Who is God?

Tonight at church / home fellowship / dinner group / awesome collection of people, we were posed the question "Who is God?" and asked to illustrate that in whatever avenue we would like.

The following is what was on my paper:

God... who is He?

God is the Father. He is a being that beams with pride over His children, however is not "afraid" of giving us exactly what we need. He is a gracious Patriarch, and a just Daddy. He invites us into our place as His loved child, and does not attach stipulations to His love. He gives all blessings, but waits until it is exactly what we need. He is perfect in every way, and was us desperately to share in the joy that is His Glory. He will never leave us or forsake us, and will protect His children at every cost.

God is the Son. He pursues us ferociously, doing anything for His bride. He courts our hearts relentlessly, sacrificing everything: including His life, just to be with us. He loves us passionately, always coming after us, calling us back to Him when we have been seduced or have chosen ourselves to betray the one Perfect Love. He is coming back for His wedding day to us: his bride.

God is the Spirit. He finds ways to speak to us without ever using His own voice. He echoes the words of the Father and the Son, yet seemingly contradictorily speaks through His voice: the voice of God. He comforts the brokenhearted. He mourns alongside the widow. He hugs the orphaned and tells them that they have a home. He calls all to turn away from empty pursuits and to gaze upon the Glory that is the Alpha and Omega. He is our promise that one day, we will be wed to the Son in the presence of the Father...

And all will be the way it should.

Exciting Opportunity! (Not Spam)

Hey guys,

I realized that when the subject title is "Exciting Opportunity," most people, including myself, send it straight to the trash bin.

Regardless, I wanted to let you guys know that I have been meeting with a home fellowship group for the past three weeks, and I'm really excited about everything going on here. It's great because there are both English speakers and Hungarians meeting up at a home every week. We eat dinner, play a game, and then spend some time talking about God and what He's doing here in Budapest.

We also want to be a missional community though. On November 16th, we are planning on going and buying a bunch of blankets (or taking some that will be donated) and helping out some of Budapest's homeless residents. The blankets themselves will cost about 1000 Ft (which is equivalent to maybe five or six dollars depending on the exchange rate), and that is where I would like to ask you to consider making a donation to cover a blanket or two.

There are a ton of homeless people here. I don't just see a few here and there. Right off the top of my head, I can think of two that I see everyday at Florian Ter, about four that hang out at Kolosi Ter, and another that lives up the street form Kolosi Ter. Those are the "regulars," let alone the drifters. Today's high was 46 F. It's October 20 and the nights already almost hit the freezing mark.

If you would consider making a donation of $5 or $6, less than the price of a value meal at Arby's, then please send a check to CEO and write "One Blanket" in the Note line to:

CEO
PO Box 6578
Charlottesville, VA 22906

If you do not use checks but would still like to get involved, Paypal is available too!

Click here for Paypal Donations!

The Paypal link is near the bottom of the page. You'll be able to choose an amount and then once it prompts you to log in, you can click on "Add Special Instructions." That's where you would write "Blanket One."

Thanks again everyone! I'm really excited that people are interested in helping out. The homeless of Budapest thank you! Also, thanks again for all of your prayers and support. I could not be over here doing this without each of your individual spiritual and financial help, and it is greatly appreciated.

Love y'all,Will

PS - Feel free to share this news with your Sunday School group. We want to keep Budapest's homeless warm!

I made a little girl cry today...

Today I feel that I got my first taste of what being a parent will look like.

When my kids are around the age of eight or nine, I'm sure that I will have to discipline them somehow. If I don't, then call the people at Guiness because I'm sure they have a record book I could get in to.

There's a little girl in one of my classes. For the sake of anonymity, we will get her "Susie." Susie loves to talk and loves to play, and apparently loves to do so during my daily English lessons.

Now keep in mind that they are split into two groups, so I guess I get her every other day.

Regardless, today was like every other, and no discipline that I had put into place before was really working. (First year teacher people... come on) So with about fifteen minutes left to go in my lesson, I got their attention and explained that the next person I had to tell to be quiet or sit down, they were going to get a message written in their "message book." (I'm still not sure who reads these messages, but it's a big deal)

And so it worked... for about three minutes. That is when Susie decided to start joking around with her neighbor, and stood up laughing to do so (They're only three feet tall). So I walked over and said "Susie... give me your message book."

The look of horror quite suddenly spread across her face.

She sat down pouting, rummaged through her things, and produced her message book. I took it and walked back up to the desk where my pen was. The whole class was silent. I wrote "Susie will not stop talking in class" and then walked back to her desk. Her head was down, and her neighbor looked up and said "Susie is cry." I shrugged as if to say "I wish I didn't have to do this" and put the message book back on Susie's desk.

I did feel sad about the whole situation, but the entire class is a little out of control. I had to do another quick writing with another little girl, but she didn't seem too torn up about the whole thing.

But how often do we do this with our spiritual Father? We are warned time and time again of the awful consequences we are going to face if we don't stop acting up, and when those consequences finally happen, we sit down pouting and bury our heads in our folded arms on the desk. I look at myself too when I say this and we have to wonder, when will man just stop sinning!?

Oh yeah, when Jesus comes back.

That doesn't mean we can eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. That means we need to do our very best. God gives us these warnings for our own good. He wants EVERYONE to be living in harmony and He tries to point us in the right direction, but time and time again we (even subconsciously) trade His good advice for our own stubborn desires.

To God be all Glory.

New Movie!

Sneak peak before class

Food and Wine Festival!

First off, the food and wine festival we went to today was great. It was my first "festival" here in the Hungary and it's apparently a frequent thing. When we walked in there was a Hungarian puppet theater going on. Since we understood absolutely zero, other than a jester with a frying pan, we decided to move on and try some of the food and wine from the different vendors. I tell you what, Hungarians know how to cook some really good food. Not the healthiest food, but really good food nonetheless.

Regardless, I just wanted to let you guys know that the videos on these things have been a bit of poor quality (ie - uploaded from my iPhone). I do plan on sitting down and putting something together soon that actually has editing involved.

Thank you for your continued prayers. I'm heading into my first week of teaching. This seems to me where the rubber hits the road.

Love y'all,
Will

Turkish Food!