Sunday, November 18, 2012

Days 9 and 10


On Saturday, our team got to do something in Sarajevo that I have been hoping  to do on every trip. We drove over to the south side of the airport and visited a small, family-run museum. This family home is the end of the famous "Tunnel of Life". During the 3 year long siege of Sarajevo, the tunnel became the only connection Sarajevans had to the outside world. The tunnel took over 4 months to build, and stretches over half a mile. Through this tunnel flowed, troops, arms, food, water, and medicine. Many historians say that without the tunnel, dug by hand tools, Sarajevo would never have endured the siege. The tunnel to me represents the fierce resolve of the Bosnian people. They can and will do whatever they must do in order to survive. Pray that Bosnians will come to know Christ as the true tunnel (way) of life!

The rest of the day Saturday was spent on preparations for the open house, and then celebrating Thanksgiving with Bosnians at the open house. Around 150 people flowed through the doors of Izvor. People of all ages came- children and their families came for a kids program, high school students and their parents came to see a classes artwork on display, and many adult English students and members of the Evangelical church came as well. This was a great time of making new connections and renewing old friendships.
In this picture, you can see Vesna, the Izvor assistant, as well as a young girl named Zerina. Perhaps a few of you will remember her. Zerina was one of the very first contacts at Izvor as she and her brother came to a Kids English Camp our church presented in 2010. She has stayed connected ever since! It was great to see her again. She still remembered our English camp caricature "Surfer Sam."

For Sunday, our team split into two groups in order to attend two different churches. Jim Venable got to preach for the Ilidza church, while the other team members brought greetings to Pastor Slavko and the Kosevsko Brdo church. After a nice afternoon, we all gathered at the Malta church where Pastor Nick shared a message on our identity in Christ. Our team probably has the most connections in this church, so it was great to see so many familiar faces.

Please continue to pray for the Bosnian church. While this group is so full of life and zeal, the growth is very slow. People are so rooted in their culture and religions of their past that it is difficult for them to even consider Christ as a viable option. Pray that the church will stay encouraged to be light in darkness and show the glory of Jesus everywhere they go.

Thanks for partnering and praying!!
Team Bosnia 2012




Friday, November 16, 2012

Day 7/8- Sarajevo and Mostar

Hello again from the far side of the world!

After a week of classes in Mostar, we have rejoined the rest of our team back in Sarajevo. Here is a brief summary of the last two days...

When class ended Thursday afternoon, we headed out to a rural part of Mostar known as Rodoch. This area was once the industrial heart of the city, but the war in the 1990's left the area impoverished and broken. On the whole, it has recovered much slower than the rest of Mostar. But in this rural cluster of homes and dwellings live several members of the West Mostar Church. They have a real heart for their village, so the church has begun renovations on a building that will serve as an outreach and ministry center. As we prayed over this half-finished project, we truly sensed the power of God at work and a divine plan coming into place. Throughout history, God has used marginalized groups working from the fringes to change society. Pray that this small gathering of believers would shape the church in Mostar and in the whole country of Bosnia!

Friday morning was the final test for our three students. They appeared to have studied hard and took the test very seriously. They reported that it was neither hard nor easy. This felt like a success for Nick in his first shot at being the professor.  The three students are pictured here- Arnes, Aldin, and Miki, along with our translator Sanela. She was awesome to work with! Pray that these three men will continue in their schooling and be released one day as true leaders within the local church.

Our trip back to Sarajevo included a detour up to the camp Emek Baraka. (Valley of Blessing) It was amazing to see two things- the perimeter fence around the grounds is completed, and the outer work on the main house is nearly done. Both look amazing. As we wandered the grounds, we shook our heads in awe at the hard work our summer team and other locals put into digging the posts. Piles of white rocks still cover the ground at the base of each one. With the fence complete, you can also see how large the camp property is and what potential it has for growth. The main house is looking amazing. It will be a great center of ministry for many years to come. Pray that the work will continue as planned so that it will be open and in full swing for camp next summer. Pray that hundreds upon thousands of Bosnians would meet Christ at this camp. (PS- rumor has it that we are trying to put together a team for late spring/early summer to work on a camp construction project. If you like this rumor, please email pastor Nick ASAP!)

The gals have been busy in Sarajevo doing English one-on-ones, meeting local Bosnian women for coffee, and blessing Todd and Karen with a night out. Tomorrow is a big day. The team expects over 150 people will fill Izvor for the Thanksgiving open house. Pray for good connections and a good time. Tune in tomorrow for a full report.

Blessings-
Team Bosnia





Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Day 6- Mostar and Sarajevo

Thanks for your continued prayers for our team and for the people of Bosnia! We are nearing the halfway point of our trip, and we are all doing very well. We can feel the strength of your prayers on our behalf!                                  Here's an update from the gals in Sarajevo about their day on Tuesday: Today we had the opportunity to visit with some inspiring women. First  we met with Tanya, who has an amazing story of redemption from drug addiction and crime. She works at Celebrate Recovery, where many addicts and their families have seen their lives changed by Jesus.

We also had the privilege of visiting Asima, a 67-years-young Sarajevan woman. (She was featured in a video shown by the Eikosts last winter at EHA.) it was such a blessing to hear her remarkable story. She served us our first genuine Turkish coffee! She makes beautiful handcrafted items, and we pretty much cleaned out her jewelry inventory. Some of it will be available for our EHA family to purchase when we get back (if we don't decide to buy the rest ourselves).

Back in Mostar, Wednesday was another full day of class. Today, we walked through the history of sanctification in the church, and the different streams, or faith traditions, that have developed over time. I believe it was helpful for the Bosnian students to see both where their church tradition has come from, and how much they can learn from other traditions within Christianity.
After class, the gals came over from Sarajevo and we had time together as a team. We walked the beautiful cobblestone streets of Mostar and took many pictures of the famous "Stari Most", a walking bridge dividing the town. Following this, we had dinner with the Bosnian students at the Shady's home. This was a great time of story-telling and laughter- a good time for everyone to interact outside the classroom. In one picture, you will also see Zeljko, the cameraman fro Izvor. He came with the other half of our team to help shoot a video for our trip. Lord willing, you will see this video if you are at EHA this weekend.
Continue to pray for good interaction with the students, and for opportunities to encourage other believers after class hours. Pray for the gals in Sarajevo as they work at Izvor and do English one-on-one session.
Until tomorrow-
Team Bosnia 2012




Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Day 4/5- Sarajevo

Monday marked the start of our class on Sanctification at the Mostar Bible School. Mark Shady, the school director, was hopeful that we would have some students come on campus just for the week long module, but as this did not occur we are proceeding with the three students who are currently full-time students. You can be praying for Arnes, Mickey, and Aldin, the three young men pictured here. 
Class went well the first day. Following class, Mark and Vivianne Shady had us up to their home in West Mostar for dinner. There, we were joined by Pastor Carmello, who has led the West Mostar Church since 1994. He grew up in Croatia, but felt called by God during the war to come here. He is a fascinating, humble man. He maintains over 130 hives of honeybees as a way of supporting himself. Be praying for his wife who is in the hospital recovering this week from the removal of a tumor.

We received this report from the other half of our team back in Sarajevo:

This morning the three of us started the day at a wonderful prayer meeting at Ilidza Church with Elder Zeljko, his wife Vojka and two others from The church-owned second-hand stores. After a short  devotional about the one leper out of the ten coming back to thank Jesus for healing him, we had a great bilingual discussion about giving and receiving thanks and encouragement. We talked about the differences between American and Bosnian cultures. It was encouraging to us to learn that they admired our openness in expressing our gratitude to others.

We spent the rest of the morning helping Vojka's volunteers sort bags and bags and bags of clothing,getting them ready for sale at the two secondhand stores. They didn't entrust us with the breakable household items, saving that fun for themselves. Each time something was accidentally broken, they broke into song.

 We spent the rest of the afternoon at Izvor. June helped  out in the office and Sue sat in on an English one-on-one. Marian had coffee with a friend at the Bill Gates Cafe, which ironically does not have Internet.

Thanks June Hoover for keeping us posted on Sarajevo!




After our second day of class here in Mostar, we went up to visit this huge cross that sits atop the hillside near Mostar. It was from this position that the Croatian army, under the sign of the cross, bombed the Bosniak (muslim) east side of the river. As you can imagine, the city is still very divided, and the cross is a very misunderstood sign. For the Catholic Croatians, it is a defiant sign of their culture against the spires of the mosques. For the Bosniaks, it serves as a constant reminder of the hate and injustice fired on them which took the lives of so many they knew and loved. 

We took some time from this vantage point to pray that God would transform the meaning of the cross for them from a sign of hate and war to its true meaning of love, forgiveness and sacrifice.How do you talk about Jesus when this gigantic reminder of war is what they see hovering over their city day after day? This is the challenge for the church here- roughly 100 people in a city of 120,000. Only the power of God can transform hearts. Pray that He would do new things in this city!

We are doing well. Thanks so much for partnering with us through your prayers!

Bosnia 2012


Monday, November 12, 2012

Day 3- Sarajevo


On Sunday, the team headed out to West Sarajevo to take part in the church gathering at Ilidza. This small church meets in a tiny building- half a house. The man Nick is posing with below leads this small fellowship with great passion and grace. His name is Zeljko, and he has a challenging job! In addition to leading the church, he runs a small printing company right next door to help provide income. He also oversees the Second Hand Shop ministry this church has. A group of gals comes in each week to sort through clothes and household items, and then puts them up for sale in one of their 3 stores. Can you imagine a church of 9 or 10 people running 3 stores? That's what they do- all of this in an effort to reach Sarajevo with Christ's light. After several years of these efforts, the church has seen very little growth. They have had many positive contacts, but hearts are still resistant to the gospel. Please be praying for Zeljko, his wife Voika, and their small fellowship. 


After the church gathering, our team split up for the week. The gals will stay in Sarajevo and help out at a number of different events at Izvor and around Sarajevo. In fact, on Monday they will be helping sort clothes for the Second Hand Stores just mentioned.  I hope that you will get a first-person report from one of them later this week. Nick and the Venables headed further south and west to the city of Mostar. As you can see, the fall colors along the way were outstanding. Bosnia is a beautiful, beautiful country. It is so sad to see the scars of war all over this picturesque landscape. Perhaps one day you will come and see it with your own eyes.

Mostar is a city about 30 miles inland from the Aegean Sea. The weather is more temperate and the land produces great fruit and vineyards. This is also the location of the Mostar Bible School, the only Christian higher education option in the country. This week, Nick and Jim Venable will be teaching a class on spiritual formation to 4 or 5 Bosnian students. Please be praying for their connection with these future church leaders and for the effectiveness of the class.

Upon arrival in Mostar, we were able to participate in a church service with the West Mostar Church. This is another topic of prayer. This church of 40 or 50 meets on the east side of the river, even though they all live on the west side. They have owned property on the west side for over 10 years, but have been consistently blocked in their efforts to build due to government red-tape and opposition from neighbors. Pray that God would pave the way for Pastor Carmello and his group to get the permits they need to move forward.

After church, we strolled down a cobblestone street to one of the most awesome bridges  you will ever see. This bridge connects the Catholic west side to the Muslim east side. Please pray that Christ would become the bridge between these people as they are still very, very divided in spite of the physical bridge that connects them.

Prayer matters! Thanks for journeying with us-

Bosnia 2012




Saturday, November 10, 2012

Day 2- Sarajevo


Today was another great day in Bosnia! Several of the gals were able to help out at Izvor this morning with both a children's music class, and then with a card-making class later in the afternoon. During this time, I (Nick) was able to meet with one of the local Bosnian pastors. Over the last few trips, we have been building a great friendship with Pastor Sasa and the church at Malta. He and his wife Drina have led the church there for about 12 years. The work is often challenging, but God has used them in significant ways in this city. Keep them in your prayers. Right now, they are really in need of more leaders to step up and take some of the work load. The church did have an associate pastor, but he has had to open up a coffee shop and put in much of his time there in order to make ends meet for the family. This has put Pastor Sasa in need of more help. 

You can see from the shot above what an "outdoor" culture they have here in Sarajevo. The temperature today was hovering just below 50 degrees, and yet this outdoor cafe seating was packed at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Cold weather? No problem. Just drink coffee with your friends and you'll stay warm. At about this time, most of our team was warm and toasty inside Izvor as Sue (our friend from Salem) helped lead a writers workshop. A group of about 8 Sarajevans attend the class. Be praying for positive connections and follow up as part of this class.

Our team enjoyed a fun meal together inside an old hotel in downtown Sarajevo.
After dinner, DESSERT. I realized as I was choosing my plate of whipped sugar that I would never let my kids order this. It was like eating lemon meringue pie without the lemon. Mmm...can you say sugar induced coma?



 Thanks for your continued prayers for our team, and for all the people of Sarajevo. I continue to hear stories of challenges many of the churches and leaders have faced in this country over the past year. It really seems that evil has made a concerted push to discourage and dishearten the church. Pray that God would overcome the darkness and that His light would shine over this beautiful place.

Grateful for all of you-
Bosnia 2012



Friday, November 09, 2012

Day 1- Sarajevo

Greetings! We hope that you will check this blog several times in the next few weeks to get updates on our team in Bosnia, and to get specific ways you can be praying for us and for the people of Bosnia Herzegovina.

After a decent night of sleep (for most- one of the team members mistook advil for a sleep aid, tossing and turning all night. But at least she was pain free!), our team began our first full day in Bosnia. In the morning, Nick and Jim gathered with a group of international workers who meet each work for discussion and encouragement. After this, our whole team met for a brief orientation at Mark and Kathy Eikosts. 
Following our team meeting, we headed out with Todd Denius to a local park that overlooks part of Sarajevo. To me, this park captures the essence and spirit of the last 150 years or so of the Bosnian people. The park was original a fortress built during the Austria-Hungarian Empire in the late 1800's. During World War 2, the Nazis used this area as an execution site where many Jews were put to death and buried in mass graves. Under Tito and his communistic government, the area was transformed into a war memorial and park, with a wall listing the name of every Bosnian killed in that war. In the 90's, Serbian forces used this position as a strategic point from which to bombard the besieged city below. Today, the park is minimally maintained as the fountains sit dry, memorials are crumbling, and weeds have begun to take over. From this place that represents a great mix of pride and pain for the people, we prayed. We prayed that the God of peace would bring His peace to the hearts of the nation. 


Following our prayer gathering, we headed over to Izvor, the cultural center in downtown Sarajevo. It's good to see this space in full swing, as the team is in midst of preparation for an editing workshop and kids classes on Saturday, English classes during the week, and a Thanksgiving open house next Saturday. A local news station is even planning to come and film a member of our team about the editing seminar being put on by the Source.

And what would a day in downtown Sarajevo be without a trip to our favorite cevapi place? For those who may not be initiated to the tradition of cevapi, this is a sausage-like meat made from lamb and veal that gets tucked into a pita like flat bread, and is served along with onions and kaymak. (A salty, creamy kind of butter.) This is a heart attack waiting to happen. Most of the team order a small plate of 5. Pastor Nick ordered 15.
Please pray for the team as they continue to adjust to the time change. Pray also for the gals who will be helping out tomorrow at a Kids' reading class and a card-making craft session at Izvor. The guys will be meeting with a local pastor. Pray that our connections and conversations will be meaningful; encouraging believers, and displaying God's great love to seekers.

Peace-
Team Bosnia

Monday, November 05, 2012

Team Sarajevo!

Hey all-

This week, our team heads to Sarajevo, Bosnia for a 12-day trip of connecting with believers, preaching in churches, and teaching a class at the Mostar Bible College, the only Christian higher-education option in the country. We will also work alongside the Alliance team at Izvor, the cultural center in the heart of that great city.

Recently, author Philip Yancey toured Bosnia and Croatia as two of his most popular books were translated into those languages. I am re-posting his thoughts and observations for you to consider as our team prepares to leave. May these insights prompt you to pray and intercede for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovnia.


Be sure to check back during the next few weeks for updates on our trip and insights into what God is showing us!



This is from his official site, PhilipYancey.com:


Don’t Cry For Me, Sarajevo

On a book tour last month, as we were driving along the highway from Croatia to Bosnia, traffic came to a sudden stop near the border.  Car doors opened, drivers stepped outside for a smoke, and everyone speculated on what had caused the backup.  An accident?  Road work?  No, as it turned out: personnel were sweeping the adjacent fields for mines left over from the war that ended 17 years ago.  Welcome to the former Yugoslavia.  More than five million mines were planted during that war and they continue to maim or kill unsuspecting farmers, hikers, and children.

When we finally reached the border, the world abruptly changed.  A four-lane superhighway narrowed to a windy, potholed two-lane road.  Road signs now used both the Roman alphabet of Western Europe and the Cyrillic alphabet of the East.  Most obviously, every other house was vacant, its interior gutted by fire bombs, a relic of the Serbs’ ethnic cleansing campaign to force Croats and Bosnians from Serbian areas.
“Who owns these homes now?” I asked my Croatian host.  “Probably the people who were chased away and live somewhere else now.  But would you want to go back and reclaim a home in the same town where your neighbors raped your daughter and slit your wife’s throat?”
In Sarajevo, our destination, East and West meet on the same street.  Standing in the bazaar, if you look one direction you’d swear you were in Austria with its neat buildings, onion-dome churches, and sidewalk cafes; look the other direction and you’d think you were in Istanbul with its tea shops and covered Muslim women browsing in the spice market.  Indeed, not far from here bloody battles stopped Islam from taking over Europe centuries ago, and no one has forgotten.The Balkans dominated the news back in the 1990s.  International leaders stood by wringing their hands while the horrors of World War II seemed to be playing out again on miniature scale.  I could never keep the adversaries straight back then, much less pronounce them, and the villains seemed to change weekly.  Who can make sense of the former Yugoslavia?
Under communism Yugoslavia forced three major groups (as well as other minor tribes) to live together: Croatian Catholics, Orthodox Serbians, and Bosnian Muslims.  Before the 199os war Sarajevo had a large population of each; now the city is 90 percent Muslim, with greatly reduced Orthodox and Catholic populations and only a sprinkling of Protestants (perhaps 800 out of 400,000).
For just shy of four years Serbian soldiers who inherited most of the Yugoslavian army took up positions in the hills that surround Sarajevo and strangled the city in a brutal siege, the longest in modern times.  An average of 329 grenades rained down on the city every day, and on busy days ten times that number.  Snipers cruelly picked off easy targets: a seven-year-old Muslim girl, a 70-year old grandmother, a medical worker administering aid.  At least 11,000 civilians died during the siege, including 1600 children.  Bodies floated down the river that now picturesquely winds through town.  Cemeteries filled up so that the dead had to be buried in a soccer field just down from the site of the 1984 Olympics.
This was modern Europe, where such things were not supposed to happen again, especially not here, the exact site of the assassination of an archduke that triggered World War I.  But it did happen, for 1443 horrific days of bombardment on a city that had no electricity, no heat, gas, or telephone service.  (Imagine the inconveniences of those affected by Superstorm Sandy in the East, for four years, plus relentless bombardment.)  The main source of water was a brewery that generously opened its supplies to those brave enough to dare the snipers who fired down on them at will.
The residents of Sarajevo lived on a diet of beans, macaroni, and rice, humanitarian aid supplied largely by air from the UN and NATO forces who controlled the airport.  It took four months to dig a half-mile tunnel under open fields to the airport, and at night as many as 1000 Sarajevans crowded the tunnel to fetch the heavy loads of rations that kept them alive.  The entrance to the tunnel provided a new target to snipers, who targeted any who braved the run during daylight hours.
Few buildings have been fully repaired even today, 17 years after a cease-fire.  Most bear the scars of bullet holes and shrapnel.  Plaques mark the spots where grenades fell among civilians: 27 died on this corner, 40 in that pedestrian mall, 70 in a nearby food market.  I stayed in a Franciscan monastery, now restored, that had received 42 direct hits from grenades.
n the world exists only one human; everything else is statistics,” said Jorge Luis Borges.  Speaking with a few who had endured the siege, I heard some of their poignant stories:
• “For nine days in a row we ate plain pasta.  We had no spices, no meat, no flavoring.  My mother was so desperate for flavor that she went out and gathered grass to sprinkle in just to add a bit of variety and color.  When we got something different, like rice or powdered milk, we would throw a party.”
• “Without heat, we would burn anything at hand in the winter to stay warm.  I had a newborn baby, born in the midst of that hell.  We chopped up heirloom furniture with an ax.  You go numb after a while.  One Christmas a friend brought me a priceless gift: the dirt-covered root system of a tree he had found somewhere.  I cried.  I have never received a Christmas gift that meant so much, and I still have it.  I could not burn it.  I tell you with shame, that gesture moved me more than hearing that thirty more people died.”
• “The worst thing is, you get used to evil.  If we knew in advance how long it would last, we would probably have killed ourselves.  Over time, you stop caring.  You just try to keep living.”
• “I have two brothers.  One joined the Muslim army to fight against the siege.  One escaped and served with the Croatians.  My sister was married to a Serb, who was conscripted to serve with the forces besieging us.  So many marriages were mixed like that—Serb/Croatian, Croatian/Bosnian, Bosnian/Serb—and many of them broke apart.”
• “Why such brutality?  These were our friends, our neighbors, now shooting at us, blowing up our homes.  Hannah Arendt writes about the banality of evil.  The biggest criminals were nice fathers and husbands, people I knew.  They were like the Nazis who would gas Jews in the day and then go home and listen to concerts with their families.”
Croatia was the first region to resist the Serbs, who sought a Greater Serbia comprising most of the former Yugoslavia.  The Croats had no army to speak of, just a few tanks left over from World War II and a handful of planes used for crop-dusting.  Improvising, they learned to drop propane tanks and water heaters out of the crop dusters onto Serbian forces.  To get around an international arms embargo, they released some  Mafia-type gangsters from prison, gave them trucks full of money, and commissioned them to find a black market in weapons.  (As a reward, some of these criminals now hold high government posts.)
Dubrovnic, Srebenica, Vukovar—these names stand out as sites of the worst brutality, crimes that are even now being tried before the International Criminal Court.  More than 100,000 people died in the wars.  In Srebenica Serbs rounded up every male over the age of fifteen, 8000 in all, tied their hands behind their backs, and shot them.  Workers are still digging up the mass graves in an attempt to identify the bodies.
To read the eyewitness reports from the international court in the Hague is to read a litany of horrors: of pregnant women cut open, their unborn babies smashed with rifle butts; of gang rapes of girls as young as nine; of toddlers decapitated, their heads placed in their mothers’ laps.  There is only one explanation for what happened, one Bosnian told me: “God overslept.”
I came across this poster promoting my talk on suffering posted in a Zagreb bar window!
I came to this part of the world because two of my books, Where Is God When It Hurts and What’s So Amazing About Grace, had just been published in the Croatian and Bosnian language.  I had prepared talks on grace, informed in large part by the splendid work of the Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf, a faculty member first at Fuller Seminary and now Yale Divinity School.  With one exception, however, I was asked to speak on suffering, not on grace.  When I asked, “Are you ready for reconciliation,” not one person answered Yes.  The wounds are at once too fresh and too old, for these disputes go back more than seven centuries.  “Every compromise is defeat,” said one Serbian leader.  And another: “Any reconciliation is betrayal.”
To be sure, all sides shared guilt, not just the Serbs. Two Croatian generals were sentenced for their crimes, and mujaheddin fighting with Bosnians and Albanians fighting in Kosovo also committed atrocities. Though the war ended, in part because of NATO bombing and the Dayton Peace Accords, the disputes have not ended. The one nation of Yugoslavia split into seven: Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Slovenia. Serbians ended up with the largest share of territory, but ethnic minorities remain in each country, including a “Serbian Republic” within the borders of Bosnia. Conflict in the Balkans could erupt up again.
Today Syria dominates the news, with a reprise of the kinds of atrocities I heard about firsthand.  It happened in Rwanda, of course, and continues today in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Nigeria.  I could not help thinking of Gandhi’s remark that if you take the principle “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” to its logical conclusion, eventually the whole world will go blind and toothless.  I have never visited a place in such need of grace and forgiveness, and yet so resistant to it.
One afternoon in Sarajevo we were escorted by a cheerful Franciscan monk named Ivo Markovic.  He took us first to the Jewish cemetery on a hill high above the city, one of the main lookout posts for Serbian snipers.  Every grave had been marred in some way, pockmarked by bullets, gravestones overturned.  I had read of Markovic in Miroslav Volf’s book Free of Charge.  In his village, Muslim Bosnians were the villains, massacring 21 men including nine members of his family—all senior citizens, his 71-year-old father the youngest of them.
The Franciscans lost most of their church members as Catholics moved out of Sarajevo. Yet the monastery stayed behind, leading the frail peace movement and distributing food and practical help. After the war stopped, Father Markovic visited his home village. I will let Volf tell the story:
Occupying the house in which his brother used to live was a fierce Muslim woman. He (Markovic) was warned not to go there because she brandished a rifle to protect her new home. He went anyway. As he approached the house she was waiting for him, cigarette in her mouth and rifle cocked. She barked: “Go away or I’ll shoot you.” “No, you won’t shoot me,” said Father Markovic in a gentle but firm voice, “you’ll make a cup of coffee for me.” She stared at him for a while, then slowly put the rifle down and went to the kitchen. Taking the last bit of coffee she had, she mixed in some already used grounds to make enough coffee for two cups. And they, deadly enemies, began to talk as they partook in the ancient ritual of hospitality: drinking coffee together. She told him of her loneliness, of the home she had lost, of the son who never returned from the battlefield. When Father Markovic returned a month later she told him: “I rejoice at seeing you as much as if my son had returned home.”
Did they talk about forgiveness? I don’t know. And in a sense, it doesn’t matter. He, the victim, came to her asking for her hospitality in his brother’s home, which she unrightfully possessed. And she responded. Though she greeted him with a rifle, she gave him a gift and came to rejoice at his presence. The humble, tenuous beginnings of a journey toward embrace were enacted through a ritual of coffee drinking. If the journey continues, it will lead through the difficult terrain of forgiveness.
ur last day in Croatia we toured an odd tourist site that has gained acclaim for its originality. It mainly displays items donated by lovers who have broken up. Some are nostalgic: a wedding dress, the chiffon top worn the night he told her it’s over, the sticky roller he used to remove her cat’s hair. Others are bitter: an ax used to chop up her music collection, a framed photo shattered into pieces, the side mirror of his car that she broke off when she found it parked in front of a rival’s apartment. A few items refer to other kinds of broken relationships, such as the a Newsweek cover featuring Barack Obama with the note, “I really wanted it to work out.”
The Museum of Broken Relationships, it’s called, and I can’t think of a more appropriate symbol for that part of the world. A visit to the Balkans gives a stark picture of what can happen among human beings apart from grace. As I wrote in What’s So Amazing About Grace?
If you ask a bomb-throwing teenager in Northern Ireland or a machete-wielding soldier in Rwanda or a sniper in the former Yugoslavia why they are killing, they may not even know. Ireland is still seeking revenge for atrocities Oliver Cromwell committed in the seventeenth century; Rwanda and Burundi are carrying on tribal wars that extend long past anyone’s memory; Yugoslavia is avenging memories from World War II and trying to prevent a replay of what happened six centuries ago. Ungrace plays like the background static of life for families, nations, and institutions. It is, sadly, our natural human state.
This entry was posted in Blog. Bookmark the permalink
 
Peace and Joy-
Pastor Nick

Monday, March 26, 2012

Clarity - Clear the Decks by Mary Hagle

As I prepared for the Lenten season this year, I anticipated that I knew what God would be asking me to go without, given my non-ending struggle with eating sweets. So easy to identify, as it’s "ever before me".

Imagine my amazement when instead He asked me to give up my "to-do" list! This invitation came at the end of a series of events and reflections that helped me to see that I was trying to "force God’s hand" to do what I wanted done, not what He had scheduled for me.

I got instructed to be obedient, instead, in surrendering my will once again. This resulted in getting my hands off of my life, giving it back to Him, and experiencing a Lenten season of "play" and "reflection". I can meditate, study and journal, but the rest of my "free" time is to be spent "playing" with several art projects I’ve been postponing while I pursued what I thought was His plan for my life right now.

If you’re a compulsive list-maker, like me, you will know exactly what I mean. I can make those lists, baby! I can whip out ten things "to do" in a second, with a little square box in front of each item, so I can check them off when they’re done.

No big deal, you say? What’s wrong with being organized? Shouldn’t we be diligent?

Sure. But, what if I told you that when I surrendered compulsively making to-do lists, and my uncommitted time felt wide open and empty, and I was "playing" and "meditating", the realization came that I was unconsciously bringing all those completed tasks to God as a way of earning His love and approval.

Trying to earn His love is an impossible task. He cannot reward my motive, because it would keep me from his unconditional love.

When I can sit quietly, working on my current stained glass painting project, enjoying the creative process, losing track of time and making dinner preparation late because of it, I can recognize that I haven’t done anything today (or any day) to earn His love, acceptance and forgiveness.

What a blessed season of surrender are these Lenten days. My prayer for you is that you have been led to letting go of whatever you need to in order to prepare your hearts for Good Friday so you can really celebrate Easter.

We grow as we share.

Mary Hagle

Editor, The House

An Urge to Focus on Christ


One recent morning during my "quiet time," my eyes were drawn to the small corner of the window that actually has a view (the rest of the window is obstructed by a storage trailer). I noticed some movement and discovered a deer eating in our yard. I watched her as she stayed for an hour or more. Later in the day I happened to look out as two more deer walked through the yard. Since moving to our country home, watching the deer and recognizing how God cares for them has been a great joy and comfort for me. But in the last few months the deer seemed to have vanished. I missed them and wondered how they had fared through the winter. Especially in the last few days, my heart had ached to see them. So when God planted the deer in the only space visible from my perch in the family room, I was immediately overwhelmed with a sense of his care and compassion for me and his desire to speak to the needs of my heart.
You see, several years ago I experienced four major losses in a two year period, including the loss of my son and the loss of a job for which I was sure God had designed me. And, although God was my comfort and sufficiency during those times, over the last few years I had begun to feel less intimacy with my Creator and Savior. I sensed myself withdrawing and attempting to protect myself; not losing faith in a sovereign, loving God, but also not trusting him to fully care for me. I hungered for the intimacy I once felt and prayed for God to draw me to himself once again. My prayer had been Psalm 41:1, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God."
So when Pastor Nick suggested a Lenten experience, I was immediately on board. What to give up was a no-brainer. Being unemployed and a procrastinator, I had spent hours playing free cell and spider solitaire on the computer instead of listening to God or filling out job applications. As a compulsive problem solver, I knew the computer games gave me a sense of control; "If I don’t win this game, I can play it again and win it the second or third time." And control makes me feel safer. So, I decided whenever I had the impulse to play a game, instead I would turn to God and willfully submit to his solutions for my life. Meditating on and trying to grasp the grandness of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice as the solution to my broken relationship with God would replace the mindless puzzle solutions. Focusing on his past faithfulness and provisions would confront my need to control. Choosing to trust him completely and become totally vulnerable to his control would lead me to intimacy with him. This Lent season I am intentionally and diligently on that journey.
It has not been as easy as you would think and I have not done it perfectly. Waiting for something to download on the computer provides time for a "quick" game, and there are all kinds of other puzzles that call for my solution: jigzone.com, daily crossword, and Sudoku. But as I say, "no" to the puzzle and, "yes" to spending more time focusing on the Easter message and God’s past mercies, I am experiencing more and more of God’s presence and love. The deer outside my window (and God’s nudge to look out the window) was a wonderful expression of his love for me and his desire for me to fully experience that love. My heart is being drawn more and more to intimacy with him. Psalm 42:2 and 11 go on to say: "I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and stand before him? . . . I will put my hope in God. I will praise him again – my Savior and my God."
And so, I am excited to celebrate Easter this year, not because Lent will be over, but because of the hope of the resurrection; because the tomb is empty and my God can be trusted. Life will continue to have pain and the future to be uncertain, but I will continue to focus my eyes on God and his past mercies to me. Sarah Young in Jesus Calling (p.54) speaks in Jesus’ voice when she says, "Keeping your eyes on Me is the same thing as trusting Me." So I am thankful for the urges to play a game because they remind me to refocus my eyes on Christ. The journey to deeper trust and intimacy will continue long after the Easter Sunday and praise will be my companion.

Why Lent? by Nick Stumbo

Last year, our church decided to observe a season of Lent for the first time. Everyone got into it so much that we decided to have a second go around this year.

The idea of Lent can be confusing, especially for those of us that may have come from either non-traditional or non-religious backgrounds. The idea of intentionally going without something that we enjoy really runs counter to the way the rest of our life works. I talked to one gal, though, who actually told me she couldn't wait for Lent to start. Her comment was, "It's so different from everything else I do. Everywhere else I am looking to add things and maximize my life. Lent is a way that I let go and simplify in order to find more of Christ."

Her statement rings with truth. We live in a day and age where we are encouraged, if not instructed, to get as much as we can that will add joy, comfort, ease, or satisfaction to our day-to-day experience. In a world of iPads and Apps, Tablets and tweets, we are programmed to ask "Can I?" and rarely do we ever pause to say, "Should I?" And so when we intentionally choose to deny ourselves something, it feels...well, for lack of a better word...weird. We are so hooked into the world around us that disconnecting can actually be described as painful. (My sister-in-law posted about this experience recently. I think you'd enjoy her post: http://www.elliestumbo.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-sold-my-life-to-social-mediaand-i.html)

Ironically, instead of asking "Why Lent?", we should be asking, "Why everything else?" Why isn't every day, every week, spent in a deep focus on the life, suffering, resurrection and glorification of Christ? Why do I need a special season to concentrate on this? Shouldn't this be a powerful suggestion to my soul that I have allowed too much "stuff" to creep in and sponge up my energy, my time and my attention? Why am I so geared to gaining for myself that the practice of denying for Him seems foreign?

So we have chosen to observe Lent, not because stuff is bad, but because Jesus is so good. And unless we walk daily in an awareness of His goodness and in constant communion with His love, we miss out on all the goodness He wants to pour out on us.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

May Christ be at home in your life as you journey on-
Nick

No Longer Driving Through Drive Through!

My first reaction to observing Lent was, "great,. What am I going to give up this year?". Being a perfectionist makes that a difficult choice. It has to be the right thing!

But then it came to me, "Fast Food"? I wrestled with that for a few days. Was it good enough? Did it make sense? Was this what I really needed to do?

The answer…. YES!!!!! See, I was getting into the habit of eating out for breakfast and lunch almost every day of the week. So, I decided this was it and went for it. On February 24 I had a Whopper Combo Meal for dinner, saying goodbye and all that; it tasted okay but was nothing special. I quickly decided that I needed to add that anything that had a drive through counted. No espresso drive through!

What have I learned these past 3 weeks? Eating fast food is very expensive and makes it all that much more difficult to make ends meet. I don’t feel as bogged down or sluggish by all the salt intake so I have more energy. I have also noticed that if I am not driving to or sitting in a drive through that my gas tank doesn’t empty quite as fast.

This Lenten year, I feel like God is showing me just how badly I have been treating the house my soul is trying to live in. What kind of example am I setting for my teens? OUCH!!!! That He has so much He wants to give me, but if I am burying everything under all that garbage, that He is under there somewhere. This year God has given me strength to think about what I am putting in my face. Am I eating to live or living to eat? As I am writing this, the Holy Spirit is whispering to me… how great would it be to have a new body here on earth as it will be in Heaven? I am thinking…..BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Intentionality - I can really identify with those sleepy disciples! by Mary Hagle

Mark 14:36-38

36And He was saying, Abba, [which means] Father, everything is possible for You. Take away this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You [will].

37And He came back and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Have you not the strength to keep awake and watch [with Me for] one hour?

38Keep awake and watch and pray [constantly], that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Amplified Bible



I long for purpose and direction. I want it to matter, that I’ve been here. I get some clarity, and the excitement of confirmation. He DOES has a plan for my life! I share my insights with a trusted friend or two, and look for confirmation in my daily study and walk, and get it.

I make plans around His plan, and I have my marching orders. And then, the work phase comes. (I am remembering Chevy Chase in "Funny Farm". He is a newspaper sports writer who takes an advance on his unwritten novel, quits the newspaper, and moves to Vermont with his wife.

There are a lot of hilarious scenes as they try to "settle in" but let me fast-forward to his having done all the busyness of setting up his writing space in his new home. The desk is by the window; all the pencils are sharpened, the paper is in the typewriter.)


And then, the work phase comes.

The inspiration and excitement to begin is done. It’s just me, God, and the task He’s given me. And, my rebellious will sets its proverbial feet, and doesn’t want to do the work, or pray for "dunamis" (from dunamai = to be able, to have power.) It refers to intrinsic power or inherent ability, the power or ability to carry out some function, the potential for functioning in some way (power, might, strength, ability, capability), the power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or be obedient.
I find a myriad of "other" "good" tasks, and get them done. Then, I meet with my friend, who knows about my assignment, asks about my progress, and I am undone.

J. Hudson Taylor affirmed this axiom for every Christian worker... "Depend upon it. God's work done in God's way will never lack supplies. All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them. God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him."

So, there’s nothing for it but to press forward, to acknowledge my weakness and rebelliousness, and fall helplessly before Him, ask forgiveness, and get over the fact that trying to do work inspired by Him is NEVER going to be done well in my power and strength, but His.

If you are facing a similar circumstance, my prayer for you is that you get alone with Him, restore the right order of this process, and find yourself here: The Lord God is my strength,
and he will make my feet like Hinds’ Feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine High Places. Habakkuk 3:19

Like the disciples, we have available God’s power to be used for His glory and purpose. I am determined to be intentional in the opportunities I have been given. Google dunamis . . . there are 37 pages of description at this website of what God’s power means for the Christian: http://www.preceptaustin.org/2_timothy_17.htm

Mary Hagle

Editor,
The House

We grow as we share.

Is My Christian Experience Normal? by Jim Venable

I have asked myself that question often throughout my life in reference to a number of different stimuli. One of the first times was years ago when I read Watchman Nee’s book. "The Normal Christian Life". If you have read this, or any number of other books, I imagine you have joined me in my painful awareness that my day-to-day Christian experience does not, in most instances, align with the Christian walk God intends us to experience as normal or average.

About a year ago Lora and I were jolted once more with the realization that what we are living is a faint shadow of what God desires, perhaps demands. This is after years of walking a disciplined life, while recognizing and trying to share the insights God has deposited in us regarding hunger for spiritual maturity. In general, we were, and are, students under His tutelage.

On the heels of the "Monday Night Live" series studying "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan our daughter pointed us in the direction of another book with a similar focus. The book is called "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream" by David Platt. The journey initiated by our reading this book has been both scary and exhilarating. We are learning to use the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19, 20) against the backdrop of Matthew 10 as God’s plumb line for us as we become disciple-making disciples. If we are not serious disciples and serious disciple-makers, is it possible we are not disciples at all?

Three examples from the book stand out to me:

David Platt’s large Birmingham, Alabama church conducts what they call "Secret Church" patterned after clandestine house-church meetings in Asia. They meet every Friday night from 6:00 PM to Midnight to study the Word. There is no coffee, no music, no sound system, no publicity, and no computer aided materials. They apparently must turn away people and never finish on time (pages 27-28).

At an Indonesian seminary senior students must plant a church with a membership of 30 converts as a prerequisite for graduation. Two members of a recent class were martyred (page 43).

As David teaches in Sudan believers record every word to accurately share the teaching in order to reproduce their faith in others (pages 101-102).

As a result, we have accepted the challenge extended in the book. We have embarked on a one-year journey to do the following:

Read the entire Bible in a year

Pray for the whole world in a year

Give sacrificially towards a specific disciple making objective

Go on a mission endeavor aligned with the financial giving

Be intimately integrated in a faith community dedicated to taking disciple-making faith risks.

We are about half way through this life altering trip. We have experienced incredible connections. We have made some serious, perhaps long term, changes to our family financial planning. We have had to re-think what the rest of our lives might look like.

It is possible that finally our lives are beginning to look "normal" from God’s perspective.

Pastor's Corner by Nick Stumbo

The theme of this month’s HOUSE is about being intentional. How do we stay spiritually awake and vibrant in a day and age where lethargy and consumerism of the soul are commonplace? I appreciate Jim Venable very much for his willingness to share about the journey that they have been on; a commitment that forces them to be intentional. I know that many others of you are on a journey where you have intentionally built great discipline into your life, and for that I applaud you!

As I think about intentionality, two thoughts come to mind. First off, I believe that all of us, on some level or another, really want to be intentional. We want to move with precision and purpose, knowing what to do and when to do it. We desire that sense of each new day fitting into the greater picture of an overall progression in our life, like a series of musical notes moving together in harmony. If our kids are out of control, we want to be intentional to create the kind of structure they need to succeed. If our finances are upside down, we want an intentional plan to right the ship. If our life of faith feels dim, we want patterns and spiritual disciplines that draw us close to the Savior.

I say we want these things. We desire to be intentional. But then, we actually attempt to be intentional. And as my experience usually reveals, we find a most interesting dynamic at work. This led to my second observation: being intentional is hard work! All of these ideas and thoughts we have about intentionality look good on paper and sound great over a cup of coffee, but put into practice…well… that requires effort, energy, and perseverance, doesn’t it? Everyone wants financial peace, but to actually quit spending in order to get there can be a real pain. We want our children to behave, but to actually say "no" to them and set hard boundaries is a real challenge. I want my spiritual life to be vibrant and bright, but to actually get up early or make space for it disrupts my happy routine! What to do?

As we live in this tension between the intentionality that we desire and the ability to actually put it into practice, let me offer these four words of advice:

1. You have to be CLEAR. Plans fail more often than not because of too much ambiguity. We know in general where we want to change, but this will not create change. As you can see in Jim’s article, the book Radical gives a very clear plan. Your plan doesn’t necessarily need to be specific to the last detail, but it must be clear. So, for example, if you want to grow in your faith, it is far too vague to say "I will spend more time with God." Okay, great. When? What does "more" mean? It would be far more helpful to say "I want to spend 20 minutes each morning reading Scripture and in prayer." Whether it’s parenting, finances, or faith, a clear plan will get you going.

2. You must have SUPPORT. We tend to have very individualistic mindsets. This means, we think that if we make up our minds to do something, this will be good enough to get it done. Not necessarily so. Think of the frustration that will ensue if one spouse has made a parenting or finances plan, but the other spouse is either unaware or unsupportive. This is where we get the phrase, "beating your head against a wall." The significant people in our lives, particularly those who will be affected by our decisions, must be aware of and on board with our plan to be intentional. Do you need to get up earlier? Then make sure your spouse or kids or friends are a part of the plan and can help you carry through.

3. You need to be ACCOUNTABLE. We might be tempted to think that support and accountability are one and the same. They can be, but that’s not always the case. Let me put it this way. If I have a plan to get up at a certain time each day, I will definitely need my wife’s support. But it may not be healthy for her to keep me accountable. This could create an unhealthy dynamic in the relationship where her questions or accountability might feel more like judgment or criticism. You need to give someone the permission to keep you accountable and be very specific about what their role will be. One other note: it is not good to tell someone else, "Check up on me and see how I’m doing." In this statement, we put the responsibility for accountability on them, rather than on ourselves. We need to take the personal responsibility for our own change. It is far better to say, "I will call you on such and such a day and tell you how it’s going. Would that be okay?"

4. You must have GRACE. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard of people’s change efforts coming to a screeching halt because they failed one time. Why do we think that as flawed human beings if we decide to change, it will happen immediately? The reality is, we are still the same flawed human beings, and even our attempts at change for the good will be flawed! That’s the nature of change. Pick yourself up and start over again. Realize that God sees your heart and loves your desire to do what’s right. Set aside guilt and shame and keep moving forward after a misstep. Change is the result of consistent, intentional effort made in the same direction over time. Perfection is not required.

May God bless you and strengthen you during this Lent season. Whatever change goals you are pursuing, may you find his Presence giving you all that you need.