Recently I had an encounter with a woman while doing our street outreach that was so intense and bizarre, it actually left me feeling physically sick afterwards. This woman was obviously intelligent - speaking a mix of both perfect british English and perfect German. She was also insane - spewing a disjointed tirade of humor, anger, praise, blasphemy, hurt, spite, hate and indignation. Sometimes she was in my face. Sometimes she was on her knees in front of me. At one point she started singing parts of church hymns then she would switch and start cursing Jesus.
She did almost all the talking. She was so disjointed I never really could follow her and didn't know what to say. I just looked her in the eye and tried to show her respect and Christ's love. A couple of times I told her that I wish her everything good that God wants for her. The rest of the time I prayed for her (and me!) This is a very busy shopping street and there were lot's of people observing this whole thing. Kristi was standing nearby praying for me and Jim was in a nearby restaurant supporting us in prayer as well. When she finally moved on (it was so intense that I really don't know how long it lasted - 10, 15, maybe 20 minutes) I felt completely drained and queezy and broke off the outreach and went home to lie down.
I know we are in a battle. We pray every time before we start the outreach that God would send us the people He wants us to connect with. Maybe time will tell why He sent me that lady. Please pray for Kristi, Tobi and I as we continue our street outreach - that God would protect us and also break through barriers in a mighty way.
My search for a storefront to rent continues and the process of looking has been a great encouragement to me as I interact with realtors and property owners about my vision. I intend to call the shop "Pastor's Atelier". Besides getting my office and painting out into view I also can envision offering various workshops and discussion evenings and inviting area musicians to do mini concerts and even inviting other visual artists to display their work there. As I mentioned in our last update, to begin with, I would like to have a trial period of a year to see what God does and if we think it is worth continuing. To that end we need to raise an additional $7,000 for the rent and utilities for one year. If you would like to help us with this project, please let us know. Here is a link to a gallery of some of the things I have painted in the last few years.
Please pray for us as we pursue the vision of God expanding His Kingdom through all the peoples of Europe to the world! Here is a short new visual prayer request for Cologne.
Thank you for praying and supporting us.
Your servants,
Jason and Sue
