So the beginning of the week I was distracted and feeling selfish again. This time I just decided that I need to make a decision how to proceed from here. Do I want to pursue the things of this world, or do I want to do what I came here for?! I chose God's vision because I know in my past I have a tendency to mess things up if I am not staying close to God. Sometimes the world can feel very powerful, but I know that God is more powerful and he has the ability to bless my life and the world only causes ruin and destruction in peoples' lives.
So I have actually decided another thing too (as if I don't have enough on my plate already). I am kidding of course, because doing the right thing for your life and your body should always be a high priority. On Tuesday night (here) I called my amazing and spiritual friend Greg back in Spokane to get some advice on something and I don't recall how exactly we got on the subject, but he mentioned that he lost 30 pounds just by not eating sugar any more. I am always open for new ideas on how to lose weight, and I thought that sounded like a good idea, so I have cut it out of my diet.
Yesterday, I went in to Connections library to work on my job search and ordered a cappuccino, no sugar. Micah looked at me like I was from another planet and asked me "Are you sure it'll taste okay without sugar??" I replied "No, but I need to cut sugar out." She laughed. So I was drinking my not-very-sweet coffee and feeling good about my decision. A while later I needed a break and went to get a Coke, paid for it and took a few drinks before I realized I was drinking a sugary drink! Dang, I hate it when I do that!! I was later consoled by Matthias that sometimes it just takes time to change those habitual things... I didn't try to mess myself up, I just wasn't thinking.
I have been excited this week because I heard Scott Green was going to be in town. We had such a great talk in Spokane back in March that I was so excited to see him IN Berlin! Anyway, he was at the men's devotional last night and he preached. Landon Rawson was also there, so we had a mini Washington reunion there! It was very encouraging. Scott preached on Luke 5, about Jesus asking Peter to let down the nets and Peter, as a fisherman could have one of three responses in his heart: 1. Jesus, get away from me, I'm a sinner. No really, go away...; or 2. I've already tried that, Jesus, we've been here all night....; or 3. If you say so, I'll do it (despite my previous failure in this area because they had not caught any fish all night). It was encouraging us to be about the mission of saving the lost.
He also talked about a recent bowling experience in England, where the automatic scorekeeper wasn't working quite right. Every time they threw, no matter how many pins fell, they got an "8". One of the teens apparently mentioned they had the "Grace Alley" because they were mostly getting less than that each throw. He mentioned that, as disciples, when we sin, God not only doesn't keep track of our sins, he probably doesn't even have the any way of keeping track of them. They just don't exist because of grace. I was super encouraged by this, that's what amazing grace is. We automatically get an 8, even when we get a gutter ball, as long as we are being faithful. Amen!
After the devo, my amazing amazing amazing friend Samea had offered to let me borrow his bike. So he brought it to service and let me take it. After tinkering with the front light a bit, we got it to work so that it would be legal to ride. It was starting to get dark as it was about 9:30pm. So the tires needed some air, but thought I might try to hit a gas station on the way home to pump them up a bit more. So off I went, the first time I had ridden a bike in about 2 years (last time was Hiawatha Trail, 12 miles down hill), so I was interested to see how I would do.
When I lived in Germany in the late 80's and early 90's, I practically lived on my bicycle. I went nearly everywhere on my bike. I forgot how much I love to ride. It was nice that a good portion of the ride home was either flat or downhill. I found a gas station to pump up my tires, but apparently you need some kind of special gadget because I couldn't get it to work. Unfortunately in the process, I let a bit more air out of the front tire. Since I had come nearly directly from Connections to the devo, so I still had my very heavy laptop in my backpack, plus my new big heavy Bible donated by the also amazing Larry. I was also carrying a song book and some other smaller items in there too. Altogether, it was probably about 12-14 lbs. And riding a bike with nearly flat tires.
So I got a good distance into the ride and was enjoying it. I drove right by Templehof Airport where the Allies flew supplies into the city in the Berlin Airlift in 1948 to help Berliners survive because roads were blocked coming into the city. Anyway, the ride was good, but I started to get a little tired and thought I might take the bus the rest of the way. I was following the bus route home because that was the only way I knew how to get home from there other than the trains. I decided to go on and made it home safely in about 40 minutes. The bus passed me and I ended up passing it at one of its stops and ended up beating it to my stop! I was pretty proud of that. I REALLY enjoyed the ride. I got my heartrate up but just felt so fired up! I love to ride and it's fun to do it in the city (at 10pm at night, not in the daytime traffic) Anyway, I was just stoked when I got home, I felt on top of the world!
So, it was a really good day yesterday and I went to bed feeling great.
Unfortunately, I haven't really worked out at all the past two months since I left Seattle and I'm definitely still dealing with some circulation issues. As such, I woke up this morning not feeling well, just generally feeling tired and a little bit icky. It occurred to me that my bike ride cleaned out all the gunk in my blood system and my body is trying to filter out all that yucky stuff today. So unfortunately I haven't made any progress on job search today, but I plan to hit the ground running tomorrow. I want to get at least 30 applications out tomorrow. I may have some time on Saturday to do more as well, we'll see what my day ends up looking like.
This has been a week of repentance for me. (Repentance comes from the Greek word "metanoya", which means a change of mind.) I realized that I have been seeing mole hills as mountains in my life and have not wanted to deal with that. As a result, I have no job yet and feel a bit "behind the 8 ball". That's okay, I believe that God blesses repentance. Either way, I would really appreciate your continued prayers the next couple weeks especially because if I can't find work, I will have to return to the US by July 8 or apply for an extension to stay longer. That's not a given even if I do request it. Thanks!
Well, I'm starting to fade again, so I will leave it at that for tonight. Thanks for checking in on me and for your thoughts, good vibes and prayers! Til the next time!
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