August 2007 Monthly Update

FEELINGS

Martin Luther said, “Feelings come and feelings go, feelings are deceiving. I place my faith on the Word of God, nought else is worth believing.”
Right now I sit in my room trying to write this long overdue update. My throat hurts, my head is spinning, the house is a mess, Ruth and Jon are entertaining three guests, someone brought me coffee, someone else brought me cake, I’m thinking about another friend in another situation etc etc. Needless to say today my feelings are topsy turvy. I usually consider myself to be emotionally stable. But sometimes it’s good to be reminded that if I stand in my own strength I can only be as strong as man. If I allow myself to be so weak that I can only stand in God’s strength, then my standing is sure and my strength unlimited.

WORSHIP JESUS

And the Word of God I place my faith in is both the written Word – the Bible, and the Word incarnate – Jesus. The difference between true Christians and other religions or cults is that we worship Jesus. God became a man. The Creator became one of those whom He created. He lived as a man, and was condemned by them and killed by them. But ultimately He gave His own life, because He came to show us what God is really like. He was God in the Flesh. And He died and went to Hell for you and me so that we might not go there. Then He stood at the gates of Hell and laughed in Death’s face. He rose triumphantly to prove His power. The power of God. The power offered to everyone. The power to live as he commanded – loving God and loving others.

And so we worship Jesus. We show that He is worthy of all.

I want my feelings to become so small. I allow them to dictate far too much of my life. I want a life that worships Jesus.

ON TOP OF UKRAINE

Last Sunday Sergei and I stood on top of Ukraine. Mt Hoverla is Ukraine’s highest peak standing at just 2061 metres. It was a steep but fairly quick climb (1 ½ hrs up). We climbed in heavy fog and when we reached the top there was very strong cold wind and we could only see about 15 metres in any direction. So I’ll have to go back again another time. Six of us have just been away for 9 days. We camped in tents and cooked our own food over the fire and washed in the river. It was a good time visiting some cities and learning more of their history as well as just enjoying the beauty of God’s creation in the mountains. It really reminded me of New Zealand. We visited an amazing castle in Kamyanets Podilsky. There we caught up with my friend Irina. Please pray for her and her husband George and son George. I also spent one day across the border in Romania, it was good to see the Marianciuc family again – those who were there. Then on the way home through Lviv we caught up with Natasha and Alyosha whose wedding I was at recently. They showed us some new spots in Lviv and I like that city even more. Pray for them also.

RUTH AND JON

Ruth and Jon are with me now. Over the next two weeks they will find accommodation in Kyiv and get prepared for a school year teaching in an international school here. Pray that their time in Ukraine will be a blessing to them and to those with whom they interact. My friend Blair has children enrolled at the school where they will teach.

RURAL UKRAINE FOREIGN LANGUAGE SERVICES

The registration process is almost complete. Two ladies from Kyiv have been working on it for me. I have just been turning up and signing my name over and over and over again. Praise God that this is almost done. I will basically not do much before I leave Ukraine in October, but it means when I return next year everything will be ready to go full swing. I will continue with my current students in September and hopefully will be able to pass them on to an American named RC who is here for 6 months.

WHAT YA READIN’?

I’ve only finished one book this month. “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne. I highly recommend this book. I am still working through a lot of the challenges this book has caused me to consider. Exactly how should we the body of Christ look like if we are to follow Jesus and not just the organisation of the church. 5/5

PRAYER AND PRAISE

• God’s Word
• Mountains
• Irina, George and George
• Natasha and Alyosha
• Ruth and Jon

THANKS

• Xan and Dan for the rugby videos and encouraging letters.

Love Jono

Keep Looking Up

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