September Musings

The God of the weather created an exquisite panorama ten days ago. And we worshipped Him outdoors with praise and truth and baptized those who have turned to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.

In the “Newsletters” section of our site, there’s a new one. Feel free to download and read it. More than that, partner with us in the advance of the Gospel through prayer. If you’d like to give financially, send us an email and we’ll let you know a number of convenient ways you can do that.

The dollar hit its all-time record low this week against the Euro. European vacations and living costs 40% more than it did about six years ago.

Ever move houses? Ever build your own home? Ever do either in Italy? We’re on the last stretch of finishing up phase 1 of our construction project with our Ministry Center (that’s a “Church Facility” for those who are afraid of the words “Ministry Center”). Yesterday, the electrician stopped in his tracks and asked me, “Have you ever studied architecture professionally because you sure have an eye for it…” I replied, “Only with you guys…” knowing that we have to watch what they’re doing like a hawk to prevent mistakes (we’ve caught some big ones). And I definitely feel that we’ve gotten a degree without the certificate. If we did receive the diploma, our major would be something like, ”How the World Works — Slowly.”

I know you’re a faithful reader if you get to the fifth paragraph. I’m pausing here to give you an e-high-five of thanks for keeping up with us.

FUNNY: Another American girl has started attending Reilly’s school. She’s in the 2nd grade too. Well, the two of them have really hit it off and all of the other boys are starting to tease Reilly that he has a girlfriend and Reilly really doesn’t know what that means (thank Heaven). So Reilly came home the other day and put an awkward question to us. He told us that the boys were teasing him and then asked, “What’s an amarosa?” Literally, the Italian word is used to mean “Lover”. You’ve gotta’ be in Italy when you have an amarosa in the 2nd grade.

I’ve been teaching through the first chapter of Philippians and digging deep into each word that Paul pens from prison. One word: wow.

We’re developing and organizing a ministry function called an International Prayer Coordinator. The coordinator will collect and collate the many various requests that we have and make them available to our prayer partners. This is something you can be a part of. I’ll post something about it in the future when we have more information available.

Hopeless in Italia

Giuseppe stopped by. Bepe (short for Giuseppe — or Joseph in Italian) is our electrician who is getting ready to install some lighting in a new room of our ministry center. I’ve known Bepe for about 8 months now and have enjoyed his hard-working, get-it-done-when-we-actually-get-around-to-it mentality.

So, we planned out the work-order as if it were the first time we had done so. Installation is just around the corner. We can feel it. Oh, that’s lunch. It’s 12:30.

Just before we finished up the plan, I wanted to find out what was going on in Bepe’s life since I was gone for a good portion of the Summer. “Come stai? Bene? Vita? Come va?” You know, profound man-talk. Then I asked Bepe how his family was and how many children he has. His answer was, “We’re OK. I have two children — actually one — we lost our son last year.”

Bepe’s son was killed in a head-on collision last year near Aviano when he tried to pass a slower vehicle in front of him. This means that I met Bepe only a few months after his son was killed and this is the first time he was really able to share anything. My heart went out to him. “Lord, how do you want me to reach a hurting, angry-with-You contractor?”

I gave him my warmest condolences and shared with him how Christ the Creator also loves him and wants to know him as “son”. I kept it simple so that I could hear his heart. And this is what Bepe shared as if it were a secret script passed around these regions that we regularly hear but are never allowed to read. “I’ve become a pessimist; a cynic. There is more pain to life than joy and pleasure. I wake up every day and try to find strength from somewhere. Then, I go to work and make as much money as I possibly can so that I can live the day. Who knows and who cares about what happens tomorrow. And at the end of life - whatever.”

Interesting, those were almost the identical words I heard from our plumbing contractor about the loss of his son when his son was a young teenager. Although Livio added, “I smoke today because I like it and I don’t care if it hurts me tomorrow. Who knows if it’ll be there.” Both of these guys are very talented and gifted in what they do. You can see the image of God all over His creation. Sadly, these are hollow-hearts filling hollow-spaces. Pray that the Light will shine through to their minds and refreshing springs of water will flow abundantly into their hearts where only hopeless men once dwelt.