Hey our friend

We hope you had a great start into this New Year. We made it back to San Francisco after a  time of joy and grief with family in Germany. Please pray for us for a smooth start with the ministry in 2015. Thank you for standing with us! Please let us know if there is anything we can pray for you!

Accepting one another

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15.7

This verse is the Verse that got picked by the Church in Germany as the verse for 2015. When I started to think about this verse, it made me think of a story I heard years ago. It plays in Russia during a cold winter. A old lady who had a small house heard a knocking at her front door. When she opens it she sees 2 German soldiers. They ask her if they can come in to warm up. She says yes if they would leave there weapons outside. They did and came in. After a while there was another knock. The lady opens the door and outside are 3 Russian soldiers and ask as well if they could come inside. She gave them the same conditions. When they walked in they were quite surprised to see the German soldiers. But then they sat down at the fireplace and warmed themselves up. That evening they ate soup, laughed and cried together and accepted each other. The next morning all of them left to go back out to fight the war. But all of them left with a love and acceptance for the other.

Like in that story we often have a hard time accepting people for who they are. Sometimes it might be cause of a different clothing choice or hairstyle. When we think about the story of the prodigal son we see how the father accepted that son even after he failed big time. He didn’t just accept him, no he embraced loved and blessed him. God wants us not just accepting people but loving them. When we accept people we give them the opportunity to maybe feel accepted for the first time in their life. When we do that we soften and open there heart towards there loving father in heaven who waits for them with open arms.

Let us live this year by this verse and love many people through that into the Kingdom of God.

Have a blessed start into this New Year

Markus and Jen