It is hard to believe that it is already May! I feel it was just yesterday 2021 was rung in. We have been having a lovely rainy spring here and life is accelerating toward the summer. I have been hard at work overseeing the building of the new website for YWAM Lausanne. Our team is hard at work pulling things together and I am enjoying working with a smaller team than I was overseeing with the Going Bible course. My team and I are re-writing all the content on the website, conducting focus groups, compiling the findings, and building the structure for the pages. Pulling something like this together is new territory for me and I have had to figure some of this stuff out as I go. These new situations have been an enjoyable challenge to navigate.
An unexpected blessing has crossed my path in the form of a mentor. A project manager that has been doing this kind of work for decades and who has been at the center of incredibly large projects. He offered to be a resource to me and to give advice. I happily took him up on his offer. It has been so helpful to seek advice and insights from him on all kinds of topics like managing a team, working with external resources, and strategies for keeping things rolling in sync. This project has pushed me to expand on what I have learned in past projects. Having someone to help point the way forward has been a blessing. That being said, I would very much appreciate your prayers for the project. Some key things would be:
- Wisdom with all the major decisions that need to be made.
- Insights & inspiration for how to best represent a Christian organization online.
- Energy to accomplish all the tasks & details that go into this large of a project.
Another exciting development has been the continued return of our local outreaches. I have really enjoyed picking up regular times of evangelism again. One thing that has struck me as we are getting out into the streets again, is the openness of the people we meet. As awful as the pandemic has been, it has given rise to a new hunger for anchors in life. So many people have had their normal lives and rhythms turned upside-down, and in the fallout are left searching for things that they can depend on and things that have larger significance than themselves. People we encounter are now so much more receptive to being prayed for, discussing faith, and receiving Bibles than they were in the pre-pandemic world.
Dove-tailing into this I have been meditating on the beautiful imagery of Psalm 62. The Psalm centers around this idea of God being our unshakeable refuge. Verses 5-8 put it so exquisitely as it emphasizes this aspect of our relationship with the Lord:
“For God alone my soul waits in silence and quietly submits to Him,
For my hope is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation;
My fortress and my defense, I will not be shaken or discouraged.
On God my salvation and my glory rest;
He is my rock of [unyielding] strength, my refuge is in God.
Trust [confidently] in Him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us.”
This has been such a wonderful passage for me in the last few weeks to reflect on. I hope it is as refreshing for you as it has been for me.
I recently took a train to Basel for a day trip. As some of you know, I love museums, especially art museums. I have a pass to all the public museums in the country and Basel has so many to see! Originally, I wanted to see them back in January but they were closed due to the restrictions. People are still quite COVID cautious, so even though it was a Saturday, most of the museums were almost completely deserted. I had a splendid time wandering around with my camera. I didn’t take many shots of the city because I was so caught up in the experience. As someone who creates, there is something so deeply invigorating getting to delight in the works of other great creators. In total, I made it to 7 different museums and by the end of the day, I was very worn out, but in a good way. One highlight was the Kunsthalle art museum, a large grand brutalist marble building in the center of the city. The empty grand interior presented a gorgeous opportunity to take some unique black and white photos.
I would also like to take this opportunity to once again thank those of you who partner with me financially regularly. You are playing a key role in enabling the ministry happening here and I can’t thank you enough. I have received a few questions from people wondering about how to partner with me financially, so I thought I would mention it here in case anyone else is curious. I have a page on my blog with all the details that can be found here. I use an organization called Mission Enablers to process my support and issue tax receipts. Through them, I can receive both one-time or recurring donations by card, check, or Paypal.
As always, thank you for coming along with me in this adventure of faith,
Ben