21. Aug 2023

Pause

I got a haircut today. Katie had her hair done on Monday and told her hairdresser about me. She is a good friend of Katie's and the owner of the beauty parlor. She also had lived and worked in the USA for a number of years, so she spoke English very well. When she heard what I was doing, she said: "It sounds like he could use a hair cut", and offered to give me one at no cost. We talked a bit while the gray strands fell to the floor. She comes from a Muslim background. Afterwards I asked her if I could pray for the blessing of Abraham to be with her. This is the promise that God gave Abraham that through his offspring the Messiah would come, and through the Messiah we would find peace and the way to God. She said yes. May God continue to draw her to himself.

Katie then took me to their skate shop. There I met their two employees who also spoke English quite well. The one had studied literature and said he really likes reading the German classics. I said that my favorite classic comes from the antic and was originally written in Hebrew and Greek. He knew I was talking about the Bible and said he had read some of the Old Testament. His favorite story is the one about Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the Lord and wanted to know what I thought of it. Jacob was also a pilgrim who left his home to walk 1300 kilometers to Mesopotania. I recounted the whole story of Esau and Jacob to both of them, two brothers who were at odds with each other, but found grace for reconciliation after Jacob's visitation with the Angel of the Lord. This is also what Bosnia-Herzegovina needs, the healing grace of reconciliation. I prayed as well that the blessing of Abraham would come into their lives.

Photos 2 - 4: Later in the afternoon I went with Chris and Katie to the old city to meet a young Christian woman from Japan who was on her first embassy asignment in Sarajevo. I would say she was going through cultural shock, and I am sure Chris and Katie will be able to help her work through this. She said she wanted to be available for God's purposes in the city while she is there. New City Church will be the place where she can find encouragement and spiritual support. It is good that there is this church in Sarajevo.