Christmas Tree Hunt, Alpha Lounge

We went to IKEA with "Aunt" Marion as a family to find a Christmas tree. They have this special where you pay 18 euros, but get a 17 euros voucher for IKEA when we return the tree afterwards. They then mulch it up, which is good for the environment.

While there, we had a providential encounter with Hedah and Didier. We met Hedah, a Korean woman, when she and my wife were pregnant with their first children at the end of 2001. They were in a prenatal course together. We last saw them at our son's dedication service at our church in May 2002. My wife had wanted to get in contact with her for awhile, but didn't have her new address or telephone number. Kathy, our current houseguest, is also Korean, so Nicole had thought of Hedah recently. In God's timing, he had me standing with our son in the toy area so that Hedah would see me.

Tonight I was at the Alpha Lounge youth service at Belleville. Around 40 were present. Having missed it for a number of weeks, it was good to see a number of the young people again. Some noticed that I hadn't been there for a few weeks. While trying to help do dishes, I ran into Nathalie, someone whom we've gotten to know during the past 5 years at church. It's very encouraging to see what God is doing in her life, as well as in her family.

My encounters with Hedah and Nathalie reminded me again of the benefits of longevity in ministry in Paris. The longer that we are here, the more people that we get to know. It often takes time to build relationships and see God's hand in people's lives.

This was my 3rd night out this week, after having returned from 5 days in the U.S. I think that all 3 nights out were necessary in light of the current ministries that I'm in. However, I'm glad that, starting next week, there are much less nights away from home. I owe my wife and family lots of nights in during the rest of December. It's not a burdensome debt to be home, as I don't like to be out too often at night. It's nice to stay home with the family and get to put the kids to bed.