Lisa (Daniel’s sister) and cousin Emily scraping wallpaper

I sometimes have to almost pinch myself: I am writing from the middle of a miracle! It’s shortly after midnight here in Berlin following Germany’s soccer win over Sweden early Saturday evening. The city is still celebrating. I woke up with a leg cramp after going to sleep a couple of hours ago. (Magnesium is a usually a good remedy for muscle cramps after exercise in heat, by the way.)

We had an intensive day of remodeling work. Daniel’s family drove up to Berlin yesterday to help us strip wallpaper and work in the garden (i.e. his extended family; there are 17 folk here for the weekend!). They came to help us get ready for the open house (literally: “open building site”) on next Saturday (July 1; we’ve invited a good many German friends and neighbors of “House Nazareth” to come and see what we’re doing). We sprayed water on walls, and scraped and scratched the old paper away all day. There was plenty of dust, too, as plaster and spachtel came off in chunks when the bonding was not strong enough with the underlying brick wall. “House Nazareth” has been well cared-for and has a great basic structure. However, there is some major remodeling work that needs to be done for it to be used for the ministry God has called Philosophia to here in Berlin.

In the past two weeks, I’ve often thought of the children of Israel after they emerged from the Red Sea. Like them, we made it by the smallest of margins as God brought in the gifts and interest-free loans necessary for the purchase to go through. Like them, we laughed and our spirits danced in joy. But the reality of a journey through the wilderness soon set in and they had to face the fact that God was putting them through a basic training program to get them ready for all that He had in store for them. It was not always pleasant.

I am immensely, inexpressibly grateful to God for bringing us through the “Red Sea”. We are now occupying “House Nazareth”. Legal transfer of the title to the property was initiated at the end of last week by the “Notar” (with, of course, the mortgage from the bank duly registered on it!). But we are not yet in the “Promised Land”. An immense journey of faith and practical work lies ahead.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support!