HI, WEEK 4 AND IT´S GETTING BUSIER AND BUSIER

FROM NOW ON I WILL FOCUS ONLY ON THE MOST SIGNIFICANT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

 

On Monday I got to go on a clergy lunch with some pastors of the Whitehall area´s congregations (and not only churches in one denominations, but from all).

It was really interesting to see them hanging out together, discussing important events and exchanging different experiances.

It made me think:

– How often do these meetings happen in slovakia in between different churches?

– How much collaborating do they do?

– Is it even happening?

I definitely have a lot of questions to ask after coming back to Slovakia! It’s good that I get to see some behind the scenes things happening. It is very important that church leaders get to come together and talk about important social questions, things happening in the area and they get to support eachother (at least to some extent – of course I don’t want to think it’s only sunshines and rainbows).

 

Being present matters! 

This week once again proved how right Pastor Doug is on this one!

On Tuesday we went to see the scouts, that were on their summer camp. Seeing the happiness on the kids´ faces spoke for everything. I´ve never been to a scouts´ camp so it was a really interesting experience. They were training using slingshots, bows and arrows and rifles (I think? Not sure what was the third one to be honest).

And on Thursday we went to visit one person in their house and one in the hospital. I can’t even imagine being brought to a hospital, not knowing what exactly is happening, not knowing how long you´ll have to stay there and being there all alone in a cold room. Having company in those stressful moments is a big relief.

What we as Christians sometimes tend to do when somebody is struggling or experiencing huge stressful situations is that we only talk about the fact that God is with them. Whis is true – there is nothing bad about that. But it is very important to actually show up for those people. To show God’s love actively – through our actions. Sometimes the most important thing(or even only thing) we can do is just show up and be present.

 

Same thing goes also for us tho. Sometimes we need to show up for ourselves and be present. Be there for ourselves – taking care of both our body and mind. That´s what I tried to practise on Friday and Saturday by going cycling after 4 years of not being able to use much energy for movement.

Important lesson learned – after 4 years body doesn´t work the same. So not only I practised being aware of God’s love by giving it to myself, I also got to unexpectedly experience God’s grace by getting humbled and giving myself grace for not having as much energy and not judging my limitations. Because He doesn’t condemn people for being weak or tired. He welcomes them. He invites us to come to Him.