Well… It’s official. It was -3 Celsius this morning (about 25 Fahrenheit). This is what it looked like out my window. When I first got up, I couldn’t see anything out my window, because the fog was so thick… In fact, the camera actually sees out the window a little better than my eyes do, for some reason. In Texas, this would be far past winter… haha. Pray my blood gets a little thicker.
Sorry for the delay, guys. Constant Contact is messing up or something.
So, I met a homeless guy today. I’ve seen him before, but I actually met him today. The last time I saw him, I was watching him dance to the music of a local group of American Indian performers. The performers will set up in the middle of downtown, play music, and sell souvenirs. A lot of people think they are fake. This guy obviously doesn’t think so by the way he was dancing.
When I saw him today, he was reaching in a trash can to pull out a coup and get something to drink. I walked up to him and asked him, in Ukrainian if he was hungry, and he answered me in English. That was really weird. I talked to him in English for a couple of seconds, asking him if he was hungry again (because there was a McD’s right there…), and he said no. I then told him, “Ok… God bless you. Jesus loves you,” and walked away.
Please be praying for him. I don’t know his name.
So… where do I start? I know! Let’s start with God…
God, thank You so much for what you did tonight. It was a breath of fresh air for me and a great time for everyone else. You came through in ways that not many will see and breathed life into our fellowship in a way that only You can. You are good.
So… first they came. We met at a grocery store across the street from my apartment building. We waited for a while so that we had everyone together and then started walking down to my place. There were two guys that didn’t show; regardless, we had a packed house. We barely all fit in my small kitchen while I was getting the hot water ready for tea and coffee.
After getting to know each other a little, we sat in my living room and played some ice breakers and then charades. That was a lot of fun. After that, we sang a few worship songs and then got into the message. It was about how God offers us the best thing, while satan offers us a counterfeit “good” thing.
After the message, we had an awesome time praying for each other. It was really cool. I was touched.
It’s funny how you see things differently when you’re getting ready for something like this. While I was cleaning my apartment before FNL, I was thinking about that. Before today, my apartment was just the place where I eat, sleep, and get ready to do stuff elsewhere. Today, it’s like God made the place alive and gave it purpose, meaning… haha. The sheep came and were fed here… that’s such a crazy thought.
Thanks, God, for letting me be a small part of that.
Here’s another pic of us trying to look a little crazy…
I just had the strangest experience with an apple… Now, before your mind goes to all different disgusting, rotten apples, it was a very good apple. It was what the apple reminded me of.
I bit into this apple, and I was taken back to my childhood, eating apple-flavored things and thinking “Well… this doesn’t taste much like an apple, but it’s good.” I’m not talking about things that are granny-smith flavored (or “sour apple” flavored, for y’all that don’t know your apples… haha), just regular “Apple Bubble Gum” or stuff like that. Even some apple juices tasted like that to me… and I figured it was just because of the imperfections of mechanically produced flavoring… until today.
This apple tasted just like that stuff… like apple cool-aid. It actually tasted really good.
I couldn’t tell you what breed it is. They don’t advertise the type at the market I shop at. It’s just an apple to them.
Well, the next time you bite into something apple-flavored and think “Eh… this doesn’t taste much like an apple,” think again. It just doesn’t taste like an apple you’ve eaten yet. There’s a life lesson in here somewhere… oh, there it is:
The world’s a much bigger place than we think, and there’s much more to experience than we ever will. Just imagine what Heaven will be like.
(Pictures taken with my new cell phone. Thanks to all who contributed to getting me that.)
