Restless

The last few weeks have been so incredibly packed that I barely found time to just take a breath. Still, I'm super grateful. Come along on the journey through my last two weeks in this blog post and video.

Reading your Bible?

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. [...] How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! [Psalm 119:97,103, NIV]

In the book "The greatest fight in the world" Charles Spurgeon emphasizes the importance of the Bible. He writes: "Yes, I may add, that neglect of Bible reading, even for the sake of good books, would soon result in noticeable decline of spiritual life."

How is your personal Bible reading these days? Are you enjoying it? Is God's Word sweeter than honey to you? Do you meditate on it all day long? Currently, I can't answer yes to these questions. Although my reading plan this year leads me through the entire Bible and I’m reading 3-4 chapters each day, unfortunately it is often more of a duty than a deep desire. I want to take God's Word more seriously again. To dig into it. To expect much. Because Bible reading and spiritual health go hand in hand, as we heard from Spurgeon, the well-known English preacher. I want to encourage you to give God's Word priority in your life.

A sunrise

In keeping with this month’s topic of my magazine, I was up early on Easter Sunday with some friends to watch the sunrise. And what a sunrise it was. A bright streak stood out in the sky. It almost looked like a cross. The sky was colored blood red. And so we sat at 0°C (32°F), freezing on a bench and waited for the sun to finally rise.

For me it was a beautiful picture. Jesus fought from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. It was dark, the battle was full on. But then the sun rose over Landau. The bright circular sun reminded me of the tombstone rolling away and Jesus rising from the dead. We celebrated God for this image and his resurrection. Maybe this image is an encouragement to you as well.

Saying goodbye

Last week I was able to visit my relatives in Bavaria again and say goodbye. It was a really blessed time and I came back very fulfilled. But at the same time it was a strange feeling to say goodbye to people. And maybe it was also a farewell forever ... It doesn't hit me that hard, because I know that both of my grandparents will be with God one day and we will meet again. But it is a strange feeling anyways.

Restless

Overall, it is this word that describes my last 2 weeks very well. It feels like I rushed from appointment to appointment with no time to catch my breath. Besides a lot of organizational stuff and visiting my relatives, I had some meetings and most importantly spent an incredible amount of time with friends. And as stressful as that is right now, I just want to make the most of the time now and spend as much time with them as possible.

All the stress also meant that I haven't been feeling so well physically. I had flu like symptoms (did 4 Covid tests in a week, all negative) and an upset stomach. I guess my body was alerting me to slow down .... :)

And so on Wednesday I took a Sabbath, a day of rest. I could have used the day to work on some things, but I felt how on this day the sickness stopped and my body recovered. You can see it in the video too, but I had rented a motorcycle, spent time with God, read, cooked, and just did no work for a day. I also want to force myself to keep one Sabbath a week in the future. Not least because that's what God desires us to do.

What's next?

Next week I will be on the safety training, in the Bavarian Forest, as I said before. I am very excited to find out what this week will bring and I am looking forward to it. After that I have some photo shoots, before I go to the DMG again the following week. On May 15th, we will have our spring mission event, warm invitation to you all! A festival with a few hundred people, many missionaries, a church service, kids program, etc.

God bless you,

Matze