Jesus has quite literally moved into our neighborhood

Well, Gsus has moved in. Gsus is a clothing store from The Netherlands. It opened up on the corner of our street over Christmas. You can't really tell from this picture, but just above the store sign is a street sign. It is my street, Calle Espirtu Santo, which means Holy Spirit Street. I don't know if you believe in the spirit world or not, but I do and I think that our street is more than just "heaven's playground." I believe that our street is more of a battle ground than a playground. Holy Spirit Street is probably less than a quarter of a mile (1/2 a kilometer) and on our street we have a shop called "The Morgue", a couple of shops that have pictures of demons, a shop that has the word devil in it (there are quite a few goths around here), the Madrid Hare Krishna center, now Gsus, and our flat that is often used for church purposes.

Despite that fact that I know that this new shop has nothing to do with really being followers of the one true Jesus, it makes me feel like maybe we aren't alone here and that maybe Satan is losing his stronghold on our street. Now when people walk down our street, the first thing they see is this shop and whether they believe or not, they will think about Jesus, how can you not when you see that sign?! Hopefully as they make their way down the street, they will then feel His presence emanating from our flat. Before this shop was here, Jesus was already in this neighborhood, but now there is a visible reminder. This battle is not over yet, and when it is, only Jesus and His followers will be left standing on this street. I pray that the longer I live here and the longer our flat is used to serve Madrid, the number of followers will grow. Jesus is here to stay!!!

One Year Anniversary

Yesterday, January 6, 2007, was my one year anniversary of living in Madrid. Where has the time gone? I intended to blog yesterday about this but ended up not getting home until late. I had a rip roaring party with Troy, Heather, and Kelly. We ordered in Chinese and watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It was really fun actually. I really can't believe it's already been a year. I remember the day I arrived in Madrid like it was yesterday.

Troy and Kelly met me at the airport last year. They were going to help with my luggage, had the airline not forgotten to send it with me. We ended up going straight from the airport to Troy and Heather's house for lunch. In what I now know to be typical Troy fashion, we had to run to catch one of the trains to get out to their house. I remember sitting at the table with Troy, Heather, Meg, Nic, Kelly, Jay and Carolyn eating soup and bread. I remember thinking, "Oh crap, what have I done?!" "I am in Spain, I'm stuck, there is no going back." The rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent at the Cady's trying to stay awake and act like I wasn't terrified about the decision I had made to be here.

My luggage finally arrived about 10 pm, just after I had climbed into my mattress on the floor. I looked around my empty room and the two suitcases I had brought with me for a year, and cried myself to sleep.

One year later, things are very different. I once again was at Troy and Heather's with their kids and Kelly, but this time, I wasn't terrified (well not for the same reasons at least) and I didn't feel stuck. I felt like this is where I am supposed to be. I felt like I was hanging out with family. Last night when I got home I looked around my room that is full of my stuff and fell asleep content knowing that God has protected, provided, and guided me to this point. I can't wait to see what He has in store for my next year.