It is December...

I don't know about you, but I can hardly believe that this year, 2008, is almost over. Karen and I are excited about our daughter Elizabeth and our son in law Chris coming to visit us in Chemnitz for Christmas. They will be here tomorrow. Here in this part of Germany, the Erzgebirge, it is so beautiful this time of year. It is so hard to describe if you have not ever seen it before... almost every town of any size at all has a Weihnachtsmarkt. That is a Christmas market. They have lots of lights, lots of decorations, lots of smoker men, lots of hand carved wood dolls and soilders,lots of food, lots of things to drink, and lots of Christmas spirit. It is a different feel. It is a very busy place this marktplaz, but even with so many people looking, talking, and eating it is something that they are doing together. Not the husstle and busstle of a Walmart in the states. It is a refreshing time of family and friends enjoying this special time of year together. It is so encouraging to me to see so many references to Jesus and his birth and his life. I know we don't know when he was born... but we do know that he was born, then he lived, and then he died, and then he rose again to provide a way for us to come to the Father, through Him!! So as you experience Christmas, where ever you are and however you and your family celebrate it, remember that Jesus was born and came into this world for a specific reason, to be the WAY for us to come to the Father. Enjoy your family and friends as you eat, laugh, and talk together as we are able to spend time together and always be thankful for that special gift that God gave us! I hope that you have a wonderful new year!
Mark

Thanks....Giving

For us here in Deutschland, tomorrow is just another day. In the states, tomorrow will be a big day for families and friends to get together and take time from their busy lives to relax a little and spend some great time talking, laughing and eating together. Karen and I spent last Wednesday celebrating Thanksgiving day with some friends here in Chemnitz. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and green bean cassaroll. It was truly a time for us to be thankful. One of the things that I was most thankful for was having people who understood what this tradition is all about to share this meal and time together. Karen and I have learned so much about German culture, German ways of thinking, and about living a different lifestyle than we were use to in the states. But there are some things that will always be important, like celebrating thanksgiving day. It is really not about the food... okay the food is incredible... it is about have a time together with people you love and sharing. Sharing food yes, but more than that it is sharing our lives with each other. We are a long way away from our families at this holiday time, but I am so thankful for the celebration that we were able to enjoy last week. I want to be more thankful everyday for all the blessings that God POURS out on us. He gives us so much, sometimes I don't really appreciate all He gives me. God is great and He loves us so much and just like a good father he provides for His children. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed your thanksgiving day... I hope you are thankful everyday.

Taking a trip to Leipzig

Today Karen and I took a day trip to Leipzig. As we look to the very near future of moving there and planting a church, we feel it is important to spend time getting to know the city and people. I say very near future because in our lives, as I am quite sure is true in your lives also, time flies by faster than we are ever ready for. Today we spent time walking through the city and trying to get a better feel for the layout of the city. The people are very friendly and quite helpful when you go into one of the little shops. Leipzig has over 750,000 people, man is that a lot of people or what? It is a growing city, with many new buildings being built and a lot of renovation on older buildings. It takes us about an hour to get to Leipzig by train, but we feel so blessed to have such good public transportation. I am going to put in a couple of pictures of the city and then make this post and get to bed... it is quite late here. I just want to say thank you for reading this blog and for keeping us, this work, and the lost of this country in your prayers. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Okay, the pictures are first... I am still trying to figure this whole blog thing out... thanks for the patience.
Mark

God is at work

Often I think that we forget to slow down and see God working. Here me out... God works in His own time and in His own ways, but sometimes we are not on the same page. Take for instance some friends of mine here in Deutschland. Simone has been a Christian now for about a year. But after listening to her "salvation story" I realized that God had been working on her for the last 10 years. He has put different people into her life that have continued to help her get a little closer to God and His son, each and every year. Now her husband Jürgen, has come along in what seems to be a much quicker pace. But when I really think about it, he too was being influenced all along while she was growing. It thrills my heart to hear from Jürgen today with a request for Karen and I to come to Bremen next weekend and celebrate with him as he puts on Christ in baptism. Man, what a great event that we get to participate in. Thank you father for working in so many peoples lives... including mine. Take a few moments this day and slow down and look and see God working... in your life and the lives of those around you, it will give you a great feeling.

How do you limit God?

This morning as I was preparing for a lesson, an English Bible Study Lesson, on Friday night here in Chemnitz, I ran across a verse that hit me very strong. I was reading in John 11. This is the chapter about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus had waited to come to Bethany even after he had heard that Lazarus was ill. Verse 5 makes special point to explain to us that Jesus cared very deeply for these three people, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. But he waited... Martha is the first to see and talk with him, then comes Mary and she is followed by the friends, neighbors, family that were mourning with her at the loss of her brother. When they arrive where Jesus is, the folks with Mary make a unique statement. Verse 37 says, "But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" It is interesting to me that they at some point had witnessed Jesus healing a blind man. Because of what they had seen they believed that had Jesus been there before Lazarus died he could have saved him from dying. What they could not see was what he was about to do... raise him from the dead. They could not see what he was going to do because they could not imagine that it could happen. See my point? Sometimes we can't imagine what God can and will do in and with our lives because we can't even imagine it. That doesn't mean that it won't happen though. God can see on a much grander scale than us. We have limited sight, we have limited insight, we have limited.... I could go on, but you get the point. The greater point is that God is not limited! Trust in God to use you in ways that you cannot imagine. A friend of mine put it this way, "Let go and let God!" He also said to put on your rollerskates when you do because God will make it hard to keep up with Him without them! This week, don't limit what God can do just because you cannot imagine it happening!

Why difficult times?

Karen and I try to start every morning by reading our Bible together... outloud... in English and then in Deutsch. It is more than a chance to practice our pronunciation and reading skills. It is a time of reflecting together on God's word, it is a time of hearing how the other one is effected by what we read, and it is a time to see how in different languages we can have a deeper, fuller understanding of what God is trying to share with us. It is truly a blessing for us, what a way to start the day!

This morning we were reading Philippians chapter 1. It struck me once again how God uses so many things in our lives for "HIS WORK". Let me back up a second. How many of you out there actaully like difficult times? How many of you out there relish the fact that at some point or at some time in your life you are going to have to suffer? It may not even be your fault! But it is gonna come. I think I can step out there and say that not any of us like it. Not any of us even want it! The hard thing sometimes is that we often do not understand why those things are happening to us. Sometimes we may even cry out to God and ask Him why these things are happening... or even why He allows or makes them happen to us.

I like Paul's way of looking at difficulty: 1:12-14
Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
Paul was put in jail because he preached Christ and Him crusified, and the religious leaders of his day didn't like it. Ever been in prision for something you didn't do? Not me. I think if I had I would be feeling pretty sorry for myself, but not Paul. He was preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to the guards! Talk about a captive audience! I think Paul sees the glass as half full, how about you? Not only was he able to continue to preach to those in his reach, the other Christians who knew of Paul's situation were so encouraged that they were even more boldly proclaiming the wonderful message of Christ.

Okay, I know that we all have difficult times in our lives. It is just the way it is. What is different for us as Christians is how we handle it. Do we grip about it, do we whine about it, do we grumble and complain, do we blame God? Or, do we look for the good that can be accomplished in our given situations. Sometimes we may not get to see the immediate effect... but we learn and with that learning we can help, encourage, strengthen someone else. Paul went on to say something that most of us can quote, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain." He was looking forward to his reward, but he was also going to use his every breath to try to bring the lost to Jesus and to encourge those committed to Christ to remain true to Him.

Next time difficulty strikes... oh yea, it is gonna happen... look for the possitive in the situation, LOOK for the positive. It is an attitude, and a very good one! I believe God allows/makes things to happen to us because He knows the BIG picture. It is bigger than me, HIS plan. I am so glad that He uses me in His plan. I truly want to bring Him glory in every situation. How about you?

Kitchen Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the kitchen building project, Deutschland style.

Chemnitz, Deutschland

What can I say? It has been a remarkable 3 1/2 weeks. First we packed everything that we own up and loaded it into a van that was about the size of my work van when I was a locksmith. Karen, Sebastian and I then drove about 5 hours (a remarkable time) to Chemnitz. I have to tell you that it was pretty great all the help we had in Bremen to help us get loaded up. My thanks go out to Jurgen and Simone, they can pack a truck like no ones business! Once in Chemnitz, we had everything loaded up and in the new apartment in about 40 minutes. Man, that was fast. Karen and I took the next week to put our furniture back together. We had to disassemble it all to get it into the truck. Once the furniture was assembled, next came the fun part of delivering the kitchen. I believe the driver told me that there were 118 seperate pieces. Sounds like alot doesnt it? IT IS! But you have to remember that the only thing in the kitchen... or the room designated for the kitchen... was four walls, a floor, a ceiling and a light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Ha, okay the light bulb is still hanging from the ceiling even though the kitchen is finished. :-)

It took us about two weeks to complete the kitchen. I was able to do everything without hiring any of it done. Actually, most of the applicances were fairly easy to install and wire... a blessing. We now have countertop, oven, stove top, sink and running water. Right after finishing the kitchen I went to a monday through friday mens retreat. I arrived home from that yesterday and then got up at 5:30 this morning to take Karen to the train station for her to go to the ladies retreat till next Friday. Thanks for all your prayers on our behalf. I will write more later and bring you completly up to date... like how it took 3 weeks for us to get internet access. Didn't realize how much I counted on the internet. It is good to be back. Love you all.
Mark

God continues to work

Wow, what a weekend for us. If you keep up with our newsletters you know who Jurgen and Simone Becker are. If you don't know, email me and I will put you on the list to receive our monthly letter! Simone was baptized back in December. Her husband has been coming to services with her for the last several months. He is also reading through the whole Bible (an encouragement and challenge to me!). He wants to read through the whole Bible before he decides if he wants to be a Christian or not. He is sooooo close... Please keep him in your prayers. A couple of months ago Karen and I invited them over to our house for dinner. We had a great time with them and good discussion. Oh, did I mention, neither one can speak English? It was quite a bit of work for us to talk for about 5 hours in Deutsch. I think it was hard for them too, because they on purpose would try to choose their words so that it would be easier for us to understand. It was a great evening. They were so excited about the time we spent together that they invited us to their home for dinner, now they live about 40 km outside Bremen, so they asked us to spend the night. Wow, was that also wonderful! Then about a month later, they asked us to come back again, that was last weekend. They called on this past Monday and asked if we would come again this weekend because soon we would be moving and they wanted to spend more time together with us. We gladly accepted and went this weekend. On Sunday morning after having breakfast together we ride in their car to services. It is a great time to continue to talk with them. They are wonderful people. They are so encouraging and so full of excitement over all that they are learning about God, the Bible and Christianity. We stayed up last night talking with them till about 1:00 am this morning, then got up at a little after 7:00 am and ate breakfast and then off to services. After services (they went home to take a nap) we went out for lunch with Stephanie and Alicia, two sisters from the Gemeinde here in Bremen. We ate and as is customary in Deutschland, we talked about about 2 hours at the restaurant. We all came back to our apartment where at 4:40 pm another man from the Gemeinde, Frank Zimmeman and his two boys came over for a visit. Everyone went home about 9:30 pm. So needless to say, Karen and I are a bit tired, but feeling very good about our weekend. God is so alive and working in so many lives. I am so excited to be a part of His work. Tomorrow we start back with a renewed zeal and more energy as we continue to dismantle our furniture to get ready for the move. Thanks for your prayers and all of your encouragement as Karen and I are here in Germany. God bless and have a super day.
Mark

Great visit

We had a super visit from Clint, April and Heidi Everhart over these past few days. These are friends of ours that work and live in Chemnitz. They wanted to take a few days off and visit someplace that they had not been before... Bremen worked out great. I think they took lots of pictures and we probably walked their legs off. We had a chance to play Wii... yea, so much tennis that my shoulders are sore this morning. :-) Ha, I bet yours are too Clint!
It was so much fun to have their baby in our house. She is about 6 months old and she is so much fun. They were here over the weekend and they were able to attend the worship services here in Bremen. I think it was great for everyone. They knew several people from Bremen and so it was a time of getting to see people again that you don't often get to see. It was such an encouraging time for Karen and I. We were able to spend some time discussing the future work in Chemnitz. Probably the best part was just getting to spend some time with them, talking, laughing, eating and playing together. For Karen and I it was such a great break. We are getting ready to really start with the 'big stuff' of our moving experience, so it was great to take a short time just to enjoy some other folks before loosing ourselves in the moving process.
After the Everharts left yesterday, we took apart all the furniture in the guest bedroom and have it all stacked up in the corner, ready for the moving truck. Time marches on.

It's August 2008

Man, can you believe it? It is August 2008! Karen and I are starting to box up things... books, dishes and glasses that we don't use to often, stuff in the keller Raum (cellar room) that we can start organizing to load in the truck and so on. We have divided the work into days, you know it is better to pace yourself, otherwise you are likely to get ahead of yourself for fear you won't have enough time to get all the things you need to get done actaully all done. Karen has been laboring over the kitchen issue. We must buy a kitchen. We are so blessed that we have the monies to buy it, she just wants to be responsible with the money and get the most for what she is willing to spend. I only have to put it together. This is a lot of fun for me. Please keep us in your prayers as with each passing day we are closer to actaully loading up this moving van and driving across the country of Germany to our new apartment. It is gonna be an adventure. A friend of mine, Don Williams of North Little Rock, Ar, once told that if you ever 'let go and let God' you better have your rollerskates on. Well, I think Karen and I are in for another fun ride. God is good and does so take care of us. He stretches us often, but always provides. More later. Take care.
Mark

Gonna be short....

Hey this is going to be a short one, but I just wanted to say that I am so excited that Mark Deal got me back up and running after the changes on the Levy Website. So, I hope that all of you that were reading my posts off the Levy site will continue to follow the link from that site to here and read, comment, and enjoy some of my ramblings. Keep us in your prayers as we are on the 'stretch' for moving. You gotta love moving (not!). Ha, actually in this case we are very excited about moving to Chemnitz! It will be a lot of work, but God has continued to open the doors for us. It is so good to know that you are heading in the right direction. I will try to post a real blog some time later this week. God bless. May His peace rest upon you!
Mark

Home from Chemnitz

Just wanted to take a few minutes to bring you guys up to date on what is going on in our lives. Today is Tuesday... yea, hard for me to believe too. Karen and I just spent 5 days in Chemnitz. We had an incredible time... and very productive too. We went last Thursday, we were hoping to take our bikes with us so that we would not have to pack them in the truck when we move... but as circumstances would have it, that was not an option. We made the best of it and had a great train ride without the bikes. We make a train change in Leipzig, where much to our surprise we met up with Larry Sullivan. He was in Leipzig to meet with a young Christian brother, Conrad, for his weekly Bible study. So, we stayed in town with Larry and had a great visit with Conrad. Then we rode home to Chemnitz together on the train and had a great dinner together.
On Friday I was able to help Clint Everhart move from his apartment into the Sullivan's house. We were also able to sign the contract on our apartment in Chemnitz and use the keys for the weekend so that we could measure the different rooms in our apartment. The important one is the kitchen, because we have to buy everything for the kitchen.... sink, countertops, refridgerator, stove, cooktop, cabinets.... I think you get the idea. So it was quite helpful that we could chart out the rooms and measure them. Friday we also had a meeting with all those working in Chemnitz with the church there. This is the last group meeting for the Sullivans as they will be moving for one year to the states to teach at Oklahoma Christian and also try and recruit others to come and work with us in Leipzig the following year. We ended the day with a great pizza supper and a time of watching a movie together.
Saturday was a busy day as we spent the morning setting up tents and tables for the 'going away party' put on by the Sullivans at their home. From about 4pm till... we had food fun and fellowship. It was a great time to get to meet a lot of people. Some of them from the church, some just from people that they have come to know and love over the years. It was great for us to be a part of this celebration of such a wonderful Christian family serving our Father here in Germany.
Sunday was especially moving for me. Larry preached his last sermon in Chemnitz before heading to the states. He did a great job of motivating the family to strive for unity and love as they continue to grow in Christ. Karen and I are really excited about moving to Chemnitz and getting the chance to become even closer with the family there. It will be such a great foundation for us once we move to Leipzig in order to plant a church there. We need a Christian family, one that can help us and one that we can encourage and help grow in Christ. Once we move to Leipzig it will be a slow process as the church in that city grows and it will be so good to have a family not so far away to continue to grow with during this church planting process.
Monday we just helped in different ways to help the Sullivans as they took care of last minute things that have to be done before you can leave for an extended period of time. We also spent a couple of hours in the center of Chemnitz exploring the different shops and areas of the city. Then of course we had a nice train ride back to Bremen, about a 5 hour ride. We got home very late, as the train was a little late and we got back to the house about 1 am.
We did even more than I have written, dont have that much space, but know that it was a great trip and so helpful in so many ways, to many people. God continues to work and move and open doors and show us which way to go. Praise be to God! More later....
Mark

Pictures

I am going to try and post some pictures from the campaign that we had here in Bremen. We will see if I can make it work.

Opening Remarks

I have been blogging on the Levy church of Christ website since we arive in Germany in August 2006. Due to some problems the website has been revamped and I am starting a new blog on this website. I look forward to making posts and hearing your comments. I enjoy sharing my thoughts with you and will attempt to post on a regular basis.