Dear praying friends,

In September, Tigst Assefa set a new women's marathon WR in Berlin. Last weekend Kelvin Kiptum set a new men's marathon WR in Chicago. Yesterday I went for a 5k jog, and figured if I could run 2x as fast for 8x as long, I could be in contention to hold a marathon WR...

I have such admiration for people who are able to perform a task at such a high level! I recently read a story about a high number of people in Nigeria applying to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. Written in July, the article says that they had 1,500 applicants from Nigeria alone in the previous 2 months. Wow!

What do you think fuels that? The desire to be known? The desire to be the best? The desire to be immortalized?

I'm not sure, but I do know that everyone wants to be seen - to feel like they matter.

On Friday, we are exhibiting two new artists - one who has only had works appear in a small exhibit and another who has only been exhibited twice before (many years ago.). I was speaking to one of the artists about whether she would agree to have her pictures appear in the background of a video that will be filmed. She lit up at the idea of having "free publicity."

At the risk of rambling too much here, let me give you a few prayer requests. Can you pray for us as we look for ways to really see people in our community? This week we will have new artists and their guests in our space - and our desire is to make Jesus known to them. The starting point for many of those people will be us investing the time in seeing them, listening to their stories, interacting with them about their lives, etc. Pray for these connections (which lead to a desired connection with Jesus.)

Here is another prayer request in this area. Our work in Berlin puts us in contact with people from over 170 different nations. Many of those people come from Arabic lands, and some of those people have friends and family in Palestine and Israel. Seeing people, for us, means that we show compassion for the needless civilian death on both sides of the wall. News reports quoting people referring to others as "animals" are especially challenging. Pray for PEOPLE to be seen, for peace, and for Jesus to break through. Pray for our friends who live in both Israel and Palestine.

Other prayer requests:

1. Pray for our kids!
2. Pray for our aXcess colleagues, who have their 5-year Strategic Review this week.
3. Pray for our house church - we meet this Sunday!
4. Pray for us to be a part of helping people recognize that God sees, loves, and values them!

Thanks for your prayers,

mike