1 Mai

Without fail, Spring brings with it a variety of mixed emotions.
The exhaustion of cumulative stress and the joys of fellowship with Believers and being a part of what God is doing.

David, a Messianic Jew, whom Lauren and I met in Jerusalem through mutual friends, came to visit Germany.  Last night he came to Maug to share his life story and about Israel with our joint Liel and Maugenhard dorm fellowship.  Our guys are usually respectful when people are speaking on Sunday nights, but last night they were silent, captivated by David's recount of God's faithfulness through the exile of his family years ago as well as God's faithfulness to draw David to Himself.  Although David's life-long spiritual pursuit led him to many faiths and gurus in India and beyond, God never stopped reminding David that he was empty without God; even though he didn't have a name for the essence of his search, Jesus was His name.  God met him in an unusual way on the floor of his apartment room in India, confirming that Jesus is, indeed, the Messiah that the Scriptures foretold would be the Savior.

Lauren exhorted the students at the end to expect God to meet you in creative ways.  God does work through miracles as well as unexpected, simple ways.  The question is: "Do we have eyes to see and ears to hear God speaking to us through His Holy Spirit in our lives - even today?"

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In the 30 days left before graduation, please pray for:

• God to water the "seeds" that were planted last night in the hearts of the students through David's testimony.  
• Many students talked to him afterwards.
• Most unexpectedly, Max really connected with David's story.  
• Please pray for him and his group of friends, who are seeking an authentic faith, to come to Jesus and experience life to the full.

• Me to experience rest at my core and be able to recharge well for the busy weeks ahead. 

• Discernment to see where God is at work and His Spirit's courage to join Him in that work in the lives of the guys in these last weeks.

Thank you for your prayer and support!

Love, Michelle

Grieving the Loss & Reorienting for the End

[In the past many you've expressed interest in being involved in praying for me and the ministry here.  I haven't been good at sending prayer updates, but I am working on getting better at this. :)  If you are interested in being involved in my team of prayer partners, please email me and let me know so I can keep you posted: mwaters@teachbeyond.org.]

Dear prayer partners,

Myself and the other four ResLife staff here at Maugenhard have experienced a great deal of joy from having all our guys back in the dorm again after Spring Break.  Yet, time does not seem to be patient with us; it merely goes on as usual, and we have to choose to step aside to pray and breath.  Over the last weeks I've experienced more blessings and joys than I can count.  But over the last week in particular my heart has been heavy.  One reason for this is because of the death of one of my mentors/friends here and all the loss that comes from that for me and the community:

• Loss. Last night BFA held a memorial service for Mari Ellen, a dear 52-year-old single woman, who poured her life into students and staff alike.  She died on Easter due to a post-surgery complication.  I feel the loss of her mentorship and friendship; it comes in waves.  I found out while I was in Israel.  In recent years, she has been a counselor at BFA.  Walking away from meaningful, celebratory and sad memorial last night, one of my guys, in disbelief, remarked: "Who counsels people when the counselor dies?"  Another admitted that he was "angry that God took her the way he did." She was healthy and recovering from the surgery and days later died of an embolism.  These things do not make sense.  But mainly they are sad for us left on earth for now.  It was good to be able to be there with the guys as they grieve and process this unexpected death.  I am grateful for those tender moments of honesty.

[Photo from Michele Phoenix/BFA]

• Please pray for all those who are grieving the loss of her friendship, counsel, wisdom and love. Pray that they will run to Jesus and not to other things to comfort them in the midst of the waves of loss now and ongoing.  Also, please pray that God will raise up another counselor, mentor and friend for me and so many others who are in this community and beyond.

• Purposeful.  It is easy to go through the next 6 weeks to make it through the countless end of the year activities.  However, we are trying to discern what is the core message that the guys need to hear and experience before they leave Maugenhard.  It is important that we communicate and seek out opportunities to encourage students to engage with life and think, rather than slide on through.  It seems like a weighty task, when this may be the last time we see some of these guys.  There is so much swimming around in my head that I am trying to process from life, conversations and experience. It is rich but causes me to have to seek and rely on God's spirit even more.

- Please pray that God will open up countless opportunities to talk to and listen to the guys about things that matter.  Also, please pray for the preparation, tenderness, and humility of our spirits as we  respond to the Holy Spirit's lead.  May we not be ruled by fear or flesh but faith.  May fear of rejection or the guys not liking me never keep me from engaging with even the hard guys. Please pray that  God will equip me to love the guys as they need to be loved through the person God made me to be without trying to be someone else.

Thank you for your love and prayer!  It is invaluable to know you are involved with me.

How are you?  How can I pray for you?

Peace be with you,

Michelle

"No Wonder" - Reflections on Israel (Spring Break)

Shalom from Germany again!  

I'm having reverse culture shock.  Lauren Roop, a dear RA friend of mine, and I experienced the Holy Land through the eyes of local Believers and friends for BFA Spring Break. God knew we needed deep "cup-filling" for the final six weeks of the school year.  


The Scriptures came alive through our time in Israel/Palestine. Reading the Scriptures there, sharing life with missionaries and locals, and searching the Scriptures more led me to write "No Wonder," the following simple, yet profound, reflection on what I was struck by while in Israel. (I share this here for the purpose of encouraging you in your faith in Jesus that you have or do not yet have.  May these thoughts draw you to the person of Jesus Christ and the living and active Bible.)

"NO WONDER"

• No wonder 
• the Children of Israel were able to cross from the east side of the Jordan River, crossing near Jericho, (which is still not a fortress again to this day because God said whoever would try to rebuild it would be cursed) and millions of Israelites were able to camp in the vast Judean wilderness/Negev after their captivity in Egypt and desert wanderings
• No wonder
•  the the Israelites were immensely intimidated of climb up to defeat the people of the Hill Country when the Israelites first entered Canaan 
• No wonder 
• they wondered where the food and water would come from in the barren desert
• No wonder
• God chose stone to be the material the Israelites used to construct remembrance memorials as they experienced significant encounters with God because the stones were noticeable, permanent, and in ample supply
• No wonder
• it would be easier to seek statues and idols than God Himself, who is invisible 
• No wonder
• David had significant times of communion with God and writing of Psalms in the hills while alone with His sheeps
• No wonder 
• King David and his men were refreshed at the Ein Gedi streams in the desert
• No wonder
• people stayed in Bethlehem because it was their people group but also because it was just miles from Jerusalem, the center of worship
• No wonder 
• Mary and Joseph could have lost young Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem and not realized it at first in a bustling city of pilgrims and large caravan of family
• No wonder
• the magnitude Jerusalem and the grandour Temple area would have put the fear of God in people



Overwhelming...Jerusalem, rich in history and heritage

• No wonder 
• Jesus, the Messiah, could have gone into the vast wilderness and been deeply tempted by the Devil there
• No wonder
• Jesus regularly went alone to a "solitary place" to pray and experience peace and stillness with God 
• No wonder
• it was shocking Jesus first alligence was not to the Jewish assumption of his biological family
• No wonder 
• people were confused Jesus was not coming then to physically overthrow the Roman rule but to free people spiritually first
• No wonder
• people by the Sea of Galilee and beyond were awed by Jesus' teachings

Inspiring...Reading the Gospel of Matthew by the Sea of Galilee
around which Jesus' earthly ministry centered

• "No wonder
• there was so much conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus" (Lauren R.)
• No wonder
• the Kingdom of God was so confusing to the people
• No wonder 
• Jesus' completed commands  of love, yet not total peace, were so radically revolutionary
• No wonder
• Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water in the miserably hot mid-day heat
• No wonder
• Jesus described hell as the Valley of Gehenna by the Kidron Valley, which continually burned trash outside the city of Jerusalem
• "No wonder
• people needed their feet washed when they entered houses" (Lauren R.)
• No wonder
• Jesus' healing ministry was so needed because of the lack of healthcare
• No wonder
• people felt the shame of begging outside the Temple
• No wonder 
• people had a hard time believing that Jesus was also 100% God, while also being 100% human
• No wonder
• people had a hard time believing when people and their messages were from God and not a false prophet

• No wonder
• the disciples were exhausted and had a hard time staying awake and alert after the Passover seder, walking through the Kidron Valley, and hiking up to Gethsemane ("the olive press") on the Mount of Olives; absorbing the need to have the ministry of presence to Jesus in his time of immense emotional turmoil and prayer
• No wonder 
• Jesus could have escaped crucifixion by fleeing over the Mount of Olives, passed the town of Bethany, into the Judean Wilderness
• No wonder
• Jesus was burdened by the visual and the feeling of loneliness of his up coming torture and separation and rejection
• No wonder
• the temptation to turn was so real
• No wonder
• the trial and waiting stall furthered the pervasive torture of the shame and loneliness

Sobering...The waiting cave for Jesus between trials
the night before his crucifixion

• No wonder
• the walk through the streets, "Via Dela Rosa," was so taxing and humiliating
• No wonder
• Jesus died so quickly after he was on the cross
• No wonder
• Jesus' followers were so devastated at Jesus' death because they had hoped that Jesus had been the One to redeem Israel from the burden of the Roman rule
• No wonder
• the followers rushed to the deal with the body of Jesus before the beginning of Sabbath on Friday evening
• No wonder
• the women were so surprised when they met the angels at the Tomb after the Sabbath on Sunday morning and Jesus was no longer in the tomb

Hopeful...The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem: 
"He is not here. He has risen!"

• No wonder
• people ran to see for themselves
• No wonder
• that the reality that the body of Jesus was not stollen brought so much joy to the followers because the prophesied Resurrection really happened
• No wonder
• some of the other disciples, who were walking away from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, experienced "their hearts burning within them" as the risen Lord Jesus explain how all the Scriptures were fulfilled in His Life, Death, and Resurrection
• No wonder
• years later the Muslims blocked up the city gate and desecrated the hill with graves between the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount for the purpose of trying to "keep the Messiah priest from returning" at the end of time
• No wonder
• Ishmael's descendants still are not at peace with Israel's
• No wonder
• those who saw were willing to spread the Good News, regardless of the consequences
• No wonder
• people either hated or loved Jesus
• No wonder 
• there was such people and world change ever since Jesus' life, death and resurrection - from then until now 

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         I hope these reflections are encouraging to you.  

Please pray for Lauren and I - that God will further internalize these truths in our hearts and that our faith will be deepened as we learn how to love God will all our hearts and love others as ourselves.  May we be led by faith, not our flesh or fear.

Love, Michelle