More on the "cost"

Once when I was experiencing a sort of "down time", I was dealing with some pretty challenging things. God was showing me areas of my life/heart that needed to be brought to the cross, and habit patterns in my life that needed to be broken. In the process of it all, I received wonderful words of encouragement from a good friend. When I thanked her for her faithful involvement in my life and helping me walk through this stuff, she said four words which hit my heart deeply, and which stick with me to this day: "You are worth it!"

How many of us believe we are really worth it? Worth the time and energy that people have poured and are pouring into our lives? The MORE important question, though, is do we really believe we are "worth it" to God? His answer is loud, clear and strong and came directly from God's Son at the most unlikely time that someone would speak words of love and acceptance...from the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing!"

We were worth it to Jesus!!! We still are today as He continually pours out His love, grace and mercy, even on those who turn their backs away from this gift. As we meditate on the cross and the incredible cost of it this coming week, and what it means for every person on the planet, let us remember that in those words spoken by Jesus from the cross, He was saying, in essence, "You are worth it!"

Too great a cost!

I'm in Budapest with a group of students from my school who are paricipating in a Model UN. These students have spent the past weeks preparing to take part in this 3rd annual, here in Budapest, Model UN, along with about 180 other students.
When we received the letter inviting us, once again, to participate, we read with great interest. We got to the part where it said what the cost would be. Both I and my boss read this part quickly. We thought it was $25 per team for a 3-day event, which included lunches, bus transport, special events, and refreshments all day long. So, we decided our school could send two teams.
Upon arriving, the director asked for our money...she looked incredulously at us when we handed her $50. She said, "The cost is $25 per student!"
How could we have misread the letter? So we went in and pulled up the letter, and sure enough, clearly it read $25 per student! (Still a good deal for everything they are getting for 3 days!) So, I had the fun task of calling my boss in Szeged and telling her our mistake! Her response surprised me: "Gather the kids, put them on the train and come home! That is a rip-off and our school cannot afford to pay that amount!"
I was amazed as I told her the problem was ours, not the organizing school, who had clearly communicated the cost. To make a very long story short, our headmaster has let the kids stay, and says he will somehow find a way to pay for it.
This incident is rife with spiritual truth! Have we believers counted the cost of following Jesus? It is a high price, but SO worth all the blessings God has promised since before time began! BUT, the price Jesus paid is even greater...in reality, our price is nothing compared to what He paid. He knew the cost was not too great, because of His great love for each one of us!

Women of Destiny

Saturday morning, three of the girls from one of my Bible studies and I drove to Budapest to take part in a one day women's conference called "Women of Destiny". Carol Maiden and Mary Jill Callery, my dear friend, were tag-teaming on the teaching, the theme of which was "Oil and Fire" based on Matthew 25 and the parable of the ten virgins. Prazsak Laci and his wife Csilla and their worship team led the worship time...this was a real treat for me to meet them in person because they spent one month in Kansas City at the International House of Prayer, and now, they are working on starting an IHOP in Budapest!

The conference was well worth the trip for me, and for my girls...we had sweet time in the car on the way up, and they got some sleep on the way home, as you can see! Fun to have a multi-national group...American, Hungarian, Norwegian and Swedish....joining a multi-national conference, with people from a wide variety of churches, together as the body of Christ, open to the fresh oil that the Lord wants to pour out on His people!

Richard and Carol Maiden have ministered all over the world, and have two main bases, Phoenix, AZ and Budapest, Hungary. They are blessed servants of the King who continue, even in their "retirement years" to go to the nations with the Gospel! May blessings be showered upon them and upon all who were there yesterday...and may ALL that God did in individual hearts bear MUCH fruit for His Kingdom!

International Service

Last Saturday, one of my Bible study girls, Melita, organized a service project for two of the groups she is involved with: the first is Mozaik, a university group of international students, and the second is our weekly high school/university Bible study group. Our service project was to go to a "homeless shelter", which is kind of a half-way house for homeless people, sing some songs to/with them, and paint Easter eggs. Pictured is the group that bussed it out to this shelter Saturday afternoon. It's exciting to see Hungarians, Swedes, Norwegians, Indians, Nigerians, and Americans coming together to serve.

That phone call

I never quite know what to do when you get that phone call....the one that lets you know that someone in the family is not doing well....really not doing well. Everything else seems to fade into the distance, be put on the far back burner, and life seems to slow to a snail's pace as you try to grasp at every memory you have had with this particular person. The mind is flooded, in an instant, with laughter and fun and years and years of "what was". Then the tears flow, because of what won't be...and for those closest to this person, my cousins, the reality of losing their mother. You simply want time to stop, somehow, to cling to this time when she is still with us, so we can enjoy her for just a bit longer. Lord, have Your way in her heart...and in ours.

Prayer walking

I may be biased, but I don't think so. I think my city, Szeged, is one of the most beautiful cities in all of Hungary...and others say so too! Wednesday afternoon this week, a team of folks from Debrecen and Budapest came to Szeged to meet, walk around the city and pray! We happened to hop on the Szeged tourist train which took us to every place we had wanted to walk and pray, so we were doubly blessed in getting a tour by a cute train and being able to pray!

Exciting things are happening here. Wednesday night this same core group met with university students from four different nations to discuss and pray about further ministry opportunities to international students and young marrieds in this city. Szeged is a university town and many nations gather here to study; there is a tremendous need for a place for these of various nations to gather and worship the Lord in English, and this is what we are seeking the Lord about and following His lead in doing here! From here may the whole earth be filled with His glory through the faithfulness of these young ones!

The whole earth.....

Pruners did some major work last year on the trees in our back yard area of our downtown building. We have probably 1/3 of the trees we did last year, but as I sit in my kitchen this morning and listen to the birds twittering and chatting with one another and gaze out at the remaining trees and greenery, I'm struck by one tree that was left. It's is gloriously in bloom with thousands of small, white blossoms! It's the only tree left out there with flowering blossoms, and they are white, the symbol of purity!

God reminded me this morning that the shed blood of Jesus on the cross washes us whiter than snow, whiter than these gorgeous tree blossoms. I find it interesting, maybe even ironic, that the sole tree outside my window is this one...God's gentle reminder of His never-ending, undying love for me and for this nation...and the world?

More memory

I just got more memory put on to my computer! Wow, things are moving faster, files are coming up much quicker, the entire computer experience is much more enjoyable!

The Lord reminded me this morning of the passage in John's Gospel when Jesus is telling His disciples that it is good that He is returning to the Father because then He will send the promised Holy Spirit, who will remind them of what Jesus taught them and will "teach them all things". I've found in the last two years as I've allowed the Holy Spirit to have "free reign" in me that it's like having new memory chips put in me: by His Holy Spirit and grace I'm learning things much faster, hearing His voice much more quickly, and my entire walk with God is a fantastic experience, which is much more enjoyable than it ever was before!

Teaching on Saturday?

Yes, you read that correctly...we had a full day of school today. In fact, it was an "official" work day in Szeged because next week, Thursday, is a national holiday; so that we can have a four-day weekend, the government has required people to work the Saturday before and treat it as a Friday. We'll all be thankful for the 4-day weekend next week, but right now, I'm pretty bushed after a 6-day teaching week.

Birthday and Women's Day

This is a special week! Not only did I celebrate my birthday, but today is Women's Day in Hungary! As you can see in the picture, it's a day of flowers! The men in this country "celebrate" women by giving them a flower or a bouquet of flowers, and wishing them a "Happy Women's Day!"

My students from some of my classes brought the various flowers pictured here, and my university Bible study group also brought me a flower for my birthday! While this is a special celebratory day for women, I'm reminded that God's mercies are new every morning for all of us, and the Lord celebrates US every day! May the beauty of these flowers remind of His beautiful gift of grace which He pours out on and in us every single day!

Brokenness and restoration

This bridge may not mean anything to you, and I wish I could find my other picture of it when it did not look like this. This is one of the main bridges that crosses the Danube River in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. When I first was in Novi Sad in 2002, three years after NATO bombed this country, the bridge was still in "two pieces", making a "V" shape in the river, destroyed by a NATO bomb. So, this past weekend, when I saw the bridge restored and cars zipping back and forth over it, my breath was taken away and tears welled up in my eyes! It took many years and there was tremendous suffering and inconvenience endured by the people as they had to find other ways to cross the river, but now the bridge has been restored...all the bridges have been restored and travel across this great river is "back to normal."

Serbia is a country which has endured centuries of turmoil, brokenness galore. The wounds run deep, but hope abounds as Jesus Christ is being lifted up and people's broken hearts are being met by God's amazing grace and love, which heals all broken bridges. The needs are great, though, because the physical can be restored so much more easily than the emotional and spiritual.