Amazing Grace

Wow. What a week!  Monday started off a bit rough.  I helped a brother clean out a relative's apartment that had recently died.  What a heart-breaking story!  My heart really went out to him and his family.  We had to take some stuff to dump and just clean out the apartment a bit.  I wish I could have done more to help, but it was really encouraging to spend time with a good friend either way.  I was very grateful because he said that one of the things left was a bicycle.  He offered to give it to me, I was very humbled by his generosity.  I was very encouraged to have a bike again and we checked it over and with the exception of the taillight not working, everything looked great!  At one point I had to stop to put a little bit more air in the rear tire.  As I looked the bike over, something occurred to me.  This bike was brand new.  I don't think the bike had ever been ridden before. The brother corrected me that he actually took it for a test ride last week.  Okay, so it's been ridden once.... I would guess the bike is about 10-15 years old, but there wasn't even dust on it.  I'm so thankful to God and this brother for such a great gift.

So I had to get the bike home and I have to be honest, I was trying to avoid buying a one-day train ticket to get me and the bike back home.  Where I picked the bike up was ALL the way, almost in the farthest corner of the city.  Since it's been like 3 weeks since the last time I rode a bike, I could tell I was getting out of shape and was hesitant to ride all the way home.  But I decided I didn't want to spend the money after all and climbed on and started home.   The trip was over 14 miles and I was pretty sore afterward, especially because I didn't have my super comfy seat.  I'll leave it at that. I also realized that all that was wrong with the rear light was that the wire was missing from the generator.  It cost me 1 Euro for a new wire, that's approximately $1.30 and only took about 10 minutes to fix, even in the dark!   I was super encouraged to finally get the bike home, because even though it started to rain a little bit the last couple kilometers, it didn't start really raining hard until just after I got home. Once again, thanks God!!!

I'm also super grateful for really amazing friends in this city.  I feel so humbled to be able to have really godly and generous men that God has allowed me to know here.  And today I have so much more confidence.  I've been feeling super insecure over the past week or two and got a chance to just get some things off my heart today with another brother.  I felt so trusted and there was so much forgiveness and grace and just love.  I was really struggling with some stuff and in a moment, after talking, I felt the weight of the world coming off my shoulders. I just felt so much joy and peace. Thanks, God for men that love you and have accepted me here, I'm truly a blessed man. I soooo don't deserve to be so well treated.

So I got up early this morning to take Blakester to the airport this morning.  Since I was the one who met him there almost 3 months ago, I really wanted to go back to see him off as well.  We had our men's devotional last night and was super encouraged to see him there. He's been in Paris the last few weeks hanging out with other Christians and going to a conference, so  I was not expecting to see him before he left.  When he asked me if I would see him off this morning, I said I absolutely would.  We had a great conversation and it was sad to have to say "Auf Wiedersehen" to him, (which means "until we see (each other) again".) I think we'll see him here in Berlin again.  I hope....

As a result of all these wonderful events today and this week, now I'm tired.  Add to that a short night of sleep last night, my legs are SO sore from the bike ride, and my feet are killing me from walking around today.  I know, I know, I'll stop complaining now.  Actually, I'm extremely encouraged, happy and at peace.  I'm so grateful to God for his love and forgiveness.  These other things are not important, simple growing pains.  I will be heading to bed tonight a VERY happy individual. So blessed. I'm the luckiest guy in the world.