Month: October 2003

Here I am sitting at my desk, in my little abode, in Zakopane, Poland. I finally have a phone line, so I now have dial-up internet access, hopefully with DSL coming soon. I wish my friends were online, but that?s okay? I don?t really expect them to be up in the middle of the night. So here I am, writing away, because frankly I just don?t know what else to do? well? I could go read a couple of the books I have, I could talk to my roommate but he?s correcting papers or something (he?s a prof at a local college), I could sit at my desk and write on my blog? yeah that?s what I?ll do. Oh I guess I?m already doing that? sorry I forgot.

So for real now. My roommate joked how ?it was nice to meet you?, because since we?ve gotten our phone line, I?ve been at the computer, but I needed to do some important things? like get Alexis cell phone working again, post my newsletter, and read all my friend?s blogs? of which I didn?t quite finish because there is too much to read on some of them, so I decided to just start from today, and I?ll keep track from now on.

Some thoughts: One ? Seattle is absolutely the nicest city I know? even still after traveling all around Poland and Slovakia? there have been some cool cities, of which I?ve taken some cool pictures, of which I?ll post some today, and the rest later when we have DSL. Two ? It is hard to be fed (as in being fed the word of God), when you are one of the leaders in a church, in a foreign land, where you don?t speak the language, and compared to home this place is like a planet with no atmosphere in terms of spirituality. Three ? I think I?ve grown a lot since I got here, so I know I have a lot more to do. I don?t thin I?m necessarily growing more than I would have at home, but I have more time too grow here, so that?s what?s happening. Seattle is a great city, believe me.

This is our “backyard”… and that’s my housemate, Chris.

Another picture of our “backyard”… it’s really about a half mile away… but its close enough.

This is Wrotzlaw, a city of about 300,000, and about 5 hours away from us, to the west, nearly to Germany. That is Denise in the left-hand corner, one of the missionaries here to plant the church.

More of Wrotzlaw. We were hear to talk to some other Foursquare missionaries from Holland.

More of Wrotzlaw, I think its a cool city, but not as cool as Seattle.

And more buildings in Wortzlaw in the city square or “Rynek”. I don’t know if you can see it, but there is a McDonalds in the lower right-hand corner.

This is the building we hope to be our church building, it is right off the main street or center street in Zakopane. We feel pretty strongly that we will be in it, we don’t knwo when, but we sure hope soon. It is a little expensive for us right now… at 40 Euros (which is slightly better than a dollar) a sq meter, and being it’s 2,700 sq meters, that’s a little expensive. The prices here are comparable to something in Seattle, because its a tourist city… but we hope the owner will lower the price, and possibly sell the buidling. There have been many confirmations about this building, and so we pray, and I ask you to pray… for this building.

The idea is to have the church in the middle floor, the childrens church, and other rooms in the top, and the bottom could be Christian counseling (which is unheard of here) and an internet cafe/coffee cafe. Its a vision, and a will… we know what that can do. It’s a perfect location. Right now we are meeting in our place, and soon should be in another building, but it’s really too small for any growth.

Hello all,

Just incase you didn’t recieve the email, which I hope you did, but if you didn’t please let me know, and i’ll add you to the list. Click here for my first newsletter (it includes pictures!). Thanks to everyone for your prayers, and other support.

So, we finally have a phone. The number is: 011-48-18-20-14-538. Best times to call: Between 1am and 3pm pacific time. There are some good phone cards out there, like Costco’s. I would love to hear your voice… please. Thanks.

Yes that?s right you are a warrior, and you, and you, and all of us who call Jesus our Lord and Savior. But you know what else Jesus is to us? Our commander, he directs us to fight the fight, yes that?s right we are at war. The enemy is here, the Earth is his territory. We are in the enemy?s territory. No I?m not just talking about Poland; I?m talking about this life. But there is good news, we are only here temporarily. Our seemingly unanswered prayers, unfulfilled promises and unfair circumstances will all be answered, fulfilled, and made fair in the next life, in heaven!

I hope this does not fall on deaf ears (or blind eyes I guess in this medium). I hope this is not clich? or stale. I pray that everyone who reads these words will be enlightened, and empowered, because Jesus Christ has all authority. We are planned for God?s pleasure, God wants us to be in an intimate relationship with him, he has entrusted us with everything here on earth, and have it be little or a lot in the world?s eyes. We must take care of what God has trusted us with. 1 Corinthians 4:2 says: Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful. God has put us in charge, of our lives, and everything in it is his, we must be faithful in taking care of those things. Worship is not music, worship is what we give glory and honor to. Music is just a part of worship, but if that is the only time you worship, then something is missing, and you probably can feel that. We must give glory and honor to God in our WHOLE lives.

It feels good to be wanted right? It feels good to be praised? Why? Because God made us that way, we are made in the image of God, God wants to be praised and wanted. He wants us to worship him in everything. Musical worship is awesome, I find myself the closest to God when I?m singing to God, but ever since I heard about having a ?lifestyle of worship?, my life has been much fuller, more enjoyable and I am closer to God than ever before.

Where is this fire coming from? Well three books, ?The Purpose Driven Life? by Rick Warren, ?Wild at Heart? by John Eldredge, and God?s word ? The Bible. In the last week I?ve read the gospels of Mark and John, and the book of Acts. And of course the Holy fire of God is burning like a blow-torch. A lot of this I already knew, but I didn?t have a way to put it into words, and I realized that I had let the enemy take my doubts, and my confidence away, Satan didn?t take my salvation but he took my ability to extend the kingdom. No longer will that happen; I am joining the front lines, I am a warrior, and Jesus Christ is my commander. I love God, and I love people, and I will do my best to be God?s servant, and to serve the needs of other people.

This is my message for the young adults on Saturday. Sorry for the strange formatting, I copy and pasted it from word.

1. How do you picture life?

a. Is life like a game of cards, you have to play what is dealt to you??

b. Is life like a carousel going up and down, and sometimes just around and around??

c. Or is life like a ten-speed bicycle, with gears we never use.

2. During worship think of your life metaphor, picture, be prepared to share it with the group.

3. Each one of you; tell me what picture or metaphor comes into your mind when asked; how do you picture your life?

4. When I was asked this question, I really couldn?t think of a picture or metaphor?

a. Then I got a picture of a mountain

i. You can stand at the bottom, and look up at it in all its glory, or in its intimidating might.

ii. You can choose to climb up it

1. You can attack it from different sides

2. You can stop and decide to camp out only part way

3. You can push your self to the top and see what view it has to offer

4. You can explore all parts of the mountain, and see what it has to offer

iii. You can choose to come down

1. Either slowly or quickly.

2. Sometimes you will fall, and someone will catch you, sometimes you?ll catch yourself, and sometimes you fall and hit rock bottom

iv. Or you can choose to stay at the bottom and wonder what the mountain has to offer, and be stuck always wondering. But if you decide to climb, you need the right equipment to get their safely.

5. What do you think God?s picture or metaphor is of our lives?

a. God?s word says our life on Earth is

i. a test,

ii. a trust,

iii. and a temporary assignment

6. Life is a test: What kind of test do you think God is talking about?

i. My faith has been tested through problems, problems with needs like; money, car, job, school, and questions like: What am I going to do with the rest of my life?

ii. My hope has been tested through how I handle my wants like: a dream job, a nice car, clothes, a nice house, good friends, good family life, and good things.

iii. My love has been tested through people, how I treat them, how I create relationships, and how I maintain those relationships

b. Sometimes God will draw away, you won?t feel close to him, although most of the time it is because we have drawn ourselves away from God. But when God draws away from us is testing to see where our hearts are, is our heart with God or with other things of this world. For instance in 2 Chronicles 32:31 God with drew himself from King Hezekiah, a very wealthy, respected king, who became deathly ill, he prayed to God for healing, and was healed, but became over-proud and self centered, he repented and changed. When the Babylonian?s came to ask of all the wonders happening in Hezekiah?s kingdom, God withdrew himself to test Hezekiah?s heart, unfortunately Hezekiah claimed all the wonder for himself, and not for God.

7. Life is a trust: What has God entrusted to us in our lives?

a. Our time on Earth

b. Our relationships

c. All of our resources and provisions

d. Everything we enjoy, or have is to be treated as a trust that God has placed in our hands.

e. How are we suppose to treat the things we?ve been entrusted?

i. God?s word in 1 Corinthians 4:2 says: Those who are trusted with something valuable must show they are worthy of that trust.

ii. Someone read Mathew 25:14-30

iii. Someone else read Mathew 25:21

1. What else besides the money did the master entrust to each servant and what did he expect on his return? What were his instructions to the servants?

a. He trusted each servant to invest their hard work into what he had given them.

2. How does this story apply to our lives?

a. God entrusts sometimes a lot, sometimes a little to each of us, but we must work hard at taking care and improving those things he has trusted us to take care of, it is all his to begin with.

8. Life is a temporary assignment?

a. Why do you think we are here on Earth?

b. What is the purpose of life?

c. Why does it seem like God?s promises are unfulfilled, he leaves prayers unanswered, and we end up in unfair circumstances?

i. Because we are not meant to be here, forever.

ii. We are only part way through our climb, or through our story.

iii. This life, Earth, and everything in it is not the end of the story ? It is all temporary, the story of your climb, of your life, does not end here.

iv. Our lives are meant to continue on to heaven for eternity, forever.

1. Where the unfulfilled promises are fulfilled

2. Where the unanswered prayers are answered

3. Where the unfair circumstances, are made fair

d. We, you, and I will never be completely satisfied here on Earth and in this life. A fish is not satisfied on land, it was meant to swim in the water. An eagle can not be satisfied if it not allowed to fly. We, you, and I will never be satisfied on Earth, because were meant to live for so much more.

9. For our present troubles are quite small and won?t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don?t look at the trouble we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever. [2nd Corinthians 4:17-18]

10. God is testing and trusting us with this temporary assignment to see our hearts. Not if we are only good to others, or the number of good deeds we can/will do. He wants us to be genuinely real in our love with him.

This life is the tip of the ice burg; of something MUCH better and greater then we can even imagine; let?s give and show God our trust and love for him.

So, I finished day three of ?The Purpose Driven Life? today. I finished it at about 4:30pm, and now its 9:20pm. You know what I?ve been doing since? Finding my focus, the focus of my life?

I called my parents and talked to my mom for the first time since I arrived, it was good, but we got cut off because my phone card ran out. I then checked my email, which included a couple of emails to Alexis, my parents, and Joel who is taking over CRU at Cascadia this year.

Then I sat down in our living room, with my bible and journal, and started to read, first the last few chapters of Mathew, and then I read the entire gospel of Mark, which I?ve never read all the way through before. God gave me my focus, it may seem obvious to some, or even clich?, but I need to focus on being with sinners, the sick people. This all roots from this passage I read:

The Pharisees ask Jesus? disciples ? Why does he eat with such scum? Jesus hears them and replies: ?Healthy people don?t need a doctor ? sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.? [Mark 2:17]

I see three points here: first, I need to go to the sick people and dine with them, simply make relationships with people who do not know Christ. Second, spending time only with healthy people won?t do anything to further God?s kingdom, they already know Christ. Thirdly, if a person or people do not think they need God, or ?religion? I can?t do anything, and I shouldn?t get frustrated over it. Jesus called sinners, the people who knew they needed help and were not ?good enough?, that is my focus.

Helllo all. I should be getting a DSL line sometime next week, so that is great news… but as I have learned the key word is “should”. I will post a lot more regularly once I get online at home. Last Monday was Alexis and I’s 3 month… its hard to believe… we both forgot… but that’s okay. I’m going to call her tomorrow… I’ve been able to call her about once a week, but next week w/ the DSL line i’m also getting a phone, so that’s more good news. We are finally getting into a regular schedule around here, and I start next week “teaching” conversational English at a local language school, hopefully this will be a time to get to know some of the young locals, and possibly make some relationships and invite some of them to our church meetings. Anyway, I hope everything is going great for everyone back home, and I promise to have more details in the coming weeks. Lova ya all.