Wonderful Colleagues!
Thursday, August 6, 2009 at 8:00AM Elise and I are blessed to serve with some great colleagues and volunteers. Some of their links are beginning to show up on the left-hand side of this page. A lot of these links are much more personal and help you get to know "us" a lot better. And, to pray for themus better. Check some of them out below!
Team Northeast Poland - Boldly Proclaim
I had this sitting in my inbox, and for some reason put off reading it. Today I woke up thinking about GROM. GROM is an evangelistic meeting for the National Believers here in NEP. I was thinking about how I can be more bold in sharing the Gospel, and the age old fears of doubt and incapabilities crept up on me. Then I read this, I just wanted to share it because it was a great encouragement.
Speak What He Teaches
"Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say" (Exodus 4:12).
Many a true servant of the LORD is slow of speech, and when called upon to plead for his LORD, he is in great confusion lest he should spoil a good cause by his bad advocacy. In such a case it is well to remember that the LORD made the tongue which is so slow, and we must take care that we do not blame our maker. It may be that a slow tongue is not so great an evil as a fast one, and fewness of words may be more of a blessing than floods of verbiage. It is also quite certain that real saving power does not lie in human rhetoric, with its tropes, and pretty phrases, and grand displays. Lack of fluency is not so great a lack as it looks.
If God be with our mouth, and with our mind, we shall have something better than the sounding brass of eloquence or the tinkling cymbal of persuasion. God's teaching is wisdom; His presence is power. Pharaoh had more reason to be afraid of stammering Moses than of the most fluent talker in Egypt; for what he said had power in it; he spoke plagues and deaths. If the LORD be with us in our natural weakness we shall be girt with supernatural power. Therefore, let us speak for Jesus boldly, as we ought to speak.
~Spurgeon
Team Northeast Poland - Generations of Silence
I missed the bus by two minutes. Not shocking considering it happens every time I come out of the hair salon. And it's one of those bus stops that takes forever for the next bus to come. But today was different. Not so different in the fact that my hair was now nothing like it was when I went in, or so different that Taylor had found a stone wall to climb and slide on, but different in the fact that I sat down next to a little white haired old lady.
Looking at her from the corner of my eye I noticed that she could barely sit upright on her own, and observing her cane, clothing, and face I had the unfortunate thought that she probably won't live much longer. And then I thought "I should give her a tract." I thought to myself "She may be dead soon, she could be in hell in days writhing in pain, how will she hear the Gospel by then?" I also thought on a sigh, "If I don't give her a tract I will be upset for the rest of the night, she will plague me."
So, I gave her a tract. A Billy Graham tract. I said it was about God, that I was American, and I spoke little Polish. She opened the tract, never acknowledged me talking to her, and started to read. Part of me panicked and hoped the bus would come quickly. But then I told myself to stay calm, and if she speaks, do my best to answer. She never spoke. She just continued to read. My bus came. I got up, turned to her smiled and said goodbye and she nodded her head and smiled back.
That's it.
But is it? We could ponder, was that truly effective? Will it bear fruit? Was that really the best way? I don't know the answers, but what I do know is this-Christ was glorified today on that bench, I presented the Gospel to a dying woman the best I possibly could, and in that one moment of hope that she may come to know Jesus through it all, made not only moving over 4,000 miles worth it, but missing the bus too.
Read the full article and see the picture by clicking the link, but part of it says, "We are moved by the spiritual maturity of many here specially the teen and young adults. They are open about their love for Jesus and anxious to share him with the children and teens here at this apartment complex."
Holly's Hungary - Out for a Stroll
Even though it i just the beginning of August, it has the end of the summer feel to me. We put 2 of our interns on a plane on Thursday and the third one on a train on Sunday. Ap, my co-worker, took a quick vacation, and my boss and his wife went to Africa leaving me in the city all alone for the first time in quite a few months. It was good to finally go to church Sunday morning, and worship together with my church family here. then i did something that i have never done before, i went to the movies alone. I took myself out for Chinese food and then a matinee. It was air conditioned and funny enough i felt quite empowered that i strangely did not feel awkward. This week i have slept in, checked email, and read a book.
I am waiting for a call from the school that i will be working at, in order to schedule for September. I also am about to begin planning for the fall and what direction our student ministry will take. Other than that i am just trying to get back in contact with students after summer holidays and some sort of a schedule. On an interesting note, i went for a walk today and saw something sadly unusual on the tram. See i like to think that i can spot ticket checkers as they get on the tram. this is no problem for me since I have a monthly pass but it is just a funny observation game that i like to play. well this one guy was getting on and i thought maybe this is one, but.... no i don't think so. just then he looks at me, and comes and sits in front of me, pulls out, not a badge, but an old book. Next he opens it and begins reading. I thought surly not, can it be, is he reading what i think he is reading, and it was. He was reading the book of John. The next stop was mine, but i got off in the rain grinning because truly only God knows the heart of man.