So hard to believe our course of service in Thessaloniki has come and gone so quickly. Bags are packed. Mission house is cleaned and tidied. We leave for the airport at 6:15 in the morning.
Enjoyed spending our last day here at the church house. Failed to get a photo, but in attendance were: Kiriakos, Telemachus, Terry, Stellio, Bright, and his wife (whose Hungarian name escapes me). Disappointed that some others did not show but very thankful for those that did.
Good song service, with hymns both in Greek and English, then Brother Logan preached a stirring message from the account of the storm on the Sea of Galilee at the end of Mark 4. Points included: the ship and the storm as a picture of our lives, often filled with things that result in our destruction; our greatest need for Jesus to be in the ship; the question not being whether Jesus cares about our problems but whether we will go to Him for help; the importance of not only going to God for help but exercising faith in the person of Christ; that peace and calm only came when creation responded to the rebuke that was spoken by Jesus Christ.
Enjoyed some good fellowship before and after the church service. Telemachus’s musical ability and knowledge of Greek hymns could prove to be a real blessing. Two examples today. Before church, I was playing “Blessed Assurance” on the piano. With a smile on his face, he started singing along (in Greek) and told me he hadn’t heard that song in 30 years. After the service, when I was playing, he wanted to know if I knew the song that went along with the passage from the sermon – “Master, the Tempest is Raging.” I did my best to remember the music, and he sang along with that as well.
Speaking of Telemachus. He is 75 years old. Has had a triple bypass surgery (not clear on when that was). Said his doctor has told him that if he wants to live, he needs to walk 7km (over 4 miles) a day. Well, he normally rides the bus into church, but this morning, he walked from his home in Thermi to the church house in Thessaloniki. That’s 12km, or 7.5 miles. Left his home before 9:30 to make it to church by 11:30. (And had a spill on the way in.) Praise the Lord for such dedication. What excuse has kept you out of church recently?
So good to have Kiriakos back at church again. Did a fine job translating. Brother Brent had good opportunity to speak with him over lunch. He is very discouraged after being out of work for 2.5 years as a result of the financial crisis in Greece. Has a lot of questions, and a lot of honest doubts. Brother Brent was able to encourage him to seek first the kingdom of God; that the only way to be fulfilled in life is to focus not on the temporal but on the eternal and to make the purpose of life glorifying God. For example, the Apostle Paul was content, though he was in prison, because his contentment did not depend on his circumstances, but on Jesus Christ. And He never disappoints. Simple truths to articulate and understand. We so often have difficulty accepting them and putting them into practice.
Please continue to pray for Kiriakos and the many others here in whose hearts the Lord is evidently working. Pray also for the Logan family, the rest of which flies in tomorrow. They are all very eager to return to the work and will be going it alone for the next little while, as the next team does not arrive for another four weeks.
Thanks once again to all those who prayers have been evident, not just for our course, but for the duration of this project. Such an amazing thing to see God’s hand at work. Such a blessing to be a small part of what He is doing in this city.
Fare ye well.
