DANCING ON THE EDGE

Weeks of intensive Bible study followed. Mum and dad were craving to learn God’s word and about God’s word. They used every opportunity to learn something new.

Miriam and Natasha took the role of Bible teachers and they tremendously enjoyed it. The girls studied their bible lessons for children with the grandparents. Mum and dad really appreciated the lessons because they were written in an easy and understandable way. They tried to memorise lesson key verses as well. They played games to memorise the names and order of the books of the Bible and other bible games to explore and memorise facts about events and people. Whatever Miriam and Natasha thought the grandparents had to know they shared with them. Natasha gave them special instructions how to treat the Bible as a holy book, never to put it on the floor and to look after it for as it contains the words of God.

Branislav spent time in scheduled bible studies where different doctrinal topics were covered. Each topic triggered so many new questions. Mum and dad were not able to absorb all the information shared with them. However, they were so eager to explore the many things that the Bible was talking about that was relevant for our times and our lives.

Whatever new things they studied we talked about them. Mum and dad were trying to tell them back to me as to confirm what they understood was correct. I spent a lot of time talking to them about practical things concerning Christian lifestyle. They were trying to discover in what ways they could make their contribution in the local church and in the Kingdom of God in general.

Mum and dad understood that being a Christian is not only being a member of a church, but being a church in action. The study on being a part of the body of Christ from 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 was very important for them. “There are so many parts of our body and they are all important. Unfortunately from my experience I see how hard it is for the whole body when an organ is not working properly or has to be taken out. To be in full strength and productive the body counts on good working condition of all its parts,” mum commented.

“How can two of us be useful in the small church community when we go back to Slavonski Brod?” was the question. The study on gifts and talents from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 was of great interest to them. “I never considered myself to be a talented man and with not much education I have no confidence that I can speak or do things publicly” was dad’s concern. Mum laughed, “you are excellent at physical work, you’ll be excellent for the church work parties.”

It was so great to observe how mum and dad were focused on being useful and making a difference. Instead of being drained with the thoughts of surviving they were energised with the thoughts of living. They were dancing emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

31. UNDER GOD’S CONTROL

Studying the Bible for my parents was discovering life and this world from a completely new perspective. Topics they had never paid attention to before because they had no direct relevance to them were brought to life. Biblical prophecy of the history of our planet was one of those topics.

We would all gather around pictorials that illustrated different prophecies. I was impressed to see how interesting this was to our children not only to my parents. Daniel chapter 2 was our most liked. Mum identified with the Nebuchadnezzar who had a dream that troubled him. From her own experience, she knew when God wants people to understand something he makes it known to them in the most impressive way. God allowed the king to forget his dream to make sure that he found the right interpretation. The dream could have been interpreted by someone to whom God Himself revealed what it was and what it meant, God chose Daniel.

The statue of a man represents different major kingdoms in this planet’s history. Different materials, which the image was build represent the qualities of the kingdoms; the head made of pure gold, the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, the legs of iron, the feet of iron and partly of baked clay. The feet represent our era and there is no more. The statue was hit with the rock and became a huge mountain that filled the whole earth. It represents the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Together we studied some history. The Babylonian empire was followed by the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek empire and the Roman Empire. We focused on the present day situation. Just a year before the Euro was introduced the whole question of mingling and uniting Europe became the centre of our attention. We started reading other prophecies from the book of Daniel for a clearer understanding of this one. It was like putting puzzle pieces together.

What was very significant for my parents is the certainty that the prophecies give. God is in control of this planet. Nothing is happening here that God did not know would happen. God is going to bring His everlasting Kingdom to this planet, and we live at the end time for there is nothing more left of the parts of the statue.

Scientists and movie producers create sensational predictions of our planet. However, God has already revealed our future through prophecies. We can trust God that not only life on this planet but our individual lives are in His control.

NO REGRETS

Questions on prophecies triggered some questions about our individual lives. I didn’t know how much time God was going to grant my mother so I was bold enough to ask mum whatever interested me. “Mum if you could relive life again what would you change?” I asked mum when we were on our own.

“What kind of question is that?” mum was surprised and a little annoyed with my question. “You are a God fearing person and you know that life is not about speculating or making it more comfortable for yourself. Life is to be lived with all the decisions that we make and their consequences.”

Mum paused for a moment and then continued to explain. “I don’t know if the choice of my husband was the best one. However, it was my own choice and at the time seemed a good choice. Some things that happened to us were out of our control and others followed our decisions. There were many tensions and struggles in our marriage but many good things came out of it too. Three of you our children are more than any parent could desire. Each one of you in your own way is good, clever and strong. No regrets.”

I provoked mum further, “Mum, have you ever considered divorce?” To this question mum carefully gathered her thoughts. “Divorce? Hm! People think about things that they are prepared to do and not prepared to do. Sometimes I felt as if my marriage was a cross that I carried. At times it was so hard, as you know it well. I wanted things to be different but I didn’t know how to change them and if I could change them at all. I was determined to carry my cross to the end. But you know what? It’s not a cross any more. Dad and I started bonding as never before. God has brought us closer to Him and to each other. It’s a pity we needed to wait all these years to feel thankful having each other and to feel united. No regrets! No regrets, for life is to be lived with all good things that it brings and bad things too.”

Mum’s attitude to life and people always inspired me. A few years before when dad was made redundant he received a substantial amount of money for his circumstances. I encouraged mum to use some of it to renovate the house and I gave her some tips what they could do to make it look nicer. Mum thought it was a good idea and dad agreed. She couldn’t wait for me to see the difference. On our next visit mum was so glad to show all the work that was done. However, I noticed that the job on the walls wasn’t done of the highest standard. “Mum, who did the job?” Mum was so happy to answer, “Our young neighbour is training to become a builder and he did the job.” I commented on that, “So you didn’t need to pay him as a professional?” Mum gave me a serious look and said “Our neighbour needs to feed his family the same way as professionals. So, why should we pay him less?” That was my mum. I gave her a big smile of approval. Mum taught me a great life lesson of treating people the right way not only the correct way.

33. GOD’S BIRTHDAY GIFT

Branislav is a farmer at heart; he loves gardening. Once, as we were driving through Stuttgart and looked at the vineyards he made a comment, “If only I had a garden to give me great pleasure and stress relief.” To that I just smiled and remembered.

Some of our church members had town rented gardens. They told me about the system how to get one. You register in the town hall in the garden-rent office and normally have to wait for a couple of years until there is an available garden.

Branislav’s birthday was a few days away and I remembered his wish. We lived in the small town of Kornwestheim on the outskirt of Stuttgart. I told my parents and the girls about the idea and they thought it was brilliant. My parents were keen gardeners and said that would too give them something useful to do while staying with us. So, five of us prayed and I took Miriam with me. Her German was excellent I still struggled with mine, so in case I needed some help she came with me.

As we walked to the town hall we stopped in a park and Miriam prayed. “Dear Father you know how much we would like dad to have a garden here in Germany. He doesn’t have time to exercise but he loves gardening and that would help him. Please, let us have the garden for his birthday, let nobody steal from the garden and make it cheap for us.” I just smiled at Miriam’s specific and practical prayer. I could only say a big “Amen” at the end.

We went to the garden-rent office where two ladies were working. I told them the purpose of my coming. One of them explained the procedure, which was the same as the church friends told me; you register and have to wait until there is an available garden. The waiting period in Kornwestheim was two to three years. I enquired about going to other nearby villages or towns. They told me that the local inhabitants always have priority. At the point of giving up I gathered strength to tell them why it was important to me, “In four days my husband is having his birthday. He is a pastor and his job is stressful. We are looking for a birthday present that would help him relieve his stress. Getting a garden would be an ideal present for him. “

The ladies smiled to that and one of them said, “If that’s the case then we have a garden just for you. We’ll give you a map and a key to go to see it, but you need to be back in half and hour before we close the office.” The garden was on the other side of the town from where we lived, at the very edge of the town. So, as soon as we left the town hall, Miriam and I started running to make it in half an hour. We came to fenced and locked up gardens that looked so orderly in a nice and quiet part of the town. We had the key to the main gate of our part of the gardens, and ours was the last one. There were some plum trees, hazelnut trees, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and black currents on our plot. There was also a big toolbox. It all looked somewhat neglected but there was already so much in the garden. Miriam and I were ever so happy, we ran back to say that we wanted the garden.

GARDEN PICNIC

Miriam and I rushed to the garden-rent office before they closed. We told them that we were very pleased with the garden. The lady responsible for the administration mentioned the price, which I understood was 80 Euros per year all-inclusive, which was very reasonable. She said she would do the paper work the next day and post it to us. I told her since it was a surprise for my husband I would come to collect the agreement from the office.

The following afternoon I went to sign and collect the agreement and get the key. To my great surprise I noticed the price was not 80 but 18 Euros per year. I could hardly wait to reach home to share the excitement with the parents and the girls. I reminded Miriam of the prayer she said for the garden. In my hands there was an agreement for unlimited use of the garden with the key for the price of 18 Euros per year; in time for birthday, no one could steal from the garden and it was cheap. God answered Miriam’ prayer just as she had asked Him.

The year before it was Branislav’s 40^th birthday, in Germany that called for a big birthday celebration. However, Branislav requested not to organise any party for him. He wanted us to go for a day trip to Donaueschingen, the source of the Danube river. We went to this small village to see a place just a little bigger than an ordinary well. When asked why he wanted to spend his “big” birthday there Branislav said: “My pastoral work is like the Danube river. I read about how small this source is. I also know how powerful the Danube is. Flowing through 10 countries about 3000 km long it reaches Serbia as a mighty river. What I do sometimes seems so small and insignificant and often I don’t see the results of it. But I need to trust God that somewhere along peoples’ life journey what I teach them about God becomes powerful and useful like the Danube river.”

We were so happy that we could present Branislav a gift he really wanted and God made it possible to have. For the day a surprise garden picnic was planned. The weather was still cold but it did not stop us from spending part of the day in a place we could call: “given to us to look after.” Mum and dad insisted that some garden tools were brought so that the work could be started right away.

It was a happy day for all of us. Branislav was so pleased with the present especially when he realised it was an answer to prayers. God showed His love to us in a thing that wasn’t of prime importance but mattered to us and made us happy. Mum and dad felt they were partaking in the happiness of God’s care and providing.

MYSTERY

Our garden made our stay in Germany more interesting. Not only because of the produce from it but the lessons we learned there. The girls definitely learned much about sowing, planting and looking after plants and flowers, but the adults learned many object lessons too.

Branislav spent the little free time he had in the garden. He was giving instructions to dad what needed to be done. I would then take dad to the garden to do the work. For the first two weeks there was something that battered me personally a lot.

Every time we would come to the garden, there were some tools left under the big plum tree. The first time it happened there was a long hosepipe, then a big plastic barrel, then a hoe and a rake. I was sure that someone was sharing the garden with us. I thought maybe the people who used it before started using it again. My thoughts were God gave us a garden but now we’ll have problems with it. I kept that to myself but I felt very disturbed.

Two weeks later on Sunday afternoon we all went to the garden. There were some gardeners on their plots, and for the first time we met our neighbour opposite of our plot. An elderly German gentlemen introduced himself. He said he was glad to see some serious work going on in our garden. He also said that he took the freedom to organize other gardeners to give us all the garden tools they didn’t need any more so that we wouldn’t need to buy everything.

We thanked our neighbour gardener for his kindness. However, I felt awful. I felt terrible for thinking and accusing God for giving us trouble after giving us a garden. It made me feel sick. How could I think about God in such a way? God went a step further and gave us additional blessings we didn’t even ask for. What kind of a person was I? Later on I found a verse that talks about it in Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” (NIV)

Our garden taught us much about soil, weeding and harvest. We realised that even on a small plot of land it mattered where we planted different plants. We learned to adjust soil moisture, and the amount of light and shade with the needs of plants. We learned how weeds choke plants, and how each plant needs its own space to develop. Harvest is very important to be done at the right time; too early is not good but too late is not good either. All these lessons made us think what we do in our pastoral ministry. Jesus used so many illustrations from nature to help us understand the way people behave spiritually and our garden helped us to relive them.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 569