Summer 2023 MiLO Blog 5
While I am on the other side of the pond
and waking up to begin the day, the other side of
my heart is closing down from her day before and
beginning a night of rest. Over the 17 years I’ve been doing
this, that is one thing I’ve never gotten used to. It’s not a
jet-lag-tired thing; it’s a
I’m-here-7-hours-ahead-and-those-I-love-are-not-with-me. It’s trying
to find that time to communicate that works for both of us. It's not
easy and at times a struggle, because one of the parties is out of
routine for the day or night when you’re trying to make that
communication happen.
That brings me to the importance of communication and
the timing of it. Do we let our routines interfere with our
communication with God? We expect Him to adjust to our schedules
and be available within our time frame! Check yourself, I had to; God
is available at any time and in any situation, it’s us who
have to adjust our lifestyle and not consider making God fit our
time frame. Instead we should live a life in constant communication.
No doubt we should all carve out time to spend with Him in quiet,
devoted time of prayer, study, and meditation, but when finished
don’t leave Him there as you walk away to start your day. Take Him
with you and allow Him to lead, carry your burdens and take your
concerns before they become worry or your doubts become fear. There
is no better way to live! Take it from an expert in leaving Him
behind; it’s not pretty and definitely not fun. It also goes to show
you and debunk that saying, "you can’t teach an old dog new
tricks." This old dog has had a lifetime of experiences walking
away from God and I’m finally getting the true meaning of His truth
“He never leaves you nor forsakes you.”
A lot has happened since my last blog and I’ll try and
hit the highlights. There were several reasons I came here ahead
of the team. I wanted to reconnect with those we have come to know
and love and just spend some quality time with them before the rush
of the MiLO took over. Secondly, I wanted to have meetings with city
officials and Coach Daniel and the Storks to organize the carnival,
as well as the baseball camp that first week of July. Accomplished
and accomplished. I’ve had some beautiful and blessed times with
those I’ve met over the years and some fun and quality time of
laughter and deepening relationships. I spent many times with Lordan
and his help has been immeasurable. Time with Lordan and his bride
Martina; time with Janko at HiS House (although admittedly not
enough); with Neven and Maja and their beautiful family; and just
yesterday a wonderful 2 hours at a Christian coffee shop in Zagreb
with three wonderful Christian Brothers. We talked, laughed and
generally got to know one another better by sharing our
backgrounds.
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Dolcinotti, a
Coffee shop owned by a Christian brother who creates jobs for people
coming out of addictions.
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In the picture below, Lordan and I are on the left and
Nolan is back right. He is a member of FOCUS, a Christian association
associated with CRU. He’s originally from Pennsylvania, via Stanford
University, but has been a missionary here for 22 years. Nic is on
the front right and I met him back in 2018, when he came to Gracac
with our HiS Print team to do a baseball camp. He spent the week with
our team there and I have always tried to stay in touch with him. He
is from South Africa but lived in the states for years and has been
in Croatia for over 5 years. He helps run a Christian businessmen’s
association. We had a wonderful time of laughter and great eats from
the pastry chefs who prepare works of art that you eat!
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A group of Christian brothers not afraid to say “Volim
Te” to one another! Means I Love You in Croatian. Long story behind
that! Lol
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Last Friday, Coach Daniel, Iva, the Storks secretary
and myself met with the Vice Mayor of Sisak, Marko, at his
office. Since his old office was damaged from the earthquakes, he was
using a temporary office that I hadn’t visited. Iva sent me the
address and the name of the location. Unfortunately, there were
several buildings with that same name so google maps picked the
closest location. When I arrived at the location, Iva called me to
ask if I was coming. I told her I was standing out front waiting for
them. She walked around the building and we never saw each other.
Happened that the location google picked for me was not the right
one. I was on the other side of the city. As we were figuring that
out, a car starts honking at me. I don’t know that many people in
Sisak, so I choose to ignore it. The person keeps honking. I look
around me to see who they are trying to communicate with and the
person points at me and starts waving at me to come. As I reluctantly
approach, I finally notice it is Iva’s husband. He motions me to get
in the car because he knows I am in the wrong location.
Now let me explain this. He had not driven there
because of me, in fact it was very unusual for him to come that way.
He was going to the grocery store because his kids wanted to have
pizza and the only store to purchase the right ingredients was
near where I was standing! He drove me to where I was
supposed to be and Iva couldn’t believe it when I got out of her
husband's car. There God goes showing off again and making sure
I was taken care of!
We had a wonderful meeting with Marko and not only did
he meet every need I had for the carnival he even agreed to supply a
50 passenger bus to take the campers to Gracac on Friday, the last
day of camp, to play games and have baseball Olympics with the kids
there. Remarkable and such a blessing. I’ll explain more about that
in future blogs. The carnival is all set for Saturday July 1,
downtown in the river park on the Kupa River.
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Coach Daniel, me and Marko. Marko is the vice Mayor of
Sisak and former player for the Storks.
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After the meeting concluded, I asked if I could pray
and like every year, Marko agreed and appreciated me praying. I'm
blessed beyond measure and excited to be hosting the carnival
again after a 4 year delay. There is a lot more to talk about,
but I’ve already written too much and want to try and keep your
attention. God bless each of you and have a wonderful, God filled
day.
HE DID IT!
David
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