talkin bout my day

I woke up feeling a lot better, finally very little traces of sickness. This is how my day went-
After a shower and a delicious egg breakfast made by my lovely, unbelievably sweet wife (she's feeling much better in the mornings now but still rough at night). I headed out to the choir practice, P. Matti has a new vision to sing once a week in a Catholic church on one of the busiest avenues of Istanbul called Istiklal Caddesi, where a great number of inquisitive turks come by to visit throughout the day. Father Ruben gave us permission to sing in his church once a week. After the choir practice, we had our worship team practice for the night service. And then headed over to the local print shop which gave birth to our long awaited bi-lingual expandable song books, as we are constantly translating new songs into Turkish and adding them to our repertoire, stopped by a friends paper shop (whom I have invited to many events, but he has not been able to come as he works many hours like many turks in Istanbul) to pick up the covers and headed home for an hour of silence and bible study, and some rest with Sarah. I grabbed a chicken sandwhich and headed out in the wet evening to gather with the saints in our prescious little office building! The worship team put the song books together and it was already time for service. It was a small group, which is rather an exception in these days of growth. The message was about the presciousness of our lives and individuality before God! - our freedom of choice that really defines our humanity. "You will be you forever!" A quote from P. Schaller on grace hour sparked the continuation of this message from last nights bible school class.
I led the worship service with the awesome team- a nigerian drummer, and assistant songleader, and three girls from azerbaijan and uzbekistan. Then played guitar for the offering, and got back up to share an introduction on making time to be quiet with God :) - Gabriel a Ghanian who was recently saved on outreach at the Catholic church (now in Bible School) wanted to walk home with me after the service. He spoke the whole way about things God has been "saying" to him. I listened in amazement and with great joy. It made me think about many friends in Ghana- and their simple hearts of faith that leads to profound truth.
And just as I am finishing this entry I received a SMS from Faruk- I met him the second day we arrived in Turkey, and have been investing in him since. Looking forward to the day when he'll make the best decision of his life!

Faruk: "Hey, can u say the thing about love which is from bible. You know it is valentin s day tomorrow. What was the page number?"

Jediah: "Yes look for 1 Corinthians - chapter 13 Isn't the bible the best love story ever! happy valentines day"

Faruk: ":) great ! thank u so much. Happy valentines day too

scuba diving - notes from abd class

When you take someone scuba diving for the first time, they might flip out. "Once you're so deep down what do you do as an instructor?" (p schaller asking Ismo) "You grab their hands firmly and look at them intently in the eyes, never loosing eye contact. Slowly they calm down under the influence of your confidence."
And to look at the face of God - so much better than Moses who only saw the 'after glow'.
He's ever looking, quietly ministring.