Thoughts...

Our response to suffering and pain is repentance. Repentance follows with thanking God for our salvation through His Son, which gives comfort in the reality of the limitedness of life in a fallen world. From the recognition of this reality comes the proper place for lament and grief, for when Paul says, "...that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope," he does not exclude "Why" and "how long". Yet that word "hope" places grieving and lamenting in the proper context of the Gospel. This hope is sure. When children ask their dear Father, "Why" and "how long", Jesus answers, "It is finished." Our reply, then, is "Amen. Come Lord Jesus." Herein lies the tension in tentatio.

Library construction

The library construction is moving along quickly:

"The Church is a Mercy Place"

Go here and download the above titled, short pamphlet. You will not be disappointed.

http://itistime.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=19

Packing up.

Well, I'm starting to pack up my room. I'm at 14 boxes of books, and still more to go. This has gotten out of hand.

Kristina is also getting packed up in Göteborg. Her last day of teaching at FFG is on the 22nd, and she'll be heading back to Lepplax around the 4th of May. This is an exciting and somewhat stressful time for us as we are nearing out wit's end from being apart. It has been a long 9+ months! This month, I'll receive my vicarage placement, which will tell us where we'll be for the next year. Also, we should have a major, major portion of Kristina's visa application done, and her interview in Helsinki should be set up (this is the final step). Please keep us in your prayers, and know that we greatly appreciate all that everyone has done for us so far. We're looking forward to seeing many faces in Finland in June and Selma in July!

Skiing in Sälen in the Swedish "mountains"

Last week I went skiing in the western part of Sweden close to the Norwegian border with part of my immediate family - my parents, my sister Carina and her family, my brother Daniel and his family and my brothers Joel and Paul with their girlfriends, and my other sister's two oldest children Ellen and Ivar - in all only 16 people including me. So just a small gathering. Weslie was invited too, but he didn't miss me enough to want to spend his spring break with me and my family. The price of the tickets might have had something to do with it too. A decent excuse, I suppose. Here are some pictures from the week.

The cool people. Janina, Joel and Paul getting ready for some fun.

First time I was downhill-skiing in 5 years. I have to say that I still possess great skill. Or something. At least I didn't break anything. I didn't even fall once. Unlike some other people...

Joel went straight for the trees. And liked it so much he almost stayed there.

Martin tried some tricks and almost broke his neck.

The kids also wanted to try. First time for them all.

Ellen, 7 years old.

Ivar, 6

Lukas, 3

Lots of snow, and nice sunny days, albeit a little cold. It was a great week, the only downside was that almost all of us got stomach flu. Weslie thinks someone is always sick in my family. I think he might be right. Maybe that's why he didn't want to come. Or maybe it's because he didn't want to try any more wintersports. It would have been fun to see him try downhill-skiing though - at least for the rest of us :).

Last day in Göteborg, Sweden.

Kristina and I made a delicious, celebration breakfast after Alabama's trouncing of Texas:

Then we did a bit more walking around Göteborg:

Later that night (or maybe this was Thursday night?), Kristina took me to a great market with everything the heart desires, namely, cheeses, dried meat, and chocolate:

Churches in Göteborg

In our walking around, we popped into a few churches. This one had a brilliant alterpiece:

Here is a close-up of the cross of Christ crushing the head of the serpent and death:

This is the outside of the church Bo Giertz used to preach in:

Pulpit:

Alter:

I must admit I don't remember this last church too much. This was the day that the flu bug caught up with me. Very soon after touring this church, we rushed back to the apartment so I could sleep and vomit for several hours...YAY!