Saturday, June 13, 2009

At the Foot of the Cross


Location: at the foot of a large silver cross near the top of a high hill overlooking a monastery and the city of Oradea, Romania with N. at noon on June 13, exactly one month since my arrival in Europe.

Today is beautful with cotton-cloud ships sailing through the sky oceans of a sunny day, pushed by a cool breeze that is enough to give me goosebumps in the otherwise warm weather.


I had explained that silence is hard to find in Europe, at least that it has been for me. Oradea, like any city, is full of noise, too, so when J. had suggested that a monastery outside of town was peaceful, I mentally added it to an invisible list of must-sees. I had decided to set aside all or most of today for prayer, and when N. and I were discussing our plans, we realized that a trip to the monastery would be pleasant for both of us. We got up at a decent hour this morning and headed out on foot, winding out of town with only occasional glances at a map.


We found our way here with no trouble, though I had not expected the gaudy decor of the edifice, forgetting that it would probably be Orthodox. Have you ever gone looking for peace with God only to find yourself distracted by someone else's idea or expression of the "holy"? Though we may go back and poke around the grounds a little, we simply walked straight through the monastary and up a lonely road that led to a lonelier path up a hill.


I hope to be able to post several of the pictures I took, but if not, picture this. We had to pass by an abandoned trailer-type house with dogs sitting in its shade. Have you ever gone looking for God only to find an empty church building or an empty "Christian"? We continued up, and the path became more narrow and more difficult. That did not surprise me, for I learned long ago that the path with the Lord is very narrow and often extremely difficult, contrary to the popular preachers that proclaim prosperity every step of the way.


Then we had to pick our way through a pile of trash. That, also, is normal for walking with God. Even when our journey leads us down in the dumps, the Lord is with us. We continued on, until we reached the foot of the cross. I hope you will able to see in my pictures what we found: a very pathetic, weather-beaten picture of Jesus, several empty alcohol bottles and cigarette butts, animal scat, a candle, etc. This made me very happy!


Why?


Because I came here to pray. I came to pray for you and for me, but especially for Oradea. I came to bear the burdens and the immorality and the garbage of the people of Oradea to the foot of the cross. For it was on a cross that Jesus forever removed the sins that so easily entangle and condemn us! It was at the foot of the cross that Joseph of Arimathea took down the broken body of the crucified Jesus. Like all over the world, the Church (the Body of Christ) in Oradea is divided by denominations and factions and split by sin and corruption and religiosity. Today I symbolically brought the broken Body of Christ of Oradea (the Church) to the foot of the cross, knowing that God the Father wants to give it new life, just like He gave us when He raised His Son from the dead. The foot of the cross can be a nasty place. It is where we deposit our burdens and our dead, our refuse, our illnesses, our addictions, our sins, and our evils. We lay ourselves down and let God redeem and reform and renew us. That is why there are bottles and butts there. We come to the cross as we are, and we are transformed by the love and mercy and grace of the new life of Jesus!


Sitting high above the world stretched out before me, I still struggled to find silence. Men with weed-eaters raucously interrupted the already annoying noise-age seeping from the city. But I was fascinated as I watched the nameless and faceless nuns below me work the fields by hand. N. and I had walked along the river on the way here, and there was a fishing tournament, but we saw no one catching any fish. We also passed a parc with some blatant graffiti displayed. How often the Church is like that! A big display of reaching out into the dirty waters with nothing to show for it. Young people expressing their feelings all over town without the Church noticing. What if instead we were like the nuns, dressed in black in the hot sun and dutifully and humbly tilling the soil in which the Lord was sowing, allowing Him to do what He does best--bring forth something new out of something old and dirty!?


Someone recently asked me what God is doing in Oradea... As I was praying beneath the cross, the Lord showed me several things.


While I was reading in the Bible, the wind suddenly ripped the pages over to Joel 2:28-32:


"And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on your servants, both men and women, I will pout out My Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mt. Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls."


This is a familiar text, but I felt that the Lord wanted Oradea to know that He is pouring His Spirit out over its people, and that all who call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.


There was a partially constructed house on the top of the hill with the cross--the house looked abandoned. The Lord wants Oradea to know that He will finish building His house in Oradea, and that He dwells not in buildings, but in the hearts of men and women.


He showed me that He has been wanting to heal and deliver the people of Oradea for a long time. They have been held captive by things like drugs, bribery and greed, immorality, prostitution and human-trafficking, Communism, religious traditions, racism (especially toward gypsies), deformity and illness, and even foolishness. Unfortunately, until now, they have been unwilling to let the Lord deliver them. Instead, like much of the world, they have preferred to try to save themselves, looking to education and technology and money to make a way out of the despair. Now the Lord is saying, "I still want to fulfill my plans in you, People of Oradea, please let me! I know what is best for you, and I want to do it, and I can, but you have to humble yourselves and let Me!" Until now, He has been watching over them and guarding them, but He wants to set them free completely!


The Lord also showed me that He has special plans for many individuals in Oradea, some natives as well as some of the foreigners, even N. and me. Thanks for your prayers for Oradea, for us, for God's will to be done to the glory of His Name throughout the earth! I bless you, dear ones, in the Name of this Jesus that gives us hope!


I set my eyes upon the hills; where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth!

Posted by at

A Rose From Home

A Rose From Home

My Story (As prepared for my church congregation this spring--2009)


I have a story to tell you. I am the main character, but the story is not about me. I have traveled several parts of the world, but my adventure has been closer to home. I am twenty-six years old. My story begins like many of yours…

I grew up going to church. I had been born into a family who labeled themselves “Christian,” in a country that labels itself “Christian.” Every Sunday found me attending a worship service and Sunday school in a mainline denomination church. I served as an acolyte, attended Vacation Bible School, helped my dad count and record the offering money, sang in the youth choir, was a leader in the youth group, and occasionally served as liturgist. Baptized as an infant, I was confirmed at the age of twelve, thus becoming an “official” member of the church. Then, hurt by the church, my family left to find another.

Have you ever been hurt by the Church?

After months of searching, we settled into a very large independent church. Things were different there, and I was quickly welcomed and at home among new friends that truly had a passion for Jesus. The Word of God was taught boldly from the pulpit, and I was introduced to a missions-aware lifestyle. So it was with regret that I said goodbye only a couple of years later to move with my family to another church. I purposely remained aloof, not wanting to make new friendships before I left for college a year later. Besides, I was loosing my faith—or so I thought—and I didn’t want anyone to know. I was asking scary questions like “Is there really a God?” and, if so, “Is He the Christian God?” and “Would I be Christian if I had been born in another part of the world?”

Have you ever asked yourself unsettling questions about what you believe?

So I headed into college under a cloud of confusion that only worsened for the next two years. Though I didn’t know what I believed anymore, I continued to go to church every Sunday, and to help lead worship in chapel. Most importantly, even during this questioning, I continued my morning habit of daily study of the Bible. I had begun at age twelve, reading at first a chapter per day, then ten minutes each morning, then an half-hour, and so on. So, only by the grace of the very God I doubted, I remained anchored in His Word and in His community, though I felt like a fake most of the time. Since then I have learned that “fake” is the worst insult the world can give us; that is why the label of “hypocrite” is so offensive.

Have you ever felt like a fake?

Six weeks with missionaries in South Africa followed by a year in France began to teach me what life with God is all about. I began rebuilding my faith, this time it belonged to me, in contrast to me borrowing the faith of my parents, church, or anyone else. In my parent’s basement in 2003, on either Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, I invited Jesus to live in me; perhaps I had done so before, but I didn’t recall—but since 2003, I have never forgotten that moment. Unfortunately, nothing changed. I continued to do my best to act like a Christian, as I had done for so long.

Have you ever found yourself “doing your best” to be a good person, or to act like a Christian?

Though I did not realize it at the time, I was quenching the Spirit, even though I had welcomed Him into my life. During the next few years, the LORD continued to nurture me, and slowly things began to change. Several tough months in Idaho birthed my prayer-life. I spent three years being humbled in a job that was my informal seminary training. In 2007, a short stint in Mexico helped me to see things as they were, and not long afterward, I was baptized by immersion. No baptism of any kind can save a lost soul—only Jesus can do that. However, this baptism was an important covenant between me and God, symbolizing not only my death and resurrection with Jesus and my public profession of faith, but it also my life change, the beginning of my bearing fruit. “For each tree is known by its own fruit…”according to Luke 6:44. During the past year and a half, the LORD has provided me with an informal pastoral internship in my church, teaching me every aspect of discipleship. Simultaneously, I have been studying unceasing prayer and worship. I am now very different than I was five years ago.

In the Book of Acts (which tells the story of the earliest years of the Church) every time a person decided to follow Christ, two things took place—though not always in the same order. Each person experienced a life change, which I call the “baptism of repentance,” as well as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which I call the “baptism of the Spirit.” Looking back, I realize that the Holy Spirit was living in me in 2003, but it wasn’t until I surrendered everything to God, as represented by my immersion, that I allowed the Spirit to have His way in me and transform my life. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)”

Have you invited Jesus to live in you? Have you allowed the Spirit to transform your life?

I tell you this story for two reasons. First, I tell this story in order to boast in the LORD! May God our Father get all praise and glory forever! Second, I tell this story because it is relevant to you. Likely you have heard that I am leaving the country: I have let my light shine before you; please let your light shine within the Church, too! This congregation is in revival, and as each of you allows the Spirit to revive you, the entire Church will be revived and utterly transformed, to the glory of the Most High God. And for His glory is the reason He created us; the reason He sent His only Son to reveal Himself to us; the reason He became Sin for us and died for us on the cross—while we were still sinners; and the reason that He conquered death and offered us eternal life with Him.

It will cost you a lot—in fact, it will cost you everything, your very life. But if you have never surrendered your life to Christ Jesus, if you have never invited Him to send His Spirit into you and to transform your life, then do it right now. Just let go of everything to which you are desperately clinging; stop trying to do it yourself! This is the very reason you are still breathing in this physical life—God has been delaying His judgment of this sinful world because He is waiting for you—2 Peter 3:9 says He wants none to perish!

If you have already invited the Spirit into your life, then live like it! Bear fruit! Anyone and everyone who meets you or knows you or sees you or hears you should know immediately and clearly that Jesus the Christ lives in you and loves them! That is how stark the contrast should be between your life and the world around you!

Have you immersed yourself in God’s Word and in prayer in the last twenty-four hours?

If you call yourself a follower of Christ, then there is no excuse for not communing with Him daily! Anchor yourself in the Word! God has revealed Himself to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Bible is a complete and accurate record of that revelation. And prayer is humbly letting Him love us. Let Him love you! God doesn’t need us, but He wants us! God doesn’t need us to live for Him—He wants to live in and through us! Let us love and fellowship with one another, even when you disagree! Pray for each other—the names in the church directory are a great place to start! Church, we are not only the Body of Christ, but we are the Bride of Christ. We have allowed ourselves to get bedraggled and stained—now let us stand to the glory of God! Let’s let Him purify us, restore us, and love us!

My dear Brothers and Sisters, if you have ever once been blessed by God our Father at work in me, then I urge you, please, take seriously His desire to love and work in you, beyond anything you can ask or imagine! I have told you the beginning of my story—may it end in glory to the Father, in the Name of Jesus, by way of His Spirit.

Now, what is your story?