Evidence Of God In Our Lives

Filling Luther's shoes

Place where Martin Luther stood.

Last weekend, we had an enjoyable Saturday.  We went to Worms, Germany.  This year, Germany is celebrating the 500 year anniversary of Martin Luther, the reformer.  Worms is the city where Martin Luther went to on three different occasions.  On his last trip, under a letter of agreement to travel to and from the city with safe conduct, he appeared before the emperor.  He had been excommunicated from the church and it was hoped that his appearance before the emperor would pressure him to recant his teachings.  Instead, he not only didn't recant, but said the following words:  "Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason, I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other.  My conscience is captive to the Word of God.  I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.  God help me. Amen."  When he said this it was in a church which no longer stands.  However, there is a memorial of the place he must have stood when he made those remarks.  Martin Luther was one of many to pave the way for the restoration of God's church.

There were some beautiful churches in the area that were open for the public.  In one part of town there was a guy who appeared to be standing in air.  I'm sure he was standing on a piece of metal that was under his clothes and shoes. Here is a link to a video of him: https://youtu.be/_GdwkDR_uOI

Inside c

Do you remember, from our last blog, the difficulties we had in transmitting and receiving a webcast?  Well, it took all week long but we finally had a successful webcast.  Woohoo!  Nearly every day we would set up the equipment and put it away at the end of the day.  Halfway through the week, we got assistance from our department team members.  It wasn't until the last few minutes of the last day at work, Friday, that we finally understood what the problems were.  I say "problems" because there were more than one issue.

There is a small box that goes between the camera and the box that transmits audio and visual to the internet.  That box is called the signal converter.  The original one was not functioning.  It was totally broken.  We used several other signal converters, having success for only a few moments, about 15% of the time. 

It wasn't until later that we learned that there were two other problems.  One was that there is a switch on the side of the converter that we didn't think was important.  It actually was.  When we made sure that the switch was in the right position, we began to have success about 50% of the time.

The final resolution was the web browser we were using to transmit through.  We were using Firefox.  My favorite.  As it turns out, Google Chrome worked better and quicker.

We left work exhausted, but renewed and even excited about what we had learned.  Though the entire week was filled with challenges and frustrations, the information we have will be invaluable to others.  It was well worth the effort. 

As I contemplate what we had experienced, I feel that it relates very well to life itself.  Life is full of challenges and struggles.  Along with the enjoyable times, we seem to receive more than our share of frustrations and disappointments. After this life, however, I believe each of us will be able to look back and say it was worth it.

This week was emotional, also.  The investigator I've been talking about for the last several blogs experienced more turmoil in his life.  I told you that he already had a lot on his shoulders and if that wasn't enough, he just discovered he has thrombosis.  For those who don't know, if not treated, it is life threatening.

In a conversation with him earlier this week, he told me how much he wanted to get baptized.  He said, "I don't want to leave this world without getting baptized."

Tonight he visited us and while we ate dinner, we watched Saturday morning conference live.  At the end of the conference, he told us that he had two things to say to us.  He started out by telling us that he felt the Spirit.  Referring to the conference talks given, he has decided that he needs to be baptized as soon as he can.  He would rather not wait for this coming Saturday,. but he will because he knows that the sisters still have more to teach him.  Second of all, he has a new resolve.  He is not a going to allow himself to be dragged down.  He is will be the person God meant him to be.