Monthly Archives: June 2016

God created Creativity

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GOd created creativityIn 2003 I went with my DTS outreach to Rome. While we were there we visited the Vatican and the Sistine chapel. The art of the paintings Michelangelo did literally takes your breath away and its undeniable that God gave us creativity to create. When the bible talks about that we are created in His image, it also implies that God placed the creativity in us; the creativity with which He created the earth and everything in it. Michelangelo, Bach and many others used their gifting’s to glorify God. Bach wrote under each of his music pieces “Soli deo Gloria – to the Glory of God alone”. If you listen to a concert of Bach or if you look at the paintings in the Sistine chapel, you can’t deny that God placed creativity in them and that the work they did still moves people today.

But God did not just place a creative gift into a few people. No each one of us is creative. Yes it looks different for each one of us. For some of us we might be creative in creating business, for others it is art or music, for others its creative ways to encourage people etc. It doesn’t really matter in which way you are creative, what matters is that you use your creativity to show people the Glory of God. If you don’t know in which area God has given you creativity start exploring. I believe sometimes we think that using the creativity God has given us could be seen as pride, but in reality it is actually more prideful not to use it and saying to God I don’t believe that you can use my gifts.

Ask yourself those questions:

  1. In which area do I think I am creative? If you don’t know start to ask God and friends and see what they say.
  2. Start using your creativity in a way that that shows people how great your Father in heaven is.

Hey our friend

dts gradWe hope you had a wonderful week!! We had a wonderful week with dinners with neighbors, and time to graduate our DTS Students. All of them are moving into a new season. Pray for Gods guidance for them, in this time of transition. We also had other friends visit from Germany which was awesome. I was also able to help someone we knew randomly to come up with a strategy for her business. Its wonderful to see how God uses the creativity he has given me to bless others.

The challenge for this week is to start to find your creativity and to start using it to show the God to people in your surroundings!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

How to train your caring muscle

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How to train your caring muscleIn the city of San Francisco dogs outnumber children. I don’t know another place where people love their animals so much. Jen and I both really love animals but the level people love them here is above us. But how do you understand and care more for things that people around you care so much about. Immerse yourself into their culture. So recently Jen went to a class to volunteer at a local shelter in which the people shared passionately about the animals and why it is important that we care. When she came back she had a greater understanding and heart for people that love their pets so much. All it took for her was to get immersed into the things people care about here and to understand why they care about it.

The biggest dog we have ever seenWhen you do that it changes your heart towards people. From a value system based on what we think is important to a value system that values what is important to others. Of course with that also be wise, pray and don’t go against your biblical believes.

We want to challenge you to increase your caring muscle by looking at your community and see how you can care more about the things they care about!

  1. Find out what your community cares about
  2. Hear someone speak on that who is excited about it.
  3. Get a heart for it and connect through that with the people in your community

Hey our friend

We hope you had a fantastic week!! This week we had a lot of meetings. A board meeting at YWAM, a meeting about a prayer event for San Francisco and our usual Staff Meeting. As much as most of us are not excited about meetings, they are needed to get things done and also catch up on the process. You also get to know sometimes great people which otherwise you would have never met. I have to remind myself of that when I am in them. We also had a Visitor from Germany which was awesome!!

Start this week with training your caring muscle!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Catch me if you can or Redemption is possible

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Catch me if you can or Redemption is possibleLast weekend Jen and I watched the movie Catch me if you can. It is a true story about a man who was a con artist who was pretending to be a pilot, a doctor, a history professor and an attorney and while he did that he was making his own checks to steal millions. While he was running all those frauds an FBI Agent was making it his mission to bring him into custody but also started to have a heart for him. The interesting turn in the story happens after he is caught and in jail. The Agent talks to his Boss in the FBI to use the young man. So his boss decided to actually offer him parole if he helps them with Fraud cases which he does. Later on he starts his own security firm to help banks to make things safer. The Agent and the ex con were friends for the rest of their lives.

What I really liked about this story was the part of Redemption and how it came along. The agent could have been really bitter since he went through a lot of trouble cause of this guy, but he decides to use his help to bring change in the FBI. Out of that something changed and all the things the young man used for bad he actually turned around and started to use for the good.

I believe that this is the way God wants to work with us. He wants to turn our biggest failures into our biggest success. And he also wants to use each one of us to walk along others to get there in their own life. I believe each one of us can do that.

  1. Ask yourself the question what failures did I have in my life and then ask God how He wants to redeem them!
  2. Walk alongside another person that might be in the middle of a struggle in their life and help them by praying for them and walking alongside with them to also come to a place of redemption.

Hey our friend

I want to start this off with a prayer request to all of us! let’s pray today for the families and friends of the people that died in orlando. Pray for God’s peace and comfort over each one of them. Let us as a followers of Jesus bring hope to the ones that lost hope in this killing. Let us show the love of our Father which is greater then hate! Let us not bring our agendas, let’s just respond with love and care! Let His love shine through us!!

Also here is a short update on our week. We had a great brunch on Saturday and also a wonderful game night at our house on Friday. It’s always so wonderful to share our home with friends from our hill. Over the years we lived here we have seen a little community form which is really awesome. Start doing it at your house. It will enrich your life!

Be a person that brings Redemption from Father God!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Pray and Go

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pray and goA little while ago Jen got a sticker from her cousin with the words “you are beautiful”. Recently she remembered that sticker and she asked her cousin to send her a few more. Her plan was to give them out to women in the community and to encourage them through it. So one Wednesday all of us sat in the Park together with a friend ready to go and give out the Stickers. My job was to pray for them while they are out. Before they left we prayed and God gave our friend a picture, a word, a place and a specific person. So they all went to the location and found many women there. But one of them God pointed out to our friend. After walking up to that lady and sharing the word and picture she got, the lady starts to cry and share how that word really confirmed something she just asked God moments earlier and it also showed her that He is right at her side. The combination of sticker and the word from God made a huge impact in the life of that lady. And it was not something hard to do.

What about you and I and all of us Christians start doing that on a daily base, think about the impact it will leave! What about we pray and tell people something that God really wants to tell them, how impactful will that be in their life? I believe to change our communities and to bring the love of God and hope, each one of us has to step up and do their part!

  1. Pray and ask God to show you who to encourage and how
  2. Be bold and go for it and don’t be discouraged if you sometimes get it wrong. The effort alone often shows people how loved they are!

Hey our friend

Memorial Day BarbecueWe hope you had a wonderful week! Ours was great with many moments of bringing hope to people and to just love them. Our Barbecue for Memorial Day was awesome. We had 11 friends here at our house from our neighborhood. Its awesome to see how community can happen when you create a space for it! We also had a YWAM community night on Leadership and on Saturday some of the YWAM Staff went to Santa Cruz for a beach day. It was wonderful.

Start this week with asking God for specific encouragement for people and also for boldness to step out and share it!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen