Tag Archives: YWAM

4th Advent Love

4 Advent LoveBack home in Germany we celebrate the 4 Sundays before Christmas, called Advent, by burning a candle for each Sunday on the Advent wreath and by preparing our hearts for Christmas and the good news that came with it. Each of the candles symbolizes something different and we will write about the meanings for the next 4 weeks.

The fourth candle on the Advent wreath is also called the Angel Candle or the Candle of Love. What do you think when you think of the word love? Maybe a Hollywood love story where a couple walks down the beach together into the sunset. Or maybe a pair of shoes you just recently bought. The word love is used in so many ways but rarely in its true meaning.  But what is true love? Paul describes it in 1. Corinthians 13 the passage used in so many weddings. It talks about a sacrifice and giving up some of our own rights for someone else. It doesn’t even mention that feeling of butterflies which we only connect with love. One of the most famous and most quoted bible verses speak about true love, John 3.16.

For God so loved the world that he send his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Again a verse that talks about giving and sacrifice. When we think of Christmas and what love God has brought to us we actually see true love in Action. He cares so much about each one of us that he put the most precious thing on the line, his son. He did it so we can be reconciled with him. But the thing is he had no guarantee that people would actually take the amazing gift he gave them.  What if only one person on the planet would have chosen to believe in Jesus? Do you think God would still think it was a worthy cause? I believe he would. And that is the love that is shown to us at Christmas. A love that sacrifices, heals broken things, reconciles and many more.

  1. When you reflect on this love for you personally, read the verse above and replace world with your name and let it go to your heart.
  2. After you did that replace it with the name of someone in your area that doesn’t know Jesus yet and start praying that they will experience that love of the father and make a decision for him.
  3. And now take an action step and live your life with such a sacrificial love with every person out there. Mother Teressa was asked once what she finds when she gave all the love away. Her answer was More love!

Remember Jesus came at Christmas time to save the world, he didn’t come so each of us can have some extra ties and socks in there closet! So let us live our lives with love in action.

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week. Wow only a few more days and Christmas is here. We are excited to celebrate with our neighbor friends. It will be an amazing time. During this and the last week we wrapped up most of the things so Christmas can come. We baked cookies together and blessed many neighbors with a Christmas card and a little plastic bag filled with homemade cookies. Its sometimes the simple things that can truly make a difference.

Also we want to say thank you to all who support us in our work here through Prayer and finances! You are a huge blessing to us! May god bless you richly!

We have a request for you! To do the work we are doing we depend 100% on support. Over the last few months we lost about $287 in monthly support through changes of circumstances in people’s lives. So at this point we need about $1410 more in monthly support to be fully funded and about $8,850 more to reach our full budget for this year. We want to ask for your help in sharing with people you know that have a heart for missions and would be interested in joining our support team monthly or with a year end donation. Of course if you are not a part of it you are welcome to join as well! When you click on this link you find out more how to do that. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you for all your help in this area.

Start this week with a lifestyle of sacrificial loving of people right around you.

We wish you a blessed Christmas week with your family. We are blessed to have each one of you in our life!!

christmas card english

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

2. Advent Preparation

2 Advent PreperationBack home in Germany we celebrate the 4 Sundays before Christmas, called Advent, by burning a candle for each Sunday on the Advent wreath and by preparing our hearts for Christmas and the good news that came with it. Each of the candle symbolizes something different and we will write about the meanings for the next 4 weeks.

The second candle on the Advent wreath is also called the Bethlehem Candle or the Candle of Preparation. The time before Jesus was born was a preparation time for His family. They had to get ready to go to Bethlehem while being pregnant. If you think about the preparation it takes to go on a journey today, imagine that 2000 years ago without cars, busses planes etc. Traveling was a hard thing in that time so you had to be prepared for everything since you couldn’t just pick up things you forgot easily.

What about us and our journey with God? Advent is a time of preparation for our personal journey with him. Getting ready for Christmas doesn’t just mean to get all the gifts, bake all the cookies and clean the house. No preparation also means preparing our hearts. How do we do that? We do it by spending time with Him. It could be by meditating on scriptures from the bible, praying, spending time in silence in His presence or any other things that you do to spend time with Him. When our heart, mind, soul and spirit focus is on Him Christmas will be a different celebration. All the things we normally do at that time become secondary and the true reason why we celebrate Christmas is becoming the number one.

We want to encourage you this week to get ready for Christmas by preparing during your times with him.  Start reading the bible stories that lead up to Christmas. If you have the chance share the special things you got out of those times with a friend or maybe also people that don’t know Jesus yet.

Hey our friend

Wow this week was a whirlwind. I Markus was speaking at a Christian business man meeting which was a great time. Thank you God! Then we had a game night and a brunch at our house as well we celebrated early Christmas with our YWAM Bay area Family. It was a week of Christmas celebration and speaking. It also always opens the door for great conversations about our love for Jesus. Use this time to do that!!

Also we want to say thank you to all who support us in our work here through Prayer and finances! You are a huge blessing to us! May god bless you richly!

We have a request for you! To do the work we are doing we depend 100% on support. Over the last few months we lost about $287 in monthly support through changes of circumstances in people’s lives. So at this point we need about $1410 more in monthly support to be fully funded and about $8.950 more to reach our full budget for this year. We want to ask for your help in sharing with people you know that have a heart for missions and would be interested in joining our support team monthly or with a year end donation. Of course if you are not a part of it you are welcome to join as well! When you click on this link you find out more how to do that. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you for all your help in this area.

Spend every day this week some time with Him to prepare for Christmas.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Love your neighbor Part 4 Small things change big things

Love your neighbor Part 4Often we think big things make all the difference. The big gift, the big house, the big car, the big church etc. But in reality a lot of little ones make an even greater difference.

A few years ago we had a thanksgiving meal and invited a neighbor. He wasn’t able to make it so we send him off with some food to go and wrote him an encouraging card which we put in his mailbox. A day later he thanked us and we thought he talked about the food, but it was the card that he was so thankful for. Something so easy.

Another time a neighbor went through a hard time so I called and by that showed that we cared. The person was so encouraged and so thankful that we kept hearing that for a long time.

Once we hang up a sheet of paper at our door which said: Take what you need. On the bottom we had words like forgiveness, hope, joy, healing, inspiration which you could rip of and take home. We later found out that some of our neighbors took them and hang them up at their fridge to be inspired daily.

All of those examples are easy and small things, but they make a huge difference. To go further in a relationship, this is a great way to show that you care. What about if you start doing that with your neighbors? Think about how it can change your immediate neighbors and neighborhood! You can become a hope bringer to people that might be hopeless and a true friend.

How to start?

  1. Brainstorm and pray what little things you could do for your neighbors!
  2. When you figured it out, do them!! Faith without works is dead!

Hey our friend

Hopefully summer is still in full swing for you and we hope you have a chance for a few days off to enjoy it. Jen and I are on our way back from PA. We had a wonderful time which ended with speaking at a church in Lancaster about how to love your neighbor. We were also able to attend the wedding of Cousin Dave and his now wife Rebekah. What a wonderful day.

When we are back in San Francisco we have quite a few things going on. Please pray for a quick time to get over jetlag.

Thank you for all your Prayers.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

It is well with my soul

it is well with my soulLast year when we were on our way to Germany to go to the funeral of my grandpa we had to go on a 6 hour drive to LA. On that drive we listened to worship music and the song it is well with my soul just kept coming back on. It really encouraged me and brought me hope during that time. When I looked into the story of the song I was amazed. It was written by a Chicago lawyer after he went through many tragedies. First he lost his son, then he lost most of his wealth in the big Chicago fire and then he sent his wife and daughters to Europe for a vacation on which trip the ship collided and all 4 of his daughters died. On his way over to meet with his grieving wife he wrote this song:

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say:

Chorus:
It is well, it is well, with my soul. It is well, with my soul!
It is well, with my soul! It is well, it is well, with my soul!

2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control, that Christ has regarded
my helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for my soul.

3. My sin, o, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

4. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live: if Jordan above me shall roll,
no pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

5. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
the sky, not the grave, is our goal; O trump of the angel!
O voice of the Lord! Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

6. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound,
and the Lord shall descend, even so, it is well with my soul.

His life was hit by one tragedy after the other, but in all of that he kept his focus on God. I’m sure he didn’t understand why things happened the way they happened, but he choose to keep believing that his Father in Heaven is good and does not want any bad for him. Ask yourself those questions:

  1. Do you truly believe that God is good even in times of challenge?
  2. If not, what do you think makes you believe it is not true?
  3. Spend time praying and ask God how you can see this truth again in your life!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week. My brother and his wife left to go back to Germany. We had a wonderful time with them and look forward to see them again!! I was also meeting with a friend who uses the ministry concept to bring hope to his community. We also shared with one of my old students from Switzerland on how to impact his area with the ministry concept. God is starting to bring in more people who have a heart for their neighbors and community and want to use the concept there. Keep praying that all those starts will be fruitful.

Thank you for your Prayer and financial support. You are such a huge blessing to us. We are still in need of $1440 more monthly support to be fully funded. If you or someone you know would like to join our team in that way click on this link to see how!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Invest in your neighborhood Part 2 Strategy

strategyWE hope you had some time to look at the different areas in your neighborhood in which help is needed. This week we want to write about on how to be strategic in moving forward in those areas.

  1. Time: This is a really important point to plan a successful strategy. Think about how much time you want to invest each week. Plan realistically and don’t forget the areas that already use time in your planning(Family time, Church, Hobbies, Rest). Also think about how long you would like the project to go 1 year, 5 years etc.
  2. What do you need? In order to have a good strategy you need to realistically asses the things you have and the things you need. As an example, if you start helping out at a project that already exists you don’t need a lot. Or if you start picking up trash in your neighborhood all you need is some gloves and a trash bag. But if you are tackling a bigger thing, you might need more people and resources. Also think about if you can work on this project together with your family. Ok start thinking about what you need!
  3. Come up with a plan! Now you are at a point in which you have planned for resources and time but you haven’t come up with a schedule. To move things forward it is always important to have a plan, since often things that are not planned moved back on the priority list and eventually are forgotten. Write in your calendar the times that you want to do the work. Write down what you plan to do in those times, as an example: Thursday April 30th 5-6pm Prayer time for the new project, 6-8pm Work on the project, pick up trash on Ellis street.
    As more detailed you plan, as more you can make a difference. But really important, planning should always come out of praying. It is really important to get Gods heart and His plan! We often saw how God gave us different strategies then we planned during times of Prayer.

And now it’s time to start! Have a wonderful time coming up with a strategic plan!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week. We had an event with a local neighborhood association we are involved with. During the evening the new President was elected and different other board members for various roles. Jen is still part of the board in her role as the social event planner. Please pray that we can keep being a blessing in every part we are involved.

May God give you a strategic week! Remember that you are amazing and loved!!

Markus and Jen