a brief history....

As a Christian we all know that we are called or have a calling upon our lives. Mine became clearer on the beaches of San Francisco as I prepared for a mission trip to Hungary. I went to Hungary in the summer of 2002 twice. In between trips I sought the Lord on hours long prayer walks on the beach. I had been asked back by a pastor I met, to move over to Budapest and wasn't sure what to do. I had left the worship team of the church I attended in The City. For over two years I had been praying for a clear direction from the Lord. I began to hear a calling on my life that was somehow very easy to hear.

I sought counsel from my friend Moishe who founded Jews for Jesus in San Francisco in 1973. He told me to be sure of this call as many go into the mission field seeking adventure rather than God’s will. I sought counsel from a pastor the Lord brought into my life, Don McClure. He directed me to return to Hungary and speak to another pastor I hadn’t met on the first trip. When I returned Greg, the pastor from Budapest who had asked me to move over the first time, straight away directed me Rod, to the pastor I hadn’t previously met. Turns out he had been praying for someone to help him with a bible college in the Hungarian countryside who had the skills I had left behind when I went into full time ministry in the winter of 1999 at Jews for Jesus.

What I had heard on my prayer walks was confirmed the night I was to return to the states from Budapest after a sleepless scripture filled night. All questions of 'if' were removed leaving only the 'how to'. Upon returning a whirlwind of introductions and confirmations found me moving to Hungary in February of 2003. As the major design, organization and installation was completed at the bible college those same stirrings began anew; through this first work God had redesigned me and installed His Spirit further in me….he began to lead me……back.

The Lord had shown me a city when I first moved to Hungary, Kecskemét. I was encouraged by others to continue with the concerts I had been doing in San Francisco – but the Lord didn’t seem to be in it. Now the ‘coincidences’ started again. Now the confirmations started again. In April of 2005 I moved to Kecskemét. The opportunity to just be a Christian was the first step and has opened doors to teaching at several churches, in the schools and college dormitories. As I meet regularly with the pastors and other Christians His work is beginning to manifest.

There have been times of loneliness, times of uncertainty and times of joy. The Lord’s hand is surely in all of this. This newsletter was created as a play on the name of the city. As I have lived here the opportunities have expanded to several cities in Hungary and eastern Europe; in all those places I’ve been ‘ketchin' rays’, His rays, His ways. This blog chronicles a bit of the journey....at least since moving to Kecskemét. Newsletters, thoughts, videos and the like will appear as the Spirit moves....if I ain't too lazy!

On that beach in San Francisco the Lord told me that I would be a missionary the rest of my life. I’ve seen nothing to change that picture knowing that wherever I am this is His calling upon my life…upon your life…"to teach them what you have observed"