“When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts 1:13,14, NIV).

The apostles have recently been instructed by Jesus “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4,5, NIV). And now they have just seen him ascend into the heavens from where He is to return in all glory.

Today, this promise of God in such circumstances would often lead to division rather than Pentecost. In most cases when the leader of a church leaves for one reason or another, the congregation immediately divides into different camps instead of praying with one accord. And yet, such a prayer is by far not the only lesson one ought to learn from this passage. (more…)

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Dear friends,

A movie about disabled children in Bulgaria has been brought to my attention by a visitor of the Prayer for Bulgaria web-site. It is a 1:30h long documentary by a British team. The movie is in English, so you can all watch it.

It is a shocking (even for me!) movie about the reality in which Bulgaria’s disabled children and adults live and die daily. What is even more shocking and disappointing to me is the response of the Bulgarian government part of which you see at the end of the movie - a disgraceful attempt to hide the entirely obvious misery and carelessness of people in charge. More about the letter from the movie team and the Bulgarian government’s response you can find here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/ features/bulgarias-children.shtml

The movie itself brought a great deal of burden on my heart and at the same time helped me realize once again that faith in God alone means life, trust in God alone means hope, and also that God’s love is endless. For me as a Bulgarian it is painful to also see that the Bulgarian Church (both - orthodox and evangelicals) does unnoticeably little concerning the whole situation.

I can go on and write more reflections upon the movie, but I’ll leave this part to you. My only note to you as a viewer is the following: Most people would immediately say that the problem is about money. It is NOT! As you watch - pay careful attention to the air-conditioner on the building, the somewhat nice and preserved bedding (sheets, etc), the fairly new and nice wheel-chairs, the nice toys… Love is what is missing from the picture.

Please, listen to God’s voice as you watch the movie and do pray for the whole situation. This is the least we can do.

Feel free to comment. Here is the movie:

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Dear friends,

Happy New Year! As for Christmas - I think we ought to always celebrate Jesus’ coming daily, so - be thankful and rejoice today because He came to save us!

Here’s what’s new since the last update (which I don’t even remember when it was…):

Petra and I managed to get some break. Not much, but we were still able to stay home and do just little things we enjoy. I’ve been taking quite a few photos (but more on that later), while Petra has been resting, cooking, helping out her parents. She was very sick at Christmas (for 2 days), but now she’s all fine. And he school & work don’t start till two days from now. She needed that rest.

We didn’t go anywhere for Christmas/New Year’s. The plan was initially to escape somewhere quiet (or not so quiet) for a weekend or so, but we figured it will still be quite expensive, then she got sick, the bank transfers were delayed around the holidays… So we spent both holidays at home with her parents - nice and easy (see some photos below). Perhaps the escape experience will occur some other time. (more…)

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