Monthly Archives: January 2009

I have an amazing story of grace to tell you. I looked Fb this morning and saw this on Anne’s status: “is home. We have no answers and no good news to report. I deeply appreciate all the messages and support we have gotten from all of you.” I prayed.

A went upstairs and found I had missed a call and it was Anne. I called right back and had an amazing conversation in which I heard, in the tone of her voice and her words, that the comfort we have prayed for have enveloped her and Rob. Peace is amazing. God is amazing, isn’t He? She talked of how they have grown so close and how Noami loves to be held and how they love to hold her. She talked of the peace and, indeed, from the conversation, dare I say that the Joy of God has invaded them afresh. In fact, hasn’t there been a miracle already? Isn’t love a miracle? And isn’t God walking us through, as she mentioned the twenty-third Psalm, the “valley of the shadow of death,” teaching us that He is with us and that we should fear no evil? I am overwhelmed by the deep faith I have read via email and now heard from my friend. I feel joyous for them as I hear of how they have felt God’s presence and felt the prayers, as I told her, of hundreds of people from across the globe. This is the work of God through His people, the community of faith, uniting at different times and from different places with a common purpose, prayer for this family… and so many of these praying people have never seen this family, and never will, but their spirits are united in prayer. 

During this phone call I heard of the grace of God. And an important lesson has been learned and passed along to us… Cherish the moment.

“Don’t worry about tomorrow” Jesus said. Anne reminded me of that today. Live in the moment and enjoy the blessings we have been given.

Now, for the update as best as I am able to correctly convey it… They want for nothing right now, they continue to covet our prayers, please don’t stop praying.  The prognosis is that Naomi’s condition is such that she suffers no pain (isn’t that a blessing in itself? as we talked, i heard her cooing and making baby noises). Her life expectancy is maybe months, maybe years… there is no treatment, there is no certainty, there is Peace, there is this moment. But these blessed ones are not looking out that far, they are living now, today, enjoying their child warmly wrapped in blankets on mom’s lap on the couch at home.

A baptismal garment is being perfected and on the 15th, Naomi will be baptised. Though it seems to me (forgive this insertion) that this baby has been baptised as a blessing and is becoming a blessing to many.

There are few other words for me to say. So I will stop writing for a moment and show you a pic I stole from Fb…

Naomi: a beautiful life.

A final word. For me, Namoi is living up to her name, which is a Hebrew name and means “enjoyment, pleasure, or gratification.” How? well, all this can teach us, or remind us to rejoice in the “Peace that passes all understanding” that God has brought to this family. Don’t stop praying, for a miracle, for comfort. May God continue to bless them and now us and may He be glorified.

Indeed, Peace from Grace.

this morning I heard a great story of how God answered the prayers of his people and healed the blindness of a baby girl… that baby girl received her sight to the astonishment of the doctor… the baby girl is now, years later, one of my colleagues at school… she told the story… Prayer MATTERS!

SO… I ask you to pray for some friends… Anne and Rob, who have a three month old baby girl that is so very, very ill that her life on this earth may not be much longer… would you pray for her? for little Naomi? and would you ask others to pray for her? That God might heal her, and if not, that His Peace that passes all understanding would envelop my friends Rob and Anne?

Thanks for praying, for we know that prayer matters.

please also ask other friends to pray, maybe just link them here would be an easy way to do that…

I have a lot of friends who are on the move, toward a new “station” on the journey, for some this has been a long time coming, for others it is almost sudden… These words seem to speak to these friends:

“… when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing, we are ripe for making a move. The emotions that we feel in response to what we have seen might be volatile during this time, but they serve a good purpose – they give us the energy and resolve to begin preparing to move in a new direction.” (Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, p.91)

the Economist article in the post from yesterday continues with an entry about Roma police and homeless life at Nyugati PU… scroll down and check it out…

go check out the Economist article on Hungary since the fall of the Iron Curtain, including a couple of jokes like:

Comrade teacher announces the day’s lesson in School Number One, Budapest: Marxist criticism and self-criticism.

“Istvan, please stand up and tell us what Marxist criticism and self-criticism means,” she instructs.

The little boy stands up. “Comrade teacher, Marxist criticism is how we must view my parents, who joined the reactionary counter-revolutionary forces who sought to destroy our heroic workers’ and peasants’ state, and then fled to the imperialist, capitalist west, to continue their intrigues against the Socialist regime.”

“Excellent, Istvan. And what is your Marxist self-criticism?”

“I didn’t go with them.”

click here for more from “Absurdistan”

This summer a small band of Christ followers will travel together, eat together, struggle together, be changed by God through to process… it will be often uncomfortable, there will be tears and laughter, there will be the possiblility for victory, joy, failure but there will certainly be growth. If you know someone (between 16 and 21) who would, or you are someone who would risk such an adventure among other Christ followers in places that will take your breath away one day and make you sad the next, apply to join this small band who seek to serve and to be changed as the show and tell of Jesus and are changed by Him. Click HERE to learn more.