Lessons on Faith...

It seems to me like the longer I'm here, the quicker time goes! Summer has definitely arrived here although I understand it's not made it properly to the UK yet. There was no transition period here. One day it was cold and raining, the next it was 30 degrees and it's stayed that much pretty much ever since!

As I wrote last time, my parents visited me for a week. It was a great time being with them and exploring more of Slovenia together. One of the highlights (for me at least) was visiting the town of Most Na Soči (the imaginative name literally means bridge on the River Soča). In my opinion, after Lake Bled, this was the most beautiful place I've been to in Slovenia. Although we had a hair raising journey across the mountains to get here, this part of God's creation made up for it!

It's hard to imagine it now but this valley region between Italy and Austria was the site of one of the bloodiest campaigns during WW1. It's estimated that 1.7 million men died here on the Isonzo front. It was also the inspiration for Ernest Hemmingway's A Farewell to Arms. 100 years later it is all peace and tranquillity but many men suffered so that we may have that. In the same way, it is a reminder of what Jesus suffered so that we may be freed and have a hope and a future.

In my one to one sessions over the last few weeks we have been studying the book of Ruth. I was surprised by just how much I learnt and got out of preparing these sessions. It's a story I know very well yet I learnt so much about faith and what it truly means to love other people. In order to prepare I used a commentary by Christopher Ash on teaching Ruth and Esther (which we will move onto soon) which I found immensely helpful. I thought I would share some of his insights on faith from Ruth chapter 3. For those who don't know, Ruth 3 is about a young woman making herself vulnerable and asking an older man, Boaz, to marry her to save her and her Mother-in-Law, Naomi, from poverty. Ruth trusts both God and Boaz for her future but at the end of the chapter we don't know if Boaz will be able to help them or not. Boaz is often seen as a Christ-like figure and in the end he makes the costly decision to save Ruth and Naomi because he priorities what God says and their needs above his own.

I claim no credit for the following although it has been put into my own words:

There are six facets to Biblical faith:

ü  Faith is Intentional – it is not something that just happens by waiting, sometimes we need to do something and trust God with the results

ü  Faith is Vulnerable – it means coming to Christ and abandoning all other securities

ü  Faith is Intimate – faith must be individual and personal, it is one believer entrusting themselves to one Redeemer

ü  Faith is Grounded in Covenant Promises – it is a conscious decision to trust what God has promised in Christ

ü  Faith is Effective – Jesus always responds to covenant faith with the assurance that He will do what He has promised

ü  Faith Involves Waiting – just as Ruth has to wait for Boaz to sort out the legalities, we wait for our future with Christ

This story which happened about 3,300 years ago (ish) still has much to teach and it has been a great privilege to see how much the girls (and myself) have been learning from it.

On a slightly different note, schools have ended now which means that all my timetables will change. All the weekly Bible studies will be condensed into a single weekly meeting (as well as church obviously). Next week I will be off to Austria to visit some people who are helping with my member care. Please pray for my travels but also that I will have a good, fruitful and refreshing time with this lovely couple.

Churches Together...

The last two weeks for me have been filled with busyness and exciting events. Last week I was in Jeruzalem again. This time it was for a conference for pastors and ministry workers from across South East Europe to come together with a group from Northern Ireland. Some of you may remember that I went to a similar event 3 years ago when I was still thinking and praying about whether I should move to Slovenia. Some people I remembered from last time whilst for others it was their first time to Slovenia. It was a great time of fellowship and mutual encouragement. Many workers in this part of the world are often isolated or do not have much support and so it is great that people want to travel here to hear more about the work that is being done. The weather didn't cooperate for the first day and a half, it was incredibly rainy! By the start of June though the temperatures started to soar to mid to high 20s. There was no gradual increase into the summer weather but it looks like it is here to stay now!

After my few days in Jeruzalem I travelled to Ptuj last Saturday to join a group of workers there who are trying to plant a church. They were having a prayer morning for the work and it was great to see and hear more about what is being done there.

Sunday was a very exciting day for my church, a church in Maribor and a church from another part of Slovenia (I can't remember which one and I'm sure to get it wrong if I try and guess!) We had a baptismal service for 5 young people from the 3 churches. I knew two of the people being baptised. One was a teenager from my church and one was a teenager from the church in Maribor but she has been on our camps and is very good friends with some of the girls in my church. It was a real encouragement to hear the stories of how God has been working in their lives and leading them to a point where they put their whole trust in Him. The 3 churches had a joint service together on a farm near Maribor. The weather was lovely which was good because there was very little shelter for the 100+ people if it had started to rain. I have learnt that a baptismal service here is a real time of fellowship and celebration. It is an event that lasts through most of the day. We had a church service, then the baptisms and then a picnic that lasted well into the afternoon. It was great for me to see so many people I knew but also great that there were many there that I didn't know. Please be praying for these 5 people that they would be continuing to trust in God but also that they would be a great encouragement to those around them, especially to non christian friends and family who may not understand the significance of baptism.

This week has also been quite busy for me but in a completely different way. My parents arrived here on Tuesday and so we have been spending this week visiting different parts of the country and learning more about the people and the culture here. I will be sad to say goodbye to them next week but please be praying for me as I try to get back into the swing of my normal routine here after they go.