CLEAN HOUSE
Let not what is evil get in the way of what is good.
The evening of September 3rd I lost someone very close to me. Several years led up to this. Much in my life and heart was not right. It was as if I had left my front and back doors open and unwelcome guests had come in and were trashing the place. It became no place to invite someone to. So I went out and brought in a lion. He devoured them all and helped me sort through all the rooms. Now my house is clean again. I have realized how easy it is to be unaware of what we carry around with us. Let me use another illustration. Many years ago a fire was stoked. The last few years I didn’t maintain it. In my mind it was still a good fire but it had actually faded to a few embers. It took forever to try cook a meal. The pot was removed so it would not spoil, the fire stoked and some dry logs were thrown on. I watched it come alive again. I have realized how easy it is to slip away in areas while still thinking that we haven’t. So, my house is clean and my fire rekindled. It came at a great price but that was the very thing that woke me up. Everyday a reminder and everyday a new day. I am being made alive again. I urge you who read this, if there are things in your life that you know are not good, get rid of them before they cause you to loose the treasure given to you, even if you don’t realize what you have. Don’t let what is evil cause you to loose what is good.
LESSONS FROM A SCOOTER
Don’t be too quick to write it off
It just wouldn’t start. It did at first but then got worse. It ended up taking about 10 minutes of kick-starting my friend’s moped before it would eventually start. It was very frustrating to deal with in the beginning. There were times I thought of getting rid of the thing even though it wasn’t mine! It seemed not worth the trouble nor the frustration. My patience lasted up to 2 minutes at first but has since been stretched past the 10 minute mark. I checked the plug, the electrical system, fuel, immobilizer and eventually pulled the carburetor apart and still found nothing. Then I checked the spark plug again, filed it down and readjusted it, opened the throttle just slightly (instead of all the way) kicked it twice and it came alive! Oh my goodness!! After all of that it was actually such a simple fix – a new spark and less throttle. More lessons learnt.
(“Hold off on the lessons for a while – I’m about to overload!”)
 GOOD STORYI often hear of miracles and they encouraged me but sometimes I wonder if that was a real healing. Well, a few weeks ago one of the students broke his ankle. A doctor’s visit and an x-ray confirmed it. Being a drummer and about to head on a missions trip he was really bummed. Many people prayed for his foot to get healed but there was no change. Then during a Monday morning service a girl came up to him, said God had told her to pray for his foot, did, and then ran away, probably embarrassed. His friends told him to put down the crutches and test it out. As he did he felt no more pain and then started walking around as normal! |
 MALAWIMilling Project update Thanks again for those who helped send money for the Maize Mill project. $400 was raised and has been sent to the home. This week we will work out a finance structure and possibly and have a milling machine connected again and run in a sustainable way. I now also have a contact person in Malawi who can help us with this. I will keep you posted.. You can read more about the Children’s Home <here> SUPPORTEveryone at Youth With A Mission raises their own support for rent and living expenses. If you would like to support me or the Malawi Children’s Home while I’m here then please email me or click <here> THANKSLast words I hope in some ways it was encouraging. Life is good and God is even better. He is doing such an amazing work in restoring my life – the Christian life is a life of righteousness, peace and joy, and that’s what I coming back to. So good. |
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Ekkehart Hoenen 