Building Bridges.....

December 29 I attended an Iranian Christmas party in church. It all started with a usual service, well usual in that way that there were worship music, speech and so on, but unusual to me for it was in a language, Farsi that I don't understand. There was no one to translate, but when I saw the short films that they were showing on the wall, the beautiful guitar playing, when I heard them shouting "HALLELUJAH" and saw tears rolling down their cheeks, then translation was not needed. Later on in the café, we had a wonderful meal, typical Iranian food they told me, very delicious. Interesting to listen to the stories how they were saved and why they came to Sweden. Many Iranians showed up for this party and what was even more interesting, was that some were believing Muslims who chose to come to this event even though on the same day it was an important Muslim feast. I had a nice time of fellowship connecting with good friends

White Christmas, something we all want to have. Here in the south parts of Sweden it's rare with "White Christmas". I cant remember many seasons with beautiful white landscape during Christmas. Winter comes with cold winds and icy roads . I usually wait to change winter tires on the car until after Christmas . Some days ago it started to snow. In the beginning nothing stayed on the ground and I went to my office on my summer tires with no problem. During the evening it started to get colder and even more snow came. At the point when I was going home it was full of snow on the roads. I'm not really nervous driving on snowy roads and not even with summer tires, but while driving home, sliding left and right I started to get nervous. You might think "OH yes horrible sliding like that", but that was not what I was thinking of. I was thinking of getting a ticket! How irresponsible I was. I could have changed tires some days before and now driving safety back h...

Last Christmas the financial crisis just struck Sweden and the Christmas trade did not become a record but was anyway very high. This Christmas, we are still in a weak economic climate but the shopkeepers think that this Christmas the record will be broken.. The turnover for this year will probably be around 9 billion US dollars, some calculate that each person will spend around 870 US dollars during Christmas. That's very much indeed. Considering what income people in general have, bills that have to be payed etc, I wonder where the money will come from!? Shopping, spending money like never before, just for this rather short a period of the year get satisfaction for some time, but after this, they will be back to where they were before, and perhaps even with debts. I say this every Christmas and I will say it again, people really have to know what this season is all about. If you have no idea, I would like you to read the following chapters in the Bible Matthew 1:18 - 2:23 Christ...

Had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving last Saturday November 28. Great Food, Great Fellowship and Sweet Memories. Wonderful opportunity to build bridges and to give the Lord Thanks...

Have you ever been standing at a crossroad? Ive been several times at a crossroad while driving on our holiday trips on Crete island, and that's tough. I want to go one way, my wife points out the other direction and when we look at the map, mmm She is right!'' Nowadays there are things like "GPS" but that won't help you when it comes to crossroads in life. Crossroads in life could be : should I continue to study this or something else, or should I consider these friends not good to hang out with and change my circle of acquaintances, should I stick to this job or try to find another, or should I continue to go to this church or try to find another spiritual home? Lessons to be learned is to pray, listen, wait, and obey. Easier said than done. The Bible tells us in Psalm 32:8-10: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding...

When you read trough the New Testament in the Bible you soon see that Jesus in his time was not "politically correct". He said and claimed things often that offended people, but at the same time what he said was the truth. Some of the disciples after Jesus' resurrection,sacrificed their lives for this truth, a risky business really. But there is one man who just once appear in the New Testament but stood up for Jesus and offended the Pharisees when they investigated his healing, and that was the blind man in John 9. The blind man replied to the investigators: "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know, but one thing I know. I was blind but now I see". The Pharisees were blind too, but then we are talking about spiritual blindness. They kept asking him over again and he said to them, perhaps yelled he at them "Why do you want to hear it again!? Do you want to become his disciples too? Oh, I can only imagine how the Pharisees would look like in t...

This week, Monday November 9 it was exactly 20 years ago since the Berlin Wall was teared down. A wall that separated people, ideologies and divided a country. I never saw the wall in real, but Ive seen it in pictures many times and that day 20 years ago I will never forget. That wall seemed so unbreakable, not because it was made of concrete and iron, no because all it stand for. Walls are raised for many different reasons, some are needed some not. Some are raised for the purpose to protect , others to destroy. There are walls that are physical and there are walls that are mental. Some walls even spiritual. Mental or spiritual walls could be walls in your daily life, at your workplace, in your home, at your church etc. These walls are perhaps the most difficult ones to break down, but when they are down it sure feels great. Do you have such walls in you or around you? Have you ever tried to break them down? if not why? what hinders you? if you have how did it feel like? One thing ...

I bet you all have different insurances for many different things. Some are needed, some perhaps not. Some you must have, by law, some we are glad we had when the accident was there. We spend a lot of money on insurances and gladly we never have to use them, but do we really need all? I was glad I had a special insurance some month ago when my son Linus new glasses was broken. Brand new and destroyed. We got a new pair for just 95 Swedish krone’s.(around 9 euros) That’s awesome. When we got the new pair I looked at the very small text( it usually is ) and red when the insurance is not valid. it says: when your eye site is getting worse Ordinary wear and so on , and this I can understand but then I read further is not valid if you glasses are damage in: New clear war or new clear accidents Civil war Revolution Revolt, etc Well if his glasses are damage during this different states the first thing is not new glasses that’s on my mind. (who came up with the idea to this terms!?) One that ...

I have a prayer request. Our Pastor's grandchild Luke, born premature had his evaluation this week and got the diagnosis " 'infantile spasms' . a form of epilepsy that can be quite devastating. Never heard about this spasm but I looked it up on google and it seams to be severe. Many children who get it will have trouble with their development and can in many cases get detrement . I pray that God will heal Luke totally. I know that God has his comforting arms around Luke's family at the moment. God know their needs and their struggle. Healing Luke is no problem for God. We have the same authority in our hands that raised Jesus from the dead and we speak out that Luke in the name of Jesus will be healed. God fixes things, He works in his times. Amen.

Sometimes you get blindfolded, just like a horse with blinder is. You choose sometimes yourself to be it, perhaps to protect yourself, but in many cases you are blindfolded without knowing it. It does not feel good being blindfolded. It hinders you to be creative and to see things like they really are. One evening my wife and I was talking about John in the bible. She red fromJohn 5, were Jesus heals a lame man who is not capable to get down in to the pool. We both have red this passages over and over again so we know what it says but suddenly my wife said. WOW how ignorant and blindfolded they are. Jesus told the man " take your mat and go", and so he did, but when he was walking, he met some men The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' " So they a...