A Life Changed

Two weeks ago today Linda and I returned from Budapest.  It has been a whirlwind to return at the start of the Christmas Season.  Our time has been filled with family and holiday activity.  With the holidays and the newness of our return over I finally have had some time to reflect on what happened in our lives over the last 5 months in Budapest.

How do you summarize a life changing experience in just a couple of paragraphs?  Let me start by encouraging anyone who has ever thought of stepping out in faith to serve God in the “fourth quarter” of your life.  If you feel God calling you to a task you always wanted to do, “Do It”.  I am confident that God will provide whatever grace you need to accomplish what He has set out before you.  My time in the classroom was an indescribable blessing to me.  What an awesome opportunity Linda and I were given to be part of the lives of the students and staff at The International Christian School of Budapest.  I will greatly miss the day-to-day interaction with students, and colleagues who love the Lord Jesus and have been called to serve Him at ICSB.  What a wonderful privilege it was to take a journey through God’s Word with the 6th and 7th graders.  I miss you!

Where do we begin to say thank you for so much and to so many for making this ministry opportunity possible.  Thank you to Larry and Nancy Milks for providing a home for us to live in, and use for ministry.  Thank you to David Welsh, the ICSB school director and to Laurie Dickason, our principal, for your encouragement and support.  Thank you to the community of believers at The Danube International Church for embracing us and making us feel so welcomed and at home.  Thank you to our many friends and ministry partners at KEGy.  Thank you to the leaders of the ReachGlobal community for your inclusion of us at many events.  Thanks to our Tuesday evening English Class for good times and your friendship.  Thanks to my Tuesday morning men’s group for your sharing and insights to living a resilient life.  What a blessing it was to serve and live along side so many committed to the advancement of the Gospel in Hungary, a country and people we have grown to love.

As I close this post I would like to leave a word of encouragement to my students from the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”  I am praying that his would be a reality in each of your lives that you would love God and follow Him, with power, because you believe this Gospel and want to be a witness to those who do not know the Lord Jesus.

Blessings to All!

First Day of Final Exams

Today was the first time the 6th graders experienced “final exams”.  Final exams are a big deal in your first year of Middle School.  Monday was the last day of teaching new material and; Moses died on Monday.  Next semester the new bible teacher will pick up as Joshua becomes the new leader of the wandering children of Israel.

We spent the rest of the week reviewing the journey we have been on together as a class.  It is a journey we started at the beginning of the book of Genesis.  From Creation to the end of Moses’ life we have been on a journey with whistle stops along the way as God continued to reveal himself to mankind with the promise of redemption.  All the great characters of the Bible are helping to paint a picture that God wants us to know about Himself and his relationship to mankind.  The students are learning that it is a journey that eventually ends at the foot of the cross and Jesus’ resurrection.

What a privilege God has granted me to be with these energized and great kids during this semester.  Middle school is that time when one just begins to step out and look at one’s self and start the process of building “me”.  Thank you Lord Jesus for letting me be part of that process as these kids begin the journey of self discovery.

After the final test was finished and the pencils and pens laid down we ended our time together as a class reading John 3:1-21.  Jesus’ time with Nicodemus and Jesus’ explanation of being “reborn”.  Jesus told Nicodemus it is not enough to “know” everything, we must be born again.  We as a class spent a lot of time learning and knowing but in the end, it is not enough to “only know”.  We must be born again in the spirit.   As I leave Hungary and my class, this is my prayer; that each of these students will experience the difference between knowing and believing, and be as Jesus said, “born again”.

The “Class of 2011″

That is the nickname I have given to the group of teachers that started teaching this fall at The International Christian School of Budapest.

For students it is easily calculated which year they will graduate and be a member of that class.  For teachers it is a little different.  Each of the teachers pictured have answered God’s call in their life to come and serve in Budapest. How long that call may last is unknown, except for Linda and I.  But we do know when for each of us the  call started, hence the “Class of  2011″.

For Linda and I that time is ending on December 22 as we head back to Chicago to be home with family and friends for Christmas.  We have come to love our team mates at ICSB and will miss them.  It has been a wonderful time serving students, missionary families and the ICSB community.

Tonight Ingrid Peck hosted a kind of “farewell dinner” for Linda and I.  The teachers in the picture have answered God’s call and have come from across the United States and Canada.  Ordinary people from California, Arizona, Texas, Kansas, Minnesota, Illinois and British Columbia each heard God calling them to serve in Budapest and have been obedient to that call.  We have listened to their testimonies as each has shared with the staff of ICSB.   The stories are different and yet the same.  People who love the Lord Jesus and want to serve him with the gifts they have been given.  What an awesome place it has been to serve alongside this committed group of young people.  Please pray that each of us finishes our first semester strong.  Give thanks for these young men and women who have been faithful to God’s leading in their life and for their ministry of service at ICSB.

Advent in Europe

To be sure the beginning of Advent seems to get more attention than in the USA.  It begins the opening of Christkindl Markets and the turning on of decorative lights in towns and cities across Europe.  No problem mixing Christmas with the secular world as Advent is celebrated openly and manger scenes dot public meeting places and city halls.  In Diosd, the town in which we live in Hungary, there is an advent service in the city hall each Sunday at 5:00pm.  Our school, The International Christian School of Budapest, was asked to do the service for the third Sunday in Advent.  It is a big honor and our school gladly participates and relishes the opportunity to share in the proclamation of the coming of the Saviour.

As an American Christian that sees the banishment of Christian symbols in the public sector, it seems ironic that in Europe the religious symbols of Christian faith are openly embraced but not personal Christian faith.  Advent in many places of Europe is part of the public process of celebrating the “holiday season” but not part of a personal relationship with the Saviour whose coming and birth is being remembered in Advent.  Advent is certainly part of culture but not part of a personal experience with a Living God.

What a joy it was to be with believers in Germany on the first Sunday of Advent.  Linda and I were with our friends Andreas and Magi at their church, The Free Evangelical Church of Germany in Germering, Germany.  The pastor reminded the congregation of the significance of Advent and the time to renew ourselves with the wonder of the coming of the Saviour.  He encouraged us all that as we opened the little doors of the Advent calendars that we reflect on each day opening up our hearts to the Saviour and to resolve to be more like Christ.  An outstanding message for the hope of renewal that the birth of Jesus brings to all of mankind.

All across Europe are the permitted visible symbols of Christian Religion but which lack vitality and impact in culture because of the missing participation of Christian Faith in the Saviour.  Pray with the believers here that there might be a revival of faith in Jesus that can changes the lives of men and women across the continent.

7th Graders Know How to Connect the Dots

This semester we have been having a great time examining the start of the nation

7th Grade

of Israel with the end of the rule of judges and the start of united tribes ruled by kings.  In some ways it has been a messy journey as we have discovered that choice of being led by kings was not all as clamorous as the children of Israel hoped it would be.  Even David, the man after God’s own heart, is a picture of struggles, triumphs and in the end disappointment.  We have studied a nation who is in rebellion with the One who loves her, and chose her above all nations.  Our journey is not over as we will end the term with the time of captivity and restoration.

What has been impressive is how our students are starting to make the connection between the behavior of a nation and that of our own individual responses to God’s call in our lives for obedience and faithfulness.  It has been wonderful to see many of the students connect the dots of individual Bible stories to see a bigger picture that leads to the cross of Christ and our own personal journeys of faith and salvation.  They are beginning to see that our God is not some distant far off concept but is an up close and personal God that wants a relationship with those that He created in his own image.

We have one month left together in the class room.  Would you pray with me that each student may grow in their journey to know who God is their life.  For many of our students they are hearing these events of the Bible for the first time.  Pray that they would grow in their hunger to know the God of the Bible.

Someone You Should Know

Ionel Zaharie going "door to door"

This past week in ran into a friend I had made in Albania last spring.  His name is Ionel Zaharie and he is the country leader for Campus Crusade for Christ in Romania.   We met in the CCC office in Tirana while he was on training assignment for new country leaders.  We sat together during the college night meeting on a Thursday evening.  190 young college students all from Muslim backgrounds.  We were told that 60% of them were believers and 40% were their friends who were there to found out what was changing their friends lives.  It was one of the most exciting evenings I have had the privilege to be a part of.  There we were, a guy from Chicago and a guy from Bucharest witnessing the Gospel at work.  We were friends for life.

Ionel and his staff distributing a new issue of Fitzuica, their college aged magazine

During the last year we have been in contact with each other via email.  He sends out some of the most exciting and encouraging newsletters regarding the work of his team as they encourage young men and women on college campuses to examine their lives and help them on a spiritual journey to discover who Jesus is and the difference Christ will make in their lives. Ionel is back at the Europe area office for CCC in Budapest for additional training for his position of country leader.  At a break time lunch he shared with me the vision they have to develop relationships with students in order that they may have the opportunity to have a Bible study with them and help them to understand the God of the Bible.

Ionel at a downtown Bucharest Business Lunch to discuss how honesty is incorporated into everyday business dealings

Recently they have also started a ministry to reach business men and women for Christ.  In conjunction with Crown Financial Ministries they have started a program to introduce ethics into everyday business conduct.  This is a real challenge in many of the Eastern European countries who are still shaking off the effects of communism.  The lack of honest and ethical business behavior is a real threat to these developing economies.  Pray with me that Ionel and his team may have success in introducing the business community of Bucharest to the God that can change lives and how they are lived.

What a special blessing God has granted me to get to meet and know men like Ionel.

Ionel Zaharie, a real Kingdom Worker and someone you should know.

Tags: bucharest business, everyday business dealings

“Zoom In-Zoom Out” — “Zoom In-Zoom Out”

Today in 7th Grade Christian Studies we went on an “internet geography tour”  to make a point about Scripture.  Let me explain.

Our Christian Studies Room 203E recently had a digital overhead projector installed which is connected to my computer in the classroom.  It is a wonderful tool to help bring modernity to the study of the Old Testament.  Today we took a trip to my office in Palatine, IL via Google Maps as we typed in the street address.  Boom there we were with a bird’s-eye and street view of my office in America.  My car was in its parking space in the parking lot, but I was not there, and by changing street level camera views we were able to determine many things.

First we could tell by the absence of traffic on a busy street with full day light that it was early morning.  As we panned the sky we could see the brightness of the sun and make a definite determination that it was morning and which direction was east.  Upon close examination  we found many things that upon first view were not easily found.  We then panned out further and further.  Soon we saw Lake Michigan and the surrounding states.  We continued our trip moving eastward across North American, the Atlantic Ocean into Europe, hovered over Hungary and made our decent into Diosd and finally to a view of our window in Room 203E where our class meets.  So why the trip?

That trip is much like the one God’s Word allows us to take to events in the past that when connected together paint a complete picture of God’s story for the redemption of man.  Within the Bible are many stories from the past that we can visit up close and personal.  Kinda like zooming in on my office seeing my car but I am not there.  Scripture, like the satellite image, is a view of the past so that we can bring meaning to the present.  We can zoom in on a story of the Bible and study it closely and find truth that is not easily first seen.  As we zoom out of a particular story we are presented with a landscape that paints a bigger and broder picture of the complete work of the Bible which ultimately brings us to the cross of Christ and His Resurrection.

Just like the “zoom in” feature of Google Maps God has given us His Scripture that we might along the journey, from Creation to Redemption, look more closely, “zoom in – zoom out”, and better understand His revelation and the journey we are on.  Pray with me that our students at ICSB will learn to “travel” Scripture, to “zoom in” closely to examine and see truths for life that are not easily first seen.