I miss you...

Lately I've been hearing a lot of talk about missing people. I guess it has to do with the season. Its made me think again about missing people. I don't know why and I don't understand it but I don't miss people. I don't miss people. I used to miss my family all the time as a child. I remember crying myself to sleep in Iceland missing my grandparents and then in converse I would cry myself to sleep when I was in France missing my parents. I've spent my entire life (save one Christmas when we were all together) away from someone I love. This is not something I'm bitter about, just a reality I've lived with for 26 years. I don't know anything different. And now that I live in Greece I'm away from my entire family and friends all the time. Also working with Hellenic Ministries I've seen a lot of people come and go. Some I have come to love and others whom I've merely enjoyed their company, but everybody eventually leaves... or I leave. As a result of this knowledge I don't invest myself fully in the people who are around me making the separation easier. I think this is a TCK trait. I've heard other TCKs say that. I'll be open and cheerful to everybody and I love people easily but I don't allow the roots to go too deep. Maybe it's not real love then? I don't know. Yet I would do anything for a friend in need.

All I know is that I live in the moment. I cherish my past and look forward to the future when I can be reunited with friends and family. To love, speak and cry together once again. Leaving was easy when I was younger as I knew I'd be back soon but now it has become a difficult thing for me as I never know when I'll be back to a specific place. Also a reality I face every time I leave is the question of whether or not this is the last time I see a person. Especially for my family as they are not believers. That reality scares me more than anything. When I leave believers I have no doubt that I'll see them again and take solace that we'll have all eternity together. But when I leave a place I'll experience excruciating pain and cry a while but then it's over and I go back to the phone. I take comfort and solace in a digital image and VoIP. And then it's all about the moment again. What I'm doing now. Yesterday was wonderful, today is amazing and I never know what tomorrow will hold.

I'll have nostalgic moments like everybody else but they are only fleeting moments. If I want to talk to somebody I know I can always pick up the phone and call. Facebook and Skype have made it easy. If I think of someone I go to their facebook page and drop them a quick line. Or I use skype to call. The internet has made the world even smaller than before... something I'm infinitely thankful for.

Please whoever you are friend, know that I love you. This does not mean that our friendship is any less real or deep. It just means I have a coping mechanism that is different from yours. If I allowed myself to miss anybody I would have to miss everybody and I don't know if I could cope with that.

A weekend of disasters

I'm part of the Morning Star crew. I go up on weekends to take care of teams that want to come for a night or two on board. This includes cooking and taking care of the basic needs.

This time was no different except that our team was a group of 20 teenagers and Neil, their youth group leader. Piece of cake, right? Except for one little detail... the boat is made to cater to groups no bigger than 16 people... including the crew. In this instance we had 24 people including crew... as you can imagine that might create certain... challenges. The first is getting such a large team up to the boat. Everything was organized. We were going to load everybody up into three vans. Jed was supposed to drive a van we've lovingly dubbed the 'Brown Bomber' while I was supposed to drive HM's van and Neil would drive his. So far so good...

The day started off great. I got all my work done and left the office in good time to make it to the Bible School by 17:00, which was our meeting point. As I drove into the parking lot I noticed that the HM van was nowhere to be seen. This didn't worry me at first as the 'Brown Bomber' was there and no Jed so I just assumed that Jed was on his way with the other van. 17:15 and Jed was still not there. As I was about to call him one of the kids told me that he was inside. Now I was worried. Jed came out and looked utterly bewildered at the fact that I didn't have the HM van o.O uuuuhhhh What?!?!?! Since Andrew was supposed to have made sure the van was there, I called him. When I told him what was going on all I could hear was silence and then an "Oh shoot!" A few phone calls later we found out that the van was actually at Alex's. So we piled everybody into the two available vans and my car and drove up there. We switched cars and everything was great again.

We all left in convoy, Neil at the head followed by Jed and then me. At a t-junction Neil turned left but Jed having arrived moments later turned right! And since I was following Jed I turned right. As we arrived at the bottom of a hill Jed called me and told me he had no idea where Neil was and which way to go. So we called Neil and found out that he was back at Alex's and waiting for us there! He'd realized he lost us and turned back. Well, we had a slight detour to make as the street we were on didn't allow for any left- or U-turns. We were forced to drive down a ways before we could turn back. 15min later we got back to Alex's. At this point we were an hour behind schedule, not great since we like being on time. We drove down some back roads and picked up another kid at a fuel station. Finally we were on the road! An hour and a half behind schedule! Oh well.

We got to the boat and while Andrew and Jed were getting the team settled I started cooking. Jed had done the shopping and told me that I was to make hot dogs and french fries... except he had forgotten the fries. No problem! We had a whole bunch of instant mash potatoes on board and so I just planned on cooking that instead. As I was poring the powder into the boiling water I noticed something crawling around in it. There were bugs in our instant mash!!! Shoot! That went overboard! Upon inquiry Jed told me that there wasn't supposed to be any salad with this meal. So I had no salad, no fries, no mashed potatoes and 20 hungry teenagers with only two hot dogs per person. Andrew and I looked at each other and said, 'pop corn!' So that's what we did. We served hot dogs with pop corn. The kids had a field day with it. They were putting them in their buns and just really enjoyed themselves. Few! Saved. After dinner, when I finally got to my stuff and found the menu I realized that I was supposed to have made a salad with the meal!!!! Which, as Andrew said, would have made it a meal! What else could go wrong???

After dinner the team decided to go for a swim! It was 1 am, freezing cold outside, in the middle of November! They were crazy!!! Well if Neil said it was fine, it was fine with us. I boiled some water so that the kids could at least rinse off with something warm. As I was getting the bucket ready I accidentally pored boiling water on my hand... AAAHHH! The rest of my evening was spent with my hand in a bucket of cold water. Later that evening as I was trying to fall asleep my hand felt like it was on fire, quite literally. I tossed and turned till 4:30 trying to 'forget' about my hand. By the end, in total desperation and in an attempt to forget the burning sensation, I started playing video games on my cell phone. Hallelujah it worked. I finally fell asleep at around 4:45.

Breakfast was perfect. We compensated beautifully for the previous night's dinner. Neil led us in devotions and then I got started on lunch. I must admit that I'd never cooked for such a large team on board before. Cooking spaghetti for 24 people in a small kitchen is not as easy as it sounds.... I burned the pasta. Who burns pasta?!?!?! For crying out loud! Praise the Lord we had a second team coming the next day and Jed had done shopping for both teams at the same time. I grabbed the next day's pasta and cooked that instead... in two pots. Needless to say lunch was an hour late. LOL! Praise the Lord, this was the last thing that went wrong as we left an hour later... LOL

So we all messed up at some point that weekend but as a team we worked great together and kept things together. We had a blast and in the end we have a great story to tell! :D If you actually read the entire story, I'm impressed and hope you enjoyed it :o)

The unexamined life is not worth living...

So many times we go through life without ever stopping to think abut it. We just go through the motions and don't stop. I am as guilty of this as the next person. So many times I wish I would take the time to breath. To take the time and look around me, to notice God's beauty all around me. To take the time to stop and frame that perfect shot and thus hold a memory in my hand for time to come. To take the time to write down my thoughts. To take the time to go for a coffee with a friend every once in a while. Why is it that we always need to be running to the next thing? Why do we always need to be productive? We have lost the art of being silent. We need the noise. We come home and the first thing we do is put on the TV or the radio just to have some background noise drowning out the silence for fear that the silence would take over. What is it that we don't like about being silent, of stopping to think a little, to breath, to fully appreciate life and the things we have been given to enjoy? Is it because we would then have to finally face ourselves? Face who we truly are? Face the pain? The regret? The sorrows? The brokenness? Or is it the need to keep going, to never stop for fear of being left behind. The world is moving so quickly we barely see it. It becomes a blur as we travel through it. I want to slow down, to enjoy, to savor life but I don't know how to. How, when I've been running for so long, do I stop running? How do I start pacing, strolling through life again? I want to breath. I want to stop and feel the sunshine on my face. I want to stop in the middle of the street when it's pouring rain and feel the raindrops on my face. I want to live, to love, to laugh, to savor life. I want to learn the art of being silent, of examining my life, of savoring it. One of my favorite verses is "Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10 - Lord this is my desire, to worship You, to be still before you, to know You more and more each day. Teach me to be still before You and know that You are God.

A normal visit to the chiropractor.... or is it?

Ok so, I never realize how rich my life truly is until I start explaining it to a total stranger. Around HM'ers we all know each other, we come from various places and facilitate the Sports Camps, the Morning Star, Worship Events, etc.... we travel and basically work for the Kingdom.... and then they all know that I'm crazy and that I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. BUT explaining all that to a person who's never met you before might be slightly overwhelming... slightly. So tonight I went to see a chiropractor. I dislocated my shoulder in August while wrestling with the guys on the barge... I know, I know but it was fun... and basically wanted him to set it right again. Plus I wanted him to have a look at my ankle from when I hurt in South Africa and my wrist - this is where things get complicated. So here I am explaining all my cases; I dislocated my shoulder for the first time while swimming as a child but again during a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class as an adult (at this point the guy snickers an okey - realizing, I think, for the first time what kind of a patient I am...) where another chiropractor set it back in its place. My ankle, I hurt badly during BJJ practice, I went to see another chiropractor, while in South Africa and he set it back in place. His specialty was ankles so I know he did a good job, I just want you to check it and see how it's doing. Now my wrist I've had chronic problems with. I used to get carpal tunnel syndrome really bad as a kid but my chiropractor in France - at this point I look up realizing what I've just said and sheepishly say "yeah I travel quite a bit" and then keep on going - told me that it was linked to my elbows. At this point the doctor (who by the way was raised in America so speaks perfect English) asks me where I'm from because he can't place my accent! Oh boy!!!! Well my mom is French, my dad is English and I was raised in Iceland.......... and I wait for it........... ICELAND! What is it like there? The classic question... if I had a cent for every time anybody asked me that question I could fly first class everywhere! So nicely I smile and give him the load down on Iceland... beautiful, no, no, there truly is no ice, quite barren landscape and definitely worth the visit....  we talk about Björk and then move on. As he's putting my body back together he asks me when I get pain in my shoulder - to which I reply.... well when I was hoisting the sail - stop - .... oh yeah I sail..... LOL oh boy! The poor guy can only say, why am I not surprised! LOL anyway so we move on to my elbow and he asks how I hurt my elbows to which he answers the question himself... wait was it while you were running away from the bulls in Spain??? LOL No, but probably from Tennis or working with the horses..... LOL by the end of the session he asking me if a fly quite a bit and asks if I might not be a pilot by any chance... LOL at least he had a good sense of humor about it all :D (If he only knew the rest...)

To us it's everyday life. It's how we've grown up. It's our pasts and our present. It's who we are. It's mundane. To everybody else... it's an amazing life. I guess it's moments like these where I realize that we truly do live amazing lives. That our lives aren't necessarily ordinary, even though to us they do feel like it because that's what we know.

For all of this I simply want to say; thank you Lord for having blessed me so richly! :o)

Cockroach Trouble

OK so can I say that I absolutely hate cockroaches??? I know that hate is a strong word but what can I say... if I don't hate them then I really, really, really, really seriously dislike them.

OK so here I am, in all my innocence, about to go to bed. It's late like 2:30 in the morning, its been a long day and all I want to do is go to bed. I walk into my kitchen, which is right by my bed, to find a cockroach on my counter. Those things, unfortunately but for good cause (since most people seriously dislike them), are fearful creatures. In the 3 seconds it takes me to bend down and get my very efficient cockroach spray, its crawled under my kitchen cupboard! In one of only two cracks between my floor and the cupboard. Well, with all my haste, I start spraying profusely under the cupboard hoping, in vain I might add since the space under there, once under, is quite vast, to kill it with my spray. Semi satisfied (but more hopeful) I continue getting ready for bed. Walking through the kitchen a second time, I see my little enemy on the other side of the kitchen by the second crack between the cupboard and floor. Again by the time I start spraying it, the stupid thing has escaped under the cupboard again! Did I ever mention that those things are FAST! I keep on spraying in the crack, again hoping to kill it. I then quickly grab two towels and stuff them in those two cracks... stupid I know since cockroaches have an uncanny way of getting places they're not supposed to but hey in my defense it like 2:45 at this point. I was also hoping the fumes would get trapped and kill it. By this time it's like 2:50 and I really want to go to bed, so reluctantly, not knowing what else to do, I go to bed. OK so here I am, lying in bed, trying to fall asleep but anything that brushes up against my skin, which is quite frequent as I have long hair and a FAN blowing on me, gets me up so fast that Lucky Luke would be ashamed of his speed! Just for the record I've woken up with a cockroach in my bed before, so this is not just paranoia going on here! Ugh! For the next 15 min this show of acrobats keeps on going and I'm just praying "Please God just let me fall asleep!" by the end my prayer is "Lord I'd feel so much better knowing that I've killed the thing!" I finally get up to go to the bathroom and what do I see trapped in my bathtub? The cockroach! Once it's in there it can't crawl out so I'm thanking the Lord as I'm spraying this thing to DEATH! As I crawl back into bed, this time satisfied, a question creeps into my mind... was that the one I tried to get earlier or a second one?

Sure enough, the next day I wake up and what do I see lying dead on my kitchen floor... another cockroach! All I have to say is ignorance is bliss!

UPDATE: The following evening I found a third cockroach!!! This time INSIDE my cupboard.... with all my CLEAN plates and cups I might add.... I have now proceeded to re-clean all my previously clean plates and glasses as well inside the cupboard itself... a task I thoroughly enjoy.............. not!

Oh well, c'est la vie! :o)

Driving on the wrong… I mean, sorry, the… left side of the road

OK so I guess that the biggest adjustment I have had to make here in South Africa is driving. The desire to change gears with my right hand and hitting the door instead, forgetting to take the e-break off because my left hand just isn’t used to doing it, ending up on the left side of a lane instead of staying on the right, focusing really hard when turning on/off a road making sure I’m on the “right” side of the road has been an interesting challenge to say the least. I guess the weirdest thing so far is sitting on the right side of the car. I’m used to driving with the rest of the car to my right and being able to judge distances accordingly. You have NO IDEA how often I’ve thought I might hit this or that car/wall because my brain just doesn’t work with the car to my left, resulting in me over-adjusting by staying well on the right side. Have you guys seen the movie “The Holiday” where Cameron Diaz is driving for the first time in England? She’s passing this huge truck and the only thing she can say is “Don’t hit me!” in this really annoying squeaky voice. Well, I always thought that she was being a bit silly but now, I TOTALLY understand her! You really feel like the car coming the opposite way is going to hit you! Or I might be driving on a two to three lane road and I feel like I’m dangerously close to the car on my left, when in fact, I’m exactly where I need to be. It really is an uncomfortable feeling let me tell you.

Another funny thing is, because they drive on the left side of the road, everything else is flipped. What do I mean? Well, for instance, at the mall the escalators are the opposite of what we’re used to. The descending side is on the right while the ascending side is on the left. It’s a little mundane thing that, in our day-to-day lives, we don’t even notice, and I’m sure that you’ve never even thought of it, but it’s one of those things where you get to the escalator and you just know something’s odd, you just can’t put your finger on it, until it hits you; they’re reversed!

Anyway, I’m rambling so I’m going to stop. It’s getting better, I promise. I am learning and getting used to the system here, it’s just going to take a wee bit of time :o)

Dubai

Now, how do I describe Dubai? It is a modern city where every other building is a 5 star hotel and a tribute to what man can do. Their motto is; second to none. The man who is responsible for most of the development there said that everybody remembers the first man who climbed Mount Everest but no one remembers the second (actually I don't know the name of the first man who climbed Everest, but hey that's just me). As such they need to be at the forefront of everything so as not to be forgotten. Hence they have the tallest hotel in the world, the only 7 star hotel in the world, they have the tallest building in the world with the fastest elevators: a dashing 18m a second! Since they couldn’t have the first robot operated metro in the world they have the longest one. They also have some of the largest shopping malls in the world. One of them is actually the size of, no less than, 50 football fields! You get the idea. They need to have the biggest, the fastest and the best of everything. Dubai is a great place for people who want a luxurious 5-7 star vacation. It is the place to go if you want to do things, not the place to go if you want to see things. Dubai has no character. It is one of the most impersonal places I have ever been to. Don’t get me wrong, the people there are some of the friendliest that I have ever met, which is a stark contrast to the city itself, who is as cold as it is modern. I went on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city and their entire commentary was about the different hotels, how many stars they have, what kind of attraction they offer, how tall they are and who designed them. There is no real soul to the city; it is all about business and luxury. It’s sad really because it truly is a beautiful place and I really enjoyed the contrast displayed in the city. On one side you have the turquoise blue sea with the most amazing palm trees and greenery while on the other you have the sandy planes of the desert; life vs. death; lush vs. barren. I know it’s a little morbid but the contrast really is fascinating. Anyway, I had the opportunity to go dune bashing while I was there. This consists of getting into a 4WD jeep and driving up and sliding down desert dunes. Let me tell you, I thought the car was going to tip over a couple of times. It was a LOT of fun! :o) After all the bashing was done we ended up in a Bedouin campsite… which is more artificial than the hotels… for a BBQ – which consisted of… shaved meat! LOL I left Greece to go to the U.A.E. and have gyro! Oh the irony, LOL.

The best part of what I did in Dubai was the old town. I wish I had gone there from the very beginning. If you ever go, do that first! There you finally feel like you’re in the Middle East. I heard the call to prayer, which previously I hadn’t heard, I saw their local gold and spice market, which is the real deal and finally saw the soul of Dubai. The contrast is interesting; on one side of Dubai you could be anywhere in the world, with it’s hotels and shopping malls, whereas on the other side you can really tell that this is the U.A.E.

Anyway, I had a great time in Dubai and really enjoyed seeing it. You have to go there at least once in your life.

Leadership Camp

I’ve just come back from Leadership Camp where I spent 4 amazing days on the Morning Star with a great team. It was a wonderful experience of parea (fellowship), laughter and adventure – in my opinion the best combination :o) There were 16 people onboard including Alex our skipper, so it should have been quite close quarters but it didn’t feel like it. It felt like we all had the personal space that we needed, which is good I guess, since everybody was really tired. We left Porto Astro on Friday morning at 6:30 to be in Pefki by that evening. Pefki is a small port on the northern part of Evia, which is the closest island to mainland Greece – it is actually connected by a bridge. On the way there we stopped by another port called Limni, which too is situated on Evia, due to paperwork as well as for the most important part of the day… breakfast! En route we also stopped by a beautiful beach for a swim. We spent the night in Pefki and then sailed on to Skiathos where we spent the remaining two days. During our stay there we had sessions where we spoke about leadership and what that means. I guess the main thing that I learned during this camp is that anybody that influences somebody else is a leader. I have never viewed influence as leadership before and that was an interesting revelation. Once we start influencing somebody we are leading them down a specific path, which is our path and hence we become leaders as the path if familiar to us. So potentially we are all leaders as everybody influences somebody at some level. We can influence people by words or by actions. One of my favorite quotes is by St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel, if necessary use words.” Here he is talking about leading by actions. I believe that as Christians we need to be extra careful because people are watching us all the time. Our every word and action is being analyzed by people around us because they hold us to a higher standard. I can give an example that happened to me recently during Teen Camp. I wasn’t really part of that camp as I was on the Morning Star working. Every day after breakfast and siesta I would gather my stuff, go onboard and paint the deck. I didn’t think much of it because for me that is part of what I do… I paint the boat. After the camp, as we were ferrying people across to the cars, a guy told me that I had challenged him in his walk during that week. I was very surprised as this was a guy I had joked around with but we had never had the time to sit down and talk… so my first thought was how on earth did I challenge this guy? He kept on going and said that the way I would go to the Morning Star and work in the sun all day and come back to do the slideshows with a smile and in good humor really impressed him. It challenged him in the sense that I was a hard worker and that he needed to become more like that. All this to say that just by being who you are, living and breathing can influence somebody. So my challenge to you, dear reader, is to be careful because in your day to day lives you are influencing people around you, knowingly or unknowingly, and hence you are being a leader whether you want to or not. It’s an interesting way to look at it and a different perspective on leadership but that was the thing that stood out the most to me. By being who I am, I am leading people which is cool and scary all at the same time.

Just to end on a fun note… as we were sailing back towards the property on Sunday I was on the wheel steering. Here I am sitting on the helm seat, on this beautiful and peaceful day, keeping the boat on its course when all of a sudden I see Alex, with an intense look on his face, booking it towards the wheel. He grabs it out of my hands and steers the boat HARD to starboard. My heart almost stopped. My first thought was “Oh my goodness we’re about to hit another boat!” I am like “Alex! What’s happening?! Are we on collision course with another boat?!” He looks up at me and gets this sheepish look on his face and says “My hat!” He hands me the wheel back and tells me to keep turning. Meanwhile he’s got everybody else on lookout trying to find his hat. All of a sudden somebody yells out “I see it Alex! I see it!” Alex lunges into the sea and starts swimming towards his hat with the guys directing him to it. Meanwhile, I snap out of the shock and the realization hits me… my captain just jumped off board… for his HAT…. there is no captain on this ship right now and I’m at that helm… this is NOT ok! So I just start steering towards him. He finds his hat, puts it on and starts swimming back – guys I wish I could show you a video of this… it was hilarious! He gets to the poop deck of the boat and climbs up. As he’s climbing and I’m looking at him with a look exhibiting a mixture of shock, disbelief and amusement, he looks up at me and says, “It’s my favorite hat man! My favorite hat.” Oh Alex! I turn to my fiend Georgos and say “Well that was our excitement for the day.” LOL!!!!

Never a dull moment in Greece, never a dull moment…

Alex climbing the poop deck with his hat... :o)

This is what it's all about!

AMEN! The Lord did it again!!!! Camp just finished and oh my goodness, I am so blessed by this Teen Camp and for several reasons: the spirit was amazing, the kids were responsive, as well as the leaders, and the atmosphere in general was wonderful. There was a lot of laughter and joy was prevalent everywhere. It just seemed that people got it this time around. On one of the last nights before camp ended Neil Macris gave a really great message, at the end of it he gave an altar call asking people to come up into two groups; on his right he asked people to come up that wanted to profess Christ as their Savior and on his left people that were already born again but wanted to dedicate their lives to the Lord. If you are familiar with altar calls then you know that the preacher is standing there for at least 5 min giving everybody the time to come up that need to psyche themselves to go. I kid you not; within 10 seconds all but 3 of the campers were sitting in one of the two groups! 4 people gave their lives to the Lord that night and the rest dedicated themselves to Him! AMAZING! 10 seconds people, 10 seconds! I’ve never seen anything like this before. My only prayer is that these were real commitments and not just an emotional hype. I truly hope that we will see much fruit from these kids in the future. A lot of these kids know me from the Teen Worship Events which means that it’s going to make it easy for me to do some kind of follow up with them :o) I’m really excited!

Another reason why I was really blessed by this camp was the leaders that were there. I made a point of it this year not to hang around the foreigners that are there to help but the Greek leaders. For example at lunch or dinner, instead of sitting down with the English speakers, thus taking the easy language route, I sat down with the Greeks. I need to advocate that this is the first year I feel like my Greek is up to it. Still now I don’t understand everything that goes on around me but I understand most of it. Praise the Lord I’m finally getting to where I need to be :o) Its taken its time! Greek is not an easy language let me tell you… :op As a result I feel like I really got to know the leaders. I’m walking way with friends. People that I’ve seen around for years but never had a chance to really talk to. Others that were acquaintances from Bible school but during this week grew closer. I feel so blessed :o) Just today I went out for lunch with some of them that turned out to include coffee afterward. I love the Greek culture! They have a savoir vivre that not many other cultures have. The relational aspect of the culture is wonderful. They are always up to just hanging out. Parea is a very important word within the Greek language and means fellowship or company. I am so thankful that the Lord brought me to this country! I have come to life here surrounded by people that love life just as much as I do, it is a wonderful thing to be a part of :o)

Thank you Lord!

Life

Life, we live it at a hundred miles an hour and as a result we probably miss about half of it. Those rare moments in life where you just have to go “Thank You Lord!” are few and far in between. I believe that if we were more intentional we’d be able to have those moments more often. Like right now, I’m sitting on a chair overlooking Skorponeria Bay, the only light is from the moon (except for the computer screen, obviously :op ) and I’m listening to the crickets in the background and the water washing up on shore. Occasionally there is a fish that jumps in and out of the water. It is absolutely beautiful. These are the types of moments we need to live for (ps there is a frog out on its evening walk right besides me!) How beautiful is God’s creation? How absolutely perfect and He made it not only for His glory but also for our enjoyment. I want to encourage you next time you’re on your way home from work or school or whatever, and you find yourself by a forest or the sea or even a large park, take a walk through it. Go, experience what God has made for us. Take ten minutes and concentrate on the sights, smells and noises around you. It’s God’s picture you’ll be looking at, it is His aroma you’ll be smelling and it is His music you’ll be listening to. We all need to stop being too busy to experience life as God intended it to be and start living, really live. God gave us the five senses and we don’t use them anymore. We take medication to numb our feelings, our eyes are bent on the TV screen all evening, we force pre-made stuff onto our taste buds - we are numbing our bodies to God’s world!

I love being out at Porto Astro because every time I come out here it feels like I reconnect with God on a more personal level as I see Him and His glory and beauty everywhere in the raw nature that surrounds us and at night in the stars. I love the stars! To me space puts God into perspective. If these stars that we look up to are the same size and bigger than our sun and they’re placed thousands of light-years away from us, how big is space? It is HUGE yet God is BIGGER! He holds space in the span of His hand and looks down, lovingly upon us. To me there is such a comfort in that.

Anyway I’m getting carried away and I need to go to bed so I’m going to stop now.

Thank you Lord for these moments! May we pay more attention to them and may we pay more attention to You!

Easter

Last weekend was the Greek Easter. Now you’re probably going - what the?! We celebrated Easter a month ago! Well the reason why the Orthodox (Eastern) and Catholic (Western) Easter dates differ is because they use different calendars. The Catholics base their dates off of the Gregorian Calendar while the Orthodox base their dates off of the Julian Calendar. I’m not going to go into the details of how they work as they use different algorithms with either the solar or lunar cycles and it’s actually kind of complicated. What I did want to share with this blog entry is what I did.

Every year HM staff celebrates Easter together at the property, and this year was no different. We were all together about 80 people, with HM families and kids along with some good friends. It was a lot of fun and really quite relaxing. For me it was nice to get away from the city and just relax. Lately I’ve been feeling like I can’t breath, like I’m drowning in a vast see with no land on the horizon. So, as I was walking up the path towards the central building, I had to stop myself and just breath for the first time in days. It felt amazing! I was also able to get away from everybody for the first time in a long time, find my usual spot in the shade by the water and just get into the Word. That was as refreshing as the weekend was. I started reading in Mark, about Jesus’ miracles, and as I was reading there was just this theme that popped out, one that had never noticed before. It was one where Jesus, right before He did the miracles, made sure the people believed and had faith that He could accomplish what He said He would.
One example that really stood out was in Mark 9:17-27

A man in the crowd answered,
"Teacher, I brought you my son, who is
possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.
Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground.
He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.
I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not."
"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"
"From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
Immediately the boy's father exclaimed,
"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene,
he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said,
"I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out.
The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said,
"He's dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

The father here, as he brought his son to Jesus, said “If you can do anything” at that point it is was like Jesus was offended as His reply was “IF you can?” and quickly added “Anything is possible for him who believes” It was like He was saying “who do you think I am? Of course I can heal him! The question is do you believe I can? If only you would believe, I could do anything for you” to this the father replies “help me overcome my unbelief” that is help me believe, I want to. To this desire of having faith in Him, Jesus healed the son. This story is in stark contrast to Mark 6:4-6

Jesus said to them,
"Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house
is a prophet without honor."
He could not do any miracles there,
except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Because of their lack of faith Jesus didn’t do any miracles. Not that He couldn’t do any miracles, but rather He chose not to ‘reward’ their unbelief by doing any. If we believe God can do something in our lives He will reward us according to His good and perfect will. Like Peter we need to step out of the boat, make that first step of faith before He will take the next one with and for us. Another good example of this in Joshua 3:14-17

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan,
the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.
Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest.
Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan
and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream
stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away,
at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the
water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah
was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD
stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan,
while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had
completed the crossing on dry ground.

The Israelites needed to cross the Jordan at full flood, this was not a small stream, but a river flowing at full capacity, that they needed to cross! What did they have to do before the Lord did anything? The priests needed to take that first step into the river before the Lord stopped the flow. They needed to step out in faith, believing that the Lord would save them from assured drowning and get them to the other side safely. Talk about stepping out of the boat. As their feet touched the water the flow stopped. God immediately rewarded their faith by doing a miracle.
In my life, a good example is my original trip to Greece. The Lord didn’t start providing for my trip until I bought my plane ticket, by faith, on my visa card. My exact thought, as I was clicking the button to place the orders was: “Well Lord, either I’m getting myself into debt or You’re going to have to provide.” And of course He did!
Anyway all this to say that stepping out in faith is just something the Lord reinforced this Easter weekend, as I’m worrying about Operation Joshua, finances for China and finances for my YWAM training. Do I really believe that the Lord can provide? Of course I do! Am I willing to step out in faith and go for it...? Now, more than ever - YES!

This is for all of us, an encouragement that the Lord is by our side always looking out for us, providing for our next steps, if only we would step out in faith.

Happy Easter to all of you - HE IS RISEN!