Update: Apparently God decided to surprise me yet again. The sermon was a refreshing lesson for me both while preparing the last bits and seeing the whole thing, and also while preaching it. The feedback from the congregation was very encouraging as well. I have never had such a powerful feedback on a sermon I’ve preached, so it was a very humbling experience on top of all else. I think they believed my message. I actually think I came to believe more than when I started preparing for the sermon and all the questions started popping up.

In the past few weeks I’ve been working on a sermon about God’s mission and our part in it. It’s been a really refreshing thing for me. Especially because in the last several years the direction of my faith has been downwards. More like rolling down a hill actually…

In the midst of all the excitement around that sermon the following thought came about “Will they believe my message if I don’t believe it myself?” It actually led me to reflecting on the way we, Christians, tend to “testify” to the world today… When Christ called us to go and teach the world about Him and make disciples he pointed out two most important details: 1) all authority is given to Him (and that’s all as in ALL), and 2) He is with us as we’re going after this mission.

I know that I myself have very often been the scared Christian, or the too-careful-one. I’ve often decided to keep quiet rather than speak out the truth. I’ve often decided to pray silently, rather than disturb the secular enjoyment of others around me and show what I actually care about. I suppose this won’t change over-night either, but at the moment I’m thinking too much about it and couldn’t keep from sharing it with you all.

So, I’m preparing this sermon which is supposed to challenge the lives of young and old people and help them embrace God’s mission to share the Gospel with non-believers, love Him, and love the other people around. And I keep coming to one key moment - in order for us to carry out the mission successfully we ought to be fearless, full of faith, and entirely determined. (more…)

Related posts

• The God I’ve Stopped Trusting. (0)
• Selective Christianity (2)
• Lost Lives. Saved Lives. (0)
• Am I a Double Faced Christian? (2)
• We Saw the Mills! (2)

Indescribable. Irresistible. Impossible. The One who loved me like no other. The One who awakened me to life. The One who is always with me. My God also appears to be the One who is above all others and all else… able to provide at all times, able to comfort all tears, able to sustain all pain, so that I can go on. Yet, I have stopped trusting Him. No, it’s not like I’ve lost my faith or somethin’… not at all. I just don’t trust Him.

Ok, by now you should be interested.

A new thought occurred to me a few days ago and hasn’t left my mind ever since. It’s the thought of on-my-own type of Christian life. See, I was initially wondering on the topic of miracles and why they seem to not happen as much nowadays, yet we claim God has not changed. Sometimes we go so far, that we actually are satisfied with less - “Oh, I feel this is the miracle”… when God actually hasn’t even started. (more…)

Related posts

• Selective Christianity (2)
• Lost Lives. Saved Lives. (0)
• Am I a Double Faced Christian? (2)
• Transparency. a.k.a. Seeing Through. (0)
• Searching for Vintage Christianity a.k.a. Tired of Christianity (0)

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…)

Related posts

• A small update… finally. (0)
• A Brief Personal Update (1)
• We Saw the Mills! (2)
• Yay! One of my photos used on-line! (2)
• Will They Believe Your Message? (0)

Dear friends,

It truly has been a long while since the last personal update from us on our site. Well, life has been busier than what it probably should have been… Things seem to be more stable now, but then again - the December celebrations bring along quite a load of additional tasks.

Anyways, here’s how we’re doing in brief: both of us are still working. Petra’s also studying and continuing to take driving lessons - her driving exam is on Dec. 19 - your prayers and support are much needed - it’s a stressful event having in mind all that’s invested into getting there. Me being able to finally drive our car has given us quite some freedom concerning the little free time we have. So that’s nice - at least we know we’re not stuck at home permanently.

Having that freedom we also found a church to go to for the time we’ll be in Holland. It’s called New Life Christian Fellowship, an affiliate of Church of God, Cleavland, Tennessee, USA. It’s a very alive young church which is active in the community and we feel very welcome to. The services are in English although the people attending are from all over the place. And, of course, we do like that it’s international - it’s always an eye- and mind-opener. More about the church you can learn by visiting their site here: http://www.nlcf.nl/index.html. (more…)

Related posts

• Happy New Year! …and some more about us. (0)
• A small update… finally. (0)
• We Saw the Mills! (2)
• Yay! One of my photos used on-line! (2)
• Will They Believe Your Message? (0)

Ok, here comes the life, etc. update!

Yesterday we were at the village of Kinderdijk, which features the famous 19 windmills built around 1740 and today is an important tourist location in Holland. We had a beautiful Saturday weather, biked for about 2hrs to there and another hour back. I was able to also take some nice photos for my stock portfolio - hopefully they get approved. Here are some photos of the two of us at the windmills:

View the pictures in a slideshow

Apart from that, Petra and I have been able to have some good time together - taking walks in the nearby park, and spending more time with each other. I suppose this sort of “lazy” schedule will change a bit once she begins her classes in September, but I personally find it a lot more peaceful here than at EuNC or compared to our summers in Sofia. (more…)

Related posts

• The Two of Us (0)
• Photos From Various Places. Random. (0)
• Photos From Our Wedding (0)
• Petar’s Graduation - June 4&5, 2007 (0)
• Happy New Year! …and some more about us. (0)