Whew! What a week! Sorry I haven’t written sooner to update you on how things are developing with “House Nazareth”. There has been an immense amount going on between the U.S. and Berlin and, frankly, sometimes I’ve just been too exhausted to write.

We have worked and prayed and many have given sacrificially to see this “beachhead” established for Christ in Berlin - now it is coming down to the final moments. Simply put: things are at an extremely critical point - to carry through the purchase and necessary renovations,Philosophia needs $275,000 more in donations or interest-free loans by Thursday of this week (April 28th).

Thoughout history, God has done His work “just in time”. For the “House Nazareth” project, that time is fast becoming “now”. Please pray that He will speak to the hearts of people whom He wants to be part of this miracle. (If you sense God is leading you, you can reach me by phone at Area Code 208, number 283-7494, and I can give you up-to-date details.)

Thanks for your continued prayers – your friendship means more than you can imagine to all of us involved in Philosophia! I’ll try to keep you posted as soon as we have more clarity - please keep praying! Jesus is Victor!

Early on this Good Friday, as we fast and pray, my thoughts turn to one of my favorite scenes from both the book and the film of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers:

“Sam: By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened.”

[Aragorn and Èowyn embrace as Rohan is victorious at Helm's Deep.]

“Sam: But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”

[The sun shines on Isengard, as Merry, Pippin, and the Ents celebrate victory.]

“Sam: Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.”

“Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?”

“Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”

Amen! The darkness of Good Friday will be followed by the dawn of the Resurrection morning. Evil will not triumph! Nothing that is truly good will be lost, because God remembers it; and the good that God remembers He will make real again at the “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21).

May you have a blessed Easter!

“Triangulation” is a navigational technique based upon the use of fixed points and a known distance to determine the exact position of a ship in relation to the shore. The operative words are: fixed points and known distance.

As the leadership team of “Philosophia” met on Sunday afternoon for prayer and planning, we decided to pray and fast on Good Friday this week to remember the Lord’s death and specifically call upon Him to open the path for the purchase of “House Nazareth” in Berlin. To pray for this project on Good Friday is consistent with His will that many hear the Gospel and come to Christ.

A key question then came up: “Why is prayer and fasting so important? Doesn’t God know everything already? Isn’t it kind of like pestering Him?” The answer, as I see it, is that these disciplines are like spiritual “fixed points” that we can use for “spiritual triangulation” to determine the exact position our own heart is in and reorient it toward God. Prayer and fasting are for OUR sake; definitely NOT God’s. We in no way change His love and concern for us by prayer and fasting; what changes is our receptivity to His leading and direction and our openness for His miracles.

Would you please join with us in fasting and prayer on this coming Good Friday? (Drinking liquid or juice is OK!) It would be a great encouragement if we can pray together that God will provide the remaining funds needed and that “House Nazareth” will become a lighthouse for the Gospel in Berlin.

Whew!

The past week and a half has been wild. I left on Wednesday, March 22 for a ministry time with our friends at the First Baptist Church in Elmhurst, Illinois; returned to Boise on Monday, March 27; washed clothes on Tuesday; flew to Los Angeles on Wednesday and have been meeting with folk here to talk about “House Nazareth” ever since. The flight from Chicago to Boise was through Seattle (I know…) and actually took longer than a direct flight to Frankfurt would have.

As we come closer to the deadline for the down payment (April 25), it’s frankly hard for me not to feel a tinge of panic. Why is it that my heart finds it so difficult to trust God in the twilight? Call it the “children of Israel at the Red Sea before the waters parted” syndrome: in spite of all that God had already done for them, they still had trouble resting in His love and care.

I think that - at least for me - it is linked to the fact that, as a true “son of Adam” (daughters of Eve have the same challenge), there is a deep, fundamental flaw in my spiritual make-up (the old Bible word for it is the “flesh”). It’s like a spiritual “arrhythmia” that can knock my heart out of rhythm with God. Like most physical arrhythmia, it isn’t constantly present; it manifests itself mostly in times of stress – when the Enemy whispers “God doesn’t REALLY mean everything for your best! You need to look out for yourself!”

Lord, forgive me for being so tuned-in to Satan’s whispers. Help me to “tune my heart to sing thy praise” (as the old hymn says).

Here’s the current status of the “House Nazareth” finances: $605,000 in donations and longer-term interest-free loans; $400,000 to go by April 25th… [did I say that already?] (-:
Please pray: a) that our hearts will be tuned to the Lord and not the Enemy’s whispers; b) that God’s Spirit will speak to those whom the Lord wants to step forward and give sacrificially to see a new beach-head established for the Light in Berlin. (Many have already given beyond their human capacity; God must touch other hearts.) Thanks for being there!