Getting ready for vacation

It is still quiet at work and I'm enjoying this time to the fullest. Whenever my hierarchy is out of office, the most senior desk worker is in charge and signs everything on behalf of the head of unit. This week it's my colleague John from the UK who is very easy going. He attends to everything promptly, which is a nice change of course :-). However, it also tends to get rather boring, but I've been trying to keep myself busy.

Last week, I had the opportunity of having lunch together with a former co-worker of mine from Greece. We used to work together in a research institute of the European Commission in Germany. This was my first work place after I had finished my training and education. He transferred to Brussels some time before I came here, and somehow, we managed to keep in touch throughout the years. This time, our conversation took an interesting turn, as he asked me about the differences of my church to other denominations. So we ended up talking about the Sabbath, baptism, and unclean foods. He seems to be very open, but as usual I'm wondering how I could take this further. I really need the Lord's guidance here.

Next week, I will finally go for a short summer vacation, which promises to be filled with spiritual blessings. I'll be attending a camp meeting in the "Westerwald", a beautiful area in the mid-west of Germany. It is organized by "hoffnung weltweit e. V.", a supporting ministry of the church founded by lay people. I was called to become a board member after I returned from the US, and I've been since acting as secretary for this ministry. These camp meetings take place every summer, and some of this years' speakers will be Derrol Sawyer from the US and Juan Campos from South America. After this, I will be back to Belgium right in time to attend the yearly spiritual retreat of the International Church, which will take place the last weekend of August in a beautiful rural seeting in the south west of the country. So I probably won't write again until after I'm back.

I'm still pondering about my futile efforts to change my job, and how the outcome is a reminder that the Lord is in charge over my life. The One who numbers the hair on our head and who knows all the stars by their names certainly knows what He is doing in the lives of each of His children. He may say "wait" sometimes, but this doesn't mean that He is not fully in control. Indeed, He has given me peace and acceptance with this outcome, and although I cannot see the big picture right now, I know He will reveal Himself to me in this matter whenever the time comes. There is a quote on page 331 of Desire of Ages that spoke to me in particular:

Those who take Christ at His word, and surrender their souls to His keeping, their lives to His ordering, will find peace and quietude. Nothing of the world can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad by His presence. In perfect acquiescence there is perfect rest. The Lord says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." Isaiah 26:3