Satan's City?- Not if Thomas has his way!

On Thursday night we had the privilege of travelling to the north of the city with Thomas F. who works with street kids in that area. Amidst many communist built high-rise blocks of flats, he gathers children and youth to come to the many activities held during the week. The premises are a disused shop at the base of one of the blocks, and here there is a table tennis table where youth can come to play. Thomas and his team arrange for adventure activities during the holidays - canoeing, rock climbing, hiking and more - and gradually he has built a small group of youth who regularly attend. Their Christian experience is limited and we realised that there is much to do in their hearts and lives. We met with six of these teens and were able to have a fun workshop on puppetry, but the best part was seeing them repeat an entire puppet skit in Czech to the group of children who came to the evening program. None of these younger children had had any previous exposure to Christianity and for many it was the first time they had heard of "GOD". Our interpreter was Katka - a medical doctor - who each week works alongside Thomas and team to reach the young people of this area - literally called in Czech "Satan's City". Please pray with us that the strongholds of this area would crumble and that a new generation for God would emerge!

God's Gardeners!

The Czech Republic has an abundance of leafy trees, wide, green fields, and the streets and houses feature many colorful flowers - roses, geraniums, sun flowers - produce of enthusiastic gardeners. However, the gardeners in this blog entry are planters of churches - bringers of good news to a country still bearing the marks of communism along with the trappings of the new economy - materialism. It's a hard slog to plant here. Years of prepation in prayer, hard work in contacting, outreaching and finally pastoring those who respond. For many people, any church other than Orthodox is viewed with suspicion as a cult. We feel privileged to have met and ministered with several great "gardeners". In Prague, in Hradec Kralove and other towns around the country children, youth and adults are being born into the kingdom of God, and planted in local churches. The majority of churches are small - but there is an atmosphere of hope and determination to take the message wider. For us, the workshops, meetings and family services have been a small input into a wider picture. Please remember to pray for the Czech Church to continue to grow, flourish and reproduce a fantastic crop of fruit in its season. Note: Photos - Sue looking towards Wencelas' Square and Stanislav and Eva - two fantastic planters!

9/11

Sue and I were in Northern India on September 11, 2001. Not far from the Pakistani border, we had just finished sharing in a pastors' conference and returned to our hotel room to watch CNN and saw the second plane hit the World Trade Centre. We sat for hours, watching at first in disbelief and then horror as the events unfolded. Some of those images are indelibliy ingrained in my mind. For Sue is was even harder - she was so far away from her family, and at a time such as this, family is more precious than ever. To make matters worse, the nation we were in reacted in different ways. Where we were, there was genuine dismay and sympathy, but further south people came out into the streets to rejoice. God really intervened and Sue was able to fly out as scheduled when all US airlines were grounded. She was one of the few U.S. passengers who managed to get on another airline. Both of us learned some important things that night and on this fifth anniversary, I thought I would share these.
1. My world perspective changed - the world became a smaller place somehow, with no nation out of range of evil, and no one nation could afford to be isolated. We need each other.
2. The ONLY safe place is to be where God wants you to be and to be walking close to Him.
3. There is no guarrantee of TOMORROW. Live today wisely, compassionately, generously.
4. Refuse to lose! Don't let evil destroy your PEACE, your ability to ENJOY life, your sense of humour, and above all, your sense of PURPOSE! As a Christian I know that my life is in God's hands - and that's the safest place I can be!
So on this Sept 11 I remember those who died in the towers and in the planes. I remember the bravery of the rescue forces and the incredible way they perservered untiringly until there could be nothing further done for those still lost. I remember the nations that trembled and the continuing changes that commenced on that day. But most of all I remember that God is my hiding place. Check out Psalm 18:1,2

Hello Melbourne!

It's a long flight home! Up early to do the last minute cleaning up of the room, check for stuff that shouldhave been packed, then head out to the airport. Surprisingly SEATAC is uncrowded - school is back in so maybe fewer families are travelling. Say good-byes and "See you in two weeks" to Sue who I will meet up with in Vienna, then onto my comuter flight to LA. Southwest is a great company to fly with...but my flight goes via Sacramento, more time spent sitting on the tarmac and at last into LA. In LA we change gates three times before finally taking off just 30 mins late. By now I have been up 16 hours and have a 13 hour flight to Auckland ahead of me followed by another 3 plus hours on to Melbourne. But God is good - the Air New Zealand plane is a new Boeing 767 and I have a spare seat next to me. The flight is smooth and soon the clouds and cold air of Melbourne greet me, along with my old friend Hilary who has met me EVERY time I return home. And there I am - back in my aging house and feeling as if hadn't left. It's a weird thing. I just left a place in Seattle that also felt like "home". Sets me wondering about heaven. Christians talk about it a lot...but not too many really want to get there 'just yet'. I think it's going to feel just like home...my REAL home....and I have a strong feeling that I won't have jet-lag when I finally make that trip! And speaking of jet-lag, bed sounds awfully good.........zzzzzzz.

Farewell Seattle!

The summer has just about ended in the US...although you wouldn't know it in Seattle as the temperatures are still touching 80 (high for here!) As I farewell friends, the nation is farewelling a much loved Aussie character - Steve Irwin. The TV today is full of the story of his bizarre and premature death (how else would the Crocodile Hunter depart but pursuing the thing he loved most- encounters with the wild). He has done more for tourism than any other Aussie, far outdoing Paul Hogan's "throw a shrimp on the barbie" image. Today every newschannel is covering the story on a half-hourly basis, playing and replaying interviews, comments from John Howard and wildfile experts. It is rivalling airspace for news on the Iraq war.
In an interview with Larry King, Steve talked about his ability with animals as "A gift that God placed inside me". Inspired by his father, who founded the Australian Zoo, he wrestled with snakes before he started school and caught his first croc at nine years of age. He was focused and pursued his goal to educate others on every possible angle of the animal kindgom. In another interview this week Tiger Woods shared on the deep relationship he had with his father, how focused he was from infancy to pursue golfing excellence and be "the best that I can be". His success has enabled him to open the Tiger Woods Learning Centre - a multi-media learning environment that will afford kids from lower income families to have access to a wonderland of educational resources. He says that this achievement is his greatest acheivement. And for recreation? He plays golf! He LOVES what he does, just as Steve LOVED what he did.
Which leads me to ask some important questions: What has God placed in my life to use for others? Do I have a passion to use that gift/s? Am I pursuing my passion? What brings me the greatest joy? Satisfaction? When I leave this world, will my life have been of benefit to others? Because that's what it's all about - using what God has given EACH ONE OF US for the purpose for which He has given it. How about you?