seeing it right...

check this out. i read this the othe day and it rings in my insides with truth.

"missions is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of a God who is already there...   ...you see God where others don't. And then you point Him out." (r. bell)

this is about God being God, right? about Him being past the boundries that we understand... or sometimes try and set up. about Him not fitting in our box.

forget the box!

what is a god that people should be about to get thier minds around?

i think God would blow our minds if we got to know Him more.

past religion, past dogma, past what our parents taught us... past what the church teaches.

i mean, if God is our creator... we can't righteously claim to know Him.

humbling

peacefully humbling.



God, thank You that You are so much bigger, more righteous than our boxes we try and fit You in.
please forgive our ignorance and train our hearts to love like You. please hear my heart.

much love, israel

writing anyway

well.. i was not intending to post anything... in fact, i have no idea what my intentions were by logging in to my blog. but, here i am, unexpected by myself, reading old comments left by dear ones and considering what i had written that at that time, possibly even now, stirred hearts.

where are we now? what does life look like around us.

for me it has been a struggle. i suppose i already imagined myself back in india or berlin by this time.. well.. i did. and as i read about or look at photos from those times there i am left again with heaviness on my heart.

berlin, india, i love you guys. more importantly, God loves you. Jesus died for you, and more and more people come to you in His love wanting to help with the harvest.

God, please send more workers! to the ghats and mountains, fields and cities of india. to the streets, alleys, parks and high-rise neighborhoods of berlin.

i still (want to) believe that the time in those places are far from over... and i choose to because my heart still aches for them. but i am now here in southern germany, i guess.. waiting, to an extent, working (on marriage and my own heart) and praying for His will with us here.

i read rachels comment about God's family being my own. thank You God that You never left me alone. even now, i am surrounded by family (kathys) and know that i am blessed.

i pray to this, Lord, please send more workers here too. may we be part of Your family here, not just our own. and may we be a shining light (picture a really bright shining light in a dark passage way for example) to the family here.

please bless, encourage and sustain those lights in berlin and india. and when it by Your will, may we shine there too, blessing, encouraging and loving those there.

and most of all.... thank You for Your love. though i cannot understand how amazing it is. how amazing You are. thanks for what You are doing right now. please don't let it be useless time waiting...

much love,
israel

freeze and thaw

i can say that i am spending a healthy amount of time in ulm lately. since just before the operation, i spend a day each week up there. it is actually a really neat city.
this last time, yesterday, they removed the stitches from my wrist and hip. and now, hehe.. i am typing with two hands. not the most comfortable but faster and maybe even a form of therapy. i have at least two weeks before the cast is completely gone... then we shall see.

although i lack the words to tell why i am excited, something is just really good and happening right now.
what a blessing to be alive. what a blessing to be so loved by God.

now thawing out from sitting outside for some time, garage voice is filling my with their worship in a neat blues/gospel/normal garage voice style and i am eager again already to go outside to breath the fresh air and maybe pick up some bread.

ok. now back to one hand... ouwi!

i read a couple blogs that i wrote back at the end of 2009. what a leap of joy my heart gets when recollecting those memories. these last years have held many a blessings usually in the form of a surprise. now here i sit, wondering what is goimg on right now and what is yet to come even over the next weeks before 2012 is ended.
who will we see yet, where will we go, what will we hear or smell... with whom will we conversate that will lead our thoughts to new depths or heights...
what is God doing in your heart... has started recently or what might possibly yet happen this year?
are these scary or uneasy thought or rather ones of unhidden joy?
what will the Maker of your soul speak to or through you in the next 5 weeks?

how exciting


then the thoughts are also yet to be considered.... what has He done over this last year?




(silence)



the year has gone quick, but not yet over...

picts of the time in england with sam (finally developed)

much love,
israel

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