Monthly Archives: October 2012

Having donned caps and gowns, the leadership, faculty and candidates for graduation marched into the commencement exercises at ETF this morning. This was an international event with graduates from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Croatia.

After welcoming remarks by founder Peter Kuzmic, we were blessed to hear and sing Amazing Grace.

This was followed by the awarding of diplomas. Both Bachelors and Masters degrees were conferred upon graduates. This is the 40th year of ETF, and of further significance is the awarding of the first doctoral degree in the history of the institution.

Here they are!

This afternoon I was treated to being present for day two of the book exhibition where the panel included Phillip Yancey.

Before the event…

two priests, one catholic and one  orthodox shared a thought at a book table.

The presentation turned out to be all Q&A. It was interesting to hear the answers to the questions of common folks.

One young American collegian, who just happened to be in town, asked about the how he handles the criticism that is received because of subjects like homosexuality in his books. From that I heard these two thoughts:

“It doesn’t take much grace to be around people who look like us, smell like and act like us.”

“As a free lance writer, if I am being criticized from both sides of an issue like this, I’m okay.”

Another question that brought a good question, why is pain a gift?

“The solution for pain is not to remove it. The solution for pain is to redeem it.”

When asked about writing his column, he likened it to writing a blog and even encouraged such, thanks Phillip.

Afterward, he was gracious and signed books, the lady pictured here was showing Yancy her son’s recent test results with great pride, Yancy showed real grace.

Now, which book should I read?

In his book on Sabbath, Dan Allender days we should feed our soul on our sabbath with that which brings us delight.

Today is the birthday of my favorite composer, Franz Liszt. In Hungary he is Liszt Ferenc…

Here in Budapest tickets are as low as 500 Forints ($2.50)…

So I get the treat of a concert,

here…

inside it looks like this…

Delight indeed.

Today is another day in Budapest.

I have had four full days of ministry here. These days have been filled with conversations and preaching. It has been great to catch up with ministry partners and make plans for the next couple of weeks.

I just finished a breakfast meeting with a leader. Our conversation was both about his church and his life. We discussed the troubles and the struggles and the victory. We met in one of my many offices…

While we met I received an email from friends in Bosnia. We prayed for the work there that God would break through to Muslims.

I have decided that I will not go to Bosnia on this trip. There was information in this email that confirmed that decision.

Tomorrow I go to Croatia for a week. Please pray for me to have God’s wisdom with regard to conversations and ministry in Croatia.

Please continue to pray.