they sent me merrily on my way asking for prayer and blessing me verbally. However, I heard him say, "I never dreamed he would actually come! I can't believe it!" He told me that he saw I had a good heart, and I told him maybe we could work together another time. In that brief delay, I won an enormous victory in front of several neighbors. I gained this man's respect; now I am more than a foreign do-gooder and child-worker who brings candy and leaves, who says nice things but does no real work to back up what he says. I won a victory that will result in that home being open to me anytime I need to enter, and I will have an advocate in that village--a man's voice--which is extremely valuable. May God get the glory, and may this man come to know Jesus intimately. Please pray for him. I asked him his Name, and he basically told me John, like John the Baptist. I had trouble understanding if he was telling me the truth, but if you pray for "John," the Lord will know who you mean. Please pray for the Lord to meet his every spiritual and physical need.

Yes, the life I live is often humbling, even humiliating, as my days unroll in the middle of a foreign culture. Through my weaknesses, failures, and mistakes, the Lord reveals His majesty, to the glory of His Name. Yet this week, not only did He lead me into the victory I described above, but He also permitted me the opportunity of saving a damsel in distress. For those of you who do not know, I enjoy being the knight in shining armor, and it is not often that I get to play the role in an appropriate setting.

Nevertheless, as I headed to our first-of-the-season rehearsal for our gospel choir, I stood outside the door a moment making an adjustment on my cell phone. I heard a bit of an odd knocking, but dismissed it as yet another unusal noise in an unfamiliar culture. However, when I entered the building, I realized there indeed was a frantic knocking, coming from behind the stairwell door. The stairs leading up to the choir room have a large door at the bottom, and it had been locked by a key. I spoke through the door to the distressed damsel, then hurried off to get the key. Soon the door was opened to reveal one of the newly-arrived American students I had recently met. Catastrophe averted!

Certainly, I had many frustrations and challenges this week, but I am trying to be more positive in my outlook. In fact, this week proved easier to be positive, because of these blessings. One of the best blessings turned out to be Little Miss Muffin. (Yes, I know the nursury rhyme actually tells of Little Miss Muffet...) However, last weekend, a friend and I were looking for a snack, and I commented how wonderful a good muffin sounded. To tell you the truth, though, I could not remember seeing any muffins in Romania. Thus, he and I went without. When Tuesday rolled around, though, I had to swing by a friend's place to deliver something for her. I conveniently arrived when she and her mom were making apple cinnamon muffins! You can imagine that I was not slow in explaining how they were an answered prayer!

So, yes, I agree, I have already written more than enough. Thanks for your prayers. Two weeks of transition into my new role in Sighisoara are over, and now we settle into the regular schedule. Thanks for your prayers; please do not stop praying. Please also pray for my dear brother J. and his wife, E., who along with their little N. headed to the ghettos of New York City for four months! I miss them, but it will be a great time of growing for them. It will be especially difficult for E., who has not experienced the like before. I am praying for you, and I must tell you that the Lord clearly answered many of my prayers last week--may we continue to praise His Name!

Before I close, I want to observe how clean my white socks became when I washed them in a laundry machine this week. Though I scrub them hard by hand and use bleach, they came out so much whiter when I simply throw them in a washing machine.

As I prepare a lesson about Everyone Struggles with Sin for our children here, let me remind you that sin is like that. You can try to scrub and bleach out the dark spots in your life, but you will never be completely clean. But the moment you surrender yourself to the grace of Jesus Christ, letting Him cleanse you to the glory of His Father, all those stains will be gone. Stop scrubbing frantically and let the Lord be lord of your life. He is better than a yearned-for muffin, He saves those in distress, and He has already won the victory.

I bless you in His Name, the Name of Jesus!

Romanian Triathlon

2010-09-13T12:45:00.004-04:00

Location: J's apartment in Sighisoara--my second home now--at 8pm on the 13th of September.

So today, I did a Romanian triathlon. Well, that is how I would tell it, anyway. After French-lesson warm-ups this morning, I biked 20 kilometers, cut wood with the chainsaw for a couple of hours, and then finished by splitting the rounds with a maul. Maybe no one competed against me, and maybe this is not an offical sport, but if you ask my arms, legs, back, head, or any other part of my body, it would tell you that I certainly did not sit around and do nothing all day!

This was a busy weekend because of another trip to Targu Mures, but it had a lot of highlights. One of my favorites was hitchhiking on the back of a motorcycle last Friday evening. The cool thing is that God sent the cyclist to pick me up. You see, I did not even signal for him to stop, because I was not sure if I should hail a motorcycle. Sure enough, he passed me . . . only to turn around and come back to ask if I wanted a ride! He was a young orthopedics doctor from Cluj-Napoca, and I enjoyed our conversation.

I also got to visit with some of my good friends after wearing myself out running errands unsuccessfully on Saturday. One of them, especially, is one of those men of God who just glows with gentle grace, and as he hugged me, led worship and Bible study, and then chatted with me after, the Lord used him to raise my spirits. Another blessing was conversing with a another friend and suggesting to him that maybe he was too often talking about the negative side of things and other people, exhorting him to honor God with every word and every thought. The next morning, another good friend of mine, another one covered completely in humility and godliness, told me in the course of our conversation that I, for example, tend to always cite the problems when I am describing something. Whoa! I was taken aback (partially because everything comes across more direct when someone is using a second language), but I realized she was right. I had thought I had destroyed my critical nature some time ago when I realized it was harmful, but thanks to I.'s willingness to challenge and convict me, I realize that I have quite a bit more ugliness to leave at the foot of the cross.

Perhaps you already learned this lesson, but it is crucial for me. (Ironically, I am guessing that the word "crucial" comes from the same origin as "cross" and "crucify", which is appropriate--only by dying to myself can I let Christ live in me!) I think I have mentioned before that everything is spiritual. And it is true! For example, Dad asked me the other day if I have become a regular hitchhiker. Yep. I have, but you must remember that hitchhiking is very different here. Grandmas and grandpas hitchhike, single moms with children hitchhike, . . . for many, it is the only practical way to travel any sort of distance. But I have said that I do not know how people hitchhike without knowing God. Sure, you have to trust Him when you may not have a working seatbelt, or maybe when you are riding with a deaf couple who keep looking at each other to speak in sign language while the car barrels ahead at break-neck speed! That is not what I am talking about though. For me, the entire process is prayer. As I decide whether to hitchhike or bike, I pray. As I consider the weather, I pray. As I walk to the unofficial-official hitchhiking spot, I pray. Each time, I know that the Lord has a particular car and a particular person in mind, and so as I watch the cars pass, I wait for him (wisely, women do not usually pick up hitchhikers). Then I let God lead our conversation, and determine the cost of my ride. I think if I were not with Jesus the whole time, I would get very discouraged if I had to wait for more than a half-hour, or when it started to rain or get dark, or when too many people are crammed into one car.

You see, hitchhiking is a spiritual activity. In the same way, commuting by bike is a great time to pray (it takes your mind off your straining muscles and organs). So, too, is chopping wood. As I look at these things from God's perspective, realizing that a lot of people around me mistake me for a missionary, I have to remember that He is using every moment and every perception to teach me or others something, to bless me or others, or to prepare the next moment. And this is important for me as a man of God who wants to be more godly. Instead of me being the one writing to you about being discouraged and then encouraged, or about convicting someone and then being convicted, I want to be that gentle, wise man who tenderly exuded godliness everytime you met him. I have only met a handful of men and women like that, but those people are impacting the world without breaking a bruised reed.

I am glad I am not a missionary. I have realized two things about missionaries. Many missionaries are suffering from something in their past, maybe an unhealed scar for instance, or they have a disability, or character flaws and foibles. I have also noticed that many missionaries face a lot of discouragement and loneliness, even depression. Church, who are we sending to represent us? I think it is great that God is using some of the weakest and most-broken of His flock to display His majesty! At the same time, are only the "outcasts" willing to go and face the challenges of ministering cross-culturally, because everyone else has a better niche in society? Do not hear me wrong, Missionaries. I am not saying that you are a pariah; instead, I want to emphasize that each of us have weaknesses, but that God wants to use all of us, despite and through our weaknesses! So, Church, how are we supporting these heros and heroines who do decide to go, weaknesses and all? Do we send them a check once a year, shake their hand when they visit us back "home," and then send their monthly newsletters to the trashbin without even glancing at them?

I say that I am glad I am not a missionary, because I do not know if I could uphold the expections we put on those we label "missonaries," while at the same time bearing the trials of culture shock and a life of ministry. The more I interact with missionaries, the more I am embarrassed about the lack of support I have given missionaries in the past. They are maybe lonely or discouraged, drowning in a language they have trouble understanding in a culture into which they do not fit, far from friends and family, and did I send them a note? Did I pray for them? Did I even remember they were gone? Did I wish them a happy birthday or a merry Christmas? Did I welcome them to my home when they were in my neighborhood?

Most people want to help, but a lot of people do not know how. Maybe that is what qualifies me for working abroad. I do not usually know how or what to do, but I normally just try. Yes, sometimes I break things or burn things or have to undo and redo what I did. And I try to learn from it and to avoid that mistake again. But I do not want to be one of the many, many people who had a good thought to help, but their thought never became action because they did not know what to do.

If you are someone who wants to help, but do not know how, just ask me. Especially if Jesus has been reminding you about some of His children oversees who are ministering or being ministered to through prayers of people like you. If you want to pray for or bless in some way some of those involved in God's work in Romania or Indianapolis (or other parts of the world), email me and I will help you do it. I know godly men and women who would greatly appreciate being loved by you. Maybe you have a passion for poor people to have a roof over their heads, or for young women and children to be rescued from prostitution, or for people with disabilities to be treated fairly and with love. I, personally, know people serving in each of these areas. Maybe if you are looking for a tax-deduction I cannot help you. If you want to see one person be blessed, maybe I can.

Do not sit around and do nothing. Spend every moment you have, every activity, in prayer. And then dive into a Romanian triathlon, or an American marathon, or a French decathlon, or whatever challenge you are willing to face, from whichever nation you call home.

Maybe you saw me chopping wood today; I was not--I was preparing heat for my team this winter. Maybe you saw me playing with my cell phone; I was not--I was encouraging a collegue who failed an important test. Maybe you saw me wasting precious time typing a blog; I was not--I was reminding some friends of mine of how precious they are in the sight of their Creator, and that Jesus wants to work through them to lavish His love on the people around them, all over the world.

I bless you in the Name of this lavish Jesus!

Bedtime Story

2010-09-07T15:16:00.002-04:00

Location: J's apartment in Sighisoara, Romania, almost 10:30pm on the 7th of September

I have lots to write but sleep is more important at the moment. So let me tell you a quick bedtime story. I just emailed it to a friend, and I realized it is important for all of us to remember.

My parents' neighbors are a wonderful family of four. When the boy was quite a bit younger, maybe 5 years old, he used to help his father mow the lawn. In other words, everytime his father began cutting the grass, he would bring out his plastic lawn mower and "help." Of course, his work was no help at all, but we delighted in watching him, and I think it brought his father great joy to see his son trying to be like him.

In the same way, what I do for God is not that important. In fact, God does not need me, and He certainly does not need my help! He can do a far better job than I can. But He loves to let me "help" him; he enjoys my company when I want to be with my Daddy, when I want to be just like Him.

As I head into dreamland, may you, too, have sweet dreams of growing up to be just like your Daddy, the One who loves you more than you can fathom.

Who You Are

2010-09-05T11:08:00.003-04:00

Location: J's apartment in Sighisoara, Romania; Sunday evening the 5th, 6:20pm.

(There are more of these pictures in the post below. I have so much I want to write about, and I certainly do not have time to write all of it. A few of you received email replies, and I will work to reply to the rest soon.

This week, some of my friends put on an English Camp in my village, and I was interviewed by the campers on Thursday. I told them my profession was "Writer." Are you surprised? No, I do not have professional training as an author. No, I do not get paid regularly to write. But I write all of the time. I write blog posts, Bible teachings, songs, poetry, and emails. Where does my identity come from? Does it come from my qualifications? From my salary? Or does it come from what I do?

For me, there is no question that our identity comes from the LORD. From that identity flows our lives and actions. Thus, the LORD made me a writer, and so I write. Someday the rest of the world might recognize it, too, right? I do not have to wait to have libraries of books published before I can call myself a writer.

In the same way, I am a saint. The LORD forgave me and is perfecting me; I am living in His victory, and in His grace. Do I have to wait until I never make anymore mistakes before I can call myself a Christian or a saint? Of course not.

So who are you?

I tell you all of this because I told them that what I do not like about my job is that I have more to write about than I have time to write! Forgive me as I summarize the bountifully blessed life God has given me.)

So as you can see, J. and I did get to meet up in Cluj-Napoca as she passed through from Suceava to Oradea. It was such a blessing to visit with this woman of God; He used her to bring me to Romania originally, and He has blessed me through her many times. Please pray for her as she readjusts back to her life in America, and as she celebrates her birthday next week!

After catching up with J., I returned to my village of C., where I found a lazier week than normal waiting for me. I spent most of the time in the woodshop, working on an individual project. But my real pleasure came from my "all-in-one" night in my house. Here is a photo of it. Our hot weather suddenly turned quite cool and rainy, and so I started up my woodstove for the first time. A success! I did not fill the room with smoke or burn myself or anything else! You can see that I even improvised by drying my dishes on top of the stove!

You can also see another achievement: I washed my clothes indoors for the first time. I converted the second bed in my room into a clothes' rack, and voila. On the dinner table, you can see the grey laundry tub, the orange (fresh) water pail, and my red "kitchen sink." It is amazing how many things you can do in one room in one night with a little creativity!

Incidentally, you will see that my laundry is hanging in the picture. I am not embarrassed. In Romania, nearly everyone has laundry hanging all over. In fact, I sat next to a pile of underwear last time I went to get milk from the neighbor. I think a lot of times in America we pretend that no one else has dirty laundry, so we hide everything. Here, most Romanians recognize that everyone has dirty laundry, and they still love you. And I think they have learned that the best way to get rid of dirty laundry in life is to wash it and hang it out in the sunlight where everyone can deal with it...

One of my spiritual brothers in Indianapolis has been praying not only for me (THANK YOU!), but also for my coworker, I. Here is a picture of the two of us together in I.'s house. He has helped me in many ways, and I look forward to watching God continue to work in his life. Please pray for I., too, as he has a lot of unknowns awaiting him in the coming weeks. This photo is from a precious, holy evening we shared in prayer after he invited me over for tea.

And check out this castle! Ok, I do not know if it is a castle or not, but it is called a castle. If I understand correctly, most of the current buildings were build merely a couple of hundred years ago, on the ruins of a medeival castle, the walls of which can still be seen. It was also used as a farm for a while, before becoming a historical landmark.

This castle is in my village, but I had never visited it until now; it is usually gated and locked. However, I helped to host a concert by two Swiss guests with Alpine shepherd horns, guitars, and yodeling. The concert was fantastic, and the preaching and testimony sharing in between was even better!

We had a good turnout from the town (here are friends and family members of the folks I work with). I am sure many people came because of our personal invitations. For example, I visited a third of the houses in our 700-person town on Saturday morning, inviting each family to the concert. I pray that God's Word as it was preached, and His Son Jesus, as He was revealed, find their way into the hearts of each person there.

This photo from the invitation shows the "star" himself.

So now I need to get going, to hitchhike home before rain or dark. Today had some unexpected blessings, such as a special prayer time with a French friend of mine, a meal with him and his family and a collegue of ours, meeting some newly-arrived American students, and some extra internet time.

Oh, and maybe I have not told you that my life will be changing a bit now. Beginning this week, I will once again be working with the child evangelism team with whom I worked last year. I will work with them part-time for four months in the villages around Sighisoara, while continuing to live in C. and teach French and English to a couple of the children there. Please pray as I enter this week of transition, trusting God to provide every bit of wisdom and resource I may need.

By the way, please pray for J., in whose apartment I am sitting. He has been more than generous with me time and again--I even asked him if he were an angel! I am very thankful for his willingness to let God use him; if you are interested in his blog or newsletter, please email me and let me know. Have a great week!

I bless you in the Name of Jesus!

A Tease of What Is To Come...

2010-09-05T02:34:00.002-04:00

Location: J's apartment in Sighisoara, about 9:45am on Sunday, the 5th of September.

This week was fairly calm, but I nonetheless had little time to write. Maybe I will write now before church, or a little later, but until then enjoy these photos and try to guess who the people are and what is going on in each photo!

Here to Stay?

2010-08-30T06:50:00.001-04:00

(Here's a photo from the post below--I'll put two more down there; take a look!)

Location: My apartment in Cluj-Napoca, just after 3am on the morning August 30--Happy Birthday, M.!

Yes, you read it correctly, I am in my apartment in Cluj. Since when do I have an apartment in Cluj? Since last evening. Let me tell you the story so God gets the glory.

Yesterday morning I did not get to go to gather with the church in worship, because I was helping my friends prepare to continue their travels to Brasov. Their bus came as scheduled, but it was full. I tried to thumb them a ride, but no one stopped, so we headed to the train station and managed to book them a ticket. At the same time, I bought a ticket to Cluj, where I plan to meet up briefly with a friend from the United States. My train was late and theirs was on time, so our trains pulled into the station at the same time, and we left in different directions.

As I am to meet J. at the train station at 4am, my plan was to arrive in Cluj and find some hotel rooms, as well as to research my return to Sighisoara. I also hoped to find a sandwich or some simple food somewhere, not always easy when many stores are closed on Sundays. I asked my seat-neighbor on the train for motel recommendations, and he gave me some ideas and then gave me his phone number in case I could not find anything, he had an extra room. Imagine inviting a stranger to stay in your house that night, knowing he had to go to the train station at 4am! Talk about a hospitable heart!

I arrived at 5pm, learned the returning train schedules, and headed toward the bus station to discover any possibilities there. As I walked, I passed two girls dressed the way many Protestant Christian women dress here, and at the last moment, I realized I might be able to go to church. I stopped the startled gals and found out that they were, indeed, Christians on the way to worship, and they told me of a nearby church--worship would begin at six. After pricing one hotel and visiting the bus station, I managed to find the church. That is when everything started happening; the Spirit of the Lord had definitely prepared my way; thanks be to God!

I walked up to three men in my shorts and tee shirt to ask if there was a restroom where I could change clothes. Immediately they began scrambling to accommodate me, offering me a classroom as a changing room. After I had changed, another man was waiting to usher me into service, and I had to interrupt him to ask if he could show me to the restroom before worship started. Then he led me to a seat and sat with me, asking me why I was in Cluj-Napoca. (He enjoyed filling me in on what was going on, and he demonstrated his knowledge of some English and Spanish, telling me about his relatives in Spain and collegues in the USA. He also is related to the folks I worked with at the wheelchair distribution the first month I was in Romania.) Worship was very truth-filled and exhorting, and I thanked the Lord for bringing me.

Following the service, my pew-neighbor led me outside, and then explained that he had an apartment I could use, even though it was across town. So I went with him to his home. Before I knew it, I had met two of his eight children, and his wife had prepared me one of my favorite Romanian dishes, sarmale, along with a wonderful soup and plums fresh from their own tree. So I dined like a king, and then learned that this brother owns a construction business and dozens (I think) of apartments. So he got out his keys and showed me mine, providing exactly what I needed, without the fees I was expecting to have to pay. So J. does not know it yet, but when I find her at the train station, she will have a place she can come to for a shower and nap after a long night train, a place where we can leave her baggage as we visit in town today.

Incredible? No. Sovereign!

As I toured my apartment last night after my host left, I was laughing out loud with joy. Look at how our good provides! Extra rooms and meals and apartments! I truly came to town not knowing where I would stay, and now I am holding the key to the apartment I am in for the night. He said I can stay as long as I like! It reminds me of the disciples being sent out, taking nothing with them. Over and over this has happened to me, where the Lord has provided me with a roof, a bed, a meal, money, or help, just as I needed it. This time is just a bit more dramatic! Each time, though, I want to give God the glory by thanking Him for the great things He has done, and by testifying to you.

May you be encouraged! Our Father is trustworthy and true. He cares for us, and we will not be disappointed if we surrender all of our needs and wants and lives to Him.

Let me know when you will be in Cluj-Napoca! My host told me that you could stay in one of his apartments!

Accommodating

2010-08-29T03:17:00.003-04:00

Location: Our illegal accommodations in Sighisoara, Romania, 10:20am on Sunday the 29th of August.

Our stay here in Sighisoara has worked out really nicely, though I did find out a bit too late that our accommodations here are probably illegal, because our host is probably not paying the government any taxes or fees to host guests, thereby under-cutting the hotels and hostels. We will chalk it up to a lesson learned, and a blessing in the meantime.

I was going to post a few photos of our tour of Sighisoara yesterday, but for some reason I cannot access the internet with my computer this morning, so I am using another computer. Thus, it is more complicated to upload photos. If you have not read the previous blog, there are some photos there.

Yesterday was casual and pleasant. The weather was nice, and we visited the citadel and its torture chamber before going on a hike up the hill behind the city. Then I took my friends into a poorer community where I have worked a lot, and we played with the kids. It has been a very good weekend.

Today we will head different directions, and I look forward to the blessings that will greet me in Cluj-Napoca; please pray for them as they travel the long way to the Moldova Republic.

I have to tell you two funny happenings. One happened yesterday, when I tried to help M. and E. make their travel arrangements. I called my former Romanian professor in the morning, because she is from Moldova, and I hoped she could pass along some tips. Someone else answered her phone and told me that if it was not urgent, she would call back later; she was busy. As we walked through the streets, I ran into a friend coming from a wedding--only to learn that the wedding was for my former professor! I had called her on her wedding day without realizing it; I did not know she was getting married! How glad I was that I had not said I had something urgent! Needless to say, when she called back later, I told her congratulations and did not ask her to help me with travel plans.

The other thing I forgot to tell you is that on Friday in Targu Mures, I was making some notes to myself while standing by a car. A man came up to me and tried to give me money! I was bewildered for a moment, and very tempted to take the money, but then we both laughed a lot when I explained to him that I was not the police. He thought he was getting a parking ticket! Did I really look like a policeman with my dirty backpack hanging on my shoulders?

Maybe today you will find that you accidently transgressed the law, or that you interrupted an important happening. How great it is that our Jesus offers us forgiveness and grace! Receive it today with joy, and patiently offer that same grace to those who wrong you.

Goldilocks Backstage

2010-08-28T02:03:00.004-04:00

Location: A stranger's house near the train station in Sighisoara, about 9:15am on the 28th of August

Yes, my Finnish friends, M. and E., arrived last night in Sighisoara. They are already getting a taste of the real Romania, because we ended up accepting the offer of a guy we met at the train station. We are staying in a private house, clean and fully furnished, even to the half-drunk coffee cup in the sink and a ladies purse in the dining room. We can use the television, computer, laundry machine, kitchen, and house keys with liberty. I slept on a fold-out couch surrounded by Barbie dolls and stuffed animals, and I have a hamster or a gerbil for a neighbor. We basically have our own house. I have to admit, it is very nice, though I was wondering aloud with my friends if the people who actually own this house know we are here. It almost seems as though someone left for a weekend trip and an enterprising neighbor rented out their place unawares! I hope the Three Bears are not upset when they find Goldilocks in their beds!

Seriously, it is very nice, and it is fun to have my friends here. But now they are waking up, so I will just give you a few quick highlights from the past days.

Ukranian Gypsy Christian Hungarian-speaking band concert in Targu Mures

An adventure in Targu Mures with my friend I.

Hitchhiking with a deaf couple, with an egg-delivery man, in a large box truck, and others

A day wandering the streets of Medias with Jesus and meeting the woman at the well

Visa red-tape in several police offices

Teaching English and French every morning for a couple of hours

Prayer night with my hosts in C.

Playing with Gypsy children in the train station

And so much more!

Things are going well, but quickly. I am falling behind on emails again, so please forgive me. I am praying for you, and thanks for praying for me.

Oh, by the way, a highlight from yesterday was using Skype via wireless internet with webcam in the fourth-story food court of a mall in Targu Mures to talk face-to-face with my brother in a taxi in India! How is that for amazing!

Our Jesus is even more amazing! I hope you know Him!

Relationships III, Getting Divorced (Part 3 of 3, see below)

2010-08-21T03:05:00.002-04:00

(A couple of more photos from "hay week" last month. You may have seen these photos on my Picasa site, but you have not read these three new posts...Enjoy!)

Location: Back steps of my house, 1:15pm on Monday the 16th of August

You probably did not know that I almost got divorced. And when you hear that, most of you probably want to know when I got married!

The Church is the Bride of Christ, and She is holy. Like me, you have probably been hurt by the Church. You probably see its flaws and its failures. Maybe you have even divorced yourself from the Church. There was a time in my life when it would have been easy to turn my back on the Church, deciding that there was no hope, that I could be a Christian without the Church. I have met many such people, disillusioned with the Church, labeling her a hopeless case.

When you do that, you are essentially getting a divorce. You are saying that it is impossible that God could be working in that group of people, and since I want Him to work in me, I will have nothing to do with those folks! Just like in a divorce, when one or both spouses says, "I do not care about the covenant agreement I made at my wedding, there is no more hope for this marriage; it is impossible for God's love to ever be in this relationship!"

God works with what is impossible. Do you not remember that there is always a remnant? God completely destroyed mankind once, but he left Noah and his family, not to mentioned a couple of each animal. Israel was unfaithful to God and turned her back on Him, and He punished her, but he also forgave her and brought back a remnant of her people. In the book of Revelation we read about mass destruction, yet there will be remnant of the faithful who are saved.

It is the same with the Church. Maybe you see people stuck in meaningless religious traditions. Maybe you see Church leaders with hard hearts, warped by the power they feel. Maybe you see groups of people who cannot get along, who cannot agree on which Bible to read or how to sing in worship. Maybe it seems impossible that the Church could ever be beautiful.

Listen to me: THE CHURCH IS HOLY! Even flawed as it is, God created it holy, and He intends to redeem it. Like the story of Hosea and Gomer, God is pursuing His Bride.

Do not give up on the Church. There is no such thing as a hopeless case. That goes for the Church, and it is also true of individuals. With Jesus, there is always hope! He transforms, heals, redeems, saves!

Do you believe that all things are possible with God?

Do you really?

Then fight against what is called impossible and hopeless! God will not forsake His beloved, even when His beloved forsake Him!

Relationships, Continued (2 of 3)

2010-08-21T03:01:00.002-04:00

(This photo is from "hay week" last month! Yes, I was as tired and hot and grimy as I looked, but I enjoyed that work!)

Location: On my bed in my house, still the 15th of August, now almost 10pm

Bine (Romanian for "good."), by now it is bedtime. The milk run took a bit longer than usual, and I had more I wanted to write about relationships, but the last post came to such a nice close that I decided to finish it there. So now I have washed my dishes, and I will share a bit more before I doze off.

Recently, the Lord taught me about wisdom. As you probably know, wisdom is knowledge plus experience. In other words, wisdom means knowing how best to use the knowledge you have. The Bible says (in James, Chapter 1) that if we lack wisdom, all we need to do is ask for it, and God will give it to us. I have heard many, many people pray for wisdom--so why are there so few wise people in this world? The Lord was teaching me recently that often when we pray for wisdom, as an answer He provides us with experiences to live through. These experiences then can be added to our knowledge, resulting in more wisdom. However, these experiences are not promised to be easy!

I have learned a lot in 28 years, and I still have a lot to learn. To learn quicker, I make it my goal to learn from my mistakes, only making each mistake once. I also try to learn from other people's mistakes; why should I make them, too?

As you can hopefully see in my previous post, I believe that relationships are holy. I also told you that our Lord has called me to turn myself inside-out before you, that you my learn from my private life how God wraps us in His grace. Finally, you will remember that cultural differences make each kind of communication more complicated.

Thus, I have an important piece of wisdom to share with you, hard learned in my past and imperfectly practiced to this day. Man was not intended to be alone. That is why God created the Church; we need one another. But when you hear such a phrase, you probably think about marriage. (In fact, did I tell you we sang at a wedding last weekend? We were the choir positioned behind the bride and groom, an Orthodox Romanian bride and a Catholic American groom, married by a German Lutheran Saxon priest in, shall we say, less-than-perfect English. The wedding, set in the beautiful garden of a centuries-old fortified church with a town festival taking place on the other side of the stone wall, reminded me a cheesy movie. Nonetheless, in this wedding, the priest quoted Scripture, saying, "It is not good for man to be alone.") We need friends and family, and some people think they need a spouse.

I say this with the utmost respect for marriage, yet as an unmarried man. It is dangerous to be in a beautiful country with beautiful woman if you are an unmarried man. No matter that I am not particularly strong or handsome (Though, thanks to my life of labor I am hearing, "You are so tan!" for the first time in my life. They do not know it is merely a farmers' tan!), I easily make friends with girls. In fact, all of my life I have had more friends who are girls than boys. Believe it or not, a young gal in my choir looked at me the other day while we were waiting to sing at the wedding, and asked me quite seriously, in English, "Do you want to get married?" I knew what she meant, but I said, "Um...not right now, thank you." You see, thanks to experience and knowledge from the Lord, and wisdom from a mentor of mine, I have learned that in order to keep relationships holy, we need to be keenly aware of our cross-gender interactions.

It does not matter if you are married or not. Men and women were created to attract one another, yet God reserved the expression of that attraction for marriage alone. This goes beyond sex; I am referring to all sorts of intimate conversation, prayer, quality time, etc. Outside of marriage, it is unhealthy for men and women to be in close relationship with one another. This is why so many pastors have fallen to temptation and find themselves in adulterous relationships. This is why so many teenagers are having children. This is why Hollywood and tabloids have so much material for raunchy movies and publication.

I enjoy being a man; in fact, I love being Prince Charming. But it is far more important for me to be a man of God. That is why I am writing this. I endeavor to bring God glory in every relationship I have. If you are an unmarried girl, that means I will do my best to love and pray for you from a distance, but I will not become close friends with you through frequent or lengthy phone conversations or emails or flirtatious behavior. If you are a married woman, I will love you and pray for you through my relationship with your husband, with whom you are one flesh. If you are a man, I will exhort you to live as a godly example to other men of humble strength and loving authority, and as a model of what a woman should be able to expect from her man of God in marriage. If you are a reader, I will do my best to write even uncomfortable or unpopular truth so that together we can obey our Lord and bring Him glory.

Help me to do this. As the Church, we must be intentional about supporting and encouraging one another in healthy and edifying ways. Pray for me, please, as I seek men of God near me in Romania, with whom I can pray and laugh and serve and live for the glory of God. Pray for me, that I might let Christ live freely in me, so that men and women alike love Him instead of me.

Be holy, Friends. I bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

Giving So Much More

2010-08-21T02:39:00.003-04:00

(This photo is where I am sitting now to use the internet, now my regular hideaway in town. The photo is from last month when my friend N. was visiting from Switzerland. Off to the left, you can see my corner of the veranda, where I usually sit, tucked in the shadow of the grapevines. Even now--August 21, there I am!)

Location: Dinner table in my house, Village of C., Romania (8pm on the 15th of August)

Here I sit again, wondering how I came to be so blessed, and how I came to live in Romania! Both are deep questions with intricate answers. But soon the cows will come home, and I will run off to the neighbors' for some fresh milk, so we will not delve into such profound philosophy now.

Since I write without internet access, I cannot say when this will get posted; nor can I review past posts to see what I have or have not already written. I know that I wrote a note this morning from P.'s house. It was an unhurried morning after that, until I. saw the bus coming that would take us to town, so we sprinted across the street with hardly a goodbye to my friends--Sorry, Gang! Our hurry did catch us that bus, but only so that we could arrive in Targu Mures and wait for an hour and a half for the next one! I fared better from Sighisoara, hitchhiking home and landing a ride easily and quickly for both legs of the trip.

Thus, this afternoon offered me time to visit a church in the village that was having an afternoon service, and to rest after our sleep-deprived weekend. I also did laundry and cleaned up my house, for Friday was chaotic with my time in town in the morning, and then unexpectedly returning to town that night. Now my underwear and socks are hanging out to dry.

Hmm... That last statement was maybe a little more than you needed to know? Well, some of you know that in the same way, God has called me to live my life inside-out. That means that though often I would prefer to keep to myself and quietly enjoy my Savior's presence, He asks me to live in such a way so that you see my failures and victories, my struggles and blessings, my stumbling and stardom. Why? Because though my relationship with Him is far from perfect, it is intimate, and He wants the same kind of relationship with you. So He uses my life to show you that it is possible, that in this day and age, in the twenty-first century, we can still live a life that boasts the living power and grace of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible.

Therefore, let me tell you two anecdotes that I would prefer not to mention, and may my Father be glorified.

Last week, a neighbor died. I never knew her, for she was elderly and bedridden, but I had greeted her family members in the street occasionally. Not overly familiar with Romanian customs around death, I nonetheless wanted to seize the opportunity to shine the light of my Jesus into a family that I was told was full of bitterness and sorrow. My family taught me that when something significant happens in life, it is good to take a meal to that family, for they will be busy with guests and details that do not allow them time to think about cooking. Here, I was in a unique situation, because not only did I not know the family, but I am a foreigner, and my house is not yet set up for cooking (I have been living as a bachelor, eating one hot meal a day at my boss' house). Yet I was one of the first people to know about the family's sorrow. Thus, as my work day approached, I ran off to the store and picked up sandwich supplies--bread, lunch meat, cheese, tomatoes, and apples...nothing special. I wrote a note in broken Romanian, though I know the family's first language is German, and I left all of it inside their gate on my way to work.

The reason I tell you this is not to show you how generous I am. In fact, the Lord has been teaching me to be generous over the last several years, giving me outstanding models of great generosity like my brother and my Uncle B. I tell you about this because it all came back. At lunch, I found out that the family said "thanks" but they did not need the food, so they sent it back.

How would you feel? Embarrassed? Hurt? Angry?

I felt sorry, understanding that I probably did not communicate successfully across cultural barriers. But thanks to having made numerous cultural faux-pas in my life, and thanks to the grace that Jesus shows me daily, I was able to respond with grace.

That was Tuesday or Wednesday; now let us jump ahead to Friday. In town, I saw some of the beggar children I know. If you are like me, beggars present you with a dilemma: to give or not to give? The question is even more complicated by the fact that I know many of the beggars in Sighisoara, and that I have worked with many of them as a representative of a ministry, and of Jesus Christ. So how should I respond? If I do give money, I normally give 1 Leu, which is equivalent to about $0.33 or 25 Euro cents. I know that giving money does not really address the larger problem of hunger and unemployment and lack of education and laziness and every other factor wrapped into this social embarrassment. But neither does ignoring the person or the problem, turning a blind eye and hardening your heart. Giving food is one option that I often turn to, but that is only a bandage for one day, and the hunger returns quickly. The Bible says to give to all who ask of you; the Bible also suggests that praying for someone in need without offering material assistance is virtually futile. Especially as a Christian, I believe we must face this challenge.

What do you do?

I was on my bike when I spoke with these children, and as I rode off, the lady working the newsstand called out, telling me that giving money does not help. I politely put my bike in reverse and engaged her in conversation, listening as she gave me an earfull about the mistake I was making with my money, giving it to lazy Gypsy thieves. I pointed out that she interrupted our conversation to sell lottery tickets to another poor soul who would not win the jackpot, and I explained to her that I do not give money all of the time, but that my goal is to build relationships with these people, that eventually we can address the root issues. She had not seen me pray with the sister of the girl to whom I gave 1 Leu, when the young woman was standing in the rain or snow with her sickly infant. (I have learned that even if I do not agree with the method, someone who is braving all sorts of weather to travel to the city to beg every single day is at least half-working; she could be sitting at home whining about the government not offering welfare programs for people without food!) Nor had she seen me up to my ankles in mud in the village these beggars come from, going door to door to talk with the families and being invited in to sit down in the only chair in the house. Nor had she seen me give a sack of food to a grieving Saxon family.

You see, it is not about the money, or the food, or even the giving. It is about the relationship. That is why I backed up to talk to the lady at the newsstand; do you think I wanted to be berated? That is why I offering a bag of groceries to neighbors I hardly know. That is why I stopped to talk with Gypsy children who are treated like scum by other passers-by. That is why Jesus left His place in heaven to be born in an animal feedbox and to die pinned to a gruesome cross--each of these are steps toward relationship. If we cannot be in relationship with other humans, how can we ever be in relationship with God? And as Christians, if we are not in relationship with our neighbors, why would they want to know our God, who is probably just as cold and unfriendly as we are.

I do not like to fail. I do not like have a gift returned with a "No thanks." I do not like to be chided for trying to help. But every morning I give my day to my Lord. I give Him my words, thoughts, and actions, and I give Him my reputation. I tell Him that whatever happens to me does not matter, as long as He gets the glory.

And that is what is happening.

Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I feel like I cannot do anything right. Sometimes I want to give up and run away. Every single word I say or action I do is potentially heard or seen by someone that will one day know the love of my Jesus because His grace was shown through a culturally clumsy man like me.

Without exception, relationship is the most important thing in life. And the God of the universe is the most important person with whom to be in relationship. You can know Him personally, thanks to the efforts of a rejected and spat-upon man named Jesus, a man for whom the glory of God was more important than His own desires or reputation.

Are your relationships worth building eternal life upon?

If not, why not? Every relationship you have, even the slightest brush of shoulders on the crowded sidewalk, either draws Jesus closer or pushes further away. In other words, every relationship we have has eternal significance.

Think about that next time you say, "I love you," or next time you see a weary hand begging in your direction.

And thank you for being in relationship with me. You are important to me, and God blesses me through you.

A Habit?

2010-08-15T01:04:00.003-04:00

Location: P.'s house, outside of Targu Mures, Romania, just after 8am on Sunday, the 15th of August.

I do not want to form a habit of just writing you quick notes--though some of you might be relieved to find shorter posts! I will try to write more this week, but while I have a moment of internet access, let me assure you that I am alive and well.

Even more importantly, Jesus is alive and well!

As you may have heard, the past month or so has been challenging for me in different ways each week. But the Lord is using your prayers and His grace to sustain me, and many of you have greatly encouraged me. This weekend also has spurred me on, as God moved mightily here in the community of G. this weekend and children made decisions to invite Christ into their lives. We heard passionate preaching on Luke 16:19-31 about the rich man and Lazarus, and it is always good to worship with friends in the presence of our living God!

To go backwards a little bit, my coworker I. came with me to G., and on the way we stopped in Sighisoara to meet my friend J. as he arrived at the train station at 1:15am with several pieces of luggage. In fact, I had already been in Sighisoara once that day by bike, trying to prepare everything to renew my residence permit. God gave me favor with the doctor and the internet, and I was able to get a lot accomplished. One piece of advice: do not get identity photos taken after riding a bike for 20km in summer heat, especially if you do not think to look in the mirror first!

Yes, my bike did get repaired, if I forgot to mention that, and so far it seems to be working. Hmm... other highlights? Did I tell you that I learned to drive a horse and cart, driving it through the middle of our village one night? Or that I milked a cow? I love being a Romanian villager!

We also finished the portion of the roof we were building in a neighboring village, God blessing us with clouds and a breeze to protect us from the sweltering heat we have been having. Then I spent a couple days in the garden, clearing out the jungle caused by our August monsoons.

Now we are preparing for a carpentry course this week for some of the neighborhood boys, and after that my hosts are preparing an English camp (though I will not be too involved in that), followed by an evangelistic concert by a visiting Swiss man playing a long, curved horn (like in the pictures--I do not know what it is called).

Thank you to many of you who have encouraged me, prayed for me, given me wise counsel, emailed me information I needed, and helped in a variety of other ways. As a friend of mine said, God is really teaching me a lot right now, even if the process is pretty uncomfortable at times!

There is more to tell, but you will have to wait for it...

May the God of all glory fill our hearts with His joy!

Short Version

2010-08-08T01:36:00.005-04:00

Location: Sighisoara, Romania, now about 20 till 9AM on the 8th of August.

Ok, so like I guessed, I do not really have time to write, but I want to fill you in while I have internet access. Besides, I am in a lot better spirits than when I wrote the post below (there are actually two new ones below...), so I want to leave you with a positive image of J.'s life in Romania.

Here are the highlights. We put a roof on a house last week in a neighboring village, and we have to finish it Monday. It was fun, but hot, and I was thankful when the Lord gave us two days of complete cloud cover with no rain, making our job a lot cooler! However, Friday rolled around and found us under the hot afternoon sun in the garden. I was a bit envious of the kids swimming in the pool, and so suddenly I decided to take of my shoes, empty my pockets, and jump in--fully clothed! Then I went back to the garden, sopping wet. It was great! I did not regret it at all!

The first big blessing that day had been that I got my bike repaired! I had been told to take it to a bike shop, but I do not know of one in the area. Then a visiting young man from Switzerland came by, and I found out that he was a bike repairman. Working through a 10-year-old translator, I asked him about my bike, and he repaired it for me! The bike shop came to me! Things got even better later that night, after I had been musing about my tough week and trying to rest at home. When I went to the neighbor's place to buy some fresh milk, they told me that it would be a good evening for my horse-and-cart driving lesson! I had been wanting to learn for some time, so it was with great glee that I drove the cart through the village that night!

Yesterday, I finally got my Sabbath, and hitchhiked into town after relaxing in the morning. How refreshing it was after four weeks without a break! One of the hardest days was last Monday, when we cleaned up after the camp immediately following a hectic Sunday that included travel to and from a choir concert. I worked all day without a break, and it was very hot and nasty work. At the end of the day, I was thinking, "Lord, how did this day bring you glory? I tore apart toilets and loaded trailers with tables and took down tents; I was hungry, a little grumpy, and a lot tired." The Lord then reminded me how thankful my boss was for the help, and I realized that I had increased the respect he has for me, something that hopefully encouraged him this week, and may play a role in the future as we work together and God gives me wisdom or insights.

Do you ever feel like what you are doing could in no way further the Kingdom of God? Blink once or twice, and try to look at it from our Father's perspective. If you are the Lord's prized son or daughter, and if everything you do you do for the Lord, then it will further His Kingdom, and He will be glorified--I promise!

Sorry, I have to run! I am going to try to make it to church before we meet for today's choir concert--we will be singing at someone's wedding. Thanks for listening and bearing with this quick post. Even more, thanks for your prayers. Remember that everything is spiritual. I am praying for you, too, and I bless you in the Name of Christ Jesus the Lord!

The Sabbath

2010-08-08T00:15:00.003-04:00

Location: The Base where I worked last year in Sighisoara, Romania, about 7:20am on Sunday the 8th of August.

I had a WONDERFUL Sabbath yesterday--I rested, got things done, and visited with friends. I want to write about it if I have time, but it was so good that I had to sacrifice some of my internet time. I posted a long blog post yesterday (below), and some of you just received email responses from a week or two ago; others of you might have to wait again for a bit--sorry! But to help you wait, I just posted dozens of pictures from the last couple of months: http://picasaweb.google.com/home. They are not edited like I normally like to do, but I do not know when I will have time. You will see that I am a sucker for sunrises! Enjoy!

Please pray for my extended family, for there are health and aging challenges, as well as a lot of stress for some of my family members. Also, please pray for my church in the USA, which is facing many challenges as well. Thanks for your prayers!

Sabbathless

2010-08-07T17:09:00.001-04:00

Location: My house in C., Romania, about 8:30pm on the 4th of August.

Do you ever feel like you have been through the "ringer"? If you have been following me in prayer during the last few weeks, you probably have!

I told you about hay week, and I wrote about my week at the camp for people with disabilities. Yet another hard week ensued without a break as I entered into a camp with more than ninety children, though I hesitate to write much more because I do not want you to believe I am gloomy. It was hard enough, though, that it certainly made the previous week seem easier!

The truth is, as hard as it was, our good Lord continued to bless me during camp. I co-led a group with an awesome gal and her family, and I enjoyed three amazing nights sleeping alone in the middle of a meadow beneath a cascade of stars that covered me until the gorgeous sunrise began drying me out. I had fun jesting with the cooks, and we worked with neat kids. The Lord also used several of my co-leaders to bless me, and I hope to cross paths with them in the future.

One of the greatest challenges has been lack of rest. I was exhausted after the camp in Hunedoara, and I was pleased to have a little nap time the next day, even though the next camp was starting. Yet there was too much preparation necessary for me to rest much at all, and soon we were racing rain clouds and waiting for a late bus of sixty kids as we attempted to get all of the supplies and persons up the hill to where the tents were waiting in army formation. "Struggle" does not quite capture my difficulty to find my place that first day--everything was unclear. To make matters worse, everyone seemed to forget about me, and I ended up having to sleep in the directors' trailer. That was a blessing in that I stayed very dry while everyone else got very wet that night. However, I had to share a bed with a director I hardly knew, and I was between him and the wall. In addition, the bed was too short with a wall at the head and feet, so I felt like I was in a box. Unfortunately, the rain that came stayed all the next day, and camp suffered as we tried to change plans from a program that was hardly established in the first place.

Yet I asked some friends to pray for me, because I was grumpy and my heart was not right, and things got better. The next two nights I trekked through the woods for a half-hour and sleep in my house; the hike was not easy, but the sleep was worth it. Then, when the weather cleared up, I slept outside under the magnificent display of stars, which again was worth it. As I reoriented and rested myself, remembering that so much of what we face is spiritual rather than what we see with our eyes, I was able to enjoy the week.

That week did not end; instead, it collided with this week. We left camp a bit early to make it to our choir concert on Sunday, and we did not get home till midnight. (I ended up driving the last leg because both other drivers were falling asleep.) The following day we tore down camp, and I worked twelve hours without a lunch or dinner break, only snacking on a bit of bread with Nutella until I ate supper at nearly 9pm. Yesterday we started building a roof on a house in another village, and we will be there at least through tomorrow, maybe longer. And Sunday our choir will be singing in a wedding.

So you see, I am looking forward to some Sabbath rest.

Do you ever not want to go to work? Do you ever just want to sit with the Lord in prayer, or stay in bed longer, or linger at the table? Prayer has been key as I have faced these difficult weeks, knowing that I have a busy August still ahead of me. (August is due to include a course for local boys to learn some basic carpentry skills, an English camp, and a training course in Brasov , though I still do not know which things will include me. I also have to renew my residency card this month.) And today, the Lord gave me a special verse that addressed all that I was talking to Him about: Look at Acts 2, verse 26. I am going to quote it in the King James Version for once:

"Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope."

I had asked the Lord to cleanse my heart, and here my heart was reminded to rejoice! I had been trying to tame my tongue, to keep from grumbling or whining, and here songs of joy were given to my tongue! Finally, in the midst of my fatigue, my body was given rest, in hope! My hope is found in Jesus Christ! If that is not a reason to rejoice and be glad, then nothing is!

Thanks for your prayers; I am praying for you, too. Finally this evening, I am beginning to get back on track. And remember, if one day you wake up and did not want to, pray this verse above. Fight the spiritual battle and enjoy the day, rather than fighting the day and weighing down your spirit. Even in the most challenging, wearisome weeks, there are many blessings, because our good God never slumbers or sleeps! I bless you in the Name of His Son, Jesus!

Reading Material

2010-07-25T14:58:00.004-04:00

Location: J's apartment in Sighisoara, Romania, at 10pm on the 25th of July

Today I said goodbye to my Hunedoaran friends who were my bosses at the disabilities camp, and I just arrived in Sighisoara; tomorrow morning it is on to C. Sorry if I do not have time to write you emails, but please catch up on three new posts below. I will try to write back to your emails soon! I bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

By the way, I forgot to write in the other blog that several times this week I was translating from English to English without knowing it! These two friends above are excellent translators, and I am learning from them, so it makes me feel better that they do the same thing sometimes. But it is bad when you think you are speaking one language and another one is coming out!

Half Camped-Out!

2010-07-25T14:43:00.007-04:00

Location: Train number 375 between Deva and Sighisoara, Romania, nearly 7:00 on the evening of the 25th of July.

I just caught a few winks after four nights in a row of only four hours' sleep, so now I can concentrate enough to write a bit about the week I just finished. Though as always I cannot promise to have time to include many pictures, I am hoping to have an opportunity to get on the internet tonight in Sighisoara before heading home early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow begins another camp in the hills above my village, and if I understand correctly, I will be living in tents with some 95 children. Fun? I will have to let you know!

Speaking of what you know, you may or may not know that I was volunteering at a camp outside of Hunedoara and Deva this week (hence the train). I started to write about it above, but I have not yet had an opportunity to post that entry. God's hand was certainly at work in sending me to this camp, for I had fully intended to decline the invitation. Yet I ended up going and thus spent a week with two of my beautiful friends in Romania. Sure, they are lovely to the eyes if you see them, but their hearts are so beautiful that you quickly forget what they look like--that is what I mean by beautiful.

Only understanding that I would be helping with a disabilities camp, I found myself as one of sixty people at a special handicap-accessible retreat center near the mountains in southern Romania. My primary responsibility was worship leader, but I also spent significant time daily as a small group leader, a translator, and a servant doing chores. It was my privilege to make friends with folks with various types of disabilities, including autism, epilepsy, and problems with sight, walking, talking, etc. Two of the gals on my worship team sang from their wheelchairs, and some of the most inspirational messages during the week were shared passionately by C.

C. is now engaged to be married to a fine lady who also has a walking disability--he has prayed for eleven years for God to send him a wife. He is confined to a wheelchair, his legs always folded in a kneeling position, and his arms do not work well enough for him to feed himself. He can utter unusual sounds if he contorts his face dreadfully, though usually he sits quietly in his chair with a huge smile plastered on his face. This young man preached in forty churches last year. You see, even though most people cannot understand him, his fiancee has a special gift of understanding him, so she translates patiently and passionately from his Romanian into more intelligible Romanian. We, of course, then translated his words into English as well. One night he taught us that when God looks at us, He delights in us as we shine with the light of Jesus--like we delight in star-gazing at night. We are God's stars! Another time he said (in my English paraphrase), "Do you ask why God made me like this? I have to screw up my face to talk, I have to be fed by someone else, and I cannot walk." Then he pointed at his wife-to-be and said, "There is my mouth!" He pointed to another friend and said, "There is my hands!" He pointed to another friend and said, "There is my legs!" He told us how we, too, get to be the mouth and hands and feet of Jesus. This young man led three people to Christ on one of the first nights of the camp!

I could tell you about R., who has faced so much discrimination in here twenty-odd years of life in a wheelchair after a vaccine trapped her soul in a child's body, the size of a six year old. She sings like an angel and now has a vision to open a center in Timisoara for people with disabilities. Or about S., who encourages all the people around her, who translates and helps with worship, who tells jokes and offers hugs to those who will receive them. Or of V. who has notebooks full of poems and songs he has written from his wheelchair, or D. who limps through pain with a cane while fighting for the rights of her disabled friends and family members. Together we laughed and cried, played games with balloons and water, and read and studied the Book of Esther, through which we were reminded that God is always at work, even when we have trouble recognizing it! We had a couple children of about 5 years of age, all the way up to a few folks in their seventies. We celebrated three or four birthdays, and really had a nice week.

For me, it was an extremely difficult week, though I know I was blessed and got to be a blessing. For example, if you think about it, Romanian is my fourth language. Though it is coming along, it has some big gaps, and I make some hilarious mistakes sometimes. As you can imagine, that made it terribly challenging for me to lead worship (in Romanian) and to translate (in front of a room of fifty people). Leading worship was especially trying because I had to be prepared to lead at least twice per day, in the beginning only having a flautist and myself who played instruments, and without having a guitar, I was left to use my violin or to try to bang out something on the keyboard. Later in the week we acquired a less-than-excellent guitar that quickly reminded me that my garden-work callouses had replaced my guitar callouses that have not been used, and my fingers are very sore now. I was limited to songs--oi! you do not care about all this! Anyway, we had other difficulties with publicizing the words of the songs, with my "tech" guy, and not having time for rehearsal. In addition to challenges in leading worship and translation, I also battled a gross lack of sleep for a variety of reasons. Meanwhile, inside of me, emotional and theological battles rages as I was confronted with life all around me; simultaneously, our team faced numerous spiritual attacks each day. Thank you for your prayers; my Lord pulled me through to His glory!

One beautiful aspect of people with disabilities is how often and how gently they help one another. I hardly can describe the scenes of them pushing wheelchairs or offering an arm of support, hugs and encouraging words, prayers for one another, and so on. My disability this week was my language in the spotlights of translation and worship leading: I was overwhelmed by grace as time and again I was helped. Often, four or five of us would work together to translate something correctly. (I was the only native English speaker there who spoke Romanian). Which reminds me, I really enjoyed my new friends from Scotland and England, but it makes me smile that because of their thick accents, there were times when I could actually understand them better after their words had been translated into Romanian!

I could tell you more, but you do not want to sit in front of the computer all day. Instead, sit before our Lord today, and remember how much He loves You. Please pray for I. and M., my good friends from Hunedoara who organized this camp. Also, please pray for G. from Scotland, the one who received the vision for the foundation that has grown out of this camp, with the goal of eradicating discrimination against people with disabilities in Romania. The four of us had a special connection this week as we linked arms and stood and spat in the face of the Enemy's attacks, interceding for one another and for our brothers and sisters with disabilities. Please pray for my other new friends this week; each one faces unique challenges and has special gifts God is using.

We have reached Medias, which means that the next stop will be my destination. May you, also, safely reach today's destination for this part of your journey, and may your life proclaim that you are blessed by a Jesus who loves you indescribably!

Disabilities Camp

2010-07-25T14:43:00.005-04:00

(Location: Camp outside of Hunedoara, Romania, a little before 7:30am on the 20th of July.)

Yes, my astute readers will notice that I am typing this immediately after I finished the last post. That post was already too long to start a new topic, and though I might not have time to finish this one until after this week is over, I wanted to share with you a bit about the first day of camp.

First of all, hello and special blessings to S., a leader here who is from the Sibiu area. I finally had the pleasure of meeting her yesterday, having heard that she often reads my blog. Yes, I met a lot of people yesterday. We have around fifty campers, adults between fifteen and seventy years of age who have a disability, and some of them have caretakers with them. We have a wonderful team from Scotland here, as well as volunteers from England, the Ukraine, and Romania. The camp staff is a great group of people, as well.

It took me a little while to get into the flow of things, as it seemed like everyone knew a lot of the other people, and I only knew the directors. (For those of you who are not familiar with camps, you cannot be friends with camp directors while they are organizing camps, because they are extremely busy.) Soon, though, one of the camp staff had some free time and took me to climb the hill that looms over the camp. We did not see any of the vipers they warned me about, and we had a great hike. We climbed trees at the summit to see further, then we dropped down a ways to peer into a small cave, then we went back to a rocky outcrop we had visited first, climbing down the rocks together. I found out he loves taking pictures, so he put my camera to good use. Later we will have to see what he captured. Please pray for this young man, N. God has special plans for him.

The evening picked up speed as I discovered I would be on the worship team. We prepared and worshipped, and we will be doing so the rest of the week. I want to ask you to pray for me for that, but I know that I will not have internet access until it is over. May the Spirit lead your prayers.

I just realized that I am simply narrating everything, not talking about anything important. I had a special time with our Lord early this morning, and I have a lot of important thoughts and feelings. Suddenly, though, as people start moving around here, I have lost all ability or desire to open my heart, to spend more time on the computer, or to dive into this deeper at the moment.

I hope to share some photos and more stories later. May your heart be filled with the joy of Christ today!

How D'Ya Like Dem Apples?

2010-07-25T14:30:00.000-04:00

(Location: Train between Sighisoara and Hunedoara, 1:38pm on the 18th of July)

So now I have driven up and down that steep farm road several times, having passed the first driving test I was given. Early last week was only the second or third time I had done so, and I only had D., my boss' eldest son, with me in the van--our other 15 year old coworker was working up the hill a ways. Because of a deep rut in the middle of the path, I lost traction and killed the engine. At that point, the climb was too steep to start, so I had to back up, trailer and all. During the process, things became more difficult, and we had to adjust the (fortunately!) empty trailer by hand a couple of times. Then, D. said to stop, because one wheel was in the air.

Knowing that the trailer had four sturdy wheels and was hitched to the sturdy van, I was not overly concerned, despite the drop-off on our right. Not quite a cliff, I still did not want to go too far over the edge, so I got out to inspect the situation myself. I must admit that I was surprised when I went around the corner and found that the van wheel, not the trailer wheel, was in the air, and not a little! Suddenly I pictured my boss coming around the corner and finding us in that predicament; not a fun day-dream! With some help from S., our other coworker who had by now returned to join us and ask us how in tarnation we had done that, we managed to get the van back on all fours and up the hill. I was thinking that might be a situation better left undescribed, but when I arrived a little late to lunch that day, everyone looked at my while one of the younger sons asked, "Was the van really on three wheels!?"

No, I have not had too much trouble with the van; stuck on the incline once or twice, stuck in the mud once, the muffler coming off. . . but those things are to be expected when you use a Volkswagen like a bulldozer, and I do not think I have lost a bale of hay with it yet!

The tractor, though, that is another story. Having learned to drive it in circles one day, I was not expecting to get the privilege more often. Suddenly my boss sent me up the hill with it one day, pulling TWO trailers! Talk about a crash course! I was a bit nervous, because I did even now how to start the tractor or raise its scoop, much less pull two trailers. But a few quick instructions and I found out that it was not too bad; up we went. Coming down loaded is a different story, of course, and I have not done that yet with two trailers--only with one hay-heavy tow.

My bigger tractor adventure was toward the end of the week when our boss took us up the hill for hay after the previous night's rainstorm. Were I in that situation, I would take one empty trailer, but my boss likes a good challenge. He pulled up with the large trailer loaded with dirt to repair the road, and the smaller trailer filled with about a dozen crates of rotten apples to be dumped. It was not long before one crate of apples fell, promoting me to the position of hang-on-to-the-back-of-the-cart-for-dear-life-while-holding-rotten-apples-on-so-we-do-not-loose-any-more! It smelled nice, but it was not a fun job! To make matters worse, we were ordered to push with John Deere started fish-tailing up the 45 degree slope, but it is hard to push when you cannot even stand upright in the slick mud, and when you have to hold apples in an old horse cart being pulled by a tractor. Finally, halfway up, we unhitched the cart and left the apples. When we made it to the top, I was asked to return with my boss to get the apple cart, so naturally I hopped in the scoop.

Picture this: a large green John Deere tractor racing backwards down a steep mudslide with me crouched leap-frog style in the scoop, looking past my boss to see the rapidly approaching apple cart. Talk about a thrill! We got the cart, and again I was given the apple-holding responsibility. We emptied both trailers, loaded them with hay, and came back down.

Yes, "hay week" is an interesting time.

(Now I am at the camp outside of Hunedoara; it is just after 7:00am on the second day of camp, the 20th of July.)

I have other stories from hay week, about God's marvelous provision and protection. You see, there was a lot of spiritual warfare going on, for those of you familiar with that, and I thank you for your prayers. For instance, it rained every single day, even if it was only a brief sprinkle, but a couple of times it really re-shaped our plans. One day we had to leave the VW at the top of the hill because we were drenched in a rain storm and could not drive it back down the muddy road. One day, the boards in the hay loft I was working in gave way, and I fell through, finally managing to catch myself with my arms spread like a gymnast, most of my body dangling through the ceiling of the room below. It would not have been more than a ten- or twelve-foot drop, but it was one I did not want to take. Another day I stretched out on the ground beneath the rear of the trailer to hook on the tie-straps we would use to secure our load. Something happened above and six or eight hay bales tumbled down, directly on top of me. However, though only my legs were left stick out out from under them, none of them touched me, having piled up just right on the trailer hitch and creating a cave around me.

It was worse for my boss than for me. Did I mention that on the very first day, six machines and/or vehicles broke down? He also got a call about a job he had done in the past, informing him about a problem that needed attention. But in the midst of these challenges, it was a good reminder to find a snake baled in a bale of hay, cut in half and dead. It reminded us that Jesus won the victory at the cross, that that snake, satan, has already been defeated, and that we can live confidently, knowing that the victorious life of Jesus is living in us and through us if we have surrendered to Him.

Thank you for your prayers during hay week. I have more stories, but not time for them all. In some ways, it was a hard week, but I really enjoyed that kind of work. Sure, I have the cuts and splinters on my arms to prove it, but it is a job well-done, done to the glory of God.

May your week be the same: glory to God. I bless You in the Name of our Jesus!

First Installment

2010-07-18T01:00:00.003-04:00

Location: The base where I used to live and work in Sighisoara, Romania, just after 8am on the 18th of July.

In a little while, I will head to the train station and travel to Hunedoara where I will help with a disabilities camp for the week. Though I had not planned to help with any camps outside of the village of C. this summer, some plans changed that freed me up to do so, and I took advantage of the opportunity. So look forward to hearing more about it when I can write more.

I have a whole bunch of stories I want to write from this week of bringing in the hay, but they did not yet get written like I had hoped. Instead, I enjoyed a nice visit yesterday in Sighisoara with a friend from Switzerland, and had two meetings with folks from the ministry I worked with last year. N. and I also got drenched in a rainstorm last night (I just thought you would like to smile about that.) All of that meant computer time could not be a priority. So I hope to write more on the train, but I decided to begin here to whet your appetite. (By the way, a few of you have sent me emails that I have now read--thank you!--and I will try to respond to them soon. Oh, and if you have not noticed, I did post a couple of things yesterday, below.)

So let's start spinning tales...

If you have never worked on a farm, you may not know the joy of bringing in hay. I had heard stories, but now I have experienced it, and I must admit that though it is extremely hard work, I thoroughly enjoy it. One of my coworkers and I agreed on Friday that the bales were much heavier on Monday; hopefully that means we got stronger during the week!

So where to begin? Maybe I should begin with driving. My boss has a VW van that is pretty heavy duty, and it goes just about anywhere if the right person is driving it. For several weeks, I never touched it. Then one day, when we were driving home from a job in Medias with a full trailer behind us, my boss suddenly pulled over and said something like, "Let's see how you do." It was not a request or a command, simply a fact that now I would drive. I drove home that day with no real problems.

Then, the week before last, when he used the tractor to rake the hay in the fields, he said, "You wanted to learn to drive the tractor, right?" This John Deere is bigger than the one I used to drive at the camp where I worked, but it is not much different, and before long I was driving in circles like any northern-hemisphere farmer in July. However, it is one thing to drive a tractor (that has already been started) in circles in a relatively flat field. It is quite another to pull two trailers up a miserably steep farm road. The same goes for the van. So let me tell you what happened...

Hay is for Horses!

2010-07-17T00:35:00.003-04:00

Location: My former "home" in Sighisoara, Romania, the 17th of July, a little after 7:30am.

What a week! We have been bringing in the hay this week, and I have great stories for you! I hope to write them soon! Until then, enjoy the post below--it is worth your time!

Right now I am in Sighisoara to visit a friend who is visiting briefly from Switzerland, and tomorrow I plan to leave for a week helping with a disabilities camp outside of Hunedoara. However, if it does not rain today, I may have to run back to the village to work in the fields and bring in some more hay this afternoon before I catch that train tomorrow. I will try to keep you posted!

Have a great week, and may the Lord surround you, permeate you, protect you, and bless you, in the Name of Jesus!

Going Back

2010-07-17T00:34:00.001-04:00

Location: My house in C., nearly 11:00pm on the 11th of July.

It is too late to write, but I must.

After an extremely difficult week, I had a great weekend (some of which you read about in my last blog entry). I cannot tell you about all of it, because if the weather dries out, we have long hours of bringing in the hay waiting for us this week, and after that I am heading to help with a camp near Hunedoara, and after that helping with a camp here in C. That means I need rest in advance!

Yesterday was restful, but that rest was bookended by my 20 kilometer bike ride each way (to and from town). Let me give you insight into a life of walking (or in this case, biking) with Jesus.

As I rode into a beautiful morning yesterday, I thanked the Lord again for my bike. It is sturdy, handles the doubtful terrain well, and gives me a certain amount of freedom. However, I had hardly left the village when I had a strong feeling that told me to, "Go back." Immediately it seemed like God was telling me to turn around, for this silent "voice" was similar to how His Spirit often leads me. And while it was true that I had important things to do in town, they were nothing that could not be delayed a day or probably even a week. Nonetheless, everything seemed good about going to town, so I was confused. I stopped on the side of the road, pulled out a Bible, and prayerfully read some of God's Word, asking for clarification if this was really His voice telling me to go back. I decided I was imagining things, and continued on, though I could not shake the uncertainty. To add to my uneasiness, a thick haze crowded into the beautiful day, wrapping around the hills and settling on the fields. I stopped again and prayed, and again continued on my way, reaching the small town that marks the halfway point. I asked the Lord to place and angel in the road like He did for Balaam and to open my eyes to see him, if I needed to go back. Almost immediately I came upon a man holding a scythe, but he was on the side of the road and waved as I rode past, only stepping into the road after I had passed him. Only a bit further, I again stopped on the side of the rode, this time calling back to the W. family in the village, to confirm that everything was fine there. It was. All systems "go". As I reached a turn-off that could take me back the 14 kilometers to my village, I decided that this uncertainly was not worth it, that I would turn around. But then I dismounted and prayed again, saying, "Lord, I do not care if I spend the day in town or in the village; I just want to spend it with You! What bothers me is that I am struggling so much to recognize Your voice! In faith, I cried out to You and have prayed for You to clarify my call to turn back, and with each clarification I asked for, nothing happened when the opportunity arose, such as the "angel in the road" with the scythe; I know that You hear and answer my prayers. If I am needed in the village, or if You have special blessings for me there today, I want to be there. But the same is true of Sighisoara. I just want to spend the day with You; I want to obey You, and I do not want to miss what You have for me."

I sat on the side of the road a bit longer, and finally decided to go on to Sighisoara, arriving and enjoying a wonderful day there.

Adventure awaited me, though, upon my return trip. During the day, I had talked with my family and my mentor via internet phone and email, and with each we had talked about my bike. I told them it was good, that the brakes squealed a bit, but so far everything was working fine. Before coming home, I swung by the grocery and picked up a few items for me and for my coworker, I. The extra weight sped me up on the downhill shoot outside of town, and I made great time for the first half of my trip back in the twilight. In fact, for the first time I activated the generator headlight, and I think I burned it out on that downhill race!

Because of the weight of my bag, though, I. insisted on meeting me to help me carry the groceries. Just past the halfway mark, I saw him coming and called for him to turn around. Then it happened... I think I slightly squeezed the brake to slow, though I hardly recall. What I do know is that suddenly my rear tire locked, pulling the brake cable taut, and jerking my handlebars hard to the right. The now perpendicular front tire stopped the bike abruptly, sending me flying over the handlebars and skiddling across the pavement. It seems that my bike had lost a screw that holds the rear brake fixture in place, and the latter began to turn with the wheel, tugging on the break cable and braking the screws on each end before completely blocking the rear wheel from spinning.

I dusted myself off, put my bike chain back on, and then we worked our way ahead for a couple of hundred meters as it started to rain. Some folks were just leaving their work in the field, and the man in the tractor had a hammer he loaned us to free the rear wheel, and he helped us with the "repair," which then allowed the bike to slowly carry me home.

I tell you this because I am so thankful. This is what I wrote to the Lord in my prayer journal:

"I am thankful for so many things. Thank You for the bike and for the successful trip to town and back. If You were warning me in the morning, thank You. Thank You that it did not happen further from home, especially on the fast downhill, heavily-trafficked part of the road. Thank You that I did not hit my head, or really get hurt at all. Thank You for the little bit of sediment left on the road from the flooding, which helped save my skin and body. Thank You for I. arriving as it happened and for his help. Thank You for the folks in the field with the tractor who generously loaned us a hammer and helped us with the repair. Thank You for using the pop I had bought for I. to protect my computer from damage; You also protected my phone and had convinced me to leave my camera at home that morning. Not even my clothes were torn, and my minor scrape was easily treated with salve and a couple of Band-Aids. Thank You that my bike is probably repairable. Thank You that it did not rain extremely hard. Thank You that even with the delay from the accident, the general store was still open so I could buy some food for dinner. Thank You for Your joy and reassurance throughout everything, and for being with me. Thank You for using this fall to help re-strengthen my friendship with I. and his faith."

No, I was not hurt. But you see, I do believe that this was one of many spiritual attacks I faced last week, for God has been working mightly in my life, in the life of my coworker, I., and in our village of C. There is more going on here than I could possibly explain right now, but I wanted to tell you this for God's glory. I wanted to show You again God's protection and provision. I wanted to remind You that we always have a choice to look that the problems life throws at us, or at the blessings God gives us. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "Give thanks in all circumstances." Ephesians 5:20 teaches us to give thanks to God our Father at all times and for everything in the Name of Jesus.

As I said in church this morning, every time I faced a challenge this week, by His grace I was able to say, "God is good!" or "God, You are so good!" or "We have a good God!" Do you believe it? Do you know it? Even when you fly over handlebars or skid across asphalt? Even when your head is in a toilet with the latest flu bug? Even when your family or faith seems to be unraveling? Even when you do not think you can go another step, survive another moment, or breathe another breath? Do not be tempted to give up or to go back if the Lord is going on ahead of you! He is good, and He is working for your good and His glory!

My prayer for you is that through the abundant grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus, you will be able to know, to truly know, God's goodness today, so that You, too, will be able to recognize His voice and give Him thanks in every circumstance, for everything. I bless you in the Name of Jesus.

Some Photos...

2010-07-10T04:21:00.006-04:00

(See two new posts below photos!)

A wall I built on a woodshed...

Our village, C., from above.

Some of God's grandeur.

Children's program and water games several weeks ago with friends outside of Targu Mures.

My bike

Horsebackriding with the family next to the field (on the right) that we have been working in. I think that is the hay we will be bringing in this week.

In Town Now

2010-07-10T03:25:00.006-04:00

Location: Casa Cositorarului, a restaurant in Sighisoara, Romania; it is about 10:30 in the morning on the 10th of July.

After an unusual, difficult morning that included the 20km bike ride into town and morning devotions in the Sighisoara cemetary, I am now in the perfect spot. In the secluded corner of a vine-shaded porch with a cat lounging in the chair across from me, I can faintly hear music and bustle from the center of town where the tourists and vendors are destroying the peace. But here I am near the citadel wall, built hundreds of years ago to protect against invaders, and I am away from most tourist traffic, and behind a hedge from those who do venture this way. I have internet access, a few hours before I am supposed to meet up with someone, and I just ordered a banana split to pay for my internet use.

Sadly, I realize that I did not upload my most recent photos to the computer, and my camera is at home. Howeever, since I have been unable to post photos for quite some time, you probably have not seen most of the photos I do have. I will try to include a few for your pleasure. Meanwhile, I just posted a short story I wrote last night, "For Henry." I hope you enjoy it.

Because of my extremely limited internet access, I have been trying to figure out how to write so that you have something worth reading. Certainly, I prefer not to just give you a diary of my hours and minutes. So let me try to give you a glimpse of life here from God's perspective, best I can.

As I have told you, God is at work here, much more than I am. While I pass whole days at a time in the gardin or in the woodshop, He is orchestrating something much greater. For weeks now, I have been trying to heed His instructions to wait upon Him (for it is not yet my time), and quite simply, to enjoy Him. The weeks have passed quickly. Usually "stuck" in the village of C. and isolated from virtually all outside communication, I have been in real relationship only with the W. family (my hosts), and two other people. For various reasons, each of those friendships has been blessing, ministry, and ever-evolving. Meanwhile, only a few of my days have included any kind of lime-light. Most of the time I am merely the American neighbor with day-to-day interactions in the street, the general store, and the nearby houses.

(Wow. They did not have bananas, and the substitute dish just arrived and is amazing. Sorry I do not have a camera, but I am not sorry I do not have to share it!)

With this role comes new challenges and blessings for me, yet God knows what He is doing. He is working among a people who cannot let go of the past, a people among whom there is very much racism and distrust. Like in many other parts of the world, Jesus is not offensive here; His followers are. They cannot love one another. Some think certain ones are not Christians because they wear earrings. Others think some are not Christians because they are too legalistic. This people, like many others, is struggling economically and ethically.

In the midst of this, God is wanting to bring healing. Physical healing, yes. But also spiritual, mental, emotional, relational, and more. When Jesus does things, He does not only do them halfway. So now I am waiting for His perfect timing, to play my perfect role in His perfect plans. I met with my hosts last week to discuss staying longer in C.; today I have a meeting to talk about another offer I have had in Sighisoara. As always, there are many possibilities, but none matter as much to me as being as close to my Lord as possible. That is where I want to stay, yes, for my happiness, but even more for His glory. As amazing as it is, that is what He wants from me: my presence, my attention, my love. And, I understand that God's plans for Romania are tied somehow to His plans for Western Europe and America, and maybe more places.

Me? I am fine, thanks. A quick bout of flu weaving through the countryside might have touched me last week one evening, but it did not keep me down for long! The joy of the Lord is my strength! Yes, I miss my friends and family in the United States. I do look forward, though, to seeing a friend from Switzerland next week. Also, though I had to say no to five or six camps that wanted my help this summer, special circumstances have come up that seem to suggest I will get to help my friends in Hunedoara with their disabilities camp in a week or so. Then we will be in camp mode ourselves, in our village of C. Meanwhile, I have been asked to help teach a bit of French and English in the family where I have been staying. Ah yes, I successful opened a double bank account here, in dollars and in RON (lei). I was less successful when I tried to get internet in the village; so far every lead has reached a dead-end.

And a special note to my Cluj friends: I have not forgotten you! As you know, I have not been traveling since my arrival, nor have I had internet access. I will come to visit you all sometime, though. Thanks for your patience and your prayers until then; I am definitely praying for you, and I hope you are well!

All of my friends, that goes for you, too. I am praying for you, and I miss you. I find that my prayers are even more wistful now, because I rarely hear updates as I pray for you, and I have no idea what you are facing or why you are rejoicing. Blessings to you in the Spirit! And watch for an email; I hope to catch up on emails today, pending God's plans!

Finally, one highlight. Last Sunday night, I joined my coworker in his house with my violin. Several times we have met in the evenings to read the Bible together and pray, and a couple of those times I played the violin while he sang from an old Romanian hymnbook. Last Sunday, he wanted to invite the neighbor boy who is probably in his early twenties and who has a disability that I do not recognize, somewhat similar to autism; he had heard the violin and enjoyed it. I agreed, and this young man came with his older brother. Before the night was over, as people came and went, there had been twelve of us in the house, songs in Romanian and in English, reading and discussion of 1 Corinthians 13, and prayer. We had invited one boy to join us in our normal practice, and God made worship happen. This is why I wait. I do not have to DO anything, except let Him move freely in me and around me. As He does, I will join Him.

I pray the same for you, and I bless you in the Name of our Jesus.

For Henry

2010-07-10T03:24:00.000-04:00

Henry was a big black man.

Back then, though, this kind of thing was more common. When? Well, I don't know for sure; I guess I don't even know where, somewhere a bit wild, I'd imagine. Today it would be illegal--that's a fact! Only reason I remember "Henry" is because he makes me think of my favorite tall-tale character, John Henry, who beat a machine in a race with a hammer, even though the victory cost him his life.

But it sure caused a stir that day. Just think about it: Henry walks into town real quiet, but real big, and real black. In this particular locale lived a mix of people. I hear there were a majority of tough men, but some ladies, too, and they was speaking at least two, three languages there. You could not really hear them, though, because with quiet Henry was a loud white man, walking about ten steps ahead. He was shouting something about fifty dollars--a lot of money! If you listened closer, you could understand that he was challenging the town to a fight. He said that Henry could whip the finest boxer in town, and he said his fifty dollars would prove it.

Well, I am not sure what Henry thought; maybe no one asked him. They didn't laugh at him though. Even if he was kind of hunched over as he shuffled in the dusty sunlight, you could tell he was strong. He could not be very old, neither, maybe in his thirties. His cotton shirt played a little in the wind, but the muscles beneathe it moved it even more. This was in stark contrast to the fellow out front.

The other man was narrow, and he wore boots with heels to grow him up a couple of inches. Everything about him shined, from his boots to his watch to spectacles, and even his voice. His voice was of an odd timbre, like a bell that wants to be heard. It was not bothersome--in fact, rather winsome--yet half of you wanted to look away while the other half wanted to listen more.

The half that didn't want to listen was already scurrying from house to house, gossiping glib. Who would fight this champion? Terrance might be able to handle him, or maybe Neil's boy, Gordon. Sven was big, or Red, was he bigger? He was certainly quicker.

No one knew for sure, but they naturally gathered in the center of town. Of course! Davy Smith would accept the challenge; he was known in the whole region for his often bloody knuckles and his quick grin that admitted he was missing two teeth. Everyone loved Davy; he was one of them--one of us, you could say!

In no time, the fight was on. The two men circled, eyeing one another between their balled hands. Davy struck first, a light jab to Henry's left cheek. The big man did not even try to block such a weak effort. Then Davy came again, before Henry could throw a punch. One-two, three, even four and five blows struck the challenger, two in the face, two in the body, and another one in the face. The town was cheering; this was their Davy! Again he attacked, landing two more punches in the body, and a quick right that split Henry's eyebrow. The people were still hollering, encouraging their hero. He threw again and again and again, soon bloodying the nose of his opponent. Now he felt strong, and he increased the intensity, becoming more vicious. He did not notice the crowd falling silent; he didn't see what they saw. He was thrilled and eager to continue; he hadn't even been hit!

Then he, too, realized what the people knew. Henry had not tried to block a single attack; nor had he thrown a single punch. The big man let the local hero rain down punches on him. He was bleeding, and even swaying a little, apparently dazed by the beating. Suddenly Davy noticed something else. His opponent was gazing at him through the melee, crying. Not angry tears, not defeated tears, but sad tears. Tears that seemed to be for him . . . for Davy. Davy hesitated a moment, and then in a fit of rage slammed his fists into that crying face, wanting to close those crying eyes. What was this? Some sort of trick? Why wasn't he fighting? Davy screamed at him, and as he pummeled him in fury, the black man finally sank to the ground, defeated.

Now Davy was crying, but he didn't know why. He felt ashamed, and the townsfolk looked on, unsure of what had just happened. An unexpected contest, a one-sided duel, and two grown men crying.

The more the people thought about it, the less they spoke. Into the hush that followed stepped the little man with the bell-voice. He handed a now-numb Davy fifty dollars cash, and shook his hand. "Congratulations, young man. You won." Then he looked around at the expectant people, waiting for something they could not express.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, you may be feeling a lot of different things right now. Perhaps you are confused, or perhaps you are angry, thinking that I came as a rich white man to make sport of this black man. I assure you that Henry came willingly, knowing what was to happen. He and I are the best of friends, and in this moment, I want nothing more than to run to him and help him to his feet; to take him home. But I will speak first on his behalf, because his heart is his largest muscle, and it is filled with a great love for you--even you." As he said this, he looked at Davy. Meanwhile, every person clung to his words.

"If Henry could talk right now, he would tell you that he is worth more than any treasure. He knows this because one day, someone fought for him like you he fought for you today. You probably know that Henry is very strong, and the truth is that he is a champion boxer. He has won many a boxing match, yet he has a gentle spirit and wants to heal people instead of hit people. You see, he once heard a story that changed his life--a true story. He learned about a poor villager who became a great teacher. The people loved him, but some of their leaders were offended by the truth he spoke. They arrested him, and innocent of any crime, he was mocked and beaten. This man was named Jesus, the only Son of the Living God. He had all power on heaven and earth, but instead of fighting for his life, he did not defend himself, nor did he say a word. Like Henry today, he allowed himself to be beaten because he wanted to feel the pain of the people he loved--he was spit on and punched and whipped, his beard was plucked out, thorns were pressed into his head, and in the end, he was nailed to a wooden cross and left to die, rejected by the his own people.

"He was one of them. He was their kindred, and they killed him. He died that day, an innocent man who bore the sufferings of the very people who beat and murdered him. And Henry is laying there on the ground in his own blood today to tell you that this Jesus shed his blood and bore the pain for you, too. In a beautiful miracle, He took your death upon Him and offers you His life. Even though He died on that cross, three days later He was raised from the dead, and He still lives today.

"Henry is also still alive. If you want to know Henry better, I would suggest that you ask this merciful Jesus to forgive you for the person you have been and for the things you have done, to come and live in you, through you. You see, it is the love and grace of Jesus that you saw today living in Henry. If you get to know this Jesus, His love and grace will live in you, too. It was Henry's privilege to represent Jesus to you today; for that privilege he thanks you and he thanks his Lord, Jesus the Christ."

With that, the little man hurried over to his friend Henry. With some water, he washed his friend's face, and then he helped him to stand. Without another word, the two of them started home, Henry leaning on his friend, both of them leaning on Jesus.

Internet Access...

2010-07-03T07:05:00.002-04:00

I'm in town with a patient friend; thus, some of you received emails and I glanced at some of yours, but most of you will have to wait longer for a response. Sorry and thanks! I bless you from Sighisoara, Romania, on the 3td of July, in the Name of our Jesus!

(One of two) See the next post for more!

Walking Through A Calendar

2010-07-03T07:04:00.001-04:00

Location: Patio of hosts' house, about 12:15pm on Saturday the 26th of June)

Because I so rarely have internet access, I find that I am writing less and less, even though I have more and more to write about. In fact, if I get access, I may post this unfinished, if I do not have a chance to finish it. I am also hoping to post some pictures from the last account I wrote, so that is what they are if they get posted without explanation.

God is a good God. And today it is raining. I hoped to ride my bike into town early this morning and catch a few businesses while they were open on a Saturday morning. It is difficult because I work while they are open, and I cannot easily get to town while they are still open on Saturday morning.

However, right from the get-go today, I realized that God had plans different than mine. That was confirmed when I failed to acquire a ride with my thumb after standing in the rain for an hour and a half. We have been having an unusual amount of rain lately, and is even cool enough that my boss started a fire yesterday to heat his house. Perhaps because I am living in a walk-everywhere culture, Romanians have what seems to me an unusual perspective on rain. If it rains, that is it. Nothing else happens. I am told that many parents keep their children home from school when it rains. A couple of Americans I met told me they got drenched as they hurried to their language class, only to learn that it would have been acceptable for them not to come because it was pouring. And of course, no one is going anywhere in today's rain, which makes hitch-hiking extremely difficult. So now, I will see what the Lord has in mind.

There was another day this week that I had a lot of plans for after work. Yet I was extremely pensive, and after praying, I decided to forget those plans and hike up the hill where we ride the horses. It is a long hike, and I was gone for two hours, coming home just after sundown. Yet how magnificent it was! I am going to start calling it the Hill of No Pictures, because I always forget to bring my camera up there. But let me tell you that as I sat with the Lord, I watched the skies and landscapes change in magnificent ways. I had prepared myself to weather a pending storm in the forest, but it never came. And though I could only see the sunset in pieces through the woods, I got to see the rest of the skies and the hills and the light show on the trees. Everywhere I looked seemed to be another page out of a calendar. It took my breath away, and I decided that I was in one of the most beautiful places in the world! I wish you could have been there (though I must admit that it was wonderful to be alone with Jesus!).

So as time flies from me and I do not know if I will get any internet access, which of my millions of thoughts and ideas can I tell you?

Do not underestimate prayer. Over and over the Lord shows me the power of prayer, or more correctly, His power that is ready to move mountains as He listens to our praying heart. I am praying for you. I am praying for this village, about my time here, about each day's work. I am praying and listening and singing and praising. The Lord is on the move; His Spirit is blowing here and there like the wind. I feel the dynamic faith in my bones, in my heart, in my soul. I see the trees across the valley blowing as the Spirit passes by. I hear the birds singing of His grace, I watch the plants stretch toward the heavens. I see the insects crawl obediently where they must, and I watch the skies reflect God's glory. Start praying. Keep praying. Believe and know. Be still and know. The LORD is God, and He is good.

Thank you for your prayers; I am praying for you, too. I bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

Celebrating a Friday

2010-06-20T08:13:00.000-04:00

Location: Again on my bed in C., Romania (5pm on the 19th of June)

Another thundershower is boasting outside my window, the fifth in the past six days. I cannot say that I mind much; in fact, I enjoy these storms. This week, our work has been indoors, so the weather did not affect us much. Right now, I am enjoying a relaxing Saturday, so again it does not bother me. The only funny thing is the lights that flicker on every once in a while each time we regain power. Yet I do not really need light or power right now, so who cares?

Last evening, the W. family cared a little bit. A humungous storm ruined their plans for a surprise cookout for my birthday. However, we ended up having a dinner indoors at a friend's place in Sighisoara, and despite the fact that much of the evening's conversation happened in German, it was special and delightful. Some of my very best friends from here were present--my mentor, T., and his family, my friend M., and of course, the W. family. You probably know that I do not much like parties, games, or crowds, so I was pleased that there were only a dozen or so of us, and the games and party were kept to a minimum--a casual dinner, great desserts, and a couple of quick games before we dispersed. Maybe the "surprise" birthday plans were ruined, but I thought it was a wonderful evening.

You might be interested in the gifts I received. One of my favorites was a handmade decoration that reminds me of God's presence through prayer. Another was a cache of food stuffs, including homemade jam and pickles! Even better is the homemade apple cider that we drink like water here; I received two bottles of it! I have said that when I leave here I will never want to drink water again!

But the best gift was that both on my birthday and the day before, my coworker, I., came to our early morning Bible study, despite some personal reticence. He is a Christian, but there is some history that makes certain parts of the present difficult for him, and I thank you for your prayers for him. His becoming a good friend, and he has been most helpful to me. Please continue in your prayers for him.

You see, I am still spending much time in prayer, learning more about my role here in C. It is an unusual season for me, because normally I am knee-deep in relationships and activites by now; yet right now, my life is quiet and simple. The Lord keeps telling me that it is not yet my time, and so I simply enjoy Him as He prepares me. I am learning a lot here, and I have not yet visited V., where I want to move after this apprenticeship. It is extremely difficult to get to from here, especially when I work Monday through Friday. In fact, a lot of things are difficult to get done when I work in a village Monday through Friday. Anytime I could get to town, businesses are closing or already closed. And now we have taken a summer vacation with the choir, meaning that I am not going into town every Wednesday evening like I was. Instead of fretting about all of this, I enjoy village life in C. I write, play the violin, wash my clothes, and pray. There is never a dull moment for me, but neither am I hurrying often, nor overbooked.

Today I tuned up my bike a bit, hoping to go into town tomorrow (which means this might get posted online). Yesterday we were laying hardwood floor in the second-story of the house we gutted in Medias, and I know we have some more of that to do. In the not too distant future, we will be harvesting hay and hosting a couple of camps for the local kids. At some point in the midst of all this, I have to apply for a renewal for my residency card (basically a visa) to stay here longer. Please pray for all of this.

Our God is good and faithful. Maybe you are wondering what I am doing for the Lord right now; after all, am I not a missionary in Romania? Well, I have told you before, I am not a missionary; I am simply a Christian who happens to be in Romania right now. Besides, there is nothing that I could do FOR the Lord that would be of any value. He does not need me; He loves me and sometimes chooses to work through me. So I am just loving Him. Meanwhile, I am trying to encourage a few of my friends here who are having some rough seasons. I am tryng to live a life above reproach and full of love, which reflects the light of Jesus. I am prevailing in prayer for the people around me and in other parts of the world, which I believe is the greatest task we can obey the Lord in as Christians. I am also trying to lend a hand to other Christians who better understand their purposes here, that they might more effectively heed their callings. And I am studying the situation of the Church, trying to be ready as the Lord connects me with it.

Yesterday, for instance, we were in the upstairs of an empty house above a courtyard construction site behind a closed door to the street when we looked up to find two ladies in skirts in the midst of our sawdust. They were misisonaries of one of the international cults that are so dangerous, the type that claim to be Christians but who have changed the gospel they preach and believe. I wanted to discuss with them but could not because I was on the clock.

If you are part of a group of Christians in a church or a study group or anywhere else, no matter what the name is, compare the beliefs you see and hear with the truth of God's word. What is the Gospel? What are some of the devil's modifications that conquor people with lies that sound like the truth? See what the Bible says. Here is the long and short of it.

Known by many names, there is only one God, and He is not human. He is understood through three persons, as Father, Son, and Spirit; He created humans and wants to be in a loving relationship with them. Through His grace in the life of the Son, Jesus, who temporarily took on human flesh and lived and died and rose again as one hundred percent human without ever giving up His divinity, He rescued us from the life of filth we were living, and He makes us holy by His holiness. But He never intended humans to become gods, nor did He want us to try really hard to be perfect; instead He sent His Spirit to live IN us (humans surrendered to His awesome goodness), His righteousness, His authority, His power, and His love working through us for His glory and for our good. The Bible is the record of God's communication with His beloved people, beginning with Adam and Eve, continuing with the nation of Israel, and eventually including the Church. It is His perfect truth transmitted via imperfect humans over thousands of years in oral and written form. This Truth promises us that when we surrender ourselves to God's holiness, when we invite His Spirit to animate and navigate all we are and all we do, that we will enjoy God's presence and live with Him forever; that His Jesus will return for the people waiting for Him, that this earth will be destroyed and replaced by a new paradise, where we will be forever overwhelmed by the glory of God.

The devil tweaks these truths ever so slightly, knowing that missing the mark by only a hair's breadth is still a clean miss, and that it is the difference between life or death. The devil loves churches full of people who are trapped in meaningless rituals, who try to work very hard to do good things, to appear pretty and clean and perfect and holy, who pray before meals and before bed without engaging their heart, only reciting nursery rhymes with their mouths. The devil wants people to believe that they can become gods, or that there is a secret truth that only a few are clever enough to find. The devil wants you to learn secret handshakes and the one name of God that is supposedly more holy than all the others. The devil wants you to believe that Jesus never really died, or that He never rose from the dead, or that He was just a really nice guy with charisma and charm. The devil wants you to focus on heavens and healings and rewards and treasures that you can win or buy and enjoy someday in the future, especially if you sacrifice enough in this life, so that you miss the point that you can know Jesus today. The devil wants you to realize that God is an enormous impersonal force that has no interaction with us, that is neither good nor evil, but that you can worship if you want. The devil wants us to memorize Bible verses and to spend hours in special church buildings instead of relating to Jesus through prayer and praise from the heart.

Enough. I have written too much again in an effort to show you my heart, to explain the sadness and anger I feel when I see people who think they are good people doing good things and maybe even a part of good churches or good Christian religion, but who have never yet experienced a familiarity with Jesus Himself. And these emotions are even more turbulent when I hear people preaching the devil's lies instead of God's Truth.

What am I doing for God in Romania? Nothing. Who is Jesus to me? Everything! If I had to come to to a village in Romania and do nothing, upheld only by the grace and mercy of God's goodness, led and protected only by the Holy Spirit, for one of you readers to understand finally that God wants to know your heart like a husband or wife knows his or her spouse, like a father or mother knows his or her child, and that you just have to let Him, then all of these hand-washed clothes and outhouses and bicycled kilometers and power outages and construction debris and hours away from people I love are worth it!

Showers

2010-06-20T08:12:00.001-04:00

Location: On my bed in my village of C., Romania (approaching 10pm on the 15th of June)

Oh, the moon is beautiful in Romania tonight!

Just a sliver over the hill behind the houses across the street, it takes my breath away. Only the curved fingernail of the moon is showin this evening, making me smile as I recall what I learned about doing laundry by hand: my clothes may not get very clean, but it is the only way to wash of the grime engrained in my hands and fingernails after a good day's work! Today's work in the city of Medias left us covered with a thick layer of dust after we took out the floor of an apartment we are remodeling above a downtown pharmacy. It was a good day of demolition work, and a nice change of pace from the painting and gardening we did yesterday. In fact, as I walked into my yard, fully exerted from my labor, I was telling God how awesome He is. I said, "You know, maybe it is not funny to You, but it seems funny to me that after this long day of filthy, exhausting work, my only thought is how great You are!" Suddenly, it was God's turn to laugh as He caught me sighing when I remembered that I had dirty laundry soaking and ready for my attention! Sheepishly I smiled and set to work.

Yes, as always, I want to boast in my Lord. Just yesterday, I., my coworker, was asking if God really answers my prayers. I can certainly give you examples from today and yesterday and in the past and future, for "big" and "small" prayers. However, my response was interrupted by our work, and after a hard day, I prayed about what to do with my evening.

You see, my flesh, J. the human, wanted to do several things. He wanted to eat, to shower, to cut his hair, do his laundry, to play his violin, to call some friends, and to try out his new bike. (I bought a used bike this weekend, and my mentor J. will be proud of me, because with a few adjustments, this bike will go anywhere. I know I cannot call it a real mountain bike because it has fenders, but I expect it to be a great help when I want to go into Sighisoara!) So, I ended up doing several things, and finisehd by cutting my hair (Finally! In fact, because of poor lighting and a really rotten mirror, this may be the worst haircut I have ever given myself, but I cannot see the back to know, so I am happy! The front looks fine!) Then I ran over to my boss' house where I can shower, but it was too late and I was locked out. This morning, when I went over for an early shower, the door was still locked. So I sat out front and read my Bible.

Psalm 34 is a great psalm if you have not read it in a little while. Verse 5 was used by the pastor last Sunday to bless my friend, M., before his pending departure. Yet today I was convicted by verse 9, in which it is written, "...for those who fear him have no want." As I prayed that verse, it was hammered in by the next verse, "...those who seek the LORD lack no good thing." Did you catch that? NO GOOD THING! So I said, "Lord, I believe You. Time and again You have blessed me. I know that a shower is not necessary, but I feel dirty, stinky, covered in hair, a little cold, and frustrated. A shower seems like it would be a very good thing right now. Will You please make it happen?"

Before I even finished saying those words, I heard my boss' wife inside and within moments she opened the door! I was triumphant, and thanked my Lord immediately! God has been teaching me so much lately! When I caught a bus to Targu Mures this weekend, the drunk man who asked me for money turned out to be from the tiny village of V. where I want to live soon! He is directing me in prayer and through the Books of Nehemiah and Acts. He is strengthing my relationships and teaching me skills and the Romanian language. He is providing for me, and meeting me in prayer.

I have much more I want to write, but sleep is more important. Besides, my hands hurt from the manual work, and we will have another hard day tomorrow. Wish you could be here! It has been fun for me to talk with some family and friends via the internet and cell phone when I was in the city last weekend, and to receive a few pieces of mail.

Be blessed, each of you! I am praying for you, and God answers our prayers!

Lots of New Pictures

2010-06-12T07:15:00.001-04:00

And hopefully more to come! Check out the Picasa link to the right to see photos from the last few weeks. I'll try to take more village life photos soon!

Current Location

2010-06-11T16:41:00.002-04:00

Friends, I'm going to keep my location set as being in the village of C., because I don't know when I will again have computer access to set it back if I change it. However, I just arrived (it's nearly midnight on the 11th, almost 12th of June) at my friends' place outside of Targu-Mures, Romania, and I will be here and in Sighisoara this weekend before heading back to the village. We had our choir concert tonight, I'm catching up with a few friends this weekend, and then it is back to village life. Thanks for your prayers! Read my latest post below. And if you have emailed me, I will do my best to respond sometime! I bless you in the Name of our Jesus!

The Swiss-Romerican Olympic Games

2010-06-11T16:40:00.000-04:00

Location: my house in the village of C., about 9:30 pm on the 10th of June

As there is a chance I will be able to get online this weekend, I thought it would be good if I wrote an update for you. I am not promising any pictures, though.

So yes, last time you heard from me, I rode a borrowed bike straight out of a seventies Hollywood flick 40 kilometers to town and back! I am not used to such a ride, especially on a road bike like that, with curved handlebars that threatened to attack my knees with every turn. However, I did survive both potholes I failed to avoid, and rolled into town as the sun set.

The next morning, I stood plotting revenge against the manufacturers of that bike seat, but after a family church service mostly in Swiss German, I decided I was able to go for another horseback ride, which ended with four of us galloping in a race across the meadow high in the hills. Today we were up in that field again, though it was far different from Sunday's cookout up there. Today we walked through the fields (of hay, or wheat, or something that is too small and too country for me to recognize at this point) and dug up weeds for two hours in the June sun.

Yes, we have done some hard work this week. Everyday begins with watering the garden, because the daily rain we were having dried up a week ago. This week we have done some more painting, built/repaired a privacy fence, organized and laid stone in a barn, wheelbarrowed sand, and many other tasks. Have you ever used a scythe? I have now! I enjoy the rocking motion, though my yard clearing was not as easy as it looked. And I now have a large spider bite on the back of my leg, yet ironically it did not come from those weeds. I think I was bit at choir rehearsal Wednesday as we prepared for tomorrow's concert.

So there has been pure delight, pure frustration, challenges, victories, fatigue, and more. As I expected, I ran into some more trouble with my bank in America. Umm, but I have also had delicious food, and especially wonderful desserts, from produce from our garden. I also earned my own jar of strawberry jam by weeding the flower bed! Tonight I showed up a bit late to buy milk, and the lady only barely salvaged a liter of milk before it became cheese. I also did laundry by hand tonight, and even if all the socks are not completely white, all the clothing passes the odor test! Once last year, I stated that I thought the manual agriculture and simple life in Romania was charming, and someone told me it might not be charming for the people who have to live that way. I try to remember how charming it is when I am breaking my back and dripping sweat over a pitchfork or shovel. Often, when the going gets tough, I amuse myself by imagining a visit to Romania by an OSHA employee. (I cannot remember if that is the exact acronym for the bureau of workplace safety.) Many of the things he would see here would make him start convulsing, and I pray specifically each day for protection as I work hard or am around others working hard.

So I thought you would be interested in hearing about the bike ride and horseback ride. In fact, during that bike ride, I saw a sign for used bikes, but when I turned in I was charged by two nasty looking and sounding dogs. I politely explained to them that I was not afraid of them and that they should mind their own business, but I did not wait around for their response, deciding I could easily retreat by the way I entered. Instead I talked to some men working in the field, who told me there were no bikes there anyway! On Monday or Tuesday, I enjoyed another bike ride around town with my coworker, I. He goes for a ride almost everyday, and he has been a good friend to me. So we biked to a nearby lake and had a good time; this time I was on an old military issue bike that actually was a lot sturdier even if it only had one speed. The brakes only sort of worked, which made for a lot more fun. As I cycle through the people I know whom I wish were here to visit and see what I am seeing, many of you come to mind. But J. (my mentor), I often wish you could be here to share some of these adventures!

I think the best sporting adventure happened today. I. and I had talked about wrestling or having a water fight after work, so we ended up having a wrestling match, somewhere finding enough energy to compete in the yard with all of the neighborhood kids watching. If you know my family, you know that I live among many star wrestlers; however, I was never one of them, except in fourth grade intramurals. I have to admit that it was not fair; not only am I a head taller than this twenty-two-year-old, but I outweigh him by a good twenty to forty pounds. We had fun though, and it wore us out. As we sat there panting, discussing my advantage, our boss said he would like to wrestle me!

Already tired, I accepted the challenge, knowing for certain that I was proving myself crazy. Not only was I out of breath, but my boss (probably forty-five?) was in the military in Switzerland several years ago. He is not a huge man, but he is tall like me, and when he works without a shirt you can see that he will always be victories over his work. So I sized him up after a brief rest, and we began circling. Soon the not only the neighborhood kids, but the whole family was watching! We wrestled for probably five minutes, each of us nearly pinning the other several times. See? I told you I have a good boss! And now I have the marks to prove it; my body will probably remind me of it when I report to work in the morning!

So life is good, because we have a good God who is actively at work in our world, working out His plans for our good and for His glory.

Until the Cows Come Home...

2010-06-05T07:05:00.002-04:00

Location: My "kitchen" table in C., Romania (9am on Saturday the fifth of June)

I have come to realize that very likely I will have almost no internet access on a regular basis. If you have emailed me, thank you, but I do not know it. (I now have a working cell phone; email me if you want the number, and when I finally see my email, I will try to send it to you.) I also learned that someone sent me a package, but I have to figure out how to be in town on Thursday morning between 10am and 12pm with my passport to pick it up--that is how it works here. I do know, however, that you have been praying for me, because everything is going swimmingly! May God get the praise and glory, and may you not become weary of praying! I am praying for you, too!

Today, I am hoping to make it in to town for the first time on my own, though whether by bike (20 km) or by hitchhiking and train I do not yet know (by bike, it was!). So far, I have been in town briefly twice, both times with the W. family for choir, but I have not been free to visit friends or run errands. Instead, I have been assimilating to village life (about 700 people live in C.). Can I tell you how much I love it?

For instance, I am now buying milk directly from the cow two or three times per week. By directly, I mean that when I go to get milk, the man is still milking the cow in the yard while the lady in the kitchen pours milk from the first pail into the bottle I bring. It is such a treat, almost as good as a milkshake! I do not have a refrigerator, so I enjoy it quickly and savor it until I can go again. I have to go between 8:15 and 8:30 in the evening, after the cow walks home down the street to get milked.

In addition to milk, I bought some honey from another neighbor, bringing her my empty zacousca jar. Romanian friends, is my spelling correct? Zacousca is a favorite food of mine here, made from red bell peppers and eggplant and I do not know what else, eaten as a spread on bread. The honey was a bit more expensive than the milk, so I am rationing it carefully. I have also been in touch with another neighbor about purchasing homemade cheese, though again I will have to do so in small quantities due to my lack of refrigeration.

Fellow Americans, remember the tales of the Old West and the general stores that stocked everything one might need? I go to the general store virtually everyday, and the clerk knows me. They have everything from ice cream to meat to fruit to toys to school supplies to tools to detergents to shoes to pre-pay phone credit to picnic tables outside so you can enjoy a drink on the spot! I love it!

I am now set up in my house to wash dishes more easily, and soon I will tackle washing clothes by hand. This time with the W. family is great practice for soon living on my own in another village. I am functioning well without plumbing or refrigeration, and I enjoy the challenge. In addition, I am learning a lot about gardening, construction and carpentry, and village life in general. My typical day begins with devotions with my boss and a couple of his children at 6:30am, even on the weekends. Then I work an eight-to-five day, taking an hour for lunch with the family. The evenings are mine in theory, though normally I eat dinner and then get ready for bed. Usually I read a little, and then I turn in early. I have enjoyed early bedtimes, early mornings, and increased prayer time in this peaceful routine.

I also have a new best friend: my violin! I brought it from the States, with a lot of other luggage that I mostly regret carrying. I knew better! Why did I decide I needed so much extra baggage? Do you ever carry baggage that you do not really need, but for whatever reason you are unwilling to leave it behind, even though you know it would allow you to move forward freely?

Nevertheless, I do not regret bringing my violin. Rarely have I played it in the past several years, but now I am eager to play it nearly daily! It survived the trip in the belly of the plan, except for the sound-post becoming dislodged. However, I do not know what the sound-post really does, and it seems to work fine without it.

Work-wise, we just finished the facade of a one-hundred-two-year-old house we have been working on; I think we are done with the other house in the same street we were painting. Most of this week was painting for me, though I spent a fair amount of time in the garden, too. Already we ate a dessert with strawberries from the garden, and some of the lettuce was harvested, too.

Adventure-wise, I told you about the horseback-riding. Sheepishly, I must admit that another adventure involved spilling half a bucket of paint down the side of the house when the handle detached itself from the pail. I am more proud of the night when I came out of my house to see a neighborhood dog bare its fangs and begin to bark at me; I took a step toward it and barked back, and it ran away! Finally, on our way into town for choir last Wednesday, we found a man lying in the rode on a fallen bike, apparently hit by a car. After stopping traffic and calling the ambulance and talking with the police, it turned out he had fallen after drinking and "driving."

So, that is a brief snapshot of life with Jesus in Romania right now. I wish you could enjoy it with me. As this may be my last blog post for a while, I will do my best to post some photos, but no promises. I miss being in contact with all of you; I look forward to when I can host you for a visit! But I also am loving this simple village life, with hard work during the days, violin in the evening, and to bed, often before 9:30! I am far from loney; instead, I am richly blessed! If you have not read the two prior posts, make sure to enjoy them, too! Thanks for your prayers! Please pray for the Church in Romania, too. Grace and peace to you in the Name of Jesus the Christ!