It is summer in Europe and that means the European Football Championships. They began in Switzerland Saturday evening and continued here in Austria yesterday. Sadly Austria lost it's opening match 1-0 again Croatia on a penalty kick only four mintues into the match! A lot of sad Austrians were running the streets last night.
Thank you so much for praying about my recent travels. I was gone for 8 days and it was a very good 8 days. Darko Adamek, the National Director for CEF Serbia, and I had many hours together with good coffee, comfortable chairs (even AC as it around 100 degrees F!), good Serbian food (special thanks to Lidija and "Little" Darko), and the presence of God's Holy Spirit guiding and directing our conversation. I learned that there were some expectations or understandings on the part of Darko and Lidija that Jan and I had not met or failed ourselves to see and understand. We talked those things through and were able to move on to how CEF Serbia and CEF Montenegro might look in the future as two organizations yet also sharing and helping each other with different strengths and gifts. Though those discussions are not yet finished -- and that is perfectly OK -- we have a good start on things and will plan, Lord willing, to bring the entire team together in the fall to talk through expectations and how we will hope to function.
Secondly, it became clear that it is NOT God's plan for us to be involved in helping the CEF Serbia team with Bible camp in August as originally planned. There are some underlying issues that make up one part of this decision -- issues that are NOT because of anything Darko and I have done; there are others involved outside of the organization and we are still trying to understand these people and what they have done or not done. The biggest reason however is that we are really not needed. Why? As all of us CEF team members met during the weekend for camp planning meetings, there was a large number of "outsiders" present who are also planning to work at the camps. These are all national believers who have either been trained in evangelism by CEF, have a vision of reaching children and teenagers through camp, or simply want to be used by God in a camp situation. As I sat through the weekend and met new and old friends, I realized that God had gone far beyond anything we might have imagined during our first CEF camp in 2000, and brought together this group of believers to minister in His way and in His time. I began to praise God for what He is doing in Serbia and to let go of what Jan and I wanted and let God do His work.
Katie and Nicholas finish school this week and are more than ready for it be to over. Enjoy your summer as I hope they will and stay in touch!
