Hurray!!

The two heavy beams are painted and set up in their place now. I am happy this is done and thankful for the men that made it happen: Saša, Igor, Dima and Vasil.

And also for the winch that could (lift a 314kg beam although it was made to lift only 250kg).

Extraordinary...no, no, actually normal:)

I woke up last night worried about how today would go. Now it is evening and I am thrilled to share a testimony of God's provision.

I had scheduled a delivery of some material for the farm - 4,250lbs of material. Two pieces weighing almost 700lbs each! The vendor has trucks with mechanical arms on them, but the company would not deliver to us, because we are located in a restricted area and they were afraid of getting into trouble with the police if they were caught in the nature park. They arranged for a sub-contractor with a truck to deliver the goods and I was looking at unloading and moving the stuff into the house by hand. You can see why I woke up worried last night. I had no idea how we were going to get the huge I-beams into the house through a second story window, even though I asked three other guys to help.

Well, here is what happened. A backhoe showed up in the morning to dig a ditch for heat pump lines for our neighbor. It looked like the ditch will make it impossible for the delivery truck to get very close to the house so we were bracing ourselves for carrying the tons of steel from further away. But then one thing happened after another. First the delivery guy was able to get in a different way, because the ground was frozen and hard. He thanked us for our business and then he said: 'You are God's people. God's people.' He asked what we were building and when I told him that it will be a Christian center he said he was a Christian as well. Wow, what an encouragement!

Next we pulled most of the 'lighter' I-beams up through the window with ropes. And then this: I asked the backhoe operator earlier in the morning if he would help us lift the beams and he told me flat out that he wouldn't do it, because it would be too dangerous. But then seeing us struggle he all of a sudden scooped one of the 22ft long iron beams up and drove it up to the window - using the pile of dirt that we feared would stand in the way of the delivery truck - and with us pulling on the end of the beam he pushed it all the way into the room!

There is absolutely no way four or even six or eight guys could get the beam into the house by hand. I am so thankful for the way God provided for us today. I want to say it was extraordinary, but in fact it is not! He does things like this for us believers every day, EVERY DAY!!! Whether we are aware of it or not. Our God is an awesome God.

Click here and here to see a few second of the work today.


P.S. Just got done tucking Hanna and Julia into bed.  Hanna got down on her knees and said this prayer, 'I love you God.  I love my daddy.  Thank You for him.  Thank You that he is building us a farmhouse.  Thank You that our house is built on a rock and won't wash away in a storm.'  Amen!

Mountain video

Hello Tom and Mountain friends. The short video that we made for tonight's meeting can be seen here: Prague video

Hope all works out well for you tonight.
Blessings,
M+E

Benjamin Nugget

Our little Hanna turned 5! Five years old! I know, I can't believe it either. (Jan is now 15, which means that I must be like at least 35 or something:)

Anyway, I wanted to show you a picture of Hanna's birthday present. Ever since she started reading Max and Ruby books and watching their videos she has been asking for a bunny. One time she even started crying in a pet shop (with large crocodile tears and all) when I did not want to buy her one. The shop keeper helped me out by opening one of the cages and letting Hanna pet the bunnies there.

Well, finally we decided she was old enough to 'care' for a living thing. The bunny's name is Benjamin Nugget and she has survived the first two weeks in a house with two little girls and three other kids. The picture is of Hanna waking up in the morning and finding her present in her bed.

If the Lord had not been on our side...

Here is a true story for you.

The other day I was doing something on the house and something went wrong. I don't remember what it was. Probably something small like hitting my thumb with a hammer or breaking a piece of sewer pipe or whatever. And I reacted like I sometimes do - by letting out a good strong word. As if a cuss word could make me feel better or fix the situation. But this time something else happened as well. I heard the Spirit's say: 'Why are you asking God to damn this?' You should be thankful that nothing worse happened. You should be asking Him to bless whatever you do. Can you imagine if he answered you each time you speak like this?' And immediately a scripture came to mind: 'If the Lord had not been on our side...."

I could not remember any more of the passage, but it was enough. Surely I can't imagine what things would be like if the Lord had not been on our side. If He had not been sustaining his creation by his powerful word, if He had not been protecting us, if He had been cursing instead of mercifully and graciously blessing us.

Sometimes people ask us for an example of an answered prayer. I pray regularly for God's word to come alive. And it does from time to time. In unexpected ways

Our neighbors the Homeless

"Thank you, Lord, for watching over us and sustaining us another day...." That is what Leos prayed when we visited him and Mirek in their drafty, cold 'house' under the bridge somewhere in Pardubice. Leos is a chef by trade, but because of problems with alcohol he has been disowned by his family and on the street for many years. Somewhere along the way he found Jesus (or rather, Jesus found him), but the baggage from the past and the realities of daily life on the street have not miraculously left. They are still here for him to face day in and day out.

The question that runs through my mind when i come face to face with poverty and need of this kind is how can one overcome the odds and get back to a 'normal' life? And what is my role in this? The fact is that many of those who live homeless die homeless - despite our efforts to help. But the Gospel, the GOOD NEWS, remains: Jesus has overcome sin and the world and "whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

Do I dare to believe it?

Rolling stones

This was fun (except that we first had to pile the rocks up there:)