International Weddings!!!!!!!

An ode to my friends, who got married this summer...

July 7th: Friends in Czech Republic got married. Pavla and Roman from Hodonin.
 

The same day also friends in Finland got married: Paivi and Guy.

July 21st: Two good old friends in Austria got married: Peter and Kathi.

Be the light

Stayed two weeks at the annual youth camp, and at an evangelistic outreach in Mauthausen, close to Linz.

One of the people I met in Mauthausen was a woman, 85 years old. I met her by the Danube, a river going from Germany down through Linz all the way to Vienna. Both of us were riding our bikes. At a crossroad we had to get off, and wait for the traffic to stop. Somehow we found ourselves in a conversation, and I ended up inviting her for a cup of coffee in a cafe downtown, which was part of the evangelistic outreach, and she said yes. After the coffee I offered her company on her way up a steep hill to the home for retirees, where she lived. We had a wonderful walk up the hill, which you'd call a mountain in Denmark. And this 85-old woman was fighting her way up, pushing her bike uphill. I offered to take her bike, but she smiled and said, "I really enjoy doing it." Sometimes she would stop, rest a little, and cough because of stomach problems.

But anyways, we talked, and she shared about her life. Her husband who died over 30 years ago, had been an alcoholic. He would leave her and their two sons 1000 Shillings (70 Euro) as soon as he got his salary, and then would walk down to the bar with the rest of the money, turn it into alcohol and get wasted together with his friends who were already waiting for him. With the 1000 Shillings she would take care of all the bills, and somehow manage to provide food for the rest of the month for her family. She told me how she often escaped to a chapel nearby when her husband came home drunk. There she prayed and calmed down, ready to face her tough partner. Or she would lock herself up in the bathroom, because "for a fight there's needed two people." How could she preserve a heart so kind and patient after all that happened to her? There was no hint of bitterness. I wondered.

There we were, at the home on top of the hill. We stopped at the entrance, she coughed again, and then kindly invited me for another cup of coffee. I told her I had to be back at the cafe. But before I left a thought popped up, and so I asked her if I could pray for her stomach which caused her coughing. She said yes, and so I prayed with her. After the prayer I said good-bye, and she said thanks for the company and prayer. On her face I saw a joy I haven't seen in a long time. And that is the last thing I saw from her.
I walked downhill that evening. Slowly. Thinking. Wondering.

I don't know if she got healed, but that's not that important to me. I spent maybe an hour with that old lady, and someone might tell me, "Sam, you have such a good heart," but it's nothing that I gave compared to what I received. I saw a lonely woman at the end of a tough life smiling, lighting up, and knowing that God cares about her, just because I decided to walk the extra mile. Even uphill.

Maybe she met Jesus that day. I for sure did.

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. -John 9:5
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill can not be hidden. -Matthew 5:14