As you pray -27 December 2008

My dear friends

My brother Moses, Cynthia and the Sibisi family would like to thank you for the prayers for the thanksgiving service at Chibini last Saturday. Truly, God's name was glorified, the gospel was proclaimed and the victory of the cross was celebrated.

On Christmas Day, Bruno Hlongwane, one of our young preachers Nhlanzeko Mthiyane, Johannes Wunderlich, a brass band consisting of the Roos, Hlongwane and Maphanga boys visited local hospitals. In the evening they paid me a visit as well. What a blessing. May the Lord lead them on.

Let us pray on for the reconstruction of the auditorium. Onkel Erlo gave us an update the other day. The massive beams from special wood were prepared and assembled in Europe. We hope that by early next year they will be shipped over. The dimensions and logistics involved in this project are beyond the imagination of most of us. We pray on.

Glendon and Beatrice McGill from Smithfield came by and requested prayers for God's further direction for the ministry.

Dr Albu van Eeden came by and shared about how the Lord undertook during their Mozambique trip earlier in the week. One of the challenges faced by DFL's Zavora Clinic Project is the labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape. Your prayer support will be appreciated.

Our prayers accompany Onkel Friedel and Tante Rita who left on Thursday for services in Europe.

Edmund Duvel also flew over with his grandparents to be in time for his engagement to Salome Laederach in Bilten tomorrow. Again, we wish them God's blessing.

Juerg Laederach has requested prayers for the conference (26-30) with Onkel Friedel and the team in Bilten, Switzerland.

Marc Mertens is currently in South Africa. He came by and we could talk about the Lord's work in Belgium. Remember him, his family, the brethren and the ministry.

Peter and Bonnetta Roos flew over to the Netherlands yesterday to visit the family and the brethren. May they be a blessing and be blessed

Greetings from Dr Jan Pienaar and Reimers in Paraguay. Jan is getting many opportunities to minister. We pray on.

' The 10^th Lamp

On July 23, 2002, nine miners in Western Pennsylvania became trapped in a flooded mine. The injured and desperate men tied themselves together so that the stronger ones could sustain the weaker ones as they waited to be rescued. Journalists from across the nation reported the rescue effort, which took five long days. No one could believe it when all nine miners emerged safely from the mine.

On July 30, the people of the small mining community gathered for a worship service to thank God for saving the miners’ lives. At the ceremony, there were ten miners’ lamps set up on the altar, even though there were only nine miners. According to the pastor who presided over the worship celebration, the tenth lamp represented God’s presence, which the miners claimed they could feel as they waited to be rescued. It was this “10th Man” they honored as they read Psalm 103: “Praise the Lord . . . Who redeems your life from the pit.”  Welcome to this celebration of our “tenth man”-- the One who has rescued us from the pit.'

This story from eSermons moved me.

It occurred to me that in the fiery furnace Christ was the '4th man.' In the lion's den He was the '2nd man.'

At the cross He was the 'only man.' There, He treaded the winepress alone. How wonderful, how precious that, unworthy as we are, He invites us to share in His victory over sin and death.

Have a blessed weekend.