Tag Archives: YWAM

Ready for an Adventure?

Right in front of me on top of my desk is a wedding invitation for my brother and his future wife with the words “Our Adventure begins”. I love that way of looking at life. When we think of Adventure we think of new experiences, exploring something, but also taking risks. With a great adventure, you never know what comes next. But most of the time we would have some kind of guide who can lead us on this adventure. As an example, if you go White River rafting you probably will go with someone who is experienced and not just by yourself in your own little rubber boat.

Life as a follower of Jesus is an Adventure, but the great thing about that is that we also have a guide with us. God leads us along the way and is always with us. He knows totally what’s best for us along the way of that adventure. I was recently reading through the books of 1. Kings and you can see different outcomes when the kings went on their Adventure with God or without him. When they went with him He was guiding them along the way, gave them the right perspective and also the courage to do the right thing. If they walked by themselves, usually things didn’t work out well for them.

So going on an adventure always requires a good guide and God wants to be that guide for each one of us. Yes, Adventures can be challenging and sometimes scary, but with the right guide at your side things will work out better. Because you know He’s got things! Going down that White River and seeing the waves left and right can really bring fear, but with the guide in the front of the boat giving instructions and leading, it can be a lot of fun.

We want to encourage you to let God guide you in your Adventure. You will have an exciting journey ahead, but also someone who is with you when things don’t look as good.

Hey our friend

Labor Day is here and also the time of our last big barbecue for this year. Its sad that it is the last one for this season, but in the same way we are really excited to spend time with our neighbor friends. Make sure to invite some new people to your barbecue it is always exciting!!

But sadly life can’t be just barbecues; sometimes we also have to do office work. But we got a lot of stuff done this week. And it feels good too when you can see immediate results.

We hope you had a good week too and want to wish you an amazing one for this coming one! Let God guide you into your own Adventure with Him!!

God bless you

Markus and Jen

Peter

Over the last few months we looked at different people from the bible from time to time. Today we want to write about Peter, the friend of Jesus.

Peter used to be a fisherman before Jesus called him to be a disciple. A fisherman was a normal job but when Jesus called him to be a disciple that was a huge honor and upgrade for him. So first of all Jesus honored Peter by offering him that position. During their time together Peter grew in his faith also through stepping out in it and failing. One time he walked on the water, but then second guessed himself and what Jesus said, and began to sink, but Jesus pulled him out. But after all he took a step of faith in that situation and that takes a lot of courage. Later on he called Jesus the son of God which earned him credit from Jesus and also showed how he hears clearly from God. But just one chapter later he gets rebuked by Jesus because he did not listen to God. Again Peter was a normal guy with issues like all of us.

When we come towards the end of Jesus life Jesus told Peter how he would deny him in front of the people before the rooster would crow, but Peter strongly disagreed. But Jesus was right as soon as he was caught Peter denied him. But that moment changed something in Peters life. He broke down crying. Probably he realized even more that without trusting in Gods ability and not his own he would be lost. After Jesus rose from the dead, him and Peter had a conversation, in which Jesus spoke out his full trust in Peter. He said it 3 times that he trusts him and that he would build his Community (in the Jewish bible its called community not church) on him. Jesus rebuilds something in Peter by speaking out his full support to him not based on Peters achievements but based on how Jesus believed in him.

When we read further in the New Testament we see how that word came true and how he build his church on him. When we look at the church today we notice that all of us in the church are a bit like Peter ourselves. We are not perfect people; we have our problems and issues like Peter. But God still decided to choose us to build his Kingdom. He chooses imperfect people to bring change to an imperfect world. He takes us by the hand and walks with us like Jesus walked with Peter. He believes in us and wants to help us grow and succeed. So let us all take the hand of Jesus and let him guide us in our journey.

Hey our friend

What’s new in your life? Are you enjoying your summer?

Last week i (Markus) celebrated my 41st birthday and it was awesome!! Jen took me a to toy train museum the sunday before. On the day off, we went on a hike with the encouragment group and i got blessed with some amazing picninc food. At night we went out for a meat dinner which was amazing!! I made a little album if you want to see some pictures click on this link:

We also had some wonderful times with our neighbor friends. God really blessed us with friends that just live across the street! Its amazing!! Let him gift you with the same thing! Trust me its a blessing!!

Let the example of Peter show you in all our strength and weaknesses, in all our failures and successes, God wants to work with us!

God bless you

Markus and Jen

Love your Neighbor use the in between time

We hope the small acts of kindness helped you to connect more!! Don’t forget the starfish !!

Love your neighbor use the in between timeThis weeks blog is another video blog with the topic use your in between time. We hope you feel encouraged!!

Hey our friend

We hope your week was great! We had a great neighbor brunch and also small group at our house. Its always nice to get together with other believers. Its also always really nice to see family from Germany. This coming week we will travel with them which will be a blast!

Try this week to coordinate with a neighbor to commute to work together!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Love your Neighbor – Testimonies

Love your neighborTestimoniesHow were you able to take care of your neighbors last week? We are sure however you did it you were a blessing!!

This week we just want to share 2 stories with you about how much of a blessing it is to love your neighbor and how much it changes lives. A few days ago I got a free ride from Lyft and I used it to go into the woods to go for a hike. On the way there I encouraged the driver and I found out we live really close to each other. So I invited him to our game night the day after. He was moved by the invite and came. He had a great time getting to know the other neighbors that came and played his first bingo game. Each guest brought a small silly gift as a prize for the bingo game. So when it was his turn to win he picked one of the prices and it included a fortune cookie. He opened it and everyone asked what it said because he seemed really moved. He didn’t want to share first but then he did. It said today you will find what you were looking for. Then he said he was looking for family and he felt like family with all of us and it was something he wanted for a long time. All of us around the table were moved by it too. And it was a simple invite.

For Thanksgiving, we hosted a big meal at our house and invited our neighbor friends. Many people came and our apartment was full. We had friends from all over the neighborhood and all the different places we are connected to. We also had the full age range as well as all different walks of life from rich to poor. During the dinner time, Jen asked everyone to share about what they are thankful for. The common answer was this moment with people, sitting around this table and talking and spending time together. Someone said it was the first meal at a table with a family since home 3 years ago, another said they would have eaten at a restaurant but his mom convinced him to go and he gave us a hug later with tears in his eyes saying thank you so much. And again it was a simple open home.

We hope those 2 stories inspire you to invite your neighbors over and become friends with them. We all need a place to belong so let us create those places!!

Hey our friend

We hope your week was great!! We got back from our writing trip last week on Tuesday and it was a successful time. God really inspired us during the time. When we got back we had a neighborhood watch meeting and also a wonderful brunch. It was awesome!! We feel so blessed by all of our neighbor friends around us and our heart is to inspire others to love their neighbors too. So let’s do it!! This will also be the last week before our DTS Students leave for Outreach. Please keep them in your prayers!!

Thank you for all your prayers. You guys are a blessing to us!!

Have a wonderful week!!

Markus and Jen

Build up your Courage Part 2

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