From Water to Wine

In one of my earlier posts, I commented on the first sermon I preached here about the story of Jesus turning water into wine, in which I said it is our job to fill the jars with water - it's Jesus' job to make the wine. Well, after two weeks plus a couple of days, there is little doubt that Jesus has been in the wine business. Tonight we finished the Teen parenting class, which has been a delight from the start, and tonight was no different. Lots of learning, sharing, laughing, "confessing" - a real community of parents seeking to be better at what they do. Two parents brought their teenage daughters with them which made for a real interesting dynamic, as they were the subject of more than one example during the evening. But they seemed to be good sports about it all, even contributing their thoughts along the way. A testimony, I suppose, the the health of those families. Besides, what we are doing is no "secret strategy," but principles that our children eventually figure out eventually anyway...and respect us all the more for wanting to do our jobs better.

Friday PM Teen Parenting Class, with one couple missing

However, my greatest moment today was stumbling across a small group of folks from the Turkish church in St. Paul's courtyard when I stopped by to purchase a small item from the gift shop. The cafe was closed, but the group, which appeared to led by Hans (one of the pastors) invited me to come and join them for a time of prayer. I readily agreed, and found out that they had been meeting with a young man who had been attending the church for some time had reached the point where he wanted to receive Christ into his life. I had actually sat across from him at lunch after church the two previous Sundays. I knew he was not a believer, but had been told that he was "close." Well, today was the "day of salvation" for him, and by pure "chance" I was able to be present when a young man from a strict Muslim family made the truly life-altering decision to become a Jesus-follower. As we went around and prayed for him, I added, in English, my gratitude to God and intercession for strength, protection, encouragement and power from the Holy Spirit as he begins his new walk of faith in Christ. (I would love to post the picture I took after we prayed, but was asked not to post it on a website.)

A good time debriefing with Pam and a wonderfully delightful visit with a single mom and her family rounded out a truly blessed day of finishing our work here. Tomorrow we simply worship with our brothers and sisters and friends in Christ from both the International and Turkish Churches and then pack up and prepare to leave early Monday morning.

God is good.

Charlie