Great blog. You saw things with your eyes and with your heart.

I did not realize you had met Father Ivan. He is one of the first Bosnians we got to know when we were in Zagreb. I was with him and his colleagues the day he learned that his village had been massacred. We prayed for his family, not knowing their fate. I had not heard the story of his meeting with the woman who lives in his brother’s home. His answer to her threat was the perfect response — flavored with power and grace given by God’s Spirit.

Thank you for sharing.

Forgive me for commenting here but couldn’t find where else to contact you.

I’m just reading your book ‘The Jesus I Never Knew’, which a Christian friend handed me recently, and I’m loving it. So true and so powerful. You are a good writer.

I write part time for Creation Ministries, and I’m a geologist and classical musician. I believe what I believe of geology from the scientific evidence. In my scientific opinion a global Flood must have occurred, or at the very least several continent-sized floods (but the former fits the facts better). There really is no other explanation that stands up to the facts as seen in the field. The water-deposited sedimentary beds are too massive and too uniform, laid down in strong currents. Volcanic deposits too back up a global water event. There is much good evidence which points to a recent creation, too. It is good to keep an open mind about such things. But the only thing that really matters is faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, and love.

I’d love to talk with you some time.

God bless,

Jon O’Brien

I read your book “What’s so amazing about grace”, haven’t finished it yet, but you were writing about a friend of yours, and I’ve found some information that might be very interesting for you, or even him if he’s still alive. I would be very happy to be able to contact you, how can I write to you?

Thanky,

Murielle

former Yugoslav republics helping in post-war resolution, bringing release

from suffering. We began in Slovenia working with refugees while Croatia

and Bosnia were still fighting. Following the Croatian “Storm” (Oluje)

offensive in the Krajina district, we visited the military hospital in

Zagreb and ministered to young solders were who had lost limbs during the

fighting. Rather than hearing how proud they were to have sacrificed for

their newly formed country, we heard bitter criticisms toward their

government, as now they were invalids for life. They had been drafted into

mandatory service, and had no political agenda of their own! Croatia,

Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia. The shelling of Dubrovnik seemed to be

with no strategic purpose more than wanton destruction, and along the

southern coast of Croatia the “war” consisted mostly of Montenegrins coming

over the mountains to sack the local villages and rob from the poor coastal

folks their household belongings while burning houses along the way. This

is not war, but conquest over a weaker people? In Kosovo we helped a small

Serbian village called Staro Gracko where 14 of their men had been brutally

killed by Albanians while returning home from their fields. In all of this,

the enemy is the same, Satan, who Jesus said in John 8:44 was “a murderer

from the beginning”. We we have seen in our 17 years here is that both

sides yielded to the demonic influences to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John

10:10) and were therefore equally guilty. I think the key to defeating this

spirit of brutality is to understand God’s message of love, giving, and

living like Good Samaritan. The saint of the Balkans, Mother Theresa, was a

good sample of this!

I went on your website–wonderful! It is a sin to envy someone’s website? You two are doing great work, exactly what that tortured part of the world needs. May you not weary in doing good…
Philip

I lived in B-H during the years 1995-2006. The people, the places, the coffee became my own. During that time, I read a number of your books. Actually, I’ve probably read more books written by you than by any other author, besides Beatrix Potter. I am jealous that my dear Bosnian friends got to meet you and that you got to meet them. I wish I could have been there to see you and to see them. Thank you for being an inspiring writer. You have comforted me and encouraged me several times. I loved Soul Survivor! Also, your books have challenged me to read more – I’ve read Tolstoy and Frederick Buechner, as well. Thank you for sharing your gift. Keep writing!

Sincerely,
Andrea

Gulp, I’m up against Beatrix Potter? I surrender! Good for you for going to Bosnia at a most difficult time. I know you have stories to tell…as well as some good reading ahead of you.
Philip