St. Nicholas is a mountaineer

What a wonderful hike we had today with my friend Alojz! We went to climb Vodno, a mountain right next to Skopje which is not very high but pretty steep. It was all covered with snow and the sights were gorgeous, the sun shining gold, warm colours. It was great to leave the grayness and the noise of the city and to enjoy the silence of the mountain. And when we reached the top expecting to find no one and the mountain home as we called it closed, inside we found a bunch of 10-15 people celebrating the day of St. Nicholas. They immediately invited us to join the feast with fish, beans, home-made bread, wine which we didnt refuse of course. A friendly bunch of mountaineers. Lovely!

Whose disciple are you?

There is a good writing about Glasnost on the 24-7prayer web site and you can go to the www.24-7prayer.com or directly to
http://www.24-7prayer.com/cm/lodown/633 and read it. Actually the word glasnost is a russian word that means openess but for us it means to be loud because the macedonian word for loud is glasno. And yeah, the cafe is almost ready and that is good. There are thousands of young people who live aimlessly and my heart is to see them becoming disciples of Jesus. You know sometimes we "advertise" Jesus as something extra, as something good that can happen in peoples lives, but its a matter of life and death, its about where you spend eternity, its about Him.

David Bowie and our band

Yeah, some time passed since my last update on the blog. Well I had a problem with my tooth (the wisdom tooth) and I had to go to a surgery so it can be removed and that was not funny. All together that deal took at least 2 weeks. Now I can sing again for the Lord which I did yesterday on the service. Today I bought the David Bowie Reality Tour concert and it is great. What can you say about him? He is unique! Very inspiring...musically...and his hair style is great. We are talking with the guys from our band about going to the studio and recording which will be great. We dont have many songs, only five but they are great.

Arhangel and the Coffee Shop

Well not much has been happening since i wrote the last time. ARHANGEL I went to hear this great macedonian rock band. I was not dissapointed - the concert was great, they played almost for 2-1/2 hours. Inspiring. Good crowd of people, at least few thousand. COFFEE SHOP Together with the crew from Glasnost Youth Center we are preparing the coffee shop that we hope soon to open. So last ten days was a lot of painting, repairing which means things are moving. I think it will be a great place. LINKZ Finnally I found out how to put links on my blog. Very happy! THEOLOGY I decided to continue my co-respondence theology studies. I need some discipline regarding studying.

Areopagus

Last week I was in Greece and for the first time visited Athens. Pretty big city...actually too big for me...but very nice also. And it was great driving by the coast from Thessaloniki down to Athens. They say it is something like 5 million people living there. And very international also.
Well, one of the things I really liked is visiting the Acropolis and the Areopagus where St. Paul preached to the Athenians. This is what the bible says in Acts of the apostles 17 (the Message)

"The longer Paul waited in Athens for Silas and Timothy, the angrier he got-all this idols! The city was a junkyard of idols. He discussed it with the Jews and other likeminded people at their meeting place. And every day he went out on the streets and talked with anyone who happened along. He got to know some of the Epicurean and Stoic intellectuals pretty well through these conversations. Some of them dismissed him with sarcasm: "What an airhead!" But others, listening to him go on about Jesus and the ressurection, were intrigued: "That's a new slant on the gods. Tell us more."

"These people got together and asked him to make a public presentation over at the Areopagus, where things were a little quiter...So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them..."

"At the phrase "raising him from the dead," the listeners split: Some laughed at him and walked off making jokes...but there were still others, it turned out, who were convinced then and there, and stuck with Paul."

It's pretty much the same today. Some laugh and mock and some believe and are saved. For those who believe IT'S WORTH IT!

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation for those who believe." (Saint Paul)

Gaate

A friend of mine from Norway gave me a CD of a norwegian band called GAATE (really it is GATE with small O above the A). Fantastic! The best thing I have heard for some time now. According to me a mixture of modern rock with new metal and norwegian folk. Great! The girl sings amazing. Would really like to see them play in Skopje. www.gaate.no

Sleep well grandpa!

We are driving so slow if you can call that driving. Moving with the jeep on this mountain road if you can call it a road. It is so lovely here, forest, green meadows...we stop and pick apples from the trees by the road. It is the eastern part of the country and we left the near by village to go and meet my wifes grandfather who lives in a small house in the mountain. You can get there only with a jeep and in winter when the snow falls you just can not get there. He lives alone in a primitive house, he is 87 years old and has not seen my wife at least for few years. I was really excited and really longed to meet him and It was really an emotional meeting. We found him in the house with earthen floor and a stove...very old. He was really glad that we came...and immediately brought what he has, fresh plums, pears...and some honey. He goes, "Take the spoon and eat! You are not eating!" I liked when he shared some old sayings and what I would call peoples wisdom and we had a great laugh. During the world war 2 he has been arrested by the germans and has spent 6 months in prison in Vienna. Basically has been through many things. We spent maybe an hour with him and it was time to go. He loaded our car with what he had, a loads of apples, pears, plums...macedonians, especially the ones that live in the country, they love to give. When we said good bye our hearts broke. Why? I dont know. Maybe because we might never see him again. Maybe because we felt sorry for him. Maybe because recently because of high blood pressure he faints...and he is alone there. We go back to our own world full of things, voices, duties, programmes, tv, computers, clothes, cars, shops...and he stays there in his simple world. Alone. Waking up alone, going to bed alone. But perphaps we will never understand that he does not need our things and voices. We see things from another angle. He has something that we dont. You dont have to agree with me but your soul does not get so dirty in places like that...and you have less voices in your head. After we came back, every evening my wife asks me, "Do you think that grandpa sleeps now?" I think so...Sleep well grandpa. I hope one day you wake up in the light.