A little while ago Jen and I watched the movie The straight story. It is a true story about a man who could only walk with his canes and then rode his lawn mower for 240 miles to reconcile with his brother after he found out his brother had a stroke. Along the way he is able to encourage and bring hope to people. Here are 2 things I took away from this film:

1. This man was not able to get a drivers license because of his eyesight. But it didn’t stop him from doing the right thing even if it looked crazy or impossible. He took what he had and used it. I believe that this is something so important to remember. We don’t always have the perfect lineup for things, but that doesn’t mean we should give up. We need to find the way in the impossible.  If God called you to do something he will make a way. Its really important to think outside the box and in that not to worry what others might think about us when we do that.
2. When he arrives at his brothers’ house after 6 weeks of riding his lawn mower his brother asks him, did you come here driving on this lawn mower? When he said he did his brother has a tear in his eye. It speaks volumes when he did the impossible just to come and see his brother. He didn’t even have to say a word, his brother knew that he truly cared about him and how important the relationship was to him. Its amazing when people see how much we care by our actions. Its often not the words, but many times it is the action that speaks so much louder. It reminds me of Jesus and how he went into the houses of people that were looked down on, not caring about his own image. Just imagine what volumes that spoke to the people he visited.

We want to encourage you and us to live our lives were we make the impossible possible with God. Live a life where we find a way where there is no way. We want to be people of action and of words that follow action.

Let us ask ourselves those questions:

1. What is holding us back from taking action?
2. Ask God to help you in that area to move forward and not to give up.
3. Ask God where you are supposed “to ride your lawn mower to”!

https://youtu.be/1yUwF3vskF8

Hey our friend

We hope you had a fantastic week!! This will be our last week in Germany. Please pray for a good start back to life in San Francisco! Thank you so much!!

Don’t forget the lawn mower and to take action this week!!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

…For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2. Corinthians 12.10

When we think about the word weakness it is often attached to things that are not so good. But when we look at the verse above it actually says the opposite. When we are weak we are strong. When you read the whole chapter you notice that Paul talks about a weakness in his life and how he asked God to take it away, kind of the logical thing to do. But Gods answer was different then he expected: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So the weaknesses in Paul’s life actually drew him closer to God.

It reminds me of a scene in the movie the Lion King. Simba, a lion cub, goes to a place where he is not supposed to go and he is being attacked by a group of hyenas.  While trying to protect his friend he roared at the attackers. But all that comes out is a weak sound. The Hyenas start to make fun of him and ask him to roar again. Out of fear he does, but this time a loud roar shakes the place which scares the Hyenas. The next thing you see is the father of Simba and how the Hyenas run away scared.

That is a great picture of Gods power in our life. When we realize that we cant do it on our own, he is right there. A place of weakness is a place of being humble. When we are humble, pride has to leave in our lives, and when that happens God can move. When we relay on His strength we stay also in an attitude of thankfulness because we realize how much the father loves us and how much He is moving with us. So if we deal with weakness in the right way and it drives us towards the father, weakness actually brings us to a place of strength.

We want to encourage all of us to look in all areas of our life to the father, the giver of strength.

1. Ask yourself were are your weaknesses?
2. Did you rely on God in those areas?
3. How can you start working more from His strength and less of yours?

https://youtu.be/iiWCMqZu0zk?t=47s

Hey our friend

We hope you had a fantastic week!! For the next few weeks we will be in Germany so you will not get many updates from San Francisco, but please keep praying for our city. Thank you so much!!

Remember this week to look at God for your strength!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Recently I was reading a book which quoted a parable Jesus gave, the one with the wise man who build his house on the rock and the man who build it on sand (Matthew 7.24-27). One thing that really spoke to me was the fact that the storm came to both houses. But the one house stood through the storm the other didn’t.

In 1989 San Francisco had a pretty strong earthquake. One neighborhood in specific is built on landfill and because of that doesn’t have a very solid foundation. When the earthquake hit, all areas of the city felt the shake but the area build on landfill felt it the worst. Part of the freeway collapsed as well as many houses got destroyed.

When you read the parable in Matthew it is really clear that the storm hits both houses pretty hard. We as Christians will face hard times, the bible makes that clear many times. But it also talks about that God is with us in those. So we need to do a checkup and see where our foundation is built on. In which areas do we still have to grow in our trust in Him and in which ones are we more secure? When hard times come we can often see the cracks in our foundation and what things we have to work on. Spend time this week to ask God to show you the areas you have to work with Him on. He is faithful and will show you. We all need a strong foundation in Him because He will never fail us and at the end of the day we all want to be the house that is standing.

Hey our friend

Last week we celebrated the 70^th birthday of my Dad with a whole family vacation. It was a great time. For the next few weeks we will be in Germany so you will not get many updates from San Francisco, but please keep praying for our city. Thank you so  much!!

Don’t forget to check your foundation!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen