Evendays

How do you tell if you had a great teenage weekend retreat or not?

• You could count the number of wounded (one broken arm, one foot in the eye).
• How ‘bout the number of conversions? (0 and still counting).
• Maybe the hours of sleep you got per 24h? (outside of the Bible studies, about 6.5 hours).
• The number of baskets you scored in a row without missing during the big match? (4).
• Or the quantity of mushrooms picked? (3 pounds fresh, 5 ounces dry).
• The number of new songs learned? (5).
• The number actually sung? (easily 150).
• Kilos gained? (1).
• Kids disciplined? (0).
• Smiling faces? (44).
• Goodbye tears shed? (100s).
• Prayers said? (1000s).
• Lives touched? (only God knows).

My favorite measure? It was over way too fast.

It’s time for our yearly All Saints Teenage Retreat in beautiful Ardêche, France. Even though it’s not quite All Saints Day and even though I’m not a teenager, we’ll be attending for the 15th time. This is only my ninth time to direct it. And there is a great group of workers who support this ministry.

Many of our youth don’t have youth groups in their local assemblies. For example, our kids are the only ones their age at church. So contact with youth from other cities is essential, in addition to the Bible Groups they attend at the local schools.

Our theme this year is the book of James. We’ll talk about the tongue, hypocrisy, helping those in need… The discussion groups always start slow, but once they get going, there is no stopping them. And the games. They love the games. My brother, the youth minister, gave me a couple of good ones last night that I can’t wait to try.

Thanks for dropping by. And if your in Ardêche, don’t hesitate coming to see us. The food is excellent, the communion divine.

We live down the street from St. Paul’s, the local parish church. For the last 15 years I’ve attended either their monthly Bible studies or weekly prayer meetings.

Today was Mme Mosimann’s 91st birthday, so Wife prepared cupcakes and Ukrainian honey cookies for the Tuesday prayer group. After the prayers, the ladies and two pastors came over for tea and we sang happy birthday (everyone was a little confused about how to fit “Mme Mosimann” into the song, so it kind of died out there—but we picked up the tune for a grand finale. It was hard for them to sing without an organ…)

We discussed life in the neighborhood, which buildings were being torn down, which were being rebuilt. Then one of the ladies told of her childhood in Italy during the war and how the fascists burned down her house. The ladies admired Wife’s kitchen and the picture/photo wall. Everyone stayed about an hour. Mme Mosimann had a birthday lunch coming up with her son.

I’ve seen probably 5 pastors come and go at that church, and there always seems to be a renewal of old ladies for the Tuesday prayers. They are just one of the reasons I love our neighborhood.

Monday’s a big day. Son 1 will be an official university student, attending classes in the Lausanne University’s Police and Forensic Science department, studying chemistry and biology, math and computers.

The good news is he can live at home where the cooking is excellent and laundry is done at least once a week. He only has to pay $341.62 tuition per semester (we’ll cover that) plus books (we’ll cover those too). Plus, he gets a really good, high quality education in the best Police Forensic Science Department in all of Europe.

The bad news is he has 36 hours of courses per week (all in his field—there are no electives), must get up before 7 AM each morning, and less than 10% of those who begin the semester will pass exams at the end of year one.

But this has been his dream since about 7th grade. We are thrilled to assist him in following his goal.

God gave us Son 1. We’ve appreciated each moment we’ve had with him. We’ve tried to prepare him for his unique future. And we’ve loved him diligently to ground him in faith.

Tomorrow’s a big day. And we couldn’t be prouder of Son 1.

Yes! I finally got my Yancey book and quickly read the first two chapters. I’m looking forward to the discussion starting tomorrow, HERE.

Anyway, they stuck in a Christianbook.com Christian Book Bargains Fall Sale Catalogue (CCBBFSC) and I spent about 30 minutes in it rather than reading one of the books I already own. I’m going to order some Christmas cards for Let’s Start Talking friends and I may order a couple of stocking stuffers for my kids who, BTW, loyally read this blog, and NOT just because I threaten them.

I turned to the bestseller page looking for, maybe, the 20 hottest books in Christendom today. #2, according to CBD, is 23 Minutes in Hell. This is not a trip about your latest visit to the DMV. No, it seems that Bill Wiese was given a vision of hell and he’s warning us about it (hell, not the vision). I have no reason to doubt that this really happened, because I found on Amazon.com the following:

Wiese… returned from [hell] with vivid details etched in his memory. He records an accurate account of his experience in this book, presenting more than three hundred scriptures that verify the horrors he endured and observed.

So it is an accurate account of his experience, which, of course, we know is accurate because it was etched in his memory. Plus, this information is on the Internet. BTW, its Amazon sales rank is #2,877, which leads us to the question: What kind of people buy books at CBD?

Amazon will give me a special deal if I buy another book (bestseller #11 at CBD) entitled 90 Minutes in Heaven by Dan Piper. Amazon.com comments:

Back on earth, a… minister… is led to pray for Don even though he knows the man is dead. Piper miraculously comes back to life and the bliss of heaven is replaced by a long and painful recovery.

Instead of being angry about this, Piper tells us what God’s taught him about life and stuff. Not my kind of read, but readers gave it 5 stars. Its Amazon rank is #194, which means people (at Amazon) like reading more about heaven than hell, though my all-time favorite heaven or hell book is The Great Divorce, ranked #1783.

I gave the sister a call because she’d been absent on Sunday, and I’d missed her before that.

“I’m just calling to make sure you’re okay and not ill.” (And I want to encourage you in your walk with God…)

“Well, I just changed my medication and am having trouble getting used to it.”

“So it’s making it difficult to get out in the mornings?” (So your sickness IS keeping you home…)

“No, not really. I’ve decided to give myself my own religious education now. I stayed home on Sunday and watched a show about Armenian Christians and how they live their faith. Had I gone to church, I would have missed it.”

“Well, they’ve got these really neat machines now that record TV programs so you can watch them later. If you want, I’ll record next-week’s show so you can come to church.” (I really want to know why you’d choose a TV show over flesh-and-blood communion, 5 minutes away.)

“Actually, I’ve decided to come for worship every other week. I’ve already done the accounting for 2005 and 2006. I’d still be coming more than anyone else at church. I’ve already checked.”

“Sister, I’m having trouble believing the Spirit of God is leading you in this. What do you think?” (That’s what I meant.)

“I don’t see where my Bible says I’m obligated to take communion every Sunday.”

“Sure, sister, but is the Spirit leading this decision? Listen, I’m glad you’re not ill…”

Years ago, Eugene Peterson wrote that talking parishioners into coming to church was a losing situation. All you can do is ask them about it and pray. Yancey’s last book says, “I believe that life with God should seem more like friendship than duty.” I believe the same thing about communion within the family. So I’ll pray about it.

Here is a picture of some of the folks Son 1 and I were with a week ago in Germany. A great group!

Enjoy the day…

 

The freeway between Lausanne and Geneva is a great 4 lane road but very, very busy. The 40 minute trip is often double that because of the heavy non-flow of traffic. The speed limit is 120 kilometers per hour (kph), that’s 74.564543 miles per hour for those of you who speed in the USA.

From January 1 to September 30, 2005, 36 people were killed on that stretch. It was not uncommon to see cars racing at speeds over 160 kph (yep, 100 mph). It was not uncommon to see cars rolled over, crashed into the divider or into a wall.

But now, no more speeding. The Cantonal Police are installing 20 new radars on the freeways, one every +/- 5 kilometers. You can get “flashed” for only 5 kph over the limit since the laser radars are so accurate. Of the 50,000 cars who drove by one of the radars in 8 hours the other day, only 177 were photographed.

There are no fines for speeding in Switzerland, but offenders are charged for the development of the photos. And the faster you drive, the more they charge you…

So, please drive carefully out there today, okay?

Son 1 and I spent last weekend at a retreat center about 45 minutes north of Frankfurt in Germany. He went as a participant, I as the speaker. The theme chosen for the Singles’ retreat was “A life of significance” and the main text that they gave me was the wonderful list of spiritual blessings that we have in Christ, found in Ephesians 1.3-14.

Singles from Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, USA and Hungary attended the weekend. We met Christians who had been born under communist regimes and others who grew up in Islamic countries. There were new Christians and not-yet-Christians, yet very few multi-generational Christians. They were open, ready to listen, ready to confess, ready to laugh and play.

One of the ladies wrote to everyone upon her return home:

The weekend was a great encouragement for me! Next time Satan tries to convince me that I’m or my life is insignificant, I can tell him that it’s not true for if we remain in Christ, we are significant!

It is true: Those in Christ have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. Now that’s significant.

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Have you got your copy of Yancey’s book, Prayer, Does it make a difference? We’ll be discussing the book at http://www.biblos.theobloggers.org starting October 21. Why don’t you join in the discussion?