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The danger of Comparison

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“Comparison is the thief of joy” Theodore Roosevelt

the danger of comparison“My youth group is smaller than the youth group in this other church. I’m worried people in my church start looking at me as a failure.” I heard this sentence or similar ones many times during my years of working with youth Pastors in YWAM. And often it was true, the other church really had a bigger youth group. But are numbers the indicator of success? Many times I noticed that those smaller groups were actually way more connected and often more in love with Jesus then the bigger ones. But again this is not always true either.

One of the big lies the enemy tells us that we have to compare ourselves to others to see our value and our place in life. But reality is when we do that we will always fall short. There will always be someone that is better than us in a specific area. But the reality is, God made each one of us unique, so comparing ourselves takes away the impression God wants to bring to this world through us. We try to become someone we are not. We idolize somebody else because we think they have it more together then us. But when we live the way God made us to be without comparing ourselves to others we actually live a life of more freedom. Not just that we model something to others, but we also give them the freedom to be who they are. I remember a long time ago I was spontaneously dancing with a friend who didn’t like to dance, and when I dance I don’t really care what people think and just have fun. When I did that she was able to do the same and since that moment she loves dancing without fear. Not just that I was totally myself in that moment, but through that I helped her to become totally herself.

I want to challenge and encourage us to take an honest look at our lives and see where we compare ourselves to others. After we know the area we need to ask God to show us how he made us to be and then start living in that.

Hey our friend

We hope you had a super wonderful week. With many different events the week flew by so fast. On the 12th we celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary which was really awesome!! Marriage is such a wonderful thing! Jen also helped this week to plan our YWAM summer Staff retreat which will be awesome. It is exciting to see what God is doing here in the city and how he brings hope to different people just through being in there life. Make sure to be a friend to your neighbors. You will be blessed!!

Don’t forget this week to not compare yourself.

May God bless you

Markus and Jen

Hope and patience

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But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8.25

hopeWe live in a society where everything needs to be instant. We want things we order being delivered in the least amount of time, projects we work on need to be done quickly and companies need to be worth billions in a few years. But reality often looks very different. Many times it takes years of patience and not giving up reaching the goal. Often it is not the instant gratification, but it is the hope that keeps us moving forward.

It is the same in your community. You will not bring change if you are not willing to be patient and to stay. If you want to build true relationships and earn the right to share about your faith or anything else you need to be patient. Our community needs to see our faith in action and not just hear us talk about it. But again this requires patience and also hope. Are we hoping that our communities are changed and are we having patience to wait?

I want to challenge us to let God give us a vision for our communities that is greater than us and then to have hope for it to happen. And if you already have a vision stay on track with patience. Don’t give up hope even if things don’t look great. Keep moving forward. Let me remind you God didn’t part the red sea before Moses arrived, He did tell him what to do when he was there!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a fantastic week. What’s new in your life? Last week we shared with a small group about how to be more involved in their community. It was awesome to see how many people got encouraged and challenged through it. On Friday we had a Cinco the Mayo themed game night with neighbors and friends. It was as well a wonderful time. Its amazing to see what can happen when you create a space for community.

We want to encourage you this week to remember to live in patience with an hopeful expectation.

May God bless you

Markus and Jen

Build up your Courage Part 2

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Build up your courage Part 2Last week we talked about how you can build up your courage by reminding yourself about Gods faithfulness in your own life as well as in the lives of the Psalm writers. This week we will share a few more ways that helped us.

When you have a big vision for something it often takes time to achieve it. I remember many times were I was thinking how is this all going to work out. Yes I saw little things happening, but the little things were not totally at the point of making the whole vision happening. So I spent lots of time in Prayer and got encouraged from God to keep going. So Prayer really pushed my courage to a new level.

Another thing I learned to build up courage is to celebrate little achievements along the way. When  you set little milestones along the way that can be achieved and you start celebrating each one of them you will see how it will give you a boost in courage. As an example: Your big goal is to bring hope to your neighborhood. Start off with setting little goals to achieve the big one. Bring hope to one neighbor by encouraging them. After you have done that, celebrate that milestone with a little reward (Chocolate, a movie, ice cream etc.).

2 Steps:

  1. Spend time in Prayer this week and let God give you courage and perspective!
  2. Second split up the way to your big goal in little goals and each time you reach one of the smaller goals celebrate with something little!

Hey our friend

20160425_130754-COLLAGEWow what a week. The Cities conference was amazing!! We had about 34 cities from places like South Africa to India, Mexico and the US represented by about 100 conference attendees. We all felt encouraged to hear from all different places about what they do and share with them about what we do. Many people were inspired and encouraged about the aspect of building community. Again what a wonderful conference week!

Have a blessed week and remember to keep building up your courage!!

Markus and Jen

Build up your Courage Part 1

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Build up your courage Part 1Many times in life we face situations which we think are too big for us to handle. I think we often forget in those moments that we have a loving father on our side for whom nothing is too big. When God gave me the vision for what we are doing now I was thinking that it was not possible to do. But then I reminded myself about how faithful God was in the past and how the things He spoke started to become a reality. Yes we faced obstacles along the way, yes things looked different then I thought they would look like, but reality is things started to come true the way God said.

But even sometimes things are not as big as the ones mentioned above, like encouraging a neighbor, starting a brunch for neighbors, they still need courage.

But how do you keep your courage up even in times of hardship? Like I said before you have to keep remembering who God is and how faithful He is. One great thing to do that is by reading the Psalms. When you go through that book you will notice how many obstacles and tough situations the writers faced, but how God came through at the end.  Psalm 23.4 Even though I walk through the valley of shadow and death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…
This Psalm is just one of the many examples.

We want to encourage you to read through some of your favorite Psalms this week to build up your courage!

Hey our friend

We had a wonderful sunny week here in San Francisco. We hope you had some nice weather too so you could enjoy the beauty of Gods nature. During our week we had a yearly event for the neighborhood association which was a lot of fun. We meet a few new neighbors from our hill through the event which was awesome! We also shared with a team from Korea on how to love on their neighbors and neighborhood. Preparation for the conference this week also took up a good junk of time. Please pray with us that this conference will encourage and challenge YWAM’ers from all over the world to make an impact in the different areas of there cities.

Remember this week to read your Psalms!!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Unplug to plug in

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unplug to plug inSan Francisco and Silicon Valley are the places that created a movement of people that are always plugged in. When the iPhone came out about 8 years ago it changed the way we live our lives. Our phones often dictate our lives with the little notifications that pop up or even the possibility of being always reachable. As beneficial that might be at times, it is also something that makes it harder for deep and meaningful relationships to grow.

I’m sure you experienced this scenario before: You are spending time with a few friends and a little while into it one of them is on their phone and not totally present with everyone else. In that time they are missing out on the community aspect right in front of them, but on the other side the community misses out on them. They unknowingly distance themselves from the rest of the group by being on there phones.

I suggest to you that if you want real deep friendships you need to unplug so you are able to plug in. Meaning unplug from all distractions, phones etc., best leave them at home. Then plug in with the people you are with, give them your full attention.

A few years ago I started to unplug myself so I was able to plug in with people in a deeper way. I got rid of my cellphone contract and just use the device as a calendar and camera and when I have a Wi-Fi connection to check my email etc. When I am with people I try not to use it at all since I want them to be the most important person in that moment. It helped me to be more intentional with people as well as getting to know them in a deeper way.

We want to encourage you to go one day a week electronic free. Don’t bring your cellphone with you when you go out with friends, instead just hang out and talk. Facebook, Instagram, and text friends can wait since you have people right in front of you!

Hello friend

We hope you had a great week!! Wow last week went by so quickly. Catching up with things and getting ready for the Cities conference at the end of the months took a lot of our time. We both will share at a workshop about neighborhoods as well take people around our beautiful neighborhood to give them a heart for their own communities. We could use your prayers this week to finish up all the last minute things for the conference as well as normal life things. Also pray for our DTS Students who are now in Greece working with refugees. Pray for them to be able to apply the tools they learned during their time in San Francisco. Thank you for praying with us!

Live your life more free by unplugging!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen