Meet a frenchman onboard the Logos Hope.

Two of my friends are onboard the Logos Hope since September 2008. They're from the city nearest to me, Valenciennes. I just found a short interview Ruben gave for the Logos Hope website and I thought you would enjoy it. Remember to pray for them and the small French church that supports them.

A Word to the President

John Piper speaking to the president during his sermon:



From the Desiring God blog.

A Few Words From the Desk of Stéphane...

Hi everyone,

I just got back from the annual meeting of the local band. I'm headed straight for bed, but wanted to mention that I spent the weekend in Italy. Thank God for Ryan Air. As a student (and a Christian), there is no way I could travel any other way. I had a great time. I'll try to mention some of it at some later time. But I still haven't given a summary of the weekend in Switzerland, so I'm not promising anything.

What A Day!

The day has gone by all too rapidly. It was very good, encouraging and a challenge. It is late and I only have strength to put on a few photos from this morning and of Vevey, taken yesterday afternoon. More tomorrow!

"I Do Solemnly Swear..."... Presidents and "Their" Bibles

I dream a lot. Just this evening, reading an article in the Wall Street Journal made my mind wander. The post shows and explains which Bibles American presidents chose to use when they are sworn into office. Some opened at random the Bible, some chose verses and some kept it closed.

So I wondered, what verse would I choose to lay my hand on? What about you? What would you choose?

OK, So I Didn't Join the French Army

My day in the army is over and I am glad. The food was OK (but then who am I to say, I've done 3 years of Doulos-time), but the dining hall was cold. Really COLD. It snowed all of Monday. I hope it sticks around for a while. I've been asking God to make it fall thick and that the weather would stay cold. I love snow and walking in snow is among the nicest things ever, just as long as you don't actually have to be somewhere.

After countless videos all promoting the army, but not as propagandic as the American "Army of One" campaign (nor as slick), I finally decided to stay put and stay on the Jesus team. As the now corny joke goes, "God's retirement plan is out of this world." I really love Jesus. I'm going to go read my Bible now and just talk to Jesus.

I'm Off Serving The Nation... Or Should I Dodge The Draft?

I finally got my letter. Just like men used to get drafted, I received a letter from the French army and a train ticket telling me what time to show up at the train station in the city nearest my house.

Once I arrive at the base, who knows what will happen to me. They'll start filling my brain with all kinds of images of glory. Bullets, mortars, and glorious near-fatal wounds. I suppose the officers must do all they can to recruit us. 

Hopefully I'll be strong and just comply with their tests and their questioning and return home asap. I wonder, should I purposefully fail the test? Will they be used against me? In times of war, will they look back on my results to send me on suicide missions? Make me an officer? Would it be safest to play the illiterate French kid?

I guess I'll have to decide when I get there. All I know is that I'm glad this will only take a day. How did guys do it, when the draft lasted a year? Or a whole war? I hope the food is good.

What Are Your New Year Resolutions? What Place Did You Leave For Jesus?

I wasn't planning on writing today, but changed my mind after the church service. There was no sermon today, but simply a time of fellowship (we're small, we can do that). We pulled the chairs into a circle and shared what are goals were for 2009. We also read verses that had impacted our lives in 2008 or that we wanted to fly over our lives as banners for 2009.

One of the ladies read part of Colossians 1 and asked a simple question that I thought I would also pose.

"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy."

Colossians 1:17-18

After reading, she looked at us and asked: "Does Jesus have the first place and the most important part in all your plans, dreams and hopes for 2009?"

The question struck me and I simply ask it of you. May Jesus have the supremacy in our lives this year and every year.

Happy New Year in the Bible! Let's Start Reading!

I won't comment on the year gone by. I haven't been writing simply because I've had better things to do. My habit has been to read through the Bible every year and every time several facts hit me in the face:


-My lack of discipline. I start so strong and finish having to read huge portions because I was unable to be regular and read EVERY day.
-My incoherence. I say the Bible is marvelous, what I read in it is marvelous and yet I struggle to read every day!
-God's greatness. That the very words of God could be put in a book so that I could know Him is simply unbelievable.
-God's plan of salvation for His children is clear throughout all the Bible.
-That the 66 books that make up the Bible have only one author. There is so much similarity despite the 2000 years that separate the first book and the last book, yet they are coherent with themselves and compliment each other in a way that must be divine.


I have many other facts about myself and about God that I observe every time I open the Bible, but it would form a very long list. My purpose was not to make a list, but to encourage each and everyone of us to pick up a Bible reading schedule/plan and resolve to read through the Bible again this year in a regular and ravenous manner. If you don't have a reading plan, there are hundreds on the web. Also you can click here and email me . Give me your address and your name and I'll send you the reading plan I'll be using this year.

2009: Another Year In France With Much Joy and Struggles

Happy New Year to all! 


I write with temperatures below freezing outside and seemingly inside. I think of 2009 and much of me does not feel any reason to rejoice or be saddened. Semantics are the only thing that have really changed. None of us, except perhaps my little sister who feels a year older, see any difference whether it is '08 or '09.
If we look at the prospects for the year, the economists (and the whole world) are pretty depressed. Yet there is no less to rejoice in today than there was yesterday. Jesus died and rose again. He lives and grace will continue to lead us on until his return.


As we make our resolutions for this new year, let us make sure they do all in our ability to give Jesus the centerpiece of our life. Let us make him look great!