Summer Extravagance

All signs point to ... Summer!

We took off last Friday for a long weekend to an unknown destination to us, Leibnitz, Austria.  All I knew is that it was cheap and had a swimming pool.  All the requirements necessary for a Summer kick-off!


When reading the information on the web, it said they had an outdoor swimming pool.  I was expecting a place to swim that would give us a few hours of entertainment.  However, what awaited us was an outdoor swimming oasis!  There was a curly slide, a straight slide, a wave pool, a lazy river and a larger pool just for plain ol' swimming!  We have the sunburns to prove how much we loved the pool time ... talk about God's great extravagance!
We choose to celebrate Father's Day on Sunday by sitting near a lake, eating traditional Austrian cuisine and soaking up the views.


As we headed back for home yesterday, we stumbled across a castle built in 1200 ... sporting the oldest wine keller in all of Steiermark (this particular region in Austria ... there are a total of 7 regions).  Thanks to Addison's new camera with an excellent self-timer and range, we took the above photo!



And, our final destination which now causes us to dismiss any offers of chocolate for perhaps the next 12 months was the Zotter Chocolate Factory.  Fair Trade, air conditioned, and lots of samples (including a mini cafe where we could assemble our own hot cocoa by selecting a chocolate bar that literally flew by us on a trolley) made Zotter our new favorite chocolate treat!  However, it will be a very, very long time before we re coop from the cocoa overload ...

Finally, perhaps one of the best evidences I have of God's extravagance towards us during our get-a-way occurred on Sunday morning.  We were headed out to do some sight-seeing in a nearby town, Graz.  As we were preparing to leave, Addison heard music coming from an upstairs conference room of the Jufa (hotel) we were staying at.  As Chris went upstairs to investigate, it turns our there was a small fellowship meeting there for Sunday services.  They were just beginning so we decided to stay.  The room was filled with about 30 believers in Jesus, mostly  young people.  A visiting older man gave a talk about his role as a member of the Gideon's - the international Bible distribution and evangelical organization.  He gave story after story about how God has been opening doors for organizations, schools, and hospitals to allow Gideon's to place Bibles ... in Austria.  After his testimony, one of the elders got up and spoke.  He gave his own account of how the Bible changed his life.  While on a business trip in St. Louis, Missouri, a couple who believed in Jesus as their personal savior gave him a Bible.  The interest in this Bible and the love from this couple began what led to his ultimate conversion experience.  He is now an elder in this small fellowship.

During the entire service, as I navigated the strange German dialect of the speakers, I was amazed at what we were experiencing ... and the timing of it all.  At just the right time, we ventured out for our day.  At just the right place, who knows how long ago, someone decided to have Sunday services in this Jufa.  In a country where the statistics of evangelical churches are staggeringly low ... based on less than 1% of the total population expressing a personal belief in Jesus Christ ... we were allowed to hear praise music ... at just the right moment!

I needed this vacation.  I needed to wrap an end to the school year and put a good foot forward toward Summer.  I needed a change of scenery.  I needed the pool and the sun.  However, what I did not expect was God's extravagance on me and my family.

The longer I walk with Jesus, the more amazed I am at His tender care over me ... his strong passion for me to see him and his fingerprints in my life.  He choose to do this in an extravagant way on a simple vacation ... making me ever more curious to continue following such a perfect, creative, and insistent that I know Him kind of Savior.

Extravagantly Blessed,
Christina