The Lord's Faithfulness

A Stressful Saturday

I am often amazed by the ways in which God shows Himself to be faithful in the big things but also in the small everyday issues of life.  It all started with a missing piece for Settlers of Catan and yes, I am admitting at this very moment to the world that I now like that game.  So several weeks ago, I bought the board game so that we could use it occasionally on Friday nights after youth group.  We used it once and put it away in the cabinet at church.  On Friday evening we attempted to play the game only to find that the pieces were in disarray and that one piece was in fact missing and had been replaced with a little piece of paper.  I'll admit, I was pretty annoyed by this because I realized that some of the children had taken the game out and lost one of the pieces.  After the youth group meeting, I returned home relaxed a little bit and prepared for bed.  But before falling asleep, that missing piece came back into my mind and I figured that I would search online for replacement pieces in order to save some money instead of buying a whole new game.  I found a website with what I wanted and attempted to purchase it only to find that NatPenn wouldn't allow me to buy something from this site.  So I just went to bed.  The next morning I woke up to find that my Yahoo email address was not working and that I was locked out.  I tried several times but to no avail.  My conclusion was that my email had been hacked by someone, possibly from trying to buy something from that website the previous night.  But I had other things to do that day so I figured that I would try some more later.  My usual Saturday consists of an early afternoon trip to my favorite grocery store, Globus, which is like Walmart but way better.  I picked up a few things for the week and went to the check out counter to find that my debit card wasn't working.  I was a little embarrassed because the girl working the checkout line was someone from a local high school, whose class I have visited on several occasions.  Since my card wasn't working and I didn't have enough cash on me, I headed back home by bus considering how I might survive for the next few weeks with the equivalent of $35 available to me until I could get a new card issued.  As I got off the bus and stepped into the rain, I began to think about the fact that someone may have used my card information to buy things so as soon as I walked in the door, I went to my computer to check my account information.  Praise be to God, it was all there.  I called the bank and spoke to them and after explaining that I had tried to buy the little cardboard pieces online they unfroze my account, allowing me access to the funds I need for food and rent.  Later that evening I attempted to search for help with my Yahoo account and found that other people were having the same issue.  My account wasn't hacked Yahoo Mail was just down. When I awoke the next morning it was up and running again.  Looking back at the situation, I can see God's strong arms faithfully shielding me.  He protected me from people hacking both my email and my card information, he allowed the problem to be resolved with a ten minute phone call instead of weeks of waiting, and he allowed the girl at the checkout counter to be someone who knows me and who SPEAKS ENGLISH.

God has also been faithful in supplying me with energy and wisdom as I have been creating presentations for school visits and lessons for the youth group.  In the last two weeks I have been at two different schools and have spoken with eight different classes of students about topics ranging from holidays in the United States, to the school system in the United States, to race relations in the United States.  God continues his faithfulness in opening the doors of schools to me, which is crucial as we prepare for the English Camp this summer.  Speaking of English Camp, this is another reason to praise the Lord for His faithfulness as He has provided for a full team as of this Sunday after more than three months of searching for those that God would call.  We also already have Czechs signing up to come.  One family will be attending for the first time.  Thank you all for continuing to hold me up in prayer along with many other people here in the Czech Republic.  God is faithful to answer those prayers so we wait patiently and expectantly for Him to answer in power.  Please continue to pray for the youth group and the members involved, for their relationships with God or the lack thereof and for the growth of the group.  Pray also for us here in the Czech Republic as we try to fill the hotel for the English Camp.

Some of the youth enjoying some tasty treats at Youth Revolution.

A photo of a play about Jesus that I was invited to by one of the youth named Magda, she occasionally attends Youth Revolution but is heavily involved with YoungLife, which meets at the same time.  She also invited her American YoungLife leader, so I had someone to chat with and struggle with the language with.

One of the classes from my school visit yesterday.