God-sightings in Paris

Yesterday I had an amazing morning. It was one of those times where it seemed like God was opening doors ahead of me & I just needed to walk through them.

My goal for the morning was to get a couple of questions answered at my local French tax office, as 2009 French income tax forms are due May 31. I had some doubts about a couple of things and wanted to make sure that I was filing correctly, even though it might end up being more expensive.

I dropped off my younger daughter at her school. After leaving the school, I greeted one of the fathers whom we have known for 4 years now and whose daughter is in English Club. He is a documentary film maker.

While talking with him, another father came out. He does calligraphy art, which I knew because his wife recently gave my wife a 2010 calendar featuring his work. His daughter has attended several events at our home and his wife was at the Taste of California night in January for mothers.

A bunch of the dads (nearly all in artistic professions) get together after school drop off to drink coffee in a local cafe. Yesterday was the first time I joined them. When asked if I was coming, I initially hesitated due to my tax plans of the morning. However, I said that I could come for 15 minutes, then would need to go.

My time with these 2 days helped me envision how our future work in Paris might go.

Two weeks ago I was in Dublin, Ireland at a conference of a movement called T@ngible Kingd0m (TK), led by M@tt Sm@y and Hugh H@lter. I've also been in meetings regarding a new initiative in Paris that I would help lead, with a focus on the arts, compassion ministry, and the development of new faith communities using a more TK approach. There already are 2 other families in the pipeline for this new initiative, with the possibility of other people coming aboard as well. It's very exciting, but would entail some changes in my & my family's lives.

Both men talked about the importance of using art to help raise up young people from some of the problem suburbs around Paris. This helped me better grasp how combining arts ministry and compassion ministry could be a powerful mixture out of which new faith communities might develop. It was an AHA moment for me.

I hope to regularly participate in these cafe get togethers with these dads. To my knowledge, none of them are Chrïst-followers. It's fun to be with them. One of TK's premises is the need to be like Jesus and go out to where people are, rather than expect them to come to us or into our churches.

After the coffee time, I went to the tax office.

I had a couple of interesting conversations with a man who has lived in this area for 70 years, as well as a woman who has watched others' children for nearly 40 years. Both are long-term Parisiens with lots of wisdom & perspective.

When my number was called, I went into a glass office "A" to ask my questions. I must admit that I don't like going to the tax office, as it's kind of scary to me. It's like going to the dentist for some people.

The woman who helped me as amazing. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to answer my questions and rush me off. Because we're paid in U.S. dollars and receive a ministerial housing allowance, my case was more complex than most others. She left at one point for 10 minutes to get info from her supervisor, even though I think she is already pretty high up in the rankings there. She came out with some pages about Protestant pastors from some manual that was probably pretty dusty.

She spent a lot of time reading the fine print on one of the forms. I admitted to her that this form had looked like Chinese to me (a French expression for something that is not understandable).

It seemed like she felt it was her mission to help me not have to owe any taxes this year.

Then she asked if I wanted to complete the forms there. Of course, I said yes. So she took all the numbers that she had written in pencil and wrote them in ink on new forms.

I left the office feeling relieved that we had filed correctly, as well as that we didn't owe anything. How thankful I am for this woman of peace that God led me to.

We hope to see many times of God smoothing the way in the years ahead. Praise be to Him.