Light in the darkness

Reformed Presbyterian Church in Mataro‘Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures for ever’ (2 Chron. 20:21). We thank God for Jesus Christ and for the privilege of belonging to a great universal family in Him (Eph. 2:19). It is a joy to share the work which he is doing with the whole EMF family (Prov. 25:25). God does his work, firstly with each one of us, then in our families, with husbands, wives and children. Sometimes we forget the vital nature of these basic aspects of his work – that those who form the Christian families will also be the Church of Christ. In our day when this biblical order and God’s values are questioned, and we see the social, family and institutional consequences, we are better able to appreciate and value the vital importance of God’s order for humanity (Gen. 2:23,24; Ex. 20:1-7; Eph. 6:1-3). Continued…

Danger - mines

Druzhba Meeting Room‘Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction’(2 Tim. 4:2). This was to be the main business in the life of Timothy, and the task that lies on the shoulders of every minister of God’s Word since. It is an imperative, which the minister is bound to fulfil in his life. He is to be ready to declare the whole counsel of God, even in most difficult and unsuitable places and circumstances. He is to do it out of his love for the Saviour and for people. These things particularly came to my mind again a couple of months ago as I got news about an ammunition dump from the time of the Second World War, which was uncovered during the foundation work for our church building. I thought to myself: ‘You cannot possibly build a church on a minefield, therefore it looks impossible to preach the Gospel here.’ Continued…

Old work, new office

New EP office10 November 2007 was a pivotal date in the fairly long history of EDITORIAL PEREGRINO, the publishing house I have been working for, in one way or another, for more than twenty-five years. This was the day when we did the removal of our old office and small warehouse (located on the ground floor of our house) into the big warehouse we’ve had for several years in our town. With the help of some friends in the area we were able to transport an enormous amount of books and office equipment to the new premises. But even then, it took many weeks to re-organize all the pallets with books, put up new racks and get everything working smoothly. To make matters worse the whole thing happened at the busiest time of the year when we get most orders! Continued…

Blessing turned into failure

Church building, WloclawekSuccess has a lot of names. Usually it is related to values people subscribe to. For some it may mean another step in a professional career; others see it as material prosperity, and those who value the family will be fulfilled watching their children doing well. These are just a few examples. Usually one finds that being successful in the nice correlation of values he or she believes in, would be just perfect. Continued…

Just standing

ZywiecIn the life of each individual the flow of time is marked by different occasional celebrations. Not so long ago some celebrated Christmas, others New Year. We looked forward to Easter, to mark another period of time. When we are at a certain age we gladly invite friends and family to our birthday party; later we hesitate to say that it is our special day, and we forget to tell that another year has passed away. Of course I am not saying that all of us do the same, this is rather a general view. Continued…

Serving the Lord in the learned, the red, and the fat city

Stefano and Jenny Mariotti‘Bologna is a lot of things, my friend. It’s always been the centre of free thought and intellectual activity in Italy, thus its first nickname, la dotta, which means the learned. Then it became the home of the political left and received its second nickname, la rossa, the red. And the Bolognesi have always been serious about their food. They believe, and they’re probably right, that this is the stomach of Italy. Thus, the third nickname of la grassa, the fat.’ (Grisham, John (2005) The Broker. London, Century, p120). Continued…