The view from Budapest

It is a constant temptation for most of us to measure success by the results or fruits of our labor. Did the things we are working on go well? Did they achieve the desired results?

I think in ministry this is even a greater temptation. Did I join Campus Crusade for Christ to see no results? Is it my vision for my ministry to fail? No, I joined because God called me, but ultimately because I felt like the Lord could “use” my efforts to make a difference for the kingdom.

Oswald Chambers reminded me this morning that it is not about “success” or “results”, but about knowing Him!! In Luke 10:19-20, he tells the disciples to not rejoice in the results of their ministry, but in the fact that their names are written in the book of life.

Bottom Line: Everything is about knowing Him more. Results will be positive and negative at points along the way, but ultimately He is using these things to draw you to Him. My favorite line of Chamber’s devotional this morning is, “If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived.” Wow!! I guess if you just look at Christ’s earthly ministry and the direct fruit then their have been other’s who have had much greater success.


This is a good reminder as I head into another year of ministry. I’m excited about the year because it looks like there could be some fruit. I should be excited because I will have the chance to get to know Him better.

Excerpt from: Chambers, O. (1993, c1935). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (August 30). Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.

Here’s a story from Reuters about the statements of a mayor of one of the districts here in Budapest. Unbelievable.

Wanted: completely perfect legs.. - Yahoo! News

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The mayor of one Budapest district wants female City Hall staff to wear miniskirts only if they have “completely perfect legs” and the skirts are no shorter than 2-3 centimeters (about 1 inch) above the knee.

Mitynan is a rarity in Budapest’s 23 mostly liberal and socialist districts, so his proposals stand almost no chance of being passed by the city assembly. Liberal Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky described the proposals as “crass,” according to the state news agency MTI.

I’m sure plenty of people have thought these things before. It took a Hungarian to say it publically.

Well, tomorrow is the Fantasy Football Draft and it seems my buddy Rob is downright “Giddy” about the big draft this weekend. Well, I’m sorry to put his excitement on hold, but I don’t think he has ever had someone that lives in Europe play in his league. I have insights into the game of football that there is no way that you could get in the US.

For instance,
* David Beckham is a waste of time. Everyone loves him and likes to pick him in the first round, but I know that he is off his game, star struck and can’t score like he used to

* Ronaldhino on the Barcelona club is totally awesome. You can’t go wrong with this pick

* Watch out for some of the lesser known players from Hungary, Slovakia, and Croatia. They don’t get much press, but you can count on them when game time comes.

* Stay away from Manchester United players. Like David Beckham, they get all the press. They are in a big slump and if you want strong English players look to Chelsea or Liverpool who are on the way up!!!

So you can see that the East Coast Fantasy Football League doesn’t have a chance this year. With all the games and coverage that I get, they are going to be totally in the dark.

GOOOAAAALLLLL!!!!

Still Hurts.

My back is at it again. For the last 10+ years, I have occasional back pain. I’ve been hospitalized for it once and incapacitated by it many times. It used to come about every two years where I was out of commission for 1-2 weeks. Now, it comes more often, but it isn’t quite as bad. Doctors have always told me that it isn’t bad enough to do anything about. I just have to deal with it as it comes.

Valerie & I have started running this summer. We are really enjoying being in better shape and feeling better. My back has hurt a little bit this summer, but no big deal. That was until Monday. Monday, my back was tight during our entire run. I knew that it wouldn’t be good after I cooled down and it tightened up. It has been hurting ever since then. I can function, but it hurts to do anything. I tried to stay in bed yesterday to see if it would settle down, but to no avail. Today I’m at the office and dealing with the pain.

Valerie & I hope to run in a 4 mile Night Race here in Budapest on Sept 10th. Hopefully, my back will cooperate. In the mean time, I get to practice what God has been teaching me. I need to accept everything that comes to me as something that He allowed and wants me to trust Him in the midst of. Lord, hurry up and teach me the lesson, so my back can stop hurting!!!!

I wasn’t sure how it would be to return to Budapest after almost 2 1/2 months in America. Yesterday, I found out. It felt totally normal. We were truly home. While it was wonderful to see family, friends and American culture, it was great to be back in our house, with our stuff, and our beds. I’m sure the culture stress with come back soon and there have been several signs that we aren’t in America anymore:

#1 - In Atlanta, while boarding our Air France flight to Paris, there was a lady in the jetway checking carry-on luggage. Our friends from Budapest, the Jacksons, were in front of us and she started telling them that almost all of their carry-ons were too big and that they would have to check them. They had carried them on because they had breakable stuff that they didnt’ want under the plane. Then, they started with us and we had to check two bags as well. Thankfully, they did let us pull out the valuable things. Then, another man started telling us that backpacks didn’t count as a personal item (like purses and briefcases). What is that about??? We were pretty irate as we watched others walk by with backpacks unnoticed. All this after Delta let us fly the first leg of our trip with no problems. After an argument, he let us on with the backpacks. Even though, we were on US soil, we weren’t in US culture anymore. The customer is usually wrong!!

#2 We went grocery shopping yesterday and to our surprise, they no longer have Diet Coke (Cola Light here) in 12 oz (33 ml) cans. They only come in smaller 25ml cans. Bummer! Obviously we are not the target market of this culture or they would have increased the size to 50ml instead of making them smaller.

Our transition has started. I’m sure in a few weeks, things like this won’t surprise us as much anymore.

Well, summer in the US is coming to a close. On Friday at Noon we begin the journey home (yes, home). I think we are a little sad about leaving family, friends, and a place where things are easy because we can speak english. On the other hand, we are looking forward to getting back home. Budapest has become our home. I’m ready to get back into a routine after 2 1/2 months of no routine.

Today’s challenge is to cram all of the stuff we have into 9 boxes. My money says that it isn’t going to fit. We’ll see.

I finally found a good place to blog. I’m on a cruise ship in the Bahamas . Valerie & I are away for our 15th anniversary. Valerie is sitting here with me so don’t get the idea that I’m ignoring her in order to blog.

We are having a great time. We spent the day at Royal Carribean’s private island, CocoCay. It was wonderful to just sit in the sun and bake with occasional dips in the ocean. The weather, water, and day was perfect.

Last night we had fun dancing to some 70’s tunes. “Play that funky music white boy” was our favorite!! Valerie said that I had the white man’s underbite (according to the movie Hitch). Keep it right here . . . .

Food is incredible. Valerie had Atlantic Cod and I had Prime Rib last night. It is Venetian night tonight. Since we’ve been to Venice we’ll see how it matches up. It is always great so I’m sure it won’t be a problem.

A few words to our kids (ignore this if you aren’t one of our kids):
We hope you are having a good time with Mimi & Big Tom! We love you and miss you! See you on Friday!

Gotta go. My free Internet minutes are quickly running out.