Spring Comes to Europe before Ohio

We are so grateful Lydia and Johanna got back to Germany for their spring semester. Here is Lydia with some of her best friends outside on a beautiful warm day in February.

And here she is with some of her dorm sisters at their "Galentine's Day" party, where they celebrated at home instead of with larger group, unable to mix with any male admirers.  

Meanwhile in Ohio, the birds are starting to use the feeder Josiah and Dad put together after getting the kit for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa.  

As you can see we had a bit more cold weather this week.

No sign of any the bees yet ;D

Bible Quizzing and Basketball Coaches

Clara and Sam rise to the occasion answering question on Matthew 20-22.

Josiah was quizzing on Matthew 9 and 10, and 'quizzed out' twice!

Renee got in the act with other coaches on Mathew chapter 10.

And 'Quizzed Out', meaning answering 4 questions correctly.

The Quizzing team is also training and coaching in the basketball academy.

for Team Riverside;D

A Message from the Middle of God's Grace

When things don't go your way, where do you go?  How do we cope?  In Jesus we hope.

See the Big Picture: from Grace Church in Middleburg Heights

Lunar New Year Greeting with Bloopers

"Amar ban owe?" means roughly "Are you at ease?"

"Sar shin-day saihan shinjileerei" 

Means roughly:

"Moon (or Month) is New,

Have a nice New Year"

International Mongolian Basketball Academy in Ohio

Here we are in Ohio training and posting pictures and videos to IMBA.MN

This kind of virtual training is all we can do now.  But much more than they are able to do in Mongolia right now, so we're grateful. 

Josiah's friend Levi is training with us.

And so is Clara.  Sam from church is training to be a coach.  

Follow through, so important in SO MUCH of life. 

Think Fast!  

We're open and training on this side of the world.  Let's hope we can encourage the academy in Mongolia, who is shut down for another two weeks during Lunar New Year, to keep active and hopeful about opening back up in March. 

All Lives Matter

Do you have a problem with that statement?  I just read it in our colleague from Cleveland's devotional on Racial Reconciliation.  He happens to be an Alliance minister of African ancestry.  But how do his thoughts affect the way we value other cultures than our own?  Even Mongolians are not immune to ethnocentrism, and have a long way to go to protecting the unborn as well.  Ron's challenge urges us who belong to Christ to value life according to the Creator and the cross, rather than color or culture.

RACIAL RECONCILIATION RON MORRISON

God makes it clear in His word that His image bearers’ lives matter equally and supremely—and He sent His Son to prove it. There is no hierarchy of importance in human life. Do you believe that statement, or do you assign levels of importance on some over others? What makes one person’s life superior and another inferior?

If you don’t believe in a hierarchy of importance in human life, then you should have no problem unpacking the statement “All Lives Matter” to assign every people group equal value. Black lives included. While our nation’s history is scarred by injustices like slavery, and current events include the all-too-frequent mistreatment of Blacks, Christ followers must lead the way in fully acknowledging the equal dignity and value of Blacks as fellow image bearers.

This is why we need to allow the Bible to inform our worldview to “demolish arguments and . . . take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”—and to think like Him (2 Cor. 10:5). We need to agree with God about ALL image-bearing HUMAN LIFE—born and unborn—being of equal value and equally precious in His sight. This includes all Black life.

Have you allowed God’s Word to challenge your assumptions and change your thinking about absolutely everything? If only the Church for which Jesus shed His blood could unify around and embrace the great equalizer, the Cross, we could show this world what a holy nation looks like when God is our King.