Wine Festival and friends

Zoli, Anita, miracle child Tamas and Denes at the wine festival!

Denes holding daddy's EMPTY glass! :-)

The "bridge shops"! Claustrophobics beware!

Just happened to run into Laci and Zsolti. Both boys grew up in the children's home!

For the past 8 years, I and my friends Anita and Zoli have enjoyed going to the annual wine festival here in Szeged. Now we have their kids coming along as well. They are the "wine experts", so we always get to try some really good wines and of course I end up buying a bottle or two of something "new". It's a great weekend with the main bridge across the river closed to traffic and filled with vendors and people...this is the weekend to meet old friends as nearly everyone is out and about!

Braveheart

I thought I'd watched the film Braveheart, with Mel Gibson...but as I watched it last night, I realized I think I've only seen scenes from it and had never seen it in its entirety! Wow, what a film. If you have not seen it, or it has been a while, see it. I realize after watching it that I have soooooooooo much to say about it that I cannot do it in a blog...which has been the case recently with many different "life analogies" that the Lord is downloading to me. I will say one thing about the film that hit me very hard. At the end...sorry to ruin it for those who've not seen it...when William Wallace is being tortured for his unwillingness to submit to the "enemy leadership", at the most excruciating part of the torture, he cries out one word: FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!! To the very end, William holds fast to his convictions, unwavering, knowing he will die for what he believes. The Christ-figure analogy is obvious...for me, it was a challenge: do I truly believe AND live out my freedom in Jesus, even when faced with difficult, painful, and unjust situations?

Fun

Look at this FUN water slide....that's my brother with his kids! I've just learned that construction on a fabulously FUN water park will begin in July here in Szeged and will boast the tallest slide in EUROPE!

Aren't these ice cream cones FUN??? We found this place near St. Steven's cathedral in Budapest and just HAD to get a flower ice cream cone for dessert!!!

My nephew Zack and neice Brooke had a lot of fun travelling around europe and taking FUN pictures with statues!

We all need FUN in our lives...I for one think I simply don't have enough fun! So that is a goal for the next few months...I want to have more fun!

Gas prices....

I just filled my gas tank and paid $7.75/gallon. In total, one gas tank is over 15% of my monthly Hungarian salary. I think I'll be walking more....

ICF - Friday at 7

Patricia and Brian from Canada....travelling prayer warriors!

Eszter presenting Becky with a "goodbye" gift with MJ. Becky, from W. VA, spent a semester abroad here in Hungary and we will sorely miss her at ICF!!!

Our diverse group at ICF...Americans, Hungarians, Serbians, Germans, Brits, Nigerians, Swedes, Canadians, and Romanians....and that's just THIS week!

"The morning after"...some of us met at Boci for breakfast Saturday morning, to have a "last breakfast" with Becky before she leaves Hungary.

Every week we are blessed with new people! This week was no exception...a young lady from Germany who lives and works in Szekszard, who was "couch-surfing" for the weekend, and a young Hungarian man who studies English at the University of Szeged, found their way to ICF through our faithful evangelist, Judit. Plus, we were blessed with a visit from a Canadian couple who is travelling around Hungary and its border countries to pray!



Mary Jill made a very astute comment after ICF on Friday: "We have SUCH quality people at ICF...God has just so blessed us with really quality people!" It really is a blessing to see those whom God brings, continues to bring, and those who are getting "planted" in this fellowship, more importantly, who are getting planted in the Lord!

Poor Simon!!!!

Simon is NOT a happy camper.......

Simon had to go to the vet this week to have a cyst removed from his hind leg area. When he awakened from the surgery, he was wearing this collar...to keep him from licking the sutures out of his wound. 2 hours after coming home, he had successfully cracked, broken and torn off the first collar, thus warranting a return trip to the vet. Thankfully, he's no longer slamming himself into door posts and walls...indeed, I could write many blogs about what lessons we can learn from this "collar" experience, or one REALLY long blog...but instead, I'll write a long "sermon" and maybe someday, I'll try to get some of my longer "sermons" published! Needless to say, Simon is not a happy camper right now...and we have 7 more days before the collar can be removed.

Family!!!!

Zack, Roger, Brooke and Christie at Opusztaszer!

The fam at the Szeged zoo!

At Hero's Square in Budapest!

At a castle near Hero's Square in Budapest!

My brother, Roger, and his wonderful family, Christie, Zack and Brooke, made Hungary their last stop on a 3-week european vacation! I was truly blessed to have them come and see a bit of my life, meet a few friends, and enjoy this wonderful country of Hungary! I miss them already, but am so very thankful for family!!!

Learning, Growing, Teaching

I love this picture above of the mom duck with her ducklings. Some of the ducklings are ready and courageous enough to swim out in front of mom; some are swimming right beside her; and others are swimming close behind. All have mom within reach and sight, and she has all of her ducklings within her sight and reach should trouble arise.

As mature believers in Jesus, we need to be like that mom...ever learning, ever growing and ever teaching; continually encouraging younger believers to swim out ahead, trusting in Jesus to guide them; coming alongside those who need a bit more encouragement, but ever pointing them to their ultimate Source, Jesus; and leading those who are just starting out on the journey, but not attaching them to ourselves, but rather modeling for them as WE follow Jesus, that this is what THEY need to do as well.

In fact, not one of the ducklings is "attached" to mom; no one should be "attached" to us as mature believers; they should be attached to Jesus only, and we serve only as those who admonish, encourage, exhort, and point them to Jesus!

Lord, change ME!

The longer I walk with God, and the deeper He takes me into His heart, the more I see it is all about me. Someone once said, "When you hold out your hand to point a finger at someone else, notice that there are three fingers pointing back at yourself!" (Ok, now try it!) Of course there is a spiritual battle going on all around us; of course other people do things that are not right, that are mean or downright cruel; but as I have stepped back and examined the Scriptures and how Jesus interacted with people and dealt with them, in nearly every case, it was about what was going on INSIDE that particular person, and the changes that needed to take place inside of their individual hearts.

Furthermore, in EVERY case of healing, forgiveness and restoration, the person CAME TO JESUS, (or someone came on their behalf) and it was by GRACE ALONE that they received healing, forgiveness and restoration, FROM JESUS!

JESUS ALONE IS OUR SOURCE...ok, we all know that...but the problem still remains, WHO or WHAT is the problem? We can be like the lame man at the pool at Siloam and say, "I don't have anyone to help me..." or even like Adam, "That woman you gave me...." or like Eve, "The serpent made me...." Bottom line: I am the problem; once I finally figure out that it is ME, my selfishness, my attitude, and my lack of looking to HIM for everything I need that is the problem, only THEN will I experience the FREEDOM that Jesus Christ came to give me, by His grace! Someone once cried out: "Thank you, Lord, for saving me from myself!" How very true!

River, Bird, Flowers, Fountain and Rest

The Tisza River which runs through my city of Szeged!

This bird just happened to land as I was walking by this statue next to the river!

Still working on taking good flower pictures....

My favorite fountain in my city of Szeged.

Unknown person enjoying the restfulness of sitting on a bench and reading a good book!

Today is Pentecost...a national holiday in Hungary...no school, everything is closed...and the weather could not be more beautiful. I went for a walk and captured some pix for you to enjoy!

Friday at 7 and Int'l Church Debrecen

Judith praying for Pastor Ed and Syble Courtney in Debrecen!

Judith Green, Mary Jill Callery and Sophie (from Atlanta, GA) fellowshipping in Szeged at ICF!

At the International Church in Debrecen...Pastor Ed Courtney and the singers on the worship team.

Eva translating for Judith.

Ed, Syble, Mary Jill, Judith, and Edith enjoying a FABULOUS meal after worship!

Ed, Judith and Syble!

We and the International Church in Debrecen were richly blessed this weekend with a visit from a powerful woman of God, Judith Green, who came from Alaska to minister here in Hungary and next week in Ukraine! All of us were blessed with wonderful teaching and encouraging prophetic words through Judith.

YouTube video of conference in Holland

After lots of help from my friend, Erik, I have finally gotten a short video on YouTube of Saturday night's worship in Holland. Enjoy!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fD-3iUzDBk

Don't the flags look like flames of fire????

Heaven on Earth - Part V - some funny ones!

There was a BEAUTIFUL park right next to our conference venue!

Yes, the stairs up to our hotel rooms were VERY steep...tough to capture in a photo, but we were praying each time we went up or down!

See my bag at the bottom of the steps? THAT'S how steep these stairs were!

The tulips in Holland are "larger than life"! Edith and Kathy enjoying laughter!

Here are some "interesting" pix from our gathering in Rotterdam!

Heaven on Earth - Part IV - Rotterdam

Canoers!

Rotterdam is the largest shipping port in the world!

Beautiful, clean downtown streets!

We did see some tulips at the train station! Kathy, enjoying the sunshine!

Rotterdam is a very welcoming city, with friendly, helpful, kind people in shops, on public transport and pretty much everywhere!

I know, I know, many will be so surprised that we didn't take time to go see the tulips...well, we saw some, and oh well, maybe there will be other times. Here are some shots from the tram as we travelled to the train station. Made me want to go back to this beautiful city!

Heaven on Earth - Part III

My new friends, missionaries in Rawanda, who have 3 dear biological girls and this precious adopted girl, whom they found abandoned on the side of the road!

Don't these flags almost look like ANGELS???

Mattheus van der Steen, in the white jacket, and his wife Rebekah (not pictured) are the young couple who organized this entire event! Check out their ministry at: www.trin.nl

This is the Fresh Fire band and choir who let worship one evening!

Here are a couple of excellent thoughts from Heidi Baker, who is pictured in the blog entry below:



"Love them into the place of life!"



"Loving looks like something!"



"Loving without limits, without boundaries...THIS is love!"



"Demons can't handle love!"

Heaven on Earth Conference - Part II

This was a parade of the nations' flags! Very powerful!

Arden, Gabi, Carol, Kathy, Edith and Mary Jill just outside the conference venue! Sweet times with good friends!!!

One of the conference speakers, Bill Johnson, and his translator.

Georgian Banov and his translator! What a wonderfully child-like man who passionately loves Jesus!

Heidi Baker, life missionary in Mozambique!

Here are some more pictures!

Heaven on Earth - Part I

Edith, Kathy and Mary Jill at Schipol airport in Amsterdam - we met here and made our way to Rotterdam by train.

We stayed in an interesting part of Rotterdam and took the bus to the conference venue, Ahoy, every morning. This is me, Mary Jill and Edith waiting for our bus...Kathy is taking the picture.

A small taste of the conference venue! We signed up for the leadership day, and so got to sit in prime seats...the white seats...thus having wonderful view of everything!

A small taste of the worship on Thursday night...brothers and sisters from ALL over the world! Definitely a small taste of what heaven will be like!

Thursday night, a Catholic priest from Holland stood up and prayed a prayer of repentance for the Catholic Church for all the ways they had sinned and contributed to division within the body of Christ! Definitely one of the most powerful moments in the conference. These white blocks have different denominations written on them and people came up and placed them at the foot of the cross...asking God for forgiveness for making denominational differences a divisive thing when the Father wants His children to be united in Jesus!

WOW! I'm not sure where to begin to try to encapsulate our four days in Rotterdam, Holland with between 6 and 8 thousand other people, worshiping the Lord! Messages from speakers were simple but extremely powerful, worship was like nothing I've ever experienced...even though I was surrounded by thousands, I felt at times like it was just me and the Lord! I'll just let these pictures do the talking for now until I can put more words to this blessing. I will be putting a 3 minute video from Saturday night's worship on Youtube soon, so stay tuned!