Monthly Archives: January 2011

The phone rang yesterday morning and it was one of our colleagues in Budapest. As soon as I heard her voice, I knew there was trouble. I was right. Our Joanna had been sledding with some children she was tending to for a few days and somehow the sled flipped over or something and she seriously injured her ankle. An ambulance was called and she was taken to hospital with, what turns out to be, a serious fracture to her ankle. After x-rays, it was determined that surgery was necessary. Sometime after midnight (her time) the surgery began. At about 345am she call Will to let him know all went well and she was back in her room. This morning we learned that they put several screws in her leg. It appears that recovery will be in the order of six weeks.

Just now I sat down for my morning conversation with God. He took me right to Hab. 3.17-18. In prayer, I remembered this: God is good. God is good if I’m poor or if I’m rich. God is good if I’m debilitated for life or if I’m healed. It is not what God does for me that makes God good.

Indeed it is simply that God is good. Period. No matter what.

We experience and hear amazing stories of God’s faithful provision, of God’s great works of healing. God is an amazing God of mercy. He often bails us out when we don’t deserve to be bailed out. Indeed the tomb is empty because of his mercy, not our deserving.

We need reminding from time to time that God is good, no matter what. Thanks be to God for who He is. Amen.

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Sweet Anna and I are visiting ministry partners who are in the Boston area. It has been a valuable visit. Jeremy took us into Boston today and here we are in Harvard Yard.

Posted from my smartphone with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Sweet Anna and I are off to Boston to see Jeremy, Petra and fam, and meet the Walkers face to face. I’ve heard that Boston is almost as historic as Virginia, we’ll see.

I have updated the prayer and answer list HERE.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I have been and continue to pray for Óbuda. Óbuda is a very old and historic community in Budapest. It is home to many of Budapest’s Roman ruins including a good sized amphitheater. In the center of Óbuda, near the 300+ year old town center, among the ruins of the Roman legion’s barracks and baths is Flórián tér. have been praying for this spot for a number of months and have been praying in and around the shopping center this week and will continue to do so next week. Flórián tér is a crossroads for public transportation and for several major streets and roads.

I pray over this community because I realized that the places God has placed us in schools and housing are nearby. It would appear that He has placed us here and so I pray about furthering the Gospel presence here. So I would ask you to pray too. Here is a Gmaps image:

Obuda

As best as we can tell, here are two facts:

1. there are about 60,000 people in this large community, which comprises about half of Budapest’s 3rd district (the 2nd most populous), and it is under 3 miles north to south and 1 mile east to west.

2. there is no Gospel based ministry reaching out to this community… oh, there are churches whose bells ring through the day (as I write, the noon bells are ringing furiously), but attendance is not great and in my three and a half years of being in this community, I have seen no evidence of any missional outreach to the community.

So, please join me in prayer for Óbuda and especially for Flórián tér, a place through and by which tens of thousands pass each day.

Last Sunday, I spoke at DelPest Church in Budapest on heart soul mind and strength… four questions to examine our spiritual life… if you are so inclined, you can listen to it HERE

click here