calling out praises

happy thanksgiving to you all, and thank You God!

as i was travelling around back at the end of 2009, sams family showed me something special that we should all seriously consider for ourselves regardless of our present situation. in tribute to what today is, i would enjoy a little conversating interaction from all who read this...

imagine we are all sitting around a table together. each person who reads this should consider what they are thankful for... and then leave it as a comment to this blog. that way i can read what your are thankful for and so can the others...

understand?

neat, regardless, i'll start...

i am thankful that my wrist got operated on!

your turn... (leave a comment by clicking the little link below... something like "kommentar")


much love, israel

the floor was cold on my back

it is punny how God is so true to hear us and even answer our requests and all the while having His own plans...

i'm sitting here drinking another dark coffee from my janosch mug listening to some blues from karli fairbanks thinking of what has been happening over the last week an a half and must admittingly smile at the simple small renounced results of trusting Him.

yesterday i was in ulm and got the new cast for my wrist that now hides a little treasure inside that doesn't peep at airports. today a week ago, fainting once already after trying to go to the bathroom, all bandaged up and accepting the new truth of difficulty for the next three to six months of recovery, i was put back together and laid in a bed to restless nights for the next week, i wonder if God had this all planned or if He just threw it in at the last minute to bless me in a future that is yet to reveal itself. the pain is less everyday, my hip, where they took the bone to replace the gap is more than less only a flesh wound now healing more every second i suppose. typing with one hand is proving faster than once thought and i wonder if when this is all over i can still type with two hands at this speed...

and though the surgery was such a success, we lacked to look at the time table and how it should work with our hopes of getting america this christmas...  God hooked up the funds to get there..  haha and yet we are unable to come. being both sad and understanding that there will be a better time in the near future, we say sorry that we won't be able to see you all this year afterall. but who are we to claim to know the plans of God. we can truly rely on Him to continue to lead us. and til then enjoying where we now are using the time wisely.

the waters have been stirring of the sea of the thoughts and dreams of what is to come and i suspect our ship will be ever more prepared to set sail as we keep on keeping on. waiting in eager peace...

thank you all for the prayers and emails. so cool of those who have written. still hoping from others as well..
and i am praying for you all really thanking God of each individual and personal way our paths have crossed. and you Z, i still know what you asked prayer for and i am praying. everyone else, please pray too!

much love, israel

good news and good news

tomorrow brings the time that has knocked on my door for so long.
kathys uncle and i drive up to ulm early where a dr. franken... something will take me apart and put me back together. (ironic twist.. or rather a joke.)
this all describing the wrist surgery for those who are reading this wondering what on earth am i talking about.
i am talking about the surgery, for my wrist, the one that has hurt off and on for the last 9 years.
it is both exciting and nerveracking.
but! God totally hooked it up! and it shall be a great thing. work, pain and probably frustration won't compare to the joys that are to come!

the other good news, we now have a good portion of the sum for the flights to america for christmas. the flights run at about € 1400 or about $2000 something, and we now have € 1000. Wohoa!
we are still trusting Him for the rest as well as the funds while being there to be able to travel a little bit and visit friends and family as well as eat and what not.
thank you all for the prayers thus far and hopefully we shall see you all soon!
oh, also, i still have to work this all out with the unemployment office so that i am allowed to leave the country... it's like, who takes a vacation while getting unemployment... but i will be unable to work with the surgery and all (being in the cast for about 10 weeks and unable to work for 3 months) and there should really be no reason why they would want to keep me from visiting my family over christmas. but we shall see! either way, God is super good and full of hope and good things for those who trust Him and are called according to His purpose... meaning, to love as He has loved us and through that, introduce people to the God they have unrightfully denied.

much much love, thank you again sam and beth for the wonderful time at your place, keep your hearts and don't lose hope!

israel

harpenden

it really neat to be here. still somewhat an unreal experience...
over the last years, God has really blessed me to be able to meet up with my best friend over and over again and always somewhere else on the globe than before.
right now, i am visiting him and his wife here in harpenden as they await her green card to head back stateside.
it has already been a joy being here, as well as a struggle (i.e. missing kathy) and the days are ticking away rather fast. in one week is my surgery and til then i will enjoy the usage of my left wrist.
through the time here and over the last little while, God has been teaching me that He is faithful. what a thought... as if we haven't seen enough to know that already. but it is indeed a war that we are in to live in these truths. well.. He is faithful and is doing something much much huger that than what we can comprehend. Praise Him for that!!!

so.. i thank God for His love and commitment to us. for all the mercy He continually shows us. and for the infinite hope we have as long as we have Him.
and i pray that you would too give this hope, mercy and commitment to those around you.

much love, israel

28 hours there.. another 26 here... all worth it!

This is a blog that I wrote in Northern India but didn't post it for some reason.. probably due to the many power outages at the internet cafés. None-the-less, here is my birthday present to you all, a reminder of how good God is!... or maybe it is one of His presents for me....?!

Much love, israel
enjoy!


over the past few days i have been more than blessed in many ways.

my friend and i left varanasi and spent 28 hrs on a train to kalka.. where we met a couple of travelers headed to shimla.. so we hopped on a toy train with them shortly after arriving and spend the next 6 hours traveling through famous 103 tunnel railway... making friends with a few indians. we stayed that night in the beautiful shimla... which reminded me of europe and took my breath away.. mostly because of the chilly weather and amazing mountainous scernery.. not to mention we were about 2400 meters high.

the next morning.. early.. we boarded a bus to kullu and sat uncomfortably for about 8 hours. it was a much pleasurable ride regardless of comfort. in kullu we met up with kamal, an amazing man with an amazing family i met at the conference. we met together and talked about a lot. it was a blessing having my friend with to witness what he had to say about how God has done some amazing feats in their lives. around midday, we left on another bus to manali, where we are now. i met with two people from the base here and look to join them tomorrow for worship. it will be an amazing opportunity to meet the others from around manali and hear their hearts as well as share mine with them.

God has been opening doors and lining things up with much grace and i am sure it is all with reason. i remember recalling a week or two back saying and asking God why i was here. that i didn't feel i was doing anything of worth. since then... God has unstoppingly taken me along a path of reason. meaning, when i was first invited, i felt Him say that it was an opportunity with reason. He has been showing me that He is more than close to me and doing more than i could possibly imagine right now. He is doing something big.... remember that?

He is doing something... right now! egal wo ich bin. Er ist immer gut und macht Gute!

as that was a mouth full... i would love to go into detail about how the mountain peaks covered in snow that are in view from the porch of our guest house make a perfect place to reflect on what He has recently been doing and jot it all in a note book for further blessings in the future... or how there is a bakery just a minute from us that serve nutella croissants... which i am sure are far from a germany version... or that i enjoyed indian made german bread for breakfast this morning... all this and more have been just small but huge signs of His love in the past couple days.

so.... thank you all! your prayers have been continually heard.

right now.. i could use prayer for finances and health. the norm, but still a consistant need.

ja. not worried but not comfortable. which is just fine!

4 weeks, i should be in moscow waiting for my plane to berlin. wow!

my heal hurts a bit, and i am excited to join worship tomorrow.

Daddy, You have rocked my socks. thank You! in this, please complete all that You have planned. i love You and am amazed by You.

may all i have met with be left with this blessing and those i will meet be prepared.

You are my shepard, i have all i need.... i have You!

viel Liebe, israel

deeper

after a weekend of snow, a friday of goodbyes and a monday of a feeling of unfinished business... the sun slowly drives it's heat mobile across the sky as i think of the so uncertain thoughts running around in this bearded head.

friday was the last day of work. my wrist is hurting today so after stopping at the unemployment office and furthering the process i stopped at the doctors office. what is with this ridged body of miracles that, when demanded, works like a charm but reminds be regardless of the hard years behind us. last week left me with a crummy cold that is now just kleenexes and coughing.
i can't help but be outside in this crisp moist early winter. my heart, as my body and this relationship yurns for some sort of confirmation of His grace. i suppose just looking around in the present and the past would surely satisfy it all. there is a sense of anxiety or better said unrest in my heart as i wait for the operation, for my flight to sam, for the money for kathy and i to america, for the loans to be paid off, for more of Him right now, here!
again and again i have the deep feeling that we are here for a reason. that makes sense... and undoubtably goes deeper that we really understand. i am really not used to living a life of steady hours at work, coming home to a family (wife) and spending other time chillin with others or relaxing. not that it's bad.. but for me a bit off track in my feelings.. maybe it is that good sense with every payment towards the loans, or the hope as i read an update or email from india or elsewhere, or the memories of sitting somewhere in a city that had trapped me for a period of time before going somewhere else struggling with the goodbyes, new hellos and the question, why am i here? not, why am i living... more what should i be doing here, now? what should we be doing here, now? are we doing it? are we doing it partially?
i don't want to be partially, but maybe the wholeness only comes when all else is given up and real pursuit is taken...
then again, maybe that is the quitters way out... stopping what is hard or where it is hard to apply living in truth and living the normal radical way..
put to plainer words... i enjoy taking pictures, climbing, spending time outdoors and traveling, building relationships and being alone. can and should these things be used for Him, for living for Him? and how?
but i suppose in a relationship, when communication is fluent, both sides speak.
God, how might You want to use these desires, mixed with the longing for going back to india and other parts of the world and teaching and exercising Your love everywhere? and how might You desire to use kathys desire too mixed with mine?
oh the great mystery of a greater love, or of a Father who knows how to raise His sons and daughters.

i know You will answer me, for You are greater than good, better than great and You desire us. bring us to You. bring those, whom You have called to Yourself, to You. this world is full of trouble, but we shall take heart, for You have overcome the world!

fight for truth with purity, with excellence, on purpose.

love, israel

what a neat cup

crisp coldness, a warm thick coffee from my neat janosch mug and a lazy cat almost laying on her back...
a whistling stove trying hard to heat the 4 small rooms and 1 hallway...
the album leaf doing there stuff to make any day a chill day..
one week of work left before being unemployed and the need to fill out the paperwork and get it back to the unemployment office before heading to my wrist appointment on wednesday...
yet another new season... the yellow, brown and red leaves of our lives dropping to the ground, making way for new chlorophyll filled beauty of the new year...
the coffee is really thick today, but i think i like it that way the best...
kathy would probably add more milk than normal to it if she weren't working at the cake stand for the flea market for the german ymca...
tomorrow is my dads birthday and today kathys mom celebrates her birthday which was on tuesday...
my wrist...   oh my wrist.... what will they do with you... i have enjoyed using you for lots of neat things and now they will lock you away for some months before allowing you to glee and bask in the glory of fullness...
i think kathy likes porcelain... in two weeks i will be in england again.... sam and i will hug.... multiple times... the album leaf reminds me often on eugene and spokane...  hi eugene... hi spokane... still no money for the flights.... i am not too certain that it will work out, but thoughts have wandered my mind about first paying the loans off before taking some time to come back relaxed and ready... i wish ryanair flew to rapid city... or even to the states in general... we saw a flea circus at the fair... never again...    our basilika grew hair, i will send him to the brown bin later today....   curtis comes from baltimore and is super chill...  we spoke shortly yesterday...  3 bollywood films are now awaiting our attention, my attention in on the chores today and the mountains...   they are already snowy...  
i wish i were snowy too...
my coffee is getting colder though i drink it regularly...  but the mug is still neat...
the cat snores sometimes... i call her tommy.... kathy calls her mizi...      but i still call her tommy...
i like recorded rain, or recorded vehicles driving through the rain... or recorded airplanes...
i like this coffee, it is so thick...   the album leaf is still playing...    good.... the chores are still waiting...
the neat mug is almost empty...    whistle stove, whistle yet a while...  sleep tommy, sleep yet a while..
hang clothing, for you might not yet be dry... play album leaf, play for i am not yet done...
the flowers are so beautiful...   my toes are still chilled.... the coffee is finished, but thick to the end...
there is still more for this neat cup.

much love, israel